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official-weasley · 4 years ago

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The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 4, Ch. 9

PART 4: THE YEAR WHEN EVERYONE HAS A CRUSH Chapter 9 - Tonks' Escape

Penny

I was giving the group some space this year when it comes to studying. Especially Nova, that poor thing. It was so hard to watch her be in so much pain and I am so happy that she is her normal self again and smiling and laughing.

We do have moments when we are in the Library together and she starts talking to me about her dad. I could listen for her for hours if need be, she is such a sweet angel!

She needed quite some time to catch up with all her homework and studying and I have been working extra hard in classes to make things easier on her.

However, exams are approaching and it's time to start nagging people! I waited until the very last possible minute, I mean it is the last week of May!

This year has been particularly hard as teachers started to up the pace when it came to the material as we have O.W.L.s next year and they want us to be ready! I can't believe we are going to be in Fifth Year already and I can't help but be nervous about how hard next year is going to be if we were barely keeping up this year.

Speaking of keeping up I have to say that not the most perfectly brewed potion makes me as proud as the fact that I have managed, for the second year in a row, not to fall asleep in History of Magic and take notes! Not that it does anybody any good as none of my friends want to read them. They say it's just too much boring information and as much as I like to act mad when they say it, I silently agree with them.

Potions, however, are by far my favorite subject, even if our dear Professor Snape is not so keen of me or of any other student for that matter. I wonder what is his story.

My mum being a Potioneer and the fact that I simply enjoy the art of potion-making are not the only two reasons why I love Potions so much. This Summer a Ravenclaw boy by the name of Andre wrote to me that despite all our efforts in June he didn't pass the exam. I was mortified and I offered him help at once. I have been sending him material and notes and extra explanations all Summer and I was glad to help and it gave me an excuse to reread all my Potions books and talk about them!

What I didn't expect, however, was the fact that after I taught him everything I could, he kept sending me letters. We started to talk about what we are doing and how our Summer has been so far. We talked about Quidditch and our families and I told him stories of what me and my friends, that spend August with me, have been doing. I caught myself a few times waiting for his letter, wondering what he was going to write next or what interesting topic he will pick for our conversation.

Then one day in August, I got a letter where he wrote just how much fun he was having writing and corresponding with me and I felt my cheeks getting warmer. That night I couldn't sleep as I kept rereading the letter and thinking just how sweet he was. I knew, at that moment, that I fancied him. At first, it was a surprise because in our Third Year I had the biggest crush on Charlie's brother Bill.

I have embarrassed myself on several occasions, not standing to be in the same room as him, thus I spent more than half of last year in the Library. It wasn't until I talked to Nova that she made me realize that having a crush is not your choice and that it's not such a big deal. That's why I was so excited when I blushed with every letter Andre sent me.

And I know it might sound selfish, but I couldn't wait to tell my friends! Well, how they found out was a different story and I think Charlie has never wished to be in a different compartment more than when we were talking about crushes.

Oh, and speaking about Charlie and crushes! It's the end of May and my little darling sister still fancies him. She wrote me a letter every week where, besides our usual correspondence, she always asked how he is and what is he doing and if he asked about her. To her last question, I always answered 'yes' because I knew how much it meant to her and I didn't want to break her poor little heart! Charlie, however, felt very uncomfortable every morning when she was staring at him while he was eating cereal. Poor lad, what must he have thought of her and I think it is safe to say he is never coming to visit me again.

That won't do him any good as next year my sister is coming to school! I can imagine now, her following him everywhere and Charlie just losing it and being awkward. She didn't even mind when all he did was talk about Dragons to her so you have to know she is not easy to get rid of!

—

To go back to the most important thing...exams! I woke up on a beautiful Sunday in May and I couldn't wait to go down for breakfast and see my friends rolling their eyes as I mention the exams. I know I was nagging them and that they have been sick of me doing so since our First Year but I know that they secretly appreciate it because otherwise, I don't know what grades they would have.

I decided to be more cautious with Tonks this year. She has started asking me questions about Herbology just a few days ago and perhaps she is ready to study. I am so proud of her and how well she is doing in Herbology! Which, sadly, I can't say for Tulip, me, or Nova so Tonks will get the satisfaction of teaching us again!

This time around I have decided that I will find a different way to force them to study. I have stayed up all night for the past two days so that I could make them all notes on the subjects I knew they needed them for. I got out of bed and checked my bag, just to make sure I had everything ready. I went through notes for Nova, Tulip, Tonks, Charlie, Jae, and Andre, of course, and I had Bill's Potions notes as well as I am sure he will appreciate them.

I know it was nothing unusual for me that I was excited about exams but this year has been extra special because it meant I would be able to spend more time with Andre.

Since he first invited me to Hogsmeade for a Butterbeer, we have done so 7 times, which is such a magical number! I loved how I could talk to him about everything and I kind of understood Nova being such good friends with Charlie except that I am not sure if she fancies him or not. I still don't know who her crush is!

On our fifth unofficial Butterbeer date, he invited me for a stroll around Hogsmeade. We were looking at shop displays and talked about our Third Year when we all came here for the first time. We went to Honeydukes and he bought us some candy which I thought was really sweet because I love candy!

What was even sweeter was when we went back to school and just as we were going to pass the Courtyard our hands brushed together and he gently grabbed mine and our fingers entwined. I can't even start to describe how much I blushed and my heart was racing like never before. I still haven't told my friends about it and for the first time I wanted to keep it to myself. At least, until Andre and I talk about it, for which there is no rush!

Besides helping my friends and spending time with them, having my head in the clouds or reading, I have been spending most of my time down in the Dungeons in the Potions classroom. I thought Snape was joking when he wanted me to stay one day after class and told me that perhaps I wasn't a complete failure which in his language meant I was brilliant!

And when I thought that nothing can get better than getting a compliment from Snape he told me that if I wanted to use the classroom to study Potions on my own, I could do so. I was about to explode, however, I tried hiding my excitement from Snape as I knew he could take back his offer immediately. And that's not everything! He also said that I could use ingredients from his own personal closet. As long as I don't overuse them or use them to brew potions that could get me in trouble and I had to give him the list of the ingredients I used every time we had Potions. If that isn't a dream come true I don't know what is!

—

Back to my Sunday morning! I put the notes back in my bag and rushed to the Great Hall where all of my friends were having breakfast.

“Oh, no.” Said Tulip when she saw me. “I know that look.” She frowned.

“Yes.” I said and slammed my bag on the table. “It is time for me to start nagging you about exams.”

Tonks, as expected, stood up and left the Great Hall. Charlie started to pretend he was snoozing on Nova's shoulder, which made her giggle. If those two weren't just the most adorable thing you can ever see!

Tulip hid under the table and Jae followed her. Can't wait for their first official date!

“Come on! She lasted almost the whole year without talking about exams. Give the girl some credit.” Nova chuckled.

“Thank you, Nova!” I started taking notes out of my bag. “Now, I think you are old enough to be responsible for your own grades so I am just going to say this: the exams are coming, beware, and here is everything you will need to pass.” Charlie lifted his head, intrigued.

“Wait, this is all you are going to do this year?” Asked Jae, still under the table.

“Yes.” I sat down and put my head under it.

“No nagging us every single day?” Charlie asked, perplexed.

“No nagging.” I grinned. Nova narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

“Oh, and I almost forgot, if anyone does want to study together, I'll be in the Library most of the time.” I offered.

“Is Andre going to be there?” I looked under the table and Tulip was making a kissy face.

“Yes, he already asked me for help with Potions and History of Magic.” I showed her my tongue and got back up.

“Oh, then we wouldn't want to interrupt.” Nova winked at me.

“Yeah, we don't want to disturb you when you are gazing deep into one another's eyes.” Charlie widened his eyes as much as he could and blinked at me. Nova chuckled.

“Ha-ha, how mature of you!” I crossed my arms on my chest and stuck out my tongue again. We all started laughing.

—

What wasn't funny was the fact that just a week after exams started, I couldn't find Tonks anywhere. As every year since the First Year fiasco, we have all been keeping an eye on her. Last year she did pretty well, the year before that wasn't so bad either and this year she wasn't showing any signs of being nervous or running away.

I went down to the Great Hall and found Tulip and Jae studying out of the Kitchens for once. I asked them if they saw Tonks and they shook their head. They offered to search for her and we split up. I went to all the courtyards and down to the Lake where I found Charlie and Nova practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts spells with Bill. Nova almost stupefied me.

They haven't seen Tonks either and at this point, I was getting worried. They said they will start searching for her as well and we agreed to meet in the Great Hall in 15 minutes.

Just as Charlie, Nova, and Bill appeared on the one side of the corridor, Tulip and Jae did on the other one. They searched the Library and the Owlery and she wasn't there. I went back to our Common Room just in case she came back but wasn't there either. At this point, we all started to panic. We even went knocking on Filch's door to see if she accidentally locked herself in while trying to prank him. When he opened the door, we each ran in different directions while Filch was shouting something after us.

We were all sitting in the Courtyard, thinking of places we haven't looked at yet. We thought of the Greenhouses and the Transfiguration classroom but when Nova and Charlie went to check, she wasn't there. We felt defeated. We were so good for 3 years and now she slipped right between our fingers.

Suddenly, Nova, who was laying on Charlie's jacket, having her head on his legs, rose.

“Yes? What did you remember?” Tulip and I said together. We all got closer to her.

“Hogsmeade! This is the first official year where we can come and go from Hogsmeade as we please.” She talked so quickly that I needed a moment to follow.

“That is brilliant!” I beamed at her. We all got up at once and started making our way there.

We practically burst into the Three Broomsticks and there she was!

“Tonks!” We all called her name at the same time and also turned every single pair of eyes in the Three Broomsticks on us.

“Bloody hell!” Tonks rolled her eyes. We sat next to her.

“Tonks, what is going on?” Nova asked placing her hand on Tonks' back.

“I'm panicking again. Don't want to study and I won't!” She looked directly at me. “So don't try to persuade me, it won't work!”

“But you are doing so good with your exams so far. Only three to go.” Tulip tried cheering her up.

“Nope. Do not care. Not doing it.” Tonks shook her head.

“What are you so afraid of?” Charlie was asking a good question.

“Of failure. I don't want to be like Andre to study all Summer long because I wasn't smart enough to pass the exam.” She buried her face in her hands.

“Failing an exam doesn't make you stupid. It can happen to anyone.” Everybody turned to me as I am positive they couldn't believe that came out of my mouth. I just wanted to defend Andre.

“Right, says the smartest witch in school.” Tonks talked through her hands, her head still in them.

“I know what would cheer you up.” Beamed Tulip. “Let's take you to Zonko's and you can get anything you want on us.” We all nodded and that gave me another idea.

“You lot go to Zonko's while Charlie and I go make her a Calming Draught. I think that would make her feel better.” Nova and Charlie, however, bestowed me with a confused look.

“Why me? I want to go to Zonko's too.” Charlie asked.

“And you want to fly on a Dragon, we know.” I playfully rolled my eyes. He blinked at me. “I feel like I spent the least time with you this year and I want to catch up.” Which was true but that was not the main reason why I wanted to get him alone. We might not be close and come to think of it, I don't think we were ever really alone together except perhaps on rare occasions at breakfast. The real reason why I wanted him to go with me was because I needed to ask him something.

Now the whole lot was looking at me like I was losing my mind, not just Charlie. Nova then giggled and shrugged her shoulders at him, indicating that she has no idea what I am up to. They finally gave up on questioning me and I dragged Charlie to the Dungeons.

I told him which ingredients he should bring while I prepared the scales and the cauldron. We were brewing the potion in complete silence for at least 20 minutes. I only spoke when I needed a certain ingredient or when I needed him to get something for me.

“Charlie?” I finally spoke as I knew the potion needed to brew without stirring for 15 minutes.

“Yes?” I couldn't help but giggle at the sound of his frightened voice.

“I was meaning to ask you something since the beginning of this year but I never got the chance.” At this point, I swear I could hear his heartbeat.

“I know it's not really my business and we're not that close,” I continued, “and if you don't feel like answering the question, you don't have to.” Charlie glanced at the door and back to me. He had to be terrified, thinking what was I going to ask him, poor lad.

“Do you like Nova?” He stiffened.

“Of course, I like Nova. She's my best friend.” He tried to sit more upright to make me think he was completely oblivious about what I asked him.

“Charlie, you know what I mean.” I sat next to him and rested my chin on my fist. “Do you fancy Nova?” His cheeks turned so red that I could barely see his freckles.

“N-no.” He stuttered.

“Say it one more time and I'll believe you.” I winked.

“No.” He repeated and cleared his throat.

“Okay, whatever you say. Just know that it's okay to talk about it, that's why I wanted you to come with me. I have been watching you since you were with us in August. The way you were looking at her. Admiring her every move. Snapping out of your imagination every time someone spoke to you. Getting your cheeks red every time she walked into the room.”

“Is it that obvious?” He bowed his head.

“A little bit.” I giggled. “But I think I am the only one who noticed and your secret is safe with me.” I patted his shoulder.

“I could imagine that you needed some time to realize what was going on?” I asked after a few seconds of silence. He nodded.

“And you probably didn't talk this through with anyone?” He nodded again.

“Well, now is your chance to talk about it.” I gave out a friendly smile. “When did you realize you have feelings for her?”

“That night we sneaked into the Forbidden Forest.” Wow, he was really oblivious.

“And how does that make you feel?” I tried to catch his eyesbut he kept avoiding mine.

“Terrible.” He sighed. “I don't want to have these feelings. I don't want to be red in the face whenever she's around. I don't want to feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest and I definitely don't want to do anything about it.” He frowned.

“I understand. I was in a similar situation last year.” He looked me in the eyes for the first time.

“Who did you fancy last year?” I blushed and knew I made a mistake. I was not prepared to tell him that I had a crush on his big brother.

“Nobody you'd know.” I lied. “Listen, Charlie. What you are feeling is completely normal. It happens to everybody when we get to this age.”

“Well, I don't want it happening to me. I have more important things to do.” He got mad.

“Like read about Dragons?” I chuckled. “Exactly!” He grinned.

“You can read about Dragons, study Dragons, work with Dragons, fly with Dragons for all I care and you can still fancy someone and hold hands.” I winked.

“Woah, woah! Hold hands? Didn't you hear what I said?” He got defensive. “I don't wish or plan to act on it.”

“Oh, I heard you. I just chose to ignore you.” I pursed my lips.

“Perhaps you might not want to do anything about it now, but in a few years you might feel ready to do something about it.” I ruffled his hair. Nova was right, it is soft.

“A few years?” He jumped on his chair. “It's not going to last that long!”

“Whatever you say. It might, it might not.” I shrugged.

“I can't do anything about it, Penny. She's my best friend. You're not supposed to feel like that about your best friend. It ruins everything.” He gave out a deep sigh.

“I know that's probably the main reason you needed so long to figure it out and I understand that you think this might ruin your friendship with Nova but just imagine holding her hand.” I closed his eyes with my fingers. “Are you going to deny that you don't secretly want to do that?”

“I do.” He buried his head in his hands and let out a little cry.

“It's okay if you feel you're not ready to do anything about it, just don't deny your feelings because it only makes them stronger.” I lifted his chin.

“Penny, something that you are forgetting is that I don't know if she feels the same way.” He leaned over the table, his palm making a hole in his cheek.

“Look at how long it took you to realize you fancied her. For all we know, she might just be as oblivious as you.” I winked at him and he bestowed me with a little smile.

“Thank you for talking to me, Penny. I do feel better knowing I am not alone in this.” He hugged me. He was just the most adorable thing ever!

“No problem, Charlie. And if you ever need to talk about it just say that you have a Potions question.” I giggled. “It will be our little secret.”

Once we finished our heart to heart and our potion we hurried back to Hogsmeade and made Tonks drink it at once. The lot already calmed her down a bit, her carrying two large bags filled with Zonko's products. Charlie and I couldn't help but laugh.

We kept an extra eye on her for the rest of the week until the exams were finished and just like that, we saved Tonks yet again as she passed all her exams and to be completely honest, didn't do that bad on them either!

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thelivebookproject · 4 years ago

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December Wrap Up + 2020 Annual Review

BOOKS READ (12)

The Roommate - Rosie Danan --> 3.5/5

Olvidado rey Gudú - Ana María Matute --> 2.5/5 *

Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson –> 4.5/5 [Review]

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (Dash & Lily #1) - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan –> 2.5/5 [Review]

Beach Read - Emily Henry –> 4.5/5 [Review]

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) - Philip Pullman --> 3.5/5

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air #3.5) - Holly Black --> 3.5/5

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite - Ed. Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker --> 3/5

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet - Bernie Su & Kate Rorick --> 4/5 [REREAD]

The Lost Estate - Alain-Fournier --> 2/5

Well Played (Well Met #2) - Jen DeLuca --> 3.5/5

The Court of Miracles (A Court of Miracles #1) - Kester Grant --> 4.5/5

*Only available in Spanish

CHALLENGES

December Readathon

TO SUM UP DECEMBER

What a great month!!!!! I managed to read 12 books and enjoyed the majority of them, so I couldn’t ask for a better way to end the year. I am especially happy because my last book of the year, which I won in a giveaway, was a masterpiece, so it was a great note to end on. I really hope this reading luck keeps in 2021!

Under the cut you can find my (very thorough) 2020 annual review, don’t miss it!

2020 it might have been a terrible year in all aspects, but in reading terms I can't complain. I've read 113 books!!!!

Photo proof of me absolutely demolishing my yearly goal of 85. You can check out everything I've read here!

If you're curious and want a bit more depth, you can check out my monthly wrap ups, of which I'm very proud (you can see my reads, my ratings, links to reviews, any challenges I did that month, etc):

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December's in this same post

I also wrote a top 10 list about the best books I read in 2020... Including an addendum that I read too late to include. Whoops.

I completed, in some cases surpassed, all my yearly goals, including my 20 in 20 goals. Everything is crossed off and I couldn't be prouder of myself! The only thing I didn't do is actually write any reviews in French (I did review some books in Spanish) because I was too much of a coward. Maybe 2021 will be the year this blog becomes officially trilingual...

One of the highlights of the year were, of course, the reading challenges and events I participated in! Here are some (but I'm pretty sure there are others I've forgotten about):

Fairytale February

Comfort Zone Bingo

Summer Reading Bingo Challenge

Reading Ibero-America Challenge

Bookoween

December Readathon

And now onto my reading stats. I saw @lizziethereader doing them last year and immediately became jealous, so here are my own!

First, the authors. I read 96 authors, excluding the individual authors of the short stories anthologies I read because it was too complicated to bother with each one.

Gender diversity:

(Next goal: reading more non-binary authors!)

Racial diversity:

(I clearly need to do better...)

Country/area diversity:

(I definitely need to do better on this area!)

And now onto the books themselves!! All of these graphics (and info) belong to The StoryGraph, and they really satisfy my inner nerd.

Finally, there are a couple of other things I'm really happy about that I can't not mention.

In September, I became a moderator of Forgotten YA Gems after about two years of being a member in the group, and it's been great so far. Carrie (@brightbeautifulthings) and I have been planning lots of things for 2021, and I really hope people participate. Come join us!

And, obviously, my interview project Talking Books With has been an absolute wonder. I still can't believe everyone's enthusiasm and encouragement, and I'm really, really happy I started it. 2021 will bring us lots of new interviews, so catch up on everything here! Thank you so much.

All in all, 2020 hasn't been that bad. I'm really happy with everything I read, thankful for people here on booklr, and I can't wait to see what the new year brings.

Read you in 2021!

#monthly wrap up #annual review #december 2020 wrap up #2020 review #booklr #december 2020 #thelivebookproject

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paranymf · 5 years ago

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Quarantine tag game

Tagged by @shirbertndisney , thank you sweety! <3

Are you staying home from work/school? Yes, normally I would be a kitchen employee at a Theme Park, but they decided to close for the time being and were later forced by the government to stay closed.

If you’re staying home, who’s there with you? My parents and my sister. We have the occasionally fall-outs for being so cramped together, but overall, I feel we’re handeling this pretty well!

Are you a homebody? Depends. I really like being home with family and friends, but lately my parents keep pressing that we (my sister and I) live in their house so we have adjust to their “rules” (more wishes) and if we want to do what we want, we have to move out. So I like being home, but I’d like it to be my home. And I have to go outside regularly, especially to get my vitamin d3. Unfortunately, I’m really susceptible to a winter depression. But when I go outside, I keep my distance with everyone and mostly go walking or biking and reading at a place with nature surrounded.

An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled? A lot of conventions got cancelled, but I’m not really bothered by them, because there is always next year. My musical theatre production group postponed this year’s musical to next year, which I might not be able to join, which makes me very sad. But I think the big party my parents had planned for their retirement, their anniversaries and the new future they are looking forward to, bums me out the most. It’s not officially cancelled, but they think it’s going to be and they probably don’t want to postpone it.

What movies have you watched recently? I think the last one was either Frozen II or How To Train Your Dragon? I haven’t really watched any movies recently, haha.

What shows are you watching? I was already busy with a casual (read: watch an episode or more when I feel like it) rewatch of Avatar: The Last Airbender and right after I was stuck home I binged Seven Deadly Sins to get a recap before the next season would come to Netflix (although I learned today that I probably have to wait until July/August). When I had really low motivations to do anything, I binged A Letter for the King in one day. But currently I’m busy with Critical Role: C1: Vox Machina. I’m only at the fifth episode, but I’m already so in love with all of the Mighty Nine! I only watch on youtube when I can keep myself busy with coscrafting, so it’s going to take time to get through it, but I don’t mind to have so much content waiting for me, haha.

What music are you listening to? I have three playlists I play a lot at the moment. When I’m working on my current WIP, I have a special playlist for that and when I’m in the mood to listen to it. When I’m reading (either FF or my book) I listen to a playlist that’s called Peaceful Piano. It calms my mind and everytime I feel so many emotions because of the story, the music apparently has the perfect mood for it. And the last playlist is a short playlist with music that’s associated with series of films and mostly music that brings me in a dancing/happy mood! My mom lols everytime I start dancing to the music when I’m cleaning up after dinner.

What are you reading? My current book is Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb. I’m so happy I’m finally continuing the Farseer Trilogy and it’s so good. With fanfiction I’m finally caught up with @aleteia-ff ‘s Phantomverse! I did a reread of POTA and didn’t have had the time to read The Last Snoggletog and her first two chapters of POTA2 yet. Pssst: I really reccommend this series! I’m going to continue to catch up with the rest of the 71 emails my inbox currently has on “unread” from AO3, because, yeah, that’s gotta go away sometime, lol.

What are you doing for self-care? The first week was okay, I was enjoying the fact I didn’t have irregular hours from work anymore. But at the end of the week I spend a whole day bingewatching one series and I really felt that I needed structure back in my life. So make lists for everyday. I want “move” 1 hour everyday (that would either biking or walking, preferably outside) and read 1 hour everyday (I switch between my book and fanfiction everyday. For the rest: from Monday till Friday I plan 1 hour of betaing for a friend everyday and with NaNoWriMo writing is a daily task too. I plan my showers, trying to motivate myself to get up on time from Monday till Friday, cooking for my family is for Wednesdays, plan my washing, coscrafting, etc, etc. My mom noticed immediately that it helped me because I was in a much better mood. And these lists also made me realise I definitely want to quit my job as soon as possible, because I am not made for those irregular hours. I need so much more structure in my life and the job I have right now is definitely not suitable for that.

Excuse the amount of words I used.

If you want to, I tag @aleteia-ff to do it!

#ask game #quarantaine ask game

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ais-n · 5 years ago

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Update: Yep, I recommend Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L Hawk

In August I answered an ask regarding recommendations for other m/m series, and at the time I said this:

This was regarding the Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L Hawk (first book: Widdershins).

Since then, I read the first 10 books twice in a row, then discovered last night that the final book in the series had just come out this month so I read that too. I have now finished the series and can give an update, fwiw.

I have to say that overall, yep, I definitely recommend the series for anyone looking for a new m/m series.

Whyborne & Griffin has aspects of it that aren’t just boilerplate cookie cutter storytelling, and I like that. Plus, as a person Whyborne really represents well that feeling I had for a lot of my life of refusing to bend to society while also feeling isolated in the process despite my stubborn determination to never do otherwise. It’s like you refuse to be anyone other than yourself, and you aren’t ashamed of who you are, but you’re made to feel you should be, and that leads you down all sorts of inner paths; you have a lot of self-confidence in some arenas, and a ton of self-consciousness in others. I really appreciate that about the series; I rarely see characters represent that side of me the way Whyborne so eloquently does.

I don’t want to go into a long ass ramble here since I don’t want to have to put any text behind a read more link, also I don’t want to give spoilers. What I will say is that W&G isn’t overall as dark across the board as I normally gravitate toward, but it does deal with darkness. What I love about it is the characters, and the fact that in terms of storytelling themes spread across the series, it does a really fantastic job in some arenas in a way I can’t explore here without inherently giving big spoilers.

I really love how perspective is dealt with in this series. I also love the characters; it’s one of those cases where I equally love the main characters, including the main couple. Christine is probably my favorite main female character in a m/m series I can think of offhand. Whyborne is so delightfully melodramatic at times, and Griffin is so heartbreakingly human at others, that I just overall really enjoy it.

All the main characters are really strong in their own rights, and yet have a story of transformation across the entirety of the series, based on the sort of person they are in the beginning to what they learn/decide/etc along the way. As characters their flaws are just as evident as their merits, and in the overall story that is embraced rather than denied. There’s good character development for sure, which I really appreciate as a character-driven reader.

There’s enough in the series to love, plus some well done overarching storytelling techniques IMO, that I can say I do include it on my recommendation list now that I’ve finished it. I can’t really give any sort of direct comparison to other series in terms of my list of what series I love most, because first of all AFTG and RBW have been my loves for so long, but mostly because the series are so damn different. They really aren’t comparable, in all honesty, since the things I love about them are very different for each series. What W&G does so well is not necessarily reflected as well in the other stories I recommend, and vice versa.

No series is perfect; I’ve certainly never read a perfect story and will absolutely never write one. So I usually hesitate to go too hard on talking things up because I don’t want expectations to grow higher than reality, no matter what the topic, because when I enjoy something I get really excited and don’t shut up about it. And sometimes that means people expect the universe yet find they don’t get it, at no fault of theirs or the story’s; the fault is mine for being so enthusiastic.

So I won’t go on and on. I’ll just say that if you start reading it and still aren’t sure if it’s your jam, if you can at least read through the third book (Stormhaven) imo you’ll get a good snapshot of the series as a whole, although of course there’s a lot later that would be good for you to experience too. I’d say reading through at least book 6/Hoarfrost would give you the best way of seeing what I’m talking about for shifting perspective and why I love the storytelling themes in the series. But if you’re reading through book 6 of 11, why not just read the rest? Come on. You know you want to.

Also, it’s cool because you can buy the series in trilogies in ebook format if you’d like; that’s what I did and it saves you some money, although I do think it’s worth the individual pricing of the books as well.

Also, I want to make a note for anyone who might go check out the series without knowing anything about the author/etc. Just FYI, in the original author’s notes of the first book(s), Jordan L Hawk is referred to with she/her pronouns, but it then changes to they/them at some point in later books’ author’s notes. Last week, Jordan came out and is now using he/him pronouns. He said he’s working on updating his bios, including in the books, but I'm sure that will take quite some time. I just wanted to mention this for anyone who may only read the author’s notes. He said they/them is still okay, but if you see this ahead of time and if you feel inspired to reach out to him as I did, I wanted you to have the most updated information :) I just didn’t want anyone accidentally being hurt or doing any hurting by using outdated pronouns from bios that hadn’t had a chance to be fixed yet, especially when I imagine the reason for reaching out and the focus of your message would be the aspects of the series you enjoyed. Of which I hope there are many :)

Damnit, I made this post long after all.....

Anyway, go read Widdershins already, kthx lol

(PS if anyone wondered, I think my favorite books might be Stormhaven and Fallow? I can’t decide; I’d want to reread Draakenwood and Balefire in the greater context of the whole series now that it’s finished to see if they’re on the faves list too. Well. I’d just reread the whole series and decide at that time tbh but Stormhaven and Fallow were my on my fave list both times I read 1-10 so I already know I can list them. There are great scenes in every book, though. The horse scene in the latest book/Deosil was great lol)

#long post #book recs #whyborne and griffin #jordan l hawk #Book Recommendations #m/m #about me #recommendations

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joeys-piano · 5 years ago

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Writing Update - #1

WIP Formally Began: July 18th, 2019 Date of Update: August 31st, 2019 WIP Intro: Here

Current WIP Status: Outline/WIP Bible Current Status W/C: 65,340 W/C Added: ~5,000 words (this week)

Summary Report: My current project, Survive Said The Prophet, has grown significantly in a variety of ways throughout this week. Not only has the outline grown, but the official summary and title were also finalized and the story has been formally introduced to the Tumblr sphere.

~~~~~~~~~

On August 25th (Sunday), my outline for my conspiracy + sci-fi fic, Survive Said The Prophet, surpassed 60,000 words. The last time I had written this much for any story was either last year or two years ago, when I jumped the gun and tried my hand at writing about organized crime for the first time. Since that endeavour and learning from my experience, I’ve found that approaching stories with an extensive outline beforehand gives me a clearer idea of the arc/character progressions threaded throughout the plot. Although the 60k+ words to that organized crime story will not be picked up again, the experience and the sheer endurance that it took to write it has definitely prepared and laid down a foundation of weaknesses and strengths that I can refer to as I continue outlining Survive Said The Prophet. The formatting of the outline may’ve been an important part as to why I’ve written so much, why I still have the drive and energy to come back to this story, and why the story still intrigues me after putting so much of my time into developing it. Perhaps it’s the nature of the mysteries or how I’ve interwoven worldbuilding between canon hallmarks; whichever the case, coming back to this outline and just writing it makes me feel at ease. It’s been a few years since I’ve felt this way about writing, since I’ve felt this comfortable and sure of myself. Curious to know if it’s experience, if it’s a change in my mindset, a combination of both, or the influence of something else. On this same Sunday — mind you, I was writing as much as I could before the first day of the academic semester — I edited and finalized the summary for Survive Said The Prophet. For the past month or so, I’ve been rewriting and editing different summaries that I felt were decent previews to what’s to come. In my original drafts, I wanted to incorporate quotes that were from the story or quotes from the referenced authors in Bungou Stray Dogs. Before Survive Said The Prophet, many of the summaries I’ve written depended and leaned heavily onto quotes to convey whatever premise I was writing about. However, for this story, I couldn’t do that. I wanted my writing to stand on its own, rather than relying on the words of someone else or from a throwaway line that I’ve jotted somewhere in my outline. The most difficult part about this entire process was having to build a summary from scratch. During the past month, I referred back to previous summaries I’ve written and wondered if I could rework those for Survive Said The Prophet. What I quickly realized was that it wasn’t going to work. The summaries I’ve written beforehand, while they featured worldbuilding elements, weren’t for complex or heavily-involved stories. For the first time in months, I had to completely start from scratch. Unused to the experience, I knew I had to start somewhere. From July 28th to August 25th, I wrote close to a dozen new summaries with different directions, starting points, and different vibes on how to convey the premise of Survive Said The Prophet was to be presented. Keep in mind that for the most part, I didn’t know what the premise of the story was. Although I had jotted it down, it was a very pale reflection to what the actual premise was. Stumped at every corner and unsure what to do, I looked to resources on how to tackle this summary. From Goodreads to YouTube and to eventually IMDb, I found a muse of a summary that gave me an inspirational pause. While searching up thriller movies, I encountered Shutter Island. Reading the summary to that movie cleared the jumbled thoughts in my head, and it helped me realize what I wanted my summary to convey. Shutter Island’s summary began by noting the time and the incident that triggers the start of the plot. Out of all the summaries I’ve searched and read, this was the first one that began in this way. If I had only read the first sentence and nothing else from the movie’s blurb, I would still feel intrigued and would want to watch the movie to see what would happen. To me, the hallmark of a brilliant summary is when the first sentence has that kind of effect on the reader. Amazed and inspired, I began to draft what would eventually become the official summary for Survive Said The Prophet. On August 25th at 3:08 p.m., after editing and revising it so that it could within the character limits of AO3’s summary box, I had accomplished one of the most difficult parts of the outline so far. Now when people ask me what Survive Said The Prophet is about, I no longer have to give an abridged telltale version of what I think the premise is. Now, I have a summary that I can show to them and from what I heard from interested peeps and from my lovely brainstorming partner + muse, the official summary captures the essence of what Survive Said The Prophet is and raises more than enough intrigue to prompt a reader to discover for themselves what the story will be.

Between August 26th to August 28th, not very much happened. With this being the beginning of the academic semester, I didn’t have time to work on my main outline. With this in consideration, I decided to update and work on other aspects of Survive Said The Prophet that have nothing to do with writing. Namely, I wanted to create a wip introduction so I could formally show and talk about what I’ve been working on for more than a month now. I already had the summary completed and I had a few ideas in mind on what the story edits would be. I knew I was going to use a combination of Unsplash, Fotor, and Canva to help me make those edits into a reality, but I didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be and how nitpicky I would become as the wip introduction moved onto its later stages. Initially, the wip introduction was going to list the main characters that were in Survive Said The Prophet. However, after gauging how long the introduction was becoming and wanting to keep things concise and easy, I decided to omit the main characters from the final draft. For several reasons: I wanted to those character introductions in a post solely meant for them, I didn’t like how I was initially going to present them, and this main character segment was a real thorn to my backside so omitting cleared away some stress that was on my mind.

On the night of August 29th (Thursday), I completed my wip introduction and formally introduced Survive Said The Prophet to the public. As nerve-wracking as it was to finally do that, it doesn’t trump the stress that overtook my body a few hours prior as I was editing and formatting the images I used from Unsplash for my story edits. Easily, the most difficult part was finding a book cover template from Canva that I could use. Finding one that didn’t obscure the cover image was as easy as finding a blade of grass, half a centimeter shorter than all the rest. Eventually, I gave up on my search for a template and made the cover page on my own. I probably spent two hours, running the story title through dozens of different fonts and positionings until I was satisfied with the end result. Fortunately, I had late classes on the following day so I was able to stay up and work a little longer than I should’ve. But in the end, I finished what I wanted to do and had the introduction ready to be posted.

On August 30th (Friday), having had minimal contact with my main outline for almost the entire week, I spent a few hours of my morning before lunch rereading where I left off and revised/clarified a few things that I had jotted down beforehand. Notably, I revised an entire scene that involved a private exchange between two characters from conflicting organizations. I had noted along the margins that an anonymous tip had alerted law enforcement of what was going on for one of the members of the private exchange was a wanted criminal. Confused on why I added the anonymous tip and with no apparent lead/backstory on who sent it and why was it sent, it made the latter half of the scene play out as a matter of convenience, luck, and the third-cousin almost removed from Chekhov's family of things writers forget to include. Bothered that I included an anonymous tip so haphazardly into the scene, when it’s that anonymous tip that initiates the midpoint turn in the story, I knew I needed to clean things up. Fortunately, I had already begun that beforehand when I reread where I had left off, adding notes of clarification and fleshing out vague details that I had left behind. Now with a better understanding of how this arc progresses, I knew who the anonymous tip came from, why they sent it, and what the anonymous tipper wanted in exchange. Information is power, especially in a wip with psychological thriller vibes, so now I knew the motive and how events prior to this scene made sense and led up to this moment where law enforcement got involved. Afterwards, while still keeping the essence of the original scene’s intent and what happens, I revised how the second-half would follow and have a much clearer idea who and what triggers the midpoint turn in the story. The confrontation with the protagonist and antagonist — I would argue that there is no protagonist or antagonist in this story but for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to these two characters as such — is much stronger and more pivotal now that clarification has been addressed. Makes me really glad I’m taking my time outlining this story because these are the things that wouldn’t cross my mind if I began writing from the get-go.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing update #survive said the prophet

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wordsbysarah · 7 years ago

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The Blue Rose Society: Ch 1 Parts 1 & 2

Ever wanted to read a book about autistic children written by a real autistic person? The Blue Rose Society is a story about a girl, her autistic little sister, and both of their best friends trying to make it through a harsh world. The book is still a WIP, but it switches between their four POVs, so have fun with it!

--Delia--

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Delia Sloane rolled over with a grumble, blindly reaching for her alarm clock. Silly her, she’d forgotten to turn it off since the school year ended yesterday. By the time should found the ‘off’ button, her consciousness was rising to the surface, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. She was a light sleeper, after all, which was difficult knowing who her family was. Groaning at her own forgetfulness, she sat up and ran her fingers through her short brown hair that had just been cut in anticipation of the sticky Savannah summer. There was already a commotion coming from downstairs, and though she wasn’t eager to get up, she went to go brush her teeth so that she could join her family.

“Good mornin’, chickpea,” she greeted her little sister, giving the girl’s short blonde hair a ruffle. She’d had it cut into a bob to be just like her big sister, but since her hair was naturally wavy it was a mess more often than not. The girl was too preoccupied to answer, though.

“I specifically said there has to be an even number of blueberries in my pancakes!” she was shouting at their mother. “There are thirteen -- you can count ‘em, thirteen -- blueberries and I can’t eat this!”

The mother sighed, her eyes puffy and hair in a tangle. Maybe it was summer, but it didn’t look like there would be any sleeping in. “Baby, it’s just food. The blueberries aren’t gonna kill you.”

As the girl started stomping her feet, Delia took her mother by the arm. “Go back to bed. I’ll do it today,” she said softly. Her mom nodded gratefully and started back down the hall to the stairs, but the little girl was less happy about this.

“No, it HAS to be made by mom!” she shouted. “Mom always makes my breakfast every day.”

Delia leaned down to her eye level. “Maisie, look at me,” she said calmly, but firmly. “Deep breaths, remember?” Her sister didn’t meet her eyes, but took a deep breath, bobbing her head slightly every time she counted down another number from ten.

“Okay,” Maisie eventually conceded. Delia stuffed a piece of her sister’s gluten-free pancake into her own mouth and started on a new batch, each pancake with twelve carefully placed blueberries. She had to remind the girl to sit on her bottom, and to put down her stuffed dog while at the kitchen table, but breakfast went relatively smoothly. As Maisie ate, Delia took a moment to admire her. She had these intelligent, bright blue eyes with little flecks of gold around the center. Delia had heard a rumor once that the gold flecks meant Maisie would have trouble with her vision later in life, but she didn’t know how true that was. She had a slender nose and pale skin, with the occasional orange freckle. Her nails were currently painted blue and purple, which contrasted each other, but it was what she’d asked Delia to do, so she obliged. They were also contrasted with the pink princess costume she wore almost every day that she could. She was extra tall for her age of nine, and that coupled with the fact that she was slightly overweight made her look at least eleven years old. Although, she spoke more like a six year old, which surprised everyone who met her. This wasn’t to say that Maisie wasn’t smart, of course. She was sharp as a tack. She just thought differently than most people.

Then came the summer morning routine. Delia straightened her sister’s hair, because Maisie wanted it to look just like Delia’s and she couldn’t do it without burning herself. Then they watched an hour and a half of kids’ programs on television while Delia rested her eyes, curled up against a soft pillow. After that, Delia could watch whatever she wanted, and Maisie had to read a book. She usually did this in her bedroom, where she had an entire library, but she reread her favorites over and over again. Her favorite being Junie B. Jones books, which were great for her age group, but her whole family was certain she was capable of understanding more adult themes than that.

After a period of reading, Delia and Maisie went outside to enjoy the warm weather. It was humid, but they were used to that, living by the sea in Georgia, so the stickiness didn’t bother them as much anymore. Especially with their nice, cool, short hairstyles. It seemed they weren’t the only ones planning on being outside though -- there was a moving truck outside of the house to their left.

They decided to go say hello to their new neighbors.

It seemed to be a family of three. A mother and a father and a little boy, who was eight years old, according to his mother. “That’s really close to your age, huh?” Delia mentioned to her sister, “Maybe you two could be friends.”

But the boy didn’t speak to either of the girls. He sat in the grass playing with a remote controlled race car that was painted blue and white. While Maisie went to go talk to the boy, Delia made small talk with the parents.

“His name is August,” the mother told her. “We’re… working on is communication skills,” she said with a sidelong glance at her husband.

“Well, he’s welcome to come over and hang out with Maisie and me any time,” Delia offered in an effort to be kind. She knew what it was like to have a family member that didn’t communicate very well.

“That’s very nice of you, but we wouldn’t want to put that burden on you,” said the father. Delia had to resist the instinct to wrinkle her nose. Burden? The word didn’t sit very well with her, but she knew not everyone could be patient with children with special needs.

Just then, a shout came from the direction of the house. The two kids were fighting over the remote controlled car. August was shrieking, while Maisie yelled, “You have to share!” over and over again. Maisie was great at sharing, as long as it was someone else’s property. Of course, she didn’t quite understand that she shouldn’t force someone else to share their toy when she was the one who entered their house uninvited. Delia ran over to try and break up the fight, but her sister was intensely focused on the toy.

“If you play nice and let go, I’ll let you have extra TV time,” Delia stated in a measured tone.

“I am being nice, he just won’t share and he’s supposed to share!” Maisie yelled, clutching the toy as the boy continued to scream.

“Maisie, listen to me,” Delia continued. “If you don’t let go, I’ll get mom to take away a sticker.”

Of course, that worked. She loved her stickers, especially the little colorful stars. Maisie let go of the car and backed up a few paces, so August took his toy and ran haphazardly into his new house.

“Go back inside,” Delia ordered her sister.

“But I want to stay outside,” the girl protested.

“We can come back outside later, okay? I promise.” As Maisie walked back to her own house, Delia turned to the parents. “I’m so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. She’s normally such a good kid.”

Mrs. Freeman waved her hand in dismissal. “It’ll be alright, dear. It’s not entirely her fault. I guess they just weren’t meant to be friends,” she said, although her husband gave Delia a wary look. “I’d better go check on him,” and she followed her child into the house.

Delia was suddenly uncomfortable being alone with Mr. Freeman, so she gave a slight nod and returned home. However, when she got there, her sister was nowhere to be found. Not in the living room, the kitchen, or any of the bedrooms. She rolled her eyes and started out the back door, crossing to the large weeping willow tree in the yard and leaning down to tap on the fort made of cardboard and blankets that they’d built together. There was a faint “come in” and she pushed aside a blanket to sit in the, admittedly, very warm set of boxes on the grass.

--Maisie--

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought, banging her head against her arm, propped up by her knees pulled to her chest. Maisie was huddled in the corner of the fort, crying. “I did something bad, didn’t I?” she choked out. “I acted bad and they thought I was weird.” Tears streamed down her face. “I just want to be good,” she said.

“Oh honey…” her sister started, crawling over to sit beside her. “Can I touch you?” she asked. Maisie nodded, ever grateful that she’d even asked. Delia took her into her arms and held Maisie’s head against her shoulder. “You are good. You’re better than most people, you just don’t know it yet.” Her sister stroked her hair.

“Then how come I don’t have any friends?” Maisie blubbered.

“I’m your friend,” said Delia. “We’re like our own little club. In fact,” she pulled back to look at Maisie with a twinkle in her eye, “why don’t we start a club, just you and me? It’ll be our little thing.”

Maisie brightened up a little. “I’ve never been part of a club before,” she said with a hearty sniffle.

“Yeah? Well, you’re part of a club now.”

“What’s our club called?” asked Maisie.

Delia twisted her mouth to the side and looked to the ceiling, pondering. “How about… the Blue Rose Society?”

“How come?” asked Maisie, whose interest was quite piqued.

“Well,” Delia said, squishing Maisie’s cheek lightly with her free hand, “because blue roses are rare, and beautiful, and they’re mysterious. Just like you.”

Maisie nodded, turning over the idea in her head until she was satisfied. “Okay. The Blue Rose Society,” she repeated. “When do we meet?”

“We’ll meet three times a week officially, but you know, whenever we’re together can be an impromptu meeting,” said Delia. “And we’ll always be together.” She poked Maisie on the tip of the nose, and she giggled. “How about we take this club on the road?”

This was more than Maisie could’ve hoped for. “You mean we get to go to the beach today?”

Delia smiled and said, “Let me ask mom first, but I think the answer is yes.”

#autism #actually autistic #aspergers #autism book #ya fiction #my wips #the blue rose society #my books #long post

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haleyfury · 4 years ago

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If you couldn’t tell by the title, today is my twenty-second birthday. To say the least, it’s definitely a weird birthday thanks to our current reality. I’ll be going out shopping – in mostly outdoor shopping outlets – for the first time since January and I have plans to celebrate with friends later on this week. 21 was a big growing up year for me, and despite the events of the last five months or so, I loved being 21. I think 22 is going to be another big growing up year for me, as I navigate post-college life, real working world and grad school included. I’m trying to be more optimistic and less stressed in August, and I want to do my best to carry out this attitude this year!

I wanted to bring some birthday cheer to the blog today, so I’ll be sharing 22 of my favorite things that have brought me so much joy this summer, in the forms of books, TV/movies, and podcasts – you’ll likely recognize a few repeats from my monthly wrap-ups but I can’t stop gushing about them so much! I also didn’t want to share strictly books because I recently shared my favorite reads of 2020, and let’s be honest yearly wrap ups or a summer wrap up will be here before we know it!

Books

Some books that I’ve LOVED but haven’t shared too many details about yet or full reviews for include:

The Heir Affair (The Royal We #2) by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks – I feel like I’ve mentioned The Heir Affair in so many blog posts this summer, but I officially read & finished it last week… and I can’t stop thinking about this sequel to The Royal We! I actually got too impatient to wait for a physical copy from the library, so I borrowed a digital copy and devoured it on my Kindle in about 2 days. The Heir Affair was everything I wanted in this sequel, and while I’m really content with the way it ended, I seriously would not mind a third book.

Anna K by Jenny Lee – Anna K is hands-down one of the best YA books I’ve read in 2020. I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to use the Gossip Girl meets Crazy Rich Asians comparison because while it has GG vibes (and honestly not really CRA), it is such a story of its own. I loved its Anna Karenina retelling, and it just felt so mature. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on the upcoming sequel.

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman – I didn’t write a review of Deborah Feldman’s Unorthodox, having just included in in my July wrap-up, but it definitely didn’t do how much I loved this memoir justice! This was another Kindle read because I didn’t want to wait for a physical library copy. I watched the Netflix adaptation back in March, and while I feel like the show captured the spirit of the book (Deborah Feldman was also a big part of the project), her memoir is just so, so good and so different from the show. Almost immediately after finishing it I borrowed her second memoir, Exodus, and enjoyed that read too.

From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon – I admit that I’ve become more critical about what historical fiction I pick up because of my coursework and reading in Holocaust Studies, but I thought From Sand and Ash was a really well-written and untold story set during WWII. The book follows a Catholic priest and a Jewish woman who were raised together pre- WWII and the efforts the two go through trying to hide Jewish people in WWII time Italy, while they also have feelings for one another.

Books I’ve also loved, but also feel like I’ve been talking non-stop about include:

All Adults Here by Emma Straub – Seriosuly, everyone needs to give all of her books a chance and I think her latest release, All Adults Here, is the perfect one to start with.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle – The BEST contemporary romance I’ve read this summer (and maybe ever??).

Beach Read by Emily Henry – The.hype.is.true!!! Please take this one with you on your travels to the beach, pool, or bed this August!

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – Such a must-read YA book. I loved Emoni’s story about raising her daughter and her dreams of going to culinary school.

Have a Little Faith in Me by Sonia Hartl – If you’re looking for a YA book with great discussions surrounding sex and religion (and want to transport yourself to summer camp), Have a Little Faith in Me is the perfect read for you.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon – It really isn’t summer without a Sandhya Menon book, and her latest release is another must read, especially for those who love frenemies-to-lovers.

Some romance reads I’ve talked A LOT about and have really enjoyed include Colleen Hoover’s Verity, Hannah Orenstein’s Playing with Matches, Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You, & my reread of Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments.

TV/Movies

Below Deck Mediterranean S5 (Bravo) – Below Deck has pretty much been my reality TV obsession since stay-at-home life started back in March. The latest spinoff season, Below Deck Mediterranean, might just be my favorite season yet. I love the crew and its female leadership and the drama has me so hooked this season especially.

Selling Sunset S2 & S3 (Netflix) – I really think Selling Sunset might be my favorite Netflix reality show. I watched the second season over Memorial Day weekend, and at the time I’m writing this post, I’ve watched the first 6 episodes of season 3. I know I’ll likely have finished the whole season by this morning! I admit that the drama between the women is way over the top, but at the same time, I can’t get over the extravagance of their lives & jobs.

The West Wing (NBC/Netflix) – The West Wing has been my family’s watch since about June. I think because of Parks & Recreation, it often pops up on my Netflix recommendations. My parents decided to rewatch it, especially because major league sports hadn’t been on for a while. I’m still on the first season – we’ve slowed down since baseball came back on- but I’m ready to sneakily watch it on my own because I love it so much.

Sleepless in Seattle (Netflix) – You might know that I love movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s, so it might seem really weird that I’ve only just watched Sleepless in Seattle for the first time! I really loved it! I enjoyed it a lot more than You’ve Got Mail, but I still have to watch When Harry Met Sally so I can properly share my rankings.

The Politician S2 (Netflix) – If you’re craving a slightly ridicuslous, but absolutely addicting watch, please go watch The Politician ASAP. I think I liked the first season more than this second season… but that doesn’t mean I didn’t finish it in less than two days and find myself listening to Ben Platt’s cover “Corner of the Sky” all the time.

Sugar Rush: Extra Sweet (Netflix) – I’ve recently realized that Sugar Rush might just be my favorite baking competition show! I feel like it’s so refreshing from other American baking shows because the judges are just so nice and not super critical, and I really love the themes in this season.

The Babysitters Club (Netflix) – The Babysitters Club is another thing I feel like I keep mentioning in posts, so I think that’s enough of a sign that it’s time for you to watch if you haven’t!

Podcasts

Bad on Paper – Bad on Paper is definitely going to make it’s way on to my yearly favorites wrap-up. I’ve really ventured into the world of podcasts in 2020, but Bad on Paper is my absolute favorite. I specifically make time to walk or do some sort of activity (mostly baking or cleaning) so I can listen to their new episodes on Wednesdays. Their podcast is such the perfect blend of books and conversations about careers, life, shopping, pop culture and more. I also love reading Grace’s blog, The Stripe, and I loved the first season of Becca’s RomCom Pods.

“Behind-the-Scenes of Book Marketing with Morgan Hot (@nycbookgirl)” Episode by Sarah Bookshelves Lives – Another favorite bookish podcast of mine is Sarah Bookshelves Live. She does bi-weekly episodes in the summer- I also think she’ll be starting the fall with bi-weekly episodes as well-, but my favorite so far has been with Morgan of the bookstagram, @nycbookgirl, who also works in publishing. I loved her insight on the industry.

What have some of your summer favorites been? Any I mentioned? Do you have any book, TV, or podcast recommendations for me? Share in the comments!

Happy 22nd Birthday to Me: 22 Favorite Books, TV Shows & More If you couldn’t tell by the title, today is my twenty-second birthday. To say the least, it’s definitely a weird birthday thanks to our current reality.

#Birthday #Favorites #Summer 2020 #Summer Favorites

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lucyariablog · 7 years ago

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Content Marketing Trends to Watch for 2018

About 12 months ago, I covered some content marketing trends to watch for 2017. I recently reread that post and most of the trends are very much in play for 2018 and beyond. Most enterprises are still working through creation of a true, living content marketing strategy for their organizations. Native advertising is still the gateway drug for many content marketing programs, and mobile is, well, it continues to be the flavor of every month as consumer use grows.

But some truly interesting events have occurred over the past few months that, I believe, begin to speak to the evolution of the content marketing practice itself.

Big bets on original content

Reports surfaced recently that Apple, the most valuable company in the world based on stock market capitalization, is planning to invest over $1 billion on original content. (Robert and I discussed this at length in the This Old Marketing podcast Episode 197.) Although there is talk about this move positioning Apple to take on Netflix, we believe this move is more significant than Apple just getting into the television show or streaming video business. Apple needs to stay relevant and consistent, valuable programming can grow its audiences and keep their attention (just like for any other company).

We also know that Google is purchasing original content from both brands and media companies (we’ve learned this firsthand), specifically to fill content gaps found through their search algorithms. And, not to be outdone, Facebook is spending significant dollars on original video directly out of the marketing budget. And don’t leave out perhaps the biggest buyer of original content, Amazon.

What all this means we don’t know yet, but one thing is sure: Consistent, original, and addictive content is all the rage. In some ways, we are seeing the golden age of a new television … it just happens on any and every device imaginable.

Consistent, original, & addictive #content is all the rage, says @JoePulizzi. Click To Tweet

How does this affect you? First, if your main competitor isn’t betting big on original content, it will be soon. The window for building a trusted and loyal audience is happening right now. Second, those who build new and trusted content brands will have multiple options to monetize that content, either directly from customers or prospects or secondarily from syndication through the Apples and Googles of the world.

Build trusted content brands & gain multiple options to monetize that content, predicts @JoePulizzi. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Democratization of Distrust Is Our Biggest Opportunity

Onslaught of acquisitions

Some will create, while others will buy. After we have brought this to your attention for years, the acquisition of content brands is now a major trend.

The acquisition of #content brands is now a major trend, says @JoePulizzi. Click To Tweet

Arrow Electronics, the Amazon of electronics components, purchased 51 (yes, that’s right) media properties from UBM and Hearst, and has created the largest media company in the B2B electronics industry. It now reaches 76% of electronic engineers and has a separate division running the for-profit unit.

In early August, Netflix made its first major media acquisition, buying comic book publisher Millarworld. This is yet another signal that Netflix is moving away from licensing other people’s content to create its own intellectual property.

The build-it or buy-it question is still in play, and from the current flow of money, it looks like both avenues are strong and growing in the content creation and distribution space.

Marketing as a profit center

Late last year, both Mondelez and Pepsi announced significant investments in the launch of internal content studios. Judging from the comments from the marketing leadership at both companies, a portion of these marketing arms will generate revenue and includes the possibility of for-profit ventures.

CMI believes that is the next iteration of content marketing – building multiple audience groups within the enterprise and monetizing those groups in dozens of ways. Eventually, some innovative companies, like Arrow and Johnson & Johnson (with its babycenter.com), will generate enough revenue to outpace expenses. The marketing department will become a self-sustaining entity.

Innovative companies will generate enough revenue from content to outpace expenses, predicts @JoePulizzi. Click To Tweet

As Robert Rose and I discuss in our new book, Killing Marketing, even if the marketing profit center isn’t possible in your organization, the process of wrapping your arms around the costs and benefits of content creation is critical. All senior marketing executives are curious about the creation and flow of content, especially since nearly every company is creating more content this year than last.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The 4th Reason for Content Marketing: A Profit Center

Content marketing budgets worldwide

A recent study found that getting proficient at content marketing is the No. 1 goal for marketers in Asia Pacific. In addition, our own research found that most U.S. marketers are increasing their content marketing budgets similarly to those around the world. (Here’s an interesting study from the Nordics.)

Getting proficient at #contentmarketing is the #1 goal for marketers in Asia Pacific via @thenewbase study. Click To Tweet

This is both good and bad. I’ve been in this industry for almost 20 years, and it’s amazing to see marketing departments committed to the practice of content marketing with real marketing dollars.

That said, I’m also concerned by the campaign nature of these budgets.

Recently, I met with a group of senior marketers at a large consumer-technology company. They doubled their content creation and promotion budget from 2015 to 2017 (which is great), but most of the investment was in projects (which is not great). These projects were three- to six-month video series or time-based native advertising programs.

Sound familiar? It should. Most brands still treat their content marketing like advertising. For content marketing to truly work, it must be differentiated and consistently produced over a long time (like media companies do). I’m afraid that most of these content marketing investments will go without bearing any fruit … and that’s why we still have a long way to go in our content marketing journey.

Successful #contentmarketing must be differentiated & consistently produced over a long time. @JoePulizzi Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The One Ingredient Your Content Marketing Program Is Missing

Turf war is on

Over the summer, we began working with a large health-care company. Its content marketing results have been outstanding as it’s grown a number of content brands and audiences while slowly pulling away from traditional advertising. It’s been so successful that it caught the attention of the CMO and the entire marketing organization has content fever.

The unexpected consequence is a turf war and a disjointed strategy. PR and communications have hired their own content team members separate from the company’s official content studio. Social media roles overlap, and everyone and no one is in charge of the content marketing strategy.

We’ve seen this happen (it’s one of the reasons why we wrote Killing Marketing). Marketing leaders need to step up and give ownership to someone to lead the content strategy, which ultimately must be a mandate coming from the chief marketing officer (or higher). Practitioners, in turn, need to get together with other department leaders as quickly as possible and make sure everyone is on the same page. This is a difficult challenge, as some marketing leaders may think a content land grab is necessary (so they can save their jobs).

Marketing leaders need to step up & give ownership to someone to lead the #content strategy. @JoePulizzi Click To Tweet

Overall, I see this as the most exciting time in marketing, where we can build audiences directly and make a major impact in the overall business model for the organization. That said, this move will come with pain points and challenges as we see the deconstruction and rebuild of the marketing department as we know it.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Content Marketing Book of Answers: Managing Your Content

Get ready for a wild ride.

Want some advice on how to handle the roller coaster that is content marketing? Subscribe to the daily email (or weekly digest) from Content Marketing Institute. (Even better news? It’s a free ride.)

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Content Marketing Trends to Watch for 2018 appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/09/content-marketing-trends-2018/

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afoolsingenuity · 8 years ago

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Bite Sized Books // Let’s Talk About Some Romance Reads

Well, I’m a little behind in some of my reviews so here are few reviews for some romance I’ve read in the past few weeks. I read a lot of romance and I would have done individual posts for each one but then I wouldn’t manage to get reviews up for weeks because I am on a reviewing roll and I don’t like posting everyday. So instead Bite Sized Books romance post happened so please enjoy.

Close To Home (Sanctuary Island #5) – Lily Everett

Published: 7th February 2017 Source: Publisher (NetGalley) Genre: Romance, Contemporary My Rating:

The best journeys take us home….

When Tessa Alexander came to Sanctuary Island, she left behind a marriage to a man who didn’t love her the way she loved him. When she finally found the strength to set them both free, she discovered friendship and self-acceptance in her adopted hometown. Now she’s settled into a quiet life on her own—never expecting to see her husband again.

Johnny spent almost two years deep undercover, unable to let his wife into his cold, dangerous world. He’s shaken to the core when he comes home to find her gone. It’s painfully clear that Tessa is no longer the timid young woman he married—she’s become a force of nature, a brave and determined beauty. Johnny can’t let her go without a fight so he sets out to seduce his own wife. But will passion alone be enough to convince Tessa that her new life should include a second chance at happiness with a man who must learn to believe in love?

I was emailed about this book and had never heard of Lily Everett before. I am not normally one for reading books part way through a series, I mean this is book 5 and I know sometimes it can feel like you’re missing bits because you’ve not met all the characters before. Not so with this one, it felt like it was the perfect point to begin reading as you see Sanctuary Island through an outsiders eyes anyway. Johnny is in Sanctuary Island to get his wife back and do his required therapy after returning from an undercover op.

I have to say right off the bat this book is one of this dramatic reads which won’t be to everyone’s tastes but it was strangely addictive and such a quick read and I loved it for that. I did find myself more absorbed by the romance between Quinn and Marcus, but since that is the next book in the series (and another I plan to review) I am not too upset that I cared more for the secondary characters since I know there is more to come for them.

It’s not that I didn’t like the romance between Tessa and Johnny, I just wasn’t as absorbed by it. I loved that Tessa had left the marriage she thought was all about obligation and had no love. I loved she had grown as a person and learnt to stand up for herself. And I loved the spark between her and Johnny. I just didn’t feel the same tension between them because it seemed so inevitable they would get back together as they both clearly loved one another. I mean, even though neither seemed to know how the other felt, and Johnny obviously had some issues to deal with, I just didn’t feel the same tension because it seemed so inevitable. I know romances always do, but usually the twists keep you hooked and the twists just felt added for effect.

That being said, I didn’t dislike the romance, I just felt it built more for the next book for me. I will definitely be checking out more of Everett’s books in the future, anyway.

Love The One You’re With (Love, Sex, and Stiletto #2) – Lauren Layne

Published: 28th October 2014

Source: Bought

Genre: Romance, Contemporary

My Rating:

Her mission: six-months without men.

But he has other ideas.

As Stiletto magazine's foremost relationship expert, Grace Brighton should have seen it coming - her boyfriend has been having an affair right under her nose.

Jake Malone is one great story away from editor, and the company challenges him to a little friendly competition with Grace Brighton - who has a bet

I thought I enjoyed the first book in this series but this one just took it to a new level. I mean, the chemistry between Jake and Grace was great and you get fully absorbed into the will they won’t they aspect of the romance. We also officially get introduced to the Oxford magazine so I can see this will lead into Layne's next series as well. I loved everything about this, I mean Julie’s romance with Mitchell was good in the first book but this book definitely worked better for me. I was more interested in the characters and the story.

I think the real reason it worked is because Jake and Grace were good together. There is always playful banter in a romance (I mean always) but there’s was so fun! Especially during their men vs women dates where they were trying to one up each other for their respective magazines. That playfulness between when they were together was great, and the fact they easily teased one another just got me. Basically, I loved that these two were fun together. I like fun in a book.

Even the things which usually annoy me in romance didn’t annoy me. The ridiculous obstacles the characters create for not being together didn’t frustrate me like they usually would. I didn't even care Grace was creating obstacles where there should be none with her ridiculous reasons for wanting to be single and her continual attempts to keep Jake at arms length. I didn't care that Jake was keeping secrets and causing issues because he didn't know what he needed. Convincing himself that he was missing something and being too stupid to know what it was. None of it bothered me and that’s probably because Layne is a great romance writer and these characters were great together.

Time and again Lauren Layne proved to me she knows what she doing. She is a fave in the contemporary world for me and it's all Nick's fault. I'm glad I started reading and you should too.

Agnes and the Hitman – Jennifer Crusie

Published: 21st August 2007 Source: Bought Genre: Romance, Mystery, Chick Lit My Rating:

Take one food writer named Cranky Agnes, add a hitman named Shane, mix them together with a Southern mob wedding, a missing necklace, two annoyed flamingos, and a dog named Rhett and you've got a recipe for a sexy, hilarious novel about the disastrous side of true love…

Agnes Crandall's life goes awry when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she's staked her entire net worth on. Then a hero climbs through her bedroom window. His name is Shane, no last name, just Shane, and he has his own problems: he's got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle asking him to protect some little kid named Agnes. When he finds out that Agnes isn't so little, his uncle has forgotten to mention a missing five million bucks he might have lost in Agnes's house, and his last hit was a miss, Shane's life isn't looking so good, either. Then a bunch of lowlifes come looking for the money, a string of hit men show up for Agnes, and some wedding guests gather with intent to throw more than rice. Agnes and Shane have their hands full with greed, florists, treachery, flamingos, mayhem, mothers of the bride, and--most dangerous of all--each other. Agnes and the Hitman is the perfect combination of sugar and spice, sweet and salty--a novel of delicious proportions.

I was a bit confused at first. I am a massive fan of Jennifer Crusie and I cannot believe I haven’t read this book. I’d heard positive things from both Nereyda and Kaja so I decided ‘screw it’ and bought myself a copy since my library seems to have gotten rid of all the Jennifer Crusie books it used to have a couple of years ago (what the hell?) so I need to invest in my own copies going forward. Anyway, for some reason I’d not read this release from her and I am questioning why.

Anyway, as I said, I was a bit confused at first. The book throws you into the story with little introduction so I was a bit confused how everyone was connected for a while. I figured it out quite sharpish and once I got over the confusion I was hooked by the book. The story was so interesting and I loved the humour in the book. It was witty and hilarious and it was probably why I enjoyed reading so much. I already knew I liked Jennifer Crusie’s writing style, but her writing with Bob Mayer is just as good.

Agnes was such a cranky and grouchy woman and I loved it. None of this bright shiny happiness you get in a lot of romance. Instead, she is grouchy and human and fed up with everyone. She has no time for your crap and can fully accept your alternate career choice of hitman, although she definitely doesn’t want to know the details because dead bodies aren’t cool.

In the end, I really enjoyed the book although it was a bit different. I liked the humour. I loved the southern setting (I don’t know why I let books set in the south, but I do) and basically it all combined together to work for me. I have to say, the book did make me want to eat a lot of food. All the baking in it! I wanted cake and food and just to eat a vast amount all because of this book. But also it was funny and the romance was sweet and I just loved it basically and it made me want to reread all of Jennifer Crusie’s books which is why I need to buy copies of the ones I don’t own because my library is working against me!

Have you read any good romance lately? Please give me the title and say how much I need to read it?

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#a fool's ingenuity #books

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amorehouse5-blog · 8 years ago

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Ladies! I can’t believe it, I made it to the milestone of 6 months blogging. I think I can officially say I’m a blogger. If you have been following with me since the beginning of August, well then Happy Following Anniversary to you! =) The funny thing is 6 months ago I had no idea what I was even getting myself into. I literally on a whim said “hey, I think I’ll start a blog.” I’m not kidding. I actually remember telling John those exact words. I really think he thought I was going through a mid-life crisis (I’m only 28, haha)…now, here we are. =) I’ve “met” (mainly through social media) so many new people and have connected with old friends just through this little blog of mine. I’m documenting my life and I’m sharing it with you. I actually interviewed myself so you can get to know the behind scenes of it all, plus I’m sure you’ve been wondering and have some of the same questions! =)

What inspired you to start?

Well, my “niche” on my blog has changed and adapted to everyday things that inspire me, basically it’s my outlet. Plus, I seriously need to keep working this brain of mine. I need challenges because lately I’ve been having serious #mombrain moments (or maybe that’s just me being ditsy, either way I need to keep workin’ my brain). I like to think of my blog as an open diary for all to read. It’s fun to write out your thoughts and then actually have people reply back and inspire you!

I started Capturing Life’s Gifts as the start of my journey into photography ( I love, love, love taking pictures!) Well, that slowly evolved into topics on motherhood, family adventures, and DIY projects. While I still enjoy learning about photography I realized I needed to provide more content for my readers.

I have always enjoyed writing which has been an outlet for me to write down my thoughts. I’m the type of person that thinks WAY too much. So, writing helps to release those thoughts. The funny thing is I have never been the best with public speaking (believe it or not, it’s actually one of my fears along with snakes & any type of rodent…just gave me chills typing those words). I’m much better at writing my words than speaking them because I actually have time to think.

I’m documenting my life for anyone & everyone to read, and I’m sharing my passions, my hobbies, and basically all things that bring me joy. When I stopped working and became a SAHM I went through this stage where I felt like I wasn’t contributing (even though being a SAHM is a full time job in itself.) It was an emptiness inside of me. Before becoming a mom my life was basically work. Ever since I was 15 I had some type of job, and finally when I was 24 years old I started my dream career. So, it was a huge adjustment to put it on hold for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change anything for the world! I appreciate and love that I have this opportunity to stay at home with my son. The thing though is I needed to still feel successful in a different (more professional way). So that’s how my little blog was born.

Also, if you haven’t noticed I’m all about trying new things. (sometimes too many things at once!)

What’s with the name?

The name of my blog Capturing LIfe’s Gifts was chosen because I truly enjoy {capturing} everything I see and sharing it with others (I literally get giddy about new things to share.) Whether it’s fun things to do in Orlando, the beautiful scenery, motherhood moments (the good, the bad, and the poopy), or just my favorite hobbies. All these gifts of life are things that I enjoy capturing and sharing with you. I think a blog is a perfect place to share, don’t you think?!

When do you find time to blog?

Well, let me just say blogging is a lot of work. I’m a busy mom too, so it leaves me with very little opportunities throughout the day to blog. My family is always my first priority. When I came up with a weekly post schedule it helped me to formulate topics to blog about. I’m old school and I keep a notebook of topics that come to me (usually when I go on walks or I’m taking a shower) it’s easy for me to quickly jot down a few thoughts. I usually find time to write during the night (0nce Johnny is asleep). My husband works until about 9:30pm, so I have a good chunk of time when I’m by myself.Usually I have the tv on while I’m typing away on my computer. (and by the way, I don’t have anything fancy. I type on my old chrome book)

Do you go back and reread your posts?

YES! All the time! It’s fun to see what I captured and shared with everyone. I don’t have the greatest memory so sometimes I forget about my very first posts.

Side Note: so sorry for some typos! When I go back and reread I find them and I cringe… (covering my face right now). I tend to type too fast (plus I usually write at night when I’m a little dreary) and never catch the mistakes (especially with your and you’re…I’m such a stickler with the correct usage too!) I’ll try to slow it down.

You must be really tech savvy?

Honestly, I’m not! I’ve had to research and YouTube videos on so many things pertaining to my blog. I also annoyed my husband a lot because he’s better at technology than I am! BUT that didn’t stop me from having my own little blog (I’m very determined, even when I’m not as knowledgeable on things. My philosophy is the more I stick with it, the more I’ll know and soon become knowledgeable in that department too.)

Have you made money from your blog?

That’s always a very curious question, right?! The answer is NO, not a single dime. It takes a lot of work and time in order to monetize your blog. Would I like to in the future?, of course! It’s always great to earn extra money, BUT I definitely don’t want to take away the value of my blog and deter away from what I enjoy and what my readers enjoy. The main way of making money on a blog is through sponsors, affiliated links, and advertising. Maybe one day I’ll get there, but right now I’m truly enjoying the fact that I get to write and share with so many others.

Accomplishments

Well, to start the biggest thing is that I actually have been consistent for 6 months in providing quality posts for my readers! That right that is a HUGE accomplishment because from everything I’ve read consistencyy is the main focus when blogging, which makes sense because without great content you really don’t have any readers. Aside from that, I am now a contributor to Orlando Moms Blog (stay tuned for a post coming soon from me! eeekkk) =) I also have been contacted by Orchard Supply Harware to join them in their preview night! They’ll be opening on February 14th! I’m blushing because ladies, I was told they enjoy my DIY posts!

STATS

Once I understood the basic flow of the wordpress platform I branched out for more help from other bloggers and groups. OH MY! Ladies, this blogging thing is NO JOKE!

I’m a very little blog in this HUGE blogging world, but you have to start somewhere. I love looking at my stats everyday (it’s quite addicting). I was a little hesitant with sharing, but I seriously have nothing to hide… so, why not?! Now, it’s nothing impressive, but the awesome thing is people are actually reading my posts (even if it’s just a few)!

Also, it’s never been about the “STATS” for me. Yes, it’s fun to view them and I love hearing the ding on my phone when I get a notification that someone liked my post or commented on it. BUT I write because it’s my way of making my mark in the world. It’s my way of contributing even with being a SAHM.

So, here it goes…

Top Post: Top Ten Parks Within 7 Miles of Downtown Orlando (funny, because I never thought this would be a big hit with my readers! Good to know!)

Goals

I never really made goals for my blog, but now that I’m starting to grow I feel like making a goal will motivate me to accomplish more. So with that being said…within these next 6 months my goal is to provide more videos, high quality photos, and more posts on family adventures within the Orlando area. (it seems like you all really enjoy those posts!)

A HUGE Thank You

Ladies, I honestly can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you taking the time to read my posts. I enjoy providing entertainment and inspiration to you. My dream is that in the future I can provide you with more giveaways and other fun ways to show my appreciation. If I could I would seriously give everyone a $100 gift card to Starbucks! How awesome would that be? (and I have 440 followers!) Part of my goals for in the future! =)

Here’s to another 6 months (and more) of blogging!

Happy 6 Months to Us! =)

Wishing You Well,

6 Month Blog Anniversary Ladies! I can't believe it, I made it to the milestone of 6 months blogging. I think I can officially say I'm a…

#6 months blogging #accomplishments #goals #interview questions #start up with blogging

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haleyfury · 5 years ago

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Even though I don’t post TBRs every month, I’m doing so for July to keep myself on track and to share my reading plans with everyone! I love reading people’s monthly TBRs, which is just another reason why I should probably do so here on Fangirl Fury more often. I’ve split my TBR into ARCs (mostly from Book Expo), library books, and owned books. I’ll more than likely read more than what’s on this TBR (and let’s be honest, probably won’t read a book on here) since I’ve read at least 16 books in both May and June.

I definitely want and need to keep up with my Fall 2019 review books, but I also like borrowing and reading from the library as much as possible since I don’t have necessarily easy access to one at school. My college town’s local library is lacking a bit in their YA section and I don’t really have time during the week this semester to take the walk into town to go. I’m constantly having to renew books from my library at home since I’m at school more and I can only have more popular titles on hold for 2-4 weeks at a time.

ARCs

The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord – At the time of this post, I am currently rereading or have just finished rereading The Start of Me and You. I considered holding off a little bit closer to January 2020 to read The Map From Here to There, but I’m just too excited to have a new Emery Lord book and reunite with my ficitional bf, Max.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – Speaking of books I cannot hold off on reading any longer, I will be diving into Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House this month. I’ve had this book on my TBR since it was first ever announced and I’m still in shock I have a copy.

The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett – There a few things better than having one of your all-time favorite authors come out with 2 books in one year, with Jenn Bennett’s Serious Moonlight and Fall 2019 release, The Lady Rogue. In this case, one of those better things is having a review copy for The Lady Rogue. This is Jenn Bennett’s first YA fantasy book, so I’m excited to see what she does with the genre.

Unpregnant by Jenni Hendricks and Ted Caplan- Unpregnant is one of my most anticipated contemporary releases this fall, and it’s received nothing but rave early reviews.

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina Lamanna- I’ll read almost any book that has something to do with weddings, especially when there seems like there’s a Big Little Lies-esque twist.

Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi- Although I just enjoyed Emergency Contact, I’m looking forward to reading Mary H.K. Choi’s upcoming release. I’m also just so in love with this cover!

Library

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren – I was fortunate enough to have read an ARC of Twice in a Blue Moon in June, which made me realize I need more Christina Lauren in my reading life. Everyone knows I’m a contemporary reads girl at heart, but I especially look for contemporary books during the summer. While its one of their adult books, Love and Other Words does have a somewhat YA twist, as the book alternates between teenage and adult Elliot and Macy.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren – Like I said above, I’m on a bit of a Christina Lauren high right now and everyone has had nothing but glowing and positive things about their latest release, The Unhoneymooners.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds – I want to read this one to start some preliminary research for my English senior research project, not to mention that it’s about time that I’ve read one of Jason Reynolds’ books!

Owned Books

Open Road Summer by by Emery Lord – I’ve been holding off on reading my UK edition (her UK covers are amazing!) of Open Road Summer since last September because me being me, try to save as many summer contemporaries for summer as possible! It will be bittersweet reading both Open Road Summer and The Map From Here to There this month because I will have officially read all of Emery Lord’s books.

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake – I plan on trying to binge read what’s published so far in the Three Dark Crowns series between July and August, so I’m ready for the series finale, Five Dark Fates, in September.

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West – I may hold off on Listen to Your Heart until August, but again I saved this book to have another summer contemporary for summer.

What books are on your July TBR? Have you read any of the above books? Share in the comments!

ARCS, LIBRARY BOOKS & MORE: July 2019 TBR Even though I don't post TBRs every month, I'm doing so for July to keep myself on track and to share my reading plans with everyone!

#ARCs #July TBR #TBR

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