December 2014 Recap

It's just about time to say goodbye to 2014! December was pretty quiet around here with all of the holiday stuff going on. I hope that everyone's enjoying the season, and Happy New Year!

Reviews Posted:

• In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken
• Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
• Team Human by Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
• My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

Featured Posts:

• Non-Bookish 2014 Favorites
• 2014 Rewind

2015 Australian Women Writers Challenge

This will be my third year participating in the Australian Women Writers Challenge! I've already got my eye on two 2015 releases: Shaming the Devil by Melina Marchetta and Shimmer by Paula Weston. My challenge goal for 2015 is:

Stella: read 4 – if reviewing, review at least 3

If you'd also like to sign up for this challenge, just click on the image above!

2014 Rewind

The thing that sticks out the most in my head book-wise about 2014 also irks me, so I'll get that out of the way first, like ripping off a Band-Aid. I failed my Goodreads reading challenge. I only missed by a few books, too; I would have rather missed big than by a small margin. I know that not reading a certain number of books in a year is far from tragic, but as a perfectionist, failure on any scale is still failure. I think my biggest enemy in trying to fit reading into my life this year was letting too much stuff that wasn't really a priority take over. I don't break out of habits like that easily, but looking back on how many times I put off the very thing that's such a huge source of happiness in my life, I've realized that I shouldn't feel guilty about sitting down and doing nothing but reading for a while. So, more guilt-free reading time is in order for 2015.

The bookish highlight of the year for me was meeting Maria V. Snyder and getting my copy of Poison Study signed. It was a moment of pure book nerd heaven.

My list of favorite books that I read in 2014 is rather short given that overall I didn't read as many books as I have in years past. But let me tell you, I loved the following books with all of my heart. They're the crème de la crème for me, the titles that left me awestruck and consumed by thoughts of nothing but these books and their characters. Yes—they were all that good.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

That this would be my favorite read of the year required zero thought on my part. I'm practically crying just thinking about this book and Blue and the Raven Boys.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Another wrecker of emotions, but in the best way possible. I will not think about that ending, I will not think about that ending . . . .

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

To my friends who haven't gotten to this one yet, you really need to. If you've read The Infernal Devices, then you really need to read CoHF. Posthaste!

The Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken

I read the whole trilogy this year, and it was freaking awesome. One of my all-time favorite dystopian series.

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Goodbye, Warner. I shall never forget you because that's just. Not. Possible.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

I just read this a few days ago, and how I loved it! It's funny, it has an amazing heroine, it's set in Victorian London, and it has a hot, Scottish werewolf. Do you really need more convincing?

I say this often, but that's because I can't say it enough. It's been another fantastic year talking about books with you, and I wish you all the best for 2015!

❤ XOXO ❤

Anything Sunday (2): Non-Bookish 2014 Favorites

In the spirit of Anything Sunday, I figured I'd write about some of the non-bookish things that I loved about 2014. Or, at least, the ones I remember at this moment, lol, because I feel like this year went by extraordinarily fast. So, in no particular order, here we go:

• Elvis Costello Concert in Nashville: Easily one of the highlights of 2014 for me. I hadn't been to one of his concerts in six years, so this was long overdue. I'm still in a bit of disbelief over how perfectly the timing aligned for this: we were already set to be in Nashville that weekend for UtopYA Con. I'm psyched to be going to see him in concert again in March 2015—this time much closer to home though, lol.
• Tampa Bay Comic Con: This was my first experience at a comic con, and it was a lot of fun—seeing all of the creative, and often clever, costumes and checking out all of the cool merchandise. This nerd was in heaven.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: I saw this for the first time a few weeks ago, and I can't stop watching it. Groot rocks!
• Outlander: This superb adaptation of the novel blew me away, though Game of Thrones will always be first in my heart when it comes to book-to-TV-adaptations. James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser—I freakin' love you.
• Game of Thrones, Season 4: Justice was finally served to that sh*t Joffrey, literally, hahaha! And how badass was Episode 9, "The Watchers on the Wall?" I think I even liked the battle between the Night's Watch and the Wildlings better than Season 2's Battle of the Blackwater.
• Seeing the Yankees Play: I technically went to Tampa to see them play the Tampa Bay Rays, but I was really there to support NY all the way. I went to a few Yankees games as a kid when I lived in NY, but I never went to any during their late 90's championship seasons. So, 2014 marked the first time that I was in the stands to see Derek Jeter bat (he was the DH that day and didn't play shortstop). Of course it was also the last time I was in the stands to see him, since he retired at the end of the season. I watched his last home game at Yankee Stadium on TV, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it brought tears to my eyes.
• Glee: At Ally's persistent urging, I binge watched the first four seasons this past summer and mentally berated myself for not tuning in sooner.

I'm sure I'm missing a few more things, but at this point in the year, almost everything that happened up until a few days ago is pretty much a blur. If you have any year end posts, please leave a link so I can check them out! And I wish each and every one of you all the best for 2015!

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (65): Best Snape Moment

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
Best Snape Moment

Snape is such a great character who has a lot of great moments. My absolute favorite moment is one from the movie adaptations though, in Goblet of Fire, when Snape smacks Harry and Ron in the back of the head during study hall. At the time, I thought it was hilarious, and even now, I find myself chuckling about it. I think I like that particular moment because it was one of Snape’s more humorous scenes, and he doesn’t really get the opportunity to show that side of himself.