Fall Time, Cozy Time Book Tag

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a huge fan of fall time! I pretty much start decoration for fall on the first day of September. I also got married on Halloween, so it’s a special time of the year for me. So look forward to a ton of Fall/Halloween themed posts over the next two months!

As always, I was not tagged and will not tag. Feel free to do this tag on your own! So I guess I’m actually tagging anyone reading this!

Fall Time, Cozy Time Book Tag

– Crunching Leaves: The world is full of color – choose a book that had reds/oranges/yellows on the cover.

– Cozy Sweater – It’s finally cold enough to don warm cozy clothing: what book gives you the warm fuzzies?

– Fall Storm: The wind is howling & the rain is pounding – choose your favorite book OR genre that you like to read on a stormy day.

– Cool Crisp Air: What’s the coolest character you’d want to trade places with?

Even though I didn’t really like this series, I would love to trade places with the main character. Would be really cool to see an alien planet.

– Hot Apple Cider: What under hyped book do you want to see become the next biggest,
hottest thing?

I will always stand behind this book… always.

– Coat, Scarves, and Mittens – The weather has turned cold & it’s time to cover up – What’s the most embarrassing book cover you own that you like to keep hidden in public?

Oh god, just look at it for a second…. how embarrassing. I don’t think I actually finished this one.

– Pumpkin Spice: What’s your favorite Fall time comforts food/foods?

Hmm, I’m not a coffee or tea drinker. I do enjoy a good chilli or soup though.

 

 

 

Where I Went on my Summer Vacation (Part 2: Alaska)

If you haven’t checked out part 1 of this post, you can find it here. Once we returned from Germany, we had about a two week break before flying out to Seattle for our (late) honeymoon. We flew out first class and had a morning screwdriver on the airplane just because it was first class! Duh!

When we landed in Seattle, of course we did some Pokémon hunting at the Sea-Tac airport!

Once we got our luggage, we got to play the game of finding an uber (this was the first time we ever used uber and we were in a place we had never been to). It took us about 30 minutes to actually find the Uber, but luckily he was nice enough to wait on us and talk us through how to find him. By the way, if you haven’t used Uber before, and you live in a big city or you’re traveling. Here’s a code you can use for a cheap ride (breannat697ue)! We spent under $50 by using Uber instead of calling a taxi. Seriously, our ride from the airport to the airb&b was only $5!

We stayed at a little apartment/condo place about 20 minutes from Pike Place Market. It was okay, but I wish we had found a cheap hotel closer to all of the cool things Seattle has to offer. Once we dropped our bags off, we got an uber downtown and went to get dinner at a super cozy bar. We walked about the town, headed for Pike Place Market. Pike Place isn’t as cool as I was led to believe. It was super crowded! We did get a glimpse of a fish being thrown and bought some really good doughnuts though.

Once we gorged ourselves with doughnuts, we battled the crowd and went searching for the Space Needle. We only had one afternoon in Seattle, so we wanted to do everything possible. Well… everything except visit the first Starbucks, ain’t nobody got time for that.

The space needle was about a 45 minute walk from Pike Place, and then we got there, it was packed. We had planned on going up but they were booked until nine that night and we didn’t feel like coming back because it was all the way across town. We did buy a really cool pepper shaker in the gift shop though! We checked out the parks surrounding the needle and found some really cool stuff. Stu actually had to help a street performer/magician too! And of course, like all good tourists, we got our picture in front of the space needle.

 

The next day we woke up to a rainy Seattle and called an uber to take us to the dock where our cruise ship terminal was. We got there about an hour early, and that was a mistake. The ship had just docked and there were already hundreds of people de-boarding and waiting on taxi’s. We were really confused on where to go, but eventually figured it out and got through security. We ended up because one of the first families on the ship! Which was super cool! Our room wasn’t going to be ready for about six hours so we went up to the Windjammer (place where we had breakfast and lunch everyday.) We also explored the ship a bit, played a game of put-put and had a drink at one of the bars (it eventually became our favorite bar on the ship).

Seattle skyline in the background, ready to leave port.

Where the people were leaving and arriving. Most confusing part of the trip.

Drink of the Day @ the Schooner Bar!

 

The next day we spent all day on the ship, which called for more food gorging and hot tub time. We also didn’t realize how cold it was going to be, so we had to do some on-board shopping and buy some coats. This was the best time ever because we got free hot chocolate on the top deck! We also saw a really good comedian that night!

The coolest thing we saw that day, ocean water meeting the fresh water.

Our room with a view.

Juneau, Alaska

Our first stop was in Juneau, we scheduled a hike to see the Mendenhall Glacier. Our tour guide was super nice (and he have the same name) and knew a ton about the area. The second we stepped foot on the trail, we encountered a bear. It was fishing for salmon, you can’t get anymore Alaska than that! On the trail, we had the opportunity to eat some fresh berries. But beware! Don’t go picking just any berries in Alaska! There’s one berry that will make you really sick! The hike was about 3-4 hours long, and a bit treacherous for me because I’m so short. I was pretty much climbing the mountain, while my husband was taking a calm walk. On the hike, I managed to pick up a cool rock (it’s the one thing my dad wanted me to bring him back). It rained the whole hike, but honestly we had the best time ever.

Start of the hike.

Trail and bear warning.

The bear we saw.

Rainy hiking selfie!

 

 

Skagway, Alaska

I believe the next day we had a full sea day, but then stopped in Skagway. We had a dog sled excursion scheduled here. Skagway was probably my favorite town because it was so tiny and wasn’t full of too much tourism. Our dog sled guy is actually running in the Iditarod in a few years, you can follow him here. We were driven up the side of the mountain in a military truck and then hopped on some training sleds for a little ride! Afterwards, we got to meet some adorable puppies that will one day be sled dogs! Once that was over, we went back in town and had some pub food. The food was amazing on the trip!

 

Here’s some more random pictures from the cruise, the next day and a half were spent as sea days. Most of the time we were either at the bar, eating, napping or swimming. 🙂

 

Victoria, Canada

Our final port day was in Canada, probably our least favorite stop because there wasn’t too much to do here. Most of the excursions offered were just tours of gardens. We decided to walk through town on our own, mainly because I had never been to Canada and I just wanted to check it off my list. We found a really cool marina where some seals were hanging out. And then we just headed back to the boat because we wanted to chill out on our second to last day of the honeymoon. This was also the HOTTEST day and we hate the heat. This was the only day we actually got in the pool because it was so hot.

 

On the very last day, we stopped to see another big glacier from the boat but it was still a sea day.

That’s about it! It was the best trip I’ve ever taken in my life! If you’ve never been on a cruise, go for it! The entire staff was fantastic, food was awesome, views were breathtaking and it was just a fun time. We went through Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas. If you want to check out my video, go here. You’ll see the bear walking through the water, some dogsledding and hiking!

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Title: Maybe Someday

Author: Colleen Hoover

Genre: New Adult

Rating: 2.5/5

Overall Emotions: Annoyed, giddy, pissed… all the emotions.

 

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At twenty-two years old, Sydney has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter’s cheating on her–and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by Ridge, her mysterious neighbor. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one.

 

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I think I might be the only person who doesn’t really like Colleen Hoover’s writing.

Oh god, I can practically hear all the gasps and hate right now, but I’m just not impressed with the characters she comes up with. Sorry, not sorry.

Last year I read the novella Maybe Not by Hoover and reviewed it on my super awkward booktube channel, you can watch that here. I thought the poor writing and character development was only because of the shortness of the book but after reading one of Hoover’s full novels, I’m not impressed and I probably won’t read any more. I know, that sounds really harsh but it was way too much drama for me and none of the characters are loveable.

Maybe Someday is told from alternating POV’s of Sydney and Ridge. If I had it my way though, I’d prefer to only hear Ridge’s POV. This book started off pretty well, then got boring and then brought me back in to only mess with my emotions. Toward the end, I just wanted to shake the crap out of Ridge for being such a jerk. I also wanted to smack Sydney for all of her internal dialogue. The only person I did enjoy in this book was Warren, which was strange because I hated him in the novella. I felt like he was the only one with common sense.

New adult books are always a miss for me, never a hit. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because all the authors struggle to write in a 20-something’s POV instead of a teen POV. I felt like Sydney was way younger than 22. She still has tons of growing up to do. As for Ridge, I more so imagined him in his early 20’s or late teens.

I admit it was very interesting reading a book where the main character is deaf. I was really curious as to how Hoover was going to manage that. Between texting, emails and lip-reading, I think the relationship between Sydney and Ridge bloomed decently.

As for lyrics placed into the book since Ridge is a musician, I wasn’t a huge fan of that. Most of the lyrics were super cheesy and I couldn’t see a rock band playing them. They were way too straight forward and teenage angst for my taste.

There were some super adorable parts to this book that had me screaming for Ridge and Sydney to be together but there were also some parts where I was completely over their drama!

I’m just going to leave this review at that because if I say anything else, I might spoil it a bit too much.

Cheers!

Do you recommend any other Colleen Hoover books? Or should I just abandon reading her all together?

 

26 Favorite YA book quotes (For my 26th Birthday!)

That’s right! It’s my birthday! I wanted to do something book related for my birthday, so this being my first birthday blogging, I thought I would do a blog about my favorite book quotes! Enjoy!

“There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”  The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

“Google tells me everything about death, except what comes after.” Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts

“You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.” Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

“I didn’t know how to let you go.” 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

“Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal” If I Stay by Gayle Forman

“This is the thing about life I’ve never really understood until now: we try so hard to control it, but bad things happen anyway. The only real control is an anti-control, a letting go.”    Teach Me by R.A. Nelson

“How do you regret one of the best nights of your entire life? You don’t. You remember every word, every look. Even when it hurts, you still remember.” It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

“Books are more real when you read them outside.” Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

“I wish you could be kissed, Jane,’ he said. ‘Because I would beg just one off you. Under all this.’ He flailed an arm toward the stars.” The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.” The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

“Everything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour could make all the difference.” This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

“There is no better taste than this: someone else’s laughter in your mouth.”  Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

“Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That’s part of the risk.” To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han

“For her I bend, for you I break.” Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

“I…will never…regret you.”  Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

“Why are you going to let people who are hell-bent on not forgiving you keep you from something that could actually be great?”   99 Days by Katie Cotugno

“It’s a total lie to say there’s only one person you’re going to be with for the rest of your life. If you’re lucky – and if you try really hard – there will always be more than one.” Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn

“Let’s be friends based on mutual hate.” Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley

“You can’t force love, I realized. It’s there or it isn’t. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.” Frostbite by Richelle Mead

“Just because I wear black and keep a private journal, that doesn’t mean I’m going to blow up the school. Or terrorize mindless cheerleaders, for that matter.” Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

“To live will be an awfully big adventure.” Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

“Too bad real boyfriends aren’t as awesome as book boyfriends.” Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t need to live forever, you just have to live.” Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

“Leaving was easy. It was everything else that was so damned hard.” Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

 

 

 

 

 

 

How I Find Time to Read (…and tips to read more)

Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but sometimes it’s really hard to find time (it’s even harder for me to find time to write, but we’ll discuss that next week). Between my full time job, family, marriage, fur-babies, blogging and trying to stay healthy, it’s so hard to find time to sit down and read. I’ve also just started watching Game of Thrones and those episodes are so long! I’m sure a bunch of you  also suffer from not being able to find time to read (you might be a full time student, and I totally feel your pain. All that required reading and no time for fun reading). So this week, I thought I would give some tips on how I find time to read!

1.) Set a certain time every day/night to read and only read: I usually have the most time to read at night, right before bed. This also helps me sleep better. I usually go up to bed around 8:30 or 9, that way I can relax and read for an hour or two. I don’t have a TV in my bedroom to distract me from reading, I stop checking facebook and other social media once I’m up in bed, that way I can concentrate. I also turn on the Birdy Pandora station because it’s mostly relaxing pop songs that play, and it drowns out everything else in my house.

2.) Take a book with you everywhere: I always make sure to have a book with me (unless I’m going to work). If you have an appointment, meeting, vacation, whatever, you might find time to read and you’ll be really bummed when you don’t have a book with you. I actually got this idea a long time ago from Gilmore Girls, Rory always had a book in her bag. If you bring a book along, you’ll never be bored.

3.) Reading slump? Take a break: This doesn’t happen often for me, but sometimes I do get sick of reading the book I chose. Don’t feel bad if you have to put the book back on your bookshelf unfinished. You can always come back to it at a later date! Maybe you’ll enjoy it better in a few months!

4.) Give audiobooks a try: I’m not a huge fan of audio books, but when it comes to a book I’m wanting to re-read, I don’t mind listening to the audiobook instead. If you want to get into reading, this might be the best option for you. Or if you want to read one book, and listen to another, go for it! I just don’t listen to audiobooks because they put me to sleep really easy.

5.) Join a book club or buddy read: Sometimes, you might not feel like reading a book because you have no one to discuss it’s pure awesomeness with. If you have this problem, join a book club (GoodReads has plenty of book clubs you might want to join) or read with a friend!