Review of Everything That Makes You by Moriah McStay

Title/Author: Everything That Makes You by Moriah McStay
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, March 17th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: One girl. Two stories. Meet Fiona Doyle. The thick ridges of scar tissue on her face are from an accident twelve years ago. Fiona has notebooks full of songs she’s written about her frustrations, her dreams, and about her massive crush on beautiful uber-jock Trent McKinnon. If she can’t even find the courage to look Trent straight in his beautiful blue eyes, she sure isn’t brave enough to play or sing any of her songs in public. But something’s changing in Fiona. She can’t be defined by her scars anymore.

And what if there hadn’t been an accident? Meet Fi Doyle. Fi is the top-rated female high school lacrosse player in the state, heading straight to Northwestern on a full ride. She’s got more important things to deal with than her best friend Trent McKinnon, who’s been different ever since the kiss. When her luck goes south, even lacrosse can’t define her anymore. When you’ve always been the best at something, one dumb move can screw everything up. Can Fi fight back?

Hasn’t everyone wondered what if? In this daring debut novel, Moriah McStay gives us the rare opportunity to see what might have happened if things were different. Maybe luck determines our paths. But maybe it’s who we are that determines our luck.

I'm a big what-iffer. I always wonder what would have happened if I'd decided to go in another direction, what if I hadn't gone to college in the city I did, what if I hadn't chosen to become a GP and on and on. And I can obviously understand wondering what if, if you've had a pretty bad accident as a kid that leaves you with scar tissue on half your face.

The thing is, Fiona doesn't really wonder what if. She takes things as they're given to her and I respect that, but I can't really understand this not wondering about it. But maybe that's just me. I do think that Fiona is a strong person, and an optimist. She struggles with her mom's trying to 'fix' her, which kinda annoyed me as well, cause hello, that doesn't seem like supportive parenting at all, she does sorta redeem herself in the end though. I didn't really feel like her dad had much of a voice, which felt a bit off. I did really like Fiona's friendship with Lucy, those girls are true friends and I loved how Lucy wasn't afraid to call Fiona out on her crap.

Fi, the girl who didn't have an accident when she was 5 years old, the what if girl, has a lot going for her. She has an awesome brother and best friend Trent, even though she doesn't really seem to have other friends aside from these two. Then she breaks her ankle while playing lacrosse and her world pretty much falls apart. But she meets a boy and has a second tragedy and OMG, I sorta saw it coming, but not all and it was SAD. And then she really falls apart and is left to pick up the pieces in the after. I really don't blame her for not getting it together for a long time, because wow, when something like that happens, you just can't. But I can't help but compare her to Fiona, and believe that Fiona is the stronger personality in the end.

So both have romances and they're sweet, but I think I liked Fiona's better. Also, it is kinda depressing that it seems that even if you avoid one awful thing happening to you, you can't escape it all and get dealt maybe even a worse hand, cause Fi didn't have it easy in the end either.
I do want to give a big shout out to the awesome sibling relationship in Everything That Makes You! I truly felt the love between Fiona/Fi and her brother and this is a big brownie point thing for me. And I was secretly a bit gleeful at how both their lives sort of intertwine as you're destined to meet some people it seems.

Everything That Makes You satisfies my what-if-tendencies, and the notion that sometimes the grass really isn't greener on the other side.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Get On My Shelf! (4) The March 2015 Edition

This is what is supposed to be a monthly feature of the things that I order/pre-order every month when a paycheck comes in and starts burning a hole in my pocket, demanding to have a part of it spent on books. And grudgingly, I oblige.
This month I extra-obliged because I also had some extra moneys coming in from working all these weird hours :)

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan: We have fought battles that left more than a hundred corpses on the ground and not a word of it has ever been set down. The Order fights, but often it fights in shadow, without glory or reward. We have no banners.

Vaelin Al Sorna's life changes forever the day his father abandons him at the gates of the Sixth Order, a secretive military arm of the Faith. Together with his fellow initiates, Vaelin undertakes a brutal training regime - where the price of failure is often death. Under the tutelage of the Order's masters, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly.

Now his new skills will be put to the test. War is coming. Vaelin is the Sixth Order's deadliest weapon and the Realm's only hope. He must draw upon the very essence of his strength and cunning if he is to survive the coming conflict. Yet as the world teeters on the edge of chaos, Vaelin will learn that the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne Vol 1 by Arina Tanemura: By day, Kusakabe Maron is an ordinary high school girl with more then her share of problems. But by night, she is Phantom Thief Jeanne. As the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, her mission is to steal demon-possessed paintings and neutralize their evil. Jeanne's only ally is the angel-in-training Finn. Together, they must fight evil by night while surviving high school by day.

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson: Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways... until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else — an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

The Swift Boys & Me by Kody Keplinger: Nola Sutton has been best friends and neighbors with the Swift boys for practically her whole life. There’s the youngest, Kevin, who never stops talking; the oldest, Brian, who’s always kind and calm; and then there’s Canaan, the ringleader and Nola’s best-best friend. Nola can’t imagine her life without the Swift boys — they’ll always be like this, always be friends.

But then everything changes overnight.

When the Swifts’ daddy leaves without even saying good-bye, it completely destroys the boys, and all Nola can do is watch. Kevin stops talking and Brian is never around. Even Canaan is drifting away from Nola — hanging out with the neighborhood bullies instead of her.

Nola just wants things to go back to the way they were — the way they’ve always been. She tries to pull the boys back to her, only the harder she pulls, the further away they seem. But it’s not just the Swifts whose family is changing, so is Nola’s, and she needs her best friends now more than ever. Can Nola and the Swift boys survive this summer with their friendships intact, or has everything fallen apart for good?

Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell: Hallie has a secret. She's in love. He's perfect for her in every way, but he's seriously out of bounds. And her friends aren't going to help her because what they do know is that Hallie doesn't have long to live. Time is running out...

Flo has a dilemma. She really likes Zander. But his scary sister won't be even faintly amused if she thinks Zander and Flo are becoming friends - let alone anything more.

Tasha has a problem. Her new boyfriend is the adventurous type. And she's afraid one of his adventures will go badly wrong.

THREE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT YOU begins as Hallie goes on a journey. A donor has been found and she's about to be given new lungs. But whose?

Thief's Magic by Trudi Canavan: In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, discovers a sentient book in an ancient tomb. Vella was once a young sorcerer-maker, until she was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been gathering information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen’s world faces.

Elsewhere, in a land ruled by the priests since a terrible war depleted all but a little magic, Rielle the dyer’s daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows from her ability to sense the stain it leaves behind that she has a talent for it, and that there are people willing to teach her how to use it, should she ever need to risks the Angels’ wrath.

Further away, a people called the Travelers live their entire lives on the move, trading goods from one world to another. They know that each world has its own store of magic, reducing or increasing a sorcerer’s abilities, so that if one entered a weak world they may be unable to leave it again. Each family maintains a safe trading route passed down through countless generations and modified whenever local strife makes visiting dangerous. But this is not the only knowledge the Travelers store within their stories and songs, collected over millennia spent roaming the universe. They know a great change is due, and that change brings both loss and opportunity.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out — without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent: Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

Death Note Vol 1 by Tsugumi Ohba: Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, a death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?

Review of King by Ellen Oh

Title/Author: King (The Dragon King Chronicles #3) by Ellen Oh
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, March 31st 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Girl warrior, demon slayer, Tiger spirit of the Yellow Eyes — Kira is ready for her final quest. In this thrilling finale to the Prophecy trilogy, fans will get even more of the fierce Kira and her quest to save her kingdom!

All eyes are on her. Kira, once an outcast in her home village of Hansong, is now the only one with the power to save her kingdom. She must save her cousin, the boy fated to be the future king, uncover the third lost treasure, and face innumerable enemies in order to fulfill the famed prophecy.

Kira braves a sea of tigers and battles armies of demons as she musters her inner strength and learns to trust herself, the romantic feelings for Jaewon that are growing within her, and the destiny that must be hers.

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

So this series and I have a difficult relationship. On one hand, I'm fascinated by this non-European fantasy spin, on the other hand, I'm disappointed by the actual execution of said fantasy spin. Let me explain.

The first book was ok, I was a bit annoyed with Kira at times and then the second book left me going *meh*, but I really needed closure, so I picked up King, even though from the title you can pretty much tell everything is going to end well for Kira and her cousin who is the next in line for the throne.
Like I mentioned in my review of Warrior, the second book in the series, thing come pretty easily to Kira. She does things that seem impossible and then she sleeps for a bit, gets a visit from her Tiger Spirit, and is whole again. This pretty much didn't work for me. It was essentially too easy for her to do all of these things and suddenly everyone likes her, when she was universally hated before this crusade started and I really don't want to say this, but there was this voice in my head shouting MARY SUE a LOT while I was reading King. And I hate that. But I mean, little kids and animals and just about everyone she meets keeps wanting to be with her and it was kinda annoying. And she survives something that should be unsurvivable. I mean. Seriously.

As for the love triangle, I wasn't really sure who I was rooting for while reading the second book, because neither love interest held much attraction for me, but in the third book I had a slight preference for one of them and let's just say that what I luke-warmly shipped sank. And OMG the way this love triangle was dealt with felt WAY too convenient. I mean, seriously?? It took away the need for Kira to actually choose between the two and I was outraged at the not 'chosen' boys behalf, he did not deserve to be passed off like that.
Also, while I wasn't really into either love interests, I never felt like Kira was. She sorta has butterflies for the hotness of one of them and she thinks of the other more as a friend/brother in my opinion. So yeah, the romance pretty much fell flat for me. I get that she's a little busy trying to save all seven kingdoms from being turned into demons or being enslaved, but honestly, the way she handled these boys was annoying to me.

Like with Warrior, I though King lacked a sense of urgency. I never once doubted that Kira could pull saving the world off. She has this moment of self-doubt that was more annoying than anything else. I didn't feel like there was a lot at stake, even if it's the enslavement of all the people and the lives of Kira and her friends that actually are at stake. It wasn't exciting and the demise of the bad guys comes a little too easily. Again, I think I mentioned this in my review of Warrior, but I like my protaganists to suffer a bit before getting it right, and I like the villains to be strong and have a real reason for being evil and taking over the world and destroying lives. But mostly, if it's this easy to defeat the villain, why is it only Kira who can do it? It seems like any toddler just passing by could have done it just as easily. Ok, maybe that's a little too harsh. But still.

I did like meeting the Dragon King, that was pretty cool. And I like the premise of this story, just not the way it was executed in the end. I felt like Kira regressed over the course of this series instead of growing as a person and she just got a bit too Mary Sue-ish for me.

My rating: 1,5 stars

Review of The Elusive Lord Everhart by Vivienne Lorret

Title/Author: The Elusive Lord Everhart (Rakes of Fallow Hall #1) by Vivienne Lorret
Publisher/Date published: Avon Impulse, March 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Gabriel Ludlow, Viscount Everhart, will never marry, and thus is sure to win the bachelors' wager amongst his friends. Assuming, of course, that his deepest secret — a certain letter containing a marriage proposal made in a moment of passion — doesn't surface. After all, without Calliope Croft to tempt him, there's no danger of losing. Or of falling in love.

Calliope wants revenge. Five years ago, an anonymous love letter stole her heart and ultimately broke it. Now Casanova has struck again, and Calliope vows to unmask the scoundrel, stopping him from breaking any more hearts. Yet, time and again, Gabriel distracts her from her task, until she can no longer deny that something about him calls to her...

Gabriel was a fool to ignore the depth of his feelings for Calliope, but the threat that kept him from her five years ago remains. Now he must choose between two paths: break her heart all over again or finally succumb to loving her... at the risk of losing everything.

Guys, I was truly ready for a cute, swoony romance and that's precisely what I got from The Elusive Lord Everhart!

The Elusive Lord Everhart was just complicated enough that it was interesting to read, but not so complicated that it took away from the overall romance and the feelings and I actually loved that the hero knew his heart before the heroine did. You do have to take some things that go down with a bit of a romance-believer's heart, because there are some pretty big coincidences. But I didn't care, because it was beautifully executed and awesome.

I really liked both Calliope and Gabriel, these are two intelligent, passionate people and they fit perfectly together. And I totally loved how Calliope was reading Gabriel all wrong and had actually been doing that for LONG time and he's genuinely confused by how she thinks he doesn't like her and awww, it was just adorable! There are sparks and illicit meetings and KISSING! The kissing was awesome! I loved when they finally got to the kissing, because the build-up was so good!

So there's some drama that's both in the past and still very present in the future and OMG I just wanted to shake Gabriel and tell him to tell Calliope because I think EVERYONE could see coming that it would not end very well if he didn't. Also, I was having this sense of something still being off because of his injury and it not being revealed how exactly he got this injury and I can definitely imagine Calliope jumping to the conclusion she did when she finds out, because yeah, I would too probably.

But the important thing here is that with all their flaws and their less than great decision making at times, I was still really rooting for Calliope and Gabriel as a couple. They had this beautiful tension and I was just there in the moment with them and yeah, this made for a very happy afternoon of reading!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Review of Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

Title/Author: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, March 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell forged permission slips and cover stories to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts Liars, Inc. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up — terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? In a story that Kirkus Reviews called "Captivating to the very end," Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

I totally loved The Art of Lainey and was really excited to learn that Paula Stokes had a new release coming up, and while I didn't enjoy Liars, Inc. as much as The Art of Lainey, it did have that same gripping writing style.

So Liars, Inc. is a mystery/thriller, which isn't a genre that I usually read, but that I do try every once in a while and it's by Paula Stokes, so I knew it should be good. And it really was. I struggled a bit at first, getting used to Max's voice and ignoring the confusion I always feel at this name, cause it's also my brother's name, but after that we were off to a good start. I did really like Max, he's a good guy at heart and gets in a lot of trouble, but sorta does it with the best intentions? Also, it's totally interesting to see his relationship with both Preston and Parvati, sometimes I got a bit of a Cruel Intentions feeling and it was all so convoluted and messed up and I totally loved when I finally started getting some answers!

I'm not spoiling anything by mentioning that Preston disappears, because the summary tells you this, but even knowing this, the events leading up to the moment when he actually disappears had me feeling this sense of impending doom. Paula Stokes really did a great job of getting the amosphere just right and it made me want to reach through the pages to shake Max and tell him to just TELL SOMEONE THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING. SAVE YOURSELF! So yeah, obviously I became invested.

Towards the end I started suspecting what had happened and I was partly right, but I hadn't realized the full extense of the craziness and the intrigue and just the whole of everything that was messed up. It was pretty fascinating. Do you know that hollow feeling that you get when you finish a book and you have all these questions left? Liars, Inc. isn't like that. I felt like Paula Stokes told me everything that I desperately wanted to know and then wrapped it all up rather nicely.

I was however a bit bugged about something at the end of the book, which is non-spoilery and doesn't really have to do with the story, but Max describes love as looking like 'a dog after getting hit by a car', WTF? I really hate this description because WTF?? I mean, vulnerable ok, but a dog after getting hit by a car??? REALLY?? Worst. Description. Ever. (and also now I feel sad because I keep thinking about dogs and other pets getting hit by cars)

Rant over.

But aside from that last bit that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth upon finishing this novel, I did really enjoy reading Liars, Inc. Paula Stokes really has a way of creating characters and a storyline that suck you in and make you care for them and OMG what a mindblowing conspiracy and craziness is happening in Liars, Inc.!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of 17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen

Title/Author: 17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen
Publisher/Date published: Harper Teen, June 17th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: No matter how many boys Claire kisses, she can’t seem to find a decent boyfriend. Someone who wouldn’t rather date her gorgeous best friend, Megan. Someone who won’t freak out when he learns about the tragedy her family still hasn’t recovered from. Someone whose kisses can carry her away from her backwoods town for one fleeting moment.

Until Claire meets Luke.

But Megan is falling for Luke, too, and if there’s one thing Claire knows for sure, it’s that Megan’s pretty much irresistible.

With true love and best friendship on the line, Claire suddenly has everything to lose. And what she learns—about her crush, her friends, and most of all herself—makes the choices even harder.

This book and I did not get along. The blurb tricked me into thinking it would be a cute, fun contemporary and instead I got frenemies, an abusive relationship, lots of slut-shaming and basically not even one character to root for.

It REALLY bothered me that Meghan and Claire are called 'best friends'. Seriously, with a friend like that, you really don't need enemies. The rest of their band is just as bad. And OMG, how do you let a boy you know for all of 5 minutes get in the way of this so-called friendship? Ok, you both have the hots for him and that's a tough situation, but I just cannot even with this. It was so dysfunctional! And Meghan already stole one of Claire's boyfriends a couple of years ago, but to be fair, he was Meghan's boyfriend first. WHAT?? I was just staring at this trainwreck of a friendship and being thankful for my own friends.

And I really didn't like Claire. She's constantly slut-shaming other girls, looking down on everyone and it was just not pretty. Also, I didn't like how she went behind Meghan's back with Luke. And also, Luke was no prize either. He was constantly talking shit about Meghan, even though she was his girlfriend and it just really bugged me! And it bugged me that Claire wouldn't stand up for her best friend while he was doing this.
Also, I cannot even begin to tell you how annoying it was to read about this revenge-kissing that Claire did after a bad break up, she went and kissed the guy's 4 bandmates, basically leading one of them on who seemed like a really good guy and didn't seem to really feel bad about this. I don't know who would do such a thing. Not someone I would want to have around.

I'm not entirely sure why I finished this book, I guess I was hoping for it to be fun in the end or something? To have the characters redeem themselves? Neither of these things happened.

My rating: 1,5 stars

What's on my playlist (1)

One of my other passions, beside reading, is music. I LOVE listening to it, singing along (badly) and shaking my bootie to it. Here's some of what I haven't been able to get out of my head lately:



This song is awesome! And also, I totally got the boyfriend (who doesn't really dance) to dance with me on this one a couple of weeks ago, so good memories :)



I love Taylor Swift, she's awesome.



This song haunts me! I mean, I would have preferred if it wasn't part of the soundtrack of a movie I have no interest in watching, but this song! I just can't help it. Also, I wish Jamie Dorman would star in something I wanted to watch, because I have the hugest celebrity-crush on him every since he was the huntsman in Once Upon a Time and OMG WHY DID THEY KILL HIM OFF?? Sad...

So what have you been listening to?

Review of Love Bomb by Jenny McLachlan

Title/Author: Love Bomb (The Ladybirds #2) by Jenny McLachlan
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury Children's, March 12th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

I'd never read anything by Jenny McLachlan before, but this sounded cute and quirky, so I was good to go.

And I did enjoy reading Love Bomb, though it took me a while to get used to Betty's voice. She's 15, but it's a pretty young 15 in my opinion. Also, she's a bit odd, which is not a problem, but I could not immediately groove with her particular kind of oddness, so we had to get to know each other for a bit before I could go with the flow of the story. I think that Betty is one of those people that I can envy, who can embrace being weird around other people and make it charming. Also, she has awesome friends.

I mean, seriously, let's hear it for her friends, who totally have her back and really KNOW her. They call her out on it when she's being selfish and support her in everything else. This is what friendship should be in my opinion, especially with the honesty when she's doing something that hurts one of her friends.
I also really liked the letters from Betty's mom with her advice on love, first kisses and heartbreak. They were straight from the heart and I was wishing for Betty that she could haave known this woman, who sounded amazing.

Aside from the romance department, Betty also struggles with her dad having a girlfriend, who she very maturely nicknames Poo. I was actually a bit annoyed at Betty for how she handled this at first. I mean, I can understand that you don't like having to share one of your parents after it being just the two of them for years, but she was REALLY rude and that was just not ok. It's mostly due to the girlfriend's efforts that this changes, rather than Betty growing as a person, so I felt this was resolved maybe a bit too easily.

The boy Betty crushes on, Toby, is a bit of a weird, douchy guy and I wasn't really into him, but the other romance that slowly develops over the course of this novel and that I could gleefully see coming from miles away, was pretty cute.

In the end, I did like Love Bomb, but Betty was a bit too juvenile for me to fully get swept up into the swoony part, but it was a cute, quick read.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee

Title/Author: Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1) by Lori M. Lee
Publisher/Date published: Skyscrape, August 5th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.

In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret — she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from — or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.

Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.

So this has been on my radar for a while. I have to admit that I thought it was something mythology-related at first, but it turns out to be a really interesting fantasy type novel (I think it's fantasy at least).

I had a bit of a rocky start with Gates of Thread and Stone, because, while I immediately really liked Kai and everything seems really interested, I was pretty clueless about what exactly my setting was. I mean, I'm not a fan of the info-dump thing at all, but I could have really done with a little more information about how this world works and some more about their leader and the history of this place and just EVERYTHING. I was feeling a bit helpless and grasping at straws to try and understand how this story fits into the bigger picture. Towards the ending, some of my questions have been answered, but definitely not all. But I do feel that I have a better grasp on how things work. I was actually wondering if I had somehow skipped pages and missed the part where things are explained at first, but I checked back and I hadn't. But after a while, I decided to work with it, but it did prevent me from just going with the flow of the story, cause I couldn't place things, you know what I mean?

Anyway. Like I said, I did really like Kai. She's determined and loyal and strong and I liked that. She had a really strong bond with her 'brother' Reev and would do anything for him and it's logical when you think about how it's been them against the rest of the world for years. It's right. I also liked how she kept getting distracted by Avan and would tell herself that this really wasn't the time to be thinking of him like that with her brother missing. Obviously, you can't ignore those butterflies forever, but she did have the good sense to realise that it was really not a good time right then.

I'm not much of a fan of Reev himself sadly, while he seems like a good guy, I didn't get much of a feel for him as a person before he went missing. I did however really like Avan. He's a complicated character and I'm not entirely sure of his age and if I should be thinking that he's a pervert for the whole flirting with Kai thing, but I'm going to believe the best of him here and say he's not that much older than she is. But it's not mentioned anywhere and that always bugs me. But he's definitely a good guy, looking out for Kai and he's got some serious secrets of his own.

So there's a lot of build-up and I got tiny pieces of the bigger puzzle and then BOOM there's the big reveal and it was AWESOME! I mean, seriously, it was really good and it made me even more interested in finding out more about how the system with their gods works and how everything fits together and what the heck is going on with some of these characters and what it will mean for the future and OMG I did totally predict the final twist, but it's one that I can definitely be ok with.

I really liked Gates of Thread and Stone with its twisty plot! But it would have been even better if I'd gotten a little more information in the first part of the novel.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Mini-Reviews (6) On the Fence, The Stepsister's Tale, Lady Windermere's Lover

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: On the Fence by Kasie West
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I LOVE Kasie West's writing! She knows how to build an interesting story AND make me swoon over the romance! On the Fence was SO cute, while also dealing with loss and a one-parent family. And I really enjoyed reading about Charlie's family, the siblings really care about each other, I LOVED her brothers! And I loved her dad for trying to also do the girly thing with advice from his 'co-worker' and sometimes failing epicly, but still, he gets bonus points for trying!

I really liked the slowly building romance and how Braden and Charlie have a real history and a foundation for their relationship. They've known each other for ages and I loved the glances and the insecurity and misunderstandings and just the tension! And boys being dumb boys and just all of it! I really cannot recommend Kasie West's books enough, they are amazing!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Title/Author: The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin Teen, June 24th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

I was intrigued by the premise of Cinderella told from the perspective of one of the stepsisters. I mean, history is written down by the victors right? And in the original tale, the stepsisters are definitely NOT the winners. And while I appreciated the concept, the execution could have been better. I almost DNF-ed this several times, mostly because the beginning was SO slow! Seriously, if it hadn't been for hours spent on a train while travelling through Morocco, I probably would have put this down. It really takes forever to take off, and everything was bleak and there was not even the least sense of hope and Ella was ANNOYING and weird and OMG I did not need 100 pages of them being hungry (I don't know if it was 100 pages, but it felt like it).

But then the story started to really come together and things started happening aside from them scavenging for food and it was VERY interesting! And I actually liked the second part of the novel, and there's a pretty cute romance, but I really cannot get over the slowness of the first half of the book. I'm glad I stuck with it for the later part, but I think it will turn a lot of people off.

My rating: 2,5 stars

Title/Author: Lady Windermere's Lover (The Wild Quartet #3) by Miranda Neville
Publisher/Date published: Avon, June 24th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I hate to say it, but I really did not much like this book. And that's mostly because the hero, Damian, is an ass and then the heroine, Cynthia just takes his crap.
So Damian is pissed that he's being forced to marry a commoner to get back the property that he foolishly gambled away as a youth. Ok. Fine. But that's no reason to treat Cynthia, his wife, the way he did! Constantly demeaning her and just being insulting and snobbish and UGH! I really wanted to slap him. And she falls for him ANYWAY because he's 'so handsome'. SERIOUSLY??? I wanted to shake her to wake up and recognize his assness.

Then he leaves her for a year and in that year she decides to flirt with his best friend, who she kisses once and he doesn't believe that they haven't been having an affair all year long when she tells him. But because she's beautiful now he decides to seduce her (WTF?) anyway. There's also this vendetta he has against his best friend that's basically him blaming Julian for something his stupid drunk self did when he was younger. I mean, SERIOUSLY?? I'm not even sure why I finished this, I get annoyed again writing this review.

My rating: 1,5 star (half star extra for cute kitten that's in it)

Get On My Shelf! (3) The February 2015 edition

So, a little over 2 years ago I decided to do a monthly feature of showing you guys what I can't help but (pre)order every month when my paycheck is burning a hole in my pocket.
Let's just say I failed at doing this monthly, but I've decided to revive it :)

My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten: Rowena Duncan is a thoroughly modern girl with big plans for her summer - until she catches her boyfriend making out with another girl. Heartbroken, she applies to an out-of-town job posting and finds herself somewhere she never expected: the Renaissance Faire.

As a face-painter doubling as a serving wench, Ro is thrown headfirst into a vibrant community of artists and performers. She feels like a fish out of water until Will, a quick-witted whip cracker, takes her under his wing. Then there’s Christian, a blue-eyed stunt jouster who makes Ro weak in the knees. Soon, it’s not just her gown that’s tripping her up.

Trading in the internet and electricity for stars and campfires was supposed to make life simpler, but Ro is finding that love is the ultimate complication. Can she let the past make way for her future?

Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger: Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.

Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with - secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.

Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand - a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.

But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin — one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin — and his world — forever.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West: When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend — two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch... she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han: Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

Review of The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale

Title/Author: The Forgotten Sisters (Princess Academy #3) by Shannon Hale
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury USA Children's, March 3rd 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: After a year at the king’s palace, Miri has learned all about being a proper princess. But the tables turn when the student must become the teacher!

Instead of returning to her beloved Mount Eskel, Miri is ordered to journey to a distant swamp and start a princess academy for three sisters, cousins of the royal family. Unfortunately, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus are more interested in hunting and fishing than becoming princesses.

As Miri spends more time with the sisters, she realizes the king and queen’s interest in them hides a long-buried secret. She must rely on her own strength and intelligence to unravel the mystery, protect the girls, complete her assignment, and finally make her way home.

Fans of Shannon Hale won’t want to miss this gorgeously woven return to this best-selling, award-winning series.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES***

Guys, this series is wonderful. I love the world Shannon Hale has created and Miri is an awesome heroine, funny and witty and intelligent and just a girl I can rally behind.

I really enjoyed reconnecting with this world and all the characters in The Forgotten Sisters and meeting new friends! Cause that's how Shannon Hale's writing makes me feel, like I'm meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones. It took us some time to get used to each other again, but after that we had a lot of fun. I thought the politics in the first two books were not so easy to navigate, but The Forgotten Sisters adds another layer of intricate plotting and secrets and just a whole lot of WHAT?? when Miri and I discovered what it was exactly that was going on.

I like that we got to explore another part of the world Miri lives in, while holding true to the people and places we've been introduced to before. And like I mentioned before, Miri is pretty awesome. I really liked the bantery relationship she has with Peder. Those two truly care about each other and I think they make a great couple. It's filled with mutual respect and love and it's a great example.

I also really appreciate how much girlpower there is in this series, without being all rah-rah boys are inferior. I mean, Shannon Hale shows how boys and girls can work together and how everyone has their own set of talents, regardless of gender. It's a pretty awesome message to send in my opinion.

Shannon Hale has a real gift for storytelling and I definitely enjoyed myself while reading The Forgotten Sisters, it's sweet and chamring and funny and I would just really recommend this series as whole!

My rating: 4 stars

Review of Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston

Title/Author: Diary of an Accidental Wallflower (Seduction Diaries #1) by Jennifer McQuiston
Publisher/Date published: Avon, February 24th 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Pretty and popular, Miss Clare Westmore knows exactly what (or rather, who) she wants: the next Duke of Harrington. But when she twists her ankle on the eve of the Season’s most touted event, Clare is left standing in the wallflower line watching her best friend dance away with her duke.

Dr. Daniel Merial is tempted to deliver more than a diagnosis to London's most unlikely wallflower, but he doesn’t have time for distractions, even one so delectable. Besides, she's clearly got her sights on more promising prey. So why can’t he stop thinking about her?

All Clare wants to do is return to the dance floor. But as her former friends try to knock her permanently out of place, she realizes with horror she is falling for her doctor instead of her duke. When her ankle finally heals and she faces her old life again, will she throw herself back into the game?

Or will her time in the wallflower line have given her a glimpse of who she was really meant to be?

This was a bit of a different twist on the usual historical romance, which features a duke or a viscount or a marquess and a highborn lady who fall in love. In Diary of an Accidental Wallflower, we see love blossom between a highborn lady and a doctor (gasp)!

I liked Clare, though I really wanted to shake her for pretending to be lacking intelligence. I mean, she's obviously pretty smart, but she's pretending not to be because she thinks it won't be as accepted by the rest of the ton and OMG in real life this also annoys me! Playing dumb is never an attractive feature in my opinion. But she does use her smarts in the end and I liked it. She's fiercely protective of her brother and sister and though she might be a bit overbearing in her protectiveness, I loved that she cared so much about them.

I had some issues with Daniel. While I really liked that he calls Clare out on her bullshit, the way he's attracted to a patient and decides to act on it while he's still treating her is a big HELL NO. I mean, I'm a doctor myself and that is just not done. I think you can even loose your license to practice medicine when you do something like this. So that bothered me. But I do like how he's determined to find a way to use anesthesia on patients and how he's conducting experiments on himself (which didn't seem the wisest decision to be honest, but I do appreciate his not wanting to kill a test subject by accident). Other than that, I liked how he also cared about Clare's siblings and gave them some advice and just a good example.

Clare and Daniel definitely had the banter down and I always appreciate that! They had some chemistry, but not as much as I would have liked and the conflict at the end made me roll my eyes for a bit. I mean, come on, that just felt like filler for the last couple of pages, while it could hav easily ended neatly right there. But they were good together and I kinda loved how though there was the real problem of their difference in station and how they would have an income sufficient to provide for them both, it all worked out in the end. It might be a little too convenient how the stars all aligned to make this happen, but I like a happily ever after, so I was ok with it.

There was a lot of build-up towards the taking off of the romance and I was a bit bored for the first half of the book, but after it started getting better and I could start rooting for their relationship to work out, so in the end it was a pretty ok novel, not as good as I though Summer is For Lovers was, which was AMAZING, but still a decent read.

My rating: 3 stars

Top Ten Tuesday: All Time Favourites From the Past 3 Years

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by my other blog The Broke and the Bookish

These are the books that I would count among my all time favourite list from 2012 till now. I'll admit that I cheated a bit by listing series, but I cannot list one of the books without talking about the others!

1. Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas: it is really no secret that I have all the love for this series. It is amazing and I love Celaena and Dorian and Chaol and ROWAN and just this whole world that Sarah J. Maas has created and OMG I cannot wait to see what will happen next! These books always leave me with the worst hangover and it is GLORIOUS.

2. Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo: another fantasy series I have completely fallen in love with and which is already finished and just writing this post makes me want to go grab the books and dive back into the Grisha world!

3. A Night Like This and The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: I discovered how much I love Julia Quinn's writing over the last 3 years and these books are just *LOVE*. She's amazing and I just swoon and laugh at the stories and it's perfection.

4. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: wow, this book! I had not expected to love it as much as I did, but it punched me right in the feels and it was just AMAZING.

5. A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin: I have so much love for this series! I'd read the previous books in the series before 2012, but I'm definitely counting these for the list!

6. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: I had feels all over this book! It was SO good and OMG THE LETTER! I DIED!

7. The Crown of Embers and The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson: I'd read The Girl of Fire and Thorns in 2011. This series has such a hold on my heart! I love Elisa and Hector and all the other characters in this book, they've all wormed their way into my heart and I still cannot process that this series is finished and I won't be going on anymore adventures with them! It was amazing to see Elisa grow and come into her own!

8. Golden by Jessi Kirby: such an unexpected love! Golden blew me away and I really cannot for the life of me think of a good reason why I don't own a shiny copy of this book myself! I will forever fangirl over the beauty of the writing in Golden.

9. Splintered, Unhinged and Ensnared by A.G. Howard: I have so much love for this re-imagining of Wonderland and all its inhabitants! I loved seeing Alyssa grow into a true queen of Wonderland and while I may not be exactly satisfied with the way my ship went, I do get it and I still love this series as a whole.

10. The Bone Season and The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon: this series! It's just amazing and intricate and ok, The Bone Season was a bit heavy on the information we had to process, but it totally worked for me and I will just read the crap out of the rest of the books in this series that are still being written!

So that's my list, any we have in common? Anything you'd recommend based on my list? Let me know!

Mini-Reviews (5) Boomerang, For All Time, The Vanishing Season

So ever since June of 2014 I've been failing at writing reviews for the books I read. I know. And because it's been AGES since I read these, I'm just gonna do mini-reviews of them, so as to clear my need-review shelf.

Title/Author: Boomerang (Boomerang #1) by Noelle August
Publisher/Date published: William Morrow, July 8th 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I enjoyed Boomerang, I'll admit that I wasn't as big a fan as some other people whose reviews I've seen floating about the blogosphere, but it was really fun! I liked both Mia and Ethan and could root for them to get together, and I liked that there was some real conflict, I mean, a job on the line is something that will effectively stop you from being together if the company doesn't allow coworkers to date. Which is a really annoying rule in my opinion.

The reason that Boomerang doesn't get more than 3,5 stars is that I felt that it started to drag towards the end, I thought that they were making it unnecessarily hard to be together and it was kinda annoying. Also, I could have done with a little less of them thinking about how hot the other person was. Ok, they're both hot, I get it, moving on. Please just start thinking about all the other stuff you like about each other.

But I did really like that Boomerang dealt with real people, real friendships and real jobs.

My rating: 3,5 stars

Title/Author: For All Time (Nantucket Brides Trilogy #2) by Jude Deveraux
Publisher/Date published: Ballantine Books, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I really liked True Love, the first book in this series and was itching to get back to Nantucket and see others find their happily ever after. I need some good fluff in my life every now and then. But Toby and Graydon just didn't work for me the same way that Alix and Jared did. I never really FELT their chemistry enough to believe in it and sorry, but being together just because you can tell Graydon apart from his identical twin and that means you're "meant for each other" *insert eyeroll* is just not enough for me.

I do enjoy a good prince story and there was something real keeping them apart, but it just felt so old-fashioned! I mean, I get this in my historical romance novels and also in fantasy series and such, but in a contemporary romance? I was constantly wanting to yell at them to start living in the 21st century. Though I do realise that this might be the way things still work for royal families, it was still annoying.

So while this was an ok read, I was waiting for that wow factor that never came.

My rating: 2 stars

Title/Author: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, July 1st 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

I'd never read anything by Jodi Lynn Anderson before, but I've heard amazing things about Tiger Lily and was excited to start The Vanishing Season. I did like The Vanishing Season, and I can see the potential of Jodi Lynn Anderson's writing, she really has a way with words. The plot for The Vanishing Season just wasn't as exciting as I had liked it to be.

I wasn't really invested in Maggie, Liam and Pauline and could see from MILES away where this was going, there was this sense of doom over the whole story for me. I don't really want to tell you about what happened, cause it will ruin the surprise and shock effect and that in itself was perfection. The ending of The Vanishing Season was basically what saved this novel and I am glad I stuck with it for that.

My rating: 3 stars

Daisy Update (58)

Hi guys!

So over the past couple of weeks, I've basically been pretty busy, working the night shift of doom last weekend, which wasn't all that bad in the end, but working 13 hours a day is not my idea of fun.

On Monday I headed over to my mom's, because she and the new man in her life (though maybe not as new anymore as they've been together for 1,5 years already) were having a registered partnership ceremony on Tuesday and it was REALLY early and I didn't feel like getting up at 5AM in order to be on time because it's a 2 hour drive from our home to theirs. So we had dinner together and after the boyfriend also came over and it was nice.
On Tuesday my brother and his girlfriend and some other family came and we spent the day together. The original plan had been to go for a walk, but because of icky weather, we decided to go to a gardening centre instead and the boyfriend and I bought a pretty flower vase set thingy and I've just been staring at it ever since, it's so pretty :) And I needed some more colour in our home, so the pink and purple is really making me happy. We went out to dinner that night and it was lovely, I always love spending time with my mom and my brother, my brother and I have the same sense of humour and usually end up annoying our significant others because they can't follow all of it.

Wednesday was filled with sitting on the couch, reading Grave Mercy and cuddling the kitty, who felt neglected cause we'd been gone a full day. She's never before been alone for that long, but it seemed like she managed ok, nothing was damaged, but she clearly felt we'd offended her by being gone a night and a whole day. I did make up for it by giving her a little extra attention Wednesday and Thursday, so we're good.

On Thursday the boyfriend had the brilliant idea to go out for dinner instead of eating leftovers and we went to the other restaurant in our town that we hadn't yet been to and it was wonderful! The owner is really friendly and the food was yummy. It has the added benefit of being only a 5 minute walk from our house, so the rain didn't much bother us.

Friday was book club day! :D I met up with Debby and Mel for dinner and we talked about everything and anything and also a bit about Grave Mercy, which we all enjoyed, yay! I had Korean food for the first time ever and it was good, but not really all that special to me. But Debby has had it before and said it might be the restaurant. I love spending time with these girls!

Yesterday I thought the neighbours were coming over to our place for dinner and they thought we were coming over to theirs, so in the end we decided to have dinner at their house and we brought the desert:

It's a pavlova with strawberries romanoff and raspberries and it was SO GOOD! I'd never made this before, but OMG, it was surprisingly easy and YUM! I love trying out new recipes :) We have some leftovers in the fridge, which will probably miraculously disappear sometime today.
Oh, and I decided to take up knitting again! I've been watching a lot of tv lately and I feel so inactive if the only thing I'm doing is just sitting there watching something, so I'm knitting. It's pretty relaxing, I'm just getting back into it at the moment, making a blanket for our kitty and then I'm gonna move on to bigger projects such as leg warmers and other things :)

I hope you're all having a great week!