Transitive Verve

It's July, and apparently this is a thing bookish Internet people do :) 1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019? 2. Best sequel you’ve read? (Well, I read all three of these this year, but yeah!) 3. New release you haven’t gotten to, but want to? 4. Most anticipated release for the second half of 2019? 5. Biggest disappointment? I can't say that I have one! I mean, I've read books this year that I didn't love, but to call them a disappointment would mean that I had high expectations to begin with, lol... 6. Biggest surprise? The plot twist was DEFINITELY one I didn't see coming, and plus, this book challenged me in surprising ways. 7. New favorite author (either debut or new to you)? Stephanie Garber, author of the Caraval  series (new to me) 8. Newest fictional crush? The gang of The Raven Cycle , but I'm a Gansey girl for sure. 9. New favorite character? The entire gang of Aurora Rising . Like, their entire dynamic together...

So, one thing I haven't had a chance to do yet since moving is to check out the libraries here. (Librar ies , plural! I now live in a two-library town!!) This is the first weekend of the spring library sale, so I figured it would be a good time to stop in, get a card, and browse the sale selection. It's been a while since I've attended any library sale at all, and the last time I went to one, it was nice, but I didn't find much there to interest me, and in general, there just wasn't much - it was a stretch for me to fill up my $5 bag. However, that was definitely not the case today. (Also, the books were individually priced, not priced by the bag.) I found sooooo much stuff, and I didn't even get everything that I wanted, so I might have to head back again this week. Now, normally I hate posts about hauls; as a makeup enthusiast, I'm no stranger to haul videos, and I never like watching them because I feel weird about seeing other people show off what ...

On a recent trip to SoCal for a Disney race, I decided that I HAD to visit the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter that just opened at Universal Studios. Because how can I NOT, right? HOGWARTS! It's a small "land" within the theme park, with two rides, lots of shops, and of course, FOOD. My general plan was to take lots of pictures and to eat lots of things, because while I can read the books and watch the movies at home anytime I want, what I can't  do anytime I want is have official butterbeer. So basically, this is going to be a pic-heavy post, just to warn you.

Happy birthday, Transitive Verve! A year ago today, at the encouragement of some friends, I decided to split up my blogging and create a book blog and a makeup blog (so happy birthday to Vivre Glam too!) in addition to maintaining Editions of Me , and I haven't looked back since. While I did do TONS of beauty posts before, I didn't do a whole lot of book-blogging, and starting Transitive Verve really gave me the impetus to dive deep into my love of reading and writing. Thanks for being along for ride, and here's to (hopefully) many more years of being book nerds!

There is a neverending battle between those who love e-readers and those who love physical books. I fall somewhere in the middle. I love my Kindle, I love how easy and convenient it is to own hundreds of books and to be able to access them at any time, and I like how easy it is to read privately on a Kindle (because, let's face it, no matter how well-written a book is, if it has an embarrassing cover, I won't be carrying it in public). But I love physical books too. I know people talk a lot about the smell of books, but to be honest, I don't sniff books, unless there is some scratch-and-sniff feature to it. Old books smell like... really old books. Like dust and must and other people's hands. So the "old book smell" is not what draws me to physical books. Nope. What wins me over? Beautiful endpapers and interesting design features. These are things that you absolutely need physical copies to appreciate.