Transitive Verve

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 ...

The book Thirteen Reasons Why  by Jay Asher has been on my radar for a long time, and I still haven't read it, but the internet has been buzzing since the series adaptation premiered on Netflix recently, so at the very least, I decided that I wanted to watch it, even though normally I like to read the book first. The basic story is that the students of Liberty High School are reeling from the suicide of fellow student Hannah Baker, including Clay Jensen, who was her coworker and friend, and who also had a crush on her. About a week after her death, Clay receives a mysterious box full of cassette tapes: before her death, Hannah had decided to record herself discussing the 13 reasons - specifically, people and incidents - that had slowly eroded away all her hope, self-esteem, and will to live, resulting in her decision to take her own life. The box is meant to make its way around to all 13 people whom she discusses on those tapes, and Clay, it seems, is one of those 13, and the ...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. This book was provided to me for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for also providing the press kit with the graphics and blurb. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it)

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  Kaitlyn is the queen of hiding and being invisible. Despite being the daughter of a senator and a college professor (and her grandfather was an astronaut too!), Kaitlyn prefers to pass through life unnoticed - she avoids parties, she wears baggy clothes, and she doesn't really talk to anyone at her school except her best friend Sam and her lab partner, Martin. Her very hot, very rich, very cocky, very a-holeish, even, lab partner, Martin. Kaitlyn is literally  hiding in the cabinet in the chemistry lab (as she often does) when she overhears two other students plotting against Martin, and when she warns him about it, she realizes that she hasn't gone unnoticed after all - at least, not by Martin. What follows is a whirlwind romance that begins with a spring break trip to remember, where Martin exposes her to a different type of chemistry.

I know, I know - podcasts aren't books.  BUT, there are some amazing ways that podcasting is being used to tell stories, much like the old radio programs of yore. And I feel like following a story via listening is a bit different from watching it unfold on-screen. Listening to serial fiction podcasts isn't reading, but it's not watching tv either. I guess you could say they're closest to audiobooks :) Which I am totally in favor of, as a reader. I don't listen to a LOT of podcasts. Or, I should say, I don't subscribe  to a lot of podcasts, since I'll listen to episodes of random podcasts because they have guests or topics I'm interested in for that particular episode. But there aren't many that I would stick around for. Welcome to Night Vale  is one of them. In fact, it's the podcast I've been subscribed to the longest. It's a fictional series, about a mysterious desert town, where everything is... well, the quickest, simplest su...

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Summary:  Sophia is moving back to the US in seven days, after spending most of her life in Tokyo. She doesn't want to say goodbye to her school, her friends, and the brilliant, electric city she has come to know and love.  And to make matters worse, Jamie has just moved back  to Tokyo -- Jamie, with whom she'd once been good friends and who had hurt her terribly before he left. Why couldn't he have just waited another week? As she counts down the days and her friendships start to splinter, she finds a connection forming between her and Jamie. But with only a week left to go, is she just setting herself up for more heartbreak?

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. NA/A romance has a lottttttttt of sub-categories, so depending on what you like, you can find romances involving football players, hockey players, military men, billionaires, etc. My particular interest is in rock stars, although perhaps not for reasons you'd expect: I played bass guitar in a cover band for all of high school, and while it was all very innocent and teenagery, it left me with an appreciation for music and performing that I still have to this day, even though I stopped playing long ago. Music (playing, not just listening) has always been a part of my life, ever since I was a child (and I ended up being kind of a music snob in my 20s too), so it's probably no surprise that I like reading rock star romances - I'm often paying as much attention to the descriptions of ...