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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

I own a lot of books but I wasn't sure what authors I owned the most books from until this. It's interesting and it really shows what types of books I like. So here are the ten authors I own the most books from:

  1. Lemony Snicket, I own all 13 of the Series of Unfortunate Events books
  2. Carolyn Keene, I have 13 of the Nancy Drew books.
  3. Lauren Myracle, I own 8 of her books
  4. John Green, I own 7 of his books. I have all of the books his has written/co-written and I have two copies of The Fault In Our Stars, the regular edition and the exclusive collector's edition.
  5. E.D. Baker, I own 7 of her books, all from The Princess and the Frog series
  6. J.K. Rowling, I have all 7 of the Harry Potter books
  7. Catherine Clark, I have 7 of her books but I have only read one of them so far.
  8. Scott Westerfeld, I own 6 of his books including all of the books in the Uglies series as well as Peeps and The Last Days
  9. Amanda Hocking, I own 6 of her books. 
  10. Stephanie Meyer, I own 6 of her books. I have all of the Twilight books including The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and I also have The Host

Book Review: Vitro by Jessica Khoury

Vitro by Jessica Khoury
On Skin Island, even the laws of creation can be broken.

On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings—the Vitros—have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.

Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. With the help of Jim Julien, a young charter pilot, she arrives--and discovers a terrifying secret she never imagined: she has a Vitro twin, Lux, who is the culmination of Corpus's dangerous research.

Now Sophie is torn between reuniting with the mother who betrayed her and protecting the genetically enhanced twin she never knew existed. But untangling the twisted strands of these relationships will have to wait, for Sophie and Jim are about to find out what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach. 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17617762-vitro

I rate this book...
3 out of 5 stars

What I thought...

*Non Spoilers Section*


I enjoyed this book but I also was a little disappointed. I found this book difficult to read because it switched between three different characters and some of it overlapped and retold what had already happened. This made it hard for me to connect with the three main characters, Sophie, Lux, and Jim. The story is very interesting. The mystery behind skin island is very well thought out and I liked the idea of it, but I feel it could have been executed better. 


*Spoilers Section*

One thing that really bothered me about the book is that the bomb that was supposed to kill Jim didn't even injure him. He was perfectly fine. And both Sophie and Jim were fine after jumping off the cliff into the water. A lot of the Vitros had died earlier jumping off of the cliff, but they were fine. It was a little too coincidental for me. I like that the ending hints about her other book Origin and possibly hints about future books. I loved Origin and I'm looking forward to see what she comes up with in the future.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Review: Freeman Cucumber Facial Peel-Off Mask

Hello everyone! I am back with another product review for you all. Today I will be talking about the Freeman Cucumber Facial Peel-Off Mask.



For this mask I applied a thin layer of the mask all over my clean face (avoiding the eye and mouth area) then waited about 15 minutes for it to dry. Then I peeled off as much as I could and washed my face with my normal cleanser and followed with moisturizer.

Pros:

  • Cheap
  • Easy to use
  • Makes face feel refreshed


Cons:

  • Sticky when applying with fingers

Overall I really liked this product. It was cheap and I think it is fun to use once in a while. (It reminds me of elementary school peeling glue off your fingers. Did anyone else do that?) It made my face feel refreshed. When you apply it, the mask feels very cool and soothing on your face. The only negative thing is that it is very sticky when you apply it using your fingers and it is a little difficult to wash off your hands. 

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Book to Moive Comparison: The Fault In Our Stars

The book The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is a contemporary book about two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love.


The movie was directed by Josh Boone and was released on June 6, 2014 in the USA.

Here are my thoughts (Contains Spoilers):
Everyone who knows me knows how much I love John Green's book The Fault In Our Stars. So of course I had to see the movie. I went to see this movie the day it came out with my best friend. I think they did a fantastic job turning this book into a movie. They brought Hazel and Augustus to life on screen.
They used so many quotes and moments taken directly from the book to make the movie.
Obviously they couldn't include everything from the book in the movie, but the things that they left out didn't bother me. Hazel's friend, Kaitlyn, was left out of the movie completely, but she didn't play a huge role in the book so it didn't bother me. They left out the scene when Hazel and Augustus sell her old swing set. I liked this moment in the book, but I see why they cut it out because it really wasn't necessary to move the plot along. They left out Augustus's ex-girlfriend that looked like Hazel. I also feel like Augustus was sick for a longer period of time in the book than in the movie, but I also understand why they couldn't drag that out for too long in a movie.
I cried a lot when I read the book, especially the first time I read it. I did not cry while watching the movie. I thought I was going to but maybe because I knew what was going to happen it wasn't so bad? I did tear up a few times, but I feel like every time something sad would happen there would be a joke and you would feel happy again.

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.






I rate this book...
5 out of 5 Stars
What I thought...

*Non Spoilers Section*
This was my third time reading this book, I love it that much. If you haven't read it I highly recommend you do. I read it when it first came out, then again when they released the trailer for the movie, and now recently in preparation for the movie.
It is about a girl named Hazel who has cancer and meets a boy named Augustus at a cancer support group. It is about their relationship, their friends, and life. It is a love story. It is about real kids going through real things. There are some sad parts but it is also filled with funny and heartwarming moments.
I like that it is so easy to relate to this book. Someone very close to me died from liver cancer and I can understand the sadness that occurs. I haven't had cancer myself, but I was hospitalized a few years ago and things weren't looking good (Luckily everything worked out well for me and today I'm a healthy 18 year old). I read this book shortly after coming out of the hospital and was so excited that someone actually understood what I had gone through. But even if you haven't been sick or know someone who is/was you could still relate to this book because it is not about cancer or illness, it is about teenagers.

*Spoilers Section*
I don't want to put too much here because I could go on for hours. There are so many parts of this book that I, as well as everyone else, love. The book is filled with so many wonderful moments and I love to quote it as much as the next girl, but I'm not going to because I'm sure you've seen them all dozens of times already.
One of my favorite things is that Hazel and Augustus bond over a book. And I think it's awesome that John Green uses a quote from this book he made up at the beginning of this book.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish

I've read a lot of great books so far this year. It's kind of hard to chose only ten but I did it. Here are the top ten books I've read so far this year in no particular order (if there was more than one book in a series that I liked I only included the first one):


  1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
  2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
  3. Switched by Amanda Hocking
  4. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green (this one was a re-read)
  5. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick 
  6. Bliss by Lauren Myracle
  7. Vitro by Jessica Khoury
  8. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
  9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  10. Girlfriends Volume 1 by Milk Morinaga

Monday, May 12, 2014

Bout of Books 10 Updates

Bout of Books

Monday

Books completed: None
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Number of Pages Read Today: 210
Total Number of Pages Read: 210
Thoughts/other updates for the day: Bout of books 10 has begun! So far I am enjoying reading Bliss. I don't think I will have as much time to read tomorrow as I did today, but I plan to continue reading Bliss.

Tuesday

Books completed: None
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Number of Pages Read Today: 20
Total Number of Pages Read: 230
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I was so busy today I didn't have very much time to read at all. Tomorrow I will have more time and can make up for today a little bit. I really like Bliss so far and I want to know what happens. 

Wednesday

Books completed: Girlfriends, Volume 4  by Milk Morinaga
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle, Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga, Vitro by Jessica Khoury
Number of Pages Read Today: 205
Total Number of Pages Read: 435
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I read 25 pages of Vitro during my study hall today in school. I read 34 pages of Bliss when I got home, it's getting really interesting. Then I decided that I was getting a little tired of reading mostly the same thing and picked up Girlfriends Volume 4 because I knew it would be a quick fun read. I had started this before the read-a-thon and finished it today. I started Girlfriends Volume 5 and will hopefully finish it tomorrow and continue with Bliss.  

Thursday

Books completed: Girlfriends, Volume 4  by Milk Morinaga, Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle, Vitro by Jessica Khoury
Number of Pages Read Today: 159
Total Number of Pages Read: 594
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I read 139 pages of Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga and finished it toady. I also read 20 pages of Bliss. I was hoping to read more today because I know that I won't have time tomorrow, but I had a lot of stuff I had to do today. Tomorrow is senior prom at my school, so I don't expect to do much reading.

Friday

Books completed: Girlfriends, Volume 4  by Milk Morinaga, Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle, Vitro by Jessica Khoury
Number of Pages Read Today: 44
Total Number of Pages Read: 638
Thoughts/other updates for the day: Not much reading done today because it was my senior prom :)

Saturday

Books completed:  Girlfriends, Volume 4  by Milk Morinaga, Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle, Vitro by Jessica Khoury
Number of Pages Read Today: 116
Total Number of Pages Read: 754
Thoughts/other updates for the day: Didn't get a lot of reading done today either. I thought I would have more time, but things come up. I don't think I'm going to make it to my goal because  I've just been so busy this week. But I still have tomorrow.

Sunday

Books completed: Girlfriends, Volume 4  by Milk Morinaga, Girlfriends, Volume 5  by Milk Morinaga
Currently reading: Bliss by Lauren Myracle, Vitro by Jessica Khoury
Number of Pages Read Today: 36
Total Number of Pages Read: 790
Thoughts/other updates for the day: Didn't get much reading done at all on this last day of the read-a-thon. I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't really come close to my goal. But I did know I would be busy this week with my school's prom and everything, so I'm not surprised. I'm happy because I read more than a usually do this week and it was fun so that's all that matters! I will be continuing to read Bliss and Vitro and probably with start the other books I had on my TBR for the read-a-thon that I didn't get to.