A New-Found Freedom

On Friday July 4th, the day Americans call 'Independence Day' and celebrate their freedom, I, a 17 year old Canadian, celebrated my own independence in a different way.... I went out and bought a frozen lemonade from Tim Hortons. But... Do you want to know how I got there???

I DROVE. BY MYSELF!

This is me, right after passing my 'N' test, which is BC's way of saying, "you can drive on your own, but remember, you're still little" which I totally understand because well.. driving is scary. But also awesome. (oh, btw, look at that awesome parking job. My examiner thought I was over the line, but I knew I made it in ;) )

Anywho, with this new freedom comes a lot of responsibility, I know, but it also means some fun too. I'm so excited about the fact that I can drive and that I can drive to allllll of my favourite bookstores. 

BUT this also means I can drive myself to a job, so I've officially applied to a bunch of different places and am hoping to get a call from at least one of them! If not, I'll keep trying I suppose, but I'm going to need a job soon if I want to even think about all of the expenses coming up with my grad year.

So, anyways, that's kind of it! Nothing special, I just wanted to share some of my exciting news! I'm hoping to get caught up on some posts this week and I'm hoping to get a schedule down soon, but I always say that, so don't bet on it haha.

Happy reading!

~Kristy

Top Ten Tuesday: Blogging Confessions

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.This week's topic  is: Top Ten Blogging Confessions... Alright, let's get personal.

1. I put reviews off for a long time, because I feel like I totally suck at them and freak out about what to write. I'll finish a book, be like OMG I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS, but then psych myself out and think that my thoughts are inadequate, so I put off writing about whichever book I just finished. Then I panic later, write a half-assed-due-to-forgetting-most-of-my-thoughts review and am totally disappointed in myself. 

2. I have so many ideas for different features on the blog, but am terrified that no one will read them, even though  I know that doesn't really matter. It's what I want to talk about, but I then panic, thinking oh god, no one's gonna take me seriously.

3. To tie both of the above things into one confession: I totally feel inadequate as a blogger. I've been doing this for over two years now, but I don't feel like I'm part of the community yet, because I don't really have any close blogging friends that I talk to all the time, I don't have any publisher contacts, and I am just so shy, I don't know how to interact with other bloggers online, especially on twitter, without feeling like I'm making a fool out of myself. 

4. I feel a lot of pressure from my family and friends to keep blogging. So many of them know about the blog and I'm so proud of it, but I feel like I can't really take an official break without them all breathing down my neck asking "why?! why!? WHY!?!?!?"

5. I'm scared to let that GFC counter go..... without it, I have no idea how to tell said family/friends how many followers I had/have-ish. I know that it's totally not accurate, but it sounds a lot better when I say, oh I have 900-whatever GFC subs, than: oh, I have no idea. I don't really keep track of my follower count, as I prefer the idea that it's more just a few friends reading my blog, no matter if I've never met them before, but the people in real life always want to know the numerical value of the blog, which totally makes me nervous, because I have no idea, and try not to focus on it. So I keep that little GFC widget up, just in case they need to know or something. 

6. I'm terrified of moving to a self-hosted site. Or something non-Blogger. I just feel so safe in this little white and orange system, it's hard for me to think of anything else. 

7.  I'm terrible at replying to review requests. I get so overwhelmed by all of them piling up in my email, even when I have the little 'review requests are closed atm' thing up, so I just leave them unread, saying I'll get to them eventually, but NOPE.

8. I have so many blogging role models, especially Jamie, but I have no idea how to contact them and say 'hey, your blog is totally awesome and means a lot to me' without sounding super odd. I guess this post is basically me telling you that I'm super awkward and insecure and scared of a lot of things in this community. 

9. I've never sent a review request to a publisher before, like in a legitimate email. It's definitely one of my biggest fears in general. (Can you say fear of rejection? Cause I can. Guys, I have a terrible fear of rejection and I need to get over it, but I don't know how.)

10. I think a lot about just leaving the blogosphere. When school gets overwhelming, or I'm stressed about my personal life, or I just don't feel like blogging, I think so much about how it would be just so much easier to just shut down the blog, shut down the twitter and facebook and bloglovin, etc. and just unplug from everything. But, even though I'm so scared of so many things in this community, I love it still and I want to be a part of it so badly, that I'd feel so terrible if I just gave up. And that's kind of my motto: never give up... so I'm not going to. 

*phew* wow that was a lot to get off my chest. I did not think I was going to be able to confess all of those, but I guess if I'm gonna be getting out of my comfort zone, I should start with this, right? Even though I'm obviously nervous about a ton, I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who read my blog, comment (and I'm so sorry for the lack of comments back..), and just plain support me on this bookish journey. It's been a long road, and it'll be a long road ahead, but it's worth it. It has to be. 

Alrighty, did you get all confessional today? Leave me a link to your TTT this week or just comment below some of your bookish/blogging confessions!

Happy reading!
~Kristy

Review: Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Page Count:  417 pages, Hardcover
Date Published: June 17th 2014
Find it on Goodreads: Ruin & Rising
Source: Purchased

The capital has fallen.
The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.
Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.
Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

Absolutely incredible. By far one of the best fantasy series out there, with a magnificent finale that had me grinning like a madman, almost in tears, and everything in between. I won't go into much detail, for all those who have yet to read the series or even just this last book, but what I will say is this: Leigh Bardugo does not disappoint. She is brilliant and writes with such a flawless execution of world building... does that even make sense? I don't know. What I do know is that these books have amazing imagery, the fantasy world is vivid, and the characters feel so real. Throughout so much of the book, I just wanted to reach into the pages of my book and give Mal a big hug, because he just made my heart hurt for him. And Alina is such a bad ass but she's also so conflicted over everything, it just... GAH. I loved all of the friendships between her and her team, as well as certain relationships that developed in this book... (GENYA!!!) 

Ruin & Rising was action packed and filled with heart-racing, blood-pumping scenes that kept me reading late into the night. Bardugo focused primarily on the action and plot in this book, instead of the characters, which probably worked for the best, because I don't think any of us could have handled say another gorgeous love interest, right? Speaking of the romance, I won't say much, in case you know my bias, but I was extremely happy with how that all ended. I mean, sure there was a certain thing that I was a bit sad about, but all in all, this was a series that I read to make me happy, to keep me smiling. And that is what it did. 

Okay, since I don't want to spoil anything from the other books, I will just stop here I guess, with me saying to things: One, thank you, Brad, for this incredible recommendation, this is definitely one of my new favourite series. Two, I strongly recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it yet. Everyone needs to read this series. Now.

Happy reading!

~Kristy

Weekend Update + Stacking the Shelves

Happy Saturday everyone! I thought I'd start doing weekend updates, instead of just the occasional stacking the shelves, and include what's been going on in my life, what I've been reading and loving this week and of course, any new books I received! So here we go!

I've been on a good reading kick lately, so here's some of the books that I've gotten through in the last bit!

 

 

What I've been up to: 

1. I'm done all my exams! SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY HERE
2. I'm looking for a job... preferably in a book store or coffee shop!
3. I GOT MY LICENSE! I passed my 'N' which in BC licensing language means that I can drive on my own, without an adult in the passenger seat! It was so nerve racking and I completely bombed my parallel parking, but the examiner was super nice and I actually did it! 

Stacking the Shelves is a book haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews -This is a great way for us to share what books we added to our shelves each week.

I went on an eBook spree and decided to start taking advantage of the iBooks app on the family iPad!

 

Leave me a link to your haul and I'll check it out!

Happy reading!

~Kristy

Top Ten Tuesday: Classic Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.This week's topic  is: Top Ten Favourite Classics/Classics I Want to Read.

I thought I'd split this topic up halfway... 

So here are my top five favourite classic novels/works (I included my favourite Shakespeare play...):

 

And here are five classics that I'm hoping to read soon!

 

What are some of your favourite classics? Which ones are you hoping to read soon? Let me know or leave me a link to your TTT!

OH AND HAPPY CANADA DAY GUYS!

Happy reading!
~Kristy