Tag: Liebster Award (Take 3)

I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Princess of Pages and Life With All the Books! Thank you so much for the nominations! And please go check out their blogs when you get a chance. 🙂

You can see the previous versions of this award here: one | two

The rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you, provide a link to their blog and display the award
• Answer 11 questions that they asked you
• Come up with 11 questions of your own
• Tag 11 bloggers and don’t forget to let them know

11 questions from Princess of Pages:

1) What is your favorite food?
Every time I get asked this question, my answer is the same. What isn’t my favorite food? I just love to eat. But really, I’ll never get sick of hot stone bibimbap and I love every breakfast food in existence.

2) Where is your dream vacation?
I’ve wanted to go to Spain ever since I was very young. When I was in college, I had to give a 45-minute presentation on Gaudi (in Spanish) and I’ve been a little obsessed with him ever since. I want to see all of Spain, but I would especially love to see the Sagrada Familia and Parque Guell.

3) Who is your favorite author?
I’m going to go with Jenn Bennett today but honestly, I have about thirty different favorite authors.

4) What are your top reads of all time?
I never know how to answer this question, so I’ll just direct you to my favorites page!

5) What kind of music do you listen to?
Oh, my favorite question!! I listen to all kinds of music, but right now, here are some songs I’ve had on repeat:

♬ Lorde: Literally all of Melodrama, I don’t even know why I’m trying to choose favorites but probably Sober, Supercut, Homemade Dynamite, Hard Feelings/Loveless, The Louvre, Green Light, and Perfect Places
♬ Taylor Swift: I get in moods where I want to listen to one of her albums over others, but right now, Delicate, Long Live, Gorgeous, and Clean
♬ If I’m feeling a little sassy: IDGAF by Dua Lipa and FRIENDS by Marshmello & Anne-Marie
♬ also Terrified by Satellite Mode (thanks, Daniel)

6) What is your dream job?
I would love to do anything in publishing, but I think my ultimate dream job would be to work as an editor. (Preferably YA books, but I’m not picky.)

7) What is a book you loved, but does not get much attention?
I feel like Starry Eyes can never get enough hype. And Alex, Approximately. I really just love Jenn Bennett. I went to a bookstore when I was home in Wisconsin and they didn’t even have any of her books. It was very disappointing.

8) Who are some of your favorite bloggers?
Another question that I love!! I have so many favorite bloggers! And there’s actually a Top Ten Tuesday coming up very soon with a favorite blogger theme, so I’ll go more into detail there, but… Daniel, Maddie, Becky, Leslie, Bibi, Hamad, Gerry, and many others that I’m having trouble coming up with off the top of my head.

9) If you could meet anyone and sit down for a conversation, who would it be?
Probably Taylor Swift. I’d most likely die, literally go into cardiac arrest or something, but I’d still like to meet her.

10) What is your favorite season?
Probably spring. I’ve always hated winter, so I love it when it starts warming up and the snow starts melting and I can finally do things outside again.

11) What is something that makes you happy?
I’m really a very easy person! A small sampling of things that make me happy:

Cats. Kids. Books. Making cookies. Doing things with friends. Texts that aren’t from my boss. Going to concerts. Going to NYC. Barbecues in my friend’s backyard. Meeting up with people I haven’t seen in forever. Song recommendations. Book recommendations. When someone actually wants to spend their lunch break with me. Going to the farm by my house. Long walks in the woods. Comments on my blog posts. I could go on.

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11 questions from Life With All The Books:

1) What book has had the most impact on your life?
Probably all of the Golden Books from when I was very young. My grandma used to read them to me before I went to bed and I think that’s a big part of why I love to read so much.

2) What are your hobbies, besides reading?
I like to bake and I like to sew!

3) What is your favourite flavour of ice cream?
My favorite flavor of all time is The Munchies at Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn. But just from a regular grocery store, I like cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, and anything coffee-related. I actually really just love ice cream in general.

4) Which season of the year do you prefer and why?
Spring! See above!

5) What is your favourite movie?
You know, I used to watch a ton of movies in high school and college, but I really don’t watch very many movies anymore. My favorite in recent memory is definitely Coco, but I’m honestly not sure what my favorite of all time is.

6) Do you have any pets?
Yes! I have an elderly cat named Aubrey and she is the actual best. She’s curled up next to me sleeping right now and I love her so much.

7) Name three things that make you happy?
I named 16 things up above! If I had to pick three, (1) cats, (2) concerts, (3) books.

8) What is your favourite book you’ve read this year so far?
It’s so hard to pick but probably Starry Eyes!

9) Where was your best holiday ever?
It’s a tie between Costa Rica and Scotland! They were very different experiences — I went to Costa Rica with my boyfriend’s whole family and I went to Scotland just with him.

Costa Rica (2016):

Scotland (2015):

10) If you could meet one author – who would it be and why?
Jenn Bennett, because she just seems so nice.

11) What is your most anticipated book for the rest of the year?
I’ve been screaming about it on my blog for months, so literally nobody will be surprised to hear me say it: WHAT IF IT’S US.

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I’m nominating:

I am (again) losing track of who I have already nominated for various blog awards, so here are four people that I’m pretty sure I haven’t nominated yet! As always, no pressure whatsoever, please let me know if you like tags and also if you hate them.

Marco | Rochelle | Georgia | Amy

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11 questions from me:

1. What kind of music do you listen to?
2. What’s something that makes you happy?
3. If you could have dinner with any celebrity, who would it be and why?
4. What are you currently reading and are you enjoying it?
5. What’s your most anticipated release for the rest of the year? (Or your top five or ten if one is too hard!)
6. Have you ever met any authors? If so, who? If not, who would you most want to meet?
7. Has your opinion on a book ever changed as you got older? If so, which book(s) and why?
8. What’s your favorite kind of food?
9. How do you decide which book to read next?
10. What three words best describe you?
11. Which popular author can’t you get into?

ARC review: How to Breathe Underwater by Vicky Skinner

How to Breathe Underwater by Vicky Skinner
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: August 14, 2018
Source: ARC from BookCon!

Kate’s father has been pressuring her to be perfect for her whole life, pushing her to be the best swimmer she can be. But when Kate finds her dad cheating on her mom, Kate’s perfect world comes crashing down, and Kate is forced to leave home and the swim team she’s been a part of her whole life.

Now in a new home, new school, and faced with the prospect of starting over, Kate isn’t so sure that swimming is what she wants anymore. But when she decides to quit, her whole world seems to fall apart. But when Kate gets to know Michael, the cute boy that lives across the hall, she starts to think that starting over might not be so bad. There’s only one problem: Michael has a girlfriend.

As the pressures of love, family, and success press down on her, can Kate keep her head above water?

Okay, so it’s time for another BookCon ARC review! This is one that I picked up kind of randomly from Swoon Reads, but I usually love Swoon Reads books, so I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, it really fell short for me.

The problem is that the entire book is one cliche after another. The other problem is that the characters are huge cliches. The third problem is that Kate is an idiot. I was actually going to give this book two stars because it’s not like it’s the worst thing I’ve ever read, but then I couldn’t come up with a single thing I liked about it, so one star it is.

I feel like a lot of the problems I had with this book would be considered spoilers, and since this is an ARC review, I don’t want to do that, so here are some sentences about what I disliked, sorry that some of them are super vague:

• The love interest, Michael, is a Cute Boy Who Smokes and that’s it, that’s his character. Over 362 pages, he really isn’t expanded much from that initial impression.
• Kate calls her dad “Coach,” which is the weirdest thing and I couldn’t get over it.
• Kate is also really dumb, like she doesn’t know what an administrative assistant is and she wonders what the “curious” orange-red pasta sauce is and it’s… wait for it… marinara, definitely the most exotic of all the pasta sauces.
• Michael has a girlfriend, which is not a spoiler since it’s in the synopsis that I should have read before picking up this book.
• I feel like age differences really aren’t that big of a deal once you’re a legal adult, but a six-year age difference when you’re only sixteen years old is a lot and it’s never once addressed.
• There’s this random scene where a group of girls attack Kate for hanging out with Michael and it just doesn’t make any sense.
• There are just really strange sentences that shouldn’t have made it past an editor.
• Every boy is in love with Kate because why not.
• The BIG PLOT TWIST involving Kate’s best friend from before she moved is so painfully obvious that I actually rolled my eyes at the big reveal.
• Every character is incredibly overdramatic. (“She turned and left me there, alone with my peanut butter and my own guilt.”)

Some quotes that I actually liked so I can end this review on a semi-positive note:

• “Patrice kept talking. She must not have realized that I was dying.”
• I groaned, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Just leave me here. I’m such a mess.”

  “Messes aren’t so bad. People who have it all put together are overrated.”

• “Is there a limit to how much you’re allowed to complain about something? I don’t remember them passing that law. I have a feeling people wouldn’t stand for it.”

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Have you read How to Breathe Underwater? Is it on your TBR?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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