2015 Reading In Review

For 2015 I had 12 reading resolutions.

1. Read at least 10 Books from the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge (Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights, The Shadow of the Wind, Mrs. Dalloway, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Little Women, Sonnets from the Portuguese, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and A Christmas Carol)
2. Read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian.
3. Read the Hunger Games series. Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay
4. Finish the Ivy League series. Did not complete.
5. Read the Goddess Test novella. The Goddess Hunt.- Have come to find out that there are many more novella/short stories in the series, but I do not want to continue with them.
6. Finish reading the rest of Jane Austen's novels. Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan.
7. Finish reading the books on my currently reading shelf: I still have The Case For God on there for 2+ years.
8. Read all of the books left out of storage: Did not finish.
9. Continue making booktube videos. Haven't made a video in about 6 months.
10. Read 35 books. I read 65 :)
11. Listen to at least 5 audio books: Wuthering Heights, Mrs. Dalloway, Fer de Lance, Little Women, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, The Wrath and the Dawn, The Vampire Lestat, Sonnets from the Portuguese, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Mockingjay, The Diary of a Young Girl, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
12. Re-read all of the Harry Potter books: Did not re-read the last two.

In conclusion: I have completed 7 of 12 of my reading goals. Which is not bad. I read many more books than I thought I could. I have been introduced to some really great books, and I cannot wait to see what the new year will bring as far as reading.

My goals for 2016 are more vague:

1. Read 15 Rory Gilmore reading challenge books.
2. Read 55 books.
3. Read 10 ebooks.
4. Read 3 short story collections.
5. Read 3 poetry collections.
6. Finish reading The Case for God.

Booktubeathon!!! READING!

Yes. Participating. Woot!! I made a video if you wanna check it out : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh9yp4mog8U

If you do not know what the booktubeathon is, it is a readathon started by a bunch of booktubers on youtube. It was started, and is being run by Arial Bissett along with a few other booktubers. It's a weeklong readathon and there are seven challenges.

1. Read a book with pictures. My pick: the graphic novel version of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

2. Start and finish a series. I'm just going to finish a series, and that is the Kane Chronicles so I have The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

3. Read a book with red on the cover. My pick: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

4. Read a book that someone else picks out for you. I'm going to try and finish a book that I was supposed to read for school, The Case for God by Karen Armstrong.

5. Read a book in a genre that you've read the least this year. That is going to be a comedic-memoir for me, Bright Lights, Big Ass: A self-indulgent, surly ex-sorority girl's guide to why it often sucks in the city, or who are these idiots and why do they all live next door to me by Jen Lancaster

6. Read and watch a book to movie adaptation. Going with this month's #summeroflotr read, The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien.

7. Read 7 books and/or 300 pages an average per day. We shall see about this one. I don't think I'll make this one though.

This started at midnight when it turned Monday, and ends Sunday night at midnight when it turns Monday again.

Good luck to anyone else participating!!!

Reading This Week

This week I have a bunch of reading planned!

Currently reading: The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

This is a re-read for me. I must have been watching the movie while reading reading it the first time. I honestly did not realize all of the differences between the movie and the book. Maybe I just didn't care because I liked the movie a lot better. I do really appreciate the book however, and am loving rediscovering it.

LOTR Image from

About to start reading:

I just went to the library and picked up two books that were waiting for me and I cannot wait to start them! The first one is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and the second book is the third and final book of the Kane Chronicles and that is The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan. I am sure I am going to love both of these books :)

Fangirl Image from



Serpent's Shadow Image from

I just can't Lie: A Review of We Were Liars

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart has blown up in the book world. All of a sudden everyone and their friend was talking about this little book. No one wanted to say what happened. No one wanted to give a synopsis. It fueled the fire like gasoline. 

I came out with scars on my heart.

This book got to me. 5 out of 5.

If you did not know, We Were Liars is about Cadence Sinclair. She is from a rich and privileged family that goes to her grandparent's island every summer. Cadence, her two cousins, and the nephew of one of the aunt's boyfriends called themselves the liars. During the summer before they turned 16 something happened and two years later Cadence finally goes back to the island to find out what happened since she has no clear memory of the summer.

Best part of this book? The writing. Hands down. If this is just how Lockhart writes, they are going to very easily become a favorite author of mine. The book is beautiful. It slowly paints the picture of what happens with snippets that you digest like an addictive snack. Throughout the chapters there are moments of verse and vague poetic moments that are like the m&ms in the trail mix (the sweet part that you really look forward to). 

There is a bit of young romance in the book, and I'm pretty indifferent to it. They are young characters and I think that is why it didn't really bother me that it was kind of unrealistic, so many 'first loves' are.

The characters and family dynamics in this book are what really make the book. Here is this girl who keeps being told to hide her feelings, while being a very sensitive child on the inside that just wants to stop holding it together. But to be a Sinclair, she has to be normal.

I definitely recommend this book to those who love reading something  really beautiful. Don't think about the hype or what you don't know. Just go into it along with the character and discover the truth with her.

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Since I've Been Gone

So no, I have not read Since You've Been Gone. I really want to though.

Yea, I've just been gone for a little bit again. First, I was busy with Youtube. Then I was busy shutting out the world. So yes. I do have a few more videos up than what I have put a post on here for. If you want to check them out, you can follow my link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/sinistergrl0314

I will posting some more videos very soon!

I also have some reviews that I want to get to, and a TON of books to read!

I was actually thinking about just getting rid of this blog, because clearly I'm just not very good at posting regularly on here. The only time that happened was when I did the 30 day challenge and that was fun but at the same time was not. 

I think I might make some posts on what I'm currently reading, and how I'm feeling about it. Yea? Yea.

The Great Gatsby: A Review.

So if you do not know what The Great Gatsby is, first of all you have been living under a rock; and second of all you are missing out.

The Great Gatsby is probably F. Scott Fitzgerald's most notable novel. It is considered a classic and an overview of the overly decadent 1920's. 

The Great Gatsby is a story that is told from the perspective of Nick Carroway, a stock broker from Illinois and currently living just outside of New York in West Egg. Nick just happens to live next door to the infamous Jay Gatsby, known for crazy parties, and even crazier stories about himself. 

One day, Nick is invited over to Gatsby's party, where he learns what all the noise has been about. There is drinking, eating, dancing, singing, and just all over mayhem sprinkled with expensive everything. 

Nick just so happens to be cousins with Daisy Buchanan, married to Tom Buchanan (major jerk). Little does Nick know that his mysterious neighbor has a history with Daisy until Gatsby asks him to set up a meeting between the two. Enter chaos.

My Thoughts

Having seen the movie with the handsome Leonardo DiCaprio before reading the novel, I'm actually pretty glad that I did. I really liked having Tobey McGuire's voice in my head for Nick's narration. I thought it was kind of odd that we are following the story of someone and we do not even get his name until around page 86. Nick himself, I actually kind of didn't like. I thought he was way too full of himself and thinking that he was better than everyone else, except Gatsby of course. There's even one part where he says that he is "the most honest person he's ever known." Bring your ego down a little there. I did like how invested in Gatsby he became though, sticking with him until the end through everything that happened.

I thought it was just the movie that I did not like Daisy in, but nope. I do not like her in the book either. She seems like a spoiled brat that just wants attention from anyone that she can get it. It's all about her and she does not care about the consequences of her own actions.

Tom Buchanan is a misogynistic jerk. He has way too much money. He has way too many women. And he gets away with everything he shouldn't. Not a fan.

Gatsby, what is there to say about Gatsby. He's the heart of the novel. I love how everything he does is to bring him to be the person that he believes that he is meant to be. He believes that he should be a rich, well educated man of society, and he becomes that. I feel so bad for him at the same time because his imagination is so strong and the reality of how everything should go never seems to live up to the dream. Gatsby is not perfect in any means, and does some questioning things, but he was a pure person deep down and the end makes me very sad.

I gave the book 3.5 stars. I did really like the book, but it wasn't quite good enough for me to be like, I REALLY liked it! I'm really glad that I finally finished this classic though.

New Video up! Readathon Wrap Up :)

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I was going to participate in the #shitIhavetoomanybooks readathon! I had a TBR that was pretty much my goal to go through. I wanted to get all of my books on my Currently Reading shelf done.

If you want to see how I did, I'm going to leave the link down below for you to check out!! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aixKKT-ULtU