ONE DOWN, ELEVEN TO GO//End of January!

We just finished the first month of 2018! *cue excited screaming*



Blogging Things:

New Favorite Authors of 2017
 -You'll never guess what this one is about-

Awkward and Awesome of Being an Anonymous Blogger
 -Did you know I use a-fake/actually-it's-kind-of-real name? Cause I do-

Books With Lock Picks!
-I'm a read a surprising amount of these...-

12 Things I Learned From My Cat
-Eat, Sleep, and Stab People-
-Most comments at 46-
-That's what we get for having a Cat V Dog comment battle-
-Except it was a very polite battle-
-(You'll notice people always say CAT first)-

18 Things I Want To Do In 2018
 -Yay! Boring life goals!-

OOH! I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!!!//The Writer's Book Tag
-Nominated for the WORST POST TITLE of January 2018!-
-Also the most popular/most viewed post this month...dumb name, cool premise-

Literary Dinner Party: Round II
 -Basically me fangirling about Six of Crows...what else is new?-
-This is actually the title I like the best this month-

Twelve Golden Windows: An Update
-I forgot to tell  you anything about 12GW earlier, so its not really an update...is it?-
-Post that I forgot to add the links in until hours AFTER I posted it-
-Yes, the link to my pinterest board is up now-




Writing Things:

So, I've been working on Twelve Golden Windows, my Starfish retelling. (You can read all about it in my last post, which is linked above.) I'm going a little slower then I thought I would...but that's ok. I'm still working on getting myself back up to speed after a month and a half without writing.

I also started writing down some plot notes for a couple stories. I'm not going to ditch Twelve Golden Windows just because some other story seems a bit more interesting or I'LL NEVER GET DONE. And I'll never finish ANYTHING if I keep hopping from story to story.

That or I'd finish 30 of them all around the same time. Assuming I hop BACK to old stories...

So when the plot bunnies attack, I work on plotting them. And of course once I start working with them a little, they leave.

Ha. Tricked them.


Reading Things:

Heartless 

(No. Not the Queen of Hearts one. The Goldstone Wood one.)

I though it had a fairly interesting concept, but the writing style was a little slow (especially in the middle) and I felt like a lot of things were left unexplained. Like the ring. Does it just symbolize her heart, does it have some sort of protection of her, what?
And at the same time, it tidied up everything at the end. In a way. It left details confusing, but wrapped up the story nicely.

As if it has been a stand alone. But its not. A book at the beginning of a series should leave a little bridge to the sequel. Most of it should be resolved, or the books own problem but there should be some over-arching question for the series.

The Secret Diary of Lizzy Bennet 

A dairy to read along with the Lizzy Bennet (video) Diaries. It had additional details (like Darcy's letter) and other tidbits, but it wasn't a good stand alone novel. Nor is it supposed to be.


The Girl from Everywhere 

*screams*

I didn't think I would like this book as much as I did...which was a lot. First of all, you have a really old ship and Navigators, people who can time travel anywhere as long as they have a map. Even fantasy worlds. (Hey, want to go to Middle Earth?) The catch is that they can only use the same map once and it has to be hand drawn.

 And secondly, it had KASHMIR. Kashmir reminds me of Kai from The Invisible Library a little bit, but he's less annoying.

Well, actually he's kind of annoying...But in an endearing way! Kai on the other hand annoyed me by being over protective, not great at following orders from his superiors, etc

Kashmir on the other hand...is a dear. And he is called Kash for short. Which I think is appropriate since it reminds me of "cash" and Kashmir likes to steal things.

And...wow. Now you have no idea what this book is about and I have no idea what to say next...

(KASH)



The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest

Really, REALLY interesting story idea...poorly executed. Girl poaches hunt in the local lord's forest to feed the poor children of the city. And then there is this lovely man who turns out to be the lord's forester who is dead set on hunting down any poachers since one killed his beloved adopted father. (Plus it IS his job)


And then they meet without knowing who the other is (which is understandable from his part since he had only just begun to suspect a poacher when they meet) and then DRAMA ENSUES!

But it was rather boring. Her writing style made it really hard to get into the stories or feel attached to any of the characters. I don't know. I feel like some of you may have liked it more then I did, but I just felt that the writing was blocky and everyone was just...a little too perfect.



The Merry Wives of Windsor

Oi look, it's the Shakespeare nerd raising her ugly head again! This play (yes, I read the actually play. With no footnotes. Ow. Note to self: footnotes are amazing.)

Basically, the Queen way back when (What's her face? Elizabeth) like a character from Henry the V and said. "Shakespeare, write a play about this chap. He's a horrible person and basically a weasel, but he amuses me."

So Shakespear wrote this play about Falstaff (yep, its him) who goes to this town, sees these two wealthy (married) women and starts writing love letters to them. And they are friends so they say "What the heck? This rando guy sent me a love letter? I'M MARRIED" and the other one was like, "Same! Look at this." And then they read each others letters

(because that's what girls do. Guys, do not think for a second that a girl won't show her friends your text messages. Ok, maybe not always, but in the beginning? YEP)

And then they notice how much a like they are and HOLY COW. THESE ARE FROM THE SAME GUY.

They then proceed to invite him over and trick him into various things. Ex:

"Oh my! IS THAT MY HUSBAND! QUICK! Hide in this laundry basket!"
*whispers* Servants. Take this laundry and dump it in the river*

*Out goes Falstaff into the water*
*spoolsh*

This goes on for a while.

Eventually their husbands start to figure it out and the wives let them in on it and they plan one last grand finale.


Love and Gelato by Jenna Evan Welch

BEWARE! This book will make you want to travel to a foreign country and live life to its fullest and it will also make you really, really hungry. This book was adorable. READ IT.


Life Things:

• Watch THE GREATEST SHOWMAN!
• Obsessed about the Greatest Showman Soundtrack
• Am now an adult. Wow
  
  
   

So what happened with you all this month? Anyone else seen the Greatest Showman? How has 2018 been for you so far?

-Mary Kate