Sorority Blogger

  I know most of my blog posts in recent years have been book related and I haven't exactly been keeping up with it (sorry readers!), but I'm going to try and start blogging more again, and go back to including more than just what I've been reading (though there will still be some posts of those!). 🟊🟊🟊 That said, as the COVID-19 stay at home / social distancing has been going on for months, I haven't gotten out in public much. I'll probably end up sharing some of my quarantine thoughts at some point, but today I wanted to talk about going to the "beach" (it was actually a reservoir) for the first time all summer, and how I felt in my swim suit being that I've come a long way with my body and to be honest, weigh much more than I have in previous summers. This may be a longer post, and it's going to delve into my history with body image and eating disorders, so if that is a flag for you, you may not want to read the whole post. 🟊🟊🟊 For those of...

Hello readers!  Every once in a while, I might have weeks where I just don't read as quickly as others. These weeks will have one book per post, like this post. :) That said, I really enjoyed Book 7. I got it from the library specifically to be part of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge (overview in a prior post or you can get the details on their website), and I'm so glad I did. Here is my book review for my 7th book of 2020: Book 7: Twenty Wishes   by Debbie Macomber I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.  This book is actually apparently the 5th in a series of books about different characters that live or work in the same area. However, I didn't read the first 4 yet and I felt this was a good stand-alone book as well. It follows 38 year old Anne Marie who recently lost her husband as she tries to come to terms with being a widow and searches for meaning in her life again. She ends up getting together with a group of fellow widows on Valentin...

Hello readers!  As you can see from the title of this post, I skipped book 4. Book 4 was an ARC that I read through NetGalley that has it's own post two weeks ago. I like to try and review my ARCs as I finish them, and I try to read them in a reasonable amount of time for the author and publisher. This means, that sometimes the ARC reviews will cut in line from the other book reviews I post each week. (That's why my review for book 4 came before my review for book 3). Books 5 and 6 were both books I received from Book of The Month. I love Book of The Month, and recently became a BFF for getting 12 months worth of books from them. One of my goals this year is to try and keep up better with reading my Book of The Month books as I get them. Sometimes I end up deciding one book is just not enough, and get multiples a month though so I'm playing a little catch up right now. Here are my book reviews for my 5th and 6th books of 2020: Book 5:  Topics of Conversatio...

Hello readers!  As I'm planning my wedding for this time next year, I found that I really wanted to read some chick-lit/romance. What better way to do that than to continue the Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts? Here is my book review for my 3rd book of 2020: Book 3:  Bed of Roses   by Nora Roberts I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. (Photo courtesy of Goodreads) This series follows a group of four life long friends who loved playing make-believe when they were kids, particularly, planning each other's weddings. Now, years later, they all live and work on the same large property (in different buildings) that also serves as the venue for their business. What business? Why planning weddings of course! The first book followed photographer Mac, and this book follows florist, Emmaline. Emmaline is a very romantic person. She loves big gestures, and has certain expectations in love. She always seems to have a date, but has never fallen in ...

Photo courtesy of Goodreads. Thank you Nimbus Publishing, Christine Ibbotson, and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review. There was a lot of interesting and useful information in this book. Unfortunately, a lot of the case study examples used in the book are not in my age range, so it felt a bit hard for me to connect with those lessons. However, when I started thinking of the ideas in the book from the point of view of my family members who are closer to retirement, I think a lot of the chapters could be really helpful to them. There was also some mention of Canadian laws and to be honest, I'm not sure if we have similar laws in the US. Meeting with a coach or adviser like the author of this book would easily clear that up though. The style of writing made this book a fairly easy to understand, and interesting read. I would recommend it to family members who are closer in age to the individuals in the book to get ideas (keeping in mind that some rules and ...

Hello readers! Welcome to 2020! This year I've decided to do the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge again. You can find out more info on it on the Pop Sugar website or my Overview post from last year. I've also included the 2020 prompts in my '2020 Reading Challenge' post if you want to check those out.  This year I'm going to be doing things a little bit differently. I'm still going to review every book that I read, but I may not always include the prompt. This is because, with some of the prompts this year, I think as I read more books I may want to shift some of the books around from the prompt I intended for them to one that fits them better or if another prompt comes along that fits their initial prompt better, etc. I'm also not going to share every book I read on my instagram story this year, but will try to keep up with posting photos of them weekly so feel free to check that out if you're interested. :) Here are my book reviews for my ...

Hey friends! It's a new year, which means there's a new reading challenge. For those who weren't following my reading goals last year, I've decided to participate in the PopSugar Reading Challenge again. I found that last year it helped me broaden my reading horizons and always have something lined up to read so I didn't hit too many ruts. I've also decided to increase my reading book goal from 60 to 65 for 2020. I'm going to try to keep up with doing at least one if not multiple reviews per week, but I'm not going to lie, I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to keep up with reading and reviewing (especially in the beginning of the year). Some weeks may have only one review, or may have a slightly different blog idea. Other weeks might then get multiple reviews depending on how quickly I finish different books. That said, here are the PopSugar Reading Challenge Prompts for 2020. If you want to join me in my reading goals or read any bo...

Thank you Andrew David MacDonald, Scout Press, and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book to review. (Image courtesy of Goodreads.com) Zelda is a young adult with high functioning fetal alcohol syndrome. She has a love of vikings; when she discovers that her older brother Gert has gotten involved in some things she's not sure she approves of to make enough money to support them both, she decides to go on a quest to create her own legend and help support her tribe. Along the way she learns more about being the hero in your own story, and that sometimes people you meet will be both heroes and villains at the same time. In the end, it's up to her to decide how her story will turn out and who she still wants to be a part of it. The more I read this book, the more I really loved Zelda's character and couldn't wait to see what her next decision would be. The whole time, I was rooting for her, Gert, AK47, and their tribe while at the same time realiz...

This year, in order to broaden my reading horizons, I participated in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for 2019. The challenge offered prompts of different types of books to read throughout the year. For those of you who've been reading, you've seen all of my reviews for the books I've read for the prompts this year. For those who haven't (or who want to see any reviews again) I'm going to include the 'book number' (standing for the order that I read them in this year from 1-62 [so far]). Here are all of the prompts and the books that I read for them: A book becoming a movie in 2019 The Sun is Also a Star  (Book 37) A book set in space The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  (Book 54) A book that makes you nostalgic Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: the original screenplay  ( Book 2) A book by two female authors The Royal We  (Book 24) A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction) Satchmo: My Life in New O...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts. I've completed the NEWTS challenge, and you can see which books I chose all in one place on my NEWTS Wrap Up post. The first book I'm reviewing in this post I read just for fun. The second was part of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. Here are my book reviews for my 61st and 62nd books of 2019: Book 61:  The Haunting of Hill House   by Shirley Jackson I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. This book didn't have a prompt. I saw it at the airport on my way home from Austin and had to get it. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I picked it up because I absolutely LOVE the show on Netflix, even though I knew the story was totally different. A scientist, two young women, and the heir to Hill House agree to stay at the house for a ...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts.  Both of the books reviewed in this post were for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. Here are my book reviews for my 59th and 60th books of 2019: Book 59:  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest   by Stieg Larsson I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads. This prompt for this book was: "A book set in Scandinavia." This is the conclusion to the (original?) trilogy of Salander books by Stieg Larsson. There is now a 4th book by a different author. I highly recommend all three of the original. I have not read the new book yet. I don't want to give too much away about the prior books, but basically, if you have no knowledge of the trilogy, they follow a man named Blomkvist and a woman named Salander as the two form an unlikely friendship an...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts.  Neither one of these books were actually read for either challenge, though. The first book was the second in a series. I had read the first earlier in the year and wanted to read the second as well. The second book I just thought sounded really interesting when I was browsing at my local library. Here are my book reviews for my 57th and 58th books of 2019: Book 57: Smoke in the Sun   by Renee Ahdieh I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. This book had no prompt. It was a 'just for fun' read. :) This is the second book in this series. The first book was the 49th book that I read this year. You can see it's review in a prior post. There will be some spoilers for the first book below. If you wish to skip to book 58's review to avoid ...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts.  The first book reviewed in this post was actually not for either challenge. I've been receiving Book of the Month deliveries every month, and wanted to try to read as many of those this year as I can too. The second book in this post was for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. Here are my book reviews for my 55th and 56th books of 2019: Book 55: The Turn of the Key   by Ruth Ware I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. (This is another that could have been 3.5 if half stars were options.) This book had no prompt. It was a 'just for fun' read. :) This book follows Rowan Caine, a nanny who comes across a job listing that seems too good to be true. Which is of course, exactly what it turns out to be. The story is written in a long letter to a...

In addition to the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, I decided to try the NEWTS reading challenge inspired by Harry Potter. The challenge was created by this wonderful youtuber:  Book Roast NEWTS . This was supposed to be completed in August, but I decided to just try and finish it even if it took me longer.  For NEWTS I decided on the Magizoologist path. The Magizoologist path requires an O in Care of Magical Creatures, E in Charms, and E in Herbology. You must complete all prior letters to achieve the required letter as well. Here is the breakdown of what I read for the Magizoologist path. Reviews for all of these books can be found in prior posts. Their book number for 2019 will be italicized in parentheses to help locate their posts: Care of Magical Creatures A. Follow the Spiders! Why couldn't it be follow the butterflies! Book title that starts with a letter A, for Aragog! A Midsummer Night's Dream  (Book 48) E. Book under 300 pages How to Skimm Your ...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts.  The first book reviewed in this post was for NEWTS; the second was for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. Here are my book reviews for my 53rd and 54th books of 2019: Book 53:  Yes Please   by Amy Poehler I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. The NEWTS prompt I chose for this was "Herbology: E: An audiobook." This was the first audiobook I've ever decided to listen to. I'm a very visual person, and so audiobooks are not that easy for me to follow along with. That said, I did really enjoy that Amy Poehler herself read it, and she added a level of comedy and fun that you probably can't get from the physical book. However, I'll probably read the physical book at some point too. As I mentioned, I'm frankly not very good at ...

Hello readers! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts. Both books reviewed in this post were part of my NEWTS reading. Here are my book reviews for my 51st and 52nd books of 2019: Book 51: How to Skimm Your Life   by theSkimm I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. The NEWTS prompt I chose for this was "Care of Magical Creatures: E: Read a book under 300 pages." This book was a coffee-table style book with some tips and tricks for life hacks and the like. It was written by the creators of The Daily Skimm which sends emails with brief overviews and breakdowns of things happening around the world/in the news. Some of the chapters were definitely more useful or interesting to me than others. However, someone else might love completely different chapters than I did. The format and style of the book ...

Hello friends! I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts. Here are my book reviews for my 49th and 50th books of 2019: Book 49:  The Flame in the Mist  by Renée Ahdieh I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads. The NEWTS prompt I chose for this was "Care of Magical Creatures: O: Grab onto Fawkes' tail! Read a book with a bird [or you know, a phoenix] on the cover." Set in a fictional world in the time of samurai in a similar country to Japan, this books follows Mariko. She is the daughter of a samurai who is destined to marry one of the king's sons. However, on the way to the royal palace, her caravan gets robbed and she is assumed dead. Thus begins her adventure of hiding undercover in a group of bandits (The Black Clan) dressed as a boy to try to find out who attacked her caravan and attempted t...

Welcome new readers and welcome back continuing readers! This year, I've been participating in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge; you can find out more info in my Overview post or on the Pop Sugar Website. I also decided to try out the NEWTS challenge back in April. Last week's post discusses that challenge a bit. Here are my book reviews for my 46th and 48th books of 2019 (book 47 was an ARC and got it's own post): Book 46:  The Ivy: Scandal  by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads, but may have given it 3.5 if half stars were available. The Pop Sugar prompt I chose for this was "A book set on a college or university campus." I rounded up on this rating because it's the fourth in a series, and even though I read the first three a while ago, it let me pick back up the series and filled me back in on some details so I wasn't lost. The main character of the series, Callie, is a California na...