Bring It On, 2017 | Goals and More

2016 was the year of sadness and disasters, honestly. There were celebrity deaths, I lowered my initial reading goal from 100 to 80, I fought with my thyroid and lost, resulting in weird weight gain, and my cholesterol's up. I'm so ready to start fresh. I'm very bad at keeping goals, but I'm a freaking adult and it's time to start acting like it! *game face*

Reading/book goals:

1. Read at least 80 books, if not more. I won't be as overzealous like I was at the beginning of the year where I look at last years 150 and say, "Well, 100 seems good," then fall 12 behind and give up. No changing the goal this time.
2. Post more original content on Tumblr. I'm a victim of constant reblogging, which is great to keep Tumblr moving, but I rarely take my own pictures. 
3. Review weekly, like I intended to do when I opened my blogger as well as extending my review format. I kind of fell out of it in October because I was trying to read as many spooky books as possible and forgot about reviewing them.
4. READ MORE #OWNVOICES. I'm spending more time figuring out if the books I'm reading or want to read are considered #ownvoices. 
5. Read more at home. I do most of my reading at work and do random things when I get home. I rarely ever read at home. I don't know if the atmosphere is wrong or what, but I always find myself drifting off and playing with my phone. 

Books to read:

1. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
2. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo | Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising
3. The Dark World by S.C. Parris  (love you, bae)
4. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
5. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
6. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
7. Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman
8. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
9. The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember
10. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
11. Star-crossed by Barbara Dee
12. Passenger & Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken
13. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
14. This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab
15. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
16. Tipping the Velvet & Affinity by Sarah Waters
17. The Chemist by Melissa Meyer
18. Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson
19. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
20. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
21. The Devourers by Indra Das
22. The Mermaid Girl: A Story by Erika Swyler
23. Where Am I Now by Mara Wilson
24. The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Careers of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle
25. Beware the Night (or Deliver Us From Evil) by Ralph Sarchie
26. A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
27. The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings
28. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
29. Conversion by Katherine Howe
30. Tattoo Atlas by Tim Forleen
31. The Testing by Koelle Charbonneau
32. The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
33. The Prestige by Christopher Priest
34. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
35. Scythe by Neal Shusterman
36. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
37. The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid
38. Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
39. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
40. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
41. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
42. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
43. The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison
44. Alice by Christina Henry
45. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
46. The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
47. Security by Gina Wohlsdorf
48. The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy
49. I Crashed into a Unicorn by Kasie Jeon
50. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
51. Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
52. The Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
53. ...okay, I'm done with this list, it's getting out of hand...

Books to reread:

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
2. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
3. Ice Massacre & Ice Crypt by Tiana Warner
4. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
5. Secret Society by Tom Dolby
6. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
7. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
8. Thirst by Christopher Pike
9. Beowulf
10. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
11. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Personal/mental goals:

1. Move out. Yes, I'm 26 and still live at home. Whatever. But at this point, I'm waiting for the boyfriend to get his money situation together. I gave him a "at the latest" date for September. 
2. Be more comfortable with my body, or do something about it. I'm gonna try to stop my compulsive snacking and eating out for lunch so much and get back into drinking an excess of water. I'm quite lazy, so working out probably won't happen, but I can easily control what I eat and how much.
3. Set a wedding date/year. I've been engaged for a year, and that's all fine and good, but we've been waiting to move out to decide on a date. So hopefully, after September, we'll make a date for sure.
4. Decide when I'm going back to school for my Masters or, at the very least, take my GRE and get my recommendation letters done. I've been graduated for a year and I really do enjoy being out of school, but if I wanna move up, I gotta start school again. *heavy sigh*
5. Start a bullet journal, including a one-sentence-a-day journal.

I hope I can keep myself  on track this year and actually feel accomplished this time next year. I feel like if I make this public, then I have the internet to hold me accountable if I fall behind. 

If anyone notices any books on my list that are bad rep or problematic, please don't hesitate to tell me! I'm also always down for more recs :D

Happy New Year, my dears!

-Allie

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5 Days Until 2017 | 8 Nights of Books from @booksbeyondimagining

@booksbeyondimagining came up with this idea, go check them out!

5 Authors I've Never Read, Until Now

It looks like I'm narrowing these down to female authors, because I read a lot of those this year.

1. Maggie Stiefvater: How did I miss her for so long?! I saw Shiver all the time at work and never gave it a second thought. Well, I'm not going back now!
2. Leigh Bardugo: I started with Six of Crows though I actually owned The Grisha Trilogy before I read it. 
3. Dawn Kurtagich: Oh my. This woman has only written 2 books and they've both blown me away. I honestly think she's going to be something like the YA Stephen King. She's phenomenal. Truly.
4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: I've only read her short essay We Should All Be Feminists, but it was so wonderful and insightful. I have her other works on my TBR.
5. Alice Walker: I know The Color Purple is usually high school reading, but we didn't read it then, so I decided to pick it up at the beginning of this year. It was hard to get into the dialect at first, but after a while, it read naturally, and I happen to love written dialects in books, so I wasn't disappointed. 

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6 Days Until 2017 | 8 Nights of Books from @booksbeyondimagining

@booksbeyondimagining came up with this idea, go check them out!

6 of My Favorite Covers, Read or Unread

1. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova (unread, pining after): I don't know what it is about this cover that draws me to it, but I'm not complaining. It's got a warm glow but there's also something sinister about it that I love.
2. We Awaken by Calista Lynne (unread, pining after): BURST OF PURPLE. Love.
3. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (unread, pining after): I love the look of this book and it's sequel. I love found-item books, where it's a compilation of things to tell a story. The naked cover is so cool to, because it's like some sort of paper that has a bunch of redactions on it.
4. Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner (read, owned): The mermaid. The blood. The color. It looks so much cooler in person.
5. The Merciless by Danielle Vega (read, owned): This is the most intimidating thing I've ever laid eyes on. It's so pink and so... *shudders*
6. Three Dark Crowns (4 variations) by Kendare Blake (unread, pining after): How can you not love a book that has FOUR COVERS released (nearly) at the same time. It's like choose your own adventure in a book cover!

Okay, yes, it's clearly more than six, but it's only six titles. That counts, right?

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7 Days until 2017 | 8 Nights of Books from @booksbeyondimagining

@booksbeyondimagining came up with this idea, go check them out!

7 Books I Don't Regret Buying 

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
2. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
3. The Martian by Andy Weir
4. Mermaids of Eriana Kwai by Tiana Warner
5. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
6. The Fever by Megan Abbott
7. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

I tried to include ones I've at least read. A lot of these, like Six of Crows and The Lunar Chronicles, I borrowed from my library then purchased after the fact. I guess this doesn't really need to be a blog post, but I like using blogger, so now it is!

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8 Days Until 2017 | 8 Nights of Books from @booksbeyondimagining

@booksbeyondimagining came up with this idea, go check them out!

8 Books I Read In 2016 That I Would Recommend

1. Ice Massacre / Ice Crypt by Tiana Warner: I spent all year raving about these books! I came across a review on tumblr and had to find it. Though Ice Massacre is 2 years old at this point, I got an e-galley from NetGalley and devoured it. When I found out the sequel was coming in the next month, I was beyond excited! I ended up buying both digital copies and within a month or two, buying physical copies of both. The author is a sweetheart and always replies when I tweet her questions. These are great because there are mainly PoC characters, female leads, interracial relationships, and lwl. My reviews: Ice Massacre / Ice Crypt
2. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay: I'm on an epic quest to find the best and scariest horror novel. This is close. There are twists and turns and it's filled with psychological spoops. I love it. My friend Aks sent it to me as my secret Santa this year and I was thrilled to own a physical copy!
3. the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace: This is one of the only poetry compilations I've read, and I'm so glad I did. There is so much emotion and realness in this collection. Don't give me the "I don't read poetry" thing because this should be required reading. I think it only took me 45 minutes to read and I loved every minute of it. My review: the princess saves herself in this one
4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater: I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this series. The summary on the back of the book does no justice to what's between the covers. It's magical and dark, a little gay and a lot feminist. My reviews: TRB / TDT / BL,LB / TRK
5. The Martian by Any Weir: Finally, scifi I can get behind. I have difficulty getting into high fantasy and high scifi, but this is so realistic and understandable. It was so funny and terrifying at the same time. It really lived up to the hype. My review: The Martian
6. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: Wow. Just wow. This book is so epic. I admit, it took a little bit to get into, but once it got going, it didn't stop. Oddly enough, I still haven't started Crooked Kindom. Maybe one day... My review: Six of Crows
   
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: My friend Lauren recommended this series to me because it's her favorite and I can totally see why. I love the magic and mystery of this book. There are so many cool creatures and the secondary characters are the best. I haven't finished the trilogy yet, but I promise I will!
8. And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich: This was SO SPOOKY! I read it as a part of my October Horror read-athon. I love love love this so much. It's got plot twists and scares and more plot twists. I loved it so much I never wrote a review because I couldn't get my thoughts in order...

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Printables #1 | YA Recommendation Bookmarks, Vol. 1

So, the other day, I decided to make some book rec bookmarks for the teens in my library. Since I put them up on Tumblr yesterday, they've gotten more than 400 notes, and I decided they would be better suited here because it takes up less room on dashes.

I set these to gray-scale and printed them on colored cardstock, for better stability. I'm not laminating them or anything because I intend to make more, different ones, when these run out.

I'm making these available for use, as long as they're used for non-profit, as I am. If you don't want to use the pictures here, email or PM me, and I'll send you the Publisher file. And please don't remove my watermark. I tried to make it inconspicuous

Also, I'd love it if you could send me your thoughts on how they worked in your community. I'd love to feature them sometimes. Pictures are welcome!