2017 Goals

I'm a bit late on this but I'm just really in the mood for goal setting right now. I'm feeling super ambitious and determined today, no doubt it'll fade by tomorrow. So, I'll do it while I'm in the mood because I do love to read other peoples goals yet I haven't even done one myself yet. Here we go!

1. Smash Year 11

This year I begin Year 11 which is big and scary and it feels like yesterday that I was freaking out of year 7. It's always scary starting at a new school and going from 400 students to 1000 is going to be weird. It's not going to be like high school which despite not knowing it when I started, is a safe and happy place. Every time I remember I won't have any of the teachers I know and love teaching me I freak out a little because you really don't appreciate them until they're gone. It's a big step towards becoming an independent person. I've also taken on more than the average year 11 so I'm a big nervous that I won't be able to handle it after all. 

2. Grow My Blog

I'd love to grow my blog, obviously. I started about six months ago now and it's doing better than I thought it would but as humans, we're always going to want to better ourselves so it's natural that I want to do better and see how far I can take this. I don't want to put numbers on it because I don't really know how much to expect. It all depends on how much work I can put in I guess. I'm determined to make this blog work. I'm going to focus on graphics and learning to code and branding this year because I think a lot of it does come down to how easy the blog is on the eyes and I think I've finally worked out what I want for this blog. So, I'm excited.

3. Place In Nationals With My Band 

This is honestly one of the harder things because it's not just on me. It's on 20 or 30 people to work together and work hard. It's the first time my band has gone to a national competition. We do really well at the state competitions but we know those bands and we are probably working in lower grades than we should be at the moment but a couple years ago when we first learnt we were going to compete it was only as an experience thing just to participate and stuff, like our first ever competition but we've done a lot since then and now we're actual competitors, in it to win it because we're getting good. I'm really hoping we can pull it off because this could be the first and last national competition I compete in. The last one the bands competed in was 6 years ago and I don't know if 6 years in the future I'll still be with the band. 

4. Get My First Physical ARC

This almost falls in with growing my blog. I'd love to get a physical ARC this year but I think to do that I'm going to have to work so hard on my blog and really prove myself. I've done two E-ARCs that I learnt about from Goodreads. I did Defensive by B. Austin and Outsiders by Tammy Ferebee, I was only just getting into reviewing and blogging too when I did them so they aren't great reviews and I probably didn't give them a huge amount of cover but still, you've got to start somewhere. It might be a bit of a process but if I'm determined to do it, I think I can.

5. Start A Bookstagram

This one I haven't started because I'm crappy at taking pictures and don't know how to get good lighting. I'll learn though, surely. I think this will be good for the blog too, so I'm pretty excited to branch out. Plus, I love Instagram and I spend a lot of time browsing through all sorts of bookstagrams and I'd love to be apart of that. I'm sure it'll give me flashbacks to when I was 12 and I had a 5 Seconds Of Summer fanpage and I thought I was living some sort of double life. It was epic and the people loved me.

6. Don't Be Bothered By People Who Aren't Bothered By Me

In 2016, I spent way too much time obsessing over people who weren't worth my time. It brought a lot of negativity to my life and just wasn't nice and I wasted a lot of my time over it. I'm still a little bothered by them but I'm determined to get over it because I'm not sure that what they were doing was because they weren't bothered by me or because they were too bothered by me. This year I don't want any of that because I have too many awesome things to accomplish to worry about crappy friends.

7. Read A Lot (At Least Two Books A Week Please)

This year, I want to read 100 books. It's a feat I've never accomplished. I figure two books a week and I've done, right? Even that's more than enough. I've been getting as much in as I can in the holidays because I know I won't have as much time as I might've had last year to read. So, I'll get ahead of the game while I can to minimise the stress during the times I can't stress about my reading goal. I've read ten books already in two weeks of 2017 so I'm beautifully ahead of schedule. The productivity it's bursting from my pores.

8. Write A Lot 

I've only just gotten really into writing. But, I can never stick to one thing. I end up abandoning half of my story ideas in the very early stages of writing. I like to think I'll go back to them but I highly doubt it. I've been working on this one story since November though and that's got to be a record for me. I'm really happy with it and by the end of the year I'm hoping to get to the stage where I'm finished with it and can edit it. Or if not that story than another one. I want to at least finish one story.

9. Convince Parents To Get Dog

We haven't had a dog since our old dog passed away in 2012 which is so weird because we all love dogs.  We were going to get one once my old cat was settled in because he hadn't been great with our dog but then the cat passed away about a year after our dog then we got our new lovely, Louis so we've been waiting for him to settle. In April we'll have had him for three year and he has a different nature to our old cat and I think he would be okay if we got a puppy. It would definitely have to be a puppy though. My parents have been talking about it a lot though, it's a lot of talk of breeds. Our old dogs were Boston Terriers but they're almost $5000 now and even though we'd all love another one we'll have to settle on something a bit more in budget. I'd love a Golden Retriever unfortunately, our house is too small for such a big dog. I got massive dog envy at Christmas when both my aunties brought their dogs along. I'd love to end 2017 with a doggy. Although, it'll be a challenge to divide the attention between a puppy and Louis who is about as demanding as a new born baby.

10. Have A Happy And Productive Year!

This is the biggest one. As long as my year is happy and I've achieved something, I'll be a happy camper. I'm so excited for a fresh new year and I'm thrilled by all the possibilities. It's exciting, it's like having a blank canvas and getting to fill it all up with whatever you like although, I think a blank canvas would stress me out. I haven't got one creative or artistic bone in my body. So, this is much better in my opinion than a blank canvas.

Anyway, I wish you all a happy and productive year! I hope you achieve all the things you want to and I hope everyone treats you the way you deserve. Good luck!

The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

5 Stars

“There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.”

Anyone who has ever read my blog will know, I am a down right sucker for contemporary. This was no exception to the rule. It was everything I could have wanted it to be and now my heart hurts.

I didn't think it could be as magical and beautiful as Everything, Everything but it absolutely was. Nicola Yoon writes gorgeous books, that is my conclusion. That is what I've drawn from this reading experience. It was wonderful, I could feel Natasha and Daniel in my soul as though they were both a part of me.

I like to say I don't like insta-love because I know a lot of people don't like insta-love and I sometimes seem to adapt other peoples opinions for no apparent reason. But, I'm going to go ahead and say it. I like insta-love. It's romantic. I'm a sucker for romance. This book was absolutely, no doubt about it insta-love. So, if that isn't your jam, this probably isn't the book for you. However, this is hella my jam so I loved it.

I love Daniel, he and I are both very much dreamers. I love his spirit and the way he thinks of things and the way he feels everything. I felt a strong connection with him as far as relatability goes. I also adored Natasha for her determination even when it seemed like the whole world was against her. I appreciate that she truly never accepted defeat until she really had to.

I love that the book didn't just focus on the day Natasha and Daniel had spent together, it also branched out to the people around them and it gave you a sense of the fact that literally everyone has something going on. I loved all the back stories and all the seemingly small people they encountered on the way that became bigger people. I adored the way it made a single day seem so big and full of life.

There were so many things I loved about this, practically too many to name. It's diverse, fluffy, heartfelt, beautifully written and the list goes on. She's done it again.

A letter to Eleanor *SPOILER ALERT*

Dear Eleanor,

I hope you're doing well. I also hope your family are safe but you did the right thing, Eleanor. I hope life is treating you fairly now since you sincerely deserve it. I have a lot I want to know but I don't know if I'll get it all back and I don't want to bother you with your old life, I can imagine it would be a tough topic.

I wonder if you could tell me, what did you say to Park? What were those three words? Surely you can confide in me, we are friends. I hope you know he cares for you deeply, it breaks my heart to think of how deeply he cares for you. I would hate for you to think that he doesn't, you'll always be special to each other. Even when you're loving other people. I think the love you two share is extraordinary and I can only hope I can experience that kind of love in my life. You're lucky in that respect, Eleanor.

I wonder, do you ever miss Bobbi and DeNice? They were so lovely to you, you were lucky to have them too. I wonder if they think about you? I'm sure they do, I'm sure they wonder about how you are and where you are and if they'll ever see you again. They're lovely girls. I hope you have some good friends like them at your new school.

I hope you've spoken to your mum and your siblings and god, do I hope they're safe. I'm so sorry that the situation meant you had to leave them again. I know you wouldn't have gone if you didn't have to but you had to Eleanor, for your own safety. We both know what would have happened had you stayed. I wonder, do you contact them regularly if they are safe? Do you chat with the kids? I hope so. For you, I hope so.

Your story touches me, Eleanor. I hope you know that. You and Park have such an enduring love and I'm sure it'll last the while even if it doesn't. I'm so terribly sorry for all the wrong that's been done to you in your life, you at least deserved Park and I'm so sorry he got taken away from you so soon.

Please look after yourself, Eleanor.
Sincerely,
Brooklyn

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

4 stars

“I love you,” I say to him, only it comes out, “Hey.”
“So damn much,” he says back, only it comes out, “Dude.”
He still won’t meet my eyes.”  

Oh my god, I feel like I say this about literally every book I've read thus far but I love this so much. I forgot how much amazingness is out there. I'll Give You The Sun is such a quirky contemporary, my favourite kind. It makes me feel so much at once, which is absolutely incredible.

I adore NoahandJude. They make me want a twin. They make me want to give birth to twins. They make me want to go back in time and shove this book under both my Mum's nose and her twin brother's nose to somehow give them this incredible relationship. I love the idea of having that sort of built in best friend kind of thing but closer than best friends. I think their relationship is wonderfully written and I love that it's one of the main focuses. I've always loved twins, I've always desperately wanted to have twins (they say it skips a generation) so to have a whole book that pretty solely focuses on the relationship between them is like my dream.

I love that the stories intertwine so beautifully. I've always admired authors who can tie up loose ends like that. J.K Rowling is a prime example of tying up loose ends but Jandy Nelson did a suburb job of it too. When I read it for the first time, it was so satisfying to see every thing tie together. It was also cool because it was done in such a way that enough information was given so you could have a guess but not enough so it wouldn't be fun.

I loved that the book followed Noah and Jude at different ages. I thought it was pretty unique and really interesting. Also, it's crucial to the story that we have both of those perspectives.

It honestly blows my mind at how well put together this whole book is. I think it will always boggle me how some peoples minds can work like this. I just want everyone to read it and not even have to like the romance or the characters, just appreciate how incredibly well put together it is and how much work must go in to a book like this. I love this book and I want to shove it under every body's noses.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

4 Stars

“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”

This was absolutely enchanting. From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. It had a certain magic about it.

I wasn't expecting it at all. I was honestly expecting some sort of Water For Elephants cheesy type of romance and circus setting. Not that I don't love Water For Elephants, don't hurt me Sara Gruen. It wasn't anything like I'd expected, the circus setting was absolutely captivating. It had an air of magic and mystery and wonder. It was written in such a romantic style too, which enhanced all the wonderful things about this book.

Celia and Marco definitely reminded me of Jacob and Marlena from Water For Elephants. I'm not entirely sure I liked Marco but I could feel the way he felt for Celia through the pages and it was beautiful. The forbiddeness of it made it all the more passionate. I love the way their relationship tied in through the story.

I adore Bailey. You can really feel his passion and love for the circus pulsing from the pages. It is so genuine, you can tell he truly is dazzled by the circus. It was wonderful to read a character with such passion and enchantment. He such a pleasant character to read and through him you got to feel so many things.

Morgenstern wrote a circus I would adore. It was a really playful air about it. Everything tied in beautifully even when it felt like reading a billion different stories. The characters were beautifully written and the plot was clearly very carefully crafted. I love that I can feel the amount of work that's gone into writing this book. It's intense but still light and it truly is something.

December 2016 Wrap Up

Wow, wasn't that a year to remember? We've finally come to the end and it's definitely bittersweet. I feel like I've done so much in December, it's been highly eventful. So, let's dive in with the reading.

Somehow, despite having one of the busiest months of my life, I managed to read a lot. I don't know how I do it. I read:

• You by Caroline Kepnes
• Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riodan
• Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
• The Crown by Kiera Cass
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
• My Best Friend is a Goddess

And, it was a damn good reading month too. The only book I didn't like was The Crown which I go into much detail on in my review. To put it bluntly, the end really pissed me off. Otherwise I really liked all the books I read. There were some very good reads in the bunch and it was a great way to end the year. I hope 2017 is just as good.

Anyway diving into my personal life. I have a lot I want to talk about. You better get a cup of tea.

As of the other day, I've been driving for a month. Which is pretty excited and I don't know where all the time went. I'm way better than I ever thought I'd be at this point. Granted I'm learning in an automatic. I'm usually a pretty nervous person so I thought I'd be a really nervous and hesitant driver. That's not actualy the case. I really like driving, it's oddly calming for me. I think it's because I like having that control.

Also, even bigger than driving. I finished high school. Four years over like that. It was crazy. I won a scholarship and got treated like a princess. That last week was the best of my life. The scholarship put me on such a high I couldn't help but grin for the rest of the week. It was crazy unexpected. I remember telling my parents about it, saying I wouldn't get it, it would go to someone with better grades. When one of the teachers came up to me at the dinner and told me why I'd gotten it, I almost cried. It made me so proud. I also got the respectable student award. Which I was ridiculously proud of because I think that was one of the best rewards to get since it's more about reputation over what you've done. It was wonderful to know all the effort had come to something in the end. It felt great to be acknowledged, plus a fifty dollar prize doesn't hurt anyone.

The dinner was the best night of my life. We got to go home after being formally farewelled by the school, which was very sad. There were plenty of tears and plenty of hugs. Then once home, I had a while to relax before going to a hair and makeup appointment to get glammed up. I've never had my makeup done by someone else before and it was actually really nice. I had my hair curled and then we went back home to get dressed. I remember the moment of getting into the dress and looking at myself and it was just incredible. You really don't get to do this things often. I went with a group of two other girls and a boy and when he arrived he had three beautiful red roses and I could've cried. It was totally unexpected but it was so lovely. I'm so sad that mine is slowly dying. Everyone looked amazing and it was fantastic. We danced for three hours straight. It was insane and somehow I didn't have any blisters.

Finishing high school was so surreal. It still feels odd. I can't believe after four years it was over so quick. But, strangely enough, I feel perfectly ready to continue on to the next chapter of life. Four years was definitely enough. I can't wait for this year, I'm going to have so much freedom I won't know what to do with myself.

Of course, Christmas was fantastic. You can read about what I got here. I can't wait to read all my new books. I also had a lovely new years weekend with my parents. It was a very quiet holiday period at home.

I hope you've all had a fabulous December and an even better new year. I'd love for you to let me know what good things have happened to you this December and what you read.

When We Collided and All The Bright Places

When We Collided and All The Bright Places both follow characters suffering from bipolar disorder so I thought it could be quite interesting to compare the two of them because there are a lot of similar aspects and a lot of fairly different aspects. I do warn you, there will be spoilerish content so please don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled.

So to begin with, one similarity was that they both had love interests and the love interests were both grieving at the time they met Finch/Vivi. The books both seemed so have a focus on how both Vivi and Finch brightened and changed the lives of grieving Jonah and Violet. It was very fluffy and lovely until you noticed how odd Vivi and Finch were acting.

It wasn't revealed until the end of both books that the characters were suffering from bipolar. Although, in When We Collided, Vivi has been diagnosed prior and Finch had been professionally diagnosed yet. So this is an interesting point, Vivi and her mum had knowledge of what Vivi had and knew how to maintain it but Finch and his family didn't have a clue really.

Vivi and Finch both had very manic periods towards the middle/end of the books and they were both kind of very similar when that was happening. It was horrible to see them both deteriorate like that and yet, I couldn't stop reading because I was hoping so desperately that they'd both be okay. It was also, really interesting to read, if not painful.

A couple differences would have to be for one, the endings but that's a huge spoiler so we won't go into that. Also, Vivi's mum was a lot more involved whereas Finch's parents were very uninvolved which is why I assume, he never got professional help. Vivi was having a relapse due to not taking her medication whereas Finch wasn't on any medication to begin with seeing as he was never officially diagnosed although it's questionable to as wether this is the first time Finch had been manic like that. He suggests he went into a sleep quite often but I'm unclear on what that kind of means of the bipolar front.

So, that concludes my comparison. I think they're both very interesting and insightful books. I couldn't pick a favourite, they're too similar yet different at the same time.  If you're interested in reading more of my posts about When We Collided then you can check out my review or my soundtrack or even my letter to Vivi.