Reflections of a Bookaholic

Nostalgia: The Baby Sitter's Club

2019-08-09T00:47:00.000-05:00

The Baby Sitter's Club is coming to Audible and I have ALL the feels right now. This series changed my life. It was this series that my Mom bought me instead of me having to check them out of the library. It is this series that I wrote about in the second grade and won a writing contest. It is this series, among a few, that I wrote about in my college scholarship essays. Barnes and Nobles doesn't even carry this series in stores anymore. The nostalgia is so real.

Though, now that I'm a parent, there is no way I'd let sixth graders babysit my kid. But you know.

Unpopular Opinion

2019-03-25T02:30:00.001-05:00

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I’m going to say something controversial here. I think the Netflix movie was better than the book. I can’t wait for the sequel. . . . #bookaholicreflections #reflectionsofabookaholic #bookworm #bookish #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookstagram #bookjunkie #bookworld #lovebooks #amreading #booklovers #books #goodreads #bookchat #booknerd #amlistening #bookblog #plannergirl #thetruthhurts

A post shared by Alexis Villery (@reflectionsofabookaholic) on Mar 22, 2019 at 9:24am PDT

Number 14: Heartless

2018-04-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

I read all the books in one of the Goodreads Choice Awards categories. Now I'm counting down from my least favorite to those that I absolutely loved. Stay tuned for my thoughts and mini-reviews. Find out more HERE!

Heartless by Marissa Meye

Stand-Alone
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult
Pages: 453

I love Marissa Meyer and her books, but I don't love Alice and Wonderland. So a retelling of a fairy tale that I don't love really didn't have much of a chance. That being said, I thought the most interesting part of this read was the background of the side characters like Cheshire the cat and the Mad Hatter. But the Queen of Hearts and her reason for going "bad" didn't really do it for me. I felt most of the book was pointless and unnessary (man I sound harsh) and the the explanation at the end could have been done without any of the rest. I wanted it to feel necessary. The background and character development of the Queen of Hearts just didn't match up to me. I don't know. I'll look forward to of Ms. Meyer's retellings in the future. This one was just okay.

Number 15: The Raven King

2018-04-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Raven Cycle #4

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 439

I'm so ducking under my desk as I type this. I feel like I'm going to lose my bibliophile card for not having this book at the very top of my countdown. But really it comes down to the fact that everyone loves Gansy... but me. So this series is good. But the premise of the series was fascinating an dMs. Stiefvater is an AMAZING writer and author. But it just didn't come together for me. I ended up being disappointed. BUT there were so many twists and parts that I loved, It just still left me wanting a bit. I still recommend this series and I many love the commaraderie of the friends. I loved many of them but Gansy was a "meh" for me.

Number 16: The Rose and the Dagger

2018-04-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 416 pages

I'm starting to feel a bit like the grinch during this countdown. I don't mean to be but you guys, these are supposed to be the best 20 of a year. I had high expectations. So I loooovvvveeeddd The Wrath and the Dawn, book 1 this series but that's not the book in this countdown. The Rose and the Dagger was good and I would recommend this series, but it was a let down compared to the previous book. The pacing was uneven and the plot was a bit all over the place. There was a nice twist at the end which I liked but ultimately, I just missed The Wrath and the Dawn. I'm such a sucker for a sweet romance. There were some better reads on this list.

Planner Update! Planner System is going strong

2018-04-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

If you follow my instagram @Reflectionsofabookaholic, you might notice that planners make quite a few appearances. I posted this picture without annonotations at the beginning of the year of my planner stack. I use ALL of them every week.

Planners often talk about "planner peace" and trying to find the perfect planner that helps manage everything. I don't even try that. I have a whole planner system and I re-evaluate every year.

My Inkwell Press Planner - Is my main planner. It stays on my desk and houses my goals, tracking, reading lists, book lists, menu, and weekly schedule and anything else that comes up. Because everything is there, it has to be general and it can get cluttered and overwhelming. This planner has losts of confidential information and never leaves my desk.

My Erin Condren Planner - is my reflection planner. Y'all know by now that I'm all about reflecting on all the things. I use this planner to keep track of what I've actually done each day. This helps me compare my plans with my performance. It keeps me grounded when I feel that I'm not accomplishing things. And it helps me set realistic schedules by showing me what can be done in a day. I use the monthly calender to keep track of Jacob's milestones. I usestickers and post videos of this planner on my Youtube page. This is half reflection and half scrapbook/memory keeping. I keep Jacob's

Flower B6 Traveler's Notebook - My work calendar and contacts notebook. I take this notebook with me everywhere. I keep client contact information, my calendar, and other quick notes. I'm often needing to schedule hearings, mediations, consults, etc. when I'm on the go. This holds my calendar and lets me keep track of dates that I've given out as available to make sure I don't double book my calendar.

Griffindor B6 Foxy Fix Scarlet Notebook - Work planner/notebook. I take this planner with me. It has more detailed information of my work to-do lists, goals, and the like. I keep confidential information out and take it with me everywhere.

What planner(s) are you using and how are you doing with it?

Number 17: A Torch Against the Night

2018-04-12T00:24:00.000-05:00

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
Series: Ember Quartet #2
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Pages: 452

So this is the point where I start to veer rather sharply from Goodreads Voters. In order to read this second book in the series, I had to read the first book. I absolutely dreaded reading this book and I think it really affected how much I enjoyed this one. So here's my little rant. There should be trigger warnings all over this series. This genre is getting darker and darker. I can't get with the excessive violence, rape, and abuse in this series. The first book was worst than the second. I heard people say that they couldn't read The Hunger Games trilogy because they didn't like the idea of kids killing kids. I get that. In other series, characters were disadvantaged and weak but they were never without skills and talents to fight back and ultimately win. There were so many defenseless victims in this book, I dreaded picking it up every time. It was well-written and full of adventure, twists, and turns. I get why many enjoyed it, but I just couldn't get jiggy with it.

Number 18: And I Darken

2018-03-16T01:58:00.001-05:00

And I Darken by Kiersten White
Series: The Conqueror's Saga
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 475

The Goodreads description can be found here. And I Darken is the story of Vlad the Impaler, but with the twist. In this story, Vlad is a girl named Lara. And she is a strong and fierce warrior. There weren't any paranormal of fantasy elements in this one. So this is another one that I didn't think fit quite right in the category. It is more historical fiction. I believe this one is well-written but boring. My favorite characters were minor characters that didn't appear often. There were just so many better reads in this category so it falls to the bottom for me. And so far, my thoughts are pretty close in line with the Goodreads voters.

Number 19: Ivory and Bone

2018-02-28T02:31:00.002-06:00

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

Series: Ivory and Bone #1

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 371

The description for Ivory and Bone can be found here. I didn't love this read. This story took place a step up from the Stone Age. It was a romance/mystery where you didn't know it was a romance or mystery until they unveiled "who dun it." Though well written and poetic, this one comes in second-to-last place because it was boring and it didn't feel like it fit the fantasy/sci-fi category.

Coming in Dead Last: My Lady Jane

2018-02-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Number 20: My Lady Jane

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton
Series: The Lady Janies
Genre: Historical, YA, Fantasy
Pages: 491 kindle

I actually got around to reviewing this one on the blog. You can find the kinda-sort-of review here. There are a few books that shouldn't have been a finalist on this list. In my opinion this is one of them. This book was awful. In fact, it is the first and only book that I failed to finish since starting this blog in 2011. In general, I refuse to get up on books. Not this one. I was wasting my life away so I had to quit half way through. Needless to say, this book came in last on my list.

Reviewing GoodReads Choice Awards Winners

2018-02-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Remember that time that I decided that my book challenge for 2017 was to read and review all finalists in a Goodreads category and see if I agreed with the line-up and winner? If you forgot, you can catch up here!

I chose the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award Category of YA Sci-fi/Fantasy. And I did it.
.
Man oh man was that a bigger undertaking that I imagined. In order to review the finalists, I had to read all prior books in series so that I knew what was going on. 49 BOOKS!! In one category. Whew!! But I want to let you guys know how it turned out.

My original theory was that the popular books were those books with bigger budgets, which leads to bigger marketing campaigns. Bigger marketing campaigns lead to more readers reading those books. With more readers, some books were more likely to win a popularity contest whether or not it was actually a good/better read.

Here are my thoughts in a nutshell:
1. I'm never doing this again.
2. YA fantasy/sci-fi has gotten even darker.
3. YA books have TONS of great writers as authors. So much has changed since the Twilight Saga.
4. Some of these books are separated by the smallest of margins.
5. I'm not telling my favorite. YET.

I'm going to do a coundown putting the books in the order that I think they should be. And I will finish with my favorite. Stay tuned!

The finished voting order by Goodreads readers is below (and my order is definitely not the same):

Updates and New Content Topics!!!

2018-01-29T14:34:00.000-06:00

A few things have been swirling in my mind since late last year...

I think it's pretty common knowledge that the blog doesn't follow the same format as years past. I've given up on trying to maintain the 3 book a week + audio schedule and probably won't take review requests anymore.

I just can't commit to a certain schedule
I don't read as much or as often #adultingsucks
I want to spend the time I have reading and not reviewing

But the blog isn't going anywhere. There's a lot of content here that I don't want to disappear and I do still want to talk about books and reading here. It's my first love after all. I'm just not going to apologize or feel guilty (all me and no one else) because things aren't as consistent here.

AAAANNNNDDDD.....
Expect to see some Organizing and Planning stuff popping up around here. Last year, I made a concerted effort to plan better so that I could spend more time doing the things I love (i.e. reading) and found a whole community. I'm going to share here. I know a lot of reader girls are also planner girls so let's discuss. That's what we do here!

I've started a Youtube channel (ultimate amateur here though) where I hope to post book and planner videos and I'm also active on instagram (follow me if you are interested).

This is going to be fun year guys!! Let me know your thoughts about these changes!!

2018 Book Challenges

2018-01-08T19:19:00.002-06:00

It's that time again! I need to do a wrap-up post for my 2017 Reading Challenges (which were very successful if I do say so myself) and I will. BUT today, I want to share what I've taken on for this year.

I've chosen the 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge and for ONCE that's the only challenge I'm going with this year--maybe a bit of a let down--but ehh. I've chosen to read 60 books which is better than last years 45, but a far cry from 100 books read from past years. It is what it is. I'm accepting it.

I'm only doing one reading challenge because I already know that this year is the year of FLUFF. The fluffier the better! I've been reading a lot of dark YA lately and I just don't want to do that right now. I'm probably going to continue to listen to YA Science Fiction and Fantasy and read more romance and mystery as long as it is fluffy.

Good luck everyone! Be sure to tell me what you are doing about challenges in 2018. Are you challenging yourself to do something new? Or are you done with the pressure that challenges sometimes bring?

I can't wait to recap my 2017 challenge where I read all of the books that were nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2016 and give you guys my final opinion. It was fun and different than anything I've done. But it did drag a bit at times. Look for later posts for my final reviews and thoughts!

Review: I Am Four

2017-10-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Source: eLibrary

I Am Four by Pittacus Lore
Series: Lorien Legacies #1
Genre: YA, Science Fiction,
Length: 11 hours and 32 minutes
Narrator: Neil Kaplan
Author's Website | Facebook | Twitter
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle

Description:

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books--but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

My Rating:

The moment that you thought you had posted a review but forgot to type it up and post it. Ooopsey...

Enter an alien teenager, John Smith a.k.a. Four, who is the new kid in town. He quickly develops a crush on Sarah and manages and enemy of her ex, Mark. And... he gets a nerdy sidekick, Sam. They all enjoy a traditional angsty teenage life for most of the book. And while all that angst is going on Johnson is developing powers for the first time and trying to keep them a secret. He's also being hunted by other aliens who want to hunt his species down in numerical order. They've already found and killed three.

On the story...
I really enjoyed this one. I loved that the main character is a teenage boy and there is lots of action and new developments without it feeling forced or filler. While I did enjoy the second half of the book more than the first half, it was still good.

On the narrator...
I enjoyed the narration of the audiobook. However, the voice given to Sam annoyed the heck out of me. I ended up picturing him as a short pimply kid that looked like a lanky sixth grader. All the other voices were fine and all the voices were distinct.

2017-10-11T02:38:00.000-05:00

A post shared by Alexis Villery (@reflectionsofabookaholic) on Aug 18, 2017 at 8:43am PDT

“The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words.” - Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Giveaway Winner!

2017-08-02T02:03:00.002-05:00

We finally have a winner for the Giveaway Hop! Whoot! Whoot! Congratulations. I've emailed the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bookish Things: Confessions

2017-07-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: ofprimaryimportance.blogspot.com via Alexis on Pinterest

This is cute. I've got a little confession though. Now that I'm revisiting Dr. Seuss with my toddler, I can honestly say that I find many of his books a tad annoying. (like a lot) There I said it. They rhyme but that's about it really. And they are soooooo long. I actually avoid these when picking a book for Baby J. He has a huge collection though. There I said it.

Bookish Things: Bookgasm

2017-07-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source:twitter.com via Alexis on Pinterest

Any books you are waiting to be released? I kind of want to jump on some bandwagons.

Review: The Raven King

2017-07-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: eLibrary

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Genre: YA. Paranormal
Length/Pages:
Narrator: Will Patton
Author's Website | Facebook | Twitter
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle
Description:

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

My Rating:

The finale to the Raven Cycle. There is much to say about this book that wouldn't be a spoiler. But I will say that people die, questions are answered, and the ending is satisfying.

On the story...
I had a very difficult time following this last book. I felt like I need to search google for some cliff notes or something. I don't know if it is because it was on Audio or what it was, but it just didn't for me. I loved that mysteries were solved and all the ends were tied up. I walked away thinking that Ms. Stiefvater is a very talented writer that gives her characters so much dimension but I was let down by the plot. I was so intrigued in the beginning. It just couldn't hold my attention. The characters weren't enough to make this a good read for me but I still enjoyed it more than The Raven Boys. Ronan is still my favorite. Who would have thought?

On the narrator...
Will Patton continues to do a great job with the millions of characters but his voice just wasn't for me. I felt the characters sounded too old and he didn't do the women any justice.

Overall...
This is a popular series so I'm sure it works for many many people. I just wouldn't personally recommend it.

On another note...
I heard that The Raven Cycle was being turned into a TV series. Even though I didn't love it, I would watch it if it was a series picked up by CW. Those shows tend to do a great job with casting and I think it would present well on television. Kind of slide into The Vampire Diaries empty slot in readers' hearts. Maybe? I don't know if it is entirely true but I'll be looking into it more.

Bookish Things: Game of Thrones...

2017-07-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: www.buzzfeed.com via Alexis on Pinterest

It has begun guys! I'm so excited and dreading it all at the same time. What do you want to see? Who do you hope lives/dies? Are you sad that it is the last season?

Review: The Midnight Star

2017-07-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: eLibrary

The Midnight Star by Marie Lu
Series: The Young Elites #3
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Length: 9 hours and 7 minutes
Narrator: Lannon Killea and Carla Corvo
Author's Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle

Description:

There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all she’s gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds, putting not only herself at risk, but every Elite. In order to preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

My Rating:

In this final installment, Adelina finds herself on top. Instead of being at the mercy of others she is feared by all and rules a nation. But things aren't all that she had hoped. She doesn't know who to trust, searches high and low for her sister, and must fight for her life surrounded by those she cannot trust. The world is slowly becoming darker around her and the Young Elites find themselves in a tough position, again fighting to survive, Adelina findings some unlikely allies and they come up with a plan to save the world. But sacrifices must be made.

On the story...
The first half of this book dragged and dragged and dragged. The second half was much better but it couldn't save the book for me. It felt like more of a mythological story than the others. I loved the ending of this book and series. Perfecto. I never really warmed up to Adelina or any of the characters. Surprisingly, I found Toren to be the most well-developed character. I loved how everything came full circle.

On the narrators...
As always, Ms. Corvo and Mr. Killea did a great job. I'd definitely recommend this series on audio.

Overall...
The slow start of this one really prevented me from enjoying this one, but I did like how the series wrapped up. I'd recommend this series to lovers of Fantasy and the antihero.

Review: Blue Lily Lily Blue

2017-07-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: eLibrary

Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Length/Pages:
Narrator: Will Patton
Author's Website | Facebook | Twitter
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle

Description:

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

My Rating:

Book three of this series adds on to the search for Glendower with the search for Blu's mother. We've got even more characters, some caves, and a bit of bonding with the characters. Some questions get answered and the waters get muddied.

On the story...
I enjoyed this installment a bit better than the last. There weren't as many mysteries and a bookstagrammer really prompted me to look harder at the characters. I could appreciate their relationships and interactions with each other. I think looking at it with that lens allowed me to enjoy the book more. But to be clear, I don't care anything about Glendower or Cadeswater at this point. I've lost interest. I like the attention to detail from Ms. Steifvater and the characters, even the minor ones, are truly so well-developed. This was a pretty good read.

On the narrator...
If I liked this series a bit more, I'd switch to the book instead of the audio. Mr. Patton continues to a great job giving a different clear voice to each character and by this time, there are a ton of characters. I just don't care for him as a narrator. It's just a personal preference, I guess.

Overall...
If I just focus on the characters, I enjoy this series a lot more. I don't really care much about the plot.

Bookish Things

2017-07-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: Uploaded by About That Story via Alexis on Pinterest

I'm just going to leave this right here.

Review: The Crown

2017-07-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: Audible

The Crown by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #5
Genre: Dystopia, YA
Length: 7 hours and 12 minutes
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Author's Website | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle

Description:

When Eadlyn became the first princess of Illéa to hold her own Selection, she didn’t think she would fall in love with any of her thirty-five suitors. She spent the first few weeks of the competition counting down the days until she could send them all home. But as events at the palace force Eadlyn even further into the spotlight, she realizes that she might not be content remaining alone.

Eadlyn still isn’t sure she’ll find the fairytale ending her parents did twenty years ago. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and soon Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more impossible—and more important—than she ever imagined.

My Rating:

Eadlyn must finally pick a suitor out of the Elites. But first she must deal with the turmoil of her mother's ill health while taking on more responsibility in running the country without her twin brother by her side to keep her grounded.

On the story...
Soooo... I love this series so I prolonged this one as long as possible because I didn't want the series to be over. I definitely enjoyed this one. BUT I believe the earlier books in the series carried this one. The plot seemed rushed toward the end. You don't make such huge decisions about your entire country without talking it out with someone or without thinking about it just a little bit (and I'm not referring to her choice of suitors). As for who she chose, I saw that one coming but the way it was handled was a complete cop out. I really don't like to include spoilers in my reviews so it is difficult to go into too much difficult. Eadlen never had to make any difficult decisions. It felt like Ms. Cass was avoidng anything that would make Eadlen look superficial.

But I love the writing, the characters, and that the reader was give the chance to see the "after" of America's story. Even in this one, I was so grateful to hold on to the characters just a tad bit longer.

On the narrator...
I enjoyed Ms. Pressley immensely and would seek out other audios narrated by her. I'd recommend this entire series on audio as well.

Overall...
If you are are already feeling lukewarm about Eadlen or the series, this one does no favors. As a diehard fan, I loved it despite my frustration with the quick wrap-up.

Bookish Things: BookWorms Unite

2017-07-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Source: www.Belcastroagency.com via Alexis on Pinterest

I thought this was the cutest. I think we need one of these for Planner Girls as well! I love being a part of such special communities! What other communities do you connect with? I love that moment when I find myself saying "Oh, it's not just me!"