Emerald City Author Event 2016

So this is a side bar from my normal reviews, but I really want to share what this weekend was like for me.

Emerald City Author Event was a one day convention where I got to meet a TON of Authors. And let me just say this right now I can't wait for next year!
This was one of the best days of my life. I am so thankful for being able to go to this. I had a blast. Emma and I were fan girling everywhere!

I walked in with four books to have signed and walked back out with those and eleven new ones.

There were so many authors that at first I felt a tad overwhelmed but I soon got into the groove of things.
My first stop was JA Huss because she was kind enough to give out one free copy of one of her books. And I read her book 18 a while ago so I knew I liked her work.JA Huss I can not wait to read her new book I got.

The next big line I waited in was Tillie Cole and I LOVE HER! She is so sweet and her love for Harry Potter made me love her even more. I told her about my book House on the Hill and shes going to check it out which was amazing!  Tillie Cole

I got to meet so many amazing Authors. Ilsa Madeen-Mills, Nichole Williams *LOVE HER*, K.A.Tucker, Karina Halle, Rachel Higginson, Nicole Jacquelyn, Amy A,. Bartol *Who also wants to look at my book* LH, Cosway, Callie Hart, and Kristen Proby.
These woman are all so amazing and sweet.

The highlight of my day was Anne Eliot. She is such a kind and sweet Author. She gave me two books which I am planning to read and review soon. She is going to check out Emma and my Booktube channel so I am really excited!  Check her out! Anne Eliot

This event was beyond amazing! I had such a blast I can not wait until next year!!!


Check out our booktube channel if you want where we will be showing off all our new books soon! Booktube

You can't catch me. Book review

You can't catch me
by Cassie Mae
Pages 277
Stand alone
5 out of 5 stars
Buy it here Amazon
Ebook only

Description: My body suuuucks. After lounging around on my butt all summer (okay, so maybe that was my bad), this body decided to become something completely foreign. So now I’m trying to make the track team and I feel like I’m a baby learning to walk again. 

A couple pounds wouldn’t have been so bad. Work those off, run like a mad woman, no problem, yeah? But no. I’ve also developed a couple of things that I definitely didn’t have before. And now my guy friends are all sitting in a pool of drool as they not-so-subtly stare at my chest. 

Combine all that drama with the fact that the new track coach is getting major flack for being a little chunky, and all I’m trying to do is convince the team that I’m not running slower because of her coaching style. 

Oh, and did I mention that I’m totally falling face-first in “like” with some guy I met in a cemetery? And no one understands it just because he’s also a little chunky. But he’s also adorable and wonderfully weird and I don’t care what they say, his look sure does it for me. 

But… I don’t know… how can I be in “like” with someone, when I have no clue how to like myself anymore?


Cassie Mae is one of my all time favorite Authors. She writes the best romance. And this book was no different. Ginger Silverman is the MC of our book and I love her! She is coming into her life and her body has changed and grown over the summer. She suddenly has Sharpies and she doesn't know how to handle them. (Read this book you must understand the Sharpies!)
As a runner they don't exactly go with her body type. As a girl with my own set of Sharpies I understand her pain.
Everyday she visits the grave of her baby sister and in the graveyard is where she meet the amazing adorbz Oliver!  I love this boy! Seriously I have never wanted a post it note so bad in my entire life. (I'm telling you READ this book!)
She falls first for his handwriting because they past Post its. "Just picturing his handwriting has my internal zookeepers sticking their hands out to keep the animals at bay." I loved this line because I know what its  like to fall for someones handwriting.  Believe me its possible!
As Ginger goes she ends up getting fully embarrassed thanks to viral bullying she has to figure out how to deal with it. And she doesn't confide in anyone and this made me want to hug her. I loved when her Aunt helped her out with this.

"Oliver says he likes me more and more every time he sees me. But how? When every time I get a look at myself, I like me less an less?" This line hit me close to home. I loved that Ginger has all of my insecurities. I related to her on so many levels. This line reminds me of my own relationship with my guy so it made me go awwww.

All in all this book had me laughing and crying. Gingers love for Disney songs made me smile because this is a very special skill set.. One I'm proud of having! Cassie knows how to take all of your feelings on an adventure and I love her for that. She makes guys you fall in love with.. And girls you can relate too. Shes real in her work and her heart shows through.

This book is one that I think every woman out there needs to read. Because we could all learn to love ourselves a little bit more.

FanGirl Book review. Spoilers ahead!

FanGirl 
By Rainbow Rowell
Pages: 434
Stand alone
5 out of 5 stars
Buy it here: Amazon

Description: 
A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

**** Please be warned this review will be spoiler heavy!****


So I have been wanting to read FanGirl for a while. Partly because I myself am a fangirl. And because the idea of a book about being one just screamed Read me. 
I picked up FanGirl and was dying to read it. I just needed the time and that finally came this month. 

I am new to Rainbow, this is my first book of hers and I will definitely be reading more.

Cath and her sister Wren are two very different girls. Cath is still obsessed with Simon Snow (the Harry Potter like character.) And Wren is ready to grow up. Cath also sufferers from anxiety ,I instantly connected with her.

Cath: "Drunk nerds aren't my thing." 
Wren: "You like nerds."
Cath: " Not nerds who join fraternities." "That's a whole subclass of nerds that I'm not interested in." 

That happens on Page 31 by that point I was fully hooked. The humor of this book is unlike anything I've read in a while and its refreshing.

Cath has three boys she has to deal with in this book. And each one has his own level of jerk. But some end up being better than others. 

Guys!
Able: The boyfriend from back home. The "End Table" as Wren so lovingly calls him. I instantly hated him. Probably had something to do with the fact he dumped Cath over the phone. 

Levi: Okay he was a jerk for kissing Cath then kissing another girl. But he got off my crap list when he drove her to the hospital for her dad. Levi is who I always wanted her with and I'm so glad i got that in the end.

Nick: Okay this guy is a class A jerk. He gets Cath to write with him which seem so sweet and kind. Then he decides to turn in  their story for his final paper. I mean aftr all she was only "Editing it for him." No she co wrote that and you don't deserve her in your life!



Friends

Okay Cath really only has one friend and that is

Reagan: she is Cath's best friend and roommate. She is also Levi's ex which made things a tad awkward to say the least. But she is a funny character and I loved her. She had me at "What the fuck is 'the fandom'?" I love that she had no idea what that was, and poor Cath had to try and make herself not sound even weirder. 

Family.
This section is a bit tricky for me. 

So we have. 

Wren: Her twin sister, who Cath see as better than her. I can fully relate to parts of that. Wren has a drinking problem and it leads to her often hurting Cath. Including telling her that she is the "Wrong C" ( She had meant to text her friend Courtney.) Wren goes down a dark path, and she has no idea how to come back from it. Their father eventually steps in and helps her. Wren had to do a lot of growing up, some of it I know she did kicking and screaming but it was good for her in the end. 

Art (Their Father): Cath and Wren's dad suffers from Manic Depression, and Bi Polar. These were too subjects I don't often seen written about but that are very important. Cath worries about their dad constantly and shows up in the hospital when he needs them the most. Wren stays at school and parties. But like Wren he has to do a lot of growing up as well. He learns he has to see when hes going Manic and have someone there for him.

Laura (Their Mother): Okay my hate for this woman is strong. She abandons her children at the age of 8 because she never wanted to be a mother. When Wren is finally in the hospital she shows up and Cath finally has to see her again. When she tries to tell her mother how she feels Laura says "Don't make this about me." she picks to act like shes being attacked. Cath tells her mother she needs to get her act together and to try harder to be in their lives, something shes never done. I grew to hate her character more as the words spilled off the pages. This part hit very close to home I have issues with my own parents and I could just feel and understand Cath's frustration. 


Relationships. 
I really only want to talk about Levi and Cath because their love is perfect. 

Levi: "It's okay if you're crazy." 
Cath: "You don't even know.
Levi: "I don' have to know." "I'm rooting for you."

Cath's Anxiety tries to get the better of her often, making her question her chance at a true relationship. She worries about trusting Levi, about letting him get  to close, and about losing him. She afraid she will never be normal with him. 
And what I love about Levi is he understands that. He doesn't push her, hes there when she needs him. 
He becomes her rock in everything. When her sister is in the hospital she tells him "You didn't have to come." 
He simply replies "Yeah I did." he knew she needed him even when she didn't. 

Cath had the habit that a lot of us with Anxiety have, she constantly apologizes for everything for fear of loosing the person you love. Levi would tell her she never had to be sorry again. 

She tells him her fears of being second best to Wren, even when it comes to him. And he tells her "I choose you over everyone." he got it. He understood her insecurities and loved her through them.  



Final comments. 
This books was beautifully and brilliantly written. I love what Rainbow was able to do with the emotions everyone deals with but is too afraid to talk about. It has become and instant favorite and one I will turn to when I need a pick me up. FanGirl is a win for anyone who has ever felt bad about being in a Fandom. Don't there are a lot of us out here and we are a family! 

The Glittering Court book review

The Glittering Court
By Richelle Mead
Pages: 416
Series: Book 1
4 out of 5 stars
Buy it here: Glittering Court


Description:
Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…


Where to start? Okay so as you have seen I do love Richelle Mead. Her Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series are some of the best books I've ever read. That being said this wasn't one of my favorite books but I did enjoy it. We meet Adelaide one afternoon as she is getting ready to meet the man she is betrothed to marry. And there is something seriously wrong with this guy! Then a young man name Cedric shows up at her door with an offer for one of her hand maids. But more than anything its an offer for her. 

Taking her made Ada "Adelaide's name she sets off on the adventure of a life time. She is quickly whisked into the world of the Glittering Court. She has to hide her true identity which at times proves hard. She purposely fails at thing so that she can pretend she's a former hand maid.  She becomes friends with two other girls and together they take the world by storm. They fight as most friends do but it will all work out in the end. 

This book is what I would call a period novel, I had gone into it for some reason thinking it was a book about the fae. I was kinda disappointed that it wasn't. But that's okay. This book took me on a trip through what its like to be a lady in Victorian era. I learned a lot from this book which I enjoyed. I will say Richelle can write Historical fiction well. This is the first book in a trilogy. The next two books are about the other two girls, and their adventures while Adelaide was going about hers. With the ending we got I am even more curious to see what they are. I will say this book ended nicely I feel we got Adelaide's complete story up to this point. I do hope we get to see more of her and Cedric and what becomes of them after the first book. 

All in all it was a great read. I got lucky enough to get my copy a few days early which I was excited about. 
I look forward to the rest of this series and I hope you check it out.