March in Review

March was another slow month on the blog for me. I feel like I've lost my mojo lately. I guess I've just been busy. And tired. And slightly freaking out that my wedding is in six weeks and I still have to order rings and cake and flowers and jewellery and ohmygod...

Anyhoo. About the blog.

I reviewed...

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (fave of the month).
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
• The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner.
• The Hunger Games movie.

I also read Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, but due to aforementioned lack of time and mojo, haven't gotten around to reviewing them yet. Hopefully that will be sorted this week.

Other fun stuff: I celebrated my first blogoversary; admired Johnny Depp and the cast of Pretty Little Liars reading; had fun with Bitches in Bookshops; wanted to buy The Hunger Games merch and Babylit; and discussed books I was forced to read for school.

Here's to a more productive April!

February in Review

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I'm sad to see the end of summer; I feel like we barely experienced it this year (damn you, rain!). February was another slow month on the blog for me - this pesky thing called real life kept getting in the way. On the plus side, I started my writing course a couple of weeks ago, and it's kinda daunting but also totally inspiring. At any given moment, my thoughts swing between "I can actually do this! I can totally write a novel!" to "What's the point in even trying, I'll never be able to do it..." Yeah, that's my crazy head - but either way it's a lot of fun. Seriously, I got way too excited over receiving the course reader. It feels good to be a student again. Here's what I got up to on the blog...

I read...

• The Maid's Tale by Rose Plummer (Review for Sassi Sam)
• If You Ask Me by Betty White
• The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (my fave of the month)

I featured reading icons...

• Charles Dickens 
• Cary Grant
• Joan Crawford
• Meryl Streep 

I listed my top five...

• Happily ever after reads
• Underrated classics

Other fun stuff: Tom Mackee was my book boyfriend; I discovered some lovely bookish gifts; Watched the impressive Finnick and Annie fan-made web series; and admired Oona Patterson's bookish art.

How was your February? Did you do anything exciting for the leap day? (I spent it home sick, watching Pillars of the Earth. Fun times.)

November in Review

Image via We Heart It

I've put off writing this post because I'm kind of in denial that November is over already. The year has gone terrifyingly fast for me. I'm normally really excited for Christmas, and always put the tree up on December 1. But this year I'm just So. Not. Ready. I think time has gone even faster for me lately because I've been crazy-busy. With six months to go 'til my wedding, it's crunch time in the planning stage and I need to get my shite together. I still have to book in most things... but I have got the most important - my wedding dress, of course! That was the definitely the highlight of my month. I also just bought the bridesmaid's dresses yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about the whole thing. But all this has meant I haven't had much time for blogging or reading, unfortunately. Here's what I did manage to do...

I read and reviewed...

• My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
• Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (My fave book of the month)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I swooned over...

• Daniel Grey
• Carlos Fuentes
• Luis Fuentes
• Roger Sullivan
• The Twilight boys
• The men of Little Women
• The heroes of V.C. Andrews (well, kinda)

I featured reading icons...

• Betty Draper Francis
• Paul Newman

I listed my top five...

• Characters I love to hate 
• Gateway books

Other fun stuff: I shared my thoughts on The Hunger Games trailer and Breaking Dawn: Part 1; discovered some Twilight-related buys; played with Cubee Craft and giggled at Take a Weird Break.

How was your November? Feel free to share links - I haven't had times to visit as many blogs as I usually do and want to catch up!

October in Review

October 31. It marks Halloween for Americans, but for us Aussies? It's the last day we have to do our tax. Fun times. I know what I'd rather be doing right now... Anyhoo, October 31 also means another month is over! While it makes me incredibly anxious to see the year slipping away so quickly, I'm happy to report I had a pretty awesome reading month.

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I read and reviewed...

• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
• The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
• Perfect Chemistry, Rules of Attraction and Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles
• Where Demons Fear To Tread by Stephanie Chong
• Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (my top book of the month)
• Fear, edited by R.L. Stine
• I Came To Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington (for the Aussie Author Challenge)

Reading icons I admired...

• Elizabeth Taylor
• Brigitte Bardot
• Lisa Simpson
• James Stewart
• Rory Gilmore 

I wanted to buy... 

• Bookish geekery
• Vintage Classics
• Bookish jewellery
• Cool costumes

I listed...

• Book blogs that make me smile
• Books on my TBR list purely because of the hype

How was your October?

September in Review

I had a pretty good month for reading in September, but I've been a bit slack with blogging! I'm three books behind in my reviews at the moment - I recently read The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, I Came to Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington, and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, but haven't gotten around to reviewing them yet. Whoops! Here's what I actually did manage to get on the blog...

I reviewed...

• City of Ashes and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.
• Cargo by Jessica Au (as part of the Aussie Author Challenge).
• Austenland by Shannon Hale (my fave of the month out of the books I actually reviewed).
• The Last Unicorn movie adaptation.

I swooned over...

• Lord Orville
• Jace Wayland
• Jacob Coote
• Mr Nobley
• Mr Darcy

Reading icons I featured were...

• Shirley Temple
• Bette Davis
• Don Draper
• Jane Russell

Other fun stuff: I wanted to buy cool bookends and cut paper prints; listed five books I'd love to see adapted for the big screen; drooled over some bookshelf porn for inspiration for my own bookshelves; obsessed over Lily Collins; and was featured on The Unread Reader's When I'm Not Reading and The Lost Book Report's In The Bloggers Studio.

How was your September?

Image via We Heart It

August in Review

Although the speed with which the year is flying by kinda freaks me out, I can't say I'm sad to see the back of August. It's not my fave month, and of course its end means spring is here! Of course, Mother Nature celebrated by making today even colder than the last few days of winter, but still - it's SPRING!

I read and reviewed...

• Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (my fave book of the month; I also watched the movie and will be posting my write-up in the next few days).
• Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro.
• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (crossing it off my Books I Should Have Read By Now list).

I swooned over...

• The Princess Bride's men.
• Edward Rochester.
• Contemporary romantic guys.
• The men of Wuthering Heights.
• Sookie Stackhouse's non-vamp guys.
• Gale Hawthorne.
• Mr Darcy.
• Prince Lir.
• Jack Force.

I featured reading icons...

• Ava Gardner.
• Marlon Brando.
• Fred Astaire.
• Joan Fontaine.

I wanted to buy...

• Spineless classics.
• Altered books.
• Bookish tees.

Magazines I loved...

• Love and EW.
• Teen Vogue and Nylon Guys.
• W and Esquire. 
• BlackBook and Wonderland.
• Fine Taste.

Other fun stuff: I discovered the hilarious Tumblr Beel's Diareh; Listed my top five places to read as well as my top five 90s sports movies over at Children of the 90s; Defended Disney princesses at The Uniblog and had Crystal stop by to continue her series on Batman.

How was your August?

July in Review

Another month gone, eek! Unfortunately I didn't get many reviews done this month, mainly because I spent two weeks trying to slog through A Romanov Fantasy by Frances Welch and didn't do any other reading in that time. It's not a bad book, but pretty slow going, and when I finally made it half way through I decided not to force the rest and instead pick it up here and there while I'm reading other books. I don't usually like to have more than one book going, but it's non-fiction so it makes it a little bit different, I suppose. Anyhoo, it's still been a busy month!

I read and reviewed...

• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (I also watched the 1939 and 1995 movie versions as part of the Books to Movies Challenge).
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (My fave book of the month!).
• The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock.
• Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma.

I swooned over...

• Mr Darcy. 
• Etienne St Clair.
• Mr Thornton.
• Noah Calhoun.
• Cross Sugarman.
• The Vampire Academy boys.
• More hot vamps.
• My fave Jane Austen heroes.
• The Harry Potter guys.

The reading icons I admired were...

• Grace Kelly.
• James Dean.
• Judy Garland.
• Natalie Wood.
• Disney's Belle.

I listed my top five...

• Secondary Harry Potter characters.
• Living authors I'd love to meet.
• Love lessons from fictional boys and TV shows and movies that scared me as a kid in guests posts at The Uniblog.

Some bookish things I wanted to buy...

• True Blood goodies.
• Beautiful bookmarks.
• Harry Potter merch.
• Pretty prints.

Other fun stuff: I celebrated reaching 200 followers with my first giveaway (which is still open!); Got addicted to Tumblr; Had some hilarious incoming search terms; Compared the two upcoming Snow White adaptations; Loved Emma Stone in Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly and Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake in Elle; and had Crystal from The Uniblog pop by for two guest posts on Batman (read part one here and part two here).

How was July for you?

Image via We Heart It. 

June In Review

I can't believe June is over already! The year is going scary-fast. It's been a whole month since I was in the US, and I've well and truly come down off my holiday high. But I've had a very busy (and fun) time blogging!

I read and reviewed...

• The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens.
• If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman.
• Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris.
• The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Catching Fire was the highlight of my reading month - and the first book I've reviewed on the blog to rate five stars!

I swooned over...

• Gilbert Blythe.
• Adam Wilde.
• Eric Northman.
• Peeta Mellark.
• Dimitri Belikov.

I listed my top five...

• Series that defined my childhood.
• Books that make me cry.
• Mini-series adaptations.
• Characters I'd switch places with.

I created new features...

• Mag Monday.
• Reading Icons.
• Pash, Pick or Pass.

Other fun stuff: I was honoured when Chloe from YA Booklover featured me on her blog; I crossed two out of 12 books off my Books I Should Have Read By Now challenge list; Advice Peeta, dogs reading books and Letters to Dead People made me laugh; and I appreciated the hell out of the totally awesome Darren Criss. Overall, it's been a pretty sweet month!

How was your June?
 
Image via We Heart It.