I got catfished by an author.

An associate from Penguin Random House named Corinne contacted me two months ago, asking if I would like to be put on a list of reviewers to receive books monthly in exchange for a review per month. I thought this was such an amazing opportunity! It looked legit, since she had a penguin email account and everything.  It also turned out that a couple of my best friends, Sierra and Emma, had also received the email.  It was awesome!

A month passed, and the bibliothon girls were preparing for our readathon.  The day before it started I woke up and opened up the group message the 7 hosts use and saw a message from Sierra saying, "I wish Kassie were awake. She's going to be pissed."  I was suddenly very awake! What had happened??

Emma and Sierra explained that Corinne was in fact an author named Christine who had faked everything and was a self published author who was lying to get her book read.  Sierra was right. I was pissed. WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT.

I'm so conflicted about the whole thing too, because although I'm angry and frustrated at the situation from my point of view: she lied to me, she has now made me more distrustful of authors/publishers who contact me, etc... I also am so saddened by the fact that she so quickly and abrubptly destroyed her own career. She's only a nineteen year old girl, and it could have easily been insecurity that led her down this path.  Does that mean she gets a pass from me? No.  But it does make me feel bad for her.

I made a video on my channel talking about this situation as well so if you'd like to check it out, here is a link.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SHADOWHUNTERS.

Last night, January 12 2016, Shadowhunters premiered on "Freeform" (aka ABC Family.).

In case you're unaware, it is a new show (roughly) based on Cassandra Clare's series known as The Mortal Instruments.  It is about a girl who finds out that the world around her isn't what it seems; there are demons and monsters in this world and she is one of the good guys who can and do fight them. Those good guys are called shadowhunters.

So lets get it out of the way that I did not enjoy this show, especially when I'm comparing it to the series that is is based on.  And even when I think about it and try to separate the show from the books, yeah still pretty bad.

I live tweeted the event last night, so if you'd like to read my live reactions here's my twitter.

SPOILERS FOR THE TV SHOW AHEAD.

So first off I want to talk about the few things I did enjoy about the show.

The demons look pretty cool. Honestly I thought they were going to be shit. This is a fantasy show on ABC FAMILY i wasn't expecting much in the way of funds for special effects. I was surprised in the best way possible.  (this being said, I'm annoyed that every demon they did show had the same freaking 4 way opening mouth. why.)

I also enjoyed the costumes.  Although none of the characters dress exactly how described in the books (Cassie Clare has gotten a lot of shit for this even though she's said multiple times that she doesn't freaking have any say in the show), I really loved most of it.  Izzy's white costume was on point. The outfit Clary puts on at the end was great and Simon's reaction was hilarious.

This being said, why the fuck did Izzy take off her wig right as they start to entice the demons when the whole point of the wig was to entice the demons. Makes no sense to me.

Also, the outfits of the circle (who we aren't even supposed to know exist yet). Did we actually watch a Men in Black sequel? I'm confused.

I enjoyed almost all of the side characters. Simon, Alec, and Izzy (as well as the two seconds we saw of Magnus) were the best parts of the show and probably the only reason I will continue watching to give the show a chance.  Their characterizations of the people we know and love from the books seemed on point and they made me laugh with them instead of at them.

That being said, the writing between Clary and Jace was so cringeworthy I couldn't stand it.  I don't know if that means the actors they chose are not great choices or if the writers are trying too hard to recreate the banter that exists within the books. I don't know where the problem lies but it hurt to watch the scenes between them.

Okay now that I've gone through the things I enjoyed (and some of the things I didn't) I need to get into the nitty gritty of what I was truly disappointed with.

Jocelyn.  Basically her whole plot line is so different and wrong its hard for me to see how we are possibly going to get to the same ending as the books when we've already gotten so off course with the plot. Also I'm just confused about why things make sense with this plot. Jocelyn wanted to keep Clary in the dark but then gives her a stele for her 18th birthday. um what. Jocelyn SENT clary to the institute when Clary comes home from seeing demons and shadow hunters which completely changes the plot of later books/seasons/whathaveyou.

Luke.  While I love Luke and his casting, I'm confused why they decided they needed him to be a cop.  What is this weird murder mystery subplot? Why do I care? Why was it necessary?  Are mundanes even being killed for their blood by the circle in the books? Have I completely forgotten about it or did they make it up and add it to the story? WHY.  Also why can't we trust him at the end, like Clary says? Luke is a good guy if they change that I'm going to be so annoyed.

Maureen. IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUNGER THAN THEM AND A WEIRD FANGIRL NOT THEIR FRIEND WHY

Dot. Who tf is Dot. I finally was given the answer that she is/was Dorothea in the book. Again why the change. Why was it necessary. I absolutely hate unnecessary changes. I realize that in adaptations some changes must be made for different reasons. But this was not necessary. so why.

Although I do like the casting of Valentine, I am still annoyed that we've already seen him. Leave some shit to the mystery people why do we already know about the circle and Valentine and all that jazz? The murder mystery isn't even a mystery we know Valentine is behind it. That's no fun.

I think that's everything I have for now.  Yes I will still be watching the show. I am going to try to watch the entirety of the first season if I don't want to vomit every time Tuesday is here at some point.  

Do you want to see regular weekly thoughts on the show? Let me know if thats a thing you're interested in!  What were your thoughts?? Am I being too nit picky or do you agree? What did you like/dislike?

My Top 10 Reads of 2015.

Let me start off by prefacing that i didn't attempt to separate the series.  If I had to do this list by book instead of series numbers 1-5 (including the novellas) would be all Sarah J Maas books soon I put them all together.

10. The Selection Series - Kiera Cass

This series was a very entertaining read, and while sometimes I wanted to strangle our main character with my bare hands, I did love these books.  I have yet to read The Heir, but I plan to do so in the coming year.

9. Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick

I read this book for the winter biannual bibliothon at the beginning of January and it was hilarious while dealing with serious issues and that's what made it so great.  I did however have trouble removing what I knew from the movie adaptation while I was reading.  I as I usually do wish I'd read it first.

8. Life and Death - Stephanie Meyer

If anyone is surprised that this made my top 10, where have you been?? I loved this book so much it was like reading an even more amazing version of Twilight!! And I was a twihard back in the day, believe me!

7. Maybe Someday - Colleen Hoover

My first and only Colleen Hoover book so far.  God this book was often.  I loved the little twist it had in the story, it was very exciting! I can't wait to read more Colleen Hoover, however this genre is definitely something I have to be in the mood for.  I'm usually more into fantasy and dystopian.

6. Volition - Lily Paradis

Guys if you're a Colleen Hoover fan, you need to jump on the Lily Paradis train.  This is her second novel and it was GLORIOUS.  It's duel perspective and made me have all the feels.

5. The Program - Suzanne Young

This book killed me. This book is a HUGE trigger warning for depression and suicide and the first third of the book was definitely hard to read.  But I loved it for that, if that makes any sense.  I can't wait to read the sequel.

4. Ignite - Lily Paradis

Yes Lily has only written two books in her whole career.  Yes they both made it on my top 10.  Lily Paradis is bae. Read her books.  This one really resonated with me because I felt very connected to the main character and what she was going through.

3. The Infernal Devices - Cassandra Clare

THESE BOOKS MAN. Don't get me wrong I loved The Mortal Instruments too. BUT THESE ONES MADE ME HAVE MORE FEELINGS. I also loved the time period in these books.

2. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven.

Okay this is another contemporary that deals with depression and suicide so trigger warning here.  Once again, this book made my heart hurt for the characters, however it was a very different book than the program.

1.  The Throne of Glass Series (including the Novellas) - Sarah J Maas

Are we surprised? I should think not.  Assassins. Bad ass women.  Betrayal.  Kings & Queens.  Magic. Fae. This series is perfect!


What were your favorite books of 2015?

WHY IS SAM PEPPER STILL ON YOUTUBE.

It baffles me that we still have to talk about this.  It disgusts me that a person can make money doing this on a platform that I have come to love, support, and actively participate on.

Sam Pepper.

In case you're unaware of who that is, he's a guy that posts prank videos on Youtube.  Last year he was banned from the biggest youtube convention there is, VidCon, because he was making videos of essentially assaulting women and a young girl also came out and said that she was raped by this vile human being.

But that wasn't enough to get him kicked off Youtube, where he makes money doing this shit.

Then on November 30, Sam Pepper uploaded a new prank video.

He faked murdering someone in front of their best friend. HAHA SO FUNNY.

I just got chills writing that.

Because I am ashamed to be a youtuber and to participate on a platform that supports this type of content.

And what drives me crazy is that Youtube has a reason to delete his content.  This is the list of Youtube's community guidelines.

In my opinion he violates at least one of the sets of guidelines, if not more.


I signed the petition to get Sam Pepper's account deleted and hope you all will too.


Click here to read and sign.


I haven't seen a Youtube statement from the company in regards to this whole thing, but I'm very interested to see what the reaction will be.

I have not posted a link to the video or his channel because I don't want to support traffic on his channel.  So I ask that you don't head over there to watch.  Google it, read articles about it, do your research if you're not sure if he's worthy of this much back lash.  But don't support him by watching his videos.  That's money in his pocket.

I'm really a little shocked and don't know really what to say. My opinion is obviously negative and I am outright angry about this.  But other than that I can't articulate anything.  This is ridiculous that we even have something like this to talk about. It shouldn't exist to talk about.

Nanowrimo FAIL.

So I decided to participate in Nanowrimo for the first time this year.

In case you don't know what Nanowrimo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and its this huge event where people try to write a fifty thousand word first draft of a novel in one month (November).

I decided to join because it sounded like fun and I had been working on a story the last couple months every once in a while and wanted to push myself to focus on it a little bit more.

The main problem that I experienced this month while trying to participate was school.  This was the month right before finals so I had papers to write and last minute assignments to do before the semester headed into studying for finals.  I found that I just didn't have the time to write, and when I did have time to do so I was tired of staring at a screen.

I also had some random stressful events happen this month that did NOT help my focus!  My car ended up being in the shop for TWO WEEKS and I had to make a trip to the ER for a kidney infection all within days of each other! Plus one of my professors surprised us with a seven page paper due two weeks before it originally was supposed to be due!

Not to mention the holiday, which I wanted to spend with my family.



So yeah, this month was insane and it left me with only six thousand words of that story instead of fifty thousand.

HOWEVER I'm so proud of those six thousand words.  I've realized that I really do love writing fiction, which I never thought of before these past few months and I look forward to CAMP NANO in the summer, because I think the timing will be better for me!

Did you participate in Nanowrimo? How did you do?

MOVIE REVIEW | The Martian

I went and saw The Martian last night with my boyfriend and I absolutely loved it.

I did read the book (listened to it on audiobook) a couple months ago so I knew what was coming.  I have to say that I was disappointed with the previews because it told you the entire story and all the surprises I don't understand why they did that but what can you do.

With that aside, walking into the theater I was a little nervous about Matt Damon.  Mark Watney (the main character) is very funny in the books - sarcastic mostly but he made me laugh throughout the story - and I was nervous about Matt Damon making the role too serious.  The story is intense, I mean he was left on Mars alone for over a year (almost two? more than two?) but there are so many funny moments in the book I didn't want those to get lost.

And he pulled it off! The movie did do a great job of including other funny people.  Jessica Chastain's character, the commander of the Hermes ship, is also hilarious along with most of the team.  Vincent Kapoor also has many moments with the girl who finds Watney via satellite that made me giggle.  So overall I think they did a great job mixing humor with the intensity of the story.

I was also surprised by the casting of Kristin Wiig. She plays Annie, the person overseeing all of the press in relation to NASA and the Mark Watney situation, and she does have a really good line toward the beginning which I loved but they really cut down her role a lot in the movie. In the book she is constantly pointing out things and how the people of the world will see the choices being made, but for the most part she's just a background figure in the movie, and I wish they had utilized her more.

The one thing I didn't like about the book was the long drawn out explanations of how things worked and how Mark Watney was going to do things to help him survive. That got a little old and a little boring. So I was glad to see that a lot of that was cut out; the movie was much faster paced than the book and I enjoyed that!

I was disappointed that they took out one of the most intense parts of the book - the storm that Watney drives into on his way to the Hermes 4 mav in the crater.  That was probably the part of the book where I was most anxious while reading and they completely cut it.  Obviously I understand that time was a key factor in this - they didn't need a three hour movie - and so I get WHY it wasn't in it, but I'm also so sad that THAT is what they chose to get rid of.

This movie gets a 5 star rating for me, I would probably see it again in theater!

p.s. I saw it in 3D which I usually hate but they didn't over utilize the 3D aspects, it just barely added a little depth and that was pretty cool.

TV REVIEW | American Horror Story: Hotel (S5E1)

So as always American Horror Story has been pumping us up for the season premiere of "Hotel" with sneak peaks, small excerpts, and the introduction credits.

I was so ready for this show to prove itself.

SOME BACKSTORY.

I binge watched Seasons 1 & 2 right before "Coven" premiered and I loved them both so much. They both are amazing seasons!

And then "Coven" happened and I wanted so badly to love it but it was a bit of a let down.  My favorite scenes were the scenes of the past about Kathy Bates' character, and then they stopped doing that and it was just a little lame.

And then "Freak Show" happened and once again I had high hopes for redemption! They were going to do great! That credit introduction is divine.  I was ready to be creeped out!

And it just wasn't that creepy. Did it even have a real plot line? Questionable.

So here I am waiting for "Hotel" wondering if AHS can redeem itself after two (in my opinion) horrible seasons in a row.  But my main issue with the last two seasons was the weird Jessica Lange is singing and is also the same exact character in both and she's not in this season so maybe I have hope for a new plot line. -- literal jumbled thoughts heading into S5E1.

(Spoilers Ahead.)

So I watched episode one of AHS: Hotel.  And we're getting some definite creepy "wtf" moments and then the detective comes into a crime scene and its so cheesy how he notices things I actually rolled my eyes. AND THE DUDE WAS STILL ALIVE UNDER THE GIRL'S DEAD BODY and the police are all just chillin' like what? That whole scene just destroyed the show because I was completely taken out of the story because its not even close to how real life works.

And then this detective just continues to be a shitty actor as he talks to his daughter on FaceTime (I THOUGHT THIS SEASON WAS GOING TO BE SET IN THE PAST. WHY DO THEY HAVE IPHONES) and I continued to roll my eyes.

Then we get Lady GaGa. Her introduction without seeing her face at first was pretty damn cool.  And the not talking the entire time their picking up that couple at the movie and then taking them to their suite. That whole little spot was perfect.  And then they just killed them with their pointy nails AND I LAUGHED.  AHS is NOT supposed to make me LAUGH.

So then I'm thinking well is this season supposed to be campy? with the detective in the crime scene and then this I'm thinking that could be a possibility so at least they're doing it right even if I hate it.

The only part of the entire episode that gave me chills was when we see that the son of the detective went missing at the carousel. That was good.

But then it ends with that weird video game room (and GaGa trying to act) and I'm still upset that this isn't set in the past.  Like MOST of the show feels like this is not present day and then they show us ear buds and a video game room (where all they play is tetris and other 80's games what is happening why)

All I can say is Sarah Paulsen was great and I don't understand why she's doing this show anymore or why they haven't decided to use her as the main character because she's fucking amazing.


Sooooo what did you think of the episode?