APRIL WRAP UP.

In case you missed the announcement, all my wrap ups and TBRs will now be posted here! I might still do videos for them as well, it will just depend on the month. AKA it will depend on how worthy my list of books is because lord knows I haven't been reading many books per month lately.

But lets get on with this.

April. man this month was tough.  It's the end of the semester (two more weeks people! holy shit) so I have been spending all my time writing papers and editing papers and reading articles for papers. good god it's been a drag.

But onto the books I read this month!

Actually let's start with March because I'm failing at reading lately lawl.

Deaf Like Me - Thomas Spradley *****

This is a nonfiction book about a family who finds out their youngest daughter is Deaf, and how to help her succeed in life. I just posted a spoiler free review of this book on my channel, and I HIGHLY recommend reading it, especially if you're interested in learning about the Deaf Culture.  

City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare ****

I read City of Bones about a year ago, and really enjoyed it! Then I saw the movie and hated it so much that I ended up feeling hate toward the book as well, so never picked up the series. But now that I've become friends with Emma over at Emmmabooks it's a little difficult to hate something that she loves with such extreme passion.  She and a billion other booktubers decided to do a monthly readalong of all the books in the series and I decided to join to get through this series.

It just so happens that I loved this book A LOT. I have some issues with the series. the main one is the amount of times Jace or some aspect of Jace is described as golden. Can we find a synonym for golden please? Thanks.

We're already moving into April guys. Like I said: it's been rough.

My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick *****

guys. this book. oh my god it was beautiful.  I picked it up on a whim because my sister has been bugging me to read it so i can give it back to her (borrowing books. ouch) and so I decided I could use some contemporary in my life after reading Throne of Glass and City of Ashes consecutively.

And oh my god talk about a wonderfully written story.  I just recently made a video complaining about virginity and how it's dealt with in the YA genre, and then I read this and was like WOW well done! It was so realistic, and also the losing of the virginity was realistic which I adored.

I also was NOT expecting the surprise that happens near the climax to of course tear everything apart in order to be put back together (let's hope?) again! I'm always a fan of the author getting me without me expecting it.

And that's it. Seriously.

I'm currently reading Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas and loving it but i'm only half way through. how awful is that? I blame it on the 15 units of anthropology and linguistics courses I'm taking this semester.  

Okay TBR time. 

I'm participating in the #MortalReadaLong so I'll be reading City of Glass next month. you can check out their goodreads page here if you want!

Brittni from Brittni's Book Find and I are going to read the third book in the Throne of Glass series next month, and we also have a goodreads group so check that out here!

And then the bibliothon group also decided they wanted to read The Darkest Part of the Forest together as a little book club group. We're keeping this really chill and won't be doing any sort of liveshow or good reads group about it, we just want to read the same book at the same time!

That's all the books i have planned for May for sure.  I have some books from the library I want to pick up (check out the instagrams) but who knows what I'll get through. As we've seen, school takes all the life out of me (laugh at my pain why don't you).

MOVIE REVIEW: The Duff

This is a MOVIE review only. I have not read the book.  I don’t really plan on reading it, because from what I hear the movie is a better plot line, and the book is not very good. So I probably won’t read it.

The plot line of this movie was very Mean Girls-esque. I felt like I’m watching a new classic form for the teenage girls of today. 

THE PLOT.

The plot is obviously very teeny.  I mean the hot friend who she’s known forever accidentally tells her she’s the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, and then she gets mad at him, but then realizes that she should be mad at her friends, and uses him to give her a make over.  He’s not gay so obviously they will fall in love by the end of this movie. But there’s a bad bitch in school who wants Hot Guy Friend to be off limits to anyone but her so she wants to ruin DUFF’s life because they’re hanging out together while he makes her over.  I was not at all surprised by this movie.

THE WRITING.

Is what made this movie so good. The lines were pure comedy, and everything revolving social media just had me laughing so hard I cried.

THE CHARACTERS.

Were also good.  Especially those who were not leads. They really made the movie; the teachers, the random kids who had a few lines, the baddest bitch at school (antagonist) and her lackeys were all hilarious in the way that they were so cliché, and it was obvious that that was on purpose. 

I also loved that while the DUFF’s friends were beautiful, they were true friends to her, and so you wanted them to all make up after their fall out in the movie.

PRODUCTION.

I absolutely loved that in the movie, there were little “drawings” on top of the scene as the voiceover told the story. It was an excellent touch.  My favorite scene in the entire movie is after the DUFF gets a yes to go on a date with the guy she likes, she puts her arms out like she’s queen of the world and fireworks are exploding behind her and she’s just reveling in it.  And then it jerks back to reality and she’s back in the hallway at school.  It just added a little extra to the movie.

DID I LIKE IT?

Yes! I give this movie a 4.5/5 stars; although it was obviously a story line that has been done too many times to count, and the love story was predictable, it still had me in tears from laughing, and I will definitely watch it again with friends! It’s a very easy-going fun movie to watch.

FEBRUARY FAVORITES

BOOK

Welp I only read two books this month, so I don’t have many options here. Out of the two I would say Ignite by Lily Paradis (SPOILER FREE REVIEW HERE) wins out over Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz because of how much I connected with the protagonist, Lauren Lindsay.  Aristotle and Dante was also very good though, and I highly recommend it as well.

MOVIE

What movies did I even watch this month? That’s the question.  I know I saw 50 Shades of Grey and I watched Birdman… I might have seen Into the Woods in February but I’m not sure.  I’m going to go with Into the Woods; the music was amazing, I couldn’t get over the costuming, and the story was so cute!  I loved Emily Blunte, I had no idea she could sing before this movie!

TV SHOW

I’ve got to talk about Black Sails.  Its so good. If you love Pirates and attractive people and French Carribean accents, along with prostitutes, politics, and bloodshed, this is the show for you.  Season two started this month and my boyfriend and I watch it religiously. This is the extended Title Sequence if you're interested!

BOOKTUBE VIDEO

Enya from Enya’s Corner made a video called “Stuff Booktubers Say” and it was hilarious! I think I have to go with that one for sure! LINK HERE.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

RoseEllenDix did a Pictionary challenge video on their challenge and I love them so much they always make me laugh so hard. And this video was no different. Rose and Rosie are a couple whose love just seeps out their videos and it makes me all bubbly inside to see them together.

FAVORITE VIDEO OF MINE

I’m going to choose my Bookshelf Tour for my favorite video. I felt like it looks professional, and I just love bookshelf tours in general so I’m happy to have one of my own up as well

FAVORITE SONGS

Earned it by The Weeknd is one of my favorites this month, I found it because of 50 Shades of Grey of course.  It’s amazing, and is so sexy, that’s really the only explanation I can give it. LINK HERE.

FAVORITE THING IVE DONE/ACCOMPLISHED

This may be boring, but I am really proud that I have kept up on all the readings that have been assigned for my classes.  Usually by this time I’ve started skimming readings or ignoring them completely. This semester has also been EXTREMELY reading heavy so to be able to say I’ve kept up while having more reading than I’ve experienced in the past is a very good thing to me!

When Booktube Goes from Fun to Stress: My March TBR.

 This is NOT an “I’m quitting YouTube” blog post, so calm the fuck down.

But I do want to talk about the stress that I feel sometimes because of YouTube. 

So I’m in school.  I’m all done with my general ed’s and I’m 100% in my major and minor classes. To graduate by Spring 2016 I have to take 15 units every semester.  I also work as a server about 18 hours a week.  Yes, I’m busy. 

And so although I want to read books all the time and I want to be uploading way more than I am, when I think about attempting to do so, I get so stressed out and panicky.  So to stay away from those feelings, I’m uploading less and I’m also reading books for fun a lot less.

I only read two books in February, which I’m not surprised about but I aimed high and put five books on my tbr.  So instead of boring you with a short wrap up and a replay on the books I aimed for in February being repeated for my March TBR, I’m just going to go through everything here.

If you want to watch my February TBR video you can check that out here.

I did read Ignite by Lily Paradis, which I also reviewed, so here’s a link to that video in case you haven’t seen it yet. It was amazing!

I then moved on to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe because that was the LittleBookClub’s book of the month hosted by Caz, or LittleBookOwl on YouTube. I still haven’t managed to watch the live show so just more evidence that I’m behind in life! I gave this book a 4/5 stars because I loved the story and the pacing of the story, but I didn’t feel much of a connection with the narrator, Aristotle. Instead, I found myself wishing the story was in Dante’s point of view.

I’m now reading Deaf Like Me by John Spradley for my ASL class, and I’ll be picking up Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas before returning to the books I named in my TBR video because Brittni from Brittni’s Book Find and I are buddy reading it! If you want to join us, we set up a Goodreads page here.

I just felt like letting some of my feels out, because I really want to be reading more but if I’m going to stay sane while I’m in school, I just can’t. And this is my apology for it.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE 50 SHADES OF GREY CONTROVERSY.

It’s time to talk about the controversy surrounding 50 Shades of Grey. I’ve taken my time, listened to podcasts, watched a lot of people on YouTube talk about it, and plenty of this type of research before coming to my own opinion regarding the statement people love to throw around lately: 50 Shades of Grey supports rape.

Before I get to this statement though I want to talk about why I refuse to buy the books, even though I’ve read the first one, because it has nothing to do with it.  When the books came out, it eventually came out that 50 Shades of Grey was a Twilight fan fiction, and EL James not only took the idea for a book from something that already existed, but took all the characterizations that weren’t her original ideas, and used them, only changing names in her story.  There are people who have claimed she stole parts of their stories on fan fiction websites, and used them in her book.

So I have a problem with EL James making money for an idea that wasn’t anywhere close to her own.  That is why I won’t buy the books, and when the movie came out it took a lot of thought to decide to go see it; eventually I decided to go because realistically very little of the $12 I spent on a ticket is going to EL James’ royalties.  My opinion is that Stephanie Meyer should be getting royalties for these books.

Okay now that that part is out of the way, we can get into this idea that the books/movies support rape and an abusive relationship. I want to put a disclaimer here that I have only read the first book, and I have seen the movie, so that’s what my opinion is based on.

I agree that Christian and Ana do not have a healthy relationship.  They don’t. He’s emotionally abusive, he sometimes stalks her, he belittles her with words, and when he gets mad he will at least say that he wants to hit her/spank her/etc.  There are scenes in the book that made me uncomfortable, reading Ana’s thoughts and knowing she wasn’t always okay with what was happening (i.e. the scene at his parents house after he makes her go outside and away from his parents).

All of this can be true without the story saying THIS IS A GOOD THING YOU SHOULD ALL ASPIRE TO BE CHRISTIAN AND ANA. 

Never has EL James claimed that this is a perfect relationship or that every girl should envy Ana or anything else of that sort. Yes Ana wants to change Christian, yes she wants to fix him.  This is problematic too, and we’re getting there, but this does not mean the book supports this relationship as perfect or healthy. Now, there are people who read a book, romanticize the situation in the book, and wish they were Ana and had a Christian. But that can happen with any book. There are books about serial killers and women who run away from their abusive partners and people do that with those books too; that doesn’t mean a book shouldn’t be written, it means an individual may need personal help getting through something they’re dealing with on their own.

So let’s talk about BDSM and the community.

The big thing people are mad about is that this book claims its showing BDSM, but its not really BDSM and its showing the general population wrong information.  I understand this feeling, and I think anyone who reads this and becomes interested in the BDSM aspect of it should then do their own research before tying themselves up at home.  There’s plenty of information out there, WE LIVE IN THE WORLD OF THE INTERNET PEOPLE.  In fact here’s a nice video about BDSM and it even talks about 50 shadesof Grey as well.

This all being said, this book never claimed to be the Guide to BDSM, or a how to on a BDSM relationship.  It’s an erotic novel written by a woman who loved Twilight and wrote a fan fiction about it and somehow managed to make a shit ton of money doing it.  The book, and author, shouldn’t be deemed as solely responsible for people mistaking this fictional erotic novel as a guide to a particular type of sexual kink.