Watch | Read | Listen {April 2017}

Hello April! While there may not be many super exciting movies coming out this month, there are a bunch of books and albums that I want. The top book on my Want List is Geekerella. It seriously sounds so adorable. And one of my favorite bands ever, Incubus, has a new album coming out this month after years of leaving us wondering if they were ever going to make more music. The excitement is real guys! What are you looking forward to this month?

MOVIES

Their Finest

Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hired by the British Ministry of Information as a scriptwriter charged with bringing "a woman's touch" to morale-boosting propoganda films. Her natural flair quickly gets noticed by a dashing movie producer Buckley (Sam Claflin). As bombs are dropping around them, Catrin, Buckley, and a film crew make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation.(April 7)

The Lost City of Z

Based on the nonfiction bestseller by David Grann, it tells the true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), who journeys into the Amazon at the beginning of the 20th century and discovers evidence of a previously unknown civilization. Ridiculed by the scientific community, he returns again and again to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925. (April 14)

Leap!

Paris, 1884. An orphaned girl arrives in Paris from Brittany. Felicie is 11 and has no money but one big dream: to become a dancer. With nothing left to lose, she takes a risk and borrows a spoiled brats identity and enters the Opera Ballet School, but how long can she be someone else? (April 21)

Other movies coming out:

• Alive and Kicking (April 7)
• The Assignment (April 7)
• Going In Style (April 7)
• Ticket (April 7) 
• The Fate of the Furious (April 14)
• Mission Control (April 14)
• Norman (April 14)
• The Promise (April 21)
• The Student (April 21)
• Buster's Mal Heart (April 28)
• Rupture (April 28)

BOOKS & MUSIC

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett -- A teen spin on You’ve Got Mail, the one guy Bailey can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet. Classic movie buff Bailey has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush. Faced with doubts, Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. (April 4)

Geekerella by Ashley Poston -- Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale. Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. (April 4) 

Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr -- Gem has never known what it is to have security. She’s never known an adult she can truly rely on. But the one constant in her life has been Dixie. Gem grew up taking care of her sister when no one else could. When their dad returns home for the first time in years and tries to insert himself back into their lives, Gem finds herself with an unexpected opportunity: three days with Dixie—on their own in Seattle and beyond. (April 4)

Waking Gods (Themis Files #2) by Sylvain Neuvel -- Humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars. (April 4)

Duels & Deception by Cindy Anstey -- Lydia Whitfield has her future entirely planned out. She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father's choosing. Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan. Until the day Lydia is kidnapped—and Robert along with her. Someone is after her fortune and won't hesitate to destroy her reputation to get it. (April 11)

Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis -- Kings and Queens rise and fall, loyalties collide, and romance blooms in a world where the sea is rising—and cannot be escaped. (April 11)

Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer -- Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close. And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood, a Faerie Queen who is preparing for war, a strange and enchanting dream realm—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken. (April 11)

The Upside Down of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli -- Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. Her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, but Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

(April 11)

Startup by Doree Shafrir -- From veteran online journalist and BuzzFeed writer Doree Shafrir comes a hilarious debut novel that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve. Mack McAllister has a $600 million dollar idea. His mindfulness app, TakeOff, is already the hottest thing in tech. Before the ink on Mack's latest round of funding is dry, an errant text message hints that he may be working a bit too closely for comfort with a young social media manager in his office. (April 25)

Michelle Branch's Hopeless Romantic (April 7) | The Chainsmokers' Memories...Do Not Open (April 7) | Incubus' 8 (April 21) | Mary J. Blige's Strength of a Woman (April 28) | The Cranberries' Something Else (April 28)

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Pocket Book Reviews {March 2017}

Every time I make a dent in my reading jar list of unread books, I end up getting more books! At least the few books I got were ebooks and don't take up any physical space, but I still had to add them to my jar. One day that jar will be near empty and I'll read books as fast I get them. Never mind, that's never ever going to happen!

I'm currently at 23 books read out of my 85 book goal. How's your reading goal going so far?

Waking Gods (Sleeping Giants #2)*
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Sylvain Neuvel; humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars.

Can I give this book 10 stars please?! It starts off ten years after the first book and begins a bit slow, but once a new giant robot alien lands in the middle of London things start to pick up really fast. Sleeping Giants introduced us to our robot Themis and this group of clever and crazy cast of characters, like Rose and Kara and Vincent and "our friend." In Waking Gods, we really get to care about these people and fear for them and want them to survive what could be the end of the world.

Thirteen bigger, stronger, more advanced alien robots land all around the world and the ensuing chaos had me turning the pages as fast as I could read the words. I had to know what was going to happen next! I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that shit gets real.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book, and the first one, is that it's a thought-provoking sci-fi. It's sci-fi with a brain and a heart. Eugene is a mysterious man, but his conversations with "our friend" and Rose made me think about life as a human being, our shortcomings and strengths, possible life outside our little planet, that other species would have different cultures and ideas and methods and beliefs. It's like anthropology on a whole other level. It's fascinating and terrifying and amazing. Reading this book made me think about things I never considered before, which is cool in and of itself, but it helps that this book is entertaining as hell too!

*I received a copy from NetGalley.

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We Should All Be Feminists
♥♥♥♥♥ (5 hearts)

Written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. 

"Anger has a long history of bringing out positive change. But I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better."

This book is wonderful! It's so tiny that it took me less then 45 minutes to read it, so there's no excuse for anyone NOT to read it! It's enlightening and moving and hopeful. This book states so plainly that women should be inherently treated equally to men and yet it's our culture that makes this not so. But people form culture, so it's up to us, our anger, our intelligence, to make these changes. It's up to us to stand up to cultural norms and reform them into a culture of equality.

Read this book now!

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Maybe In Another Life
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid; At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and lives in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

I seem to be in the minority of thinking this book was good but nothing amazing. I liked Hannah and following both tracks of her story. She's a girl who at first has no idea what she wants to do or where she belongs and only once she meets up with her best friend Gabby in LA does she feel at home again, which I liked. I loved their friendship so much! It was real! They had weird inside jokes and teased each other and were always there for each other during hard times.

My main issue with this book is that both timelines in Hannah's life ended up being almost identical. At first they were so different, but I wanted them to keep getting more different, but *SPOILER ALERT* the only difference is the men she ended up with and the baby. Even Gabby ended up with the same man. And she ended up being a nurse in both timelines. I wanted the end results to be glaringly different and they weren't at all.

Still, it was an interesting and enjoyable read.

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Ronit & Jamil
♥♥ (2 hearts)

Written by Pamela L. Laskin; This novel in verse delivers a fresh and captivating retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that transports the star-crossed lovers to the modern-day Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Ronit, an Israeli girl, lives on one side of the barrier fence. Jamil, a Palestinian boy, lives on the other side. Only miles apart but separated by generations of conflict—much more than just the concrete blockade between them.

It makes me so sad to give this book a bad review because I had such high hopes for it. A modern Romeo and Juliet set around the Israeli-Palestine border and told in verse sounds amazing and yet it fell short. Very short.

While at times the verse was pretty (I especially liked the two chapters from the fathers' perspectives), most of the time it was just confusing and repetitive. I think this book would've been so much better if it was told in narration. Then we would've gotten a better feel for the setting and the characters and the food. Because in verse, it was all told not shown. I couldn't see or taste or smell anything, which is a shame because the story mentions delicious food and walking in markets.

The other major problem are the characters: Ronit and Jamil sound exactly the same. Maybe that's intentional to show that Jews and Arabs aren't so different, but they had no personality differences. They talk about the same things in almost the exact same way. Narration instead of verse could've helped with this too. 

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I've Got Your Number
♥♥♥ (3 hearts)

Written by Sophie Kinsella; Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring but her phone is stolen. She spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Except that the phone’s owner, Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

I'd say the first 75% of this book is 4 stars and the last 25% is 3 stars, so overall it's really a 3.5 stars. I really, really enjoyed the first half immensely. Poppy is an absolute delight of a character. She's so likable and kind and I want to be friends with her. The story idea is so cute and makes for great comedy and I had a fun time following Poppy's misadventures while she tries to locate her ring and keeps getting involved in Sam's business. I like Sam too, though I wanted to like him more, I wanted the character to open up more by the end, but he was still a bit of a closed shell.

However, it's the last 25%-ish of the book that got on my nerves. [Read my spoilery review here.] Despite the annoyance at the end, I still enjoyed this and will continue to read her books because they're so charming!

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The Bicycle Spy
♥♥♥♥ (4 hearts)

Written by Yona Zeldis McDonough; Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, but ever since Germany's occupation of France began the race has been canceled. Now there are soldiers everywhere. Then Marcel learns two big secrets, and he realizes there are worse things about the war than a canceled race. 

A simple but not less any emotional tale of a boy who lives in German-occupied France during World War II. Marcel discovers that his parents are part of the resistance and are using loaves of bread to send messages, and he gets involved when he finds out a friend of his needs their help. It's a simplistic story since it's for kids, but the fear of what people experienced back then remains in the story and adds depth and emotion. A wonderful story!

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Have you read any of these books?

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Outfit: Compass

I've decided that this is going to be the year I wear a bathing suit, even though I have a food baby! Now that it's getting warmer I want to go to the gym more often and really focus on my stomach, but even if I don't lose weight or I end up losing only a little bit, I want to push aside my self-consciousness and wear a damn bathing suit! So I got two cute swimsuits from Target: this red two-piece with a high-waist bottom and this floral one-piece.

On a random note, I discovered a cool app called Hoopla that, like Overdrive, connects to your local library, but on this you get to instantly watch movies, listen to albums, and read or listen to books. You get 5 credits a month and whatever you download you keep for 21 days. So far I love it! I may have gotten the new Beauty and the Beast album, so I could listen to it over and over. No shame.

Also, totally obsessed with this compass necklace from the latest OwlCrate!

Sweater: old | Shirt: old | Jeans: Hollister

Compass Necklace: The Geeky Cauldron via OwlCrate

Bag: Target | Boots: DSW

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Spring Reading List

My reading lists are usually comprised of books I own that are sitting on my shelf unread, but this time I decided to also look ahead to what's coming out in the next three months, and oh man there are plenty of books I want to get my hands on, so half of my list features book I have and half are books I want. #gimmegimmegimme

BOOKS ON MY SPRING READING LIST:

♥ Heartless by Marissa Meyer

♥ A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab

♥ Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer (April 11th)

♥ Duels & Deception by Cindy Anstey (April 11th)

♥ The Final Prophecy (Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan (May 2nd)

♥ One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus (May 30th)

♥ Geekerella by Ashley Poston (April 4th)

♥ Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab (June 13th)

♥ Caraval by Stephanie Garber

♥ Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

♥ The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

♥ Beauty in the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly

What's on your spring wish list?

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Inspired By: Books With Floral Covers

It's spring and you know what that means — mother effin' florals! Obviously florals don't have to be worn exclusively in the spring (everyone knows I wear them year round), but there's something to be said for wearing them when the leaves are returning and flowers are blooming. So in honor spring's return, here are four books with flowers on the cover and floral-tastic outfits!

I've read both Beastly and RoseBlood and would recommend both by the way.

Reign of Shadows

Written by Sophie Jordan; Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead. But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more.

Throw on the perfect spring outfit: a chiffon floral top, a floral headband, patchwork jeans, a crown ring, and ankle-strap navy flats. Or instead wear a navy floral dress, a blue stud earrings, a pale pink purse, and red flats.

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Beastly

Written by Alex Flinn; The place is New York City. The time is now. I've been cursed by the one witch in my English class. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

These two outfits are great for wandering the streets of New York City, so put on a burgundy cardigan, white top, floral black leggings, and a black Oxford flats. Or throw on a white floral embroidered dress, floral earrings, a brown backpack, and taupe booties.

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The Secret of a Heart Note

Written by Stacey Lee; An evocative novel about a teen aroma expert who uses her extrasensitive sense of smell to mix perfumes that help others fall in love while protecting her own heart at all costs. Sometimes love is right under your nose. As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, sixteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of weeding, mixing love elixirs, and matchmaking—all while remaining incurably alone.

Doesn't this book so sound cute? Up the cute factor in your wardrobe by wearing a white floral romper, a yellow metal bracelet, a floral headband, and yellow and wood wedges. Or instead put on a green blouse, floral embroidered jean shorts, perfume bottle earrings, and pale taupe sneakers.

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RoseBlood

Written by A.G. Howard; In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera. 

Add some dark, Gothic flair to your outfits with a white blouse, a black rose embroidered skirt, a music notes watch, pink headphones, and red flats. Or wear a dark red brocade dress, black belt, a red flower headband, a black backpack, and black booties.

Add to Goodreads {Read my review}

Which of these looks is your favorite?

Have you read any of these books?

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