The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Can you believe that 2015 is nearly upon us? I can’t! This year flew by and was full of awesome things (getting engaged, getting married, fun trips, etc.) but I’m pretty excited for the new year. If I had to choose a favorite holiday, it would be New Year’s. I love how it feels like a fresh start, and I’m a big fan of making resolutions.

The problem with resolutions is that I usually fail by March. The problem with my resolutions is the lack of definition—“lose weight” or “eat healthier” or “do more at work” aren’t exactly measurable goals.

I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, just in time for 2015. Over the course of a year, Rubin was dedicated to sticking to her resolutions, which focused on certain aspects of her life each month. She did a bunch of research on happiness and incorporated various studies into her resolutions (IE, working out three times a week, doing small acts of kindness for her husband every day, etc).

I am a planner, and I loved the structure of her resolutions for her Happiness Project. She broke the year down into a List of Resolutions, which assigned one topic to each month of the year (IE, family, relationships, energy, etc). For an entire month, she focused on this area. The idea was to achieve more happiness in that area.

To support the List of Resolutions, she had a list of Twelve Commandments. Things like, “less is more” and “be you”. These statements helped her remember the important things when she felt like slipping on resolutions.

The book was laid out by month (and a resolution to coincide with it). The format made it easy to read one month and put the book down. I enjoyed Rubin’s writing style, and found myself smiling at various jokes and anecdotes.

I highly recommend the Happiness Project. 5/5 on Goodreads!

I am not an unhappy person, but I would like to work on my happiness so that it stems from a place of being grateful for all of the wonderful things I do have. For this reason, I will be pursuing my own Happiness Project in 2015! My resolutions and plans will be posted tomorrow, and I’ll do a monthly check-in. Have you read the Happiness Project? Do you want to participate? Shoot me an email at lifebetweenreads@gmail.com!

Top Ten Tuesday: 12/30

Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2015*

*bookish, blogging or otherwise!

1. Read more – I read about 30 books in 2014 and it’s a goal of mine to read at least 52 in 2015.

2. Be more active on the blog – I know I’m in school and working full time, but this blog is such a passion of mine. I want to devote more time to it, I’m thinking at least one post a week from me is a good starting point.

3. Go to YALLFest in the Fall of 2015, with Lauren of course. I feel like it would be so much fun and we could meet so many people and authors!

4. Do well in school and transfer – I have my heart set on transferring to different school that has a better program for the field that I’m studying, and I want to continue to keep my grades up.

5. Be better about Top Ten Tuesdays – we/I have dropped the ball a couple of times with Top Ten Tuesdays and they’re something we both really enjoy. I want us to get better about posting them and maybe start a couple of other weekly features on the blog too.

6. Plan and execute a Happiness Project – I’m almost finished reading the Happiness Project (review to come), just in time for the New Year! I fully plan on having a plan by January 1st–and executing it all through 2015.

7. Read 100 books – I’ve never set a book goal—I suspect in my homeschooling days I read 100 books in a year, but it has certainly been a while since I’ve read that volume of books. That’s roughly two books a week.

8. Be more active on the blog – I’m pretty active as far as posting, but I absolutely love this thing—it’s also a passion of mine, and I love that I can share it with my best friend. I’m a public relations woman, so I would like to use more of my skillset to market and share the blog more. We’re also going to get a sweet, professional layout on here soon!

9. Save up $$ and go to YALLFEST with Kiesha – obviously adding this to my list, too! I’m going to start saving and counting down the days.

10. Watch less TV – with more books will come less TV. I currently watch waaay too much TV a week (as in, upwards of ten hours…much more upward). I have a side business, a blog, tons of books to read—I could really focus on plenty of other productive activities to fill those hours.

Two Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. – Goodreads

I. Loved. This. Book.

I devoured it in a couldn’t-put-it-down-leave-me-alone way. Bardugo’s writing style is captivating, and she did a fabulous job at pulling me in as a reader and hitting me with twists, turns, and feels.

I loved the originality and depth of the magic concept. Grisha are people who have the ability to manipulate Science—some people can throw fire, others can conjure wind, some work with metals…the list goes on and each person is unique. The Grisha are pampered and spoiled by the King, and are overseen by the Darkling, a Grisha with extremely dark and powerful “magic”.

Alina is a soldier in the First Army, an orphan who was falsely tested for powers as a child. She is a fantastic main character, though I did get tired of her complaining about how plain and not-pretty she was. Luckily that dies down a bit by the end of the book. I enjoyed the supporting characters, too, though Mal (the best friend she’s in love with–he doesn’t see her because she is so plain) got on my nerves frequently.

The world-building is fantastic. The details and places weren’t completely dumped on the reader in the first chapter, but spread out throughout the story. The detail and description of places and buildings was also great, and I could easily picture everything.

As soon as I finished it, I immediately bought book two (and finished it). Great series! I would definitely recommend it. 5/5 on Goodreads.

So, if you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know that I received Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo in my Uppercase Box a month or so ago, and was super excited to read it. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got the same book in a Secret Santa exchange that I did and took that as a sign that I REALLY needed to read it. As soon as finals were over and Christmas break started, I devoured it in one night.

The fact that I read the entire book in one night would normally be a sign that a book is VERY good, but unfortunately, that is not entirely the case here. It more so had to do with the fact that I needed to know what happened before I went to sleep, and I couldn’t just set it down and be done for the night. That’s the control freak in me showing it’s nasty face.

To be perfectly honest, I really, really loved the first three quarters of the book. The way Bardugo weaves a story and the amount of detail she uses is amazing. I literally felt like I was there. However, after a certain plot twist occurred (if you’ve read the book, you’ll know the one I’m talking about), I was left shocked and saddened. From there on out everything moved way too quickly compared to the pace of the rest of the story. The details and descriptions that I loved from the beginning of the book were no longer there, and it felt to me like Bardugo was trying to cram everything into a certain number of pages and just be done. I found myself becoming more and more bored and uninterested in the story, and I knew that was a bad sign.

The character of Alina frustrated me more than I connected with her. She was so adamant that she was normal, which I understand now, but she just seemed so… naïve to everything going on around her. Her constant complaining about herself didn’t help either. More than anything I was intrigued by the Darkling’s story and how he got to his current position. I’ve found in a couple of the books I’ve read recently, I’ve been more interested in supporting characters than main characters though, so maybe that’s just me.

I gave Shadow and Bone 4/5 stars on Goodreads, but I will not be finishing the series. I have no interest in what happens to Alina, Mal or any of the rest of them, but if Bardugo ever comes out with a series about the Darkling I will be on top of it!

Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle

With Christmas being last week, I really wanted to get into the spirit and read a Christmas/holiday themed book and Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle seemed like the perfect fit! We ended up having a white Christmas for the first time in a very long time, and I love that I was reading this book as it was snowing like crazy outside.

The first of the three short stories is The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson. It’s about a girl named Jubilee who is forced to take a train to her grandparents’ in Florida after her parents are arrested on Christmas Eve. The train ends up crashing into a bank of snow in Gracetown near a Waffle House. When Jubilee gets off and walks through the multiple-feet-deep snow to the same Waffle House to get away from the cheerleading squad that has started practicing on the near-powerless train, she meets a boy named Stuart. The cheerleaders show up at the Waffle House, so Jubilee and Stuart take off to his house (risky, I know but Stuart seems not-murderous, and his mom and sister are at home). On the way, they fall through the ice into a frozen creek and Stuart pulls Jubilee from the creek and to his house. After they’ve unthawed and Jubilee sees that Stuart and his family are definitely NOT murderous, but are actually nice, she feels better. I’m not going to put any spoilers, but this was definitely my favorite of the three stories. It’s cute and sort of romantic, what’s meant to be is meant to be type of a thing. I loved it!

The second story is A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green. This one is about Tobin, JP and the Duke a.k.a. Angie. They are best friends, just hanging out at Tobin’s house on Christmas Eve when their friend Keun calls. Keun is the ‘acting manager’ at Waffle House and tells them about the cheerleading squad practicing there. Each of the guys working at Waffle House that night gets to call their friends and whoever’s friends show up first with a game of Twister get to come inside and hang out with the cheerleaders and get free Waffle House food for the night. JP and Tobin are in, but they have to convince the Duke that they should all go. It is quite the adventure getting to Waffle House and it involves a couple of crashed cars and a wheel falling off, but there’s a little bit of romance thrown in there too. I really liked this one too!

The third and final story in Let It Snow is The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle. Addie cheated on her boyfriend Jeb and subsequently broke up with him, and is now wallowing in self-pity. Her friends Dorrie and Tegan come over to try and cheer her up but she is just not having it. When they mention to her that maybe she’s being selfish and making everything about her, she decides to prove to them that she can think about other people too. Tegan is supposed to be getting a teacup pig pet for Christmas but is unable to make it to the pet store to pick it up so Addie volunteers to do so, since the Starbucks she works at is right across the street. She, of course, has a crisis and forgets the pig and there is a whole ordeal of her trying to get it. This story was definitely my least favorite, because Addie is extremely annoying and self-involved. Everything is about her, she forgets what’s going on in her friends’ lives and every time they try to talk about it she somehow shifts the conversation back to her. She’s a very “pity me” type of person and those people drive me crazy.

The end of The Patron Saint of Pigs ties all three of the stories together, with characters from each one showing up at the Starbucks where Addie works. Everything comes full circle and it ends really well. I gave the book itself a 4/5 on Goodreads but I really loved the stories by John Green and Maureen Johnson the most.

Ink Mage by Victor Gischler

This book was kind of like a ho-hum day at the office. You roll in, settle into the routine, you’re not really excited to leave or but not exactly be there—just kind of ‘meh’ as you go about the motions.

Basically I’m trying to say it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t outstanding, either. I started it. Read it. Was vaguely startled when I got to the last page in a very anticlimactic fashion.

There were some things I really appreciated about this book—the worldbuilding and magic, for example. Magicians have magic infused in their tattoos—each tattoo (which is tattooed on them by a priest or a priestess or a wizard who have learned how) has meaning. For example, Rina, the ink mage dutchess main character, gets wings tattooed on her ankles using embers from a tree struck by lighting. This tattoo makes her wicked fast. She also has a bull inked on her shoulder, which makes her super strong. Etc. The magicians tap into their spirit for strength to use their magic, so they don’t have an endless pool of badassery. Just a little.

The worldbuilding was also good, and it clearly laid out the opposing kingdoms and their differences. The characters were so-so. I found love-struck Alem, revenge-obsessed Rina, greedy Bransley and pansy Tosh pretty irritating to follow for most of the book.

I gave this book a 3/5 on Goodreads—it was okay, but I probably won’t be singing it’s praises from the rooftops.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

I can’t remember how this got on my Kindle…I think it was a bargain book on Amazon and I fell into the one-click trap. I can’t remember.

That being said, I don’t regret it. In fact, I actually enjoyed this read. It wasn’t extraordinary or at the top of my favorites list, by any means.

It’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast…kind of. I actually thought it was a far cry from any type of Beauty and the Beast story I’ve ever read—in the best way.

Since birth, Nyx has been destined to marry the Gentle Lord, a demon lord who oversees the trapped town she lives in. The Gentle Lord strikes deals with desperate people, and her father begged the Gentle Lord for children. The Gentle Lord obliged, but Nyx’s mother was killed in the process–and the deal was that one of the twins born from the deal would marry the Gentle Lord when she came of age. Her mission during her marriage? To kill the Gentle Lord and set her world free from his reign.

Nyx has never met the Gentle Lord before, but it sent straight to his dark, dangerous house that is teeming with demons and secrets. She befriends Shade, the Gentle Lord’s shadow servant. She spends a good deal of the book being naughty and trying to discover his secrets.

The world building was fabulous—it was intricately woven, given to the reader slowly rather than all at once, and was chockfull of minor details that made the story richer.

The plot was decent, though quite predictable. I knew what the ending would be like one-third of the way into the book, but I stuck around to see if I was right (I was).

The instalove was very strong and slightly nauseating, though I understood where Nyx was coming from. At first, it wasn’t bad, but it became progressively worse as the book wore on.

Overall, I rated this book a 3.5/5 on Goodreads—-it was enjoyable, but probably won’t stick in my mind.

The Andy Cohen Diaries by Andy Cohen

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been a little MIA lately and it’s been all about Lauren and her vast amount of reading (and our first giveaway!!!) but I ACED MY FINALS, so I have good reason. I’ve gotten a little reading under my belt though, and now winter break has commenced, so hopefully you’ll be seeing a little more of me – for at least the next month.

Before the intense studying began, I decided to read The Andy Cohen Diaries by, you guessed it, Andy Cohen. You might not know this about me, but I have a huge guilty pleasure – reality TV. My husband actually calls it horrible reality TV and just doesn’t understand my love for it but I get sucked in to almost every Real Housewives show (minus Miami) and practically anything on Bravo or E! in general, actually…

So, when Andy Cohen (the executive producer of the Housewives shows and host of all the Housewives reunions) came out with a new book, I knew I had to read it. It was touted as having inside scoop and tons of name dropping, “a deep look at a shallow year,” and I couldn’t resist. I tried to read his last book, Most Talkative, but I felt like there was a huge disconnect. He’s quite a bit older than me, and a gay man, so I didn’t understand a lot of the pop culture references from when he was coming up in the industry and I didn’t connect with a lot of what he went through.

Anyway, The Andy Cohen Diaries is totally different! It was literally a diary of one entire year of his life (I think he missed one day of the entire 365) so it’s pretty long. At one point, about three quarters of the way through, I was getting a little tired of it. There is DEFINITELY a lot of name dropping and a lot of details. It’s fast paced and you have to be paying attention to every entry, you can’t skip around and expect to know what’s happening from month to month. There are a lot of people involved and a lot of things going on, he’ll say one thing in, for instance, January and come back to it again in June. It’s weird because even though I was getting almost bored with it around the Spring entries, by the end of the Summer entries I really didn’t want it to end.

I wish that everyone did this. It’s such an interesting way to get a glimpse into someone’s life and to see what they’re actually thinking and what their personalities are actually like. I really did love reading it, but I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads. It just seemed so repetitive, which I understand life can be, but it was as if even he was getting a little bored. I would LOVE to see this type of book from other “celebrities” and highly recommend it if you’re into the Real Housewives (so much juicy gossip on them, even though a lot of it you have to guess who he’s referring to).

Columbine by Dave Cullen

As an avid reader of fantasy fiction (and someone who is no longer a student), I have a policy: for 20 minutes every day, I must read non-fiction. I try not to impose any rules beside that—as long as it’s non-fiction and I’m learning something, it fits the criteria.

Six months ago, I chose Columbine by Dave Cullen at the recommendation of my coworker, who, as an ex-newsman, has a passion for well-written, well-researched nonfiction.

It usually takes me less than a few days to start and finish a book, so spending six months on this one was an odd venture for me. Every day at lunch I would tuck it under my arm, take my chicken and broccoli downstairs, and read a chapter or two. It wasn’t a difficult read—at least, not in the sense of my reading ability.

It was the most emotional read I’ve ever had, which made it so difficult to get through. I felt so dark and down on the world when I would read it. On April 20, 1999, two boys marched into the doors of Columbine High School and carried out the biggest school massacre of their time. They looked into the eyes of their peers and murdered them ruthlessly. The media portrayed it as a shooting by two boys who had been picked on in school—-the story was much, much different.

Columbine took Cullen ten years to write and research. It is extremely well-written, and offers an all-around look at the suspects, victims, survivors, families of those involved, the community, the media, and law enforcement. He pulls information from the journals, video diaries and websites of the suspects, Dylan and Eric. He pulls information from interviews with the families of the deceased and from the survivors. Media interviews, media stories, leaked photos, police reports, police interviews, witness accounts…it is an amazing read that paints—in vivid detail—what happened in the years leading up to April 20, 1999, and the aftermath.

It is a chilling look into the mind of a psychopath. Both suspects display multiple characteristics of psychopathy, which are laid out in detail through their journal entries and criminal past. One trait of a psychopath is the ability to feign emotion and regret—to his parents and peers, Eric was a normal teenage boy who made mistakes and had run-ins with the law and alcohol. He feigned remorse, expressed a desire to be a better human. In his journal entries, he talks about his lies, and how badly he wanted to kill masses of people.

I cannot sum up the emotions and horror I felt while reading this book. In a society where we toss around words like ‘psycho’ and ‘psychopath’ in jest, most people have no idea how complex and chilling the true meaning is. As an empathetic person, I had a very difficult time wrapping my head around how someone could view the world in such a way.

I rated Columbine a 5/5 on Goodreads, and would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the field of psychology or law enforcement. I’m definitely planning on picking a lighter book for my next non-fiction choice—this one was a little rough!

Hurry! The Magician’s Lie giveaway ends tonight!

Sourcebooks, the publisher of The Magician’s Lie, has graciously given us a physical copy to give away to one lucky reader! Today is the last day to enter, so hurry and enter before it ends.

To enter, go to our Rafflecopter entry form. There are several different ways to earn extra entries.

The contest ends at midnight on Thursday, December 18th. The winner will be contacted the following tomorrow!

Read our review of The Magician’s Lie!