My Favorite...Book I Read This Summer

This month I wanted to try something new and also support my best friend Becca as she is now the host of "My Favorite", a weekly blog prompt challenge! So, if you haven't yet checked her blog out, definitely go to it as she is just so awesome and then you can also join us in this really cool blog post challenge and we can all follow and read each other's stuff and life would just be great... okay?




This week the prompt is My Favorite Book I Read This Summer. This summer I read about 27 (?) books. I am only counting June - August books even though technically "summer" began for me in May.

I think my absolute favorite book I read this summer was probably Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

I've always wanted to read Vonnegut and in July, I went on a pretty big binge of reading books that I had wanted to but been intimidated by. Slaughterhouse-Five was just incredible and I absolutely loved Vonnegut's writing. That book just got me in so many emotions and I just can't describe how moved I was by the book.

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. His writing is so lyrical but amusing while still throwing some heavy feels at you. I also know his books do tie in a bit to each other, so I'm really excited to read more of his work.

 Overall, I think it was a shoo-in for my best book of the summer and definitely one of the top books ever so I'm happy!

What was your favorite read this summer? Let's chat about it and make sure to check out Becca's original post here for the prompt list and to find other cool blogs!




Always, Raineedayze

Captain's Log: August Wrap-Up

I know every month I am surprised that the month has ended. But it's super weird that we are already in the fall. It's so surreal that this year has already held so much and it's almost over. So let's recap on August.

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn | Reality Check by Jen Calonita | Gone by Stacy Claflin | Held by Stacy Claflin | Over by Stacy Claflin | Annie's Baby by Beatrice Sparks | Almost Lost by Beatrice Sparks | Calling Maggie May by Beatrice Sparks | The Book of David by Beatrice Sparks | It Happened to Nancy by Beatrice Sparks | Fallout by Ellen Hopkins | The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Marrison | Push by Sapphire |

This month I read a total of 13 books. As you can tell there was a bit of a pattern with my reading this month. For some reason I was just super in the mood to read dark and PSA type stories. I have a very guilty addiction to Beatrice Sparks' books. She wrote Go Ask Alice and toted it as an anonymous diary but things were pretty shady surrounding it so I usually take her books with a grain of salt. But they are addictive and super cheesy sometimes. Also, this month I finished the Crank series by Ellen Hopkins. Jonathan was super into the books and would ask me to recap them while I read so he could enjoy them as well. Another series I read this month was the Gone series by Stacy Claflin. I actually got the first book free on Amazon last month and I read them at work. Man, they weren't excellent writing-wise but the story was again so dramatic and addicting, that I devoured the last two books in one night! 

Overall, this month's books weren't the best rating-wise, but entertaining nonetheless.

The Darkest Minds | To All the Boys I've Loved Before | Ocean's 8 | I, Tonya |

Little Witch Academia (S1) | Disenchantment | Daria | 

All the movies I saw this month were stellar. Ocean's 8 was so badass and empowering. TATBILB was amazing (I even wrote a review of it) and The Darkest Minds was really interesting. I had never read the series but it really made me want to pick up the books to see if the movie did it justice. I also saw I, Tonya this month even though I had been super against it after seeing an interview with Nancy Kerrigan done during the premiere. However, the movie was entertaining to say the least, regardless of where you stand on the actual case. Also the soundtrack was just....gold. 

As for TV, I finished Season 1 of Little  Witch Academia. I really adored the show as it kind of felt like Sailor Moon meets Harry Potter which is just a great pairing. I started watching Disenchantment which has been really good so far. I am doing another rewatch of Daria as well since sometimes I just want to cuddle with Jonathan and have something familiar on the TV.

World of Warcraft | Overwatch | Project Zomboid | Pokemon Go | 

This month I had a lot of stress pushing me down and what better way to de-stress then video games? I started getting back into WoW and it's really helped me push work and life stress away because it's kind of hard to be stressed when you are a hulking Orc woman on a quest. I also started getting back into Pokemon Go now that you can add friends and send gifts to them. I've been catching some great Pokemon with it as well and I bought a Pokemon beanie from Hot Topic this month which I wear while hunting, which totally gets me in the zone.


Other cool things this month:

- I got a full-time job. (Not super cool but money is fantastic!)
- I started drawing again!
- IGGPPCamp!!
- I finally picked up a new headset and fixed my computer issues!
- I bought the DVa Nendoroid and DVa Figma!

How was your August? Let's chat about it!



Always, Raineedayze

To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Movie Review

In case you somehow haven't heard, Jenny Han's To All The Boys I've Loved Before has been made into a Netflix Original Movie and it just came out last week!

The book series is one of my absolute favorite trilogies EVER and was one of the first super-hyped books I started reading when I started getting into book blogging. I actually buddy-read the series with Becca and we would constantly text back and forth about the characters (mostly sobbing and heart emojis).

So of course I immediately watched the movie as soon as it came out and I frantically texted Becca to see if she was watching. She wanted to do a watchalong on Friday the 24th, so since I was already 80% into the the movie, I decided to host a rewatch for me/new watch for her and OMG you guys!

So I wanted to talk a little bit about this movie and I know it says review up there but let's be honest. This movie was golden. Literally nothing was wrong. It was flawless. Lana Condor and Noah Centineo are literally Lara Jean and Peter and I just....it was just so good.

Also spoilers ahead for both the movie and books so...read at your own risk.

As far as casting goes, it was just spot-on. John Corbett as Mr. Covey was just amazing. I loved him as Aiden in Sex and The City and he actually was my dreamcast for LJ's dad while I was reading. So that just made my entire life. Kitty was so adorable and spunky. I honestly liked her better in the movie than I did in the book (at least the first one). Janel Parrish really acts like Margot and embodies the big sister vibe from book-Margot. 

And obviously, Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. Yes. Just so much yes.

Like...look at these cuties.

Okay let's talk about THAT scene at the end of the movie. It's no secret I am a HUGE John Ambrose McClaren fangirl (sorry Peter). I loved him so much in the book and the scene in the book with the 1940's dress up party thing.....asdfgksfgajksd. Okay. So what does this movie scene mean?? To me, it really pushes for a sequel and given how much people are loving this movie, I think it may get one. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I really need some more John Ambrose, and the love triangle between him, LJ, and Peter "whoa whoa whoa" Kavinsky will seriously just break me. I need this. 

As far as differences between the movie and books, there wasn't a huge difference. I loved how cool Chris was in the movie as she was kinda (hella) flaky and meh in the book. Also, a girl who sneaks out of school to get Subway is literally the coolest. I think the movie  did a great job of sticking to the source material and with Jenny Han being so involved in the project, I think it really helped. Also, the Jenny Han cameo was literally the best. 

I really loved that they brought Lucas out more in the movie. He is a little fleshed out in the book but he was absolutely amazing and supportive in the movie. I need more Lucas St. Clair in my life like now. 

Of course, I couldn't talk about TATBILB and not dicuss the outfits. I mean...

look

at

this

The outfits were so great and Lara Jean is #fashiongoals.

As you guys can tell, I absolutely LOVED this movie. What are your thoughts? Let's chat about it!

Also, check out my review of the book series here!



Always, Raineedayze

Then Vs. Now: Mary Downing Hahn

Last week, Jonathan and I went to go see Space Jam, one of my favorite movies as a kid. It got me thinking, how much stuff have I forgotten about and should I try and revisit some old childhood favorites as an adult? 

Childhood me

I've always been a huge bookworm. As a kid, I devoured books nonstop and pretty much read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Eventually, I did begin to acquire some favorite authors and after re-watching an old favorite movie, I've been reflecting back on my childhood favorite books to learn more about myself, my tastes, and just relive some good memories. There is nothing like finding an old book you used to love and being able to go back and feel the same feelings it gave you when you first picked it up.

As a kid one of my all-time favorite authors was Mary Downing Hahn. If you don't know much about her, LET ME TELL YOU! She writes a ton of middlegrade/YA horror novels and ghost stories and I absolutely love all of her stories. She actually wrote one of my absolute favorite books, Daphne's Book which is just...so good and amazing and I re-read it about 900 times as a kid. 

Recently I found some more of her books at my library and immediately felt the need to just read everything of hers again and finally read the books I never got to. So I picked up a copy of Deep and Dark and Dangerous and started it at work yesterday.

As I was reading, I realized I was trying to make myself feel the same way I felt as a kid reading MDH's books. As an adult, I feel it's a bit harder to delve into the books with the same wide-eyed excitement and thrill when I've read so much YA and New Adult recently. I kept shaking my head and couldn't shake the disbelief and eyerolled hard at the characters choices.

I ended up taking a break from the book because I realized I couldn't enjoy the book while attempting to juggle the role of being a "grown-up" and also trying to fit the nostalgia glasses over my adult eyes (yay for bad metaphors). So I came home, this morning while laying in bed I decided to just go into it. Forget the author, forget my expectations and just READ.

Man, I really enjoyed the book after that. I think because I had this expectation that "This is an MDH book and I loved her books so I need to love this" made me feel more conflicted when my adult mind couldn't get into it. I also rarely rate and read middlegrade books because I find it difficult to critique when I am not the target audience. However, I really just enjoyed the story and being able to kind of go into a book where things are spooky and ghosts are real and feel that curiosity and chill that I did when I was a kid.

I definitely plan to read more of her books and check out a few of my old faves as well. 

What childhood faves have you revisited? Let's chat about it!




Always Raineedayze

Life Update (Where I have Been)

Hey there!


If you follow me on social media (or read this blog) you probably noticed things have been pretty quiet on my end lately. So I wanted to update everyone on my life situation and what's been happening lately!

First things first, I got a job! I currently am working full-time, captioning phone calls for the deaf and hard-of hearing. I am actually having a pretty great time (plus money is never a bad thing) and my job is pretty relaxed, so I do have a little bit of downtime to just read or watch TV at work!

However, right now I'm working the night shift, which has been really screwing with my sleep cycle. So lately all I have done is work and sleep for about 12 hours until I wake up, just to go to work again. As you can imagine, this has led to a LOT of stress and anything that is not work has been pushed waaay to the bottom of priorities.

I'm attempting to find a balance between work and everything else, because I have so many things I have to do (laundry, dishes, remind Jonathan that I love him, etc.) and I have so many things I want to do that are getting buried underneath sleep and burnout. So if updates are a little stilted for a little bit, I'm really sorry! I'm really trying to work everything in and get things done but slowly it's all coming together. Both my computers have been having some hardware issues and last week, my main computer completely crashed and I lost pretty much everything. Luckily I had most of my stuff backed up, but it's been taking a while to reinstall everything I lost. So, everything is kind of trying to fight me at the moment. But we are getting there! (eventually)

Other than work, I've spent the last few days participating in IGGPPCamp, reading some really interesting books, and watching To All The Boys I've Loved Before (OMG COVINSKY). Me and Becca are planning on doing a rewatch on Friday so we can scream and fangirl together and I am super stoked to do that! Also, I plan to have my review of the movie up pretty soon so stay tuned for that!

Jonathan and I have been attempting to go out on our days off and go watch movies because sometimes, you just need to get out of the house. We went to a Space Jam and cereal party last weekend which was as amazing as it sounds!

Also, if you notice a little bit of changes on the site, we just got approved for AdSense so I'm really happy that the little blog is growing a bit. 

Thanks for sticking with me guys, and I hope you have had a great last couple of months! More to come soon!! I promise :D

Always, Raineedayze

Raineedayze Reads: Ship It

One of the biggest things in my life is my love for many fandoms. I am a huge, unapologetic fangirl of many things (as if you couldn't tell) and I absolutely love reading about being a fangirl and sharing the fangirl experience with other people.

Ship It by Britta Lundin is NOT what I was expecting and unfortunately left this fangirl with a bad taste in her mouth.
  

 

Beautiful cover, not so beautiful story

The book is told in a dual-perspective, following superfan Claire, a Tumblr-famous slash-fic writer and Forest, the star of the show Demon Heart and the object of Claire's fanfics.

The fandom in this book is SUPER similar to the Supernatural fandom, and like many others have stated in their reviews, it seems like a lot of this story was lifted from a very real fan situation that happened regarding Destiel and Jensen Ackles.  (Also, let it be known that I adore Jensen Ackles and co.)

Synopsis

Essentially, Claire heads to a local convention where the stars of Demon Heart will be, and in a very "never meet your heroes" kind of way, asks a question during the panel regarding the homoerotic subtext of the main characters. Forest, denies any subtext and along with the showrunner, shoot it down. In order to fix this PR disaster, the Demon Heart publicist brings Claire along for the rest of the convention-circuit and drama ensues.

Also there is a super unhealthy love story in this book.

As always, if you have not read this book, avert your eyes for the paragraph between the lines!

__________________________________________________

Tess and Claire's relationship is ridiculously unhealthy. Tess outs Claire to multiple people and pressures her to label herself, which made me super uncomfortable. Claire and Tess also argue ALL THE TIME, so I could never really root for them. Aside from a cute scene in a diner, they were probably better off Tumblr friends.

Claire also casually KIDNAPS JAMIE. And hacks his Twitter account, but it's okay because he is queerbaiting fans. Seriously. Claire was pulling a Misery situation and threatened Jamie because he refused to make her ship canon. Jamie was NOT a good guy but kidnapping him and stalking his old photos was too much.

Claire also writes fics about Rico and Forest using personal information Forest has shared with her. One of these insinuates Forest's father abused him and all she says is "I'm sorry." Forest forgives her and all is well. DUDE NO.

I kind of get the message the book was trying to say. That representation matters and everyone's opinions are valid. However, this book used so many awful ways to get there and it was just ridiculous.

The only redeeming things in this book: Caty (somewhat), Rico, and Claire's parents, although they were super one-dimensional.
_____________________________________________________


Overall, this book was just so bad. I gave it 2/5 stars. The writing style was nice, but the story was just terrible. The cover is so beautiful, but this book will not be on my shelves much longer I think.


Have you read Ship It? Let's chat about it!



Always, Raineedayze

Burgers and Jobs

These past two weeks have given Jonathan and I a little breathing room to get used to our new schedules. Jonathan just started a new job as a field engineer, so he's getting used to driving around town and doing a lot of active work as opposed to his job before, where he spent all day at a desk. 

As for myself, I've been spending the last couple of weeks taking care of the house and putting in job applications EVERYWHERE. It's been a pretty exhausting (and somewhat defeating) process, but I'm holding out hope, especially as in the city, new jobs open every day.

Last Friday, my aunt came to town and we were able to have dinner with her and her girlfriend. We tried out Chris Madrid's, a place here famous for their huge burgers. The restaurant actually closed down, but they are now running food truck.The food was fantastic, but the 100-degree heat was definitely no joke.

via GIPHY

The rest of the weekend was spent running only the absolutely necessary errands and taking naps. The combination of the heat, the exhaustion, and what I think is a minor bug, tuckered us out pretty badly. Hopefully, as we get used to the new schedule and I find something to take me out of the house, things will begin to pick back up. 

However, there has been some awesome stuff to happen! Jonathan actually picked me up a gorgeous digital drawing tablet and I am absolutely in LOVE with it. It's a Huion Inspiroy and I have been using it non-stop ever since I got it. As you guys know, I've been wanting to up my digital art game and this definitely has been a huge improvement. I've been using it with Krita and it works so well and the work is so smooth. The link to it is here, if you'd like to check it out!

That was my week. Here's looking up!




Always, Raineedayze