Welcome Back!

    Hello everyone! I am back from my hiatus and I am feeling refreshed. My time off was great, I would have to say that July was definitely one of the best months of the year. I met so many amazing people and experienced so many different things that I will never forget. 

    Alright, back to business... School starts in less than a week for me. I cannot fathom this fact. I had such an amazing July, which is the core of the summer, and so going back home and being hit with the reality of returning to high school for my junior year is indescribable.

    Let's talk about how crazy it is that I'm halfway done with high school. I have to take the SAT. I have to study the hardest I've ever studied because this is the most important year of high school, said everyone ever. I'm genuinely growing up and that is the biggest shock to me. 

    My study motivation/hack for this school year is to imagine my little 4th-grade self seeing where I am now. The thought of my younger self makes me want to tear up because I am a very sentimental person and so little things like that always get me. 

    Shorter post for today because it's my first day back ;). Please gave a great day!

Reading Update

    Hello everyone! I am back, still refreshed from getting over my reading slump and I am here to give you an update on that read. I still have not finished it but here are my current thoughts.

    I am reading Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout if you don't remember. It is a fantasy book following the protagonist, Trinity, who is one of the most extraordinary main characters ever. This book is definitely a good read. I have never been a huge fan of fantasy books, I'm more of a realistic fiction type of girl, but this book has been an exception. There is a romance branch of this book with the tension of Trinity and a man who is visiting her territory to figure out what is happening between the demons that invade the community. This is all the information I can give for now. Check out the book if you would like to know more about the book! I am aware that this book is also part of a whole series. I am reading it as a standalone and I think it has been completely fine, so do not let that be the reason you stay away from this book.

Announcement

    For the next couple of weeks, I will be out of town. Because of this, I don't think I will have time to handle writing a whole post every Sunday for the time being, since I'll be at a university for a summer program. I'll also be on vacation so I think it'll be too much to tackle. Of course, I'll try my best, but it is likely that I won't be posting anything in the upcoming weeks. 
    That being said, until next time! Thank you for reading! :)

    

CURED

    Hello everyone. I am happy and proud to announce that my reading slump is OVER! I never thought the day would come but here we are.

    On January 22nd, 2022, I decided to pick up a book. The magical book that cured my reading slump is Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I'll give a proper book review when I finish it, but so far it is a super engaging book. I know it is a part of a series and I did not read the previous set of books, but I still read it and I can basically understand everything. I did not think I would be a huge fan of the book because I'm not the biggest fan of supernatural (I'm not sure if I can even call it that), or even fantasy, but I am actually really enjoying the book.

    That's all I really have for this week because I have been pretty busy, but if any of you are in a reading slump, I hope this post gives you a little hope that you will, eventually, make it out. 

What's the Deal with Reading Slumps

     Happy Sunday everyone! Today's topic is a rant about how mad I am at myself for my recent behavior... This behavior is my indefinite reading slump.

    If you don't know what a "reading slump" is, the Urban Dictionary defines it as "Not being able to pick up a book and read because you just can't, you just can't read." Lucky me, this is my current situation and has been since April. The worst thing about reading slumps is you can't describe why it's happening. There is one side of my brain desperately wanting to pick up a book but a much stronger side stops me from doing it. 

    Remember around two weeks ago, I said my next read is "In Five Years" I still have not gotten around to it. If you have ever gone through a reading slump you know how incredibly frustrating it is. 

    In February, I bought way too many books from Target because they were having a good sale, and I still have not read a single one. I want to, so badly, but something just pulls me away from my books. 

    I miss picking up a book and reading the ink on the page. Next time I read I'm going to try annotating. I've seen these SUPER aesthetic Instagram posts where they have cute highlights and notes next to heart-melting quotes and I want to be that girl. Except, my handwriting won't be as dainty as theirs.

    Alright, I am dedicated to this now. Next post, I would have at least ATTEMPTED to read a book. I'll let you know.

Sophomore Year Over

     Happy Sunday! Today's post will be a little more about my life and reflecting on how QUICKLY time is moving, which I still think is insane.

    Last week, was my last week of sophomore year. It still has not set in yet, I feel like it's still not over. As I drove home from school after my last day, I reflected on everything that happened in the year. I thought about the worst part and what made those parts better. For example, the infamous Chemistry Honors class at my school. It is seen as one of the hardest honors classes and, in my opinion, the hardest class I took this year, despite my five college credit classes. There were so many times when that class seemed like the root of my problems during sophomore year, but the one thing that kept me going throughout it was the people. Towards the end of the year, I made a mini family in that class. On the last day of school, we made a group chat, promised to hang out, and we are doing so in less than two weeks. As that one TikTok sound would say "Although my [Chemistry Honors] days are not days I would choose to relive... There was one good thing that kept me going... and that was the [LOUD] friendship of [names redacted]." I truly would have not made it out if I didn't have them there.

    I thought about my rebound in my Pre-Calculus Honors... how I was struggling in that class I considered dropping out, but then ended the last two quarters with A's. Big thanks to my teacher, she is an angel and I never would have gotten this far without her.

    I also have to give credit to the great things that happened this year. I made amazing friends, learned so much about independence and leadership, and, most importantly, I learned about accountability. For that, I am so incredibly for everything sophomore year threw in my face while I was drowning in the deep end. Nah, I'm just kidding. For my first "real" year of high school that was in-person, it was not as sufferable and horrendous as I thought it would go. 

    I am officially halfway done with high school. Junior year, here I come...

In Five Years: My Next Read

    Happy Sunday! Today's topic will be about the new book I am going to read, In Five Years by Rebecca Serle.

    The plot of this book looks super interesting. A girl has her life meticulously planned out, till she finds herself teleported to a life five years in the future. Then she is brought back to her present life, but everything is different now. That's all I really know about the book. 

    I'm currently in a reading slump, so I am hoping this short read will push me out of it. Hopefully, I can start it soon enough and give you all a book review on it. I've heard mixed reviews on this, some people have said it is not great, but others have really enjoyed it, we'll see how this goes!

    I have to give a shorter entry today because I need to study for finals week which starts this week, next week I will be much more enthusiastic and ready to talk to you all more. Have a good day!

The Brilliance of "I'll Give You the Sun" (Book Review)

     Welcome to another Happy Sunday with me! Today I will be talking about another book, one of my absolute favorites, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.

Plot (VERY summarized)

    This novel follows the story of Noah and Jude, who are twins, over the years they fall apart and the book shows them from 13-year-olds to 16-year-olds as they may (or may not) come together again. The book has dual point-of-views but in a different way than normal, as it is told in Noah's POV while they are young, and Jude takes over for their peak teenage years. 

Why I Love this Book

    I originally bought this book when I was in the seventh grade, and I never got around to reading it till last year, as a freshman in high school. In hindsight, I am so glad I never read it with my thirteen-year-old brain, because I could have never appreciated the beautiful complexities of this book.

    One of the major things I love about this book is all the connections between the siblings as they are young compared to when they are older. It pushes a theme of how small the world really is. 

    I also absolutely adored the protagonists in this book. Noah is one of my favorite book characters ever, he is soft-spoken and you want to give him a hug throughout the whole book because that's really all he needed at the time. Jude truly tries to make things right after realizing the severity of what she did. She tries to reconnect with her brother and helps him even if he puts up the front that he doesn't want help. Most, if not, all of the characters are lovable, and their good outweighed any of the bad they may have had.

    The ending is also amazing, it was a perfect closure ending. I felt so happy for everyone in this book when I read that final page because you get so immersed in the lives of these characters that you can't help but know they deserved the good that happened.

    Nelson's writing is absolutely incredible, I loved her writing style. I can't describe the beauty of it in a coherent way, so you'll just have to read to it on your own to be the judge of that.

    This book is the perfect medley of combining a coming-of-age story that is mixed with themes of family, romance, and maturation. 

    I read this book a little under a year ago and I still think about it a lot. I wish I could read it again for the first time again because it was such an amazing journey with each turn of the page. If you're interested in a book that makes you feel good, with the exception of a couple tears shed, then I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson should be your next read.

RATING: 5/5

"We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some                                               people are just meant to be in the same story" 

                                                                - Jandy Nelson (I'll Give You the Sun)