New Books!!!! Again!!! ^_^

  Okay, so my friend Sierra is amazing!!! I just got two new books from her for my birthday and I am soooo happy!!! ^_^ It was also an unexpected surprise because according to the post office website they weren't supposed to get here until Tuesday so it made it that much better!

  The books I got were Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, which is book 2 in the Lunar Chronicles, and it's also the book I'm going to read for my reading challenge next month (aka "Book Chosen For Me By A Friend")! The other book that I got is a signed copy of Hunt For Jade Dragon by Richard Paul Evans, the fourth book in the Michael Vey series, and I'm sooooo happy!!!! This is one of my favorite book series so I'm really glad that I have a signed copy now! (My mom laughs at how excited I get over signed copies, but I can't help it! They're amazing!!)

  Sierra also sent me Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul, which she's letting me borrow! (I'm borrowing a book from someone in another state...thank you post office!! XD) I can't wait to read Scarlet and Dragonspell and I'll probably end up rereading Michael Vey before I read the fifth book....XD

  Also making appearances in the pics are two postcards and a sticker that Sierra sent along with the books! The sticker with Scarlet says "I love horses!" (which I really do!) and the postcards are quotes! The one with Hunt For Jade Dragon says "I'd rather die of knowledge than live in ignorance." - Charles W. Chesnutt. And the one with Dragonspell says "But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself." - C. S. Lewis. I love them so much! They'll probably end up in Instagram pictures......

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 

Signature inside Hunt For Jade Dragon

Hunt For Jade Dragon by Richard Paul Evans

Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul

 Also, here's a little bonus pic! This is the wall next to my door! Along with keeping track of the books I'm reading on Goodreads and here on my blog, I write them on my little dry erase stickers!

~Allie~

New Books For My 16th Birthday!!!

Hi!! So, instead of trying to post this weekend, I'm gonna go ahead and post tonight because I will most likely have zero free time this weekend........ So my 16th birthday was last Thursday! I can't believe I'm 16 already!! I forgot yesterday for a minute...... and then I saw the picture of me with my learner's permit and remembered I got it the day after I turned 16. XD My parents took me and seven of my friends out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and it was so much fun! So I got three new books for my birthday! Along with a 50 dollar giftcard to Books A Million, a 25 dollar giftcard to Barnes and Noble, about 50 dollars in cash, and a little stuffed animal lemur that whistles! (The lemur's name is Yoohoo XD) So the three books I got are Legacy of Secrets (Kingdom Keepers : The Return - Book 2) by Ridley Pearson, The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo - Book 1) by Rick Riordan, and The Year I Turned Sixteen by Diane Schwemm. Oh my gosh my copy of The Hidden Oracle is signed and I am so happy!!!!!!!!!! According to the person at BAM! it was the only signed copy that they got.... On Saturday my parents took me and my friend Shelby to Barnes and Noble and I spent my gift card and got three books! (The gift card only helped pay half the price....XD) I got Red Queen (Red Queen - Book 1) by Victoria Aveyard, Valkyrie (Valkyrie - Book 1) by Kate O'Hearn, and Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga - Book 1) by Jennifer Donnelly! I can't wait to read these books!!

Books A Million and Barnes and Noble gift cards!

Legacy of Secrets, The Hidden Oracle, and The Year I Turned Sixteen!

Signed copy of Hidden Oracle! Being guarded by Yoohoo!

Red Queen, Valkyrie, and Deep Blue! I'm actually in this picture!

April Wrap-Up!!

Okay......I completely and totally missed doing my March Wrap-up........ April has been so crazy and I've had absolutely no time to think about a blog post lately..... I am gonna leave the collage for March in the bottom along with a small little thing about how many books I read and what I rated the one I read for my monthly challenge......Anyway, on to April! So I read 7 books last month... I'm kind of disappointed with that amount, but April sped by super fast to me!! I seriously don't know where it went! Anyways, out of my seven (*cough* pitiful *cough*) books, I only gave one of them 4 stars and the rest of them were all 5 stars....XD I owned two of these, and the other five were from my library. (I still have 12 more books currently checked out from my library to read....) Also, I completely forgot to read the book that I originally chose for April's book challenge, (Book You Can Finish in a Day), which was one of my mini American Girl books, so I replaced it with Wild Born!

• March 28th/April 6th - On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House - Book 4) by Laura Ingalls Wilder. So this was one of those "I'm not in the mood for an intense drama book and I want a nice book" times....... So of course I go to Little House on the Prairie once again! (This is like the third time I've read this book I believe...) Nellie Olsen came in in this one..... Once again making me want to smack her.... XD This book will always get 5 stars from me! 

• 6th/9th - Darkness Falls (Survivors - Book 3) by Erin Hunter. Second time reading this book, and just as good as I remembered! I can't wait to read the fourth one soon!! It's being put on hold at the library ASAP! 5 stars as well! ^_^ (This one was a library book)

• 10th/16th - Lost in Babylon (Seven Wonders - Book 2) by Peter Lerangis. Second time reading this one too....This one was so good..... Although I did notice more grammar errors than I remembered, but I didn't mind.... I laughed at them.... XD Another 5 star book! (Library book!)

• 15th/19th - Wild Born (Spirit Animals - Book 1) by Brandon Mull. So, I chose this one to use for my "book I can read in a day" since I completely forgot about reading the American Girl book. Technically I didn't finish it in a day this time, but last time I read it I did..... XD (FYI - This is like my third time reading this book.....I love it so much....but I'm actually reading the whole series this time and I can't wait!) Anyway, naturally, 5 stars.... XD

• 19th/21st - Demigods and Magicians by Rick Riordan. Oh my gosh I love this book.... It had art in it and I wish I owned it so badly!! I noticed things that I didn't notice when I first read the short stories on my kindle, and I love Percy in The Crown of Ptolemy so much!!! Although I still don't understand the reasoning for doing The Son of Sobek and The Crown of Ptolemy in first person POV, but not The Staff of Serapis..... I have come to the conclusion that Rick Riordan just does not like the idea of first person Annabeth.......and I'm so curious.... but I'll live.... Anyway, other than that, this book was amazing and of course I gave it 5 stars as well! (Library book too, sadly.....)

• 21st/25th - The Tomb of Shadows (Seven Wonders - Book 3) by Peter Lerangis. Finally a book in the series that I didn't reread......even if it is only the third one......I'm pretty sure I've read The Colossus Rises three times..... (not that I'm complaining! I love these books!) But this book was so good! And I'm glad that they led up to a certain event so that you were at least a bit prepared instead of just bam! there it is and you don't know what to do for a while.... I wish more books did this.... though it might also be because I didn't particularly care about the character that was involved..... Anyway, I loved the end, and am so excited for the next one! (Which just so happens to be sitting on my bookshelf from the library waiting to be read!) In case you hadn't guessed, this was my last 5 star book for April.... XD (Library book) 

And finally......

• 25th/30th - Book Scavenger (Book Scavenger - Book 1) by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman. I was very excited for this book when I found it on the end of a row at the library not too long after I added it to my Goodreads list! I really wish that Book Scavenger was an actual game.... It would be so much fun to play! Though I probably wouldn't be very good at making codes.... It would definitely take some practice... I have to say, my favorite character had to be Emily's (the main character) best friend James.......and his cowlick Steve of course! (Yes, he named the cowlick on the back of his head.....he is a complete and total dork and I love it....XD) I look forward to the next one coming out and I gave this one 4/5 stars. (Library book) 

Okay, so that's all for April! This month's reading challenge is "A Book Published This Year" and I plan on reading The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo - Book 1) by Rick Riordan! I totally just got a signed copy for my 16th birthday and I'm so excited to read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I literally hugged this book when I got it...... I'll make a post either this weekend or next weekend (This weekend is crazy, I'm in a play Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night, and I'm going with my friends to Civil War on Sunday night! In 3D!! Woot woot! I'm so excited!!!) with pictures of it along with the other books I got for my birthday! Okay, I'll be done ranting about my beautiful books for now.... See ya!

~Allie~

BTW - So in March, I read 12 books... (6 were library books and 6 I own) which consisted of one 3 star book, seven 4 star books, and four 5 star books. I wish I had done the post for March in time because I would've loved to rant about so many of these books...... but I'll just say that Memory Maze was the 3 star book.....and this rating was mainly based on the ending which left me shocked and (only slightly) depressed...... I still plan on reading the third one whenever I can get my hands on it from the library though! 

Sixteen New Books!! From Usborne, Goodwill, and Amazon!

Hello!! Sorry I didn't post last weekend! I thought about it multiple times but couldn't bring myself to actually do it.... But since I have all these new books, I had to make a post and I didn't want to wait for this weekend unless I had to! So as the title states, I got sixteen new books this week! Seven on Sunday, and nine today! On Sunday, I went with my dad to Goodwill. When we walked in, we literally walked in two different directions (book section for me of course) while saying "see you in a bit"....XD Out of two isles full of books, I found seven books, which I can't decide is a good amount or pretty small for me! Anyways, I got books from the Mysteries of Sparrow Island series which is by multiple authors. I actually own four or five more of these but I haven't read them yet. They're in my book jar though! These are Guideposts books, so they're Christian mysteries. I'm currently reading a book from another Guideposts mystery series (Church Choir Mysteries) and I'm really enjoying it, so hopefully I'll like these too! The five books that I got this time were The Prodigal Parrot (#9) by Carolyn Greene, Night Song (#16) by Susan Plunkett, Echoes from the Past (#20) by Ellen Harris, Flight of the Raven (#2) by Ellen Harris, and Nesting Instincts (#6) which is also by Susan Plunkett. I'm pretty sure I don't have to read these in order, but I guess we'll see! The other two books I got on Sunday are Stormbreaker by Anthony Horrowitz which is the first book in the Alex Rider series and Happiness is a Choice for Teens by Paul D. Meier. I really hope to read Stormbreaker soon! I've always really liked anything to do with spies so hopefully I'll like this! I was also informed by my friend Shelby that there's a movie....I may just have to see if I can find a way to watch it....after I read the book of course!! 

Okay the next bunch of books are books that I ordered off of the Usborne website so that my sister could get free books for my niece! They just came in today and I'm so excited to read them!!! The ones in the top row are Minna's Quest, No Turning Back, and Far From Home by K. M. Peyton! They're part of the Roman Pony Adventures series, and as far as I know there won't be any more, but who knows! The books in the bottom row Escape from Wolfhaven Castle, Wolves of the Witchwood, The Beast of Blackmoor Bog, The Drowned Kingdom, and Battle of the Heroes by Kate Forsyth. This is the entire set of the Impossible Quest series! 

Last but not least is Dauntless (Book 1 of the Valiant Hearts series!) by Dina L. Sleiman! I've had this one on my To Read list on Goodreads for about a year and now I finally own it! I get the email newsletter from Dina L. Sleiman (which I completely forgot about...) and the one today said that Dauntless was free on the kindle store so I bought it! 

Alright, that's all for this post, but hopefully I'll actually be motivated to post this weekend! I'm babysitting for the weekend starting Thursday so hopefully I'll have the time too! Bye!!

~Allie~

Book Update! - The Nervous Nephew (Church Choir Mysteries #3) by Nicola Furlong ~ Pg. 153/271 - A Hidden Enemy (Survivors #2) by Erin Hunter ~ Pg. 168/288 - School's Out - Forever (Maximum Ride #2) by James Patterson ~ Pg. 113/409

Books Read In February!

Hi again! Apparently making a collage out of 17 book covers is a lot harder than making one with 9! You'd think I would've realized that.....but I think this collage came out pretty good! It started out as putting them in order from top to bottom in the order that I read them, but that changed to "put it wherever I can find room" XD And I just realized that I never announced what my 2016 Reading Challenge was for this month......I should remember to do that from now on.....Anyway, this month's reading challenge was to read a book that I've been meaning to read. There are so many books that I could've chosen for this one, but I decided on Disney Lands by Ridley Pearson, which I got from my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas. :) For this month and last month I've put the reading challenge book in the middle of my collage, so I'll probably continue to do that for the rest of them! Anyways.....on to the books! Warning : this is going to be a long post!

Okay, so I liked the setup I used last month for this post, so I think I'll do it again for this one! Four of these books were library books, three were borrowed from friends, and the rest I own! I also had 11 five star books which I'm really surprised by! 

• Jan. 21st/Feb. 2nd - Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle - Book 1) by Diana Wynne Jones. This one was one of the library books that I read! :D The reason this book took me so long to read is because I was going back and forth between multiple books at once (as is usually the case) and I got distracted by another one for a little while....I actually think I switched over to Pride and Prejudice so I could finish it by the end of January... Anyway! This is the second time I've read this book, (I read it for bookclub a couple years ago) and I love it so much! I have a list on Goodreads of books that I want to own some day and this one was the first one to be put on it I'm pretty sure! In case you can't tell, I gave this one 5/5 stars. XD 

• 2nd/3rd - Castle in the Air (Howl's Moving Castle - Book 2) by Diana Wynne Jones. Another library book! So, one thing I'm not a huge fan of in this trilogy is the fact that each book centers around a different set of characters....Howl and Sophie (from the first book) make appearances in all three books, and play somewhat important parts in the second and third ones, but it doesn't give much information about their lives after the first book......and I love them so much and want more info!! However, on the other hand, having different main characters was also interesting....that being said, this book had it's slightly strange parts at first but was all in all really good.....which can be proven by the fact that I stayed up until 5:30 in the morning to finish this book.....XD These books have so much going on at the end that it pulls you in and you can't set it down....by the way, I gave this book 5/5 stars also...

• 3rd/4th - Masterminds (Masterminds - Book 1) by Gordon Korman. Another library book and another book by Gordon Korman that I loved! This is the reason he's one of my favorite authors! The second book is either already out, or comes out next month, and I can't wait till I can get it from the library! I don't know what was with me and finishing book in less than 24 hours towards the beginning of the month, but I loved it! This one got 5/5 stars too! 

• Jan. 26th/Feb. 7th - Class Dismissed by Allan Woodrow. This one I accidentally borrowed from my cousin Lainey.....XD She brought it with her one weekend while she was reading it and asked me to read to her over the weekend and then accidentally forgot it here when she left, and by then I was getting into the book so I decided to finish it before the next weekend that she came over! It was a really cute, light read and I gave it 4/5 stars. :) 

• 5th/10th - Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones. I found this one at a thrift store with my dad and grabbed it because of the author....I just realized that I read four book by the same author in a month.... Anyway, I had the hardest time getting into this one at first, though I blame part of that on babysitting and trying to read at the same time....once the babysitting was over I was able to read faster...but this book was also pretty strange which didn't help my ability to get into it any. I was pretty satisfied with the ending, and the main character Mig reminded me of Sadie from the Kane Chronicles. (Which I have been wanting to reread for weeks....I've been in a huge Rick Riordan book mood lately for some reason) This one got 4/5 stars also. 

• Jan. 20th/Feb. 11th - Little House on the Prairie (Little House - Book 2) by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't tell you how many times I've read this book... I started reading it again because I was in the mood for a familiar story that I hadn't read in a while and this one worked! This one will always get 5/5 stars from me! :D 

• 12th - Samantha and the Missing Pearls by Valerie Tripp. Okay, so I totally remember these little stories being way longer than they are....it only took me about 10-15 minutes to read this one...but it was a really cute story and I still really like the American Girl books! This book got 4/5 stars. 

• 12th/13th - Fall of the Amazing Zalindas (Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars - Book 1) by Tracy Mack. I was very surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! I plan on getting the next book from the library soon and it's actually made me possibly want to read the actual Sherlock Holmes mysteries... This one was another 5 star rating!

• 14th/16th - The Wicked Step-Twister (Church Choir Mysteries - Book 1) by Sandy Dengler. So, this one is part of a Guideposts mystery series. I haven't read very many books centered around Christianity (even though I should...), especially not a mystery, or one where all of the main characters are adults... I honestly can't even remember ever reading a book where the main character is an adult....most of the books I read consist of teenagers or younger starring as the main character. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get into this story! Some Christian books I've seen have a way of sounding a bit awkward to me in the way they bring up God, like it's in the most random times where it doesn't seem to fit but the author is just trying to throw it in there and make it a point. However this book didn't do that and I believe that they came about talking about God in a very casual and fitting way for the most part. That being said, this book got 4/5 stars and I plan on reading another one of these soon! 

• 16th - Meg's Story by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is another book that I loved when I was younger and that felt way longer back then too! I finished this one in about twenty minutes or so...I believe it took me a couple of days at least to read it when I was younger. The story was just as good as I remembered though! This one got 4/5 stars!

• 17th - Addy's Wedding Quilt by Connie Rose Porter. This was another mini American Girl book that took me about 10-15 minutes just like the Samantha one. To be honest, I've never actually read any of the Addy books before even though I own them... My interest was never pulled to them like my favorite ones, but I plan on reading them now, so they're officially in my book jar! This one was pretty good for the first Addy book I've ever read, and it got 4/5 stars. 

• 17th - Mice of the Herringbone by Tim Davis. Yet another of my favorites from when I was younger! I loved it just as much as I did then and it got 5/5 stars. :) 

• 17th/19th - Maximum Ride Vol. 1 (Maximum Ride: The Manga - Book 1) by James Patterson. I borrowed this one from one of my best friends and this was finished in two days because I kept going back and forth between books....But it was really awesome seeing these characters in pictures! This one got 5/5 stars!

• 17th/21st - Farmer Boy (Little House - Book 3) by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I really enjoyed this book! It seems a bit random to me the way it's in the middle of the series, but it was still very good! My favorite part of the book was the last two chapters....XD This book has 5/5 stars too! 

• 23rd - Maximum Ride Vol. 2 (Maximum Ride: The Manga - Book 2) by James Patterson. The first one took me two days to actually finish, and yet I finished this one in a little over an hour and a half.....XD 5/5 stars!

• 21st/26th - Disney Lands (Kingdom Keepers: The Return - Book 1) by Ridley Pearson. Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much I missed these characters! I was so sad that I finished it as fast as I did, but I was also happy and super excited for the next book! (Which thankfully comes out at the end of March and I am determined to get it! I refuse to wait for my birthday!) Another 5 stars from me! 

And last but not least.....

• 23rd/28th - House of Many Ways (Howl's Moving Castle - Book 3) by Diana Wynne Jones. This book was so good!! I'm so sad that it's the last Howl's Moving Castle book though! I want more of all of the characters!!! This was the last 5 star rating from me this month! :D 

Oh my gosh this post was so long!!!! 0.0 Anyways... my Reading Challenge for March is to read a book that a librarian, friend, or family member recommended to me....for now the plan is to read Memory Maze by Gordon Korman, which was recommended to me by one of our librarians, but I borrowed Zodiac by Romina Russell from my friend Shelby a couple of weeks ago so I may change it to that instead....I guess we'll see! Bye until next weekend!!

~Allie~

Book/Book Blog Plans!

  Hello again! I know I haven't posted in a few weeks, but my grandma and cousin have been coming over on the weekends lately and I've been having a really hard time figuring out what to write a post about....which is the reason why I just spent about twenty minutes on a few different blogs finding ideas for posts for this one! And I found like 16 ideas that I liked and wrote down! So hopefully I'll have an easier time making posts! 

  I think this post may have a few different sections....it has a few different topics at least! First, I have a notebook that I'm gonna write my blog schedule and post ideas in! I really like this notebook, but I've never used it for anything until now. I love that it has my first initial on it.... XD So far I've only written on two pages, but it should come in handy! 

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So, my dad took me and my mom to the library on Thursday and I got six new books! Plus I got to talk to my favorite librarian and see my beautiful library! I mean seriously, look at their ceiling! They've been adding changes too, and I love some of the ideas like this book basket I found on one of the tables in the Young Adult section!

Anyway, on to the actual books! Technically I have seven books checked out, including one that isn't in this picture, and one that's still sitting on the shelf in the background...the ones that you can actually see are The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, and The Curse of the King (Seven Wonders - Books 1-4) by Peter Lerangis in the top row and Mystery on Museum Mile (Eddie Red Undercover - Book 1) by Marcia Wells along with 12 (The Last Thirteen - Book 2) by James Phelan on the bottom. :) Unfortunately, the first book in The Last Thirteen series has yet to come in so I can't read 12 until I get it.... The other two books are School's Out - Forever (Maximum Ride - Book 2) by James Patterson, which is on the shelf in front of the other books, and House of Many Ways (Howl's Moving Castle - Book 3) by Diana Wynne Jones, which isn't in this picture...

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Finally, I'm gonna go ahead and do a book update! So, I still haven't picked City of Bones back up....I'm still on page 60/485..... I'm still reading Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, except now I'm on page 119/412 instead of 116....XD I'm also reading The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams for school and I'm on page 11/104 and House of Many Ways that I'm on page 206/416, 49% through! XD 

Well, that's it for now! I should be able to post tomorrow, but if not I definitely will next weekend! 

~Allie~

New Books!!!!

Hi!!! I have a sleeping toddler on the couch so I now have time to write a blog post! XD So, I have six new books!! Technically I got them yesterday, but I already posted once yesterday and I didn't really want to post twice in one day.....(Plus I may or may not have forgotten.....but we'll ignore that! XD) I went to the thrift store with my dad yesterday and of course I went straight to the book section and stayed there practically the whole time.... And I made another collage...XD

Okay, so top left is Moonrise by Erin Hunter! It's the second book in the Warriors : The New Prophecy series and even though I've read it before, I'm trying to collect all of the books if I can so I bought it! Even though it's paperback and the first one (that I also own) is in hardback....which usually drives me insane, but since I have some sets in paperback and some sets in hardback, it doesn't bother me too much... Anyway, top right is Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones. Honestly, I almost didn't even read the back of this book to see what it was about when I saw who wrote it..... Diana Wynne Jones is the author of the Howl's Moving Castle trilogy (which I love and am planning on reading the last one soon) and I automatically wanted the book just because of the author...XD To my knowledge, (and Goodreads), this book isn't part of a series.... The middle left book is The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas by Tracy Mack. By the looks of this book, part of it got wet at some point, but it seemed fine other than that and it sounded good, plus it was only fifty cents (awesome, right?!), so I figured why not! This book is the first book in the Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars series. :) The book on the right in the middle is The Wish by Gail Carson Levine. This was another book that I got mostly based on the author...(she wrote Ella Enchanted!) and I figured that if I liked Ella Enchanted, I would try out this one! This one is a stand alone too I believe... Okay, bottom left is Holes by Louis Bachar. I've been wanting to read this one ever since I found out the movie was based on a book...I really like the movie and I would really like to find out what the book's like! Apparently this book is the first book in the Holes series.....or duo....or whatever you call a set of only two books.....(slightly ashamed that I don't know what that's called...) I thought it was only the one book....XD And last but not least is The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo! This is the movie novelization, but I'm really curious, and again, only fifty cents, so I got it! 

Well, that's it for today! Feel free to comment if you've read any of these books! I plan on doing a book update tomorrow! Plus, I really need to work on figuring out posts for my other blogs that I'm a part of..... 

~Allie~