Awake by Natasha Preston (No Spoilers)

“My dad always said that you know you are in love when someone comes along that makes you question everything.” -Noah, Awake

As I’ve said in another post, I recently bought a ton of stuff during Black Friday. Two of those things happened to be books, Awake by Natasha Preston and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Unfortunately, my mom made me pick one of the books to read now, which happened to be Awake, and the other one my mom is making me wait until Christmas to get. This made me extra sad because I didn’t count of finishing Awake in two days, which has only happened twice before.

Now, I’ll be honest, I was kind of hesitant to purchase this book since I read her previous book The Cellar, and although the book had what I thought was a really creative and Criminal Mind-y plot line, there were a lot of flaws I found (including the character development) that made me at least a little hesitant to try out another one (If you would like to know more about exactly I had problems with the first book, I actually did a book review on that one as well which you can find here.). In the end, though, I’m really glad I gave Natasha Preston a second chance. Despite the fact that it seems like most people do not agree with me on this, I thought you could really see improvement in her writing style and story development in this book versus her previous one, and I’m personally hoping that she comes out with a sequel which I would definitely try hard to get my hands on.

Short Overview

This is going to be a bit hard trying not to give too much away, but I shall try my best. Basically, Awake is about a girl named Scarlett who is not able to remember anything before the age of four, supposedly due to a fire that happened at that time. She has long since accepted the fact that she will never be able to regain these memories until she meets this handsome new guy named Noah. They almost instantly fall in love (or so it would seem), and Noah begins to make her rethink her decision to leave those memories in the past. That is until Scarlett and her family get into a car crash suddenly bringing pieces of those memories back, which sends her on a mission to remember everything. In the process, she discovers more than she ever wanted to know about her childhood, family, and, eventually, her new boyfriend and finds herself fighting for her life because of it.

What I Enjoyed

• The plot line. I think above anything else, Natasha Preston does a great job a coming up with plot lines. Even though I’ve only read two of her books, I just find her stories to be so unique and interesting. Almost like I’m reading something that came right out of Criminal Minds (and we all know how much I love Criminal Minds 😉 ).
• It deals with cults. I really haven’t read many books that dive into the world of cults, and I happen to find cults fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Because it’s a fiction book, it makes you feel like something of this nature couldn’t actually happen when, in all honesty, it’s definitely out there. It’s seems impossible that someone could brainwash an entire group of people, but history has shown that when people seclude themselves from the rest of the world, it makes it that much easier for them to fall for lies coming from an authority figure within the group, especially when those people are already hurting and vulnerable. Like I said before, to me, this is a really scary thought.
• I found myself feeling the same things as the characters. When the book spent a lot of time focusing on Scarlett getting frustrated at the fact that she couldn’t remember, my immediate thought the book was moving too slowly, but then I realized that I was really just feeling the same type of frustration in her not being able to remember faster that she was feeling herself.
• The ending. I don’t really want to talk about too much of this because I don’t want there to be a lot of spoilers, but I like how she ended the book with another mystery waiting to be discovered. If she decides to write another book, then she’s already set up another interesting plot line, and if she doesn’t, it just shows you that we don’t always get to learn everything about what happened.

What I Didn’t Like So Much

• She couldn’t remember anything before the age of four, and that was supposed to be a really big deal. Maybe I’m just crazy, but there’s not much I remember before the age of four either. She even made the comment at one point that she “lost four years of her life.” I haven’t met anyone who can remember stuff from when they were born to age two, so at most, she only missed like maybe two years of very fragmented memories.
• The romance. At some points, it was just really cheesy. The romance seemed to be  written for middle school kids and the rest of the plot line was more for high school to college students which I was kind of disappointed about.
• The grammar mistakes!! This is something that really got to me with The Cellar, so I was really disappointed that they showed up again in Awake. I realize that she wrote the book on Wattpad to begin with, and most people probably didn’t care about the mistakes on there. In my opinion, though, a published book should have little to no (bordering on no) mistakes, and someone just isn’t doing the best job proofreading it.

Basically, I thought the story line was on point and everything else was not so much. As I said with her first book, I think high school students and anyone looking to kill some time would enjoy this book. In the end, I’d give it about three stars out of five.

Apartment Living

When I first transferred to my current college, I moved into a four bedroom/four bath apartment with one of my friends from high school who also happened to be transferring to the same school (we’ll call her Katherine). Since we were moving into a four bedroom, though, we of course had two random roommates who had already been living there for a year. Because of that, the apartment was already decorated they way they liked it, so there wasn’t much we felt like we could change. I was actually really disappointed about that because I really do love decorating.

Recently, though, both of those girls moved out and two other girls we knew from high school moved in, so we’ve gotten to change everything around and make it look the way we want it to. I absolutely love the way that it turned out. It feels so much more like home which I feel like is incredibly important when you’re away from your family, so I thought that I would share it with you guys!

One of the walls of the apartment was already painted red by the apartment complex, so we decided to do a red/gray/black color scheme. We actually just added the fairy lights, and I have to say, they’re probably my favorite part, especially because they kind of frame the picture of the city. It’s almost like they’re coming out of the picture.

This was Katherine’s addition to the room. I was a little skeptical at first when she told me the idea for it since we both have very different tastes, but I actually really like how it turned out. I’m planning on putting a pumpkin on there instead of the glass jar for fall….god, I love fall!

That vase actually came from one of our old roommates and originally held more flowers, but someone accidentally lit them on fire….

My roommate’s quote. My elephant lol.

This happens to be my favorite area of the entire apartment. I spend most of my time here trying to appease my coffee addiction. The little guy beside it is supposedly for tea. Not quite sure exactly what it does though….

And finally, my lovely owls. I absolutely love owls, my room is full of them.

Anyway, that is all! I hope you enjoyed it, and are having a lovely week!

-Alice

Everything I Didn’t Say (Transportation Edition)

To the guy standing up instead of sitting in the open seat beside me….contrary to common belief, I don’t bite.

To the freshman and transfers new to the bus system….please take off your bookbags when standing on the cramped bus.

To the girl who pushed me into the seat with her bookbag causing me to bleed….please see above….also, in the words of Sheldon, you’ve made my list.

To the guy in the white car that almost hit me getting off the bus….stop when you see a group of people crossing the street….you’ve also made my list.

To the guy in front of me who smelled strongly of brownies….may I borrow your brownie cologne.

To the bus door….thank you for not opening en route causing me to fall out.

To the bus driver….when you have a bus literally packed full of people, you probably shouldn’t drive recklessly….just a thought.

To the residents of my apartment complex….roads are not just big, black sidewalks, and the gates the cars are stopping in actually do close on their own after a while.

To the white car that came over on me twice….stay in your lane.

To the driver of that white car….texting while driving=bad.

To all white cars….why do you hate me.

Hints, Tips, and Things to Try: August Edition

I know I say this every month, but how is it September already?? This year has absolutely flown by. On the plus side, it’s September (!) which is quite possible my favorite month out of the year because it ushers in Fall which happens to be my all time favorite season! Anyway, I’m rambling on about the wrong month.

August has been pretty much all about family for me. Summer classes ended, and I only had a week before fall semester started up again. Because of that, I tried (and am trying) to spend a lot of time with my family on the weekends. I also was officially diagnosed with migraines this month, which may seem like a bad thing, but because of that I was able to get medicine that really helps them which has been great. My dad also turned 50 this month which is really exciting, but also a little scary because I really don’t like to think about my grandparents and parents (or myself for that matter) getting older. So, yeah, overall it’s been a pretty good month, and I really hope that y’all had an equally good month!

Things I Like/Think You Should Try

1. Invincible Summer. I know I already wrote an entire post on this, but I really just can’t say enough about it. It was one of the best books I’ve read in quite a long time. I read it at a time when I was really pretty terrified about being an adult and graduating college (that’s scary stuff!), and the book definitely helped to put me at ease by reminding me that even if nothing goes to plan, you can still find the strength to go on and keep living and even find beauty and purpose in the little things. I really don’t think you’ll regret reading it. 
2. Tarte, Tarteist Eyeliner. I have been looking for a good eyeliner for quite a while now, so I finally decided to suck it up and try an eyeliner that I didn’t find at Walmart. It ended up coming down to this one and Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil, but Tarte ended up getting better reviews on Sephora. I’m so incredibly glad I did. I love it. For one, it has both a pencil and a liquid side, so you’re getting two for one. They’re both very pigmented, and at the end of the day, it still looks like you just put it on. Plus, I just really love the packaging. It reminds me of New Years.
3. Beauty Blender. I know I’m incredibly late on this one, so I won’t say much about it. Just go out and buy one. Definitely worth it. 
4. AllBookstores.com I thought this one was appropriate for the beginning of the new semester. A friend of mine told me about this website for renting textbooks about a year ago, and I’ve been using it ever since. Basically, you just type in the book information, and it compares the prices for that same book from lots of different bookstores. It also tells you whether the price is for renting or buying the book, so you can narrow it down that way. This semester alone it’s saved me over $200, so it’s definitely something to look into.
5. Rate My Professor. Also for the start of the new semester. This website has changed my life when it comes to signing up for classes. Just type in a professor’s name, check that it’s the right school, and a rating with reviews from past students comes up. It’s really nice to get a general idea of what you’re getting into.

Random Things I Learned This Month

1. Veins carry blood to the heart and arteries carry blood away from the heart.
2. The smallest bird is the bumblebee hummingbird (It’s also incredibly cute).
3. The Kiwi Bird can’t fly (also adorable).
4. You tend to do better in classes when you actually pay attention to the professor.
5. A snail breathes through its foot.

From the Raven’s Desk-Love

A while ago, I asked my boyfriend to write something for my blog since I thought he gave really great advice, and, many time, a different perspective on things than I normally would. I think different perspectives are very much a good thing and help you to form a more well rounded opinion. For his debut post, he chose to write about love, and besides the fact that I feel a bit awkward posting something that glamorizes me so much (didn’t know it was going to end up being about me lol), I really love and agree with what he said. Enjoy!

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Well, hello there, snoopy little one! Looking down the rabbit hole, are we, now? You’ve most certainly heard of me from Alice. I’m the one she keeps referring to as The Hatter, or well, “her boyfriend.” When Alice first wanted me to write on this blog, I was a little hesitant. I mean, this blog, was, after all, always meant to be a way for Alice to help people like she loves doing, an outlet for her creativity, and a place for her to write, meet people, and just be herself. Plus, from what I’ve read on her posts, Alice makes me sound like a nice, helpful person, which I most certainly am not, and it’s going to be incredibly hard to live up to that pedestal Alice puts me on. It brings to mind the saying about never meeting your heroes, although I’m far from a hero, and you’ll probably never really meet me. Anyway, I digress. When I agreed to write a post on the blog, I was thinking about what I should write about, and while there’s a bunch of stuff I could write about, I feel nothing would be as appropriate as talking about the one thing that all of us love: Love. (See what I did there? ;))

I’m going to be honest here and say that I never used to be a big believer in love. While most people are turned away from love because they find the concept of it cheesy, or because they’ve had incidents that have pushed them towards that conclusion, to me, love was always something that I never thought I needed. I have always been incredibly ambitious, and a big dreamer, as Alice will tell you (I don’t really do anything with my dreams, but hey, that’s another story!), and I have, as long as I can remember, wanted to leave a mark on the world, have a page in the annals of history, make a name for myself. Having a happy family, in a house with a white picket fence, and watching kids run around was never something that appealed to me. In fact, I used to think that people who settled for a family were settling for something less than their “purpose” in life. All this, of course, changed when I met Alice, and that’s the reason we’re here today.

How I feel today couldn’t be further from how I used to feel about love. Since Alice came into my life my outlook towards life, and the world in general has changed quite a bit. “It’s love that makes the world go round,” said W. S. Gilbert. While I don’t know if that applies to the whole world, I know that it does to mine. Alice and I met online, on Wattpad, a site for bloggers. We started talking on that site for a while, and then started texting each other, and I still remember the day we had our first Skype conversation. I was boarding a bus to go visit some friends, and found a nice, secluded spot at the back and connected to the Wi-Fi. When Alice told me that she was having trouble getting on her computer as she had just spilt some Coke on it, I thought that I had been getting cat-fished for sure. I hadn’t. Alice really is that much of a klutz. I saw her for the first time, ever, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was beautiful, and far beyond what I had expected. I’d seen pictures of her, but they did her no justice, and her personality – a combination of naivety, awkwardness, and general goofiness, was unbelievably endearing. The reason I remember that day so vividly, is not just because it was the first time I “met” Alice, but because she wouldn’t stop talking! I’d been hearing for days about how shy she was with new people, and here she was, telling me about her entire family (this included her grandfather, grandmother, great-grand-uncle, and relatives I can’t even connect back to her now!)

From that day on, I’d say that Alice has changed me in ways that I never thought I’d ever change. I went from questioning the whole concept of a family, to wanting kids with her. From thinking that love was something stupid people did to wile away time, to wanting to spend every minute I possible could, with her. From thinking that long-distance was a sorry excuse for people that were either too shy or too busy to have a “real” relationship, to wanting to beat the odds, and spend a life together. In our own small way, I think we have shown ourselves, and the people around us, that love really does exist. That ‘true love’ is a possibility for even the biggest critic of the concept. That you really can put another person above yourself.

This is my understanding of love. It is far from the “one true way” and I will be the first to acknowledge that love can often take a different form and meaning to different individuals. To me, love is about wanting to spend every waking minute with another person. Love, is about thinking of someone and feeling that warm glow spread through you. Love, is about doing things that you’d never do otherwise, simply because you derive your happiness from another’s. Love, is about being yourself, and knowing that nothing will change. Love, is about going to bed, and waking up, thankful that you get another day to spend with your significant other. Love, is about wanting to watch the stars together, lying in a lush green meadow, holding hands, without a care in the world. Love, is about growing old together, hobbling away into the sunset, hands held. Love, is about Alice.

 

 

 

Invincible Summer by Alice Adams (No Spoilers)

“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there lay within me an invincible summer.” -Albert Camus

A little while ago (it may even have been a few weeks ago….geez time is flying by lately) I wrote a book review on The Cellar by Natasha Preston. Originally I had planned on it being a one time thing. Since then, though, I’ve really gotten into reading again, and I actually really enjoyed writing the last review, so if it’s okay with you guys, I believe I’ll write some more from time to time. 🙂

I bought Invincible Summer almost on a whim. I found the book in the middle of the bookstore on one of the displays housing all the newly released Adult fiction novels. Normally, I don’t read Adult fiction unless it’s a mystery (Harlan Coben is my absolute favorite. Seriously, go check him out.) because I feel like the topics don’t really fit into my life right now, but this book got such good reviews that I decided to branch out a bit. I am so incredibly happy that I did because I’d have to say this was the best book I’ve read in a while.

Short Overview 

Basically, the Invincible Summer follows four friends, Eva, Sylvie, Lucien, and Benedict, throughout their adult lives immediately following college graduation and all of the heartache, failures, achievements, dreams, and surprises that come with it. After college the four friends get separated by following their different dreams and career paths, but unfortunate circumstances bring them back together again. The book puts the characters in real life circumstances and shows how you can find the strength within yourself, and with the help of friends, to keep living and moving forward through difficult times.

What I Enjoyed

• It was refreshingly real. So many times you read books where everything magically turns out great in the end. While that’s great to read every once in a while, I enjoyed this book because it didn’t sugar coat anything. The events in the book felt real which helped you to relate better to it.
• The characters had a lot of depth, and I feel like you could relate to at least one of them.
• It was fast paced. I absolutely hate slow books with seemingly pointless chapters. This book was the complete opposite. Because, for the most part, each chapter was set in a different year, there was always some new development in the story to catch up on. It definitely made the book a page turner. I finished it in about two days.

“Everything’s not okay, and it’s not going to be okay, and I still get out of bed every morning and stick a smile on my face even if I feel like my heart is breaking, because what’s the alternative? That’s life. You play the hand you’re dealt.” -Sylvie, Invincible Summer

• It taught you that everything is not always going to work out the way you planned it, or even be okay, but you can still find the strength within yourself to push through it and see the good in life.
• The cover is pretty awesome.

What I Didn’t Like So Much

• It got a bit over my head at times with the content. One of the characters is a Physics professor and another works with finances, so at times I had no clue what they were talking about. Luckily, it wasn’t often, and you didn’t necessarily have to understand it to get the story line.
• Because it changed years and places so often it could get a bit confusing.

In the end, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone college age or above. I just feel like younger than that it wouldn’t be as relevant, but by all means try it if you would like!  It helped me put a lot of things in perspective and showed me that everything doesn’t have to go perfectly to enjoy life. It also ended up showing you just how important good friends and family are in life.

Confused Career

Lately, I’ve been in something of a crisis when it comes to deciding what I want to do with my life. Most college degrees, it seems like, require you to know exactly what you want to do within the first two years for you to make it out within four years. That did not happen with me….haha. I went into my Freshman year of college as a Criminal Justice major. Then, at orientation, I changed it to Nursing. Sophomore year it switched to Chemistry. Once I switched colleges a third time spring semester of Sophomore year, it became Science Education with an emphasis in Chemistry. Junior year that became Science Education with an emphasis in Biology. Towards the end of Junior year it started inching towards Biology in order to become a Physician’s Assistant.

Phew….I got a little stressed out just typing all that….

Anyway, it is incredibly apparent that from the beginning of my college career I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Not much has changed since then. I’ve gone from major to major searching for that one career path that will make me excited to get up and go to work every morning. It wasn’t until recently, though, that I realized my search has been less about what I really want to do/feel good about doing and more about what my family and others expect out of me.

My generation is the first in my family to go to college. Out of them, I’ve always gotten the best grades, so my family always expected me to get out of college and make lots of money by being a doctor, PA, lawyer, chemist, etc. My mom on the other hand, always wanted to be a teacher, but without a college degree or the willpower to go back to college has instead focused on trying to get me to become a teacher instead. Now, I am definitely a people pleasing type of person, especially when it comes to my family, so all of this has very much caused me to wonder if my degree changes have been entirely my pursuit of happiness or my desire to please someone in my family. Honestly, it has been incredibly frustrating and confusing.

Last night, I got so depressed about it and the way I felt my life was heading that I completely broke down to my boyfriend who suggested I write down a list of 50 career choices I think I would like doing (even if I didn’t have the talents at the moment or it seemed impossible) or have wanted to do going back to my childhood. 50 is kind of a lot, so the career choices started becoming a bit crazy. You would think writing down so many options would be overwhelming, but surprisingly, it helped a lot. Allowing myself to dream and imagine new possibilities for my life other than just what would make me lots of money helped to give me a better outlook on life and what it could be. I actually started believing in myself a bit more!

Because it helped me so much, I decided to post it on here. I know some are a bit far fetched, but that’s what makes it fun!

1. PA
2. Cake Decorator/Baker
3. Shamu’s Trainer
4. Actress
5. Blogger
6. YouTuber
7. Teacher
8. OBGYN
9. Stay at Home Mom
10. Journalist
11. Counselor
12. Author
13. Wedding Planner
14. Web Designer
15. Disney World Character
16. Duck Farmer
17. Chef
18. Script Writer
19. Model
20. Wedding Dress Store Person
21. Nurse
22. Midwife
23. Nonprofit for Aged Out Foster Kids
24. Medieval Times Character
25. FBI agent
26. Penguin Keeper
27. Singer
28. Dog Breeder
29. Lawyer
30. Judge
31. Photographer
32. Investigator
33. Genetic Counselor
34. Press Secretary
35. Paralegal
36. Crocheter
37. Editor
38. Therapist
39. Zoologist
40. Reality star
41. Assistant
42. Interviewer
43. Professional Couch Potato
44. Birds of Prey Specialist
45. Makeup Artist
46. TV Show Host
47. Disney Cast Member
48. Party Planner
49. Match Maker
50. Foster Parent

Advice for Future College Students

I kept putting this post off because I wanted it to be close to the start of the new semester, but I was in Walmart a few days ago and it was packed with kids and parents getting school supplies so I guess it already is close to the start of the new semester! I can’t believe how fast this summer has gone by. It seems like I just started summer semester, but I guess when you’re busy time does tend to fly by. I’m getting off subject….

Three years ago (has it really been that long??) I was starting college, and while I was really excited, I was also terrified. It was the first time I had ever been away from my parents, and, being an only child, I was really close to them. I had no clue what I was doing, and I found myself asking anyone and everyone for advice, so I thought I would share some tips I learned from other people and just through experience.

1. Get involved!!! Oh my geez, I cannot emphasize this enough. This was definitely the one piece of advice I kept getting from other college students, and it is incredibly important. While it is true that you can meet people and make friends in your classes, it just doesn’t compare to the friendships and inclusion you get from being involved in a group or sport on campus, especially at a bigger college. It’s also a great opportunity to connect with new people and learn new things. My junior year I joined rowing (I had never rowed a day in my life….didn’t really even know it existed) with my roommate, and I ended up really enjoying it.
2. Everyone there is just like you! For some reason going into college I felt like I was the only shy, scared, homesick girl on campus which couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone going into college is feeling the exact same things that you are. Everyone is looking to make new friends and have fun so use it as an opportunity to put yourself out there, do things, and sign up for things you wouldn’t normally try. College is definitely what you put into it.
3. Keep up with your studies. I know so many people who started having such a great time living the college life their Freshman year that they completely threw studies out the window….just don’t do it. You may decide later on that you want to go to graduate school, and you’ll spend the rest of your college career trying to get your GPA back where it needs to be which may or may not be possible at that point. Besides, if you’re paying for it you might as well get the most you can out of your classes.
4. Bring some homey touches. Making your dorm room/apartment homey and comfortable may not seem like that important, but it’s amazing how something as little as this can make being away from family a little more bearable. Make sure to bring lots of pictures of friends and family back home and maybe even your Senior yearbook. I brought mine, and it made me feel better to look through it and read messages from old friends when I was upset.
5. Bring a pencil and paper your first day…. Yeah, I know this seems obvious, but I got so worked up about getting to class on time and finding the right building that I completely forgot to bring paper. Then I had to awkwardly ask the person next to me for it which was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, especially after the look they gave me lol. This brings me to my next point.
6. Find your classes before the first day. Yes, yes, yes. You do not want to have to try and find your classes on the first day. It may seem like it’s going to be easy, but I’ve had so many classes where the buildings were just screwed up. Class 201 was on the first floor, they added a wing called F that was between B and C. Just take the extra time the day before to familiarize yourself with the campus and your route to class. Take your roommate along and make it a bonding opportunity!
7. Have fun! It’ll go by so fast, and since it’s the last stage before becoming a full time working adult, make sure you enjoy it!

And just because, here’s some pictures of my first college dorm room!

Hints, Tips, and Things to Try: July Edition

So, this is something I want to do every month where I just list out the things I’ve learned throughout the month (some of them are funny, and some of them a bit more serious). I also wanted to list a few things I’ve really been enjoying this month that I think you guys would like as well! Basically, I just want it to be a quick reflection over the past month, and what’s included will probably be different every month. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

Things I Like/Think You Should Try

1. Duolingo . My boyfriend actually introduced me to this site when I said that I wished I had more time in my college career to learn a second language. I knew a little bit of French from my two semesters of it in high school and one semester in college, but I was nowhere near fluent like I wanted to be. I immediately checked it out, and I love it. It’s really simple to use, gives you a wide variety of languages to choose from, it doesn’t cost anything, and best of all, you can do it on your own time. According to my little owl on the side of the screen I am now 20% fluent in french. I know. I’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s a start.
2. Our Q&A a Day I actually found this on Amazon while looking for a birthday present for my boyfriend. I love writing in journals, and I’m always looking for different things to do with him, so I decided to get it. Basically, you find the right date, and there’s a thought provoking question at the top of each page with space for both you and your significant other to answer. Under that, there’s space for the both of you to fill your answers out again the next year and the year after that. Then you can look back at your answers and see how they’ve changed from year to year. My boyfriend and I have both really had fun with it. If you want to go a little longer, there’s also a five year one, and if you prefer not to do it with a boyfriend/girlfriend there’s a similar one for moms, kids, and just one for yourself! I feel like any of them would make really great gifts for any occasion, especially birthdays and anniversaries.

1. Sivaji. My boyfriend actually made me watch this movie since I had never seen a Tamil movie before. I can honestly say it was an interesting experience haha. Apparently like other Tamil movies, it was three hours long (much longer than other movies I’m used to watching), and they broke out into singing and dancing quite often. I definitely wish that I could dance like those girls in the movie were….Anyway, the main character was played by a man named Rajinkanth who I’ve been told it quite the celebrity where my boyfriend grew up. Seriously, people go absoluty nuts over this guy. Like One Direction nuts. If you don’t believe me, watch this video and keep in mind that his is just a trailer for one of his movies….which they had to show twice to appease people. Overall, though, I actually really enjoyed the movie. It was lighthearted and fun to watch, and it was nice to learn about another culture while watching it.

Random Things I Learned This Month

• Dishwashing Liquid is very different from Dishwasher detergent, and should not be used in place of Dishwasher detergent unless you’d like to spend a good chunk of your time cleaning up a very wet and soapy floor….
• Always leave a pair of running shorts in your car in case you happen to spill coffee on your crotch right before class starts.
• Also, it’s okay to skip class if you’ve spilled coffee on your pants. In fact, it’s much better than the alternative.
• When green lizards pop out that red thing under their neck, they’re trying to mark out their territory.
• Don’t ever take Organic Chemistry, Biology, and Medical Terminology together in the summer….

The Cellar by Natasha Preston (no spoilers)

For the first time in quite a while, I actually started reading again. I used to love reading. It relaxes me, and I love the feeling of letting go and moving into a new world where you can be who you want to be and do what you want to do. Nothing is impossible in books.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a blog based on book reviews, but for some reason I really just wanted to do one on the book I just read, The Cellar by Natasha Preston. When I first picked up the book at Barnes and Noble, I was really impressed to learn that it was a story that was originally written on Wattpad. I’ve read some of the stories on Wattpad, and I think it’s a really great opportunity for aspiring authors, so I wanted to support it.

When I read the preview on the back I got super excited because it sounded like a plot straight out of Criminal Minds (which we all know I love), but it was also original. There are quite a lot of kidnapping stories out there, but this one really felt like it could have a lot of depth to it. At the end of the book, I had very mixed feelings about it. That’s probably why I’m writing this review. I’m still trying to decided whether I liked it or not

Short Overview

Without giving away too much, the story follows a teenage girl, Summer, who, despite the warnings of her boyfriend and family, goes out alone at night (yeah, that part is not that original) and ends up getting kidnapped. After being brought to her kidnapper’s house, she finds that she is not alone. He has been kidnapping for years and views those girls that he kidnaps as his family. He also changes the girls he kidnap’s names after flowers (Summer is renamed Lily) which he views as nature’s version of perfection, and he hates imperfection.

What I enjoyed

• The book kept me turning pages and reading late into the night which is always a good sign.
• I really liked the plot line and thought that it had a lot of potential, most of which it delivered on.
• Some of the characters, like Clover and Rose, had interesting and detailed backstories which I really enjoyed.
• It switched to the point of view of the kidnapper. It gave you a different perspective, and you begin to view him as a human, someone with feelings and family, instead of just a monster.

What I didn’t like so much

• I wish she had done more with the character development of Rose, Clover, and Poppy. She started off giving Rose and Clover lots of depth, but didn’t really do anything with it.
• The main character had a tendency to get on my nerves a bit.
• There was a lot of (what I felt like was) unnecessary swearing.

Overall, I did enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone who’s bored and needs a book to read. It does have some swearing and lots of gory details, so if you don’t like either of those, I would stay away from it, though.