Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. This week's theme is Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List! Even though it's not winter yet.  The first few are new releases, the rest are ones I'm wanting to read but are already available.

The New Releases:

1. The Look of Love by Sarah Jio. Release date TODAY. I preordered it and it will be in my mailbox when I get home!!!

2. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen: Release date: January 20, 2015. Love the cover on this one!!!

3. Saving Grace by Jane Green: Release date: December 30, 2014. I love her books!

4. Confess by Colleen Hoover: Release date: march 10, 2015. It's Colleen Hoover. Need I say more?

5. Another Night, Another Day by Sarah Rayner: Release date: December 23, 2014. I loved Rayner's book One Moment, One Morning so I'm super excited for this one!

 The Already Released:

6. One in a Million by Jill Shalvis. This is book 12 in the Lucky Harbor series.

7. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriatrty. Been sitting on my shelf unread for too long!

8. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. Still have yet to read any of hers!

9. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. Bought this one awhile back and it's still sitting on my shelf!

10. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob. Won this one from Good Reads and haven't read it yet!!

What's on your Winter TBR list fellow readers?

Happy Reading!!

Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts: November 20

This is a weekly event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous.

1. I'll admit it: I have a book hangover. Ever since finishing Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover and Isla and the Happily Ever After by Steaphanie Perkins, nothing is quite measuring up. I'm currently reading two books, The Search by Nora Roberts and He's So Fine by Jill Shalvis, both of which I am liking, but neither of which I'm loving the way I loved Ugly Love and Isla.  I'm hoping reading Sarah Jio's new one, The Look of Love (which I pre ordered) next weekend will pull me out of it!
 
2. A week from today is Thanksgiving!!! My absolute favorite holiday of the year. It angers me that everyone seems to skip over Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas (and by everyone I mean retailers, not individual people).  The hubby and I will be going over to my mom's for the day and I am super excited to help her cook for it Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning :)



Peyton is getting so big! 5 and a half months old



dog treats for Peyton!

3. Peyton is now five and a half months old and absolutely adorable. I'm completely in love with the little guy.  He is so sweet! On Sunday I made homemade dog treats from a recipe I found on Pinterest (here's the link). They we so easy--whole wheat flour, pumpkin, peanut butter, and eggs! Peyton went crazy for them!! Will definitely be making more of those in the future!

4. It's been COLD here. At least for Oregon and for November it's been cold. The last few mornings I've woken up and it's been 23 outside. I know I have readers in much colder areas, but for this Oregon girl, 23 is WAY too cold for me.  I prefer a nice 75 or 80...like Hawaii...:) Today it's finally starting to warm up a bit and be nice, mild Oregon with rain! My favorite!

5. Blogging: I've been blogging a lot less lately than I'd like--my apologies! Work has been absolutely insane and I've just been exhausted! But I promise I'm not going anywhere!!

Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Look of Love

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  The event spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

This week, I am excited for the release of:

The Look of Love 

By Sarah Jio

Release Date: November 25, 2014

305 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

From Good Reads:

Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to see true love. Jane has emerged from an ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic when, on her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives, specifying that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday, or face grave consequences. When Jane falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that her fate is sealed. Inspired by the classic song, The Look of Love is utterly enchanting. 

 I've read two books by Sarah Jio, Goodnight June and Blackberry Winter, and absolutely loved them both! I was sad that I didn't get approved for this one on NetGalley, but preordered the book so it will arrive on my doorstep Tuesday! Jio is one of my new favorite authors, and like my other new favorite author Colleen Hoover, I've decided that Jio's books are ones that I'm undoubtedly going to love, so I might as well just preorder them instead of waiting at the library and then wishing I'd bought it when it came out! Excited for Tuesday--this one will be my Thanksgiving weekend read :)

What are you looking forward to the release of today?

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
352 pages, published August 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Library

From Good Reads:

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

My Review:

What a fantastic finale to the series! Yet another fantastic book from Stephanie Perkins. I loved that this one was once again set in Paris! What I really loved about this book (and the whole series, really) is how realistic the relationship between Isla and Josh is. It's not farfetched, it's not fake, and the character's feelings are legitimate and real. Perkins does an excellent job with this in all her books. By doing this, her books are just on a higher level of amazingness. When I finished this book I was sad it was over, and sad the whole series was over. I hope Perkins decides to write more about these characters because I'm desperate to know more and what happens next!

I LOVED the ending and how Perkins tied characters from all three books together! I was hoping for something like that and what happened was even better than I'd hoped for! 

If you haven't read Stephanie Perkins or the Anna and the French Kiss series, drop everything and read them NOW. They're that good. Not only are they entertaining, page turning reads, they have depth, emotion,  perfect settings, characters you'll love, and a story that will warm your heart. 

Overall rating for Isla and the Happily Ever After: A

Happy Reading!

My First Birchbox!

I know this isn't book related, but I'm so excited about this I have to share! I recently started a subscription to Birchbox. I first heard about Birchbox awhile back from a blog I absolutely love, The Small Things Blog. Kate has been a longtime subscriber and always posts about each month's box of beauty treats! As a subscriber, each month you get 5 samples of high end beauty products tailored for your likes based off your beauty profile. You can try out the samples, and buy full size versions if you like them! I've been debating subscribing for a few months now, and finally decided it was time to treat myself each month. The women's subscription is $10 a month, and after receiving this first box, it is completely worth it!



It comes in a super cute pink box!

And yet another super cute box!

These are all the goodies inside!

All the goodies in the box

 

 It was hard to pick a favorite, but after using the samples for a few days my favorite is definitely  the Jouer Matte Moisture Tint in Linen (top left in picture). I like wearing makeup but I prefer a more natural look and this product was perfect for that! It evened out my skin tone and looked great but didn't feel heavy on my skin.  It also lasted all day, and kept my skin moisturized! I also loved the Coastal Scents eyeshadow palette (bottom left in the picture), the colors where exactly the colors I like to wear--and it didn't hurt the palette's name was ballerina! I also loved the Cleansing Conditioner by Macadamia Professional (bottom right, in the picture).  Normally I'm not a fan of two in one shampoo and conditioner but this product worked great!!  I loved the fragrance and how smooth it made my hair. The product promised to shorten my blow drying time, and while I dind't time it exactly, I defintely noticed that it took me less time to dry my hair, and that it was less frizzy after drying it. The only negative I had about this product was that once my hair was dry it felt like it had a lot of product in it--but I liked how it looked so it didn't bother me too much. This product would be ideal for travel!  I love that you can buy the 3 ounce travel size on the Birchbox website. The suki exfoliating  foaming cleanser (top right in the picture) was fantastic as well, I loved the lemony scent, and mhyface was so soft after using it. My least favorite of the samples was the  Essential Elements Wake Up Rosemary Shower Gel (middle picture). The prodcut worked well, but the fragrance of the shower gel wasn't to my liking.

Overall, I was thrilled with my first Birchbox experience! I highly recommend giving it a try--there's no long term commitment so why not treat yourself? My only problem now is trying to convince myself it's OK to spend $38 on a full size version of that moisture tint... :) If you're interested in trying Birchbox, let me know and I will send you a referral from their site!

Review: Ugly Love

Title: Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
337 pages, published August 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance, Contemporary
Source: Library

From Good Reads:

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

My Review:

It's official. Colleen Hoover I my new favorite author!! A book about a gorgeous pilot who lives next door?! Count me in! I absolutely loved Maybe Someday, had heard this one was better and had a hard time imagining that was possible...until I read it!  Once again, I absolutely loved it.  It took me awhile to decide if I liked it more than Maybe Someday, and I came to the conclusion that I did--I really loved how Hoover tied Miles' past and flashbacks to the present and makes everything fit together perfectly at the exact right time--and it wasn't even close to what I expected.

Colleen Hoover's writing is fantastic. It flows well, her characters are real, and her writing made me feel for these characters. My heart ached for Tate when Miles refused to open up to her, and at the same time my heart aches for Miles because it was clear something pretty big happened in his past to cause him to react that way.  Both of Hoover's books are some of my favorites of 2014 because of that--they make you feel real emotion.

I got this book from the library, and while I was waiting I debated just buying it and getting to read it sooner. I learned my lesson--buy all new Colleen Hoover books as soon as possible. They will be excellent and completely worth it.

”God gives us the ugliness so we don’t take the beautiful things in life for granted.” 

Overall rating for "Ugly Love": A

Happy Reading!

Scenic Sundays: Lunch with a View

Scenic Sundays is a weekly meme hosted by Terri at Second Run Reviews
.  The goal of the meme is to share a photograph (that you took yourself) and one quote to go with it.

I work in university admissions, and last  Monday I was lucky enough to travel to visit a high school on the Oregon Coast!  This meant I got to have lunch with my coworkers at Mo's, a hugely popular Oregon Coast chain of restaurants famous for their clam chowder.  The Siletz Bay was my lunch view for the day and I was pretty happy about it! Also had some yummy clam chowder (of course). Here's a photo of my lunch view:



 

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." --Jacques Cousteau

 

So true, so true!

Have a great week!

W...W...W...Wednesday

W… W… W… Wednesday, hosted by Should be Reading is a weekly meme showcasing what you just finished reading, what you are currently reading, and what you plan to start reading next.

 

What did you just finish reading?

 

 

I love, love, LOVED this book!!! One of my favorites of the year for sure!!

 

 

What are you currently reading?

 

 

Only about 75 pages in, but I'm really enjoying it so far!

 

What are you reading next?

 

 

This is an exciting one...been on the hold list at the library for a super long time on this one...I am SO EXCITED to finally go pick it up from the library today!!

 

What are you reading this week? Happy Reading!!