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Review: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow this book was huge lol I feel like I know alllllll about Elon now lol Which is a good thing because wow his life is so interesting! I knew he was someone special but man I didn't know he was a genius and a scifi geek! :D He grew up reading entire libraries of books, and loved the scifi genre.

He read some of my favs like:
- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

As well as 3 books I've never read before but now I'm adding to my TBR:
- The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
- Culture Series by Ian M. Banks
- I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

Even though he's kinda weird socially and most of his employee's didn't get a long with him, he seems like a really fun, funny guy to hang out with, he thinks sooooo outside the box, he's a dreamer that actually executes his dreams fearlessly I love it!

That's another thing - most of his employee's hated him because he expects the world from you and you have to work 24/7, don't get much sleep, and don't spend much time eating. He even measured the amount of times employee's would go to the bathroom and for how long they would go for lol And even if you delivered what he wanted in the time frame he wanted (which was near impossible) he was still not satisfied, he just wants more more more. BUT all the employee's say that even though they hated him, they immensely respected him and thought him a genius, and that no one can do it better than Elon.

He's gone through so much pain, heartache, and still comes through relentlessly with new ideas. I didn't know that he was such a romantic guy either.

He doesn't care about the money (although it's nice to have the fanciest cars in the world) he more so cares about the human races existence. That's how big he thinks. It's his life purpose to take humans into interplanetary existence. He want's us to make a colony up in Mars. There's too much risk all of us living on Earth.

I realllllly loved this book, and now I want to go buy a Tesla and fly to Mars. :)

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Review: The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was so disappointed in this book!!! There was so much hype and excitement to read it. And the beginning was good! It had potential. I loved that there was finally a psychic/clairvoyance/spiritual teen book. But as I kept reading the story never picked up. I felt like the whole book was a plateau. I ended up not caring for any of the characters either which is never good. grrrrrrr! I won't be reading the next book in the series :(

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Review: The Queen of the Tearling

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. The story wasn't even that great, but the writing was just so good! It was a very dense and long book but I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series. It was like a more adult, sophisticated, Tudor version of Throne of Glass.

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Review: Your Psychic Powers and How to Develop Them

Your Psychic Powers and How to Develop Them by Hereward Carrington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Verrrrrrrrrrrry textbook lol You don't need to read the whole book, just the chapters you find interesting :) This is why it took me forever to read lol there's only so much you can learn in one sitting and then it just get's friggin boring.

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Review: The Unwanteds

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

(2.5 Stars) If you take all the boring parts of Harry Potter and compile it into a book it would be the Unwanteds.

I'm sorry that's so mean but it's true. The book wasn't bad by any sorts but it just lacked a lot.

Granted this book is too kiddy for me but still.

Also it reminded me too much of the Divergent series with it's politics on the higher up creative people or smart people and then you have the rejects/Unwanted's. It had a very similar political plot to it that I never enjoyed even in the Divergent series.

I don't like how they put creative people on a pedestal and the smart rational people as lesser beings. They're both good and needed in a society but one's no better than the other.

The writing also lacked a lot, I barely even knew what characters looked like.

I won't be continuing this series.

sort of spoiler, but not really because it's at the very beginning:
(view spoiler)[
In the beginning it didn't feel realistic that there's a bus full of kids heading into death row and no one's freaking out. Some are tearing up but come on... even though the whole death row thing is normal to the community it's still terrifying and there would be a fight or flight response. So right off the bat I was kinda off put. Another thing unrealistic was how Alex missed his twin so much and Aaron didn't really miss him... their twins, they would totally miss eachother.
(hide spoiler)]

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Review: The Shadow Throne

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(2.5 stars) Decent book, good series. All in all a typical book/series. It was like a kiddy version of Game of Thrones but only from Jaron's perspective instead of multi-dimensional character perspectives.

Lots happened in this final installment of the Ascendance Trilogy. It was too rushed and jumpy. I prefer a book that takes it slow and is more descriptive. It felt more like 'he went there, then came here, and they did this, and then this happened' - instead of describing all the elements and dimensions of it. It felt like Nielsen just wanted to get the story over and done with lol

The story was pretty decent but I had issues with the characters:
(view spoiler)[
- Jaron - I enjoy his humor, wittiness, and smart-assness about him. But he had way too much responsibility for a kid lol and seemed wayyyyy too mature for his age, buy hey this is a middle school book
- Connor is literally the most bouncy loyalty character I have ever read about lol
- Mott was such a clingy, needy, undying servant, and felt unrealistic because it happened too quickly and easily in the first couple books
- Imogen - I still don't know or understand why Jaron loved her so much, there wasn't enough development through the books to believe it. I knew that in this book the enemy would take her or kill her. And when they said they killed her I knew they must have not killed her because that would be so dumb killing off a valuable hostage to Jaron, it wouldn't make any sense. So the twist that she was actually alive was pretty lame. Also the fact that the enemy asked Jaron about what he wanted on her gravestone was dumb too, why would an enemy do that when he's being all threatening lol.
- Ronan - his growth as a leader felt way too quickly earned
(hide spoiler)]

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Review: Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence

Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence by Amy Jen Su
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decent book. It basically teaches you to be much more self aware of how you act, behave, and treat other people in a corporate setting. It teaches you to control your emotions and think through things carefully before acting. How your voice sounds to other people and how it effects them.

It's a very situation book which is a good/bad thing because there will be some if not many circumstances that the reader cannot relate to at all yet you still need to read through them. It's a good thing because it's almost like having a coach walk you through an issue right by your side so that next time it happens IRL you're better prepared on how to deal with it. But I think most of the time a coach is there IRL to see your blind spots and to correct them. If you are not that self aware you will not take away anything from this book because you can't manage to see yourself through other people's eyes.

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Review: MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom

MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Anthony Robbins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is basically a collection of advice from some of the top richest people in America on how to manage your money. This book was insightful, but I found it a bit too much of oh look at me donating to charity, you should too!

I can sum up the most valuable thing about this book here:

The golden/foolproof/long term gainer Asset Allocation:
30% stock index funds
40% long term bonds (term of 20-25 year treasuries)
15% intermediate government bonds (term of 7-10 year treasuries)
7.5% gold
7.5% commodities

And if you're younger, and okay with more risk -> go heavier into stocks.
On a yearly basis rebalance this allocation if gains in one allocation is getting too high and out of balance

Notes:
- compounding is very powerful, make sure a portion is in a compounding interest account
- Stock market - invest in index’s like the S&P 500, don’t invest into mutual funds, so many hidden fee’s that ruin it
- Automatically transfer money from paycheck or bank account into a savings account periodically so you never even see that money
- Try to save at least 15% of your money into a compounding savings account
- advise to get a feduciary (not a meat butcher but a dietician analogy) Anthony recommends these guys: STRWealth
- Get free software that manages your asset allocation
- Make sure to create stop limits, potentially lose a little but gain a lot
- He quotes Warren Buffet: "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1"
- The problem may lie with you and you thinking
- Ray dalio “In your life time it’s almost certain that whatever you’re going to put your money in there will come a day when you will lose 50-70%” - so diversify or die!
- The power of Dollar cost averaging over the time, set it up automatically
- Asset allocation rebalancing - when one soars and the asset allocation is off redistribute so it’s back to equally balanced - increase probability it success - 1-2 times per year depending on you
- Tax loss harvesting?
- Diversify asset classes, markets and time
- Have one short term saving for a car or vacay etc
- Annuities for ppl Over 50
- Get out of anything that goes below the 200 day moving average
- Invest in the 5 to 1 discipline

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Review: The Eye of Minds

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

(1.5 stars) I mean... it had an okay story line and the signature Dashner twist was at the end... I just didn't care much idk. It felt really long.
It was very similar to the movie Ready Player One, I haven't read the book of it yet though.

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Review: The Runaway King

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book within a day and enjoyed it. Wasn't as good as the first book but that's almost expected of sequels. I was hoping for a bit more but it was still good. I feel like Jaron kept getting side tracked from what his mission was, which isn't very kingly, but he's is new. I don't know what he see's in Imogen, and I don't know why he would practically die for her. And I wanted more of Princess Amarinda in the story, but I'll probably see her more in the last book.

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Review: The Soulforge

The Soulforge by Margaret Weis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it's always a breathe of fresh air when you finally get to read a really good book ^_^
This book reminded me of my fav book of all time The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, just not as good :)
It had lots of character development and interesting plots but not a strong overall plot, I wanted more to it.
Added it to my re-reads-fantasy shelf

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Review: Neverwhere

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book reminded me exactly of JK Rowling's book The Casual Vacancy, and it's just not my cuppa tea. What is this book even about... I got a quarter way through and gave up.

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Review: The False Prince

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good book! It kind of reminded me of a guys version of Throne of Glass :P Where Celaena was trying to become the king's assassin, Sage tries to become the False Prince. Celaena was a bad-ass and Saje is a smart-ass lol Celaena would go snooping around the castle while others were sleeping and so would Saje, always plotting their next moves.
It started out reminding me of Aladdin with being a thief and beggar in the market stealing food from the market.
I enjoyed Sage's character, he was a real smart ass haha And he's a genuinely good person.
I'll be reading the next book!

The reason this book didn't get a 4.5/5 is in this spoiler:
(view spoiler)[
Did Connor really believe he was going to get away with all this?... Even his motive behind it all is pretty weak, for the betterment of the city? Nah I'm not buying it. Also he's so mixed as a character - one minute you think he's good, the next is evil. Where he trains these boys kinda like a father would his son, and then he kills one of the orphans point blank... and kills all those people on the boat including the prince.
(hide spoiler)]


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Review: The Hazel Wood

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 Stars. Beginning was interesting. Living in New York as a kid just trying to fit in and finally settle somewhere. Mystery parents, grandmother, and where grandmother lives.
Middle was okay, kinda weak, and the ending kinda lost me. I know it's geared towards people who like fairytales and wanted to be original but gah, it was just okay.
I got bored at the end sadly.
Melissa Albert definitely has a flare for writing though, she writes like she's stirring a bowl of story with a sprinkle of this and a scoop of that. I like how she writes when the characters think to themselves - seems simple but that's a true art.

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Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

(2.5/5) Gahhhh I almost enjoyed it... ALMOST. After I was half way through though it was just really boring to me... I'm so upset lol
The beginning was interesting, a little bit of repetition on things but it was fine.
But even in the beginning I felt some scenes were headed into a certain direction and then they went the opposite direction and left it and never came back to it. Not in a surprising good way either, a direction that was like huh wait what? lol
There were interesting things on magic and wishes with beads and teeth.

It had a Twilight highschool kind of feel.
It disappointed me similar to Heartless by Marissa Meyer - beginning interesting but then it never really goes anywhere interesting
By the end it had a very similar feel to Fallen by Lauren Kate

I won't be reading the next one sadly =/

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Review: The Martian Chronicles

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I just did not enjoy this book. I'm not really sure why... it had potential, had good moments. It had philosophical thoughts and was imaginative. So many possibilities of life on Mars, so many stories lol Idk it just wasn't my cup of tea. I was hoping for all the stories to come together or over lap or have a strong backbone of a story but it didn't. It was literally multiple stories of life on Mars, that's it. I had higher expectations for this and was disappointed. There were so many moments I was just not engaged and bored and couldn't wait for it to be over.

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Review: Wolf Bride

Wolf Bride by Elizabeth Moss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(3.5 stars) I actually enjoyed this book :P I thought it was just going to be a whatever romance novel but I was pretty engaged into the story. Sure there could have been a more dense story to it rather than about love but this is a Romance novel. It's the genre. I must accept it lol. The romance was realistic and believable.

Within the Romance genre I've only ever read the 50 Shades series. Wolf Bride was interesting in a different way because it takes place in the 1800's and there's kings and queens and adultery and murder and treason etc.

I'll be reading the next one!

(view spoiler)[
Gawd I hated Simon from the start lol I could tell immediately he was such a player.
Wolf is hot. lol that is all. I think how Moss made him realistic, like based his character off of being a soldier mind set, not just a lover boi.
I was surprised they actually killed Queen Anne.
I wished Moss wrote more about Eloise and Wolf's wedding, there was really nothing about it, but maybe in those times weddings were simple.
(hide spoiler)]

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Review: Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book wasn't what I expected at all, in a bad way.
I thought it was going to be Harry Potter meets Percy Jackson, and it was kinda like Percy Jackson in the beginning but then the story turned to fairies, and then to a squadron of troopers in the army and I was just confused lol
I thought it was a fantasy book but it was more science fiction with all the ships and the gun descriptions.
The best part of this book was how smart and two steps ahead Artemis always was.
This book was soooo jumpy, here and then there and then you don't even know where you are. And most of the things that happen you just feel like... why? What is the point of this story lol what's the bigger picture? There is none meh...
I wouldn't say it's a children's book because they briefly mention adult concepts like accountants and selling stocks, etc But I wouldn't say it's an adult book either as the main character Artemis is only 2 years old and the book mentions things like Leprechauns :P So it's tough to categorize which age group, I suppose it's a young adult book, but not younger and not older. I find most YA books younger children could read them or adults could too but not this series.
I won't be continuing to read this series.

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Review: Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You don't realize how much children's books shaped who you are until you reread them as an adult :) So much of Pippi reminds me of me; unique, weird, pet monkey, super strong, always smiling, enjoys riding her horse, unconventional/out of the box way of thinking, lives on her own and takes care of herself which is what I always wanted to do. Like that part in Matilda when she's home alone making pancakes. I just don't have her habit of compulsive lying lol


'Suppose you go home now," said Pippi, "so that you can come back tomorrow. Because if you don't go home you can't come back, and that would be a shame."



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Review: To Green Angel Tower, Part 2

To Green Angel Tower, Part 2 by Tad Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow I cannot believe it's over! Gah I'm sad lol I also cannot believe I finished this book in a couple weeks, it is a massive brick of a book XD I loved it alllllllll I don't even know what to say... I'm going to read the 2017 novella next

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Review: The Tongue - A Creative Force

The Tongue - A Creative Force by Charles Capps
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dang... I'm the only negative review for this book. This book was extremely repetitive, reiterating these points: study the lords words and say out loud the lords words, words are extremely important and have power, say them until you truly believe it and you'll get what you need.

There were tons of Bible excerpts. It felt like I was in church and saying hallelujah praise the Lord Jesus! :P

It is basically reiterating the law of attraction with a Christian touch on it, referencing the Bible.

Excerpts from the book:
- "Words are important. Begin now to become WORD CONSCIOUS. Words are like little seeds that produce after their kind. Learn to pray according to the Word of God. God's Word will produce after His kind."
- "The enemy knows there is power in your words. That is why he tries so desperately to get you to confess doubt, fear, and unbelief."
- "The WORD is what works. It's not our prayer that works; it's the WORD AND FAITH that works. Prayer won't make faith work."
- "...if you can control the tongue you would have no trouble with the body. He said the tongue is to the physical body (THE RULING FACTOR) as bits are to a horse. They are both establishing the Word of God in the mouth, and they also have control of the physical body. He said, if you would control the tongue, you would not have any trouble with the body."

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Review: Dark Lover

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Omg this book is a breath of fresh air! It's like True Blood but better. More story, more mystery, more politics. A really good adult vampire book. I literally couldn't stop reading it and time flew by and I was just immersed into the story.

The story follows mostly Wrath and Beth, but there are other story lines too. And I love how it interchanges between them. I love the brotherhoods names! lol The characters are interesting. There's surprises even in the beginning. I think the only boring aspect to the story was Mr. X, but even that started to pick up near the end.

Onto reading the next one...

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Review: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was able to really speed read through this book. It makes some interesting meaningful tips but the vast majority is just talk talk talk repeat repeat repeat lol Could have been easily condensed.

My Notes:
- "If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will."
- “decision fatigue”: the more choices we are forced to make, the more the quality of our decisions deteriorates.
- In The Tao of Warren Buffett, Mary Buffett and David Clark explain: “Warren decided early in his career it would be impossible for him to make hundreds of right investment decisions, so he decided that he would invest only in the businesses that he was absolutely sure of, and then bet heavily on them. He owes 90% of his wealth to just ten investments.
- Sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.”6 In short, he makes big bets on the essential few investment opportunities and says no to the many merely good ones.
- WITHOUT GREAT SOLITUDE NO SERIOUS WORK IS POSSIBLE.—Pablo Picasso
- you actually need to set aside time to just think, to process, and to sorta digest what you've learned and what's going on
- "The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities."
- "When we are unclear about our real purpose in life-- in other words, when we don't have a clear sense of our goals, our aspirations and our values-- we make up our own social games. We waste time and energy on trying to look good in comparison to other people."
- "Apply the principle of zero-based budgeting" to your life and time. Don't budget based on existing commitments- start from scratch.
- nothing fires the brain up more than play less than 7hr of sleep makes you less productive during the day respect is far more valuable than popularity in the long run

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Review: Halfway to the Grave

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was okay. Nothing seriously wrong with this book I was just so meh about it.

It's more of an older YA book, not necessarily because of the sexual and violent themes but also the writing style.

It's slower paced than most YA novels. But it's not slower paced because there's more descriptive settings or things, there's not much of that at all in this book actually. It's mostly just dialogue.

For the first time (for me) all the vampire rules and facts are laid out right from the get go instead of laving it a mystery and learning along the way. I did not like this, I'd rather learning on the way instead of cramming all the rules and facts in the beginning.

I won't continue reading the series.

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Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I F*cking LOVED this book... One of my all time fav reads... Literally each and every paragraph is filled with so much wisdom, no bullshit, straight up, to the point wisdom.

It's a book that I want to read over and over and over again to remind myself of it's principles. One of my favorite principles is that we can't give a f about everything, we have to be careful about what f's to give, and how many.

I didn't even write notes for this book because there would be so many... next time I read it I'll make nicely condensed notes lol

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Review: Raven's Gate

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another surprisingly good read. I was always excited about what was going to happen next. Lots of imagination in this story, and it's well written. It's such an underrated book. The ending could have been better but it was still good.

I was scared this book was going to be like "The Darkest Minds" series which had a decent story but I just did not enjoy it at all. It didn't resonate with me... but Raven's Gate did.

Raven's Gate is kinda like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children meets Percy Jackson

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Review: Summer and the City

Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This book was surprisingly pretty good! It had a few dull moments but overall I enjoyed it, mostly for the girly dating chit chats lol

- It kinda has the feeling of the book Can you Keep a Secret.
- Lots of around the city descriptions, especially in the beginning
- Very jumpy, one place to another place to another place, not deep at all, skins over things
- Carrie inspires me that I should write something. And Bushnell inspires me to write a book similar to this, but better
- I like how Carrie goes around to the little shops and gets thrifty outfits lol her carpenter belt
- I love the group of the girls Miranda Carrie and Samantha. Where was Charlotte though? I guess she's a later on character. I love their chit chat amongst the girls. Miranda is so blunt and logical, Samantha is a bit ditsy but sexy, and Carrie is pretty self absorbed but she’s so friendly
- It was very very similar feel to sex and the city tv show. I'm on vacation in Mexico right now but when I get home I’m going to rewatch all of it <3
- This book was written in 2011 but it based in the 80’s and Carrie is only 17/18 in this. She thinks that a 30 year old guy is really old ouch lol I’m turning 30 this month >_<
- I love the love interest story lines

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Review: Last Sacrifice

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book, and this whole series was just "okay" 2/5 stars. The series barely had anything to do with vampires, and teeth, and sucking blood, and just being a vampire lol... It had so much to do about politics and really boring mystery plots. I did enjoy the love triangles though, Rose & Dimitri are hot :P

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Review: To Green Angel Tower

To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loooooooooove <3 I don't even know how to review this book... it's massive. LOT's happen... it's amazing. I especially loved Miriamele's plot, and Tiamak's. Interesting new build characters on Cadrach and Camaris too.

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Review: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

All in all a good book. Basically base your product/service/business around WHY, more so than what or how.

Notes:
- "There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.... Typical manipulations include: dropping the price; running a promotion; using fear, peer pressure or aspirational messages; and promising innovation to influence behavior—be it a purchase, a vote or support."
- price/promotion play is not good for the brand and playing that game will hurt the reputation
- using Fear - "The idea is that if you don't buy the product or service, something bad could happen to you."- inspiration is the opposite than fear
- peer pressure - "When marketers report that a majority of a population or a group of experts prefers their product over another, they are attempting to sway the buyer to believing that whatever they are selling is better"
- novelty (aka innovation) - Real innovation changes the course of industries or even society. The light bulb, the microwave oven, the fax machine, iTunes. These are true innovations that changed how we conduct business, altered how we live our lives, and, in the case of iTunes, challenged an industry to completely reevaluate its business model...Motorola had successfully designed the latest shiny object for people to get excited about ... at least until a new shiny object came out. And that's the reason these features are more a novelty than an innovation. They are added in an attempt to
differentiate, but not reinvent."
- "I cannot dispute that manipulations work. Every one of them can indeed help influence behavior and every one of them can help a company become quite successful. But there are trade-offs. Not a single one of them breeds loyalty. Over the course of time, they cost more and more. The gains are only short-term. And they increase the level of stress for both the buyer and the seller."
- "There is a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you. Loyal customers often don't even bother to research the competition or entertain other options. Loyalty is not easily won. Repeat business, however, is. All it takes is more manipulations."
- "Manipulations are a perfectly valid strategy for driving a transaction, or for any behavior that is only required once or on rare occasions."
- "It is the feeling of "we're in this together," shared between customer and company, voter and candidate, boss and employee, that defines great leaders."
- the need to belong, ever human feels it, we crave and seak it out, makes us feel safe - you connect with people with the same common values or beliefs, you trust them
- "Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. A WHY is just a belief. That's all it is. HOW's are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHAT's are the results of those actions — everything you say and do: your products, services, marketing, PR, culture and whom you hire."
- achievement is the what, success is the why

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Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Omg I loved this book! It's so funny and unique and different. It was the first book in a long time I didn't even write any notes down for my review lol Douglas Adams is like a very funny version of Isaac Asimov <3

The kind of humor is silly, sarcastic, open-minded, un-conforming.

I'm looking forward to reading the next books in the series, AND I've already marked it down as a re-read :)

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Review: You Are a Badass®: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

You Are a Badass®: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, Jen Sincero is funny, relatable, and passionate. She doesn't explain anything new per say, her book is about what's shes learned from other self help books, seminars, and personal experience, but the way she exaplains it and reinforces certain points is what was enjoyable to me.

This book had a good start, Sincero explains who should read this book, and why.

The way she writes is as if you're sitting down having a cup of coffee with her while she's spilling all the information to you verbally.

She claims to have read all the self help books, attended all the seminars, spent tons of money she didn't have on coaches and she's going to share what worked for her.

She's funny! and gives really great relatable examples of what she's trying to explain.

The whole book had a lot to do with The Secret; have positive and open thoughts, believe in yourself, dream big and believe you already have it.

Notes:
- you need to believe that we live in a world of limitless possibilities
- "All this is to say that it’s not your fault that you’re fucked up. It’s your fault if you stay fucked up, but the foundation of your fuckedupedness is something that’s been passed down through
generations of your family, like a coat of armsor a killer cornbread recipe,"
- "Most people are living in an illusion based on someone else’s beliefs."
- As Albert Einstein observed, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”
- All energy vibrates at a certain frequency. Which means you’re vibrating at a certain frequency, and everything you desire, and don’t desire, is also vibrating at a certain frequency, Vibration attracts like vibration.
- "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are
living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." —Lao Tzu
- Animals and children are great examples to live by. Kids are constantly creating in a state of free-flowing, concentrated bliss, they haven’t yet learned to worry about what other people think of them. They are in the moment. There is fun in the moment. End of story.
- we invest everything we’ve got in believing that we’re not good enough.
-"instead of setting aside the entire day to work, decide that you’ll work in hour-long chunks"
- Winston Churchill so aptly explained, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
- "act as if you’re where you want to be, don’t hang out with sad sacks and people who whine about how broke they are all the time, erase the words “I can’t” from your vocabulary, envision what you desire, set goals, demand of yourself that you become who you need to become to create the life you desire."
- The more you have, the more you have to share.

View all my reviews

Chapters Outting June 2018

I've been really digging Chapters featured books sections, I feel like they're trying to mimic the merchandising strategy of the New York Amazon Book Store. Soooooo much different than Walmarts Books section lol

First of all I love the top Staff Picks for Comics. I typically don't look through the comics section but featured here was nice.

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
by Twyla Tharp sounds really interesting to keep the creative mind humming.

The Wolf (Under the Northern Sky #1) by Leo Carew looks like it has potential. 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik looks really really good!

That's all folks <3

Reading Adventure's June 2018

I mean... DOES IT GET BETTER THAN THIS?! I had such a relaxing, calm stroll through the park today and found this hidden gem of a reading spot. The sun was like bath water, with a cool soft breeze that made the willow branches gently sway. The water fountains made light calming currents in the pond as the dunks splashed around to keep themselves cool.

I sat beside the tree in the last picture while reading Tad Williams' To Green Angel Tower Part 1. Such a heavy book but I find that time flies while reading it. I read a whole chapter! Which is saying a lot because the chapters are huge lol. I left when the bugs were really starting to crawl on my legs.

Walmart Outting June 2018

I rarely shop for books at Walmart but I was pleasantly surprised at their YA Recommended Reads end cap... alas most of these books are below a 4/5 rating on Goodreads...

FTW Added to TBR:

- Always and Forever By: Jenny Han series (but I already added this series to my TBR after my Chapters outting...)

Above 4/5 on Goodreads but still MEH...

- Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe
- Save the Date

All in all Walmart really needs to step up their Recommended Reads selection...

Bookstore Outting June 2018

One of my most favourite things to do is to walk around Chapters and find endless amounts of books to add to my never ending TBR list heh... 

Bottom right Tempest and Slaughter look like a really good book!!! But I'm going to read Alanna: The First Adventure By: Tamora Pierce first because I like to read everything in proper order. But wow Alanna was published in 1983 I have a lot of catching up to do...



The Hazel Wood By: Melissa Albert has such a beautiful cover omgz! The story sound cool too - mysterious, fairy-tale, dark, super-natural.
Everless By: Sara Holland - time is currency. Sold.

The Last Namsara By: Kristen Ciccarelli - Dragons and Dragonslayers. This is the riskiest book to add to the TBR list as there's not many reviews, but will give it a fair shot.

There's a Chapters Book Club?! Awesome! Out of the three books to read I'm going to read Hopeless By: Colleen Hoover. lol Hoover remind me of Raph Wiggum from The Simpsons "Miss Hoover... I ate my red crayon... 'cause the blue one's make me sick..." bahahahaha

The book on the top right looks interesting, Children of Blood and Bone. Magic, Princes and Princesses, Souls... I'm sold lol I hear it's a huge book though.

Second row from the bottom A List of Cages By: Robin Roe seems decent. An ADHD kid in highschool reunites with his foster brother and tries to help him but it could cost them both their lives. Emotional rollercoaster much? Sign me up I suppose lol

They both Die in the End By: - Oh boy I can feel the tears dripping down my face already, we all know this one's going to be a tear jerker just by the title lol. The book takes place on one unforgettable day...

Ugh Heartless By: Marissa Meyer - I did not enjoy this book at all WHY IS IT HERE!? WHY OH WHY!?

Diminished By: Kaitlin Sage Patterson - A rare few are singleborn in each generation, and therefore given the right to rule by the gods and goddesses. When one twin dies, the other usually follows, unable to face the world without their other half. Those who survive are considered diminished. INTERESTING. Another risky time investment as there's literally only 200 reviews on Goodreads.

Also decided to add To All the Boys I've Loved Before series and Shattered Realms series.

Throne of Glass By: Sarah J. Maas

★★★★☆

Goodreads

This book was surprisingly good :) It wasn't quite your typical teen fantasy novel.

It had good character development. Maas really goes into the minds of each character to see their point of view, not just the main characters, which was interesting.

There was more romance than I thought that there would be, almost as much as the Lux series. It was sort of like a teen version of a pilot to Game of Thrones almost, but where Game of Thrones meets Hunger Games.

I really liked the main character, she's quick and witty with spice to her, she isn't afraid to speak her mind. The only reason why I didn't give it 5/5 stars was because Maas is lacking slightly in the writing, needs more poetry to the words, more descriptions, less dialogue.

Started: Sept 13, 2016
Finished: Oct 3, 2016

The Sell By: Fredrik Eklund

★★★★★

Goodreads

I'm a new real estate agent so this book was really informative for me.

I love Fredrik's personality and I love how he's not afraid to show it.

He gives great advice in the book about real estate, business, relationships, and how to be professional.

He really focuses on social media and specifically Instagram which I thought was interesting.


Started Reading: July 22, 2016
Finished Reading: Sept 5, 2016

Lux Opposition By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

.

★★★★☆

Goodreads

This book was fun to read always keeping you at the end of your seat wanting to read more, except I was a little disappointed at the ending, I was expecting a big twist or something surprising and it was exactly what the reader was anticipating, predictable. I feel like Armentrout tried doing this with Daemon almost dying in the end but I just knew he'd make it out alive.

Out of all the books I found this book to genre out into more of a romance rather than a teen fantasy which is fine but it's just a different feel that the other books to me. I wanted there to be more story behind the origins since they are the most powerful being "like gods". And this was the only book that didn't have a focus on a crystal, like onyx (quartz was also in the first book), obsidian, opal (the 4th book origin had the fire opal). I would have liked a new crystal to come out into play in the last book.

*SPOILER ALERT*

I found Ethans death to be anticlimactic since he ran away and got shot in the back, it wasn't a fight, it was lame. I also felt that the characters Dee, Luke, Beth, and Dawson were really put in the back burner the last half of the book, to more so focus on the romance between Kat and Daemon.

I loved the part with the Arum, and you go underground into their home and meet their leader, and just how characteristic the Arum are. I'm glad Armentrout explored this in the book since the Arum were really in the first and second book and have kind of been on the back burner since the Origin were introduced.

The part where her mom died was actually really sad and the way Armentrout described how Kat felt was dead on, no pun intended. I felt Kat's pain and fury.

And come on it should have ended with Kat and Daemon having a baby or at least preggo :P

This book made me lol on multiple occasions, with parts like oh crappy shit on a stick. I liked the references into real life like Harry Potter and Starbucks.

Started Reading: July 22, 2016
Finished Reading: Aug 4, 2016

Hatchet By: Gary Paulsen

.

★★★★☆

Goodreads

Best survival book I've ever read (2nd is the hunger games).

I enjoyed imagining what life would be like stranded in the middle of forest and lakes.

Brian seemed to learn very quickly about everything he did, whether it be catching fish or making a camp, etc. But maybe Paulsen just wanted to keep the story short and to the point.

I find it pretty unbelievable that Brain explored the plane on day #54... 54 days of just hanging out with yourself with nothing to do but survive.. you're bound to be curious of what's in the plane aren't you? My feeling is that Brian subconsciously did not want to be rescued, he saw his life back at home, and "the secret" as baggage and he didn't want to deal with it, and here he was in the middle of nowhere making a life for himself, it was an ego boost, and he didn't want to leave it. But also maybe subconsciously he knew that he wouldn't survive the winter.

Started Reading:
Finished Reading: July 21, 2016

Can You Keep a Secret? By: Sophie Kinsella

.

★★☆☆☆

Goodreads

This book had it's up's and downs, and there was a big down near the end. The book is 95% dialogue which I can understand because I knew it was a girly type of book, but it didn't require much talent from the author. There are a few funny moments though.

The book starts out decent, simple story of a girl on a plane and accidentally tells a business man all her secrets, then he ends up being the CEO of her company. Then they start dating each other and at the end he does an interview on tv telling the world that she is his new target market and tells all her secrets... then he apologizes to her and of course she forgives him, and only forgives him because he gives her one of his secrets....

Started Reading:
Finished Reading: July 21, 2016

The Outsiders By: S.E. Hinton

.

★★★★★

Goodreads

Man oh man what a good book. I guess that's why they call it a classic. There's so many things I liked about it, the fact that we're all the same, maybe just grew up in a different place, different parents, but when it comes down to it we all are the same deep down. It was interesting seeing how a group of boys can grow up under unfortunate circumstances yet be so strong, loyal and always looking out for eachother.

This part of the book blew me away:
“Rat race is the perfect name for it,' she said. 'We're always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy is, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool we would.”
― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

And the ever famous Frost poem in the book:
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today.
Nothing gold can stay."
- Robert Frost

I really liked Jonny's meaning of the poem:
"I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be.”
― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Started Reading:
Finished Reading: July 8, 2016

Origin By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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★★★★☆

Goodreads

This book was like the climax to the whole series and I really liked it! Betrayal, deaths, plot twists galore.

Big questions are finally being answered and unexpected things are happening.

I've haven't read through a series so fast since Maze Runner and Hunger Games.

Started Reading:
Finished Reading: July 4, 2016

Opal By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

.

★★★★☆

Goodreads

I really enjoyed this book. There was always things happening, some expected but most unexpected.

I love the romance between Katy and Daemon, and the growth of their relationship.

I almost feel like Daemon just watches out for Katy because he doesn't want to die since they're linked, which makes it either unromantic or mysterious.

Yet again in this book you don't know who to trust. I would have thought the Luxen would have more abilities at this point, such as go through doors or something as they are light, and where ever light is they could be. I suppose Armentrout does this to humanize the aliens more, but then it lacks in fantasy.

Started Reading:
Finished Reading: June 13, 2016