Happy 4th of July!

And I'm Proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, to give that right to me. And I'd Proudly stand up, next to you and defender her still today. There ain't no doubt I love this land

GOD BLESS THE USA

Have a great 4th everybody! Be smart & stay safe! 

Type at you later!

Shea

June Wrap-Up!

Can you believe it? We're already half way through the year! Holy cow! 

Anyway, in the month of June, I read a total of 5 books, which is great because I was feeling kinda slumpy at the beginning of the month.

The first book I finished was Paper Towns by John Green. Holy cow, guys. This book was awesome. We follow our main protagonist named Quentien in his Senior Year of High School. He's not really feeling the end of the year, when a great opportunity arises to go on an adventure. One night, Margo Roth Spegelman knocks on his bedroom window and asks for his help with some things she needs to get done. After they have this awesome adventure around Florida, Margo disappears. Quentien spends the rest of the novel following the clues Margo has left behind to find her.

I really enjoyed this book. I think I might have liked it even better if I wasn't feeling slump-like while reading it. It's one of those books that I've assumed will pull me out of a slump, but when I've tried that in the past, it hasn't really worked for me. Anyway, I gave Paper Towns a four out of five stars.

The next book I read was The Heir by Kiera Cass. I'm not going to say much, as it is a continuation of The Selection Series, but let me just say that this book was amazing! I really enjoyed reading The Selection process from The Selector's POV. I gave The Selection four out of five stars.

The third book I read this month was Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page. Again, a really amazing book! We follow our main protagonist Amy Gumm whose trailer is swept up in a tornado and she lands in a place that seemingly is Oz from the fairy tale she read growing up. However, something is different. Not only is Dorothy back, but she's an evil ruler over the land. She has enslaved munchkins to mine Oz's magic and have it all for herself. 

This book was really awesome. I gave it like a four and a half out of five stars. 

The fourth book I read was the sequel to Dorothy Must Die; The Wicked Will Rise. I was kind of disappointed in this one. If it's the end, it has a really crappy ending and if it's not the end, I can't wait to read more. But, I'm really confused. I gave this one a three out of five star rating until I find out if there is going to be a third one or not.

The final book I read in the month of June was Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. This was a really awesome contemporary story about Anna, whose father ships her off to a boarding school in Paris where she meets St. Clair, a very attractive British boy. I really liked this one because there wasn't so much of an insta-love. Their relationship grows before they become boyfriend and girlfriend. They go through a couple of struggles together that really builds their relationship. It gets so frustrating at times because you can see that they are perfect for each other, but other than that, I found the story excellent and well put together. I gave Anna and the French Kiss a four and a half out of five star rating. 

I hope you all had a great reading month! July seems to have come so quick! I have classes starting up again on Monday, so I'm sure I'll have another Freshman Experience post up. 

I hope you have a good rest of the week!

Type at you later!

Shea

Musical Theater Book Tag

Hello all! I'm having a sick day (stomach virus... not fun!), so I thought I would post a Book Tag for ya'll! I googled Booktube tags and found the Musical Theater Tag. I'm a huge fan of musical theater, so I thought this might be a good one for me to do! I found this on the YouTube channel for somethinglikelydia. And now.... onto the questions!

1.) Wicked

What is your favorite fictional friendship?

The first one that comes to mind is, of course, Harry and Ron from the Harry Potter series. They have such a dynamic friendship that can be borderline bromance, but I love the way they interact with each other. I feel like they have a true knowledge of what friendship is, even though they both grew up with not many friends until they got to Hogwarts. :) I also feel that when they go periods of time not talking to each other, *cough* Goblet of Fire *cough*, their friendship is reaffirmed and is always stronger. 

2.) Sweeny Todd

Who is your favorite villain?

Hmmm..... Toughie. My first instinct is to say either Voldemort or Umbridge from the Harry Potter series, but I think that would open up the path to me answering all of these questions using Harry Potter characters! ;) My second instinct says to go with Elphaba from Wicked by Gregory Macguire. She's not really a villain, but she is supposedly "wicked".

3.) Phantom of the Opera

Favorite Love Triangle?

I'm going to go with the Edward/Bella/Jacob love triangle. Now, I have some legit reasons for this. Their love triangle was really the first one I encountered. It was right about the time I switched from reading Middle Grade novels to Young Adult novels. Their story just kind of sticks out in my head. I have to laugh because I used to always be #TeamEdward, but now that I'm older and realize that they didn't have the most ideal relationship, I am on #TeamJacob now. 

4.) The Lion King

Favorite Sidekick?

Ahren from The Heir. Again, not going to say much because it's such a new book. But I will say that he is very fond of his sister and has her best interests in mind.

5.) Greece

Least Favorite Ending?

Anything with a cliff-hanger that I have to wait for the next book to come out for a really really really long time. ;)

6.) Matilda: The Musical

Favorite Adaption of a Book?

I didn't want to repeat myself, but I love the Broadway show for Wicked. I love the music and they changed the story just enough to fit it for the stage, but not too much so as to take away the drama. And I recently heard that they're going to make a film adaption. However, I don't know if it's going to be an adaption of the book or the play. We'll have to see!

And lastly,

7.) Les Miserables

Favorite Death in a Book?

I'm going to have to say Indigo's from Dorothy Must Die. Don't want to say more than that because that is already spoilerey enough!

I hope you enjoyed this tag! I tag all of you!

For now, I'm going to eat some soup and then relax with a book. 

Type at you later!

Shea

Post Reading Slump TBR

Hello all! I hope this post finds you well. If you haven't noticed, I haven't had many posts up on the blog. The last one was a scheduled post, but I hope to get back into posting more soon!

Anyway, I've had a major reading slump that has lasted about a month. I think I read one-ish books in May and picked up and put down two others. However, I am finally pulling out of my slump. So, I thought I would post a TBR if you are curious what I'm planning on reading for the rest of June.

So, I'm currently reading The Heir by Kiera Cass. I find that Edlyn is less annoying than America, and she handles the Selection process a lot better than her mother and father. I'm currently 200 pages in and am loving it so far (I just got it today :P).

I'm also planning on reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass. Its one of the books that I picked up in May and then put down. But it was really good.

Other than that, I'm planning on picking up Dorothy Must Die and possibly Shadow and Bone.

I have one more week in my class, and then I have a week off before I start my next set. So, I hope I'll have a mini Read-A-Thon during that week. We shall see.

But, I will keep you posted!!!

Type at you later!

Shea

Final Reflection: High School Experience

Hello all! By the time this post goes up, I will have finished all of my High School classes and their finals. I won't get my report card in the mail for about two weeks. I'm actually pretty glad to see High School end. If you know me, then you would know that I have been struggling with illness and anxiety through out my entire High School career. I've basically been doing homeschool since freshman year.

Anyway, I still managed to have a great High School experience. The home school program that I am a part of is actually through my school. So, I would have a teacher come out to my house, averaging three times a week. Since I was technically still part of the school, I was able to attend school functions. I picked and choose which ones I wanted to attend (plays, band concerts, ect.). I didn't attend any dances or proms or anything like that, but I'm not a huge dance person anyway.

In my freshman year of High School, our theater department put on Seussical the Musical. It was really a great show. It was so good in fact, that I downloaded the Original Broadway recording onto my iTunes list so I could listen to it over and over again. My sophomore year, we did Little Shop of Horrors. That one was funny, but not one of my favorites. My junior year (last year) we did Shrek: The Musical. And this year, we did The Sound of Music. I was able to go see all of those productions and see my friends perform in the shows. I wish I could have been up on stage with them, but I know I will have other opportunities to be on stage ;).

I only participated in one field trip in my entire High School career. When I took US History I, we went to Gettysburg, PA. The sad thing was that I wasn't able to go with my technical grade, but I did have a friend who was on the trip as well. That made the whole thing worth while.

While I didn't go on the Senior class trip to Florida, I was able to have a trip of my own down to Florida with my aunt and my brother over the week of my 18th birthday. That was better than I could have ever imagined. :)

I have the same group of friends as I did at the beginning of High School, as I didn't have the chance to make many new ones. But, I was able to get acquainted with some of my friends' friends. Not that I would have had a huge group of friends in High School, but I'm glad with the little group I have.

As for the SAT's, I am so glad I didn't take them. My anxiety level would have been off the charts. But, I did take the entrance exam to my college, which I passed with flying colors! :D

Some other things I accomplished in my High School career?

I made the Honor Roll throughout most of my report cards.
I attended Spirit Week and watched our Junior class win! (However, I had an extremely bad anxiety episode this year, and was not able to watch us take our two year title.)
I read over 100 novels! (Thought I would throw this one in here, as it is a book blog! ;))
I was admitted to the hospital for the first time, and had my appendix removed.
I made friends with some very special four-legged therapists.

Overall, I didn't have the ideal High School career, but the one I had suited me just fine. I wish my fellow Class of 2015 the best of luck in their future endeavors, and don't ever forget the time that was supposedly "The Best Years of Our Lives".

Congratulations Class of 2015.

We did it!

"It well may be, that we will never meet again in this lifetime, but let me say before we part, that so much of me, is made of what I've learned from you, you'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart."

College Experience: First Speech

Hello all! On Tuesday, I gave my first speech in my Effective Speaking class. I feel like it went pretty well. I was going to post this when I got my grade back, but she hasn't posted the grades yet. I will edit this post when I get the grade back.

I gave the speech on American Sign Language (ASL). Just the basics. I wish I could have had it taped so that I could have posted it on my YouTube channel. But, everyone found it really interesting and I was able to answer their questions.

It was such a different environment than I am used to. I was able to show them some curse words, and everyone was such an adult about it. It was really different from High School.

Speaking of High School, I have my last class on Wednesday, where I will take my last final and I will be done with my High School career. I graduate the following Saturday. I can't wait to finally be done with the drama that is High School!

Well, that's all I have to say for now.

Type at you later!

Shea

May Wrap Up/June TBR

Hello all! I hope you had a great reading month! I think I did fairly well with a total of six books read and a reading slump near the end of the month. Here's what I thought of the books that I read!

#1- Breaking Point by Alex Flinn

TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE!

While there is suicide in this book, and it's such a short book, you would think that this would be a horribly dark tale. However, it was not. Our main character, Paul, is new to his town in Miami. He doesn't have the best money situation, but he gets the opportunity to go to a prep-school because his mother gets hired as an office worker. He meets Charlie Good. Along with his group of cronies, Charlie and Paul start doing some vandalism and then, Charlie wants Paul to do something even worse. 

I gave this book a four out of five star rating. I feel that we can learn from this. We can learn how bulling really affects our youth from people experiencing it. I feel that it is a safe way to learn about this because it is not actually a true story and we aren't in danger of the characters coming out of the books to seek revenge on us. However, we must still take caution as to how we present this novel to a younger group of people. I honestly wouldn't read it until Junior year of High School.

#2- Lockdown by Walter Dean Meyers

Honestly, when I picked up this book, I thought I was going to be picking up a memoir of sorts, but it turned out to be a fiction novel.

Anyway, our main setting is a Juvenile Detention Center called Progress. Our main character is named Reese and he is only fourteen years old. What I find astonishing from this story is how much the kids, and I use that term lightly, have gone through and how they can commit these crimes.

Anyway, Reese is on a sort of "work-study" program (I don't know really what else to call it). He is the sort of poster child for the program to see if it will work. He basically goes into a nursing home a few times a week so as to shorten his sentence. 

I didn't really like the story progression of this book. I felt it could be classified as more of a novella, or could have been longer and filled with more story. 

#3- Nothing to Loose by Alex Flinn

TRIGGER WARNING FOR PHYSICAL/SPOUSAL ABUSE

This book was very emotional for me, and as a person who has not experienced the abuse in the story, I couldn't imagine what someone who does go through this kind of abuse would feel. 

Anyway, Michel had run away with the carnies at his local fair grounds about a year ago when our story begins. He has the idea to chase after the girl he had fallen in love with. But then, the fair returns to Miami. Where his mother is locked up for a crime she hadn't committed. He is very emotional and tries to reach out for help, though not very well. 

This is such a short book, I'm afraid to say too much, so I'll just say one more thing. This book was very emotional. I gave it four out of five stars. 

#4- Fade to Black by Alex Flinn

I was on a roll with Alex Flinn books this month!

I'm just going to leave you with the blurb from GoodReads....

Three perspectives -- one truth
The victim: After his windshield was shattered with a baseball bat, HIV-positive Alex Crusan ducked under the steering wheel. But he knows what he saw. Now he must decide what he wants to tell. 

The witness: Daria Bickell never lies. So if she told the police she saw Clinton Cole do it, she must have. But did she really? 

The suspect: Clinton was seen in the vicinity of the crime that morning. And sure, he has problems with Alex. But he'd never do something like this. Would he?

#5. Eve and Adam by Michael Grant & Katherine Applegate

This story is a dystopian novel, but set in a more modern-day time period. But, other than that, this book is so hard to summarize. I don't want to give too much away, but at the same time, I want you guys to know enough about the book to pick it up. So, I'm going to try my best.

Eve is in an accident that causes her leg to be practically amputated. Her mother is a famous researcher that insists that Eve be transferred to her special hospital. The doctors put up a huge fight, but in the end, Eve's mom wins and she, Eve, is transferred to her mother's research facility. While Eve is there, something remarkable happens.

That's as much as I want to tell you, because there is so much jammed into the first part of the book. I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

#6. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Oh. Em. Gee. I fell in love with Daemon Black. I sort of felt like this might have been a sort of a Twilight-eque story, but I don't feel as though the relationship isn't as abusive or so quickly set on. This is such an awesome story, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. 

I gave this story a 4 out of 5 star rating.

June TBR-

I don't have much planned for the month of June, but I really want to read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and possibly start Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. But, I'm a mood reader, so we'll see at the end of the month! 

This was an okay reading month for me, but I'm hoping June will be even better!

Type at you later!

Shea