Top Ten Bookish Merch Items I Really Want

So here’s a little fact about me. I don’t own any book merch. Like, I have a couple of small things like a keychain and bookmarks and stuff, but I don’t have any bookish jewelry, candles, etc. And it’s not because I don’t want any. I literally just forget to buy it lol. But anyway, here are so,e bookish items I really wish I owned. 

I found all these products on various sites, like Redbubble and Etsy. I tried to include the name of the shop for each of the items but I forgot to save some of them, so I am really sorry!!! 

1. THIS BOOKSHELF NECKLACE

 

2. THIS TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE CANDLE

 

3. THIS SHATTER ME CANDLE

 

4. THIS CARAVAL PILLOW

 

5. THIS FANGIRL MUG

 

6. THIS ILLUMINAE NOTEBOOK

 

7. THESE SAGA T-SHIRTS

8. THIS SHATTER ME PILLOW

 

9. THIS JUST LISTEN NOTEBOOK

 

10. THIS VAMPIRE ACADEMY T-SHIRT

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Books I Want to Read by the End of the Year

How is 2018 almost over????????????? When did years become only 2 seconds long??????? Anyway, I’ve kinda been on an everything hiatus as of late. In the past few months, I haven’t read or written anything or really done anything that requires brain power. Oops. But I’m slowly getting back into the groove of things, which means I still have time to squeeze in some reading before the end of the year. 

So here are some of the books I hope to read before the end of 2018!

1) SIX OF CROWS BY LEIGH BARDUGO

I finished the Shadow and Bone trilogy a few months ago, and honestly I mostly started reading that series so I could read this duology that everyone raves about! I recently moved from Arkansas to Florida, and this is one of the few books I brought with me because I need to read it. 

2) THE WINNER’S CURSE BY MARIE RUTKOSKI

This is another one of the books that I brought to Florida with me. I have heard so much about this series over the years and I really just need to heckin read it. 

3) ON WRITING BY STEPHEN KING

I started reading this book earlier in the year and I still haven’t finished so I should probably get on it, especially since I need some inspiration for this round of grad school applications. 

4) THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR BY SHARI LAPENA

One o my sister’s friends recently read this and really enjoyed it, so I borrowed it. It’s not my typical kind of book, but I’ve been trying to branch out in my reading. 

5) WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE SUMMER BY JENNY HAN

This would actually be a re-read for me, as I read this series when I was younger. I re-read the first 2 books earlier this year and absolutely gobbled them up, so I just need to finish my re-read. 

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I mean, that’s only 5 books. 5 books in like a month and a half is definitely doable! 

What books do you want to read before the end of the year? 

Summer Blogger Promo Tour #5: Kayla’s Recommendations

Hi Lefty’s readers, it’s me, Kayla again! And I am here this week with three book recommendations for Lefty and her readers! Here are three books I think you guys should read:

1) All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

I just finished this book yesterday and I can not stop thinking about it. The story shines light on privilege, class, race, and so much more. The women in this book are my heroes.

2) The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

I recommend this book to everyone. And the reason is because I find Ezra to be extremely relatable and there’s something about his story that just really gets me.

3) Invisible Ghosts by Robyn Schneider

This is her most recent novel, and it ripped me to shreds. Jamie and Rose made me laugh, cry and think about so much. If you love cute love stories with ghosts in them, I highly suggest this.

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Find her on Twitter: @kaylareadsbook
Find her on Instagram: @kaylareadsbooks

July Wrap Up

This is going up a bit later than anticipated. I got back to the U.S. on August 1st and I have been focusing on spending time with my friends so I haven’t even touched my blog haha. 

But, yeah. July wasn’t terribly exciting, aside from preparing to come home and saying goodbye to Graz, Austria. I ate my favorite foods and visited a few of my favorite spots in the city. Mostly I was just really ready to be home, though. 

I have been so so so happy with my blog recently (up until the last week lol). I posted consistently and I posted content I was proud of. And those things paid off. I hit 100 followers this month! 

As far as reading goes, I was kind of in a slump throughout most of the month and then toward the end, I all of a sudden became a reading machine! I exceeded my Goodreads goal!! 

BOOKS

MOVIES

TOP TEN TUESDAYS
Top Ten Books With Red, White, and/or Blue Covers
Top Ten Authors I’m Dying to Meet
Top Ten Books that Bring Back Vivid Memories
Top Ten Books that Lived Up to the Hype (For Me)

SUMMER BLOGGER PROMO TOUR
Summer Blogger Promo Tour #1: Meet Kayla!
Summer Blogger Promo Tour #2: Books that Capture the Magic of Summer
Summer Blogger Promo Tour #3: Summer Book Aesthetics

DISCUSSIONS
This Just In: Book Blogging Is Freaking Hard!
Tips & Tricks for the Unmotivated Blogger
The Pros and Cons of Creative Writing Classes #1

BOOK TAGS
Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag
All About Reading Tag

OTHER POSTS
Mid-Year Reading Stats
Series I’ve Completed & Still Need to Complete
New To My Wishlist #7
Non-YA Books I Want to Read by the End of 2018
Author Interview: Jenna Evans Welch

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FOLLOWERS

Blog – 112 (gained 58)
Twitter – 863 (gained 102)
Instagram – 126 (gained 13)

BOOKS READ:

Total read: 12
Electronic ARCs: 2
Regular ebooks: 9
Audiobooks: 1
Re-reads: 5

Books with the most pages:
Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton (464 pages)

Books with the least pages:
Jonesy Vol. 1 by Sam Humphries, Caitlin Rose Boyle, and Mickey Quinn (113 pages)

Total pages read: 4,181

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins 
This was a re-read but it was still fantastic. 

Summer Blogger Promo Tour #4: Favorite Books So Far This Year

Hi Lefty’s readers! It’s me, Kayla, again and I decided to share with you guys a mid-year catch up type thing. I have already 63 books this year and I am hoping to make it to 75.

1) Jigsaw Jungle by Kristin Levine

This is a book I got from my internship. It’s a middle grade book and is told through interviews, texts and emails. The story is about a twelve year old girl whose Dad leaves without any explanation and sends her clues through puzzle pieces.

 

2) Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Morgan Matson is by far one of my most favorite authors. She is the best for summer reads.

 

 

3) Hot Mess by Emma Belden

This book tackles a lot of difficult topics such as addiction and recovery. It takes place in the Chicago food scene and will keep you on your toes till the end.

 

 

4) Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

I love Miranda Kenneally. Her books are feel good and have important lessons. Jordan was one of the best characters to get to know. This is the first in the Hundred Oaks Series.

 

 

5) Not The Girls You’re Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi

I am extremely grateful that I was able to participate in a blog tour for this ARC. I LOVED it more than anything. It was just a messy and real novel.

 

 

6) You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon

This was the first YA book I read about Jewish teens whose Judaism is more than just the holocaust. It meant the world to me to be able to see myself in these characters.

 

 

7) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

As a white person I found this book to be one of the most important reads. The writing was out of this world and it really made me think.

 

 
8) The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

THE BEST ROMANCE I HAVE READ. So much fun and so great.

 

 

 

9) Dear Martin by Nic Stone

This another one of those books that really made me think. It was a perfect book to read after I had read The Hate U Give.

 

 

10) Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner

This was amazing. As someone who is not very into gaming I found this to be so interesting. I love the cast of characters.

 

 

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FOLLOW KAYLA’S BLOG

Find her on Twitter: @kaylareadsbook
Find her on Instagram: @kaylareadsbooks

Top Ten Books that Lived Up to the Hype (For Me)

Hype is a devilish creature that pretty much every book lover has fallen prey to at least once. It’s important to be wary of hype (I am definitely always skeptical of any book that is receiving too much attention), but it’s also important to remember that the reason a book is hyped is because a lot of people like it, which means you might like it too. 

Here are some books that were super hyped before I read them and then turned out to be some of my absolute favorites! It was actually kind of hard to narrow it down, if I’m being honest. 

1) Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples – This is the first graphic novel I ever read and I am so glad I listened to everyone who raved about it because I adore the series and I really enjoy reading graphic novels now!

2) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – This is actually the book that prompted me to start my blog MANY years ago (the blog I had before this one), so I read it pre-blogging, but the movie cast had just been announced so this book was picking up steam everywhere, not just in the community. And boy oh boy did I love it! I loved it so much, I was desperate to talk to people about it and started my blog lol.

3) Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – I really wasn’t sure if I’d like this one but I decided to take a chance on it because I found the first book somewhere for really cheap, I think. And I absolutely gobbled it up. I recommend this book to everyone.

4) Heartless by Marissa Meyer – Holy crap. THIS BOOK. That’s all I can say. It tore my heart out of my chest and I loved every second of it.

5) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – I read this after adoring the movie, but STILL. I love this novel and I still love the movie (which I want to go re-watch now). Another one that absolutely broke me.

6) Caraval by Stephanie Garber – I bought this because of the hype and then I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it because WHAT IF IT WASN’T AS GOOD AS EVERYONE SAID but then I did a Twitter poll and the almighty wisdom of Twitter voted for me to read it, so I cracked it open. And then I couldn’t shut it. What a wild ride.

7) Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi – I remember when people were first receiving ARCs for this novel (I feel like that shows my age in the community). Everyone was raving about the writing style and I was so excited to finally get my hands on it when it was released and I loved it as well. And then I re-read it this year and loved it even more somehow????

8) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – As an English and creative writing student who got her start in fanfiction, this novel spoke to me.

9) Delirium by Lauren Oliver – I remember when this novel was first released as well. I saw it everywhere, and when I lamented not having read it yet, a wonderful person in the book community sent it to me and it ended up becoming one of my favorite books of all-time.

10) Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson – If I’m being honest, this spot kind of belongs to Morgan Matson’s books in general. This was the first book I ever read by her (and it’s still my favorite) and I only read it because I remember people talking about Morgan Matson a lot. Now, I’ve read all her novels and I SWEAR every single one of her books is carved out of my soul.

Sunday Post #41

My life has been extremely uneventful this week. Embarrassingly so. I only left my dorm to go grocery shopping lol but that is okay because I’m returning to the U.S. in like 3 days!!!! I have so much cleaning and packing to do and preparations to make…and I have a 15-page paper due that I haven’t even started yet.

I slacked off a bit in my blogging this week. There were a couple posts I didn’t get around to writing, but that’s okay. I’ve posted every other day this month, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Also, I HIT 100 FOLLOWERS. Ahh. Thank you to everyone who has followed me over the past few months. It was kind of disheartening when I switched to WordPress and lost all my followers, but I’ve worked hard to gain them back. I have been so proud of my blog lately, and it’s wonderful to see my hard work paying off!

On top of that, I completed my Goodreads challenge! In fact, I’ve surpassed it.

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BOOKS FINISHED THIS WEEK: 

Well, I busted out of my reading slump, it seems. Sometimes a few fluffy YA contemporary books will do that for me. I didn’t anticipate re-reading the entire Stephanie Perkins trilogy this weekend, but here I am.

Reviews:
– Blog Tour: Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton (Review & Giveaway)
– Movie Review: You’re Not You

Features:
– Summer Blogger Promo Tour #3: Summer Book Aesthetics
– Top Ten Books that Bring Back Vivid Memories

Other Posts:
– Author Interview: Jenna Evans Welch

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Reviews:
– Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Features:
– Top Ten Popular Books that Lived up to the Hype
– SBPT #4

Other Posts:
– Discussion: My Experience Switching to WordPress
– July Wrap Up
– August TBR & Goals

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I try to stay away from Netgalley, but apparently I just can’t help myself.

Unstoppable Moses by Tyler James Smith
(Standalone)
Published: September 25, 2018 by Flatiron Books
Summary from Goodreads:
A contemporary novel in the vein of Jesse Andrews and Stephen Chbosky, it features 17-year-old Moses Hill, who after accidentally burning down a bowling alley with his cousin and best friend, Charlie, has one week as a camp counselor to prove to the authorities—and to himself—that he isn’t a worthless jerk who belongs in jail, when Charlie doesn’t get that chance.

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Here is my favorite post from this week. Make sure you follow my Instagram account to stay updated on when and what I post.

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It’s so fun to be posting videos again!!

CLICK THIS LINK TO CHECK OUT MY CHANNEL

I posted a couple videos this week, but here is my most recent!