Let’s Look Back at 2015

It’s such a fitting day to look back at the year 2015, mostly because WordPress informed me that today is my 1 year anniversary with WordPress! WHOOOO GO ME! I have really enjoyed blogging this year, and am constantly learning new things each and every day. So why not look back at the past year. So here are some of my highlights from the past year….

BLOGGING:

I feel like this is the year that I really started to hit my stride blogging wise. I am not always the most consistent blogger, but I am getting a picture of what I want to do and am starting to take steps in getting towards that. I love interacting with whoever happens to be reading this blog about books, music, or life. It kind of gives me warm fuzzies to talk to anyone about these kinds of things and to make a connection with them like that. I have LOVED doing Top Ten Tuesday posts because I think we really get to talk about those topics in the bookish world (my most recent one…Top Ten Books of 2015, was probably my favorite one to do up to this point). Another post I LOVED doing, and hope to do more of, was my LATE TO THE PARTY…Alanna: Song of the Lioness post. I love talking about those books that EVERYONE seems to love that I had just recently hopped aboard the fangirl train, and I loved seeing the excitement of those that commented. And my last post that gave me ALL the warm fuzzies, tears, and general good feelings about what I was doing was a personal post..13 Memories of My Dad. Not only was it making its rounds among family members, but people that I interact with in the book community were talking too, and I just loved being able to share that and make some sort of connection with you all. That is probably one of the hardest posts I have EVER had to write. It was met with lots of tears, frustrations, and wondering if I was doing it right and giving him a post he was worthy of. I cannot thank you all enough. Thanks for all the discussions, warm fuzzies, and love this year. Cannot wait to see what 2016 will bring for me in this area of my life!

BOOKS:

I can’t even begin to tell you just how great of a reading year I have had! Seriously! A majority of my books were 4-5 stars for me on Goodreads, and if you asked me to pick my favorites I would have a HARD time listing less than 3. So I am going to pick 3 (OH MY GOSH THIS IS HARD GUYS BUT I WILL DO IT!) that I absolutely adored. Buuuuut if you wanna check out what I read this year and what I loved a lot you should just go to my Goodreads page.

1. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 
2. First Year (The Black Mage #1) by Rachel E Carter 
3. The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows 

PERSONAL:

1. Well, I got a new job…TWICE. I started out the year working in retail, got a job at a daycare in February or so and worked there until November. I learned a lot from all of these experiences, and I am so happy to be where I’m at right now. I am so grateful for each and every job opportunity I have had in the past year, and am so excited to see where my current job will take me! 
2. I moved! Again, but this time to a place that I like SO much more than where I was at. I am now in a town that feels a little bit smaller, which I love. It’s a gorgeous apartment that is 2 blocks from the lake and a really nice park. We can walk to the Farmer’s Market and have friends that live close by.I think this particular move has been good for us (even though we moved in February on the COLDEST day of the year! I’m talking like wind chills waaaaaaay below zero and every muscle in my body screaming at me!). 
3. I participated in #OTSPSecretSister TWICE! And each time it has been the biggest blessing! I was able to connect with people who blog about books and with people who share a lot of my interests. Some of my best friends are from all over the country now, which is the coolest thing. I love that this project is all about sending others cheer and thinking of them and lifting them up. I so needed this at the beginning of the year. I was really depressed and struggling but this particular project really helped me dig out of that hole. It’s so fun to be a part of! 
4. WEDDINGS! We went to 4 weddings this year. Each and every one was such a fun and unique experience that was so very much the particular couple that we were celebrating. One wedding in particular ended up being a bit of a mini vacation since we had to go all the way up to the Mississippi Headwaters, which was awesome. I haven’t been there since I was a kid. Very fun! 
5. SPORT! I got to see my absolute favorite baseball team play, which is definitely tricky to do. I am a MN sports fan living in WI, so I love being able to have the opportunity to go see my favorite teams play when I can. Thankfully the Twins had a series in Milwaukee and I was able to go with some friends. This is even more special to me now since one of my favorite baseball players announced his retirement at the end of the season. It was so fun to go and watch them play! Besides that I have been really into watching the Vikings and paying attention to as much hockey as I can. Gotta get my MN fix while living in WI! 

Other than that my year hasn’t been too terribly exciting, which is probably an OK thing. I am trying, that’s the biggest thing I think for me. 2014 I was not trying. I was reading to pack my bags and move back home. I was tired of feeling homesick and tired of not finding anything to do with my life that made me feel good, important, or even just valued in the slightest bit. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself and trying to dig myself out of a hole that I think I was only digging deeper. 2015 was the year that I decided to start trying. Has it been easy? NO! In fact, there were times that I felt as I did in 2014. Helpless, hopeless, so incredibly alone. But now that I have the opportunity to look back I realize that I have come SO. INCREDIBLY. FAR. I have made some friends, I have found a job that I feel confident in, I am finally feeling comfortable as ME! I still have a long way to go, but I have a good feeling about 2016!

What are some highlights from your 2015?

First Line Friday: An Unwelcome Dawn

Click here for info on First Line Fridays and past posts.

This week’s line comes from one of my FAVORITE books from 2015. Oh my gosh, this book. I read it within a few days and was obsessed with it. I still am experiencing a slight book hangover from it I swear. I am anxiously awaiting the next book (BECAUSE THEY JUST DON’T RELEASE THESE FAST ENOUGH!). Seriously, if you have not read this book…DO IT!

It would not be a welcome dawn. –The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

OH my goodness, and that is just from the prologue. The writing is just beautiful in this book, and I was so in love with it from the beginning.

First lines are just what hooks me in the book. Got any awesome first lines to share?

Let’s talk about…The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights. Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend. She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

Click here to add The Wrath and The Dawn to your Goodreads

Initial reaction upon finishing:

This book was just as amazing as everyone keeps saying it is! And since everyone is talking about it I will try to keep this kind of short, but I think I really needed to just convey HOW MUCH I loved it. If you know me well then you know that since the Scarlet series ending I have been a little sad. I just adored that series to pieces and now that it’s over I just kind of feel meh towards new books. I just cannot figure out where I will find another series that I love just as much as Scarlet. Well, this book is my new Scarlet. It was so fantastic and I just fell in love. I am terrified of not doing this book justice, but here are 3 reasons why you should definitely add this book to your TBR:

1. THE WRITING! The writing was just so darn good! This author has a way with words and a way with making you connect to the text and the story. The words flowed so smoothly and gave the story that rich feel that you would expect from a story like this. It made everything real and made me wish the book would never end. I just really feel like I NEED to give you a sample (all quotes taken from Goodreads!):
   1. “She was a dangerous, dangerous girl. A plague. A Mountain of Adamant who tore the iron from ships, sinking them to their watery graves without a second thought. With a mere smile and a wrinkle of her nose.”
   2. “Love is a force unto itself, sayyidi. For love, people consider the unthinkable…and often achieve the impossible. I would not sneer at its power.”
2. ROMANCE! Oh, my heart! It was as swoon worthy as the romance in Scarlet. It was passionate, real, and not super raunchy (sorry, I can deal without the raunchiness. I like simple, pure, and whatnot). It moved the plot along instead of just being something that is added on to the plot. Without the romance there really would not be much of a story at all. It was also a romance that kind of gutted you, but that’s cool. That seems to be the kind of romance I prefer in books (and in a good way…I promise)
3. PLOT! The plot of this story was AWESOME! It kept me constantly left wondering how things would work out, if they would work out. There was a lot of mystery that continued to keep me hooked to the story until the end (and now has me CRAVING book two because I just have to know what happens). I was completely and totally in the story the whole time. And the romance kept the plot moving forward. It did not distract or keep you away from it. I know bits and pieces of Arabian Nights, but I really enjoyed this retelling (because there were parts that I recognized!)

Bonus: GLOSSARY! (this was a lifesaver guys! I mean yes, there were times where I could tell what words meant using those fabulous context clues, but other times it was not so easy) CHARACTERS! (it should be a no brainer that there are awesome characters in this book. I adored Shazi. She was snarky and brave but also had her flaws. Not a single character in this book was perfect but they all worked so well. I do think that Shazi is one of my new favorite female characters)

I cannot say enough just how much I loved this book! If you get the chance I HIGHLY recommend you read it! 

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? If not, is this something you would add to your TBR?