6 Books I'm Excited to Read in 2015

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A new year means more opportunities to read more books. (And hopefully meet my goodreads goal this year.) 

With that being said, I thought I would share with you some of the books that I'm looking forward to reading this year/plan to read this year. If you're looking for some new books to read this year, maybe this list can help you out, too!

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This is the number 1 book that I'm looking forward to this year. It comes out in October! Eepp! I absolutely cannot wait to read this one. 

2. P.S I Stil Love You by Jenny Han. This is the sequel to To All The Boys I've Loved Before and I'm so excited to continue on with this story. It comes out in June and I am so excited to see what else has happened to Lara Jean since we left her in the first book. 

3. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. This is the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and I actually have it on my bookshelf right now. I've been putting off reading it because when I first started it I couldn't really get into it. Hopefully, when I try again it'll come better. I loved the first, and hopefully the second will be just as good!

4. Shatter Me (Series) by Taherah Mafi. Again, I already have the first book, Shatter Me, on my shelf waiting to be read. I've started it twice, but haven't been able to really get into it yet. Hopefully this will be the year, and I will finally understand why everyone loves it so much.

5. Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I LOVE RAINBOW ROWELL and I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of Landline for m o n t h s now. This will be the year.

6. My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. I've not heard a lot about this book, but one of the girls I watch on youtube (whittynovels) talked about it a bit, and now I just want to read it so bad. It's due to release on February 10! Hopefully, I'll be able to get my hands on it quick!

If you'd like to keep up with me and bookish things you can follow me on goodreads to stay in the loop. (I'll follow you back :))

Also––another shameless plug––if you'd like to order a copy of my very first book, Coffee Colored, you can do so here.

Let me know what you are looking forward to reading this year!

Blessings,
Shi.

Hello, 2015!

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Well, some how the year has come and gone; we're moving on to bigger and better (hopefully). 

So much happened in 2014, and overall, it was an okay year for me. I know that a lot of people had a pretty bad year. I think that what a lot of people are failing to acknowledge is that there will always be bad days, and we have to choose not to let them all blend together to make a whole year "bad." The way I see it, we have to learn from those moments. The good, the bad, the ugly. 

2014 was a year of change for me. I graduated high-school. I got my drivers license. I started college. I've started to grow up and figure out who I am, and who I want to be. I'm learning that not everything I do is okay, and I have to be willing to change and work on myself. I've learned that not everything that the people you love say and do is okay, either, and it's alright to have different opinions. What's starting to matter to me the most is that I do what God wants me to do, not what people want me to do. 

I thought that today I would share with you some of my 2015 goals. They aren't really "resolutions" and this isn't one of those "New year, New me" posts, because, really, that stuff never works for me. These are the things that I want to focus on working on in myself this year, because it's important to take care of yourself. I'm a work in progress; I always will be. And that's okay. 

This year I want to:

• be less stressed. I want to take time for myself; I want to understand that just because I get a bad grade, the world won't end; I want to always remind myself that my happiness doesn't depend on how well I do on one assignment. It's okay to be okay with less than perfect.
• cry less and laugh more. I want to say "I don't have to let my depression win" and save the tears for the moments when I'm laughing so hard I cry; I want to save the tears for the moments that I'm so in awe of God and his grace that I can't help but sob. I don't want to waste my tears because an illness I have is telling me it's a "bad day." I want to wake up, and look at the sky, and fall so in love with being alive that there is no way the day can be "bad." 
• work on making my body healthy––physically and mentally. I want to remember to drink water and stay hydrated and go to the gym. I also want to remember that mental health is just as important as all of that. I want to remember to read my Bible and listen to music that makes me want to dance and write out every feeling that I can possibly feel. 
• truly learn who I am and who I want and need to be. I want to see myself the way that God sees me. I want to figure out what it means to be Shiloh in every way that I can. I want to learn about my desires and my hopes and my talents. I want to learn to be comfortable in my skin and my mind. 
• take new risks. I want to make new friends and try new things and go on new adventures. I want to spend countless hours at concerts and in the woods and basking in the sun. I want to go to karaoke nights with my friends and I want to join new clubs at school. I want to experience everything that the world has to offer me right now.
• read more. I want to read anything and everything. I want to read more than just crappy fan fictions. I want to read and reread classics, and poetry, and new genres, and old genres, and everything.
• thrive. 

Here's to 2015.

Blessings,

Shi. 

Life Right Now

I can't think of the right words that could adequately explain my life lately, so I'm going to update you in list form.

• I started college on Monday and I absolutely love it. 
• I can't stop listening to Colton Dixon's new album, "Anchor."
• I'm extremely exhausted but it feels so good to be working through that for once in my life.
• I'm going to a concert Friday night and I couldn't be more excited about that. Holla!
• I had my first Intro into English Lit class today and I LOVED IT. We talked about books for an hour. (English Majors for the win)!
• My room is a disaster area and I need to make time to clean it. Oops. 

I'm not sure what else to write about really. This was a pretty lame update and I'm sorry about that. I will try to update with a better post soon. I did finally finish We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han and I will do a booking it post about that really soon! (hint: It may have been my favorite of the three). 

Okay, I'll talk to you guys soon. 

Byeeeee xx

Weekly Eye Candy | August 16

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So I am back with another weekly eye candy for ya.

This week I've basically just been reading. A lot. I don't know why, but I have just been in a read-y mood. That's part of the reason that I haven't really blogged all that much. But I'm back today do do another weekly eye candy. So here we go:

1. I love concerts. I'm going to see Royal Tailor / Jamie Grace / OBB / Rapture Ruckus / Moriah Peters on August 29th - yippie! and I'm seeing Bastille on October 17. So I am just absolutely stoked. (One Direction is playing a show 4 hours from where I live tonight and I'm aggressively disappointed that I wont be there.)
2. I just love bonfires. I've talked about it before. It's so summery, but I also feel like it could be a fall thing as well. And fall is my absolute favorite. So.
3. Harry Styles. 'Nuff said.
4. We've been spending our days exploring our small town lately and we found a place very similar to this. I love it.
5. I love these stupid e-cards.
6. See no. 5
7. Again, One Direction. Wow. This turned into a 1D thing fast. Oops.
8. I love friends. Yeah.
9. This is the place we found that I mentioned in no. 4. It's pretty.
10. BOOKS. okay.

That's all I have time to say at the moment, but I'll make another post later. 

xoxo, Shi

The Summer I Turned Pretty | Booking It

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The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

   

Some summers are just destined to be pretty.

When each summer begins, Belly leaves her school life behind and escapes to Cousins Beach, the place she has spent every summer of her life. Not only does the beach house mean home away from home, but her favorite people are there: Susannah, her mother's best friend, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been chasing Conrad for as long as she can remember, and more than anything, she hopes this summer will be different. Despite distractions from a new guy named Cam and lingering looks from Conrad's brother, Jeremiah, Belly's heart belongs to Conrad. Will he offer his to her? Will this be the summer that changes everything?

   

I thought that this book was sweet.

It wasn't my absolute favorite book I've ever read, but it was good. It was a quick easy read that definitely put me in a summer-y mood. I did tear up a couple of times and some of it had me laughing out loud. 

I could really relate to Belly.

Conrad and Jeremiah were lovely. Even though Conrad was a moody poophead for half of it. I still loved him.

I don't know who I was routing for more, either, Jeremiah or Conrad. I liked them both, so. 

                 

****

4/5

I liked it a lot and can't wait to continue with this trilogy.

xoxo, Shi

goodreads 

Next on my bookshelf:

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

To all the Boys I've Loved Before | Booking It

To all the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are the ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved--five in all. When she writes she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jeans's love life goes from imaginary to out of control. 

I'd heard so many good things about this book, so I just had to pick it up. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Lara Jean's character was so easy to relate to and understand. There was some spots that were humorous and some that were serious. Overall, it was a perfect combination of the too. Sweet and salty if you will. I loved all of it. It was also a quick read, which I wont complain about. I finished it in about two days (although, I could've done it in one if I didn't have to finish my summer reading first. Bleh). 

I highly recommend this book. 

                 

 *****

    five out of five. 

I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel to come out next year!

xoxo, Shi

p.s.

don't forget to add me on goodreads.

Next on my bookshelf:

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

If I Stay | Booking It

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make--and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

This book was something very different than what I'm usually into. As you all know, I usually go for the YA romance books. But I had heard so much about this one that I thought I had to pick it up; especially before the movie comes out! And I have to tell you that I don't regret it at all. This book was actually stunning. The idea of it and the way it was written; ugh it was just fabulous. Gayle Forman did a fantastic job conveying what she wanted to with this novel. I loved it. 

"I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard." 

"Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you." 

****

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. While it was a fantastic book, the ending didn't really leave me feeling satisfied. I'm hoping that the second book will bring that satisfied feeling that the ending of this one didn't quite leave me with. 

In other news I was wondering if you guys would be interested in me making videos about my book reviews. I've been watching a lot of booktube lately and have been strongly considering it. So let me know if you'd be interested in that. 

Thanks for reading.

xoxo, Shi

Weekly Eye Candy | June 30

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So it's that time of week again...WEEKLY EYE CANDY!

I don't know why but I really really love these weekly eye candy posts. I think it's so fun to share the stuff that has been majorly catching my eye lately. 

• 1. Bobby pins. I don't know why, but I just like this picture a lot for no reason in particular. I just think it's cute.
• 2. This. Is. Gorgeous. All I want to do with my life is travel and fall in love with the places that God has created for us to enjoy. Nature is a truly incredible thing if you ask me. 
• 3. I like elephants. And tattoos. I wouldn't actually ever get this tattoo, but I think that it's super cute. 
• 4. I go to seek a great perhaps. I love Looking For Alaska (did you hear they're making a movie of that one too? Gosh, these John Green books-turned-movies are going to ruin me). I love the idea of seeing a great perhaps as well. Adventure anybody?
• 5. Everyone smiles in the same language. I just think that this is such a good reminder to smile at people always. You never know if that smile is going to impact someones life or not. 
• 6. More with the theme of adventuring. I love this idea. Take a picture in every state and cut out the picture in the shape of that state. How cute!?
• 7. A little reminder that God is with us always. I love the reminders like this one. 
• 8. I want to fall in love. Waiting on God's timing, so when it does happen I know it's going to be fantastic.
• 9. Baby feet. Ah. I just love little babies so much. 
• 10. Stay close to anything that makes you feel alive. Speaks for itself really. It's one of my favorite quotes and I always try to remember this as I live my day by day life. I love it.

So that's all of the weekly eye candy I have for you today, stay tuned to see what I find for next week!

xoxo Shi

It's OFFICIAL!

Coffee Colored has been published as an amazon e-book!

I'm so excited to share this project with all of you and I am hopeful for what it will become in the future. I've been blessed by the reviews and comments that I have had on it on wattpad for the past few months, and I can't wait to see how much further this will take it and my writing in general. It's been quite the journey and I can't wait to see what become of this little book.

UPDATE: You can now purchase Coffee Colored for $2.99 on your kindle or kindle for iPhone. Click here to purchase. :)

Thanks again!
Happy reading!

xoxo, Shi

Booking It: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. 

I loved this book. I thought it was humorous, but at the same time very thought provoking and interesting. The main characters, Hadley and Oliver, were so easy to love and relate to and I was left wanting to know more and more about them and what happened to them after the book was finished. 

I think that the author did a fabulous job at truly showing both of their emotions and the up and downs that relationships can have..even if they're only a day old. 

It was a really easy read and only took me a couple of days to finish (I probably could've finished in a day if I weren't so busy). 

 

*****

five out of five for sure.

check this book out!

Read on! 

Booking It: eleanor & park

Today I have a book review for you all! 

This is my very first book review, so try to bear with me on this. 

Description:

Eleanor...Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park...He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. 

My Thoughts:

I really loved this book. It was so honest in everything that was said. The love of Eleanor and Park was so real and funny and awkward and just like first loves should be. Rowell wrote in such a unique way too; I loved how she used both Eleanor and Park's thoughts throughout the whole book, and also how she wrote in third person. I don't see a lot of authors using third person, so it was unique to read. 

My Rating:

I would give Eleanor & Park 5/5 stars. I completely and totally recommend it. 

~

Another thing that I wanted to mention on this post is about this app I use called GoodReads. If you're an avid reader like myself, I would highly recommend this app. 

App

Website

You can also follow or add me on goodreads as well to keep up with what I'm reading. 

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

Pretty much everyone has a list of things they want to do before they die, right? Well, this is mine. A lot of it is pretty cliche stuff, but I am a firm believer that the little things in life are the absolute most important. 

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♠ First, I want to continue growing my relationship with the Lord. I want to be on fire for him. (I also want to read the bible all the way through.)

♠ Stay close with the best friends/family that I have now. I also want to continue making new friends and finding people who want to come along with me and my crazy self.

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♠ Graduate. Both high school (four more months!!) and college. I'm very thankful for getting the opportunity at an education, and can't wait to continue it. 

(source)

♠ Ride every ride at Cedar Point. TALK ABOUT CLICHE. But seriously, I love roller coasters and I do want to ride every single ride there. It's fun.

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♠ Read lots and lots of books. I'm a book girl; I got, like, five books for my eighteenth birthday and it was the best day of my life. Maybe some book reviews in the future for this blog? ;)

(source)

♠ Publish a book (hopefully more). I want to make my writing successful before I die. My dream is to have a book become as successful as, like, The Fault in Our Stars or something. 

(source)

♠ Fall in love, get married, and have a family. My ultimate dream in life is just to be a stay at home mom/wife. If I get that accomplished, I'll be the happiest girl in the world. 

So there are a few of the things that are on my bucket list. What's on your bucket list? Be sure to leave me a comment below and tell me what you want to do before you die!

-Shi

p.s. in case you couldn't tell, most of these posts are from weheartit. I don't know the original sources of the photos. Sorry.

Coffee Colored

Hey,

so much for keeping up on this blog, right? I'm literally so bad at this.

I just wanted to let you all know that I have officially finished my first book!
I am so happy with the way it turned out and thankful for all of the support that I've been given on it. It is available to read on Wattpad for now (click here if you'd like to read it.) I would, however, love to get it published. I can't imagine how amazing that would be. If I were to publish it, the plot holes, grammatical issues, and a little bit of the plot would be altered. It would basically just be really polished up and better. I'm really hoping to do this, so if anyone has any tips or advice that I should take while looking for a publisher please let me know!

Thanks so much xx

AFOMFT: Books Books Books

Hey guys!

So, I finally decided to update my 'A Few of My Favorite Things' series. I'm super excited to do this one too.

Last year was sort of a crazy one for a lot of reasons, one of the biggest ones was that I finally decided what I want to do for the rest of my life. If you know me than you know that was actually the hardest thing for me to figure out. But I have decided that I am going to be a writer. You know, books, blogs, the whole shabang. So, anyway. I have been really super into reading books lately.

So this is My Favorite Books! It includes published books and books/short stories that I have read on wattpad and really enjoyed. (I will link the barnes and noble/wattpad pages for all of the books so that you can check them out if you haven't already.)

• The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
• Probably my favorite book of all time--ever. The characters became apart of me, and there are really no words to describe the beauty that is this book. Hazel and Gus are just...ugh. I can't even explain this book to you. Basically, just go read it if you haven't. Okay? Okay.
• The Help - Kathryn Stockett
• Another one of my favorite books of all time. I just love the writing style. The story line is amazing. I feel like I can really connect with all of the characters. It was just sort of a love at first sight book. 
• Cherry Knots - hepburnettes
• Basically this is adorable and perfect and one of the best stories I have ever read on wattpad. It is fabulous and you should definitely read it if you have time. 
• The Accidental Tourists - toastedbagels 
• Again I say, it's adorable and perfect. One of the bests (along with her other book, Float, which isn't done yet.) But this story is totally hilarious and I couldn't stop reading until I was finished with it. Her writing is basically flawless and amazing. 
• Saving Elliot - northbynorth (Not Completed)
• Okay, so even though this isn't actually finished yet it definitely qualifies as one of my favorites. Seriously, I can't even begin to describe how much I love the Elliots. It is hilarious and perfect and yeah. I'm horrible at describing why I love books but that's because there's really no way to understand without reading them. Just check it out, yeah?
• Looking for Alaska - John Green
• Yup, I kinda, sorta, really like John Green books. It's a thing. Sorry 'bout it. 

So, there you have it. My favorite books. Be sure to check them out, because they're all seriously fab. Okay. Yeah. Bye.