The following are some of the great books I read this year. They were so good and there for me when I needed them most that they deserve a shout out. These are by no means all the books I read this year just the ones I rated 4 or more (fabulous) stars.

*Books with hyperlinked titles go to reviews I posted for them.

Book	My Rating	Average Rating
The Hurricane (The Hurricane #1)	4	4.12	Goodreads	Amazon
The Aftermath (The Hurricane #2)	4	4.30	Goodreads	Amazon
The Sparrow (The Sparrow #1)	4	4.17	Goodreads	Amazon
Shadowboxer (Tapped Out #1)	4	3.89	Goodreads	Amazon
Maybe Someday (Maybe #1)	4	4.38	Goodreads	Amazon
Sweet Temptation (The Sweet Trilogy #4)	4	4.28	Goodreads	Amazon
The One Thing	4	4.18	Goodreads	Amazon
The Fill-In Boyfriend	4	3.91	Goodreads	Amazon
Two Across	4	3.44	Goodreads	Amazon
The Festival of the Moon	4	4.14	Goodreads	Amazon
Confess	5	4.31	Goodreads	Amazon
Every Last Word	4	4.15	Goodreads	Amazon
Significance (Significance #1)	5	4.15	Goodreads	Amazon
Defiance (Significance #3)	5	4.32	Goodreads	Amazon
Reverence (Significance #3.5)	4	4.28	Goodreads	Amazon
Independence (Significance #4)	5	4.33	Goodreads	Amazon
Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)	4	4.48	Goodreads	Amazon
A Little Something Different	4	3.68	Goodreads	Amazon
Red Queen	5	4.12	Goodreads	Amazon
Alternity	4.5	3.74	Goodreads	Amazon
The Calling (Endgame #1)	5	3.76	Goodreads	Amazon
On the Edge	4	3.75	Goodreads	Amazon

I can’t wait for the wonderful books I’ll get to meet next year! What are some the best books you read this year? Maybe they’ll end up on my TBR.

Happy New Year!

Unfinished Tags Post

A few months ago I was tagged by Lia @ Bookland for The Creative Blogger Award and by TheYAPage and Pooja @ BooksaRica for The Blogger Recognition Award. However, other than acknowledging the tags and thanking the bloggers, my responses to these awards just sat in my drafts folder. But in an attempt to enter 2016 with a clean drafts folder I’m just going to publish what I have done so far. Sorry, I’m not doing these awards justice.

 ~ The Creative Blogger Award ~

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Nominate some bloggers in return and notify them about their nomination.
4. Keep the rules in your post to make it easy for everyone to know what to do.

Thank you, Lia, for this nomination. It is very awesome of you. (Link to her blog above.)

Five Fast Facts:

1. I’m the stereotypical book lady equipped with tea, a cat, and reading material.
2. I have more eBooks than physical books.
3. My favorite type of clothing is sweatpants/leggings.
4. I have three siblings.
5. My favorite colors are blue and black. (I really can’t choose one over the other.)

~ The Blogger Recognition Award ~

Rules:

1. Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to. Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.
2. Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog. List who you’ve nominated in the post.
3. Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).
4. Comment on each blog and let them know you’ve nominated them. Provide a link to the award post you created.
5. Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing!

Thanks again to TheYAPage and Pooja for this award (links above). Also, shout to Edge of Night for creating this award.

I explain how this blog was started in my response to The Liebster Award so I won’t bore you by rehashing it. But I haven’t tried explaining it in emojis so I’ll try that!

    🙉   🆕 

Yeah, I’m going to stop there.

My advice to other bloggers is to remember why you’re doing this. It’s so easy to get caught up in what other bloggers are doing and becoming discouraged or pushing yourself past your limits. Be true to yourself. You may not be the blog with 50+ views a day (I’m lucky if I even get one), but there are people out there who want to hear what you have to say so say it.

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #29

“I see it all the time. Girls with big ideas and firm plans of their own, throwing them all away just because some penis struts in and changes the landscape. That’ll never be me. Never.”

~ Kizzy from Shadowboxer by Cari Quinn

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #28

“… You’re not a traitor, you’ve merely been the tool of one. I don’t punish tools. They do harm only in the hands of a bad workman.”

~ Argaven from The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #27

“One of the things I always try to remind myself is that everyone has scars. A lot of them even worse than mine. The only difference is that mine are visible and most people’s aren’t.”

~ Fallon from November 9 by Colleen Hoover

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #26

“You’re the strongest, bravest person I’ve ever known. I was jaded and bored before you walked into my life. You challenged me. You woke me up.”

~ Tray from Shadowboxer by Cari Quinn

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

November 9

Colleen Hoover

Rate: 3.5

I think I may have overhyped this book in my head. I think somewhere during the wait for the book to be published I convinced myself that since I loved Confess and Maybe Someday, I just had to love November 9. It was to be Hoover’s newest masterpiece. But somewhere along the line something happened. I like it. But I don’t love it. And maybe that has something to do with me. Because everyone else is loving it. So why not me.

November 9 captured my attention from the very first sentence. Within the first few pages, I just figured I would love it. But that obviously didn’t happen. I don’t know where exactly I stopped loving or “really like”-ing the story, but something I know for sure is that the first November 9th is my favorite. Maybe that’s where I stopped loving the book. Maybe every other November 9th failed to live up to the beauty and newness and magical-ness of the first November 9th. The characters weren’t bad, but as the years passed and they grew and changed, their dynamic grew and change until I could no longer see the happy, joking couple I fell in love with in the beginning. I didn’t expect Ben and Fallon to remain the same forever, but they changed so much. <Semi Spoiler Alert> Fallon’s mother was right: a person does change a lot between eighteen and twenty-three. <End of spoiler>

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #25

“I didn’t mean what I said. I’m sorry. You’re worth everything.”

Tray from Shadowboxer by Cari Quinn

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #24

“That’s what that kiss was for. Because you love me so much that you’d do anything for me. I have never been so grateful of anything in my life than I am for you.”

~ Maggie from Defiance by Shelly Crane

That’s What S/He Said Thursday #23

“How stupid am I? How is it possible that I’m here in the middle of a magical war, supposedly saving the world – or the kingdom, or whatever I’m supposedly saving – and all I can think about is some dumb boy? Tracking him down should be the last thing on my mind.”

~ Amy from The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige