march 2015 playlist

forget // marina and the diamonds
reckless // julia lauren
california nights // best coast
1991 // kat graham

♥ small playlist this month due to

having reckless on repeat the whole month ♥

{Story Diary} The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Emery Lord's sophomore novel The Start of Me and You comes out tomorrow! This little beauty had the honor of being my first read of 2015 and I absolutely adored it. There's friendships, banter that will literally make you LOL, overcoming fear, letting go, a game of seven minutes in heaven, and an adorkable nerd named Max that may win you over. Thanks goes to On The Same Page for giving me a chance to read an ARC on the ARC tour, and to Kaitlin from Reading Is My Treasure for lending her copy!

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord
Young Adult Contemporary

March 31, 2015 from Bloomsbury

Following her pitch-perfect debut Open Road Summer, Emery Lord pens another gorgeous story of best friends, new love, & second chances.

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Setting + Places

Alcott's Books and Beans is thee place to be. No, seriously. There are books and coffee in there (what more can you ask for?), and it's where the characters like to hang out. Well, two of them enjoy it more than others at least.

There are more places characters go to in this book such as school, the pool and Ryan's house (*ahem*).

Books/TV/Plays Mentioned

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Bless and points for Rocky Horror!

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Max is totally into this show, whether he denies it or defends it. Wear that shirt and marathon it loud and proud, Max!

References

Tollbooth

"Max once had a guinea pig that was named after the main character, Milo."

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You (pg. 98)

Sherlock

"Wait," I said. "So she's . . . Dr. Watson?"

He laughed. "Yep. Just hasn't found her Sherlock yet. And look at you, with the literature references!"

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You (pg. 113)

Harry Potter

"Twenty points to Gryffindor."

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You (pg. 136)

Favorite Quotes

He twisted in his seat, turning toward me. "Do you ever go back and reread books that you really love?"

"Yes." This was probably so much of an understatement that it was actually a lie.

"The point is that we already know it doesn't work out, but we reread them anyway, because the good stuff that comes before the ending is worth it."

"Also!" Max shook his finger if giving a lecture. "In books, sometimes the forewshadowing is so obvious that you know what's going to happen. But knowing what happens isn't the same as knowing how it happens. Getting there is the best part."

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You

Fellow booknerds-- Max is onto something here, am I right or am I right?

"I know," she said. "It's my brother's fault. What did I miss?" "Ryan Chase gave Paige a hot dog." Morgan said.
Kayleigh looked confused. "Is that sort of metaphor?"
"Kayleigh!" I shrieked, reaching over to smack her leg. "No! Perv!"

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You

I totally giggled like a 12 year old boy.

Love how Max and Paige nerd out about books.

She sighed. "We got into a fight this morning. Kayleigh and me."
I resisted saying "Kayleigh and I." Now was not the time.

--Emery Lord, The Start of Me and You

**Quotes are taken from the ARC and are subject to change in the final copy**

Meet Emery Lord

Emery Lord is a 20-something Midwestern girl who writes stories about high school and best friends and weird families and the crushes that make you feel combustibly alive and also more awkward than you thought was possible. If you're not sure how to pronounce Emery, try slurring the name "Emily," and that will get you really close.

She lives in Cincinnati in a 100 year-old pink row house with her BFF/husband, a closet full of dresses, and lots of books. If karaoke-ing in grocery store aisles or guzzling coffee while impulse shopping were illegal, Emery would be writing her overemotional YA books from jail. Also, she makes up words sometimes. Like combustibly.

OPEN ROAD SUMMER, her first YA novel, is out now with Bloomsbury. Her second, The Start of Me & You, will be released March 31, 2015.

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

Purchase The Start of Me and You

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Book Depository

{Story Diary} Volition by Lily Paradis

There are books that read you, and Volition is a story for the soul. It's probably why it resonated in me. The tumultuous friendships and relationships between the characters, the depths of Tate's soul and how it's explored, the lush New York City and the South Carolina plantation's that spark the wanderlust, and Hayden are all what makes up this book. Hayden is the only one who truly understands the darkest corners of Tate's mixed-up soul, and vise-versa. And for that, he is a book boyfriend in a way that no other is. If that's what you look for in guys, you'll want to meet him. That's not to say that he is perfect because soon you'll find out that he's not. He has demons of his own that plays well with Tate's. 

Volition by Lily Paradis
New Adult Contemporary Romance
February 6, 2015

You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach that stays with you, then tears you apart slowly at first, and all at once shreds every fiber of your being?

It’s because you’re contradicting the universe.

Everything lines up so perfectly that you couldn’t have imagined it to work out better, but then you have to go and do everything humanly possible to ruin it because you can’t stand to have it go right?

That’s what I did.

I did it because there’s a darkness that surrounds me, and I think I want it there.

My name is Tate McKenna, and my soul is blacker than my heart.

Setting + Places

Manhattan, NY

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Old Clock Tower

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Lily told me that she didn't base Tate's apartment off of anything specific, but did see something similar to the photos above while creeping around the NYC real estate websites. When it was mentioned that Tate was looking at a clocktower penthouse to purchase, my mind immediately went straight to the old clock tower the city transformed into an apartment on a show I watched on HGTV. But with a more Tate vibe/decor to it, of course. [You can see more photos and information of that here. The space looks spectacular...the price? You probably don't want to know.]

Bagel Bob's

Washington Square Park

The Grey Dog

Charleston, SC

St. Patrick's Cathedral, NY

North Brother Island, NY

Empire State Building, NY

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Books/Literature

Another thing I loved about this book is the usage of literary quotes by the characters, especially in the situations they use them in. There's one in particular that you might find as funny as I did.

Hint: it's a quote by Nayyirah Waheed, that can be found at the bottom of this section. Anyone one whose read Volition might know what I'm talking about.

[a passage from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath]

[a quote from In by Nayyirah Waheed]

This is the quote that I was talking about earlier. All I can say is... Go, Tate! GIRL POWER.

Favorite Quotes

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My Playlist

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Book Playlist

[spotify id="spotify:user:biancamanalolapuz:playlist:5ylcqJER2Q4y9VlG4FQsVb" width="300" height="380" /]

**Playlist was picked by Lily Paradis and compiled on a reader's Spotify account (which can be found on the Volition discussion Facebook), and can be found on the back of the book**

Meet Lily Paradis

Lily is 22 and lives with her family. She loves reading, running, and hiking. Although she’s a Colorado native, New York City is her favorite place in the world and fosters her borderline unhealthy obsession with the Empire State Building and F. Scott Fitzgerald. IGNITE is her debut novel.

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads

Purchase Volition

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Paperback | B&N Nook | Signed Paperback | International Paperback

{watch, read & listen} pierrot le fou, acotar & reckless

♥ watch, read & listen a weekly feature where we share and recommend
our current movie, book and music obsessions to you every monday. ♥

watch: pierrot le fou (1965)

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

i enjoy watching foreign films and classics, and pierrot le fou is both. the french 1965 film stars jean-paul belmondo and anna karina. what struck me was the unorthodox lives they lead, the adventures they go on, how the characters perceive love and life, the references to books and how different/similar they are to life.

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read: a court of thorns and roses

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

i won an advanced review copy of this book in a giveaway, and i'm more than ready to dive into this fantasy world that sarah j maas created.

listen: "reckless" by julia lauren

this song is for all of those who love recklessly or recklessly love.

{empty mystics} full moon in virgo

happy full moon in virgo!

each ending is a new beginning.
find your calmest space and bring
anything that's bothering you there.
be patient.
take your time massaging each issue until
you come to a conclusion that works for you.
see your mistakes as learning opportunities;
challenge yourself to make a list of the lessons
you gleaned from them.
this is your journey -- you are wholly your own --
so be sure that your new beginnings
come exclusively from your own heart.
ride this wave
and go with the flow.