november 2015 playlist

Nov 30, 2015



cliff's edge // hayley kiyoko
going down tonight // colby o'donis
the fix // nelly x jeremih
the feeling // justin bieber x halsey
i'm yours // alessia cara
black flies // ben howard
lay it all on me // rudimental x ed sheeran
love yourself // justin bieber
rescue my heart // liz longley
half the world away // aurora
​no scrubs (revamp) // cappa x jon santana

october 2015 playlist

Oct 31, 2015



happy halloween! unfortunately this is not a halloween post, but a playlist for the month of october.


other girls // cappa
locked away // r. city x adam levine
young god // halsey
on my mind // ellie goulding
l.a. love song // xylo
love me // the 1975
music to watch boys to // lana del rey
kamikaze // mo
touch // pia mia
confident // demi lovato
wild things // alessia cara
clay // hana
everything // sivik

september 2015 playlist

Sep 30, 2015



castle // halsey
killin' it // cappa x almighty chief
criminals // ms mr
young & stupid // travis mills
body on me // rita ora
devil // cash cash x busta rhymes x b.o.b. x neon hitch
leave a trace // chvrches
open heart // morgan page x lissie
blush (original mix) // sbcr

{Story Diary} The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy

Sep 21, 2015

The Winter People by Rebekah L. Purdy
Young Adult Fantasy, Romance
September 2, 2014 from Entangled Teen



Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn’t forgotten their warning to “stay away.” For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the “special gifts” that must be left at the back of the property.

Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, his interactions with Salome take her life in a new direction. A direction where she’ll have to decide between her longtime crush Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop. An evil that, given the chance, will kill her.


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*Note: Please keep in mind that only some places in the book are real, while the others are purely fictional.*




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We all can relate to that, right, readers? The TBR pile is ever-growing. So many books; so little time.

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Winter solstices are an important factor in The Winter People, but their meaning for one may be different than what it means to us...



"Some people see the solstices as magical times. Some look at it as a way to travel between the worlds, humans and otherwise, because that is when the veils are thinnest. Others look at it as a time of sacrifice..."

--Rebekah L. Purdy, The Winter People


While to the eye, a winter solstice means that, as the earth is tilting on it's axis, December 21st is the day that has the least amount of daylight, thus becoming the shortest day of the year. Same goes for June 21st being the longest with the most amount of daylight during the summer solstice, depending on which side of the hemisphere.

In astrology, the winter solstice is associated with the birth of the sun. Winter Solstice means sun set still in Latin, in which there is stillness before the sun builds strength, and the days grow longer. It's a powerful time of re-birth and transformation, which I find essential to The Winter People because of our heroine, Salome. [Source]




I was born and raised in Michigan (just look for the mitten-shaped state on the map). I’ve lived here most of my life other than the few years I spent in the U.S. Army. At which time I got a chance to experience MO, KS, SC, and CA.

I work full time for the court system and in my free time I write YA stories. Pretty much any genre within the YA realm is game for me, but my favorites are fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, thrillers, light sci-fi, and some time travel.

I also have a big family–I like to consider us the modern day Brady Bunch. When my hubby and I met and got married, he had 3 children from a previous marriage, I had 2 and we have 1 together. It’s a lot of fun though.

And I can’t forget my other family members–yep, we’ve got some pets: 4 dogs, 3 cats, and 1 turtle. Everyone in the family has one…I won’t bore you all with their names (unless you really want to know). Okay, you talked me into it! Jack, Pearl, Grr…(yes that’s my dog’s name), Callie, Shadow, Mooshoo, Grouchy, and Sorbert. Other than writing some of my other hobbies include: reading (mostly YA of course), singing, swimming, football, soccer, running, camping, sledding, church, hanging with my kids, and traveling.

I belong to a fabulous writing group called YA Fiction Fantatics (YAFF) and you guessed it we all write YA!

REPPED by Jennifer Mishler and Frances Black of Literary Counsel

And that’s me in a big ‘ol nutshell.




{Story Diary} Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Aug 31, 2015

Happy book birthday to my birthday twin, Nicola Yoon's debut EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING! It is such an honor to share a birthday with this beautiful work of art, because this book is fantastic. I absolutely adored it, I just had to make a story diary to celebrate! Everything, Everything is not one to miss, so be sure to pick up a copy today!



everything everything nicola yoon delacorte ya contemporary black japanese repEverything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Young Adult Contemporary
September 1, 2015 from Delacorte



This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.


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everything everything nicola yoon quotes

A first sentence--hell, paragraph--about books is a sure sign of a winner.
















"SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, is a primary immune deficiency. The defining characteristic is usually a severe defect in both the T- & B-lymphocyte systems. This usually results in the onset of one or more serious infections within the first few months of life. These infections are usually serious, and may even be life threatening, they may include pneumonia, meningitis or bloodstream infections. Children affected by SCID can also become ill from live viruses present in some vaccines. These vaccines (such as Chickenpox, Measles, Rotavirus, oral polio and BCG, etc.) contain viruses and bacteria that are weakened and don’t harm children with a healthy immune system. In patients with SCID however, these viruses and bacteria may cause severe, life-threatening infections." -- Source via SCID.net

SCID is often called “bubble boy disease”. SCID became widely known during the 1970’s and 80’s, when the world learned of David Vetter, a boy with X-linked SCID, who lived for 12 years in a plastic, germ-free bubble. -- Source via SCID.net


There are several forms of SCID:

[Image Source]


"Typical SCID – describes cases with fewer than 300 autologous T cells /_L
Leaky SCID – describes cases due to incomplete mutation(s) in a typical SCID gene, T cells ranging from 300–1,500/_L and may have a later age of onset of clinical symptoms
Variant SCID – describes cases with no known gene defect and a persistence of 300–1,500 T cells/L that have impaired function." -- Source via SCID.net














"Sometimes you do things for the right reasons and sometimes for the wrong ones and sometimes it's impossible to tell the difference." -- Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything (ARC pg. 174)




"I was happy before I met him. But I'm alive now, and those are not the same thing."

-- Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything (pg. 181)



"The smile he gives me is worth living for."

-- Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything (ARC pg. 305)


**quotes are taken from an ARC and is subject to change in final copy**





Nicola Yoon grew up in Jamaica (the island) and Brooklyn (part of Long Island). She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and daughter, both of whom she loves beyond all reason. Everything, Everything is her first novel.








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