Series: The Conspiracy of Us

Item: Map of Fates
Rating: 4
Author: Amanda Marie

June 2016 in Review

Posted June 29, 2016 in Life, Reading / 8 Comments

Things that Happened in June

I spent a weekend at Glacier National Park. I kind of sort of love it there. It is beautiful. If you haven’t gone, you definitely should!
I attended my friend’s wedding in California. My sister came with me and we had a blast.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of prep for the upcoming school year. I can’t believe June is over already! Only a month and a half until I am back in the classroom.
I did not reread any books this month. Wow! I am pretty sure that is a first this year.
I messed with my blog fonts last weekend (and updated my About Me page). I ended up changing up the fonts (both headers and body text) and simplifying my header. My design itself hadn’t changed since last October. Please let me know what you think about the changes! Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Below is the screenshot I took last October after my last design update:

My Favorite Book of June

Ruined by Amy Tintera

Tagged as Monthly Wrap-Up

Two Weeks to Save the World – Map of Fates {Review}

Posted June 23, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Map of Fates by Maggie Hall
Series: The Conspiracy of Us #2
Publisher: G P Putnam's Sons (2016)
Hardcover (311 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: The Conspiracy of Us
Also in this series: The Conspiracy of Us
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Two weeks.
That’s how long it took for Avery West’s ordinary life to change forever: In two weeks, she discovered she was heiress to a powerful secret society known as the Circle, learned her mother was taken hostage by the Circle’s enemies, and fell for a boy she’s not allowed to love, just as she found out another was her unwelcome destiny.
Now, Avery crosses oceans in private jets to hunt for clues that will uncover the truth about the Circle, setting her mom and herself free before it’s too late. By her side are both the boys: Jack—steady, loyal, and determined to help her even at the expense of his own duty—and Stellan, whose connection to Avery grows stronger by the day despite her best intentions, making her question what she believes at every turn.
But at the end of a desperate hunt from the islands of Greece to the red carpet at Cannes comes a discovery that not only changes everything, but could bring the whole world to its knees. And now Avery is forced to face the truth: in the world of the Circle, no one is what they seem.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Tagged as 4 star, Read 2016

May 2016 in Review

Posted June 1, 2016 in Life, Reading / 8 Comments

Things that Happened in May

We have had one of the craziest Mays ever. It was over 70*F one day, and the next is was snowing so bad that we almost lost power and cars got stuck on the road. Yep, this is simply life in Montana.
My little sister graduated from her undergrad program (BA in Psychology, if anyone is interested).
My little sister also happened to move home with me… with her cats (whom I am allergic to a lot more than my cat).
My family and I drove to visit our family in Wisconsin. We got home late yesterday. I had forgotten about this trip which means that my monthly wrap-up was not scheduled ahead of time.
The school year ended. This really is bittersweet. I love my job and I enjoy working with the students. However, summer is much appreciated.
My favorite book of the month was The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh.

My Favorite Tweets of May

You know what made my day? Listening to most of my students seriously trying to convince me #CincoDeMayo is really Day of the Dead. #teacher

— Amanda Marie (@catholicamanda) May 6, 2016

❄️🌨❄️🌨❄️ Welcome to spring in Montana! ❄️ It’s only been snowing for 24 hours! ❄️#lifeinMT #SnowInSpring #MaySnow 😕 pic.twitter.com/iUEGXRXvNU

— Amanda Marie (@catholicamanda) May 10, 2016

When driving long distance, a book book AND an audiobook are necessary.📚
One for daylight & one for dark.
The struggle is real!#amreading

— Amanda Marie (@catholicamanda) May 27, 2016

Three wide on a two lane highway? Forgive me, but something about that doesn’t sound right. #traveling

— Amanda Marie (@catholicamanda) May 27, 2016

Books I Read in May

Tagged as Monthly Wrap-Up, School

2015 in Review (& End of Year and Statistics Surveys)

Posted December 31, 2015 in Life, Reading / 10 Comments

Big Things That Happened in 2015

I mentioned the school talent show in which the teachers sang Yellow Submarine.
I worked at a Catholic summer camp for the summer and had a blast. I wrote about it and shared some pictures.
I survived over a week of blinding smoke due to forest fires. It was insane. I talked about that here.
I had my very first ever Blogversary which was exciting.

Analysis of Books I Read in 2015

This was the very first year that I ever kept track of the books that I read. My stats have amazed me.

I read 141 books.
Almost all of the books I read this year were 4 or 5 stars. I must be pretty good at choosing books I know I’ll enjoy.
Over two-thirds of the books I read this year were from the library or books I own.
Over half of the books I read this year were hard copied (Paperback or Hardcover) while over a quarter were ebooks. Audiobooks made up the rest.
About a quarter of the books I read this year were debuts.

I made some pretty nifty looking pie charts in Excel (you can just pretend they are totally awesome).

Tagged as Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Birthday Month Reading Challenge, Catholic Book, Color Coded Challenge, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Finishing the Series Challenge, Mythology Reading Challenge, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Read 2015, Rereading Challenge, What's In a Name Reading Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge

{TTT} Anticipated for 2016

Posted December 29, 2015 in Reading / 4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s list is the Top Ten Books I’m Anticipating for the 1st Half of 2016. Well, I’m going to list these ten by publication date. If they share the same publication date, then author’s last name comes into play. One of them isn’t technically the first half of 2016 but I don’t care. I still NEED it! These title all have such gorgeous covers that I could say that I picked them only for their covers… and it wouldn’t necessarily be a lie. With the covers and the synopses, I can’t wait to read these books!

Tagged as Top Ten Tuesday