The Bookish Fairy

Young adult, magical realism, and every book in between infused with fairy dust...

End of Year Wrap Up

Life Update…

I know that this is so typical to say but my mind cannot FATHOM that 2018 is already coming to a close! I would say that 2018 brought so many changes in my life! I started a new grade level (I am an elementary teacher for those of you that don’t know.) and I started working as a college adjunct which was scary for me at the time!

And I have actually managed to write 13,000 words to my novel! This is a huge accomplishment for me since I have been ignoring my WIP for about two to three years now! I am excited to say that it is a YA magical realism novel with latinx rep. My excitement for this novel has no words because I finally feel like I have figured out the missing piece to the puzzle to bring my novel into workable fruition! 

Number of Books Read

I have read 33 books this year so far! This has been the year of audiobooks for me! I have gone through sooooo many books due to the fact that I have been consuming most of them through audio. The number of books that I have read through audiobook is 20 books out of the 33 I have read in total! Out of those 20 books that I have listened to there are some that I have combined with reading the physical book as well. Children of Blood and Bone was one book where I actually needed to read the physical book because it’s typically hard for me to digest fantasy books. Although I still combined COBAB through physical and audio due to lack of time and the fact that I was a few weeks away from meeting her in person! EEEK! For those of you that are reluctant to audiobooks, I urge you to give it a try! They are so many books out there now with some AMAZING narration that can just bring the book to life sometimes more than actually reading it physically! Sometimes books have music and different voices! The best audiobooks I have read are definitely the Harry Potter ones! Jim Dale is the king when it comes to narration! 

My Year of Books for 2018

My goal for 2018 was rolling along rather nicely due to transitioning to mostly audiobooks with my busy schedule and then October happened! The month of October was pure INSANITY FOR ME! Along with teaching full time, being a college adjunct, I also enrolled myself for an all-day workshop for three Saturdays in order to have an intern for the new school year! The month of October was the hardest month for me and October is my favorite month of the whole year! So it was a major bummer because I am the queen of Halloween and I always look forward to all things spooky! 

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Then came November and November was the time for NaNoWriMo which was just another disaster. I was focusing on my WIP and I DNFed so many books that month it’s not even funny!

Although…there are still 11 days away and I am currently listening to The Afterlife of Holly Black and plan to finish a Hallmark fluffy romance. And I plan to add in some poetry and picture books to my list because that counts as reading too! (First-grade teacher life…don’t judge.) So your girl is going to have 50 books achieved before the year is over!

Goals for Next Year 2019

My goal for next year is to read the same amount of books that I always pledge to read every year which is 50 books! I wanted to increase to 60 books but I am honestly not focused on reading challenges as much. My main reading challenge is to push myself to read more recently released books more than backlisted books. I am the queen of backlisted books and I can never get caught up to the recently released books! Also, I want to continue to read more diverse books since I have read some amazing ones like The Poet X, Analee, in Real Life, and The Hate U Give. And I want to read more books on Netgalley since I have never really given Netgalley a real chance and it would be great to reach out to publishers more for recently released books.

Book reviews have also been a challenge for me this year and my goal is to write at least two book reviews a month. One of my favorite things to write is book reviews and I make my book reviews extremely interactive and over the top with book playlists, book castings, pop culture references, and gifs. I love writing book reviews and delving really deep into the review but it typically takes me about two days to finish a book review. I want to put an end to pressuring myself to always write one book review a week because it’s just not realistic to my life frankly. 

The year 2019 is going to be the year where I am going to focus more on the essentials and not add unnecessary stress to my plate if it’s not serving me. I have even finally figured out ways to simplify my blogging schedule and plan to schedule in three posts a week instead of five posts a week which wasn’t working out for me. I am not setting my blog posts to specific days anymore because it just adds too much pressure for me. 

BookTube and book blogs have added so much unnecessary pressure to my reading like never before and this is the year where I am tired of comparing myself to other people. Compared to many people in the world reading 30 something books is quite an accomplishment and for the first time in a few years, I am finally ok with that! Let’s take away the stress of reading and start to just enjoy the act of reading for 2019! 

CatFairy’s Monthly Chapter: Not too Spooktacular

Here is my monthly recap of books that I have read for the month, what I have been up to, and all the bookish things I am looking forward to for the next month!

October is one of my favorite months of the year but it was also the one month where I was incredibly busy! Luckily I was able to fit in a few fun Halloween activities this month! 

What I have been up to…

I went to one of my favorite yearly visits to the… Pumpkin Patch!

Just call me the pumpkin queen!

The day definitely wasn’t an ideal fall day! It was about 90 degrees outside and all I was thinking about was having a cold pumpkin beer but unfortunately, that was nowhere in sight! Although I definitely recommend that if you’re in the South Florida area that you come to visit Bedner’s Farm for the ultimate pumpkin patch experience! There are hayrides, corn mazes, and a cute little farmers market. Oh, and of course your obligatory tacky hole pictures. (I freaking love those!) I could have gone without the unbearable heat though but it was all worth it to achieve my ultimate fall aesthetic!

My hubby putting up with my childlike Halloween glee!

I live in an adorable Gilmore-Girls-like community where they love to throw festivals such as our Spooktacular Festival! Since I didn’t have much time for spooky related reads this was a must for me to attend! This was one of the best festivals I attended in my community! The festival even had a mini haunted house that was meant for 8 and up and my husband had to drag my scaredy-cat self to go inside! I am not someone that is too much into being scared. Instead of finding me in Halloween Horror Nights you will find me geeking out to the Halloween Disney parade dancing to the Hocus Pocus show!

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I decorated on Halloween! Unfortunately, it was on the last week of Halloween that I got my decorations up which NEVER HAPPENS! But here it is!

Since I am now almost done with all the Harry Potter books! (I only need to read TWO MORE!) I feel like I am part of the club now and it was time to officially dress up as one of the Hogwarts students!

Here I am a cross between Hermione and Harry Potter! 

 

Books I Have Read This Month

For Latin-x-a-thon, I actually did a reread of one of my favorite books to read for Hispanic Heritage which was Women in Front of the Sun. This book is such an inspiring and hopeful book when it comes to the creativity that comes with writing. There are stories in this book that remind me how creating is something that is a part of me and without it, I would feel lost. 

Drumroll, please…

I am a first-grade teacher and October was a pitiful month when it comes to reading and of course, I had to count Room on the Broom as my first read for Witchathon! 

I read this book because it is a witchy book and I am utterly obsessed with witches especially on Halloween. One of the things I love about this book is that it breaks the stereotype of witches being mean and creepy. This witch is actually a very kind witch who welcomes everyone! One of the things I love about this book is that there a ton of activities that you can do with this book but most importantly this book teaches children about kindness and acceptance of one another. This is my new favorite Halloween witchy classroom read and I intend to read it every year with my students.

Bookish Things I am Looking Forward to…

This book fair brings about the most epic authors! Liane Moriarty, Meg Cabot, David Levithan, Kiersten White…and new and upcoming popular authors such as Janelle Milanes and Madeline Miller! Need I say more?!

I am also looking forward to reading these books before the Miami Book Fair! Last year, I was ill-prepared for the Miami Book Fair because I didn’t realize that the young adult authors are mixed in with the adult fiction authors. Not happening this year! Stay tuned for more Miami Book Fair posts!

@charliechuchi wishes you a very “belated Happy Halloween”

 

 

 

 

I Miss BookNet Fest

BookNet Fest is like the Disney World for book nerds like me! This is my second year attending BNF in Orlando, FL and I loved my experience so much that I am already highly anticipating for the next book event for next year! I loved my second year at BNF the most because I met so many amazing people the second time around. My first year at BNF I met a couple of people here and there but I was a bit socially awkward throughout the experience because I didn’t really know many people there. 

The year of BNF 2018 was a complete game changer when it came to meeting people because of the creators of BookNet Fest created an actual discord app for BookNet Fest attendees to connect with one another! This was a perfect way to connect because I was able to get to know people, know their blogs/channels, and make lunch/dinner plans with them! It was awesomeness! Most of us bookish people may be introverted but we definitely need to connect to share our book nerd love with one another! 

Day One 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take many pictures the first day due to the fact that my phone was less than 20% that day! #Tragedy

Due to the amazing Discord app, I was able to share a room with blogger Sarah Viehmann,  Jocelyn @ Yogi with a Book, and Tea Hags! They were very accommodating and I am very grateful that they introduced me to one of the best things I have ever seen in my life!!! Three words!!! Potter Puppet Pals!!! There are no words to describe it just please watch it if you’re a fan of Harry Potter! 

The Tea Hags did an awesome panel about Small Communities! I loved this panel because I am part of the small community when it comes to my blog and it is always nice to be able to connect with a panel that has to do with your own situation. They gave out some great advice about starting out in the book community and how it’s important to start and not to worry about having a perfect book channel/blog. One of the things, I learned about this panel is that it’s not about having 1,000 followers or even 10,000 followers, it’s really about the connection we make with other people through what we love which is simply books!

One of my favorite panels was the Outside of Romance panel because of course readbyzoe was part of the panel! I loved the panel because it discussed books, where the romance wasn’t the main focus and these kinds of books, are always my favorite books! Not to trash on romance because I am one that loves a good romance but I used to be a part of a romance book club and let me tell you, those romance books get old real fast! They discussed books that focused more on the family and friend dynamics such as To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Hate You Give. I asked a question about books about friendship and of course, I had to mention the book Since You’ve Been Gone because this book has my fave friendship in the world of YA! Friendship and family in books are lacking and we definitely need more books with these themes! Also, I would love a book that focuses on the three is a crowd dynamic! If any of you have any book recs about this topic I would appreciate it! Let me know in the comments below! 

Not only were there well-known YouTubers and bloggers in the event but there were authors too like Alexa Donne! She hosted a mini writer’s meetup and this was the meetup where I met a lot of the people from BookNet Fest that I could now call friends! This writer’s meetup was a fun casual meetup where we just talked about how we are involved in the book community and what we are writing/working on. She started the meetup by asking us if we are plotters or pantsers! For those of you that don’t know what plotters/pantsers are basically plotters are people that plan out their writing through outlines etc. and pantsers are people that just write without much of a plan. I am someone that is mostly a plotter but during certain times of my writing, I am a pantser. After the meetup was over, I met a really funny blogger/writer local from Miami named Zina Hutton and we had wine and cheese and had an overall awesome time! Also, we met up with Madalyn from Novel Ink, Joce from Squibbles Reads, and Emily from Possibly Literate. 

Zina Hutton wrote a short story for a book called Undercities that is made up of queer narratives set in an urban fantasy setting. I haven’t read her short story yet but I am really looking forward to delving into it since there aren’t enough queer narratives out there! If you would like to purchase the book you can contact Zina here.

Day Two

The day started with the keynote speech by Marines and Sam and they were lovely and cute as per usual! Then I attended the panel Finding Your Community which brought out many good points. Alexa Donne was amazing on the panel! She stated never to be friends with anyone to increase your own status and jokingly said that anyone that isn’t very approachable more than likely has social anxiety. Actually, I find this to be a fact because many booktubers that seem extremely approachable on camera are completely not! 

Also, I attended the Sex in Romance panel which was entertaining as usual! 

Sarah Viehmann @ Sarah Viehmann is in the query trenches Jess bookcrack @ jesswithanS

Then I had lunch with some lovely ladies such as Kelsey @ KelseyReads and Alexandra @ A Lovely Jaunt! They were such genuinely nice girls and I can’t wait to also meet up with them next year! Until then I can catch up with them through their bookish platforms!

My phone was dying at the end of the day and I was able to retreat to their quiet room where there were a charging station and coloring books based on amazing YA books! I am about to color the Lunar Chronicles here while charging my phone!

The last two panels that I attended was the book blogger workshop that always gives me some great advice that I was able to carry over to my blog just recently! Thank you Madalyn!

At the end, the last panel was Women of Color in Books and this was amazing, to say the least! The ladies were articulate, honest, and just overall beautiful people. It’s so important to continue to have women of color in our fictional stories so we can continue to represent all kinds of people. Growing up Latinx, I never had a Latinx actor or fictional character that I looked up to and I remember feeling out of place and having an identity crisis many times in my life. If I had that growing up through my books and the media I consume, my adolescent years would have been a bit more bearable! 

 At the end of the event, we all took pictures, said our goodbyes, got our books signed and headed over to the bar to enjoy our last few hours of BookNet Fest!

Last Day…#sob

My last day I spent it packing up and getting ready to have some me relaxing time before I headed out to drive the four hours back to Miami. I had an amazing breakfast where I indulged in way tooo much bacon. 

I never got to experience the amazing pool at BookNet Fest last year so I decided it was time for a me day to relax by the pool, go to the jacuzzi, and read some Fangirl! Also, you can’t forget the pina colada. It was an amazing spa book day for me to say the least!

My BookNet Fest weekend was incredible! Last year, I was really excited about the huge BookTubers I was going to meet and the panelists but this year was my favorite of them all because it was the year I really connected with the book community! After all, it’s not as fun to meet famous creative book people if you’re not sharing the fangirl glee with others!

It was amazing to meet so many people that shared the same interests with me when it came to books and it was so awesome to share our book platforms with one another! My bookish heart is full and I am so ready to fill it up more for next year’s BookNet Fest 2019!!!! 

 

 

 

I am still alive!

Hey everyone! I just want to give everyone a quick update that I am still alive and well! Things have slowed down a bit for me in the blogging sector due to getting back to teaching for the new school year and taking on a new job as an adjunct professor! Good news is that I am finding my groove and I am working on a book review post this week! It will be posted by next week Monday! I miss blogging so much and I love interacting with you guys! I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things and start posting more on a consistent basis! 

Meow <3 Catfairy xxxooo

 

 

Film Adaptation of “The Fault in our Stars”

The Fault in our Stars Book

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The Fault in our Stars is one of the first books to reintroduce me to the world of YA. I wrote a book review of The Fault in our Stars when I was a baby reviewer! Read my review of the book here. If you have never embarked into the world of young adult think of John Green as your official starter pack! Since I have about a zillion books I am reading, unfortunately, I don’t have time to do an official reread of The Fault in our Stars but I can tell you that this book is still one of my favorite books in YA till this day and I consider it a classic! 

John Green wrote the kind of book that is unequivocally devastating and uplifting all at the same time. The Fault in our Stars is not just your stereotypical weepy story about two kids with cancer who learn to live their lives like “each day is their last.” If your looking for this storyline then this isn’t the book for you. This is a raw, emotional, introspective, thought-provoking, and a sometimes humorous story about two kids that are doing the best they can! They are not in denial about their cancer in the slightest, in fact, they are one of the most self-aware characters that I have read about. Not only are they self-aware, they are quirky as quirky can be! I actually think if you looked up quirky in the YA world you would find Mr. Green as the master of quirk! I was completely fascinated by the unreal intelligence of Hazel and Augustus and their unfiltered way of viewing the world around them in relation to their cancer. I am full of nostalgia when I think about this book because it’s the book that changed my life because it made me fall head over heels over the YA genre and that led me to write book reviews to blogging a few years later! 

Film Adaptation

I felt that the film adaptation is actually equally just as good as the book! There were many little details in the book that are left out of the movie adaptation but it didn’t affect the story in a significant way. The movie really captured the full essence of the book! The characters that played Augustus and Hazel were pure perfection and they captured the heart and pain of these two characters. 

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Watching the film adaptation brought out the same emotions that I felt when I read the book and this is a rare occurence for me when it comes to adaptations! I had a few ugly cries throughout the movie that I wasn’t prepared for even though I knew what was coming. The actors in the movie were born to play Hazel and Augustus and you can see that the chemistry between the actors wasn’t the least bit forced. I was touched by the raw emotions felt between these two characters and I loved how their love was pure without any angst or bullshit behind it. They were truly meant to be Augustus and Hazel for the rest of their lives. This is the kind of story that will make you realize the importance of the little things in life and how we all take them for granted until it’s too late. My heart will always have a special spot for Augustus and Hazel and it was truly a privilege be a part of their fleeting world. 

Even though, the film adaptation is just as satisfying as the book I still highly recommend that you read the book so you can bask in all the quirkiness of these adorable characters and fall completely in love. (And when you ultimately fall in love with them you can look forward to a few ugly cries afterward!) If you have never read a contemporary YA book before this John Green back should be number one on your list!

Ok…bye