Life of a Random

[Selena's note: It's super important and relevant (especially with school starting back up here in a few) to remember to take care of yourself throughout all the busyness of life. It's something I have to remind myself of all. the. time. And so I hope this post helps you out in some way too. :)] Julie is a former YA blogger, now just YA loudmouth. She tweets a lot ( @DailyJulianne ) and writes about #quietYA and representation at YA Interrobang. She's also a freelance editor at True Blue Editorial, a cat lover, and currently unemployed. Julie also founded Blogbound Con and just really cares about books a lot. I first started coping with mental illness when I was 10. I didn’t tell anyone that was actually in a position to help me until I was 21. In eleven years of being mentally ill to varying degrees of severity without medication or therapy meant I had to learn how to practice self care and the ways that would work for me. It became an adapt o...

272 pages // published August 26, 2014 // YA, contemporary, romance //  cover rating:  ⭐⭐ ⭐ (fits the story well, good composition, nice colors & font) this is my own copy that I got before I read either >.> Every part of this book looks awesome at first glance--heart wrenching story, check, cool new Youtube aspect, check, a pinch of el Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), check, a super pretty cover, check. It has everything. But it didn't live up to my expectations. It's not that it was horrible.... I liked the Youtube angle , with tips from the main character before every chapter. There aren’t enough books that include Youtube, a HUGE part of the modern world by the way, in their story lines. It was nice reading about the life and routine of a youtuber. It was also a reminder to appreciate family always. Sometimes people get so caught up in living that they forget that death is a thing. A really scary, fast thin...

Nothing living is safe. Nothing dead is to be trusted. For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey… and is certain she is destined to kill him. Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path. ** The blank spaces in between these [ ] are spoilers. Avoid at all costs. First the logistics of this wonder. It is written by Maggie Stiefvater, 439 pages of her skills. It was born on April 26, 2016 at a place called Scholastic Press. It's the fourth and final story. I'VE DONE IT. I've finished the final book in The Raven Cycle series.  It's been an amazing trip (even though I'm sad it's over) and The Raven King was no less amazing. There...

It's been a looong time since I did a library haul. Last night I was just thinking about my baby days as a blogger and how I would do hauls every time I visited the library and I wanted to do that again! Because, ya know. Library books man. They're free and everything. It's really really hot right now but IT DOESN'T MATTER I pushed past the discomfort and went to my little local library. At first I was planning on just randomly picking out books that caught my attention that I'd never heard of before.... buuut that didn't happen. Challenger Deep  by Neal Shusterman. I've seen this one a lot  around the blogosphere PLUS one of my best blogger friends recommended it to me. It sounds super interesting, dealing with mental issues and all. I think it'll be really amazing to experience that through the mind of someone else. Plus, book cover love. How much more gorgeous can you get? A Madness So Discreet  by Mindy McGinnis. I've ac...

Hi, peeps. June has come to an end. The whole summer is passing way to fast in my humble opinion but at least some really cool things happened this month. I went to Taiwan for a couple weeks, I helped out the honors program at my college as a Big Sib for a little while... aaand now I'm back to studying for an exam. Which kind of ends up on the not cool side of things but eh.  Who can tell. If it helps me gain 8 credits I'm up for it ;) I'm SOO happy because do you know how many books I read this month??? NINE. I haven't read that many books in a month in aaages. I feel so accomplished.   And even better, all of the books were pretty good. There was nothing below three stars which I call a win.  The Emperor's Edge Series (Books 1-7) by Lindsay Buroker. This only links to the first book! (one of the best imo) Yes, I binge-read a whole series. No, I'm not sorry. ^^ One of the three-star books was in this one but the rest were...

Heyyy. I just got back from Taiwan a couple days ago, which would explain why I haven't gotten around to replying to comments yet, and I'm still SO jetlagged and urngh. BUT, it was awesome and there will be a post to come. ^^ The important thing now is that this is part two, the part where I reveal what the gifts actually look like hehe. (I would have done this earlier but I posted the actual giveaway post while in Taiwan and I hadn't loaded pictures up and it was a mess).  I seriously love this book SO much, it's probably the  book that got me into steampunk, and I can't believe more people haven't read it. And also you know spread the word about my giveaway and try to win it yourself ;) a Rafflecopter giveaway Here are the pictures you probably were the most curious about :) This is the stationery pack in completion and, yes, there are actually two things from Taiwan. The adorable dessert notebook (it has white pages wit...

I am three!! Well, not me, but this blog. Life of a Random is THREE YEARS OLD. Already. Gosh time has passed so fast, and I have loved every minute. What does this mean?? It means talking about how this blog was born (pretty much void of flair tbh), cool graphics, and *regal pause* GIVEAWAYS. YEAH. MULTIPLE ONES. No, actually it's super boring. Probably the most boring, not-interesting blog origin story ever. And here it is: One day I woke up. It was a regular day. Nothing really happening. And I made a blog. Please pause to take this in. Tadah! Okaaay well it might have been a little more complex than that but I'm not lying when I say that's the basic story. The longer, extended version is this: I had already been reading a lot of blogs and learning about the community (but not the YA community yet) so I knew about it and thought it was super cool. I also really wanted/needed an outlet for my thoughts that I knew people could read. I wanted...