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I’m back… but am I? Books?

Hello my beautiful followers! I’ve been so busy lately I really haven’t had time to post. I’ve been in a writing and reading slump, I’ve only read about 20 books this year when by this time I would normally have read about 50. I love reading. But I didn’t always. There was a time when I would rather run laps(I would rather die then run laps just for some perspective) then read. Looking back on it, I often wonder why I hated reading. It just doesn’t make sense. I’ve always loved stories. Telling them and listening to them. I loved telling stories ton such an extent that my kindergarten teacher told my parents to write down the stories I told. So yeah, if you want to read about my husband who left me because I made bad coffee or the husband who died in a house fire along with my child Poopalatte(who actually didn’t die and was just kidnapped by the way), just let me know and you can read about all my husbands. As a child I also loved movies and TV shows, getting sucked into a story, another world with new experiences, was my favorite pass time. One would assume I would have loved reading, its one of the best ways to tell a story. But instead I hated it. That was all true till the end of 6th grade. For our summer reading we were assigned to read The Outsiders. Terrified that I would not be able to finish the book, let alone the other two books I was supposed to read, I recruited my dad (and my overly competitive side) to help me get through the reading. The plan was I would race my dad whoever finished first the book first won. A week later I had finished the book while my dad had just started the first chapter. By the end of the summer I had read 20 books. Since then I have’t stopped. The next year, 2014 I read 104, in 2015 I read 136, and last year I read about 116 books. In total I’ve read about 420 books, 80334 pages and a whole lotta words(Stats are from my Goodreads account). I know you’re thinking, ” Damn this girl must have no social life” but I assure you I am simply a fast reader and do socialize on occasion. So I’m not really sure where I was going with this post but there you go, hey at least I wrote something! That’s my reading history, very interesting stuff I know. Hopefully this summer I’ll have more time to make so meaning full posts:)

XoXo

Hannah

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@TwitterGirl by Nic Tatano – Review and Summery by yours truly

Cassidy Shea is more commonly known as @TwitterGirl. Twitter Girl is a sassy, sarcastic, clever and often rude Twitter. After losing her job as a reporter and her boyfriend due to a controversial tweet, she’s offered a position on Will Becker’s presidential campaign. All she has to do is tweet bad, catchy things against the other candidates. That’s easy for our twitter girl, sarcasticness and sass come to her as naturally as breathing. It doesn’t hurt that Will is easy on the eyes and quite single at the moment. But what happens when you add in some friendly competition from her best friend for his eyes? Sprinkle in Cassidy’s disabled brother who’s totally in love with the best friend? And maybe add a pinch of an adorable coworker? You end up with an amazing novel by Nic Tatano. This is politics and with politics comes secrets, drama and scandal. Will twitter girl be able to handle all of Will Becker’s secrets? Well, you’ll just have to #findout 😉

Tweet Tweet this book was sweet. I read TwitterGirl back in May of this year. Nic is truly an amazing author. While I haven’t read anything else (nor will I probably read anything else) by Nic Tatano, I really enjoyed this book. It’s hard not to fall in love with some of our male characters here and I think every girl wishes to have even just a spark of Cassidy’s sass. This book has it’s laugh-out-loud funny part yet still has a captivating plot. Filled with unexpected as well as easily predicted twists this was a fairly fast read. However while I mostly read what would be considered young adult (YA) novels, this is not. I would recommend TwitterGirl for ages 16-55. This is defiantly a chick-lit (like a chick-flick but for books -literature- not movies). TwitterGirl definitely has it’s romance going, and a fair share of” awes” and “ohhs”. Some slightly mature subjects were discussed but nothing you wouldn’t find in a PG-13 Movie. Rating wise I would give this an 8 out of 10. While I loved TwitterGirl it’s not really a book to write home about. Definitely a good read but not a life changing oh my God wow type of a book.

Sorry about how little I have been posting guys. IT’S BEEN LIKE 8 MONTHS!!! I got side tracked with the end of school year buzz then I had a crazy busy/awesome summer. I also just started high school a few weeks ago. The only reason I got the time to post this is because I am home, sick 😦 I’ve also been pretty busy reading. SInce January first 2015 I have read over 110 novels. A big chunk of which are from wattpad which I am planning on (if i have time) writing a post about in the future. Love to all my wonderful followers…………

#Hannah

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Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally – Review by yours truly

Starting senior year Jordan is a starting quarterback and team captain. She is also girl. You’d think father, who’s a football star, would be happy right? But it’s quite the opposite. He wants her to stop playing and refuses to come to her games. But Jordan doesn’t care. Its Jordan’s life, literally. She lives and breaths, thinks and sleeps football. To be captain and one of the best quarterbacks in her league it has to be that way. Acting like one of the guys is easy for her, it is her. Her best friends are all guys, well all her friends are guys. Girls just don’t get her and she doesn’t get them. The guys take her seriously, they have to if they want to go to the championships and if she wants to get onto the best college team they need to make it to the championships. That’s why she has a strict no dating guys on the team rule, and anyways the guys on her team are like (over protective) brothers to her. She’s known them all since forever. Senior year is looking bright. Well that’s until this new guy shows up with some kick-ass abs and a great throw, almost better than hers. Almost. He changes everything. Is he trying to steal her spot? No he can’t be and anyways coach wouldn’t let happen, would he? And this new guy, Ty, is actually nice guy. Why can’t Jordan stop thinking about him? He is totally messing with her head, which is bad, but the thoughts are good. She thought she was immune to the power of all guys, up until now. No one before Ty could mess with her when she was in the zone, not even her best friend Henry could. They are like practically the same person, Jordan and Henry, inseparable since a young age. But now on top of everything, Henry’s acting weird. How much can one girl take? Find out in Catching Jordan (The first book in the Hundred Oaks series) By Miranda Kenneally.

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally is a cute, flirty, sporty romance novel. Miranda has created a story filled with all my favorite things; sports, humor, friendship and obviously romance! This novel is filled with unexpected twists and turns, laughs and tears. I love this book for a couple of reasons. One, being the author is amazing and two, being I haven’t read another book like it. What book has the main character being a female football player who doesn’t like dresses or girl talk, a girl that guys actually respect? I think in some ways it’s really a powerful book. It goes against a lot of stereotypes and to me that is a beautiful thing. I would give this book a 9 out of 10. The only reason it’s not a 10 out of 10 is a spoiler, so I wont say it. You’ll have to read it and contact me separately to learn why! I would say it’s for ages 12 to anyone who likes YAs.

For this review and all future YA novel reviews, I will only put the youngest I think you can be to read it. YA books are not really an ages thing, they are more of a preference thing. I know friends mother’s who only read YAs. Sorry this review took longer then expected to get posted!

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Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson – Review by Yours Truly

Emily is Sloane’s best friend. And that is all most people know about her. That and she is pretty fast, given her track record. But Emily doesn’t mind, she has Sloane who talks to other people to make up for her shyness. They spend every waking moment together, so it all works out. But that all changes when the summer before their senor year, Sloane and her family leave with out a word. No explanation, no good bye, no future address. But there is a list, a list that comes in the mail. This isn’t the first list from Sloane and it’s defiantly not a grocery list. It a “must do” list for Emily and the only thing she has left of her best friend. Emily sets out to complete the list and find her best friend. But skinny dipping and kissing a stranger? Really Sloane? And why does she keep running into Frank? The perfect student who just wants to save the world, and maybe her too? In Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson, Emily’s in for a whirlwind of life changing events, new friendships and new experiences as Emily is pushed past her bonds, thrown into a wild and possibly life changing summer in hopes of finding her best friend. And maybe some romance along the way too.

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson, is not your classic teen summer romance book. There’s more to it than a boy and a girl. Which is refreshing after reading so many of the same story told with different characters. It’s about friendship, love, loyalties, fun and finding yourself. Morgan writes amazingly true characters. She is an amazing writer. As my former English teacher would say,” she uses juicy words”. She writes in a way that keeps you guessing and interested. Falling in love with this book is pretty easy, it’s putting it down that’s the hard part. I can honestly say its one of the few books that made me want to go out and do something. Not change the world or feed the hungry but it made me want to experience more things. I was torn between getting up and trying to do the stuff Emily had to do and reading more (needless to say reading always won). But after I finished, I had a new found love for my best friend and we made a List of our own with over 50 things that will push us to do thing we wouldn’t with out it. So we are competing to see who can complete more by the end of 2015. We have a very competitive friendship so it should be interesting (I will obviously win). But probably not as exciting as Emily’s adventures. I would give Since You’ve Been Gone a nine out of ten. It’s a fun read for I’d say ages 9 to 25, defiantly a YA Novel. Its a cute romance and a quick read. And I guess in a perfect universe it would have an epilogue.

If you’ve read Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear your opinion of it!

Seems like even though this post is about Since You’ve been gone, it seems like I am the one who has been gone. I have another review due to post on Friday, it’s a review on Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and would like to give a quick shout out to my mom to wish her the happiest birthday! Go see what she is posting at Taking the World on with a Smile

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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cath and Wren were inseparable, united by being twins and equal obsessiveness with Simon Snow. That was until they went to college and Wren, being more out going and growing out of Simon Snow, didn’t want to be roommates. Cath doesn’t want friends. She is perfectly happy going through the rest of her college life doing nothing other than writing fanfiction. Online socialization is all she needs. Her roommate, Reagan, and her roommate’s boyfriend, won’t let her be. She soon becomes friends with this odd roommate of hers and learns that her roommate’s cute “boyfriend”, Levi, isn’t her boyfriend anymore. That changes things, but so does Nick. The boy from her advanced fiction writing class. Cath gets into some sticky situations, “Cath didn’t wake up when the door swung open. But she jumped when it slammed closed. That’s when she felt Levi sprawled out beneath her, the warm scrape of his chin against her forehead. Then she woke up.” how can she get herself out of that one? Does Cath even have time for this with the 8th and final Simon Snow book coming out so soon and Carry On, her fanfiction gone famous, not finished. Her fans are waiting, but so is the rest of her life.

Rainbow Rowell does an amazing job telling this fanfiction-y story with grace and unbelievably believable, character development. Cath’s character development is page turning. She gives all us fangirls hope for finding love, even if it may come unexpectedly. I loved this book. It was extremely relatable, funny and sweet. It was a fast easy read for me, I read it in like two days. I would give it a 9 out of 10. My only two complaints are: one that there was no epilog and two, that the Simon Snow series is not real.

Again sorry for the lack of posting I will try to increase my posts!

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Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell tells this unexpected love story from both Eleanor and Parks’ point of view. Eleanor is just getting back after her step father, Richie kicked her out a year ago. Now she is going to a new school where she is definitely an outcast. With big red hair, a big personality and just being over all big, this don’t look bright for her. Even the Asian boy, Park, who let her sit next to him on the bus, isn’t showing any signs of friendship. Park has been living in this town since birth. His mom is Korean and his dad is American. He’s not popular to begin with but adding this big redhead sitting next to him on the bus twice a day is not going to help his image. But soon the two begin to bond over comics and become an odd type of friends. Not expecting to fall for each other, but that changes fast. Now how will their relationship last, when things aren’t as Park expected at Eleanor’s house and he is not allowed over, and she feels uncomfortable at his house, and on top of all that someone keeps writing sick notes on Eleanor’s notebook. Will this first love turn into a lasting one? Find out in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.

I loved Eleanor and Park! I read it in less than 24 hours. I fell in love with their love and Rainbow Rowell as a writer. There were a lot of unexpected twists and meaningful components. This not your average love story and has its funny parts that had me laughing out loud! It has a more real feeling to it that makes all us single pringles jelly. Rainbow Rowell is a truly amazing writer and I would recommend definitely Eleanor and Park! I would probably give it a 9/10. The only reason it’s not a 10/10 is because there was no EPILOGUE!! A note to all authors I ALWAYS NEED A EPILOGUE! DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING!!

Have you read Eleanor and Park? If so, what did you think? Any book review suggestions? Let me know in the comments! I love seeing your feedback!

p.s. I am sooooo sorry I have not posted in soo long. School, reading and friends have left me without a minute to spare. I do have another book review written and a few in the works though, so those should be posted soon. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me through multiple posts a week and no posts in months!

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Chains by Lauren Halse Anderson book review

Ok, I lied. So I said my next book review would be for The Book Thief. But I had to write a blog post about Chains for my school blog (http://7thgraders.edublogs.org/). So I combined the two. The Book Thief review will come shortly, be patient!

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Isabel who is a slave during the revolutionary war. Her master died and set her and her sister Ruth free. Though the lawyer that has her old master’s will is missing. Her word means nothing, so she and Ruth are sold to a tory ( loyalist) family. Isabel knows what she deserves, she saw the will and read it to. How will she get her self and Ruth to safety? Will she get them to safety? What about the new boy she met at the docks? What will happen to him and his patriot master? Find out the answer to all these questions and more, in Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.

I have mixed feelings about Chains by Lauren Halse Anderson. I didn’t love the story but I also didn’t hate it. I didn’t love her writing style but I again didn’t hate it. It wasn’t my favorite but at some points I couldn’t put it down. I think for me it was a little bit predictable. Which kind of ruins a book. If you like historical fictions I would definitely suggest it as a great book for you to read. Though if you’re like me and on the edge about historical fictions, I don’t suggest it. I enjoyed it but wouldn’t read it again. It was told from Isabel’s point of view which was interesting, but she wrote in half old English which was annoying. But if you like that kind of stuff I would definitely read it. On my scale of 1-10 (1 being bad and 10 being fantabulous) I would give it a 4.5. It’s not on my hate list but not on my faves list! So basically, I have mixed feels about Chains by Lauren Halse Anderson.

For more Chains posts and other post go to– http://7thgraders.edublogs.org/

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All the fixins’

Jeez I’m bad. I was away on a school trip with no technology from last Tuesday to last Friday. So I didn’t get a chance to post anything since before that I was packing and after that I’ve been spending time with family and been nonstop busy! So I’ve got a post today with all the fixins’.

Picture by Me

To start of this overdue post, I am SO thrilled I just exceeded 100 followers on I’m Thinking Happy! I have a total of 106 followers (at the moment). It feels like it was just yesterday I was overjoyed getting 50 followers (even though that was October 12, 2013)! I want to thank all of my followers for helping me get this point and being so awesome! I want to shout out to my parents for being my first followers and always reading my blog (also for giving me life but that’s another post). I would also like to shout out “armerando” and “afisherman2013” for almost always commenting on my blog and encouraging me to write. And last but not least I want to shout out to all my new blogging friends, you know who you are if you are one.

I like to post things my followers like and I love getting comments(good or bad!). If you have anything to say don’t be afraid to comment no one is gonna chop off your head if they don’t like your comment. So let me know what you think or what you want me to post/not post. Once again thank you to all my amazing followers. You guys are FANTABULOUS!

I’ll end this post with a quote from the next book I’ll be reviewing –
“A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

So there’s my post with all the fixins’, quote and all! I hope, I keep helping keep people thinking happy! Because I’m thinking happy and so should you!

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The Fault in Our Stars Book Review

Hazel is 17-years old and has been living with cancer in her lungs since she was 13. Her family believed her to be depressed seeing as she didn’t spend any time with friends and spent a lot of her time thinking about death. But that all changed one day in her support group when she first met Augustus Waters. Augustus, is a hot young guy with a great smile and happens to be recently cancer free. At first sight Augustus literally can’t take his eyes off Hazel. The two soon become an odd type of friends. Hazel doesn’t want to like him as much as she does because of her unstable state. But Augustus has a different view. See what happens to Hazel and Augustus in The Fault in Our Stars By John Green.

Picture from http://www.thebamboonomad.com/2013/09/recommended-read-fault-in-our-stars.html

I LOVED The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I could not put it down (that made for some late nights and getting to school late). I plan to read it many more times. It is so perfect I can’t find it in me to put it in my book pile (I have all my books in a pile), at the moment it is sitting on my night table even though I finished it well over 2-weeks ago. John Green is an AMAZING writer. I would suggest any of his books (Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns book reviews later). Though his writing contains some cursing and mature subjects, it is really good. I think The Fault in Our Stars is a book everyone should read at some point in there life. I would say that anyone under 10 shouldn’t read it. This is a touching and truthful and defiantly not sugar coated (at any point) story. The characters are great and you really fall in love with them. Warning: it’s a bit of a teary book, have tissues near by! The Fault in Our Stars is told from the point of view of Hazel Grace. She is a girl and it’s written by a boy, which causes some interesting thoughts! I would give The fault in Our Stars by John Green, a 9.9 out of 10.

https://www.facebook.com/faultinourstarsmovie

The Fault in Our Stars is being made into a movie, which I’m VERY excited about. The movie comes out June 6, 2014 so you have some time to read it before then. The trailer was recently released click on this link to see it.

Also as a side note, it’s Spirit Week at my school and tomorrow is come in as a favorite book characters day. So I’m going as Isaac (a boy from The Fault in Our Stars) my friend Kiki is going as Augustus (One of the main characters who is a dude from The Fault in Our Stars) and my friend Ali is going as Hazel (The main character of The Fault in Our Stars). Yes, me and Kiki are girls and yes we are going as boys but who cares.

What are your thoughts in The Fault in Our Stars? Have you read it? Do you have any book suggestions for me or book reviews??

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Hunger Games Review (Book and Movie)

What if you were put into a future world? A world where there are 12 Districts and one Capital. Each district has it own job for the Capital. And each year every district must send 1 girl and 1 boy between the ages of 12 and 18, to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. No rules but there can only be one survivor. Worse than that everyone is forced to watch them fight. Katniss Everdeen is 16-years old when she volunteers for her 12-year old sister Primrose at the reaping to go into the Hunger Games. Katniss must leave all her loved ones behind and possibly never see them again. She is put into the arena with 23 other kids one of which is from her district. How will Katniss get through these inhumane games? Find out in The Hunger Games the first book in The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzann Collins.

I read the whole Hunger Games series this summer. And LOVED them. The first was by far my favorite. I read it in 24-hours and was having a nervous break down until I got the next book. Every chapter leaves you wanting more and every sentence is thrilling. There is action, adventure, romance and even a little bit of comedy. The Hunger Games is not meant for young children. I would say anyone under the age of ten should not read it, and even after that it depends on the kid’s maturity level. It is violent. But if you can get past the violence, Suzann Collins is an amazing writer. You can so easily relate to the character, if not Katniss (the main character) then you re bound to be able to relate to a different character. Each character is unique and complex. Some people say, “The Hunger Games is just about kids killing kids” but it’s NOT! This fan-tab-u-luos series is about Katniss’s inner battle with the Capital’s ways and how far she will go to win the games. If you are looking for a can’t-put-down book to read, I highly suggest the Hunger Games by Suzann Collins. I would give it a 9.5 out of 10

ALWAYS READ THE BOOK BEFORE SEEING THE MOVIE! The Hunger Games movie series first installment was good. There were a lot of key parts they missed that I was mad about. That didn’t stop me from watching it 20-times in a row but that’s off the point. The scritp was good but the shaky camera just annoyed me. The cast was superber. Jennifer Lawrence is hands-down the best Katniss. She is an amazing actress and portrays Katniss’ thoughts perfectly even when they are not said. Josh Hutcherson plays Peeta perfectly. He him self is basically Peeta, they are the same person. Overall it was a great movie, I just wish the had added more of the book in it (which now sounds stupid because it’s based off the book but I still wish they had.) Don’t ruin the book for your self by seeing the movie first or talking to your friends about what happens. Read the book. Then talk to your friends and see the move in that order! I would give the move adaptation an 8 out of 10.

Have you read The Hunger Games or seen the movies? If so tell me your thoughts. If not go read, then watch, then come back and tell me your thoughts!