Category: About Me

My 12 Favorites of Christmas

Posted December 22, 2017 by Jana in About Me / 21 Comments

Celebrate the Christmas season with That Artsy Reader Girl and her bookish friends! 

Celebrate #ChristmasWithJana: Instagram ✦ Twitter ✦ Event Schedule

Today I’m sharing you with you my 12 favorites of Christmas! I love to read, watch, listen to, bake, and DO Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to share all my favorites with you!

 

Ok, this is not cheating. I picked two. And honestly, that was hard enough. But in my defense, I had to pick one from when I was an actual child and then one that I’ve fallen in love with in adulthood. So… that’s some sound logic there.

Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish was seriously the book I looked for every year when we pulled out our box of Christmas books from storage. I loved reading about crazy Amelia Bedelia and her silly shenanigans. It’s such a funny book!

I just discovered The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski a few years ago, and it’s such a sweet story of a grumpy woodcarver who is hired to carve a nativity for a widow and her young son. This little family wiggles their way into his heart and reminds him to live and love his life.

 

There’s not a lot of great Christmas YA out there, which is super sad, but Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle is amazing. And no, it’s not my favorite because it’s the best of the trash or because the pickings are slim. It’s just wonderful. I don’t love Lauren’s story that much, but I can excuse it because it’s accompanied by John Green’s and Maureen Johnson’s wonderful stories. Read my review for more of my thoughts.

 

Snowed Over by Angie Stanton was the beginning of my love affair with romances that occur because two people are snowed in together. I LOVE THIS BOOK. College studnet, Katie, needs to get home for Christmas and ends up having to hitch a ride with a friend of a friend, Alex. But then a blizzard forces them into an abandoned cabin. What ensues is a super romantic, super clean (no sexy-times, I promise!), night curled up together by the fire to keep warm. Read my review and then go buy a copy. You’ll thank me later.


Starry Night by Debbie Macomber is my favorite Christmas book of all time. It takes place in the Alaskan Bush, under the glow of the Northern Lights. There’s a sweet dog and a swoony guy and a heartwarming message. It’s romantic, yet squeaky clean. Just what I love in a Christmas romance. Read my review!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is super under-rated, in my opinion. I’ve got so much love for Henry Winkler, and he is the BEST in this movie. It’s so totally Hallmark, and it’s so totally perfect. Jenn’s Uncle Ralph comes home for Christmas and brings jack-of-all-trades nomad, Morgan, because he doesn’t want him sleeping on the airport floor until he can fly to Denver after the snow has cleared. But it seems as though Uncle Ralph is a bit of a matchmaker… WATCH IT, GUYS. You will love it!


Maybe it’s because I’ve been to New York City at Christmas and seen the tree in person, but I just love watching Christmas In Rockefeller Center each year with my mom and little sister. Most of the performers are not so great and we fast-forward through those parts, but we love seeing the tree lit and the excitement.


I love The Big Bang Theory so much, and their Christmas episode: The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis is my absolute favorite Christmas episode ever! Sheldon has no idea what to give Penny for Christmas (he wants to give her a gift that is equal in money to what she gives him), but the gift she gives him renders him speechless. We see Sheldon hug Penny for the first time ever and I LOVE it! Watch the moment here.

Ok, so here’s why I’m not cheating again: Neil Diamond made a Christmas Album and a Christmas Album Volume II. There’s two volumes, guys. And my family and I listen to them both while decorating the tree and opening presents every single year. I love these albums so much!

9. Traditional Hymn:
I love the haunting melody of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This song uses all the beautiful notes. Listen to a beautiful instrumental version done by The Piano Guys here. And Nathan Pacheco’s performance is beautiful.

10. Christmas Song
Everyone who knows me knows that It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year is my happy song, but only if sung by Andy Williams. It brings and instant smile to my face and makes me so happy!

11. Christmas Cookie
These Whipped Shortbread Cookies from Taste of Home are to die for. They melt in your mouth and are just faintly sweet, so you can pretty much eat as many of them as you want. Which will probably be a lot.

 

I love looking at Christmas lights. Every year my mom, sister, and I drive around to find all the cool houses that are lit up around town. We also go to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights, the Tree of Life, and we go to two really amazing drive-through displays as well. This is hands down my favorite Christmassy thing to do.

What are some of your favorites of Christmas? Pick a category (or 2 or 5 or 12) and tell me your favorite! I’m always looking for new recommendations!

The wreath and small embellishments by the numbers were designed by Freepik.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017!

Posted November 23, 2017 by Jana in About Me, Personal / 1 Comment

 

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays (aside from Christmas which, if you know me at all, you know it’s my favorite time of the year). I love getting the family together and eating tons of yummy food. My family is very small, and it has gotten smaller over the last few years. My two grandpas, my uncle, my parents, and my little sister and I will gather around the table in a few hours to eat turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (my favorite), corn soufflé, cranberry salad, rolls, and sparkling apple grape juice. I’ll be decorating the table in with a gold table cloth, black hurricane lanterns, fall foliage, glittery pumpkins, and a million tea light and pillar candles. One of my grandpas will probably fall asleep at the table, and the other will tell us stories of his time in WWII. We will be silly and laugh and the cat might try to take a flying leap onto the table and destroy it all, but she’ll chicken out and fall asleep on the heating vent instead. We’re all pretty private and don’t like to get emotional, so we will spend the day reflecting internally on the things we’re thankful for. This is what Thanksgiving is to me. I hope your day is filled with love, food, memories, and family.

What is Thanksgiving to you? What’s your favorite thing on the menu tonight? What are you thankful for?

Top Ten Books I’m Thankful For

Posted November 20, 2017 by Jana in About Me, Top Ten Tuesday / 11 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at the other blog I write for, The Broke and the Bookish.

It’s Thanksgiving week in the USA, and this week’s TTT topic encourages us to think of the books we’re thankful we read. I connect a lot with books, and many times I come away thinking that it was written just for me. Other times the book ended up being just what I needed in that moment, whether it was a gateway to a new world, an escape, a character I connected with, or something I needed to learn. I’m excited to share these titles with you today!

 

1. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
This book seriously changed my life. It’s the kind of book that encourages you to take the bull by the horns and go with it. I just felt so refreshed by the end, like I had been the one to go on a whirlwind trip that changed my life. It prompted me to make amazing goals: to travel more, to practice my art more, to be spontaneous, to let my hair down and not worry what other people think, to look to the future, to develop other talents, to conquer fears, and to enjoy my life more. I ended up going on a whirlwind trip just like Bria did, and I cam home a completely changed person.

 

2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
This is the book that made me fall in love with reading. I read it when I was in college, and it was my first dip into the YA genre. I had not been grabbed by a book in years, and I have not quit reading since.

 

3. Night by Elie Wiesel
I read this for my Ethics and Values class in college, and it was the first Holocaust book I had read since The Diary of Anne Frank when I was a child. I don’t know if it was the writing, the story, or the fact that I was older, but it really resonated with me and taught me so much about life and mankind.

 

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
This book was completely magical and made me wish I was a child again. I can’t wait to continue on with the series, as this is the only one I’ve read. I know it will probably change my life even more as I continue!

 

5. Love, Lucy by April Lindner 
Everyone knows that traveling makes you fall in love with the person that you are, and Love, Lucy had everything I could have ever wanted in a travel book. It’s an inspiring story that makes you want to make your traveling dreams come true, not to mention it makes you feel like you can do it.

 

6. Just One Day by Gayle Forman
I feel very much about this book like I do about Wanderlove. This is another book that encourages you to leave your life behind and find yourself.

 

7. Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
I wish I had had this book as a teen to help me get through heartbreak. The emotions are so pure. I’m grateful that I have this to recommend to young people who need a story like this.

 

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
This book was my gateway to fantasy, and now it’s one of my very favorite genres! It’s funny because I bought this because I was going to my very first author signing, and I wanted all the authors to sign all their books. But I owned none of them. So I ordered one of each and figured I’d never read this one. I’m so glad I did, though! It is a wonderful story, and is the book that made me fall in love with fantasy.

 

9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Another gateway book! I was so against reading this book because it sounded so inhumane, but everyone was raving about it and I decided I’d give it a try. It was my very first dystopia, and made me so eager to read more of them.

 

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
The last gateway book: YA contemporary romance. I know! Crazy, right?! Up to this point I pretty much only read dystopia and paranormal (all the vampires and werewolves). Anna opened me up to a totally new genre, and I have fallen in love with so many books because of it, including four of the books in this list today.

Which books are you thankful for?
Do we have any in common?

2016 End of Year Book Survey

Posted December 28, 2016 by Jana in About Me / 6 Comments

 

I love taking part if Jamie’s End of Year Book Survey each year! It’s so much fun to look back on everything I’ve read, not to mention plan ahead a little. Is anyone else in shock that 2017 is in just a few short days??

Note: Links will take you to my review unless I haven’t reviewed it yet. Otherwise, it’s off to Goodreads!

2016 Reading Stats

Number of books read: 45 + most of a 46th!
Number of re-reads: 1
Most read genre: Fantasy!! Past Jana would be super surprised by this. Present Jana is super delighted!

Best In Books

1. Best book you read in 2016?
So last year there was a trend to my answers… and this year will be no different. Truth be told, I doubt things will be different until SarahJ. Maas quits writing (don’t let this happen!!). Hands down, my favorite book this year was A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love?
I was sooooooooo looking forward to The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson, and it just did not work for me. I’m so sad, but it’s true. I still love the first two books and I can’t wait for Mary’s next book, though!

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
I’ve never really been a fan of Kasie West (I KNOW), but I LOVED P.S. I Like You so much! It’s a new favorite, and I’m so excited to read more

4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did)?
I have no idea who read what this year, much less whether or not it was because of me! lol. Besides Sarah J. Maas (duh), I think I’ve recommended Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton more than any other book. I LOVED it!

5. Best series you started in 2016? Best sequel of 2016? Best series-ender of 2016?
Series started: The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye
Sequel: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Series-ender: Winter by Marissa Meyer

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?
I’m not including any debut authors because they are all new and I can’t pick! So… Lucy Christopher! I read Stolen, and really enjoyed it!

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
I don’t typically read non-fiction, but I read 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival by Jonathan Franklin and thought it was so well done. I passed it on to my parents, and they both loved it as well.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Winter by Marissa Meyer ended with a BANG! I could not put it down, and just loved it to pieces! I am SO SAD that the Lunar Chronicles are over, but at least we’ve got Wires and Nerve (the graphic novels) to look forward to!

9. Book you read in 2016 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
I broke my “I never re-read” rule to prepare for A Court of Mist and Fury this year by re-reading A Court of Thorns and Roses… so chances are pretty good I’ll re-read ACOMAF next year. lol.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton has a GLORIOUS cover! I’m so annoyed they have re-designed the cover and future covers for the series… I’m so tired of faces on covers. This was unique, and now it’s going to look like every other YA book out there.

11. Most memorable character of 2016?
Logan from The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller is an adorkable dream.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Holy crap, this book broke me with its beauty.

13. Most thought-provoking book of 2016?
438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival by Jonathan Franklin was an amazing reminder that our experiences have the power to change us in monumental ways.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?
Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher! It’s been on my TBR for YEARS, and I finally made time for it. It was amazing!

15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2016?
“To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys.”
Rhys clinked his glass against mine. “To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

16. Shortest & longest book you read in 2016?
Shortest: Under the Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis – 80 pages
Longest: Winter by Marissa Meyer – 833 pages

17. Book that shocked you the most? 
Stolen by Lucy Christopher shocked me so many times, but how I felt at the end of it shocked me more than anything else.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR? (you will go down with this ship!)
Rhys and Feyre from A Court of Mist and Fury. (Funny thing, last year my OTP was Tamlin and Feyre and I NEVER would have imagined being ok with her leaving him for Rhys! But I love these two even more!)

19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year?
Caitrin and the people of Whistling Tor from Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier. Caitrin formed such strong bonds with the people who lived there (Eichri and Rioghan, not to mention the loveable dog Fianchu) as well as the spirits that dwelled in darkness outside.

20. Favorite book you read in 2016 from an author you’ve read previously?
Winter A Court of Mist and FuryI didn’t read many books from authors I’ve read before… This is a close tie between by Marissa Meyer and by Sarah J. Maas.

21. Best book you read in 2016 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else/peer pressure?
738 Days by Stacey Kade. I hadn’t even heard of this one until people started raving about it after BEA this year. While it sounded intriguing enough, I know I would not have read it had it not been for my friends!

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?
Hmm. The mystery guy from P.S. I Like you by Kasie West. Naming him would be super spoilery, so there you have it!

23. Best 2016 debut you read?
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton was SO GOOD!

24. Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting you read this year?
I’m trying to name different books!!! The world in Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun was pretty awesome. But… I’m sorry, the Night Court and The Court of Dreams in A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas win this award. I can’t stop thinking about these places!

25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read?
P.S. I Like you by Kasie West! It’s so cute!!

26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2016?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak!!! But alsoHeart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier.

27. Hidden gem of the year?
The Christmas Cabin by J.L. Jarvis is definitely a hidden gem. I think it was my favorite Christmas read this year, and I only randomly stumbled upon it while browsing Amazon. Hardly anyone has read it, but it was super cute and romantic!

28. Book that crushed your soul?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak wins all the awards for tears and soul crushes.

29. Most unique book you read in 2016?
Ivory & Bone by Julie Eshbaugh is the only book with a prehistoric setting that I’ve ever come across!

30. Book that made you the most mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
I wanted to love Heartless by Marissa Meyer SO BAD because MARISSA MEYER! But I trudged through it and was so mad that I didn’t. Really, though, I was mad that I’ve never ever liked Alice In Wonderland. lol.

Your Bookish/Blogging Life

1. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
I loved posting about my favorite cat videos for the Cat King of Havana blog tour! I also had so much fun putting together a list of my teen heartthrobs for the 738 Days blog tour. The most interesting and popular discussion I had on the blog was when I asked readers what’s the longest book they’ve ever read.

2. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
The only event I went to this year was the Burning Glass signing with Kathryn Purdie. I had an awful migraine that night, so I didn’t totally enjoy myself unfortunately.

3. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?
Back in March I was contacted by the people at BEA’s Book Con and invited to lead a roundtable discussion. I had to say no because I was out of the country during BEA, and I was SO SAD I had to decline!! What an honor! I love blogging, and I always do it for myself. It’s nice to know people actually CARE about what I have to say, enough to think of me for an opportunity like this.

4. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
I seem to have lost my blogging mojo a little. I’m finding myself really struggling to get motivated to write reviews, and I have procrastinated SO MANY of them. I need to work on this.

5. Post you wished got a little more love?
Really, I’ve seen the same steady decline of comments that all the book bloggers have been seeing. I miss the good old days when awesome discussions happened in the comments of all my posts!

6. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I’d ben hearing about Book Outlet, but never found anything I wanted. Then I had bookish friends list things on their wishlists that were available there, and I’ve been able to afford sending some gifts this year!

7. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I completed my Goodreads reading challenge, the Contemporary Romance Challenge reading challenge, the Prequel and Sequel reading challenge, and the TBR reading challenge. The only ones I did not complete were the Netgalley challenge because Edelweiss books don’t count and the Debut Author Challenge because I suck at following my own rules!

Looking Ahead

1. One book you didn’t get to in 2016 but will be your #1 priority in 2017?
Nemesis by Anna Banks.

2. Book you are most anticipating for 2017 (non-debut)?
Big surprise… A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas.

3. 2017 debut you are most anticipating?
Caraval by Stephanie Garber.

4. Series ending/a sequel you are most anticipating in 2017?
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas!! The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye is another one. And Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton!

5. One thing you hope to accomplish/do in your reading/blogging life in 2017?
Revitalize! My blog and my reading life both suffered a lot while I was in grad school, but I graduated a couple weeks ago and hopefully my life will level out soon and allow more time for hobbies again!