How I Color - Part 2

Wow, I can't believe Christmas is coming so quickly! :O I'm so pumped for it, though! The family time will amazing. :D And getting to celebrate Jesus' birth has to be the best reason of them all to get excited. :)

And speaking of getting excited about Jesus' b-day. Here's a song for y'all.

I know it's VeggieTales, but who hasn't watched that as a kid??* XD And it's Owl City! I love his songs so much!

Ahem! Back to the main point of this post. :P

You guys remember what I posted about last week, right? (If you haven't read my last post, click here to read it. :P) Well, I promised I would show you this week how I had colored the background for the water sprite picture. So that's what happening today.** XD

*Okay, I'm sure some of you may have not watched that as a kid. I feel very sorry for you if you haven't, childhood just isn't the same without VeggieTales... XD

**As if it wasn't super easy to guess.

Here's the picture of how I left it off last week. It looks okay but a little strange with the white landscape around the sprite. :P By the end of this post it will look much better. XD

Sorry for the fuzzy picture!

Here I had just done the grass. I colored the grass lighter because I wanted the water sprite to be the main focus of the picture.*

*Teehee, that's a little tip I've learned from Rachel. :3 She has great posts on her blog, Manga Interest! Go check 'em out! 

Heh, this is another bad quality photo. I'm sorry! :(

It's really hard to tell in the picture, but I colored the water a greenish blue. Now I know rivers aren't normally that color, however, I felt like that would add too much blue if I colored it normally. You know with the blue sprite, blue river, and blue sky. XD So, yeah, that's why I did it. :P

I also used three colored pencils for the river. :3 One was tealish and the other two were a lighter blue and a darker blue.* XD

*I know my colors like a pro. XD

I colored the bark... brown. C: *crowd ooo's and ahh's over the "impressive" feat I have accomplished with one simple act of coloring a tree* XD 

And now the tree is a cherry tree because the flowers are pink.* :3 

*Ha! I bet you thought that cherry tree's flowers were leaves the whole time!!! Because they could definitely NOT pass as leaves! Pffft, no way, no how. Not even close. Ok, the flowers do look like leaves... :P

I just colored the mountains like normal gray mountains. Woot. :P

I colored the sky in this picture above but it is really faint on the photo. :P Oops. XD 

I had done the sky first with one really pale blue and gone over it again messily with a sky blue colored pencil to give it more..........................uh.................................um...............er................ texture? Does using the words texture and sky even work together??? It doesn't sound like it should. But... clouds make the sky look texture. Ish. :P 

*thinks it through*

You know what! Texture is not the right word for that at all. I think the word I'm looking for is depth. Yup! That word is perfect. XD 

Ah! Shading is next! I had fun doing the shading on the cherry tree even though it only needed a little bit. :)

I went a little willy-nilly with the shading of the river. XD It was a blast!

Now I've shaded all of the grass. :) I added little random patches of darker green so it would look more like real grass. I think it looks a better than most of the grass I've colored in other pictures.* :P

*That doesn't take much, though to look better than my other "grass." XD (Yesh, it was that bad. I can't even call it grass, it's "grass.")

I really, really like the way my mountains turned out in this drawing.* ^.^ 

*THANK YOU GOOGLE IMAGES. WITHOUT YOU I'D STILL BE DRAWING TRIANGLE MOUNTAINS WITH A WEE BIT OF SNOW ON THE TOP.

Ta-daaaaaaa!!!!!! Now I'm done the picture! What do you thinnnnnk? Do you like? XD Do you want to laminate it? So you can keep it???! Forever! And ever! And always! Amen. XD 

XD You don't have to like it that much. 

But I must say I think this is one of my favorites that I've done recently in my sketchbook. (The other most recent drawings are kinda meh to me. :/)

- - -

In this past week, I watched a fabulous movie with my siblings. I had never watched it before even though it has been out for quite some time. :P Wanna know what it is? :o 

It was Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides! It was amazing! And I didn't get confused with the plot! Yay me! XD 

And you know what the best thing about the movie was?

This edit was made by me and Lostfairy for exactly this reason: to be put on our blogs. XD

Yup. It was the cabin boy. Seriously, he was so cute. XD Yes. I can see he has the weirdest hair on earth and a adorable silly expression on his face in the picture (and in the whole movie). But... still. He's cute. 

And I may or may not I have watched Once Upon a Time season three where the "cabin boy" (Robbie Kay) was acting as Peter Pan. Which happens to be my favorite fairy-tale of all time. XD And in the TV show Robbie has better hair. XD

See? Much better hair! XD And fabulous eyebrows. XDD

Sorry for that random burst of boy craziness. XD I just had to say something about him. :P

And, as for the winner and runner-ups for the raffle, your artwork is almost done! I just have one more to draw at the time I'm writing this post. (By the time you read it, I hope to be done the picture. ^.^)

Anyway, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Come back here on Christmas Day to see the pictures I drew for the raffle winners! Because I will have them posted then! XD

How's your Christmas weekend going? I'm sure it's much better now that you've seen Robbie Kay, teehee. XD

How I Color - Part One

Faeries! It's time. It's the time of the week where I put out the post you've been waiting for all week!* XD 

I've been pretty busy lately with art-I-cannot-post-yet-because-siblings-read-my-posts... And, well, if I posted the art I'm giving to them that would be just totally ruining the surprise. And we wouldn't want that, now would we? XD

I did a step-by-step post earlier, like almost two months ago. And I felt like doing something like that again. :)

Except. There is a twist. I'm not showing you how I drew the art. I'm going to show you how I colored it. :D Today, though, I won't show how I colored the whole thing. I'm just going to show you how I colored the person on my picture. :3

*I have no I idea if you've been looking forward to my post that much. :P

Here's the picture before I colored it. :) I don't normally draw a chibi person with a background, but I felt like giving it a go. I also wanted to draw a chibi girl that didn't have a normal skin tone. :P So I drew a water sprite or water elf or something.* That way she could have blue skin. XD

About the background... When I draw trees by myself they look really deformed. >.< I looked up "simple cherry tree" or something on Google images and used one of the pictures as a base. :P Same with the mountains. XD So if you just can't seem to get something to look right, don't be afraid to use Google images! They are so helpful.

*I have no hot clue to what she exactly is. I first thought she was a water sprite but I looked it up (not the best idea :/ there are some scaryyyyyyy water sprites out there) and she does not really look like those. And then I looked up water elf and she isn't quite like that either. But I think I'll just call her a water sprite because that's what I intended her to be. XD Sorry, that was a bit long winded.

It doesn't really matter what you color first in your drawing, just as long as you start coloring! XD For this particular drawing, I went with the sprite's skin. I wanted everything else to match with her blue skin tone. 

What helps me find the perfect shade of color is blending two or more colored pencils together on a scrape piece of paper and then using the colors I liked best on my drawing. For coloring her skin, I started with a really pale, icy blue and then I went faintly over that with a light sky blue colored pencil. :) I'm not sure if you can tell, but on the picture above, I had already started with the second layer of color. But I'd only done the legs. :P

Now on to the hair! :D I used only one colored pencil for her hair. There really isn't much to say about how I colored it... Because it was so straight forward. :P Just color it. And boom. You're done. :P

I will mention, however, if you do color outside the lines with colored pencils, you can use a eraser to erase it. I use a pink eraser... But I'm not sure if that's the best idea. What is the best eraser for that type of thing? Hmm... Now I gotta look up which is the best color of eraser is for erasing colors.* :P

*types in search bar on Google "what color of eraser is best for erasing colored pencils*

*I'm not even sure it matters what the color is! XD

Um. What the ham and eggs is a kneaded eraser?! *clicks on the article* *skims it* Well, okay, by the looks of it... *reads more of the article* It's a eraser that is kinda like silly putty because you can make it into different shapes and stuff...? It's kind of weird but kind of cool... XD

Well, I'm still not sure what the best eraser for colored pencils is. But my pink eraser works just fine for me. :P

Anyway! Back to coloring!

I colored her dress next. Thanks to Tracey, who gave me the idea, I drew the water sprite wearing a lily pad inspired dress. So I colored it... Green! XD I used just one colored pencil again.

To make it more lily pad ish, I colored the flower on the sprite's dress pink. I used two different pinks for it to make it more realistic. :P

Next, I colored her eyes. I colored with two browns so the bottom of her eyes would be more noticeably lighter and the top darker. 

Shading is next for me. :D The key thing to remember about shading is where the light source is coming from in your drawing. I made mine coming from the top left. I kinda just guess and go a little willy-nilly with my shading, so mine may not be completely correct. :P 

In the picture, I used a darker shade of sky blue for shading her skin. And for the water sprite's hair, I used a much darker blue. You might not notice a lot but I even shaded the whites of the sprite's eyes. I like using a light gray for that. ^.^ 

This is the last step I'm showing you today. 

Earlier this year, a good friend of mine told me that manga/anime artists often use black for shading lots of their drawings. I was rather shocked when I heard that. I mean, wouldn't black totally ruin a color by making it totally black?* It turns out that using a black colored pencil doesn't do that. It really just darkens the base color you're shading. I've used black waaaaaay more now that I know it shades so nicely. I do my shading with a black colored pencil lightly, so it doesn't make it look too dark. 

I used my black colored pencil on the water sprite's dress. 

*On a side note, I was also a really inexperienced artist back then... So I didn't know much about art and coloring and other artsy things at are important. :P

- - -

And that's it I have for you faeries today. I think I'll do a step-by-step next Saturday about how I colored the background. :3 I hope you enjoyed the post! See you guys later! Merry Christmas!!!

How do YOU color your drawing? Did you enjoy reading about how I color things? Have you been busy getting ready for Christmas? I'd love to hear what you do for your Christmas traditions! 

Reacting to Old Art

Hey guys! I felt like doing something I've never done so far on Faeries and Folklore. And that is show my really old art and reacting to it. XD 

This is going to be fun! :P 

Oh my goodness. What is this?! It's horrifying! I mean, look at it's neck. It just keeps going on and on and on forever. Horses are not giraffes. :/ And it's looks like I was trying to "shade" on part of it's face. But the rest isn't shaded... And look! Look at that mane. It looks so weird!!!! And what's happened to it's cheek???*

*It seriously looks like a mutated horse-chipmunk thing with those "beautiful" cheeks.

*bursts out laughing* What. Is. This. XDDDD It's so BAD. XD The sky... it so scribbley. Same goes with the "grass." Oh, wow. This is just too funny. I love how I made the leaves itsy bitsy. And there's one petal touching another petal, but there rest of the petals don't connect at all. Weird. O.o 

It's a bunny, in case you were wondering. With carrots. In a garden? XD 

Don't stare at the artwork. Because if you look into its black, soulless eyes and stare at its evil smile for too long, you may be afraid of bunnies in your garden the rest of you life. 

Please, do not get me started on the bunny's legs and feet. Or the roundness that is its head. 

AHHHH, WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THIS PICTURE???! 

Well, ok, there's:

1. A creepy girl. With a hat that looks like it will fly off her head at any moment. 
2. The creepy girl is on a sled. I think it's a... *leans forward and squints at the drawing and trys to make sense of it* It is a crazy carpet.*
3. And there's a rainbow. In winter?? Can there even be rainbows when it's all snowy? 
4. There's a giant, blue bird that is nearly the same size as the girl. 

It's official. This is a strrrraaaannnngggge picture. 

*If you don't know what a crazy carpet is, that is very sad... :( My childhood is based on a crazy carpet. (Not really.) XD It's basically a plastic carpet you can sit or lie on and slide down snow piles. 

Huh? What happened to these poor horses? I think, again, I was trying to shade or something with the pencil drawing. I was even smudging it! XD That didn't really make it any better though. 

My manes were sad excuses for manes. XD Very flat and one-dimensional.

Let me introduce you to Ghost Girl. XD She's a ghost and she likes cookies. See that longing in her eyes? That's the longing for cookies she can't have because she is a ghost. And ghosts can't eat. :(

Just kidding! I have no idea why she's sad.* I drew this in 2014. I was like 14. Wow, that's so weird. I know some people who were 14 and they drew FAR BETTER than anything I drew at that age. XDD 

*Though I think I'd be sad too, if I was a ghost. XD I mean, then I'd be DEAD. And that's kinda bad. 

Um. Don't ask. XD This girl... is just, wow, so weirdly proportioned. And her nose! Ugh. Actually her entire face is rather ugh.* :P Don't look now, but her thumb and hand look like they could be from a horror movie. XD

*Right now, it looks like she has a beard... But, heh, that's just the picture showing up from underneath. XD 

Why did my younger self have a thing for flowers and smiley faces on shirts?! It always turned out to look so strange. I don't know what I was thinking when I drew that. :P And her hair... It's so... what's the word? Flat? Boring? Stupidy-dumb? Probably all of the above. XD 

The girl's skirt is waaaaaaaaaay to short. Ahem! :/ Not disturbing at all. :P Her miniskirt is soooo detailed, as well.* :P 

*Not!

This one is semi-good. Just semi. :P I was using a reference picture for this one. So good job, younger self! *pats younger self on the back* You're finally learning--a little. :P But, um, younger self, do you not know how to use an eraser properly? Cuz. *cough cough* There are *cough* smudges! *cough* Everywhere. *cough* XD 

And Link's head is a little squashed...

If you can't tell who this is,* it's Zelda. I think I went through a short phase of drawing The Legend of Zelda stuff. This particular drawing I did not finish. I think it would have look okaaaaay done and colored and stuff. But right now, um, not that great. :P Her mouth is kinda creepy with the way it's shaped. XD 

*I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't tell. It's pretty awful. 

Well, okay, this is my attempt at drawing a superhero. It didn't go so well by the looks of it. XD Both of her arms are the same length... But one of her hands is making a fist. Um, that's not right. :P XD And this lady has quite the thick neck.* And I know some masks are made to not show a person's eyes, but my mask just turned out extremely eerie. 

Why did I ever think Comet Gal was a cool name?! It's not. At all. 

*That sounds so weird. XD

Okay, I only have one more picture of old art to show you. So this is the last one. Ever.* This final picture is a bit different than all the other old art I've shown so far. It may frighten you. So beware. No one would say you were a coward if you click X to this post right now and went on your merry little way. Yes, the picture I'm about to show you is that bad. Are you ready for it?

*Wink, wink. Maze Runner reference. XD

'Cause here it comes.

Wait for it.

Waaaaaait for it...

Now!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. THE HORROR. XD 

Okay, maybe I was being a little dramatic. XD Or a lot dramatic. :P But you gotta admit this picture is pretty bad. It was my first and last try at drawing realistic humans.* I didn't even finish this artwork. I was looking at a reference picture when I was drawing it. But, yeah, it has a lot of work needing to be done if this is going to look good. XD

*I may try again sometime to draw realistic people, but for now, no. :P

- - -

I want to say thank you to all the people that entered my Christmas Art Raffle! It means so much to me! ^.^ You can still enter today, but, on Sunday, the entries are closed.  Click here to see the rules. 

- - - 

What do you think of this post? Should I do another one sometime? What do you think was my worst art on here? What about the best?

Tales of the Month and CHRISTMAS ART RAFFLE!!!

(The main picture is not my own. The words were added by me.) 

Do you guys remember my struggles last month with choosing a name for my monthly book series posts? Well, I'm happy to tell you that I picked one!! Thanks to my ever helpful brother, Josiah, who came up with the name, I chose Tales of the Month. :)  

Escaping Peril by Tui T. Sutherland

WINGS OF FIRE IS SO GOOD. I love that series a ton. :D And, like all the books before Escaping Peril, this one definitely lived up to the greatness. The cover is pretty awesome. :3 And the title has a DOUBLE MEANING. :OOO  Like, how cool is that?! And the ending. Oh my word. The ending is sooooooo amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I must keeping reading the series! XD

Playing Cupid by Jenny Meyerhoff

Playing Cupid is so cute. XD The character drama was fun to read. <3 I love short, little, fluffy reads like this. I love all the characters in the book. And Clara, the main character, has a secret admirer, which is so cute!!!* It was really unique reading about the matchmaking business that Clara owns. 

**It's pretty easy to tell who the admirer is. But don't worry! I won't spoil it for you!!! XD

The Fever Code by James Dashner

The Fever Code is fantastic. Seriously. So. Amazing. All the books in this series were awesome but this one takes the cake. I loved reading about how the maze was built! It was soooooo sweet to also read about the Gladers when they were little kids. :3 And the ending of the book made me want to start The Maze Runner series all over again! XD I don't know what else to say about the book without spoiling everything. :P But let me just say again, I love love love The Fever Code so much.

Solitary by Travis Thrasher

This book was so not what I expected. It was different, but I think it was better than what I thought it would turn out to be. Solitary felt a little like a romance-- no wait. It did feel like a romance and with a bits of horror-ish elements thrown in. There wasn't really a whole lot happening for the first half to three quarters of the book, but it was definitely setting the scene for the next three books.* And the feeling for the book was spooky. I loved it.** XD

*Even if there wasn't a lot of action, it was still a really fast read. The short sentences and speedy dialog and small chapters made it that way.  

**Even if Chris was a... well. A little girl crazy with his crush. XD He thought about her constantly. XDD 

- - -

Now we finally come to the part you all were waiting for. THE CHRISTMAS ART RAFFLE. *does jazz hands* XD 

This is the first Christmas for Faeries and Folklore, so I thought I'd do something special. And a raffle came to mind. :) 

Now, there will only be one winner and two runner ups. The winner will get one fully colored picture done by me. And I will draw on paper and color it with colored pencils. And the two runner ups will each get one sketch/drawing where I use just my drawing pencils. 

The rules are simple. XD

• In the comments down below, write a number from 1 to 100.
• Give a brief description of what you want me to draw if you win. There's only one condition though, I don't really anything else besides manga and chibi humans, so please only ask for a human. XD And if you want, you can say which style you prefer most, manga or chibi. 
• Please don't be a sore loser if you don't win. Who knows, if this goes well, I will surely have another raffle. :D
• And the entries have to be in by the 9th of December, which is a week from now. XD

The winner's and runner ups' art will get posted on Christmas Day! :D I can't wait to see what you faeries want me to draw! XD

What books did you read last month? What do you think of the Tales of Month's name? Are you as excited for Christmas as I am?!! XD (I was ready for Christmas a month ago. XDD) What do you think of the raffle? Are you going to enter? 

Oodles of Doodles!

Oh my goodness, guys!!! I can't believe I didn't post last week. DX I wrote down this whole post and I set a time for it to go up and it didn't get published. I am so sorry. I did not even check to see if it had gone up at all during the week. Gah! D: Here's the post I would have posted last week.

And I also want to say before I start the post... Happy Thanksgiving to all my American faeries!!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :3

[I added the words and frame but I did not take the picture of the lined paper. Here's the source.]

That's right! I doodle. Quite often, actually. I usually start doodling in school when I'm getting bored. :P I haven't done as much doodling in school this year as I did last year but, still, I can't help but do it every now and then. XD 

I did these doodles when I should have been doing science. Oops. XD 

As you can see, I like doodling faces most of the time in school. I like trying new eyes all the time.

This is, again, during science so please excuse the random equations. :P

Sometimes my faces look like they could be the same person but with different expressions. Like the face on the bottom right on the picture above this one and the face on the right on this picture look like they are the same person.*

*I don't think I meant to have that happen. XD

I sometimes draw in red pen when I'm doing school because it's fun and bright. :D I did just about all of these doodled faces in one sitting.* XD I think these are some of my favorite faces I've doodled this year.

*Guess you can tell I was bored. :P

I have this notebook with a sleeping cat on the cover and I think I got it when I was around ten years old. And I named it my "doodle book." And I took family gatherings all the time when I was younger.*

And, anyway, I doodled this in my doodle book. It was a really quick drawing and I didn't care much about how it looked in the end. :P It's a drawing of the new set of main characters in The Wings of Fire series. I had felt like drawing them in chibi human form. And that's what happened.

From left to right is: Winter, Moon, Kinkajou, and Qibli.

*XD I still do. It's perfect when you don't want to talk to anybody. :P

Here's another quick doodle. :) It's just of some random girl I came up with.

I drew this during my youth's Bible study last week. XD I really like the way the smiley face on the top right looks.

I felt like drawing a person crying because I don't do it that much and I need the practice. 

- - -

Sorry that this is such a short post with more pictures than words. I just don't have any words really to say. :( Sorry again.

Do you guys doodle much? If you do, where do you doodle the most? In church? School? Somewhere else entirely?

Caraval - a Book Review

Alright, faeries, I know what you're thinking, this is a magical book about carnivals and clowns and romance. Right? Wrong! This book is not about carnivals. You were right about one thing. It has romance. :P But no carnivals, no clowns, no elephants, no ringleaders, no unicycles. No, wait, scratch that. It does include a unicycle.

Yeah Points

• The place called Caraval is so awesome! There was an air of mystery about the whole island and its inhabitants. And you're not sure who to trust and what's really real. And, like they often remind you in the book, "it's just a game..." 
• The way the Stephanie Garber describes the Scarlett's emotions is very unique. Scarlett feels in color and then the author says what the feelings are behind the colors. It made the book really beautiful sounding and poetic. I enjoyed it. :) Here's a quote from it:

 “Shades of the rich ruby love she’d felt during the game mixed with hues of deep-indigo hurt, turning everything just a little bit violet.”  -Stephanie Garber, Caraval

• Julian was a dashing young man and quite clever. He had a Captain Hook (from Once Upon a Time) and Carswell Thorne (from The Lunar Chronicles) feel to him. 
• Legend was a very intriguing character. I'd like to learn more about him in the second book, Legendary. 
• The book had a very different take on magic. It was hard to tell real magic from fancy tricks in Caraval. There definitely was some real magic, but it didn't always come the way you think magic would. 

I really only have one thing against this book and it was, sadly, a rather major thing in the plot; and it was the romance. 

Nah Points, Ahem, I mean, Nah Point

• I really, really, really wanted to love the romance between Scarlett and Julian totally. But I couldn't. I just can't. There were to many incidents where Julian or someone else (like Dante) was looking at Scarlett lustfully. Like, ew, why. And Julian had to pretend to be Scarlett's fiance which meant that they had to have the same room in a hotel. And Julian did not seem to mind that problem one bit. (Double yuck.) Thankfully, Scarlett could avoid anything bad from happening. Here's a example of Julian's... "charm":  

“Inside the house, violin music, richer than the darkest chocolate, started playing. It seeped outside and whispered to Scarlett as Julian’s smile turned seductive, all shameless curves and immoral promises. An invitation to places that proper young ladies didn’t think about, let alone visit.”  -Stephanie Garber, Caraval

How could I root for any of the guys in the book when they acted like that?

Also on a side note, there were a few characters that got drunk. :/ Phooey.

- - -

All in all, I did enjoy the book. It was written quite well and I truly wish those distasteful things weren't in there, but they were. So I'll just have to live with it. But I wouldn't recommend this book to younger readers at all. I think I'll give this book 3 stars.

- - -

I want to say... Happy Remembrance Day to all my Canadian readers!!!! And happy Veteran's Day to all my American readers!!! I'm so glad we live in such awesome countries!!! :D   

Have any of you faeries read this book? If not, will you? And if you have, what did you think? And what do you think of my nickname for you readers? Does "faeries" sound good to you? :D   

Books of October + This Needs a Better Name

Wow! It feels like October really flashed right by.* :O I can't believe that it's the 4th of November already! 

I've been making this a monthly thing, writing about the books I've been reading. When I started doing it this last month I was gonna just do my favorite books I've read in the past month. Now I decided I'm going to change that and do any books I've read and feel like talking about. And this series of posts needs to have a better name. I tried to come up with names but they are all really cheesy. XD I wrote a list of names and you guys can tell which is best or you can suggest a totally different name in the comments.

Beware! The names you'll read below may be too cheesy and awful. If you get hurt in the process of reading them, Faeries and Folklore will not be responsible for it.  

• Faery Good Books
• Books, Books and More Books
• Tales of the Month (credit to my bro for this name. XD )
• Folkish Books
• Opus of the Month (credit to my sis, Lostfairy, for this one)**
• Reading Creations (credit again to Lostfairy)
• Reads I've Been Reading 
• I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO NAME THIS POST SERIES AT ALL.

Yeah, that was all I could come up with. :( Thank you, Josiah and Lostfairy for your help!!! It was much appreciated! XD

Now on to the post I promised you all! 

*Wink, wink. Did you see what I did there? XD

**Opus means books. XD

- - -

The Kill Order by James Dashner

I don't know what to say about this book. I have such mixed emotions about it. I really, really loved the story and plot and snuff, buuuut there were a few more swear words in this book than in the first three books.* What I did like about the book was that we finally got to see what the world was like after the Flare and before the Cranks were around and before WICKED stuck their noses into EVERYTHING! *glares at WICKED disapprovingly* The book had a very different feel to it, but it was also very much the same as the other books.**

I'm really looking forward to reading the final book in The Maze Runner series! 

*That was kinda disappointing. :( 

**That makes, like, zero sense when I say it that way, but it's true! XD

Crossed by Ally Condie

I loaf this series so much! XD This book again had a slight hint of bitter sweetness about it. I love the romance between the characters.* I'm not sure if I liked this book as much as the first one, but it still is a book I would buy and recommend. :) I liked how the book was from both Cassia's and Ky's point of view. I loved learning bits and pieces of their past, it was so sweet and sometimes heartbreaking. 

*Ky is my one of my book baes. XD  

Cake Pop Crush by Suzanne Nelson

If you have not picked up a Suzanne Nelson book, what are you waiting for?! Go pick one up NOW!!!!  XD Seriously, though, they are so good. I've read Cake Pop Crush before but it was just as good the second time round as it was the first. This was the first ever Suzanne Nelson book I read and it has a special place in my heart. ^.^ The relationships between all the characters was so enjoyable and cute. Dane was a real cutie. XD

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkin

This book is such a fabulous classic. The humor and style is priceless. ^.^ I've read this book a long time ago and reread again last month. I forgot most of what happened so it kinda felt like a new-ish read for me. I loved the characters way more reading it this time round and I was far more connected to the story than before, too. Bilbo is such a sweet little hobbit. And Gandalf has this uncanny ability to come when he's needed most. XD It's great! 

If you haven't read this book yet, you totally should! 

Save the Cupcake! by Lisa Papademetriou

I love reading this book so much! The characters feel so real. And the recipes in the book are really unique!* The book is a beautifully written story about friendships and how they can change for better or for worse. So the book can kind of feel really sad but there's a enough happiness in the book for it to be a middle grade novel. 

*I haven't tried them out yet, so I don't know if they taste good. XD

Sticks and Stones by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, Emily Jenkins

Like the first book in the Upside-Down Magic series, this book was a delightful, quick read! The story and characters are just as charming as they were before. And in Sticks and Stones the authors write the book from two of the characters' point of view, instead of one. :D I loved learning more about Bax's backstory in this book. 

Wayfarer by R. J. Anderson

Wayfarer is sooo different from the first in the series, Faery Rebels! Honestly, I'm not sure if I like that or not. In the first book I loved Knife and Paul together tons, and in the second one I liked Linden and Timothy together buuuut not nearly as much. :/ I wish I had liked this book more because the first book is one of my favorites now and I wanted the second book to live up to that. 

Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy Wayfarer! I liked seeing what the world looked like from outside the Oak and the new magical abilities were really cool. It just simply wasn't my favoritest book in the whole wide world. :P

Unblemished by Sara Ella

This book was good and kinda cheesy at times. I'm not sure if there were too many deaths that weren't actually deaths. Like if the main character thinks a person is dead, they most likely are not; and if someone else in the book says someone is dead, they are more likely to ACTUALLY be dead. The romance in there wasn't too bad. I like Ky and Joshua a fair bit.* But the main reason I want to read the next book is the epilogue. Seriously, it's the epilogue that draws me in to read more.  

*There is way too many Ky's (or Kai's) in the book world. DX :P  

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How was your month? Did you get lots of reading done? Have you read any of the books I talked about? Which post series name do you like best? Do you have a better name?