I'm back. Whoa, does it feel good to say that. Cause Gods has it been a rough couple weeks. I just needed a break, a little bit of breathing space and all. I've just spent basically the last month chilling in my shell embracing my love for YouTube and Netflix, no blog, no worries. But the thing is, I was worried. All I could think about was blogging and how I knew my lack of presence on the internet would just cause everything to spiral into a dark abyss. Which is totally understandable, but still NOT COOL!! 

Well today as I was talking to my friend* about how talking to bookish people on the internet was so much more fun than anything ever. I realized... I HAVE NOT BEEN TALKING TO BOOKISH PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET. THEREFORE I HAVE NOT BEEN DOING THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER. So this hit me, while I was eating some pretzels, and I realized, I need this back. I need to post about what I love. Even if it means hours of frustration over my blog design, or even if it means a very, very, small portion of this planet gets to experience the heavenly glory that is my blog. I NEED THIS BACK!!! So here I am, with a long awaited post, that I should have posted weeks ago, and am devastated I never did! 

*yes, although you may be surprised I do have real friends. Has your mind been blown? 

So, naturally I figured since my absence I needed to get everything caught up to date. I was worried this post would seem kind of random in the middle of the month. But lucky me decided to stop being stupid right at the beginning of the month, which means my super smartness helped me realize this post would be an April goals extravaganza.

So therefore I now command you to listen to what my plans for this month are, and if you ever see that I am really not completing them, throw things at me until I listen, because I have the attention span of a 2 year old...

• Okay, well, this goal is a little teensy weensy, super freaking terrifying for me! Lets just say it is the reason I dove into this pit of blogging despair, as it was causing me so much frustration I wanted to punch some, or many things. That is my blog design. I am suffering from thousands of technical details and my complete lack of knowledge of anything that involves even the teeniest bit of CSS is not helping. Which means I have gotta find away around that. I have a few ideas and I know that once I put them into motion I will be super ultra happy, which obviously will encourage me to blog more, which means good things will happen, blogging never caused anything bad!
• Usually I would write a post and immediately post it, like, whenever I felt. This meant I was a super inconsistent turtle, as some days I am more busy than others. The obvious solution was to pre-write posts, but I just never did. That was a mistake. Step 2 in my blogging downfall one might say. Which means I have to put my big girl panties on and actually start doing the logical thing. I really don't think whipping out random posts at random times to feed the world was really working... Once I'm done blabbering on this post, I'm gonna basically create a thousand more, which means I can finally start posting on a schedule! Not at the strangest times...

• Communicate. Yup, I'm one of those people that can live comfortably inside my own shell, as a turtle I really do prefer that. However since I have recently found out my true spirit animal is a tiger* I realized I must embrace my tiger qualities and actually learn to talk to other bloggers. The art of forming words with ones mouth is quite difficult, (well in this case with a keyboard) but I think I can do it. I belieeeveeee.

*Do not ask me why I take spirit animal quizzes in my free time. I do not know. I simply believe it is my calling..

• Photography. Although I haven't been particularly serious about blogging in the last month, I have been pretty serious about taking bookish photos. Which I am super excited about!! My next goal is to definitely start including more of my own photos on my blog! Finding them online is cool and all, but lets be real, we all admire bloggers who are capable of taking their own! I wanna become one of those for sure!!

AAAA, 4 goals may not seem like a lot to all you people out there, but it is for me. April is looking like its gonna be a pretty rough month! But you know, its gonna take quite a bit of effort to get my blog where I want it to be, and I really am willing to do that! I have missed blogging so much and cant even begin to comprehend what my stupid mind was thinking leaving it behind! I have so many reviews to catch up on, so I best end off here before I talk about random things, which I am bound to do. I really need to learn how to focus... 

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha #2
Pages: 435

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

The beginning was great! The book started quickly, beckoning me into its pages... I was really happy with this, because any book with a quick start, that isn't confusing, deserves an A+ from me! Not to mention there was a plot twist, and it happend quite quickly in my opinion! Despite the quick start, I felt as though things were starting to ease back down, but then... BAM! I will say no more, for the very few of you have not read this book.

As things progressed, they began to slow down Although the true action parts were no longer there, conflict was still around. Everything that happend was very stressful in my opinion. You could tell that each of the characters was in a state of constant fear. The threat of the Darkling was actually only one of Alina's problems. The middle was focused more on romance. Yes she was also making plans for her army, but thats not important... What was really being focused on was love. Her and Mal's relationship, was well... I don't really know how to feel about it. Let's just say... they aren't my OTP *cowers* Their relationship was a bit, well, rough in this book. Mal was not happy, it was quite clear. Although I am DYING to say more, I won't. Don't fear. In the end, I felt the middle was a bit weak, I could have used some more action.

The characters were very clearly, themselves I think Leigh Bardugo did a very good job of expressing each of the characters personalities! Everyone had their own uniqueness... Each characters was fully developed and everything about them was clearly linked to their past! Which is of course, fabulous, as backstories are my life.

Alina was... transforming Throughout the book she was having what I like to think of as a battle against herself. The power of.... I'm not sure if I can say it... I guess I won't... The power of this thing she got at the beginning of the book was really affecting her. It was controlling her. I think it actually helped her find her priorities, and understand herself better. It also had a strong affect on her and Mal's relationship.

How about the end?  As you know, I wasn't the biggest fan of the middle, but I did enjoy the end. I liked the slight twist in the story, it made everything all the more exciting, without it, the book would have been quite boring. The twist was perfectly planned out, when I was starting get a little frustrated with all the romance and general boringness, it was there to save me! You know when your super hot and then you walk into an air conditioned room? Its like the best feeling ever, its just so nice. Thats what the ending felt like to me, perfect! Also it definitely makes a great transition into the next book!