Happy for the Holidays!

Hello my beautiful friends!

*takes a long dramatic breath* Wow. 2016 is almost over. Thank goodness!
 I've been away from blogging and posting online for a while. I've uploaded a couple of videos here and there but I haven't been consistent. In the past week I've just been reading and staying in my bed after my exams. My stress and anxiety levels are now at a position that is not life threatening, but now the fear is creeping in because the next 2 years of my life will determine what direction my life is heading. In one of my orientation classes, my teacher's message that the next two years will make or break our lives was not helpful at all.

This is a polaroid from a recent Christmas Party I went to with my friends! We're all so glad to have this time to recharge for the upcoming school year. BTW this is my friend Rachel's hand. :)

For now I'm so happy for the holidays. The Christmas light, hot chocolate and Christmas songs are distracting me from the daunting thought that I'm not smsrt enough or studying hard enough for the future I want. I can't wait to put up the tree and spend time with family. Even the thought of not having any money left after Christmas shopping is appealing to me. The hard thing about shopping for my family and friends is that they all deserve mansions and to wake up with hundreds of roses carefully placed around their rooms, but all I can afford is a gift from the dollar section.

The holiday season is always full of laughs! On the left is my friend Monique (who made a cameo in one of my youtube videoes!), in the centre is my friend Donna and on the right is me!

This looks like a cheesey chrismtas card, lmao.

I'm now taking time to look after myself and manage my time. My holiday homework is ready to completed according to my priority schedule and my life now has some semblance of organisation. I'm a person prone to being stressed out and I acknowledge that. I'm trying to take steps to ensure that I can cope and can perform to the best of my ability. In retrospect I'm suprised I was even able to do as well as I did this semester. At the moment I think that self care and self love are very underrated. It's all too easy to love and care for others while forgetting to do the same for yourself. Please look after yourself right now and don't neglect your health. The holidays are a chance for to to heal and rejuvenate. 

'Tis the season to be jolly!

Please take the holidays as an opportunity to rest and spend time with family because I know that I definitely will. This is going to be a great chance to have a break from the struggles of life (aka the crap storm that was 2016) and focus on the important things in life: family, friends, love and chocolate pudding. I'm so grateful for the holidays right now and I'm looking forward to the insanely hot Australian Christmas! 

Happy holidays!

-xox Kellie

GEMINA BOOK LAUNCH!

Hello my beautiful friends!

Today's blog post is based on my reflection of the Gemina book launch at the State Library of Victoria! Before we even begin I am going to admit that I missed 2 trains and ended up arriving 10 minutes late. *face palms so hard that I have a permanent imprint on forehead* I know it's now December and in typical Kellie fashion I'm posting this very late, but honestly I've just been avoiding this because of the insanely high cringe level, AHAHA. Let's get into it!

On the 22nd of October was the book launch. After a hectic week consisting of a biology test, maths analysis and cracked phone screen I was so ready to go to the book launch and forget about how much I fail as a human being. (Can we also just talk about how expensive it is to fix a phone screen? Over $200!!! When I heard a crack I prayed that was my bones instead of the screen, smh) Too bad the universe was not on my side. The train lines were still being fixed and there was a super light drizzle, thus leading to my predicament of missing 2 trains and madly ordering my sister and mum to walk faster. In the end, we were a bit late, I hate being late and thinking about it now still makes me mad. However, the event itself was amazing and did make me forget about everything. 

The book launch was filled with laughter, mini games (where you can win a death!) and engaging questions asked by Adele, the lovely lady who was the speaker (??) for the event. (Not certain about the correct term for what she was doing, but she was wonderful!) There were also many stories told and oh boy were interesting! The real friendship between Amie Kayfman and Jay Kristoff made the whole event feel as if it was one big group of friends hanging out. When I think back to that night the main thing I think about is how there was an actual person in America who shot a bullet into a book for 'research'. If you've read Gemina you would know why that was so cool. I still can't get my mind over the fact that an actual book was impaled by an actual bullet! 

My favourite part of the night was probably when we did a 'book wave'! This is Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's signature thing. It's essentially a Mexican wave, but with books. They do this at all their book launches and I was so excited to be apart of one! Although I was sitting at the back and you can't see me. There were SO many people in that room. It was great to see so many people come out to support Melbourne writers, especially such deserved writers! 

At the launch I was in group 3, the final group to get their books signed by Amie and Jay (is it rude to only use their first names? I'm too lazy to type out their while names again :P) I didn't mind being last because that gave me the opportunity to sneak in a little reading session of the book and DAMN it is good. Watch out for a 'word vomit/book thoughts' coming out soon ;) While getting my book signed something happened that made my whole day! My sister and I were standing there in front of the table while they were signing and I asked, "Did you enjoy the chocolates? I'm the weird girl who gave you some at the Inky Awards." AND THEN THEY REMEMBER ME!! Jay said he didn't eat the chocolates because he isn't a fan of them but kept my later and said it was "sweet"! Amie said that she ate both of their chocolates and that they both kept my letters. *screams in excitement* Afer that I died. There is not a part where I came back to life or anything, I died, the end. Two of my favourite writers from 2016 just acknowledged my existence and said I was sweet. I'm deceased. :)

So that was just a long post of me fangirling again. *blushes, but isn't sorry* I hope you enjoyed this post and it gave you some insight into the event. It was so much fun to attend and it was worth it to book the tickets a month in advance! Now comes the wait for the next book!! 

Happy reading!!

-xox The girl with her head in the clouds

aka Kellie :P

A Court of Mist And Fury Feyre's TATTOO!! And starting a bookstagram??!!

Hello beautifuls!

Today's blog post is one I'm so excited about. Like not just excited, but ecstatic about! Not only does it contain pictures that I'm proud off, but wait until the end because I have some cool news! *starts winking so hard it looks like she's has some kind of eyelash in her eye ball*

Today's blog post is a tie in with my video that is coming up this week. If you aren't subscribed to my BookTube channel you seriously are missing out on the weird faces I make when you accidentally pause the video! Seriously though, please subscribe because I have content there that I believe will interest any book reader and I love making those videos and I truly do believe that if you love doing something your passion shines through in the end product.

Today's post is some lovely pictures of Feyre's tattoo from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas! Personally I enjoyed the second book more than the first, so A court of Mist and Fury appears in the pictures instead. Also the blue of the book really contrasts the red background! *starts counting how many exclamation marks she's already used in this blog posts, but shrugs it off*

If you're worried about the tattoo, because it looks like I have used permanent marker on my skin, don't fret! I used eyeliner because I too don't like the idea of a tonne of permanent marker on my skin and because it comes of easily with make up wipes. Eyeliners are formulated for use near eyes which is delicate skin, so it can't be that bad for you right?

As you can see on the left, I smudged some of the eyeliner onto the book. *face palms* Impatient person problems, ahaha.

My artist friend Donna did the super pretty fingers part! I really couldn't have done this without her, because lets be real, I still struggle to draw stick figures...

I love this design so much! It is mostly based on the US cover of the book where you can see the design of the tattoo on Feyre's hand. This also looks a little smudged because I was eating and forgot that I had this on my hands and ended up washing my hands before I realised... Yup, I'm that much of a failure LOL.

On the spine you can see those white lines with the thorns coming out of them, I took inspiration from those too for the tattoo.

For the inside of the hand I had a lot more of a creative licence. In the book the main part that was mentioned was that there is a an eye in the palm and that was basically it. I just drew random designs and Donna drew the fabulous eye for me! *bows down the Donna, the Queen of eyeliner art*

I clearly cant hold a book straight! I'm also so disappointed that my copy doesn't have her hand showing the tattoo design. I had to google the cover of the other edition. 

I'm incredibly happy with this part! It took so long that with the wrist I began just drawing random lines because I wanted to be finished, Above the wrist is the best part in my opinion! (please don't ask me why my fingers look strange here...)

My video for a last minute Feyre costume will be coming up in the coming week. I do however use the term costume loosely because it mainly is just this tattoo because this is her most distinctive features. I hope you enjoy that video once it is up!

For now you deserve to hear my exciting news because you made it to the end of the post! Although I think you would already know what it is because of the title... Yes, you guessed right, I have started a Bookstagram page! You can follow me here!! You can also search up my user name, bookish_kellie. This is something I've been wanting to do for so long after spending years obsessing over people's immaculate feeds. eekkk! Please go chuck my page a follow because an abundance of book pictures are coming soon!

Let me apologise for the inexcusable number of exclamation marks in one post. This has just been a very fun filled post! For the time being please have a look at my BookTube and my Bookstagram. Also look after yourself and remember to step back and take a breath if things become too much. I love you endlessly. <3

Happy reading!!

-xox The girl with her head in the clouds

aka Kellie :P

Court of Mist and Fury Book Thoughts!

Hello beautifuls!

Today I was going through my blog and discovered another thing to add to my list of life failures. That sounds very dramatic, perhaps it isn't that big of a deal, but it is failure on my part. Do you want to know what this failure is? Drum roll please! *starts paying the drums on her air drums and tension is built* I wrote a blog post almost 3 months ago and instead of publishing it, I saved it as a draft... *attempts to laugh it off, but ends up drowning in a puddle of tears on the floor* An amateur mistake, I know. :(

I'll stop my paragraph of self pity, ahaha. Here is that infamous post that hadn't been published. Enjoy!


Today's post is about my thoughts on A Court of Mist and Fury, the squeal of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I didn't do a book thoughts post for the first book and was debating whether or not to write one for this book, but decided to do it anyway, XD.

Details:

Original publishing date: May 3, 2016.
Page Count: 624 (Paperback)
Author: Sarah J. Maas

Preceded by: A Court of Mist and Fury

Super Quick Summary:
After everything that happened in the last book and Under the Mountain, Fayre is struggling to deal with the events. She is now back at the Spring Court as a High Fae, but can't shake of the memories of the events that allowed her to escape Amarantha. There's also the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court. An avalanche of drama and feels are about to ensue. 

No Spoilers Section: 

Let me just begin by saying this is definitely not a young adult book and is more of an adult novel. There are many steamy scenes that may scar young eyes. If you are going through this review to see if this book is worth reading and you are at an age where you will be blinded by those scenes, you shouldn't read this book because there are multiple of them. 

This book... Where do I begin? It is a beautiful novel. The emotive elements in this novel were spot on for me. It serves as a reminder that post traumatic stress is a real outcome for all the epic adventures that characters go through. The strongest and most badass characters can experience it. The way this was written made it an integral part of the narrative and combined with the books overall plot, it was an stunning fantasy novel with characters that felt so real that they could have started breathing. All the characterisation were so well planned out and I can not applaud the author enough for the exciting and genuine characters.

The plot is a big improvement from the first book. I loved the storyline and how everything seemed to fit and not feel misplaced. There are some very predictable parts of the novel, but for me that didn't take away from the overall quality of the book. One thing that I felt that is not completely positive about the book is that it could have had more fantasy elements. The novel to me felt like a book focuses on emotions with a side plate of fantasy, where it could have used more fantasy. Besides from the predictability and almost non-existent fantasy, the amazing characters and emotionally packed book makes an amazing read that I absolutely love. 

 Spoilers Section:

Woah... That one word summarised my reaction after I finished reading this book. It was a roller coaster of emotions. The main emotion I felt was love for the deep affection and devotion between Rhysand and Fayre. Move over Hazel and Augustus because they are my ultimate couple goals. When starting this book I chanted, "Please no love triangle. Please no love triangle. Please no love triangle." I really couldn't chose between #teamRhysand and #teamTamlin, thankfully I didn't have to choose. My prayers to the book gods were answered. There was no love triangle. Instead I was blessed with my favourite book couple of all time, because there is only one team! #teamRhysand I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but it's true!

The moment the contrast between Rhysand and Tamlin were made my reader's sixth sense told me that they were about to end up together. All the faults Tamlin had such as being possessive Rysand was stated to not have. I'm not just happy that this book didn't contain a love triangle, but also because Fayre's relationship with Rysand was absolutely down to every last detail. 

Fayre's relationship with Rysand was a big part of this book but by far what was most interesting was her relationship with herself. After the events under the mountain she is traumatised and rightly so. She suffers from post traumatic stress and wakes up vomitting and fearful. She's confused and hurt. In the beginning of the novel she was battered and bruised for the event of the last book. My heart ached for her as the words gave me no other option.

Now on to the plot! The pace of the book was a bit slow, but now looking back it gave the right about to comprehend and fully comprehend the emotions. Tghe epic battle at the end felt a little anticlimatic when it began but the scene where characters were focred against there will into the cauldren was the icing on the cake for why I enjoed this book. There were some sections of the novel that didn't just foreshadow what events may happen, but spelled it out. The predictability of the this novel is the main let down of this novel, which actually is a good thing because it isn't a massive issue, but still an issue never less. Also because there are so many things I love about this novel I had resorted to nitpicking.

A Court of Mist and Fury was such a compelling read with great characters. The characters were truly fantastically written and the world we are further brought into in this second novel was planned out fantastically and the what fantasy elements were in the novel has the ability to transport readers into a whimsical and intoxicating world. All the different features of this book combine to together to create a great book, that I LOVE and give 9.5 donuts out of 10!

Importance of diversity in literature

Hello beautiful!

Today's blog post is a different to my usually reviews or TBR lists.  I feel very inspired to write about the importance of diversity in literature. A little more than month ago Alice Pung, author  of Laurinda and Unpolished Gem, visited my school and gave an amazing talk. It was one of those talks that when you leave the door you feel inspired to go and do whatever it takes to reach your goals even if that means you need to accidentally run over Oprah. Don't even get me started on how nice and down to earth she is or I'd never stop gushing, AHAHA.

I told Alice Pung about my blog and she actually had a look at it and wrote me a letter! She's so underrated and needs so much more attention. She's one of the kindest people I've ever had the opportunity to talk to.

Her talk really made me think of diversity in books. She is an Asian Australian and her books really delve into life as part of a minority group. Lucy Lam in Laurinda, had me saying 'same' in my head so many times as I was reading, I felt like an old broken toy that only repeats one phrase. Life as a child of immigrants is an integral part of her book and it is a struggle that I believe that many people resonate with. In her books I found so many central ideas relating to culture and cultural clashes, that   expanded my reading horizons and my view on the world.

I myself am Asian Australian and live in an area that is very diverse. The cultures that I've been exposed on a daily basis to are all so beautiful and fascinating. I don't believe that books have enough diversity within them. There are 7 billion people on earth, and thousands if not millions different cultures, wouldn't it be great for more cultures to be represented? It shouldn't be just great, but something essential. Books and the stories we tell are a reflection of humans as a species and our diversity needs to be showcased, because it's helps define us and give people a sense of identity.

So I'm just going to throw it out there that having diverse books that represents minority groups and display more than one group of people is what the industry should have more of.

Sorry for that little rant, but I felt that it needed to be said. I'll have my usual posts up soon, so keep an eye out for that! :)

Happy reading!!

-xox The girl with her head in the clouds

aka Kellie :P

Ilvermony Sorting

Hello beautiful!

Today's post is a little overdue, but better late than never! Around 2 months ago, the queen herself, J. K Rowling, released the much anticipated details about Ilvermony, the American school of magic. *squeals*

These details have been demanded by fans ever since it was revealed that there were wizarding schools in America and that Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them would be set in America. We've all been buzzing with excitement and anxiously waiting. Our efforts all paid off when the quiz for Ilvermony was released on Pottermore. This is just a post to say that I've been sorted into Thunderbird. Yay! 

My understanding is that the thunderbird is a magical creature that was one of the founders favourite creatures. I believe that they create storms when the fly, hence the 'thunder' in the name. Please correct me if I'm wrong! Although I hate to admit it, I do make mistakes because I'm human. Unfortunately my quest to become a witch or fairy has not succeeded. *sniffles* The sorting quiz informed me that this house favours adventurers and as an Internet child that sounds exactly like me... I love adventures to my fridge and back to my bedroom, AHAHA.

I would love to know what house you've been sorted into! Please put it in the comments below. I'm honestly very curious. I'm also unhumanly excited to find out more about the American wizarding society in Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them! I want to know about their Magical Congress and more about my house. It's such an exciting year for the Harry Potter fandom. Thank goodness you're never too magic!

Happy reading!!

-xox The girl with her head in the clouds

aka Kellie :P

'The Trails of Apollo' Book Thoughts

Hello beautiful!

Today's post is regarding my thoughts on The Hidden Oracle, the first book in The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riodan (Also known in the fandom as good old uncle Rick). I recently bought this book in my mini book haul and oh my... Let's get into my thoughts! (I'm narcissistic like that XD)

Details:

Original publishing date: May 3, 2016.
Page Count: 376 (Hardcover)
Author: Rick Riodan
Series: The Trials of Apollo

Preceded by: The Blood of Olympus

Followed by: The Dark Prophecy
Super Quick Summary:
How the heck can you possibly punish an immortal who has the ego the size of Jupiter? You transform him into a mortal who has the funniest name possible and acne! (No shame Apollo everyone goes through it) Now that he is human he finds himself in a tonne of shenanigans. 

No Spoilers Section: 

Where can I possibly begin? Woah... That is literally what I said as I closed the last page and the realisation that I had to wait an entire year to read the next installation of this series. *looks at calendar anxiously*

I was born too late to experience the Harry Potter book phenomenon (how could you do that to me mum?!) However I was there for what was left over of the movie franchise craze. I imagine anxiously waiting every year for a new Rick Riodan book to resemble that feeling of waiting for the next instalment in the Harry's journey.

The Hidden Oracle is another execution of Rick Riodan's formula of a funny/ sarcastic protagonist, endearing comic relief side kick, emotional backstory and mythological figurative hurdles to jump over. After reading so many books with the same formula I thought that I would be sick of Rick Riodan's writing, because they all resemble each other. This is certainly not the case. The writing was still funny, witty and very enjoyable. This book did not match The Sword of Summer for me though. It never less was a great read with a premise that interested me. It was extremely entertaining to see a god's thoughts on being a mortal.

The essence of Apollo's character from previous books were captured perfectly. Apollo had the enormous ego of a God and ideal amount of resentment due to his present situation as a mortal. He was proud and felt superior to every person he encountered. The plot did not match up to level of Apollo's great characterisation. There were some glaringly obvious plot holes and some 'what the tartarus?!' moments. Did that subtract from my overall enjoyment of the novel? Yes it did. Did it make me dislike the book? Certainly not. The book is a good read, but just has some elements that make it seem rushed. Considering how many books Rick Riodan spurns out and the length of them that is not a surprise.

Overall this book although has it's faults is certainly a loveable a fun read. 8.5 donuts /10 donuts!

Spoilers:

There were a copious number of things I wanted to mention about the book but everything would have spoiled a part of the book. I hope that if you are reading this section you have read it. I don't know about you, but I would prefer to not be chased down by angry blog readers with pitchforks because I spoiled the book.

PERCY! Sorry, but that had to be in all caps. I loved Percy's cameo in this book and Sally was great too. I'm so glad that she is no longer with Gabe. 5 years ago I first read Percy Jackson and was screaming in my head, "Sally you are the best parent ever for putting up with Gabe to protect your son, but isn't there a better way to disguise his blood without living with a smelly alcoholic that you don't love." Their cameo was great and I couldn't help but smile reading it.

I'm going to add that I had guacamole when I finished reading that scene because the talk of Sally's dip made me so hungry. Also when Percy arrived at the came and was suddenly in demigod warrior mode, someone please call a doctor because my heart was beating out of control. At first when Apollo mentioned finding Percy I thought that Percy;s appearance was only to make fan's happy, but it was actually very fitting to the story.

Attention to detail to Greek mythology is what Rick Riodan accomplished best in my eyes. Being a god that has lived thousands of years Apollo would certainly have many stories of his life to share. Good old Uncle Rick wove those stories into The Hidden Oracle without it appearing misplaced. The story flowed and those old Greek myths added into the story contributed to the credibility of the novel. I particularly commend the the addition of Apollo normalising gay relationships because they are normal! Love is love and people seem to forget that in Greek mythology Apollo did have same sex lovers. That shoutout was very important in my eyes and I'm sure that Nico and the thousands of other reader appreciate it.

Apollo's growth as character was perfectly written. The way he learnt to be protective over his family and was willing to risk his life to save them when he could actually die, was very heartwarming. His character development was probably one of the best I've seen in a Rick Riodan novel. Go Apollo! 

Now that I've gone through positive points of the novel I now to go through the negatives. Oh no... My first negative has to Apollo's surprise at Meg's betrayal. Apollo, you are were a god with thousands of years for life experience. You met a girl for a couple of days who has a mysterious past and when it is revealed that their is a traitor within the camp you don't think that Meg is a suspect? How someone with such life experience be blind sighted by that. I think that that was meant to show his absolute faith in Meg/ his new master, but to me that was a face palm moment.

Don't even get me started on Chiron. During a time when campers are disappearing left and right how could he think that the maze was a good thing? Sure he wanted an event to distract the camper and of course a death maze was the most logical course of action. The campers are demigods. They have the blood of an ancient Greek god cursing through their veins. They seriously have super powers! Why can't they have some kind of talent show instead. Even if he seriously thought that it was a good idea, wouldn't Chiron with all his knowledge and careful before we've seen before, make sure that the maze didn't lead to the forest. Also when Apollo was trying to warn him about the maze he ignored him. WHAT?!

There were so many face palm moments, but there were more moments that genuinely made me laugh out loud. This seriously was a good read that was worth the wait!

So now you know all my thoughts on The Hidden Oracle, please let me know what you think in the comments below! :)