Cozy Living 101 | Advent

Photo by Matthias Oberholzer

 

“The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.” – Frederick Buechner

This post is going up during the second week of Advent in the Catholic Church, so if you’re walking along with the more religious side of things then Happy New Liturgical Year! If you follow the secular side, then happy 10th day of Advent!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about or think that Advent is referring to those little 24 days before Christmas gift boxes that you open every night until Christmas then I might be about to blow your mind.

So, grab your cup of cozy and read on!

Cozy Living 101 // Intro to Getting Cozy Whereever You Are

“I have resolved to live, not just endure every season of my life.” – Unknown

Hey friends,

 

Happy New Year!

 

Yes, I know you’re probably looking at your screen like what the heck is she talking about, it’s only November 30 at the time this post is going live.

 

Well friends, the liturgical calendar is about to reset and in the Catholic world that means that it’s a New Year. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I am SO ready to start a new year.

 

So today we’re talking all things cozy living to reset for 2021 So grab your fuzzy socks and a cup of warmth, and let’s hop to it!

BLOG TOUR: Her Dark Sins by T.R. Tells

Happy Thursday literati!!

I’m so happy to announce that I was selected to participate in Caffeine Book Tours  event for T.R. Tells Her Dark Sins which is a new teen fantasy novel that is out for your reading pleasure now!

What happens when an ominous phenomenon forces people’s negativity to manifest into demonic creatures called Umbra Shades that spread Apathy Syndrome to its victims?In a violent and corrupted world ruled by negative intentions, a seventeen-year-old girl with the ability to purge these demons wants nothing more than a better tomorrow… But will she be able to protect her loved ones and save humanity with it?

Read on below to see what I thought of this beautiful book, see some (hopefully) cool graphics, and check out the rest of the tour! So grab your latest cup of cozy and let’s hop to it!

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen // a review

Welcome back to the blog beautiful readers!

For the month of September, the Paper & Glam Book Club picked up Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen! Not only is this cover absolutely breathtaking (and September teal) but it’s an incredibly beautiful tale of love, loss, magic, and humanity.

As always, you can join the Paper & Glam Book Club LIVE at 6pm PT on the last Thursday of every month over on Youtube or join the chat throughout the month over on Goodreads.

The first thing you learn when you climb a tree is to hold on. Now it’s time for Harry to learn to let go…

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him.

As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.

So grab your cup of cozy and let’s check it out!

How I’m Tracking My Reading // 2020 Edition

Happy Friday literati!

There are SO many options for how you can track your reading. And I’ve dabbled in a lot of them. There’s book journaling, tracking them in your planning, using an index card system, and apps upon apps. Someone I know posts an instagram photo every time they finish a book (which is a habit I need to get into ASAP). I know someone who uses a pinterest board system to track the books they want to read and which ones they’ve read. I’ve tried them all in someway or another.

But I’ve come back to the same system. A spreadsheet and Goodreads. This just WORKS for me. There are newer reading apps out there and when I can either convert everything I use Goodreads for to my spreadsheet or easy transfer everything to one of those apps without having to re-modify my 2,000+ categorized titles then I’ll probably switch. Supposedly the app Storygraph that is coming out soon is supposed to be a really good replacement but I haven’t dabbled with it enough yet to know.

It’s a new season so if you’re feeling stuck in your reading habits, let’s shaking things up a bit. So grab your favorite cup of cozy and let’s talk reading trackers!

August Wrap Up + September TBR…and a surprise?

Hey book nerds…..it’s fall!

Okay not officially but it is the second day of September which means that the fall publishing season has officially kicked off!

I don’t know about ya’ll but I LOVE fall. I know that sounds super basic white girl of me (I mean I am but shhh).  But there’s just something about the way the world feels in the fall. As morbid as it is considering that everything is beginning to die and hiberate – the world just feels like it’s going through a renewal during the fall months and I’ve always found that reflected in my spirit as well. I always get depressed in the late spring/early summer as it gets super hot and gross out but as soon as the end of August hits I get super restless and tight in my skin. I don’t understand it but as soon as September 1st hits my entire being comes alive again.

So grab a fall flavored cup of cozy and let’s jump into the first post of the year!

Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane // a review

Happy book club Thursday readers!

This month we picked up Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane; a fictionalized memoir of L.M. Montgomery’s teenage years. Told in three distinct parts, this novel examined what it means to be a woman, a writer, and how to combine the two. This was such a fantastic place centered pick and as an Anne of Green Gables / AnnE (Netflix) fan I was really excited to pick this up this year.

As always you can join the Paper & Glam Book Club live every LAST Thursday of the month at 6 pm PT over on Youtube or join us throughout the month over on Goodreads.

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Maud Montgomery—Maud to her friends—has a dream: to go to college and, just like her idol, Louisa May Alcott, become a writer. But living with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, she worries that this dream will never come true. Her grandfather has strong opinions about a woman’s place in the world, and they do not include spending good money on college. Luckily, she has a teacher to believe in her, and good friends to support her, including Nate, the Baptist minister’s stepson and the smartest boy in the class. If only he weren’t a Baptist; her Presbyterian grandparents would never approve. Then again, Maud isn’t sure she wants to settle down with a boy—her dreams of being a writer are much more important.

Life changes for Maud when she goes out West to live with her father and his new wife and daughter. Her new home offers her another chance at love, as well as attending school, but tensions increase as Maud discovers her stepmother’s plans for her, which threaten Maud’s future—and her happiness—forever.

So grab something warm and put on some fuzzy socks and let’s jump into the review!

July Wrap Up + August TBR

Happy August literati!

This is a long post full of mini-reviews and TBRs so I’ll keep this intro short. Basically join me today as I talk about the 10 books I read in July and scold me for being super ambitious with readathons the week that I find out the gender of my baby.

Grab your cup of cozy and let’s jump right in!

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson //

Happy Saturday literati!

I know , who is this woman posting on a SATURDAY? I’m experimenting with my posting schedule right now so enjoy the extra posts~ I am super excited to bring you today’s review of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. G over at Book Roast on Youtube was reading the sequel already and the way she described it made me think of Sadie which I loved last year so I had to get this first one!

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you’ll never expect.

So grab something warm and put on some fuzzy socks and let’s jump into the review

American Royals by Katherine McGee // a review

Happy book club Thursday literati!

I’m trying something a little different this month regarding my book club posts – Instead of just showing you my answers to the discussion questions – which is kind of redundant because you can now watch me answer them live over on the Paper & Glam Youtube channel – I figure why not actually review the book like a normal book blogger?

What if America had a royal family?

When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne.

As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America’s first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling.

Nobody cares about the spare except when she’s breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn’t care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her.

And then there’s Samantha’s twin, Prince Jefferson. If he’d been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart.

So grab something warm and put on some fuzzy socks and let’s jump into the review