DIY: 'Review on a bookmark' bookmarks!

I stumbled upon the 'review' bookmarks from Knock Knock and I've been interested in something similar since I don't want to pay a lot for bookmarks I'm going to use once. Then I found these bookmarks from Wild Olive and even though they're quite cute they're not really what I'm looking for but it's great for inspiration!

I decided it would be best to make my own 'review on a bookmark' bookmarks and it's quite easy! I bought some large gifttags in Søstrene Grene for a dollar and some watercolors (which is totally optional). I've made a bunch of different ones and my goal is to match each bookmark to the book it 'belongs' to.

I quite like that they're not just white, black or brown and I think they're quite cute with the ombre thing going on.

Now on to what this is actually about, the review part:

I have divided it into two parts: the 50 page mark and a part for when you're done with the book. I judge a book on the first 50 pages so I want to be able to put my thoughts about those pages on my bookmark.

I don't know if I'll be able to but I'll try to summarize the first 50 pages and then the entire book in a single word. I want to choose a smiley that explains my feelings towards the book, I want to rate the characters, the plot and the setting from 1 to 5 stars and then I can add whatever I feel like towards the end.
The colored bottom is for the final rating.

It's such quite a quick way to summarize your thoughts for a review!

I may change or add to it in the future but for now I'm quite happy with the result. But, if I should change it, what do you think I should do?

Top 14 of 2014

Last year I made a top 13 of 2013 and I had a hard time finding 13 since I didn't have that many over the top favorites of 2013. This year I had the opposite problem.. I have about 30 books I've rated 5 stars during the year, so narrowing that down to 14 was tough - but I made it. The books are not in alphabetical or ranked after favorite-least favorite but in order of how I read them so: January through December.

The first five-star read I read in 2014 was The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson. I loved every aspect of this book and I think the only thing that's made me hesitant to start the other books in the series is the size.. They're massive. I miss the world though so I might have to start the sequel(s) sooner or later.



The second five-star read of the year was Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I wrote quite a long review of Wonder because I loved it so much and I even went out and bought the book because I wanted to be able to re-read it whenever I want. Even though that hasn't happened, yet, I still love the book and recommend it to everyone.





I also read and adored the entire Across the Universe series by Beth Revis. It is my first actual science fiction series and I've been craving a series like it ever since. I believe I devoured this entire series in the course of a few weeks because I couldn't wait to find out what happened and I wanted to get lost in space!




I picked The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight up on a whim and I received it by chance, but nevertheless I absolutely loved it and I did definitely not want it to end! I've always loved the title because it's so long and different. The story is sweet and the characters are quite relatable - in short: it's a wonderful book






I was quite hesitant to start Pivot Point but I loved it! It was incredible and so entirely different. I loved the main character, the plot and the setting. It was wonderfully action-packed without losing the main focus. I love the aspect of the story - powers of the mind. I also adored and devoured the sequel Split Second.





The Edge of Never was one of my very first new adult books and it did definitely not let me down. It was different, due to the sex scenes, but I still liked it. Even though it was, and still is, out of my comfort zone I read this book in a few days and I did not want to put it down.





I tried to space out my Rainbow Rowell books but I just had to start Eleanor & Park since I know it's a favorite among a lot of Rowell fans. It's not my absolute favorite one of her books but it still got a 5 star rating. I loved that this was about teenagers with problems - whether it be personal or life in general. It is not like other YA books and it's quite enjoyable.. I have a love-hate relationship with the ending though.





I didn't even read the entire synopsis of this one, I read 2 lines and I had to read it. It took a while before I read it but it was amazing! It is so light even though it's a tougher theme - teenage pregnancy and all. I loved it and I wish I could go back and read it for the first time.





I love how I have 2 Rainbow Rowell books on my favorites list - just like last year. I wish I'd waited and read this during wintertime but I loved it nevertheless. I don't love that many adult books but I could somehow relate to this - maybe because of all the flashbacks to her younger years. I adored this book and I loved all the references - especially when she meets Cath and Levi from Fangirl!



I discovered fairy-tale retellings last year, I believe, and I have loved the majority of the retellings I've read. I received an e-arc of Tear You Apart and I read it in a single setting. I love how this combines all of the fairytales and that the fairytales are curses - it's amazing and I can't wait to read all of Sarah Cross' other books







I was quite hesitant about Between the Lives and kept going back and forth on whether I should request it or not - I ended up requesting and loving it! This has a similar feel as the Pivot Point duology and it's perfect for fans of those books!





I adored The Boy with the Tiger's Heart, even though its quite short it's so deep and keeps you wanting more. It's a modern fable so it's not a book for everyone, but it's so vivid and creative that I want everyone to love it even though I know it's impossible.







I picked Accidentally Married up on a whim and I flew through it! It is so funny and I literally laughed out loud a bunch of times. It's not that long but it definitely feels longer. I loved Madison Nichols, she was so quirky and she's definitely the reason I loved this book so much.





The last favorite of the year is an anthology, surprise! It's My True Love Gave To Me and even though I didn't love every story, I loved most of them so I had to put it on this list. Rainbow Rowell's story was probably my favorite...

I read A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall shortly after making this list, and I have to say it should have been on here.. I absolutely loved it, but I couldn't find a book to 'through in the bin' and let A Little Something Different take its place... 

What was your absolute favorite book of 2014?

Reflecting on 2014

In the beginning of the year I made some bookish resolutions and I tried to stick to them in the beginning of the year.. Until I forgot everything about them.

My first resolution was to read 50 books, which I definitely did - I've read a total of 105 books, one of them I read twice.
The second was to read 3 classics and I guess you could say I completed that one as well; I read Erasmus Montanus eller Rasmus Berg (a Danish classic), How to be Good by Nick Hornby, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. How to be Good and The Bell Jar are modern classics - but still classics.
The third was one of the ones I didn't really make since I wanted to read the books I already own - and that didn't go so well. I tried and I've definitely read a bunch, but I've mainly read books for review and some from the library. I still read some of the ones on my shelves though.
I really regret adding this one to the mix but in the beginning of the year I wanted to review all the books I read - which is the worst idea ever and I made a post about it not that long after because it sucked. Reading isn't fun if you have to review every single book.
I succeeded my fifth resolution which was to use the library more and cut back on buying books. These last 6 months I've bought 10 books tops and I used the library a lot in the beginning of the year but not so much these last couple of months - I've still not bought that many books!
My sixth resolution was to venture out of my comfort zone.. Meh.. I guess I ventured a bit, but not as much as I'd anticipated. I read some new adult, I tried historical fiction but I didn't really like it and I found that I really enjoy fantasy and women's fiction / chick-lit.
I also failed miserably at another resolution which was to participate in read-a-thons. I really tried, but I've been quite sick and I fell asleep after two hours of the 24-hour read-a-thon back in October.
I've succeeded my eighth resolution which was to read the books from Netgalley - although I had 7 books when I started and now about 30, my feedback ratio is still a lot higher and have reached 80 multiple times.
The last 2 resolutions was to create a mini-series (for the blog) and write a story - I failed both.. I also wanted to re-read some books and I re-read The Bell Jar (read it twice this year) and Alice in Tumblr-land.
I guess I reached most of my 'goals' which is great, I still want to try and reach some of the ones I failed at though.

In my Looking Ahead part in the 'End of the Year Survey - 2013' I said I wanted to buy and read The Book Thief at the first opportunity I got - I bought the book and I tried to read it.. But I hated it.. I tried to force my way through it but after 250 pages I had to stop, it's just not a book for me I guess.
I also said that my two most anticipated books were Unmarked (The Legion #2) by Kami Garcia, Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy and Shattered (Slated #3) by Teri Terry. I haven't even looked at Unmarked or Shattered and I absolutely hated Side Effects May Vary - great choices apparently.


Things that happened in 2014... Well, I made an account on Instagram and I'm kind of addicted now. I also became a reviewer for Hot Key Books (and apparently Piccadilly Books) and Lindhardt & Ringhof (a Danish publishing company). I also received my very first physical books for review as well as being nominated for the Liebster Blog Award.


That was 2014 for me! It was not that eventful but it was still a great year! How was 2014 for you?

Shameful Book Confessions

There's a tag on instagram called #shamefulbookconfessions and I have too many to share on such a small space so I figured I might as well write a whole post with my shameful book confessions.

1. I hated City of Bones and I haven't been able to read any of Cassandra Clare's books since, because I know I'll just be disappointed.

2. I have marked The Book Thief as DNF (did not finish) because I thought it was that bad. I wanted to love it but I didn't even like it.. I couldn't even bring myself to read half of it.

3. Pride and Prejudice is, probably, my favorite book of all-time and even though I have a beautiful box set of all of her books I've only ever read P&P.

4. I have started reading Fifty Shades of Grey and I actually like it, I don't think it's as bad as people say it is.

5. I bought the entire Game of Thrones box set almost a year ago and I've not even started it.

6. I consider myself a Potterhead but I've never read the books in English (only Danish) and it's so far back that I can't even remember if I've read Deathly Hallows or not

7. I hate reading series, I prefer reading standalones.

8. I've read the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and I didn't even like it.

9. I forced myself through books 1 and 2 of the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I just couldn't finish the 3rd one. I recently gave them away because I know I'll never read them again.

10. I hate lending out my books

11. I hate most middle-grade books, I don't know why, but that genre/age-group is just not doing it for me

12. I actually really liked the Twilight saga and I've actually bought a box set of the entire series (I borrowed the books from my best friend the first time around). I've also read 'Twilight', the first book, 2 times.

13. I tried reading Vampire Academy a few months back and I couldn't get into it.

14. I've read Legend and Prodigy and I've no idea why because I didn't like or enjoy either of them

15. I judge books by their covers

What's new in Readerland?

Soo, I have been on a blog hiatus for quite a while but I think I'm back now. I already know I won't be posting 7 days a week or even 4 or 5 times, but I will try to write at least 2-3 posts per week. 

But I thought I'd do some kind of update - just to start somewhere! But since last time we talked, I've become a reviewer for Hot Key Books which is a publisher based in England, so not that far from where I live and I've received 5 books from them so far - and it makes me happy every time I receive a package from them (even though I've 'only' gotten two). But the latest package actually came in on Saturday and this is what was in the package: 

The Boy with the Tiger's Heart by Linda Coggin
Vivian versus the Apocalypse (Vivian Apple #1) by Katie Coyle
Memory Keepers by Natasha Ngan
and last but not least Land by Alex Campbell

I'm currently reading Memory Keepers and so far so great. It's pretty interesting actually. 

I've also made quite a dent in all the other books I've received for review, so if there's a book you really want me to read and possibly review then let me know - maybe I've already read it? 


Some last minute details:
Oh, and if you can't remember I had quite an obsession with instagram a couple of months ago and I'm definitely not cured yet! So please stop by - and if you're a fellow book lover you might get a follow back. 
I've had a few people ask me how I organize the books I've received for review, if you're interested I can make a post all about it, it won't take long and I can always make a spreadsheet you can grab if you'd like. 

There will probably be quite a few changes the next couple of weeks, but bear with me (grrr.. sorry, joke aside) it will look great once I'm done.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Bookish Bucket List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful team at The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday we list our top ten of a certain theme, genre or anything else - basically a top ten of you name it! This Tuesday is all about our bookish bucket lists, whether it is blogging related, book related, meeting authors, reading x many books per year, finishing a dauting book etc. 

As usual in no particular order:

My boyfriend recently bought Under the Dome for me, and since Michelle (from Book-Munchee) keeps saying that I have to read this book I figure that I have to read it sometime.. I am not saying that I don't want to read it - because I do, I think the plot is fascinating, the size is just really daunting... 

Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite book, I just haven't gotten around to any of her other novels. I actually got the whole collection as a birthday present, so I just have to read it... But I fear that I have too high expectations

. 

I have never been to a bookish event - aside from book club - but there is a book event in September that I'll hopefully go to, I can't wait!

I absolutely love fairytales and so far I've only read fairytales from Germany and Denmark, and I really want to read some from Egypt!

I've always wanted to meet an author and get a book signed in person, and since there will be a bunch of authors at the book event in September, I can hopefully cross this off the list pretty soon. 

This is a challenge that I want to set myself sometime, I don't know when, but I will read a blogpost everyday for an entire month and it will be awesome!

I love Top Ten Tuesday, Teaser Tuesday and Life of a Blogger - I just want to come up with one of my own!

I loved the movie with Keira and it totally bumped this higher up on my TBR - the size is pretty daunting though...

I have read a bunch of YA and a couple of adult books, I just want to start reading more and maybe almost only read adult (sometime in the future)

I love read-a-thons and I think it would be awesome if I can host one of my own!

Do you have a bookish bucket list?

Codeacademy

I just found out about codeacademy today, and I could not keep this to myself! Since I started blogging I've learned a lot about HTML and CSS - especially when I made my drop down navigation bar. I didn't actually know what I was doing - I just tried and tried until it worked!

Then I found out about this page where you can learn to use HTML and CSS properly, you have to complete different tasks and you get to know why it works and what the different things stand for. HTML and CSS aren't even the only things you get to learn how to use. You can learn about jQuery, Javascript, PHP, Python and Ruby, and there is even other stuff to do where you get to use what you learned in practice!

I can't believe I hadn't heard about this page before! I think every blogger should go through the HTML and CSS course, it helps so much!

I am currently 10% through the very first course and I am having a great time! I think it's a different "talent" and I am having so much fun learning about it!

But anyway, I just wanted you to know about this website because I think you can benefit a lot from it - you even earn badges once you complete something!