That Time I Baked Blue Cupcakes for Percy Jackson’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday to one of my absolute favorite characters pretty much ever, Mr. Percy Jackson himself! He is turning 22 today (whoa, when did I get so old…) and what’s even better is that a brand new book, Greek Heroes, hits bookstores today! Learn all the stories about the Greek heroes of the past from your favorite demigod himself, Percy. To learn more about that book, check out my spotlight on the book!

But yes! It is Percy’s birthday!

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Music Monday: “Hallelujah” by Panic! at the Disco

“Hallelujah” by Panic! at the Disco 

my life started the day i got caught
under the covers
with second hand lovers
oh tied up in pretty young things
in a state of emergency
who was i trying to be
then the time for being sad is over
and you miss em like you miss no other
and being blue is better than being over it

all you sinners stand up sing hallelujah
show praise with your body stand up sing hallelujah
if you can’t stop shaking lean back let it move right through ya
say your prayers
say your prayers
say your prayers

i was drunk and it didn’t mean a thing
stop thinking about
the bullets from my mouth
i love the things you hate about yourself
just finished a daydream
who were you trying to be
then the time for being sad is over
and you miss em like you miss no other
and being blue is better than being over it

No one wants you when you have no heart and
I’m sitting pretty in my brand new scars and
You’ll never know if you don’t ever try again
So let’s try
Let’s try
Let’s try

Find Panic! at the Disco

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / iTunes

Percy Pack: Celebrating the Release of Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes and a Giveaway!

PercyPackBANNER

Hello everyone! Today I am excited to bring you some awesome things. In less than a week, this a brand new book hits the stands, Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes. Here all the stories about your favorite Greek heroes straight from my favorite demigod, Percy Jackson :) Greek Heroes is a companion to Greek Gods, both of which are written by the awesome Rick Riordan and illustrated by the equally awesome, John Rocco.

What is even MORE awesome is that the same day Greek Heroes hits the shelves…is the same day we’ll be celebrating Percy Jackson’s birthday! Yes, that’s right folks, Percy turns 22 years old on Tuesday. Wow, Percy, when did you get so old?! Its okay, have a blue cupcake!

Now for those of you unfamiliar with Mr Rick Riordan, here’s a little more info!

Rick-Riordan-with-Indonesian-books-288x383

Rick is the #1 New York Times bestseller author of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, and Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard. You can find out more about himand all his fantastic books on his official website. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Greek Heroes

Who cut off Medusa’s head? Who was raised by a she-bear? Who tamed Pegasus? It takes a demigod to know, and Percy Jackson can fill you in on the all the daring deeds of Perseus, Atalanta, Bellerophon, and the rest of the major Greek heroes. Told in the funny, irreverent style readers have come to expect from Percy, ( I’ve had some bad experiences in my time, but the heroes I’m going to tell you about were the original old school hard luck cases. They boldly screwed up where no one had screwed up before. . .) and enhanced with vibrant artwork by Caldecott Honoree John Rocco, this story collection will become the new must-have classic for Rick Riordan’s legions of devoted fans–and for anyone who needs a hero. So get your flaming spear. Put on your lion skin cape. Polish your shield and make sure you’ve got arrows in your quiver. We’re going back about four thousand years to decapitate monsters, save some kingdoms, shoot a few gods in the butt, raid the Underworld, and steal loot from evil people. Then, for dessert, we’ll die painful tragic deaths. Ready? Sweet. Let’s do this.

You can pre-order Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes at your local bookstore or the following links:

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Books-A-Million / IndieBound / Indigo / iBooks / Book Depository

My Favorite Greek Story

Because we are celebrating the release of Greek Heroes, which is the companion to Greek Gods, I thought I would share my favorite story from Greek mythology! I absolutely LOVE Greek mythology and gobble up as many stories as I possibly can!

Artemis and Actaeon

I have always adored the myth of Artemis. I loved that she was a twin (I had a weird obsession with twins when I was a child), and I loved that she was all silver, and she was the goddess of the moon and she was lethal with her bow and arrow. I loved everything about her, and she remains my favorite Greek myth, period. There’s just something about her stories that I just love. When she became part of the Percy Jackson series in The Titan’s Curse, I was even more sold. I loved her, her Hunters, her sacrifice for Annabeth and more. She’s a great goddess.

My favorite story is a small one. One thing I like about Artemis is that she has a bit of a temper, kind of like her father, Zeus. She’s bathing one day, when Actaeon comes across her. He’s staring at her, mesmerized by her beauty when he gets caught. Now Artemis is not a fan of men, in general, and has vowed a life of being chaste and unmarried. She is angry with Actaeon and turns him into stag, where he is eventually chased down and killed by his own hunting dogs. Its not the happiest of stories but I just love it.

The Giveaway!

One lucky winner will win an exclusive, limited edition Percy Jackson backpack, and a copy of Greek Heroes!

How to enter: 

Head to my instagram and find this picture! To enter, you must:

Follow me on IG
Repost the photo with the hashtag #NerdGirlB2SGiveaway
Tag three friends so they know about the awesome giveaway!

The giveaway runs until August 16th! You can enter once per day. All prizes are provided by Disney Hyperion and are only available to US addresses only. 

Good luck!

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Book Review: Upside Down by Lia Riley

Genre: 

New Adult, rx Contemporary, this site Romance

Pages: 

384 pages

Part of a Series?:

Book #1 of the Off the Map series

Release Date: 

August 5th, buy more about 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

iBooks

Author Website

GoodReads Summary: 

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she’ll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He’s never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.

My Review:

I’m not going to lie. It took me awhile to get into this novel. My friends and I recently started our own little version of a book club, and this was my choice for the club. It caught my eye at Target and it had a blurb from JLA, who I adore so much, so I decided to read it. I ended up really really liking this book but I must admit, it took me a bit to get into it.

It starts off slow and I think that’s the problem with it. I have a hard time connecting with Talia right away and I’m not sure why that is is. She’s similar to me in ways and she lives in California, in a part of California that I’ve been lucky enough to visit, and, funnily enough, is the basis for the fictional town that I’ve created for my own NA series. Its not until she’s in Australia, going to school, and still struggling with the things she tried to escape in California…that’s when I finally connect with her. She’s sort of run away from her problems but her problems have followed her and the book becomes about her facing them head on and that’s when I finally got hooked. Her struggles, her insecurities, her anxiety and OCD….that is when she became a real person to me.

Then enter Bran. Who, by the way, is sexy as hell, and now I really want to go to Australia and meet a tortured Australian boy who will show me an amazing time in bed. Moving on, I adore his character. I love the tortured boy thing a lot and we know there’s a lot going on there with Bran and its frustrating but it only makes you love him more. He has trust issues, he’s had his heart broken before and he obviously has this connection with Talia but he’s unwilling to just take the plunge.

The two of them have a lot to deal with it, especially when it comes to the past. When they connect together, it takes a lot of time and a lot of push and pull, but they eventually are able to open up to each other and share their struggles and become closer because of it. Their romance is beautiful and heartbreaking all the way to the last page. I didn’t realize that this was a series and even though the ending of this book is absolutely beautiful, I know there’s much more that these two have to go through in the future and I can’t wait to dive into book two and read more about them.

Rating: 

3.75 out of 5 Stars

Music Monday: “Horoscopes” by As It Is

“Horoscopes” by As It Is 

There’s no god if this is all there is for me, viagra
A temper and conceptions that I’m lonely.

When death comes, I’ll be ready,
But I’ll waste my life preparing.
There’s so much more to life than breathing.

I see life through a dog’s eyes,
A world in black and white,
A world that would so happily forget me,

I’m faithless I’m shameless

I just wanna believe in something,
But I think that horoscopes are bullshit,
I just wanna believe in something,
Anything at all, yeah,

I’m faithless I’m shameless

I make terrible decisions,
and I pay for them in the fear that keeps my eyes glued to the ceiling.

If I drown, will you drown with me?
‘Cause I’d hate to leave you lonely
In a world that would so happily forget me

I’m faithless I’m shameless

I just wanna believe in something,
But I think that horoscopes are bullshit,
I just wanna believe in something,
Anything at all, yeah,

All great men die young,
Just bodies in boxes or dust in porcelain and,
Once my friends are gone,
I’ll remember when we held the world with our fingers.

All great men die young,
Just bodies in boxes or dust in porcelain.
All great men die young,
And I’m so fucking scared to outlive all I’ve ever known.

I just wanna believe in something…

Find As It Is

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / iTunes

Book Review: Forever with You (ARC) by J Lynn

Genre: 

New Adult, viagra Contemporary, Romance

Pages: 

384 pages

Part of a Series?:

Book #5 in the Wait for You Series

Release Date: 

September 29th, 2015

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

iBooks

Author Website

GoodReads Summary: 

Some things you just believe in, even if you’ve never experienced them. For Stephanie, that list includes love. It’s out there. Somewhere. Eventually. Meanwhile she’s got her job at the mixed martial arts training center and hot flings with gorgeous, temporary guys like Nick. Then a secret brings them closer, opening Steph’s eyes to a future she never knew she wanted—until tragedy rips it away.

Nick’s self-assured surface shields a past no one needs to know about. His mind-blowing connection with Steph changes all that. As fast as he’s knocking down the walls that have kept him commitment-free, she’s building them up again, determined to keep the hurt—and Nick—out. But he can’t walk away. Not when she’s the only one who’s ever made him wish for forever . . .

My Review:

I read this book incredibly fast. Maybe in a few hours. There are two reasons for this. One of the reasons is this: we went to an event in Las Vegas where J Lynn was signing and she had 30 copies of this book to give out. I got the very last copy. Being the fabulous friend I am (I’m so modest haha), I wanted to share it with my friends. I knew that I was the fastest reader and I had to finish it so I could pass it around.

I also read through this book because I think this may have become my favorite of the series. Okay, not really because I still say Be With Me is my favorite BUT this one is a seriously close second. Like by a minimal percentage between the two.

I was excited to read Stephanie’s story. Stephanie is someone we barely know through other people but I was hooked on her right away. Yeah, she’s hooked up with a few dudes, but once she is there for Tessa when Tessa comes home to find her dead roommate, I knew that she was going to be important and that I would just love her.

A few pages in and I was already so totally sure. There’s a quote from her in the beginning that immediately made me love her.

“I’ll never really understand it, I realized as I sat there, staring at the red and green flecks of the leftover peppers, why others’ sexual habits bothered people — especially other women — so much. Of all people, you’d think women would be more tolerant of other women’s choices, but sadly, a lot aren’t. In a lot of ways they could be worse than the guys. It wasn’t like I was sitting in judgement over those who waited for marriage or believed sex automatically equaled love. I could care less if someone had two partners or fifty. So why did they have to?”

That’s when I fell in love with Stephanie. She felt really similar to me. She wants to find love. She wants to settle down and have a relationship. But in the meantime, she’s going to have fun. She’s safe and all that but comfortable in her own body and if she sees a guy that she’s attracted to…she goes for it and doesn’t feel one ounce of guilt about it. And I absolutely love it. There should be no guilt for that. Its just perfect as hell.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Nick as well. And I love the story that they have. I love that an unexpected situation brings the two of them together. I love what came for the two of them from that. I love their story. I love Nick. Oh I adore Nick. I love how we have this view of him but when things change for him and Steph…he just steps up and becomes this person and I just fall madly in love with him. I love Nick.

But this book was amazing to me because of Stephanie and her story. I felt connected with her right away. And what she goes through in this book has happened to me. I know the sort of feelings it leaves, I know how it never really goes away and I know the feeling of disappointment in leaves in yourself, like you should have known, you should have done something more. I know that’s vague but spoiler free, remember? Especially since there’s still a TON of time until this book is out and I don’t want to ruin it for everyone. But I loved this book and the characters and I love Stephanie. If there was a character that was so like in J Lynn’s series, I would say Stephanie. I thought Tessa for awhile and I’m definitely still like Tessa but Stephanie…I bonded with her right away.

I’ll just say this too: we get a lot of really awesome news for other couples we’ve fallen in love with over the past few books and we see some super awesome things for them and it was allllll the feels. Such a beautiful book. Sigh. If you’re a fan of this series, definitely pick this up at the end of September!

Rating: 

5 out of 5 Stars