Music Blog

I talk about the music I'm obsessed with and the pop culture moments that come out of the music world. First and foremost, though, I want to use this platform to create a time capsule of my musical taste and experiences. I've created a page dedicated to my concert experiences and recording the memories of those nights when they're still vivid as ever. Concerts are my favorite things in the world, so I love the idea of being able to look back at them. I'd actually written about a couple I'd seen on here, but they didn't feel like they really had a home.
Also, each week, I'm going to make a short post about a song or artist or two that has been important to that week in my life. I'm so excited to get to share the songs I'm loving at the moment with all of you, and I think it'll be really cool to be able to reflect on what I was listening to months or years ago. Hopefully, it'll also help you connect to some songs you haven't heard of or listened to yet either!
I started my book blog almost three years ago because I wanted a place to gush about the books I'd fallen head over heels for. I've enjoyed being a part of this community so much that I'm taking the leap and starting this second blog as an outlet for my other passion, music.
To read my full about post where I talk about the new music blog, this blog, and my podcast, The Empathy Factor, click here.
You can find the blog here and keep up with it by subscribing by email!

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Halsey's I Would Leave Me If I Could Poetry Review

I Would Leave Me If I Could by Halsey I've started this review a couple times and scrapped all of them. I've written hundreds of reviews before, and this is the first time I have absolutely no clue how to review a book. It's not just because it's poetry. And it's not because I don't have thoughts on every single poem. I've read the book twice and scrubbed a million notes around her words and highlighted every poem on my second read through. I have so many favorites, and my heart feels like it's going to burst after finishing each poem. Halsey exceeded every expectation I had set to the high bar of her music. I almost feel like this book is too good for my review to remotely do it justice, so I don't even know where to begin. This book is extremely vulnerable. Halsey has never held back on telling the ugly truth in her lyrics, but the poetry takes it so much farther. She has space to tell the entire story, fewer constraints than what will fit in

Swimming Lessons By Lili Reinhart Poetry Review

Swimming Lessons by Lili Reinhart Overall: 5 This is the first poetry book I've ever read in its entirety outside of Shel Silverstein, so I've checked off one of my reading goals for the year with this one. I've now read a graphic novel and a book of poetry. I've been anticipating Swimming Lessons so long that I can't believe it's actually in my hands. I've been a fan of Lili since Riverdale, and I've continued to be a fan of hers even when the show got a bit too ridiculous for me to keep watching every week. I've been excited for the chance to get to see something completely created a controlled by Lili. I'm not sure what I expected from Swimming Lessons . I think I had almost no idea what it would be like or the topics it would cover. After the first couple poems, I was completely hooked. In the intro, Lili prefaces the collection by noting that poetry has always given her solace in knowing other people felt the same specific emotions tha

Coming Up in February 2021: Can't Miss YA

It's almost February which means it's time for tons of brand new books. I picked the five I was most excited about to spotlight in this post! There's a mix of past favorite authors (like Courtney Summers and Phil Stamper) and some new authors I can't wait to read for the first time! I'm so excited to dive into these soon. A couple are on my ARC TBR, and the rest I put in library requests for. If you have a local library, placing a request for a book purchase from your library is a great, free way to get new books. You help the author with a sale, and the library also offers them more exposure to new readers! If you do want to add some of these books to your personal collection, I will be adding purchase links that go to Bookshop to this post. Clicking the affiliate link means that the blog might get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Shopping these Bookshop links is a great way to support the blog, authors, and independent bookstores! The Project by Court

Into YA with Rachel Lynn Solomon

Pardon me while I go fangirl for a moment. You'd think I'd get used to talking to my favorite authors after so many years, but of course, that never happens. That is especially true today as I'm taking to Rachel Lynn Solomon, brilliant author and nicest human. Rachel has been one of my favorite authors almost as long as I've been a blogger. Her first book came out about 7 months after I first started my blog, and almost four years later, I finally get to chat with her. I can't believe this didn't happen sooner, but I think I was always intimidated. There's a lot to cover in this quick chat, so Rachel and I talk about keeping up with writing on a quick release schedule, wading into the romance world with The Ex Talk , working in public radio, plotting Today, Tonight Tomorrow , and what's next (luckily, there's quite a bit coming soon). I hope you enjoy our conversation. 1. You’ve been releasing books steadily since your debut in 2018, and this year

My Most Anticipated of 2021/2021 ARC TBR

A few days ago, I put out a list of my favorite books of the year that I couldn't stop talking about all year long. Now I'm here to introduce you to a brand new slate of books that I'm predicting will make my favorites list next year. These are the books I can't wait to get my hands on because they sound absolutely amazing! I've decided to separate the list into an ARC TBR so far for 2021 of ARCs I have and then to make a wishlist section below that with ARCs I hope to get or books that I'll splurge to buy. I'll include preorder links to the books that are already up for preorder so that you can easily grab a couple surprise gifts to show up throughout the year if any of these books look exciting! These will be affiliate bookshop links which means shopping the links support the blog at no cost to you. Also, if you're looking for even more 2021 books, Rachel and Vicky made the most amazing database/spreadsheet/blog to collect all the 2021 debuts togethe

Positions Book Tag

Today, I'm sharing a new book tag created by Cielo over at Bellerose Reads who tagged me in her new Positions book tag. I love working on book tags inspired by pop music, so I was thrilled to get the tag. If I'm being totally honest, I wasn't super into Positions, Ariana Grande's latest album. I'm much more of a Thank U Next fan because that album was far more lyrically focused. Positions reminds me a lot of Sweetener. I do like "POV", the closing track of the album. Still, I'm super excited to share the tag because these are some of the best tag questions I've ever seen. Cielo did a wonderful job coming up with really cool prompts. I had a blast thinking of books that fit them. As always, just click the book title to read my review of any of the books I mentioned. And don't forget to read the original tag here . shut up – a book you couldn’t shut up about There are way too many. Honestly, a ton of them are already sprinkled through this po

January 2021 Wrap Up

I feel like I say it every month now, but this month wasn't my best reading month. Oddly, even though I read and post less than ever, I'm more in love with blogging than I've been in a while. I think that stems from the fact that I've stopped putting pressure on myself to read a certain number of books or write a certain number of posts. It stung a bit to see my lowest book total for the year yet in December, but also, the world didn't end. At the end of the day, reading is about having fun, and I do enough reading not for fun for school. January has lasted a million years. I don't think I'm exaggerating. For the last fifteen days, I've been telling everyone, "How is it still January?". It's finally about to not be January which is lovely. Even with the seeming abundance of time stemming from the never ending January, I only read three books. And the third I still have 80 pages of, but I should be finished with it by the time this post go

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas: YA Book Review

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas Overview: Maverick Carter is stuck in a big mess. Or two different big messes considering he's close to having two kids at 17. Maverick starts the book finding out he's actually the father of a baby with a girl he can't stand. To make matters worse, she gives him the baby and disappears after finding out he's the real father. Navigating school, his relationship with his girlfriend, Lisa, his new baby, and the politics of the gang he's in makes for a chaotic life. Maverick feels like the rug just keeps getting pulled out from under him, and he has to decide how he's going to cope with oncoming adulthood with far more responsibility than his classmates. Overall: 3.5 Characters: 3 I didn't feel like the character development here was as stellar as Angie's past books. Her last two were five star reads for me, and I was immediately immersed in them. This time, I struggled even though I already knew a little bit about who these

Wrapping Up 2020: How'd My Reading/Blogging Go This Year

It feels weird writing a year end post, which is probably why we're almost a week into the new year and I still haven't posted one yet. 2020 was such a hard year for the world and a weird one for me personally, and it still feels far from over. From a reading perspective, there were parts of the year that were super strong and others where I hardly picked up a book. I started the year working at a bookstore which, contrary to popular belief, made me read less than usual. I had a good run during lockdown and through the summer (though that certainly had ups and downs too), and then I started my first semester of college. That created a serious reading slump, though it wasn't like I stopped reading! In one class alone, I had 1,000 pages of reading saved in my class notebook. All the academic reading replaced my fun books, and there were moments where I honestly thought I hated reading. I wondered what was wrong with me and if I was just done with that part of my life. Over b

First Virtual Book Event: Seeing Jen Yen & Gloria Chao at Blue Willow Books

When I used to live in Houston, I went to a handful of book events at Blue Willow Bookstore. Before their YA events, my grandma used to take me to their American Girl events, which I absolutely adored. In the last few years since I moved to a very small town, I rarely got to attend a book event. Even though bookstores have been putting on virtual book events for almost a year now, I'd never taken advantage of it. I wasn't sure what they would be like, so I simply avoided it. Tuesday night, I was scrolling through Twitter and found out Jen Yen and Gloria Chao would be (virtually) at Blue Willow for Jen's book launch in about an hour, and I impulsively signed up to go, even though more Zoom is never high on my agenda. Gloria is one of my all time favorite YA authors and Jen has one of my most anticipated 2021 YA books that my grandma just happened to get me from Blue Willow. I figured it must be fate. I wasn't sure what to expect at all, and it was unlike any Zoom session

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