Why Mermaids

GRYFFINDOR { wear }

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So proud of James and his new band, Heard by Eyes, as their first EP just dropped today! If you’re a fan of metalcore, check them out! #richmond #rva #metalcore #localband

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I want to move to Pandora, just so I can drink a Night Blossom (and eat at Satu’li Canteen) every day #wdw #animalkingdom #pandora #latergram (at Disney's Animal Kingdom)

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Pictures don’t do it justice, Pandora is beautiful. #wdw #animalkingdom #pandora #floatingmountains (at Disney's Animal Kingdom)

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Nature’s castle #wdw #treeoflife #animalkingdom (at Disney's Animal Kingdom)

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Disney parades are the best parades #latergram #wdw #festivaloffantasy #springbreak (at Disney's Magic Kingdom)

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When you go to Disney alone, but you have to take a purple wall pic #wdw #purplewall @purplewallphotos (at The Purple Wall)

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👸🏼🏰 #wdw #cinderellacastle #springbreak (at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom)

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2018-10. Loving vs Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell | Millie and Richard Loving are an interracial couple in the 1950s and 1960s who can’t be legally married in their (and my) home state of Virginia. They go through 9 years of court battles before their Supreme Court case deems their marriage constitutional under the 14th amendment. Told in verse from alternative perspectives, it’s easy accessible for readers of all types. I live in a neighboring county to where this took place and this is the first I’ve heard of this, which is astounding to me, and I’m even more grateful for having read it. 3.5 stars. #read2018

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2018-9. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow | Holy mother of an audiobook. This behemoth, sitting at 35 hours long, took me two months to get through, but the history nerd in me relished it. Parts of it were incredibly slow (I feel like I listened to analyzation and discussion of The Federalist Papers for an entire week), but it was fun to go into the detail and depth of Hamilton’s life (and compare it to the story the musical presents). And the final duel was heartbreaking and incredibly interesting to hear about. A must for fans of Hamilton and anyone who wants to relive their APUSH days. 4 stars. #read2018 #hamilton #alexanderhamilton #mynameisalexanderhamilton #audiobook

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2018-8. The Philosopher’s Flight by Tom Miller | Magic is real in this alternate history novel, but it mostly only exists in women. Using sigils, these women are able to fly, grow, message, slow, and even kill. Robert Weekes is one of the few men with enough sigilry skill to fly, and his dream is be a member of Rescue and Evacuation, but no men have ever been accepted before. It’s a fun play on traditional gender roles, and also deals with some sigilrists vs anti-sigilrists politics reminiscent of today’s issues. 4 stars. #read2018

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Bird watching #sorasavestheworld #catsofinstagram

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2018-7. Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 | Michael is special, but no one can know his secret: he’s electric. When his (also electric) friend and mom go missing, he and some classmates venture to save them: right into the villain’s lair. While this wasn’t for me, I can see how younger readers would easily become hooked in the world of Michael Vey (there are currently SEVEN books), but at 30, I think I’m just too old. #read2018

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2018-6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | After finishing A Gentleman in Moscow, I needed something light and fun, and I gravitated toward this book, one I hadn’t read since 2013 but remembered becoming enthralled with. It didn’t disappoint. It’s a fast-paced read full of 1980s nostalgia set in a dystopian backdrop where virtual reality is more realistic and convenient than life itself. It’s Willy Wonka with video games, and I loved it just as much this time as the last. I just hope the movie doesn’t screw it up. 4 stars. #read2018 #readyplayerone

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2018-5. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles | Set during the Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Rostov is saved from death thanks to a rebellious poem he wrote in his youth, but rather than true and complete freedom, he is imprisoned in the Metropol Hotel, where he must watch as the world passes him by. The Count meets a variety of characters who come and go from the hotel - a young girl with a mind of her own, a chef whose optimism increases by the hour, an actress who is famous and then not - and each teaches him something about himself and helps him explore the world outside his imprisonment. Make yourself at home at the Metropol with the Count and his story. 4 stars. #read2018

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2018-4. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown | When Morningstar ended two years ago, I was devastated that Darrow’s story (and the world of Red Rising) was complete, but then Pierce Brown announced a new trilogy, 10 years in the future, and I was both elated and terrified all over again. Iron Gold, the first in the new trilogy and Book 4 of the Red Rising world, isn’t afraid to watch its heroes fall and flounder and make mistakes. It questions the notions of heroes and villains and once again reminds you that no one is safe and it’s bloodydamn brilliant. 5 stars. #read2018 @piercebrownofficial @sonsofares #ireadthisagesagobutimreallybehindinposting

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Hello, Friday night. #agentlemaninmoscow #whyyesthatisaredrisingmug #readingissexy

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2018-3. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness | If you’re looking for a “chosen one” fantasy, filled with teens with interesting names and a world-ending crisis, this isn’t it. Well, it is. But it’s definitely not. It’s a contemporary disguised as a fantasy. It’s about the normal people living among the heroes, dealing with the heroes’ catastrophic fallouts and hoping to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s satirical and meta and I absolutely loved it. Oh, and there may be a cat god 😻 Full review on Goodreads. 4.5 stars. #read2018 #therestofusjustlivehere