Book Relationship Fails versus Real Relationship Fails: the Scary Similarities

So for those of you who don't know, I have a fourteen year old sister, who I love more than anything else in the world. One of the best things about her is the sheer number of inane acts she does, that happen to be hilariously entertaining. Four days ago she announced that she now has a boyfriend who lives in a city around an hour and 30 minutes away from here. They have never met each other and have only known each other through friends at camp and Snapchat. Sound like a YA romance novel yet? It gets better, today she came home to tell me that as she was walking with her friend at school and witnessed him get punched twice in the face. She then decided to break up with her boyfriend due to the distance between here and the place where he lives. Now let us compare this with a YA romance novel. We have the online romance aspect as seen in Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithian and John Green, Simon versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli , and Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. You get your short romance like that of November 9 by Colleen Hoover and The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Crazy violence from like every book ever as well as crazy teenagers, which is basically the definition if a YA book. So my sister is basically a YA novel, which is great because I am currently writing a YA novel and I am basing so much stuff on her. Also beware future debate opponents because the hilarious things you say in round will go into my book! Anyways speaking of debate I need (Meaning I want to really badly because I honestly love it) to work on my dramatic interpretation so I have to end this post. Love you all and happy reading! -Becca
   

Terrific Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Coconut Soup)

I am so sorry for not posting on Wednesday! I have been extremely busy and sick as well as my homework load has tripled from last year. So I did not have any time to write a blog post and I did not want to post a draft and have it be bad. I figured it would be better to just wait and post something way better. So in honor of me being sick here is a delicious Tom Kha Gai (or Thai Coconut Soup) recipe. The original recipe is delicious and can be found at http://pin.it/DmmYiq3 by the food blogger Carls Bad Cravings. I did change the recipe to better fit my own tastes and so it would taste more like the version I get at my local Thai food place. Also here are some added benefits to this recipe, it can easily be made vegan, vegetarian, or paleo. It is already gluten free and dairy free! This is great for when you are sick because it will completely clear out your sinuses and definitely will improve your mood. Plus when you are sick it can be hard to taste, but this soup is so flavorful that it will overcome those horrible flu symptoms! Please enjoy and make sure to comment your thoughts and opinions!

Trying to Promote one's Book Blog

Lately I have been trying to promote my blog a little bit more than usual. While writing for only 20 people is fine with me it would be great to share my love of books (and cooking!) with a slightly larger group of people. Well I suck at promoting things because I have no desire to force anyone to subscribe or install some sort of thing where you can only view my full post if you share it, because that is just mean. As I was researching for friendly ways to promote your blog, I found that Pinterest can be a great way to share your blog. I of course, am kicking myself for not thinking of this earlier. I exclusively find my recipes and cooking blogs on Pinterest, but I had not put two and two together of sharing my blog on Pinterest. I had some of my posts up, but with no descriptions and terrible pictures. Now I am going through each post, creating a Pinterest friendly picture with the title of the post on it, and adding it to my posts before posting to Pinterest. I have a few posts up because it takes forever to edit the pics so they look fantastic, but just hang in there every one! I am a total Pinterest addict and I am hoping you guys are too, because I need you all to go add me on Pinterest this very moment! If you want to see what I like outside of book reviews and if you want to see all of my favorite recipes that I didn't create go follow me! Also make sure if you love this blog to repin your favorite blog posts!!!!! This will help my blog grow and allow me to continue to post knowing someone outside of my family is reading these posts! Just remember, I am doing this because I love books and I want to share my love of books, not because I want to make money (because I am definitely not making money!) or because I want to get famous (blogging would be the worst way to get famous! If I wanted to be a star I would be on youtube!). Sharing my blog posts is just sharing the love, which is great! So click that link below and follow me on Pinterest! Have a great Monday and happy reading!
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Sometimes I Wish for a Little Calm in My Life

Sometimes I wish for a little calm in my life

Its ironic though

The girl who does nothing

Wanting peace

They used to call me the most flirtatious

Vivacious, loquacious

Now to them

I’m just a nerd

But I’m more than that word

I’m curvaceous, courageous

Still definitely loquacious

About my voracious reading

Why is it that I do nothing for fun

In their eyes

Reading and writing

Are just for school

Why do I still crave their acceptance

I’ll ignore my friends

Just for a short conversation

With someone “normal”

Why can’t I ask questions

About our discussions

Why is it weird

To have something clarified

Why can’t I have goals

And be confident

In achieving them

Without being considered arrogant

I just want to get to know someone

Be there for them

And truly understand that

They will be there for me too

And I know that life isn’t a romance novel

But sometimes I wish it was

Where the bossy, intelligent, beautiful, nerd

Finally feels like she fits in

And no my life isn’t terrible

In fact it's pretty damn great

Yet I feel as though I hold the whole world on my shoulders

Without any help bearing the weight

Sometimes I wish for a little calm in my life

A little lull where all makes sense

Where I don’t have to prove anything

Yes I know it's ironic right