The Month of October & Coziness | A Wrap-Up

Well, I am very sad to see October go, but now I can give you guys a monthly wrap-up! I hope you all had a wonderful month this autumn, and I can't wait to hear how yours went!

Its finally colder, and I can live in my cozy sweaters when I'm not at either of my two jobs- which is very wonderful. Fireplace time with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee and a book, here I come!

Into the Oven! 

What goodies did I bake this month? The links will take you to the recipe as they are not mine!


Pumpkin Bread

Chocolate Chip Bread

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cinnamon Rolls

Snickerdoodle Cookies

How's YouTube going?

Aside from having a blog, I also happen to do BookTube! My videos this month ranged from lists of scary books and reading updates, to book series talks.


MY SPOOKY LIST OF BOOKS

CURRENTLY READING + BOOKISH UPDATES

THE LUNAR CHRONICLES BOOK SERIES TALK

FIRE AND ICE BOOK SERIES TALK

Favorite Blog Posts This Month~

My favorite blog posts from blogs I visited this October! Please check them out!


Abby @ Abby's Reading Corner shared the longest books she's read!

Andrea @ Andrea's Bookish Thoughts gave her list of books she needs to reread

Esther @ BiteIntoBooks had many awesome posts this spooky month, but my favorite was The Nightmare Before Christmas Book Tag!

Desara @ D. Books and Reviews had an awesome Jack-A-Thon TBR post!

Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? posted her review of Winter by Marissa Meyer

Katie @ Exploration of Creation listed her Kinda Spooky TBR for October

For What It's Worth gave a blog post: The Friday 5: Bookish Nightmares

Elle @ Keep on Reading shared her favorite supporting characters!

Vivien @ Pages of Wonderland talked about her favorite Spooky Halloween Movies!

Paperback Princess gave a review on a book with cool writing techniques and tips!

Rachel @ Waves of Fiction shared her review of Consumed by J. R. Ward

kindlemom @ ~~~My Guilty Obsession~~~ had a lovely review for Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes


Also please check out the awesome:

Tessa @ Crazy 4 YA

A. J. @ Read All The Things!

Amber @ Books of Amber

Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts

I have a specifically hard time picking a favorite post from these blogs because there are so many good ones!!

Updates!

So Books with Noel now has a Pinterest account for those of you who do not know, you can find it here.
I love Pinterest so I'm happy to have a account for my blog, but no- I will probably not have other social media for it as I'm not too big on other social media...

I also will now be doing certain blog posts every week- which means multiple posts each week for you guys!

Wednesdays - My Weekly Pull posts

When ever I go to the Library - Library Love posts (these posts will vary from once a month to every two weeks, but in essence when ever I go to the library!)

And Finally: What did I read this Month?

This past month was crazy, which you probably know about if you read my ARCs ranting session (sorry about that, BTW!) BUT - I did get a few books read!

Fire and Ice: The Lost Dreamer (Book Two) by Erin Forbes

I managed to do a review for the series on my YouTube, which you can find here.

The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles

I did not finish this book about halfway through, it just was so much like a drama teen-filled thing that annoys me to death in real life. While I loved the movie...the book just didn't click with me at this time in my life :(

Rogue Wave by Jennifer Donnelly (Book 2 to Deep Blue)

I read book 2 to that Mermaid book I loved (surprisingly) and loved it even more!

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

So... I need book 3 to this series like Right. Now. That would be great....

Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon

Definitely doing a review soon for this book- I LOVED IT!!!









And that was my month of October! What all did you guys read this past month?

~Books with Noel :D

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice~

It's finally October, it's finally fall time- that lovely time of the year where the leaves change colors and I can wear sweaters like no tomorrow (not like I don't do that regularly though...) and where I can drink Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee!

It's not a secret that I'm coffee-obsessed, so you can imagine how crazily happy I am that I can get my favorite coffee at one of my favorite times of the year now :)


So this post will be spreading that Pumpkin-October-Fever~ I personally have a hate/love relationship with pumpkins. I hate pumpkin pie but love pumpkin spice coffee, I love carving pumpkins, but I hate eating them.
Anyone else have this problem?

No? Just me? Oh well then....

Let's spice it up this season~

Some Pumpkin Spice recipes for you guys that I tried this past month! (The links will take you to the recipe)



Pumpkin Cookies with Frosting and Cinnamon

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Everything Nice in the Fall~

Autumn is always so pretty, and usually I spend this time of the year writing or reading as much as I can with my pug curled up half on my lap while I drink pumpkin spice coffee. This year however, has gone a bit different than previous years.
While I'm getting ready for college, I'm also working two jobs (though one is volunteering at a thrift store) and trying to find time to read and review those ARCs previously mentioned. So finding time to write by a big window with my dog and hot coffee is not very easy anymore. But at least there'll always be pretty things about fall.

Some perfectly fall-ish books for you guys!

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan (book 3)!

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl!

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter!

Roseblood by A. G. Howard!

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett!

                Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards!

Scythe by Neal Shusterman!










And that's my fall-ish post for you guys, hope you enjoyed!

Love, 
Noel <3

My Weekly Pull

   My Weekly Pull is something I'm going to be doing every Wednesday to show which anime or manga I had pulled for myself that week. My friend Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? hosts My Weekly Pull for comics that she has read or is reading so make sure to check her out because it was such a cool and fun idea I asked if I could do it for anime and manga (I don't get to read a lot of comics sadly)!


                   ~                    ~                    ~                     ~                       ~



This week for Anime....

Inu X Boku Secret Service - 12 episodes
I've watched up to episode 8 of this anime (the one on the left with the purple background). I hope to finish this anime before next wednesday!

Soul Eater - 51 episodes
I've watched up to episode 34 so far, and am having a hard time finding time to sit down and watch this one :(
(The middle one with red background.)

My Hero Academia - Ongoing
I'm almost caught up with the new season! I fell behind a little in the past few weeks 😓





This week for Manga...


Yona of the Dawn Vol. 4

Yona of the Dawn Vol. 10

Yona of the Dawn Vol. 11

Yona of the Dawn Vol. 12


I'm a little on a Yona of the Dawn kick right now, in case you can't tell Lol :D


The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, and so has this week so far but I'm still hopeful!


Thanks for reading, what anime or manga have you read/watched recently? Any that you're hoping to start soon??

~Noel

P. S. Please visit Lindsi's My Weekly Pull posts- they're awesome!!

The Fall Books Tag

Lovelies I have another Book Tag for you all! (So while I go insane from my crazy schedule, I'll just go ahead and update for you guys again!)

My friend Katie @ Exploration of Creation, did this book tag back in September and I really wanted to do it so I'm doing it now! :)



                        The Fall Books Tag!




1. Crisp Fall Air – A Book That Felt Fresh & New

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! I fell in love with this book so much, and I truly expected it to be different!

[My Review]








2. Howling Winds – An Ending That Blew You Away

Freaking KILLED me :(


[My Reveiw]








3. Leaf Fight – A Book With Non-Stop Action

There was always something going on....whether good or bad was irrelevant apparently.








4. Pumpkin Spice – Your Most anticipated Read

So excited to get to read the ARC of Guarded Crown by Addison Carmichael this month!!!









5. Comfy Sweaters – A Book That Gives You The Warm & Fuzzies

Hehehehe










6. Bright Colours – A Cover with Either Red, Orange or Yellow

And that's the bookish tag!!

Hope you all enjoyed! Have a lovely October!!


~Books with Noel 🎃🎃🎃

A Tale of ARCs | A Ranting Session

My lovely friends!
I know it hasn't been that long since I updated last, but I'm going insane so I'm taking a few minutes to update now before it turns into a two-week-long vacation *nervous laughter*.

So as many of you know, I've been having a ARC-Reading-Month. I've received quite a few ARCs or review requests in the past month, and have been trying to pump out the reading time and reviews as quickly as I could. It hasn't been going well in case you were wondering.

So lets have a ranting session, because those are always fun!



So to de-stress, let me share with you A Tale of ARCs!

I finally finished Starfall by R. M. Anderson last month and got the review out (though I was running behind by like two weeks), so I'm just still surprised and happy with how that turned out.
Before that though, there had been a few others that had also taken awhile and I'd been behind on as well.

Orion's Awakening by L. C. M. Joseph was by far the longest a ARC reading and review has taken me. It took me forever to find time to read it and then it took me almost another full week to find time to write the review! And the book was only 242 pages!

And now I have the third and last book in a trilogy, Guarded Crown by Addison Carmichael to read. She's a wonderful and awesome friend I made back when I first started blogging, but I sadly haven't even had the time to finish reading the first page of her ARC she sent me! And it's already October 17th!

So I'm trying to read Guarded Crown and Fire and Ice: The Lost Dreamer by Erin Forbes at the same time (it's not going all that well). The good news there, however, is that I have a physical ARC of The Lost Dreamer so I'll finish that one quickly and be able to get to all those other books (hopefully).


So some of my TBR that I mentioned in my Wrap-Ups for September... might carry into next month's TBR Lol. It's not that bad, I can renew them from my library easily enough!



I'm not upset about being behind schedule for my blog, I just feel bad for taking so long to review for these authors that are trusting me with their books and time! Am I the only one that freaks out about this?
Either way, I will probably be updating twice a week when I have the time but I'm not sure yet. I'm kinda working two jobs, preparing for college next year, and writing a novel.
I know that being super busy freaks a lot of people out, but I do okay as long as I can do the fun things that help me de-stress- such as baking or updating for you guys!


On another side note, I have made a Pinterest account for Books with Noel, here's the link.
 I do have a regular account for me, but I'll let you guys find that one on your own- it's a more personal one that will not have any posts from my blog or YouTube channel.


I've been thinking about doing those scheduled blog posts (I don't know why I call them that, Lol), the ones where I post them every Wednesday or Thursday and they always follow the same topic?
I don't know though, because I really like doing the random posts that aren't scheduled or something others have already done, y'know?


What do you guys think? Would you like to see maybe one or two on Books with Noel? Please let me know!


Thanks for bearing with me, Loves!
~Noel <3

Literary Book Gifts | A Book Lover's Post

My lovelies! I'm back again!!

I have a second post for you guys this week on the blog, and this one is another special treat! This post is specifically for bookish things a book lover would want- which I discovered this week at Literary Book Gifts.


I was away for a few days and when I was gone I received an email from the designer of Literary Book Gifts (I actually spit my coffee out when I saw it I was so surprised and excited)! So I'll be doing a little review for you guys of the designs and her website!

CALLING ALL BOOK LOVERS!!!


Here's the link to the lovely website: https://literarybookgifts.com/

And Melissa (the designer and creator) even made a special promo code for you guys!! BOOKSANDCAFFEINE20 which is good for 20% off anything in the store, no minimum, and does not expire!


I tend to restrain myself when it comes to book merchandise because I know that I will make myself go broke. However, after being on the website for about five minutes I realized I wasn't checking it out or anything- I was adding up the prices of the products I wanted in my head and adding them to the cart which I would later empty.
(Talk about giving in and weak-willed? This is why I'm broke all the time- because I'm a coffee and book obsessed person!)



Now hear me out... okay, I have nothing besides that it was book-related, everything was pretty, and I had the money. BUT look at the pretty things!!

An Alice in Wonderland Book Tote!!! There were so many Classics and other book totes that looked fantastic, this is just one that I had been rather tempted to buy.

Edgar. Allen. Poe. You guys- my favorite poet (and this happened to be the first T-shirt I saw!)

FRANKENSTEIN, Y'all it's Frankenstein!! (Okay, I may be a little too excited about all the book merch and products, BUT they're pretty!!)

I wanna know how many of you guessed that the Pride and Prejudice T-Shirt would be on here?? Seeing as I LOVE Jane Austen and Classics and T-shirts, this shouldn't be a surprise- but it was to me.



I'm going to be honest, it's not very often that I find bookish gifts and such that I would actually want (unless we're talking Pinterest stuff, in that case- that's a different story). So when I found so many things that I wanted on Literary Book Gifts, I was very surprised. (You guys may not have, but I was.)


The website is super easy to navigate (which is very important) and you can pick the color and size of the shirts! It's a lazy Book Lover's paradise (are we still talking about me?)

Shout out to Melissa for all her awesome designs both on the products and the lovely website!


Now I need to restrain myself and decide between the Pride and Prejudice T-shirt or the Edgar Allen Poe T-shirt... Any help?


Check out Literary Book Gifts and let me know what you guys thought, I'd love to hear what your first impressions were of the bookish website and products!!


Thanks for reading Loves!!
~Noel <3

Orion's Awakening by L. C. M. Joseph

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are completely my own. *


So I have another review for you guys! I actually have several reviews I will be doing soon, which means more than one blog post each week (if I have to).

Title: Orion's Awakening

Author: L. C. M. Joseph

Genre: Sci-fi

Series: Star Magic Book One

Published: May 8th, 2018

Amazon link




Synopsis: What would you do if the life you live has all been a lie?

Sixteen-year-old Orion is about to find out, as his world is thrown into turmoil. When he learns that the stars are his home and that he is destined to rule over a kingdom.

His world is thrown into chaos as he must leave everything he knows behind; risking losing himself and his humanity to save magical races he never knew existed. With the help of his newfound companion, Orion must embark on a journey to dangerous new places and take on an unknown evil that seeks to take over his kingdom.



                   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


I wanted to know what the crap was going on and why as soon as Orion had the weird dream, so needless to say I was kinda invested in the book after the first two chapter.

Oh. My. Macaroni. The world and plot were so interesting and unique and out there! New technology and things were introduced lots in the book, and they were rather cool.
I did really enjoy that part, but my favorite parts to read about were definitely the parts with Eymd (a freaking shadow warrior!!).


While I did like these things, I'm still a little conflicted on what I think of the rest of the book. There was Lawrence, and while I do like forgiveness and all- there was really no character redemption for him. Besides that, I noticed that while Orion did obviously have some things that happened to him or that he sacrificed things for others- a lot of the ''challenges'' were easily solved. Friend dying? Heal them with powers. Planets dying? Heal them with powers and make them real people.
That was all that I pretty much didn't enjoy a whole lot of.



SPOILERS!! I really wanted more mother-and-son development between Orion and his real mother, but I was very surprised with her being alive and I actually really liked that twist. It gave room for more plot twists that could show up later.

I'm torn between who I like with Orion better: Eymd or Rachel? I really liked Rachel and Orion's relationship from the beginning, but then I met Eymd and she was awesome!


 ~ SPOILERS OVER ~ 


So there were things that I didn't love, but you'll find that in pretty much every book. I really really liked the overall uniqueness though and OOH, THE ENDING!!!
I was so confused at first in the epilogue- because we'd just had that huge battle and then some crazy stuff happened.
And then... cue Cliffhanger that hooks you in like two sentences for the next book!



[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐]



Thanks for reading!!
~Books with Noel :D