TILT: Summer Bookish Fun!

Summer is in full swing here in Texas, with record high temperatures and freak pop-up thunderstorms. Perfect time to...stay inside, in the air conditioning, with a good book. Or possibly lounge in the pool. But make sure to slather on that sunscreen and only bring a book you don't care gets wet by annoying splashing children. (I know they're not being annoying on purpose, usually, but it seems that way.) So I've gathered up a few things to make your summer perfect on today's Things I Love! (click to make bigger)

(If you do not want your picture here, let me know & I will remove!)

I am so into the crazy pool floats this year! I may have to actually go buy one now after seeing this mega list on AshleyBrooke. Also, if you have a Five Below in your area, you should definitely go there, they're only $5! (It's my new favorite store after Daiso lol.)

In need of a fun, lighthearted book? Check out my Summer Romance Formula tag and find a new favorite read.

A library in Canada came up with a great way to stay inside where it's cool and still have fun. Check out their Facebook page for the full-sized bingo card.

Once you pick up your bingo books, why not make yourself a little cave in the coldest room in the house? (If you know the source of this pic, let me know!) I suggest comfiest pjs, lots of cool cotton sheets and blankets, possibly a fort situation with fans blowing in. Warning: may attract wayward pets and children, possibly significant others. Perhaps a sign: "this is a one person cave, get your own!" ;)

I love this list of 33 Ways to Have a More Bookish Summer on BookRiot so much that I am considering doing some of them myself. Perhaps for August, when everything seems stale and summer has lost its appeal. Who's in with me? I wonder if they have a hashtag for it already on Instagram or Twitter.

Finally, here is a great list of places to read this summer by Scholastic. I like "in a fort on a rainy day" and "at a secret place" the best.

What's your favorite way to have a bookish summer? Give your best tips below!

Summer-palooza: 5 Reviews in One!!

I've got so many books to review, to get caught up, that I decided to combine a bunch into mini-reviews. As you can tell, this batch is all about the Summer Romance Formula. :) I purchased a ton of these back in the spring and read them all summer long. It was pretty enjoyable. So let's get going with some reviews, shall we? These are going worst(ish) to best!

Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
2.5 out of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this one. I didn't connect with the characters or their story very well and it was very slow in the beginning. Mia is 16 years old and on summer vacation to the Hamptons with her family and aunt, uncle, and 2 female cousins. She thought it was going to be the best summer ever, reconnecting with her favorite cousin and spending all her time basking in the sun. But her cousin is a drunk party girl, her mom & dad are having problems, and she's just gotten dumped by the guy she was "in love" with.

And then, here comes Simon. The strange, slightly too quirky (he quotes The Great Gatsby blegh) guy next door that the cool kids tolerate. Simon, of course, goes after Mia and she rebuffs him at every shot. She starts spending a lot of time alone on the beach at night to get away from her family and, of course, runs into Simon. They start having late night talks and eventually, Mia falls for him. I am glad that the author didn't do an insta-love at least, this relationship definitely grew over time. If you know anything about reading into the clues given, you will know that "something big" happens to the two lovebirds and boy, is it a doozy. No spoilers here, but it will either make you love or hate the book, no in between.

The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller
3 out of 5 stars

Maddie is the typical blonde cheerleader but she has a dirty little secret...she likes comic books. Okay. I am a proud comic book reader and also a girl, so this just rubbed me all kinds of wrong. I don't care what you're reading: comics, 50 Shades, Berenstain Bears, whatever...if you're enjoying it, that's all that matters and NO ONE should make you feel bad for it. And that's why I had to mark this one down a star.

Okay, moving on. Maddie is eagerly awaiting the latest issue of her favorite comic and when it doesn't come, she decides to venture into the unknown: a comic book store. She meets cute nerdy guy Logan and he offers to loan her his only copy of the issue and the two start a tenuous relationship. Logan is great and his friend Dan is the typical chubby funny sidekick. It was Maddie I had the most problem with. She lied to her best friends nearly all summer when her relationship with Logan started growing, she sort-of cheated on her boyfriend, and she just didn't grow until the very end. It was a good moment, her "coming out" into the geek world, but I just don't know if it was enough for me to like her.

Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana
3 out of 5 stars

This is more of a time travel book than anything, but still has its summer romance moments, so I stuck it with this batch of books. Haley is 17 years old and had hoped to spend her summer with her friends and cute boys, but instead is dragged off to a Disney campground with her dad and stepfamily. I'm kind of surprised they were allowed to use all the Disney info. Haley had a mysterious seizure a few months before so her dad is being extra over-protective and she can't stand it. When she goes off on a scavenger hunt with some new friends her first night there, she discovers another side of the campground: 1982 River Country. Yep, you read that right: she has a seizure while exploring the abandoned water park and it somehow takes her 32 years into the past.

I kind of love time travel books, especially ones that go to the 80s or 90s, because, you know, that's when I grew up. ;) So reading about Walkmans, Jelly shoes, TV Guide, and E.T. brings out the nostalgia factor big time. Haley is understandably freaked out at first but then just decides to take it all in stride. I wait in a rocking chair, watching feathered hairstyle after feathered hairstyle pass me by. I see three rainbow-striped dresses, a dozen boys with socks up to their knees, and lots and lots of headbands on girls. *What* is that all about?

She meets a cute lifeguard named Jason who wears short shorts and runs into her mom and dad as teenagers. She somehow decides it's her mission to make sure they still get together, just like it really happened. Along the way, she falls for Jason, even though there's no possible way for them to be together. And she has some adventures: some scary and some fun. Does she make it back to her present/future? Well, you'll just have to read it and see. Lol...I will say that the ending was my favorite part and made me a little teary-eyed rereading it just now.

What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick
3.5 out of 5 stars

"Other people's stories are their own to tell." And that's how it goes in this book. From the past to the present and back and forth, we find out the true story of the conflict between teenagers Gwen and Cassidy. Gwen is trying to deal with her past as she struggles in her present, taking care of her autistic little brother (who sometimes stole the show), working for a rich old lady all summer, and trying to keep her family together. Cassidy is a "rich kid" making up for his past mistakes in school by being a "yard boy" for the summer. The two teens are forced to deal with their past relationship choices and decide if they want or can even have a future together.

There are a lot of different stories going on here and unfortunately, it sometimes made the book confusing and even drag on a little long. Gwen's cousin Nic and BFF Viv have been together for years and have always assumed they would grow old together, but everything can change in a summer. The difference between the rich and the poor, the locals and the tourists, the good and the bad, is a big part of this story too. Overall, a decent read but not quite on the same level as My Life Next Door.

On the Fence by Kasie West
3.5 out of 5 stars

This book was probably my favorite out of the bunch. It's got the romance for sure, but it also has a family story that will bring you to tears more than once. Charlie is the only girl in a family of 3 older brothers and her dad. Even her best friend and next-door neighbor, Braden, is a guy. So you can probably guess who she falls for right? I don't have to tell you? I knew y'all were smart.

Charlie is a tomboy to the core (playing football with the boys is a normal occurrence) but when she has to pick up a summer job at a frou-frou clothing boutique to pay off speeding tickets, she realizes that maybe being a girl isn't so bad after all. Not that she wants anyone, ever, to find that out. As the summer goes on, it gets harder for her to hide her second life and she starts having late night chats with Braden over their shared fence. (Not on some weird bridge like on the cover.) The two grow closer but also apart somewhat...they can't be that close without their relationship changing and that's terrifying for Charlie. She doesn't understand how anyone could see her as anything but "one of the guys".

"By a show of hands," Braden said loudly, "who here would've asked Charlie out in the last six months had they not been given the 'We will kill you if you look at Charlie' speech by the three lugs over there when she turned sixteen?"

Charlie has a lot of growing up to do and she doesn't know how to do it without her mom, who died when she was little. The relationship she has with her dad is good but it doesn't take the place of a mom and when she finds out a secret from her past, it threatens everything she knows.

Charlie "Why are you doing this to me? Why couldn't you just let me figure it out on my own?"
Braden "Because I don't want to see you hurt."
"Unless you're the one hurting me?"
"I'm not trying to, Charlie."

Review: "This One Summer"

This One Summer by Jillian & Mariko Tamaki
3 out of 5 stars

I had been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it last year. I finally purchased it this winter but wanted to wait until it actually felt like summer to read it. With the record breaking rain we had for most of April and May here in Texas, I thought that would never happen. Luckily, the rains have finally stopped (minus the weird pop-up sunshine storms and TD Bill) and it finally feels like summer here, so I can start reading all the "summer" books I've been gathering up.

This graphic novel really is a "novel" at 300+ pages but I still felt like I didn't get enough story at times. It's a very quiet story, not much action, and that may be disappointing to some people. But it is a great story about growing up and the many different relationships we have. And also that feeling that summer brings, of adventure and relaxation all at the same time.

Rose and her parents spend part of each summer at a beach cottage and this year is no different...until it is. I would *love* to spend a few weeks or a month or a whole summer at my own beach house. Soaking up the sun, splashing in the ocean, playing silly games and reading books all day and night, wrapping up in a blanket on the porch when a chilly thunderstorm rolls thru, no rules or regulations or work. Yeah.

Rose's parents have been having a rough time for awhile and while she had hoped the trip would help them, it doesn't. So she's excited to see her friend, Windy, and have some fun. I love Windy, she was definitely my favorite character in the whole book. Old enough to have an idea of how things work but still young enough to not get pulled down by "grownup" problems. She has a major sugar addiction and loves to dance to hiphop music. And she helps Rose stay young for a little while longer, when she needs it most.

The Summer of Being Cool Chicks #2

Happy Friday the 13th all! Big announcement: I started a Facebook page for my blog and all things book related! It's at SeeJennRead and I'd love it if you'd go like the page and spread the word. :)

It's time for another installment of The Cool Chick Handbook! And if you missed the first one, be sure to check it out here. The weather was pretty yucky most of the week, so we did several indoor things this time. And we had the bright idea to purchase disposable cameras this weekend and use them over the summer. I'm not sure I remember how to use one, but it should be fun! (Where's the zoom button?!) Okay, on to the Cool Chick activities...

#142. Hold your own in a hand of poker (and keep your clothes on). Yeah don't worry, we didn't play strip poker lol. We didn't know how to play poker, so we had to look it up. (This is the site we used.) We weren't very good either. Binky Cat was better at shuffling the deck than we were hah! But we tried and we were very serious with our betting...using marshmallows and Mike & Ike's. :) I had the best hand, with a Flush. Or was it a Straight? Hmm...and then we gave up and played Crazy Eights haha!

#100. Challenge yourself to finish a brain-busting 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Um, we haven't finished it yet. It's haaarrrddd! I'm not really sure how doing a puzzle makes you a Cool Chick either. By making you use your brain and smarts makes you cool? I don't know. I just know that the sky is going to be a real pain in the butt...

#116. Claim your very own theme song, a la Ally McBeal. I never watched that show much. But I like music and the idea of your own theme song. Or in our case, songs. Yeah, we couldn't come up with one definite song, so instead we made a playlist of the 19 songs that most define us. :) Almost all of our mixes end up being 19 songs and just like this one, it's completely unintentional! You can listen to the mix right here (hopefully, if it's working!) or click the link below to go to 8Tracks. Do you have a theme song(s)? I want to hear it!

Cool Chick Theme Songs from SeeJennRead on 8tracks Radio.

The Summer of Being Cool Chicks!

Back in February, I was cleaning out my closet and found some old magazine articles in a folder. They were from 2000 and were all about "bettering" myself. I even found one that Gayle Forman wrote, which was really cool! They were kind of hilariously bad, but one in particular intrigued me..."The Cool Chick Handbook" in Jump magazine (do you remember Jump?) which had 200+ things you could ideally do to become super cool chicks. Such as "1. Believe in yourself and your unlimited potential." and "35. Sleep under the stars." :)

So my sister and I started talking about it and joking around about how we should totally do some of them. And then it morphed into a summer project and we marked all the ones that we would be willing to do. (I'm not going to Feng Shui my bedroom lol.) And I thought it would be fun to share here with you all! We are going to try to do 3-5 things each week for the month of June and (hopefully) continue it on into July if we have fun doing it. I'll just post once a week here so as not to bombard you with stuff, but you can follow my Instagram for more pictures. And if you want to become a cool chick (or dude) this summer too, you can read the whole list in my Flickr album set up just for this purpose! And now let's get to this week's Cool Chick activities!

First, we tried #98: Pass notes folded into origami cranes. Since neither of us really knew how to do that, we figured we'd better get help. We tried calling the 1800 number they listed there, but alas, it is for some kind of survey thing now lol. The paperfolding website is still around, if you want to make your own paper cranes! I wouldn't recommend it though, it's hard, especially if you're an origami noob like me! I got to around step 16 or so (after about an hour) and just decided my crane was laying down lol. My sister managed to help me wake him up though and he was just a little sleep wrinkled. :) She totally showed me up by making a newspaper hat too. Showoff.

On Tuesday, we did #106: Play hooky with your mom and spend the day bonding. Okay, well we all had vacation days, but we did have fun! We went to IkeaLand to buy furniture for my mom's new craft room and had a great lunch at our local favorite Mexican restaurant and took selfies, of course. Yeah, we don't look alike at all. ;)

(I'm the one with the white sunglasses)

We only did 2 this week, to get us started, but it was lots of fun. I hope you liked reading about it and let me know what you think and especially if you decide to do your own Summer of Being Cool Chicks! :) 

(this will be us soon lol)