September Highlights ft. Bible TBR

SO I SURVIVED MY FIRST MONTH BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL AND I'M ACTUALLY SURPRISED THAT I DID??* I've tackled my first (real) AP class, my very first Honors class, my first totally online class, and then, ya know, ALL THE NORMAL CLASSES. Overall, I guess IT HAS BEEN A MONTH OF FIRSTS??**

*Note: SURVIVED. I DIDN'T LIVE MUCH, THOUGH. 😑

**And emotional taxation. Don't forget that.

A list of awesome (and less depressing 😜) things, though:

• I FINISHED SEASON SIX OF ONCE UPON A TIME. Oh. My. Worrrd. SO MANY FEELS. Especially since I'm one of those Oncers who plans not to watch the revival (a.k.a. season seven), due to (rumored) content. 😭
• BUT I HAVE DISCOVERED THE MAGIC OF PBS'S VICTORIA! My mom and I finished the first season earlier this week, and, to put things simply, WE ARE READY FOR SEASON TWO. *grabs pitchfork and roars*
• Even MORE exciting than OUaT and Victoria... I MET ASHLEY TOWNSEND! There was a book signing at a local bookstore, and we got to chat there and afterwards! Folks, Ashley is SO sweet and wonderful! She has the best ideas, and is so encouraging and kind! Also, you totally need to check out her books! She's the author of the Rising Shadows trilogy (Rising Shadows, Chasing Shadows, Defying Shadows), and oh my word, HER STORIES SOUND SO AMAZING. I seriously cannot wait to dive into her books! 😍

READING CORNER

SO I READ EIGHT BOOKS THIS MONTH (#accomplishment) AND I AM PROUD.

1. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom [4-ish/5]. To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of this... I just don't like crazy depressing books, okay? 😖 But it was well-written, I'll give it that. 🙂

2. Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin [4/5]. This was a super short read that I may or may not have read when I did just to up my reading goal (#priorities), and it had such a cute ending, too! 😀

3. Letter to the Reverend J. Page Hopps by Oscar Wilde [?/5]. A school read, ON WHICH I HAVE NO OPINION. *shrugs*

4. The Sound of Silver by Rachelle Rea Cobb [3/5]. Though a little late, a review's coming on this one, I PROMISE. 🌝

{Source.}

5. Cloaked ARC by Rachel Kovaciny [5/5]. flkgbngbog THIS BOOK WAS SO AMAZING!!!! Like, where do I even begin?? Just-- ALL THE FEELS!! And the Wild West and Red Riding Hood and the Cheyennes and ADVENTUUURE. READ THIS BOOK, DRAGONS. 'TIS INCREDIBLE AND YOU SIMPLY MUST READ IT, OKAY?? 😍😍😍 (Here's the link to my full review.)

6. Illusionary by Desiree Williams [4/5]. THIS WAS REALLY, REALLY GOOD. I didn't love it quite as much as I loved Sun & Moon, BUT IT WAS STILL AMAZING. The romance was just... *happily sighs* Yeah, it was pretty nice. You should read dis. 💜

7. The Notes in Our Hearts by Gabriellyn Gidman [4/5]. Lord willing, a full review will be coming on this one, too! 🙃

8. Fairest of All by Serena Valentino [4/5]. THIS WAS SO INTERESTING. The Evil Queen
was so human and then THAT ENDING, TOO, THOUGH. Just, whaaaa. SO MUCH YES.

BOOK HAUL

1. To the Farthest Shores by Elizabeth Camden. I've been rather curious about this book and then I FOUND A SPARKLING, BRAND NEW COPY OF IT AT GOODWILL. Stars, yes!

2. Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen. YES, I'VE ALREADY READ THIS. NO, I DON'T CARE. A gently used edition for $3 at a used bookstore? Even thought the cover is nowhere near as beautilicious as the library's edition? OF COURSE.

3. The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw. This was a dollar. ONE. DOLLAR. Even though the library has it, IT WAS ONE DOLLAR, FOLKS. What else was I supposed to do?!

4. AD 30 by Ted Dekker. A beautiful, never-read hardcover. Also $1. UM, YES.

5. AD 33 by Ted Dekker. Technically, my dad bought this one. 'Twas also $1 (WHAT IS THIS WONDERFUL MADNESS?!). But we both agreed it should go on my bookshelf instead of his and my mom's because I HAVE BOOK ONE. *cackles wickedly* 😉

6. Rising Shadows by Ashley Townsend. OF COURSE I BOUGHT ASHLEY'S BOOK. I'm hoping (once I get through my enormous stack of library books first, that is) I can read it sometime this month! 😃

7. White Dawn by Sara Baysinger. I won this beauty in a giveaway at S.D. Grimm's Summoner launch party, and my plans are to start the series around Christmastime, and hopefully bring in the new year with it! 😎

WRITING DESK

I've started writing Because of Midnight Poison! *does a happy dance* Granted, I'm not making a TON of progress on it, because of that annoying, pesky little thing called #school. *glares* But, if I play my cards right and everything falls into plan as I hope it will, then I might just be finished with draft one by the end of October! *continues dance*

So, October Goal: Finish draft one of Because of Midnight Poison! And, if time allows, maybe outline my next WIP and sign up for NaNoWriMo this year?? 😳

Current/Overall WIP Goal: Still the same. Finish draft one in October, and then

edit/rewrite it in November, and have it sent off by the end of that month. 😇

SEPTEMBER BLOG ROLL

ELSEWHERE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE

REALM MAKERS RELEASED THEIR 2017 CONFERENCE RECAP!!!! And of course, because I am a slightly emotional little unicorn, I naturally bawled my eyes out because #SWEETMEMORIES. Here it is (feel free to cry with me):

You can see me several times throughout the video. I'm either in a striped sweater wearing a Superman t-shirt (BECAUSE SUPERMAN), or in a striped sweater (I really love that sweater, in case you didn't notice 😜) with my #RealmMakers2017 t-shirt. (Also, look for the Nerf War slo-mo at about three minutes in. If you see a girl running, grinning like crazy, and wearing a dorky pair of lab goggles, THAT IS ME. 😀)

BIBLE TBR LIST

SO THIS PART WAS INSPIRED BY FELLOW BLOGGER JULIA RYAN (⮘⮘ click on Julia's name to see her blog and the post in question). A few Sundays ago, Julia brought up how we all have spring/summer/autumn/winter TBR lists, but why don't we ever have Bible TBR lists? THIS IS SUCH A VALID POINT.

So today, I'm going to share with y'all the next books of the Bible I CAN'T WAIT TO READ. (Also, feel free to snag the Bible TBR image above. The background is from Pixabay, and is classified as public domain. 🙂)

1. Judges. Some of my favorite Bible peeps lived in the time of Judges. Deborah, Gideon, Ehud... And I've never read the book straight through before, so this shall be an exciting new venture! 😁

2. Ruth. When I was a tween, Ruth was my FAVORITE Bible heroine ever. But since my romantic side has chillaxed (a ton) since then (thank goodness), I haven't read this in a while. Thus, I'm looking forward to reading Ruth with new eyes! 🙂

3. First & Second Samuel. Samuel fascinates me. I mean, God spoke directly to him! Through Samuel, God brought David into reign, and through Hannah's longing for a son, God brought Samuel into existence. I think that's very cool!

4. Esther. "And but who knows that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" ⮘⮘ THAT, THOUGH 😍 (Esther 4:14, NIV).

I'll leave my Bible TBR at that, for now, but I can't wait to start tackling these books! 😀

What did your September look like? Which books of the Bible are on your TBR list?

❤,