Desperately Seeking Bookworm

Birchbox would like you to Go Bold this month! First I just want to point out how amazing this months box is, the actual physical box. I am absolutely totally in love with the print and I was overly careful in opening up the outer pink box in order to not scratch or damage the beautiful inner contents. I've never been overly impressed with every Birchbox that I get. There's always 1-3 items I hate and 2-3 that I love. This month though I loved EVERYTHING ! July Sample Choice: Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Venezia Full-Size: $24 "This creamy formula glides on like a gloss yet lasts (and lasts and lasts) like a stain." For almost a year now we've been able to pick one of our samples. This month we were able to choose 1 of 3 colors of Stila's Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick. Sample choice was early this year and the mobile site wasn't working for me, so I wasn't able to chose my color. I was a little upset because I knew I would get the coral...

My Summer Reading List isn't doing so hot guys. I have bailed on the following 4 books... Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich Diamond Head by Cecily Wong Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz I've tried to read all 4 of these books, and so far none of them have captivated me. Beautiful Ruins also got a second chance, but I just couldn't do it. There was something about it that just threw me off. I think the storyline was not as simple as I would like for a summer read. I prefer something simple and beachy not flashing back and forward through time and changing characters left and right. Diamond Head just didn't quite grab me in the first 50 pages and I didn't have enough confidence that it would wow me in the coming chapters. When it came to Witches of East End I just couldn't do it. I tend to like to read the book first before the movie or TV show starts, and since I have already watched and loved the now cancelled ( ...

My summer reads haven't been too promising, but Anita Diamant certainly gave me hope.  From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable coming-of-age novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century. Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie's intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can't imagine - a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.  Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her ...

Birchbox is a monthly subscription service that sends 5 deluxe sample sized beauty products from mid-range to high-end cosmetic, nail polish, and skin care brands for $10 a month. Every once in awhile they will include a full size product, or if you subscribe to their new upgraded subscription plan, (an extra $20 a month) you'll receive 2 full size beauty products in addition to your samples. This is something new that BB is still trying out, but so far I've heard good things about it. Something that's almost a year old now is Sample Choice, where BB features 3-4 different samples and allows you to pick one that will be in your monthly box. The theme changes every month and you don't always have to choose your sample, there is an option to not choose a sample or choose the monthly featured box. The featured box sometimes has a guest editor, this past month it was The Tig by Meghan Markle (Rachel on Suits!) and its usually the editor(s) favorite products of the moment. F...

I'm 2 books down so far from my summer reading list and I'm feeling a bit down, both were such disappointing reads. I think maybe I expected too much because one did have a fair amount of negative reviews on Goodreads, but I thought to myself so did Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore and I loved that book! Let's just say that I should've trusted the reviewers instead of my heart. First up... We Were Liars A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.   We Were Liars  is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.  Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE. I believe this was featured in a Peeople or Us Weekly "Must Read" section last summer and since it centered...

Yes I still make my own summer reading lists and they're awesome! I like to only read "summer themed" books during the summer months, so starting June 1st until August 31 I only read off of that list. The criteria to get on the list is the plot takes place during the summer, the cover is summer themed, or the title is summer themed. Right now I have 36 books on my list, but that can always get bigger, or I might not even finish (I still have a couple of books left over from last summers list). I read some pretty bomb books last summer, and I've already picked up my first 3 to start. On my list for this year I have: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter Open Road Summer by Emery Lord Wicked Charms (Lizzie & Diesel #3) by Janet Evanovich Diamond Head by Cecily Wong Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny Oh! You Pretty Things by Shanna Mahin Eat, Drink, & Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife by Margo Howard Yes Please by Amy Poehler The Amateurs by  Davi...

Influenster! Free stuff yay! That's what I think every time I qualify for a voxbox. The Bella VoxBox is actually the first Influenster trial I have qualified for in about a year, the last was the Get Fit or Active VoxBox, which was just okay. How Influenster works is you post reviews on their website, and take small surveys in order to build up your "Influencer Score" and once you reach a certain point you may qualify to participate in their pre-voxbox surveys. You then take that additional survey (which is tailored based on your score and profile) you are either in or out for that voxbox. This is actually my 5th trial, and it's been very fun for me to get back in the swing of tings with blogging and testing out new products. I promise you, it'll be worth it if you sign up for Influenster. They actually just redid the whole website, and voxbox program, so if you want to get in on all the good stuff they've got going on you totz should. Needless to say that ...