Songs to Listen to When You're Sad.

I think an interesting thing about being a blogger and reading blogs is that about 95% of the blogs you read and write are about happy stuff. It's rare that bloggers write about the bad things that happen to them. Usually, it's about vacations they want to take, advice they want to give, outfits they wore, etc. 
When I sat down to write this post, I wasn't in a good place. I just had a breakdown at work because I'm going through yet another quarter-life crisis. I always feel like I'm stuck, but my brain is going in a million different directions. I wasn't in a good place, and I felt like there was nothing that could pull me out of it. I'm so lucky to have Jon who just sat there with me and let me cry on his chest and my puppies who showered me with kisses. 
I've never been the kind of person who can be instantly pulled out of a bad or sad mood. It's usually a combination of things, and yesterday, what I needed was a good cry with my boyfriend, love from my dogs, laughs while watching Friends, a lot of good food, clips from Lip Sync Battle, and a lot of sad music. 
Ironically, sad music makes me feel better sometimes because I feel like the songs are speaking to me. It's like someone out there gets it, and they're singing it to me. These are a few songs that helped pull me out of my sad mood yesterday.
PERFECT - HEDLEY // I'm not perfect, but I keep trying cause that's what I said I would do from the start.
 
BOSTON - AUGUSTANA // You don't know me, you don't even care...I think I'll start a new life, I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name.

HIDE - A FRIEND IN LONDON // I'm so tired now. Gonna go lay down, gonna hide in my bed until everything safe and, I might never wake up. I blew it all, I'll never wake up. Gonna hide in my bed until everything is safe and the sun comes up again.

WHEN IT RAINS - PARAMORE // And when it rains, on this side of town it touches, everything.

RIVERS AND ROADS - THE HEAD AND THE HEART // If you don't know what to make of this, then we will not relate.

COUGH SYRUP - YOUNG THE GIANT // If I could find a way to see this straight, I'd run away to some fortune that I, I should have found by now

BAD DAY - DANIEL POWTER (It wouldn't be a sad song playlist without this one.) // You're faking a smile with the coffee you go. You tell me your life's been way off line. You're falling to pieces every time. 

I have a whole playlist of songs that I like to listen to when I'm having a bad day. The songs cover a number of bases - feeling lost, feeling lonely, feeling worthless, relationships, etc. It's called "Let It Rain," and you can listen to it here. 
What songs do you listen to when you're feeling down? 

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College Versus Real Life

It's that time of year again when everyone is posting about graduating, and I'm just over here being old. I had such a fun time in college, and some days, I miss it so much. Some things about college were just a lot easier...
FRESHMAN 15 VS REAL LIFE 500 College: I didn't gain much weigh in college because I had to walk everywhere. actually miss having to walk to class every day. It took me about fifteen minutes to walk from my on-campus apartment to the business building with a couple sets of stairs in between. Back then, I thought it was an inconvenience. Now, I'd welcome that walk any day. 
Real Life: Everyone says they want a desk job, but then they wonder how they mysteriously packed on 20 extra pounds. Forget the freshman fifteen; when you get a desk job, that's when the pounds really start sticking around. I sit at my desk for most of my day, and because of that, my body is constantly at rest, and my food is just sitting there with no movement to help it digest quicker. It's a sad reality. 
8 AM CLASSES VS CLOCKING IN AT 8:30 College: My hardest quarter in college was probably the one where I had 8 am classes five days a week. I'm baffled by the fact that I started high school at 7:30 every morning. I don't know how I did it. Having classes at 8 am was the worst...or so I thought. 
Real Life: Because I don't have to study or even think about work when I get home, I have horrible sleeping habits. I stay up late, roll out of bed late and on weekends I make no attempt to have a steady sleeping schedule. It's an every day struggle, y'all. 
COOKING IN COLLEGE VS COOKING AT HOME College: I don't know what it was about college, but my senior year, I had my ish together when it came to planning out my meals. I would plan ahead for an entire month. I had a calendar where I wrote down what I was going to eat for each meal (usually skipping breakfast because who has time?). I went grocery shopping once a month for all of the things I needed, and I was good to go. 
Real Life: Admittedly, Jon does pretty much all of the cooking because he gets home from work a lot earlier than I do. We've gotten better at planning our meals, but I'm in no way on the level I was on back in my college days. 
RUNNING INTO PEOPLE AT WAL-MART VS RUNNING INTO PEOPLE AT WAL-MART College: Oh, the dreaded Wal-Mart. I swear my roommates and I made weekly trips for random things. Sometimes for groceries, but most times for things like an ice-cream craving or getting a Redbox movie. Running into people at Wal-Mart in college usually meant that everyone was in sweatpants, and no one judged each other. To quote High School Musical, we're all in this together. 
Real Life: When you move back to your "hometown" (I use the term loosely, because I don't consider Shreveport/Bossier my hometown) after college, everyone has one goal: Be better than everyone that you run into from high school. For that reason, when you go to Wal-Mart, you're trying to look your best. If you see someone you know, you instantly judge their life against your own. Is their boyfriend cuter? Have they gotten married? Any babies in the cart? Unlike college, we're all playing Judge Judy. 

All jokes aside, I really do love being an adult. Yes, paying rent and other bills sucks, but I love that I'm working toward a better future for myself. I love living with my boyfriend. I love being able to love on my dogs every day. I love not having to study. I love not living refund check to refund check. I miss college sometimes, but being an adult isn't all that bad. 
Are you in college or a living life post-grad? What do you love/hate about it? 

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Wheels Up Tour with Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes and Sam Hunt!

I've been a long time fan of Lady Antebellum ever since I first heard "Lookin' For a Good Time." I love so many songs by them, because they're so fun and catchy. I knew I liked Lady Antebellum, but after seeing them live for their Wheels Up Tour, I'm officially obsessed. 
Admittedly, when I bought tickets for the concert, I was most excited to see Sam Hunt. I love every single song he sings. Plus, he's not bad to look at. *wink emoji* Sadly, Sam was only onstage for about thirty minutes, but it was an incredible thirty minutes. He's so talented, especially live. I saw him perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards, but he only sang a condensed version of one of his songs. I jammed out to every one of his songs, because they're all so freaking good!

Hunter Hayes's set was twice as long, and I adored him. He just seemed so humble, and he just genuinely looked like he loved being onstage. I had no idea he was so incredible on guitar. He seriously rocked out on at least six different guitars, and his guitar solos were so freaking good. His singing was, of course, amazing, but he really blew my mind with his guitar skills. 

I jammed out to Lady Antebellum pretty hard. They played all of their hit songs plus a few songs off of their latest album, 747. At one point, they went to a mini stage in the middle of the floor seats, and sang a few songs acoustic. They played two covers, "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran and "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye.

Hunter Hayes came out and joined them to play what I think was a mandolin. Clearly, I don't know my instruments, but he was awesome. They also brought Sam Hunt out, and he, Lady Antebellum and Hunter Hayes all rocked out to "Walk This Way." Definitely a highlight. 

For the encore, Lady A came back out and sang the title song from their album "747," plus two more songs. Hilary did a little outfit change too. 

I love going to concerts so much, and this one was so incredible because every single act was So Good. It made me become just a bit obsessed with all of them. 
Are you a fan of Lady Antebellum? Do you enjoy going to concerts? 

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TV Shows to Binge Watch on Netflix

I didn't realize how much I loved watching TV until I became an adult, and Jon let me have my own profile on his Netflix account. I was able to catch up on shows that I was dying to watch and discover new shows to love. It's amazing how easy it is for me to fall in love with TV shows that are so diverse. I love discovering new shows and sharing the ones I love with others. Here are a few series that are on Netflix that you should be watching. 
Note: Some of these trailers are fan made and some are just clips, but you get the idea. 

If you haven't started watching these shows, what are you even doing? 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt I watched this show in one sitting. It's a Netflix series about a girl named Kimmie who was rescued from an underground cult. Instead of returning to her small town, she decides to take residence in NYC. Hilarity ensues. 

Friends with Benefits Okay, so this show isn't new, but I just started watching it, so I'm counting it as new. Netflix kept suggesting this show to me, and after finally giving in, I found out why. Friends with Benefits is so hilarious. It's perfect for millennials because it follows the lives of a five friends who are not only trying to figure out their romantic lives, but also just their lives in general. It also helps that the star of the show is Ryan Hansen who I already love from his roll as Dick Casablancas in Veronica Mars. 

Salem Okay, so this isn't technically a new show, but it's new to me, so I'm including it here. It's actually in its second season right now. I mostly became interested in it because of my close encounter with Shane West. The show is shot in Shreveport, so its neat to watch a show that's being made right where I live. I think we all know the age-old story of witches and Salem, and this show just builds on that. 

Some endings I'm satisfied with. Some endings make me made to think about. At least the writers and creators, etc. were nice enough to at least provide an ending. 

Parenthood I've still in the beginning seasons of this show, so I have a long way to go. I've already fallen in love with it though. It has such a great cast and there are so many stories to follow, but in a good way. It pretty much follows the lives of the Braverman family and the trials and tribulations of life. Sounds simple, but it's awesome. 

Revenge The Revenge season finale airs this weekend, and I'm already freaking out about it. I think the first two seasons were top notch, and it did kind of start to fall off with the introduction of so many new characters. I still enjoy it though. Any show that stresses me out is a good show. Revenge follows the story of Amanda Clarke, aka Emily Thorne. She's trying to get revenge on all of the people that framed her father for a plane crash that killed hundreds of people. 

Glee Good ole Glee. Sadly, I still haven't watched the last season. I do have to say that the first three seasons of this show were absolutely incredible. It kind of fell off from there when they started introducing all of the new cast members. They just didn't compare. I recently watched the fifth season when they put it on Netflix, and I'll be watching the last when they finally add it to the site. Glee follows a group of high school students who are in glee club, and it's just a bunch of high school drama (and later college drama) with singing, and it's awesome. 

Ugly Betty I actually didn't watch this show until years after it ended, but it was so cute. Even though it does come to a conclusion, it still made me sad that it ended because I loved it so much. I've adored America Ferrara ever since I saw her in Gotta Kick It Up, and she's been amazing in everything I've seen since. Ugly Betty is about a girl named Betty who gets a job for a fashion magazine. She doesn't look the way everyone in the fashion industry thinks she should look, and from that, hilarity just ensues. It's just a fun show. 

Gossip Girl Oh, Gossip Girl. I loved this show so much during the first few seasons, and then it just got strange. When they revealed who Gossip Girl was at the end, I thought they went with someone too obvious, but at the same time, I guess it made sense. If you've never seen the show or read the book series because you've been living under a rock, it's about a popular site called Gossip Girl that follows the lives of the privileged students living in the Upper East Side. 

Lost Admittedly, I got lost in Lost in the last couple of seasons, but overall, I really enjoyed the show. The first season was my favorite because it was just a great intro season. The show is about a group of people who crash on an island, and then a whole bunch of random, nonsense stuff starts happening to them. It gets pretty insane (and confusing) toward the end. 

All of these shows were so good, and I'm still mad at everyone involved in the cancellation of them. And they say I don't know how to hold a grudge... psh!

Lie to Me This was such a good show, and I still can't believe they cancelled it. With all of the crappy shows that are still on the air, this amazing show got cut, and it still upsets me. It's about a guy who is essentially a human lie detector, and he helps solve crimes with this ability. It's pretty insane...and awesome!

Firefly I know a lot of people were disappointed about the way this show ended, and even though they made a movie to try to make up for it, it still wasn't the same. This show deserved to go on. It was about a small crew onboard a ship, and a lot of stuff happens. That's about the best description I can give. Oops. I couldn't find a good trailer, but here's this:

Dollhouse Poor Joss Whedon. He's just the creator of these out of this world, crazy awesome shows that just get cancelled, and then people fall in love with them when it's too late. It's such a shame. I loved this show and gave up my Friday nights to watch it. It's hard not to have a girl crush on Eliza Dushku because she's so flawless. Dollhouse is the name given to this secret lab (or really series of labs) where people volunteer to have their memories erased. They are then implanted with different memories to complete assignments. I know. Your mind just blew. And yeah, yeah. They had the epitaphs that kind of ended the series, but no. This show should have gone on for several more seasons. 

Hart of Dixie Hart of Dixie is such a cute show. It's about a doctor from New York named Zoe Hart who moves to a small town after inheriting half of someone's medical practice. Rachel Bilson plays the role so well, and I just love her. I haven't actually watched the last season yet, but as soon as it's on Netflix...binge-watch!

Heroes I know a lot of people were bittersweet about the ending of Heroes. The first two seasons were top notch, and then it was like whaaaaat?! It got a little crazy with that carnival. I really hate that the show just ended though. I think they could have steered it back in the right direction. The show is essentially about regular people who find out they have superpowers. 

Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 I had a hard time placing this show because it was a sitcom that didn't necessarily have a huge, stressful storyline. It was a lot of fun though, and I'm sad it was cancelled. The show was about a small town girl who moves into an apartment in NYC with a party girl. It was just a huge laugh. 

I have a love/hate relationship with these shows. Love because they're amazing, and I love them so much. Hate because I have to wait an entire week between episodes. 

New Girl I love this show so much. Zoey Deschanel is everything. She's so freaking adorable. I also love all of the roommates. They're all just so fun together. I've never seen an episode of New Girl that I didn't like. If you haven't seen the show, it's about a girl who moves in with a bunch of guys, and it's just a lot of funny. 
Once Upon a Time I have to admit that I'm not loving this season of OUAT. The first couple seasons were amazing. I couldn't stop watching. I looked forward to the new episodes even though they stressed me out. I haven't really loved this season at all. The Frozen stuff happened too fast, and having all of these villains in it just doesn't make sense. Also, when did Henry become irrelevant. If you've never heard of it or seen the show, none of that made sense, but it's essentially about fairy tale characters being forced to live in the modern day. 
Supernatural I think we all know about my love for Supernatural. I mean, I can't get enough. This season has been meh for me, because 1) I'm over the mark, and 2) I hate Rowena so much. I'm just done with her. Overall, it's such a great show though. The only season that I legitimately didn't enjoy was season six, but Supernatural has become one of my favorite shows thanks to Jon. It follows brother Sam and Dean Winchester, and they fight the supernatural. 
Bates Motel If you've seen and loved the movie, Psycho, but haven't watched Bates Motel, what are you even doing with your life? Even if you haven't seen Psycho, you should still watch it. It tells the story of Norman Bates and how he became the character in the movie. It's so interesting, and you just want Norman to be normal, but you know he won't be because of the movie. It's just a whole lot of crazy. 
Scandal One of the best shows ever. It took me awhile to actually start watching the show, but once I did, I was hooked. It's all about a bunch of political drama, but more. I love it!
The 100 After meeting Kass Morgan and reading the first book in the series, I had to watch the show. It's a completely different entity, but I still love both. The 100 is about a world in the future where people are living in space because Earth has become unlivable. When they start running out of oxygen and resources, they send 100 delinquent kids down to Earth to see if they can make it safe place to live. They discover there are already people living on Earth, and then it's chaos. Amazing chaos. 

Even though these shows ended long ago, I still don't mind binge watching them for fun. 

Gilmore Girls I will forever love this show. To be honest though, I've never watched the last season, and I'm about halfway through and can't bring myself to finish it. I hate the last season so much. I'm going to get to it eventually, but I'm not in a rush. 
Friends If you've never seen Friends, then you're living life wrong. This is the best show ever. It will always be my favorite. 
How I Met Your Mother Even though I was pretty disappointed in the last season (that season finale killed me), I still loved this show. It's hilarious, the cast is amazing, and I just love everything about it. If you haven't watched HIMYM, it centers around the life of a guy named Ted Mosby and his relationship with his best friends, Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. It's called HIMYM because it's told in flashbacks, and he's telling his children all of the events that led up to him meeting their mother. 
Roswell This was one of my favorite shows when I was younger. It's about a group of kids who end up being aliens. It sounds so dorky, but it's so interesting. This is the show that made me love Katherine Heigl. I knew she was destined for awesome.  What are some of your favorite Netflix shows? 

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Becoming Bliss | Creating a Happy File

One of my favorite parts of college was being an orientation leader. Everything about it was so exciting. It's what made me really fall in love with my university, and then I became passionate about sharing that love with all of the new bulldawgs coming to Louisiana Tech. I became really close to fifteen people rather quickly, and they were like my little summer family. 
Becoming an orientation leader is what helped bring me out of my shell. While I do have my introverted moments (and many of them), I usually like to be outgoing and just outright weird (#ESFJ). Being an orientation leader brought me so much happiness in the simplest of ways, and one of my favorite ways was with the creation of a happy file. I guess it wasn't technically a happy file per say, at least not at first. I created a happy file on my own with the help of OSL. 
Being an OSL was like taking a class. We really had to learn about the university and take tests, and this was all done in a private little classroom. On the wall of the classroom hung paper bags with each of our names on them. We were instructed to write down nice things about one another and put them in the bags. This was done sporadically and randomly and pretty much anytime that you noticed your fellow orientation leaders doing something awesome. 
It always amazed me how I was viewed in the eyes of others. I never thought of myself of funny or clever or witty, but all of these notes said otherwise. And what did I do with these notes? I put them in what I now call my happy file. All of the little warm fuzzies that my summer family wrote for me were put into a file, and anytime that I'm feeling down in the dumps, I pull it out and read them. 
Since my OSL summer, which was in 2010, I've added to my happy file. In it are cards and notes that say nice things about me, pictures of amazing memories that I love to relive, inspirational quotes and photos and so many other things. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I pull out my file. Just reading and seeing all of these things instantly pulls me out of my foul mood.
I know everyone has their different processes to pull themselves out of anger or sadness or any other unhappy emotion, but I want to challenge you to create a happy file for yourself. Pull out old greeting cards, print out some fun pictures, get on Pinterest or Etsy and print out or order some inspirational quotes or printables, scour the internet for memes or photos that make you laugh. Anything that makes you smile should go in your happy file. When you're not feeling 100%, take out your happy file and let that help you turn your mood around. 
I hope your day is full of happiness!
What things would go in your happy file?
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April Reads

At the beginning of 2015, I set a goal for myself basically saying that I wasn't going to read any books that weren't on my shelf, and to further that, I wasn't going to buy anymore books until I finished all of the ones that I needed to read. So about that... Yeah. That lasted...hmm...maybe two months? Maybe not even. I'm not sure, but basically, that's done. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, I found myself getting all of these books from the library, and it just snowballed into madness. I found that setting that challenge for myself really took the fun out of reading for me. It was like school all over again where I was being forced to read books. Even though I really do want to read the books on my shelf (obviously since I bought them, well most of them), I felt like I was limiting myself, and that just made it less fun. Not to mention, there are so many great books (and great sequels) coming out this year, that it was hard to make myself not read all of these new releases. So now that I've attempted to justify why I haven't been sticking to my challenge... I read a lot of amazing books in April. Admittedly, a good bit of them were audio books because I traveled to and from Texas twice and took an hour and a half trip to Monroe to visit my sister. While I do love jammin' to some tunes on the road, I love listening to books on long drives, so I took advantage of all my road trips to listen to some books.  I read seven books in April! Woah! The first three, I have done book reviews for on my blog, and I'll include the links to those.  All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven Finished April 9 This was the book I listened to on my way to and from Las Colinas, Texas, and what an awesome, awesome read. This book just tore at my heartstrings for real. You can check out the blog post here or watch the video review below. I'd recommend this book to everyone to read, whether you consider yourself to be a young adult or not. It touches on the subject of suicide in such a real way, and I think this is one of my favorite books with that theme because the story is told in a unique way that really helps you get into the mind of someone who may be struggling with suicide. I Was Here by Gayle Forman Finished April 14 Another great book by Gayle Forman. I don't know why, but three of the books I read in April were about suicide, and this was another one of them. You can read my full review here. If you're a fan of Gayle Forman, you will definitely enjoy this book. I have to admit that there were a few elements of the book I wasn't crazy about, and I couldn't really relate to any of the characters, but this also touches on the subject of suicide and was a good read. 

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks Finished April 18 This was the read for #BlissfulBookTalk, and I did a full book to movie review on my YouTube channel, which you can watch below. You can also read a few of my thoughts here. I haven't read a Nicholas Sparks book that I haven't enjoyed, and this has officially become one of my favorites by him. I'm a sucker for a southern gentleman, and that's exactly what one of the main characters, Luke, is. He is just a natural charmer, and I love that there's a movie adaptation so I can put a face to a name.  Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang Finished April 20 I listened to this book on my commute to and from the ACMs. It was a pretty quick listen. This is the third book I read in April that centered around the subject of suicide. Falling Into Place tells the story of Liz Emerson who is a seemingly popular person at her school, but that popularity has become a burden for reasons that you find out later, and for many reasons, she decides to run her car off the road. The story is told by switching from the events that lead up to her suicide and the hour leading up to her driving her car off of the road.  I have two main complaints about this book: 1) Liz wasn't a likable character to me, and at times, it was really hard for me to feel sorry for her. 2) I wasn't crazy about the narrator. I mean, it's pretty unique who it ends up being, but it's also confusing. About halfway (maybe sooner?) through the book, it becomes pretty obvious who the narrator is, but it was just weird to me, and any further explanation would lead to spoilers.  Let's get back to Liz. At the beginning of the book, you really feel sorry for her. It's hard not to because she purposely drove her car off the road, and instead of dying, she's in a coma, and she may or may not live. As the book goes on, you learn more about Liz, and you start to realize that she was a pretty awful person, and all of the things that led up to her not even liking herself also made me not like her at all.  That being said, it was an interesting read, and Amy Zhang is an incredible storyteller. The writing in this book was beautiful, and you would think that bouncing back and forth from the past to the car crash to the present would get confusing (especially if you're listening to the audio book), but it actually all flowed together pretty seamlessly.  My favorite character was Liam. He was the person who found Liz, and he ends up being a pretty important character as far as Liz's past goes. Also, the events that happened between Liam and Liz may be what really made me start to dislike Liz a whole lot more than I initially had.  I'd give this book a 4 out of 5.  Even with a main character that I didn't like, this book was still awesome.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer Finished April 24 I listened to this book when I went to visit my sister at school. She lives about an hour and a half away from where I live, so this was the perfect choice since it's just a short novella from The Lunar Chronicles series. I love The Lunar Chronicles (also, I just love Marissa Meyer in general), and you can read my reviews for Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress.  Fairest dives deeper into the story of Queen Levana, the ruler of Luna. As readers, we're all kind of meant to hate Levana, and this book kind of makes you feel sorry for her. It was so interesting to learn about why Levana doesn't want to show her true self and why she's so desperate to rule Earth.  I also love that it showed backgrounds for other important characters, including Winter, who will be the subject of the last book in the series.  This is another 5 out of 5 review for Marissa. I don't know how she does it, but she is such an amazing author with a huge imagination. 

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg Finished April 25 I was so excited to read this book because Zoe is one of my favorite YouTubers. She's so bubbly and adorable, and of course I love supporting fellow bloggers, so I had to read it.  Girl Online is about a girl named Penny who has an online alias known as GirlOnline. This is her little corner of the internet where she blogs about the random happenings of her life. She keeps her blog identity anonymous from everyone aside from her best friend, Elliot. During Christmas, Penny is whisked away to NYC because her mother lands a wedding planning job, and Elliott goes with her. On the trip, Penny meets Noah who also has a secret of his own.  I thought this was a really adorable book and definitely a quick read. Although much of it was a bit cliched, Noah's secret was obvious from the beginning, and some things were just a bit too convenient, I really enjoyed this book. I have to admit that the beginning was a bit slow for me. I didn't really become interested in the book until Penny met Noah because that's when the book actually started going somewhere.  I loved that it touched on the subjects of anxiety, homosexuality, and the harshness of the internet. Those are all three things that need to be talked about more, and I know that Zoe deals with internet trolls on a daily basis, so I'm sure she was excited to write about that. I do feel like some parts of the book were autobiographical for her in a way (I mean, it's about a blogger who gets anxiety attacks), but at the same time, it's dramatized and fictionalized in a big way.  While it was a bit predictable, I still think this book was so cute, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. Overall, I give Girl Online a 3.5 out of 5. 

Just One Year (Just One Day #2) by Gayle Forman Finished April 30 Apparently I read two Gayle Forman books in April. I loved Just One Day, and because of my challenge, I was supposed to wait to read this book, but then I pretty much abandoned my challenge, so I let myself read it. If you haven't read the first book in the series, this will probably contain some spoilers. 
Just One Year follows Willem's journey in the year after he and Allyson, aka Lulu, met. I really liked Willem, and I think I may have liked him more than I liked Allyson in the first book, but I didn't think his journey was as interesting as Allyson's. This may be because there were so many different characters introduced in this book. I was also sad every time I read about him with another girl because I wanted him to wait for Allyson. Although this was probably unrealistic, I still held on to the sad hope.  I really enjoyed the Just One Year series because I loved living the same year from two different perspectives. I feel like Willem went through so much in the year that he and Allyson were apart, and I think that has a lot to do with his free spirit. He was used to always being on the go, and that didn't stop while he was (kind of) looking for his Lulu.  I give this book a 3.5 out of 5. I'm really looking forward to reading the novella, Just One Night. I was really disappointed that both books pretty much ended in the same place, because I really wanted to know what happened to them, but I'm glad that Gayle decided to write a novella, so we could learn what happened after the two of them found each other (or really after Allyson found Willem because, let's be honest, she did all the legwork). 

It's been a long time since I've read this many books in one month, and I'm pretty excited about it. As you can probably tell, I'm all about that YA, and I love a good love story. I already have a ton of books I want to read in May, and I can't wait to share those with y'all as well.  What books did you read in April?

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The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks Book to Movie Review | #BlissfulBookTalk

The April read for #BlissfulBookTalk was an awesome one - The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks. Have any of y'all read this book? It was amazing, and I definitely wanted to read it before I went to see the movie. 
The Longest Ride follows the lives of four people living two love stories several decades apart. The first couple is from the 1960's - Ira and Ruth. You meet Ira after he gets into a fatal car crash after running off the side of the road in a snow storm. While he's fighting for his life, he's also envisioning his late wife, Ruth, sitting next to him. He's reliving their life together one memory at a time. 
The second couple is Sophia and Luke, and their love story has a few parallels to that of Ira and Ruth's even though their story forms in the modern times. Sophia is a college senior from New Jersey living in North Carolina. She loves the arts and dreams of working for a big art museum in New York City. She's in a sorority and super smart, but as a senior, she's focused on getting out of college and starting the next chapter of her life. When her roommate, Marcia, convinces her to go to a bull riding event, she meets Luke, a professional bull rider, and their story just escalates from there. 
I very much enjoyed both the book and the movie for different reasons. If you haven't read the book, the rest of the review will contain spoilers, but you can watch the first half of my video review (don't worry, I let you know before I start talking about the movie) to hear more of my thoughts on this awesome book. 

As for the movie, it follows a similar plot, but the two couples' lives are intertwined a bit more, particularly when it comes to Ira and Sophia. In the book, they meet at the very end when Sophia and Luke discover Ira after a weekend away at a cottage. In the movie, they find Ira's car pretty early on while driving through the rain. When Ira wakes up in the hospital, Sophia is there, and she reads the letters in Ira's box. From there, their lives are intertwined, and I loved it. I think that's my favorite change from the book version. 
I have tons more thoughts on the book to movie adaptation, and I spill the beans about all of it in my review, which you can watch above.

Overall, I give this book a 4.5 out of 5. My main complaint is that I wasn't really that interested in Ira's story even though he was a super integral part of the book. I liked Ira as a character, and I thought he was important, but he just wasn't that interesting to me. That being said, I loved Ira's character in the movie.
So if you want to read along with me in May, the book for #BlissfulBookTalk is going to be The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. I'm super excited to finally read this book! If you read along with me be sure to tag me on social media (@tiffanykhyla) and use the hashtag #BlissfulBookTalk!
Have you read The Longest Ride or seen the movie? What book would you like me to choose for next month's #BlissfulBookTalk book?

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