It seems everybody is doing their spring and summer hauls these days, but with me living in the country, buying spring clothes isn't going to happen until I go on vacation to the city for spring break. So I decided to do a wishlist instead because I feel that it's more interactive for all of you and we can inform each other on what's good in the stores these days as well as what are some good dupes or products we should all try. Also, I just really want a bit of a wardrobe and cosmetic update.

Clothes:
Shirts that aren't see through and I can just throw on over a pair of shorts.


Sweaters that are on sale. Hopefully there will be some. *Fingers crossed* Why buy sweaters when you're shopping for warm weather clothes? I'll be shopping in March which you can still easily be wearing sweaters then where I live as well as in April and sometimes even May. Also, you can never have enough sweaters.

Lace-y Shirt. I love the festival-type look with a lacy top and high-waisted or distressed shorts.

Floral Statement Necklace. I'm not really into statement necklaces, but I do like ones with flowers on them in the summer.

Shorts

Purse

Rings. I really like all the rings that missglamorazzi wears and I want to find some like that.

Cosmetics:
Decent lip balm


Straightening or Blowdry Creme or Balm.

Spring Nail Polish colours (ie turquoise, lavender, nudes, light pinks, corals, ocean blues, etc.)

Bronzer

Tinted Moisturizer or BB Cream

Nude and Brown eyeshadows

Lip gloss/tint in nude and peach colours




Just so you know, this is kind of a bit of sampler or foreshadowing, shall I say of what's to come on this blog at the end of March and April. I've got some more lifestyle and photography type posts coming your way that I am really excited about.

If you have any good suggestions for products or want to let me know about sales that are going on or just want to tell someone about something you really like, don't be afraid to comment. I'd love to hear what you've got to say. Plus I'm looking for some good dupes of Essie's Resort Fling, Turquoise and Caicos, First Timer and Oasis.

What's on your spring and summer wishlist/shopping list?

I decided to make up my own tag because I always feel like people do tags at the beginning of a season or celebration but after that season is over we're already looking ahead for the next season. For example, The Sweater Weather Tag came out in October or early to mid November. October really isn't that bad of a month weather-wise where I live. But by January, when it really is sweater weather, we're all thinking of what coral lip colour we're all gonna buy come March. I think we need to celebrate the seasons that have just past or that we're in before we move on to the next one. (Not to say, I'm not guilty of already having started my spring shopping list in January.) To reflect on my winter, I have created The Goodbye Winter Tag that I challenge you all to do.

Favourite Warm Drink?
Coffee with vanilla creamer. I did discover Starbucks' Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate a little while ago but since I don't live anywhere close to a Starbucks I wouldn't consider it a favourite yet since I only had it once this season.

I may have lied. This might be a mocha. And I might drink them a lot.

Favourite Sweater?
I've really loved all my sweaters. But I feel that sweaters are a bit of an addiction and that now that I have a decent amount of sweaters I NEED MORE.

Favourite Candle and/or Scent?
A candle called "Christmas Treats" that I got from my local drugstore for $2. I've also been loving my little sample of Scentsy's Mandarin Moon scent.

Yes. I know it's Christmas-y but it still may be on display in my room.

Favourite Winter Activity This Year?
A local pond froze over and my family and I went skating a few Sunday afternoons in January. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

What Has Kept Your Skin and/or Hair Moisturized and Healthy During the Cold Weather?
Clean & Clear's Morning Burst Moisturizer, The Body Shop's Ginger Sparkle Hand Cream and Burt's Bee's Almond and Milk Hand Cream for the skin. For the hair, Garnier Fructis Grapefruit Tonic Conditioner and Garnier's Curls and Shine Leave-in Conditioner.

Favourite Winter Memory This Year?
Either skating on the local pond or just hanging out with friends on the weekend.

Favourite Makeup Product This Season?
Probably Revlon's Super Lustrous Very Red Lipstick. Though, there has been a few.

Favourite Book You Read While It Was Cold Outside?
I haven't really read much this winter. But when I have, I've been enjoying Appassionata by Eva Hoffman which is about a classical pianists experiences and troubles with love while she's constantly on the road performing. If you play a musical instrument and understand a bit about classical music, you'll love it. If you don't know anything about playing music, you'll hate it.

Favourite Part About Christmas This Year?
Just getting excited about Christmas and being hyper with my little brother on Christmas morning.

What Have You Listened to a lot This Winter?
The 1975 and happy, upbeat tunes to get me through the cold, dark winter.

I hope you guys liked me making my own tag. I tag all of you to do it, as well as Katie from http://katieatkinson22.blogspot.co.uk/. Cheers!

PS If you do do the tag, I'd love to read it. You can either email the link to katiefbusiness@gmail.com or post the link in the comments below where hopefully other people will read it. :)

I started watching Zoella about five months ago and discovered I really liked her videos. Then, in December I started watching missglamorazzi. This brought a slight obsession in recent weeks with beauty videos. So I decided to share with you everything I've learned about how to make my life better and self prettier from all these wonderful "beauty gurus" on YouTube.

1. Scented candles are necessary in every room, especially those from Bath and Body Works
2. Rooms should be clean, organized and nicely decorated with candles and flowers
3. Lush is an amazing place
4. So is The Body Shop
5. As well as Bath & Body Works

Besides that amazing life advice, beauty gurus have many suggestions for good face/body/hair products. Since I really only watch missglamorazzi and Zoella on a regular basis I am going to summarize the products they rave about most and products I see everywhere on blogs and Youtube in general. I have yet to try one of these products, though. I'm just hoping these beauty gurus know what they're talking about. 

Missglamorazzi's (Ingrid Nilsen's) most talked about products:

LUSH's Cupcake Face Mask

LUSH's Whipstick Lip Balm. I did see a video where Tanya Burr talked about this product, I believe. It smells like chocolate orange apparently which sounds amazing.

LUSH's Ocean Salt Scrub. Joey Graceffa has also talked about this in his What Makes Me Beautiful! video.

LUSH's Solid Shampoo.

LUSH's Soap (She talks about the Miranda soap in almost all of her LUSH Hauls.) I actually smelled this the last time I went to LUSH and I really liked it, plus it's really colourful.

Neutrogena's Clear Pore Cleanser/Mask. This is another Joey Graceffa suggestion and being honest, he has the most beautiful skin I have ever seen. Ingrid always has nice skin too so I think I'll have to try this stuff. Ingrid doesn't talk about this product a lot, but she said it's an old favourite of hers from when she had very acne prone skin and she still uses it occasionally if she happens to break out.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

Origins' Face washes

Jouer's Tinted Moisturizer and Bronzers. She talks about this brand a lot and the tinted moisturizer was her favourite foundation/face covering product of 2013. She's mentioned it in a few of her videos whilst
she was wearing it and her skin looked absolutely flawless.

NYC's Bronzer. I actually have a peachy bronzer/cheek colour from NYC and I'm always very impressed with it. Ingrid always says they're the best drugstore bronzer and they are really cheap (like $3-5).

MAC Naked Pigment Eyeshadow. This was one of her favourite products of 2013 and she raves about it constantly.

Body Shop's Honey Bronzer. Essiebutton also suggested this and I believe that is where Ingrid first heard of it.

Nars eye primer. She uses this almost everyday and has for a long time.

Maybelline Color Whispers Lipsticks/butters/lip thingy.

Nars Orgasm/Laguna Blush/Bronzer Duo.

Bobbi Brown's Apricot Blush

NYX Lipglosses

Macadamia Nut hair products (especially the deep conditioning hair mask thing)

NuMe hair stylers

Zoella's Faves:

LUSH's bath products and massage bars.

Nars blush, bronzer, concealer and lipgloss. She uses a lot of Nars products

Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation and concealer

Products that every Beauty Guru Raves About:

Covergirl's 3-in-1 foundation. I've seen so many blog posts about this stuff and also Ingrid has talked about it.

Maybelline Color Tattoos. Especially in Bad to the Bronze as both Ingrid and Essiebutton have talked about this.

Urban Decay's Naked Palettes. I haven't seen one bad thing about these eyeshadows on the internet. They are like the holy grails of eyeshadow

Revlon Lip Butters. Everyone has talked about them.

Nars Creamy Concealer. I know I mentioned it already in Zoella's list. Zoe is very particular about concealer and you will see why in the Everyday Makeup Routine video above. I put this in both lists just because Zoe talks about it a lot but other beauty gurus really love this.


These are just things I've noticed on beauty blogs and vlogs in general and products that are raved about specifically on Zoe and Ingrid's channels. These are just my observations, there are other products that they rave about a lot and I got the information of these products the best I could so some of them may be incorrect.

I hope you all enjoyed this summary of all these products that are all over beauty blogs and vlogs and ones that are raved about intensively on specific channels. I always really didn't think I would like the whole beauty guru scene but I'm so in love with all these YouTubers' and bloggers' content, so I really suggest you check them out, even if you're unsure about it.

Being honest, I am such a scrooge (see here) that despite my desire to want pretty, expensive things I will not buy them. So when we were asked to do a High End vs. High Street (Drugstore) products I panicked. I have no experience with high end products other than a few peeks into Sephora to try on products that I could never afford and what I see on beauty blogs and YouTube videos. Then I saw that doing a wishlist was allowed and I was so relieved. So none the less, here are the high end products I desire:

I consider Essie and OPI to be  high end products. Why would I pay $8-12 for a nail polish when I can buy three of four half-decent nail polishes for the same price? To humour myself I decided to look at every Essie colour ever on their website specifically for this post. And now I'm in love with their colours and want to waste a whole whack of money on pretty nail polish. Grrr. When I used to read Seventeen magazine all the time there would always be Essie ads in them and I loved those ads because they always seemed to have the exact colours I had been looking for at that particular time. Their colours always look so pure in their ads. Looking through their website I found that In the Cab-ana, Where's My Chauffeur?, Avenue Maintain and Naughty Nautical are the perfect ocean blue/teal colours, Fishnet Stockings, Shearling Darling, A-List and Forever Young are the perfect wine/deep red colours. Also Angora Cardi and Bond With Whomever are beautiful lilac and grey colours and Fondola Gondola and Eternal Optimist and Fiji are nice neutral light pink colours. Mint Candy Apple, Turquoise and Caicos and First Timer were absolutely perfect green/turquoise colours. For corals, Tart Deco and Capri were nice but Resort Fling won my heart. It is the absolute perfect peachy, light coral colour that I want for spring.

Right: Turquoise and Caicos via whatorlidid.blogspot.com Left: Resort Fling via essie.com

A few weeks ago I peeked into Sephora and noticed the all-glorious Naked Palettes. I couldn't resist trying the colours on my wrist and I saw what everyone was talking about. The Basics Palette has never interested me and it didn't in person either. I knew that the third palette was mostly pinks but I didn't realize it was all pinks which really disappointed me. Don't get me wrong, I love me some shimmering rosy eyeshadow but if I was actually going to buy a palette I would buy one that had a variety of colours like the first and second palette. The first and second palettes lived up to all my expectations. Both the palettes had a lot of variety but were also mostly neutral and shimmery which I would appreciate if I was to buy one.

Naked Palette on bottom, Naked Palette2 on top via prideandpearls.blogspot.com

I've heard a lot of good things about Nars. Especially their cheek and face makeup. Missglamorazzi has been raving about the Laguna Bronzer and Orgasm Blush for years, which are also available as a duo together. Zoella often uses their Creamy Concealer and I've also heard many good things about their Tinted Moisturizer. To be honest, their packaging has always intrigued me because it always looks so sleek.

MAC's eye products I always seem to hear such good things about. Their eyeshadows look amazing.
I just wish I could afford them and make my own palette. Also, their brushes would be a really nice asset to my little, but growing make up collection.

laceydivaspree.blogspot.com

That's what I would buy if I had lots of money. If you had a ton of money to buy beauty products with, what would you buy?

I love flowers. I could look at flowers and pictures of them all day. I'm not a big Valentine's person, but I would love a bouquet for Valentine's if I had a significant other. So I thought it would be cute for me to share my love of pretty pictures of flowers with the internet as well as my non-existent knowledge of botany.

via marvels.tk

via weheartit.com

Different colours are nice (via the-city-never-sleepsss.tumblr.com)

Hearts are a thing, right? (via weheartit.com)

Above are roses. I hope you knew that already. They are the flower of romance and come in a variety of colours. Girls really like roses and they tend to be expensive for this particular reason. Just don't give a significant other yellow roses because that's the rose of friendship and that would be like friend-zoning them without actually saying it. Embarrassing.

Below are lilies. I think lilies are the prettiest flowers ever, especially colourful ones. The only thing is, they don't have the nicest smell.  

via gallerylefey.tumblr.com

via weheartit.com

Carnations are another very popular flower. They're similar to roses but are fluffier and don't have the sleekness and simplicity that roses do. They're kind of like really bad imitations of roses and therefore much cheaper. Every year at my school the graduating class sells carnations and you're supposed to buy them to be sent to your hunny.

via heaven-through-nature.tumblr.com

via raoulpop.tumblr.com

Tulips are a beautiful flower for bouquets and they're not expensive. Depending on where in the world you live, I think tulips and spring weather might be on the verge of blooming in some places. They're simple and will liven up any space as well as any girl's heart. They let your baby know that they can make it out of these disgustingly cold winter days.

Don't have enough money for 100 red roses? Get your babe a bouquet of tulips and ask your florist to add a few pink, red or white roses to the mix. (via weheartit.com)

all-weekend.tumblr.com

I could go on and on about pretty flowers any girl would be lucky to get on Valentine's Day but I won't. Instead I will tell you this: most girls like flowers at any time of the year, but especially during Valentine's. If you wanna keep your girl, get her some flowers. They don't have to be expensive. You don't have to go all out for this overrated holiday. Just a few flowers and a nice note will suffice. And if you aren't male (which, if you're reading my blog, you're probably not) and just like looking at flowers that your invisible boyfriend will never buy you, well then cheers to you!

via miss-carriemarie.tumblr.com

1. What is your favorite Valentine's Day treat?
See next question.

2. Sweethearts or chocolate covered strawberries? 
If you don't love chocolate covered strawberries then there's something seriously wrong with you. 

3. What was your favorite Valentines day memory?
I remember when I was little my mom always made these heart shaped sugar cookies for my class every year and they were really good. 

4. What movie would you rather watch on Valentine's Day: Pretty Woman or You've Got Mail?
I haven't seen either so Blades of Glory as the Olympics are going on. Or I'll just watch the Olympics.

5. What celeb would you not mind having as your Valentine?
Any hot celebrity preferably under thirty years old. Channing Tatum, Dave Franco or Zac Efron would be pretty ideal Valentines. Especially if Channing Tatum was actually like his character in The Vow and we lived together in Chicago. I think that would be superb, minus the don't-remember-anything part. 

6. What would you do on your perfect Valentine's date? 
I've never had a Valentine and to be honest I don't think Valentine's should really be a big fuss. If you have a Valentine I think you should use the day to celebrate your love and appreciation for each other and if you don't have one, well spend it doing something you love with good friends or family. For me the perfect date would just be being with my love, even if it's just sitting on the couch watching movies together. I think ridiculously fancy plans are overrated. 

7. Red or pink lips on Valentines Day? 
Depends. Since I will be on my own this Valentine's Day, I will be wearing red lipstick but if there was the possibility of kissing someone I would definitely opt for pink lips because I don't think guys really appreciate lipstick marks on their face. 

8. What is your ideal Valentine's Day date outfit?
Sweatpants and/or Pajamas.

9. Homemade or store-bought gifts? 
A hand-written note but store-bought flowers. Really, if it's from the heart, who cares? 

10. Would you wear your hair up or hair down for a date night?
 Depends on my mood and outfit. 

via dreamin-girl-things.tumblr.com

Well, I don't know whether this was a horribly done tag or whether it was brutally honest. Probably both. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

via someecards.com

I love shopping. It has to be one of my favourite things to do. Searching for new things, finally getting things that you've been longing for, getting amazing deals, there's nothing else like it. Especially for a country bumpkin such as myself, actually getting to a large city center and wandering down a busy street filled with cute shops or going to a shopping center or mall is magical. The one thing I hate about shopping, though, is that I have to spend money. The horror.

Ever since I was little, I've always liked saving money. Looking back, I was never saving up for a new toy.
I was just saving for the sake of having money. Even now, spending over $20 on a single item is a scary idea. I don't know why I think that way, but I do.

Sure, I will blow through $100 while shopping easily. But I will get a lot of stuff for that $100. I won't just get a few items. If you check out this recent post you will see that I bought quite a few things including five tops, a wallet, a bath thing from Lush and a pair of sunglasses for about $70. I will walk away from something even if I love it because it's a few dollars more than I am willing to spend. (Sorry future kids. You might end up with a house in a ghetto because the nice house in the nice area was $5000 to much.)

Some people may see this personality trait of mine as a bad thing because I'm no fun or I'm cheap. But I think that though this is a bad trait for someone who likes to shop, it's a wonderful trait for living in the real world outside of malls. It means I won't be blowing money on unnecessary things, I will always pay my rent on time and I will make sure to get good deals on important things like wedding dresses, vacations, cars and houses (not that I'm planning to get married more than once).

So while my peers all waste their money on their first cars and trips they can't afford in the next few years I will be sitting on my very small amount of money that I have saved from working all the way through high school and college. Plus, I will not be going through the next twenty years of my life in debt.

A few weeks ago I found a recipe for Overnight Chai Oats here. When I first pinned it, I didn't realize that it was a recipe for oatmeal. I don't like oatmeal and was looking for a recipe for granola when I found this. The idea of chai sounded so alluring and exactly what I was looking for in a granola recipe- sweet with warm spices and not anything chocolate. I decided to try making this recipe, with some modifications and in granola form.

Personally, I think cooking is a very personal matter. How you want things to taste depends on what you like and the tastes of those you are serving. That's why I don't measure unless I have to scoop stuff and I try my own ideas and modifications so that I like the taste of what I cook for myself and loved ones. Therefore, I don't measure. And this recipe could be incredibly inaccurate and might not work if you try it. I have warned you. Now for the recipe:

Ingredients: *All Approximate Measurements. (See above paragraph.) 
1 1/2- 2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2-1 tsp. almond extract
1/2-1 tsp. vanilla extract
Sprinkle of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (I put a bit more cinnamon on than the other spices)
~ 2-3 tbsp. maple syrup
~ 1 tbsp. brown sugar
~ 1/4 cup shredded coconut
~ 1/4 cup pecans

How To Make It:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Prep baking sheet by placing parchment paper on it.
3. Evenly distribute oats, coconut and pecans on baking sheet.
4. Pour maple syrup over it in zig zag patterns. Evenly pour/sprinkle almond and vanilla extracts, spices and brown sugar over oat mixture. Gently swish around mixture with wooden spoon to evenly distribute flavours. Pour a bit more maple syrup over it in zig zags so that they stick together and make bunches.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Keep a careful watch on it. I baked mine for about 18 minutes.
6. Cool and keep in mason jar. Serve on top of Cornflakes or Cheerios with a sprinkle of brown sugar or with fruit.

This recipe makes for such a flavourful and healthy breakfast. I think it would be good with chopped apples and cinnamon or brown sugar.

Granola + Corn Flakes + Tiniest bit of brown sugar

 

If you didn't read my January Blist you wouldn't know that I have been obsessed with missglamorazzi and beauty videos in general. Because of this I've been craving to just wander around a shopping centre/area/mall of some sort and buy and look at pretty things. Living in the country I can't just go shopping on the weekend or one day after school making this dream impossible to become a reality. Therefore I was really glad to hear that my family and I were going into a nearby city for the weekend and that I could have the whole Saturday for myself to meet friends at the mall. Obviously I bought stuff and tried (and failed) to be a typical white girl for the day. And obviously I restrained myself from buying things but am telling you to go check out and/or buy because I regret not buying them/wish I had the money to buy them. 

Stuff I did buy:

 

 Blue wallet- Bentley

Denim clutch with stars- given to me

Sunglasses- a random kiosk in the mall

Imagine sweater + Emerald green top- Smart Set

Tank tops- Bluenotes

Green Bubbleroon- Lush

 

Adventures at Lush, Sephora, Bath & Body Works, etc:

I always love looking around Lush but the only thing I've ever bought was a tiny thing of their Sexy Peel soap which I loved but whenever I go in there I restrain myself from buying things. This time, however I went a little cray cray and bought a bubbleroon. (I know, insane.) As I was paying for it, I noticed they had samples of their lip products at the cash. I had heard such good things about them that I had to test one. I tried their Latte lip tint and I now wish so badly that I bought one. In fact, every time my lips felt a little chapped throughout the day, I found my way back to Lush just to use more of their sample. 

Also, I tried their Shine On Split End Treatment and now I want that as well. Next time, I swear I won't restrain myself (too much.)

I also went to Bath & Body Works. Once again, every time I go there I smell all their candles for like 30 minutes and then don't buy anything. Frankly, because I don't like spending $22 on most things, let alone a candle. That said, they did have a few $10 3-wick ones. Anyway, all their spring scents are out (which seems really early, does it not?) Of their travel collection I really liked Cheers to Capri. If you don't like lemon you won't like this because it smells like a delicious lemon cake, but a really strong one. As for their spring scents I loved Oceanside, Beach Cabana, Espresso, Sicilian Orange and Bellini Cafe. All of them were really fresh, tropical scents except for Espresso which is an extremely intense chocolate and coffee scent. I liked it but the friend I was with did not.

Another stop was American Eagle because they had some sales. Generally, I'm not crazy about them because once again, I'm cheap and don't like spending $50 on a hoodie. They definitely had some nice things. Unfortunately, all the things I liked were from their spring collection so they were full price. They had some beautiful tank tops and a gorgeous white lace top and headbands. If you don't mind spending a bit of money, I suggest looking in there. 

Already being such a typical white girl by wandering around the mall with a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from Starbucks and spending like a good 45 minutes overall smelling candles that day, I had to stop by Sephora. (Seeing as I don't like spending money and all.) Naturally, I was drawn to the Naked Palettes because I had only seen them virtually. Oh man, they were glorious. Of course I tested some of the colours on my wrist. Surprisingly, I wasn't drawn to any of the colours in the third palette, but I loved the ones in the first and second. Don't get me wrong, I love rosy eyeshadow, a lot, but I think because I wear a lot of pinks, I didn't want it. I wanted the browns and golds from the first two because I don't always wear those colours, but really like them. 

Overall, I had a wonderful day at the mall. The next day we drove home and I cleaned my room. Of course, I ended my sufficiently girly weekend with a bubble bath (where I tried my new Lush product which I fell in love with), a face mask and painting my nails. Now I'm breathing the lotion scent and nail polish fumes from hands as I eat chocolate and type this. A perfect end to a sufficiently girly weekend. 

I guess that will have to hold me over for a month or two until I can get another girly shopping, candle smelling day or two. I hope you all had a good weekend. Cheers!

 

Reading. Putting your mind into the mind of someone else. Books make us laugh, cry and anger us. Reading is irreplaceable. There is nothing like it. And that is why this week's #2014BloggerChallenge is about our favourite books.

I have read many good books. I like your typical teenage girl rom-coms of the book world. You know, the cheeky summer romance books where a girl has some issue and somehow through solving this issue she falls in love or the issue is falling in love. In other words, every Sarah Dessen book. But I like a little bit more substance than Sarah Dessen has to offer. I like a twist or something to keep me entertained and remind me this isn't just like every other book for teenage girls.

Despite what I just said about substance, I do really like Sarah Dessen's books. They're light and make you happy and sappy. Similar to that, one I really liked  Sixteenth Summer by Michelle Dalton. I liked it so much that I've actually read it multiple times.

via janasbooklist.blogspot.com

As for romantic reads with twists I've really liked Beautiful Creatures and the Delirium series. They were both such chilling and mesmerizing fantastical love stories. They both have senses of reality, especially Beautiful Creatures. They are both good quality, stunning works of literature.

I also like a bit of fantasy. I tend to lean towards books in the fantasy genre that have a quality of relatability and being realistic. I read a few of the Harry Potter books when I was younger but now I'm trying to get through the entire series and have been absolutely loving them. They're just so charming (isn't that punny) and witty. I also loved the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce when I was younger. They are about a girl that wants to go to an all boys knight school and has to disguise as a boy for four years. The story seems very real and historic but actually takes place in a mystical kingdom.

A few other YA books I've loved is It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, Swim the Fly by Don Calame and Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell.

via ladykazumi.blogspot.com

It's Kind of a Funny Story is an in-depth, fiction look at a teenage boy's life with depression. He ends up going to an adult psych ward and is all about how he got there and all that happens while he is there. The author actually spent time in a psych ward and I think gives a pretty authentic view of life in that sort of establishment. It's also a movie which came out in 2009 and costars Emma Roberts.

via squigglymookster.edublogs.org

Swim the Fly is a hilariously raunchy novel where 3 adolscent boys about fourteen years of age have a goal to see a real naked girl by the end of the summer. Definitely the funniest novel I have ever read. Carpe Diem is a book about an extremely smart and driven girl who ends up on a summer long adventure with her crazy, creative minded grandma in Southeast Asia. Full of crazy people, culture and a bit of romance, it's a perfect read. The main character's intelligence and surprise plot twists provide enough substance to make it more than your typical beach read. This book really makes you want to "Carpe Diem".

I hope you all now have a few more books to add to your reading list. What are some of your favourite books? I would love to hear in the comments!