I'm back!

Hello my lovelies! I'm sorry for the huge lack of posts. I've just been so busy with all the blog changes and preparing for school *squee*. I've been editing all the blog pages and I'll also have to edit the blog posts to suit the new design. Yes that's right. Every. Single. Post.

It's exhausting and takes agesss, but so worth it. Although I've managed to make my mum a little mad because I spend all my time in my room typing away like a stereotypical teenage slacker. And well, Hell hath no fury like a mother. Hehe.

Now let's focus on what's changed/changing in this little corner of the bloggersphere. Here's a breakdown:

The new blog design. Well, you'd have to be blind not to notice, but still. I NEED TO FANGIRL SOME MORE!!! I liked the old look, but it was a generic Blogger template, and I really wanted something that was unique and all Fangirling Misses. Which brings us to this new design! Before you ask, no I didn't design it myself. I'd have to be a computer genius for that.....and well, I'm not. *sigh* However the wonderful Kelly at Diva Booknerd is a genius! A very kind, amazing super genius! Thank you so much Kells for helping useless little ol' me and creating my dream blog for me. It's so gorgeous I'm in loveeee!

Our twitter acc is solely mine now and called Belle Shadowraith, but the twitter handle is still @FangirlingMisse since you can't change twitter handles. That I know of *taps chin*. You can find my twitter, as well as Cass's and Tia's, on the blog's new sparkly sidebar! *flourishes arm widely*

I'll be posting less than last year. It's a sad fact, but very true. I'm stopping homeschooling and attending grade 11 at a pre-tertiary college this year, and I need my head in the academic game. But I promise to start scheduling posts so that there's hopefully a new one twice a week. Pinkie promise! With cookies ;)

Another admission (since I'm rocking the trend here), I've hardly commented on a single blog so far this year. With school started and a slowly adjusting body clock, I've been struggling to organise myself for this new year. I feel terrible I've been neglecting my blogger buddies and their wonderful blogs! But now that the blog is (for the most part) ready to rumble again, I can't wait to get caught back up on what wonderful bookish yumminess you've all been concocting in my absence.

Since I'm trying to organise, I might as well list the 2015 challenges I'll be participating in.

Hosted by Maddie over at The Girly Geek.

Hosted by Emily over at Falling For YA. I'm going to try silver so 25 books!

Hosted by Brittany over at The Book Addicts Guide.

And I'm also participating in the 2015 Book Club Challenge run and exclusive to Australian YA Bloggers and Readers.

Lastly, you may have noticed that I'm a very social media type of person, so if you wanna chat about book and blog stuff, or hell, toffee apples (I loooveee toffee apples, just sayin'), just start tweeting or strike up a convo on Instagram or Facebook! Plus when I have something to say but it's not substantial enough to make an entire post on it, I usually post it on IG or Twitter so social media is a great way to keep up to date with all things Fangirling Misses.
Plus I just love chatting with y'all. It's the best feelings to be able to make friends with other bookworms and be worthy of conversation. Don't be shy now. I won't bite.....much.

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Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross

Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross
Published on 7th Oct 2014
320 pages
Add to Goodreads

Life loves a good curveball…
Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri (too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.
But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she should be doing is falling in love.
But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…

Eeeeekk I loved this one so much! Definitely worth those few dollars on iBooks :D
Let me just start off by fangirling over that gorgeous cover! IT'S SO CUTE I WANT TO HUG IT! *SCREAMS AND RUNS IN CIRCLES*
Okay, I'm good now.
No, waait, one more time. IT'S SO FRIGGING SWEET I'M MELTING!



Sorry, I had to do that. Now I'm good. Truly.

Whatever Life Throws at You was a cute heartfelt read that made me laugh or smile every couple of lines. In other words, it was soooo my kind of book.
There was certainly a cliché element to it with Brody and Annie falling for each other and creating a secret/taboo relationship spin to the book. Throw in the media and you have a potential whirlwind of problems that could scream cliché.
But what made the book unique was the depth of the emotional interaction of the characters. It wasn't a simple girl falls for boy and vice versa kind of story. I could feel real palpable emotion and relationships between Annie, Brody, and her dad. It wasn't solely about Annie and Brody and their romance. There was also Annie's relationship with her dad and how it was affected by her mum.
The book was longer than I thought it would be, and it dragged out somewhat, but there was also a lot more depth and feeling than I expected.

I adored Annie. She wasn't anywhere close to the stereotypical YA female who gets flustered by male attention and has a severe lack of self-confidence.
She had a good measure of maturity (I'd say resulting from having a mother like hers *cough* and looking after her family for so long), but she didn't develop a prissy stuck-up attitude. She wasn't afraid to be girly or flirtatious if she felt like it, and I liked that about her. Annie definitely still acted like a teenager and yes, she did have bouts of naivety, but that just made her human, and overall, she's the kind of girl I'd be content to be at 17.

I loved the interaction between Brody and Annie, and even in the beginning when they were constantly bickering they had a mutual sense of comradrie that connected them becuase of their shared interest in keeping Brody and Annie's dad securely in their respective jobs.

Brody wasn't the classic self-important bad-boy man-whore. Yes, he was sexy and witty, but he was also damaged and vulnerable with a serious lack of self-confidence. I loved how we slowly got to know who he truly was as the novel progressed. Brody was such an honest, sweet, gooey-centred romantic and he and Annie are just perfect for each other. And hot damn, do I love my hot foreign-speaking fictional boys!

I respected the sincerity of the story. I think the ending was well written, and also very realistic, for which I'm extremely grateful. If you know me, you'll know that while I can tolerate some unrealistic turn of events, too far is simply too far *cough*Ignite*cough*, and realistic and relatively happy endings are my favourite kind of endings.
Speaking of which, I'm glad the animosity targeted at Brody by his teammates wasn't an issue tackled in the course of the book and was left to simmer down over time. Not all issues can be miraculously settled and sometimes you can't change something overnight.

P.s. And the FB updates are da bomb! So hilarious.

5 stars

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

View this review on Goodreads

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We will, we will rock 2015! Bookish style.

Whoa. To be totally honest I kind of can't believe it's already 2015. I mean, one minute it was the beginning of 2014, and then, BOOM, I'm almost 16 and I have a blog o.O

And talking of Fangirling Misses, I feel guilty. Really guilty. I know, I've been a very bad blogger and abandoned y'all lately *sniff* I'm sorry! Forgive me? *does killer puppy dog eyes* ;)

– BOOKISH 2014 ACHIEVEMENTS –

• Started a blog with my besties!

• Kept said blog running *gaasp*

• Read 59 books

• Met some amazing people and bloggers

• Discovered the secretive Australian blogosphere. I'm Blog Agent 007, if you were wondering....

• Received my first physical ARC!

• Won my first book giveaway!

• Won my first book swag.

• A proud owner of a tiny but dignified book shelf.

• Discovered Twitter, Instagram and Netgalley!

• Became addicted to said sites. Yes, that counts as an achievement. Don't question my logic.

• Joined some street teams. Hoped they would be more hands-on, but it's still fun nonetheless.

– I'M ALSO A GENERAL ACHIEVER! –

• I started dancing again.

• I received a trophy :D *huggles trophy*

Being the brainless newbie-who's-not-really-a-newbie-anymore-and-is-really-just-using-it-as-an-excuse that I am, I found myself at a bit of a loss at what to write even though I knew I wanted to signify the New Year in some way. So I (yes, I really really did) stalked some blogs for....wait for it....inspiration. Heh heh. And everyone seems to love writing blogger goals (why didn't I think of this? *sigh*). So here goes:

– MY SUPER AMAZING (HA) GOALS FOR 2015!!! –

• Win more books. Yaasss.

• Buy more books.

• Get a job so I can buy more books.

• Write more informative reviews.

• Write more funny reviews.

• Go to bed earlier in the night *cough*it's always past 12 so morning*cough*

• Get a new blog theme. Kelly, I love you (so keep slaving away! jk, jk *grins*)

• Do something cool on my 16th birthday....except it's in less than 10 days, so I probably won't succeed in doing anything except sleep half the day and read books *scratches head*

• Schedule posts and organise blogging better.

• In fact, schedule my whole days (because I've been extremely unorganised lately *scowls*)

• Hit 200 blog followers!

• Find a healthy reading pace.

• Be more careful when requesting ARCs on Netgalley. A very big issue for bloggers I imagine ^^

• Celebrate FM's first blogoversary!!!!!

• Now that I have a small load of books, start practicing the art of book photography.

• Learn some CSS/HTML.

• Write more thoughtful/discussion posts.

• Join a 2015 book challenge or two, but don't overload. So far I'm leaning toward the 365 Days of YA Reading Challenge, the 2015 Debut Author Challenge, and the Fairytale Retelling Reading Challenge 2015. Thoughts people?

• Hopefully read 50 books (I read 59 last year, but I might not have as much time this year *sniff*)

• Catch up in TVD and The 100.

• Meet some bloggers in real life......is this too much to ask?! *kneels before the book deities*

• Ace my school studies.....*wink*

• Study for my drivers licence!

• Pet my cats more. I've been a bad mummy *cries*

That's it for me! What are YOUR goals for 2015?

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The Silence of Six by E. C. Myers

“What is the silence of six, and what are you going to do about it?”

These are the last words uttered by 17-year-old Max Stein’s best friend, Evan: Just moments after hacking into the live-streaming Presidential debate at their high school, he kills himself.

Haunted by the image of Evan’s death, Max’s entire world turns upside down as he suddenly finds himself the target of a corporate-government witch-hunt. Fearing for his life and fighting to prove his own innocence, Max goes on the run with no one to trust and too many unanswered questions.

Max must dust off his own hacking skills and maneuver the dangerous labyrinth of underground hacktivist networks, ever-shifting alliances, and virtual identities — all while hoping to find the truth behind the “Silence of Six” before it’s too late.




The Silence of Six by E. C. Myers
Standalone.
Page Count: 368
Genres: YA, Mystery, Thriller, Science Fiction
Cover Rating: 9/10

———————————

The unknown is scarier than the truth.

- Silence of Six, E. C. Myers

———————————

Okay, when I first started this, I had absolutely NO idea what this was about. Which makes it more exciting for me, no? But I’m glad I went into it blind because all the events were more shocking and unexpected. This was really a high adrenaline suspense novel!

Introduction dun dun duun: 
You and your best friend loved hacking for fun.
It was how you bonded, and all your childhood memories lies in it.
You, however, saw the dangers it was going to bring you.
So you quit your hacking hobby successfully.
But you also stopped talking with your friend as much as you did before.
One day, there is an important school rally that involves the presence of USA’s potential President.
They’re filming on TV! Your school is live to the country!
But - suddenly your best friend comes on screen.
You of course instantly recognise him. Others don’t.
What is he doing there?
This is not part of the rally.
He starts speaking.
What is he saying? What does that mean?
Then, He puts a gun into his mouth.
WHAT IS HE DOING?!

Bang.

Chaos.

Plot:
First let me say the pacing was GREAT. It kept me guessing till the end!!  I was never really confused either of what was happening. The only bits that left me a bit clueless was the computer terminology, since I have NO idea about any of that. If I could understand the story though, I think pretty much everyone else in the world can too... xD Techie impaired person over here *waves*

Characters:
I liked all the characters a lot actually! I loved Penny and her sister Risse’s relationship the most :D
It was so nice to see siblings working together with something they love and are so good at!! Makes me really really want an older sister. EVERYONE I know with older siblings adore their siblings… aw :(

I also liked Max/Penny’s relationship since it was a little complicated and technically wasn’t romance. So sweet. I don’t get the point of Courtney (Max’s gf).. I dun like her and she doesn’t deserve Max.

 Ending:
Aww the ending made me tear up ;( So sad. Anyways, it was funny how even though the whole book was so suspenseful and action filled, the world didn’t care. You know those movie scenes where for example there's a house, and inside the house there's something REALLY CHAOTIC going on, but then the camera suddenly zoomes out and there's this oblivious old lady walking by all peacefully, and the town is all quiet? The trouble is only in the house. No one really knows or cares except the people involved. It gave off that feeling! Like wow, our problems are really small to the world. Nothing really changed apart from you. Ahahaa I'm getting all deep and confusing but you get the point.

 Ahem, anyways, what i’m saying is it's a really gripping read about computer hacking that you should definitely check out! :D

★★★★ 

—MissOddball™ Over and Out.

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