Hello and welcome to the March Mid-Month Reading Update! I am back and alive after that hiatus and reading to be back blogging. Talked about a lot of things going on in my life in the "Happening Now" section of this post and also looked forward to the rest of March! I hope you enjoy this update post and look forward to more posts. :D

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Ruby Red

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What Have I Read...

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Now that it is March, choir competition season has begun! I had a performance last week, another one yesterday, and one in April and two in May, which is a good amount of performances considering my choir never really did performances except for the occasional concert. I really do love performing though and I will always love the sensation of singing in a room with great acoustics and the sound of the whole choir filling the room.

I found a new thing new on Sunday. So, as someone who likes to occasionally scroll through the "studyblr" tag on Tumblr, Momentum is a hugely common Chrome desktop extension. I actually used it for awhile but for awhile, I had seen a different extension around the community and it wasn't until Sunday where I found the extension I was looking for, Lanes. I installed it and immediately fell in love with it. Honestly, I prefer it over Momentum. It doesn't have the beautiful pictures that change everyday like Momentum but I honestly don't care about that because the Pomodoro timer (which is currently ticking away as I write this post), the to do lists, and set-up in general is amazing. I recommend it for anyone for does to-do lists a lot and if you're really worried about the background picture, they always give you the option of changing it so you can customize the background to whatever you want.

I am really getting into redecorating my desk, which is very much needed. I spend so much time at my desk and I have honestly been feeling so messy in it so I decided, it was time for a desk change. So, I am currently in the midst of redecorating and reorganizing things. I got some things from IKEA and also will be going to the Container Store soon to get more things to help me organize more. Clean and organized desk shall hopefully be achieved by the end of Spring break!

Speaking of Spring break, it is almost here! Yep, I just gotta survive until Friday and then I'm home free for the week. I am really hoping to get some reading done and drafting more posts throughout that week because if you don't know, I had to take a hiatus recently and the main reason of that was just because I couldn't keep up with posts and I just needed time to collect myself and get some things drafted. Here is fingers crossed for more reading and blogging and sleep!

Okay, one final thing. (Phew! This is getting long!). What is ahead in the next couple weeks for the blog? Well, I have some reviews coming out, blog tours, a post about blog designs (?!?!?!?), and a discussion post, which will be interesting because it touches on a very....depending thing. Look forward to it!

So tell me: How is your month going so far, when is your spring break, and what do you plan on doing within that break?

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme created by Breaking The Spine where we share upcoming releases that we are excited about!

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Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here

Author: Anna Breslaw
Pages: 288
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: April 19th 2016

Meet Scarlett Epstein, BNF (Big Name Fan) in her online community of fanfiction writers, world-class nobody at Melville High. Her best (read: only) IRL friends are Avery, a painfully shy and annoyingly attractive bookworm, and Ruth, her pot-smoking, possibly insane seventy-three-year-old neighbor. When Scarlett’s beloved TV show is canceled and her longtime crush, Gideon, is sucked out of her orbit and into the dark and distant world of Populars, Scarlett turns to the fanfic message boards for comfort. This time, though, her subjects aren’t the swoon-worthy stars of her fave series—they’re the real-life kids from her high school. Scarlett never considers what might happen if they were to find out what she truly thinks about them...until a dramatic series of events exposes a very different reality than Scarlett's stories, forever transforming her approach to relationships—both online and off.

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Why I'm Waiting...

You know what this book really reminds me of? Read it and Weep, which was a movie I didn't full watch, but I caught the gist of it. There are many aspects of this book that I am looking forward to. The fact that Scarlett writes stories about people at her school, which I am pretty excited for seeing as though I am someone who is a big person of stories (duh!) and fanfiction, which is a huge guilty pleasure for me. I will admit, I have always wanted to read more of books where it had more fangirl aspects. The only other books I have heard of where the main character does fandom like stuff is Fangirl and guess what? Yeah, I have yet to read that book...

Anyway, I am also really looking forward to Scarlett going through the events that are mentioned in the synopsis. Her TV show being canceled (that would be a nightmare for me), her crush no longer being in her reach, and the events that come out of writing fanfiction about people in her school. Also hoping I can somewhat relate to her in some ways because I do love books with fangirl aspects in them.

So tell me: What are your thoughts on this book and have you heard about it before?

Okay, so you have noticed the lack of consistancy when it comes to posts within the last few months. Yeah, here is the problem. I am honestly just struggling to find time to do anything at this point, which is why I have decided to take a short haitus, it won't be that long, maybe until next Monday or Wednesday.

I haven't been reading much lately and that is also because I can't find time for it. With so little time and so many things to do, I have been so bad at reading these days.

I was doing some stretches and thinking about this, what is more important to me these days. If you look at my to-do list, a majority of the things are posts and just a few other items, along with school work. School work comes first, I have that established but blogging has taken over my life and the one thing that comes hand-in-hand with book blogging is reading itself. I need sometime to get somewhat ahead with posts and also time to read. I plan to write a post about this in the future, of knowing when to take a break.

Also, I want to post better content and I cannot do that when I draft the post the 3 hours before it is supposed to go up.

I shall be back, soon hopefully. This time I will be back ahead on posts (hopefully) and better with where I am on my reading.

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1. Hey Kathy and welcome to Next Page Please! Thank you so much for being here today to answer some of my questions. For my first question, I would love to know what gave you the idea of The Lifeboat Clique and how did it change as you were writing the book?
Thanks! Glad to be here! Great question! Actually it started with a true story I’d read about the aftermath of a tsunami — that a house had been swept away by it and I imagined this house, floating on the ocean all alone. Kind of like the movie Up!, but Down! And I pictured this place would be a party house. Later my husband said this wouldn’t actually work, that the house would sink. I took his word for it and made it into a lifeboat.

2. Who are three authors and three fictional characters you would love to be a stuck on a boat with?
Writers: Jesse Andrews, Pat Conroy and Toni Morrison. Fictional characters: Katniss from The Hunger Games, The Warden from Holes and Amy Dunne from Gone Girl (these two could fight to the death and that would kill some time while we wait for rescue)

3. If you knew that tomorrow there would be a tsunami wiping out America, what is one thing would do before life changes forever?
I would be kinder. And see my mother. And have some cupcakes.

4. Do you share any qualities with the characters in The Lifeboat Clique? If so, who and how?
I really feel for Denver. I didn’t have many friends in high school. I wasn’t exactly an outcast, but I don’t think I had very many social skills. I wasn’t one of the popular kids and remember being jealous when I heard them planning parties. I had a great sense of restlessness and a desire to get out of the house. I had a few friends, but don’t remember high school being all that wonderful. College was better! Also, I would like to think I’d try to be resourceful like Denver, and try my best to survive. I don’t watch the Discovery Channel as much as she does. But I did once have a sleek, indifferent cat upon which Sonny Boy is based. Chasing the real Sonny Boy’s love was often an elusive task in his last, somewhat contemptuous years.

5. Shows you are currently obsessed with? TV shows you will forever love?
Let’s see…not obsessed but do like Better Call Saul. Also love House of Cards. Breaking Bad is forever Good.

6. What is one thing that would cause you to sneak into a party where you would be surrounded by your enemies?
The aforementioned cupcakes. Oh, hell, any carbs at all.

7. Was The Lifeboat Clique the original title for this book? How did you come up with it?
I think it was. It just sort of happened, although my agent did encourage me to come up with some alternates (I remember one of them was We Were All Invisible). But somehow Lifeboat Clique won the shootout.

8. A piece of advice you would give Denver if you were in her position? (On the lifeboat or with Abigail)
Wow that is a really really great question. I had a best friend who suddenly turned on me in middle school and I remember it being quite traumatic. That sense of loss and betrayal and loneliness. I guess I’d tell her to be careful casting the story with herself in the role of the victim. To see it in a more open-minded way, less black and white. And to say sorry to Abigail for her part in things, even if she thought she might never get an apology in return. Also not to make fun of Abigail’s freckles. I think she’s sensitive about them.

9. Thanks so much for answering my questions Kathy! For my final question, I would love to know what you did in celebration of your publication of The Lifeboat Clique.
You ask such great questions! I believe when I first got the offer I actually jumped up and down. On publication day I had a tequila shot and let two friends take me to dinner. I hope that you and your readers all have great things to celebrate this year, and I thank you for your support.

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