A Book Review of Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morrill

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Getting a fresh start is harder than it looks.

Skylar Hoyt is a girl who seems to have it all--she's pretty, popular, and has a great-looking boyfriend. Her senior year should be the best one yet. But a horrible experience at a summer party has changed everything. Now she's vowing to make better choices, including going back to church. But as Skylar tries to gain new perspective on life, the world as she knows it begins to fall apart.

Her parents are constantly fighting. Her younger sister has a big secret that Skylar is forced to keep. The guy she's dating is annoyingly jealous. And the new guy down the street is just plain annoying. In the midst of the chaos, Skylar starts to wonder who her real friends are and, even more importantly, who she is.

Series: The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt (Book 1)
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Revell; 1 edition (July 1, 2009)
Page Count: 257 pages

I'm not a big contemporary fan, but after reading Stephanie Morrill's The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet and plus having won this book a while back, I thought I might as well give it a read. Though I'm still not sold on contemporary, I found this book enjoyable. 

The Plot: One thing I've noticed about contemporaries is that it's more about characters than plot. The plot doesn't actually heat up significantly until later in the book. It was mostly a lot of relationship drama whether it be boyfriend girlfriend or with family or friends it seemed. I liked the book later on, more than I did at first. 

The Characters: I had a lot of trouble relating to Skylar at first. I've never been popular. I've never smoked. I'm not that materialistic. I've always been the goody two-shoes like Ellie, so I had trouble finding something to latch onto her until later on during the parents fighting sequences. That I have experience with. I liked her unusual ethnicity. I hadn't read a book with a Hawaiian character before let alone main character.

Skylar's friends are all shallow jerks. I personally would have ditched them way earlier. I like Skylar's parents. Though I don't think her mom is a favorable person because she's a coward, I thought she was realistic. Skylar's dad grew on me as the book progressed. Abbie was an all right character. I felt bad for her, knowing some pregnant teens myself and actually being the result of a pregnant teen, I know she was going through a tough experience. I'm glad she showed some bravery instead of taking the easy way out. 

Eli and Connor the two love interests were interesting characters. Though almost immediately I was with Connor, since Eli also turned out to be a shallow jerk--a weak shallow jerk. 

The Setting: The setting didn't play a huge role, so nothing of note here. 

The Writing: The writing was pretty smooth, but some of the time jumps were confusing to me. It may have been the format of the ebook, but it seemed abruptly it would speed weeks and month later or go to another scene and it would disorient me. 

Epic Things: Nothing especially epic was in this book, but the custard place for a hangout central made me think of my Yogli Mogli days. 

The Theme: The theme was a different one and good one. Skylar has trouble being real with people. She puts on a guise, so no one knows about here problems. This quote basically sums it up:

How would it feel to be authentic? To be the same in the dark and the light, the same whether I was with my pastor or with Jodi. To be like Connor and the rest of his family, who weren’t afraid of people coming close to them, because they hadn’t built up an image to hide scared behind. 

~ Skylar from Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morrill

Some other good themes were that the only one you can trust fully is God. 

“A sad reality, isn’t it? People will always disappoint, whether they intend to or not.”   

~Heather from Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morrill

And how to deal with tough times.

“You know, maybe that’s why we’re not allowed doovers,” I said. “The events we’d erase, God uses to shape our lives.” 

~ Skylar from Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morrill

All of these were probably some of the highlights of the book since those hit home with me. 

Content Cautions: 
A lot of different things are brushed upon such as sex, alcohol, smoking, and pregnancy out of wedlock. Nothing is gone into in great detail though. The boys describing a dead bird was a bit gross and could be disturbing to some. 

Conclusion: Me, Just Different isn't one of the best books I've read, but it had its highlights. My favorite parts were probably Skylar, Connor, and the good themes. Three stars!

About the Author:

Stephanie Morrill is a twenty-something living in Kansas with her husband and two kids. Her only talents are reading, writing, and drinking coffee, so career options were somewhat limited. Fortunately, she discovered a passion for young adult novels and has been writing them ever since. Stephanie is the author of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series and is currently working on other young adult projects. She enjoys encouraging and teaching teen writers on her blog.
You can find her on her website, Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest and Goodreads. 

Other Reviews of I've done of Stephanie Morrill's Books:
A Book Review of Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into A Published Novel
The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet 

Writerly Bundle #3: Ludic, Tears - River's Eyes, and Seven Blossoms Tea

Welcome to this week's Writerly Bundle! A post where I hope to inspire you with three of the world's greatest things: music, words, and tea.

I hope you'll stay flamin' and stay shiny with today's set!

The Word:

ludic

adjective

1. playful in an aimless way: the ludic behavior of kittens.

Example Sentence: Ashlyn acted out a story with her dolls in a ludic fashion.

I love my little Ashlyn.

The Song:

Tears - River's Eyes

From the Firefly Soundtrack

by Greg Edmonson

A few weeks back I did a post on what Firefly can teach us about writing and this inspired me to look into the soundtrack. I'm going to have to post more than one song from this one, because it's a really neat mix of Western and Asian and Sci-Fi. It's just awesome!

This is a melancholy piece that's mostly solo guitar. It's soft, longing, lonely, and a bit tranquil. It ends with a final orchestral stretch. It's a good piece for historicals, fantasy, or even contemporary.

The Tea:

 Seven Blossoms

Pic by moi

How I found it: I was grocery shopping in Walmart and I decided to check out the tea section and discovered this. It looked interesting.

The Tea: What attracted me to this tea is seven blossoms. Seven different types of flowers are in this tea! It has Linden flowers, Valerian root, Passion flower, Manita flower, Tilia flower, Spearmint Leaf, Peppermint leaf, Lemon balm leaf, and orange oil. Having had Linden tea before, I recognized the strong linden flavor, but I couldn't detect any orange flavor. The tea definitely has a very unusual sweet herb flavor with the freshness of mint, but instead of appetizing it tastes more like a strange grandmother remedy. I ended up not finishing the cup. It's definitely a very strange tea.

It tastes like it was made by this lady from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Serving Recommendations: I steeped this at 212 for three minutes and added honey then sugar when I didn't like the honey taste.

How much is it and where can you get it? I found this tea at Walmart for about $3, but you can also get it at the Tadin website.

So how good is it? The tea had potential, but didn't have the flavor I was hoping for. Only two stars for this one.

Have you seen or used this word before? Have you heard this piece before? Have you seen Firefly? Have you tried this tea?

Click here for last week's Writerly Bundle!

If you liked this post, come back every other Tuesday for book reviews; Friday for tags, character interviews, and link-ups; Saturdays for writing advice and life updates; and Sundays for the Writerly Bundle which includes a new soundtrack piece, vocabulary word, and tea review! To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Writing Lessons from Movies: Ever After

While everyone raved about Cinderella last year, my heart still remained with this classic. I'm not a fan of chick flicks, but this is in my tiny exceptions list. I never cared for the original fairy tale much. I always gravitated to Beauty and the Beast or Sleeping Beauty or other Grimm's fairy tales no one has ever heard of, but Ever After changed my mind about this story.

Danielle is one of my favorite female protagonists and plus the movie has Leonardo DaVinci one of my favorite historical figures. Anything with DaVinci in it, there's a high chance I'll love. It's one reason I like the Ezio trilogy in Assassin's Creed. Seeing as this month is Valentine's I thought it a good idea to whip out that girly side I have buried in me somewhere.

Warning: Some spoilers.

Take a breath and let's get started.

1.) A Fairytale That Is Given a Historical Twist - Instead of including magic, this fairytale has been set in Renaissance period France. They altered the story accordingly to suit this chance such as having the fairy godmother be Leonardo DaVinci, included historical politics and even gypsies. To give it a more realistic touch, the movie started with a distant relative of Danielle's/Cinderella's talking to the brothers Grimm about the story. This gave a new twist to the story and made it feel like it could have actually happened.

I like this line a lot.

How this can be applied to writing: If you're thinking of a fairy retelling, could you try to make it sound like it actually happened? This could be a neat twist to a story. The cool thing about Grimm's fairy tales is we don't know what the original source of the stories are. The brothers Grimm only compiled them, but there are so many versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin, and more obscure ones such as The Six Swans and The White Cat. The possibilities are endless.

I love Leonardo.

2.) A Heroine Who is Both Strong and Feminine - Nowadays it feels like in effort to make female protagonists look strong that means they have to desert what makes them a woman such as wanting to be pretty or wanting to have children or be a wife. Danielle is a strong woman. She is intelligent, brave, kind, and all around a great role model for girls. She is a total tomboy, yet she loves pretty dresses as well. She is as strong as ever, but she isn't neglecting her identity and the natural traits of a woman.

I love her intellect here.

How this can be applied to writing: Think about your female characters. Are they both ladylike and strong? What suits their personalities? It's okay for a female character not to be able to kick-butt. It's okay to rely on a man for things. Strength comes in many ways and not just with a sword. Telling a hard truth or to forgiving another or enduring a hardship are all displays of great strength. Women are versatile creatures. We should be proud of how God made us.

That look of intensity.

3.) You Understand the Villain, But You Still Don't Like Her - No one likes the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent. She's conniving, unkind, cruel, selfish, and careless. But you can understand where she's coming from. Back then who you married would often determine your fate for the rest of your life and even your children's lives. She married well with Danielle's father. They hadn't been married for very long before he died suddenly and tragically after losing her former husband. This was obviously really hard on her. 

Years later now she's trying to secure the future of her own daughters by having Marguerite marry the prince--and poor Danielle is in the way of that plan. Yes, it's not fair to Danielle. Yes, she's critical toward Jacqueline. Yes, she's mean to the servants. But she's doing this to secure her future even though she's going about it in a totally wrong way. She's desperate. It's wrong, but her meanness has a reason and a good one at that. In other versions, it's felt like the evil step mother really didn't have that good of a reason to dislike Cinderella.

Her costumes are pretty cool.

How this can be applied to writing: Does your antagonist's motivation make sense? Can we understand why your villain is evil? Evil for the sake of evil isn't going to cut it. There needs to be a real reason why this person is the way they are. More on this in How to Write a 3D Villain Part 1: How Did a Factor Cause Your Villain to Become a Villain?, How to Write a 3D Villain Part 2: What Event(s) Made Your Character Evil?, and The Psychology of Writing: Villain Motivation and the CANE Model: A Guest Post by Casey Lynn Covel.

Well then.

4.) Holes in the Original Story Were Filled - Though the original Cinderella story is cute to be sure. It did have its flaws. Cinderella happened to have a fairy god mother? The Prince happened to fall in love with her when he had so many other girls to choose from and he only danced with her to see that he loved her? No one else in the entire kingdom could fit into that shoe? Ever After filled in a lot of these holes. Danielle met DaVinci days earlier. Henry and Danielle spent a lot of time getting to know each other. The Prince put the shoe on her as a gesture of acceptance instead of a way of finding her.

He sought to get to know her.

How this can be applied to writing: Plot holes are sticky things. Look out for them in your own story and if you're retelling a story try filling in any existent ones. A plot hole is a flaw that could have had a different outcome and even collapsed the happenings of the tale. Keep a sharp eye out for them!

We were all waiting for this to happen at this point.

5.) The Romance Made Sense - Like I mentioned about, in the original story the Prince only got to know Cinderella by dancing with her for one night. Some versions may say three nights, but still that's not much time and that activity wouldn't allow much of a way to get to know this person. Henry and Danielle are not just attracted by each other's looks, but they have things in common and admire things about one another. They both like to read. Henry admires Danielle's wit and independence. Their romance is realistic as opposed to one night fling.

This is cute.

How this can be applied to writing: Do the romances in your story make sense? Would these two characters you're shipping logically in real life fall in love with each other? Do they have interests in common? Are their personalities compatible? Do they have similar belief systems? Do they admire things about each other? These are all things that help support a romance.

*kissy noises*

Conclusion - Ever After is a great Cinderella retelling for many reasons. There are probably even more than I've listed, but I hope these few can help you in your writing. Happy Late Valentine's Day!

Have you seen Ever After? Have you noticed these writing aspects? What movies have you noticed have good writing? Let's geek out together!

You may also like:

Writing Lessons from TV Shows: Firefly

Writing Lessons from TV Shows: Sherlock

Writing Lessons from Movies: The Hunger Games

Writing Lessons from Movies: Mulan

Writing Lessons from Movies: the Lord of the Rings

The Tag of Happiness & The Dragon's Loyalty Award

I'm finally getting to these two tags! Yaaaaay! Thank you Adriana Gabrielle @ The Librarian Files and Liz Brooks @ Out of Coffee Out of Mind for tagging me in the Tag of Happiness. Liz also tagged me in the One Lovely Blog Award, but seeing as I already did that one a while back I'm going to skip it since it's kind of similar to the Dragon's Loyalty Award. Thank you Sara Letourneau for tagging me in that one. ^ ^ As promised I'm going to tell you guys about my trip in Canada in this tag! Whoop whoop! I'm going to be discussing my experiences in Canada and some big differences with the USA and Canada.

Let's get to it!

Rules:

Take the banner and put it in your post (Check!)

List as many things as you want in each category (I did two)

Come up with more categories if you wish (I'm lazy)

Tag as many people as you want (I would've done this anyway, because I'm a rebel like that.)

Some songs that make you happy -

1.) Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men - This is my favorite song on the planet. I've learned it on the piano and every time I hear it I feel inspired to be brave and elated by the fantasy world portrayed in the song.

2.) Fireflies by Owl City - This song got me into technopop. It still makes me happy and want to dance every time I hear it. I'm a total night owl, so this song fits me so well.

3.) Krone from the Guilty Crown Soundtrack - This song comes from my favorite anime ever. I have broken down in sobs listening to the beauty of this song. It's just so supremely epic and emotional.

4.) Crystals by Of Monsters and Men - I cried at the first listen of this song. Literal tears. It's such a neat song of reflection and forgiveness. I love it so much!

5.) Peace from the Avatar: The Last Airbender Soundtrack - It's just ... so ... gorgeous.

Some books that make you happy -

1.) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - I grew up on these books. They're such a huge part of my life. I love these books and movies so much I made a whole post about them. 

2.) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - Another series I grew up on. It's one of the books that inspired me to write.

3.) The Jevin Banks series by Steven James - These books tackle so much cool theology. I adore them.

4.) Curio by Evangeline Denmark - STEAMPUNK!

5.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - These books have such a mix of happy and sad, but I love them.

What I have to tell myself when I'm fangirling over these.

Some movies that make you happy -

1.) Howl's Moving Castle - I didn't realize just how much I loved this movie until I just recently watched it with my best friend. It's such a cute movie.

2.) Ever After - I love this retelling of Cinderella. ^ ^ It's my favorite, so much so I wrote a post about it.

3.) Thor - He's my favorite Avenger. 'Nuff said.

4.)  The Avengers: Age of Ultron - I love the depth this movie went into with the characters and Ultron was such a wicked bad guy.

5.) How to Train Your Dragon - Toothless just toothless.

Super Cleaner!

 
Some shows that make you happy -

1.) Castle - He's my writer spirit animal.

2.) RWBY - It's also a gun. ;)

3.) Avatar: The Last Airbender - Kung Fu bending. Yasssss!

4.) Fruits Basket - This show makes me cry and laugh at the same time.

5.) Arrow - I love Felicity so much.

Gosh I love him so much. XD

Some foods that make you happy -

1.) Steak - Ribeye juicy steak makes me one of the happiest people in the world. I will stop talking to the person across from me just so I can enjoy the beautiful meat that is steak.

2.) Ham - My second favorite meat on the planet is ham, especially roast ham. I will devour it in ecstasy.

3.) Tea - I drink tea when I'm happy, sad, writing, sick ... Tea solves all problems. Okay? OKAY?!

4.) Longans - This is a special kind of fruit I used to get from my uncle in Miami. I thought I'd never eat it again since it's not a commonly sold fruit then I found it one day in Buford Market (it sells foods from around the world) and I was so overjoyed. I've also found them at Hmart and they make me so happy.

5.) Pumpkin Seeds - Every fall I carve pumpkins and toast the seeds and they taste amaaaaaziiiiing.

Longans are little balls of joy and happiness.

Some words that make you happy -

1.) Empyreal - I just recently had this word for Wonderful Word Wednesdays and it's such a cool looking word!
adjective
1. pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.
2. pertaining to the sky; celestial:
empyreal blue.
3. formed of pure fire or light: empyreal radiance.

2.) Cacophonous - This word has been a favorite for years. I love saying it out loud and you'll find it in my writing occasionally. ;)

adjective
1. having a harsh or discordant sound.

3.) Tintinnabulation - I heard this word first in "The Raven." I've rarely been able to use it, but it's so fun to say.
noun
1. the ringing or sound of bells.

4.) Rime - I've always loved this word since the first time I've heard it. It's such a cool word!

noun
1. Also called rime ice. an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of supercooled water droplets on impact with an object.
Compare frost (def 3), glaze (def 17).
verb (used with object), rimed, riming.
2. to cover with rime or hoarfrost.

5.) Gossamer - This word has so many uses!

noun
1. a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn.
2. a thread or a web of this substance.
3. an extremely delicate variety of gauze, used especially for veils.
4. any thin, light fabric.
5. something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate.
6. a thin, waterproof outer garment, especially for women.

adjective
7. Also, gossamery  [gos-uh-muh-ree] (Show IPA), gossamered. of or like gossamer; thin and light.

You thought an Elsa gif would be here didn't you?

Some scents that make you happy -

1.) Leather - I loooooooooooove the scents of leather. When I got leather bag for Christmas I couldn't stop smelling it. I still just inhale the glorious scents of leather on occasion. Did I say that out loud?

2.) Baking Earl Grey Cookies - I have this fantastic recipe for chocolate earl grey cookies. They are some of the best cookies that have ever graced my taste buds and they smell like heaven while baking.

3.) Garlic and Onions Cooking in Olive Oil - Can you tell I like to cook yet? The smell of these three substances is such a fantastic combination and it's a base for many of the dishes I make.

4.) Spring Flowers - I love the sweet smell of cherry blossoms, Bradford pears, roses, and other flowers during the cool months of the early spring.

5.) Old Books - I will often just open an old book just to smell the inside.

I especially love sakura blossoms.

Some random things that make you happy -

1.) Seeing Movies at Early Showings - I absolutely love going to movies at this time. This is when the movie goers are pumped to see this film. You are surrounded by fans! It's so coooool! You get a convention feel going on.

2.) Griffins - These are some of my favorite mythical beasts and I don't see them too much in books. I love them. *hugs griffin*

3.) Snow - I live in Georgia and only once in a blue moon do we get snow (more often the past few years but still ...) so any time we actually get some and the world is covered in pristine white I'm like a kid in a candy shop.

4.) Anime - I. Love. Anime. Anime is amazing and deep and funny  and beautifully animated (2D animation for the win!) and it's just awesome. I've written a bunch of posts about it because I love it so much.

5.) King's Quest PC Game Series - This is an old series of games I grew up with that I absolutely love. Nostalgia blast any time I think of them. They helped inspire me to write. ^ ^

Isn't he epic?!

Canada Edition:

Rules:

Announce your win with a post, and link to whomever presented your award. (Done!)

Post 7 interesting things about yourself. (Except we're going to shake things up and I'm going to post seven things I've learned and done in Canada.)

Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.  (Not doing this. I'll do five. I know this tag has gone around a lot.)

Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post. (I'll try, but seeing as I'm out of town this will be a little difficult.)

Display the award certificate on your website. (TA DA! *motions up to award*)

Fact 1.) Language - Canadians definitely have an accent, but it varies per person. Cassia for example has a light accent and only certain words are pronounced differently. On the other hand her parents' accents are pretty strong. Canadians tend to pronounce their vowels longer for example "pasta" is typically pronounced by an American as "pah-stah" while Canadians pronounce it "paa-staa." Italian is pronounced "Eye-Talian" as opposed to "Ih-talian." Semi Truck is pronounced "sem-ee" as opposed to "sem-eye." The about/out thing is definitely true, but if varies on how strongly it's said. 

Washrooms

A lot of people know that Canadians "eh" or "hey." They use it like an American says "Right?" or "Okay?" For example: "You're thinking of going to the waterpark, eh?" or "That's pretty cool, hey?"

Also, Canadians call objects different things than Americans. They call soda "pop," beanies and "toques" (pronounced Took like Peregrine Took), tennis shoes or cleats "runners," and bathrooms are "washrooms." They measure their roads in kilometers instead of miles and use Celsius and they said "Maximum" instead of Speed Limit on their road signs.

Canada Dry with French on it!

Also while at least in my area of the USA (Georgia), the alternative language is Spanish. In Alberta, Canada, it's French. You'll over see French on the flipside of food packages or next to the English on signs. I overheard a lot of Russian, French, and Scandinavian languages while doing many touristy attractions such as the Tellus Museum.

A giant Rubik's Cube at Tellus Museum!

Fact 2.) Currency - Though Canadian moneys are called dollars like the States, the money looks and works differently. Canadian money is actually now made of plastic. There are few cloth/paper bills floating around, but they're less common. Their money sports the Queen or prime minister as opposed to our presidents. Their $100 bills are gold, $50 bills are red, $20 bills are green, $10 bills are purple, and $5 are blue. Toonies or two dollars and loonies or one dollars are coins. Then they have 25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents coins. They don't have pennies anymore and they always round the totals to the nearest five.

Canadian monies!

Fact 3.) Food - The food here is pretty similar to the States. They have some different things than us like Cassia's family uses Beccel (pronounced "Bay-sehl") aka margarine instead of butter usually and this really tasty tea made with a powder like lemonade. 

Jugo Juice!

They have many of our chain restaurants like KFC, Taco Bell, Starbucks, and DQ, then they have their own ones like Panago (a really good pizza place), Jugo Juice (smoothie/wrap place) and the all famous Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons is a cafe/eatery that is Canadian-based. They're everywhere, even more than McDonald's in the states. There will be three within a mile and they're all packed. It's crazy. 

Tim Horton's next to a Wendy's

My first Tim Horton's!

They also make some of their foods differently than us within in the restaurant like their DQ Blizzards are super thick ice cream instead of thick milkshakes. Everything is generally less greasy which is a relief for me since that's my biggest chip about American cuisine. XD

Dairy Queen!

Fact 4.) Environment - I came during an abnormally hot winter, but still it's normally much colder here than most parts of the States. The temperatures in Alberta can reach -4o. The coldest I've experienced is 19, which I've experienced before in Georgia. Because of the cold weather there are a lot more coniferous trees here such as furs and spruces as well as different deciduous trees such as Mountain Ash. There are also a lot of mountains and prairies here.

Cassia took these fantastic pics of me at Elk Island Provincial Reserve

The birch forest is so gorgeous.

I'm standing in a frozen marsh here.

The wildlife is different here. They have moose. I haven't seen one, but I have seen the tracks and they're HUGE! They're as big as my face! Elk, magpies, prairie dogs, and muskrats.

This is a pic of a gigantic moosetrack!

Mountain Ash

 Fact 5.) Laws - Several of the laws here are different like you have to slow down if a policeman has pulled someone over on the road, you'll be fined if you don't recycle, citizens can't carry guns (which I don't agree with, but that's a can of worms I won't open. *puts can opener behind my back), and also pepper spray is considered a dangerous weapon. I sorta almost got in biiiiiig trouble with customs because I brought pepper spray over. I live in Atlanta. I like being protected. XD

We wouldn't break any laws ...

we're too innocent.

Fact  6.) Stores - Canada has a lot of stores that the United States has such as Claire's, Walmart, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, Michael's, PetSmart, and H&M. But they also have Roots (which is like a Canadian Abercrombie and Fitch), David's Tea (It's like Teavana, but not as expensive), Chapters (It's like Barnes and Noble but with more home goods), Lush (This totally rad soap store that I found out has stores in Atlanta, but it's originally from Canada), and Hudson's Bay (This is the oldest incorporated company in the world. It's like a JCPenny or Macy's).

Legos of Cassia, Cassidy, and I's characters! Mor from Red Hood is on the right. ;)

Fact  7.) Kinder Eggs & Nathan Fillion - These are two of my favorite Canadian things (besides Cassia of course). Kinder Eggs are banned in the United States, because they formally had tiny parts that were choking hazards, but they're AMAZING! They're these chocolate and cream eggs with toys inside! I got a kitty that goes into a basket, a spinning top, a dragon, and, my personal favorite, a little monster that has stegosaurus spikes that are crayons! I call it Crayomonster.

Kinder eggs!

Kinder eggs!

And now to Nathan Fillion. I've mentioned before ... a few times that Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite actors. Cassia's dad happens to have been friends with Nathan Fillion in college AND I ACTUALLY WENT TO HER DAD'S HOUSE WHERE NATHAN'S WROTE HIS NAME ON A BENCH IN THE GARAGE! And I went skiing ten minutes away from where he used to live and I walked on Whyte Ave which was a ten minute walk from the UVA where he went to school. I had too many fangirling moments over this. If I ever meet Nathan Fillion (which I plan to do before I die), I'm going to show him this picture.

This says "Steve as a babe running from bath time. See ya, Steve! Nathan Fillion"

The Nominees:
If you've already done both of these takes more power to you, but if you haven't you're welcome to take from either of these tags or not at all. Whatever you want to do, just know I'm thinking about you. XD

1.) Emily @ Camo & Pearls

2.) Alison @ Alison's Wonderland Recipes

3.) Cassia @ Dimensions in my Universe

4.) Lily @ Lily's Notes in the Margins 

5.) Bethany @ Forgotten Featherpen


See what Canada is like from the perspective of a Canadian coming on the second Saturday of next month! And that's it! *goes back to being snuggly near the fire against the cold winter of Canada*

What are some of your answers to these questions? Have you ever done these tags before? Share a link! What are some of your answers to these questions?

You may also like:

The Christmas-y Tag!

The Sweater Weather Tag & Liebster Award 2015

The D.A.Y. and N.I.G.H.T Reading Tag

The Bookshelf Tag

The Infinity Dream Award

If you liked this post, come back every other Tuesday for book reviews; Friday for tags, character interviews, and link-ups; Saturdays for writing advice and life updates; and Sundays for the Writerly Bundle which includes a new soundtrack piece, vocabulary word, and tea review! To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)