Favourite Books: 2014 Edition

Have you ever tried making a Top 5 list of your favourite books? It's hard. Like, really hard. Especially when you're only trying to include books from the previous year. (I'm lucky if I remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, let alone what I read back in January.)

The list below went through several drafts; I have lots of books that I love, and quite frankly it's not fair that I'm only allowed to pick five of them. (But if I were to list all of them, well, we'd be here all day.) I think I'm finally satisfied with what I ended up with. Until next week, anyway.

Now, before I change my mind again, here are my TOP FIVE FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2014 (more or less):

5. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

One of the three--count 'em, three--adult fiction novels I read this year, and let me tell you, I adored it. I was a little shaky on the premise at first, I'll admit--I mean, it centers around an IT guy reading the e-mail correspondences of two female coworkers in another department, which can definitely come off as a little creepy--but it was executed VERY well! I myself loved reading the characters' e-mails, as well as the changes the main character made in response to them. Everything linked together so well and to top it all off, it takes place in the late 90's. Who doesn't love the 90's?

4. Just One Day by Gayle Foreman

This book, to me, is magic. There's this large sense of adventure, and the character development is perfectly on point throughout. Not to mention the mystery that unfolds throughout the second half of the book--it all unfolds so wonderfully. I loved it!

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Congrats, Rainbow, you made it on the list twice! Fangirl is probably one of the most relatable books I've ever read. It's about writing, it's about fanfiction and internet fandoms and the emotions that you connect with a story that's been around since you were a kid. And it's about growing up, and bringing the story into your life in different ways. I never thought I'd be able to relate to a story so well, and yet, here we are.

2. The Divergent series by Veronica Roth

Minor cop-out here. I had to choose the series as a whole, because choosing just one book just isn't fair; they all contribute to the plot and to the character development and I JUST LOVED THEM ALL OKAY. (Yes, even the last one. More or less.) The world was so wonderfully crafted and the characters and emotions just so real. And again, character development. On point.

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This is the only addition to this list that I didn't have to second guess myself on. This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time now, but I didn't get around to reading it until this past July.

THE ONLY THING I REGRET IS THAT I DIDN'T READ IT SOONER.

This book was so happy, and wonderful, and fluffy, and romantic, and cute, and basically everything I look for in any book ever. How I made it this far without this book in my life is a mystery that will forever go unsolved. I absolutely ADORED this book, with all of its characters and relationships and locations. (Paris. PARIS!! I've been to Paris and this just played it in an entirely different light.) This is one of those books that I just hugged to my chest for hours after I finished because I loved it so much. (I proceeded to do the same with its companions, Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After. All three books are beautiful and if you are at all a fan of romance or contemporary or rom-coms then PICK UP THOSE BOOKS RIGHT THE FRIKKITY FRACK NOW.)



If you'd like to take a look at the other 30 books I read throughout 2014 and the countless books I read before, you can check out my Goodreads page here.

How many books did you read this past year? Do you have any reading goals for 2015?

Until later,

- Justyne

2014 Look Back

Hello, friends! Haven't seen you in a while! Funny story: I may have forgotten that this blog existed.

Yeah no, not exaggerating. I fell into the habit of not blogging every week, thanks to my November buffer, and kept forgetting that I actually had to write some new content. But I'm here! I am alive! And most importantly, I am ready to kick 2015 off with regular blogging!

I have never been a big fan of New Year's Eve. Maybe it's because I've never been part of the partying crowd, or because I have a minor history with bad luck with the holiday. (Including, but not limited to, a very bad case of the flu. Or maybe it was food poisoning; we'll never know for sure. Rest assured it was unpleasant either way.)

Or maybe, perhaps, it was the look back over the past year, and the knowledge that whatever resolutions I had set for the last 365 days hadn't quite gone the way I had hoped. Many of the goals that I set and the plans that I make fall through. At the start of the new year, my resolution list looks the same as the one for the previous year, and the year before, and the year before that. It's a discouraging attitude, to say the least.

Which is why, this year, I decided to change it.

As I made my annual year of resolutions, I refused to make it the same as last year. I changed details, added specifics, and kept it short and simple. And then, instead beating myself up over what I didn't do, I made a list of all that I did do.


1. I (mostly) succeeded in writing (usual) bi-weekly blog posts. I started writing micro-fiction, I celebrated a year of blogging, and I watched as my pageview count steadily rose over the course of the year. The thing that I started on a whim is steadily becoming so much more than that.

2. I took a train! For the first time! A 36+ hour ride, all by myself--which I've wanted to do FOREVER. Not only that, but I went to TORONTO. I walked around the downtown Toronto area, all by myself, and I did not get lost!. For the first time, I saw an opportunity to do something big, something that I've always wanted to do, and I did it.

3. I WENT TO DISNEY WORLD. (For the second time.) I'll be honest: for a while, I didn't think it would happen. My friends and I have talked about doing stuff like this in the past, but it never even made it to the planning stages, let alone to us BOARDING THE PLANE and getting off in FREAKING DISNEY WORLD! We were there for nine days, and I can honestly say that those nine days were the best of the year for me.

4. I moved out of my parents house. Indefinitely. Permanently. The one thing that I anticipated and feared the most, the one thing that I wanted to do but unsure if I was ready or capable, and I did it. Probably the biggest move of my life, and I did it. 

5. I started wearing dresses. I started wearing dresses and accessorizing and trying things with my appearance that I had always wanted to do, but never had the courage and confidence to follow through with. It was scary at first...but it felt great.

6. I started working at a grocery store--as a cashier. I didn't expect to, and I certainly didn't plan to--but I did. It may not seem like a big deal...but for me, it kind of is. Me, who didn't only think that I was bad at socializing, but that I was downright incapable of doing it in a professional situation. Me, who was utterly terrified at the thought of conversing with strangers. Me, who wouldn't even look twice at a want ad for any kind of customer service position, because I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it. This job might not be my first choice, or my favourite thing to do in the world, but at least I know I can do it. I know that I'm capable; and that was a HUGE thing for me to realize.

A lot of stuff happened in 2014. Some of it was good, some of it wasn't. But everything that I accomplished, big or small, I'm proud of.

I have a feeling that 2015 is going to be big, and I am very, very, excited.

What are your biggest moments of 2014? What are you looking to accomplish in the next coming year?

Until later,

- Justyne

New Year's Resolutions

Don't lie to yourself, you know that you have them. Somewhere, buried deep within your room, is a list, with the title 2014 Resolutions scrawled across the top of the page in your familiar handwriting. You can joke about it all you want; about how no one ever keeps their resolutions, how everyone ends up making the same resolution just about every year. You can claim that you don't have any.

But I know. You're secretly planning to turn your life around this year. Don't even try to lie to me. I can tell.

I don't know how many times I've written, somewhere in my journal, that "stop procrastinating" was my New Year's Resolution. I think the longest I ever lasted was a week. One week, out of the whole 52.

What does it even feel like to accomplish a New Year's Resolution? Does it count as a failure if you quit after the year has ended? Does fulfilling your resolutions bring you to some magical, unicorns-and-rainbows place filled with happiness that teaches you the true meaning of life? Has anybody reached this glorious utopia?

Who even decided that January 1st was the perfect day to change your life? I can think of a million better days--your birthday, the first day of school, pretty much any given Monday of the year. January 1st is the one day of the year that most of the population is either hungover or sleep deprived--usually both. I don't think very many people will be all gung-ho about going jogging at 6 AM.

Resolutions are too sudden of a change. The word "resolution" makes me think that I have to change my life the very second the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. That's why so many people give up--you go from laying on the couch marathoning Netflix shows, pigging out on popcorn one day to running a 10k marathon the next. It's like whoever thought this whole concept up did it on purpose, to watch and laugh at us from afar as we try hopelessly to change our lives in the course of one day.

That's why, this year, I made two separate lists: one of "Resolutions"; habits of mine that I want to change or adapt to, and one of "Goals"; things that I want to accomplish this year. My resolutions are definitely smaller, and fewer than any list I've made in the past. My goals are long and plentiful, but that's okay. Because my goals aren't restricted to being accomplished by January 1st, or worked on every day of the year. I have a year from now to finish them, and finish them I will.

As for my resolutions, well...we'll see how that pans out.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Until later,

- Justyne