Literary Junkies Link Up #4

Hi my loves! I've been super MIA lately, again. School started and that has been a crazy house. Also, I'm in the process of purchasing a home. Lordy, that is some crazy stressful stuff to deal with. When I get the house I will for sure be doing before & after of the house since it is super outdated! I'm so excited.

Okay, on to the real business, today is Tuesday which means it's Literary Junkies day! I'm linking up with Taylor and Lesley for the monthly Literary Junkies link up. If you like to read you really need to join us! We read a new book every month :)
Okay...here are this month's questions...

1) What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.

I'm reading a couple of books right now. The first one is When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric & Leslie Ludy. This book is all about handing the pen over to God instead of following your own plan. Yes, it is about finding love but it also is about just handing the pen over to God in general. I've only got maybe three or four chapters in but I'm trying to absorb what I'm reading rather than rush through it. I really like it and I would definitely recommend it for any singles out there or if you have high school aged kids, I feel like my generation could greatly benefit from this.

The second book I'm reading is part of the Bridal Quartet by Nora Roberts, I'm on book two which is, Bed of Roses. I've only got through a few pages on this book. The first book from the quartet, Vision in White, I flew through but I haven't had any time to read lately! It's depressing.

2) Give us the recipe for a good book.
This is actually kinda tough to answer! I feel like all the books I read are all along the same lines. Most of what I read is for fun so it's all chick-lit. Other than that you can pretty much forget me reading a book!

3) Tell us things you've learned from a book recently. Did you learn anything about history? Did you take away a deep and profound realization about the world around you? Or maybe even a beauty tip?
The most recent thing I've learned has probably come from When God Writes Your Love Story. It really opens your eyes to the kind of relationships God can provide, romantically or not. It's very encouraging to strengthen the relationships in your life that struggle.

4) What was your favorite book as a child? 

My favorite book as a kid was probably The Old Black Witch. I made my grandma read this to me all the time! So cute. My copy that I have was my Mom's when she was little so it's literally falling apart and has been duct taped together!

Hope y'all enjoyed this! What was your favorite book as a child?

Literary Junkies #3

Hey darlins! This post is two days late, eeeek. But I have an excuse, my birthday was Tuesday so I didn't put a post together, oops. Annnnd the celebrations continued through, well, right now?...Ha!

Anywho, I'm linking up with Taylor and Lesley for our third Literary Junkies party. If you're into reading you should really check out the party and book club. Go to Taylor's blog for more information! it's super fun, we even have twitter parties!


1. Which book could you read over and over? Why?
I adore all the Emily Griffin books. My favorite is probably Something Borrowed just because it's the first one and leads to so many other books. I love her style of writing and how everything is fiction but it could also happen in real life. I also love that almost all of her books are intertwined somehow. I don't like books that are fantasy and sci-fi. I actually think they are the most ridiculous things in the world, not to offend anyone who loves them! 

2. If you could be any character from any book you've read, who would you be?
I probably can't even answer this question but I'll try ha! I haven't read a whole lot of books just because I often don't get into them. I'm one of those people who if I'm not hooked by the tenth page you might as well forget it. If I had to choose though, I would probably be someone out of a Nicholas Sparks book. I'm a hopeless romantic and I adore all of his books! 

3. Do you ever put a book down because you just can't get into it? Or do you stick it out to the bitter end? Any examples?

As I just mentioned, I will put a book down ASAP if it doesn't appeal to me. Especially if I feel like I've read quite a bit and it's just dragging out. The one I have most recently put down was our Bookclub book for this month, The Casual Vacancy. I read the first 95 pages and it was draaaaaagging. I finally gave up and decided to put it down. J.K. Rowling has never appealed to me. I don't like Harry Potter but I figured I would like this book because it was a totally different direction. I'm just not a fan of her work unfortunately. 

4. Show us your book shelves! Do you have one designated spot in your house for all your books? Do you scatter them around?
I don't have my own house so I have limited space for books. I keep most of them in my small entertainment center with my DVDs and VHS tapes. All my other "to be read" books are in my closet and I swap them out as I wish. I really like Paperbackswap.com for swapping books because I usually don't hold on to a book that didn't really appeal to me or I don't think I will read again. It allows me to continue reading new books without having the old ones lay around! 

I also get some books on my kindle, this semester I actually bought a couple of textbooks on my Kindle so I didn't have to make space for the huge things! 

Thanks for stoppin' by y'all! Have an amazing day/weekend. Tomorrow is FRIDAY! 

P.S. Tomorrow is the last day to enter my CampusBookRentals giveaway! 

Low Cost College Textbooks {Giveaway}

Hey y'all!

Today I have a really exciting post for all my fellow students out there. If you have gone to college lately or are currently enrolled we don't even need to talk about the cost of a textbook. It seems like each semester I'm in school and add up how much my books are going to be the cost just goes up and up. Sometimes I cringe thinking if I didn't have to pay for all those books I could probably put a down payment on a decent used car!

My other pet peeve with textbooks is the fact that if you buy your books (especially from the bookstore) you've got a good 600 page book at the end of the semester that is going to collect dust. I have never actually used a book after semester ended, but I'm a bad student and usually never use them during school anyways!

Well, lately a lot of rental sites have been popping up and I have been loving them. You get a book in really good condition for a term and then you can send it back for a fraction of the cost to buy it! We all know you aren't gonna get half of what you paid for that book back out of it, especially if you're a highlighter.

One of my personal favorite websites to rent from is CampusBookRentals. I rented my French textbook (click here for the link to the French textbook) from them last semester and it was so easy. SO. EASY. I literally ordered the book, had it shipped to my door, they give you a bubble mailer AND return label, and when you're done you ship it back. Along with being literally the easiest rental site I have ever used, they allow you to highlight the text. Now, I'm not a highlighter but some people are definitely visual!

This is the price I would have paid if I would have got the book from my bookstore.

This is what it costs to rent the book from Campus Book Rentals. Obviously it's over $100 cheaper to even rent it from the bookstore! 

What are some other perks you ask? Well, if at any point you need to extend your rental you can just log in to your account and voila, there is a little button and you type the due back date you'd like, pay for the extension, and you're done. If you honestly would like to buy the book because you think you'll use it in the future, you can pay them the difference and it's yours, free and clear! If for some reason you need to return your book they will let you return it for a full refund within 30 days. Like seriously, can it get any better?

Whenever you do rent a textbook from them, a portion of the sales gets donated to Operation Smile, which is an organization that does cleft reconstructive surgeries. I find this amazing considering my cousin has had 22 years of cleft lip and palate surgeries. That topic really hits home with me!


And guess what I have for y'all today?! A giveaway! CampusBookRentals so graciously offered to giveaway a $25 gift code to one of you lucky ducks to put towards your books! Follow the rafflecopter below to enter!

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