The Monday Mix (13)

While I did enjoy doing A Sunday Retrospective, I've made the decision to stop posting on the weekends. I rarely open up my laptop during that time, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. The only thing that made me really sad was the fact that I would no longer have an outlet to share my favorite links from the past week. I mourned that for all of ten seconds before realizing that I could just start a new feature - and so, The Monday Mix was born.

The Monday Mix basically gives me the opportunity to share with all of you the links I loved online from last week, everything from reviews to articles about writing and perhaps other things too. I've always valued the opportunity to share the great things I've read or seen, and this is my way to share the love.

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QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT: By this time next week, I will be in the Philippines with Macky, my family and my friends. Not only am I sure to be busy catching up on everyone's lives, but I will also be knee-deep in the preparations for the wedding. I will still attempt to do The Monday Mix when I can, but it will not be a weekly thing unless I'm lucky to have some extra time to read blogs! (And yes, Betty, I wrote this note for you especially <3)

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1. As someone who had to leave behind most of her childhood favorites, it was easy to relate to Chachic's post about her separation anxiety when it comes to her books. While I've managed to read and fall in love with new favorites, I always miss the ones at home too.

2. Gaby wrote about something that I think about at times - how I seem to have YA tunnel vision. It's interesting to realize that I read primarily YA these days, even though I do indulge in adult books every now and then.

3. I may be slightly obsessed with how Estelle cleverly rated things in Forget You (Echols). It's just absolutely perfect, especially when each thing is pretty much rated for hotness.

4. This set of companion posts by Estelle & Jamie is such a clever idea! I like how Estelle was able to share about what it's like to be married to a reader (and her husband makes a special cameo!), while Jamie tackles being married to a non-reader.

5. Road trip time! I adored the posts that Estelle, Magan, Ginger & Tara came up with for their Sweet Summertime Reads event. Estelle & Magan talked about NYC & Austin respectively,

6. Estelle and I came up with posts inspired by our love of pop culture. While I did mine on the aesome Taylor Swift, E chose one of the greatest celebrity romances of all time - Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams! (Guys, just go to this post to watch the Best Kiss moment. Yes.)

7. When other bloggers review books I love (and love them too), it makes me oh so happy. While my own review for Crown of Midnight has not gone up yet, Sam's 5 star review is just absolutely perfect. She conveys almost exactly how I felt about this book, and I really think you'll feel like checking out the series after reading her thoughts.

8. I adore Morgan Matson, as she's managed to write two books that I absolutely, unequivocally love. The fact that she wrote a guest post for my girls Estelle & Magan about her summer essentials + playlist just cements the adoration.

9. One of the reasons I like following Samantha Shannon's blog is because she writes truly intelligent posts about writing. In this post, she talks a little bit about writing process - theories + her own. (There's also this wonderful post by Marie Lu where she talks about writing processes too!)

10. The masterminds behind Epic Reads came up with some awesome posts over the past two weeks! There's some very romantic quotes, really yummy snack suggestions, a funny poem and moments when it's nice to have a book around.

11. Female characters tend to elicit the most interesting, sometimes hurtful, sometimes hateful reactions. Diana Peterfreund muses a little about this, particularly highlighting the characters in her two latest books.

12. It's always fascinating to learn a little more about this crazy book industry. Here's a fun post, set up by Alex Bracken where she interviews her friend Lauren about being a book publicist!

13. Basically, I am in love with the music that has inspired all of Susan Dennard's written works, whether finished or unfinished. That is all.

14. I enjoyed The Nanny Diaries when I first read it. Here's an interesting interview with Nicola Kraus! (This article was shared to me by Nancy Parker.)

15. Cassie's brilliant discussion post about commenting is something I can endorse wholeheartedly. While lately I've been too busy to be as regular about my commenting, I love doing it. It's a joy to read an awesome post and be able to leave a great comment for bloggers!

16. After Brittany created an awesome infographic guide with suggestions for contemporary reads, she tackled something even more difficult to pin down - fantasy, sci-fi & paranormal. Her guide features a TON of my favorites so you should go and check it out!

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Also, in case you missed out on posts from the last two weeks, here they are for easy reference. I hope you check them out, if you haven't already!

Quintana of Charyn - Melina Marchetta

The Ambassador's Daughter - Pam Jenoff

Throne of Glass: Book Shopping for Celaena + Giveaway

From Hollywood to Your Bookshelf: Taylor Swift

In Too Deep - Michelle Kemper Brownlow

SS&D Celebration: A Day in Philly

SS&D Celebration: An Interview with Susan, Pt. 1 + Giveaway

A Darkness Strange and Lovely - Susan Dennard

Throne of Glass: A Story Generator + Crown of Midnight Tour

Anatomy of a Single Girl - Daria Snadowsky

The Circle Opens (Series Review) - Tamora Pierce 

I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I did! Now it's YOUR turn - are there any posts (on your blog or other blogs) from last week that I missed out on? Please feel free to share links in the comments and I'll try to check them out.