The End is Near

Hello all! Our newest episode of the Book Hangover is Live on our Soundcloud, iTunes, and the Google play store! 

Go and listen to Me and Hayley ramble on about the 9th and 10th book of the House of Night series. We are seriously loving this series but we are in a love hate relationship with the thought of it ending! Please give us your support and go listen to two girls freaking out over these two fantastic books! We have reviewed all of the previous books from the series as well as, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I Was Here by Gayle Foreman, and Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. These are fantastic books and our goal is to share them with you! If you've already listened to our Podcast we ask you to like, rate, and subscribe! The more reviews and rates from fans we get the more people will see our podcast! Thank you so much from Hayley and I (Ariel). Below we will link the various media that you can listen to our podcast on! 

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Why You Need to Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long but we are back and ready to take over the world! We finished recording Episode seven which is a review for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This was a fantastic book and we review and talk about how amazing it is in our newest podcast! 


Go and give it a listen then rate and comment what you think! if you read the book we want your opinions! If you haven't read the book do you plan to read it? We want your thoughts and you could be featured in our next episode!

Don't forget to give us book recommendations! If you are an Author and you want us to read and review your books shoot us an email at thebookhangovercast@gmail.com and we will review it on an episode of the podcast!

You can listen to the podcast on: 

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Quotes that Help Me By Hayley

Hello everyone!

This week I’ve had kind of a hard time, and I’ve felt very overwhelmed and emotional lately, and when that happens to me, I tend to look for comfort in quotes, something I can write out on my board at work, or even just on a piece of scratch paper or type out in my phone to look at again, should I need it in the future. I know, it sounds cheesy, but for me, there has always been something so comforting about books and words, and knowing someone else felt the same way at some point (possibly for a different reason), it helps me to not feel so alone.

I have not been very open about it, but recently, I started seeing a therapist and was started on medication for anxiety. I’ve had it for a while, but it increased significantly in the past year, to the point I would walk out of work bawling at least a couple times a week, and I would launch into hysteria once I was in my car. I had left a job that I was very unhappy with, and I was very proud of myself, and for a while, I was doing really well, but as quickly as I was up, I came back down again. The last week or so, I’ve been really emotional and irritable, and it’s been really tough to cope at times, but as I said before, I always found a quote or two that would lift my spirit a little, like a little glimmer of hope. I actually have had a habit the past year or so, sending quotes to one of my old coworkers, and knowing that someone else loves the words I choose weekly helps quite a bit too.

So, without further ado, here are a few of my favorite quotes.

• “For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

I just found this quote recently, and it just made absolute sense for me. All during high school, I had an idea of what I wanted to do for college, but really, no idea what I wanted to do when I was an adult. I ended up at a community college and dropping out, deciding I still was unsure of what I wanted to do, so in a sense, I started over, started fresh, and have worked full time ever since. I’m hoping I have the strength again in the future to go back to school and figure out exactly what I want and need to do, even just for myself.

• “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” -Christian D. Larson
• “See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all that you see.” -Dr. Wayne Dyer
• “Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have face, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome.” -Unknown

I’ve had to keep this one in mind, especially recently. I’ve found myself regretting decisions I have made, mostly out of fear of the unknown, and the future. In all reality, the jump I took has helped me, and I walked away from an incredibly toxic environment. I’ve had to continue reminding myself that I need to keep moving forward and keep my chin up, and to stop doubting myself and the progress I’ve made.

• “Some days you will be the light for others, and some days you will need some light from them. As long as there is light, there is hope, and there is a way.” -Jennifer Gayle
• “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.
• “Sometimes, the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you must, but take the step.” -Unknown
• “Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you’re healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret.” -Don Miguel Ruiz

I have a lot more quotes I’ve absolutely loved in the past, but those were just a few great ones I’ve come across recently and that have really stuck for me. It’s easy for me to let my mind take off and go to darker places, but it’s been getting easier to lure it back to a lighter place, somewhere where I can focus on being more positive and light. I’m launching into a new week and I don’t know where it will take me, but I’m going to continue trying to better myself each day.

What are some of your favorite quotes? What are some things that help you through a hard time? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, happy reading everyone.

~Hayley

Book Buying on a Budget By: Ariel

So I don’t know about you but having a book addiction and being poor is not an easy thing. Well during my life I found some easy ways to get cheap and maybe even free books! How amazing is that?! In this post I am going to depart some of my knowledge onto you.

• Library: alright so this is an obvious one but it’s true. Libraries can be your number one resource if you can’t afford books at the moment. BUT did you know that some libraries have apps for your phone and or tablet? They do! The app is called Overdrive it’s on the Google Play store and the Itunes store. I am fairly certain that this works with all libraries and you just sign up for an account and use your library card number to access the books. From there you can download ebooks galore, but you can only keep them on your account for a short amount of time then the book expires.

• Little Free Library: So this is a super fun way to acquire fun books and it also helps the community! So little free libraries are little mailbox type deals throughout your town or city that are owned by homeowners. When you come across this cute little box you take a book from the shelf and then leave one in it’s place. They are completely run by your friends and neighbors and are completely free, it is also a great way to share your favorite books with the world! https://littlefreelibrary.org is where you can go to start your own library, find libraries near you, or find other reasources for the libraries.

• Half price Books: so this isn’t super original but this is an amazing store if you have one near by! Half Price Books is an amazing store and all their books are extremely cheap! The best part is they always have a wide selection of clearance books that can be as cheap as two dollars! I know people are probably saying come on Ariel this is totally obvious give us places we don’t know about, but let me tell you for as long as I have been buying books I only just remembered this place recently. So even though it may be obvious I wanted to add it to just remind everyone. If you don’t have a HPB in your area they do have an online store and they will ship it to your door! https://www.hpb.com/home

• Www.thriftbooks.com This is a website I have come across many times and I have seen alot of Tumblr users repost about this. This website is a used book online store that sells books for as cheap as 4.00 US dollars. There is shipping on this but if you buy ten dollars or more you do get free shipping which is a major steal! They have all kind of books from kids to adult novels which is fantastic.

• www.bookmooch.com Alright so this one I havent tried just because I’m not particularly great at giving up my books but this is a cool way to trade books for new books. This is a sharing site where you send people books and get points to purchase books from others. It is a super fun way to connect with people all while getting books! So there is no cost for the use of the website or using the points. The only price you have to pay is the shipping of the books you send to people so it is pretty cheap depending on the books! This is an interesting spin on book sharing but I really love it!

• www.booksfree.com This is my favorite site I have come  across because it is NETFLIX FOR BOOKS! Who doesn’t love netflix? And having a subscription service like netflix for books is even better! With this you get to choose from several different prices where you can get anywhere from 2 books a month to 4 to 5 books at a time! It can get pretty pricey but it depends on what you sign up for. When you sign up for the service you make a queue of books you want to read and they send them to you and when you are done you send them back! It is free shipping both ways so you don’t have to worry about the return shipping. This can be one of the more expensive outlets but if you read all the time then it can be pretty cheap considering what you can pay to buy the books!

• www.bookbub.com This is a webiste where you give them your email and they send you cheap and free books daily! So this is an ebook site and they aren’t going to be super popular title but I’ve been using this for over a year and the books they send are absolutely fantastic. If you love going outside the box when it comes to books then this is the site for you! 

So I’m going to wrap it up now but these are the best places I have found for cheap or maybe even free books! Let me know if you have found better outlets for cheap and free books I want to know all of the best places! I do want to put that The Book Hangover is not sponsored by any of these places or websites (but if they want to sponsor us we would not be opposed!) All of these opinions and reviews are based solely on my opinions as a reader and consumer! 

Talk to you next week friends 

~ Ariel ;)

Books I Am Excited About By: Hayley

Books I’m Excited to Read

Hello book lovers!

Recently, I’ve reviewed a couple of books that I’ve read and loved in the past, and I even shared another smaller post about some quotes I love earlier in the week. But today, I’m going to talk about books I have not read yet (stay with me!), but I am SUPER excited to read!

• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LeRoux: I watched this movie when it came out in 2004, and seriously have been obsessed ever since. I used to watch it weekly with my grandma and sister when we went out to visit her, and they even got tickets to see the live show in 2007! I might have screamed from excitement… definitely. I bought this book a few weeks ago and it has been taunting me, begging to be read… Soon my love, soon!
• Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally: Miranda is an awesome author, and I absolutely devoured Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker, and really, I’m excited to read all of the Hundred Oaks High books. I bought Catching Jordan on a whim, thinking it looked like it would be alright, but holy cows. Amazeballs. Do yourselves a favor and read these. Defending Taylor is the most recent release and I am seriously dying to get my hands on a copy!
• This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab: Okay. Victoria got my attention with The Archived (see my review from last week here) and I’ve been a fan since. Might have to order this one today… Hmmm…
• I Let You Go by Clare McIntosh: I actually saw this book on Goodreads, from one of my friends marking it as a book they wanted to read. I loved the cover artwork and got curious, and the story looks interesting. It also has very good reviews, and a sequel… I love sequels… Sigh.
• The Secret Circle series by LJ Smith: Oh my. Don’t even get me started on how much I LOVED the TV series (before it was cancelled… still upset about it). I know books are always going to be different from the movie or in this case, TV series, but I’m kind of excited to see how similar or different they really are. The TV characters are near and dear to my heart (Adam and Jake… swoon!) but characters in books always get me, too. Another book sitting on my shelf that is basically just begging to be read!
• The Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand: I’m going to be totally honest here, I was browsing the YA section of Half Price Books, and when I saw the cover for this book, I immediately picked it up and knew I was going to buy it. I thought about it later when I was looking through and found another book I wanted, and I figured, Hey, you should probably read the inside cover, so you at least know what it’s about. The book is beautiful, and the story looks like one I’m definitely going to enjoy. I’m a sucker for angel books, and I actually just picked up the third in the series from Half Price last week! Beautiful covers, I just couldn’t stay away!
• Literally every Ellen Hopkins book: I’ve read Impulse and Fallout in the past, and I cried and cried. I love her and her writing, and I am seriously so glad I was able to see her speak at my library when I was in high school. I actually just bought my own copy of Impulse last week, and I’m seriously excited to tear through that one again. It’s been too long.

These are just a few of the many books on my “to read” shelf, and I know there are a lot more books out there that I’m excited to read, but these are the ones that automatically came to mind. Of course, I’m also excited to read more books from Karin Slaughter, See Me by Nicholas Sparks, and the few Sarah Dessen books I haven’t read, but these ones will all have to be read first. To be honest, the one book on this list that I have been literally itching to read is The Phantom of the Opera. As I mentioned before, I’ve been obsessed with this story and the movie ever since 2004, and I was only eleven years old! It’s always stuck with me, and recently, my best friend Kammie had mentioned that she was going to get a copy for herself to read and I lit up when she told me. For some reason, it never really occurred to me that it was a book before it was turned into an actual musical and a movie, a few different times.

What books are you excited to read, and what’s on your “to read” shelf? Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think? Be sure to comment below and let me know, I’m excited to see what your thoughts and opinions are!

Until next time, happy reading everybody!

~Hayley

One Book That Got Me Through a Dark Time By Ariel

So this week is our second week of blog posts and I decided I want to go along with the reading journey theme. This week I want to talk about a book I read in highschool that has really meant alot to me throughout the years. Let me give you some information about who I was as a freshman. So I have never been very cool or popular and I got bullied. A LOT. Because I was always bullied I tried to overcompensated and be cool. (It never worked.) I have always been very smart and so I tried to use that to my advantage and get the cool kids to like me. Essentially I was the nerdy kid the cool kids got to do their homework for them.

One day in english class one of the cooler girls was telling me about how she has a book report due and needed help with it. Well I had finished mine a couple days after having it assigned to us so I offered to help. The assignment was to pick a book read it and write about it. So I asked the girl how much she had read of her book and she replied telling me she hadn’t read any of it. So knowing how cool she was i offered to read the book and write it for her knowing i could finish the book that day and do the assignment by class the next day. The book she chose to read was Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.

This book changed my life and I hope it may change other young girls and boys who may be struggling. Let me know if you have read the book in the comments. I would love to hear what you think of the book and what you may rate it. So for anyone who has not read the book I will tell you a little about it. Wintergirls follows the story of a young girl battling anorexia. Lia the main character is struggling with this mental illness while struggling to get over her best friend's death who was battling bulimia. Laurie depicts what it is like to feel these feelings so well it is almost like she is writing from personal experience it's eerily amazing. This book has quite a few triggers in it and I would definitely recommend anyone who is easily triggered by self harm, suicide, or eating disorders do not read this book. If you don’t have the issue of feeling triggered by those problems it is a must read.

So as a small little freshman I was constantly being bullied constantly being called fat or ugly, and I struggled with some of these issues that Lia and Cassie go through. I struggled with the feelings of depression and maybe even teetered on the edge of becoming anorexic or bulimic. One of the reasons why I didn’t fall into that terrible life style is mainly because of this book. This book truly shows what life is like when you go down a dark path such as this. Throughout the book Lia lies to her parents, finds ways to hide her not eating, and falls down a very very dark path. After reading the tale of this poor young girl that I related to I realized that I CANNOT follow her footsteps.

Even though the book is only 278 pages the story stuck with me long after I was finished. I had read the school’s copy of the book and never owned the book myself but i always had what I learned tucked into my mind. Finally after years I bought the book on my nook and read it in a day. I also just purchased a hard copy of the book just a few days ago because I loved it so much that I NEEDED to own an actual copy of it!

Wintergirls was published on March 19th 2009 with 278 pages, and an average rating of 3.99 stars out of 5. I for one think that this book deserves more than 3.99 stars. My rating for the book would be 5 out of 5 stars for sure. This book has seriously helped me in more ways than one and I cannot thank Laurie Halse Anderson enough. I also need to thank the girl from highschool that never did her own homework, because without her I would have never come across this amazing book. In all honestly I think that if I had not read this book my life may have turned out completely different. I am so glad that i read this book all those years ago and I glad I can share this book with all of you.

What I want to end things on is this. Sometimes life can be so so very hard that you don’t want to go on anymore, It’s okay to feel like that. I mean it when I say it is okay to feel that way. What is not okay is when you act on those feelings. So if you find something that drags you out of that funk hang on to it and remember the way you felt when you found it. Sometimes things just fall into your lap and help in just the right ways, other times you feel stranded and stuck like you will never get out. If you hang on to those things that fell into your lap things can feel maybe just a tad bit easier. That’s what happened to me with Wintergirls , and maybe this blog telling you to go read the book is what will help you! You never know so please my sweets don’t give up like Cassie, Lia’s best friend, did. Things almost always get better and if they don’t it truly is okay to ask for help. Asking for help may be the hardest thing you may ever have to do but sometimes that’s all you need to get better. Even if you just reach out to me I can help, I can listen, and I can give you someone to cry to. Everything will be okay.

Until next time,

• Ariel