Well, well, well, looks like it’s time for another Happenings post!

*checks calendar*

Wait. What???? How is it almost the end of July?  I thought it was just the 4th of July. . . . School is coming, everyone. *ominous music plays*

But for now, let’s focus on the positive aspects of July! AKA all the fandom stuff

And this time, I’m doing things a little differently!

Instead of my “life” section being completely taken over by movies, I decided to combine movies and books, thus making the Fandom section! In summary, this is just a sample of the fandoms that I’ve been invested in this past month.

The Ilyon Chronicles. Okay, if you haven’t read this series, you must. I’ve only read the first two books, but already there have been epic character arcs and hurting characters and conflicted characters and a fast-paced plot and world-building and JUST READ THEM. OKAY. 5/5 stars.

Bright Eyes. This is actually a podcast created by the epic Aimee, and the second season recently started up. I have to admit - the first season was good. But the second season is absolutely amazing! (Is anyone else’s favorite character Milo?) 4.5/5 stars because the suspense is literally killing me.

The Sisters Grimm. I forgot how much I love this series! It’s middle-grade, but it is absolutely amazing. The plot is riveting, and a certain mischievous fairy keeps popping up at every turn. (Puck makes everything better 😉). 4.5/5 because I didn’t really like the second book that much.

The Blood Race. You can read my review of this book here, so I won’t really go into that much detail. 5/5 stars (obviously).


Spider-Man: Homecoming. I watched this movie for the first time this month. And then I watched it again a week later. It is THAT GOOD. I could write an entire blog post about why this is one of the most relatable movies ever. 190382950/5 stars.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. THE TRAILERS FOR #2 ARE BEGINNING TO COME OUT, GUYS. I can’t wait for The Crimes of Grindelwald, so of course I watched the first one to prepare. I forgot how much I pity and love Credence. 4.5/5 stars.

But enough about fandoms, although you can’t talk enough about them. Something big happened this month, and it’s called Camp NaNoWriMo.
Now, the stereotypical Camp NaNo wrap-up talks about the stats of the month, what the book is about, how many words were written, and so on and so forth.

This is not the stereotypical Camp NaNo wrap-up.

The first three or so days went great. I was getting into the story, things were going fine.

But I was trying to work on my Camp NaNo project AND do my 100-4-100 challenge project. And I was spreading myself a bit too thin.

Hence, one of them had to go. And it was Camp NaNo.



So I wrote a grand total of 3,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo this year. And that’s okay. You don’t have to win Camp NaNo every year. Sometimes it’s best just to take a little break and breathe.

Fortunately, my 100-4-100 project is going well. I’ve only missed one day so far (and one grace day per week is allowed - I checked - so I’m still in the challenge). Hopefully you’re also making headway on the challenge! It’s definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be. Life has a funny way of messing up our schedules. . . .
Here comes the boring part of this, but I’ll try to liven it up as much as possible.

Music of the Month: (AKA my favorite song that I was listening to this month) Definitely the Spider-Man: Homecoming Suite.

Best Part of the Month: My extended family went up to Minnesota for a week, which was actually really fun! (Also I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp and Spider-Man: Homecoming and Civil War, so I accidentally had a mini Marvel marathon!)

Worst Part of the Month: I got a bad cold which included a sore throat and 5 hours of sleep one night. I’m still getting over it, but the worst is over.
Here are the posts I shared with you this month:




Also, I went through a bit of a blog redesign, so things are changing a little around here. But I’m done! I promise!

Now, in the rest of the blogosphere:

Danielle @ Snapper returned from hiatus and wrote a really thought-provoking post about living, locking, and loading.

Elissa @ dancing in the rain and Allison @ the little bookworm created new blogs, so definitely go check them out!

The Worlds Beneath blog tour swept through the blogosphere! (The link leads to K.A. Emmons’ website, since a lot of people participated!)

Finally, Tracey @ Adventure Awaits celebrated her blogoversary! Congrats, Tracey!
This month, I’ve actually decided to be a productive person and set goals! *gasps*

This is how I usually am with goals:

Me: Oh, look, I set goals! I’m going to be productive this WHOLE MONTH!
*thirty days later*
Me: Oh, look, I set goals. Whoops. Forgot about those.

This year, I want to actually try to set and accomplish goals.


I’m not sure how many of these I’ll accomplish, but it’s worth a shot. I tried not to set too many, because once school starts my schedule will be taken.

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Well, that was my month! I’m looking forward to August, even though that’s when school starts. I’m not planning on taking another hiatus for a while (yay!) so I’ve got all kinds of things planned. See you around!

-Nicole

Hello, everyone! I’m BACK! *dramatic entrance*

Well, my mini-hiatus was good, for the most part. But man, it’s good to be back!

(Also, I’m doing some mini-renovations over here, just in case you noticed something was different.)

And now, for the post I’ve been hinting for weeks about . . .

That’s right. It’s time for my first BOOK REVIEW!

And I decided that today I’m going to be reviewing:


He’s spent his life running from who he is. She’s been trying to escape her past for 100 years. . . .

Born with unexplainable abilities he struggles to control, college student Ion tries desperately to integrate into his new school and finally put his dark past behind him. But after making a serious enemy, which leads to an accidental rendezvous with the mysterious old man next door - and his hauntingly beautiful but troubled young protégée Hawk, Ion realizes his life will never be normal again.

Late one evening, Hawk drags him by the hand into a closet-turned-rabbit-hole to an extra dimension, and Ion finds himself stumbling involuntarily into a secret society of training for “anomalies,” teenagers with a special set of abilities. Just like him.

As they train to become Protectors of future Earth, battling each other as well as their own demons, both Ion and Hawk begin to realize that they are far more alike than they realized. Unsettlingly so.

When the Dimension is shaken by an unthinkable betrayal, will an ancient prophecy bring Hawk and Ion together - or will a deadly threat hidden in plain sight cost them both their powers . . . and their lives?

{taken from back cover}

My Rating: 5 Stars

I was SO EXCITED for this book when I got it, but I decided to wait to read it until I could read it in one sitting. And . . . I did, in fact, read it in one sitting. And it was excellent.

Although . . . at first I was only going to rate it 4.5 stars. But then I reread it and realized: no. This is a five-star book!

Let’s take a look. . . .

The characters. I liked how each of them was flawed in a way that felt realistic, considering their backstories (don’t worry, I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers!). Ion and Hawk were so conflicted and worried all the time (aww), and Fin was just plain awesome (because sibling love! <3)

Sensei’s appearence. How did she even think of that??? Again, no spoilers, but all of you who have read the book know what I’m talking about. ;)

The cover. Yes, you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but come on. That cover is beautiful and gorgeous and pure amazingness.

The cliffhanger. You probably think I’m weird for including this, but I’m sorry, what was that and what????? I have no words. None.

The allegory. I didn’t catch it the first read through, but I definitely caught it in the second, and it is very cleverly written!

Now, for the bad stuff. . . . (Because yes, there was some bad stuff.)

Otherwise . . . not much??? Honestly, I liked this book. But here comes the content. . . .
Some major spoilers down here, just a warning.

Language. While there is less cursing in The Blood Race than in other certain YA books I’ve read *cough cough* The Hazel Wood *cough cough*, there was still enough of it to make me go, “Um, what did you say?” Something I did find interesting was that the author “censored” some of it out by putting a dash through the rest of the word. I kind of liked that, because I could replace words with some like “flamingos.” (Makes the rest of the reading very entertaining.) Also, in the Dimension, cursing is frowned upon.

Drugs. There is one scene where Mel (Ion’s girlfriend) gets him drunk (to make him spill secrets). Again, shown in a negative light. This scene also made me really dislike Mel.

Sex. One suggestive comment that I can think of (made by Ion - and the comment afterwards made me laugh). The biggest concern here is that one of the main characters (I won’t say who, but once you start reading, it’s not hard to guess) was raped as a child. This is shown in a very negative light, and the character’s whole personality is changed because of this. However, there is one scene where this particular character flashes back to the events leading up to the event. Fortunately, it stops before the actual event begins, ending in a rather forced kiss. (I was just glad she didn’t write the scene.)
I didn’t take off any stars and rated it 15+ for the content. Overall, it was a great book, and I’ll definitely reread it, along with the next book in the series. I wasn’t a huge fan of the content, but the flashback scene is very easy to skip, if anyone feels like it.

-Nicole

You may be noticing an interesting thing about my blog. Don’t worry - it’s still me, your local friendly fangirl writer. But I will be addressing this interesting thing at the end of the post.

So, this has been an accurate representation of me writing my blog post this week.

Me: Wow, I’m actually on top of things and sharing my writing with my followers! *writes complete blog post about Camp NaNo novel, gets ready to publish it*
Life: You may want to rethink that..... *throws lemons*
Me: *gets hit on the head with lemons* What the heck?? *looks at lemons*
Me: Actually, this would be a good blog post topic. *types entire thing up on Friday*

Yeah, this has been kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but some really weird stuff happened on Thursday for me, and one of them has been quite interesting.



On Thursday, I was working like normal on a checkout lane in our local grocery store. I finished checking someone out, and the cashier next to me, out of the blue, just says, “How are you so happy all the time?”

I was like, “Um. What????”

To be honest, I’d never really thought of what I was doing as being “happy.” Sure, I was smiling to the customers, and asking polite questions, but I didn’t really think that qualified as “happy.”

So, of course, I took the question to bed and pondered it on-and-off for like an hour, along with some other stuff. But I didn’t get anything productive out of it.

But I’ve thought about it a little more since then.

I think there’s a difference between being happy and seeming happy. Anyone can feel happy, but is that true happiness? Or is that just the happiness that this world can offer?

I, for one, don’t think I was truly happy at that point; I was just being polite.

And I think true happiness can’t come from anything in this world. It can only come from God.

Am I saying that I’m not happy if, for example, we go to Florida? Absolutely not. If I went to Florida, I would be very happy. But that would be a temporary happiness, one that the world offers, and would probably fade as soon as I left Florida.

And to be truly happy, I believe that you need to know God, and know what he’s doing, and do it willingly.

Life isn’t always going to be cooperative, but we have to try our hardest. After all, didn’t the Blessed Virgin say on multiple occasions, “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”?

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Anyways, those are just my thoughts on the matter. I hope you understood what I was getting at there.

Now, on to the announcements!
Maybe you noticed it. Maybe you didn’t. But you’re going to notice it now.

Did you see my About Me page?

Yep. That’s right.

Where’s the name you used to know? Who’s “Nicole Dust?”

Well . . . that’s me.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, but I finally decided to do it just a couple days ago.

I decided to get a pen name.

And here’s why:

• Right now, I really want to keep my personal life and my writing life separate. 
• Also, I kind of still think it’s weird that people know my actual name.
• Um. Pen names are cool! #secretidentity

Was it just me, or did June both drag and go by fast? Honestly, I can’t believe I’m even writing my June wrap-up post already. But nope, it’s July 1st, and one month of summer is gone.

So, what all happened in June?

Wow. My prediction apparently came true: June turned out to be waaayyyy busier than May, despite school being out. But it was busy in a good way, at least!

For one, my family went to go see relatives down south. While we were there, we watched Solo (which was awesome) and The Matrix (also awesome, but super violent).

The How to Train Your Dragon 3 trailer came out, and oh. My. Word. Watch it now. I was literally crying from the first couple words (which were actually a reference to the books). Please tell me if you’ve seen it so I have someone to fangirl with.

Along the HTTYD lines, I began watching Dreamworks: Dragons. (What’s the difference between Dreamworks: Dragons and Dragons: Race to the Edge? I’m very confused about that.) While it’s not as good as the movies, it’s still pretty good. Thank you for recommending it, Ivie and Lisa!

(I literally just realized that my “life” section became my movies and TV show section. #noregrets)
If you remember May’s wrap-up post, I’d only read four books, which was kind of pathetic.

I’m happy to say that I did much better this month, because I read a grand total of 16 books.

But wait! There’s more!

Usually I don’t buy books because I have no money, but for some reason, this month I went and got SIX.


In case the picture doesn’t load, these are the books and my thoughts on them.

Dark Tide (WaterFire Saga, book 3): I don’t actually own the first two (whoops) but this is an interesting, mostly clean read about mermaids. Recommended (although there is a scene that takes place in a club, but nothing is described at all)

PathFinder (TodHunter Moon, book 1): If you like the Septimus Heap series, you’ll like this. If not, you might be a little confused, but it’s middle-grade, and very clean. The author is also very witty, which makes for a more interesting read.

Masterminds (Masterminds, book 1): Also a middle-grade book, also clean, and both serious and funny at the same time. Gordon Korman is a writing genius.

Heartless: MILD SPOILERS! Honestly, I don’t even know why I keep breaking my heart over and over again, but I reread this. Read if you like being devastated at the end. (In all honesty, it is a good book, but the ending isn’t exactly happy.)

The Blood Race (The Blood Race, book 1): Okay, I haven’t actually read this yet. But I plan to in July, since I’m going to be in the car a lot and have hopefully undisturbed reading time. I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (illustrated edition): I actually got this for free at a book club. The illustrations are GORGEOUS! Highly recommended.

*wipes brow* Okay, that was a lot of books. Sorry for the torture. I hope you got something useful out of it.
Still participating in the 100-4-100 challenge! I’ve tried to start writing 200 words instead of 100 every day, just so I can get more writing done.

Other than that, it’s been mostly Camp NaNo prep. I’ve decided to go with a kind-of-large goal of 20,000 words. It probably won’t happen, but I’ll do my best!

I’m really excited about my new idea. I’ll probably write a post about it next week, since I’m still figuring out the details.

Oh, yeah, and remember when I said I was going to put up a WIP page on my blog?

Yeah . . . still hasn’t happened. But I WILL put it up. Eventually!

And one other thing.

I FINISHED THE ROUGH DRAFT OF MY CURRENT WIP.

Literally, though, I am so excited. It took me two months to write 30,000 words, for some reason, but it is DONE and . . . now I need to completely rewrite it because it doesn’t make any sense. But anyways.
Here are my posts from June:





And I just realized that I posted every Sunday for a month! *pumps fist*

Now, around the blogosphere…

Lisa @ Inkwell celebrated her blogoversary and is hosting a micro fiction contest! Go check it out if you haven’t already!

Gray Marie @ Writing is Life published her 100th blog post! (That is honestly inspiring and amazing.)

Abbie @ Abbiee created a video about why we should write good role models in our stories, which is now my all-time favorite video ever.

And last but not least, Ivie has opened sign-ups for her book’s blog tour on her author website!

As for this month, I’m hoping to do a post on The Blood Race and my thoughts (once I read it, that is), and then another post about my Camp NaNo novel. Other than that, we’ll see!

-Nicole