Move over Rainbow Rowell, John Green, and Sarah Dessen. There is a new YA author in town — Becky Albertalli.

Becky Albertalli is the author of three wonderful books — all of them intertwined. They are: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of the Unrequited, and the latest, Leah On The Offbeat.

The book is the sequel to Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. And, it was an amazing sequel.

It was told in the point of view of Leah Burke, who is the best friend of the protagonist of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Simon. Leah is different than many of her friends. She was raised by a single mom, and as a result, doesn’t have the same amount of money as they do. And, as prom and college grow closer, it becomes a reminder of that.

With that being said, Leah is also hiding a secret from her friends — that she is bisexual. Of course, she would be accepted by them. After all, she is best friends with Simon Spier who has been madly in love with Bram since the first novel.

But, that’s not the only secret that Leah is hiding. Leah has a secret crush on someone. At first, she thinks that this is only a friendship, but over time, it blossoms into something more than Leah could have ever anticipated.

And what does this turn into? One of the greatest young adult novels to portray the end of high school in a long time.

First off let me say this: I love, love, loved reading this book — so much that I ended up reading it in two days flat. The characters were amazing. They all were easy to fall in love with, and were relatable — even as a 20 something. Furthermore, they were realistic — some of them were queer while others were straight. Definitely a good portrayal of a modern high school.

I loved how it realistically portrayed Leah’s friendships — especially as she fought with a friend over a comment made. I found myself cheering for her as she stuck up for Abby.

However, what I really loved reading about was Leah’s relationship with Simon. It was very similar to my relationship with my gay best friend and it reminded me so much of that.

Nostalgia factors aside, what I also loved about the book, is the ending. It was cute and very swoon worthy. I am a huge fan of cute endings that tie up nicely, and Albertalli did an amazing job with that.

All in all, this book was wonderful. The only bad thing about it for me was that it ended too quickly. However, it’s a book that I do plan to reread down the line.

So, if you’re looking to read this book — or its predecessor– I highly recommend that you do so.

As an avid reader, it’s safe to say that my TBR (to be read) pile is massive. And, that assumption is accurate. I often buy books at a lot faster rate than I could ever read them.

However, as I work through my TBR list, here’s a few that I’m dying to get to. My goal is to get to them by the end of the year, but who knows?:

1. The Other Boyelin Girl by Philippa Gregory: I have been wanting to read this book for years. I started it when I was in high school, but never finished. A few years later, I did end up buying the book, but never read it. However, it’s something that has always been on the back of my mind, and something that I’ve wanted to read.
2. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: I started to read this book, only to put it on the back burner due to the fact that I wanted to read another book I got. However, I heard great things about the book, so it’s something that I always wanted to return to.
3. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella: This is my latest book purchase, but that doesn’t stop my eagerness to get to it. If you didn’t know, I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan. I’ve read every almost book that she’s written as Sophie, and now am diving into the books she’s written as Madeline Wickham. Therefore, I am so excited to read this book, because she is one of my favorites.
4. The Last Anniversary by Lianne Moriarty: Over the past year, Lianne Moriarty has become one of my favorite authors. I started out with Big Little Lies, which definitely lived up to the hype, and then continued my way to her bibliography. This novel is the last one on my list, and needless to say I am eager to read this before her October release.
5. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: A true classic. Therefore, it’s something that I wanted to check off of my reading checklist.
6. Carrie by Stephen King: Recently, I’ve been getting into Stephen King’s books. I only read one of them, however, I want to get into more. The next one on my list? Definitely Carrie.

Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments below.

When I was in school, it was so easy to get together with friends. In high school, you had a few different options — wait until lunch, an extracurricular activity, or after school to see your friend. In college, it was the same thing. You saw your friends in between classes or on the weekends. But, no matter what, your friends were in the same place.

When you’re an adult, it’s a bit of a different story. Many of my friends are scattered across the state, and world. This means, less time to see them. On the flip side, this does mean that the time we do get to spend together is that much more valuable. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I text with a friend, only for them to say let’s catch up. It’s embarrassing, really.

However, I am lucky to have some of my friends in the same area of me. But, that spending time with them is still a rarity. Between work, my relationship, and other responsibilities, sometimes that falls the lowest on the list. Furthermore, since I am an introvert, I would much rather go home to my dog and curl up with a book after work versus meet my friend for dinner or ice cream.

I know, I’m bad.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’ve heard so many times that if you’re not the one whose making time for them, then they are not worth your time. However, with all of the responsibilities that you have, it’s tricky to balance everything. Additionally, it’s also important to make sure that you’re spending time with your significant other, but you don’t want to be that friend who dropped off of the face of the earth just because she got a boyfriend.

So, my question here is, how do you?

My answer is — well, I don’t know. Maybe good planning.

The thing is, as you get older, you’re going to be consistently adding things on your plate — whether it may be children, marriage, elderly parents, or otherwise. However, friendships are still important to maintain.

With that being said, let’s try to make more room for all of the friendly faces in our lives. There are so many simple ways we can do this, many of which that doesn’t involve a lot of time. A few of them are as follows:

• Doing errands together: Everyone has errands, whether that may be going to the drug store, grocery store, or even heading to the gym. Or, you want to head to the local bookstore or do some shopping. But, do you have to do it alone? Maybe invite a friend to go with you. Sounds weird? Well, here’s the thing. You have to do it anyways. But, by inviting a friend to go with you, it becomes more fun.
• Scheduling one night a week that’s your friend night: This makes me cringe, but have you heard of the saying Friday’s for the boys, or Saturdays are for the girls. Well, make one day that’s your friend day, and stick to it. That can be Sunday Brunches, or Happy Hour on Wednesday. Whatever it may be. And, stick to it. Chances are, you’ll be looking forward to it all week — especially the stressful ones!
• Ask them to attend things with you. Of course, this is natural for all friendships. But, if you’re looking for someone to attend the free concert with, why not ask a friend? Or, if you want to take a trip somewhere, consider getting a group of pals. But, it can be so much simpler than that. If you want to go to the farmers market, maybe ask a friend you haven’t seen in a while versus going alone.
• Double date night. Are you in a relationship? And do you have friends who are in relationships? Perfect way to spend quality time with both your significant other and your friend is to have a double date. Just make sure that everyone gets along before doing this.

Today is my 24th birthday. If you’ve been following me since the beginning of my blogging days, you know that every year, I write a post about the age I am turning. In addition, I also write about some reflections, and maybe some goals I have for myself.

24 to some of you may think 24 is a baby. Others may think it’s old. I am one of the latter. I am now in my mid-20s. I am no longer a fresh-faced college student. I am now an adult – whatever that means. When I was younger, I thought that being in my mid-20s would mean that I had my life together. Well, I can assure you that’s not exactly the case. I still sometimes don’t know what I am doing. And, that’s okay.

This past year, I’ve made a lot of big steps. I joined the Arts Commission in my town. I also bought a car – my very first new one on my own. During this year, I had disappointments, and I had celebrated successes. I even managed to make it on the radio.

As I turn 24, I decided to set some goals for myself. The first is to get my finances and credit in order. One way I can do this is to start saving money, and stop spending it stupidly. When I bought my car, I nearly drained my savings for the down payment. I never really gained it back. Furthermore, I have a habit of living paycheck to paycheck and purchasing things that I may not necessarily need.

So, with that being said, I’ve decided to work on that. My first plan of attack is to stop shopping at QVC – or at least stop putting so many things on Easy Pay. Over time, I can easily spend over $100 on my payments. Good news, after July, it will go down to half.

Secondly, I want to make it a habit to put more in my savings. Since I get paid weekly, I want to put a portion of my check into my savings before I even can spend it. Even though it might not equal much, that little bit does add up.

Another way I want to do this is to help pay my car off – or get closer to doing so. I currently pay more than my payments are every month. However, I want to begin to increase those payments by a bit. That way, I can get closer to paying it off.

Another goal I have for myself is to make me a bigger priority. As my responsibilities continue to grow, sometimes I realize that I put me on the bottom of the list. So, this year that’s going to change. Whether it may be taking my full lunch break or including a bath gel when taking a bath, I am going to do my best to take care of me. Sometimes it’s not easy to do so, but it’s really important. After all, if I am not going to take care of myself, then who is going to? Asking for a friend . . .

So, 24. So far, it seems like it’s going to be a pretty good year. I guess you’ll have to wait until I write 25 to know for certain.