Retelling January '16 | Recap of 2015.

First off, if you haven't signed up for this challenge, you can until February 1st. Go to the introduction post with the master sign-up linky.

Other technical details: don't forget to tweet and Instagram with the hash-tag #fairytaleRC.

Can you believe it’s already 2016 and that we are starting a new, clean sheet? Let’s keep those fairytale retellings coming! I hope you are all ready to get some reading done (let me know in the comments which level you are aiming for and what your first book might be.) At the end of this post you can put links to your challenge page/post and every review you post on your blog. Please make this easy to navigate by putting it like this:

UPDATE  @ your name/blog name. This is your master post, like your challenge page.
REVIEW – book title @ your name/blog name.

I am SO excited you guys! There was a moment where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to host the challenge again. It’s quite time consuming and I wasn’t sure if I had enough ideas, but then I had a moment of inspiration and I wrote down tons of ideas for the monthly posts. It’s a shame I didn’t receive many feedback on my November 2015 post, but I got a few new ideas from people and I will work with it.
I thought this would be a good time to recap the Fairytale challenge from 2015 and to give you a little view of what you can expect from 2016.

Sign-up post, where 142 participants joined.
January | Fairytale beginnings.
February | Quiz to find out your ending.
March | Discussion: are fairytales over?
April | Uprooted giveaway.
May | My ideas for fairytale retellings.
June | Favorite villains.
July | Dressing up.
August | Fairytale recommendations.
September | In defence of Disney princesses.
October | True stories.
November | Feedback.
December | Bingo card.

The bingo card was posted December 2015, but you have the chance until March 1st to finish the card. This will give you an extra entry in the giveaway I will host in December, so make sure you place the card somewhere on your social media, so I can find it back as prove. Here is the card again:



One square is enough to qualify for the extra points in the giveaway!

What can you expect from this challenge in 2016?
I am planning to integrate Youtube and/or Instagram into the challenge. I have a puzzle, a new quiz, discussion posts, information and hopefully a few more challenges. I'm also going to place a bigger focus on other retellings than fairytales, to make sure this challenge is suited for everyone! I'm also using at least one guest post, so I think we are up to some fun posts!

If there is something you really want to see, let me know!

Yearly recap 2015.

Every year has amazing and less-amazing moments, but I can look back at a lot of beautiful memories I created with my friends and loved ones. I have taken many new opportunities this year and I feel like I’ve continued my growth from 2014. I become more confident every day and while I still struggle with things, I don’t let them bother me that much anymore. I feel like I am becoming the person I am meant to be and this year helped to shape me even more. I also got some great blogging possibilities this year and I have a really positive feeling about 2016. (Plus: look how many awesome books are being published! And movie/TV show releases I can’t wait for!)

This is my last post of 2015. HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVELY FRIENDS!


Here is a round-up from some of the things I believe are highlights of my year of 2015.

January: I had a diving instruction. I’ve always wanted to do one and it was everything I thought it would be. I can’t wait to do it again.
February: surprised my boyfriend with a Valentine’s dinner. I nailed my thesis defence.
March: Started my second internship and I had a blast.
April: I celebrated my birthday. One of my presents was the musical for Snow White.
May: We planned a surprise party for my sister’s 21st birthday.
June: I ended both internships with fantastic grades, which led to my graduation! I still can’t believe that this part of my life is over. I am now officially engineer Melanie, Bachelor of applied science.
July: Three wonderful weeks in Spain together with my loved ones. I bought my DSLR camera.
August: Simply sucked.
September: Landed my first, yet temporary, job. It was not my dream job, but at least I found something in a short period and I learned some new techniques. I also went to two food truck festivals for the first time, delicious!
October: I went to my first book event ever (Leigh Bardugo) and it was AMAZING. I had a book club sleep-over with my wonderful friends.
November: I went out to dinner with my boyfriend to celebrate our 7th anniversary and I found THE job in my own field! An official Microbiological technician in a hospital, for at least a year.
December: I found a (rental) house with my boyfriend! We are finally moving in together. Christmas was wonderful and of course, the start of a new, fresh year.

It was also another year filled with book club meetings and I’m grateful that I have these girls in my life. *Daph isn’t in the photo, but this is the only one we have from part of the group*

Monthly recap December ‘15 | A new house!

This post recaps my month: my personal life, all the books I’ve read & bought, movies and TV shows I’ve seen and links to posts that interest me. December is not over yet, but I won't have much time to post this recap at the end of his month, so here you go. There is one more post left for 2015 (yearly recap) and then we will be in the New Year. Isn't that crazy?

I signed my one year contract at the hospital. I’m finally starting to realize that this is really happening. It’s all so exciting. It feels like it has taken far too long to find something that suits me, so I can’t wait to get started in January.

That being said, we immediately started house hunting and within 2 weeks we found a house! I seriously can’t believe it. It all went so fast and easy. This is a new step in our life and it’s an amazing feeling. We get the keys next Tuesday, so we are incredibly busy with taking care of buying all the things. After signing the contract we went ice skating with a friend and I was reminded that I'm really bad at it. I didn't fall (almost crashed into a guy at the side-line though), so that's a win.

We celebrated Sinterklaas, where I got some nice presents (two of them were books).

Christmas tree @ my parents and my 'Ugly Christmas sweater'

Then Christmas! My favorite Holiday of the year.
The first day we went to my parents house, with my sister and her boyfriend. We played board games, exchanged gifts (so many! I love all of them) and ate way too many food.
The second day was at my boyfriend's mother, with his sister, brother + girlfriend and grandmother. We made the entree course and went with mushroom soup based on home-made chicken stock. It was delicious! There was a lot of talking and lots of other good food.
'Third Christmas day' is something we unofficially started a few years ago. Today we are getting together with both grandparents and my sister's mother in law at my parents house to celebrate all the good things that happened this year.

New Year's eve will be spent at my parents house with a few friends. Nothing too special, just being around loved ones and eating good food.

Let it go | Massive edition.

Let it go is my feature, where I will spotlight all the books I DNF and the ones I've read and just want to talk about. The name is based on the wonderful song from the movie Frozen, hence the the reindeer. This feature is based on several other DNF features.

I want to get rid of all the reviews I have yet to post on my blog before 2016 starts, so I'm going to throw them all together in this post. You can scroll through all the categories and select what you want to read. They go from best rating –> worst rating. There are no spoilers for the books or sequels in the series. Here we go:

Fairytale retelling.

Marissa Meyer – Winter.
RATING: 4.5 out of 5.
It was fantastic and I read more than 500 pages in one sitting, but the ending still left me with a little disappointed feeling of I want more. It feels like there was still some story left to tell. Perhaps in the novella bind-up with the Epilogue to Winter? I HOPE SO. The main story is wrapped up neatly, so perhaps it's because I'm just not ready to let go of all the characters I fell in love with throughout the series. I could read about them forever and I'm satisfied with all the ships and the overall conclusion of the story. My only problem was the fact I didn't like how villainous Levana was and how I couldn't care about her 'reasons' for all the things she did.

Shannon Hale – Princess Academy.
RATING: 4.5 out of 5.
Miri lives in the valley near the mountain where everyone works to collect linder (stone). The prince is looking for a new bride and she will be picked from the girls in her village. They are all sent to a special Academy to be trained, so they can impress him. Miri is spunky, yet a bit insecure and she has a quick mind. She has a way with words and she is definitely not waiting to be trained for a prince. I loved how her family played a role in the story and how it stays away from the cliche story line. Don't let the promise and the fact that it is middle grade fool you.

Virginia Boecker – The witch hunter.
RATING: 2.5 out of 5.
This book caught my attention when it was pitched as magic from Graceling meets political intrigue from Game of thrones. While I don’t agree with those comparisons, I sort of liked it. Elizabeth is one of the best witch hunters. until she is accused of witch craft herself. She is sentenced to death, but saved by someone who was her biggest enemy: the powerful wizard Nicholas.
Elizabeth was okay. She is by no means a perfect character and I think I will forget about her soon, but being able to look in her head wasn't so bad. She is trust into a confusing time and I liked how she dealt with the situation. She is struck between her old life and the new information. I could understand how hard it was to change her believes, but she switches rather quickly. The writing-style was engaging. I don't know what it was, but it made me keep reading. I also think I ended up liking this book more because of my low expectations. I was left to believe it would be a boring, terrible book, but I don't think it was THAT bad.

Alethea Kontis – Dearest.
RATING: 2.5 out of 5.
Naked guys are sleeping in a room. Friday finds them and falls in love with one of them right away. Because…. Not for that reason ;) but I thought it was rather strange that she is standing there, observing this boy and wondering what color his eyes are. Okay guuurl. I am left disappointed by this series. The first book was stunning. I loved the combinations of fairytales and how it made me guess which stories she included. The second book was already less interesting and I found myself a little bored by this book. The characters in this book were a bit bland, although I did like the approach of Six Swans. I have high hopes for the next one, because I think I will like Princess Thursday much more.

Dakota Chase – Mad about the hatter.
RATING: 1 out of 5.
This book was simply too much. The author tried SO hard to make everything sounds funny and hilarious, that it felt too forced. I understand that she tried to copy the whimsical feeling from Alice in Wonderland, but to me, she failed to deliver it. I loved that the romance is between Hatter and Henry, brother from Alice, but it went incredibly fast. Hatter went from 'what an annoying boy' to 'oh, such luscious lips, I want to kiss them!' The same with Henry, who went from 'I must be crazy, this can't be real' to 'what a delicious man.' The story itself is also pretty much wandering around Wonderland, because Hatter must take Henry to the Queen of Hearts. I liked the addition of the King of Hearts and the talk about abusive relationships.

Annual end of the year survey | 2015.

Hosted by: Jamie from The perpetual page-turner. I did this survey in 2014 as well.


Number Of Books You Read: I’m typing this December 18th and I’ve read a total of 113. Not as much as last year (152), but still pretty amazing. I hope to make it to at least 115 books.
Number of Re-Reads: I particpated in the re-read challenge, so I know that I’ve re-read a total of 11 books.
Genre You Read The Most From: I need to update my spreadsheet, but I think the result will be the same: Fantasy, with 1 book difference with Fairytales & retellings. (Surprise *cough*)

Reading and Blogging resolutions 2016.

Every year I like to set myself some challenges. I will talk about my personal resolutions in my Yearly recap post that will go online at the end of 2015, but today I want to share my goals for Reading and Blogging.