#BookWorm: Thirteen Reasons Why

Hello fellow readers!

I've finally gotten back to my normal way of life: reading a book in less than five days. LOVE IT! This extra free time thing/not studying for my test is one of the best feelings ever. The most recent read I checked off of my list was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I have mixed feelings about this book, because I feel like it can be taken two ways. It's about a girl named Hannah Baker who committed suicide. Hannah leaves tapes about the thirteen reasons why, or the thirteen people she considers responsible for her suicide and has all thirteen of them listen to each person's reason. This book has its moments of "typical teenage drama" and also has some really intense moments. It is a page turner and keeps you guessing the whole time. I was dying to know who was next on the list and why. So from that aspect, it was a great read.

However... this book is pretty dark. What worries me is that teenagers who read this will think that these things that happen to Hannah are an excuse to commit suicide. They're not. To be honest, a lot of the things she mentions are things that happen to most teenage girls throughout their time in middle or high school. So if everyone thought like Hannah Baker, they all would be dead. That really bothers me. High school is literally defined as mellow dramatic, so this book captures that perfectly. Except this book also captures the main character as killing herself over it. So that is what I didn't like. You can take this book as 1) a scary reality of high school that makes people think about how they treat others or 2) a scary reality of high school that girls and guys can think that life is not worth living if bad things happen to them. Two VERY different scenarios here guys. Life is what you make it I suppose (so let's make it rock ;) sorry couldn't help myself). But on the serious side, if you have been having suicidal thoughts or feel like you are depressed GET HELP. And if you are suspicious that someone may need help, TALK TO THEM. You literally could save a life.

Anywaysssssssss. Rating? 8/10. Very good but the topic is a hard one for me as people I'm very close to have attempted suicide or dealt with severe depression. I'm a little behind on the party train for this book because it came out in 2007 and TBH the only reason I know about it now is because 1) someone suggested it to me a while ago and 2) Selena Gomez is making it into a Netflix mini-series. Go Netflix for picking up these awesome books! If you have not watched the Series of Unfortunate Events series on Netflix DO IT. But first read the books if you haven't done that because they are bomb, and literally one of the few books that Madi read as a kid. Loving these YA books though. Always so good and honestly love them even more than regular adult fiction most of the time. BTW for you YA lovers: Sarah Dessen's new book comes out right around my birthday!! June 6th! (Actually my Grandma's birthday that day, love you Grandma!) so be on the look out for that one! CAN'T WAIT!

March has been such a wild ride for the Franek family, in mostly good ways, so I'll be updating on our life adventures soon. I actually finished this book like two weeks ago, and am now just getting around to posting about it. Whoops!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

DIY Birthday Cake Frosted Brownies

Hey everyone!

It's been a little while since I have had time to experiment in the kitchen, but last weekend I finally got the chance to do just that! I wanted to come up with something more than just my normal cookies, so I looked up some ideas for brownies and tweaked the recipes I found with my own touches! What it turned out to be: brownies from scratch with homemade birthday cake flavored frosting. YUM! Here's how you make them:

What you'll need:
- 9x13 pan
- cooking spray
- 2 large mixing bowls
- kitchen aid mixer or beater
- spatula

Brownies:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter unsalted
- 2 cups graulated sugar
- 2 cups cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs

Frosting:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter unsalted
- 1/3 cup yellow cake mix
- 4 tbsp milk (and have on hand to add PRN)
- 1 tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray your 9x13 pan with cooking spray
3. Combine semisweet chocolate chips and butter into a microwave safe mixing bowl. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until consistency is smooth
4. Combine cocoa, granulated and brown sugar, and salt into a separate bowl and sift together well
5. Add dry mix into chocolate mix and combine using a spatula
6. Add in the 3 eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla, beat on medium with a mixer
7. Slowly add in the flower, making sure all is mixed in from side and bottom of the bowl
8. Place brownie mix into 9x13 pan
9. Bake for 24-28 minutes or until fork comes out mostly clean
10. Prepare frosting by mixing all ingredients together. Add milk as needed.
11. Let brownies cool. Frost frosting over the top of the brownies.
12. Place in fridge for 30 minutes before cutting and serving brownies.

The recipe I was following for the most part did not include oil, and when I got to the end of mixing everything, the batter just looked too dry so I added the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil to help make them more moist. They turned out great! I don't usually LOVE brownies from scratch, because IMO the box kind are amazing so why mess with a good thing? But I do like making things from scratch, and these turned out well. I don't know if I would love them as much without the frosting, but they were great as made above! Baking is such a relaxation tool for me. It really does help me chill out and focus on task oriented things. Any recipes you think I should try? Or any type of baked good you think I should try to experiment with? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,
Olivia :)

#BookWorm: All the Missing Girls

Hey fellow readers,

Last night I finished up with my latest read: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. WOW. It was SO good. Similar to books like the popular The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive,  this thriller takes you to the town of Cooley Ridge, NC where the main character Nic returns after her dad starts losing his mind and they need to sell his house. She hasn't lived there since her best friend Corrine disappeared ten years ago. While she is there, another girl Annaleise goes missing. When they start uncovering what happened to the latest victim, it brings back memories of the past and what really happened to her friend Corrine. This book was BOMB. To me, it was easier to follow then The Girl on the Train, more similar writing to Luckiest Girl Alive but without the language. There were choice bad words, but not as much as the other two thrillers. It also was WAY less graphic than The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl. Like I only was like "ew that's gross" once (whereas the others it was like every chapter). I feel like this book slipped through the cracks a little since it came out about a year after The Girl on the Train, but it is totally worth reading.

If you hated the previous books mentioned, don't write this one off. Like I said, way less graphic and way less bad language but just as intriguing. I'm always one to try and guess right away "who did it" but in this one I could NOT figure it out and I LOVE books like that. The characters were also pretty loveable, and parts of the book were predictable but not overly so. Overall rating? 9/10. Very good. I am trying to keep dwindling down my stack, but somehow keep buying or coming across more books (oops ;) ). But I am working on it!

I have thoroughly enjoyed having way more free time since being done with my OCN exam. There are lots of big and exciting things coming up this spring and summer for the Franeks (no I'm not pregnant) and I also look forward to projects and baking galore! We will be traveling quite a bit starting this month through the end of the summer, so I will try to keep up with our adventures as best as we can!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)