If any of you follow me on Tumblr, you'll know that I belong to a lot of fandoms, so reading a book about a girl's obsession with a certain Harry-Potter-esque fandom was something I simply could not resist.

Fangirl is a popular YA novel about a girl named Cath who writes fan fiction for a fictional series called Simon Snow (imagine HP, but with vampires). Cath has just started her first year of college, and is having a hard time adjusting without her twin sister Wren, who's decided she wants to do college on her own, without having Cath attached to her hip.

It's essentially a coming-of-age, as Cath sort of finds herself as an individual, and learns to accept herself as more than just a fangirl. She meets new friends like her edgy roommate, Reagan, and Levi, a super cute guy she reads her fan fiction aloud to. She also learns to cope with her dad's bipolar disorder.

It's a really cute, light read that does deal with some heavy stuff. Certainly easy to get through. I also love that Rainbow can write a fierce female character being okay with her insecurities. I mean, not every girl who writes fan fiction and wears glasses is a cool hipster chick, and she recognizes that. Cath is definitely relatable to anyone who's ever nerd-ed out on something, or felt a little bit like the new kid in school.

Another cool thing I really liked about the book, was that each chapter was introduced by either an excerpt of Simon Snow, or an excerpt of Cath's Simon Snow fan fiction, Carry On. By the end of the book, I was actually really into Simon Snow and Carry On.

Not what I would normally read, but it was super fun to get into. There were some minor things that I didn't like about the plot, (like how Cath's professor gave her a whole extra semester to write her story.. I mean, when does that ever happen?) but I found everything else really enjoyable, and it brought me back to when I was a teenager writing fanfics about my favourite books.

That being said, I'm giving Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell:

Four out of five stars!

If you wanna read Fangirl, check out The Book Depository to buy a discounted copy, or if you're into listening to your books (like Levi is in Fangirl) then check out Audible.com. Your first book is free!

Want to know what I'm reading next? Check me out on Goodreads!

Hello all my wonderful readers!

Have you always dreamed of becoming a fashion designer? Well now that dream can come true! The ModCloth Make The Cut program is a recurring design contest that invites the ModCloth Community to design garments, graphics, or fabric prints. Its main purpose is to further their mission of democratizing fashion by producing clothing designed by community members.

I'm always incredibly hesitant to do sponsored posts, but I love ModCloth a whole heck of a lot, and I thought this was such a great opportunity to get you guys into using your creativity! I know for a fact a lot of you guys have a rad sense of style, so now is your chance to become a designer at ModCloth!

You're probably asking me now, "but Kate, you're absolutely mental! How can a become a designer at ModCloth?" Well, skeptical reader, it's pretty easy...

Entrants will design a new print for a private label dress silhouette that is already being produced! Contestants have two weeks to submit designs. After the submission period, the ModCloth Creative Team will narrow down the submissions to 20, which will be sent to the guest judge, Amanda Needham, Costume Designer for Portlandia. After Amanda has chosen the 10 finalists, they will be posted on the Be The Buyer page for voting. There will be a week for the Community to vote, then ModCloth will contact the winner and update the contest announcement with the big news!

How cool is that? I would love it if one of my readers got this amazing opportunity, so hurry and submit your entry! The contest is live now! Remember, the end of submission period is Friday 02/14/14. Launch voting is Monday 03/03/14 and end of voting is Monday 03/10/14.

The winner announced on ModCloth Blog (winner will be contacted personally) will be Wednesday 3/12/14!

Send your entry in now! Good luck and godspeed!

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Graphic novels.

The first word that comes to mind when I say that is "nerd". And while I'm all for embracing my inner nerd, the kind of nerd that I always think of is the pretentious know-it-all that couldn't possibly fathom the thought of a girl being into graphic novels unless it were for a boy, or to look super "cool". Am I wrong?

Regardless, I've taken a bit of an interest to graphic novels as of late. Y'all know I love to read, so it only felt right to expand my literary bubble to something more than just words on a page (though I do love those words dearly). I've never read a graphic novel before, though I've spend many an afternoon as a kid devouring comic books, but they aren't quite the same.

"They aren't?" you might be saying. Not quite. A comic book is essentially a magazine. It have a number of volumes, and is released on a regular time schedule, consisting of only short stories that usually continue on with each volume (so you wouldn't necessarily find out if Spiderman caught the green goblin by the end of that comic, you'd have to wait for the next issue to see what happens next) while a graphic novel is essentially exactly how it sounds. It is a full story with a beginning, middle, and end, paired with illustrations that are commonly seen in comic books. That of course isn't to say that a graphic novel can't continue in a series.

Being that I've never read a graphic novel before, the graphic novel I've chosen to take my graphic novel virginity is...

I'm about 1/4 through it, and I'm already making lists of all the other ones I want to read...

I never thought I'd be the type of person that would like graphic novels, but I really dig them.

Have you guys read any graphic novels? What are your thoughts on them?

Follow me on Goodreads to see what else I'm reading!

It's Friday and my brain is beat. I also made the halfwitted decision to work tomorrow, so I'm not sure how that's all going to go down... and so because my brain hurts, and because I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at this very moment (which happens to be at 4 o'clock in the afternoon..) I'm going to open the stream of consciousness that is my brain...

What is a bagel and shmear anyways? I went to a Jewish bakery today and I had no clue. Like, is it just another way of saying cream cheese? I opted out and just got butter.

I'm reading Fangirl at the moment for a book club I'm a part of at work. It's pretty decent. I'm reading the ebook version though, so I have no way of physically determining how far I am into the book. I thought I was maybe half way through last week and after typing it into Goodreads, I found that I was only about a quarter through... another point for "real books".

What was up with Lorde's fingers at the Grammy's? Seriously, I've been sitting on this one all week. I know it's supposed to be like, Haute Couture or something, but it seriously just looks like how my fingers look after I've changed the ink cartridge at work..

There's this guy at work who generally keeps to himself and is very quiet. Even when we are all chilling out in the office he usually has headphones in. Anyways, this morning we were all looking at a memo about a new product we're getting in a few months and I made a (rather humorous) comment about it and he burst out laughing. I was so shocked. Not because he laughed, because I mean, I'm hilarious, but because I didn't realize he could hear me with his headphones in. So instead of being a normal human being and being all "wow, that's cool how he finally joined in on the conversation" I immediately thought, "how many other times has he heard what I'd said while he pretended to not listen, and quietly judged me". Important things, I think.

I can't get enough of listening to Frozen. I haven't even seen the freaking movie and I'm obsessed with the soundtrack. I've maybe sang the karaoke version of "Let It Go" like 15 times. Today.

Book of Mormon is coming to Toronto! Tickets are like, 5793247 dollars. I must go.

Has anyone else seen TFiOS trailer? I can't even explain how psyched I am for this movie. Also I may or may not have weeped got a little misty eyed at the, "Okay? Okay." Gaaaah go watch it now if you haven't seen the trailer.

Pitch Perfect 2 has a release date?! I better start tweeting Rebel like carayzay if I want to get in this bidness, because I'm like, a super amazing singer/ actress...

I really don't want to get up early tomorrow...

What are you crazy people up to this weekend?


ALSO! Everybody go say what up to my new friend Chelsea from The Girl Who Loved To Write, who's just joined the side bar! Heyo! And if you've made your way over here from Chelsea's blog, welcome to the madness that is Kate. 

I love pranks.

I love playing pranks, I love being pranked (as long as it's all in good fun and no one gets hurt). So when my roommate, Jess was gone last month, I took this as an opportunity to play a little welcome home prank.

As you might remember, both Jess and I aren't originally from Toronto, so in December, Jess went back home and didn't return until the beginning of January.

I figured since she'd been gone so long, she deserved a thoughtful welcome home present. I had tons of left-over wrapping paper from Christmas, (most of which was wrinkled from last year and wouldn't be nice to use again) I figured I could put it to good use.

And boy, did I...

Took me a good two hours but I managed to wrap almost everything in her room, and the only reason why everything isn't wrapped is because I ran out of paper (I had 5 rolls).

It was pretty fantastic.

Oh hey guys!

Here's a quick little Sunday post for you all. Yesterday I watched the Academy Award nominated film, American Hustle, and while most people I spoke to that had seen it didn't really enjoy it (apparently two hours is too much time to watch an over-weight Christian Bale hustle a perm-headed Bradley Cooper and company...) but I really enjoyed it.

Basically the movie is about this guy, Irving (Christian Bale, aka Batman) who has made a living hustling other people with this shady loan business he's been running with his mistress (Amy Adams).  He winds up getting caught by a the feds, led by Bradley Cooper, and in order to save face, (and to prevent Amy from becoming the new cast member in Orange Is The New Black) Batman Irving agrees to participating in a takedown of the New Jersey mayor, and other political figures. Picture Ocean's Eleven- style mission. Of course Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic and crazy, and I would see this movie for her alone.

I mean... Really though,everyone is actually really good in it. Even Robert DiNero comes in the picture as the head-hauncho for the mob. And to top it off, there's a plot twist at the end that I totally should have seen coming, but didn't and it was awesome.

I don't care what anyone says, I loved the movie, and you guys should go see it.

Well hello there!

[Insert lame "I havent spoken to you guys since last year" joke].

I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I feel as though I owe you guys a bit of an explanation. Normally I wouldn't really care about one of these posts, and just pick up where I left off, but seeing as I've practically dropped of the face of the blogging planet, and because so many of you guys are friends, I need to tell you guys; I needed a break.

"But Kate, you weren't even blogging that long". I know, I know. The thing is, I started blogging so that I could have an outlet to put my creative juices, and while a lot of time, posts were easy for me to write, it became more of a chore than something I wanted to do for fun. So I took some time off.

It's super cliche, but absence really does make the heart grown fonder. I'm not going to lie, for the first few week off I had from blogging, I didn't think about it once, but after the holidays were over, I started to really miss it; I missed you guys!

So here I am! Back for 2014, still odd, still perpetually single, still lactose intolerant, and still loving cats.

This year, I'll be doing things a little differently. At least for the time being. I won't be posting on a regular schedule. If I have something to write, I will, but I'm not going to fish for something if there isn't anything there, I think that's fair, right? I want to have quality content, and at this time, I just don't think I can provide that on a day-to-day basis.

Anyways, I think that's all for now. I've missed you all like crazy, so tell me what's new with y'all in the comments below!