Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Ah spring time. If it wasn't for the thin layer of pollen on everything, I'd really be able to enjoy it. I'm loving the fact that it's finally warm out (not that this past winter was that cold anyways) and it stays light later...which is even more awesome now that I finally have some porch furniture and can sit outside and enjoy it.

Of course, with spring comes a whole new set of baking flavors. For me, fall is all about warm spices, winter is spices and peppermint, and spring and summer are about light fresh flavors...like lemon and blueberry! It's a fantastic combination of fruit, and perfect to put in...cupcakes! One of my best friends just moved back to town and had a housewarming party, so I decided to bake some lemon blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting for her since that recipe has been sitting on my Pinterest board for months just begging to be made.

This recipe made about 16 cupcakes, but it can be give or take a few depending on how much you fill up each cupcake wrapper. You'll want to have the oven at 350, and the pan lined with the liners so the process will be smoother.

Start with 3/4 cup regular all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup cake flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt mixed together in a bowl and set aside.

Then you'll combine 8 tbsp room-temperature butter, 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, and the zest of a whole lemon to be mixed together on medium speed for about 2 minutes...just until it's light and fluffy!

 Then add in two eggs (one at a time, and beat about 20 seconds after each addition), plus 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice.

Once all those ingredients are mixed well together, you'll add in half of the dry ingredients and mix well for a couple minutes, then add 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp milk, mix well, and then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is perfect.

Once the batter is done, in a separate bowl, toss about a cup of fresh blueberries with 2 tbsp flour (this helps them not sink in the cupcake batter as they bake), and then lightly fold the berries into the batter with a spatula.

 Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 with batter and bake for about 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean!

Now for the frosting!!!! I do love a good cream cheese frosting, and with a lemon kick to it? So awesome.

You'll start by beating 8 oz of cream cheese and 5 tbsp room temperature butter for a few minutes until well nice and smooth.

 After you add in the zest from one lemon and a tbsp of fresh lemon juice, mix in 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, one at a time, until you have a good consistency for your frosting. You'll want to beat the frosting for a couple minutes at medium speed to make sure there are no sugar clusters in the frosting.

After frosting the cupcakes, I topped them off with some fresh blueberries!

These were seriously delicious. They were light, fresh, and the lemon flavoring wasn't too powerful, just enough of a sour kick to them. I think my favorite part of these cupcakes had to be when you got a bite with a blueberry (not the ones on top, the ones in the batter) and you get a rush of juiciness in your mouth. It was a refreshing flavor combo that's for sure, and I have a few other lemon-blueberry recipes that will definitely be made in the next couple months!

Peanut Butter Blossoms with Dark Chocolate Kisses

You know what I haven't done in awhile? Bake. I'm not sure why it's been so long, I think it's because I've had a lot of other things to deal with in the last month and just haven't thought about baking. But luckily I planned ahead, and I had all the ingredients for Peanut Butter Blossoms with Dark Chocolate Kisses in my pantry, ready for when I was ready to bake them. And that day was today!

Do you remember those cookies? They're such classics. I remember they used to sell them in travel packs of two and I would take them with my lunch. I would always eat the cookie around the kiss first before eating the chocolate. So good.

When I saw on Bakerella that she made these classic cookies, but with a dark chocolate twist, I knew that I needed to make those. I have a growing addiction to dark chocolate so I figured I couldn't go wrong with them. Plus, they're so simple to make! They're a good way to get back into the baking groove.

First, warm your oven to the classic 350 degrees after setting out a stick of butter to soften.

Then combine 1.5 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

Then take the 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, and cream with 1 cup of peanut butter. One trick I learned (I assume via Pinterest, I can't remember, but that's a pretty safe bet), is that when working with sticky ingredients like peanut butter, take your measuring cup and run it under hot water for a few seconds. Then dump the water out, but don't dry the cup. Then scoop your ingredient (in this case, peanut butter) into the measuring cup to get the right amount, and then dump it into the mixing bowl. Because of the hot water, it won't stick to the cup and so you won't have to keep scraping to get all the peanut butter out and it'll be easier to clean!

You'll want to cream it for a few minutes on medium speed so they're fully incorporated. Then add in 1 cup sugar and mix until fluffy.

Next up is 1 egg and 2 tsps vanilla extract that you can add at the same time. Then just mix until it's well incorporated.

After that, you add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined!

The dough will be pretty stiff at this point, which is perfect! You'll want to take the dough and roll it into 1 inch balls. Then you'll roll them in granulated sugar before putting them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I was able to fit about 20 cookies on each sheet (for a total of 40 cookies). They don't spread out much, so you can fit plenty to a sheet.

After baking for about 9 minutes, take the cookies out of the oven, and immediately push a dark chocolate Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie! I unwrapped all the chocolates while the cookies were baking so this was a quick step. 

The cookies were super soft and super tasty! Because I put the chocolate in the cookie while it was warm, it made the kisses really soft. The dark chocolate melds very well with the peanut butter and wasn't overpowering which sometimes dark chocolate can be. These are definitely on the list to make again!

Purse Snatcher

So, I really debated blogging about this...mostly because of the stupid thing I did to cause it. But, since part of this blog is about the adventures I have, this is certainly an adventure worth talking about. Let me start at the beginning.

I went to this large store (I won't name them, even though what happened wasn't their fault), in a town with a reputation for being ridiculously safe, in the middle of the day on a Sunday. I got a cart because I had a lot of stuff to pick up, and I decided to put my purse in the little seat part of the cart. As I went to the workout clothes/pajama area, I walked two feet away from my cart to grab something, not really thinking how absolutely stupid that was.

And then I hear it. I walk back to my cart, look in, confirm that my purse is now gone, and then look up. I didn't see her grab my purse, but I was easily able to pick out who it was because she was walking far too fast. I called out to her as I walk after her, hoping that maybe embarrassing her will get her to stop. All it did was make her take off in a dead sprint. I chase her through the girls clothes section, through the checkout lanes, to the doors (where I tripped, fell, but got up because I wanted my purse back), chased her out into the parking lot and through some cars, through multiple lanes of the lot. I finally caught up to the lady, who lucky for me was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. I grabbed her hood and pulled her back to stop her.

I yelled at her to give me my purse and she kept saying for me to give her my money. Then she said if I didn't give her money, she would get her gun and shoot me. Luckily I had some cash on me, so I told her that I would give her all my cash if she would just give me my purse. Finally she let me get the cash out, she took it from my hand, and took off to her car. After looking at her, I'm pretty sure that drugs and desperation played a huge part because she really wasn't interested in anything but my cash, and what I had really wasn't much. Someone called the police, and I told them everything. I doubt they'll catch her, and since she only got my cash, it's probably a low priority for them, but it was still pretty crazy.

So that's the story. Now here are a few things to learn from it:

• DON'T LEAVE YOUR PURSE IN YOUR CART. It's common sense, I know. And I had a momentary lapse in it. NEVER doing that again. It was very stupid of me.
• You really should NOT run after someone who steals from you. I got very lucky in my situation, and I only chased after her because it was pure instinct when she started running. I also really didn't think she would get out of the store and that someone would stop her. I wasn't trying to take a stand or anything and make a statement about not being a victim. After it all happened, I just thought, that was SO stupid. You really shouldn't chase these people because you never know what could happen. She could have legitimately had a gun, or a knife, or could have punched the mess out of me. 
• In line with this, don't praise me in front of your kids. I get that what I did was pretty awesome or whatever, but don't encourage the same action in your children!
• If you see someone chasing someone through the store, yelling "STOP HER SHE HAS MY PURSE," then you should consider helping them. If you're too far away from the situation, okay, there's nothing you can do. If you're an employee, I know you're trained not to do anything, so okay. But if you are someone who is in our path, who sees us running towards you, who hears me yelling, who I make eye contact with, DO SOMETHING. Don't just stand there looking like an idiot.
  
  I could probably count about five people I looked straight in the eye and tried to get them to help me, and they didn't. Yes, I get that kind of goes against what I said above, but it is a little absurd that everyone just stood by and did nothing, especially when they had carts they could have easily pushed into her. I probably could have forgiven that if someone had even come up to me out in the parking lot to see if I was okay after the woman took off. I sat on the curb for a good few minutes, and I know people in the parking lot, in that lane, saw me. Yet not one person even came up to me to see if I was okay. They just kept walking by like nothing happened. I just think it's one of those common decency things that clearly nobody at this store had that day.
  
  I did eventually have people ask me if I was okay and if I got my purse back once I was back in the store, and they clearly were people who were not in any real position to help, but it really didn't make up for it. I get that the area is really desensitized to crime, but it's one of those things where if I had seen it happen, and I was close to it, I don't know how I could have ignored it like that.
• If (and I hope that's never) this happens to you, immediately write down everything you can think of about the person and what happened. I know that's criminology 101, and I know in this situation nothing will probably come of it, but it's always something good to remember. 

It was definitely one of the craziest, stupidest, most badass things I have ever done (almost beating skydiving). And I have a nice bruise on my arm (from what part of that, I'm not sure) to show for it. So it definitely made my weekend a little fun! I probably wouldn't be laughing about it had it turned out differently, but I most definitely got very lucky. 

Thanks to Tyler for this fun meme! 

Vote Against Project

I typically don't like to get political on my blog; I save my opinions on those topics for other mediums. My blog has mostly been about what I bake, what I craft, what I read, and random fun things I do (even though I haven't been doing too much lately...I'm working on that). However, when North Carolina's legislature decided to put an amendment on the May 8th ballot to define marriage as one between a man and a woman, I became offended, and knew I needed to speak out in some way.

I am offended that my state would be so closed minded, offended by the discrimination, and offended that my state would be okay with limiting benefits to not only same-sex couples, but heterosexual domestic partnerships and civil unions as well.

I believe that every single person, no matter what, should have equal rights and privileges. Even though I personally plan to marry a man one day, I still strongly believe there is absolutely no reason everyone should not be allowed those same rights that me and my husband will automatically receive just because we're a man and a woman, and just because we chose to marry.

I don't understand why people think allowing these rights for everyone will damage the marriage they personally have, or that it will even affect their life in any way, to the point where they fight to deny and prevent these rights by putting this amendment in our constitution. I read a great quote the other day by someone after Prop 8 in California was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that said "Giving someone else equal rights does not infringe or take away rights from you. It just makes it illegal to enforce your prejudice and hate. It's that simple."

This is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue, a fairness issue, an acceptance issue. What are we without equality, without acceptance, without openness? Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I truly believe that your opinion shouldn't affect allowing others to have basic human rights some of us are or will be lucky enough to receive without question.

Some people out there do not have the full story. They do not understand the full implications of what this constitutional amendment will do if passed. It is not just about potentially disallowing same-sex marriages (which we should allow them, and hopefully will at some point). Here is a good link to the Coalition to Protect NC Families that will give you the full scope: http://www.protectncfamilies.org/issues.

With this amendment on the ballot, a friend of mine, Curtis Brown, decided to do something about it. He gathered a team together, and began the Vote Against Project.




The project is taking them all across North Carolina as they take pictures of North Carolinians and others who are against this amendment being added to our constitution.

When it comes to a vote like this, awareness is the most important thing, especially with it being on the ballot on May 8th, and not a typical high-turnout election time like November. Most people don't tend to show up for primaries it seems, but at least it won't just be about the Republican presidential candidate anymore, now that the governor's race is wide open here. This project is for bringing awareness about the amendment as well as providing a constant reminder of when the vote will occur so everyone can go out and Vote Against.

I went to the photo shoot on January 26th at Busy Bee in downtown Raleigh with my friend Katie. The thing I noticed the most was the complete happiness in the whole room. Everyone I encountered believes wholeheartedly in what they are doing and are so happy to see so many people agree with them and be willing to put up a fight against injustices. Everyone involved in the project, from the team to the volunteers, were just plain awesome and the reason I'm sure this project will be successful.

So if you haven't already, go to the Vote Against website: www.voteagainst.org. They have multiple tour dates, so find the one closest to you. Get your picture taken. Put it as your Facebook profile picture (which I did), your Twitter picture (which I have), your Google+ photo (done and done), and if you have a blog, blog about it (you're reading it!). And remember on May 8th to vote AGAINST the amendment. You'll be presented with the choice to choose "For" or "Against", so make sure you choose AGAINST.

Flying Through The Sky

I'm not really sure who decided jumping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet was a good idea. And I'm not sure what exactly possessed me to agree with them. Perhaps it's because skydiving is something I've always thought was cool but never really took an initiative to do, mostly because of cost and because it was just never something that presented itself to me in a realistic way that I'd be able to do it. And perhaps it's because a Groupon came along, which forced me to do it because if I was paying in advance I couldn't chicken out, and who doesn't like to just save money on things?

Did I mention I have a slight fear of falling? Yea, you're probably thinking I'm an idiot for going skydiving where I am literally FALLING THROUGH THE AIR. Hurdling towards earth. Relying on a piece of fabric to prevent me from going kersplat into the ground. I'm the kind of person who if I'm on the 3rd level of the RBC Center, if I look up at the ceiling, I get a hint of vertigo. I'm totally fine with heights, it's more the falling to my death thing that gets me. But in making sure I follow through on my resolution of "being an awesomer Carolyn" I bought the Groupon with zero fear.

In the weeks leading up to this, I didn't once start freaking out and try to figure a way out of it. I just kept getting more and more excited. This is one of those things that I surprisingly never questioned what I was doing. I used the power of imagination to help keep myself calm. I imagined myself flying through the air and just enjoying the scenery. Plus, since you have to jump tandem until you've done it enough times, you don't have much responsibility or things to freak out about, like jumping at the right time, or pulling the parachute, or landing correctly. So I went into this feeling just excited, not scared.

So many people told me I was crazy or they couldn't believe I was doing this. I'm glad none of those people were at the Triangle Skydiving Center in Louisburg, which is where we were jumping from. Everyone there just acted like skydiving was something you do every day...which for most of these people, they do do it almost every day. It helped to keep me calm. It also helped having my friend Kia there to do it with me.

After filling out our paperwork, we suited up (Skydive Suit Up! Five points if you get that), put on harnesses and got briefed on how we jump out of the plane and everything that will happen leading up to it.

Skydiving Tip Number One: Try to make sure you're in the first load. You won't have to wait around for a long time and worry about things getting delayed.

It took us about 12 or so minutes to get up to altitude for jumping. It was such a perfect day. Sunny and not a cloud in the sky. As we were climbing, we had these altimeters that told us what our altitude was. Our tandem jumpers pointed out when it was 6,000 feet. That would be the height we would pull our parachutes. I clearly have no concept of altitude because I felt that we were SUPER high for 6,000 feet in the air. The whole ride up, I just focused on my breathing, deep breathes in and out, in and out. I didn't really look out the window much, just in case it would start to freak me out.

Skydiving Tip Number Two: Breathe. Focus. Meditate. Pray if you want. It'll help keep your nerves calm even though your adrenaline is pumping.

Kia went first, which was fine by me, once we hit about 14,000 feet. I didn't want to watch her jump, just in case that would also freak me out. The only moment of a slight twinge of fear that I had was when I accidentally looked up and saw the back of Kia's tandem guy go out the plane. That made it 100% real. Everything up to that moment didn't bring the realisticness of the situation, but knowing that Kia just went out the plane made me realize I was about to do the same thing.

Twelve seconds later, we were standing at the door. We rocked forward, rocked back, and then rocked forward right out the plane.

I only closed my eyes for the initial jump, but kept them open the rest of the time to make sure I didn't miss a thing. After falling a little, we turned to the right, and then spun to the left. At about 10,000 feet, I threw up the Wolfpack sign because I felt I needed to do something cool.

Yes, I do look terrified. But my screaming was more of a gut reaction because hell, you are flying through the air and all you see is the ground below you. My mouth got super dry because it was freaking cold up there, but in general I stayed pretty warm thanks to the gloves, neck warmer, and helmet.

You really don't feel like you're falling. You just feel like you are flying, because you are! There was no stomach drop feeling, no terror. I felt like a bird, or a plane, or Superman! One thing my tandem guy told me was that until you reach about 2,000 feet above the ground, you don't notice the ground below you getting bigger or closer as you're falling, and that is awesome because it enhances the feeling that you're flying because you don't notice much of a difference.

After about only 60 seconds of free falling, we hit 6,000 feet and it was time to pull the parachute. Thank goodness my guy had to do it because I was not paying enough attention to realize we were already to that point. I couldn't believe how fast it went.

Skydiving Tip Number Three: Eat beforehand, and eat something bland. That way, you don't risk getting a little nauseous when the chute gets pulled. Luckily I thought about this last night and just had some Poptarts for breakfast.

And then we spent about 5 minutes or so just floating along towards the ground. I was able to look around and see downtown Raleigh and even Durham. The whole way down I kept thinking, I can't believe I did it. I just went skydiving. Who would have thunk it?? And then we landed very smoothly and alive most importantly haha.

My adrenaline was rushing for a good hour or two afterwards because it was pretty crazy. But it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The only bummer out of the whole thing was that the battery for the camera for still photos my video guy had on his head died. But I had the video, which is totally okay because I was able to get stills from it. All I wanted was the proof I did it, in case I never do again.

As far as doing it again? I haven't decided. You'd think the fact that I was able to do it once, I could do it again, but after watching myself go out of the plane, I'm still not 100% sure I could do it again knowing what's actually going to happen. Give me a day or two and maybe I'll be able to give you a better answer on that question. Either way, you should at least do it once. It's such a thrill and it goes by so fast, you don't really realize what's going on until it's over.

I keep thinking all day about what I saw flying through the air. And every time I have to stop and say to myself, "Carolyn. Those are real memories. They're not guesses at what you're going to see. You really saw that!!"

I did edit part of Kia's and my videos together, so to see the awesomeness, here you go! It's not perfect because I didn't want to spend hours editing it, so it starts with Kia, and then kind of restarts with me, but we were on the same load. It was just easier to trim things that way. And yes, I do look slightly crazed and funny and weird, but whatevs! Doesn't bother me because I just jumped out of an airplane!

Sea Salt Brownies

Let me start out by saying that baking while listening to a playlist I made of fun, upbeat songs makes it 20x more fun. It's probably a good thing nobody was around because I'm sure if someone was here and saw me dancing around while whisking some chocolate, they might think I'm crazy. But in reality, I just was in a really good mood and having fun with it. It's been a good week so far, and the second half of it will be even better. Hooray!

So anyways, with the one night I don't have plans this week, I decided to bake some Sea Salt Brownies! I found a love of sea salt in an ice cream with it and caramel (thank you Mary and Whole Foods), and I've been seeing a few other recipes with it in them on Pinterest. I had no real reason to bake these, I just really wanted to after finding sea salt for like, $2 at Trader Joes. I'll be bringing them to some friends tomorrow (including some who are doing something for a good cause, but that's a later post!), so I won't be having brownies sitting around getting uneaten. Of course, since I am baking these a little late in the night, I won't have a picture of one brownie by itself, but maybe I'll update this post later with a picture of one. You'll at least see the full pan, which is really what everyone wants to see anyways, one big block of brownie!

On a side note, I did make a realization the other day. I barely eat anything I bake. I may have a bite or two, or a slice, or a handful of whatever it is, but very rarely do I have baked goods lying around to eat by myself. I either give them to friends or bring them to work. And then I eat Oreos or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It's not that I don't like what I bake, it's just...the reason I bake is not to eat it. I bake because it relaxes me, it's fun to be creative, plus it gets people to like me. I'm serious. I've tricked every one of you who are my friends into liking me because I bake for you. Okay. Maybe I'm kidding. But you know that's one of the things you love about me :).

Moving on to the brownies!! Since most of the time my pictures never look that great because of the lighting in my kitchen, I decided to try using the camera on my phone because it's pretty decent. So let me know your thoughts on the photos and I may keep doing them that way :)

You'll want to start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 9x9 pan with foil. You'll also want to butter or spray Baker's Joy on the foil so you can easily get the brownies off of it later.

Then on very low heat, you'll want to heat 1.5 sticks of butter (or 12 tablespoons) with about 2 ounces of semi-sweet or un-sweet chocolate that's been chopped. 2 ounces is equal to about 4 tablespoons. Chopping chocolate can be a little annoying, so I find using chocolate chips is a lot easier since they're already small!

Once this is all melted, you'll take it off the heat and then whisk in the rest of the ingredients one at a time. You don't want to dump everything in at once because it'll be harder to make sure everything is incorporated completely.

So first you'll whisk in 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.

And then 2 cups sugar.

And then 3 eggs. I had mine sitting out to get closer to room temperature, so if the chocolate was still a little warm, you wouldn't have to worry about curdling.

And then 1.5 teaspoons vanilla and 1 cup flour.

Once everything is mixed completely, and the batter looks all fudgy and delicious, you'll pour it into the pan, and then sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt on top of the brownies. Yum!

Then you'll bake them for about 35 minutes until a nice comes out clean.

After you take them out of the oven, let them cool for about an hour, and then put them into the fridge so you can cut them up. That's more for if you're eating them right then. Otherwise, you can probably just let them stay at room temperature until you're ready to cut them up and eat them!

I'll post an update later about how they tasted and possibly a picture of one brownie by itself!

A Couple Book Reviews

So I finished two books today. Yes, two. And not because I was reading them simultaneously or anything, but because it only took me seven hours to finish reading The Hunger Games. Before diving into that book, I'll tell you about the other one I finished, The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.

This book is set in 1941, mostly in a small town near Cape Cod, right before America gets involved in World War II. It focuses mostly on two different woman and their stories. There's Frankie, the "radio gal" who was in London reporting stories back to America about what she saw during the bombings; and there's Iris, the postmistress, who feels a strong connection to making sure the mail goes in and out properly.

Overall, I found the book to be pretty interesting. It was a different take from other World War II books I've read in the past, which focused primarily on either concentration camps, or America after its entered the war, and the sacrifices people made. This book was more about how America was perceiving the war before getting involved, and how everyone didn't fully grasp the severity of what was happening overseas.

Frankie tries to bring it to life, sharing stories of people she meets on trains throughout western Europe who are trying to get away to America from the ghettos. She's trying to get Americans to understand and care about what is happening. Iris tries to keep the stories far away, and just pass the mail along as if what's happening doesn't affect anyone in their small town. I was surprised that the story called The Postmistress didn't seem to have as much of a focus on the postmistress' story.

There were quite a few things that I didn't like about the book (but don't want to spoil anything if you decide to read it), it was just little instances that I didn't think were necessary for the story. I'm never a fan of when an author thinks to add in random events just to shock you in hopes that makes the book more exciting. It was also a little slow moving, and there are a lot of details about the book that I probably wouldn't be able to tell you because I did struggle a little with staying focused on the story. Overall, it was a good book, but not one of the favorites I've read over the years.

However, if you want a book that holds your attention, Holy. freaking. crap. You need to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I know that I'm a little behind the ball on this book, and that already a ton of people have probably read it, but if you haven't, DO IT. DO IT RIGHT NOW. It took me seven hours to finish because it was just that good and kept my attention. I had to force myself to put it down and eat some dinner, and I ate pretty fast so I could get back to reading it. The last time I've had a book that I couldn't put down like that was probably Harry Potter. I can't even tell you the last book I read that I just kept thinking about and going over in my head after finishing reading.

Even though so many people had talked about THG and how great it was, I still had zero clue what the story was about. I never had even looked it up for some reason. I figured I would eventually read them considering so many people talk about how great they are (side note: even though I make that statement, it does not apply to Twilight), but I just never got around to looking up what the story was. And then I saw the preview for the movie, and it gave me a small idea of what the books were about, but it still confused me, and most certainly did not give me the full idea of how awesome what I was about to read was.

I won't tell you about the story here, you can use Amazon for that, or just read the books yourself if you haven't already, but I will tell you HOLY CRAP. The intensity of the story, the way it keeps you on edge, the way you realize just how inadequate your survival skills are, makes for such a compelling story. Suzanne Collins paints such a perfect picture that I felt like I was in the arena with Katniss. I felt like I was in her mind, really understanding her conflicts when it came to what she was doing.

Part of me felt like there were hints of some of my favorites books from when I was younger in the story: The Giver and Invitation to the Game. Obviously they're nothing like The Hunger Games, but they had hints which drew me into the story more. I definitely was mad when I got to the last page and there was no more story! Luckily there are two more books in the series and I'll be reading those very soon!