Divergent Week!

Hey, guys! If you didn't know, I'm participating in an event called Divergent Week! It's being hosted by the lovely Cat from Through A Cat's Eyes and Rachel from Booktastic Reviews. When we "initiates" decided to join in, we took an initiation test at the beginning of the week consisiting of a handful of questions and scenarios so we could be accurately sorted into our proper factions. I the choosing ceremony, I got Candor! (Like, duh. Are you shocked? I hope not.) The point of this week is to amp up the Divergent hype leading up to the UK release of the movie (I think?). And, even though I'm American, I thought this was an adorable idea and a great opportunity to show off my Candor-ness because let's be honest.. In real life, Candor isn't a faction a lot of people claim to belong to.

Now, what will be happening this week? Well, there will be "initiation tests" that we initiates can participate in in order to earn points for our faction so that we can win. Obviously Candor's going to win since we're clearly the most kick ass faction. However, instead of relying solely on our awesomeness to win, I figured I should participate in as many challenges/tasks as I can so I can help my faction out. This is going to be the only Divergent Week post that I make, so it may be a little bit long. I'll be posting all of my completed challenges below as proof so we can rack up those points. Sound good? I'm sorry.. I'm being really long winded. Let's do this thing.

WHY DO YOU LOVE DIVERGENT?

Divergent basically marks the start of my getting back into reading. I do this thing where I go through phases. For a few weeks I might really want to be productive and push my life forward by trying to get a job or studying really hard. Then, that'll die down and the next few weeks I'll be really into makeup and waste a ton of money on new lipsticks. The next week, I might be totally into video games and constantly talking about Pokemon. And, then for the next few weeks I'd spend tons of time at the library and book store, blowing my money on endless amounts of books that I may or may not ever read. And then, it all repeats. Why do I do this? I'm not sure. It might just be a weird mental thing with me. But, the point is that all of these phases are important parts of my personality. I realized when I read Divergent how much I really loved reading. And, I vowed to myself that I wouldn't let that phase end. Sure, I might have reading slumps here and there, but when I read Divergent a little over a year ago, I decided to propel myself into reading and to continue picking up different books because it's something I love.

Now, not only do I love Divergent because it was a gateway book for me that enriched my life for the better, but for many other reasons as well. I never read The Hunger Games series. Tons of people urged me to read it, but I had an endless list of excuses as to why I shouldn't read it or wasn't interested. Therefore, Divergent was essentially my first experience with this heavier, life-or-death Dystopian trend that's been running rampant in YA lately. This book introduced me to a new genre that I actually really enjoyed. In addition to that, I adored the characters and felt deeply connected to each and every one of them. Divergent is the type of book where it's hard to tell whether it's plot driven or character driven. Why? Because both aspects of the book are just so fantastic. Looking back, reading Divergent did a lot of great things for me and for my life. And, even though I might not be having the best time struggling through the rest of the series, I couldn't be happier that I made the decision to pick it up in the first place.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE MOVIE?

Let me start by stating that I do live in America. I'm that sneaky American who joined this event. Yes, the movie is out. No, I have not seen it yet. Yes, I suck for this.

Personally, it's a little bit difficult for me to pin point exactly what I'm excited about in a book to movie adaptation regardless of the book. Initially, I might just say I'm excited! In general I am super excited. I'm excited about the fact that a book I really enjoyed is becoming a movie. This is immensely exciting. But, more specifically, I think I'm excited to see the scenes come to life before my eyes. And, I think that's what a lot of people look forward to. That's why people film trailer reaction videos, because this book they love has become a visual thing and that, simply put, is exciting. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing how all the characters are portrayed and how well the actors do in comparison to how I pictured the characters in the book. I'm specifically looking forward to Kate Winselt as Jeanine. GUH! I just love Kate Winslet, okay? And, finally I'm excited for the sets. Divergent is a very visual book and the world building is very descriptive. I can't wait to see how the set designers did with all that awesomeness.

BUTTON YO' BLOG UP:

I did this before we were even told to and now I get 10 points for it! On the right side of my blog you'll see a Divergent Week button and a Candor button. Bang, bang. 10 points in the bag like that.

CANDOR: DO A COMPLETELY HONEST BOOK REVIEW

This task is super simple and easy for me considering the fact that every book review I post here on my blog is 100% honest! This week specifically I posted my review for The Archived by Victoria Schwab. I LOVED this book and you can read my full review right HERE. 10 more points for Candor!

CANDOR: RECOMMEND A BOOK TO A FRIEND THAT YOU HONESTLY THINK THEY'LL LOVE

So, I'm really unsure how to "prove" this. My best, best friend is someone I talk to all the time. I recommend books to her regularly as she does for me. So, just trust me. I promise I did this. Plus, hey; Candor, truthful, it just works. For this challenge, I told her about Legend by Marie Lu. What's funny is that I've personally not ever read this book. However, I know a lot about it and I know it's a lot like The Hunger Games and Divergent. I know she loves those types of books so I'm sure she'll love this series as well. 10 points, boom.

CANDOR: SPEND A DAY TELLING ABSOLUTELY NO LIES

Again, I'm not sure how to "prove" this so I suppose I'll just talk about it and you can just trust me. Being that I really am an explicitly honest person, I don't lie very often to begin with. I'm sure I've gone lots of days telling absolutely no lies and the day I'm writing this is no different. So, that's an easy 10 more points!

CANDOR: MAKE A CANDOR POSTER

For this task, I'm going to be using a page out of my Wreck This Journal. I'm doing this because A. I think it'll be a fun thing to do in there, 2. It'll be cool to look back and remember this event, 3. I love Divergent enough to draw it in my Wreck This Journal and 4. I sometimes do a feature here on my blog called Wreck It Wednesdays! *shameless plug* Here's a picture of my Candor page/poster in my journal. 10 points to Candor and another page in the journal down for me.

CANDOR: LEAVE A NOTE IN A PUBLIC COPY OF DIVERGENT SAYING WHY YOU LOVE CANDOR

I went to Barnes & Noble the other day with a note hidden in my pocket. I was there to buy books anyway, so I headed to the YA section. (If you were wondering, I bought Love Letters To The Dead and Nil.) I couldn't get a very good picture with people around so I stealthily took this one, I hope it will suffice and get me those 10 points.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! I JUST SCORED A SOLID 110 POINTS FOR CANDOR! DON'T FORGET TO CHECK THE HOSTS BLOGS TO FIND OUT WHO WINS! AND, GO SEE DIVERGENT TODAY!!