Review: Fake It Till You Break It

Goodreads Synopsis: Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They’ve endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can’t stand to be in the same room together. After Mia’s mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they’ve have had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time—and then they’ll be free.

The only problem is, maybe Jake and Mia don’t hate each other as much as they once thought...

My Review: Another intriguing premise... that unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations. This book was pretty light and fluffy, but mainly revolved around the protagonists' inability to express their feelings for each other. Which would be fine as a sub-conflict, but as the main problem of the entire story, it didn't get me excited. I know plenty of YA books that have explored the complexities of relationships and added fresh takes on tropes, but this one didn't. I also thought the plot line with Jake's brother was pretty unoriginal: girl fixes guy's relationships -> guy gets mad -> we all know how it ends. 

Ultimately, this novel is great as a light and fluffy read. I just wish the novel showed some more creativity with its plotline, so I rate it 3 stars.

DECA Crash Course Week 2: Idea Generation

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my DECA Crash Course. Today I'll be going over a really, really important aspect of creating your projects, idea generation.

Week 2: Idea Generation

Idea generation means different things for different events, but what I basically mean is, which type of business should you choose to create/research/develop a plan for, and does it even matter if the report is solid and well-written?

The short answer: Yes, the type of business you choose matters a lot. If you choose the wrong business, even a solid plan might not get you far. You should choose a business that you're passionate about but that's also realistic to compete with.

My advice is tailored toward entrepreneurship events because I've competed in ESB and EIB for the past three years. However, based on what I've seen from my friends' experiences, the following is applicable across pretty much every event. 

Here are the three main details you should keep in mind when choosing a business to pursue or when designing your own business:

• How judges of all backgrounds will react to your idea. Would male and female judges be equally interested in your business? Would older judges be more dismissive of your idea? Consider using a business that everyone can relate to, because you don't want to walk into the room with a disadvantage to begin with.
• If the business has an aspect of social good associated with it. People love to hear about how you're helping other people. While the main goal of your project should be to make the business money, choosing a business that tries to make change in the world is a bonus. This can work in many ways: perhaps the business treats their employees especially well, donates a percentage of their profits to charitable organizations, or had strong environmental impact last year. If you're designing your own business, try to include a small humanitarian aspect.
• How unique your business is compared to other competitors' ideas. This one is very tricky, because depending on your judge, your idea may or may not be well received. Don't go out of your way to be different (after all, there may be a reason why your idea hasn't been done before), but if you do come up with a novel business idea, then by all means, use it in your report! If you find a quirky business, it'll only help the judge stay engaged with your report and presentation. But if you find yourself in a place where all your business ideas have been taken, it just means that you're on the right track, and that whatever you've been coming up with is a product people need! Don't be discouraged, and just keep looking.

I hope this advice helps you decide what type of businesses to pursue for your projects this year. What types of businesses have you guys already competed with for your written events? Tell me below!

Have any additional questions? Let me know in the comments below or fill out this form here! This series is for all of you, so don't be afraid to ask me questions.

Thanks for reading, see you next week!

Also, follow me on Bloglovin and IG to support quality content ;). I also realized that many people don't have a Bloglovin account, so I added that blue button at the bottom to follow instead. I really appreciate your support 🥰.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Dream Bookish Party

Hostess

Hey everyone! I promise I will be adding more content besides TTTs (these topics are so exciting I can't stop haha). But today I'm back with a topic I've actually done as a post here: 10 things I'd bring my dream bookish party! I've decided to deviate off this post, so it's time for Tea Party 2.0!

Guests:

• Shahrzad from The Wrath and the Dawn
• Clara Shin from The Way You Make Me Feel 
• Dimple from When Dimple Met Rishi
• I didn't really enjoy the book, but I liked Dimple's character!
• Audrey Rose from Stalking Jack the Ripper
• Samantha Lee from Under A Painted Sky
• Gigi from Smart Girls Get What They Want
• Everyone from Harry Potter. Because it's my party and I do what I want, including reviving Dumbledore because :(.

        

Food:

• My favorite food at the moment seems to be... noodles? So maybe Pad Thai and some Asian salads? 
• Dessert: Raindrop cakes. They're so beautiful; I simply cannot stand to be an uncoordinated piece of cheese around them. So I'll eat them instead.

Source

Activities:

• Light mingling. No dancing, I don't think anyone on the list would approve of that.
• Discussing our favorite books! (Actually this sounds like a good post idea... maybe you'll be seeing that soon!)

Miscellaneous:

• Music: I'd introduce everyone to tunes of the 21st century: a mix of Dimple's Bollywood playlist, and some of my favorite pop songs! Ooh and I'm sure Samantha would love to play some violin :).

So that's it, my perfect (second) bookish tea party. What does your party look like? Let me know below!

DECA Crash Course Week 1: Choosing Your Written Event

Hey everyone, welcome to the first post in my series, a DECA 20 week crash course that will guide you through all the wonderful madness, from choosing an event to presenting your winning report to a judge! I've designed this series so I can share my tips from (as of next year) 4 years of experience (including things I learned from being an ICDC finalist) with all of you, so feel free to ask questions and give feedback through these next several weeks. Today, I'll be starting off with the basics: deciding what event is right for you!

Week 1: Choosing an event.

When I was faced with the task of deciding between 20+ events freshman year, I was pretty overwhelmed! But taking the time to look through each event's guidelines, pros, and cons, I was able to find the perfect event for myself, and you can, too! It's really important to find an event that you can thrive in, so please don't skip out on this very important step.

So what's the difference between all the written events that DECA offers?

There are several popular events, namely:

• Project Management (PMBS, PMCD, PMCA, PMCG, PMFL, PMCG, PMSP)
• Business Operations Research (BOR, BMOR, FOR, HTOR, SEOR)
• Entrepreneurship (EIP, ESB, EIB, IBP, EBG, EFB)
• Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMCE, IMCP, IMCS)

...and here's my two cents on them!

• Choose project management events if you've made (or plan to make) real change in your community. These events require you to design a project and involve your chapter/members of your community and raise awareness about the field of business. Keep in mind that the first conference of the year (at least where I'm from) is in December, so you must have time to execute your project and write your report until then. 
• Tip: each chapter event can only be done by 1 team per chapter, meaning there's less competition for this event. 
• Choose research events if you'd like to learn the inner workings of an existing business in your community and develop a plan for them based on the assigned topic of the year. You do not need to go out an execute these plans, but they should be developed so well that you could do so if needed. 
• Choose entrepreneurship events if you'd like to develop a business proposal. Have you ever wanted to start a tea shop? An online roti-delivery service? These are the events for you! You'll create a proposal for creating a business from the ground-up, and learn numerous skills, from defining your market to crunching your financials.
•  Tip: These events have pretty high competition, but don't let this deter you! Hard work and passion for your project will get you where you need to be.
• Integrated Marketing Campaign events are where all that time spent on social media comes in handy, for the prompt is to develop promotional plans! If you're a creative person and want to come up with fun ways for businesses to get their names out, then these events are perfect for you! Get inspiration off Instagram and hone your inner funky cat for these events!

Some other factors to think about...

• The competition. Don't let this aspect drive you, because I guarantee that if you choose an event simply for the lack of the competition, it will be hard to feel motivated. Choose an event that you're comfortable in and enjoy, and your passion will show!
• The testing component. Some written events have a test, so if testing is your strength, consider these events! Even if you're weaker at testing, there are so many resources online, so study, study, study :).
• Report length. I honestly prefer events with longer reports because there's just so much content to put on the page once you get started. Though 20 pages may seem like a lot, remember that you're researching/developing an entire business, so there's already a lot to cover. However, if you are better at graphic design and can make your report look visually appealing within a limited space, you might consider a shorter report.
• Team or solo. This isn't really a consideration for choosing an event, but make sure that whichever event you end up pursuing, you have a great team to work with. Finding the perfect partner(s) is essential; choose people you're comfortable being around, but you can also be honest with. Efficiency is important, and even if you don't partner with your friends, you'll still be working with them at workshops and at conferences, so you definitely won't miss out on anything! Don't forget, you can still do these events solo and have a great experience.

This is the general overview of each event type; go ahead and read specific guidelines if you want to learn more about each individual event.

Also, don't be afraid to change your event from year-to-year; DECA's all about trying new things! Ultimately, try to learn as much as you can, and the experience will be incredible.

Now, before I sign off, I want to leave you guys with a couple of fun resources in case you're still deciding which event to pick:

• A Flowchart by DECA Inc. (includes written, roleplay, and online events)
• An Interactive quiz by DECA Ontario
• A DECA Direct Article + Prezi
• A Flowchart on DECA Direct

What's your opinion about choosing events in DECA? Tell me in the comments below! And if you have anything you'd like me to cover in upcoming posts (or would just like to say hello), please let me know here! This series is for all of you, so don't be afraid to ask me questions.

Thanks for reading, see you next week!

My Secret Surprise...

Hey everyone! Last post I mentioned that I had a surprise planned, so here it is! I'm starting a 20-week-long Crash Course to DECA here on my blog :). Each week, I'll be sharing my tips, from choosing your event to writing your report to presenting to your judge! As a (as of next year) 4-year DECA member, ICDC finalist for EIB in my sophomore year, and current VP of Competitions for our school, I have a lot of experience to share! It is my hope that a lot of you will learn from this series, and benefit from my insight into the competition.

I've created most of the content, but before I begin, I'd like to hear any questions you may have! Feel free to request certain topics and ask me (pretty much ;) ) anything here. This series is for all of you, so take the most out of it!

I know it's quite early to start preparing for next year, but I think you'll be amazed by what a little extra planning can do for you!

See you back next week! Thanks for reading :).