It's Been Awhile...

Wow, I just kind of let this page fall to the wayside. Life gets hectic and things get forgotten.

My life has been a whirl wind of emotions since February 28th. My life has been flipped on its head and turned upside down.

I have a major problem of letting things go. I hold on and hold on until there is no life left in it at all. I'm stubborn and obstinate and I go after what I want.

I'm strong, but I get hurt.

This song is my fight song.

A Blank Page for a New Year

What an amazing quote that is! I absolutely love it. I wish I was better at keeping up with this blog. I just get busy and let it drop to the wayside at times. I haven't even really been reading lately. Any books that I have finished have all been audiobooks, which I know totally count as books, but they have made me incredibly lazy. I'm having a hard time maintaining interest in print books now.

Anyhoo, I have digressed. Today is the first day in a brand new year. I don't have plans for this year. I wish I could say it in intentional. I wish I could say that I am trying to be more laid back this year and let the dominoes fall where they may. Totally not the way I roll. I am constantly like a tightly wound up spring, ready to go flying at the slightest provocation. I make no resolutions this year. I just hope to be as happy on December 31st 2016 as I am today. Life is simple and life is good.

Poison Study 10th Anniversary Read-Along

I am so excited!

 One of my very favorite authors is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her book "Poison Study" by having a month long read along! If you've already read this book, it is a great chance to re-read it and ask all those questions that you have been wanting to ask Maria, or even Yelena or Valek too! If you haven't read this story then you should join in, it is such an exciting book, well series actually!!! Follow the link below to Maria's blog and learn more about this exciting month long event! 

 Maria V. Snyder

 

Book Review: This Is Where It Ends

I have been in a reading slump lately. I haven't really found a book that I just had to read, so, I haven't actually read a book in over a month now. I go through times like this. Sometimes I am reading voraciously. I can finish 3 books in a weekend, and then I hit the slump, like a hitter who just can't swing and connect with the ball. Hopefully though that dry spell is over.

I have started reading This Is Where It Ends. It's a really tough book to read, not because of the writers ability, but because of the content. This book deals with a school shooting. Who wants to read about that? We see enough of it in our everyday lives now, and that is sad. That being said, Marieke has done a wonderful job catching my attention with this fastball. We are immediately drawn into this story. we have alternating viewpoints. At breakneck speed we are discovering the connection between this one boy and all the narrators in this story. I have a feeling, I will finish this book tonight. I have to find out what made this boy crack. Why is Tyler shooting up his school. I've already shed a few tears in this book, and I know I will shed more.

This book is set for release in January 2016. Look for it soon peeps.

An open letter to the world...

My heart is broken today. My heart has been shattered by the passing of the world I thought I knew. I thought I lived in a safe small community, but now I know that was a lie, because people on social media say it's so. The media too, tells me this is a lie. I don't live in a small and safe community, but in a much larger place. A place where decency and respect have fallen to the wayside. A world where people no longer take responsibility for their actions. A world where people think that their lot in life was cast on them by other people.

I grieve for Waller County. I grieve for its citizens. I grieve for the peace and quite that we once knew, but now has been shattered. I grieve for the family who lost a daughter, sister, niece and more. I grieve for the people who lost their friend. Suicide is a very ugly side of life. Never is it pretty. It always leaves people with too many unanswered questions. Suicide never hurts the dead, it only hurts those left behind in its wake.

My heart aches for the people who are so blinded by their anger and hate that they are no longer able to see the good around them. My heart cries out to those that have lost their way in life. My heart wants your heart to know that hate is not the answer. I know that these last pleas will fall on many deaf ears, be scoffed at and ridiculed. That's ok though, because just as you use your voice for hate, I will use mine to tell you that it's not too late to find your way back.


I leave you with one simple message: You matter, I matter, He matters, she matters-WE ALL MATTER.

How Do You Like To Read???

How do you like to read? Do you read sitting up, laying down or something else?

Do you read multiple books at one time or stick with just one?

Do you like e-readers, physical books, audio books or a mix?

That's quite a few questions! You would think I was conducting a survey. If you haven't gleamed it yet from my blog maybe now you'll see that I really like to read! Currently I find myself in an odd situation for me. Normally I'm only reading 1 book at a time. Well I guess that's a lie. In the last year I have started listening to audiobooks. In the past I couldn't pay attention long enough to gain interest in the audio. My mind was always flitting to one thing or another and then I would get lost. I finally decided to listen to a book I had already read, Innocent Blood by James Rollins. From that point on I was hooked. Now when I am in the car by myself I usually have a audiobook playing.

As usual, I have digressed from the original point of this blog...

I find myself right now with 4 books, 3 different formats, 2 genres and 1 me.

Here's what I got going on: While in the car I'm listening to the Mindy Kaling book "Is Everone Hanging Out Without Me?". When I'm at work I have "The Program" by Suzanne Young on my desk. While at home during the daylight hours I'm reading "Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard. Then to top it all off at night after the lights go out I'm reading "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken in bed on my Nook. I'm not sure I've ever read 4 books at one time. Maybe it's because none have grabbed my undivided attention, YET! I have high hopes for the three YA novels.

What are you currently reading right now? Have you read any of these four books? Let me know in the comments below.

...and just like that she's back!

I totally disappeared on you for a while! This summer was totally crazy. We had the best summer reading attendance ever and of course that made me very, very, very busy. Hopefully though, all will begin to take on a slower pace now. School starts in just a smidge over three weeks. That will bring with it a whole new round of busy, but at a slightly slower, less manic pace.

With the school year also comes the hope of cooler weather and FOOTBALL! I freaking love football. I am so excited to meet back up with my Fantasy League for our annual draft day. We seriously have the best time. I may never live down selecting Hoyer in the first round, but when I get ribbed with that I just show that I came in 4th last year and beat out 8 other people! I'm really hoping to bring home a first place finish this year. I was dead last the first year, 2nd the the second year and 4th last year. Look out STILL CONFUSED LEAGUE, I'm coming for you!

I did get a chance to review a few picture books this past week and I found two that are incredible and that I can't wait to purchase for my library.

The first one was called SNAP!  This was a delightful book full of water color drawings. I was mesmerized by how the author took something as seemingly as simple as a crayon breaking and come up with an entire story! I know my kids want to throw away crayons as soon as they break. This child though found a whole world of things to do with broken crayons. It was quite lovely and I am so very excited to add this to a storytime in the near future! This book is set for publication on September 22nd. I hope you will fall in love with it as much as I have.

The other book was called The Night Children. The illustrations in this book are very reminiscent of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are". Usually the illustrations compliment the text, but this was really the other way around. The illustrations were quite simply amazing! I loved them so much. They stole the show in this picture book. This book is set for publication on August 18th.

I hope that you will love these two titles as much as I did. I reviewed a few other picture books this week, but they weren't anywhere near as amazing as these two.

Did you like today's blog? Have any comments or questions? Let me know in the comments section below! Have a wonderful day