Book Review 4

I have been absent for a while due to general life stuff and my break allowed for some self discovery. Here's what I discovered: I am not a blogger. Sad but true. My writing goals, passions and skills lie elsewhere. However, I wanted to officially  close my time as a blogger with one last post. A Brief Review and a goodbye to the very small handful of readers who have been kind enough to visit  this page!
 Lately I have been very into reading books that have real life applications. I wanted to mention one book specifically that I enjoyed because it was both challenging and helpful. Love Unending by Becky Thompson is all about one small but powerful secret that can transform marriages! Of course there is no magic formula but Thompson does an incredible job of guiding wives with advice and strategies for treating your relationship like it is brand new every morning! she bravely shares personal and funny anecdotes about her own marriage mishaps and includes places to reflect on your own journey through the book. I am glad I picked it out and learned some new ways to navigate marriage in a healthy way.
I suppose that's all for now. Perhaps the future will find me blogging again but possibly on a topic that keeps me glued to the computer chair! Keep reading!

Endings

I have had the chance recently to be at the library more and check out quite a few books on my list! One of these books was United as One, the conclusion to the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore.

It is really a strange feeling to come to the end of a much loved series. I have been through it many times but this time really hit me because I have been reading this series for seven years. It has spanned from my childhood through to adulthood. So many drastic changes have happened in my life since I started reading the very first novel.

Books are such a nice constant. You can open one and be right back where you were the first time you read it! The words never change even when our minds grow to give those same words new meaning. Even when they end it is as simple as opening them to rewind time and experience it all anew. Thank goodness that books never truly end!

Memories

Lately I have been watching this TV show based on a book series from a few years back. It is called Heartland and the books are by Lauren Brooke. It brought up this old memory that had me chuckling at myself all day. Back in second grade I was not much of a reader yet. However, we were required to pick out two chapter books from the school library every few weeks. I guess it was to encourage us to read. Whatever the reason, I just happened to find the Heartland books. I started out getting the first two, then every time I went to the library I would return them and grab the next two books. This continued the entire school year (there are quite a few books in the series). Yet, I never opened one or read it. I think I might have skimmed the first few pages of the first novel, but for some reason I did not read it or any of its follow-ups. I wish I had because it turns out I love the premise. It is all about horses and family. I am shocked that I spent that whole year depriving myself of some really good stories. I could have become a lover of books so much sooner if I had not been such a strange kid! Anyways, kids do some weird things and I was no exception. 

Thank goodness the following year I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Without that I might never have gotten into reading. It is scary to think of all the great stuff I missed out on that year. So now I have decided to read each and every one of those books as a gift to little 8 year old me. I am sure they will have been worth the wait!

Book Review 3

A very good afternoon to all you faithful readers, who probably come around to my blog more than I do (insert uncertain emoticon here)! Family life makes me a very busy lady. The time I am not spending with my amazing husband, I reserve for my sweet daughter, then my other great family after that. So that leaves only about ten minutes at night to read as they sleep. Moms are, after all, always the last to bed.

I was lucky to spend those ten or so minutes each evening reading The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. As a review book, I approached it with caution. It is hard to know what one will get with any book but especially since the author was new to me. I was pleasantly surprised. This novel was adventurous in a very realistic way, where nothing felt contrived or cliche. When Monsieur Perdu takes his book barge with no planning whatsoever and heads on a trip to explore his past, it gave me a thrill! I cannot do anything without planning so this definitely had me on the edge of my seat. My one criticism is that there was too much intimacy that required skimming some pages. I am not one to read peoples personal encounters. Other than that, I truly felt the characters jumped off the page. They had believable stories and goals. Bonus, there was mystery enough to make it quite the page turner.

I will leave you with a promise to get better at scheduling posts so you don't all abandon me as I learn the ropes of blogging! Farewell and HAPPY AUTUMN!

Escapes

When life decides to do what life does best and throw you for the craziest of loops it is nice to escape into a book. In books the loops only do what the author tells them to do. These past insane weeks I have found comfort in a few wonderful stories.

 Reading the Book of Esther reminded me of the truth that God will put us in the perfect place to do wonderful things. We can trust Him. And in hard times the Psalms are also a really great thing to read. They are so full of thankfulness and praises. It is the best attitude to have when things seem as if they have taken a wrong turn.

What better place to escape to when life rains on you than somewhere over the rainbow! Another book I really enjoyed was Dorothy Must Die stories volume 2. These three short stories detail life in Oz for Dorothy's companions once Dorothy returned to Kansas. They are side novels to the Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Paige. In this series another girl from Kansas must defeat Dorothy, who has returned to Oz and been corrupted by its magic! The author does such a good job of making once loved characters into bad guys you wont ever look at them the same again.

I am a sucker for a good fantasy world. One of my favorites from childhood to visit, if only in print, is the world of Septimus Heap. And now I am dragging my husband along for the journey! He and I love Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series. We concluded book one, Magyk, and are now well into the sequel, Flyte. There are many more including Physik, Queste, Siren, Darke, and Fyre. I can't wait to dive into them all. Wizards, ghosts, a Dragon Boat and the many adventures of a seventh son of a seventh son—what's not to love!?

 There are so many more worlds I could talk about! It would be great to escape to them literally (like someday visiting Harry Potter world!) And there are so many more I have yet to discover! What literary places are your favorite to escape to?

Book Reviews 2

You can tell I am sure how much I love to read by the fact that I am almost never online to write about what I read...
So now that crazy statement has sunk in and I am back to share with everyone what I have been reading lately and my oh so humble opinion on it.
First, the Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld- this is the second series I have read by Mr. Westerfeld (as much as us readers want to get all personal and call him Scott or call any author by their first name. They feel like friends after all) and it did not disappoint. In fact, despite my wifely and parental duties I managed to read these three rather large books in just a few weeks.
Now Leviathan and its companion novels, Behemoth and Goliath , are an alternate history of World War 1, with the Allies being masters of fabricated creatures and the Central Powers being masters of mechanics and technology. Beasts meet machine in this hard to put down action series, which is sprinkled with just the right amount of romance! I love the kind of story that can inspire me to do a bit of historical research and learn things I failed to remember after each school history test. I highly recommend getting all three of these books at once when buying or checking out at the library. You will be thankful to not have a drive ahead of you in order to complete the story.

The other great book that caused my blogging absence was The Fold by Peter Clines. Despite quite a lot of colorful language (the bad kind, of course) and an inappropriate scene hardly necessary to the story line, this book was brilliant! Although I am not much for science fiction, this story made me come around to the genre in a very surprising way! By adding copious amounts of mystery , Clines ensured readers like me would relish each turn of the page and rue the milliseconds it wasted to do so! I love finding new authors that can possibly even lead me to more books I love.

Hope these encourage you to visit the library or nearest book store and browse the shelves! Happy reading!

Book Reviews

"Ugh, we have so much CLUTTER" I find myself saying this about once a week! Sometimes more. I am a super big believer in not having a bunch of STUFF. So when I found this book by Karen  Kingston called Clutter Clearing With Feng Shui, I knew I had to read it.
I don't exactly see the world the same way as the author, spiritually. However, looking past that in this book I learned a lot about why people accumulate the things they have and never let them go. Surprisingly, this book along with another played into some health changes I have made, too. If you need a kick in the pants to start cleaning up your junk, this book is the perfect motivator.

In addition to this I just finished The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren. It is a book on healthy eating and healthy living that I just couldn't put down! Nicknamed the Daniel Plan after Daniel from the Bible, this book makes a diet into a "health-style." I have implemented most of the changes from this book in my home already, from cutting out processed foods and cutting down on sugar to adding in more vegetables and exercise. All in all, I was inspired and terrified by the stories of many before me who had awful preventable diseases that could be cured by simply using food as medicine.

I highly recommend these books for people looking to be inspired and whip their health and homes into shape!