Between Here and Forever {A Review}

Title: Between Here and Forever

Author: Elizabeth Scott

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Published: 2011

Rating: 2 stars

THE SCOOP

Abby accepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.

Until the accident.

Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her.

She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen.

Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could...


Add To GoodReads

Geez... and I thought I had self-esteem issues. This girl... man. Poor Abby. I wanted to snuggle and hug her and tell her she's perfect in her own way and strangle her at the same time. Her incessant "woe is me" attitude seriously started to wear on me. And really... she is totally not perceptive at all. I feel I'm a pretty unobservant person and that I don't read people all that well, but c'mon.

So that might've been my biggest issue with the book. Which is bad since she is the main character and everything is from her point of view. But I, as a reader, knew more than she did. I picked up on the 'clues' long before she did. I saw everything she didn't. It seemed everyone had a little bit of the 'woe is me' attitude going on tho. Except for Claire. Claire was pretty awesome. She knew who she was and had no problems with how people saw her. But everyone else? They were so intent on caring about and only seeing what they thought everyone else saw. A LOT of assuming was going on, which was quite annoying.


I think the premise of the story was really good. It hooked me and I wanted to know how it all went down and turned out. And although there was some growth in Abby, I felt it took a lot of hitting her over the head with things to knock her out of herself.


Overall not a bad read. I don't know that I would *highly* recommend it to anyone and everyone, but if someone is looking for a slightly sad, self-discovery type book, then I might suggest it. :)

Raven Cycle Art

When it comes to drawing, or pretty much possessing any imaginative artistic ability, I typically scoff and say "Uh, no. I can't do that." BUT... esteemed Maggie Stiefvater has decided to hold an art contest. And the prize? A set of her major arcana tarot cards that she herself created for her series, The Raven Cycle. I knew about the cards from her Blue Lily, Lily Blue blog tour, and I entered those contests (which required no artistic ability) to no avail. These cards are oh-so-gorgeous. So when I saw her post yesterday about the new giveaway, in which she and her sister will judge works of art created based on the Raven Cycle, I thought "Uh, maybe. Maybe I'll give it a shot. I mean, if I put some effort into it, and patience (lots and lots of patience), maybe I can work something out worth entering."

 As you can see, my family is a Maggie Stiefvater fan... ;)  These are older, I took them when TRB first came out, but I just had to add them on here for fun. :)

So I started thinking about the Raven Cycle. The scenes that still stand out to me. The characters and their relationships with one another. There's Cabeswater, the dreaming tree, the Pig, Chainsaw, Noah, Blue/Gansey, Ronan/Gansey, Ronan/Blue, Monmouth Manufacturing, cars, Kavinsky (who, despite my strong dislike of and nearly feeling happy for his demise, still stands strong in my mind... I mean, he *did* help Ronan...sort of...), Maura, Persephone, Calla, the Gray Man... man I could go on for the rest of the month probably. This obsession may not be healthy...

I started to just draw. At first I was stuck on the dreaming tree. As you can see... yeah. Not my finest. Or hopefully not my finest. I can't seem to translate to paper what I see in my mind. Obviously I can draw in the most basic sense. I can hold a pencil and make marks on paper, but creating something that looks like something? Not my forte. As my friends Mindy and Adrienne pointed out, it looks like a pair of pants... HAHAHA

Then I thought of Blue/Gansey, and their 'moment' by the Pig... *sigh*... ♥. I wanted to attempt to recreate that. Caveats? 1 - I can't really draw faces. 2 - Even if I can get the faces, how do I get that emotion to go with it? So I worked on the former first. Google helps. "How to draw faces." I mean, yeah yeah yeah, I work in a library and could just go pull a book off the shelf, but I'm also sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER. ;)  I got a face. Sort of. I mean, obviously it's a face. Or supposed to be. But then I attempted to add hair. And glasses. Because scholarly Gansey. Yes. lol  So scrap that. And my friend Mindy kindly informed me that if I were drawing glasses in profile form that you wouldn't see the entire lens. Uh... duh? Whoops. ;)

Moved on to ravens in general. Not too bad of a bird. But what to go with it? Does a simple bird count as a 'piece of art'? What if I draw more than one? One in motion, one not?  And I added 'shine' with blue hues. Hmm... So far they are the best of the three, at least.

Oooh... but the Pig... I mean, who can think of the Raven Cycle without thinking, at least passively, of Gansey's beloved? Not me, for one. But could I draw a car? You decide, I guess. (Although I can see lots of issues with it, but that's alright...) I did have a model. He (yes, he... not she) sat very still for me. I offered this model to Maggie once via Twitter, when her Loki kept breaking down. But, alas, it's never made its way out of my possession - only from my house to work, from where I was truly going to mail it to her (really, I was...).

So there you have my attempts at art. Despite them not amounting to anything remotely museum worthy, I think they may earn a spot with my kids' art in our kitchen. At least the ravens and the car. The others? File 13, probably. ;)

Anyway. Happy Friday! :)

Happy Friday

Happy Friday, y'all!

What've you been reading? I recently finished Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Very interesting concept and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it continues. I'm hoping I enjoy the rest of the series as much. I just got Unwholly in today at work (library), so I'll try and start it this weekend. And, I've discovered recently that I kind of enjoy audio books, because I can listen while I'm working (at work or home). But I've only listened to re-reads, not anything new. I'm not sure my focus, or lack thereof, can handle something I'm not at all familiar with.

Been watching anything good, lately? I'm still quite obsessed with Supernatural. So much so I was nervous to start the season so I waited until it was five weeks in and then binge-watched it. *whew* Still loving The Blacklist, too, and Criminal Minds, NCIS, Chicago PD... my dvr is crazy busy, per usual. My reading typically slows down a bit in the fall due to that, but my laundry gets caught up more because I can fold and watch at the same time.

And... ONE WEEK UNTIL MOCKINGJAY (PART 1) COMES OUT!!!!!!!

Blue Lily, Lily Blue {An e-ARC Review}

Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Source: NetGalley
Format: eArc
Rating: 5 stars

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

 

I am SO grateful that NetGalley exists and that Scholastic was awesome enough to grant me access to an e-arc of this. For real, I was SO excited that I was rereading  The Raven Boys & The Dream Thieves. For the third and second time, respectively. I love this series... I feel so connected to these characters, which is a feat considering I have VERY little in common with any of them. Seriously.

So, where to begin. First, if you haven't read TRB or TDT, obviously I highly recommend doing so. *If* for some odd, crazy reason you don't want to and you want to start BLLB, then go to Recaptains to read Maggie's recaps of her own stories (TRB & TDT).

Maggie Stiefvater creates a realistic world with impossible scenarios. But nothing is impossible. But it's still believable, which is really an accomplished feat, let's be honest. I've loved watching (well, reading) this story as it unfolds and seeing how the characters develop, change, and grow as it goes along.

I'm not going to say ANYTHING about ANYTHING, so as not to spoil it for ANYONE. Just know that you get more of your Raven Boys, more Blue, more of 300 Fox Way, more Mr. Gray, more... EVERYTHING. It's interesting how it mimics real life. No matter what happens - death, disappearance, changes - life goes on. So does this story. At the end of TDT Maura vanishes. But, true to reality, life for everyone goes on. The mundane, the good, the bad; no matter how irrelevant it seems in light of everything that is and has happened, life continues as the Earth makes its way around the sun.

Again, no spoilers, so this is very NON-specific... regarding every little thing. I want to go on and on about details, specifics, what happens to people, to Cabeswater... the twists Maggie throws in. Oh! But, I won't. I hate spoilers, as do most people. And at the risk of saying something that SOMEONE views as one, I'll just play it safe and not mention a single solitary thing. :)

Super excited for this baby to be on my shelf next to the first two. It's on pre-order, so it will come to my house in the next monthish. Woo-hoo!

The Raven Cycle Re-Readathon {AKA: My Apparent Obsession}

So I totally wanted to participate in this (re)Read-a-thon. Which, I guess, technically... I did. I just already finished BOTH books. Which, given my history of reading this past year, is really quite shocking that I ALREADY finished them. I do love my Raven Boys, tho, so being around them, and Blue... man. I missed them. I did not, however, miss Kavinsky.

I mostly listened to them this time around. I had a lot of stuff to do, stuff that didn't require a lot of thought (cleaning, putting crafts together, etc). This way, I could get reading in *and* work at the same time. I don't typically do audio books, as I tend to lose focus quite easily. But, apparently, using them to REread something is a go for me. :)

While I enjoyed listening to Will Patton read them, there was only one thing that bugged me. Kavinsky. Now I realize that Kavinsky is NOT a likeable character, and I didn't like him the first go around either. But the voice that Mr. Patton gave him... oh, man, it made my skin crawl. So it was either very effective, or poorly done. I'm going to say effective. But... yeah.

Basically I feel the same about the series as I did when I started it the first time. I LOVE IT. I've now read The Raven Boys three times. (The first time, the second time when The Dream Thieves was about to come out, and, well, now). And I've read The Dream Thieves twice. There were a lot of things that I had forgotten. Nothing major major, just a few details. Or like the how something happened. For instance, I knew there was a death, but I couldn't remember HOW. And then, when I was reading, I was like "DUH".

Anywho. I'm really excited because NetGalley is awesome. Well, I guess it would Scholastic moreso than NetGalley, since they are the ones who did the actual approving of me to read BLLB early. Since I finished The Dream Thieves yesterday morning, I started BLLB last nite. I didn't get all that far, but I'm super excited. I've already pre-ordered (I did that the moment it was announced that it was possible), and I only torture myself more by reading it early since then I'll have to wait even longer to read the fourth... but, I'm a glutton for punishment. ;)

Don't these look amazing next to one another? 

Happy reading,
B

The Raven Cycle (re)Readathon

With the release of Blue Lily, Lily Blue approaching, I've decided to participate in a (re)readathon for TRB & TDT. Wee-hee! Here's the post from Readers in Wonderland...  Who is hosting with Books of Amber, who has her own post on it here...

 

From them:

Reading Schedule

For this post I’ll only be sharing The Raven Boys schedule since that’s what we’re reading this month. The Dream Thieves schedule will be revealed September 28th (or you can go take a peek here)

They have lots of fun things going along with this, including a Q&A with Maggie herself (because she is awesomesauce) and some awesome giveaways. Be sure to check it out if you're interested... I'm not going to re-post everything they did... not because I don't care, but because I'm lazy... ;) 

Smiles,
B

Blue Lily, Lily Blue {Waiting on Wednesday}

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that highlights upcoming releases we're excited about.

There are, as you know, books coming out left and right that we all want to read. One I am looking most forward to is...



I can't express my excitement enough. The moment she tweeted it was available for pre-order... this was me:



I went and pre-ordered immediately. I miss Blue and the boys. I'm excited to see what they're up to next, what's going on in their lives. :)

What are you looking forward to?

Smiles,
B

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor {A Review}

Title: Dreams of Gods & Monsters
Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date: April 2014
Source: Own
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4 stars

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

  

So during my hiatus from here, I still updated Goodreads as I read. Here's what I wrote there:

While overall I really love this story, this writing, I struggled with this one. It took a while to get into and I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I had before. I could attribute that to the fact that there was such a long time between the reading of the second one and the reading of this one. Or my lack of big chunks of time to dive into the novel. The many different pieces of the story - all the details, the different races/species/etc, the characters, the worlds, the connections to be made... I sort of wished I had taken notes from the start so I could remember it all. All that being said, though, it still adds up to me not loving this as much. I definitely intend to reread this entire series, back to back, and see if that makes a difference. I really think it would. *And*, I imagine I would see so many things I missed before. It's a very richly told story... it's not too detailed by any means, but there's SO much going on and SO much to keep track of.

I definitely look forward to reading lots more by Laini Taylor.

All that definitely still stands. Taylor's storytelling abilities are stellar and definitely love her writing. There was just so much to this story that I wish I had waited until all three were out before reading them, so I didn't have a huge gap between the second and the third. But I'm more of an instant gratification person. I'm not good at the waiting thing if I want it now. I definitely wouldn't have gotten the factory in Willy Wonka... I would've gone down the bad egg chute. Or the juicing room.

Anyway.

Have you read the series? Did you enjoy it?

Smiles,
B

Robert Frost {A Memorable Monday Post}

Memorable Monday is a meme hosted by Escape in a Good Book. I'm excited to join in on this one because I love quotes, which was the driving force behind the creation of Memorable Mondays. I thank the ladies at Escape in a Good Book.

So... how do you participate? It's simple ~

1) Share a quote that has captured your interest lately in a Memorable Monday post on your blog.

2) Come back here and leave the link to your post in the comment box below. If you don't have a blog, I'd still love to hear read your quote. Leave it in the comment box instead of a link to a non-existent blog. :)

3) Visit other participants if you have time. It's always nice to have visitors. There's no overstaying your welcome this way, and they don't have to offer the obligatory drinks. Or clean.

4) If you tweet your posts, feel free to use the hashtag #MemorableMonday.

This week's choice(s):

"The rain to the wind said,
you push and I'll pelt.
They so smote the flower bed
that the flowers actually knelt.
They lay lodged, 
though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt."

~Robert Frost 

One of my all time favorites.  

Landline {A Review}

Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Series: No
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: July 2014
Source: Own
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5 stars

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

 


Another that I read during my unintentional blogging hiatus. Here's what I wrote on Goodreads:

A-freaking-mazing.

It's no secret that I love Rainbow Rowell. I'll recommend her to nearly anyone. I love her writing style, her characters... everything seems so real. Even when I've never experienced it myself, it feels like I am. Right then. And oftentimes, I've found myself wondering if she has somehow stalked me, gotten into my head, and made my thoughts appear in her books. I realize that's probably not in the realm of possibilities, but still. Sometimes... I wonder.

So we meet Georgie. We meet Neal. We meet Seth. It goes back and forth, from the past to present, and we get glimpses into the lives of these characters, to how they got from there to here. And it felt so seamless. Rowell does an excellent job of providing back story without taking you out of the current story.

I was barely halfway through it when I got sad that it would end and I would be forced to wait for another book to be published by Rowell. I, for one, cannot wait to see what she does next.

Yeah. I'm a Rainbow Rowell fan, for sure. :)  I definitely feel like her writing has come into its own and I'm super excited to see how it continues to evolve.

Have you read this one? Did you like it?

Smiles,
B

How Do I Love Thee... ???

My daughter is two and a half. Can you guess what she's into? Yep... princesses. Which I don't mind as much as I thought I would. I guess I am girlier than I let myself believe. ;)

I went to look for her one day and found her here, reading "Ariel", aka, The Little Mermaid. :)

So we've been reading a *lot* of fairytales. Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast... and watching some movies, as well (can anyone say Frozen?). But these stories have really got me thinking about my own taste in stories and the books I read. Specifically the love/romance part of stories.

Who doesn't like a good romance in a story? But how many times have we (in general) complained about the lack of buildup, the insta-love? As long as it feels real, is well done, I'm typically okay with it. But so many times, it's not. It's just there and it doesn't make sense. BUT... what do these fairytales have in common?



INSTA-LOVE! Seriously. Snow White's prince saw her at a well and fell in love, and when he kissed her to wake her up - wala! - she's in love with him. Princess Aurora/Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty met Prince Philip in the woods and danced with him, falling in love without even knowing his name. Cinderella danced with the prince at the ball and they fell in love... apparently they never even spoke while dancing, since he didn't know her name, where she lived, or anything about her other than she wore glass slippers. And Jasmine? She falls REALLY quickly for a guy on a magic carpet. I gotta hand it to Belle, though... she, at least, took some time to fall for the Beast.

For real, though. These love-at-first-sight stories have been around for longer than any of us. It's just all about how well (or not) they're done. Apparently, given the time test, some of these can last forever. I just hope that my daughter grows up to understand that that's not typically how love works (not saying it can't happen, just that it's rarer than stories let on...)... and that it's not ALWAYS happily ever after, that it takes work, which equals LOTS of frustration along the way to happily ever after. It's a little more like this ~

We Were Liars {A Review}

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: May 2014
Source: Own
Format: Hardcover
Rating: Five Stars

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

  

So I read this when I inadvertently took a break from blogging. And I loved it. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all, tho. I closed the book, thinking, "How the hell did I miss it?" Looking back I see it. I see it all. But it was so well done, imo, that it slid right by me. Maybe someone more in tune with these sorts of things would have caught on, but I'm apparently oblivious. Very, very interesting. 

Here's what I wrote on Goodreads right after reading it:

Love this. Definitely worth the hype that accompanies it. I loved the characters, the story.

Cadence is a great narrator. I loved how she was straightforward about things. I hated to see her and her family go through everything they went through. But it was heartbreakingly and awesomely told.

Don't ask me how it ends though... I'll lie.

Have you read it? Did you love it? Like it? Hate it? 

Smiles,
B

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesdays was started by MizB over at Should Be Reading,

To play along, simply answer the following three (3) Questions:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

Currently Reading

 

I'm definitely liking this one better than I did Shiver. Not that I disliked Shiver, but I think the story is developing better, as well as the characters.

Recently Finished Reading

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Landline by Rainbow Rowell 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

(And more, since I've not posted one of these in FOREVER)

What I Might Read Next

Probably Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, unless for some reason I'm werewolved-out by the end of Linger. I mean, it's possible, but we'll see. :)

  

To Read, or Not Read? That is the Question {A Top Ten Tuesday Post}

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they provide a Top Ten topic for you to create your list, then you share it on their post so others can find you. :)

  ♥ Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read... For Whatever Reason ♥

Obviously my TBR list is lengthy, just as yours. I add a book and forget about it - why it's there, why it appealed to me in the first place. Unless, of course, it's by an author I really like(d) or has had LOTS of buzz. I came up with a few for this list on my own, but then I ventured over to Goodreads to see my list of books to-read. I tried to choose books that I remember putting on there, rather than the miscellaneous ones I thought "I don't even remember your cover, your title."  :) That being said... 

Anything New by Lauren Oliver

I want to read this one, but I'm scared I'll not like it. :(

Hate that statement. I *loved* the Delirium series... even the last one. But I've also read Before I Fall & Panic, and I didn't love either of those. In fact, I barely liked Panic at all. I only finished it because it was Lauren Oliver and I was expecting it to be/get better.

Anything New-ish by Jodi Picoult

This is one of my favorites of hers.

Guilt. That's what I feel over this one. I fell in love with Jodi's books many moons ago, and devoured them. I couldn't WAIT to get my hands on them. And I still want to own them all. Maybe one day I will read them again. I think the problem may be that they started getting so incredibly heavy and full of such controversial subjects that I just bogged down in them. I still think she's an awesome author, I just stopped wanting to be in her stories. I've read them all up to House Rules, I think. I think that's where I stopped, anyway. ;)

Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

I, like hordes of others, LOVED Harry Potter. There's a few authors I would read anything they write - even it were a take on the alphabet or a phone book - but this one? It's on my shelf. I might read it. I don't know. I've heard so many things about it. I don't expect it to be anything like HP... I don't know what to even expect. 

The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

I think 13 Reasons Why is one of the best books ever. But I've heard some negative reviews about this one, so, while it sits on my shelf collecting dust, I have yet to make a decision about whether or not to read it.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

I read The Mortal Instrument Series before it became more than three books. And that felt like a solid ending, really. So do I want to go on? I own this one, so it's definitely a possibility. And I really like Cassandra Clare's writing/storytelling. But I think I would have to re-read or refresh my memory on what happened in the first three.

Flutter by Gina Linko

I won this book in a giveaway a while back. I just haven't "felt" it any time I've picked it up as an option. 

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

This has been on my Kindle for ages. I love the concept, I just can't get into it (and I've tried a few times). Do I need to get past a certain point? That could be the issue. I don't know.

Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

This sounds promising and has great reviews, so why am I wary? I have no clue.

 

 The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Malissa loved this one so I should be all over it. It sits on my shelf, waiting to be read, but I just don't know.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

I have an ARC of this one that I got off the YA Book Exchange. While I think I like the premise, I don't know if I want to read it, despite good reviews.

So... convince me. Do I read these? Or do I let them go? 

Smiles,
B

 

Landline {A Memorable Monday Post}

Memorable Monday is a meme hosted by Escape in a Good Book. I'm excited to join in on this one because I love quotes, which was the driving force behind the creation of Memorable Mondays. I thank the ladies at Escape in a Good Book.

So... how do you participate? It's simple ~

1) Share a quote that has captured your interest lately in a Memorable Monday post on your blog.

2) Come back here and leave the link to your post in the comment box below. If you don't have a blog, I'd still love to hear read your quote. Leave it in the comment box instead of a link to a non-existent blog. :)

3) Visit other participants if you have time. It's always nice to have visitors. There's no overstaying your welcome this way, and they don't have to offer the obligatory drinks. Or clean.

4) If you tweet your posts, feel free to use the hashtag #MemorableMonday.

This week's choice(s):


"I love you more than I hate everything else."

"Nobody's lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It's something you make happen - because you love each other." 

“You don't know when you're twenty-three. You don't know what it really means to crawl into someone else's life and stay there. You can't see all the ways you're going to get tangled, how you're going to bond skin to skin. How the idea of separating will feel in five years, in ten--in fifteen... She didn't know at twenty-three.” 

~Landline, by Rainbow Rowell 

By far one of my favorite authors. ♥ ♥ ♥