Sunday = Family Day

Ahh... Day 3 of thankfulness. :)  I am thankful for Sundays. Although we sometimes have other plans, generally it's a day to lounge around the house, catching up laundry/dishes (ugh), and spending some much needed quality time together. The week gets so busy and hectic sometimes that it's tough to be able to do this. We'll snuggle together and read, watch some tv (this time of year it's mostly football), or play games/do crafts. When it's nice out we'll go outside and go to the park or run around the back yard. And in between battling fits and whines and boo-boos, it's so. much. fun. And while the kids nap, I get to read while the hubby watches his sports du jour. ;)  Win-win-win.

What do you love about Sundays?

Smiles,
B

Happy Saturday

I'm sitting here anticipating this evening (Friday) when we will go Trick or Treating with the kids. (Why did I capitalize trick-or-treating but not include the hyphens the first time? *shrug*) I actually don't generally like Halloween. Which is funny to me since I absolutely love fall. I love the colors, the smells, pumpkins, bonfires, the slightly cooler weather. None of that lasts long enough, though. But I am excited to see my kids get all excited about dressing up (well, Eli does... Zoe, not so much yet, although she does like to put on her ladybug dress...). We'll be handing out some candy and then we'll head out to a few places to get our own goodies. Fun times with family ahead!

So, onto Day 2 of my thankfulness. :)  I'm thankful for books. Without them, it'd be harder for me to escape from 'real life' when I need to, and I wouldn't have connected with all kind of amazing peeps. My love of reading has allowed me to bond with some great people... in real life and on the internet. It's been awesome finding a place to share my passion with people who don't think I'm on the other side of crazy.

What about you? Anything you're thankful for today?

Smiles,
B

Happy November!

Hello? You there? Hi! I've been a little absent lately, and not just from the blog, but from my head. HA! I haven't even read much this past month, and I've been really busy at work and home trying to plan things and get ahead. But I'm starting to feel balanced again, so hopefully I'll get back in the swing of life. :)

I was talking with Malissa yesterday and I mentioned that I hadn't posted in forever. What brought this up is that the The Broke and the Bookish is hosting the fourth annual Secret Santa! If you are unaware as to what that is, click on the Secret Santa link and it will take you to the post with all the info you need to participate. I did it last year (so did M) and we had SO MUCH FUN with it. It was exciting to put together a package to send to someone I'd never met in any capacity and to receive a surprise package from someone who had never met me (and the sweet chick she is, she even sent candy for my kiddos!). Anyway, the point of telling you all of that is - you should totally go over and find out what you need to do to participate and have some secretive fun. :) You have until Nov 17 to sign up.

So I decided that the month of November I'm going to countdown to Thanksgiving by giving thanks to something different every day (hopefully). This isn't original, but I can't tell you who originated it. I've seen it on blogs, on facebook, twitter... and I'm too lazy to do research to try and find who started it, especially since I'm not even sure if that's possible. That being said, if you know someone who did, feel free to link them in the comments and I can link them up in future posts. :)

So what am I thankful for today? Definitely not being innovative here, but I'm going with family anyway. I don't know where I'd be without them all. My husband, my kids, my parents, my sister in law, and (begrudgingly) my brother. There's also the extended fam that supports and loves me unconditionally, but I'm just going to stick with the immediate here.

I love when my son (4) tells me "I love you the best in the whole wide world." And when my daughter (nearly 2) runs up to me and squeezes my neck. I love that my husband does all sorts of little things to show me he loves me (helps with dishes, laundry, kisses me before work, makes me a cup of coffee, lets me read in peace). I relish the moments where we all sit and cuddle, reading books or watching a movie, or when we sprawl out on the floor and play board games. Things, of course, aren't always rainbows and butterflies, but all the fun/good moments overshadow the bad.

Sibling love...

And as for my parents and my brother... I wouldn't be where I am today without their love and support. Not that everything was perfect, as things rarely are, but all my experiences with them made me who I am today. And for that, I am grateful.

I hope you all have had a wonderful October and enjoy the upcoming holiday seasons. Hopefully we'll see more of each other from here on out.

Smiles,
B

Follow Friday ♥

Hosted by Parajunkee's View & Alison Can Read, the goal is to gain new followers and to follow new people yourself! :)

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

(Taken straight from the hosts)

• (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
• (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
• Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
• Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.
• If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
• Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”
• If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers.
• If you’re new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Happy Follow Friday!

This week's question/activity:

What book are you embarrassed to admit you LOVED? (try to think beyond Twilight).

Hmmm... I'm generally not embarrassed that I read something and enjoyed it. If I were pressed, I'd probably just throw out the 'new adult' category that's emerged. And not because they're poorly written or whatnot, but because so far the ones I've read all seem to be the same formula... broken girl meets broken boy, they fall in love, something happens to tear them apart (secrets kept, past catches up...), then they forgive each other and move on, stronger than before. Yet, for some reason, I still enjoy them. I wouldn't say LOVED them, but enjoyed them. :)

What about you?

Smiles,
B

Anna & The French Kiss: A Review

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

 
 
I had heard such good things about this one that I was little wary going into it, wondering if I would just fall in love with it. I did. In fact, it partially made me wish that my parents had sent me to a boarding school. :) I thoroughly enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more by Stephanie Perkins.

Anna is being sent off to boarding school in Paris because her dad thinks it will a good experience for her. She is not happy about it but immediately starts making friends. She meets Meredith on her first night there and then is introduced to Rashmi, Josh, and St. Clair. She slowly becomes acquainted with her surroundings, gets bolder as the story goes on about venturing out on her own.

I love how much growth we get to see in Anna. At the beginning she's quite unsure of nearly everything - the city, herself, her friends... as I said, nearly everything.Which, given her circumstances, makes total sense. She's thrown into a world which she knows nothing about and although she makes friends fairly quickly, there's still that feeling of being the fifth wheel. And despite making friends there is that "one girl" who seems to hate her for no reason.

There's undeniable chemistry between Anna and St Clair, but there always seems to be something in the way. Another girl, a boy, insecurities, doubts... something. It's great to see their friendship develop as the story goes on. It definitely wasn't insta-love and their relationship is all the better for it.

Definitely looking forward to reading more by Stephanie Perkins. I loved the fun, the intensity, and how real it all felt.

Teaser Tuesday ♥ Lola & The Boy Next Door

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along! 

All you have to do:

1. Grab your current read.
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page.
4. Be careful... do not include spoilers!!!  Make sure that what you are sharing doesn't give too much away;  you don't want to ruin the book for others.
5. Share the title and author, too, so other Teaser Tuesday participants can add it to their TBR list if they like what you shared.
   
   

 



“Perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring."
I smile. "You don't think I'm perfect?"
"No. You're delightfully screwy, and I wouldn't have you any other way.” 

~Lola & The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Unravel Me: A Review

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

 

AARGH! Is it February 2014 yet?!?!?!

***Forwarning: Spoilers will ensue for Shatter Me. If you have not read it, I urge you *not* to read on. Feel free to check out my review of Shatter Me if you're so inclined... :) ***

Okay. Quick recap from Shatter Me: Juliette is imprisoned for nearly a year in an insane asylum because nobody wanted her and she was deemed unsafe for society after she accidentally killed a little toddler boy by trying to help him stand up. She is joined by Adam in her cell who we find out is working with The Reestablishment, namely Warner. Warner wants to use Juliette as a weapon of torture, seeing as how she can maim and kill with just a touch. Within the rest of the story, we discover Juliette also has another power: she can break the unbreakable with her bare hands. She and Adam escape the headquarters of Sector 45 and go on the run. We leave off with Juliette and Adam escaping with Kenji, nearly getting caught, and Juliette shooting Warner with his own gun. The four (including James, Adam's brother) end up at Omega Point, which is headquarters for a resistance to the Reestablishment. Woo-hoo! They're safe!

Or are they? It turns out that within Omega there are other people like Juliette, those who have special gifts and can do inhuman things. Heal, turn invisible, stretch arms, etc. Juliette is happy to know that she's not alone, but Adam is withdrawing from her and she tries to keep to herself because she is so used to people hating her or thinking she is a monster that she's really just afraid to give people a chance. We meet Castle, the head of Omega, who wants to help Juliette hone her abilities, and also decides to test Adam to see if there's any 'special' reason he is able to touch her.

She and Adam do spend some time arguing, but it's mostly due to her reluctance to be with him given certain discoveries and him being adamant that they can deal with it all. We do meet up with Warner again, and suffice it to say I do sort of get where the switch is coming from. Believe it or not, he's not all bad. We get to see some sides of him that I didn't think were there... color me impressed. I think there's a lot more good to him than even he realizes, but I'm still not sure I want her with him. Really, after this book, I think she should be alone since she can't seem to keep herself straight anyway. ;) 

Really, though, for her to be with Warner, for me, he would need to have some more redeeming qualities show up in Ignite Me (seriously, is it Feb 4 yet????).

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the story develops regarding The Reestablishment and the Resistance. The Resistance is extremely outnumbered, or so it seems, and The Reestablishment has years of training and heartless people on their side. They don't care who they kill or what lives they ruin, they just want to be in control. And by 'they' I really mean Anderson. I'm anxious to see how it all comes to a head and explodes and how the Resistance is going to win (because, c'mon, they have to win).

I'm really excited to read Destroy Me now and get more of Warner's story. And then I want the one out with Adam's story. More importantly, I want Ignite Me and I want it now! (Cue Oompa Loompas)  Seriously, though, I am loving the world that Mafi has seduced me with and I can't wait to read more of it! :)