June Wrap Up

June was a crazy month. Most of the month was spent in a weird comfort reading/reading slump thing because of all that first trimester fun. You know what I mean, anxiety attacks, morning sickness, extreme fatigue. It's been a fun ride...
But as I'm nearing the second trimester and starting to feel better I'm getting back into good routines, and forming new ones in the new house, including having some scheduled reading time each day. Usually it's early morning after The Husband leaves for work and before The Toddler wakes up, afternoons during outside play time because I can sit in the lounger on the porch and read while The Toddler plays. and right before bed. I'm still reading pretty slowly but it's something.
I also made a crazy decision. I talked to my doctor about my anxiety. I've been down the road of uncontrolled anxiety and depression with a new baby and I don't want to go there again. On top of that, as my hormones and body get more and more out of whack, so does my anxiety. My intrusive thoughts are back with a vengeance and I can't deal with this on my own any more. However, the doctor I saw at my last appointment was one I've never met before and I feel like she kind of gave me the brush off. She wants me to talk to a social worker before we talk about medication and she promised to email the social worker, but we'll see if that actually happens. I know all to well that doctors say a lot of things they don't mean or intend to follow through on.

But back to the books! The last wrap up I posted was April so I'll cover May and June, try and set some new goals for going forward, and at the end I'll update on some fun stuff that might be coming up.

Books I Read in May

1. Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

2. Balanced and Barefoot by Angela J. Hanscom (Review coming soon!)

3. The Falconer by Elizabeth May (Review here)

4. 10 Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac (Review here)

5. The Shoemakers Wife by Adriana Trigiani 

6. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Six books doesn't seem bad. But, exactly ZERO of those books counted for the RMSC. So as of May I was still at 10 out of 25. 

Books I Read in June

1. The Cat Who Played Brahms by Lillian Jackson Braun

2. The Cat Who Played Post Office by Lillian Jackson Braun

3. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare by Lillian Jackson Braun

4. The Color of Water by James McBride

That's it. Just the four, And again zero of them counted for the RMSC. On the plus side I met my Goodreads goal for the year of 35 books and have officially upped it to 50.  

As for goals for July, I think 5 books is a good goal. Two RSMC books at a minimum. I think that's a do-able goal for the next month. I have six months left to meet my RMSC goal of 25 books, so I'm going to need to pick up the pace but I think it's still possible. I just need to get back to reading regularly.

What I'm Reading Right Now

Image from Goodreads

1. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas - I want to get into to this one so badly, but I'm just not feeling it right now. I went though this when I was pregnant with The Toddler too, this inability to read fantasy books. I'm going to keep trying with this one though because I really love Feyre and Rhysand.

2. Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne - I've been making an effort (once again) to simplify things in our home to A) help with my anxiety and B) make things easier to clean/maintain and C) make more time for family and less time for cleaning. I've done pretty well so far and this book was recommended on several minimalist and simple living blogs that I follow so I decided to give it a try. 

Image from Goodreads

3. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, The Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir - I know I've written about how much I love Alison Weirs writing before. During this reading slump I had an urge to read some history so I turned to her. And (BONUS!) this one counts for the RMSC. Katherine Swynford was first the mistress and then the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and her life, although we know little about her, was very interesting. She was the mother of the Tudor dynasty, she and John of Gaunt had several illegitimate children who were then legitimized by the Pope after their marriage, founding the Beaufort line, And Henry VII's mother was Margaret Beaufort! Of course Henry VII was born 100(ish) years after Katherine died but still, without her no Tudors. I could go on about family trees and the Wars of the Roses forever because I really love this stuff but I'll just say this; Read the books!

Upcoming (Maybe) Stuff

I've kind of taken a break from reading ARC's for the last couple of months but now I have a lot of really good books waiting for me on Netgalley and I'm going to try and get back too them. For one of those books I've been invited to participate in a Blog Tour, which I've obviously never done before. It would include a giveaway for my readers but I honestly don't know if I have enough readers to bother participating. So if you read my blog and want to enter a giveaway for a book let me know so I can let the publisher know I'd like to participate in the Blog Tour. 

Next, I got an email today that I'm being sent a box from a marketing company in California. It says it should be here by July 11th but I'm kind of nervous about this because I have no idea what it could be for, the email gives no details whatsoever. I'm assuming it's for the blog but I really don't know. So as soon as I get that I will be opening it and post on here about whats in it, regardless of what it is. Unless it something embarrassing like diarrhea medicine or underwear or something, in that case I'll spare you.  

Book shelf organization post! I unpacked all my books without taking pictures, however they are in no way organized yet, as my motivation to do anything but watch Gilmore Girls and eat watermelon has been nonexistent. So I'll be taking some pictures and doing some organizing in the next couple of weeks. 

Book Club for June! It was my pick for June and I think I picked a good one. I'll be writing the Book Club post in the next couple of days.  

What I'm Reading Right Now #12

This week has not been a good reading week. I realized on Tuesday that if everything happens when it is currently scheduled than we are moving in about three weeks. Which means I'm really behind on packing. So that has been my focus this week...Well, sort of. Truthfully I haven't been able to focus on much at all since I feel like everything needs to be done at once. I keep starting one thing then thinking of something else that needs to be done, so I go start that, and then I think of something else, and its a pretty nasty cycle. And it means that my house is a torn apart disaster area and nothing is actually finished. Since the house is torn apart I don't have anywhere I can sit and relax to read, so reading hasn't happened much, not that I could relax much anyways with so much stuff that needs to be done.

However, I realized yesterday that this presents a new opportunity. I can listen to books! I had an Audible subscription a few years ago and bought a ton of audiobooks but only ever listened to a handful, so yesterday I started listening to a book, and I really enjoyed it. I only got about halfway through the first chapter but I found listening easier if I sped up the audio to x1.50, Listening at the normal x1 was just too slow and any faster and I couldn't even hear the words.

As far as the RMSC, I've made no progress this week. Only the audiobook will count towards it for my currently reading books. Still at 9 out of 25 but I've still got the rest of the year to finish so I'm not worried. I expected things to slow down around moving time, so I'm sure it will pick back up once we get settled in the new house.

Books I Finished This Week

Image from Goodreads

The Furthest Station (Peter Grant 5.7) by Ben Aaronovitch - I got an E-ARC of this book from
the publisher, through NetGalley. I'm doing a full review of it closer to the actual release date but let me tell you, this book is pretty awesome. The whole premise of the series is cops who hunt ghosts on the London Underground (subway), and I love it! Release date it June 30th, so look for the full review in a few weeks!

Image from Goodreads

The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan - I got a free copy of this book through Blogging for Books. When I first started it I wasn't sure I liked
it. Some of the first characters we're introduced too are pretty unlikable people and I wasn't sure I wanted to read about them, but I kept going and I'm pretty glad I did. I'm doing a full review of this one next week so look for that on Monday or Tuesday!

The Perfect Girl by Gilly MacMillan - This book is a mystery/thriller book and I don't usually read a ton of those but lately they've been cropping up more and more. This one I really enjoyed. The main character is Zoe, a teenage piano prodigy, who was convicted three years ago of killing three

Image from Goodreads

other teens in a drunken car accident. When we meet her in the book it is the night of her first concert since her release from jail, she's performing with her new stepbrother as her mother and new stepfather watch. But the concert is interrupted and by the next morning Zoe's mother is dead and Zoe finds herself facing the police again.
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I found it interesting but not for the 'who killed the mother' plot line, it was the story of what happened to Zoe the night of the car accident and afterward that kept me reading. I didn't really get into the death of Zoe's mother until the end because I just knew in my gut that Zoe didn't do it. The ending was interesting, Zoe got the ending she wanted, probably what was best for her, her stepbrother, and baby sister, but not in the most ethical way. She found a way to use everything she learned from her own trial and in 'The Unit' to her advantage. The thing I didn't like about the ending is that we don't get to see how everything turned out for everyone. I don't like endings that tie things up too neatly but this one I felt left too many loose ends. How did Uncle Richard deal with his alcohol abuse, did he go to AA like he said he would? Is Tessa still seeing Sam behind Richard's back or did she and Richard make up and find a way to save their marriage? What happened to Zoe's dad? Tom Barlow? Sam with his health issues?
I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Book I'm Reading Right Now

Images from Goodreads and NetGalley

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I've packed up most of my books so this one is the only paper book I'm reading right now. I'm going to try and focus on one paper book and one e-book at a time right now, so hopefully I can get though this one this week.

Canivalesque by Neil Jordon - This one is an E-ARC and I'm going though it pretty quickly, I started it this morning and I'm already at 15%.

Welocme to the Farm by Shaye Elliott - This is another E-ARC I picked up through NetGalley. I'm at about the 30% mark and I love this book. I might have to buy a copy so I have one I can write in and mark up, it seems like the kind of book you can make your own like that. Not that I intend to be a farmer at any point...I just want to be able to grow a damn tomato, a skill that has some how alluded me in my 30 years of life.

The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson - This is the audiobook! I'm not very far into it but I'm making progress!

Upcoming Stuff

Bookshelf organization plan for the new house - I intend to do a post on this soon, I need to write it all out to figure out the actual plan.

Bookish crafts with The Toddler - We did fun stuff last week and I'm going to share a bit!

How to get cheap (or free!) e-books - It's very rare that I pay more than 99 cents for an e-book and I'm going to share how I do it.

What I'm Reading Right Now #10; Reviews, ARCs, and Fun with Formatting

The last week has been full of books! I did a readathon over the weekend, I did ARC's, I tore through A Court of Mist and Fury, and had book club meeting. Some of the books I finished were better than others, all of them had things I wasn't expecting. I finished three books, two of them counted for the RMSC, the 'Whole Deal' post for that can be found here.

Books I finished this week

Image from Goodreads.com

Naughty Professor by S.J. Bishop and Jeni Brown - This was an ARC I received from the authors for an honest review. S.J. Bishop is one of my favorite sports romance authors, I've loved all her books so far and I was really excited to read this one, even though it's not a sports romance. Adam is released from prison, he was convicted of financial crimes and took the fall for his friend Aiden, who he happens to look just like. Adam runs into Aiden and over drinks they decide to switch places. Aiden gets the freedom to travel and do charity work, and Adam gets to run Aiden's million dollar sports drink company, live in his Chicago penthouse and spend his money. When Adam (as Aiden) takes a lecturing position at a local college he meets Syrena and is instantly drawn to her. He doesn't find out till it's too late that she is his stepmothers estranged daughter. He keeps all his secrets from her, trying to shield her from the truth. But when Aiden's past come back to haunt him Adam's secrets come out.
This book had good parts and bad parts, so I'll start with the good.
The Good; I am a sucker for the whole 'oops, you're my stepbrother' storyline. I don't have a stepbrother, but I just love that particular trope. I also love the 'secret baby' trope. They're so much fun to read. The characters were well written. I particularly liked Adam, he was very well rounded, funny, sweet, and seemed like he was genuinely trying to do the right thing. I liked that it took place in Chicago, and not some fictional, unnamed city. Knowing where the location was made it that much easier for me to visualize the story. I was really into this story until about the 90% mark. Up until then it was a great, fun, easy read. Which brings me too the bad parts.
The Bad; This part has SPOILERS. If you don't want to know what happens don't read this part! Also if you are sensitive about miscarriage and/or infant loss this could contain triggers. I know some people hate trigger warnings but I think everyone deserves the right to decide weather they read about triggering subjects or not. So, the bad parts. Syrena has a miscarriage. A pretty violent one. I had an anxiety attack when I read it. I couldn't breathe, couldn't stop shaking, it was pretty bad for me, personally. If I'd known this book contained something along those lines I would not have read it. I would have stuck to S.J. Bishops normal sports romances and totally skipped this one. I actively avoid reading about miscarriages, even in fiction, because I know they have a bad effect on me.. Also, the woman Syrena's ex left her for dies in childbirth or shortly after along with her baby. I was able to over look that one since it's not described in any detail.
Also, the timeline of the story was not well defined at all. I had no idea how much time had passed between Syrena getting back together with Jamie and running into Adam at an awards show. Things really jumped around when Adam had his car accident. It seemed like the accident happened immediately when he left the awards show but then Syrena had to travel to get to where he was and could only skype with Jamie, which doesn't make sense if they were still in New York. I hate to admit this next bit but I hate Syrena's name. I don't like made up names, or 'unique' spellings of established names, and it really bothered me till about half way through the book. Every time I read it my eye would twitch a little until I got used too it.
It seems like a lot of bad, but really 90% of the book was excellent. It was just that last 10% that really got to me. I had a hard time coming up with a rating for this book. I settled on 3 stars, after much thought, because most of the story is excellent. Without the miscarriage part, which I really don't think it needed, there was enough drama going on without that, this would have easily been a 4.5-5 star romance.

Image from Goodreads.com

Last Play by Taylor Hart - This was such a sweet romance! When Roman Young, star QB for the Dallas Destroyers, has to go home to Utah to sell his uncle's Inn he meets Katie Winters. She's strong, and funny, and married. Roman fights his growing feelings for her but when he finds out her husband was killed a year ago he has to decide if he really wants to sell the Inn and be done with Wolfe Creek Utah or if he could have a future with Katie and her son Josh. This was definitely a slow burn romance. There were so many times I was reading, going 'kiss her, kiss HER, KISS HER ALREADY!' I liked Katie's character. She's so strong, and so broken, but her willingness to dedicate herself to the people she loves is amazing. The town of Wolfe Creek was full of interesting characters, and the snowed in town was the perfect setting. I did feel like the whole story was a little bit rushed though. I would have enjoyed more details about the town and the people, just as context for the story. The whole 'small town' thing makes me think of Moose County from the 'Cat Who...' books by Lillian Jackson Braun, and the details about the setting are one of the best things about those books. I was surprised that this was a clean romance book. There was no sex. It wasn't a bad thing, it didn't take away from the story at all, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Image from Goodreads.com

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - OMG. This book. Let me start by saying I loved the first book. I thought it was so amazing. But this book, this ending, totally blew the first book away. This does contain SPOILERS for the first book, so if you're planning on reading it skip it! Feyre, a mere human, has saved the Fey people of Prythian from the clutches of Amarantha. She spilled Fey blood and shredded her own soul in order to do it, but Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court, and all the Faeries are safe. Feyre struggles with her own guilt and depression over what she had to do, while Tamlin struggles with his need to keep Feyre safe. When Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court cashes in on the bargain he and Feyre forged Under the Mountain, she begins to see that there may be other options for her besides being a caged pet of the Spring Court. With war coming from Hybern, Feyre has to decide what's best for herself and the people of her land, human and Fey alike.
I cried so hard during this book. Feyre's journey to heal herself is beautiful, and painful, and so amazingly written. And the romance! Talk about a slow burn romance! This takes it to another level! I feel like I can't write too much with out giving away too many details, but this book is amazing! I know I'm using a ton of exclamation points but really, this book needs all the exclamation points!

Books I'm currently reading;

Images from Goodreads.com

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson - I starting to question if I should keep reading this series. It's really taking me forever to get into this one. Granted, I haven't given it much time in the last week, but the other books I'm reading aren't taking this long to get involved in. The first book took a long time to get into also but I felt like it really paid off at the end. I'm going to try and keep going with this one for one more week and then we'll see how I feel about it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I didn't give much time to this one in the last week either. I don't know how much I'll get to read it this coming week but I'm going to keep going.

Some Practical Magic by Laurie Carroll-Kuna - I was given a free copy of this one for review. I'm about a quarter of the way through it and it's really good so far! I love books about witches, especially in a modern setting, and that exactly what this one is. I also have the sequel, That Old Black Magic, so I'm excited to read that one too.

What's up next;

That Old Black Magic by Laurie Carroll-Kuna (Free copy for review)
Practicing Normal by Cara Sue Achterberg (ARC)
Anaconda by Lauren Landish
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Coming Soon on the Blog;

Reading Habits Post #2; Coffee Shops - I had meant for this post to go up last week but with the Book Club post needing to go up I had to push it back.
Still working on the 'Books I Want to Re-read' post, there are a lot more of them than I originally thought.
March Wrap-Up post is coming early next week! I going to be a long one!

Wow! This post turned out a lot longer than I thought it would. I'm playing with some formatting things on this post, since I'm still learning what all the buttons do so if something doesn't look right let me know!

What I'm Reading Right Now

This week was not as great as last week, for reading. Well, for anything really. I've been having a really hard time with my anxiety this week and not done as much reading as I could have. It's so easy to get wrapped up in Youtube, or Pinterest, and not have to think, when I'm having anxiety problems. However, I have to admit, the anxiety is for a good reason.

Our house sold! Someone actually wants it! I was so shocked when we got the email that there was an offer. So now I get to have anxiety over all these inspections and paperwork and all the boring, stressful, crap that comes with selling a house and buying another one. Luckily we already knew what house we wanted to buy, we were just hoping it wouldn't sell before we could make an offer, and it didn't! We had our inspection of the new house on Wednesday and the buyers are having an inspection on our current house on Tuesday. The inspection on the new house went really well, we thought there may have been some electrical issues but it turned out to be nothing, so now I just have to stress about the inspection coming up on Tuesday and hope our buyers don't find something they don't like and decide to back out. In reality there's not much they could find but my anxiety likes to tell me the opposite.

As far as reading this week, I find myself, once again, in the middle of way too many books. Or rather, the beginning of way too many books. I seem to have started a new book every day this week and made zero progress with any of them. So next week is about finishing all these books I've started, and hopefully I'll have time for that with packing and things going on. One of the books that I did manage to finish counts for the RMSC which brings me up to 7 out of 25. The updated 'Whole Deal' post can be found here.

This week's finished books;

SPOILER ALERT! ONE OF THESE REVIEWS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS! IF YOU ARE READING AND/OR WATCHING IT ON NETFLIX AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE BAUDELAIRE PARENTS BIG SECRET THEN SKIP THE FAHRENHEIT 451 REVIEW! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Image from E!Online

Image from Goodreads

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - This was the book club pick for March. I read it in 9th grade, but it was so long ago and I paid so little attention since it was an assigned book. that I remember almost nothing from the first time I read it. With everything going on in the world today, it was an unsettling read. However, I think that unsettling reads are the ones we need to read the most sometimes. I also saw where this book may have influenced a few other books that I've loved, and I never saw the connection before. The two that stand out the most are A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.
A Series of Unfortunate Events had VFD (Volunteer Fire Department) and the schism between those who start the fires and those who put the fires out (Count Olaf starts fires and the Baudelaire parents put them out, until Olaf killed them anyway). In Fahrenheit 451, the firemen start fires, burning books and sometimes people, there is a bit of talk about whether it's true that firemen used to put out the fires instead of start them and my brain went straight to Count Olaf and VFD.  In the Uglies series, the main character is Talley, someone who, much like Guy Montag, buys into the popular beliefs in their respective worlds and comes to realize that there is a whole other world, a whole other truth, outside of everything they know and makes the choice to abandon everything in order to seek that truth.
Overall, I thought it was a very relevant book, I liked that it made me think about what I was doing, or not doing, and the consequences that inaction might have in the world. 3 out of 5 stars.

Image from Odyssey 

Image from Goodreads

Bury the Hatchet by Catherine Gayle - I really liked this book! Hunter is by far my favorite book boyfriend this year, so far. It was well written, and well edited (which can be a problem with romance), and the characters were great. I loved the dynamic between Tallie and her mother and Lance, it was the perfect source of tension and I ended up really liking Tallie. I thought at first that she'd be boring but she had some sass in her and she was a great match for Hunter. I just downloaded another book by this author, from a different series, but still a hockey romance. The hockey aspect was the part that surprised me the most. I don't watch hockey even though it's easily the most popular pro sport where I live. I'm a football girl. I've got Packers jerseys. and hats, and PJ pants, and pillow cases, and a whole Pinterest board dedicated to Clay Matthews. But the hockey aspect of this book didn't bother me. I thought that it would really take away from the story for me, since I don't know much about hockey but it really didn't. It was so character driven that the sport that, essentially, brought Tallie and Hunter together wasn't a big factor. 4 out of 5 stars.

Books I'm currently reading;

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson - Yes, still.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Because reading one huge book at a time isn't enough.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - Because the third book is coming out in May and I preordered it so I want to be ready to dig in when it gets delivered. I loved the first one and read it in less than two days.

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata - Football romance because there's nothing football related until the draft at the end of April and I miss football.

Last Play by Taylor Hart - See description above.

Naughty Professor by S.J. Bishop & Jeni Brown - This is an ARC from one of my favorite romance authors. I've done ARC's for her before and they've always been good. This one is a little different. It was co-written with another author and it's not a sports romance, which is usually what she writes. However, I will say that I was totally hooked after the first chapter so I'm thinking it's going to be just as amazing as her other books.

What's up next;
There is a book club meeting on the 28th so, whatever the book club pick is
Throne of Glass
American Street
The Perfect Girl
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Upcoming on the blog;
Reading Habits Post #2; Coffee Shops! Because I love to read in coffee shops. I guess I'm basic like that.
Books I Want to Reread, because if it's good once is never enough.
Book club pick for April! This is C's month to pick, post should be up middle of next week!

Last thing; this is Clay Matthews, who I mentioned in the Bury the Hatchet review. Just in case you need some eye candy today.

Image from Packers.com

What I'm Reading Right Now

I feel pretty awesome about the last week. I finished three books and they all counted for the RMSC! Which puts me up too six books read out of the goal of 25! The updated 'Whole Deal' post about the RMSC can be found here.
However my TBR pile is ever growing. In addition too the books I picked up in my last 'What I'm Reading' post I got a few more at the used bookstore. And then I ordered a few (seven) books from thriftbooks, And then I went to the other used bookstore. So, altogether I've added eleven books in the last week. None of them count for the RMSC (this year) but I'm probably going to read, at least a few of them, this year.
Look at me, thinking ahead! Already planning for the RMSC next year! Although, in all honesty, I probably have enough books to keep me doing RMSC's for the next four years, without buying anything. But not buying books isn't really an option.

Here are the books I FINISHED in the last week;
The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley- I really liked this one. It got 4 out of 5 stars. Read my full review here.

Bookish by Olivia Long- This book was...not great. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't as good as it could have been either. 2.5 stars out of 5. You can read my review on Goodreads here.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - 5 stars. I can't believe I didn't read this till now. I saw the movie when it first came out on DVD, so I knew, more or less, what happened, but as always, the book was better. I do think that I would have enjoyed it a hundred times more if I'd read it in high school, but I did love it, even as an adult.

Here are the books I'm currently reading;
Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson - Still working on this one. I'm going slow and taking my time, because there are a hundred new characters in this one. It picks up right where Gardens of the Moon left off time-wise, but geographically it starts on a whole other continent with a whole bunch of new info and characters and once again you are plunged into this world with little to no info about whats actually happening. Which I'm fine with. I actually like it that way, its like learning a new language by immersion. Like, just drop me off in Brazil and let me figure it out. Not really. But kind of.

Bury the Hatchet by Catherine Gayle - Sports romance! Usually I read football romances. I'm not much into hockey, but this story sounded really good so I'm giving it a try. I really like it so far. The main characters are great, Tallie has so much to figure out, like she's just floating and shes really got to get it together. And Hunter. OMG Hunter. Talk about a book boyfriend. He's got it together and everything is getting turned upside down. This is the first in a series so I might have to try the rest of the series. Maybe. I have not had good experiences with romance series.

What's up next*;
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Love in Lingerie by Alessandra Torre
Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory
Craving Her Curves by Nora Stone
*These are books I may or may not read, or at least start, in the next week. Having a list helps me not have to stare at my shelves/Kindle for an hour trying to decide what to read.

What's up next on the blog;
I've got so many posts backed up that I might keep doing three posts a week instead of two. I don't think two is enough. Next week I'm starting a series on my reading habits. The good ones, the bad ones, and everything in between.
I'm also doing a post about kids books! The Toddler loves to read and we've gotten some really great books from the library recently and I wanted to share.
A couple of reviews might get thrown in there too, we'll see how many books I finish!

What I'm Reading Right Now, A Mini Review of Mary Boleyn, and How to Recharge an Introvert

From celebuzz.com

This last week was full of cold, wintry, weather and showings of our house. As such I didn't get a whole lot of reading time. I did get kicked out of my house so strangers could be paraded through it and forced to spend a lot of time with people, people who I don't normally mind, but as an introvert it was very very draining. So here are the books I didn't have time to finish, and the one that I did.

from Goodreads.com

Mary Boleyn; The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir - Finished!
This one is a library book, so though I'm not able to count it for the RMSC it's been on my TBR list for a long time. Like since it came out, and I'm so glad I finally read it. I've written about my love of The Other Boleyn Girl many times before, and I was surprised to see it mentioned in this book! Of course Ms. Weir was pointing out where the book differed from what Mary's life and character were actually like, and explaining how historical fiction like The Other Boleyn Girl had helped to build the myth of Mary Boleyn into something she probably wasn't, but still...

I loved getting to see what Mary was actually like through her letters and read her family's view of her decisions and what her life was actually like, which is very different from the story in The Other Boleyn Girl. There was only one point that I disagreed with, not even really disagreed, I just thought the author used a very modern train of thought in her interpretation of Mary's thoughts about being separated from her daughter. Other than that I found it very well argued, and loved the book as a whole.

Rating; 5 brightly colored Tudor Roses

The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley  and Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson- Still reading
I didn't have a ton of time to devote to reading this week so I didn't make any progress with either of these. I'm thinking I'm going to focus on The Relic Master and get through it so I can read more of the Malazan series without being distracted.

from instyle.com

So the last week has worn out my 'dealing with people' reserves. Sunday I was going to hibernate, but I knew that if I was going to do that I would need to do it completely alone, and that was not going to happen. The Husband already had plans for the day so I'd have The Toddler. I would also have the car, and since we only have one that's a pretty big deal! So I did something that very rarely happens; I went out. Just me and The Toddler. And to be honest I love getting to spend time doing things with her outside the house. We spend so much of our time cooped up here, with no car and nothing but a liquor store within walking distance. Going out with her was refreshing. We went to the bookstore! And we had lunch! And we went to the library! So it was a whole day of me, and my baby, and books. I couldn't have asked for anything better than that. I didn't talk to anyone but The Toddler, and cashiers. I didn't have to sit and listen to anyone explain how labor unions started in the industrial revolution, I didn't have to pretend shopping for crap I don't want or need for hours on end is fun, I just got to relax. Going out doesn't always to the trick, and I'm still not looking forward to the showings tomorrow, when I have to vacate my house again, but this week it was exactly what I needed. And I got new books!

Yes, it's the show cover of Outlander. It was cheaper than the normal
cover and I gave in. 

The Morning Routine That Wasn't Meant To Be and What I'm Reading Right Now

My 'morning reading routine' idea is pretty much out the window. The Husband's start time for work has changed so he doesn't leave the house until 8 AM and The Toddler has started waking up at 7 AM. So my hour, my one glorious hour, is gone. But on the bright side I've made a real effort to read in the small minutes I get though out the day. Nap time, when my mom comes over and is playing with The Toddler, when The Toddler accidentally closes the bathroom door and can't get in to watch me pee... And instead of watching tv in the evenings I've been reading. No more binge watching Gilmore Girls till 1 AM.

With all of that being said, here's what I've made progress on this week.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson - I made this book my priority this week. I've been reading snippets of the other books here and there, but this one, especially in the last few days, has been the book I pick up first. I've finally made it past the half way point and things are starting to come together and get really good. As Marguerite from Everafter said "I do love a good intrigue!" and this book is full of intrigue.

The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley - Slow progress on this one, mostly because I'm trying to finish Gardens of the Moon, but once I can give it my full attention it will be a fast read.

Mary Boleyn; Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir - This one is a library book so I'm trying to make steady progress with it so I can return it on time and also because I love it. I have an obsession with Tudor England and have for many years. Mary is such a misrepresented figure and I love that Weir is laying exactly what we know and don't know about her so clearly. The Other Boleyn Girl, one of my favorite books of all time, created a lot of misinformation about her in the name of plot and although it works in the novel it's good to see the truth about Mary's life and career at court.

I'm also adding another book to the DNF list this week.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown- This book was recommended on a podcast that I love, The Simple Show from The Art of Simple blog, However the more I read of it the more I felt it just didn't apply to my life. The book is about saying no to stuff that distracts you from your main purpose, from the things that make your life happy and your job worth doing, which is probably great for most people. But for me, a super introverted, stay-at-home mom, with no career besides raising my daughter to not be an asshole, it just wasn't for me. So, I put it on the DNF list and returned it to the library.

What I'm Reading Right Now and Updates on the Reading Routine

This last week or so has been a bit busy and I'm making slow progress but progress is progress. Right? So without further ado, here's what I'm reading right now.

Detroit; An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff- Finished! I actually read this in less than 24 hours. It was an interesting read but since I live within 20 minutes of most of the places he referenced it was a little unnerving. The writing style was not great in my opinion, some of it read like a 1940's crime novel. Full review is up on GoodReads!

The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley- Still at the beginning of this one but I love a good historical novel. I found this one in an issue of Bookmarks Magazine and its been on my TBR list for a while so I'm pretty excited to be reading it.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson-Still reading this one. It's good and I'm finally making some progress. I've been carrying it around the house with me since I usually just pick up the nearest book when I get a few minutes to read and I've finally hit 200 pages!

As far as the reading routine I posted about last week...That's not going so great. The plan was to use the hour between The Husband leaving for work and The Toddler waking up to read. I was going to start Monday. Well, Monday I forgot and watched Gilmore Girls instead. Tuesday The Husband had taken the day off for Valentines Day so there was no hour. I didn't even remember I was supposed to be starting a new routine this week until I put The Toddler down for her nap on Tuesday. This morning I forgot again and watched Gilmore Girls. So the new goal is to start tomorrow. I'm going to write myself a reminder on the fridge. I have a handy dandy dry erase board for stuff like that.

That's all I've got for right now. Hopefully I'll be reading some new books next week!

What I'm Reading Right Now

I can never seem to do these on time. It's supposed to be every Friday but it never happens that way. Maybe I should just say I'll post one every week and a half-ish. That seems much better.

On the bright side, I've got a new book to write about this week! The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley. I'm taking my time reading it, I've been looking forward too it for a long time and so far it's living up too the hype. I first read about it in Bookmarks Magazine (if you haven't read it go to Barnes & Noble and pick one up, totally worth the $5.95 every other month), and I got it for christmas when it came out in paperback. So far the details are historically accurate, which it SO SO SO important in a historical fiction, the characters are interesting (a mercenary who got tired of killing and started dealing relics to Archbishops? Yes, please!), and the religious commentary is completely realistic (selling of indulgences funding a corrupt Pope, and nobility buying their way into high religious offices). All signs point to an excellent read!

I'm also still working on The Gardens of the Moon. I've been looking forward to it too much, and heard too many good things about it to give up on it before two hundred pages. I'm holding off on starting any Kindle books, as I'm feeling a bit burnt out on romances.

I'm sure I'll have something new to add in the next What I'm Reading post as I have book club tonight. I'll probably do a post on my book club sometime this week, since this month was my pick and I'm super excited about it! So more posts later this week! Happy Reading!

What I'm Reading Right Now (Sort of) and Thoughts About What Counts

This post was supposed to be written on Friday. It's Wednesday. And I really don't have anything new to add to my currently reading list. I've decided to DNF list a couple of books, but I haven't started any new ones.

Remember how I said The Toddler had a cold last week and we were snuggling on the couch. Well, now I've got the cold. And holy crap does it suck. I've been sleeping A LOT (and thankfully, so has The Toddler) and not doing much of anything else. The house is a mess, I've had to turn down a showing because it's such a mess. I've got a lot of catching up to do on just about everything. Today is the first day in almost a week that I haven't felt like death but I'm going to continue to take it easy so that I don't get sick again, at least for a couple more days.

I wrote last week about running into a bit of a rough patch with the RMSC. This week the rough spot continues. Everyone in my house is sick, it's a vicious cycle. The Toddler got it from her grandma, and gave it to me, and I gave it to The Husband, and now we've all got The Plague. I haven't read anything in days and I can feel a reading slump coming on. I can sit and scroll through the hundreds of books on my Kindle and not find a single thing I want to read. I can stand and stare at my (beautifully organized) bookshelves and not find a single thing there either.

On the other hand, I can scroll through Pinterest and find book after book that looks/sounds amazing, but of course I don't own any of those books so it doesn't really help. I keep thinking that I need to read something short and quick to get me back into the reading groove, and one book keeps coming to mind. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I read it in high school and it really stuck with me though the years. I remember going 'Jackpot!' in my head when I found a copy of it at Secondhand Prose, and though I've kept it for years I've yet to read it. But I have read it in the past, so I can't decide if it should count for the challenge or not. I'm reading it anyway, of course, but I can't decide if I should count it. This had got me thinking about other things that may or may not count.

First, books that are part of a series. Like the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams. I've got all the books in the series but I have only read the first book and maybe half of the second book, and that was years ago now. So, I need to reread the series from the beginning, but does the first book count towards the challenge since I've already read it? The point of the challenge is to read books I already own, but do only unread books count?

When I originally came up with this challenge the goal was to read books I own but have not read yet. Counting books I've read already is not what the challenge is supposed to be about, it's about reading new things. So, I think if it's something I've already read, even if it's part of a series, it doesn't count.

But that brings up the next thing. Books that are half read? Going back to the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. I read half of the second book but didn't finish it. It was a good book, I just got into a reading slump and never picked it back up. Since it was never finished does it count? I think so. One of the reasons I decided to do the challenge was to actually read the books on my shelves, including the half read ones that I never got around to finishing.

But what about books like The Yellow Wallpaper, that I read and then bought a copy, but never read the copy I own? I'm thinking no, that it shouldn't count. I've read the book, even if it wasn't the copy that's sitting on a shelf upstairs, I've read it.

Quick summary of newly established rules;
Books I read and then bought - don't count.
Books I bought and then read - don't count.
Books I bought, started, but didn't finish - do count.

So this is where I am this week. Hopefully by Friday I'll be feeling better and be able to post a better update.

General Update on Everything

So, yesterday...

Now that I'm on the other side of that I realize that it was probably the longest anxiety attack I've had in a year. I was either crying or on the verge of crying from when I woke up at 6:30 am to when I went to bed at 10 pm. So today is a recovery day, and tomorrow probably will be too. Sundays are a family day so that counts too, I think. So far today I've drank three cups of coffee, ate a good lunch with my sweet little girl, started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time ever, snuggled on the couch and watched The Tigger Movie (yes, again), and pretty much ignored most social media. Tomorrow we are going to look at a few houses, clean up the house a bit since I'm not doing much today, did nothing yesterday, and we have a another showing on Monday. So, I'm okay. I'm taking care of myself, I'm relaxing, and I'm okay.

As far as the RMSC goes...

I'm in the middle of three books. I've not made much progress in the last couple of days due to general stress and busy-ness but I'm still going, and I'm still totally in line to meet all my goals for the year. Hopefully this weekend I can make some real progress. I'm sure there will be lots of coffee/tea, snuggling, and quiet time this weekend so I should be in good shape at the end of the week. The three books I'm reading are the same books I was reading last week so I'm not going to type out another what I'm reading post about them, but if every goes well I'll have new books to post about next week.

I hope, that if anyone ever reads this, or my post from yesterday, that you don't have to go through anxiety like that, but if you do, when you come out on the other side of it love yourself. Let yourself heal, allow the messy parts of you have their moment, and when that moment is over remember that you are stronger because of it. Be kind to yourself and know that those messy moments will pass and they don't have to define you.

What I'm Reading Right Now

I'm once again reading four books at once! I'm crazy. But it's working for me. I've decided to do a post every week as a kind of round up of what I'm reading and how it's going. This is ('obviously'-in Snape's voice of course) the first one.

This week has had some challenges. I've had to do a bit of sleep training with The Toddler because of previously mentioned sleep problems. She had a doctor appointment today, just a well child check up, but my anxiety always goes nuts about doctors appointments. We're getting ready to put our house up for sale, which has meant lots of cleaning, decluttering, and anxiety. The realtor is coming tomorrow morning to take pictures for the listing so some of that anxiety will be lifted after that. Naturally, it will all come crashing back down on Monday when the house is actually listed and I have to worry about people calling for showings at the last minute. On top of all that The Husband has been working overtime and will be for the next month, which means no breaks for Mommy, and no help with cleaning the house either. In spite of all that, I'm getting in some good reading time, mainly at nap time and after everyone else is in bed at night. It's actually helping me with my anxiety quite a bit, so things haven't been too bad on that front.

So here are the books I'm reading, in no particular order;

1. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson; This is the first book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It's been on my TBR list since my days working at the bookstore nearly nine years ago. I'm really loving so far, its very dark, but in a good way, I'm only 150 pages in but I bought the next two books in the series already.

2. Happily Ever All-Star by Sosie Frost; A secret baby/football romance. I love these kinds of romances. I'm a sucker for a guy in football pads, I guess.

3. Friends with Full Benefits by Luke Young; This is the second book in the Friends with Benefits series and I love this series so far. I don't usually read serial romances but this is nothing like the serials we sold at the bookstore, all with the same cover except the picture of the heroine and hero in a little circle on the front, and titled something like 'A Bride for the Duke' or 'The Greeks Pregnant Mistress'. I was originally intrigued because it's a romance novel by a male author and I gotta say I totally love it.

4. Hard Man by S.J. Bishop; This one's an ARC so no details, but I've loved all her previous books and this one has not disappointed.

I think that's it for the weekly update. I'll post another one next week. I'm finding that writing the blog is really helping me stay motivated. I don't even need any readers, lol, I just need to be able to write it all down.