March Wrap-Up and Spring Reads

It's hard to think that March is over already! It seems like it went by so quickly. So much happened with our house selling, and inspections, and paperwork, it seemed like I had almost no time to read! However I got in a lot more reading than I did in February and made quite a bit of progress with the RMSC.

I read a total of nine books in March, compared to only three in February. Six of the nine books count for the RMSC!
1. The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley (Review)
2. Bookish by Olivia Long
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
4. Bury the Hatchet (Tulsa Thunderbirds #1) by Catherine Gayle
5. Last Play by Taylor Hart
6. Naughty Professor by S.J. Bishop and Jeni Brown
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. Mary Boleyn; Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
9. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Those six books put me at 9 out of 25 for the RMSC. Which means I've caught up (since I was behind one book at the end of February) and if I read 2 books a month for the RMSC I will meet the goal of 25!

Reading Habits

Last month I was out of my favorite tea and I'm still out. Finding time to go to the tea shop has been harder than I thought it would be and I just found out my favorite tea shop is closing. The owner is retiring to spend time with her granddaughter, which is nice for her but now I'm scrambling for tea! I've been drinking a different tea and its working out well, except for I'm almost out of that tea too. However, I did find a coffee that I *love* and its from Starbucks! But its pre-ground and sold in bags at my grocery store so I can get it at a decent price. I've still been going to Biggby to read at least once a week, I usually get in some good reading time there. I have a new found love for shortbread cookies in the last month. I think it's because the tea I've been drinking is a Scottish tea and it goes so perfectly with the shortbread.

Goals for March

-Read 2 and a half books for the RMSC (exceeded!)

-Buy some coffee and tea (I bought coffee but tea is still lacking)

-Buy a toddler-proof bookmark ( I bought one and The Toddler stole it from the kitchen table and I haven't seen it since)

Goals for April

-Find the bookmark I bought last month

-Find my reading glasses (stolen by The Toddler also)

-Eat more baby carrots and less shortbread cookies

-Read 2 books for the RMSC

Spring Reading

It's hard for me to make a list of books I'm going to read, generally because I choose what to read by how I'm feeling. However, I can kind of give a general idea of the kinds of things I'm feeling like reading right now. 

I'm thinking a lot of Kindle books are going to happen this spring, for several reasons. First, we're moving. The books are getting packed first, and will probably not be the first thing that gets unpacked. The Kindle will be accessible when my physical books are not. Secondly, time. Most of the books on my Kindle are romance, and most of those are on the short side. They'll be easy quick reads when I'm stressed out from packing/unpacking. Third, content. I know that moving will probably not be easy with my anxiety and reading something heavy, or dark, or that I will have to work to get into won't really work or me. Most of the romance novels I have waiting for me are pretty light and that is exactly what I'm going to need. 

However, one exception to the fluff books will be, without a doubt, A Court of Wings and Ruin! I'm so beyond excited for this book. I haven't been waiting this anxiously for a book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For Deathly Hallows I went to a midnight release party at Borders, and spent the next 24 hours doing nothing but reading, drinking coffee, and eating lunchables. For A Court of Wings and Ruin there are no release party's, at least none that I know of, and with The Toddler needing to actually sleep at night I probably couldn't go to one anyways. But I have preordered and it should get delivered on release day! So unless our actual moving day happens to be May 2nd, I will be spending that day and night and probably the next day, absolutely devouring A Court of Wings and Ruin. I'm still suffering the book hangover from A Court of Mist and Fury, I can't get into anything right now, even the books I'm currently reading I just want to put them down and go pick up Mist and Fury again. I need A Court of Wings and Ruin, like yesterday. 

I'm trying to decide on a few books to keep out of the boxes just so I have some options. I'll probably keep 3 or 4 out. I'm going to keep going with Deadhouse Gates and Outlander. I've got to read Big Little Lies for the book club meeting on the 28th. I'm thinking I'll also keep out The Perfect Girl and Throne of Glass, so that's a total of five. I guess five isn't bad. 

I'm really looking forward to April. There's going to be a lot of changes in the next two months but I can't wait to do a post (or four) on the book organization process in the new house! It's going to be a fun month! Happy reading!

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!

Book Club Pick for April

I can't believe it's time for the April book club pick already! March went by so fast and there were so many books! But there will be more about that in the March Wrap-Up post at the beginning of next week.

Image from Goodreads.com

Our book club pick for March was L's pick, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. We ranged all across the board on this one, some of us loved it, some were kind of meh, and some hated it. Usually we have pretty good conversations about books when we don't all agree, so it was a fun night. We talked a lot about the similarities between our current society and the society in the book, the voluntary decline of books, and why books evoke so much emotion from those who love them. 
We also asked the question 'If you had to memorize one book to preserve for the future, which book would you pick?' A lot of people picked a book from The Bible, but my answer was, of course, The Other Boleyn Girl. 



For April our pick comes from S, who's last pick, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, was a huge hit. Everybody loved it! I think her next pick is going to be a great one too. The pick is...

Image from Goodreads.com

I don't know a whole lot about this book, just that it's an HBO special and Reese Witherspoon is in it. I've seen it all over Pinterest in the last year or so along with the rest of Liane Moriarty's books. Judging by the cover, it should be amazing! Also, the fact that all the libraries in my area have 10+ copies of this book, and ALL OF THEM are checked out, and have a huge waiting list, means it's probably pretty good. I'm going to see if I can pick up a copy at Target but if they don't have it I'll be ordering it this week, even though I promised I wouldn't buy any more books until after the move. It's for book club, so I have to get it. Right?

6 Podcasts I Love

I may have mentioned this before, but I LOVE podcasts! I listen to them while I clean, fold laundry, cook dinner, basically anytime I'd have music on, I've got a podcast playing. I have a few favorites, not all of them are bookish podcasts, but they have helped me with cleaning routines, decluttering my house, being more mindful, and simplifying my life so I have time to do the things I love.

Here they are, in no particular order!

Image from Aslobcomesclean.com

1. A Slob Comes Clean -  I started listening to this one a little over a year ago, when I was really trying to get my cleaning routine down. I didn't really know where to start, and being a homemaker does not come naturally to me. I had a hard time getting motivated to clean so I started listening to this podcast while I did my dishes, and I've learned so much! I highly recommend starting with episode #1, as she gives her own 'Slob Story' in the first few episodes. I still listen to this podcast on a regular basis and I love being able to go back and listen to episodes on certain subjects when I'm struggling with something. If you're naturally clean and organized this probably isn't the podcast for you, but it's been a great help to me!

Image from Rachelkable.com

2. The Mindful Kind - I stumbled across this podcast by accident one day while I was looking for something new to listen to while cleaning. I've been surprised at how much it has helped me to deal with my anxiety and keep mindfulness as a priority as I go through my day. The host, Rachel Kable, is Australian and I love listening to her talk. Her voice is soothing and just calms me down every time I turn it on. When I first found it I didn't think there was much to talk about with mindfulness, that it could be worth a weekly podcast, but it really is worth it. Mindfulness is something everyone can benefit from and I think everyone should check out this podcast.

Image from stitcher.com

3.  The Simple Show - This podcast covers variety of subjects, travel, books, decluttering, slow living. The host, Tsh, is awesome! She's traveled the world with her family and has made simple living and doing whats right for her family her top priority. She's got some amazing co-hosts, always has excellent guests, and I can always scroll through the episode list and find something that applies to my life and what I need on any given day. She even has an episode on Gilmore Girls!

Image from Modernmrsdarcy.com

4. What Should I Read Next - This is a the purely bookish podcast from the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog. Anne, the host and writer of Modern Mrs. Darcy, covers everything reading, from reviews and recommendations, to ways to track your reading (which is a newer episode, and one of my favorites because, in case you haven't noticed, I LOVE tracking my reading). I love the blog as a whole, because she covers life, not just books. The blog is about books, but she throws in recipes, or a make-up post every now and then. There's posts about moving, about personality types, organizing, and life goals. It is a blog about the life of a reader, the whole life, not just the book parts.

Image from Itunes 

5. Simple Life Together - The is another podcast about simplicity. It's a husband and wife who host it
and they are so much fun to listen too! They are so funny and just listening to their banter back and forth and their conversations makes me smile. They haven't posted new episodes in over a year but there is a lot of great inspiration and tips on simplifying in the 70 or so episodes that they do have.

Image from Literary Disco

6. Literary Disco -  This is like a podcast/bookclub. They are so funny and have great book selections. They don't post episodes very consistently, depending on the hosts work schedules and things there can be some big gaps, but there are over 100 episodes so there's plenty to catch up on. Plus, Rider Strong, Sean from
Boy Meets World, is one of the hosts so that's pretty awesome!

Those are my 6 favorite podcasts! I'm actually listening to The Simple Show while I type this and I've got an episode of The Mindful Kind to listen too while I clean up the playroom! I'm having a hard time with my anxiety today so listening to these is helping me find my calm as best I can. I'm always looking or new podcasts so if anyone out there has some suggestions let me know!

Holy Cow It's A Readathon Weekend!

Two posts in one day? I know I'm going a bit over board but this has special circumstances! I just got my first books for review from Netgalley.com! They are not new books, but if I want to get new books to review in the future it's probably a good idea for me take this seriously.

I have one issue with this whole review thing right now. I'm currently reading six books. SIX. So this weekend, I'm going to read as much as possible. I might even ask my mom to come babysit on Sunday so I can read all afternoon. My goal is to finish at least three books by Monday morning. I might have to temporarily DNF list one or two books so I can get to the review books in a timely manner. Which I'm okay with since it is only temporary and I'm not very far in to any of the books I'm reading right now.

I'll update this post (hopefully) multiple times this weekend and share my progress. This is where I'm at as of 2 pm on friday 3/24;

Outlander - pg 7
Deadhouse Gates - pg 58
A Court of Mist and Fury - pg 8
Naughty Professor - 14%
The Wall of Winnepeg and Me - 3%
Last Play - 21%

Update #1- 10 PM 3/24

Outlander - pg 7
Deadhouse Gates - pg 58
A Court of Mist and Fury - pg 26
Naughty Professor - 55%
The Wall of Winnepeg and Me - 3%
Last Play - 21%

I spent the afternoon playing in the backyard with The Toddler, I didn't get as much reading done as I could have. Really, though, she's more important than anything and it was the first warm day this spring. So I'm staying up a bit to read.

Update #2 - 3:30 PM 3/25

Outlander - pg 7
Deadhouse Gates - pg 58
A Court of Mist and Fury - pg 39
Naughty Professor - FINISHED
The Wall of Winnepeg and Me - 3%
Last Play - 21%

I finished Naughty Professor around midnight last night. It was...not what I thought it was going to be. Full review coming next week sometime. So far most of today has been spent at Home Depot, but I'm home now and The Toddler is about to take a nap, which equals reading time!

Update #3 - 12 AM 3/26

Outlander - pg 7
Deadhouse Gates - pg 58
A Court of Mist and Fury - pg 53
Naughty Professor - FINISHED
The Wall of Winnepeg and Me - 3%
Last Play - FINISHED

I didn't get as much reading in on Saturday as I would have liked. I have finished two books so far this weekend and the goal was three so I'm doing good there, however with the rest of the books I'm really at the beginning of all of them. I think Outlander is going to land on the DNF list for now. I'm debating between ACoMaF and Wall of Winnepeg to tackle next.

Update #4 - 11 PM 3/26

Outlander - pg 7
Deadhouse Gates - pg 58
A Court of Mist and Fury - pg 160
Naughty Professor - FINISHED
The Wall of Winnepeg and Me - 3%
Last Play - FINISHED

So I didn't get as much reading done this weekend as I thought I would. I only finished two books, but I made a lot of progress with A Court of Mist and Fury. I'm hoping to hit page 200 before I go to bed tonight.

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

Books I'm Loving for The Toddler

The Toddler and I read a lot of books together. If she likes a book she wants to read it six, seven, eight times in a row. After reading a book eight times in a row, four times a day, for a week I get a little tired of the books we have. For the last couple of weeks we've been making trips to the library on Saturdays so I can have new books to read to The Toddler on a regular basis without spending a ton of money.

So far it's worked out great! I usually pick a 'theme' for the week and we pick books based around that theme, Last week it was bears. The Toddler loves pretending to be a bear and roaring at me from her closet while I fold laundry. Of course, I pretend to be terrified of the 'bear' and she giggles like mad. So anyway, we got some bear books. One of them was the funniest children's book I have ever read. I burst out laughing, I think it scared The Toddler a little.

The book was Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup. It's about a bear who never takes a bath, so if you have a little one who hates the tub this might be a good pick. Big Smelly Bear wakes up one day with an itch that won't go away, he runs into Big Fluffy Bear and the most realistic argument ensues. I won't spoil if Big Smelly Bear actually takes a bath or not, but it's definitely worth checking out.

The second book was Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix. This one wasn't really on theme with the whole bear thing, but it was such a unique book that I went ahead and picked it up anyway. This book goes through the four seasons and uses basic shapes and colors mixed with die-cuts to create the pictures in the book.

Gif is from threebooksanight.com. I'm not talented enough to make gif's yet. 

Both of these books were ones I didn't mind reading over and over. In fact I might have to pick up both of them from Amazon, since we both liked them so much.

As I find really stand-out kids books in the future I might go ahead and share them here on the blog. I know I'm always on the lookout for good kid's book recommendations and I'm sure other moms are too.