A Day in the Life, January 2017

This post has been in the works for awhile, but I finally managed to track my day! I personally love reading this post on other blogs because I am a bit nosy. This particular day was pretty typical for January 2017. Molly is 5 and in kindergarten (French Immersion), Lucy will be 3 in March, and Brian and I both work full-time so this is what a typical weekday looks like for us.

5:10 am – my alarm goes off. I push snooze once and hop in the shower . Sometimes, I use 20 minutes of time in the morning to work out but I had yoga last night and it was an intense class.

5:30 am – after getting dressed and putting some mousse in my hair to air dry, I make my way downstairs to the kitchen while everyone else is still asleep. This is my “quiet time” in the morning but also my most productive and busy time. I make us breakfast sandwiches using this fun appliance, put a whole frozen chicken in the slow cooker with some spices, and make lunches for all 4 of us. It is a bit of a crazy time, but I don’t mind it.

Molly comes down at 6:15 and starts eating breakfast. Brian brings Lucy down around 6:30 and she starts eating too. The girls are extra cuddly this morning and decide to “help” Brian make our coffee.

I sometimes like to put them up on the counter top so they can be close to me but I’m not holding them

6:30 am- The kids get dressed, and we aim to get out the door by 7 am. This involves reminding kids to eat their breakfast, braiding hair while they are eating, cajoling them into clothing, and listening to a bit of whining, packing backpacks with school things, all while watching the clock. As usual, I breathe a deep sigh of relief when we’re all in the car at 7 am.

7 am – 7:30 am – We all leave the house together. We drop Lucy off at her home daycare down the street and drop Molly off at her before/after school daycare. Lucy didn’t want to go today, which is rare for her, so I feel a twinge of mommy guilt. After we drop them off, Brian and I have about a 10-15 minute drive to the bus terminal to chat about the kids, our schedules, and to argue over the radio station 😉 He drops me off at the bus terminal and he parks at work (for free:)).

7:30-7:50 – I take the bus to work. This is when I get to read my book and drink my coffee and sometimes admire the sunrise over the Halifax Harbour. It honestly feels like the most relaxing time of my morning some days 🙂

8:00-4:00 – Work. My work day varies – twice or three times a week I spend my day doing 6 hours worth of neuropsychological testing with patients who have neurodegenerative diseases (MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease) or possible memory problems. The other two or three days are spent writing reports, scoring assessments and other general office work or test preparation. Today, I’m seeing a patient, so my day is super busy and I often don’t really get a break or much of a lunch. I also wore my new red flats today (LOVE them) 🙂

The work day does go by pretty quickly and I finish up in time to walk over (~15 minutes) to catch a bus to meet Brian. I call my mom to chat on the way over to the bus. I also found it funny that this was one of my snacks today:

“Helicopter Heather” cheese stick

4:00-5:00 – take the bus to meet Brian (aka more reading time), pick up the kids, and get home. We usually eat supper right around 5:00 and today is no different. We enjoy a delicious chicken that cooked all day in the slow cooker (=mommy win) with a side of sweet potato fries done in our new Actifry, and frozen peas that just need to be reheated. The kids get to watch one show (today they picked Tayo the bus) in the living room on Netflix while I’m prepping supper and Brian gets to chill out on the couch or help with the kids 🙂

Brian and I also end up sharing some of our caesar salad with Lucy:

5:30-6:00 – play time with the kids for me. Today, we did some puzzles on the floor and read some books (Molly has homework which is reading in French) but then they started playing together nicely (school AKA Molly is the teacher and Lucy is the student), so I got some supper dishes cleaned up and loaded the dishwasher.

6:00 pm – bath time for both kids tonight – they decided to have one in our en suite tonight but there were no fights, so it was a success!

6:15 – 7:00 – Pajamas on, read a bunch of books, have a quick bedtime snack and off to bed. Brian almost always puts Molly to bed and I put Lucy to bed – this is because Lucy will have a tantrum if I don’t put her to bed. She has let Brian do bedtime a few times lately though and she won’t give him any problems if I happen to not be home at bedtime.

We are super blessed that our kids typically go to bed without much difficulty, go to sleep right away (or at least don’t come out of their rooms), and sleep until at least 6:00 the next morning.

7:00 – 9:30 this depends on the day, but tonight I finished cleaning the kitchen a bit, watched a few episodes of Brooklyn 99 with Brian, did a quick yoga video, read my book and went to bed around 9:30. Brian stays up after I go to bed and plays video games or exercises. That’s our day in a nutshell!

5 on Fri-YAY

I have a few posts I’ve been working on this week and I’m hoping to share next week, but I feel like today is a great day to share some random thoughts in list form. We’ll make it 5 thoughts because it’s Friday. Happy weekend, everyone!

1) Has anyone watched Me Before You? I have the dvd from the library and I am looking forward to it but I KNOW it will be sad (having read the book), and I’m wondering if I should make my husband sit through it with me or watch it alone tonight. The book made me sob, for what it’s worth.

2) We have been battling the stomach flu that ends in a massive congested cold in our house, but I’m HOPING we are all starting to get our health back this weekend. The last two nights I’ve resorted to the cold sock treatment – don’t knock it til you try it! It sounds super weird but for some reason it really works. I love finding natural remedies.

3) My reading is totally scattered all over the place right now I have 3 books on the go, two of which are for Erin’s challenge, but I’m antsy even to get into something else. I’m not sure if being tired is just not allowing me to turn to books the way I normally would, or if I just need to read something more enticing, but I’m hoping to resolve it this weekend and finish up Valley of the Moon. Reading shouldn’t be stressful and I was feeling pressured to finish some great library books before they are due on Monday and then I realized – so what if I have to return them unread? No big deal. They will always be there another time.

4) I like to save links on Facebook, Feedly, and in my e-mail drafts. I will sometimes use Pinterest or Pocket for these, but any blog post or article I see shared ends up in an infinite abyss that I can never find again. Any tips for keeping all of these in one place? I’m thinking of labeling my e-mail drafts better. I like saving these things in my gmail because I find them so easy to search for again. Thoughts?

Anyway, I found a few fun articles that I enjoyed 4 years ago in an old e-mail drafts folder.

Feeling stuck: a fun exercise that might change your life

The Happiest Facts of All Time

45 Quotes from Literature that will actually change your life

How to get smarter

5) I can’t wait to spend the weekend reading, colouring, and doing crafts with my two favourite little buddies:

Happy Friday!!!

Recent Reads (SUYB 2017)

My 2017 reading life is off to a great start!! I knew it would be, mostly because a lot of great library holds came in at once and I am enjoying my picks for Erin’s book challenge 6.0 so far. Check out Steph & Jana’s posts today to see what others have been reading lately!! Here are the books I’ve read since the last Show Us Your Books link up:

Great books:

The Mothers by Brit Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know most people have already heard others rave about this book, but it’s for good reason!! This book had beautiful writing and I felt so much sympathy for all of the characters at one point or another. The character development was fantastic. This subject matter isn’t what I normally turn to in my reading life, but it had a lot of different perspectives and I appreciated that. It was fun to follow the characters through adolescence into adulthood too. I loved “the mothers” sections especially.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book and it was a great start to my 2017 reading year. I sat on the couch and read it while my kids played with their new Christmas toys. It was a great reading-in-front-of-the-tree-with-a-coffee book. It reminded me of PS: I love You (the movie) for some reason and I really wanted Nina to succeed in her new adventure. The setting was perfect and the characters were awesome. The introduction is also fantastic – don’t skip it!! (I read this for Erin’s challenge).

Books that kept me interested:

Woman of God by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a complicated book to review. It was quite compelling and I absolutely loved the characters, especially Brigid. As a lifelong Catholic (but not necessarily conservative), I think that this book was interesting, pertinent, and hopeful. It would be amazing if some of the parts of this book became reality one day, but I’m not sure if that will be the case or not. I have always enjoyed Patterson’s books and this one was no exception even though it was miles away from most of his other novels. I will also say that parts of this book seemed a bit unrealistic, but I think it was meant to be that way. If you feel strongly that women should play a larger role in the Catholic church, I would recommend this book. It’s not a read for everyone though, understandably. The tagline for this book is a bit misleading, but I’m sure it grabs people’s attention. I read it after my mom raved about it. (I read this for Erin’s challenge).

View all my reviews Winter Street and Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book and Winter Stroll in a few days leading up to Christmas when life was busy. These books are super fluffy and the character development isn’t 100%, but they were better than most fluffy Christmas books I’ve read. I am still on hold for the third book so I might not get to that until about February, but that’s okay- I still need to find out what happens to all of the characters anyway 🙂

The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute read and I can’t wait to read it to Molly sometime – unfortunately it went back to the library before I got to it with her. Written by the author of Pippi Longstocking, which I loved as a child.

The Lord’s Persuasion of Lady Lydia by Raven McAllan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book well enough while I was reading it, but it’s not about to become a favourite in the historical romance genre. Parts of it felt a bit too contrived, and although I appreciated Lady Lydia’s position and independence as a woman in this era, it felt a bit overdone at times. The mystery element was a bit unique and the parts set in the countryside were nice too, but unless this is your favourite genre to read, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book! (Read for Erin’s challenge).

Books that I started and DNF: Jane and the 12 Days of Christmas (enjoyable but felt weird reading it after Christmas so returned it to the library at 50% – I will pursue this Jane Austen series at some point though), First Star I See Tonight (couldn’t get into it, not in the mood), The Life Intended (maybe someday I’ll pick it back up).

Currently reading:

The Count of Monte Cristo (I picked this for Erin’s challenge and it is 54 hours long on audio so I’ll be reading it right til the end, I think) and I’m about to start one of these books below…which one should I go with!?!?!

Really, which one should I read next? Jellicoe Road is on my list for Erin’s challenge, but My Brilliant Friend and Midnight Riot are library books!!!

What have you been reading lately!?

Looking Ahead to 2017

After reading Better than Before towards the end of last year, I am still a bit torn as to my tendency. I would say overall that I am an Obliger, though. For this reason, I don’t find that New Year’s resolutions always work great for me unless I have external accountability. For instance – I never miss my weekly yoga class. I’ve paid for it, it’s a small class so my teacher is aware if I’m not there, and I enjoy the commitment I’ve made to it. I almost NEVER do yoga at home though, even though I would like to. Last year, I signed up for a 5-race package and ran four of those five races (I missed one because I was across the country for my cousin’s wedding). Had I not signed up for this, I might not have signed up for any races or done nearly as much running.

Here are some things I am really looking forward to in 2017, in no particular order:

1) Taking a trip to Toronto in August to see COLDPLAY live in concert (we will likely take the girls, drive out, and make it a family trip – Brian’s sister lives near Toronto and so do my aunt and uncle). I am BEYOND excited for this.

2) Seeing Beauty & The Beast in theatres in March (the trailer looks amazing, I can’t wait)

3) Running 5 MEC races starting with a 5K this weekend

4) Continuing to work on yoga with my wonderful teacher

5) Reading at least 100 books again, including a great start with my choices for Erin’s book challenge 6.0. Focusing on quality over quantity but continuing to prioritize reading in my daily life. Work on better book tracking in my bullet journal & on Goodreads.

6) Lucy turning 3 and Molly turning 6 – Lucy might even get to start preschool in the fall

7) My sister, brother-in-law, and niece moving closer to us in June/July (right now they are an hour away but they’re moving to the city!)

8) Finding/starting a new job (my current position ends at the end of June) – I have mixed feelings about this, but I always knew it was coming and I am so fortunate to have had this experience in my position

9) My 10-year Homecoming Reunion at St. FX in October (I hope a lot of my classmates make the trip!)

10) My sister-in-law and her fiance’s wedding in May – this will be a fantastic family event, and I’m so excited for them. Her fiance has been “part of the family” for longer than I have, so it will be nice to celebrate it officially 🙂 The girls are both going to be flower girls too.

On another note, here are some of my goals and aspirations for 2017:

Go on (at least) a weekend getaway with Brian and also focus on one date night a month
Continue to work on being a calmer and more kind parent, wife, and friend
Continue to declutter our home
Work on my posture with yoga, stretching, monthly massages, and my new posture corrector band that I got for Christmas 🙂
Find a fulfilling and exciting new job to feel passionate about
Continue to nurture my friendships with the women in my life
Continue to pursue health and happiness by finding time to relax, eating healthy food, and exercising
Attempt to publish blog posts at least twice a week including sharing more parenting thoughts, random writing, recipes, and more in-depth book reviews

Bring on 2017! It’s going to be a great year.

In case you’re interested, here are my goals from last year – overall, I did pretty well! 🙂

December/Christmas Recap (What’s New link up!)

Linking up with Kristen & Gretch today for their What’s New With You? link up.

I think I’ve always taken time off at Christmas while working, and I really enjoy the break at the end of the year. It’s a great chance to regroup, spend tons of time with family, and enjoy our children. Last year, we were SO sick all throughout Christmas and although we had a few little health blips this year over the holidays too, it was so nice to be happy, healthy, and together for almost 2 weeks straight at home.

BUT, for the purposes of a monthly recap, let’s start back at the beginning of December 🙂 On December 3, we left the kids with my in-laws and went to Brian’s work Christmas party at a hotel downtown. It’s always a fun event, and this year it was fantastic except that I had laryngitis and could NOT talk. I like to talk, so that was tough 🙂 By the next day, my voice was so strained that I couldn’t even get out a sound and it didn’t come back fully for about a week. Anyway, we really enjoyed the party and the date night out regardless of all of that.

I had a little day date with my favourite 5 year old on a day when she got out of school early. We did some Christmas shopping and got a treat. She was in heaven. haha. We also bought our tree!!! The girls were super excited 🙂

On December 6th, St. Nicholas visited the girls overnight and brought them some new books which they enjoyed throughout the holidays. This was a tradition for my family growing up, and I love the idea of it so we have continued it with our girls too 🙂

The following weekend, we took the girls to see Santa and went to my niece’s first birthday party.

I made this delicious giraffe cupcake cake for her party, which was a bit giraffe-themed:

My sister and her husband rented out their local community hall for the party and it was so nice – lots of space, a ball pit (belonging to them), Christmas decorations, and we put on Christmas/kids music too. It was a fun day and a nice chance to see some of their friends and family on my brother in law’s side. My niece enjoyed herself too! We had a bit of a super-cold snap around this time too, but it has mostly passed (for now) and all of the snow melted before Christmas.

In the middle of December, I went to a concert with my parents and aunt and uncle which featured the group Coig. They play Celtic music and they are SO upbeat and talented. They mostly played Christmas music from their album Carols, which I loved. It was a fun night out but I was sooo tired afterwards (didn’t get home until midnight – haha).

The following weekend, we gathered at my aunt’s house to see one of my cousins who went home to New Zealand for Christmas. Then we had a few more days of work/school and I was off from Dec 21-Jan 3. It was a nice break! We were able to see a lot of our family and friends. It was REALLY busy though. Busier than I expected. The girls were really overtired by the end of it, and I was sort of ready to come back to work too.

Magnetic blocks – a big hit!

Our house at 7 am on Christmas morning #bookworms

Christmas morning in our house was a big hit – Santa came 🙂 I also gave myself a second degree burn on my hand while flipping bacon & trying to do too many things at once. (It still hasn’t completely healed, but I think it will be OK according to my doctor sister). We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve at my in-law’s house and Christmas Day dinner at my parents’ house. We were able to skype with my sister in law and her fiance and my brother. We had hoped to squeeze in another date night while on vacation but instead we are doing it this weekend (thank you Mom & Dad!)

Christmas tree pancakes 🙂

We had 3 friends over for a low-key New Year’s Eve of board games and they ended up staying until 2:30 AM which was brutal when Molly woke up at 6 am on New Year’s Day. Oops #badparenting. It took me 2 days to recover from that. We had a great time though #yolo and enjoyed fireworks from our deck (mostly people setting them off on the beach and the horizon – it was sooo cool).

Bring on January though! I’m sharing some of my goals and aspirations for the year tomorrow.

2016: a quick recap of the year

I’ve loved participating in Kristen & Gretch’s What’s New With You link ups every month, and I find it nice to look back on the year and just see everything notable that happened each month. Especially as the girls grow up, I think it’s really important for me to focus on some of these small but fun things. Here is some of what we did in 2016, mostly for me to look back on, but also to share.

January

I started working part-time for 6 months. Molly started preschool simultaneously. We all settled into a different routine.
I ran a 5K race, my first race ever in winter. It was good, but chilly and icy!
I lost the solitary diamond from my engagement ring but Brian was able to find it in our kitchen sink trap. One of the worst days of my life – the stress I felt was unimaginable. I will now ABSOLUTELY commit to getting my ring inspected twice a year without any exception, ever.
We went to see The Arkells live and it was the most amazing thing ever.

February

We registered Molly for primary (grade school).
I continued on my path of decluttering our home (it’s a continual project, really)
We saw most of my family for Valentine’s day and that was great
Brian renovated our kitchen/hallway floors on the same weekend Lucy had surgery to put tubes in her ears (all went well)
Molly absolutely loved preschool!

March

We had a wonderful Easter holiday
Lucy turned 2 years old!!!
We got completely hooked on White Collar

April

I read my first Louise Penny book ❤ I also finished Eligible in a day! What a great reading month, actually.
I ran my second 5K race of the year at Citadel Hill and got my fastest time post-children
I started in the advanced yoga class with my teacher
Brian and I became godparents to our beautiful niece, my sister’s daughter

May

We saw Shrek: The Musical at Neptune Theater, which was Molly’s first Neptune show. She really enjoyed it but she got a bit antsy
We saw Raffi live in concert for the second time (Lucy’s first time)
We enjoyed brunch and lobster dinner for Mother’s Day with my mother in law and mom 🙂
Molly had primary orientation at Brian’s elementary school

June

We went out for dinner & to The Board Room Game Cafe for our 4th anniversary
we celebrated Brian’s birthday
we went to Brian’s cousin’s wedding and saw a lot of his family that we don’t see very often
We celebrated a friend’s daughter’s 1st birthday in the park
I ran a very slow 10K race in 100% humidity and extreme heat (the day after that wedding I just mentioned)
Molly “graduated” from preschool (cue the mom tears)
We took the girls to Upper Clements Park, an amusement park 2 1/2 hours away – they absolutely loved it but it was definitely a looooong day of travelling! We will be back though!
We were on vacation for the last week of June & first part of July
Molly started summer soccer

July

We had a great Canada Day with friends
I started back at work full-time again & one of my awesome co-workers came back from maternity leave
Lucy got her first hair cut!
I saw Love & Friendship with a close friend
We travelled to New Brunswick for the weekend to visit friends and it was a nice break

August

We went to one of my best friend’s weddings 2 hours away for the weekend; Molly was the flower girl
I saw some old friends from university and was so happy to catch up with them
We celebrated my birthday
I listened to The Arkell’s new album non-stop
I devoured Harry Potter & the Cursed Child in a day

September

I ran another 5K race & Brian and the girls surprised me at the finish line
Molly turned 5 & we had a family party for her
Molly started school and a new daycare
Molly was super overtired and this was a challenging parenting month, but we got it sorted out by October
We saw Beauty & The Beast at Neptune on Molly’s birthday weekend ❤
We went apple picking in the valley with my sister & her family & my parents
I joined the PTA at Molly’s school

October

I went to see The Barra MacNeils with my family & absolutely loved it
We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house with 30 people
We took the girls to a few indoor playgrounds around the city, which they LOVED.
I spent 5 days away from Brian and the girls in Calgary to attend my cousin’s wedding
I took Molly to her Halloween Howl at school & we took the girls trick-or-treating
I saw one of my old roommates and her boyfriend, which was SO great. I was beyond happy to catch up with them.

November

Molly got her first (excellent) report card & we had our first interview with her teacher, which went extremely well. She also had her first field trip & learned a French song for Remembrance Day, which was adorable and sweet
I had 3 Fridays off (sick, holiday, vacation) which was kind of nice. I got used to 4-day work weeks
We visited my sister & her family for a day
We saw Fantastic Beasts in theatres (loved it) and I watched Gilmore Girls with a close girlfriend all in one night (marathon! haha)
We got a heat pump installed

December

I’ll share more about December tomorrow, but we had a wonderful but busy month
We attended Brian’s work Christmas party (I had laryngitis but it was still a fun night out, haha)
We celebrated my niece’s first birthday & saw Santa in the mall on the way down (the girls were fantastic!)
We celebrated Christmas, probably our best one yet; the girls were so excited!!
We visited a lot of family & friends
We played a lot of board games
We had one huge snowstorm but no snow for Christmas, Molly had 1 1/2 snow days
The Nova Scotia teachers began work-to-rule, which hasn’t affected us in huge ways but means no extra-curriculars at school etc. We are hoping they resolve it all soon.

Tomorrow I’m linking up with Kristen & Gretch to share what’s new with me, including a Christmas vacation recap 🙂 On Friday, I’m planning to share some things I’m looking forward to in 2017 and some goals!!!

Book Analytics from 2016

I meant to post this over the holidays, but I just didn’t get around to it, so here it is now, in 2017!! Not too late for more recap posts, in my opinion.

Aside from keeping track of my reading life on Goodreads and linking up with Show Us Your Books every month, I wanted to seek out some actual data on the books I’m reading. I come from a statistics background (my Masters is in psychology) and I love analyzing things like this. It’s a bit of a nerdy pursuit, but it’s fun too. Here’s what I discovered about my reading life last year (none of this surprised me, of course).

In 2016:

I read 117 books and a total of 36785 pages.

By Genre:

Nonfiction: 10
Young Adult: 11
Mystery: 20
Sci-Fi: 2
Fantasy: 4
Classics: 7
The rest were some type of fiction (including historical fiction, romance, historical romance, etc).

As for my ratings (on Goodreads, at least), my average overall rating this year was 3.86.
2 star books: 2
3 star books: 35
4 star books: 52
5 star books: 21

Format of books:

44 print books
56 e-books,
16 audiobooks

Source of the books:

76 of the books I read were from the library
19 were purchased (this counts second hand and audible)
17 were from Netgalley,
2 were borrowed
3 were from Librivox.org.

I read 17 books by male authors and the rest were female.
Most of the authors I read in 2016 are from the US although Louise Penny’s series really bumped up the Canadian author count 🙂
Many of the books I read were published in the past few years, or at least since the year 2000.

I can’t wait to diversify this a little bit in 2017, but I’m happy with how things went in 2016! There were only a few books that I marked as DNF, so that counts as a good year in my books! 😉

The Best Books I Read in 2016

Belated Merry Christmas wishes!!!

When I started writing this post earlier in December I actually forgot that some books I really, REALLY enjoyed were books that I read this year. When you read 117 books in one year, it can be hard to remember them all, which is why I LOVE Goodreads and my bullet journal for keeping track of the books I read and what I thought of them.

I wanted to narrow my “best books of 2016” list down to 10 books like I did last year, but that was honestly impossible, so this post is what you get. Here are my favourite and most notable reads from the past year and a bunch of extra enjoyable reads at the end. I wouldn’t recommend all of these books to every reader because we all have different tastes, but I think I’ve tried to include a bit of a variety here too. Looking forward to seeing which books make it on to other readers’ lists!! Check out Steph and Jana’s blogs today for the link-up. I’m also linking up today with Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and The Bookish.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany – So…of course I loved this book. I knew I would love it before anyone even had the idea to write it and I am absolutely completely biased because I could read a new Harry Potter book everyday and be the happiest person alive. BUT my more unbiased opinion would be that this was a fun way to revisit some beloved characters, and although the play format was different, it made for a quick read and I really loved it. It wasn’t nearly enough to quench my Harry Potter thirst and I am dying to re-read the series so I might even start doing that this week. I know there are a lot of critics out there, but this was pure enjoyment for me.

The Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny – my personal favourites were book 4 (A Rule Against Murder), books 5-6 (The Brutal Telling, Bury your Dead), book 9 (How the Light Gets In) and book 12 (A Great Reckoning – published this year). This entire series is worth the time and I will recommend it until the day I die, but if you don’t like it, we can still be friends. It starts a bit slow, but it’s best to read the books in order if you can. I went on a huge Louise Penny binge read in 2016 and I do not regret it one little bit.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton – (see review here) I read 2 Kate Morton books this year and I had planned to read more, but I ran out of time. 😉 Her books take awhile to get into, and they are a bit long, but they are so, so good. I’m sure I will get to her other books in 2017 and I can’t wait. The Secret Keeper was intricately woven and absolutely completely satisfying at the end.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty – I had forgotten that I’d read this book this year because it stayed with me so much that I feel like it’s been in my life forever. I read it in January and actually checked it out from the library again in November to re-read parts of it. I loved this book so much and have recommended it to people because I thought it was just such an interesting perspective on married life, motherhood, sisterhood, and all of it. It was SO interesting and so well done, in my opinion. Definitely my favourite book by Liane Moriarty so far.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi – I’d heard so many amazing reviews of this book, but I wasn’t sure how much I would like it because memoirs are not typically my thing. This book was amazing though. Parts of it were desperately sad, but there was also so much hope. The writing was beautiful. I listened to it on audiobook and I definitely recommend that format.

Better than Before and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin – I am not a big non-fiction reader but these books were both incredible, and incredibly inspiring. Not for everyone, but I am a huge fan. AND check this out:

You can order a signature card to put inside your book on her website! She ships them for free in Canada and the US!

Persuasion by Jane Austen – might just be my favourite of all of them. This story was phenomenal and I don’t know why I didn’t read it sooner. I go back and forth between P&P and this as my favourite Austen every day.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – this was an absolutely incredible book and it has sold millions (and been highly rated for many years) for a reason.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah – if you haven’t heard of this book, you’ve been living under a rock. 😉 The emotions that I experienced while reading this book were INTENSE but it was so absolutely incredible. It’s also the book that turned me off WWII books for the rest of 2016, I think. So there’s that..but it was great.

One True Loves – by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I gushed about this book for months and was able to buy it last month so I read it all again. I might get over it someday, but not anytime soon. For the record, I also loved After I Do and Maybe in Another Life. If you haven’t picked up a TJR book yet…get one of these asap.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer – this book came quite highly recommended by Kristen and it did not disappoint me one little bit. I hope to re-read it sometime. It was SO humorous for that genre and highly enjoyable.

Other books I loved that you should check out if you’re looking for recommendations:

Endgame – by Susan Kelly <— this is my aunt and I am still abundantly proud of her for publishing her first novel this year.
Sense and Sensibility & Emma by Jane Austen – if you are trying to branch out from Pride & Prejudice
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt – if you like middle grade at all or have a teenager in your life…this book was SO great.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – if you want to read a more modern classic 😉
The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler – if you like books about parenting.relationships without all the mumbo jumbo crap. This was a good one.
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center – if you like Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books or are looking for a slightly less fluffy contemporary romantic fiction book
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld if you like Pride & Prejudice but you aren’t a purist
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah – if you want to cry your eyes out after 450 pages
The Likeness by Tana French – I hope to read more of this series someday, this one was an interesting murder mystery
All the Light we Cannot See – by Anthony Doerr – if you love beautiful writing and WWII
The Golden Son by Shilipi Somaya Gowda if you enjoyed The Kite Runner
One Plus One by JoJo Moyes if you liked the movie Little Miss Sunshine
The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn if you like historical romance and series about families 🙂
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale – I’m not sure what I would link this book to, but probably if you like The Secret Garden or other similar older YA classics.

Just for fun, here were my top ten books in 2015. 🙂

And here are a few BEAUTIFUL book covers from 2016:

We had a beautiful Christmas and I am absolutely 100% enjoying spending every waking moment soaking up my lovely children and relaxing. Looking forward to reading more “best of” lists this week and sharing my 2016 book analytics post soon!!! Happy New Year to all of my favourite reading buddies 🙂 🙂

SUYB Last-ish one of 2016!

I have loved all of the Show us Your Books posts this year and am proud to say that I was able to participate in the link up each month! I’ve said before that being active on Goodreads and immersing myself in this book blogging community has really, really improved my reading life. In some ways, I feel like Show us Your Books is a mini-book club where everyone talks about different books (or sometimes the same ones!) and I love the connections that I have made with other readers. If I don’t say it enough, thank you SO much Steph and Jana for hosting this wonderful link up that brings all of us readers together once a month! I absolutely appreciate being a part of this community.

I feel like I read a lot of light-hearted books this month. I think I was a bit burned out on challenging books, or something. When life gets busy (aka holiday season), my books tend to get easier to read. Haha. Anyway, some of them were really great so here are my thoughts:

BEST BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really, really enjoyed this book and with a psychology background, I am very drawn to some of her suggestions on forming habits. Some of the information in the book could be called “common knowledge”, I suppose, but it was presented in such a fascinating way that I could easily feel myself nodding my head and saying that I do that, or would like to do that. I am a huge Gretchen Rubin fan and already purchased this book after reading the library copy. LOVED it. I know non-fiction isn’t for everyone, but I definitely find Rubin’s work super fascinating and if you’re interested in it but can’t commit to reading non-fiction (totally understandable) – her website is also awesome!!!

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one was so different than some of the others in the series and quite serious but I enjoyed the slight change in setting and the new characters. I absolutely loved it and am so sad to be done binging on Louise Penny.

Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I wish I had more TJR to read, but now I’ve read them all!! I can’t wait for her 2017 release.
I really liked both storylines in this book, and although I did identify more strongly with one of them, there were pros and cons to both. The writing was very unique and I didn’t have any problems keeping the stories straight or anything. I loved the themes of friendship and finding yourself. Now I want to see Sliding Doors, which I hear has a similar premise 🙂

The Many Lives of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Beau North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun Pride & Prejudice retelling which really made me think a lot about Darcy’s character and what his thoughts may have been like in P&P. I really enjoyed it, and particularly enjoyed the fact that it was centered around the stay at Rosings (which was a fun part of the original novel :)). Thank you for the copy, Netgalley!

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a fun book. Parts of it were really reminiscent of Anne of Green Gables & it had been so long since I’d read Montgomery’s work that it was quite a joy to immerse myself in it again. The characters were sweet, and although parts of it were a bit predictable, I really don’t mind that in this type of book. If Anne of Green Gables were Sense & Sensibility, this would be Persuasion, in my opinion. Reads like a much more adult level book. If you are an Anne of Green Gables fan, you need to add this one to your list FOR SURE.

ENJOYABLE, EASY, READS

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was so much better than I expected it to be. It was very funny, very cute, and very sweet. The characters were adorable. Their bantering was adorable. It was an easy, fun, book that made my heart flutter a bit. If you like romantic comedy movies, I think you would DEFINITELY enjoy this book.

Lessons in Gravity by Megan Westfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a fun read. I loved the wilderness setting & the backdrop of filming some dangerous rock climbing. The setting seemed beautiful and it made me want to visit Yosemite someday. I loved the couple and the emotions behind their relationship. This is a great debut novel and I look forward to more books from Megan Westfield in the future!It had also been awhile since I’d read a new adult book & I had forgotten my enjoyment of that genre 🙂 Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book & to Kelly for drawing my attention to it!

Everyone Is Beautiful by Katherine Center
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although I didn’t enjoy this as much as Happiness for Beginners, I still quite liked this look at motherhood and found it quite easy to relate to. It had some very funny moments in it too.

The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book definitely kept me interested and I enjoyed it. It was sweet. I read it around the time of Gilmore Girls and parts of it reminded me of that (a little bit – not a LOT!) It is a cute little book.

NOPE NOPE NOPE

The Gift of a Lifetime by Melissa Hill
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Eek…this book was difficult to read. It was pretty confusing, and the characters were a bit too flighty and the twist was really intense IMHO. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely didn’t connect well with this one.

Currently reading:

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (hoping to finish this cute series before Christmas!), A Study in Scarlet Women for Netgalley, and still making my way through Rebecca on audio (took a little break from it ;)).

Come back on December 27 for the bonus Show Us Your Books link-up to find out my favourite books from the year (hint: I will likely have an impossible time narrowing it down to less than 20…). haha. I’m also planning to share some analytics on the books I’ve read this year because I am a statistics geek 🙂

What have YOU been reading lately? Any recommendations for me in 2017??

Book Challenge by Erin 6.0 Choices

This is my third book challenge of Erin’s and I love them. I’ve mentioned this before, but the things I really love about her challenges include:

– spread out over 4 months so I am not *just* forced into reading challenge books but have enough time to sprinkle in other library holds or books that catch my eye
– interactive facebook group with beautiful photos and thoughts on books
– new: interactive goodreads group!!!
– flexible categories with the ability to change your choice (I’ve done this the other two times…I am an indecisive person!)
– GREAT categories and participants.

Anyway, if you were ever thinking of trying out a book challenge, I would highly recommend this one! I can’t wait to start reading these books on January 1, 2017. My 2017 reading is going to be off to a FANTASTIC start. You can find out more about the challenge HERE.

Here’s my list for Challenge 6.0:

(5 pts) Freebie – read a book that is at least 200 pages long – The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (368 pages) <– this is on hold for me at the library, so it will be my first read of the challenge unless I can’t wait until January to read it and then I’ll add something else in here 🙂

(10 pts) Read a book that starts with the letter “W”: Woman of God by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro (400 pages) – it’s been awhile since I read a James Patterson book and my mom highly recommends this one.

(10 pts) Read a book with 6 words in the title: The Lord’s Persuasion of Lady Lydia by Raven McAllan (253 pages) (a Netgalley book that is on my list!!)

(15 pts) Read a book that has a (mostly) green cover: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (343 pages) I’ve heard good things and it seems very green! 😉

(20 pts) Read a book with a homonym in the title: Jellicoe Road AKA On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (419 pages) (homonym: Road/Rode) This has been on my bookshelf for almost a year and I enjoyed Marchetta’s other books so I am excited to give this one a go.

(20 pts) Read a book by your favourite author: The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling (503 pages) – I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t read this book yet but I have heard SUCH mixed reviews on it and held off on it for a long time. Need to give it a try though and this is the perfect time for it.

(25 pts) Read a book set in the city/town/state/province/county you live in. Sign of the Cross by Anne Emery (set in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) (329 pages)

(30 pts) Read a “Rory Gilmore” book: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1276 pages) this is an ambitious choice and I am thinking of giving it a go on audio it’s 51 hours long!!!! – I’ve always wanted to read it because a university friend LOVED it and I also heard Meredith Schwartz rave about it here and it has really piqued my interest all year.

(30 pts) Read a book from a genre you’ve never (or rarely) read: Red Rising by Pierce Brown (382 pages) (thanks to my 2016 book analytics excel sheet (post coming soon!!), I can accurately say that I rarely read Sci-Fi ;))

(35 pts) Read a book with time-travel: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux (464 pages) I’ve read a few time-travel books, and part of me was tempted to get further in the Outlander series with this category, but I think a second book by Jude Deveraux will hit the spot.