Links that are too good not to share

Happy Friday!!! I have a few posts on the go right now, but none of them are quite ready to be published yet, so here is some information I’m dying to share with the rest of the world!! We have a fun weekend ahead of us because we’re celebrating my niece’s 1st birthday tomorrow! I can’t wait. I’m finishing up the cake tonight, and with any luck, it’ll look like this:

Source

Wish me luck that the icing works out!!!

Here are some fun links I’ve seen around the web this week.

Cover reveal and excerpt from TJR’s newest book coming in June 2017!! I can’t wait to read this book. Her books are amazing to me. This one sounds good!

I’m still all over Gilmore Girls and I loved this post about books the author would recommend to characters in Stars Hollow.

I’m hooked on Better than Before, Gretchen’s Rubin’s book about habit building. This discussion about loopholes was especially fascinating (and relatable!) to me.

Some fun homemade gift ideas in this post.

Loved these ideas for post-election reading.

I turn to these children’s gifts guides every year.

Learned a few new ones on this list of computer shortcuts.

I may or may not know that one of my Christmas gifts is an instant pot (I’m so excited!) and I’m already pretty hooked on finding recipes. This site is a good one.

Mindfulness in real life.

My kids are still a bit young for these prompts, but I LOVE this.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

November Recap (What’s New link up!)

November was a pretty low-key month overall, and that was just what we needed in our family. I didn’t even take very many pictures so this post will be a bit boring but I like the idea of looking back on each month and I can’t NOT link up with Kristen and Gretch for What’s New With You?

I only worked the first Friday in November and had the next 3 off for various reasons (Remembrance Day, sick, vacation day). It was nice to have 3 long weekends in a row and I could get used to that!! We went to visit my sister, brother in law and niece on the first long weekend and hung around their house/playground and did some shopping. The girls loved it, and Lucy loved playing a different piano:

It is always so fun to see my niece (almost 1 year old!) and spend some time with family. The girls did great on the drive too (one hour each way).

We spent the next “long weekend” overnight at a friend’s house for their son’s 8th birthday. It was a great night with some adult beverages and board games after the kids went to sleep. BOY was I ever tired the next day though.

I also got the majority of our Christmas shopping done (mostly online) because we have an Amazon Prime trial right now…so awesome. It is such a relief to be in a good position with regards to shopping and I also know it was smart to spread it out over a few paycheques.

On the last weekend in November, Brian and I went to Fantastic Beasts (I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to see it but I’m SO glad we did because I loved it!) I spent the next night binge-watching Gilmore Girls with one of my best friends and that was fun too. Look at our awesome Luke’s Diner mugs!! I am totally up for talking about the new episodes if anyone wants to e-mail me!!!!

This month, Molly got her first report card from school and she is doing incredibly well, which we knew but it was such a relief to talk to her teacher and hear positive feedback about our child and parenting. I am so happy with our decision to put her into French Immersion this year and she absolutely loves school which makes our lives as parents much easier.

November went by quickly, but it was a good month. It was nice to have some downtime on the weekends and we definitely made some progress on house-cleaning, house-sorting, and preparations for December. Tomorrow we’re getting our Christmas tree and decorating this weekend (the girls are BEYOND excited!) We have all been a touch under the weather off and on this month, so the downtime was really something we needed.

My reading was allllll over the place this month, and we also started watching Season 5 of Suits so that is taking up some evening time 🙂 can’t complain though!!

On to December – one of the most festive and fun months of the year! Our girls are so excited for Christmas this year and I can’t wait to celebrate with them.

I have a few fun posts planned for December including a day in the life, some book round up favourites posts, goals for 2017, reflections about 2016 etc. etc.!! Let’s hope they all come to fruition! haha.

What’s new with you lately?? Anyone want to chat about Gilmore Girls?!

The month I binged on Louise Penny (and other books for Show us your books!)

Time to link up with Steph and Jana and share some books I’ve recently enjoyed!! It’s the best day of the month for a bookworm 😉

Most of my reading time this month was devoted to Louise Penny books – and I definitely don’t have a problem with that because the four books that I read in the Inspector Gamache series this month were FANTASTIC.

Here are a few snippets of the books I read this month: Louise Penny books first, followed by other (also fantastic) reads. If you’re sick of hearing me talk about this series (and I don’t blame you at all!)…skip to Forever Interrupted :):) Although you should give all of the gorgeous covers a quick glance! haha.

The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book in the series was definitely a bit different than the others with less of the main characters, but it was SO, so good. The settings that Louise Penny creates are so interesting, and this one particularly so. It was not a happy book though and the tension moving forward is going to be pretty interesting…I started Book 9 immediately after finishing this one.

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the best so far in the series. I could not put this book down or stop thinking about it the entire time I was reading it. It was beyond intense. I would actually say that it is 100% worth it to read all the other books in this series just to read and enjoy this book. So many past moments are wound into this story and I absolutely loved that about it. Even though it was tense, some of the resolutions made this feel a bit less tense than the last book as well.

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story was definitely interesting, but it was a bit of a let-down after what happened at the end of How the Light Gets In. It really occupied my time on a long flight though, and I was pretty unsure about the conclusion of it until right near the end, so it did have some very good parts. The writing was a bit darker and there was some definite tragedy in this book as well.

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another very exceptional book in the series, probably my second favourite so far and much, much better than The Long Way Home. When I finished this book and I was reading the acknowledgements, I was shocked to discover that this story is based on a real person and true events in Canadian history. I had never heard of it before. The terror in this book was quite profound, and it was interesting to see the role that Gamache played in this book compared to a few books back. It was a very intriguing read. I enjoyed the part about CSIS. I listened to half of this and read half of it – the new narrator was quite good, in my opinion, but one mispronunciation drove me crazy. haha.

I’m currently reading A Great Reckoning (just started it!) and I am savouring it like crazy because when I finish it I’ll have to wait almost a year to read another new Gamache book.

Moving on to other books now:

Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my third TJR read and my least favourite. I will say that it made me feel very sad though and caused a few wiped tears on an airplane in public, so obviously there was some connection to the story ;). I just found that this book didn’t quite have the uniqueness factor of One True Loves and After I Do, even though it was a highly unlikely scenario to find oneself in. I really appreciate her writing and if you have enjoyed her other books, I’d give this one a shot too.

The Likeness by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I picked this up at the library and realized I was only able to check it out for 7 days, I wasn’t sure if I would get through it or not. It was a BIG book. However, even though it did feel a bit long at times, the story was quite captivating and I was drawn in and invested in it quite quickly. I couldn’t believe how unbelievable the story was at first, but that’s what’s so great about fiction. I told my husband about it and he said that would never happen – which might be true, but it sure was fun to read about. This book reminded me of how I feel when I read Kate Morton – yes, it was long, but it was still great writing and a lot of the writing was pertinent to the conclusion of the story.
I’m not sure if I’ll plummet into the rest of the series right away, but I might pick away at the other books slowly. I do enjoy that the series does not have to be read in order and each novel is about a different character but they are connected. This book won’t disappoint if this is your genre!!!

Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’d been dying to read this book for a few months after hearing a lot of people talk about it. It was a perfect plane read. I enjoyed the alternating stories between present day and the actual book that was written in the book. It was fun to bounce back and forth. The ending seemed to happen a bit too quick for me, but I think it was intended to come across that way.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I quite enjoyed this book, and I definitely agree that it is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby. I found myself quite drawn to what happened to all of them and I enjoyed the format of looking back on a single year in one’s life and all of the events that unfolded with those people. It was fun to walk a mile (or more :)) in Katy’s shoes while reading this book. Also made for a great plane read 🙂

All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful little book with some very nice romantic haikus. I don’t really read poetry, but I had seen this book on a “best of” list and it was a quick read, but it was beautiful. Steph, I think you would enjoy this one – it reminded me of Haikuesday 🙂

The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More by Bruce Feiler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It usually takes me forever to get through non-fiction books and I generally shy away from them or just read pertinent bits and pieces, but this one was quite fascinating. There was a lot to learn from this book, and I have already implemented some of the suggestions and strategies in our own family. I especially enjoyed that this book didn’t really fall under any particular parenting/family umbrella but suggested many, many, many different ideas that COULD work for a family. Some of the research notes and interviews were VERY interesting too and quite easy to relate to.

The Lady Most Likely… by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A quick, fun, and cute historical romance. Wasn’t a favourite but it passed the time fine. Three couples woven into one story.

I also put a couple of books on pause this month: Bel Canto – which I just can’t seem to finish (sorry, Alexandra! ;)) and a few Netgalley books that I think I will pursue this month. I was pleased to finish Erin’s book challenge this month too…and I’ve decided to hold off on the semi-charmed winter book challenge and just do Erin’s next challenge so that I can read anything and everything that comes in from the library for me. I’m hoping to get to Rebecca this month and Mansfield Park before the end of the year to finish up Jane Austen’s books! I would also like to get to The Blue Castle sometime soon – I can’t believe I’ve never read it because I loved Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon when I was younger.

5 on Friday “Currently”

I wanted to pop in quickly today and share 5 random thoughts on this first Friday in November 🙂 I’m going to do it in a bit of an update style with “currently” prompts. Happy weekend, everyone!

ONE – I’m looking forward to…so many things this month: trying new recipes, time with friends and family, and the GILMORE GIRLS reunion. I cannot wait and I really think I might have to take a day off to watch all the episodes in one sitting. Is this unreasonable?! I’m also really looking forward to Christmas this year.

TWO – I’m eating…a lot more vegetables. I have been feeling really good following a “low carb” diet which includes a lot of carbs in the form of vegetables but a great reduction in sugar (even from fruit). I haven’t really been eating any grains and very little processed food and it feels great and not even as restrictive as you’d think. Brian and I are both REALLY loving cabbage lately. I was originally inspired by Heather’s blog and this website has a bunch of great healthy recipes.

THREE – I’m working on...improving my parenting skills. I don’t want to be a mom that yells all the time, but I have turned into one during some frazzled mornings/evenings with an overtired school-aged kid who is strong-willed. I can see instantly after a yelling fight the damage that I am doing to our parent/child relationship and I hate it. I know I’m being hard on myself here and my daughter absolutely still loves me and is firmly attached but it can be so disheartening sometimes. I’m finding this book and this website to be very helpful in really trying to improve this. Gina’s post also really hit home for me.

FOUR – I’m reading…a lot of Louise Penny. Books 8 and 9 in the Inspector Gamache series absolutely blew my mind, so I’ve powered through m ost of the rest of the series and I just have one book left to read before I have to wait for her to write another one. I really found that the series hits its stride around Book 4 or 5, but they really have to be read in order to be pulled together in 8/9/10. Her storytelling and character development is absolutely incredible. I know this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned her (and it certainly will not be the last, I’m sure), but so impressed with these books.

FIVE – I’ve enjoyed… turning on my phone’s flashlight by saying “OK Google, LUMOS” and embracing my Harry Potter love , voting for the reader’s choice awards on Goodreads, reading this list of ways to relieve boredom, finding new bookstragrammers to follow, and sharing some non-toy gift ideas for children with our family members.

This weekend we’re planning to mostly take it easy, visit with our parents & my grandmother, and organize/re-stock the fridge and pantry with some healthy staples 🙂 It’s been a busy week and we are both borderline sick (it’s going around) so a low-key weekend is necessary!!!

What’s New and Exciting

I feel like I say this every month, but October was a busy month. BUT it was so good, too!! There was a lot of fun things on the go. I’m going to recap them all in this post & link up with Kristen & Gretch for their monthly What’s New with you link up 🙂 Kristen has some really exciting news this month – I can’t believe how quickly her house sold!!!

I started October off with a bang and went to a concert with one of my favourite Celtic groups, The Barra MacNeils, that we grew up listening to – my whole family (parents, sister, aunts, uncles, grandma + me) went to the concert and it was amazing. The Barra MacNeils performed with Symphony Nova Scotia and it was incredible because the symphony really added a lot to the performance. I will for sure be attending this concert again; I think they do it almost every year but that was my first time there.

We took the kids to a few indoor playgrounds this month because there were some really rainy days & they are at a great age to enjoy this type of thing right now:

I also got a chance to catch up with my old roommate from St. FX and her boyfriend – what a great night. I hadn’t seen her in 2 years so it was great to chat. Ran into another old friend from university the same night out and that was fun too.

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and it was a busy weekend for our family. We spent the entire day Sunday with our extended family – at my cousin’s baby’s baptism and with all of my aunts and uncles, and then we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s house which included 39 PEOPLE (Molly made a list of everyone). There were 2 turkeys and a ham, about 15 vegetable dishes, and pie. It was great. Brian took the girls home early & I stayed overnight at my parent’s so I could chat more with my cousins (I always feel sad when I have to leave just as the party is getting started). My niece was also the life of the party 😉

We did some shopping with the kids and I got a start on Christmas shopping, too. Here are some new friends they made at Costco:

I also took my first trip “home” to Calgary since 2013. For those who don’t know, I grew up in Calgary (nestled nearby the Rocky Mountains in western Canada ;)) and lived there until I went to university. With my parents moving out east, we haven’t really had as much motivation to go out to visit with the kids, even though my brother and dad’s family all still live there. When one of my closest cousins got engaged, I decided to head out to Calgary for a visit and to attend the wedding – by myself! Brian stayed with the kids here. This was kind of a big deal for us because I haven’t been away from the kids for that long before (5 days!) and I am more of the primary household-runner in our house, so there was a bit of anxiety leading up the trip, but I’m SO GLAD I went and it was a much-needed break. I’m very grateful too that my in-laws live close by to help Brian out 🙂

The Rocky Mountains near Calgary

Flying out of Halifax

Flying back into Halifax at 6pm

I read about 4 books on the trip (yay long flights!) and spent some quality time with my brother, my dad’s family, and some close family friends. It was wonderful. I was pretty off when I came back (very jetlagged and tired), but we seem to be back in the swing of things now. Molly also seemed to regress a bit while I was gone and has gone back to some crazy tired tantrums, but we’re working on that. She gets so overtired with school and daycare that it can be really hard to get through to her sometimes but it’s coming along slowly.

The wedding, of course, was beautiful too. It was so nice to be there & to see a few of my first cousins I hadn’t seen in about 10 years. Everyone from my family except my sister & her family and Brian and the kids was able to be there, so that was really special. We had a wonderful time dancing and chatting.

Since being back from Calgary, I’ve been doing some more decluttering in our house while listening to audiobooks, and just getting ahead on some things that need to be done before winter comes. We also had a great Halloween. Molly had a Halloween howl night at school which was fun (but so chaotic) – she dressed up in her Belle costume for that, and then the girls went out trick-or-treating as bumblebees. And now I have two huge boxes of candy & chips sitting in the front hall closet and two girls asking for a treat every 5 seconds (don’t worry, I’m going to move the box ASAP). #tempting.

Brian carving his pumpkin with a dremel drill & knife attachment

I’m really looking forward to November, because I love the holiday season and it’s coming up so soon! Our girls are going to be so fun at Christmas this year. I’m going to share some other things I’m looking forward to tomorrow 🙂 I’ll also share what I’ve been reading next week!!!

What’s new with you lately?!?!

Book Talk (Show us your books!!)

September was a big transitional month for us, and it was busy! It was busy at work, it was tiring being a mommy to tired kids, and we all got our usual back-to-school month cold. Because of all of this, I escaped to books almost every night and polished off quite a few. Some were better than others, but all in all, it was a pretty good reading month. Linking up today with Steph and Jana to talk books with everyone!! Happy 2 year Show us Your Books anniversary!!!

Best books I’ve read lately:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took me awhile to get into this book, but eventually I really fell hard for the characters and their lives while growing up. There was a lot of heart in this book. I’d highly recommend it!! It is a long read, but I enjoyed it on audiobook. It was fun to watch Francie Nolan grow up and experience success in life.

These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book even though it took awhile for me to get into it. I haven’t read a lot of books from this time period in US history, but this one was a great snapshot of what life might have been like in a certain area at that time. The love story was secondary to the very strong character of Sarah Prine and she was such a determined woman that you just have to love her. There were definitely a few tear-jerking moments and some slower passages, but this book was really special and I’m glad I took a chance on it.

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. I was not prepared to love it as much as I did. I really liked the entire plot where they spent time in the wilderness, I enjoyed Helen’s character and how much she learned about herself, and of course, what wasn’t to love about Jake?
This book was so much more than I was expecting it to be, and if you’re looking for a feel-good read that is not TOO fluffy (in my opinion), this one is really good.

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Started this book at 7:30 pm – finished 85% of it over the next 2 1/2 hours, then woke up early and finished it before work. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing is addictive.
This book was as enjoyable as One True Loves for me, and although there were parts of this book that I couldn’t relate to (I don’t think I could ever do what they chose as a couple even if it worked for them), there were other parts that I absolutely related to. I felt this way about One True Loves too. Her characters are just such real people that when you are reading about them, you think, wow, I’ve felt that way before too. I love that about these books.
I highly recommend this author and I’m certainly going to be picking up her other novels this fall.

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lot of the relationships in this book were particularly strained, so that added a new level of interest to it for me. It was kind of fun to be back in Three Pines too. I am totally hooked on this series and really enjoying working my way through the books this year.
I enjoyed all the art world talk in this one, and I truly was a bit shocked at who the murderer ended up being, so that was fun!

The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun read with some very practical tips. I love tips that are backed by research. This book taught me a lot about what I can do to cultivate some skills I am hoping to improve on, and it also taught me that sometimes people are better than me at things because they put A LOT of time, practice, and effort into it.

Some other enjoyable reads:

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I almost abandoned this book, but got back into it during my commute and it was enjoyable. If you like regency style stories, this one isn’t too bad. It’s not my favourite, but some of the characters are entertaining.

A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an extremely quick read, but so many quotes in it that I really love. I will probably definitely read the whole thing again (seriously

Suddenly Royal, Recklessly Royal and Reluctantly Royal by Nichole Chase
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first book in this series was the best of the three, but the other two were OK too and it was fun to follow along with the other characters. The first one really reminded me of The Princess Diaries crossed with The Royal We and it was just too much fun to read.

Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I felt a bit invested in this series after reading the first book via Netgalley, so I had an idea of how this book would play out. It was a fun read with a happy ending and cute characters.

Other books I read: Leave Me (don’t bother), The Gender Game (really liked it!), and two more books in the Bridgerton series: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (loved it!) and To Sir Philip with Love (not as good but still OK)…honestly, if you happen to be seeking out a great historical Regency romance series, this is a really good one!!

Currently reading: Bel Canto, The Secrets of Happy Families, The History of Love, and The Beautiful Mystery. (I’d really say I am only focused on two of these though…haha). I have two 6 hour plane rides coming up next weekend so I will be finishing all of these by the end of that, I’m sure!

Steph and Jana are also hosting a giveaway today, so head on over and check that out!!

Happy reading, everyone!! What have you been reading lately?! Any recommendations??

What’s New and Exciting over here

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch today for their monthly “What’s new with you” link up. Since I missed the link up in September, I was determined to get a post up for this month!

If anyone who saw me this week asked me, “what’s new”, I would first tell them this ridiculous story. I left the house on Tuesday morning with the kids at 7 am and Brian left at 10 am to go to the airport. He was going out of town for work for one night. Typically, I am not an overly anxious person, but I do sometimes feel a bit of anxiety being in the house overnight with the kids on my own. However, I wasn’t feeling that way this day. I came home from work with the kids at 4:30 pm and when we pulled into the driveway, Molly said “hey, why is the front door open?” and I looked up to see that our front door was, in fact, WIDE OPEN. Cue panic. I called Brian right away and asked him if there was any possibility he could have left the door open (not unlocked, OPEN), and he said “well, yeah, maybe.” SERIOUSLY?! I was fuming and freaked out. I left the kids in the car and went through the house and everything seemed fine but I was still pretty freaked out. Move on to the rest of the evening and I am finally coping with the fact that our house was in fact safe all day long despite the front door being open for 6 hours and living on a bus route street up from a high school. Then I call my parents and tell them about it, and my dad says “I hope there aren’t any mice or rats in the house” and there comes another panic attack. #thanksdad I made Brian go on a pretty big hunt just in case any got in while he was gone. I am beyond grateful that we have a guardian angel somewhere keeping watch over our home because holy smokes would my husband have been in trouble if our house had been ransacked…haha.

Anyway…September was an absolute whirlwind, as I knew it would be. Molly starting school also meant a change in daycare for Molly (before & after school care), which was a whole transition in and of itself (and remains to be). As expected, our little scholar absolutely (seemingly) LOVES school. She is loving French immersion, she seems to really enjoy her teacher and has made some friends. She is happy to report on all parts of her day at suppertime each night, which I love. It has been wonderful watching her flourish in this new daily routine. She originally (and still) isn’t the hugest fan of the new daycare, but I think it’s growing on her. September also means that Brian is busy for 3 weekends straight with extracurricular activities, but I think that will be changing next year because it was insane this year.

Here’s a bit of a recap in photos:

Molly started school and a new daycare

Molly turned 5 🙂

We went to see Beauty and the Beast at Neptune Theatre

We went apple picking near my sister’s house in the Valley (1 hour away)

I ran my final 5k of the year (I am missing one in October to go to Calgary) and it was a fantastic race. Cool weather and finished it in 30 mins. Brian brought the girls out to the finish line and surprised me there, which was sweet.

Other than that, I also signed about a thousand papers for Molly’s school (I did NOT realize how many handouts she would be taking home), we revamped our closet to accommodate organizing all of the new paperwork, we went to a parade and saw a truck convoy (200 trucks!), we spent a couple of hours at the beach (loved it) one afternoon, and had a few movie nights at home. I also got my hair cut, which I am looooving. Here it is, straight, but I usually wear it wavy ish 🙂

I also flew through a ton of “fluffy” books in an effort to escape the stress of everyday life AND because I had a cold for a week. It was wonderful and I’ll be talking about all the books I’ve read lately on Tuesday for Show us Your Books.

The Book Recommendation dilemma

File this under “random thoughts” on a Wednesday. 😉

Sometimes, I can’t help but gush about whatever book I’m reading to a co-worker or family member. This happened to me last week, and my co-worker asked me for some book recommendations. For a minute, I was a bit stumped. I’m happy to recommend most of the books that I read, since I spend a lot of time researching books that I truly think I will enjoy, but I can’t recommend them to just anyone without knowing what they like. This particular co-worker is 25 years older than me, and I have no idea what she looks for in a book because I don’t think she reads very often.

I thought about this a bit because I realized that to SOME people, a good book is one that you can undoubtedly recommend to anyone and know that they would love it too. That’s why bestseller lists exist. They are bestsellers for a reason, just like classics are classics for a reason. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a book that I loved to someone that doesn’t read a lot. If you haven’t read a book in 5 years, it might not be helpful if I recommend Pride & Prejudice, even though I love that book. It also might not be helpful for me to recommend The Lunar Chronicles if you don’t like YA.

I thought about it a bit and recommended a few books to my co-worker that I really felt could be a book she might enjoy, knowing nothing about her past reading life.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

The Chief Inspector Gamache series (“how surprising!” said no one) by Louise Penny

Kate Morton‘s books (I’ve still only read 2 but I love her writing)

One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

The Rosie Project by Don Tillman

Where’d you go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Anyway, my co-worker found Big Little Lies in the used book cart here today and she was overjoyed and has already started it. I read it in e-book format which prevented me from skipping to the ending…and I hope she does the same and fully enjoys the reading experience 😉 #yaybooks. The good thing is that there are 3 more Liane Moriarty books for me to recommend if she likes this one! 😉

I feel confident recommending Louise Penny because I have officially gotten 4 family members on board. She is also a great author for me to recommend to friends here because she’s Canadian so there is that element to her books that people who like Quebec might enjoy. However, not everyone is looking for a series and some people want faster-paced books.

Last summer, I exhausted everyone I know by recommending The Martian, which is still a great book but again is not for everyone. I think most people who are interested in it but aren’t big readers will have seen the movie by now. I feel the same way about books like All the Light we Cannot See…if you’re not a big reader, that might not be the one to start with even though it was fantastic.

Part of me is always dying to recommend Harry Potter or Angels and Demons or The Nightingale, but not everyone is up for that either. Most people who like thrillers have probably already read The Girl on the Train. I have a much easier time recommending a book if I have a bit of a sense of what other books that person has read or enjoyed.

Here are some books I’ll be reading soon that I feel have the potential to be “recommendable to almost anyone”:

Bel Canto (just started this one) by Ann Patchett
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Today will be Different by Maria Semple
The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
This is Where I leave You by Jonathan Tropper
The Help (rated so highly on Goodreads – how have I not read it yet?!!!) by Kathryn Stockett

I also find this book site, Book Marks (“Rotten Tomatoes” for books!) to be really interesting because on Goodreads, a book could be rated 4.5 with only 100 ratings or it could be rated 3.8 with over a million ratings. It can be hard to tease that apart and find the good books. I mostly consider anything that’s rated 3.5 or higher to be worth my time if the subject matter looks interesting.

Have you recommended any books lately without knowing what the person likes to read?? Have you read any of my recommendations or hopeful ones? It’s hard to reconcile this type of question when I myself feel so immersed in the book community on the internet! If someone even tells you one or two books that they’ve previously enjoyed, it is much easier to recommend something!!!

Recent Netgalley Reads + Slice of Brie Book Club!

I love Netgalley because I’ve discovered some books that I hadn’t ever heard of – or thought I would enjoy. I’ve also had the opportunity to read some popular books before they were published…and that’s pretty fun!! However, I’ve also had a few duds and a few books that I didn’t finish.

Here are some books I’ve read in the past few months via Netgalley:

The Gender Game by Bella Forrest – I finished this book in about 24 hours. It was a fun read and very fast-paced in my mind. It also has a cliffhanger ending leading into book 2 which comes out on November 21, 2016. As it says in the tagline, this book definitely reminds me of the Divergent series, which I enjoyed, and a bit of The Hunger Games. There isn’t as much camaraderie as Divergent has though…and not as much family as The Hunger Games. It’s definitely dystopian YA/new adult so if that isn’t your cup of tea, you probably won’t love this, but the world that Forrest built in this first book was pretty interesting to me. All in all, I definitely liked this book much more than I expected to, and I really enjoyed the characters and setting. I look forward to reading the second one later this fall. It looks like you can get the books on Kindle Unlimited too. This was probably in my top 5 Netgalley books along with Eligible (which I obviously loved!) The cover is cool too:

Leave Me by Gayle Foreman – I haven’t read any of Foreman’s YA novels although I know she has a lot of fans. I have to say that I really did not enjoy this book. The plot seemed a little bit too scattered for me and the subject matter made me feel a bit upset and stressed as a mother of 2 young children (although I can appreciate that the character was going through a tumultuous time and not everyone is the same parent etc. etc). It just didn’t work for me. However, I’m sure others would enjoy it and if you are a fan of her other works (which I might still try someday), you might enjoy this one.

The Wedding Belles series: To Have and To Hold, For Better or Worse, To Love and To Cherish by Lauren Layne

I really enjoyed all three of these books. I think the second one was probably my favourite (main character = HEATHER, ;)) but they were all fun to read. They are not amazing pieces of literature, buy they were fun summer reads. I especially think it would be fun to read these kinds of books (about NYC and wedding planners) while planning a wedding!

To Have and To Hold: 3 Autumn Love Stories by Betsy St. Amant, Katie Ganshert & Becky Wade– I accidentally requested this one thinking it was in the Wedding Belles series above (same title!), but it was a totally different book with three novellas. These were just OK for me. They were a bit short and not well developed enough but passed the time ok. I’m not really a novella person but they were fun to read while commuting and had happy endings. I just didn’t fully feel invested in any of the characters and they felt rushed – but that’s because they are short!

Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley – I’m sure you have seen this one talked about before. This book wasn’t too bad, but I found parts of it to be very unbelievable. It did make me want to keep in touch with my sister a bit better (even though I see her at least twice a month and talk to her once a week)…it also made me want to write some letters (but NOT scan them, haha). I could definitely relate to parts of this and all in all, it was fun to read.

The Guinea Stamp and The Georgian Rake by Alice Chetwynd Ley – I’ve read a lot of books in this genre and these ones just weren’t my favourites. There are much better Regency books out there to spend your time on. They still had cute endings, but the writing just wasn’t quite what I am accustomed to and it was hard to get through these.

Open When: Letters to Lift your Spirits– by Karen Salmansohm: this is an adorable book & a quick read (it’s not a novel). I love books like this that are well suited as a gift. I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to send this to someone who needs a little bit of extra cheer in their lives. The imagery and the words were really touching.

So there you have it…have you read anything fun lately via Netgalley?? If you’re a blogger and you haven’t tried Netgalley yet, you definitely should!

Up next for me is The Confectioner’s Tale, A Study in Scarlet Women, The Roanoke Girls, and The Gift of a Lifetime (closer to Christmas time :))

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I also have some thoughts I wanted to share on One True Loves to link up with Brie’s book club. I specifically re-joined Audible to listen to this book, so I’m determined to share some thoughts on it!! This was my first book by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I absolutely 100% loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I read another of her books, After I Do, almost immediately after One True Loves and LOVED IT TOO. Something about her writing is just absolutely addicting. She writes about really unique situations and makes you wonder “what if??” the entire time you are reading.

In One True Loves, I was completely happy with the ending of the story even though I initially thought I could never be happy because I had no idea how someone could resolve a situation like that one. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. I wonder what it would be like if you had children? I guess it might be a bit different. There were a lot of intense emotions at play in this story.

I don’t want to say too much about the ending or what happens in the story, but of course there were some moments of uncertainty. I loved that this story focused on Emma as a person rather than Emma as a couple, in some ways. Of course, I also loved teh backdrop of the book store as a setting 😉

If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly, highly recommend it!! I listened to it and couldn’t listen fast enough (literally – 1.8 speed!) 😉 I also highly recommend After I Do, which I almost think I liked more (but I can’t actually decide).

I’m getting my hair cut tonight and I am SO excited. I have a post later this week about #17before2017, so watch out for that! 🙂

10 Audiobooks Worth your Time

When I saw this as a topic for Top Ten Tuesday, I knew I wanted to participate. I’m looking forward to finding some new recommendations too!!

Here are 10 books that I really enjoyed on audiobook in the past year or so:

1) The Martian by Andy Weir – This was kind of my first audiobook, and I absolutely loved it. I would have missed out on a lot of this story in print because I would’ve skipped over some of the science-y parts. I would highly recommend this on audio. I could not put it down.

2) Pride & Prejudice (& all of the other Jane Austen novels too) – I love Elizabeth Klett as a narrator on Librivox for this one. For some reason, Jane Austen’s books just work really well for me on audio, although I have read 2 of them in print as well.

3) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – One of the best books I read (listened to) last year. The March girls’ adventures are so much fun. I enjoyed the narration on this one and it felt really fun listening to it. I think I will try Anne of Green Gables on audio sometime because it has a similar feel to it.

4) All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – I thought this one would be confusing on audio, and I did switch back and forth between the two formats, but the words really came alive for me in the audio version.

5) The Book Thief By Markus Zusak- I felt much the same about this one as All the Light. I tried this in an e-book and abandoned it for 9 months but gobbled it up on audio.

6) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – I read some of this, and listened to some of it. I am just finishing it up, and it is a long book. I will say that I wasn’t initially extremely captivated, but it is such a lovely story with characters that you can’t help but love.

7) As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes – the narration and including tidbits from the cast really made this book amazing on audio. I think a lot of that would be lost in the actual print version.

8) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – this book was so amazing and I cried a lot. I really felt like it was Paul himself reading the story and actually forgot at times that it wasn’t. Memoirs are amazing in audio form.

9) Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson (children’s book!) My family absolutely loved these books when I was growing up and we listened to them on our drives across the country. The narration and characters’ voices are SO GREAT and so fun for kids. Molly isn’t super into them yet, but I haven’t tried in awhile, so I think I’ll put them on again soon for her.

10) The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown– I just started this one and I am loving it. Non-fiction just really works well for me when I can listen to it. I will definitely be taking some notes on this one and talking about it soon.

A couple of honourable mentions: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (I recently really enjoyed this on audio), Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (read by John Ritter), and Where’d you go, Bernadette by Maria Semper.

Do you listen to audiobooks? I try to have an audiobook and a regular print or e-book on the go at the same time most times. I am a HUGE fan of audiobooks via the Overdrive app (aka the library), and of course on Audible, although I am not a regular user. I also LOVE audiobooks for my kids.

Here are some audiobooks on my radar, too:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Anna Karenina read by Maggie Gylenhaal