Show Us Your Books/Recent Reads aka a random reading month

It’s time for one of the best days of the month, the Show Us Your Books link up with Steph and Jana! My reading life was ALL over the place this month, but looking over this list, I’ve realized that I mostly read books geared towards children and teenagers. Oh well! I did read a couple of adult books too, and I only have one book left to read for Erin’s book challenge 4.0 🙂

Also linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for Quick Lit 🙂

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (4 stars) I read this book as part of Erin’s Book Challenge and it reminded me of a friend from my university days who was NOT a big reader, and this was one of the only fiction books he’d ever read and he RAVED and RAVED about how good it was. I filed that away and vowed to read it someday, and finally got to it. I’ll probably send him a facebook message to chat about it even though that was 8 years ago. haha. Anyway, this book was faster paced than I thought it would be at first, and it was good once I got into it. I kept forgetting that Ender was so young. It reminded me of some more recent books (The Maze Runner, Artemis Fowl, even Hunger Games a bit) which is funny because it was written in 1985. It’s not a book that would be for everyone, but if you like YA Fantasy, you’d probably really like it. The ending was especially kind of cool to me. Now I’ll have to make Brian watch the movie 😉

Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding (3 stars) I wanted to love this book as much of the rest of the world seems to, but I just didn’t. I’m not sure if it was the format, which I found a bit hard to follow (I have no idea why) or the fact that Bridget couldn’t seem to get it together, or the parents’ relationship, but it just wasn’t my favourite. I’ve never seen the movie (gasp!), but I think I’ll check it out sometime soon because #duhcolinfirth . I can obviously see the ties to Pride & Prejudice, but this just wasn’t the variation for me…or maybe it was just the wrong time. It’s still worth a read if you love British chick lit, though.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (4 stars) I came across this book on my library’s website when I was searching for available audiobooks to instantly download for my commute home. This was a sweet book, and I finished it quite quickly. I loved Stargirl’s character and how profoundly she changed some of the lives around her. Although it is targeted towards teenagers, I enjoyed this a lot as an adult too. The narrator was also John Ritter, who died suddenly in 2003 (I remember it vividly because I had watched a few episodes of 8 Simple Rules) so it was kind of cool to hear his voice on this book.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater (3.5 stars) I found this book the same way as Stargirl, and it passed the time OK while I was running. Unlike Stargirl, I would have enjoyed this book much more at about age 8 than I did as an adult (haha)…however, it was still a unique and cute story and I’ve heard the movie is cute too.

As Good As New by Jennifer Dawson (3 stars) (I was provided with an advance e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review): There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, and the characters were cute. It was a fluffy and predictable read, but I enjoyed the escape that it provided me with for the time I read it. If you like contemporary romance, I’d recommend this because it’s part of a series (although it stood alone just fine too).

The Heart of the Fight by Judith Wright and Bob Wright (3.5 stars) (I was provided with an advance e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review):

This book wasn’t completely what I expected, but there were still some interesting concepts. I wouldn’t say we fight A LOT but I still think there is always room for improvement in any relationship, so I like to read books like this that help to coach you to communicate better with your partner. Some of the concepts here weren’t new to me, but others were insightful.

The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (4.5 stars) This book was extremely captivating, and I enjoyed it MUCH more than I expected to. I read it for an online book club and I would have never sought it out otherwise (or at least maybe not for awhile). I would highly, highly recommend this book. The adversity faced by some of the characters and the cultural descriptions (although fictional) were really interesting and I couldn’t put this book down. PS – how beautiful is the cover?!?!

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt (5 stars) – One of my favourite book bloggers, Janssen from Everyday Reading, recommends this book HIGHLY and it had been on my radar for awhile. It was a great read. The characters were really entertaining, and it was fun thinking about what it would’ve been like to be in middle school during the Vietnam war. I don’t always love reading books for this age (although my current reading would say otherwise), but this one is worth your time (all of about a day and a bit, really!)

Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings by Dr. Laura Markham A re-read since I missed a few concepts last year when I read it. I also love Dr. Laura Markham’s website as a wonderful resource for more calm parenting with great results.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (5 stars) I don’t know why I hadn’t read this book yet, but I selected it for Erin’s challenge and then almost abandoned it AGAIN when I thought I could slot The Golden Son into that category. However, I am so SO glad I read this book. It was amazing. I had a feeling about the ending throughout the book, but I still didn’t see it coming quite the way it did. What an amazing novel about how the past can affect your present and the ties that bond us all. This certainly will not be my last read of his.

Still Life by Louise Penny (4 stars) after hearing this recommended on Anne Bogel’s podcast numerous times, I added it to my Goodreads TBR list but sort of forgot about it. When I came across it at the library, I scooped it up right away. First and foremost, I love that this book is by a Canadian author and it takes place in Canada! (Quebec). I loved the French feel of it although all of the characters were primarily English. Inspector Gamache is a fantastic character and I am already dying to read the rest of the series (fortunately there are a lot of them to keep me busy!). I’d classify this as a “cozy mystery” type book…not too gruesome, but still very intriguing and the writing is EXCELLENT. PS – another beautiful cover.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I started this book LAST June and just didn’t ever get interested in it enough to finish it, which always surprised me because it is rated so highly and everyone who has read it seems to love it. I got it on audiobook randomly from the library this month and that really seemed to get me into it even more to the point that I wanted to listen to it constantly. I’m not sure why some books just work better for me on audio, but this one was one of them. I absolutely loved this book and the way it was written. I’d say that it starts a bit slow (maybe why it took me awhile to get into it), but it is so, so, so worth the time to read. Such an interesting perspective on an important period of our collective history.

If you were to choose just a couple of reads from my picks this month, I’d recommend The Golden Son 100% and of course The Kite Runner (many people have probably already read it, but it is fantastic) and The Book Thief (although probably every has already read it, haha). If you’re looking for a quick read, I’d recommend The Wednesday Wars!!

And a few recent favourite kid book loves:

Dinosaurs Go to Sleep by Ellem Wallace written by Brian’s best friend’s sister!! A cute book with adorable pictures of dinosaurs.

Mix it Up by Hervé Tullet we are obsessed with Tullet’s books. As a parent, I totally love to read them because they are really interactive and interesting. Press Here is probably best known, and likely our favourite of all of his. Mix it Up is a good one, and another one we really enjoyed this month was Help! We Need a Title! <–Lucy (aged 2) loves this one SO much.

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson – Her books are all just so good. I love reading books that rhyme 🙂

Little Pea by Amy Rosenthal – This book has a really cute concept about eating preferences 🙂

What have you been reading lately? Up next for me is The Nightingale to finish off Erin’s book challenge, and the last book in Ellie Marney’s series. Plus a potential re-read of all the HP books on the horizon before July 😉

March recap (What’s New With you? Link up)

I read something great lately (I can’t for the life of me remember where) about perceptions of being busy. These days, when someone asks “what’s new” or what I’ve been up to lately, my default response is to say that we’ve been busy. And yes, in some ways that’s true. I’ve been busy filling up sippy cups and cleaning up spills and doing laundry and cuddling with a sick toddler and trying to maintain a life for myself and spend time with my husband and see friends and family. But that’s just life right now. It’s not necessarily busy. 90% of weekday evenings I have nothing planned besides cleaning up, reading, working out or watching TV with Brian, and an early bedtime. I am blessed to have tons of quality time with a lot of the people I love and value the most. I’m really trying to shift my thinking to realize that yes, there are moments when life feels VERY busy (i.e. getting home from work and trying to get supper on the table 10 minutes ago and chopping vegetables while two little people pull on my legs), but I don’t want BUSY to be my default answer. I am finding that by saying no to some things, I am able to say yes to things that I love to do.

Anyway, that might not have made sense, but there it is. I’m linking up today with Kristen and Gretchen for What’s New With You? and I’m sharing a brief recap of the month of March in the life of Heather 🙂

March was a great month, and I feel great heading into April…in some ways.

Here are some highlights (in random order):

Lucy turned 2 on March 31 and we celebrated last week on April 1 with family. She is doing great at chattering more now that she has the tubes in her ears (I think) and she is getting along reasonably OK with her big sister. She really enjoyed her birthday and although she hasn’t had a chance to try it yet, she seems to like the balance bike we bought her.

I had 2 half-days and one FULL DAY home during the week on my own because I had extra vacation time to use up before the end of March and we have to pay our childcare provider whether the kids are there or not. I got some house stuff done, got a massage, napped, read, etc. It was amazing. Definitely some much needed “me time”.

Brian and I finished Love on Netflix and House of Cards season 4 (MUCH better than Season 3). We just started White Collar and I am loving that so far. What’s not to love?!

The kids had a ton of trips to the playground and lots of play dates and time with grandparents. We read lots of kid books, made a lot of crafts, and had a lot of fun as a family. We got to spend a lot of time with my adorable baby niece and sister.

Daddy even came with us one time!!

Fun with our umbrellas

Easter was a fantastic weekend full of friends, family, and chocolate. The girls were a great age for egg hunts this year.

Literally the best picture of the two of them out of about 10 choices

I had an awesome reading month which I’ll be talking about next week for the Show Us Your Books link up. I really prioritized audiobooks this month and got through a few of them. I also only have one book left (The Nightingale) in my Book Challenge by Erin list. I am really proud of myself for reading some books lately that I might not have otherwise sought out or that have been on my TBR list for a long time. That’s what I love about book challenges 😉

I didn’t run as much as I would have liked to, but I did make it out a few times at 7 pm because it is light out now at that time! I love it. I am easing back into morning workouts a few times a week, and I’m still really, really loving yoga class once a week but it’s obviously not enough.

Here’s to another great month in April 🙂

Wanna know what’s new with some other bloggers? Head over to Kristen or Gretchen’s blog to check out the link up today!!

Life Lately & Links

I can’t necessarily say that life lately has been busy, although at moments it has been, but I have been prioritizing my down-time and unfortunately haven’t found the time to blog. BUT I have found more time to do yoga, read, and run, so it’s not all bad! 🙂

We had a lovely Easter weekend with friends and both sides of the family. The girls loved hunting for eggs, and Molly has been re-hiding them for the past couple of days. Brian was super happy because the Easter bunny wife (aka me) hid an egg in a hole in one of our sound system speakers and now it won’t come out (he’s SO happy about that – silly Easter bunny #oops). We got in some good playground time, and of course, enjoyed a few extra sweets and adult beverages. I felt like both Friday (a holiday here so Brian was home – I’m always home on Fridays these days) and Saturday were good “down-time” days for me. I had plenty of things that I had to do – laundry, cleaning, etc. but I just let them go and took some time to spend with Brian, read in bed (during the day!!), nap, and do some yoga. It was really relaxing to just take that time. (By the way, this was for about 2 hours while Lucy was napping and Molly was at my in-law’s house, in case you were wondering about how someone manages to do that with 2 small kids running around, haha).

I’ve still been keeping up (as best I can!) with some of my favourite bloggers, and I’m still pretty tuned into Goodreads to see what others are reading and update my progress. I’ve also read some really interesting articles and blog posts lately, and I wanted to share a few of them here:

Modern Mrs. Darcy’s favourite bookstagram accounts to follow (some great suggestions in the comments, too!)

Jenn’s review of What are you Hungry For really stood out to me and I’m keen to read parts of the book now.

Gretchen Rubin’s blog turns 10 today and I found this post of hers from awhile ago, which I love. I am partway through The Happiness Project and Better than Before and they are both AWESOME but it takes me awhile to digest non-fiction 🙂 This post about abstainers vs. moderators on Julie’s blog was interesting today as well!

10 energizing meditation songs – some of these are fantastic because I love listening to music at work, but I can’t always listen to lyrics while I’m typing 🙂 Another great post is this one which talks about the benefits of meditation.

This isn’t recent, but I love reading stories about how people met / real-life love stories and some of these are really sweet.

I haven’t tried this one yet, but apparently this one sentence has an amazing ability to calm an upset child (in certain circumstances). Here’s another post with a great round up of podcasts for parents, too!

As an avid Harry Potter fan and an avid reader in general, I found this article interesting.

I love Kenzie’s blog, and this post entitled “Dear Discouraged One” found me on the right day.

MuscleWiki is a neat site for targeting certain muscle groups when working out.

I’ll be back later this week with some other thoughts that have been swirling around in my head 😉

Recent Reads

Happy Tuesday! It’s Show us Your Books Day with Steph and Jana, and I can’t wait to add some books to my TBR list 🙂

February in general was a VERY slow reading month for me, quantity-wise. 🙂 Some reasons for this:

Less time commuting to work (3 day week instead of 5 day so less bus time/less reading time)
Reading long books AKA Quality over Quantity which was a goal for 2016 for me
Busy busy busy times at home with the kiddos/lack of sleep/bedtime at 8 pm many nights hahaha!

That being said, I read some VERY amazing books this month and I can’t wait to chat about them today!! I also have a separate section at the bottom for the first time in my Show Us Your Books post about kids books (I know this section isn’t for everyone, but skip it if you want!!!)

Here are the books I’ve gotten through since my last update:

WINTER GARDEN by Kristin Hannah (5/5 stars)

This was my first book by Kristin Hannah and it certainly will not be my last. Although it took me awhile to get into this book, I became TOTALLY absorbed and read the majority of it in one day/night. Once I got partway through it, I couldn’t put it down and the story was really captivating. I still have The Nightingale by her on my list for Erin’s Book Challenge to read sometime soon.

PERSUASION by Jane Austen (5/5 Stars)

This one was for Erin’s Book Challenge too and I am completely and utterly in love. It’s my 3rd Austen novel of 6 and so far I think it is almost my favourite. Although I absolutely adore Pride and Prejudice, there was something intrinsic about Persuasion that really worked for me. It was a bit shorter than some of her other books, the characters were well developed, and I was so happy with the beautiful ending. I am also a “root for the underdog” type of person and I felt like Anne was a bit of an underdog – or just a bit shafted by family in this book, so I was rooting for her 🙂 I also loved the 2008 movie which I made Brian watch with me #sorrynotsorry

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr (4.5/5 stars)
I started this book in November or December and put it down for a bit until I got it on audio from the library this month which really helped me finish it. The writing is absolutely beautiful, and it won the Pulitzer for a reason. I actually enjoyed the switching between characters more than I thought I would. It was a wonderful reading experience though and I would highly recommend the book although it’s not neccesarily a re-read for me. PS: Isn’t the cover absolutely gorgeous?!?!
—Thanks to Anne Bogel’s several podcast guests who talked about this book and motivated me to finally finish it 😉 Speaking of which, one of my favourite book bloggers, Janssen from Everyday Reading, is today’s guest on What Should I Read Next? (Off topic, I know!)

THE CARDINAL’S SIN by Robert Lane (3.5/5 stars)
***I received this book in ebook format from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***
This book was approved for me on Netgalley months ago and I just didn’t get around to reading it for awhile, but I started it (finally) on a whim last week and I quite enjoyed it. It reminded me a bit of James Patterson’s Private series as well as Dan Brown’s books. The only thing I didn’t love about it was that I got a bit lost in some of the dialogue because it was more like:
“blah blah blah”
“blah blah blah”
instead of “blah blah blah” said Him. “Blah blah?” said her.
Haha. Anyway, I just had to go back a few times and see who was talking, but that’s the only major complaint about the book. It had a decent and intriguing plot. Apparently it’s the third in the series, but I think they stand alone too.

————————————————————————————————————————–

I’m currently still working through my reads for Erin’s Book Challenge including Bridget Jones’ Diary and Enders Game. Can I just say that one thing I have appreciated SO MUCH about this challenge is that it is 4 months long?! Totally attainable and still gives me time to read “non-challenge” books.

FAVOURITE KID READS LATELY (skip this section if you don’t care! haha!)

Room on the Broo by Julianne Donaldson We love Julianne Donaldson’s books in our house and I first discovered them through the Virtual Book Club for Kids. The Gruffalo is another great read by her, but Molly really loves Room on the Broom and loves witches too! #FutureHarryPotterFan

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker This is an adorable take on your typical alphabet book and my kids love watching all of the little peas hard at work. The pictures are really cute too.

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beatty I had this one on hold from the library for awhile because Brian is an engineer so we talk about it a lot in our family 😉 This is a fun book about a little girl who loves to build things, and learns that failing isn’t a bad thing as long as you keep trying!

The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak My in-laws just bought this book and it is hilarious!!! This video of B.J. Novak reading it also makes me laugh. Molly thinks this book is the best thing ever and she has even started to read it to us so that she can say the funny words. This book is such an awesome concept for a children’s book.

Children’s Books I received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review:

Glory the Lion Cub and the Dunnos by Marianne Perry
This book was a bit above our age range, so we didn’t really get through it all, but I read most of it on my own. It isn’t one we’ll be running out to purchase, because we generally like books with pictures right now (except for BJ Novak’s? haha?) I might check it out again for Molly in a year or two when her attention span is a bit longer.

Leo Can Swim by Anna McQuinn
We are anticipating swimming lessons coming up again in the spring, so this was a great book to read with the kids right now. The pictures are so cute 🙂 Also, hilariously, Lucy, who doesn’t talk very much, was convinced that the baby on the front of this book was her friend Emma and she thought the whole book was about Emma swimming, haha.

Jake’s Kindergarten Checkup by Chrystal De Freitas
This was an appropriate read with Kindergarten in our near future too. Molly hasn’t gotten her shots yet (at least not since age 18 months), so it was nice to prepare her a bit for this. She is also really into doctors right now because of Doc McStuffins, so this fit in well with that interest. I liked the sibling dynamic here too. I can always get on board with books that teach kids something or help them to understand scary experiences.

The Storybook Knight by Helen Docherty I love rhyming children’s books, and we love dragons in our house, so this book was a huge hit. My daughter has asked to read it again almost every night, and my younger daughter loves the pictures. I will be buying this in print sometime soon.

This is just a small sampling of our kid reads over the past month. My kids read a million books a day and we have a lot of favourites, but these were some that I wanted to especially highlight 🙂

Book Challenge by Erin Update

5 points: Read a book, any book that is at least 200 pages long. EVERY WORD by Ellie Marney DONE
10 points: Read a book that begins with the letter “D”. DUMPLIN’ by Julie Murphy – DONE

· 10 points: Read a book with a four word title. ~~ONCE UPON A PRINCE by Rachel Hauck~~ This has been revised to ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES by Jennifer Niven DONE

15 points: Read a book with one of the following words in the title: “mother(s)”, “father(s)”, “son(s)”, “daughter(s)”, or “child(ren)”. THE MOTHER DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB by Heather Vogel Frederick DONE

20 points: Amazon ranks their “most popular authors”, and they update this list hourly. Based on when you make your book list, look at the top 100 authors, and pick a book to read from one of those authors, but here’s the catch – it needs to be an author new to you…one of the most popular authors, yet you’ve never read them before. http://www.amazon.com/author-rankTHE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah (not started yet)

· 20 points: Read a book set in any country in Asia. THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini (not started yet)

· 25 points: Read a book with a “Season” in the title. (I start the challenge in Summer and end in Autumn; many of you start in Winter and end in Spring…so the title of your book should have Summer, Autumn/Fall, Winter, or Spring in the title.) WINTER GARDEN by Kristin Hannah

DONE

· 30 points: Read a book that will make you laugh from the list attached. (submitted by Bernadette)http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinchack/books-guaranteed-to-make-you-laugh-out-loud BRIDGET JONES DIARY by Helen Fielding (half done)

· 30 points: Read a book that is a friend or family member’s favorite book (or the favorite book of another participant from this challenge). (submitted by Peggy) PERSUASION by Jane Austen which is many friends’ favourite book but recommended especially by one of my friends from home and most likely also of Kristen’s favourite books?? 🙂 DONE ❤

· 35 points: Read a book published the year you were born. (submitted by Meredith) ENDERS GAME (year: 1985) by Orson Scott Card (Partway done)

Total Books Read: 6/10

Total Points: 95

February Recap

Kristen and Gretch have a fun link up today called What’s New With You? so I thought I’d take a minute to recap the last month of my life (mostly for myself to look back on ;)).

My blog was down last week and it was a very simple fix but I just couldn’t seem to find the free time to read about it and figure it out. I’m still not exactly sure what caused the “error” but it seems to be working OK now with the exception of some formatting along the sidebar…but at least you can read posts OK now!!

February was an INSANELY busy month for me for some reason, but it was fun too. What have I been so busy doing? Mostly, mothering and decluttering. haha. I SERIOUSLY underestimated how much I would get done on my extra two days a week at home with the kids. They require constant, constant attention. Although I LOVE this extra time with my girls and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, by the time Tuesday morning comes, I am more than happy to pop into work for 3 days. It has been a total whirlwind.

Some events from February:

1) Fell in love with Persuasion (book + movie). I will be talking about this more next week for the Show us Your Books link up! I honestly did not get through very many books this month at all, partially due to being exhausted by 8pm many nights, and partially because one book I read was long!! I also invested a bit of time into Netflix which cuts out time for reading and I am commuting to work less so there’s less reading time then too!! Right now I have about 8 books on the go at once, so hopefully I’ll finish one soon…LOL.

2) Spent some time with wonderful friends, spent Valentine’s Day with my entire extended family at my parents’ house

3) Celebrated birthdays in my immediate family (brother, sister, dad)

4) Threw out a TON of stuff and donated 4 huge cardboard boxes of toys/clothes/books etc to Goodwill. I am still working on some more but this was MAJOR progress for us.

5) Caught up on Suits on Netflix (which is still a season behind regular TV)…Brian and I both love this show 🙂

6) Lucy had another ear infection AKA didn’t sleep well for about 2 weeks 😉

7) Lucy had her surgery to put tubes in her ears so that the fluid will drain and she will a) have less ear infections and b) be able to hear better AKA talk more. It was very minor surgery and it all went well. We are already noticing an improvement in her speech!

8) Molly is loving preschool and is learning how to read! She can read us about 5 books now #proudmom

9) Registered Molly for real school & we will register her for French Immersion on April 1.

10) Missed 2 yoga classes due to weather & a holiday but feeling much more flexible after doing it at home occasionally too!!

11) Started bullet journaling and fell down a rabbit hole on Pinterest. I am still not sure if my life is busy enough for it, but I like combining a journal and a planner in one book, and I like that it can be whatever you need it to be!

12) We replaced the floor in our kitchen. Brian has done most of it himself and he is ALMOST done but our entire main floor has been complete dusty chaos this week.

***ALSO, today marks the anniversary of the day that Brian and I first met 6 YEARS AGO!!! I wrote more about that experience 2 years ago here. Happy meetiversary, babe!! xo

Head on over to Kristen or Gretchen’s blog to check out the link up today and see “what’s new” with everyone else!!

Friday Favourites/Five on Friday :)

It’s been awhile since I linked up on a Friday, but this seems like a good way to blurt out some thoughts today!!! Linking up with Amanda (Meet at the Barre) for Friday Favourites and April for 5 on Friday!

ONE
Happy birthday to one of my favourite bloggers KRISTEN today!! She has a fun post over on her blog. Hope you have a great birthday, friend!!!

TWO
Happy Valentine’s Day weekend!! We don’t do too much to celebrate but we will be seeing some good friends and also most of my mom’s family this weekend so that will be pretty fun 🙂 We also have a holiday on Monday so that will be nice to have Brian home 🙂 Here is a list of 10 great romantic reads for Valentine’s Day. Check out Alexandra’s post about Valentine’s Day “around the world” themed dates, too!

source

THREE
I made these waffles this morning & the kids gobbled them right up! They were a nice chocolate treat and they weren’t too sweet!

FOUR
I registered Molly for primary (kindergarten aka regular school) today. AHHHH. How do kids grow so fast?!?!

FIVE
A few fun links from this week:
This post on marriage is funny.
A great decluttering project.
8 brillliant books that are impossible to put down
Some great advice for mindfulness when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and a very happy and love-filled Valentine’s Day!!

Show Us Your Books! (What I’ve been Reading Lately)

I definitely didn’t read as much as I planned to this month, but I am finding that the 2 extra days at home & not commuting to work are really cutting down on my reading time! Plus, I am trying to consciously spend a bit more time with my hubby at night and exercise more…so all of that eats into reading time too 😉 Oh well – I still enjoyed the books I read and that is what matters to me!!!

Linking up with Steph and Jana to share my reads from this month. Looking forward to others’ posts today too 🙂

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy (4/5 stars) this was such a sweet book! The characters were adorable and the premise was really interesting. It was one of my better reads this past month.

Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz (4/5 stars) – I liked this book a LOT more than I expected to, and I wrote about it last week when I linked up with the Literary Ladies Book Club.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (5/5 stars) – Liane Moriarty has not let me down yet, but like many others, this was my favourite by her so far. This book provoked a lot of interesting thoughts and I loved the way it all wrapped up. I can’t imagine being in Alice’s position, but Moriarty did make you feel like you could relate to it so well.

Every Word by Ellie Marney (4/5 stars) I really enjoyed the first book in this series and this one was good too. There’s a 3rd that I’m trying to get my hands on asap. The characters are really interesting, and this one had a very detailed plot and some more background information that was brought up in the first book. I’ve heard that the third isn’t as good as the first two, but I’m still captivated enough to keep reading the series. Although I love the Australia setting (<3 Liane Moriarty too, remember?), it was cool how a lot of this one took place in London.

The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick (3.5/5 stars) I read this in about 3-4 hours one night. It was good, and it was what I needed after Every Word. It was when I was feeling sick but couldn’t sleep, so it worked out 🙂 I might read the others in the series someday, but probably not right away…they were just a little but too juvenile for me at the moment (intended age is middle grade ;)).

After You by Jo Jo Moyes (4/5 stars) It’s been almost a year since I ~~wept through~~ read Me Before You, so I had forgotten some of the details and I am glad for it because I really enjoyed this book!! It didn’t feel like a sequel in some ways, despite talking about Will throughout the book. I liked some of the twists and turns that happened to Louisa and I really enjoyed a certain paramedic’s presence 🙂 IMHO this is absolutely worth the read if you like JoJo Moyes’ writing, but don’t expect it to necessarily help you answer a lot of questions from Me Before You.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (4/5 stars) This book was INTENSE but I liked it. It was pretty emotional but so well written and realy different in a lot of ways too. I’d definitely recommend it but I would also warn of possible triggers (search them out if you are curious).

I’m not the only person in my house who is obsessed with books, by the way…this little one can’t get enough of them and I keep catching her lying on her tummy reading 🙂

Currently reading: Persuasion by Jane Austen (audiobook), All the Light we Cannot See (still, kinda) and sorta reading Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah but I have to return it to the library tomorrow so I might not finish it…we’ll see!!

“What’s New With You?” link up with Kristen & Gretchen

When one of your favourite bloggers announces a fun link up idea, there is really no question about whether you’re going to join in or not! Kristen and Gretchen just started this link up to chat about anything you’d like. They are following the idea that when you run into someone you haven’t seen for awhile in person, you usually ask “so, what’s new with you?” but these kinds of posts don’t always happen frequently in the blog world. I wanted to link up today with some things I’m currently enjoying or thinking about 🙂 Go over here to check out some other bloggers’ posts…I know I’ll be snooping through the link up!!

I’m CURRENTLY….

GRATEFUL for the fact that Brian was able to find the diamond from my engagement ring after it fell out of the ring setting last week. I had a panicky, anxious day looking everywhere in the house for it and when he came back from work, he unscrewed the trap from the kitchen sink and it was in there. PSA: If you have a warranty on jewelry like this, DO THE INSPECTIONS. Part of why I felt so bad was that if I had kept up with the bi-annual inspections, they would have replaced the diamond for free if we hadn’t found it. I will absolutely be doing this from now on (also, it might have never fallen out in the first place…)

READING Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah…it’s my first book by her and I’m reading it for Erin’s Book Challenge 4.0. My plan is to read The Nightingale by her too.

LISTENING TO: The Arkells, all the time. Their concert here 2 weeks ago was AMAZING and I can’t get their songs out of my head. My top three are Michigan Left, Book Club, and 11:11 right now.

DRINKING: Water, water, water, water and water. Plus 2 coffees and a decaf tea per day (on average). It’s Roll up the Rim season here in Canada, so a Tim Horton’s coffee isn’t a bad thing occasionally too 😉

EATING: As many vegetables as possible. And a lot of protein too. Still loosely following IIFYM and trying to pick healthy choices whenever I can.

LOVING: Working part-time. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I love the extra time at home to a) love on the girls, b) read millions of kid books every day and c) clean/meal prep/exercise/run errands during the daytime. I am also LOVING yoga once a week, but that is a whole separate post. It has been AMAZING for my mental and physical health.

ANTICIPATING a fun get-together with friends this weekend, spending more time with my baby niece this month, and a possible local weekend getaway with Brian in March

RECOMMENDING Modern Mrs. Darcy’s podcast…I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s just so good! We also just started Season 2 of Serial.

WORKING TOWARDS completing Erin’s book challenge by the end of April. So many books that I requested ages ago at the library are available now, so I’m balancing reading those with challenge books, but I have a few categories completed and hoping for a few more by the end of Feb!!

CRAVING just a little bit more sleep, or an extra hour in the day 🙂 Preferably an extra hour of daylight so that I can get a run in before bed 🙂

IMPRESSED WITH MEC’s organization of their race series. My 5K run this past Sunday was a trail run on snowy, icy, trails, but it was fun, it was extremely well organized, and the ice obviously didn’t bother me, because I ran the same time (35 mins) as I did 2.5 years ago at my last 5k. I am SO excited about all these races I have going on this year and feeling very motivated to keep running.

So, what’s new with you lately???

Secret Sisters – Literary Ladies Book club link up

When I first read the synopsis for the Literary Ladies’ book club February pick, Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz, I was pretty intrigued. I had never heard of this author, but when I searched for her I learned she has written TONS of books. I put the book on hold, and hoped to get to it sometime. The next day, I went to the library to pick up a bunch of other books on hold that I had been excitedly waiting for and Secret Sisters was in the one-week rapid read section. I scooped it right up and started it right away. I had forgotten how much I like this genre every once in awhile. It reminded me a bit of some of James Patterson’s books (i.e. the Women’s Murder Club series). It was an easy read, and I finished it in a couple of days. I enjoyed some of the plot twists and the character development although I did find a few parts predictable and unbelievable at the same time.

Long story short? This book really captivated me from the get-go, and I really enjoyed it. I will for sure seek out more books by this new-to-me author. In my mind, books like this pass the time just fine and provide me with the distraction and relaxation I crave so much from reading.

Thank you for introducing her to me, Kristen, Kari and Kay!!

Their next book club pick is You Had Me at Hello, which was also recommended highly by a favourite book blogger of mine, Hannah at So Obsessed With. The title in itself totally gets me because I love that line in Jerry Maguire:

I am looking forward to adding it to my February reads because I have a few intense novels lined up for this month too and this will provide some balance!!!

I’m looking forward to sharing all of the books I’ve read lately in Show us your Books next week (Tues, Feb 9) 🙂 I didn’t manage to finish the Winter Book Challenge with Semi Charmed Life because there were two books I picked that I just couldn’t finish, but I still did OK with it!!