Author: themaritimereader

What I’ve Been Reading Lately (Show us your Books!)

Today is the day that WINTER IS HERE!!

(The book, not the season – thank goodness :)). I am about 10 chapters in (Thank you Lucy for waking up at 4:30 am!) & loving it so far. I can’t wait to chat about this final book in the Lunar Chronicles series. I have been gearing up for it by reading the fanfiction winners’ entries on The Lunar Chronicles blog (lots of fun stuff going on over there!) Marissa Meyer is also periscoping at the book launch event today…I’m not really into Periscope, but it might be fun to check out. I really feel like I haven’t anticipated a book this much since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (or all of the HP’s, really), so it is a fun feeling.

My November edition of Show Us Your Books will feature Winter (if I can wait that long to talk about it! – Doubtful!) but here’s what I read in October up until this week.

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson (4 stars)

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as Edenbrooke, but I still really liked it. I love a good “friends become something more” storyline, so I was happy with how that all played out. Definitely worth the read if you’re into books from that timeframe.

A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston (2 stars)

I almost didn’t finish this book, but I did eventually and I have to say I wasn’t the hugest fan. The way it was written just wasn’t captivating enough for me. I wrote a bit more about this here.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (4 stars)

Many people have heard of this book, and I will admit that it motivated me to purge some things that I’ve been holding on to for years and will never use again, but I haven’t worked through the whole method (nor do I agree 100% with all of it) yet. There are tons and tons of blog posts and suggestions on implementing this method!!

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (3 stars)

This wasn’t the best YA I’ve read this year, but it wasn’t the worst either. I couldn’t stand the mother in this story, and I found parts of it very unbelieveable, but it was still a cute story overall with some more mature subject matter than some YA novels.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran (4 stars)

I listened to this on audiobook on a whim, and realized I recognized passages of it, so I think I read it before. It was nice to listen to and I found myself finding some of the quotes online that I especially enjoyed. It’s not for everyone, but if you are philosophical or religious, or you like books like The Alchemist, this might be a good one for you.

Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows (5 stars)

I loved this story SO much and the characters were amazing. I couldn’t believe how much I felt drawn into the world of Guernsey. I also especially loved the ending and I rooted for it throughout the book. I was surprised at how much I liked the letter-writing style of this book, but it really worked for it. Go and check this book out immediately if you haven’t already!

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (4.5/5 stars)

After reading Big Little Lies this summer, I knew I would feel similarly about this Liane Moriarty book. Her writing just grabs me right in and I can’t stop thinking about her book until I am done it. I love the way she toys with moral dilemmas and partway through this novel, I couldn’t think of a single way for her to end it that would feel justified, but she did (in my opinion). The epilogue especially wraps it all up in an interesting way. Her books definitely make you think.

The Matchmaker’s Match by Jessica Nelson (3 stars)

I signed this out on a whim from the e-library and I liked it overall. I found the story to be a bit predictable, but I was OK with that. The characters were cute and I like reading books from this time period, so it worked for me. The premise of a woman matchmaker in those days was interesting too, and I liked the independence of her character.

Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman (3.5 stars)

I got some great tips from this book that I will be putting into practice with our girls. Having studied emotional intelligence from a career standpoint during my Master’s, I think it is n important skill to develop in children.I skimmed a few chapters (typical for me and non fiction) but I was intrigued by many aspects of this book.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (CHILDREN’S book) (5 stars)
A cute children’s book that I had never read…and a great story of friendship and charity. On that note, I also read TONS of other children’s books this month (we average at least 5 a day per kid before bed), including some great Robert Munsch and some Halloween favourites. 🙂

What have you been reading lately? I’m working through The Silkworm, Little Women, and of course I am starting Winter today after work. Making my way through the Semi-Charmed Winter Reading Challenge one book at a time! I am also getting closer to my 100 books in 2015 goal on Goodreads!!

Check out the Show us your Books Link-Up HERE at Steph’s blog or HERE at Jana’s blog today!!! There are always lots of great recommendations, regardless of your taste in books.

The Lunar Chronicles book tag

In honour of Winter coming out tomorrow (eeee!) I wanted to write a post using A Lunar Chronicles book tag that I discovered over here a few weeks ago.

CINDER//The Cyborg//A book that’s often misunderstood or underappreciated

I found this one tough, because a lot of the books I read are liked by at least SOME other people, haha, but I’d have to say two my favourite childhood books:

KAI//The Prince//A book about Royals

There are so many to choose from, but I’m going to go with the first one to really capture my interest as a teenager.

ADRI//The evil stepmother//A book with a horrible or cringe worthy parent

I just read two books with cringe-worthy mothers (Blackmoore and My Life Next Door) , and I can think of a few more off the top of my head including the Dudleys in Harry Potter, but for this one I’m going to go with:

Ms. Bennett has her heart in the right place but she drives me bananas sometimes. No one could really be as evil as Levana though!! 🙂

IKO//The spunky sidekick//A book with your favourite happy-go-lucky character

Sam from The Fellowship of the Ring (but really the whole series)

SCARLET//The rescuer//A book with a character on a mission

One of the best “missions” I’ve ever read about:

WOLF//The Fighter//A book with a brutal fight (words or fists)

LEVANA//The villain//A book with the absolute worst villain

Ahhh some of the stuff that happens in this book still sets my hair on end. Although I can think of a lot of terrible villains, this one really stuck with me.

THORNE//The rascal//A book with the biggest schmoozer

I had a hard time coming up with someone here, and I’m not sure why!! Finally, I decided on:
Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (and others)

CRESS/The hacker//A book with a hacker or sci-fi

ERLAND//The doctor//A book with an illness or revolving around medical issues

The first one that came to mind was obviously The Fault in Our Stars, but I’m going with:

WINTER//The unsound mind//A book with the craziest character you’ve ever met

The Girl on the Train
(Gone Girl is what first came to mind here though – totally NUTS)

JACIN//The soldier/A book with a military theme

I don’t read very many war/military books but I thought of a recent favourite:

Check out the book tag here!!

Friday Favourites

Not sure about everyone else out there, but it’s been a long week here!! Lucy has a double ear infection, so she had quite a few miserable and sleepless nights but is doing OK now on antibiotics. Work has been busy and a bit stressful too – but all is good overall. The weather has been mostly pleasant, although pretty grey…hoping to get out for a run at lunch today if it isn’t raining 🙂

This quote was in the back of my mind this week after I saw it a few days ago:

“October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces.” (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

I do have some favourites to share this week though, so let’s jump into those!!
Favourite song:
If you’ve seen the movie Away We Go, you might be familiar with Alexi Murdoch’s music. If you haven’t seen the movie, you should check it out!! John Krasinki and Maya Rudolph. It’s a cute indie movie!! This song is in the movie & I love it. Perfect chill music and makes you feel so cozy.



Favourite Netflix show:

We’re starting to get pretty into Gotham. I am slowly learning to take Jim Gordon’s character seriously after viewing him as Ryan from the OC for a few episodes 😉

I can’t help but wonder if he still misses Marissa…lol

Favourite workout:

This relaxing yoga sequence:


Favourite Funnies:


Favourite Links:
  • #NaNoReadMo.org and about NaNoReadMo over on Modern Mrs. Darcy (this is a lot more do-able for me than NaNoWriMo will ever be, but I can still respect those doing it!!)
  • For those writing more this fall, here’s a list of perfect songs to listen to while you write
  • I loved these empathy cards!!
  • Feeling impressed with our new Prime Minister so far when I read things like this
  • Some great mental health resources on Jenn’s blog this week…as a huge advocate for mental health (hello psychology degree), I am always looking for more resources!!
  • Natural ways to soothe a cough – we have colds going around like crazy in our house this time of the year and these remedies are great for kids!!!
  • This book looks interesting.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!! Only 4 more days until WINTER comes out! I pre-ordered my copy last night so it’ll be waiting for me on Tuesday!! Plus, we have Wednesday off for Remembrance Day so I might get some downtime to read then too!! 🙂

Hello November!!

We had a great weekend, and Halloween was a blast with the kids. Lucy didn’t wear any of her 3 costumes, so I improvised and made an orange sweater into a pumpkin to wear with her pumpkin hat. Molly had a blast trick-or-treating and I was shocked at how bold she was acting at some houses (marching right up to the doorbell and yelling “trick or treat!” and then grabbing candy despite my urging to “just take one!”). The kids also loved greeting visitors to our house and giving out candy. It was a fun night. We started the next morning far too early for my liking, but I think we are back on track a bit today and feeling decently rested.

As I mentioned last week, I’m looking to November with hope and getting back on track with healthier eating (minus yesterday with the leftover candy) and strength training. I also want to devote a bit more time to blogging, and more time to things that will improve my general happiness. I’m going back to the basics with our meal prep and I’m going to hold off on trying too many new recipes this month. The internet is an amazing wealth of knowledge, but sometimes I find myself saving recipe after recipe and workout after workout to the point where I am overwhelmed with information. I’m taking a bit of a step back from browsing Pinterest and random blogs and hoping to connect with the things that really make me happy.

That being said, I love writing prompts. I’ve found some of the best on Kenzie’s blog Hello Neverland and I use these in my personal journal. Although I don’t find a lot of extra time to write these days (at the end of the day, reading seems to come more naturally to me than writing), I try to write a bit every week. I want to remember these days of our lives. I want to remember the kids chasing each other around the living room and Lucy tossing a book onto my lap before clambering up herself. I want to remember Molly’s incessant questions about everything in her world and her matter-of-fact way of talking.

I’m going to follow along with some of NaBloPoMo this month, but I know that I can’t commit to all of it. However, if a particular prompt really resonates with me, I’d like to write about my thoughts on it.

The prompt for today is: What was the one toy that a friend had that you wished you had when you were younger?

I know for awhile when we were younger, all 3 of us wished that we had a Nintendo. Our best friends had a Super Nintendo and our cousins had the original Nintendo. We played Duck Hunt and Super Mario with them sometimes. I can completely understand why we didn’t have one, and it’s the same reason why Molly and Lucy have limited screen time now. However, we missed out on a relatively significant part of 90’s culture and I am now TERRIBLE at video games if we ever play them socially. My hand-eye coordination is absolutely awful and I can’t drive in a straight course at all if we play Mario Kart with friends (so I usually just don’t play, haha). There was also a time when we wanted some Power Wheels. Instead, we learned how to ride our bikes and biked all over the neighbourhood. I don’t look back on my childhood with very much longing at all. We had everything we needed, and we had a lot of fun family memories and happy times. I do sometimes I could drive a Mario Kart now at the age of 30 though 😉

How was your Halloween? Are you looking forward to November??

I’m also over halfway through The Husband’s Secret and dying to finish it because I’m sure the ending will be intense!! Then I can get right into my Reading Challenge!!!

Winter 2015 Book Challenge

So, I’m going to do another reading challenge! I loved the Literary Ladies Challenge and I love planning books for various categories and really spreading my wings with reading different things.

Here’s my preliminary list for the Semi-Charmed Life 2015 Winter Book Challenge hosted by Megan at Semi-Charmed Kind of Life (anyone else always get Third Eye Blind in their head when they head over to her blog?? I think that’s part of the point!!) 🙂

5 points: Read a book that has between 100 and 200 pages. 

I’d recommend this list here and I’m going with A STUDY IN SCARLET (Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes # 1) 

10 points: Read a debut book by any author. (The book does not have to be a 2015 debut.)

NORTHANGER ABBEY or SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Jane Austen)  (There is a bit of a debate over which was her actual debut book but I plan to read both of them during this time frame so here we go).

10 points: Read a book that does not take place in your current country of residence. 

BLACKMOORE (Julianne Donaldson) 

10 points: Read a book that someone else has already used for the challenge. — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Kristen @ See You in a Porridge. 

WONDER (R.J. Palacio) (used by What Low Reads en Francais!!!)

15 points: Read a book published under a pseudonym (e.g. Robert Galbraith, Sara Poole, J.D. Robb, Franklin W. Dixon, Mark Twain, etc.). — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Megan M.

THE SILKWORM  (Robert Gailbraith AKA J.K. Rowling)

15 points: Read a book with “boy,” “girl,” “man” or “woman” in the title (or the plural of these words).

LITTLE WOMEN (Louisa May Alcott)

15 points: Read a book with a one-word title (e.g. Attachments, Americanah, Uglies, Wild, etc.). 

WINTER (Marissa Meyer) can’t wait for this one!!!!!

20 points: Read a book with a person’s first and last name in the title (e.g. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle).

ARTEMIS FOWL – (Eoin Colfer) OR BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY (Helen Fielding) depending on my mood…haha

20 points: Read a food-themed book. — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher Jamie @ Whatever I Think Of! 

BELLA’S CHRISTMAS BAKE OFF (Sue Watson via Netgalley) 

20 points: Read a book with a verb in the title. (For any grammar nerds out there, I mean “verb” in the most general sense, so gerunds count. For non-grammar-inclined people, just use any book that appears to have a verb in the title!) 

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (Anthony Doerr) or WHAT ALICE FORGOT (Liane Moriarty) depending which one comes to me first in my library holds 🙂

30 points: Read two books with the same title (by different authors). — Submitted by SCSBC15 finisher bevchen @ Confuzzledom. 

THE ALCHEMIST (Paulo Coelho – REREAD) and THE ALCHEMYST (Michael Scott) and can I just say that I had an absolutely impossible time picking this category even though it’s fun??

30 points: Read a nonfiction book and a fiction book about the same subject (e.g. a biography and historical fiction novel about the same person; two books about a specific war or event; a nonfiction book about autism and a novel with a character who has autism, etc. The possibilities are endless!). 

I am pretty indecisive when it comes to non-fiction so I made two possibilities (well, 4 total) for this category and I will do one of these (LOL).
POSER: MY LIFE IN 23 YOGA POSES (Claire Dederer) and  CORPSE POSE (Diana Killian) 

OR:

THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB (Heather Vogels Frederick) and HELP WANTED: MOMS RAISING DAUGHTERS (Darlene Brock)


Check out others’ lists here and follow along as I update my progress on this over at Goodreads! The challenge runs Nov 1 2015 – Jan 31 2015!!


Freaky Friday thoughts

This week has been a complete and utter whirlwind. Today I am feeling a mix of “wow, it’s already Friday!” and “Wow, what a long week!” Work has been busy, home has been busy, but it has been mostly fun too. However, our kiddos have alternated (or both have tried) waking up at 5 am almost every day this week, so they are exhausted!! It doesn’t bode well for Daylight Savings time on Sunday because their 5 am wake up will be 4 AM ON THE CLOCK. Ahhhhhhh. I am hoping they fall into a slight sugar coma from Halloween and sleep in. They don’t have sugar very often so it might only take a treat or two 😉

Anyway, here are some random thoughts going through my head this week.

  • My 10 K run on Sunday went well, and I am proud to say I finished it *almost* in the time I was hoping for – 1:10:20 (off by 20 seconds, ugh!). I was in a bit of pain later that day, but fine the next day. I know that for some people, 10K is nothing, but for me it was a long way to run and I can’t wait to get some more races in next year (winter is coming here soon – haha).
After the race with my favourite little cheerleaders 🙂
  • On Sunday night, we finally made it out to see The Martian in theatres. I loved it! I also love that Brian now knows why I am so obsessed with it (he is not a big reader at alllll). I thought it was pretty close to the book in a lot of ways, but I also feel like I was at that perfect window between reading the book and seeing the movie. Does that make sense? If I read a book and then see the movie immediately after, I am almost always disappointed in the movie. This happened to me 3 times with Harry Potter. However, if I’ve forgotten some parts of the book, I’m usually able to enjoy the movie more because I’m not dwelling on the parts they left out. Anyway, The Martian on the big screen was fantastic and I loved the casting & all of the scenery. 5 stars for me for sure. My friend Laura also hosted a Moms Reading online (Facebook) book club chat on Wednesday night and we chatted about The Martian! The book club questions really stimulated my thoughts on the book/movie and it was fun!!
  • Although I was in a bit of a reading slump (too busy at night? Too tired? I don’t know?), I have finished a few books this week and right now I’m partway through The Husband’s Secret and SO HOOKED. What is it about Liane Moriarty’s writing? I felt the same way about Big Little Lies when I read it this summer. I get completely hooked and absorbed in the novel to the extent that I can barely think of anything else until I’m finished, and then when I finish it, I still ruminate on it for days. I started The Hypnotist’s Love Story awhile ago on audiobook, but it just didn’t captivate me, so we’ll see how that pans out. I hate not finishing books, but I feel these days that I just don’t want to waste my time reading something that I am not enjoying!! 
  • I’m trying to do some better meal planning in November. In October, I tried to plan all of our suppers in advance, but I think this plan will work out better if I do it weekly. I did manage to reduce our grocery budget significantly in October, but I know I can do even better with it this month. In a lot of ways, I feel like November is a bit of a “blah” month. The weather is kind of chilly, kind of grey, kind of stormy sometimes, the only holiday is a solemn one (Remembrance Day), and you’re stuck between beautiful October and exciting December. I’m planning to make our November really count this year so that I can enjoy everything coming our way this year at Christmas time. 
  • I am torn between desiring a weekend away with my husband (we need one!!) and a weekend in my house by myself so that I can clean and tidy a la KonMari. SO torn. Can’t I have both?!?! haha.

Links and posts I loved this week:

  • This post about making social plans with new parents. We are absolutely fortunate because our family and friends will happily come to our house to hang out with us and see our kids, or we’re easily able to have someone babysit them and go out ourselves but not everyone is up for that.
  • These apple carrot oatmeal cookies were delicious and my kids gobbled them right up
  • My go-to-book-recommender posted her 10 books that she can’t stop recommending today…I haven’t read all of these yet, but I can say with certainty that they are great recommendations!!!
  • I need to follow this video on foam rolling. Last week, I foam rolled my upper back and caused red lines all over it (I have since had it checked out and it is fine – but I need more education on foam rolling, obviously)
  • 10 Best Yoga Moves for Beginners to increase mobility – love this.
  • Printable Adult Colouring Pages – I never seem to have time to colour (#avidreaderproblems) even though I bought myself an adult colouring book, but these ones look nice!!

Happy Halloween everyone! We have a butterfly and a bumblebee lined up for tomorrow, but the bumblebee is 18 months old and runs to hide in a corner every time she sees her costume – so we’ll see how that turns out!!! 🙂

Friday Faves this week

It has been a busy and tiring week here with not as much sleep OR downtime as usual. I still have the same 4 books on the go as last week and I just had SO little time to read this week! I am trying to finish up some photobooks online for which the coupons expire tomorrow so that has been occupying my evenings and work and kiddos have occupied the rest of my time, of course!!! Both our girls have drippy noses and headaches but they are hanging in there. It’s definitely going around.

Overall, it’s been a good week though! The results of the Canadian election were crazy but it will be great to see how things change moving forward. I think our country was ready for a change. Brian is still 100% glued to the Blue Jays, who might get eliminated tonight (but hopefully not!) It has been an intense series (I have watched a total of about 2 mins) 😉

I bought a new blog design template this week and I will be trying to put it up on the weekend, but we’ll see how it goes!! I’m also doing my 10K race on Sunday (nervous, but excited!!)

Here’s to a relaxing and cozy weekend!!!

Favourite Song:

Enjoying this upbeat and chill tune these days

Favourite Funnies:

If you haven’t checked out The Awkward Yeti yet, you should. The comics are extremely humorous (In my opinion).

This dad who writes hilarious (and embarassing) late notes for his teenagers. HILARIOUS read.

Another funny dad out there at Fowl Language who posts hilarious comics about parenting.

Favourite Links from the WWW:

Favourite photo:

❤ my little lady

See ya next week sometime!! I’m finalizing my list for the Semi-Charmed Winter 2015 Book Challenge…are you?!?

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Wishes I’d ask the Book Genie To Grant me

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly link up at The Broke & The Bookish and some of the prompts are really fun! This one really made me think and I am looking forward to reading some others’ responses to it later tonight!! 🙂

TOP 10 WISHES I’D ASK THE “BOOK GENIE” TO GRANT ME

1) Prevent J.K. Rowling from killing off Sirius, Hedwig or Dobby…s(spoilers are in white ink in case you are the last person on earth to read Harry Potter!)

2) Also make Hermione come and be my best friend in life 🙂

3) Have J.K. Rowling write another Harry Potter book about their life as adults (no return of Voldemort though thanks)

4) Help encourage Veronica Roth to write the ending to Allegiant a little bit differently…

5) Get Rob Thomas to write more Veronica Mars books

6) Allow me to read books while I’m sleeping so that I can read every book I want to in my lifetime

7) Allow me to remember every book I read before Goodreads so that I can see how many Sweet Valley High/Goosebumps/teenage dramas from the library I read as a teenager

8) Give me a bookwormy career 🙂 (Maybe someday!!)

9) Find a cure for book hangovers

10) Get Brian to read some of my favourite books with me

Check out the link up over here!!! What would you ask for from the Book Genie, if he or she existed?!?

Friday Favourites – what I’m loving this week

It’s been a short week here (thank you, Thanksgiving!) but it still seems like it has been a long one! Haha. I am trying to keep a lot of balls up in the air right now, but this weekend will be a nice chance to catch up a bit. We’re spending the night (with the kids) at a friend’s house on Saturday which means wine and board games – can’t complain about that!! Sunday will probably mostly be a cleaning day!!

I mentioned yesterday on Instagram that I currently seem to have 4 books on the go…I have one that I am losing interest in and another couple that will take me longer to read, but I am very much enjoying The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (longest title ever though, haha!). Megan at Semi-Charmed Kind of Life put up the topics for the Winter 2015 Reading Challenge and I think I’ll participate for the first time! I am doing some major brainstorming for some of the categories…i.e. a fiction & non-fiction book about the same topic…hmmm….

Linking up with Amanda to share some of my favourite things this week:

Jamberry Nails

My friend Laura became a Jamberry consultant this year and I had originally only tried some nails for Canada Day. I hosted a party a few weeks ago and ordered some new nail wraps and I am LOVING these fall ones (as in, I might cry when they come off) 😉 A few of my friends have asked if I am selling them now, which I’m not nor do I think I would ever be able to – it’s just not really my thing – but I still love to wear them!! So easy to put on and last for 10-14 days!! 

The Toronto Blue Jays
This team is really bringing Canada together! Being not even that close to Toronto, it is still crazy to see how their playoffs are sweeping the nation. Brian is a huge fan and he is so excited to be watching his team advance in the playoffs.

Kale Caesar Salad
I’ve been making a variation of this recipe for a couple of months now. Kale is delicious, but it can be a bit bitter and tough unless you “marinate” it a bit in olive oil and lemon juice. I basically shred/cut the kale into bite sized pieces, add the olive oil and lemon juice, let it sit for 5-10 mins after “massaging the kale”, add parmesan and garlic powder and croutons if we have any, and BAM, delicious and healthy salad. We grew a ton of kale in the garden this year and this recipe really helped me to eat it all 😉

The Show Us Your Books Link up
So many great recommendations and a giveaway this month!

A Haircut
All through university, I had pretty short hair, but I’ve always had it shoulder length or longer since I met Brian. I finally went back to short this week after wearing ponytails daily for weeks and I’m loving it!!

Running & Yoga
I have a whole post on my thoughts about these two activities but I am really loving running and I am living for yoga these days. I’m taking a once/week class with Yogaheart and it is beginner level, but so informative and SO relaxing. I also discovered Erin Motz via Instagram this week and I am loving her philosophy towards yoga as well. I find even a few minutes a day really makes a difference to me.

This Tea
Gives you a chocolate fix without the sugar. Really yummy in the afternoon for a little pick me up 🙂

This Kid

We’ve had a few ups and downs behaviour wise this week, but she is such a sweet child and brings so much joy to our family. She loved the pie too 😉

And this one too 🙂

Poor quality photo but she loves to bring us our shoes so we can all go outside 🙂
Hope you all have a great weekend!!!


Show us your books! (September-mid October reads)

I’m still working towards my goal of 100 books in 2015 on Goodreads…I think I’m at 75ish now, so I’m a few “behind schedule”, but still hopeful!! 
It’s been awhile since I linked up with Steph and Jana for Show Us Your Books, and today is the one year anniversary of the link up! I love following along with this link up because I always find a few great recommendations to add to Goodreads and maybe even find a new blogger or two to follow.

Looking back on the last month or so, I read a lot of YA novels that are “easier” to read. I have some more adult things coming up soon though to balance that out 😉 Here’s what I read in September up until today in October – so this is over about 6 weeks instead of a month…(thank goodness Goodreads keeps track for me):
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (3.5/5) This was a cute YA read and I enjoyed it for what it was. I will probably try some more Sarah Dessen sometime later in the fall or next year.

Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty (4/5) Great ending to this series. I was thrown off at first by the timeline compared to the other books, but I think it suited the final novel well.

The Royal We  by Heather Cocks (5/5) I mentioned how much I loved this book before and I’m not ashamed of it. No, it is not literature in the same caliber as Great Expectations, but I loved the take one what it could be to be like Will and Kate (or anyone else in that spotlight).

The Princess Diaries/Princess in the Spotlight/Princess in Love by Meg Cabot (3.5ish/5)…these were quick reads, and I enjoyed them, but eventually I was just kind of finished with the series and I might pick it up again another time. Humorous writing but I needed to read something more adult-ish.

The Geography of You and Me  by Jennifer E. Smith – (3/5) – I read this one pretty quickly, but was a bit frustrated with the ending and it seems like a book that I’ll forget

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay – (5/5) I’ve mentioned before that I loved this book. It was a captivating read and I know a lot of others loved it too. Would definitely recommend it if you’re into YA at all.

Me & Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter – (3/5) this book was OK, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. I found it difficult to finish, actually.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer – (3/5) I listened to most of this on audiobook. While I appreciated the unique perspective of this book, I still found it annoying and was a bit outraged at the evil Levana, even though I was interested to learn more information about her sister…this book did serve to increase my excitement about Winter in November though!!

Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson (5/5) – One of my best books of the year. I loved it and I think I will buy a copy so I can re-read it. It was a great story and I loved the writing style too. I’d absolutely recommend it if you are a fan of Regency novels or Jane Austen. I read that the author was inspired by Georgette Heyer (and Jane Austen) and I haven’t read any of her books yet but put some on hold at the library!!

My True Love Gave to Me (various authors – edited by Stephanie Perkins) (3/5)- I was planning to read this one closer to Christmas, but the ebook became available at the library for me so I read it this month. I loved some of the stories, and didn’t enjoy others, but that’s how it often works with anthologies. Still some good reads! Here’s my review.

The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg (4/5) – I used to love the Stephanie Plum books but I quit them when they got to about 10 or so… this was written in a similar way, but I liked the characters and story line a lot more. I think I will definitely read a few more in this series.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (4/5) I listened to this on audiobook too, and while I enjoyed it overall, I did find some parts of it annoying. Once I got closer to the end, I was much more inrigued by how it would end and I felt like it wrapped up well. It’s definitely not a book for everyone though, and I don’t think I’d read it again. Some of the characters were just a bit too much for me.

Carry On  by Rainbow Rowell  (4/5) – this book isn’t for everyone either, but I liked how it paralleled Harry Potter and expanded on the fanfiction the story from Fangirl. I have enjoyed most of Rowell’s books, and this one kept me up all night reading it on the weekend.The story, while similar to Harry Potter, is its own as well, and I appreciated it for what it was.

Brown Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas (3/5)  – Picked this up at the library in the “rapid reads” section and enjoyed all of its fluffiness over the holiday weekend. Apparently it’s the 4th in the series. It reminded me a bit of Nora Roberts’ Bride series and I liked that about it. Not overly memorable, but a cute read nonetheless.

The TL;DR Edition of this post: I highly recommend The Royal We if you’re a fan of the younger monarchy, Edenbrooke if you like Regency novels, and Carry On if you like Harry Potter or Fangirl. If you don’t like any of those types of books, give The Heist a try if you’re into light-hearted mysteryish novels. 🙂

Right now I’m reading A Thousand Nights and intrigued so far! It’s such a pretty book, too!!

Head over to Steph and Jana’s blogs to see the link up and find out what other bloggers have been reading this month!! They also have a giveaway going on today since it’s the anniversary of the link up!

Life According to Steph

Check out yesterday’s post about 10 Great Websites for Book Lovers too!!