O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon 2020

March 24, 2020 Comments : 4

Now, more than ever, I need a reading distraction/goal from the craziness that is our current state of affairs. I’m turning to Book Roast’s annual Magical Readathon for the O.W.L.s this April, and sharing my TBR a little early in case any of you want to join along.

Ancient Runes – Heart on Cover/Title

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Arithmancy – Something Outside My Fave Genre

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro

Astronomy – Read at Night

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Care of Magical Creatures – Beak on Cover

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
(Yep, octopuses have beaks…in case you needed another reason to think they’re creepy.)

Charms – White Cover

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Defense Against the Dark Arts – Set at Sea/Coast

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Divination – Random TBR Pick

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Herbology – “M” Title

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

History of Magic: Witchy Book

Mathilda, SuperWitch: Rise of the Dark Lord by Kristen Ashley

Muggle Studies: Contemporary

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

Potions – Under 150 Pages

Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughn & Cliff Chiang

Transfiguration – Shapeshifters

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Bonus! Dragon Book

Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of easily one of my top three anticipated releases for the first half of the year (the other two are on this list, too), so I had to seize the opportunity to do one of the extra challenges Gi created this year. It was dragons, so no brainer for me.

XOXO

Anticipated Releases: March & April

March 2, 2020 Comments : 4

March 3

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
If We Were Giants by Dave Matthews and Clete Barrett Smith
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

March 10

Read Me, Los Angeles by Katie Orphan
(Ok, this is a shameless plug for a dear friend who wrote a book!!!!! But she is one of the smartest, funniest, coolest gals I know from the way back, and this book is sure to be, too.)

March 17

How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer

March 24

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

April 7

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

April 14

Not That Kind of Guy by Andie J. Christopher

April 21

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

April 28

Starbreaker by Amanda Bouchet

Literary Road Trip: East Coast

February 28, 2020 Comment : 1

What a long, strange trip it’s been. We’ve finally reached the end of the trip with this last batch of books. Thanks for coming along with!

Maine
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

New Hampshire
A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Vermont
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Massachusetts
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Rhode Island
The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

Connecticut
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

New York
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Pennsylvania
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

New Jersey
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Maryland
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Delaware
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Washington D.C.
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

XOXO

Literary Road Trip: The Great White North

February 27, 2020 Leave a Comment

Home stretch! Today, we’re visiting the Midwest-ish for another batch of our tour of the US through books.

South Dakota
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

North Dakota
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Minnesota
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Iowa
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Missouri
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Wisconsin
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Illinois
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Michigan
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Indiana
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Ohio
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

West Virginia
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Virginia
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

XOXO

Three Things I’m Loving: Winter Edition

February 26, 2020 Comment : 1

High Fidelity – The book is always among my favorites. The movie, same. And now the show. It’s more brilliant than I ever could have hoped. It’s somehow faithful to the originals, with a fresher take on the story. Utter perfection.

Morning Commute – I think it’s safe to say all my current favorite songs on this playlist, and I can’t remember what came first – the song or the playlist – because this is so frequently listened to…whether I’m actually commuting or not.

Lifeline – I played this game for the first time 5 years ago, and to this day, I have never found another thing quite like it. Once again, I find myself emotionally invested with my stranded Taylor…hoping my choices don’t kill ’em (again, ahem). *fingers crossed*

XOXO

The Hobbyist: A Crafting Round-Up

February 18, 2020 Comment : 1

I am one crafty lady – and I mean that quite literally today. While I don’t think I’ll ever get the honor of appearing on Making It (though I dream of it regularly), that hasn’t stopped me from trying to learn a whole bunch of handy skills…and amassing quite the collection of hobby books. Y’all thready for this?

Embroidery

Embroidered Life by Sarah K. Benning
The Embroidered Art of Chloe Giordano by Chloe Giordano
Thread Folk by Libby Moore
Hoop Dreams by Cristin Morgan

Macramé

The Year of Knots by Windy Chien
Modern Macramé by Emily Katz
Macramé at Home by Natalie Ranae
Macramé 1 & 2 by Fanny Zedenius

Paper Flowers

The Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers by Livia Cetti
Crepe Paper Flowers by Lia Griffith
The Fine Art of Paper Flowers by Tiffanie Turner
Paper to Petal by Rebecca Thuss

Weaving

Welcome to Weaving 1 & 2 by Lindsey Campbell
On the Loom by Maryanne Moodie
The Woven Home by Rainie Owen
Weaving Within Reach by Anne Weil

Non-Books *gasp*

The Crafter’s Box
Creative Live
Masterclass (More on this adventure soon!)
Skillshare

XOXO

Love Yo’Self: A Self-Help Round-Up

February 11, 2020 Comments : 2

With all these lovey-dovey posts before V-Day (which is totally blowing up my TBR), I want to switch gears to talk about loving yourself. *cue girlish giggles*

The term “self help” kinda makes me want to harm myself or others, but it’s a lot easier to say than 20+ word version I usually tell myself to avoid saying those two words in succession. I blame it on a shiny new decade, but this year I found myself actually making resolutions. So gross. This is a very long way to say: this year I made some personal goals of investing in my wellness/spirit/skills/knowledge/awesomeness/damn self with the written work of others – and I’ve actually been putting effort into it. I know, I am surprised, too.

Here’s a selection of books that didn’t make me want to roll my eyes until I perished. Maybe next year I’ll be able to admit I even liked them 🙂

On being vulnerable…

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
To be fair, I only read this because of work book club (which I helped found) where we read a great many professional titles that are dryyyyy like saltines. This was the first in a long line of books that didn’t make me want to cheat and just look up a summary online. If you want to dip a toe in with Brené, scope out her Netflix special.

On therapy…

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
I vote skip the book, and watch her TED Talk.

On self-help books…

How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer
I’m quickly realizing this is becoming a post of me telling people to skip the books, but seriously, skip this one. It’s a compilation of this duo’s podcast By the Book – which is VERY much worth checking out.

On not giving a fuck…

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sarah Knight
I think this will forever hold the record of most f-words in a single book I’ve read. But in terms of a book that actually made me reconsider a behavior and put some changes in place, this one takes the fucking cake.

On being exhausted all the time (and a millenial)…

The Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen
This is a much longer version of the original article on Buzzfeed. And you guessed it, read the article and only go on to the audio if you want more of the interviews that formed this piece.

On banishing doubt…

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
Damn straight I am. And so are you. Fin.

On being present…

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
I read this because Oprah talks about it a lot (and it was a daily deal). I think I preferred listening to Oprah and Eckhart chat about its lessons on Super Soul conversations – just a little more personal and practical that way.

On being like Pooh…

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Ok, the Pooh thing is a whole other book, but I’ll never be able to separate Winnie and Taoism, and that’s fine by me. Look for the John Minford translation specifically; it’s got lots of extra poetry and interpretations that dives deeper into each writing.

On philosophy…

Out of Your Mind by Alan Watts
This is what started the whole self-help-athon. Actually, it was this recording that through happenstance came into my life sometime last winter. It shook me down to my bones.

On being fat, feminist and fabulous…

Shrill by Lindy West
This book has some truly polarizing content, aka it earned me at least one unfollow on Goodreads because I liked it. If I learned anything from Lindy and this book, it’s haters gonna hate and I’m too busy crushing it to care. There’s also one mega bonus that comes along with this book, the show! It’s the absolutely BRILLIANT and has 100% more Aidy Bryant than the book. Seriously, stop reading and go watch it.

XOXO

Short and Sweet: Hot and Hammered by Tessa Bailey

January 7, 2020 Comments : 3

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Published by Avon on June 11, 2019
Pages: 400
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
three-half-stars

A brand new romantic comedy from New York Times bestseller Tessa Bailey!
Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World... whatever that means.
Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps?)
Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)
Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax?)
Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!)
Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite?
Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there's Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm? It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her...

*****

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
Published by Avon on January 14, 2020
Pages: 384
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
two-stars

New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey returns with a unique, sexy romantic comedy about a young married couple whose rocky relationship needs a serious renovation.

Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be anyway. Now Rosie’s lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with ten years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.
Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to-emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippy. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he’s all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous—yet surprisingly helpful—assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they’re getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret... and it could demolish everything.

*****

I think a lot of readers will love Tessa Bailey’s Hot and Hammered series. I just don’t happen to be one of them. There are very hot tamale sexy times and a sufficient amount of girl power moments, but ultimately the weird pet names and hyper-masculine alpha male leads left me finding more to dislike than like in both books…and I didn’t even finish the second because I was over it. If you give these a try, particularly the second one, and feel strongly I should have kept going, hit me up 🙂

XOXO

Anticipated Releases: January & February

January 1, 2020 Comments : 3

January 7

Nineteen Love Songs by David Levithan
Chosen by Kiersten White

January 14

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
Infinity Son by Adam Silvera

February 4

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

February 11

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern
Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

XOXO

Best of 2019

December 30, 2019 Comments : 4

Instead of the full questionnaire I usually do, I decided to do my own version of the Goodreads Choice Awards for books I read in 2019. My only modification to that tried and true set of genres is that I’m not splicing out Young Adult – the only YA I read this year won or lost in its primary genre category fair and square.