Search Results for: Last chance library

Categories: Books

Monthly Book Review | December 2016

I closed out the year with a strong reading month – 9 books read in December! Lots of romance and light reads this month, which is just what I like for December. My favorite book this month was The Queen of the Tearling, which came very close to knocking The Hating Game from my favorite book of the year. I’m so glad I was given the chance to read that novel for TLC Book Tours and can’t wait to get my hands on the second book in the trilogy.

Here are my December book reviews!

Dare to Desire by Carly Phillips (★★★★☆)

Just a really fun and sexy romance novel that I read on my way home from my cruise. It had great characters and an easy-to-follow plot. I really liked the chemistry between Alex and Madison, and I’m really enjoying the “Dare to Love” series by this author. It’s hot, hot, hot.

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan (★★★★☆)

This book started off really, really slow and I nearly abandoned it because nothing was clicking for me. But I’m so glad I powered through and kept going because, about 60% of the way in, the story picked up immensely. It follows four girls who were assigned to the same dorm during their freshman year of college. There’s a chapter devoted to each character for each different time period – during college, five years after graduation, and then a year later. I felt like the characters were so well-written and real; they were unlikable at times, but wholly lovable at others, just like any regular person. If you love a good novel about female friendship, pick this up!

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (★★★★★)

I reviewed this novel on my blog last month, and you can read my review here. (It was also my #2 book of the year!)

Mosquitoland by David Arnold (★★★☆☆)

There is something about the way that male authors write female teenagers that rubs me the wrong way. They always have to be these brash, sassy, overly philosophical characters. John Green is the biggest offender, and David Arnold definitely follows his style. To be fair, the novel was good. I liked the movement of the plot and thought the way everything was revealed at the end was fantastic. But I just couldn’t get past my annoyance with the main character and the fact that she just didn’t feel real at all.

If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins (★★★★☆)

This novel felt more serious than Higgins’s other novels. Most of her novels are more of the chick-lit variety with a sweet plot and characters getting into all sorts of crazy trouble. This one involved a heavier topic (infidelity) intermixed with a lighter love story. Even though I was looking to read a light-hearted romance novel, I’m glad I picked this up and read it because it was thoroughly well-written. I really enjoyed the relationship between the two sisters, and the love story made me so, so happy. Still, I wish at least one of the author’s main characters could not be a marriage-obsessed woman who needs to find a man NOW so she can have kids. It feels like every single character has the same motive, and it’s tiresome.

Then Came You by Jill Shalvis (★★★★☆)

Another super fun, super sexy romance novel from Shalvis. She never lets me down. 🙂 This story followed the romance between Wyatt, a new vet in town, and Emily, who is an intern at the veterinary hospital. They hooked up one night during a vet conference a few months ago, never thinking either would see the other again. But surprise! They now have to work together. The novel was fun, sassy, and heartwarming. Her books just make me so happy!

Dare to Touch by Carly Phillips (★★★★☆)

Another sensational romance from Carly! You’ll notice this is the second book of hers I read in December – what can I say? I was in the mood for another steamy, quick romance and this fit the bill completely. I read it within 24 hours on Christmas Eve, and it was truly the perfect light novel for that time of year. The main characters in this book had cameos in the first two books in the series, so it was fun to finally dig into their story and see them get their happy ending. Totally recommend this series for romance lovers – it’s fantastic!

The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn (★★★★☆)

Julia Quinn writes such delightful characters, and I was so happy to dive into one of her novels during Christmas. I love the dialogue the most in these novels because it feels so very real. So many times, the dialogue in romance novels feels forced and doesn’t read the way most people talk. In this novel, we get the love story between Hugh Prentice and Lady Sarah Pleinsworth, two characters that were introduced in the previous books in the series. Hugh is dealing with a disability after a duel and Sarah is longing for marriage – but the last guy she would ever marry is Hugh, as he was the one who called for the duel involving her cousin. But, as love stories go, the more time they spend together, the more they realize how much they have in common and begin falling in love. The romance is a slow build and I love the way everything falls into place so sweetly.

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (★★★★★)

If I had finished this book before I published my favorite reads for 2016, this would have made the cut – and probably in the top five. It was excellent. I am generally neutral about celebrity memoirs – usually, I like them but I don’t love them. But I loved this book. It was exactly the kind of book I would imagine Anna Kendrick would write – full of snark and self-deprecation, but also with a whole lot of heart. She’s really had such an amazing career and has worked with some really amazing people in the industry, and I like how honest she was about how terrifying it can be to be in Hollywood. This book made me laugh out loud more than a few times, and I really hope this is just the beginning of her writing career.

DECEMBER BOOK STATS

Number of books read: 9 (3,082 pages)
Format breakdown: e-books (6), physical books (3)
Genre breakdown: romance (5), fiction (1), nonfiction (1), YA (1), fantasy (1)
Number of diverse reads: 1 out of 9 (11%)
Where I got my books from: Overdrive (3), TLC Book Tours (1), library (2), Amazon (3)
Money spent on reading this month: $15.47

What was the best book you read in December?

Categories: Books

Monthly Book Review | November 2016

November was a pretty excellent month for reading! I really loved just about every book I read and wound up reading 8 books in total, to bring my yearly total to 86 books. So, now I know I will break 90 books read, which is a feat! I haven’t hit that number in a few years. This month, my favorite book was Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. (Fun story: on a whim, I downloaded this title to my Kindle to read on my cruise and when I came back to work, my coworkers had generously gifted me with a copy of the book, as well as an adorable tote bag that has a portion of the novel printed on it. They were bummed they didn’t manage to find a book I hadn’t yet read, heh, but I was so excited because I loved the book so dang much that it’ll be fun to carry the words around on a tote!)

Let’s dive into the reviews!

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin (★★★☆☆)

This was not my favorite novel from Giffin, but it was a good one. It explored how deeply a loss can affect a family, even if the loss happened fifteen years ago. I didn’t love how contentious the relationship between Meredith and Josie was, and I found Meredith to be so incredibly unlikable that I didn’t care for her storyline at all. But I think the novel does a good job of tackling the subject of grief and how it changes a family.

Show No Mercy by Cindy Gerard (★★★★★)

This was my third reread of this novel and I loved it just as much as all the other times I read it. Gabe and Jenna are two characters who are so easy to like and root for. You just want Gabe to let Jenna into his life, and you want Jenna to “tame the bad boy.” (Trope-y, I know.) It’s fun, it’s fast-paced, and it has a pretty startling conclusion.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

My first Agatha Christie novel! I read this for my work book club and we all raved about it. I found the first 100-150 pages to be a little slow, mostly because there were so many characters to keep track of. It was such a fascinating premise: ten people are summoned to a private island by a man they don’t really know and once they all arrive at his house, they start getting killed one by one. It’s like a game of Clue! There’s no doubt that Christie is a phenomenal writer and I can totally see why her novels are so popular and beloved. I kept trying to figure out the “whodunit” but I couldn’t, and I was super surprised by the ending.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K Rowling (★★★★★)

This book destroyed me the first time I read it, and even though I knew what was going to happen this time around, I was still just as devastated. The final 100 pages are just tough to get through. Why did I put myself through this misery again? The story. The story is just so good and I still have so much love for Harry. I know what’s coming in the last book of the series, and I’m trying to prepare myself.

10% Happier by Dan Harris (★★★★☆)

Dan Harris writes in such an easy, relatable way, which made this whole book really fun to read. It’s a book about meditation and mindfulness, but it’s coming from a skeptic’s point of view. Really, nobody would have ever expected Harris to ever go on this journey, and it’s only after he has a panic attack on national TV and can’t find beneficial ways to control his anxiety that he embarks on it. Skeptics of meditation and mindfulness will really enjoy this book, I think. One of my favorite quotes:

“‘What you need to do,” [Eckhart Tolle] said, interrupting me this time, and speaking with uncharacteristic brio. ‘Make the present moment your friend rather than your enemy. Because many people live habitually as if the present moment were an obstacle that they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment. And imagine living your whole life like that, where always this moment is never quite right, not good enough because you need to get to the next one. That is continuous stress.'” (p. 67)

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer (★★★☆☆)

I’m not even sure why I requested this book on Overdrive – maybe I’m just obsessed with women in comedy memoirs? – because I’m not a huge fan of Amy Schumer. Her humor is a little too vulgar for my tastes, so I went into this book a little apprehensive. I was pleasantly surprised to end up liking it. I mean, it doesn’t compare to Bossypants or Yes, Please or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, but there were quite a few great essays in this book. When Amy decided to get real and personal, and left out the vulgar comedy bits, that’s when she was at her best. I think she has an important message to share, and I think it’s worth picking up this book, as long as you can handle plenty of talk about penises and vaginas.

Melting the Ice by Jaci Burton (★★★★☆)

This was probably one of my favorite novels by Burton, and I was glad for the chance to read it nearly uninterrupted while on my cruise. It was sexy and heartfelt and had a male lead that made my heart go pitter-patter. I also really loved the female protagonist. I can get easily annoyed with female protagonists in romance novels, especially ones that are underdeveloped, but I felt that Carolina was really fleshed out and fun to read. I think the dark moment of the novel was a little silly and too easily solved, but overall, a very solid novel from Burton.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean (★★★★★)

I’m so glad I finally read my first Sarah MacLean novel after hearing her books raved about by book bloggers. I am a convert and cannot wait to start making my way through her entire backlist. I felt that MacLean nailed down the right verbiage and the right setting, something I feel isn’t always present in historical romance. She really did her research and it made for such an authentic read. And, maaaaaan, did I love Callie. She was so spunky and fun and vulnerable and brave. I loved every minute I spent with her story and was so happy when she got her happy ending. Swoon, swoon, swoon.

NOVEMBER BOOK STATS

Number of books read: 8 (2,931 pages)
Format breakdown: e-books (5), physical books (3)
Genre breakdown: romance (3), fiction (1), nonfiction (2), mystery (1), fantasy (1)
Number of diverse reads: 2 out of 8 (25%)
Where I got my books from: Overdrive (5), library (2), friend (1)
Money spent on reading this month: $0.00

What was the best book you read in November?

Categories: Recurring Series

Virtual Coffee Date (V. 5)

The last time I checked in with a virtual coffee date was in May! I think it’s high time we sit down again, don’t you think?

If we were having coffee today… I’d probably want to tell you about the incredibly cool experience I had this past week. My local Painting With a Twist hosted an event for the victims of the Orlando shooting and I was so honored to attend. I went with a group of coworkers (there were 12 of us in total!) and it was a really wonderful night. I’m not much of an artist, so I don’t particularly enjoy things like painting because I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect, even though I just don’t have that creative gene. So my painting didn’t turn out that great, but I’m still glad I went and showed my support. In the end, this little event raised more than $2,000 for The OneOrlando Fund, and I got to spend a few hours with my coworkers (whom I love dearly), so it was a special night.

If we were having coffee today… I might express excitement over the fact that I have a $50 credit sitting in my Amazon account, due to their recent lawsuit. I’m guessing I got such a big payout due to the year I spent more than $650 on Kindle e-books. Heh. (I have since gone back to using the library and only buying e-books when absolutely necessary.) I’m not sure what I’m going to spend my money on, but I think I might buy something very boring like pots and pans since I’m going to need them when I move into my own apartment in the fall.

If we were having coffee today… you might ask me to clarify what I meant by that last statement. And I’d tell you that things aren’t 100% confirmed yet, but it looks like Roomie and I will be moving to our own places in the fall. There’s a part of me that’s sad, a part of me that’s excited, and a part of me that’s really nervous. I am sad because I love living with Roomie and will miss having her around (though we’re planning to do weekly date nights because we need them in our life!) I am excited because I don’t love living in Tampa and want to be back on the “right” side of the bridge (as the locals say here). And I am nervous to figure out how to afford living on my own (rent prices for one-bedroom apartments are astronomical, truly). Deep breaths. It will all work out exactly the way it is meant to.

If we were having coffee today… I might talk to you about my intense need for a new mattress and ask if you have any tips for getting an affordable mattress. The mattress I sleep on now is only a full and was a hand-me-down, so it’s really time for an upgrade. A mattress store near me is having a going-out-of-business sale with mattresses up to 70% off! I might go in and check it out – can’t hurt, right?

If we were having coffee today... you might ask me about dating and I’d probably just roll my eyes and groan. I’m back on Tinder after a brief hiatus, mainly because I feel like nothing happens on OK Cupid anymore and I’m not ready to join Match just yet. My last few dates (all from OK Cupid) have been a snoozefest and I am feeling discouraged about romance.

If we were having coffee today… you might see my eyes light up when I talked about the progress I’m making on my novel. I’m still not writing as much as I want to (sometimes I daydream about working part-time, where I could spend my afternoons working on my novel, but then I remember I really love getting a fat paycheck, so nah). When I do get the chance to write, I love the process so, so, so much. There’s truly nothing like bringing characters to life on paper (or document, as the case may be!)

Okay, a coffee date can’t be all one sided! What would you tell me about during our coffee date?

Categories: Life

Let’s Talk about Book Clubs

A few weeks ago, in the comment section of my book review post, Kathleen requested I write a post on my book club. I feel like I talk about my book club a lot on this blog, but I don’t go into many specifics. So, today, if you’ll indulge me, let’s talk about book clubs.

on joining

My start to this book club was a little rocky. And mostly due to my own silly insecurities. Originally, I planned to join in January 2011. After searching on Meetup.com, I found a young women’s book club and it sounded perfect for me. So, I joined and even read the book pick for the month, but the day of the meeting, I panicked and bowed out. I just… got scared. Worried about what people would think of me. Going to a social event on my own is terrifying for me and I couldn’t get past my own insecurities at that time.

Nearly two years later, I summoned the courage to try again. It was the exact same book club, but it had a new leader, Amber, who is the nicest and most welcoming person I’ve ever met. I ended up joining around the time Amber was hosting a new members’ get-together. It would just be a few new people who wanted to join the club and some long-time book club members, getting together at a restaurant downtown for drinks and tapas. It was honestly the best situation for me as I got to “join” in a low-key setting and get to know some of the members before I attended my first meeting.

My first actual book club meeting was in October of 2012 and it went so wonderfully! We met at a restaurant, and it was a small group, which was perfect for me. And from then on, I’ve been a book club regular!

our meetings

Like most book clubs, we meet once a month and we pick a date based on everyone’s schedules. Sometimes it’s a midweek dinner, other times it’s a Friday night or Sunday morning brunch.

If we choose a date during the week, usually we’ll meet at a restaurant for a few hours because schedules are busy and we all need to get home in a timely manner.

If we choose a Friday night, we’ll usually try to pair it with a fun outing. We’ll meet at a restaurant to eat a good meal and talk about the book, and then drive over to another location for some fun. Some of the things we’ve done: laser tag, bowling, shuffleboard, and playing games at a brewery downtown.

During the summer months, we’ll often schedule “brunch book club by the pool” where everyone comes to my pool on Sunday morning for brunch potluck, mimosas, and pool time! It’s so much fun and usually my favorite type of book club we have!

So anyway, we definitely don’t stick to any one type of book club outing. We like to keep things interesting and it honestly just feels like a “girls’ night out” than the type of book club most people expect. And I love that! 🙂

discussing books

Another way we might not be like a typical book club is with our discussions. We don’t have in-depth discussions about the books we choose. I know some people like to discuss themes and literary plot devices, but we prefer to just chat about how we felt while reading the book. Sometimes, if a book we read comes with a discussion guide, we’ll answer a few questions from that. Generally, though, we just like to discuss different plot points and our reactions to them. We don’t tend to pick super literary books, anyway, but more “feel good” books, which are more fun to discuss thoughts and feelings than literary themes.

choosing books

We have a few parameters for choosing our monthly read:

It can’t be one someone has already read. We like to have the reading experience together!
Ideally, it will be a book two or more of us have marked as “to-read” on Goodreads.
Ideally, it will have a rating of 3.5 stars or higher on Goodreads.
It has to have multiple copies available at the library. (Nearly all of us are library users, so we run into problems if the book has a long waiting period or is completely unavailable. This also means we don’t read popular books, so we haven’t read The Girl on the Train or All the Light We Cannot See as a group.)

Typically, Amber comes to our meeting with a few book ideas, and sometimes, some of us will also have some options. We’ll read aloud the book synopsis from Goodreads and then decide collectively if we think the book will be a good fit. It usually doesn’t take us very long to pick a book, and we tend to choose cute YA novels, engaging thrillers, or women’s lit.

new members

We don’t regularly take new members. We no longer have our group listed on Meetup.com (Amber actually took it down the month after I joined – glad I joined when I did!) Our group now exists in a private Facebook group.

Nearly all of us are introverts, so we like keeping our meetings small. Having 10-12 members at a meeting starts to feel overwhelming. But every now and then, we’ll do a “bring a friend to book club” meeting if we feel like we need to add new faces and new personalities to the group. That’s actually how my BFF Bri started attending!

special events

We like to do something special at least once a year to celebrate the book club’s anniversary. In 2013, five of us went on a two-day weekend cruise, and in 2014, we took the Ghost Tour of St. Petersburg. This year, we’re thinking about spending a weekend in Orlando for the Food & Wine Festival!

Other than that, we’ll get together for dinner every now and then. We had a 90s gift exchange for Christmas last year. A few of us got together to carve pumpkins last October. I’ll meet up with Amber for lunch since we work near one another. A book club friend and I started meeting up for writing dates. We all met up for a painting date for a friend’s birthday. Things like that!

We have so much fun together. They are more than just my “book club girls,” but some of my closest friends and favorite people. Growing up, I didn’t have friends who really understood me, or even really accepted me for who I was. These girls are my people. They get me. I never knew that I could find people who accepted me as I was, and let me be my neurotic, weird, crazy self. I love these girls with my whole heart and I’m so glad I took a chance on joining this group. It’s been one of the best decisions of my life.

Do you belong to a book club? How does it differ from mine?

Categories: Travel

I Left My Heart in Savannah

Last weekend, my mom and I took a quick trip to Savannah for my birthday. We drove up there on Friday and came back on Monday, so we had about three nights and two full days there.

I think I could have stayed there forever.

I titled this post “I left my heart in Savannah” because it’s true. Savannah stole a tiny piece of me.

I don’t know about you, but when I go on vacation, I always feel a little off-balance. I love exploring and traveling, but there is really nothing like home. Home is familiarity. Home is your own space and your regular grocery store and your favorite coffee shop and your local library and the Target where you know exactly what lays in every single aisle. So when I leave my city to go somewhere else, I feel like a foreigner. I feel out of place, as if I’m shouting from the rooftops that “I am a visitor to your city! I am new! I do not know the streets. Or the best brunch spots. Or where the library is. I couldn’t give someone directions if you gave me a map to look off of.”

And then I come back home and I breathe a bit easier. Ahh. This is home. This is my spot. This is familiar and comfortable and right.

Savannah was different. Savannah felt familiar. It felt comfortable. It felt right from the moment I drove into the city. Sure, I had to use Google Maps every single time I wanted to explore a new part of town, but it just felt like I was learning my way around my city. I felt connected to Savannah. To the picturesque tree-lined streets and the beautifully historic buildings and the sweet, gracious people and the charming historic squares. Savannah felt like home.

My mom and I are similar in many ways, and one way is that we’re both low-key introverts. We like to be busy and do things, but we also need time to recuperate. So I knew we didn’t want a jam-packed vacation. We wanted to eat good food, go on some tours, and just mosey around the city at our pace. And that’s what we did.

We went on two different tours: a walking tour of the city and a ghost tour. Both Lisa and Jess had recommended Savannah Dan’s walking tour, so I booked a tour with him. I remember the first time I saw him walking up to the meeting square and I got this strange fluttering in my belly, like I was meeting a celebrity! He was dressed in a powder blue suit and white hat, and he was friendly and personable and funny from the get-go. The whole tour was amazing and I’m so happy we did it, even if I did want to chop my feet off at the end (I am not used to walking and standing around for two hours!) I would recommend him to anyone. Hey, even my mom, who gets bored by history, liked it. So, if that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.

(The ghost tour was okay. I booked a cheap one – $13 for both my mom and me! – because I was trying to be conscious of our budget. It was interesting, and our host was quite the character, but nothing to write home about.)

We visited the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which was one of the best parts of my trip. Being in that cathedral, walking down the aisle and gazing at the stained glass paintings and stations of the cross… just… awe-inspiring. It was peaceful, serene, holy, and sacred. And so, so, so, so, so gorgeous.

The only house tour we did was Juliette Gordon Low’s house tour, the founder of the Girl Scouts. I wasn’t a Girl Scout, but I wanted to walk through the house because I just adore history and I wanted the chance to view such a historic landmark of Savannah. And it was so beautiful. Goodness. I can’t remember, but I think all the furniture is original to Juliette’s family and it was staged like it was when Juliette lived in this house. I loved walking through the rooms and trying to imagine people living in this place and having conversations and eating meals and sleeping and just… life. It was pretty incredible.

In any event, my trip was fantastic. Honestly, I knew I would most likely love Savannah. After all, I named it one of the top three cities I would move to, if I ever wanted to leave Florida. I didn’t know I would fall in love with this adorable town. I didn’t know I would leave a piece of me when I left. I’m not saying I’m moving to Savannah anytime soon. The thought of the cost of such a move, starting over with a new job and new friends, and being far away from family makes my stomach knot up in anxiety. What I am saying is that Savannah will forever hold a special place in my heart. And that I’ll be back to visit this charming city very soon.