January Reads

I feel like I started the year off right in book land! I read 6 books this month. 1 was for my book club. It was by an author I’d read before but I don’t think I necessarily would have ever picked this specific book for myself. However, I really enjoyed the book which was a bit of a surprise to myself. This is one of the many reasons I love being in a book club. In fact let me list them LOL

1.  I love sharing books with others
2. Has me read books I maybe wouldn’t pick otherwise
3. Is fun to see what kind of books my friends like
4. A fun way to connect my friend group since all 4 of us live in different cities
5. I don’t do a lot of social interaction but I can talk about books for hours

Anyways, here are the books I read this month:

1. The Forgotten Hours by Katrin Schumann
2. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella
3. Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippencott
4. Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
5. Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella
6. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The Forgotten Hours was one of my free books from prime for January. It was really good! It was one of those books that heavily influenced my mood while I was reading it. It’s also on the darker side of the mood (see what I did there? Hahaha). But I definitely recommend it for people who like dramas (aka serious not drama aka he said she said whiny cat fights). 

I read two books by Sophie Kinsella this month. I’m always looking for authors with a bunch of books to their names because sometimes I feel like I waste days just trying to find a good book. Her books are great chick lit. Interesting but a light read. Good filler after some of the more serious books I read this month. Of the two I liked Can You Keep A Secret more but I still really enjoyed Surprise Me. 

I put a hold on Five Feet Apart a few months ago when I saw a preview for the movie. I knew that I’d eventually see it & seeing as it’s also a book of course I had to read it first! Very good book! Similar style to John Green (specifically The Fault In Our Stars) and loved the characters. I love books that flip between narrators because I’m nosy & wanna know everyone’s thoughts. 

Fool Me Once was the book club book of the month. I’ve read Harlan Coben books before, but he’s one of those authors I have to gear myself up to read. I.e. not light and fluffy like Sophie Kinsella. I really enjoyed this one though even though I didn’t agree with everything the main character did. 

All The Bright Places. Wow what a book to end on. Let me tell ya, it wasn’t very bright. I really liked this book but talk about mood changing.  Depression, mental illness, & suicide are major themes in this book so definitely consider your own mind set before reading it. This is another one that flipped narrators throughout the book. Overall, good albeit sad read that will stay with me for a long time.

December Reads

A week into 2019! Guess I should update my December reads for the 3 (maybe) of you who read them, Hi Debbie! hahahaha

So I actually didn't read a ton in December. I blame the holidays lol but here they are:

The Spectacular Now

To All The Boys I Loved Before

P.S. I Still Love You

Love Always, Lara Jean

Nine Perfect Strangers

I actually watched the movie to The Spectacular Now about 5 years ago without realizing it was a book After I watched it my friend Debbie and I were talking about it because she was reading it but I was like oh well too late now. Well seeing as it's 5 years later & I wanted something to read, I decided to give it a shot. Enough time had passed and books and movies always differ enough that I wasn't bored and I did enjoy the book. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone & Sutter is kinda a unreliable narrator, but at the end of the day despite his flaws you still root for him.

The next three books are a trilogy by Jenny Han. I'd been wanting to read it for monthssss but since Netflix just made a movie over the first one the wait list was insane. I finally ended up buying the 1st one when I had both the other two downloaded from the library. Totally worth it. I don't reread a lot of books, in fact I can think of 2 off the top of my head that I reread about once a year and that's it (they are, in case you're curious ;) The Summerhouse & the Just One Day series) but I can see this series becoming one that I reread from time to time. I love Lara Jean & of courseeee I love Peter Kavinsky, But really all the characters in the series are good  & even the netflix movie is good! I can't wait to see what they do for the second. But I highly recommend reading the books before watching the movies!

Nine Perfect Strangers is a book I've been waiting on for about a year! It's by one of my favorite authors ever, Liane Moriarty. I want to say this will go into my top 5 list of her books. She has such a way with characters, but the setting in this one was so much more dramatically suspenseful that it beats out a few of my other favorite books of her (But it doesn't beat out What Alice Forgot because I will always love that one!).

So anyways, there's my sad little December reads list! I expect more in January seeing as I'm already on book 2 and have two more downloaded currently :) 

Bookalooks

In the past couple of months I’ve been on a reading frenzy which makes me so happy! However, I’m learning that I have a hard time keeping track of all the books I’ve read. I wish I had a definitive list of all the books I’ve ever read and my thoughts. But I’m almost 28 and while I still remember some books I read at 10, 16, & 20 I by no means remember all. So moving forward I want to try to be more diligent about writing down the books I’m currently reading. So here are my October &  November reads:

1. The Summer I Turned Pretty
2. It’s Not Summer Without You
3. We’ll Always Have Summer
4. Ghosted
5. Burn for Burn
6. Fire with Fire
7. Ashes to Ashes
8. It’s Always The Husband
9. The Infinite Pieces Of Us
10. Still Me
11. A Simple Favor

& I just downloaded, The Spectacular Now. I hyperlinked each title to its page on Goodreads so you can read the summary yourself and see whatcha think.

I lovedddd 1-3. It was such a sweet, coming of age trilogy and gave me the ending I wanted unlike a lot of books I've read recently. I stumbled on this series because I've been wanting to read one of her other trilogies (To All The Boys I Loved Before) and decided to read this while I waited for it to become available (stillllll waiting btw). Definitely recommend if you enjoy YA books esp YA about first loves.

Number 4 I read for my book club's November read, so I'll share more about it in a different post.

5-7 was another trilogy written by Jenny Han but she co wrote it with Siobhan Vivian. I've read books by both of them & SV has a much edgier writing tone to me than JH so it was interesting to me to try to pick out who "wrote" different sections. No idea if that's how cowriting works but it was a fun game for me while I read. I didn't like this trilogy as much as the other. There were some things in the book that happen that aren't in my typical reading style and I was not a fan of the ending, but I don't regret reading it and I would still recommend it but with the disclaimer of you will like it more if you're more into sci fi books than I am.

8 was goooooood. I enjoyed the 3 main characters and had a favorite. Which made me think about how weird it is that someone else could read this and think the character I liked was annoying and prefer a different one. Brains are weird y'all. This book kept me interested the whole time and even surprised in a few areas which doesn't happen a ton.

I got number 9 as a free download from amazon. I get free downloads often from bookbub and amazon and a lot of times forget to actually read them, but I'm glad I didn't forget this one. It's a quirky YA read so perfect for me. I enjoyed the characters and the story even though it wasn't super challenging and pretty predictable.

Still Me is the third book in the Me Before You trilogy. I read Me Before You while pregnant with Piper sooooo alllllll the tears were had. I actually tried to read Still Me a few months ago and then never got around to it and my loan expired. I think I was worried it would be really sad, but I really enjoyed it. More so than number 2, After You. So if you haven't checked out this trilogy I def recommend it. It ended in a good way to be done, but I would still also take more haha

Oops. Number 11 is actually my book club's December read but I was just impatient and read it already. So I will write about it in a separate post as well.

So there's everything I've read most recently. Let me know if you read something off my list! I love talking and comparing books with other people. Got a suggestion on a book you love? Send it my way!

Book Review: Little Girl Lost

So it's been about 3 years since I wrote a DO NOT READ post but here we are! Do not read the book Little Girl Lost by Addison Moore. There I said it.

I had hopes for this book! Plot sounded interesting. Tons of pop up surprises and people and baggage and then the author ruined it. At least to me. I guess if you're super into sci-fi and curses and paranormal than be my guest and give the book a try, but to me I want a nice realistic ending.

Moving on I'm going to go into a LOT of spoilers. So if for some reason you choose to read this book, don't move on any further on this post.

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So I've read (& blogged) about Addison Moore before. Other books I've read of hers are all little rom-com romance books. They're good, but not much to them. Girl meets guy, usually they hate each other, eventually fall in love, something tries to pull them apart, they overcome, happy endings all around. Super easy, great little vacation books. So when I saw this book by her and that it was suspense I was excited. I've always loved Moore's characters and thought this would be a great book. And it had such potential!! But the ending was the worst.

You can read the summary on goodreads here.

Basically, married couple has a 6 year old daughter named Reagan. Marital troubles have them decide to move from LA to Idaho. Shortly after moving, Reagan is abducted and all these past secrets from both parents come out. And let me tell you, there are some goooood secrets. And that's why I hate the ending so much.

Here's the ending:

The little girl that Reagan disappears with, Ota, is like a spirit demon. Reagan is part Native American and the tribe she is descended from has a horrible curse placed on it by another tribe. Ota is the embodiment of the curse and the other tribe set out to kill Reagan as they do every member of the tribe.

DUMBBBBB.

I was literally so mad at that. I was so into the story and that's what you give me? Ughhhh.

Now for all the good stuff so you don't have to read the book but still get to hear all the dirty little secrets:

Allison- Lied to husband about Reagan being his. They were on a break in college and she began seeing Reagan's dad. He died in a freak accident (ie the curse) before she even knew she was pregnant. She was also dating James again. So anyways she just let him believe Reagan was his.  Another fun Allison twist was she had this super stalker ever since high school named Heather Evans. This girl was legit batty. She even named her two daughters after Allison, one named Allison and one named Ally.... creepyyyy. Allison's sister Jane is serving a life sentence in prison in California for hacking up her abusive husband. She's part of a jail gang that spans the inside/outside world and she sends a member to stalk some people on Allison's behalf which at some point in the book looks real bad for Allison when Reagan is missing. Also, Allison's mother was abusive/cray cray to both girls growing up.

Whew. Sounds like a lot right? James has even better twists!

James- Cheated on his wife with their neighbor which led to the move (to his hometown) in the first place, when they move back his psycho high school girlfriend, Monica, continuously tries to get him to be with her, the neighbor from LA is pregnant and claims it's his and demands he leaves Allison for his "new" family. All of which is very interesting but my favorite part is James past. So James had two older brothers and an older sister growing up. His father was the small town judge and his mom a socialite. His dad was very strict about rules and being a superior, perfect family. His oldest brother got into some trouble with drugs and what not and overdosed when James was a young boy. His sister had "women's problems" and passed away not long after that. So then it was just James and his brother Aston. That is until one day they were cleaning their hunting guns and James accidentally shot and killed his brother. Almost two years prior to James moving back home his mom is killed in a train accident. So misfortune always seems to follow him. But, bum bum bum turns out his father is a horrible sociopath who likes to play God! His dad killed his oldest brother because he was using drugs and ruining their image. Killed his sister because she was pregnant and in high school. Turns out he left the bullet in the chamber of the gun fully expecting James to shoot himself while cleaning the gun because he wanted Aston to live not James. Killed his wife because she was leaving him because of all that plus found out he'd been having a long term affair. Who with you ask? James psycho ex from high school!! They even had a child together shortly after James left for school, but the psycho father killed that child too because he was tired of Monica asking for help and money.

So basically so many good things to do with this book and all we get is a demon "child".

Piper- 18 Months

oh my gosh! It's so hard to put into words just how much I love and am in awe of my sweet baby girl. Every day is a new adventure with her and I love watching her personality shine brighter each day.

weight: 22-23 pounds. She's between 50th & 75th percentile on weight, which surprised me because shes on the smaller side haha

length: 32 inches, right at 50th percentile.

diaper size: Size 5

clothing size: 18 month

 
nicknames: P, Pipes, Piper Roo, etc etc 

health: Piper is getting over another ear infection currently, but her ears were checked at her appointment today and he said they look great! She also had her iron levels checked again & she is no longer anemic!!!

sleep: Piper is such an awesome sleeper these days! On the weekends she's been sleeping in til about 9 and she still takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. When she wakes up in the morning or from naps she likes to chill in her crib for a bit on her own and look at a book I keep in her crib for her. It is seriously the sweetest.

diet: Piper sometimes eats what we eat for dinner, but not always because we tend to eat a lot of spicy foods. For dinners she loves chicken alfredo, spaghetti, chicken & rice, and chicken & dumplings. Snacks are still her favorite! She loves white cheddar cheetos, fruit snacks, poptarts, bananas, strawberries, yogurt covered raisins, cheese, cereal, etc

likes: being outside & watching Daniel Tiger & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (we're taking a nice break from little baby bum hahaha). She is also obsessed with chairs currently. She tries to take her blue outside chair with her everywhere lol

dislikes: not being able to be miss independent! If she thinks she should be doing something (ie going outside hahaha) she will pitch herself a nice fit about it if she doesn't get to do it.

milestones: In the past 3 months we've done away with milk at bedtime & she uses her paci only in her room (aka bedtime/naptime). Piper has gained 1 additional tooth LOL. She's in no hurry to fill up that mouth (only up to 7). We're slowly intoducing the potty to her, so fingers crossed on that lol Piper isn't saying a whole lot (mom, daddy, uh oh, bye bye, all done, dog, cat, more, mine (LOL). she attempts please and thank you but you def have to use your imaginination on those lol) but her dr isn't concerned & her receptive language (do this, bring me that, etc) is great!

House Updates- Dining Room

Hello again! Time to show off our dining room! I love love love the way this room looks now. Before it was just kinda there, I didn't love it or hate it. 

Before

 

After

 

 Before

After

 

At first I was afraid I wouldn't like moving the table because it would leave a weird open space but I love it so much because now Piper has so much room to play.

So things that changed: new table/table decoration, new blinds, new light, bookshelf gone, new wall art, & cat tree added to empty space. The new table is recent (like in the last month recent) & I love it so much. I've always wanted a table with benches and its perfect. I know Piper will like sitting at the bench when shes a little older and she currently loves lining her zoo animals up on it. The new light isn't new anymore because we replaced that a couple of years ago because we hatedddd the original. Mom took it and revamped it by removing all the fake crystals and replacing the bulbs with solar lights. It looks muchhh better on her porch than in our dining room. The book shelf moved to the living room and the cat tree came in here. I think the new wood blinds and the happiness is homemade sign finish off the room perfectly :) 

House Updates- Living Room

The living room has been a fun one to watch change. I still have two big changes I want to make (a sectional couch & pipe shelves instead of the bookcase) but I love love love our collage wall!

Before

 

After

 

Before

 

After

 

Before

After

So it is very obvious we have a toddler now ;) I thought about putting away some of her toys for the pictures, but it was like what's the point? Piper lives here just as much as us no reason to hide her favorite toys :)

The big rug in here is the best. When we moved we spent forever trying to pick the best one for the room and I'm so glad it's the one we settled on. It ties in all the right colors and 3 years later I still love it.

You can see how much the dining room has changed in the background too, but I won't get around to doing a post on it until I can figure out what I wanna do with the huge blank wall! 

I love seeing how the rooms in our house can change even without major changes (ie no paint, new floors, etc). All it takes is so decorations & love ;)