June Wrap Up

As usual, book reviews can be found on my book blog, if you are interested.

Alright, books read this month:

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern. The first installment of a young adult dystopian series.

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. Awesome and funny sequel to The Eyre Affair.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. A calssically-written story about restoring magic to England.

Challenges completed:

A book you recently bought: Flawed

A book that made you laugh: Lost in a Good Book
A book over 700 pages: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Favorite book read this month:
Lost in a Good Book

Least favorite book read this month:
Flawed

And my book haul for the month:

My copy of The Scorpio Races is signed by Maggie Stiefvater! So extra exciting.

And I feel like I need to defend myself for owning another book by Sarah J. Maas... I read (and seriously disliked) Throne of Glass. I hear that her books get better, but I was very skeptical and unwilling to read more to find out. Well, this copy came in a book box I subscribe to (The Best Damn Book Box) for last month's Beauty and the Beast themed box. So... there it is. I'm not sure if I will read it or not. It is very pretty. And maybe I can read it without reading any of the others? We will see. I don't have high hopes really.

I also bought a set of tarot cards that came with a book all made/written by Maggie Stiefvater, which is absolutely amazing! They are so pretty! I'm not sure if that counts in my book haul...

Anyway, I will leave it at that for this month.

Oh! And I dyed my hair rainbow colors! Which has been super fun and I am really enjoying it!

May Wrap Up

Books! So after I dropped everything to read The Raven King, the first Trials of Apollo book, The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan came out. I left everything where I dropped it, more or less, to listen to that book. See where my priorities are? Apparently with The Raven Cycle and Rick Riordan's books... Sometimes I'm amazed that I make any progress on my TBR pile.

As usual, most of these have been reviewed on my book blog.

Books read this month:

• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. Oh my gosh. I am so in love with this series. I have no words. And Ronan and Adam's love story warms my heart.
• Demigods and Magicians by Rick Riordan. Collection of three short stories where Greek and Egyptian worlds collide.
• March by Geraldine Brooks. A take on Mr. March's story from the classic Little Women.
• The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan. New series starring mortal Apollo in all of his bisexual glorious-ness.
• Cress by Marissa Meyer. Took me forever to read, but really enjoyed it.
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Very good book set in the Grisha universe. Interesting characters.
• The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner. A book following three friends for their last year of high school--a much better read than I was expecting.
• The Selection by Kiera Cass. The story of 35 girls competing to win the hand of the crown prince.

Challenges completed this month:

• A book you've been highly anticipating: The Raven King
• A short story: Demigods and Magicians (it's three short stories, that counts right?)
• A stand alone book: March 
• A book someone recommended to you: Cress
• A book by an author from your country: The Hidden Oracle
• A book with multiple points of view: Six of Crows
• A book with a beautiful cover: The Selection

Favorite book read this month:
The Raven King, I just loved this series so much. 

Least favorite book read this month:
The Selection. I was less than impressed.

Book haul:

I was pretty good this month, only three books!

In other news, dance is going well, it is still fun and good exercise. I went on a couple of dates with one guy and I have been enjoying that. I trained in my new position at work and feel like an official lab tech now. Overall, things are pretty good!

Big Steps

After some conversations with my counselor (and my mom and my dance instructor... like, really?) and some soul searching and research of my own, I have decided to put myself out there and try dating again. By again, I just mean, try dating, because I did very little of that um... ever.

I did quite a bit of reading, looking for advice, tips, and personal accounts. How long is long enough? How do you know you are ready?

I won't lie, I knew I wasn't ready for a long time. And actually, when I initially started to look into dating and started to create a profile, I totally freaked and knew that I wasn't quite there yet.

After some time and more thinking, I decided to try again. I did more reading and looked specifically on eHarmony. I figured, working nights and no social life leaves me next to no chance of meeting someone and that this would help me "weed out" the ones who are not serious and not interested in the same things I am. Plus my counselor and I discussed it and she thinks that I have come a really long way and that it is a good idea. So with her approval, I decided to try.

I went through, what seemed like, a never-ending mourning period. All of the sudden, about 3-4 weeks ago, something (I have no idea what) changed. I suddenly started feeling so much better, more motivated and less depressed. I have only had a couple of sad periods since then (and both were brief). The relief is incredible. I wish I knew what happened, but I am so glad that it did. I would attribute some of it to counseling and some of it to dance (which makes me more happy than I thought it could). Even a couple of my friends who saw me in the past week or so told me that I look and sound so much better.

This is a pretty big step for me, but I feel like I am ready to look for a new, meaningful connection. I would like to have that bond and that closeness again, but with someone new and who is, hopefully, a better fit for me.

It's still really new, but I am feeling fairly optimistic. (And I have my first date coming up pretty soon, and I am actually excited. And a bit nervous, but mostly excited. We went through the eHarmony communications and eventually exchanged numbers and have been talking/texting every day for extended periods of time. It's been pretty wonderful. We will see how it goes!)

So there you have it. Does anyone out there have any advice for me and other people like me? Any hazards of online dating to avoid? Stories and experiences to share? I would like to hear them! And maybe sometime soon, I will even have some advice and stories to share.