2017 Spooky Reads

It's that time of year again! The most wonderful time of the year. Our autumn here has been great so far. The leaves are changing, the weather is cool, skies are grey and rainy, and it smells like fall. Time for some Halloween-themed reads. Here is what's on my list this year:

Audiobooks:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Graveyard Shift
The Poisoner's Handbook
And the new Magnus Chase book because I am Rick Riordan trash. I adamantly refuse to wait until November to read/listen to it.

Books:

Strange Practice
I Woke Up Dead at the Mall
A Monster Calls
And, as usual, The Graveyard Book
And possibly All the Crooked Saints because I pre-ordered it many months ago. Stiefvater is pretty good at writing eerie stories, so it may fit right in!

Hopefully I have some good ones in here. Anyone else have Spooky reads planned? Or recommendations?

Hello Again

Wow, I am terrible at this. I wrote all the way back in May that I was going to try to be better about blogging. Here we are in September without a single blog post in between.

Since October is coming, of course I am starting to get ready for my Halloween reads in October. To that effect, I seriously need to finish some of the books I have going. I got into a rut and lost most of my attention span for reading anything that wasn't related to my Disney World trip (which got rescheduled due to hurricanes). In that vein, I'd like to share some of the books I have read so far this year. Maybe I will compile Disney World trip books in another post.

I read these two earlier this year. I thought they were fun twists on the Sherlock stories. Sort of like fairy tale re-tellings. We follow the stories of Sherlock's and Watson's descendants. Who meet and become crime-solving friends at school.

 This is the much anticipated sequel to This Savage Song, which I read last year and loved immensely. I knew this one would break my heart (and it did) but I adored it. Her duology is incredible and really made me think. I love that dark deeds are turned into monsters and it made me wonder if people could see a physical manifestation of bad deeds, would that prevent more bad deeds in the future? Or as August struggles with, can humans not be redeemed? The setting she created in these books sucked me in.

Speaking of eerie settings, this one took the cake so far this year. This story was odd and rather different from her other books (in my experience, though I haven't read all of her books). The island that these rather demonic horses appear on is strange. There were things that I loved and hated about the book and the story. But no matter how you feel about the characters and their story arcs, you cannot deny that Maggie Stiefvater was the queen of atmosphere in this book. In related new, I am super excited for her book All the Crooked Saints which comes out next month.

This book came in the May owlcrate box. It sounded intriguing so I started it right away. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. There was something about it that spoke to me and I was so sad when it was over. I think it is kind of a niche book, but I guess I fit into that niche just fine. If you are a passionate nerd who is/has been a social outcast and needed creative outlets, I think this is a good book for you. It is cool to know that there are works that impact people on such personal levels.

Here is a little treasure. I heard raving reviews for this book and had to read it. It was beautiful, touching, and emotional. I think the poetry deters some people, but I promise it reads just like a story and is very good. I have been trying to read more books by POC (especially by WOC), and this was a great one to include. It also lead me to finally read The Color Purple which was a great story, too.






Last, but certainly not least is this one. I've had Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda on my TBR for quite some time now, but this arrived in an owlcrate so I dove in. I was compelled by the fact that the main character is a big girl, but that the story didn't surround her weight, really. It was a good and touching story and led me on to read Dumplin as well. I have never been overweight, but I have struggled with my body image, too. And we all tell ourselves the same things. It was neat to see beautiful characters like these develop past those things and felt empowering.

I hope you enjoy. Look for Halloween-related book posts in the future!

Back to Blogging

Well, I never did get around to typing up and posting my official book reviews for December and I haven't posted much of anything, book related or otherwise, since then.

I was feeling pretty discouraged after the loss of Carina and Nugget in December and recently lost Nova, too. She was in "rattie hospice" care for quite some time and much of my energy was devoted to taking care of her. There has been stress at home and work has been keeping me insanely busy. Plus, I finally figured out that I lack tons of energy and a good portion of it is due to my working night shift. It's hard to function as a normal human when you work nights.

I'm still reading and hoping to find a fun way to keep incorporating books into my blog posts. And to, you know, actually write blog posts.

I am super happy to report that I have fully recovered from my previous relationship, nothing is hanging over my head anymore (except the dryer that I need to have moved from his place). And it feels amazing.

The turning point for me came when I was feeling really down about myself and I was being very hard on myself, namely about the break up and how well it fed some of my greatest insecurities (namely my feelings of inadequacy). And finally I thought to myself, "That is so messed up. Why do I think that way? Why couldn't I be enough for the right person?" I started to evaluate where those feelings were coming from. Granted, this is something I struggle with some on my own, but I finally realized that my last relationship left me feeling this way constantly. Finally, I figured out that I had been dealing with some emotional/mental abuse for at least the last several years of my relationship. The light bulb clicked on and I thought, "That is not the way you treat someone that you love." I don't think I need to go into details unless people think it would help them identify similar things in their own lives. Feel free to reach out to me.

I came around 180 degrees. It was honestly like I found the off switch. I haven't missed him or our relationship since then. There were other issues to deal with, of course, but I felt like a new woman. And much wiser.

I wasn't planning on sharing this with the wide world, but a gal I know was asking for relationship advice from strangers to share in a blog post (read it here: Advice on Love and Relationships from Strangers), and while I did not respond, it got me thinking and made me want to reach out. How do you avoid what I went through? And how could I have recognized it sooner?

I'm not really sure what the answer is. Love is blind and it's hard to see some of the rough stuff. I was aware of his flaws, and yes, some of them were huge red flags. So why did I chose to ignore those? I wish I had answers for you. I guess the main reasons were that I had already devoted so much time and energy into making that relationship work. And also, I loved him more deeply than I honestly thought I was capable of loving someone. But hindsight is 20-20, and I see more of the problems now. I also started researching subtle forms of abuse. One of my favorites was this article: 7 Complex Signs Of Emotional Abuse You May Not Know.

But I also realize that I can recognize those flags better now than I could before. I know much more surely what I am looking for in a relationship and in a partner. And I also learned that I was stronger than that failed relationship. It did not beat me. And if I could love like that before, I can love that way again. And next time, I will be able to choose better.

And don't ignore your feelings! If something feels off or makes you upset and you don't know why, something is probably wrong.

Luckily these realizations came in time for me to meet a truly amazing guy. It's still kind of new, but he checks off everything on my list and then some. We've been seeing each other for a few months now and I know I'm still in the infatuation stage, but I have honestly not found anything to complain about. So you never know what is waiting for you on the other side. I have had plenty of good things happen since I have been single. And I'm glad that I was happy and in a good place before the changes to my love life happened.

I am going on a trip (with said guy) to Portland this week and I am very excited. And I have a super exciting Disney World and Harry Potter World trip planned with some girl friends for later this year! I love having things like this to look forward to! I'm already mentally packing for September...

Anyway, I'm still thinking about the book posts and ways to get more active on this blog again. Working nights isn't ideal for blogging, but I hope I can get back into the swing of things. Thanks for reading!