Ingenue Mom

Seriously. Nine. I've been on a reading roll lately. Here are some brief recaps. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - This was my first book by Rainbow Rowell. I loved her writing style and should really probably bump this up to a 5 out of 5 because I've spent every library trip since reading this trying to find another book by her that is available at my library! It just stuck with me. It's definitely worth reading! I gave it 4 out of 5 on Goodreads & Shelfari The Distance Between Us by Kasie West - This was just a cute young adult book. It's nothing heavy, just fluff really, but enjoyable enough! I went through a little young adult fluff phase here for a few books. I gave it a 4 out of 5 on Goodreads & Shelfari Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins - I love the way Stephanie Perkins writes the setting into her story. The first book I read, Anna and the French Kiss , was set in Paris & left me really wanting to visit Paris ASAP. Thi...

I'm taking a Young Adult and Children's Literature class right now, which I've mentioned a couple of times already. I have read several books for this class that I'm counting toward my 50 because they're chapter books and I've really enjoyed them! I already talked about The One and Only Ivan and Paper Towns.  Three Times Lucky This was another of the books I read for class. It's about a little 6th grade girl who is an orphan in Tupelo Landing, NC. She lives with the 2 people who found her floating up the river as a baby. The first is the Colonel, who named her Moses because of how they found her, and the second is Miss Lana. The book features really colorful and interesting characters, a small town with lots of gossip and relationships, and then a murder mystery! It's great for kids 10 and up. I've recommended it to students in my class. It does have the murder mystery aspect, but very kid-appropriate. It's really adorable and I loved th...

I can't decide which one of these books to talk about first. The Rosie Project was by far my favorite of anything I've read in 2014, so I think I'll talk about that one first. The Rosie Project is another book I read with a very different narrator than any other story I've read before! I'm reading a lot of those lately! See my post on The One and Only Ivan, where the narrator is a gorilla, and then I'm currently reading The Book Thief, where the narrator is Death. So this book is narrated by Don Tillman. The way he is described in the book's description is "a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics who has decided it's time he found a wife." It sounds kinda weird, but if you watch Big Bang Theory, you will immediately identify with him as someone similar to Sheldon Cooper, except with a little more flexibility and understanding of appropriate social cues, even if he doesn't always follow them. Maybe I loved this beca...

I've been reading quite a bit, but haven't had much time to post! I'm currently taking 2 grad school classes in an 8 week session. I'm about to start a second 8 week session with 2 classes. So to say I've been busy is an understatement. Here are the highlights and I've got 2 special books I'm saving for their own post! Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood I have some pretty independent, sensitive and strong-willed children. I appreciate all these things about my kids, but I also know that without proper boundaries and discipline, these things can lead to some rather out of control kids. Enter Love and Logic. I had read the general Love and Logic book last year, but then I found out they had this one that is specifically aimed toward birth through age 6. I completely agree with and embrace everything they talk about in this book. I found myself at a difficult point with Isis were I wanted to encourage her independence, but I also wanted to help h...

So now I've had a little young adult breather in terms of my reading for the year. I read Avalon High by Meg Cabot and What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen. Avalon High is sort-of a retelling of the King Arthur, Lancelot & Guinevere story. It centers around this girl named Elaine who starts at a new school only to realize that something seems weird & that there are a lot of similarities to the old King Arthur story. It wasn't my absolute favorite book, but I do like retellings, so it was interesting on that front. It was also a really quick read, which is why I call these breathers. They just don't take me any time really to read & there's not much complicated thoughts going on while I read them. What Happened to Goodbye is about a girl, McLean, who moves around frequently with her dad. His job basically has him go into restaurants that aren't doing well and he helps them get back on their feet - or sometimes says that can't be don...

Finished 2 more books! Nadia Knows Best is the 2nd book I've read by Jill Mansell. The first was Rumour Has It. I talked about that one when I went over my summer reads last year . I actually felt about the same about Nadia Knows Best as I did about Rumour Has It. It was pretty enjoyable. I read it fairly quickly. But again, I wasn't super invested in the characters. I'm not sure what it is, but I just don't get into her characters like I do in some other books. The weird thing for me, though, is that I'm still willing to pick up another one of hers if I'm in a book slump & just need something to read. I have a couple more on my Kindle that I got for like $1.00 one day. So maybe I'll try out another sometime in the future. Now, the second book I read was The Art Forger . This book was actually really good! I enjoyed the mystery aspect of it. It's about a woman who is a painter and her job is to do reproductions or famous paintings for a we...

I finished 2 more books! Splendor , the final book in The Luxe series was great! I wasn't sure that I liked the ending, but after giving it some thought, I really did. I think the character of Diana Holland is one of my favorite female characters in a young adult book. She's really strong. I definitely recommend this series! It's not my absolute favorite series ever, but it's up there!    I also finished Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. This one was ok. I mean, on the one hand I must've liked it because I finished it in less than 24 hours. Literally couldn't put it down! But on the other hand, now that I've finished it, I just don't think it was the best. For one thing, it was a little more risque than I usually like to read. Nothing too bad, but just more than I usually go for. I also wasn't crazy about reading what happened to the characters - and by that I mean it's very sad. It's about abuse and stuff and I didn't totally real...

Just checking in to say I finished book 3 in The Luxe series! I flew right through Envy and enjoyed it as much as I did the first 2 ! It's been a while since I've gone through a series like this! I'm really enjoying it. Onto book 4!! Envy by Anna Godbersen

Books 1 and 2 on my list of 50 for the year were actually finished in 2013. This was unintentional. I started reading The Luxe on December 29 and thought I'd finish it in 2014 and it would be ok. Well, instead I got totally sucked into it and finished the first 2 books in 3 days. It is currently January 1 and I am on the 3rd book right now, Envy.  The Luxe is basically Gossip Girl, but set in 1899. So if you are at all interested in Gossip Girl, or the lifestyles of the rich & fabulous back when girls wore beautiful dresses like those on the cover, then this book is for you. It has drama, romance, forbidden love, family struggles, money, social climbing, etc. I was really impressed by how quickly I was drawn into it.  The second book, Rumors , just continues the story and I was just as captivated by it as I was by the first one. There are 4 books total in the series and as I said already, I'm currently in the beginning of book 3. I'd definitely rate bo...