Showing posts with label my life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my life. Show all posts
F2020
Friday, 30 October 2020
Where do I even start this post? I'm not really sure, so let's just do a wordvomit explanation without the gory details! But first, all the content warnings because this post is a journey. Mental Health Crisis, suicide attempt, self-harm, etc.
I totally lost my shit this year! Between COVID and the new civil rights movement we've had going on, I've also been spiralling between manic and depressive states and I've tried comitting suicide a couple times this summer. I relapsed with my self-harm and it was just really bad all around. I've even thought of shutting down this blog permanently this year. Just a lot of negative headspace. In the midst of lockdown, I also got messaged that the breeder that I'd been talking to about a service dog prospect had a puppy that could be a good match for me in the new litter they'd had at the beginning of the COVID debacle and was I still interested? Yes, I was. So I bought a Great Dane puppy and started puppy-proofing the house in preparation of picking her up in a month! Then my birthday rolled around and my best friend flew down to surprise me. And it was a surprise. We last saw each other shortly after my 16th birthday when she moved away. So it had been 15 years, obviously we grew up. But we also had a lot of differences. Which was hard to see with a country between us. Now there's a lot between us and it hurts to think about. Then I nearly ended everything the weekend after she left. Oop. The next weekend, in the middle of recovery, I had to go across the state to pick up my new puppy. And that was actually really good for me because it's given me something positive to focus on while putting my head back together. Fast forward to the end of August and everything seems to be settling down and my oldest girl who's been declining healthwise for a while has been having to be carried to go outside for bathroom time and won't eat or drink anymore. And we had to say goodbye to Nikita. I'm glad we could give her more time with the help of our vet and a nice house with a yard but I wish she could have seen the house at the end of next month when we put up all the Christmas decorations we've been buying throughout the year for her to enjoy because she really did love going for rides to see all the Christmas decorations on houses and around Orlando. Then my mom had to be checked into the hospital for emergency care or lose her hand. And it has been a year.
I totally lost my shit this year! Between COVID and the new civil rights movement we've had going on, I've also been spiralling between manic and depressive states and I've tried comitting suicide a couple times this summer. I relapsed with my self-harm and it was just really bad all around. I've even thought of shutting down this blog permanently this year. Just a lot of negative headspace. In the midst of lockdown, I also got messaged that the breeder that I'd been talking to about a service dog prospect had a puppy that could be a good match for me in the new litter they'd had at the beginning of the COVID debacle and was I still interested? Yes, I was. So I bought a Great Dane puppy and started puppy-proofing the house in preparation of picking her up in a month! Then my birthday rolled around and my best friend flew down to surprise me. And it was a surprise. We last saw each other shortly after my 16th birthday when she moved away. So it had been 15 years, obviously we grew up. But we also had a lot of differences. Which was hard to see with a country between us. Now there's a lot between us and it hurts to think about. Then I nearly ended everything the weekend after she left. Oop. The next weekend, in the middle of recovery, I had to go across the state to pick up my new puppy. And that was actually really good for me because it's given me something positive to focus on while putting my head back together. Fast forward to the end of August and everything seems to be settling down and my oldest girl who's been declining healthwise for a while has been having to be carried to go outside for bathroom time and won't eat or drink anymore. And we had to say goodbye to Nikita. I'm glad we could give her more time with the help of our vet and a nice house with a yard but I wish she could have seen the house at the end of next month when we put up all the Christmas decorations we've been buying throughout the year for her to enjoy because she really did love going for rides to see all the Christmas decorations on houses and around Orlando. Then my mom had to be checked into the hospital for emergency care or lose her hand. And it has been a year.
I'm not sure what the future holds right now blogwise. It's going to take a bit of time to get back into things. And I'm going to be switching things up *gasp*. I want to make the site more accessible for screen readers and such. I've also been thinking of some new post serials and want to do more tag posts. And I'm going to be finally getting product reviews onto the site regularly.
I'm determined to keep this site going, so I'm going to move on to new posts for you. I'll end this post with this cute little song that's been my theme song for the past month or so since I heard it on tiktok.
Until next time, have a happily ever after!
Monday, 15 June 2020
I know that every day has been a rollercoaster ride this year and things just keep getting wilder. I made the decision to drop out of one of my tours with Harlequin because with current events, it didn't set right with me to be promoting stories where law enforcement are good and right and get HEAs. I didn't like how I have been feeling trying to read these books and still fear for my friends and family members' safety in the presence of police. I'm breaking social media influencer rules left and right by making this post and I don't care.
I have been an activist since before I even knew the word, a feminist as soon as I could form a sentence, a protector from the time I could crawl, and punk before I even knew there was music outside of Gospel hymns and Wee Sings cassettes. I spent the first half of my life trying so hard to conform to the straight conservative Christian Republican mold my family had for me before I accepted that that wasn't me. And when I began officially working with my publishing partners as a 'social media influencer' (still so weird to call myself that, I don't see myself as that), I read their guidelines and thought, "well, this probably isn't going to last very long". Because we're supposed to abide by these guidelines or else rue the day, y'know? Y'all. I'm supposed to avoid personal or political agendas and avoid any content that may be politcally charged or motivated. I'm also supposed to avoid any content that might have a message opposite to the positive and good messages that their brand is associated with. My dudes. Before I had even finished their list, I knew that I would, most likely, not last a year. Because I'm an opinionated bitch.
To get right to the point of things, Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book (dot-com) and all its associated accounts and my personal accounts will not be promoting books that are thinly veiled police propaganda and I will not be promoting authors who spout All Lives Matter or Not all cops... or Blue Lives Matter. Further, because of my health issues limiting my participation in protests, I'm spending a lot of time doing the work I can online and donating what I can to worthy causes such as Black Lives Matter, Campaign Zero, Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative & Know Your Rights Camp COVID19 response, Antiracism Research & Policy Center, The Bail Project, The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, The ACLU, and gofundmes for specific projects around me. I'm also making use of my wifi and repeatedly 'watching' monetised YouTube videos that donate to BLM and other nonprofits. If you didn't already know about that, you can join me in that by checking out this article.
I have been an activist since before I even knew the word, a feminist as soon as I could form a sentence, a protector from the time I could crawl, and punk before I even knew there was music outside of Gospel hymns and Wee Sings cassettes. I spent the first half of my life trying so hard to conform to the straight conservative Christian Republican mold my family had for me before I accepted that that wasn't me. And when I began officially working with my publishing partners as a 'social media influencer' (still so weird to call myself that, I don't see myself as that), I read their guidelines and thought, "well, this probably isn't going to last very long". Because we're supposed to abide by these guidelines or else rue the day, y'know? Y'all. I'm supposed to avoid personal or political agendas and avoid any content that may be politcally charged or motivated. I'm also supposed to avoid any content that might have a message opposite to the positive and good messages that their brand is associated with. My dudes. Before I had even finished their list, I knew that I would, most likely, not last a year. Because I'm an opinionated bitch.
To get right to the point of things, Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book (dot-com) and all its associated accounts and my personal accounts will not be promoting books that are thinly veiled police propaganda and I will not be promoting authors who spout All Lives Matter or Not all cops... or Blue Lives Matter. Further, because of my health issues limiting my participation in protests, I'm spending a lot of time doing the work I can online and donating what I can to worthy causes such as Black Lives Matter, Campaign Zero, Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative & Know Your Rights Camp COVID19 response, Antiracism Research & Policy Center, The Bail Project, The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, The ACLU, and gofundmes for specific projects around me. I'm also making use of my wifi and repeatedly 'watching' monetised YouTube videos that donate to BLM and other nonprofits. If you didn't already know about that, you can join me in that by checking out this article.
Until next time, please stay safe, support the revolution, and wear your masks. I stop breathing and pass out in hot humid situations and I'm wearing a mask, just help stop the spread, folks.
Sunday, 12 April 2020
COVID-19 has had my family on essential lockdown for 30 days as of today. Because of our family's collective health issues and my grandmother's age, we've been limiting our social interactions since 13 March. Aside from essential shopping trips and two pharmacy runs, total isolation. And y'all. We are not okay. We are not a "the family that plays together stays together" sort, we're four people, cohabitating and interacting in small amounts and never all four together. Monopoly was banned in our house when my brother and I were little because I owned the property my brother landed on and wouldn't sell it to him. There was a first aid kit involved.
I'm not putting my blog on pause for the duration of this pandemic, I've been putting together posts for y'all's entertainment, just not reviews because reviews are hard to put together for me recently. My ADHD and anxiety are going off and everything going on here is making for tense times obviously so things keep being forgotten. I keep forgetting what day it is and I am not comfortable with this!
I think that I won't be sticking to a set schedule aside from my tours and will be posting Top Ten Tuesdays, Book Lists, Book Tags, and random bookish and non-bookish posts. With occasional reviews perhaps. I'll be putting together reviews for future dates but for now, schedules and time construct is not here.
I hope y'all are staying safe and for random weirdness, find me on my tiktok.
Until next time, have a happily ever and keep 6ft apart and wash those hands!
I'm not putting my blog on pause for the duration of this pandemic, I've been putting together posts for y'all's entertainment, just not reviews because reviews are hard to put together for me recently. My ADHD and anxiety are going off and everything going on here is making for tense times obviously so things keep being forgotten. I keep forgetting what day it is and I am not comfortable with this!
I think that I won't be sticking to a set schedule aside from my tours and will be posting Top Ten Tuesdays, Book Lists, Book Tags, and random bookish and non-bookish posts. With occasional reviews perhaps. I'll be putting together reviews for future dates but for now, schedules and time construct is not here.
I hope y'all are staying safe and for random weirdness, find me on my tiktok.
Until next time, have a happily ever and keep 6ft apart and wash those hands!
Monday, 16 December 2019
Hey readers! If you haven't noticed, I've taken a break from the blog. I'm going to be back up and running in January after all the holiday hubbub and the chaos has settled down. I've been scheduling things ahead of time, shocking, I know! So I have some content all set for you now but it's prescheduled for 2020. I'm just going to be taking breaks every December and June to try to stop the sporadic absences.
I took Manatee to get his picture taken at Petco's Santa Paws for Cause. He had a labradoodle barking at him off to the side the entire time. I'm probably going to go find a Christmas display for his holiday photo that isn't pet-friendly. Because such a yikes.
I took Manatee to get his picture taken at Petco's Santa Paws for Cause. He had a labradoodle barking at him off to the side the entire time. I'm probably going to go find a Christmas display for his holiday photo that isn't pet-friendly. Because such a yikes.
I've been absorbed into the Happy Planner cult and I've been overplanning 2020. And Happy Planner has thematic sticky notes. Y'all know how I feel about sticky notes... I have made several purchases that were not necessary.
We're applying for one of the houses we've toured, so hopefully we'll maybe be out of this apartment and into a nice house with a fenced-in yard so my chunky girl can run to her heart's content without having to worry about other residents' reactive dogs. And my grandmother can finally come back home where she belongs. Y'all pray for this to whatever deity or power y'all worship.
So, whatever holidays or festivities you celebrate, I hope they are beautiful and wonderous. May 2020 be bright and shining. And, during the upcoming winter festivities, please stay safe in all your journeys.
I'll see you in the new year!
We're applying for one of the houses we've toured, so hopefully we'll maybe be out of this apartment and into a nice house with a fenced-in yard so my chunky girl can run to her heart's content without having to worry about other residents' reactive dogs. And my grandmother can finally come back home where she belongs. Y'all pray for this to whatever deity or power y'all worship.
So, whatever holidays or festivities you celebrate, I hope they are beautiful and wonderous. May 2020 be bright and shining. And, during the upcoming winter festivities, please stay safe in all your journeys.
I'll see you in the new year!
Saturday, 1 June 2019
Operation Beautiful started over a decade ago when Caitlyn Boyle decided to fight back against her meltdown in a public washroom. She left a sticky note that read "You're beautiful" on the mirror and blogged about it, asking if her readers would participate. And they did.
The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other people to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough... just the way you are!
I was in a not-good headspace when I found a note in the grocery store almost 10 years ago and it was a turning point for me. When I tell people all the time that Hollywood Undead and Operation Beautiful saved me I'm not kidding, y'all. Whenever I start with the negative thoughts, I pull out my box of sticky notes and I start making Operation Beautiful notes to put up around the state. I never leave home without a stack of pre-made notes and I've actually become pretty well-known for them around the Kissimmee area. Although the original idea of Operation Beautiful was to leave anonymous notes in public spaces, I'm horrible at being sneaky. So I just own the fact that I leave little notes for people to find to hopefully make their days a little bit better.
This note was one of my very first notes and it stayed up at the dog park in Perry, GA for well over a month! The colour of the ink faded to a faint blue and the red hearts bled away in the first rain, but I became a fast fan of Post-It brand's super sticky line after seeing it stand up to all the Georgia elements.
Sonny's Barbecue in Perry, GA was a fan of my notes as well. They usually moved my notes to their order bar for them to enjoy. Feel that love!
Blogger Nicole from Sparkly Ever After found one of my notes at the beginning of the year at my local Starbucks where I'm "required" to leave a note or two according to the baristas.
This was stuck on my Starbucks drive through yesterday. #operationbeautiful pic.twitter.com/adkVaszM0F— Nicole (@SparklyNicole) January 20, 2019
Blogger Laurie from Work, Play, Chardonnay found one of my notes that I left recently(ish) at our local Whole Foods.
The Publix in front of my complex makes a concentrated efforted to keep my notes up for as long as possible. I've caught a couple of them stopping new employees from taking them down and explaining "they're there to make people feel better" and my heart melts, y'all.
Not only does making these help me find my feet when I'm losing my footing, but when I learn that someone's found one of my notes and they've had their day turned around, even just for a moment, it feels amazing.
I've taken my notes all across three states and now that I live in Orlando, I post them in a lot of high tourist traffic areas, so I also post my notes in several languages. It's hard work, but I like it.
We're also supposed to do it anonymously, but I completely lack the subtlety gene. There is no subtlety here. I just slap it on the wall, display, mirror, post, whatever, in front of everybody. Just own it, right?
I've taken my notes all across three states and now that I live in Orlando, I post them in a lot of high tourist traffic areas, so I also post my notes in several languages. It's hard work, but I like it.
We're also supposed to do it anonymously, but I completely lack the subtlety gene. There is no subtlety here. I just slap it on the wall, display, mirror, post, whatever, in front of everybody. Just own it, right?
The official website for Operation Beautiful may be dead at the moment, but the movement's still going pretty strong. So, feel free to grab a pack of sticky notes and a pen and join in!
Until next time, darlings, have a happily ever after!
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
Hey readers!
If you've noticed my missing posts, I'm so sorry. I made all these posts ahead of time so even if I had a spiral reaction saying goodbye to Zeus, y'all wouldn't lose out on contact. But I didn't set everything to the scheduler because I'm a total what-if worrier. And that's where the fail came in. My depression took over and set up shop and I didn't schedule things or worse, I tried to completely rewrite my 'garbage' before posting and then it actually was, in fact, garbage. I'd like to say that this was momentary depression, but I've been clinically diagnosed with it since I was 6. It's here to stay, and I'm pretty good at keeping on top of it but sometimes, when I'm having a bad time of it, the depression gets the upper hand.
I was raised in the time where it wasn't okay to talk about this, so typing all of this is filling me with dread, but I love my blog and I hate that I let things get off rails last week. I'll be playing catch up some way, some how in a way that shouldn't mess with my schedule too badly. And I'll be relying on my Hootsuite to cover for me even though I don't trust it. I am such a luddite. But with this Friday being my Dark Day, I am going to be relying heavily on my scheduling platform and my drafts that I've been hiding away. This is the 6th anniversary of losing my boy so I don't deal well with it.
Just drown me in books, we'll get through this! Anyways, this is just a note to say I'm not disappearing into the medical centre, my health isn't going downhill again, my head's just getting in the way a bit, but I'm here and still going. No worries!
Until next time, have a happily ever after!
Saturday, 16 March 2019
For the next two weeks, my Stacking the Shelves, Down the TBR Hole, and Top Ten Tuesday memes and my weekly reviews will continue posting, but the posts will be on a predetermined schedule and if there's a glitch, I might take a bit longer finding out and fixing it. I'll also be taking a break from responding to emails during this period. My family will be saying goodbye to Zeus this weekend and we're already not taking it well. Just writing this has me in tears. So, yeah, taking a short break. Thank you.
Here's my favourite photo of Skädi and her daddy, Zeus.
Tuesday, 19 February 2019
I've learned from past bad experiences to not share much of my personal world online, I've been stalked and all that. I had to delete all of my internet accounts and start fresh with a new randomly created email/username completely unconnected to my actual name. Fun, right? But I have this blog I'm trying to make a permanent thing, so I should probably explain more about my ghosting than "some shit hit the fan so I had to take some time to wrap my head around it".
If you've paid attention to my ramblings, you'll know that I have four dogs. Manatee, Nikita, Zeus, and Skädi. Zeus has been our glitchy baby since I had to help deliver him because he was too big to come out of his mum, which pretty much turned me off of ever having a biological child because I don't ever want somebody getting that personal with me during something like that. Our vet from Georgia was not a very good vet and didn't catch Zeus' underlying problem and just diagnosed him with chronic ear infections and a bevy of allergies. The amount of medications Z is on is close to mine. Our new vet here in Florida has been trying to help us with him and we've recently learned that my Dumbledork has several tumors in his head that can't be removed. So, taking into consideration exactly how badly all of us are going to react to this, we are scheduling his leaving this world for the end of March when my mum's school has their Spring Break. In addition to Zeus being our beloved 'Dumbledork', Zeus has been a rock for my brother who has a plethora of medical issues, including autism and paranoid schizophrenia. My brother has been unmedicated for the past 5 years and he's had Zeus as a constant companion the entire time. I'm worried that losing his best friend will bring back the Not Nice version of my brother.
I am trying very hard to keep it together and get things done blogwise, but I just keep looking at book dates and thinking "Zeus won't be here for this book's debut" or "that's Zeus' and Nikki's birthday, he won't be here this year so we'll have to figure something special out to distract us." and "oh, that's my brother's birthday. He won't have Z for it this year."
END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT
I had made tentative plans to attend the Space Coast Book Lovers Convention this June since it's the weekend after my birthday and what better way to celebrate turning 30 than to go to a book convention, right? I know, I've mellowed A LOT with age. My twentieth birthday party included a Texas sheet cake and a food fight involving said cake and ice cream with my boyfriend and our friends. Anyways, luckily, I hadn't bought my tickets before we talked to the vet, and I'm not out $75 and however much I'd have spent on gas and my stay at a hotel.
Anyways!! I have a hardcore planner for this year, you know those giant fantastical things you can buy at Michaels or Amazon to try to keep track of all of my medical things and my brother's stuff and my mom's school schedule and all things bookish. I've had to move my book schedule around to play catch up on when everything went sideways over the holidays and January. Look at that planner. It's sparkly and it plays on my #OperationBeautiful lifestyle and it weighs just under 2lbs!!
END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT
I had made tentative plans to attend the Space Coast Book Lovers Convention this June since it's the weekend after my birthday and what better way to celebrate turning 30 than to go to a book convention, right? I know, I've mellowed A LOT with age. My twentieth birthday party included a Texas sheet cake and a food fight involving said cake and ice cream with my boyfriend and our friends. Anyways, luckily, I hadn't bought my tickets before we talked to the vet, and I'm not out $75 and however much I'd have spent on gas and my stay at a hotel.
Anyways!! I have a hardcore planner for this year, you know those giant fantastical things you can buy at Michaels or Amazon to try to keep track of all of my medical things and my brother's stuff and my mom's school schedule and all things bookish. I've had to move my book schedule around to play catch up on when everything went sideways over the holidays and January. Look at that planner. It's sparkly and it plays on my #OperationBeautiful lifestyle and it weighs just under 2lbs!!
I'm also in the process of changing primary care physicians because I've decided I actually don't have to sit through monthly 15 minute appointments of verbal abuse from a hypocritical arse who doesn't listen to a single thing I say and just wants to harangue me over my weight and tell me how that's my only actual problem. Yeah, I'm not paying for that. Sorry. Byeeeeee.
And my medical centre changed software over the holidays and they've lost bits and pieces of files. Including mine. So I might be having to redo some tests I've already done (please, gods, not the MRIs!) and I had to refile my HIPAA paperwork when I was in for my neurologist appointment. Y'all. I had to do my HIPAA papers after my neurologist appointment where they administered the first dose of my newest addition to my migraine cocktail. Aimovig. I was so 'seasick', Manny forced me to sit down before I fell down. Have y'all seen the commercial? So inclusive! I got it on the 8th and so far, I've only had a couple of migraines in comparison to my near constant barrage that was Not Pretty Nor Fun. I'm pretty in love with Aimovig.
I'm putting together a couple reviews right now, one for scheduling (sorry, I can't tell anything more) and some of the ones I had planned to do in January. I'm actually reading a couple books at once and consuming numerous sticky notes to make note of things I want to use in my reviews. I feel so responsible.
And now I must go find links and images for said reviews.
Until next time, darlings, have a happily ever after.
Sunday, 14 October 2018
You grow up never knowing who will make the most
impact in your life until you reach a certain age and then you hear that
someone’s died and it hits you. They shaped your life in ways you didn’t even
notice before. That's what Miss Bev of The Bookworms' Exchange did. She shaped my life in ways I'm just discovering now that she's dead.
Beverly Brown ran a used bookstore that my family
frequented every time we drove to Burlington, Vermont. We lived in small-town
St Albans, Vermont and Burlington was and still is the bustling city where
everything happens. And Miss Bev had The Bookworms' Exchange where you could
bring in your read books and she’d give you store credit for other books. Why am
I explaining the concept of an used book store to y’all? Anyways. I grew up in
The Bookworms' Exchange and Miss Bev was always recommending books to me. I’d burst
through the door – because I was a wild child and never did anything calmly
back then, and run up to the counter where she’d be reading crocheting something for
charity and I’d ask her what book she thought I’d like. And sometimes she’d
have a book or two stashed under the counter with a note on them with “Miss
Margo” written on it and they’d be definite buys for that trip. Even after we
started moving around the Eastern Seaboard, we’d make it back home every now
and then, and we’d stop by Miss Bev’s place and I’d come bursting through that
door same as always and she’d still remember me, even on my last trip home when
I was a week away from turning 13. She still remembered me and she still had
the best book suggestions for me.
She introduced me to so many amazing books that took
me to far off places and different worlds, and as a kid going through absolute
hell, that was a wonderful gift she gave to me and I can honestly never repay
that debt.
Every time I buy gifts for kids, it's always books because of Miss Bev. Every time I walk into a used bookstore, I think of Miss Bev's place. Every time I start writing a review for this site, I think about all of the books and authors Miss Bev introduced me to. I constantly weeble wobble between becoming an ACA accredited librarian and owning a cafe/bookstore and it's in great part because of Miss Bev. Miss Bev made a major impact on my life and I never got to tell her that because I stopped going home.
But what I realised just recently was, she also impacted my life in
another way. She also crafted for charity and I never really put it together with my thing. Next time I'm asked why I mainly knit for charity, I won’t answer with “otherwise, I’d be buried in finished projects”. I’ll answer with “because a bookworm taught me to”. I didn’t know it, but she did. Miss Bev's final act of charity was to request that instead of sending flowers, people donate to the Children’s Literacy Foundation that serves Vermont and New Hampshire or to the Chittenden County Humane Society.
This post was written while I was crying and there’s
like, no editing, but Miss Bev was an amazing woman and she will live on in the
hearts of every bookworm she helped create and I wanted to do something to say
she was a part of my creation. In memorium of Miss Bev, I present to you, my first book list - in no particular order.
ღ Wolfwalker by Tara K Harper
ღ Nemesis by Louise Cooper
ღ Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast.
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.
ღ Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
ღ The Giver by Lois Lowry
ღ Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen
10 Books Recommended by Miss Bev
Goodreads links are in the covers as usual!
Dion was a healer and a wolfwalker, and the unique telepathic bond that she shared with the wolf Gray Hishn sometimes seemed to amplify her sensitivity to her patients. But she never guessed how strong that bond could be, or what kind of power it could wield, until she found herself lost in the wilderness, with angry slavers at her heels and war on the horizon. Suddenly she and her fellow travelers were fighting for their lives in the snowy winter wastes, where the wolves were their only guides, the greatest secret of the ancients their only salvation...and Dion their only hope to survive.
ღ Redwall by Brian Jacques
As the inhabitants of Redwall Abbey bask in the glorious Summer of the Late Rose, all is quiet and peaceful. But things are not as they seem. Cluny the Scourge, the evil one-eyed rat warlord, is hell-bent on destroying the tranquility as he prepares to fight a bloody battle for the ownership of Redwall. This dazzling story in the Redwall series is packed with all the wit, wisdom, humor, and blood-curdling adventure of the other books in the collection, but has the added bonus of taking the reader right back to the heart and soul of Redwall Abbey and the characters who live there.
This first book of the series establishes the setting for the following seven. Princess Anghara had no place in the Forbidden Tower, and no business tampering with its secrets. But she did, and now the seven demons are loose and her world is cursed, prey to the wrath of the Earth Goddess.
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast.
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.
ღ Acorna: the Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey
"Something's Alive In There!"
She was just a little girl, with a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: the ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones. A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her to the bandit planet Kezdet, a place where no questions are asked and the girl might grow up free.
But Kezdet has its own dark secret. The prosperity of the planet is based on a hideous trade in child slave labor, administered by "The Piper" -- a mystery man with special plans for Acorna and her powers. But free little girls have a way of growing into freedom-loving young women, and Acorna has special plans all her own. . .
No one ever told Margaret Simon that eleven-going-on-twelve would be such a hard age. When her family moves to New Jersey, she has to adjust to life in the suburbs, a different school, and a whole new group of friends. Margaret knows she needs someone to talk to about growing up-and it's not long before she's found a solution.
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.
Dragons are trained to fight to the death, and two determined teens help free them in this spellbinding saga.
Training a dragon to be a fighting champion is the only way to freedom for fifteen-year-old Jakkin.
ღ Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid LindgrenTraining a dragon to be a fighting champion is the only way to freedom for fifteen-year-old Jakkin.
Ronia, who lives with her father and his band of robbers in a castle in the woods, causes trouble when she befriends the son of a rival robber chieftain.
ღ Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C Wrede
Cimorene is everything a princess is not supposed to be: headstrong, tomboyish, smart - and bored. So bored that she runs away to live with a dragon - and finds the family and excitement she's been looking for.
Read in Peace, Miss Bev.
Wednesday, 6 June 2018
Hello, dearest readers.
I started out wanting to write this
blog as a place to talk about books because I really don’t have that many friends
in the first place and then, I don’t really have any friends who are obsessed
with books like I am. My “sisters” like books, one even reviews them when she has
the time but I’m my grandmother’s granddaughter. You will one day come over to
my house, open the front door and be buried under an avalanche of books. More
likely of a scenario, I will take you on a guided virtual tour of my newly
acquired home and you will be positively terrified at the walls of shelving and
mountains and piles of books I have accumulated in my life and wonder at how my
dogs, my cat (there will be a cat) and I manage to navigate our way through my abode.
And I began this blog to share my love of my
books. Not just the newest and greatest that have just shown up on the market but
the ones that kept me sane when my life was really bad and I had nothing else
good in it, that took me off to far off places and times from my hiding spot in
an old cardboard box tossed into a pile of junk in the front room I wasn’t
supposed to be able to get into when I was little when my mum would be off at
class and my dad would be watching my brother and I.
I got distracted by the glitter of Edelweiss
(who doesn’t love that song?) and NetGalley and the I CAN READ BOOKS EARLY? of ARCs. I have a book problem.
But I’m fixing that. I’m going to be
slowly slipping in an Edelweiss/NetGalley review here and there as I go, but
for the most part, my reviews and my posts will be the books I hold dear or
that I discover wandering the stacks of local bookstores. Because I’m finally
getting my Florida license (I never actually needed my license in Georgia so. . . .), and I’ll be driving about
soon hopefully.
I’ll also be putting together some
updates for y’all on Manatee. I’ve just been undergoing a lot of testing lately
and my medical problems have been giving me some extra bumps in the road to
deal with so I’ve been all over the map. But I’m fixing that as well! I have
pictures and some video and with the acquirement of my Florida license, Manny
and I will be going out and about more for more training and whatnot.
I have one final NetGalley review I’ll
be publishing (but I want to reread it this weekend to make sure I’ve got all of
it covered) before I start writing reviews for whatever books I happen to
decide upon. There’s a bunch more waiting for me to get to but they’ll happen
when they happen. Too much pressure makes reading and reviewing not fun for me and
I tend to just say ‘no’ to all of it if that happens.
In the future, I want to get involved
with Down the TBR Hole posts because my Goodreads TBR list (not my actual shameful
list) is in the thousands and maybe one or two other post things that I’ve been
eyeing. But not yet. I have some work I need to do with this thing before I
start drowning in posts.
I hope y’all keep tagging along and
checking out my posts until this blog gets it’s internet legs. I can’t promise
I’ll ever be famous, I’m pretty sure that’d give me some serious anxiety
issues, but I can say that I’ll keep at this for a long time. I’ve gotta talk
about my books somewhere after all. And, since I don’t do well with the talky-talky
and all, it might as well be here, right?
I've got to go walk the dogs before I make dinner for the family unit. So, until next time, dear readers, have a happily ever after! And here's a photo of Manatee and the Target Dog!
Friday, 1 December 2017
We all remember when we were little and our parents would bundle us up at like 4 or 5 in the evening and fasten us into the car and drive to the fancy part of town to drive around oohing and ahhing over the Christmas lights, right?
One of my earliest memories is of my mother and grandmother piling four of my cousins, my foster sister, my brother and myself into the van (totally illegal but whatever), buried us in sleeping bags and we'd drive the four miles into town. We'd pick up hot chocolate at Aunt Laurie Ann's store and we'd turn the radio to whatever station was already playing Christmas music to sit in the parking lot to wait. Then, at 6:30, everybody would turn their Christmas lights on. One house after another. We'd drive around all over town until about 8:30 and we'd start the drive home. And we'd do this every weekend from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Everybody would camp out in our extra large living room, and we'd spend the weekend together while my cousin's parental units went Christmas shopping.
Well, 20 years later, we live in Florida instead of on the Canadian border in Vermont. That means absolutely no snow whatsoever. But living right outside of Disney World, we're treated to their nightly fireworks display. And sitting outside with my dogs, watching it, I learned something weird about my freaky dogs. Except for my oldest who's going blind and has issues with fireworks (he was tortured by a boy with fireworks when he was a baby), my dogs love the lights.
Last year, my mom and I got it in our heads that they'd love seeing the Christmas lights and they did. They were even more excited when I set up the tree - something they'd never seen. They had lights at home! Nikki actually spent all December staring at the tree whenever the lights were on. We haven't gotten the tree out yet, but we're totally taking Zeus, Nikita, and Skädi out for a ride tonight. We're going to drive up to this cutesy village-esque town for their town centre lights.
But before we do that, we're going to drive down to the post office so I can pick up my books that arrived today. Honestly, that's the part I'm excited about. There is nothing like the feeling getting new books. Even better, I have no idea which books arrived (I never do because I always forget what I ordered), so it's kind of like a little taste of Christmas every time I pick up a package from the post. And considering how many books I'm ordering this week, there's going to be a lot of Christmas tasting as I wrap them in penguin wrapping paper and put them under the tree, unread and teasing me for the next 24 days.
I've got to go load the truck up with canines now. Until next time, have a happily ever after.
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