End of Summer Reads

Summer is coming to an end on September 23rd this year. I myself am looking forward to everything fall like the cool weather, pumpkin flavoured foods, cute boots and sweaters, and of course Halloween. If you want to squeeze in some last minute summer books to remind you of what is ending (hot weather, sandy beaches, summer flings) then I recommend the following short summer reads that I have read this summer:

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Second Star is a Peter Pan retelling that is set in the surfer towns in California. It follows the story of Wendy looking for her two lost bothers. While it may not be the best book on this list, it is the one that I think of first when I think about summer because of the sand, surf and the summer love.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

I just finished this one up today, while writing this post. While it is the darkest book on this list it still made me think of summer, due to the summer parties, the summer romance and the happiness towards the end of the book.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This book is the least upbeat compared to the others on this list. There is alot of swimming and summer activity here which makes it a good summer book. Plus, its set in the whole summer from start to finish.

Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I know this book is not set in summer but I love it anyways. Most of the best scenes are outside and there is a great romance. It's a good short summer read.

Hopefully these books will fill up your summer meter for the rest of 2014. If you aren't already sick of it.

10 Books that have changed my life

I posted this on my facebook and wanted to share it here. Warning this post is super long! Here are my 10 books that influenced me in my life:

1.  The Bible: No matter how many times I open that book I'm surprised that I can always learn something new and feel something different. No matter my mood, my attitude and whatever is going on in my life I always read what I need to read to fill me up spiritually. 
2. James Herriot's Cat Story's by James Herriot: Anything by James Herriot has a special place in my heart. I received a bunch of his books from my Great Grandma. She loved reading and always sent me books. She introduced me to the Harry Potter Series, but the ones by James Herriot were our favorite to talk about and read together. Whenever I see those books (which I still have and still love) and anything Harry Potter I always think of her and those memories.
3. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein: I have vivid memories as a kid. I loved all of Shel's books. In fact its one of my favorite memories as a kid involve me reading this book. I remember living in Texas as a kid and we had one giant tree in our backyard. I would climb up as high as I would go with a stack of Shel's books and read. Sometimes I would drop a book all the way down and I would laugh, climb down and get the book, and then climb right back up
4. Far Far Away by Tom McNeal: This book is one of my favorites. It surprised and shocked me in ways that I have never experienced. It made me love reading more than I thought was possible.
5. Beauty for Ashes: Receiving Emotional Healing by Joyce Meyer: This book deals with  healing from God after times that you think that God may have abandoned you. If you have ever dealt with anything like that then I highly recommend this book. It helped me see that even though bad things happens God still has a plan and he still loves and cares for you.
6. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull: In high school I stopped reading. I lost my passion. I only read the minimum needed for school. Then a friend of mine recommended this series to me and I adored it. Its full of action and adventure. It was technically the first Young Adult book I read as an adult (except for Twilight and Harry Potter) and it made me fall in love with the genre. The story is told by a Christian author about two kids who find that their grandparents have a backyard that doubles as a hidden magical creature sanctuary. Its not very popular but one of my favorites.
7.  The Nancy Drew Series by Caroline Keene: I have memories of reading this series with my mom. We would go to Goodwill and find the ones that I didn't have and read them and talk about them. Such classics :)
8.  Vermillion By Phyllis A. Whitney: This was another one that both me and my mom both loved. I love anything by Phyllis A. Whitney but by far this is my favorite one. Her books are mystery/ adventure/ love story. They opened up my vocabulary and opened my mind to new stories in different worlds. 
9. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom: This is the real life story of Corrie and her sister during Nazi times. She ended up in a concentration camp but her faith never wavered and God protected her the entire time.
10. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Love this book. Its part of a retelling of classic fairy tales mixed with Sci Fi. This book is one of my all time favorites and made me fall in love with re-tellings of classic stories. Plus next month I'm going to a meet and greet with the author and getting all my books of hers signed. I can't wait! 

The Half Life of Molly Pierce

You take it for granted. Waking up. Going to school, talking to your friends. Watching a show on television or reading a book or going out to lunch.

You take for granted going to sleep at night, getting up the next day, and remembering everything that happened to you before you closed your eyes.

You live and you remember.

Me, I live and I forget.

But now—now I am remembering.  

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The Half Life of Molly Pierce is about a girl who loses blocks of time in her life with no memory of what happened during the time she blacks out. She feels like she is going crazy and no one can give her an answer why. She tries to hide it as much as possible but life forces her to confront her past and to not hide anymore.
I love this book, I'm on a mental health in books kick right now. The last three books I read were about some mental condition and this one is no less different. I won't go into a lot of details but this book really made me think. There are times in every person's life when they feel like they are going crazy, like if one more thing happens they are going to snap. Or what if you are already crazy and everyone else knows but you don't know. I love this book for not being afraid to address the issue.
This book also had a way of writing characters that even though you may not trust them you still end up loving them.
This is a five star book for me. I hope you give it a chance.

Ebooks vs real books

Let me start of saying that I enjoy reading both Ebooks and real books. With Ebooks I seem to read at a faster pace and I can read while I work and get away with it. Also I get almost all of my books from my local library and with Ebooks I don't have to worry about bringing the book back and I don't have to carry it around in my purse the whole time. Plus in some cities your local library may partner with an online ebook website that has thousands of books for free that can be transferred to a kindle or ereader or read on their website. I use one named Overdrive but talk to your local library to see if they partner with an online ebook provider.

Real, physical books have their own benefits too. For one, when you are done you can put it on your shelf and display it to anyone who comes into your house. It's your way of saying "Here are my favorite books. I am proud of them and I think you should read them too.". Another reason is that books have that book smell when you open them. Book nerds know what I'm talking about. That smell that tells you the history of the book without even looking at the cover. Some books you can smell the age on them, some smell like they came from a place surrounded by other books, and some smell so fresh, so new, like it was created just for you to read. Also, you can enjoy the cover more if its a real book. With an ebook you get a tiny cover that you only see when you first read it or when you click on the icon to select the book. With a real one you can feel the cover, see the effects like raised font, shimmer and glitter, the details that the author designed for you to see up close and in person, not from far away or a small version of. Also sometimes the hardback books have a better cover without the jacket on it. I always look and see when I'm reading a hardback.

The reason I go into this debate is because a while ago I picked up some Janet Evanovich paperback books at my local library's booksale. It was every almost every title in the Stephanie Plum series (except for like 4 or 5 of them). They take up almost a full shelf on my favorite shelf. I adore the series and want to reread them again after I whittle my to be read pile down a little bit. But the issue is that I found out that my local library now has her books online, so I can just check out a ebook whenever I want. This leaves me at an impasse. Part of me wants to keep the books just to display and read at pleasure. But another part of me wants to give them away to another reader and open up that shelf. I know its a stupid dilemma, but it brings up an important point... should we have a digital library instead of a physical library? There are some books I will never get rid of (One in particular is my signed copy of The One by Kiera Cass, even though I bought it presigned).

 I don't know what I will do, but I am leaning towards donating them. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on ebooks and whether or not I should keep them.

About me

“She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.” – Annie Dillard

 

I had a family member post that on my Facebook wall, and I fell in love with that quote. It describes me perfectly. Well, who am I?

I am a 25 year old girl who is obsessed with books. Anything and everything, but young adult is my favorite. The reason I started reading it is that I wanted something clean, something where I don't have to worry about getting half way through a book only to find out that there is some crazy sex scene (Yes, I'm talking about you Wicked). I wanted to read a book with relatable characters and good story lines. That's when I found YA and fell in love. 

 About my reviews, I don't get paid for reviewing books (though I may be considering adsense in the future, but it doesn't affect my reviews). Everything I say is my opinion and my views. I'm also sorry in advance if you get a book based on my reviews and didn't like it. Liking a book is based on personal choice and as much as reviews can help, I cannot make you see why I love something.

At this time I am not open to reading books from others for reviews. I haven't had the best luck doing that in the past and my to-be read list and to-be watched on Netflix list is too long to do that now. Plus I also work full time (plus overtime) so whatever time I have is valuable to me. 

I hope everyone enjoys these blogs. If you have any suggestions please comment below or you can email me at jlwalk905@gmail.com

God bless you and have a great day!

Working on the blog

You may see some weird looking posts in the next couple of days. I'm trying to get a navigational bar set up and to do that I have to make the posts I need for the tabs. Its not how my blog will normally work, but it will have to do for now.
Thanks everyone for your patience.

The Silver Linings Playbook



This is one of those books that has been on my to-read list since I started Goodreads. My best book friend (or BBF for short) has been trying to get me to read this for over a year. Everyone online has loved this book, so much so that a movie was made about with book with two of my favorite Hollywood people (eyecandy Bradley Cooper and the amazing Jennifer Lawrence). But I kept putting it off and saying"I'll just read it later". Well, later has finally come and I am glad it has. The Silver Linings Playbook is the story of Pat Peoples. I don't like to know anything about a book before I read it except a general synopsis, so if you are like me and haven't read it yet then leave not. No spoilers but I will talk about the plot so if you want to avoid it that then you have been warned. (You can also skip to after the picture of the cover if you like to see the recap).

First lets talk about the updated cover. Since the movie came out they changed the cover for the better. While I haven't seen the movie I am in love with this cover. Its kinda hard to see, but while the cover is in black and white (except the title), the eyes of both characters are shown. While it has little affect in photo form it has a major affect on the cover. In fact, every time before I would read I would stare at eyes on the cover. I know its kinda creepy, but I love the eyes. I even had a photo I edited a couple years ago in B/W with just my dog's brown eyes showing. Its one of my favorite pictures of him.
This book takes you on a roller coaster ride through the eyes of Pat, who happens to be one of the nicest people who I have read as a main character. He is kind and caring and all you want is for him to get the happy ending that he deserves. I adore the kind of stories that keep you guessing, wondering what is true, what is real. This book only tells you what you need to know when you need to know it and I love it so much more for doing that. Its torturous at the time because you want to know what is happening right then and now, but at the end you respect the author and enjoy the suspense and the thrill of not knowing and waiting.

Overall, if you haven't read this yet then its worth reading. Even though it's not a Young Adult book it still reads as one. The story of Pat and his friend Tiffany are very entertaining. In fact, I loved this book so much that it was the reason I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to tell others who were maybe on the fence how much I love this book. Please check it out if you get the chance.