It's been a crazy month, but this goody showed up in my Overdrive last night. Perfect timing since I'm flying today. Yay for vacations!!

I'm channeling my love of reading into community service by helping struggling readers in an elementary classroom and I couldn't be happier. A cute second grader named Jesselle read this one to me today, adding giggles in all the appropriate places. My heart is full!

How can a book feel like family? All I know it's this one does! Here's a favorite passage, but there are loads more. I've read this book at least ten times, but I know I'll read it many more. 💝

I just finished the audio book. It was recommended to me ages ago, but I resisted. A story about an opera singer who's taken hostage along with a bunch of diplomats? I was dubious, but I shouldn't have been. The characters were well developed and their individual stories were compelling. It gave me an inside look into Stockholm Syndrome, human nature, and how some people fall in love. Surprising and lovely!

This is the first book I LOVED that I can't ever recommend to anyone I know in my real life. The characters are incredibly profane, they abuse alcohol and drugs, and I ADORE them. They're creative, passionate and they love each other fiercely. So good!

Sometimes I need to hang out with old friends.

"Is your name really 'Sharon Kisses?'"
"It is until I have the money to get it changed!"
"Dude! NO! Your name is mind-blowing!"

I'm not sure why this cracks me up. ?

The Dry was a page-turner. Detective Aaron Falk returns to his home town and is drawn into a current mystery that seems to be connected to another death that occurred 20 years ago. Who did it? Why? Was it murder? Suicide? It kept me guessing until the end. Very enjoyable!

"Generosity is intentionally, freely, and frequently giving to improve your life and the lives of others." #brainfuel @Liberty

My hard copy finally arrived! The publisher released the book a bit later than expected, but it's worth the wait. I'm so excited to see what the next year becomes for me as I apply the actionable steps outlined in this book one day at a time!

I can't do it. I really tried. I made it about halfway through, but it's just too much. I can't handle all the angst and feeeeels. It might be a case of the right book at the wrong time. I'm open to revisiting it later, but, for now, I'm letting it go.

What a loving reflection on the making of a much beloved film! I enjoyed it from start to finish. It was fun to hear the voices of many of the people who participated in creating this movie. I've recommended this to friends. It won't change the world, but it will leave you knowing there are nice people in the world who love what they do and are greatful for the opportunities they've been given. After a tough month, this audiobook cheered me up.

The newest editions are $1.99 for kindle today. I stopped at 3 - for now. 😉

My reading has focused on self-care this month. Feeling better, but I'm taking my time. Reminding myself this is life and it isn't a race. I'm doing just fine. 🙂

An older gentleman making his living as a traveling news reader is tasked with returning a young girl to relatives after she has been released by the Native American tribe who kidnapped her four years earlier. This one read like a movie. Although the stories are different, it had a sort of "True Grit" feel to it. More action than I expected. Easy read, very enjoyable.

One of the key ways to increase the Joy in our lives is by living a generous life. This book offers actionable, daily, steps to develop habits of generosity towards others and yourself. I love this book so much! Do yourself a favor and preorder this one. I was able to read this through Netgalley a few months ago and have already preordered 2 copies - one for me and one to share - and I will probably order more. ALL the thumbs up! Release date 1/8.

Listen to the audiobook! It's wonderful! It was a "Sherlock Holmes meets magical realism" sort of book. The narrator made this story shine!

This one was a delight! It's a collection of the author's short writings over the years read by the author. This is a crazy time of year and hearing these shorter works as I ran errands and wrapped presents was exactly what I needed. I'm inspired to read her novels now. I also want to look into more short story collections. Great read!

I was given an Amazon gift card yesterday and saw all these books on sale this morning. Second Christmas!!

My kids gifted me a Paperwhite this morning! The first book purchased was News of the World. It's on sale for $2.99 today! Merry Christmas!

Available May 2, 2017. Adding to my TBR list now. I loved Girl on the Train and hope this one is just as fun to read!

This was a pain in the butt to read. The backwards in time storytelling was, I think, intended to add suspense. For me, it muddied the story. The final two chapters were good, but that was a long walk for a short drink of water.

This was a tough one. It was well written. It's a novel that reads like a memoir. Lucy Barton spends time in the hospital battling a life-threatening illness. The story is told around the time she spent there and the people in her life who come to see her. She flashes back and forward in time to tell deeper stories about those people. Man. If you like stories about dysfunctional families, you'll love this one. It was hard for me to read.

This audiobook is breaking my heart. I'm about halfway through and the family dysfunction is giving me painful flashbacks to a difficult childhood. It definitely sounds more like a memoir than a novel and the writing is superb. I want to finish this today so I can move on to some happier themes as I get the house ready for the kids coming home for Christmas. Thank goodness I broke the chain of my painful family history!

From 10th on the waiting list to finally having it on my Kindle in just...12 weeks. That was a long wait. I know what I'm doing tonight!

So much good information in this one! I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author. She did a great job narrating, but this is one of those, "I need to highlight this part so I can find it again," sort of books. I may end up getting a written edition for myself that I can mark up. I will definitely be applying what I learned in this book to my life as I gear up for 2017!

My November reads. My favorite was The Language of Flowers, but I fully enjoyed almost all of them. Good month!

Reading this one made me think of The Fugitive. Remember that movie, starring Harrison Ford? Anyway, the girl is definitely On The Run! I ended up reading it in one day because I couldn't find a good stopping place. Things kept happening! It was a fun escape for the day. 😊

I would have likely bailed on this one if it hadn't been an audiobook. It just kept going and whining, and whining and going. In the end, it felt incomplete.

This was a nice break from the nonfiction stuff I'm trying to get through before the end of the month. Books, romance, recovering alcoholics... what's not to love?

Noah loves his mom, but he keeps telling her he misses his other mom and his brother. At four-years-old, he knows about things there's no way he could know. And he's terrified of the water. Could he have lived a life before this one? Getting to the bottom of this could solve a 6 year mystery for a family living in limbo on the other side of the country.

My eyes have been opened. Processed food is a blessing and a curse. This book pulls back the curtain and let's me peek inside the huge machine of the processed food industry. I wish I had read this when my kids were little, but I'm grateful I've read it now. I went to the grocery store this morning and looked at the products on the shelves with a more critical eye. I wish everyone would read this book!

Jeffrey Dunn, former mega marketing guy at Coca-Cola, now uses his skills at Bolthouse Farms (which is based in my fair city) to get people excited about eating their veggies. He is my new hero!

This is the Audible daily deal today. At $2.95 I couldn't resist! This one explores the lives of three generations of women, beginning with the grandmother living in India, to the mom who immigrated to the US and finally her daughter who was born here. I'm about 1/3 through and love it so far.

'Tis the season for housekeeping. I listened to this while I was busy. It was fine. Mindy Kaling is adorable and, clearly, super smart and funny. Having her talk to me was nice, but I wasn't invested in any part of this book. Yeah. It was fine.

Entertaining. Three wives/ex-wives and their children spend the weekend at their recently deceased husband/ex-husband's vacation home and all sorts of drama ensues. I listened to the audiobook while doing stuff around the house. I wouldn't listen to it around kids, though. I'll chalk this one up to a guilty pleasure read

"The truth will set you free, but, first, it will piss you off."

Lots of hurting people who wouldn't have hurt so much if they just talked to each other. The Mothers are the elder women at the church and much of the story is told through their eyes. Although the story is set in San Diego, many of the characters came from somewhere else and left the book with a distinctly southern feel. Friendship, sex, and loss: dysfunction all over the place.

This one captured my attention from the very first page. A girl raised in the Foster Care system, filled with anger, fear, and guilt, finds one safe way to express herself: Flowers and their hidden meaning. After she emancipates and struggles to find her way the world, pain, and miracles, happen. Painful and lovely.

This. Just this.

October was a good reading month!

Christine's memory is erased every night and she wakes up every morning next to a man who says he's her husband. She finds a way to write in a journal she is able to keep hidden. As she builds a history within the pages, she realizes what she is being told about her life may not be true. She needs to find out, but who should she trust? Great psychological thriller!

Perfect timing, overdrive! Let's go!

Lily is Steven's sweet pupper. The octopus is the thing that takes residence in and on Lily's head. I have a sweet pupper of my own and this one was hard to read. If you like to cry, go for it. The writing was excellent and the story was told with creativity and humor. I couldn't read this or anything like it again, though.

This book is so sassy; it's cracking me up! I'm loving it so far!

Books with puppers in them are the very best books!

Insomnia-induced YA reading. Seems about right. I can see why a teen would enjoy this one. Honestly, it was good to live inside the head of a young Native American for a few hours. What Native Americans have been put through is messed up. Funny, sad, frustrating... and a little bit charming.

I listened to this audiobook on my road trip yesterday and finished it this morning. Wow! This was a joy to listen to. The story was well paced and the narrator was fun to listen to. I laughed, it cried; it moved me! 😉

... and this is where I start to cry.

I'm in Long Beach, CA to hear Glennon Doyle Melton speak and, hopefully, have her sign my book. Wish me luck!