February Book Photo Challenge

February Book Photo Challenge (from Books and Cupcakes)
Day One: Reading This Month
(Yes, I'm one day behind. Shh.)
 

In a bit more detail...

Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner by Michael M. Baden, M.D. with Judith Adler Hennessee
- My boyfriend's mom loaned me this after we binge-watched a bunch of Forensic Files together. I'm on chapter five right now and I love it. Totally fascinating, if somewhat morbid.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- I'm reading this with my BFF. She bought a gorgeous copy from the Folio Society and because we wanted to challenge each other to read new things this years... Ta da. We're a little more than halfway done and it is surprisingly boooooring. Also the protagonist is a moron.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
- This is the first time I've read this since I was a girl myself. Still gut-wrenching and wonderful.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
- I bought this years ago, devoured half of it instantly, started my own "Feel Better" blog, and a month later decided it was all too hokey to do much with. I'm finally making myself finish it. Gretchen has good ideas and good lessons to learn from, but she is a bit hokey. There, I said it.

Scarlet and Cress by Marissa Meyer
- I read Cinder in a weekend in December. I thought it was fun and the world has a lot of possibilities. Now that I'm a few chapters into Scarlet, I think this series is going to disappoint me in its lack of true scope. I'll let you know when I finish.

The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman
- Checked this one out from the library to read over winter break. Much heavier than I was expecting. But some solid writing. I'm still enjoying it, but final verdict is still forthcoming.

If I don't finish all of these books this month, somebody should pinch me really hard. I've been reading a least half of this pile for months now. Ugh.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

Okay, so on to the exciting news!

My boyfriend did a truly amazing thing for Christmas this year. He conspired with members of our families and managed to win me one of the auctions that Worldbuilders does every year for, get this, a manuscript critique from a published author.

At first, I was in shock. Then I cried. The boy caught it on video and put it on Facebook.

So I've been hard at work trying to edit my monster of a first manuscript in order to take advantage of this amazing gift. I am insanely excited for this opportunity. It should be invaluable.

Not sure how he's ever going to top this present for me though....

In Absentia

I've been absent from this blog for long months, but for good reason. Here are some of the trials and tribulations that have kept me away.

- I spent a week helping my grandparents move from their house to an apartment. Goodbye only home I've had an attachment to all my life!

- My boyfriend lost his job for stupid political reasons. Oh the joy of being a teacher one year away from tenure.

- Both of us being unemployed, finding a job became my number one priority. Eventually, I was offered two jobs on the same day. I picked a gig as a math tutor in the local school system (for a truly terrific program: http://www.sps.springfield.ma.us/forward5/) as my boyfriend landed a job that was half a state away. He had to get an apartment for during the week so, you know, fun sort of long distance relationship stuff.

- BF got laid off from his new job right before Thanksgiving, no reasons given as it was within his 90 day probationary period. I'm still furious about this.

- All kinds of stress and relationship strain from all of the above.

- Now trying to reinvent our lives together and also both looking for more work again. No easy feat.

So that's what I've been up to. I hope everyone else I know in the blogosphere is doing well because I feel like life has been in shambles and it's be nice to come somewhere with some stability.

Soon I'll update with some exciting news on the writing front. This is the one really good things going for me right now, so if this post was a bit depressing, stay tuned! Things will get better.

July Book Photo Challenge

I love the monthly book photo challenges over at Books and Cupcakes - so I decided to do July's!

You can check it out on my Tumblr. :)

Teaser Tuesday: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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From my current read (as I described yesterday), The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker. Here is the first line:

Much later, Nora would learn magic for dissolving glue or killing vermin swiftly and painlessly or barring mice from the house altogether, but that morning--the last normal morning, she later thought of it--as she padded into the kitchen in search of coffee, she was horribly at a loss when she saw the small brown mouse wriggling on the glue trap in front of the sink.

See, this is why I couldn't not check this book out from the library! What a great first line.