I miss blogging.I really do. In the last year, I have made a very large effort to get back to several things I used to enjoy doing. Some of it was given up with kids and the brain cells and time that raising young humans took. But, I honestly think that that with the invention of the smart phone, I have lost so much time and have nothing to show for it. So, new old loves are coming back to me. Thrift shopping is one. Planning and cooking new foods is another (especially since I have gone on Weight Watchers). Blogging is slowly coming back. But,the biggest, for me, is reading.
I love to read. I absolutely love to get lost in a book and find that occassional book that you just cannot put down. Since having kids my reading has suffered. Like I said, the smart phone is a brain zap and it would take all my free time most days. I hate that but its true. I would go in spurts, find a good book, buckle down and read like a banshee and then go 6 months. A few coworkers and I would go to a cheap book event at the library every 4 months, I would drink the proffered wine, get a tad tipsy and then buy 20 books or so with the promise of restarting my book love. And then I'd get busy, see something shiny, start a new game of Words with Friends, and find a new park for me and the kids to go to and my book shelf would get dusty.
About a year ago, I asked some fellow MOPS moms to start a book club with me. We did pretty good in our first year. It was nice for all of us to find time for ourselves and find something besides kids to talk about. I honestly think you lose that as new (or newish if you are me) moms. Besides the fellowship that a book club provides, the book club also has helped me discover new subjects and authors I might not have found otherwise. Since September of last year I have read, for the book club, For the Love, The Book Thief, The Husband's Secret, Me Before You, The Giver, and The Storyteller. I have loved all of these books. There were two (Under the Banner of Heaven and The Dinner that I didn't finish and didn't love). I am so thankful to have found people to discuss books with.
In December, I learned about the Goodreads app, which is basically Pinterest for readers. You see what other people are reading and can make a list of books you want to read based on their ratings of books. *even more people to discuss books with!* The Goodreads app has yearly reading goals. So, in January, I made a 2016 reading goal. Well, actually Rylan did. I was thinking 20 books would be good. He said 36, for how old I am. PHHHHHHTTTTTT. So, as my 7 year old told me, 36 books became the goal. I started decently strong and read 3 books from January to mid February. And then, as most New Years goals do, I fizzled out and was maybe reading a book a month. In late May, I realized I only had only read 9 books. OOPS. So, I have upped my game majorly.
With that has come a need to have more books everywhere around me.
I moved to Fayetteville 2 years ago, with 2 boxes of the books mentioned above from various library cheap book sales. Since then, I have gleaned books from garage sales and thrift shops and I have discoved Little Free Libraries in my town. Love that sweet part of this town. There is also a used book store that I the kids and I have visited twice this summer. I currently have a shelf in my dining room stuffed full of books, and shelf in my closet stuffed even fuller. I don't think I am lying that there might be an unpacked box in the garage from our move a year ago. A friend recently sent some of her books that she's read for me to read. Those are now crammed wherever I could fit them. I also love our local library. There is also books on CD,as well as the Overdrive app where I can download books and listen on my phone while I walk or drive or clean or whatever. What I am getting at here, is that I have a lot of books for my new old hobby. I am not hurting for any more books. I LOVE IT. Books make me happy.
So what did I do? I joined a website called Blogging for Books, where they send me free books, in return for a book review. Because I NEEDED MORE BOOKS OBVS.
With my return to blogging, I hope to provide many book reviews. Here is my first.
Freedom's Child by Jax Miller
Freedom is the main character of this book. She is in the Witness Protection Program after being getting off for the murder of her cop husband 20 years before. Her deceased husband's family is the reason she is in Witness Protection and the reason she chose to give her children up for adoption. Freedom finds out that the man that went to jail for her husband's death has been released at the same time her daughter was kidnapped. On the run from her Witness Protection handlers, Freedom sets out to find her daughter, getting wrapped up with a religious cult, hit men, and a local law enforcement crush all at the same time.
I give this book 3 stars.
If you capture my attention and get me hooked to where I have to work hard to put the book down and I try to read it while also blow drying my hair, you get three stars. This book did that. It was a page turner. And I was excited to know what was going to happen to Freedom and her kids. I was hooked till about 65% into the book. It gets a little hairy towards the end. There are about 3 books worth of plotlines going on and Freedom herself isn't the most likeable character.
I chose this book from Blogging for Books to read because it was very different from my usual book. And it was definitely that. I fear that I have a hard time with difficult subject matter (murder, rape, overall meaness) that I have a hard time. One thing that I really appreciated about this book is that the end wraps everything up nicely. You aren't left not knowing what happened to everyone. I am a reader that needs a "where are they now" bit at the end and this book definitely does that.
I have been loving reading more SO MUCH, especially this summer,since I have stepped up my game for my 2016 challenge. Since late May, I have read (or listened to) 8 books. That is more than I read in all of 2015, probably. I needed to post a review for Freedom's Child, to fulfill my commitment for receiving a free book, but I plan to talk more about all my books I am loving. Until next time.....
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