Author: Lee

Life & Reading Update

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Man I feel awful I haven’t been posting anything except for scheduled posts practically all year!

Some big changes have been happening in my life and I just haven’t been bothering to get online much.

I won’t go into all the gory details here, but basically in January I found out that my husband wasn’t who I thought he was and since then a lot has changed. He moved out in March and we are getting a divorce. I was really cut up about it for a short time, but then I got some amazing advice from a coworker that really changed how I was looking at things and now I’m feeling like this is more of an opportunity than a loss. Since March I’ve been meeting new people and doing a lot more outside the house. All of which has been keeping me from reading much and from getting online at all.

In addition to all that drama, I started working in January which was a first for me in several years. I’m enjoying that a lot, but I’m still figuring out how to balance my work and free time so that’s kept me from reading and going online as well.

But sometime in April I picked up a book written by a good friend of mine and it just sucked me right in and pulled me out of my reading slump and since then I’ve been reading regularly again, even if not quite as much as I did when I didn’t work or ever go out.

Next step is getting back to being active here, because I miss talking to all the fun book bloggers and I miss making posts about what I’m reading. I’m going to play catch up on my Monthly Wrap-Up posts, but other than that I’m just going to try to pick up where I left off. Wish me luck!

First Lines Fridays: May 17, 2019

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First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

So a long long long long long long long time ago
there was absolutely fuck-all in the entire universe.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

First Lines Fridays: May 10, 2019

LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

When I was a child, my parents and teachers told me about a man who was very strong. They told me he could destroy the whole world. They told me he could lift mountains. They told me he could part the sea. It was important to keep the man happy. When we obeyed what the man had commanded, the man liked us. He liked us so much that he killed anyone who didn’t like us. But when we didn’t obey what he had commanded, he didn’t like us. He hated us. Some days he hated us so much, he killed us; other days, he let other people kill us. We call these days “holidays.”

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

First Lines Fridays: May 3, 2019

LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.

It was a very old house — it had an attic under the roof and a cellar under the ground and an overgrown garden with huge old trees in it.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

April 2019 Reading Wrap-Up

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Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts
Rating:  N/A
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  March 20 – April 4
Read Count:  1 (DNF)
Favorite Thing:  None.
Least Favorite Thing:  Blah.

From the summary I was expecting an interesting look at what it’s like to be widowed at a young age, and what I got was “teen widow goes back to high school”. Sigh. I couldn’t even finish this book.

My Posts About Young Widows Club

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
(The Raven Cycle, book 3)
Rating:  ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  December 10, 2018 – April 18, 2019
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  Mr. Gray & Blue’s friendship.
Least Favorite Thing:  Over too soon.

I can’t seem to stop myself from rereading The Raven Cycle books! Unfortunately I only own two of them, so it may be a minute before I can get my hands on the last book to reread it.

My Posts About Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Tea for Two by S.W. Stromberg
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  Coming Soon
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  April 16 – 25
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Seeing myself so clearly in a character was amazing.
Least Favorite Thing:  I CAN’T SAY BECAUSE IT’S A SPOILER, BUT I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE DID THAT.

I was a little nervous reading a book written by a friend in case I didn’t like it, but luckily this one turned out to be really good! I’ve never been able to see myself so well in a character, it was awesome. I recommend this book to anyone looking for LGBT reads that aren’t just another coming out story!

My Posts About Tea for Two

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  April 25 – 29
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  The healing songs.
Least Favorite Thing:  Saren…

I know, I know, without Saren the story isn’t even possible. And yet…. She just annoys me, I can’t help it. I can’t even feel bad for her really, even though I know I should. But at least Dashti is precious enough to make up for it.

My Posts About Book of a Thousand Days

In Progress

First Lines Fridays: April 26, 2019

LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

In March 51 BC, with the death of her father the pharaoh, the girl must have contemplated her situation as she stared through the hazy crystal glass into the face of the mummified god. It was well known that his blood ran through her veins, and although she was a mere seventeen years old he had been even younger when he led the first of his military campaigns which ultimately conquered the known world. By reviving his empire to its former greatness, she would prove herself his true heir.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

First Lines Fridays: April 19, 2019

LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

Dear Reader,

I am not a movie star. Chances are when you walked by my book and saw my face, you didn’t know what my name was, but you knew that I looked familiar.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

First Lines Fridays: April 12, 2019

LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

Have you ever been on vacation, at the seashore, perhaps, or a desert resort in New Mexico — somewhere away from city lights — and looked up, seemingly for the first time, at a sky full of stars.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!