Procrastinating

“Procrastinating is number three on my Stupid List. You still end up exactly where you didn't want to be, doing exactly what you didn't want to do, with the only difference being that you lost all that time in between, during which you could have been doing something fun. Even worse, you probably stayed in a stressed-out, crappy mood the whole time you were avoiding it. If you know something is inevitable, do it and get it over with. Move on. Life is short.”

― Dani in Iced, by Karen Marie Moning

I don't care if he's a fictional character...

Last night I finished reading Smooth-Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas. Smooth-Talking Stranger is the third in the Travis family series, and I'll be writing a review for each of the books in the series. But for now I just need to express my feelings about Jack Travis....

Second Grave on the Left

Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson #2) By: Darynda Jones
When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message. Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn't be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?
I didn't expect to like this book, as I really couldn't stand the first one. I only read it because I'm one of those people that can't walk away from something until it's finished. So I started reading this book, and was shocked that I actually really liked it. I started to love the characters (especially Reyes ;] ), and Charley's jokes made me burst out laughing. I still think Charley is a complete FAILURE as a PI, and I have no idea why the characters keep praising her for it. I mean, yeah, she see's dead people. She has a definite advantage. If she COULDN'T see spirits or ghosts or whatever you prefer to call them, she probably would never have solved a case. Let's not give her too much of the credit. There isn't much to talk about while reviewing this book. It's a funny read with hot guys and a sometimes annoying main character. If that's your thing, pick this book up :)

First Grave on the Right

First Grave on the Right By: Darynda Jones
A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely
I did not like this book. It was a pretty big let down, because I thought it seemed really interesting. I was a big fan of The Mediator series by Meg Cabot and I kind of thought this was going to be an adult version. Nope. Charley is a private investigator, but I'm pretty sure she should have her license taken away. She's constantly getting herself almost killed, and she only hasn't died so far because of other people protecting her. Another thing I couldn't stand about this book was her humor. I like to laugh and found her style of humor to be similar to Lorelei's on Gilmore Girls. Similiar, but not the same. I just thought Charley was pushing it the majority of the time. The third thing that I didn't like about this book was the two different story lines that just didn't seem to weave together very well. They just weren't balanced. I felt like I was reading a completely different book when I got to the last few chapters. As much as this book drove me crazy, I'm one of those people that can't start a book and not finish it. Since this book is the first in a series, I had to read the rest of the series as well. I will say the series gets much better, and I'm glad I continued reading them. So if you don't mind reading the first book to get to the good stuff, I recommend this series. Two Stars.

Our Dreams

"Let's promise to never be too afraid to live our dreams."

-Nathan on One Tree Hill

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I broke up. Or my ex-boyfriend and I broke up? It's all pretty new to me. He was the first person I had a real relationship with, and we dated about three years. It's hard, and all I could think right after we decided to end it was, What happens now?

I started to look up things to fill my time with, besides wallowing and watching One Tree Hill on Netflix. Not that it's a bad show. It just gets a little depressing sometimes. Eventually I started looking up stuff about my schools study abroad trip to Costa Rica. Not in a serious way, but in a looking up cute outfits on Pinterest way. Awesome, but I wasn't about to shell out the money for it. I've never left the country before, never even been away from home for more than two weeks. But I actually really wanted to do it. I wanted to see a volcano, to visit a banana plantation, to change my surroundings. But I was afraid. 

When I was in high school I spent three spring breaks rebuilding homes in New Orleans and Galveston. That was awesome. After those experiences I decided to go on a weekend trip with a youth group I wanted to get involved with. That was not awesome. I didn't know anyone very well, and as my socially awkward self I hung out on the fringes of the group for three days and was relieved when the trip was over. Then the winter after high school I went on a road trip with my now ex-boyfriend and his friends. The van we were in broke down in Alabama (I live in Illinois) and my ex and I were stuck in a hotel for a few days waiting for the van to be fixed while everyone else rented a car to drive home. That was okay, though. Fights were starting and I'm pretty sure if we were stuck in a hotel together any longer we would have killed each other. What was bad was being in a small town with no car for three days. What was HORRIBLE was some problem with the water pressure, which led to the water being shut off in the whole town. What few restaurants they had closed, and it took an hour to walk someplace to get food. For some reason that made me hesitant of ever traveling again.

So I just sat at my computer looking at pictures of Costa Rica and thinking about how wonderful it could be, or how absolutely terrible it could be. Then I heard the quote above. Let's promise to never be too afraid to live our dreams. Something happened to me, and all of a sudden I knew I had to go. Maybe the trip will be horrible and I'll wish I hadn't spent the money. But maybe the trip will be amazing and life changing and I'll think I was crazy to ever consider not going. So I emailed my Spanish teacher and signed up. The trip doesn't start until May, and I'm still nervous. But I just keep thinking I don't want to be too afraid to live my dreams.

I hope you see this quote and you're encouraged like I was. Maybe you like someone but you're too afraid to do anything about it. Maybe you want to move away for school but you're afraid to leave your friends and family. Just think about your dreams, and if you're willing to sacrifice them because of fear. Whether it's fear of rejection, being alone, embarrassing yourself. Are you willing to risk them?  I don't think I am.

So...

I promise to never be too afraid to live my dreams.

Words Left Unspoken

“Many times in life I've regretted the things I've said without thinking. But I've never regretted the things I said nearly as much as the words I left unspoken.” 

― Liberty in Sugar Daddy, By: Lisa Kleypas

I love this quote because it perfectly describes how I feel. Sometimes I say way too much, and probably not as subtlety as I should. I don't know if it's because I'm horrible at keeping secrets, and the moment someone says "Don't tell anyone" I feel completely guilty and it's all I can think about until it just bursts out at really inappropriate time. 

Or maybe it's because I've read too many books where something horrible happens because of a misunderstanding. You know, two people meet and fall in love. Then 1/2 of the couple sees the other 1/2 of the couple hugging someone, and assumes they were cheating and then the couple gets in a fight and they don't talk for five years. Then the first 1/2 of the couple finds out that person being hugged was actually a long lost brother/sister. Then don't they feel like an idiot. Obviously these misunderstandings make for good stories and account for about half of the book, but I don't want to lose someone important to me because I was too proud or embarrassed to say how I feel.

But that's just me.

Altered

Altered By: Jennifer Rush
When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe? Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev...and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities. Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.
You know that saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover"? Yeah, I completely ignored that when I picked up this book. The cover looked so cool I put it on my to-read list before I knew what it was about. I'm totally glad I did, too. Anna was an extremely likable main character. She was easy to relate to, even though her life isn't anything like mine. Her life probably isn't very similar to yours, either, unless you grew up working for the government and taking care of four genetically modified guys. Anna just comes across as a very rational person. I hate when I'm reading a book and the main character does something really stupid and I feel the need to put the book down and yell. Do you ever get that feeling? Another likable thing about this book is that the romance is in the background. This is a good book with a character who has a crush, not a romance novel. And sometimes you want to escape from thoughts of love and forever, but that can be really hard to do with a YA novel. This book is filled with a bunch of twists, and I didn't call over half of them. Really refreshing. It's a pain when you watch a movie and the main character is walking into the same room as the killer and all you can do is sit and watch. Besides a few loose ends, this book was great. I'm guessing there's going to be a sequel, which I am absolutely looking forward to. Check it out and let me know how you like it! I give this book four stars.

A Favorite Quote

“To douchebags!" he said, gesturing to Brad. "And to girls that break your heart," he bowed his head to me. His eyes lost focus. "And to the absolute fucking horror of losing your best friend because you were stupid enough to fall in love with her.” 

― Travis in Beautiful Disaster, By: Jamie McGuire

This book was so adorable. The relationship in the book was really ridiculously unhealthy and co-dependent, but so cute at the same time. Travis was so crush worthy in a really unrealistic way. When Travis said this in the book I just fell for him as if he was a real person.

Defy Not the Heart

Defy Not the Heart (Shefford's Knights #1) By: Johanna Lindsey
"Reina seethes with rage over her fate: taken captive by the knight Ranulf -- a golden giant of a man -- who has pledged to deliver her to the nuptial bed of the despised Lord Rothwell. She will never accept such bondage -- and Reina offers herself to her kidnapper instead, offering to make Ranulf a great lord...if he agrees to wed her.But the brave knight desires much more than a marriage of convenience from this proud, headstrong lady who treats him with scorn yet makes his blood run hotter than liquid fire. She must come to him of her own free will -- or Ranulf will take her. For the passion that consumes them both cannot long be denied -- even though gravest peril surely awaits them on the heart's trail to a destines and turbulent love" --Description from Goodreads
Another Johanna Lindsey novel! This one much, much better than the last I read, Let Love Find You. This book was really refreshing for many reasons, starting with the fact that it's set in 1192. It was so nice to read a historical romance novel without any talk of a season or the ton. Once in a while it might be nice, but most of the time it's just like, We get it. The young lady about to come out into society needs an awesome set of new clothes, a sponsor, chaperons  and to avoid scandal at all costs. Gets pretty boring. This book has none of that. Yes, Reina needs a husband. Not because she doesn't want end up an old maid, but to stop people from trying to take Clydon. So when Ranulf (a super hot Knight) kidnaps her to take her to someone just like that, Reina chooses him to marry instead. Ranulf has money and the man power to offer Clydon the protection it needs. Something else that was refreshing about this book was the love scenes. I hate when a couple hates each other, or is just totally indifferent, and then they have sex and it's like "You're the love of my life! I knew it all along!" In this book Reina and Ranulf don't do that. At all. They have sex to consummate the marriage, yeah, but it doesn't change the way they feel about each other instantly. It's awkward and realistic. Probably exactly what you would expect from two random people having sex for the first time. It only starts to get good when they start to actually care about each other. I think that's awesome. While all of this is great, my absolute favorite part of this book is the way Ranulf's character matures so well. The way he changes in response to the way Reina makes him feel is adorable. I felt like a total weirdo reading this book between classes, because I was just sitting their with this huge grin on my face when he would do something so caring. The only problem (and really, It's minor) is the way Reina's supposed to be punished by Ranulf when she disobeys him. But the book was set 821 years ago, so I guess that's what you get. So I TOTALLY recommend this book. Try it out and let me know what you think! Or maybe leave a comment with a book recommendation :) My Rating: