Lost in the View: June 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

2011 reads: August-December

Being that is almost July, I thought now would be a ~good~ time to close out the books I read in 2011...yes? And as I think I've stated before, I don't do full blow-out reviews because there are a million and one book blogs out there with real reviews on them...I simply give a few of my thoughts here and there.

PS: I was working on edits in the fall, therefore I didn't read much the last half of the year. Shame on me, I know.

Now on to the good stuff!

The Willows: Haven: First off...I'm in love with this cover! Crazy gorgeous! The m.c. Ashton is a likeable character and you want the best for her, even if it's hard to decide what that actually is. And while the author takes us through several scenery changes, there is no doubt as to the beauty of each one chosen. Hope uses great details that never fail to drop you into the scene. The pace of the story rarely stagnates and it's that sort of thing makes makes this one an easy, fluent read. Oh and did I mention hot Gabe Willoughby?

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone: I absolutely love this book. Taylor is a master story teller and between the mystery of Karou's past and the constant tension between Karou and Brimstone, as a well as between Karou and Akiva, you literally cannot put down this book! It's funny, it's tense, it's incredible. Not much more I can say...just go buy it if you haven't already.

Supernaturally: Book 2 of the Paranormalcy series. Once again, White's writing was delightful, funny and engaging...but I will say that this book wasn't as good as the first. Jack is a great addition to the cast of paranormal characters and I like that you slowly find out more about him, but never all of it. He's a good challenge for Evie, especially since Evie has taken to lying as her ultimate go-to for everything tough that comes up. I'm looking forward the last book and maybe all of the weirdness will finally make sense.

The Death Cure: One word...disappointment. *Spoiler (sort of)* After finishing The Death Cure, I felt like I had been "LOST'ed". Throughout the series, Dashner took through us obstacle after obstacle, answered mysteries with another mystery. We never really knew what in the world was going on at the end of both the first and second book, and because of that, I just knew the last one was going to be phenomenal. What a let-down...turns out the author didn't give us much in the answers department at all. Only instead of it being a "dream" (as in LOST), it was all a basic boring truth that couldn't really be overcome nor explained much better than it already had been in the first two books. FAIL.

The Bikini Diaries: So here's my confession...when I bought this book at the flea market, I thought it was chick lit. I guess didn't pay attention to the lusty picture in the shadows, nor did I see the small print in the back that said "erotic romance." ha! So, when I cracked it open and started blushing by page 10, I realized I was reading my first X-rated book. And whoo-weee!...I had no idea they could be so much fun. This story takes place at an all inclusive beach resort and I just happened to read it right before I took a mini beach vacation with my sister (and no kids). Let me just say...this book put ideas in my head I'm not sure I would have thought otherwise. If you want a fun sexy read, Lacey Alexander is a good one to provide it. ...Now...if I liked this, does that mean that I'll probably like 50 Shades of Grey?

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The gold star award

Back when I was still teaching I accidentally started a "thing" in my classroom my students dubbed the Gold Star Award. I had this huge stack of star stickers and when the fifth graders were working on their silent work, I'd walk around and silently put stars on the work that I thought was above and beyond my expectations. It was an extra incentive and they fed on it. They were truly excited when they got the star that day. Anyhow...one day I was a bit hyper while teaching Social Studies (I guess I had a bit too much caffeine that morning) and started giving gold stars during my verbal lessons to any superstar answers the students gave me...but not only did they get a gold star, they got to wear the gold star upon their foreheads. Yes, right smack dab in the middle of their foreheads, Sneeches-style. At first, they were like...uh, no way Ms. B...but then when the first girl wore it, then the next one wore it, the trend sort of picked up and for days thereafter they all were dying for a gold star on their forehead. It was great. After a week, I ended up sending about 15 of my 22 students to enrichment class with stars on their foreheads...stars, mind you, that they earned with top-notch answers and hard core learning. It was days like that that I remember how much I loved teaching. I felt like I earned a gold star myself.

But even if I had earned one...I'd have to give it back these days because my procrastination in almost everything I do has earned me a negative hundred-plus gold stars. Yes, I'm busy. Yes, I have kids. Yes, I have a full-time job. Yes, I have a 70 pound dog who thinks he's small enough to sit in my 6 year-old's lap with ease and acts like a garbage-disposal-like-goat but is actually ADHD with severe anxiety and all puppy. And yes, I have this excuse and that excuse, and even the one I haven't thought of yet. But seriously...excuses are just that. EXCUSES! (Stupid, ugly E word.)

Source: southern-simplistic-soul.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

So, here's my plan to get three things in my life back on track (and I need a volunteer or two to help keep me accountable):

Get my blog posts caught up. By my count, I have 19 book blurb reviews to write. 19!! I haven't written any since July of last year. SAD! I also have 5 drafts started on different posts on writing, and 2 additional posts drafted on craft projects I worked on in April. AND I also have a crazy bunghole-load of randomness posts in mind. I need a plan to get these caught up. Any ideas?
Must. Finish. Book. I'm on my fifth rewrite/draft of my teen witch story and I hit that "I'm stuck" middle-stage yet again. I've said it before and I'll say it 500 more times...I hate middles. Despise them. They shouldn't be hard at all, but yet, I get held up there all the time. I need someone who can hold me accountable to writing deadlines. Someone who will push me and make me finish. Volunteers?
Keep Reading. I've been on a bit of a reading spree, having read 11 books in the last 3 months. I'm finally making a dent in my TBR pile and I have a pile of 6 more that I want to attack before summer is over. Anyone feeling a read-a-thon coming on?

While I have SO much more going on that needs a game plan (ahem! cough! *whispers* cleaning, organizing, weeding, all-things-domestic, etc.), these three things are at the top of my list. And I'm seriously taking volunteers to help me get my head back in the game. I need someone to give me a gold star when I've done good and to be honest with me when I'm not. If you're up to the challenge, let me know! I'll be glad to return the favor.