My Favorite .. Museum

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme.

This week's topic: museum 

I can't think of a museum that I've actually been to. 

I did really want to go to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in DC, but it closed down a few years ago. :( 

Tell Me Something Tuesday

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion created by Rainy Day Ramblings.

Who were the best debut authors you read this year?

Well... Apparently I only read two  debut authors for 2017. (This is actually not surprising.) 

I liked the books well enough, so they count.

Bookish (and not so bookish!) Thoughts

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Oh, hi, Thanksgiving.

2. With birthday money, I bought some new clothes. I've been needing a wardrobe update for a while. Not that I follow along with all the trends, I don't have the time or patience to deal with that. I just lost "myself" after having a couple kids. Lately, I've been feeling weirdly self conscious about what I wear.
My wardrobe isn't where I want it to be, but it's a solid start and I've already feeling a bit more confident.

3. Kicking myself over missing a sale. There is an ebook I have been wanting to buy forever. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. I absolutely adored Life After Life and purchased it after borrowing it from the library when it went on sale. My libraries DO have this book, but whenever I've been able to get a copy, I'm not in the right mood to read it!
Last weekend it went on sale for $3.99.
I decided to wait a day to see if the sale would hit Kobo (they don't change prices on the weekends) and .... I missed out. :(
-It's still in my ereaderIQ, so ... maybe another time. D:
-Note: Kobo does price match, but only by refunding a store credit. I am not completely opposed to this and have used it in the past, but when you are trying to cut your ebook spending down... it's not helpful.

4. Surprised my daughter by taking her to see Wonder on Wednesday. She was genuinely surprised too. She's been begging to see it since before it came out. The movie is really good, though a bit heavy handed - but that's to be expected when the subject is anti-bullying.

5. Finally purchased this gorgeous planner from Michaels. I saw it much earlier this year and have been lusting after it ever since. I've had several months to think about it and I've visited it. Finally decided to take the plunge.

Until next time - Shannon

My Favorite .. Romance Story

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme.

This week's topic: Romance Story

This one is tricky. I'm not real big into romance. (Which, if you've followed my memes, you probably already know that!) A lot of it has to do with my ability to suspend belief when it comes to that genre. It's weird because I can do it for others. I tend to prefer books where romance isn't really the focus, it's just a little bonus.
I'm trying to pick something I haven't used, but Me Before You and One Day are probably my favorite "romance" books that I've already talked about.

Emma - Jane Austen

Full disclosure: I've never actually read the book.

I do however love the movies and even the retellings (Clueless is classic!) I don't even really know why. Not necessarily full romance, but it's got a HEA of sorts,
so I'm counting it!

Book Blogger Hop: Nov 10th - 23rd

Book Blogger Hop

What is your favorite part of blogging? Is there a least favorite part of blogging? Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews

Least favorite part isn't so much actually about the blogging and more about me. I am not a very organized person. I can be, sometimes. And when I am, things run very smoothly. However, I always end up slipping back into doing things day by day, which is how I end up falling behind. (For example, this entry.... where I am doing two weeks worth of Blogger Hopping at one time.)

My favorite part is connecting with other people. I like doing the memes because it exposes me to other book blogs I may not have come across. Even if maybe we are reading incompatible, I can still connect and enjoy the online company.

If you had an author-only Thankgsgiving party, who would you invite? Kristin @ Lukten av Trykksverte

I'm not entirely sure. I guess I would say Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, Kate Atkinson, Ann M. Martin, Katherine Applegate, Lois Lowry, and Madeline L'Engle. Mostly just curious about how the ideas came about.

Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. I was way off on the surprise thing. I wasn't 100% (It's not like the husband to plan things out). Though now I am wondering what the hell that email to my mom was. Oh well.

2. He and the kids made me dinner and 2 cakes (one regular, one cheesecake).

3. My dad was out of town for my actual birthday. Which really isn't that big of a deal, but he apologized for it a million times. (This is his gf rubbing off on him. She's really superstitious about not celebrating on the day. Growing up we always celebrated whenever.) My birthday was on a Monday so... it's no big loss. We went over on Saturday and watched Cars 3 and ordered pizza. He offered to take us out to dinner, but we had gone to Richmond so my husband could do some work on his brother's house and we got stuck there for several hours. By the time we got back to our area it was after 630p. I was exhausted and did not have the energy to sit in a restaurant and wait for food.

Until next time .~*Shannon

My Favorite .. Fairy Tale

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme.

This week's topic: fairy tale

I have a sneaking suspicion, this being a book blog meme that we may all have the same favorite... lol

I even turned it into a knitting chart for the "My Favorite Things Scarf" I knitted a few years ago.

I do like other ones, but this was always my favorite. I even liked the new live action version. I wouldn't say I liked one more than the other, but they are two different things. 

Honorable mention goes to Cinderella retellings.

Links:

The original My Favorite Things Infinity Scarf

My "My Favorite Things" Scarf

Bookish (and no so bookish) Thoughts

Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Unhiatus!

2. Finally got a hold of the other pump company that my daughter has no choice, but to be transferred to. I was told I'd be contacted by yesterday... and wasn't. So I get to call again today. D:<

3. Got sick the weekend before Halloween. Nothing serious, but a small cold. However, it did knock me out. I got behind on a lot of things and something had to give. (So... hiatus.)

4. Seriously debating trying these grocery shop online services. I don't know what it is, but lately the thought of going to the grocery store just fills me with dread. I can't even explain it. I always try to push it off as much as possible, which actually ends up costing us a bit more than just going and getting it done. Which in turn causes me more stress!

5. My mom works at TCU in Texas. They had an active shooter the other day. Luckily, NO ONE was injured. My mom and her colleagues were all safely locking in a storage closet behind brick and were safe the whole time, but ... scary. (The incident was actually between two shuttle bus drivers and not any of the students.)

6. With me having to work on the weekends, we ended up getting pumpkins really late. As in 8pm October 30th. We finally found some at Walmart of all places. My son came across a green "flattened" one. Green is his favorite color so as soon as he had a green pumpkin he didn't care about anything else. My daughter conceded to having an interesting white, yellow, and orange one - until they found out that they had the large orange ones outside. They tried to talk my son out of the green one, but he would not be swayed. He found a pumpkin in his favorite color.

7. My birthday is Monday. o_o I have sneaking suspicions that the husband may be planning something, but idk. A couple of siblings have mentioned that they'd be here in November (a few months ago), but I assumed Thanksgiving. Just a couple weeks ago they were talking about how what they were planning to do. Most said either home or going to my mom's (in TX) instead of my dad's (here). My husband and I share a microsoft account to log into our computers. My laptop for some reason gets alerts from his inbox (my desktop does not!) and an email to or from my mom popped up "RE: Are we still on?" or something to that general nature. This was a day or two after her dog of 12-13 years passed. My husband has openly complained that my mom doesn't really text him as much as she used to. But, here is this random email. I didn't open it or anything, but nothing is adding up.

Although--- the sibs not coming in November could be a cost issue that changed. (My one sister lives in OK and is a single mom so her travel plans tend to be, understandably, fluid.)

8. My baby brother and his fiance got married on Halloween. They were initially planning something for the summer next year, but my brother said a lot of stuff came up and they can't afford it right now. (I have my suspicions on what came up, but I could be wrong and my brother hasn't come out and said.)

-Shannon

My Favorite .. Gift

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme.

This week's topic: gift

Not the Yoshi, which is clearly the focus in the picture, but the ring on my thumb.

The past few years have been rough. My husband bought me this ring for Christmas one year. It came at just the right time as a reminder that I was loved when I was miserable. I did have to exchange it for a smaller size so I could wear it somewhere other than my thumb.

I've lost it twice.
Once, my husband actually found it. I had taken it off before going to my then job (late night stocking at 5 Below). I actually thought I lost it at work, which means I'd be unlikely to get it back because with all the lifting and moving and sweeping... it'd probably have been trashed.

Then the big lose happened. We looked everywhere for it for months. My husband bought me the exact same ring the following Christmas.

Incidentally, my nephew received a metal detector for Christmas as well. When he and my daughter went out to play with it... they found it within 5 minutes.

I returned the new one.

Tell Me Something Tuesday

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion created by Rainy Day Ramblings.

Winter Picks for 2018

Bonfire - Krysten Ritter

This post contains affiliate links.

Summary (from goodreads):
Should you ever go back?

It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.

But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's most high-profile company and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’ biggest scandal from more than a decade ago involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good.

Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as Abby tries to find out what really happened to Kaycee, she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game,” which will threaten the reputations, and lives, of the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her.

With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote, rural town of just five claustrophobic miles, Bonfire is a dark exploration of the question: can you ever outrun your past?

.~*.*~.~*.*~.~*.*~.~*.*~.~*.*~.~*.*~.

Edition Read: Review copy from Netgalley
Where (else) to buy: kobo*, google play, amazon*, nook*

Disclaimer:
Book provided by netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Bit o Background:
Yes, this book is written by that Krysten Ritter.

Thoughts:

I liked it. Not only did I consistantly want to find out what really happened to Kaycee, it also has some subtle PSAs sprinkled in. We need more books that address these specific problems.

However, it's not perfect. The conclusion undermines the bullying issues that are mentioned throughout. I don't believe that's the intent of the book. It just took on too many issues at the same time and tried to tie them together. It's admirable, but it doesn't work.

Why specifically it didn't work for me...
SPOILER (mouse over to reveal) [In the end it turns out the bullying that has been occurring for at least 10 years was not only funded by, but also the original idea of the Big Bad Business that moved into town. This bothers me because most bullying, especially the sort of taking nude/semi-nude pictures of young women without their permission and distributing them, has nothing to do with business and everything to do with bullying and general entitlement. 
No, the bullies are not left completely unpunished, but the end gives the impression that removing the Bad Business from town solves the problem. And that's not how these things work.]

Verdict:

The plot is a bit overreaching, but it's a solid thriller. If she's writing another book, I'd read it!

*This is an affiliate link