Teaser Tuesday- Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"And while my vision is okay, the day is still muddy, but I get this feeling about it. A hazy feeling of something-not quite happiness, but solidness, stepping on earth after being at sea for too long-fills me up." 
pg 13 Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Monday Brain Dump

I feel like I haven't done a personal post in a long time. I've got a lot on my mind but not enough for one coherent post. I figured a random brain dump would be fun.

-This is going to be vague but I feel like I'm really close to several accomplishments but not quite there. I'm hoping to be done with 2 of them in November but we'll see. I'll probably share about at least one of them if I meet my goal. But it's agonizing being this close and still having to wait. Hurmpf.

-For the past 2 weekends, Dad and I have been making progress on getting rid of tons of stuff. Both from his old house and from our new place. It's amazing how much crap we had.

-Tai and I found a fantastic sushi place-Oto Sushi in Kirkland for those locals. Great fish, friendly service. We went once several months ago and didn't gel. I convinced Tai to give it another go and it's become our favorite. We are definitely regulars now.

-I've been in a reading slump. This happens every year once I read 100 books. I have very little motivation to read and difficulty finding books I want to read. So I've decided only fun, lighthearted books between now and the end of the year. I foresee lots of romance novels.

-I'm so glad that the weather is getting cooler. I can cook more now. Although we got rid of our big freezer over the summer. Having just 2 little freezers is so hard. I want to buy a quarter of a cow but we have no space for it. I have to restrain myself at Costco :( I want to wait to buy a new extra freezer until we move. No sense in moving it twice.

Well, that's all for now. I'm hoping to do more awkward and awesome posts in the future.

What To Eat This Week

I wasn't feeling well last week so we ate out a little more than I would have liked. I'm feeling better so this week should go more according to plan.

Breakfast: PB&Js for Tai. Paleo Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins and yogurt for me.

Lunches: Beef barley soup and Crock pot Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken.

Dinners:

Monday: Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps

Tuesday: Food truck roundup

Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Mushroom Skillet over zoodles

Thursday: Ketchup Spaghetti with salads

Friday: Chip Steak with Mushroom Gravy and salads

Saturday: Dinner out.

Sunday: Cheeseburger Pie and salads

What are you eating this week?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Just one for me this week. Trying to keep Mt Library Loot manageable! With the readathon next month, I want to clear a lot of books out before I start stockpiling for the readathon. 

The Impossible Knife of Memory

I've never read Laurie Halse Anderson's books. I've heard fantastic things about her books but haven't actually read any. I hope I can read this one before it's due back.

What did you get this week? Claire's got the linky this week.

Teaser Tuesday- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"The bishop cleared his throat, but my insides were ice and I could barely breathe.

I cast about desperately for some better focus."

pg 9 Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Wildthorn had been on my tbr list since it came out. But April's review pushed it to the top my list. While I'm glad I read Wildthorn, it wasn't as amazing as I hoped.

Louisa doesn't fit her mother or societies view of a young lady. Louisa has little interest in finding a husband. She rather spend her time reading or conducting experiments. Louisa's father indulges her interests while Louisa's mom wishes her daughter would behave as she's expected. Wildthorn starts out with Louisa on her way to the home of a family friend, a place where she'll be expected to be a companion to a girl around her age. But instead, Louisa is taken to Wildthorn, an insane asylum, where everyone keeps calling her Lucy.

Wildthorn is told in alternating chapters. One chapter is present time and one chapter is the past. It's a mystery to the reader why Louisa is in Wildthorn. Has she made up everything she's telling us? Has one of her experiments gone awry? Slowly, the reader and Louisa understand why she was brought to Wildthorn. Wildthorn reminded me a lot of Girl, Interrupted. Young women locked up in mental institutions because they didn't fit societies view of young ladies. I appreciated the detail that Eagland provided. I could feel the horrible surroundings Louisa found herself in.

Overall, I enjoyed Wildthorn but I did get bored in sections. It felt like things moved slowly especially in the beginning and middle. It did pick up toward the end and I enjoyed the end. I was able to finish it in about 5 hours. Others who shared their thoughts on Wildthorn: Once Upon A Bookcase, Good Books & Good Wine, Escape In A Book, and Paranormal Indulgence.
This is my twelfth read for the Historical Reading Challenge.

What To Eat This Week

We did pretty good last week. This week Tai will be working late most of the week so it'll be just me and Dad for dinners.

Breakfasts: PB&J's for Tai. Paleo Banana Nut Muffins for me.

Lunches: Italian Chicken Soup and Teriyaki Meatballs over rice.

Dinners:

Monday: White Bean Salad with Tuna and Parsley

Tuesday: Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Skillet with either rice or zucchini noodles

Wednesday: Juicy Lucys with sweet potato fries

Thursday: Take out

Friday: Easy Shrimp and Avocado Ceviche

Saturday: BBQ at friend's house

Sunday: Sushi with Tai

What's on your menu this week?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

What I Know For Sure

It's by Oprah.

This One Is Mine

I decided to pick up Semple's other book after enjoying Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

What did you get this week? Share below.

Teaser Tuesday-Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I look 'em up in the field translator, expecting more Rob gibberish. But I find out something useful: This robot is telling me that it's not allowed to let itself die, no matter what–even if captured."

pg 6 Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

I added Fire & Flood to my library queue after Lisa's post about it. While I struggled with parts of it, I definitely loved it by the end and am anxious for the next book.

Tella Holloway and her family moved the middle of nowhere for her brother's health. Tella's brother, Cody, has a mysterious illness. Tella's parents think that fresh air will help. Tella wants her brother to get better so they can move back to Boston. One day, a mysterious package arrives for Tella. It's an earpiece that plays a recorded message. Tella's parents confiscate the earpiece but Tella realizes that this is her chance to help her brother.

Fire & Flood follows a familiar story line. A lot like The Hunger Games but Tella is no Katniss. In fact this was my biggest gripe about Fire & Flood. After receiving the earpiece, Tella enters a Hunger Games style competition win The Cure for Cody. But whereas Katniss knew about survival and wasn't terribly girly, Tella spends a lot of time complaining about her hair and lack of makeup. In short, Tella annoyed the crap out of me. But Guy made up for a lot of my problems with Tella. During the competition, Tella mets Guy, a fellow competitor, who is a lot better at survival than her. Guy was swoon worthy. And Tella's attraction to Guy made me like her a whole lot more. Plus she stopped complaining about not having moisturizer and how she needed a pedicure. By the last half of book, I was sucked in. Scott's vivid writing of the world these competitors find themselves in was amazing. I really enjoyed reading about the competition course. Scott did a great job of thinking up a complex course with interesting twists.

I just read how Scott wanted Tella to be both girly and able to survive. I thought Tella was amazing sometimes surviving some horrendous situations. It was her constant complaining especially at the beginning of the book that annoyed me. She did sound a lot like a teen girl and probably me if I was tossed in the jungle with nothing more than a tiny fox (who was adorable).

I'm glad I stuck with Fire & Flood. It turned out to be a great sci-fi/dystopian read. I look forward to the next book. Others who shared their thoughts on Fire & Flood: My Thousand Lives, Teen Librarian Toolbox, Books For Birds, Parajunkee, and Fluttering Butterflies.

What To Eat This Week

It's going to warm again this week. I think this is the last of the really warm temps. I see some rain in the forecast after this week. Yay, fall!

Breakfasts: Pumpkin Pucks for me. Cereal for Tai.

Lunches: Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup and Teriyaki Chicken

Dinners:

Monday: Take out

Tuesday: Chef Salads

Wednesday: Thai Beef Lettuce Wraps

Thursday: Spaghetti

Friday: Friend's 40th birthday

Saturday: BBQ with friends

Sunday: Shrimp and Avocado Salad

What are you eating this week?

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

A Lady By Midnight

Dare's been hinting at a Thorne/Kate romance since the first book in the trilogy. I'm anxious to actually get to it.

The Girl With The Wind Up Heart

I've really been enjoying the Steampunk Chronicles. This is the next in the series.

What did you get this week? Claire's got the linky this week!

Teaser Tuesday-Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"When I leave, I go out the front door. There is something definitive about it."
pg 24 Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

August Book Tally

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Shattered by Kevin Hearne
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Legion by Brandon Sanderson
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel
The Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Goodnight June by Sarah Jio
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Beauty Experiment by Phoebe Baker Hyde
 Royally Lost by Angie Stanton
A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare
Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann
Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart
The Cape by Jason Ciaramella 

My second best month so far. I got a lot read and a lot of really good books too. I've almost made to a 100 books for the year. I really wanted to get it done in August but I could find time to finish three books over the Labor Day weekend :( Oh, well.

Stats:

Romance Reading Challenge This month: 2(A Week To Be Wicked and Royally Lost) YTD: 16

Historical Reading Challenge  This month: 1 ( A Week To Be Wicked) YTD: 11

What's In A Name Challenge This month: 0 (none this month) YTD: 4

Yearly Total: 97

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Wildthorn

I had Wildthorn on my tbr list for a while but after reading April's review, it shot to the top of my list. 

It's Not That I'm Bitter

While searching for another book, I stumbled upon It's Not That I'm Bitter. Humorous books are always welcome. 

The Martian

Lisa's rave review of The Martian led me to add it to my library queue. 

What did you get this week? Share below!

Teaser Tuesday-Strange And Ever After by Susan Dennard

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"The thought burned in my skull, bright and penetrating. I stared stupidly at him...But then the words shifted and sank."
pg 11 Strange and Ever After by Susan Deenard