What's Val Reading? (April 2018)

It's the last day of April, and you know what that means ...


via GIPHY

How fitting that *NSYNC got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today of all days!

But enough *NSYNC ... time to find out about Val's reads! (I kid. Could there ever be enough *NSYNC?)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (4-30-18)

Happy Monday! I'm actually writing this on Sunday in an attempt to get this up in a timely manner 😉. Two It's Mondays in a row? Practically unheard of!

Last week was crazy, but I did manage to take in the new Avengers movie. I really liked it, and I'm eager to see how things resolve with part two next year.

School wise, we're down to just over one week with seniors and 2-1/2 weeks with everyone else, so it's definitely crunch time when it comes to yearbook. I'm feeling good about this book overall (way more positive than I was this time last year), but I still have a ton of work to do. Right now, my focus is getting edits back to students quickly so they can get their pages finished up. Fortunately, my editor this year is great at both grammar and at making sure captions match up to pictures and that everyone is pictured, so that makes things easier for me!

"Pelican Point" by Irene Hannon

I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to Irene Hannon's Hope Harbor series ... but these books remind me of Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series. And that's a very good thing!

"Out of His League" by Maggie Dallen

I've been reading some heavy books lately. Good, but heavy. Couple that with the insane stress of the end of the school year, and I needed a "just for fun" read that took practically zero brain power to comprehend.

For me, that usually means finding a fluffy YA romance. Why? Not sure. It's not like I'm anywhere near the ages of the kids I'm reading about. But I often do see bits of "teenage Becky" in the heroines of these books, so there's that ...

"Julie" by Catherine Marshall

Julie is not a book that normally would have interested me, but I recently read Catherine Marshall's Christy for the first time, and I loved it. I figured that if Julie was even a fraction as good as Christy, it would be worth my time. I was right 🙂.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (4-23-18)

Yes, it's been forever since I participated in an "It's Monday!" And it doesn't even really make sense that I'm posting today, as I haven't been doing much reading. But that actually is why I'm posting today—I've been so busy lately that I haven't posted much new content on the blog, and I figured "It's Monday!" would be a nice, quick post.

We've reached the insanely busy season of work—just a few weeks of school left, a yearbook to finish, events to promote, a final student council bash to plan, a newsletter to put out. While I don't often bring my work home with me (a "positive" to being an hourly rather than salaried employee), crazy brain-draining days at work leave me too wiped out to do much reading when I get home. This is especially true when I run into a book that's a slower read (as is happening right now) ... Plus, baseball is back, and I am here for it. It seems that I can read while the Cubs are on defense, but not when they're batting. So a lot of my normal reading time is now taken up by listening to Pat & Ron call Cubs games on the radio!

"A Light on the Hill" by Connilyn Cossette

Last summer, I read the third book in Connilyn Cossette's Out from Egypt series. Cossette was a new author to me, but I loved Wings of the Wind so much that I knew more Cossette books would be in my future!

"Out of a Far Country" by Christopher Yuan & Angela Yuan

I first heard of Christopher Yuan several years ago when he spoke on singleness and holy sexuality at my college church. I listened to the podcasts of those messages (find them here) and was really encouraged as I live life as a single woman.

I knew that Yuan had written a book with his mother, Angela, and I added it to my mental TBR list. But then I recently saw it up for review (though I don't know why, as it was published in 2011), so I snagged it.

Book or Movie? "Once Upon a Prince"

Five years ago, I read (and loved!) the first book in Rachel Hauck's Royal Wedding series, Once Upon a Prince. Earlier this year, I heard Hallmark was making it into a movie. It's been so long—and so many books—since I read it that I couldn't remember much about it, aside from the fact that I loved it! I decided a revisit of the book was in order before the movie's premiere. I finished it just in time, as I wrapped up the book Saturday afternoon, and the movie premiered Saturday night!

"No One Ever Asked" by Katie Ganshert

Several days after finishing No One Ever Asked, I'm at a bit of a loss at what to say. This book is deep, impacting, and so important ... so I guess I'll give it a go and hope that things come out as I intend! (Why is it that the best books are the hardest to write reviews for?)

Did Not Finish (DNF) Books, January - March

Rediscovering my local library has opened up a whole new world of books to me, but with no pressure. That's because I don't feel compelled to finish library books like I do review books or books I've paid for. So I thought I'd give you a glimpse at the books I started but never finished over the course of the last three months, and maybe I'll end up making this a regular feature. We'll see 🙂.

"The Engagement Plot" by Krista Phillips

Well, shortly after posting my Spring TBR list, I can check one off: I finally started The Engagement Plot, and it's a quick, engaging, enjoyable read!