Books Lately

Show Us Your Books day with Steph & Jana! I tried to knock out a few netgalley books since the last link up, I'm still not ahead but isn't that always the way with netgalley. Getting there!

My photos are always with Penny because she is a) the only cat that ever lays on me and b) the only cat that allows me to rest my book on her. It's quite handy really, until she moves, which she always does because you know.. cats.

One of Us Is Lying - Karen M. McManus
breakfast club meets gossip girl meets pretty little liars
I've had this book forever and I kept putting it off, don't know why. It was addicting and I really wanted to know what happened. I did guess the ending, but I guessed several other endings too so I was bound to be right with one of them. I read it in one sitting, liked the characters and the story. I see why some people wouldn't like it or be offended by some of the 'twists' but they did not bother me.
Received copy from Netgalley.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood
follows the relationship between a man and girl with 13 year age gap
This is one of the most disturbing, sickening, heartbreaking books I've ever read. I had some issues with the direction of the book towards the end, regardless of how realistic, and of course with the whole 13 year age gap which wouldn't be the end of the world except things do get physical when she is like 13. This is not a true romance, it's not super graphic or erotic, and like On the Island you might find yourself rethinking things, rethinking your gut reactions. I don't know. I read a review that said this was a hard book to read and even harder to put down and I agree completely. 

The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah

family moves to alaska in the 70s

This is actually my first Kristin Hannah book after The Nightingale. I loved that one so much I didn't think any of her others would be able to compare, but when I saw this on netgalley I couldn't help but request it. I do not think the synopsis does this one justice, it sounds dreadfully boring but it is anything but. The pacing is a bit odd, really slow at first and super quick at the end. I loved the characters and their relationships. This book is heartbreaking and I felt all the emotions. I teared up several times, nothing like the all out sobfest of The Nightingale though. I definitely need to check out more from this author!
Received copy from Netgalley.

Surprise Me - Sophie Kinsella
couple freaks out when they realise they have 60+ years left together
This is a typical Kinsella book in my opinion, the characters get into stupid sticky situations because they don't think or research things properly and there's a lot of miscommunication. It passed the time just fine though it did feel like there was a lot going on, almost like it was two books smooshed into one (which is funny, given a quote in the book). Definitely not my favourite of hers, my expectations might have been a tad too high after loving My Not So Perfect Life, but if you're a fan of hers already you might enjoy it. 
Received copy from Netgalley.

Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
murder mystery on a train
I picked this up for 2 reasons - 1) the movie, I have a strange obsession with reading books before watching the movie, even if I don't really have an interest in the book or movie (I didn't say it was a logical obsession) and 2) my mana is a huge Agatha Christie fan. She owned and loved all of them. She can't read anymore, her eyesight is too bad. I've always meant to pick up one of her books, but my nana hates Jane Austen so I figured our tastes would be pretty different. This book took me two months to read, which is an age for me. Even though it took me a long time, I really enjoyed it overall. It was funny and interesting.

Artemis - Andy Weir
a criminal-ish and a conspiracy on the moon
I ignored this one for several months because my expectations were way too high. Andy Weir probably should have pulled a JK Rowling and published this under another name because everyone will compare, and I'm sorry, it just pales in comparison to The Martian and Mark Watney. Which is a bummer, obviously. I liked the overall story and I was definitely interested, I just would have liked more from the characters and their relationships. Overall it was an enjoyable read that passed the time just fine, I don't regret reading it.
Received copy from Netgalley.

By the Book - Julia Sonneborn

persuasion retelling

I love Persuasion retellings, as I might have mentioned a time or twenty. I had high hopes for this one but it was very disappointing unfortunately. I wasn't a fan of the writing, the story itself didn't focus enough on Adam (Wentworth) and Anne as much as I'd like, there was a love triangle.. honestly, the other guy is probably what ruined it for me. Sometimes drastic changes in retellings work, sometimes they don't. This one just didn't sit right with me and I struggled through it. Womp womp.
Received copy from Netgalley.

How to Stop Time - Matt Haig

man lives for over 400 years

I...... nope. Note to self: if you find a book dreadfully boring and not matching the synopsis, DNF it. I loved the concept but this fell super flat for me. The main character was insufferable and so boring. It goes back and forth all over time (he is 439, after all) and we meet lots of famous people (come on now, just because you're old doesn't mean you will have met every bloody person who will turn out to be famous in a century or two). I didn't hate it but I didn't love it and have already forgotten it.
Received copy from Netgalley.

Nemesis - Brendan Reichs

girl survives being killed every 2 years but also the world seems to be ending plus a little bit of hunger games/lord of the flies

This was the book Gina and I decided on this month and I think we'd both like to apologise to anyone who read along with us... this book was a mess. It sounded good because of the girl getting killed every 2 years but somehow surviving that, and that's why I picked it up. I admit I didn't read the entire synopsis because I didn't think it would be much more than that, because why would you need more than that? This book tried to fit too many things in, answered about 10% of the questions that arose and the answers were lazy with someone explaining shit. Should have DNF'd.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry 

Linking up with Steph & Jana.

Gina and I will be reading Homegoing before the next link up if you'd like to pick it up as well. I've heard nothing but good things, hopefully it is better than the mess that Nemesis was.

TL;DR - I recommend One of Us Is Lying and The Great Alone.

Read anything decent lately?

Currently

I feel like it's been ages since I did a currently post, so figured I'd share a few things about life lately.

Reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry and listening to Seriously... I'm Kidding. I'm not exactly a fan of Ellen, I'm not not a fan, but I like celebrity books. I'm actually not really in a reading mood lately (like, the past week) so instead of reading I have actually been watching TV (I don't know who I am either). I go through phases and apparently right now it's a not really into reading phase.

Watching Downton Abbey. I still haven't seen the last season and I got a hankering to rewatch it all, so that's what I am doing. I am bracing myself for the deaths (that I know about) that basically killed me the first time I watched it.. I'm sure no one will, but no spoilers for the last season please!

Thinking about house projects. The kitchen is still not technically 100% finished, but we're already thinking about our next projects. I am super against another big renovation for at least a year or two, I just can't be bothered living through that just yet. So, bathrooms are out even though I hate them. We are going to hopefully tackle the exterior in the spring/summer and basement towards the end of the year.

So here's what we want to do to the outdoors. We might do all of these or only some. Time and finances shall tell.

- A fence. We are on a side lot so we have a bowling alley kind of backyard. But we have a HUGE front/side yard and we've seen people fence in part of their side yard to make it a backyard, if that makes sense. We have to get a permit for the fence and plan it out, this will likely be the most expensive and time consuming project. They might even say no, which will be annoying.
- Extend the front porch. This will obviously also be expensive and time consuming, it's not as important as the fence and I have no idea where to start or if we'll even end up doing it. I've seen people online do wood over it and extending it that way, I don't know if that would look good or if we should try and do concrete? Then I can stain it or something to match? I don't know.
- Footpath/side walk thing. We have these stepping stones from our driveway to our little porch thing and I'd like it to be an actual path. 
- Paint the shutters. 
- Landscaping. I want to put a little border around the flower beds and tidy them up, plant new flowers and do the whole mulch thing (gardener, I am not). We also need to get a stump grinder and remove some shrub things.
- Little free library! 

'Scuse the crappy picture, I google street viewed it. The little tree on the right is gone now, we need to get the stump grinder for it though, the other two trees will stay. The fence will go up in the left corner, if that makes sense. I want to extend the porch to the right, so it will go basically line up with that window on the right.

Working on finances. Exciting stuff, I know. We have a couple of things to pay off, a savings goal in mind, house projects we want to tackle, a grocery budget that's out of control and one of us is addicted to buying books. Even at $1 or $2 each, I've already spent over $100 and purchased 60 (yes freaking 6-0!) books this year. It's freaking March! What the bloody hell? I need to slow down. My bestie suggested a book buying ban for the rest of 2018 and I'm not ashamed to say that sounds terrifying but I am at least going to try for several months. I do get those no rush shipping credits from amazon, so I will try and just use those for books. I literally (yep, literally) have 500+ books on my kindle or shelves at home so to say I do not need to buy any books would be an understatement.

So there's that. No books for the forseeable future.

Saving $5 a day- yesterday, I figured out if I saved $5 a day, I'd have an extra $1,500 by the end of the year. So I decided to start doing that on top of the savings goals I've already got planned. I have a spreadsheet that details where my money is going every week for the rest of the year. I also use mint, but spreadsheets are so fun, right?

Excited about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society movie! The trailer is out now and I think I've watched it about 300 times since Heather first told me about it. It is one of my favourite books of all time and I just.cannot.wait. I laughed so hard at the end of the trailer where they make fun of the title. I am going to watch this on my own because I don't want to listen to KC snoring (jk) or making fun of it, and I don't know anyone else who'd want to see it or understand my love for the book. I am SO excited!

Trying to decide if I will sign up for the Kentucky Derby mini marathon. I have not been running consistently lately, though I'm slowly getting back into it. I could catch up enough so that I'd at least not die and I could run with my friend. Honestly, when registration opened, April was so far away and I was hoping that I would be far enough into a certain situation that running a half marathon would not be possible or very fun. That did not happen so that means I can run if I want to. Problem is, it is $85 (when it first opened I think it was like $50) and that doesn't really jive with my 'no unnecessary expenditure'. Price goes up on the 15th of this month though, so I have to decide soon. I've only missed the mini once since I moved here and I like that little tradition.

So that's all that's going on with me currently. Trying to save money so that I can eventually spend it.

Any money saving tips I might not have thought of yet? No shopping or buying books, meal plan and try not to eat out, we don't have cable.. what else can I do?

February 2018 Recap - What's New With You Link Up

Good morning everyone! Time for another link up with Gretch & me, all we ask is that you link back somewhere in your post. Thanks a bunch. I'll be doing a monthly recap, and it was birthday month, yay!

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Like I said, February was birthday month and I like to celebrate sporadically throughout the month and use it as an excuse to for all the things. 'It's birthday month! Buy the things! Eat the food! Lay around all day!'

But besides that, I actually had some proper celebrations too, all in one weekend:

Dinner & cocktails with my girlfriends:

^ one of my girlfriends brought me cadbury creme eggs #friendship

A cooking class date night I've always wanted to do, and I roped in a few of my coworkers and ended up going to a bar afterwards (don't think I've been to a bar in a couple of years!). Louisvillians, it's Cooking at the Cottage and was super fun. You can BYO and make it even more fun.

^ don't know if you can tell but they had normal chairs for very high tables, so when you sat down you felt like a little kid at a giant's table. It was a tad silly.

 ^ most of the people I work with are my age or older, and we have one youngen who we call... youngen. She randomly showed up to the bar for like 5 minutes, so we had to document it. Don't ask me why I'm standing like that because I have no idea.

Finally, we did a Board & Brush class! This was SO fun. I highly, highly recommend. I am definitely going to do another. You do all of it yourself, with their help of course. I felt super fancy and accomplished after I did it, not gonna lie. I got stain all over my hands, of course.

So yes, that was all in one weekend and let me just tell you, I have not consumed that much alcohol since I was like 22. It was insane and I'm good for like a year now. Nah just kidding. I like alcohol, and I like drinking to enjoy it, whereas when I was 22 I was drinking to get drunk. That's no fun the next day, and thankfully I was totally functional each day following a celebration, zero hangovers. Success.

Then the following weekend, my friends and I went to a masquerade thing at Louisville Palace, I've always wanted to go there - it's really pretty inside. It was like fancy dress but we were only there for a couple of hours and it's probably not something I would do again but I had fun with my friends.

Other things in February: cake and nothing bundt cake!

Pizza and meat pies - I have found several bakeries in the US that make and ship meat pies, I finally tried one. They are good and I will eat them all but likely won't get them from this specific place again. The pizza was my birthday dinner. Yum.

Got some presents from near and far! Nail goodies from Gina, books and choccies from Heather, and a bunch of food from home (which I managed to make last until the end of the month, except for the chicken salt which will last for like a year).

We also went to dinner with my mother in law, brother in law and his fiancee - sort of a couple of birthday celebrations and congratulations on their new house (I'm so excited for them) but the only picture I got was of the dessert - crème brûlée so freaking good.

Finally at the end of the month we had book club - this time we had brunch style food, so good. I have always wanted to join a book club but was worried because I don't think I am very good at talking about books, I either say 'I liked it' or 'I didn't like it' but I feel like book club is actually bringing that out - we've chosen a few books that really encourage discussion and it's just a bunch of fun. I never would have been in a book club if it weren't for my friend, so thanks Jenni! Our latest book was Rabbit by Patricia Williams, very interesting and funny.

So that's all for me and February! If you'd like to link up with us, please do so below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Here's to March! March is a fun month to me because it's when fun things finally start happening and we get to shake off the blah of winter. It's one step closer to summer, which is a bonus in my book!

So, what's new with you?