5 Year Anniversary of Miscarriage

5 years. Has it really been 5 years already since I lost my baby boy? While time has passed, I still can remember my feelings and the events from that day vividly. My heart doesn’t hurt as much anymore, but I still have a scar.

I’ve come to realize over these past 5 years that there is nothing I could have done differently to save him and nothing I did caused us to lose him. I’ve moved forward and have so much joy from the two little girls we have with us. I don’t get angry people complain about their pregnancies or about having to be a mom today. My grief has completed its course, but I do so miss him.

I still find myself thinking about him often. I pray that God is keeping good care of him. I feel cheated that I never got to see his face, hear his cry, or feel his heart beat. What I would give to have any one of those moments with him. As I see my older daughter gravitating to likes and dislikes, I wonder what he would have liked and disliked.

I’m so thankful for my reminders as well. The ornament on the Christmas tree every year. The charm on my charm bracelet – although it is wearing down over these 5 years and the baby feet on it are wearing off. The flowers we get every anniversary. And for the frame of the few mementos we have of him: a few ultrasound pictures, my hospital bracelet, and the poem Brandon wrote. My eye caught on it a few weeks ago when I was at the top of the stairs and I had to read through it and look at my pictures.

I felt I needed to reflect since it’s the 5-year anniversary. I’m amazed at how whole I feel emotionally now. Perhaps that is the amount of love I have from my two girls. Perhaps it’s because I know he is safe and watching over us. I do have a scar on my heart, but it’s whole again.

My daughter is almost 4, and this year she has asked the question: “Mommy, what are the flowers for?” That was something new that I had to address. How do I explain to a 4-year-old that mom and dad had been pregnant before her and he died while in my tummy? She hardly understands death, let alone what it would have meant to have had an older brother. I tried as best I could, and she seemed happy with my answer. For now, anyway. She did ask what his name was; Brandon fielded that one. We will have to explain why we go to dinner on this night and what it’s about. We’ll light our candle tonight and explain that.

I’m so thankful to our family and friends who have helped us through this. I’m not sure Brandon and I could have healed as wholly as we did if we didn’t have friends and family supporting us through it all. It still touches my heart when I hear from a loved one about a candle being lit for him on Sept 18.

September 18 will always hold a special place in our hearts. We will always celebrate and mourn him every year on this date, but as for blog posts, I don’t feel I need to post them anymore. My grief has run its course and I’m so happy I was able to work through my emotions and grief and potentially have helped others going through this.

I miss my baby boy and regret that I never got to hold him, but I know God had a plan is keeping watch over him. I know he’s looking down on us and is proud of his little sisters and one day we will get that chance to meet him.

4 Year Anniversary of Miscarriage

This past weekend has been a whirlwind. Between packing for our Disneyland trip and hosting Brooklyn’s 3^rd birthday party, I didn’t really get to prepare for this day.

Today is September 18. This day will always be a dark spot on the calendar for me. When I woke up this morning I had so much to do to make sure I got out of the house in time because I have an OB appointment for Kaitlyn today and with our trip, I need to get my hours in. I really didn’t have time to reflect on this at all before I left the house today.

I brought my remembrance flower to work though and once I got here, I could slow down and really remember how our lives changed 4 years ago. I still remember what it was like walking in to the ultrasound room and how quickly it all happened between starting the machine and rushing us in to a room to wait for the doctor. I remember not believing what they were telling me. I remember crying. I remember spending days in bed not able to force myself up and deal with anything else. I remember the loss of all my hopes and dreams.

It all seems so clear still, even 4 years later. Our baby boy brought us so much hope and showed us how we could love someone we never even got to meet. It seems unfair to not get to meet someone you’ve already created this love for and had all the plans and excitement to see what they would become. It’s not fair that he was not given a chance and that I never even got to see his face or hold him in my arms.

Just last week I found myself reading Brandon’s poem and looking at the ultrasound pictures of our baby boy that is hanging at the top of the stairs. I love this memory even though it does make my heart ache. But since I have no real pictures or mementos of my baby boy, I treasure this. It’s all I have of him. I also wear my Pandora bracelet to all my special occasions and he has a charm on there so I can always remember him and have him with me. So he was there celebrating Brooklyn’s birthday with us yesterday.

So today we will follow our traditions and have dinner at Rubio’s, have my white remembrance flower, and light a candle for this baby boy we didn’t get to meet. I know he watches over us and I still think of him when I see butterflies and pennies on the sidewalk or the breeze hits me just right. I know he watches and protects his baby sister and now his future new baby sister. These girls have brought about sunshine after our storm, but the storm will never be forgotten.

If you’re family, please light a candle tonight for our sweet baby boy and to this day, please know how grateful we are for your love and prayers on this day 4 years ago. Today I will cry and grieve my baby boy and pray that God is still holding him close until we get to meet him to hold him in our arms ourselves.

I love you Baby Boy Ray.  Remember to give your loved ones extra hugs and kisses and never go to bed angry. Tomorrow is never promised.

Take our million teardrops, wrap them up in love, then ask the wind to carry them, to you in Heaven above.

I’ll Be There

Daddy please don’t look so sad,

Mama please don’t cry

Cause I am in the arms of Jesus

And He sings me lullabies.

Please try not to question God,

Don’t think he is unkind.

Don’t think He sent me to you,

And then He changed his mind.

You see, I am a special child,

And I’m needed up above.

I’m the special gift you gave Him,

The product of your love.

I’ll always be there with you

And watch the sky at night.

Find the brightest star that’s gleaming

That’s my halo’s brilliant light.

You’ll see me in the morning frost,

That mists your window pane.

That’s me in the summer showers,

I’ll be dancing in the rain.

When you feel a little breeze

Form a gentle wind that blows,

That’s me I’ll be there,

Planting a kiss on your nose.

When you see a child playing

And your heart feels a little tug,

That’s me I’ll be there

Giving your heart a hug.

So daddy please don’t look so sad

Mama don’t you cry.

I’m in the arms of Jesus

And He sings me lullabies.

Baby Girl Ray #2 Name Reveal!

We have finally decided on a name for our newest little girl. We are about 18.5 weeks away from meeting this little sweetie, and we're so happy to finally have a name for her.  So without further adieu.....

We love Kaitlyn because she can keep it at the full name to be professional but she can also shorten it up to Katie if she'd like a nickname. We will never use Kate, unless it's what she ends up preferring when she's older.

As for her middle name, it was my grandmother's middle name. I've always had a special bond with this grandma, down to the fact that I got married on her birthday and then she passed away on my birthday. So her middle name is extra special to me.

Book Review: The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm #1)

The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm #1)

by  Michael Buckley, L.J. Ganser (Narrator)

Date Read:  3/16/17
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Oops, I never wrote my review of this book! I enjoyed it. I listened to it as an audiobook, so it took a little time to get in to it, especially because it’s told from a girl’s perspective, but it was a male narrator.

The story itself was pretty good. I liked the twist on the fairytale world and real world. It was very reminiscent of the TV show Once Upon a Time. Once thing I loved about the show is how not everyone you thought was a villain is actually a villain and vice versa. This book does a good job of that as well.

Sabrina was a little obnoxious and annoying at the beginning of the book. I tried to remember the fact that they’ve had a hard life with losing their parents mysteriously and all the different homes they’d been put in. But all that happened before the book, so you still couldn’t quite relate to it. I think of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now those are kids you could feel sympathy for and root to get a happy ending.

However, once Sabrina got over that and accepted fairy tales are real and who her ancestors were, the story got pretty good. I liked a lot of the characters that we were introduced to. You weren’t quite sure who was going to end up being a good guy or bad guy.

I look forward to continuing the series!

Book Review: Beheld

Behld

by  Alex Flinn

Date Read:  3/20/17
Rating: ★ ★ 

To say I’m disappointed in this book is an understatement. Actually, to be honest, Beastly has been Flinn’s best novel I’ve read. All the subsequent ones I’ve read had left something to be desired.  But I think this has been the worst.

It’s possible a lot of that has to do with there being 4 stories jammed in to this one book. You never really get attached to any of the characters or sucked in to any of the stories. I think my favorite would have been the first story about Kenda and the Salem Witch Trials. I wish she would have just done one story and focused on that – and if she’d focused just on the Little Red Riding Hood story, there probably wouldn’t have been insta-love. After that, Kendra was hardly in the book as you progressed with each story. 

I felt that you understood the characters the most in the last story, but it was a bit boring. It was an ugly duckling story, but very loosely. Kendra was barely in this book except to make Chris blossom in to someone handsome.

I pretty much hated the two stories in the middle and didn’t recognize either of the fairy tales.

This book was really hard to get through. There was a point where I almost didn’t finish it. But I’m a stickler for trying to finish what I started and I really wanted to like this book because of how much I loved Beastly.  I don’t think I can overlook the fact that I don’t particularly enjoy Flinn’s writing anymore. If she continues writing, I’m not sure I’ll pick up her books.

Book Review: Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted

by  Gail Carson Levine

Date Read:  2/7/17
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted a review! It took me a LONG time to get through The School of Good and Evil #3. In the meantime, I've listened and completed Ella Enchanted too. Here is the review for the latter.

I actually really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get used to the narrator – she sounds like a 12 year old girl!  But once I got used to it, it worked and I was able to get in to the story.

I’ve seen the movie several times and enjoyed it. But the book is really different than the movie. The main character names and the obedience curse are about all that they kept for the movie. I really liked that Ella and Char knew each other for a long time and were good friends. You could really see how their feelings grew for each other. No insta-love here.

The one thing that I didn’t think the book captured was just how horrible being obedient could be – in the movie, someone tried to use her to harm another person. That never happens in the book – she just considers it when she’s contemplating making a move on her feelings for Char.  I think the book should have capitalized on that more. And it made more sense in the movie how she was able to break the curse herself. In the book, she broke it on the THOUGHT of someone using her in that way, so it just didn’t feel as strong enough a reason to break the curse.

The other languages were odd as well. I couldn’t keep straight which was which. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as strange if I was reading the physical book, but listening to it just kind of jarred me out of the story.

The parts with her step-sisters and step-mom are believable. I liked how much time the story took to build all of these relationships, whether love or disgust. I noticed the Cinderella elements more toward the end of the story.  This was a fun, easy to read (listen) fairy-tale retelling. I’m looking forward to reading the book with my daughter one day and then watching the movie with her to identify the differences.

Book Review: A World Without Princes (School for Good and Evil #2)

A World Without Princes (#2)

by  Soman Chainani

Date Read:  11/17/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I’m going to start by talking about the length of this book. It was over 400 pages. Do you know how heavy that is to carry back and forth from work? How hard it is to keep a book that size opened and on the correct page while you’re eating lunch? I lugged this sucked around for WEEKS because my only reading time is during my lunch break at work these days (I love my 2-year-old to pieces, but she definitely has drastically changed my life)! 

There were times I felt like this book kind of dragged on…but that’s easy to do when you’re 400+ pages. About 300 pages in I was ready for answers.  I had a wait a little longer until things started piecing together and much longer for Agatha to put it all together. However, the positive to the length of these books is that nothing feels instantaneous. There is NO insta-anything. Everything is very believable through both books.

I also felt like I was able to relate to Sophie a little more in this book. Or at least I understood her motives more in this book than the first. I couldn’t stand her in the first one. I still don’t condone what she did, but at least she had good intentions (for herself anyway).  The only thing I wasn’t happy about was how long it took for Agatha to figure it out.  Sure, it had more impact having her make the realization at that point, but as the reader who has known since the beginning of the book, it was super frustrating. It would have almost been better if this book was told only from Agatha’s POV and we hadn’t known.

I also wasn’t a fan of how quickly Agatha and Tedros lost trust for each other. And did the honestly never think Sophie’s name when the mentioned the pink spell? I mean, honestly!

I did enjoy Agatha’s relationship with the witches. I really enjoyed every time the 4 of them got together. It also showed that good and evil can work together. There are blurred lines. Not everyone is black or white.

I thought it was an interesting concept that the towers of Good and Evil became Girls and Boys. It was also interesting how quickly they hated each other – though I suppose if I was evicted as rudely as the boys were, I’d be pretty upset also.

I think the concept that the author is working around about love vs friendship is so unique. Everyone always thinks you can’t have these best friends anymore once you get married. I love one of my best guy friends when I got married. So I’m really interested to see how this works out in the end.

I’ve really enjoyed the concept and I enjoy most of the characters. The world is super interesting. Looking forward to what is in store for Agatha and Sophie in the final installment.

Ebates Referral for Black Friday Shopping!!

Hi all! I know I've been a bit absent lately. Once November hits, our lives get pretty busy and time gets away from me. Black Friday ads have been leaking all over the place, so I've started putting my list together. The best part? I can do most of my shopping online and get cashback through Ebates!

I wanted to share this with you all. Most of the major stores do extra cashback for Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.  Most years, I end up with at least $50 cashback just from my Christmas shopping. It doesn't require any work. You just need to sign up, and then you can either just go to ebates.com and click on the merchant link from there, or you can install the Ebates button on your browser so you'll never miss an opportunity for cashback - it notifies you when you are on a merchant website offering cashback.

The best thing about Ebates is that you still get the same amazing deals but you get a percentage of it back just by clicking the button!

TIP: Sign up through my referral link here and you will get a $10 bonus after you make your first purchase over $25 using Ebates.

So check it out and sign up before you start your shopping! I know everyone looks for great, easy ways to make extra cash, and this is a great way! You don't really have any extra work to get this cashback!

Usborne Book Party!

I hosted a party last night on facebook showcasing Usborne books. Have you heard of them? They have super unique and interactive books for ages infants through young adult!  If you haven't heard of them, you should follow this link to browse all the books they have to offer. These books would make great Christmas presents for the kids in your life (think your own kids, nieces and nephews, grandkids, godchildren, etc).

Here is the link to my shopping page. The shopping link will be open until midnight tonight!  Make sure when you check out to select my name, Kristen Ray! I hope you find some amazing books your kids will love!
https://w4960.myubam.com

Book Review: The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil

by  Soman Chainani

Date Read:  9/27/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I listened to this in audiobook during my commute to and from work. It was a LONG book; I actually had to re-request it from the library in order to finish it.

I really enjoyed this book.  I was so intrigued by the plot summary that I had some high expectations.  It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter with the magic and the lessons, etc, and of course I absolutely love anything relating to fairy tales!

The main theme of this book was that you don’t have to be who people think or want you to be. You can choose your own path and make your own decisions.  Beauty is on the inside.

Sophie was utterly horrific. I hated listening to her. She went from annoying to completely evil over the span of the book.  Agatha was such a good, loyal friend to Sophie, and Sophie just used her.  She is really a terrible person. It’s frustrating that Agatha just won’t let go of that friendship.  Sometimes friends go opposite directions and that’s ok. That’s life. But Agatha fights till the bitter end to save her friend.

Agatha – I LOVE Agatha. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a main character so much. She isn’t your typical heroine. She loves to wear black, she hates conforming to what people want her to do, she doesn’t realize that she has a good soul underneath her not as pretty exterior. She has very low self-esteem and it takes her almost the entire book until she realizes her worth and her goodness.

I really liked how the book focused on friendship.  Even though Sophie and Agatha were told that they could never be friends (a princess and a witch can never be friends), they never stop fighting to get home together.

There were a few times that the story seemed to move slowly and there were some points where it seemed to wonder to things that didn’t seem important. In the end Agatha’s trip to Sader’s office is important, but I feel like it was just thrown in there for Agatha to have the revelation at the end of the book. It wasn’t written in as seamlessly as it could have been.

I hated the way the book ended!!!  It just ENDED. There was ZERO, I mean absolutely NO wrap up at all. After such a long book I wanted some closure for our characters but there was none. The author obviously knew he was going to write a series.  But I would have appreciated just a little wrap up.

Overall I really enjoyed it.  Looking forward to where the author takes the series. 

Book Review: The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner #2)

The Scorch Trials

by  James Dashner

Date Read:  9/14/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

The entire time I was reading this story I was blown away by how different it was from the movie. For both “The Maze Runner” and “The Scorch Trials” I had watched the movie first.  I love the movies, I’m just wondering why they chose to make the second movie so vastly different from the book. It’s almost just loosely based on the book.  But that also made it fun to read the book because I still wasn’t sure what to expect.

I feel like this book was a little slower than the first book. Most of the book was about the gang traveling across the desert.  Yeah, there were some action scenes here and there, but it was still basically just a traveling book.  I wish it had been a little more exciting and diverted from the Scorch more often.

Thomas also passed out or slept (and dreamed) a LOT throughout this book.  It really slowed everything down. While I get that the author is making it real, it just really stopped the story and jarred me out of my rhythm.

The change between Thomas and Teresa in this book was done really well, I thought. It was very believable and just like Thomas, the reader has no idea who to trust. I definitely have some strong emotions about this and I tend to side with Thomas.

Several new characters are introduced in this book. Aris is an interesting character. I’m still on the fence about him. I liked Brenda a lot…but I didn’t like how forward she was. But once I got past that I really liked her.

We get a little bit more information on what the world is like now. There are still plenty of questions left open. The main ones being “What the heck is the killzone?” and “How is torturing children going to create a cure?”.  Dashner does a wonderful job of giving you just enough to keep reading and wanting so much more. Curious as to what this is all really about.

I hated the ending. It felt like the author just had a long story and decided to chop it right there. There was absolutely no wrap up at all. The story just ended. All of a sudden there were no more pages. What the heck? Ok, I get that you want a cliffhanger, but you can still successfully have a cliffhanger in your book while still having a little wrap up in other areas.

A little disappointed in this book following The Maze Runner. It’s still entertaining enough to get through, but it definitely took me a while to get through it … i.e. had to re-request from the library several times before I finished it…  I’m looking forward to reading The Death Cure to finally get some answers and see how this series ends.

Book Review: Max at Night (BLOGTOUR)

Max at Night

by  Ed Vere

Date Read:  9/8/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I received a copy of Max at Night from the publisher, Sourcebooks, in exchange for an honest review. I’m so thankful they sent me this because my daughter and I will enjoy this story for years to come!

This book follows Max, a little kitten, as he is ready to go to bed, but he can’t find the moon to say goodnight. He goes on an adventure trying to get as high as he can to find the moon to say goodnight. Then he follows his steps back home to bed.

This sweet book is a wonderful bedtime book for toddlers and preschoolers. There aren’t that many words on the page and the length is perfect to help get a child ready for bed but not too long that they get bored. The illustrations are large and simple with a subdued color palette which keeps it from being too stimulating before bed. The repetition is perfect for preschoolers…you can ask the child what does Max have to do next to get back home?

My daughter and I really enjoyed this story and we are so thankful to Sourcebooks for providing us a copy.

Enter below for a chance to win your own copy of Max at Night and an original sketch by author and illustrator Ed Vere!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, you can download an activity kit here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx4ZhGcf82dneVdyYlBJUzdNMUk/view?pref=2&pli=1

If you’d like to learn more about the author and illustrator of Max at Night, you can find him by any of his social media below.

Website: http://www.edvere.com/

Twitter: @ed_vere

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ed_vere/

Book Review: Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (The Guardians #3)

Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (#3)

by  William Joyce

Date Read:  9/3/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

The first thing I noticed about this book when we finally got the audiobook from the library was that is significantly shorter than the previous novels. Well, just be warned, that is because it ends on a huge cliffhanger and it just says “To Be Continued”.  SERIOUSLY?!

This book was actually much slower in pace than the previous books as well. It has a lot more background on Toothiana than we’ve gotten on the other characters.  Between this and the shorter length, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of action in this book. I did really enjoy the background story on Toothiana. It’s pretty tragic and yet hopeful also.

I’m really interested to see what happens to Katherine and also to our heroes as their journey continues. Pitch is a pretty sympathetic villain – while he’s doing evil now, he wasn’t always that way and he lost his daughter.  Will Pitch and Katherine end up having some sort of connection that helps save him from the evil?

I really enjoy these storylines but I’m disappointed that book 4 in the series is not on audio. Someone needs to remedy that FAST.  My husband and I have both been listening to these on our commute to work – so having to read a physical book will be much more time consuming for us.

Book Review: How to Fight a Dragon's Fury (How to Train Your Dragon #12)

How to Fight a Dragon's Fury (#12)

by  Cressida Cowell

Date Read:  8/5/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I completely forgot I never wrote my review for this either!!

Alright, I’m first going to bring up that if you hate amnesia stories, then you’re going to hate the first half of this book. I’m one of those people. I think it is a cheap cop out for authors. While I know Cowell likely used it as a way to recap the entire series (11 books), it was super frustrating as a reader.  Once Hiccup got his memory back, it got a lot better. Hiccup knew what he was fighting for and why it was so important for him to become King of the Wilder West.

What I was probably most disappointed in was the fact that Fishlegs and Comikaze were barely a part of this book. Hiccup was on his own for most of the book, and even when they began the war, he was still fighting by himself.  They have been such a strong part of Hiccup’s story that it was really disappointing to see him not require their help in this situation.

I really enjoyed the war at the end of the book. I think every single dragon we encountered along the 12 book journey was mentioned, and every single character we’ve encountered was participating in the war.  It was nice to see some characters that had iffy morals make the right decisions, and it was nice to see the bad guys get their comeuppance.

The Dragon Furious’ transformation in this book was pretty impressive and she did it pretty well.  It didn’t seem forced or too fast. His ending is heart-warming and heart-wrenching. I’ll say no more to this.

While you initially get the ending you want, it wasn’t as epic as I was hoping for. It’s still really good and definitely worth the read through the entire series. This is one of my favorite book series, and by far my favorite audiobook I’ve ever listened to. David Tennant is incredibly talented and I hope he reads more books because I will listen to them all!!!

My favorite part of this book was the epilogue. Holy. Cow. Probably one of the best I’ve read.  It was probably a little longer than it needed to be as Hiccup repeated the moral of the story over and over again about the human race, but it’s a good message. You get the answer to the question: What happened to the dragons??

It was a satisfying conclusion to an amazing adventure. I wish it was more epic and didn’t have the cheap amnesia plot device and had Hiccup’s friends a much larger part of his attaining his Kingship, but I am still happy with the ending. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful adventure, Ms. Cowell! I can’t wait until my daughter is a little older and we can read this with her again.  Perhaps if we read it to her early enough, she will love dragons as much as we do, and work hard to help bring the dragons back.  ;-)

Book Review: The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1)

The Hidden Oracle (#1)

by  Rick Riordan

Date Read:  8/2/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I completely forgot that I hadn’t written my review for this yet!  Hopefully I remember everything I wanted to say now…4 weeks later…

Let me start with what I loved about this book: 

1.  Riordan went back to just ONE POV.  While I enjoyed the Heroes of Olympus series, it was too overwhelming having 4 or 5 POVs in each book. Over the course of that series you had seen at least 7 POVs, but I think it was more than that.  Having just the one POV made it much easier to follow and you really got to connect with Apollo. I feel like Riordan does a much better job with his characters when he is only focusing on one of them.
2. Percy!!!  While this series is not specifically about Percy, it is still in his world. Percy was in this book for a lot longer than I thought he would be at the beginning.  Percy is by far my favorite character from all of these books so it’s a lot of fun to catch up with him.
3. Updates on a lot of our favorite characters!  We get to see a lot of previous characters in this book. We also meet a few new characters. You’ll love seeing where everyone is today and what they’ve been up to since the end of Heroes of Olympus.
4. The Oracles. Having actually been to Delphi and saw where the Oracle actually sat, I’ve always been intrigued with this part of the story-line. I really enjoyed learning about the other oracles and the end explanation for what was going on. Riordan does a good job of making things seem irrelevant to each other, and then bringing them back so it make sense at the end.
5. Apollo learns a lot in this book.  I didn’t particularly like him much at the beginning, but by the end I was rooting for him. He grows a lot and learns a lot. He makes some connections with his kids and Meg.
6. Meg was an interesting character.  I can’t say too much about her without spoiling things, but I really liked her and her history.

Things I didn’t like about this book:

1.  Apollo was way too self-absorbed at the beginning. While I understand that it’s the personality of the God, it just didn’t translate well in book format. I also think that Riordan may have over done it so that it was more obvious the growth that Apollo has in the book.
2. The book was a little slow in the middle. Not a lot of action happens in the middle of the book and you are not given many answers…which leads me to #3…
3.  I HATED the plot device Riordan used of Apollo’s amnesia-like situation. Apollo would know everything and have the background info you needed, but then he’d always conveniently “forget” it before he translated that info to another character and the reader. As a reader, it’s infuriating to be teased with info and answers, to only have it dangled there and then pulled away.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I feel like it was a little better than Heroes of Olympus, just because more happened in the book when it wasn’t following 7 characters at the exact same time, and you really got to know the main character much better in one POV.  But it didn’t surpass Percy Jackson.  Riordan just does Percy right, so I don’t think he’ll ever be able to top his original series – unless he goes back to writing only from Percy’s POV.

I’m interested to see how the remainder of the series goes and how often we’ll see previous characters and how involved they will be in helping Apollo with his quest.

Book Review: E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core (The Guardians #2)

E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core

by  William Joyce

Date Read:  7/26/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

It feels like a long time since I finished this. Though really it’s only been like 1.5 weeks. This one is harder to review for me than the first book in the series. I think it was a little slower, especially to set everything up.

What I did really like about this book though, is how much back story we get on Pitch. It really sets Pitch up to show you he was a normal guy, with a family and he was a hero. But the darkness got to him and transformed him in to the villain we now know today. It really makes Pitch related and creates empathy for him in the reader. These are the types of villains that I love right now. The ones that you really get to see their transformation. While we didn’t actually see him as a good guy, Joyce does a wonderful job making the reader feel as if they did.

Bunnymund didn’t come in to the story until much later. I was surprised how late he entered the story, considering he is the title character…  but he is worth the wait. I really liked his personality.  He was so unique and was the last of his kind. It made sense why he would become part of the Guardians. I really liked his Warrior Eggs. Joyce is very creative. And I loved the little tidbit about Humpty Dumpty at the end of the story. What a master weaver Joyce is.

I’m looking forward to continuing this series. I’m so glad I somewhat stumbled upon it. Next up is the tooth fairy – she’s probably the one I’m the least interested in, so we’ll see how this one goes.

Book Review: Magic Marks the Spot (The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1)

Magic Marks the Spot

by  Caroline Carlson

Date Read:  7/29/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

I’m not really sure how to review this book. I think it is probably better in book format rather than audiobook. There were a lot of letters going back and forth throughout the story, and it was hard to follow sometimes listening to it.  I actually was worried that it was going to be diary format for the 5% of the book!

The one thing that I will say about this is that the narrator of the audiobook actually hurt my ears. She has a high pitch and then when she starts yelling or the story gets exciting, it just hits an octave that really hurt my ears. I was constantly cringing. And because of this, I’m not sure I’m going to pick up the subsequent stories.

I thought Hilary was a good character. She had a strong sense of who she was and she never really wavered from it. She made good friends and was a pretty good judge of character. I really liked her relationship with the Gargoyle.

The thing I liked the most about this story was the magic.  I liked that there was only so much magic and someone had taken almost all of it away. If you had some, you had to keep it hidden. It was really unique. I also liked the ending related to the magic.

However, when the big reveal happens about who the Great Enchantress is, it just fell a little flat. There was a lot of buildup and the reveal and character just didn’t really live up to it. I think perhaps the backstory of the Enchantress needed to be built up a little more rather than just told at the end.  And it all seemed to go really fast at the end. The wrong thieves are put in jail and very quickly the real thieves are discovered and the plot is resolved.

I think the story may have had too many things going on, so it couldn’t quite decide which part it wanted to focus on. So instead of narrowing it down a little to do it well…it did all of them mediocre.

Overall it was decent. I may have enjoyed it more if my ears weren’t constantly cringing. Perhaps one day I will pick up the books to read the sequels, but for now, I think I’ll just stick to this one.

Book Review: A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans (#1)

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans

by  Laurence Yep, Joanne Ryder

Date Read:  7/11/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★

This book was pretty good. I forgot to write my review so it’s been a while since I actually finished it, so parts are hard to remember.

The beginning is a bit hard because it’s silly that a dragon thinks that the human is her pet. Clearly the human race runs the world – the magicals all hide from them…  so that was hard to adjust to. But perhaps that was just because the dragon’s personality was hard to relate to initially.  Once the story got going she wasn’t as hardended and it was easier to get to know her.

I really liked Winnie.  It just took a long time for the author to set up what was really the plot of the story. I was surprised as I was about half way through and read the description more carefully about Winnie’s sketchbook. By the time the sketchlings get out to wreak havoc, the book is almost over. They’re search and capture of the sketchlings happens to quickly the reader barely gets any satisfaction.  I think the author should have spent a little less time setting up Winnie and Ms. Drake’s relationship and spent more time on the sketchbook and the chase.  It felt like they escaped and they captured them all within a few hours. Not satisfying.

I thought the world the author set up was interesting though - with the magical beings able to live in hiding from the humans. I liked that the dragon could turn in to human form. The magic was fun.

It was a solid 3 star book. It was a nice, easy book to listen to during my commute to and from work.

Gilmore Girls Discussion - Who Should Rory End up with?

I have been a die hard Gilmore Girls fan since I was in high school.  I started high school in 2000, which was when Gilmore Girls first aired.  Being just a year behind Rory, I could almost always relate to what she was dealing with on the show.  I adored her relationship with her mother, and the way they played off each other with such ease. I’d never seen that in a TV show. I’d also never seen people talk so fast in my life!  It had charm and was artsy and some really great side characters. I will easily say it’s been my favorite TV show I’ve ever watched. I was soo sad when the show ended in 2007.  Ever since then, there has not been a TV show that has been able to equal that show.

When I heard that Netflix was bringing a continuation to the Gilmore Girls story, titled A Year in the Life, I was so ecstatic. I didn’t even know how to react I was so excited.  It was even more exciting when I heard that the entire cast, even all the side characters and towns people were coming back!  So in my euphoric state, I decided that since it’s been a whole 9 years since I’d watched the show (with the exception of a few occasional reruns on TV), I needed to binge watch all 7 seasons!

Now that I’ve finished watching all 7 seasons, I remembered how frustrated I was at how the series ended.  Most of it comes from the relationships. Since all 3 of Rory’s boyfriends are supposed to appear in the continuation on Netflix, I thought that I showed weigh in my opinion of who I feel Rory should end up with in the end.

Dean:

I was never a fan of Dean. Sure, when you watch those first 2 seasons he is super sweet and loyal to Rory. The way he was able to banter with the girls and knew them so well was endearing…But he was always kind of immature and just not on the same level as Rory. He didn’t have that many goals in life, he didn’t value his education, and he just didn’t really fit in to her life.  And of course we cannot forget his infidelity to his wife, Lindsey. He cheated on his wife, with Rory. Once a cheater, always a cheater. There is no way Rory could trust him.

Jess:

Before I re-watched the entire series this year, I thought I was on Team Jess. For some reason I always liked Jess. He had that bad guy attitude, but yet always seemed to take care of Rory. It was that personality that is so popular in YA novels now…before it was cool. Rory had a lot in common with Jess in the fact that he was very literate.  However, he also didn’t take school very seriously and it was hard to make him focus on something.  I was so happy to see him succeeding in those final seasons of the show.  But I feel that Rory had moved on – she even tried to cheat on Logan (to get back at him) with Jess, and it didn’t feel right. She has moved on from this relationship. So while I still enjoy Jess and feel that definitely should be close friends for life, I don’t think he’s the guy for her.  And can we just address the fact that if Luke and Lorelei are still together and plan to get married, that makes Rory and Jess semi-related????  While it’s not blood and it would be her step-father’s nephew…it’s still a little too close for me to be okay with that.

Logan:

Where do I even begin with Logan?  I’m clearly on Team Logan now. I liked how their relationship progressed on the show.  It was slow and believable… starting with just being this jerk she ran in to, to running in to him some more, then using him to write a story on the Life and Death Brigade, to becoming friends with him and his friends, then dating casually.  Once Rory realizes she can’t do the casual thing, he makes a decision to be monogamous to her.  From then on, Logan was my guy.  Yes, he was rich and privileged and arrogant, but he used it in a good way. He took care of Rory and was very protective of her – especially against his obnoxious mom and dad. He challenged her often to keep pushing her and helping her to live life in the moment.  He made her take more chances and be less fearful of things (sometimes that was bad… remember the boat incident?). He was determined and loved Rory for her quirkiness. He was actually very smart as well, but didn’t take school as seriously – he actually got kicked out of boarding schools just like Rory’s father. [Girls always pick a guy that is like their father].  He was very witty and had a great sense of humor (remember the theatrical stunt he pulled in the classroom?)  He was always there for Rory when she needed him and had great apologies when he did something wrong or there was a misunderstanding. He was just perfect. Perfect for her.  A great balance between them – similar and yet different enough to push each other and lean on each other. And they way he would look at her?  SWOON!  Every girl wants a guy to look at her that way - total adoration and love. 

While I watched the end of the series for the second time, I started remembering how frustrated I was at the ending of the show.  As it got closer and closer to the end, I started getting angry. And then I watched the infamous episode where Logan asks Rory to marry him in front of all her friends at her graduation party… (and can I just say that my life even ended up paralleling Rory’s in that way also? A year and a half later when I graduated college, my boyfriend proposed to me at our joint graduation party!)  I said YES!  Why couldn’t she?  I didn’t feel I was too young and it definitely didn’t hinder my career either. I felt Rory’s reasoning was really lame. If you’ve met the right man, why does age have anything to do with it? UGH.  And it's not like she had a job lined up on the East coast at the time. She could have easily applied to papers in the Bay Area. I was so mad at the end of that episode, that I actually told my husband that I almost don’t want Logan to give Rory a second chance in the continuation. But now that I’ve cooled off, I still want her and Logan to get back together. If that’s the case, and I sincerely hope it is, then they will have missed out on 9 years of happiness together because of Rory’s stupid decision.

According to IMDB, Matt Czuchry (Logan) is in all 4 episodes, Milo Venitimiglio (Jess) is in 3 episodes, and Jared Padalecki (Dean) is only in 1 episodes. My hope is that this information means that Logan is the one she ends up realizing she still loves and wants to finally make her life with!

I also want to take a moment to vent about the Lorelei and Luke and Christopher thing as well. I was so, so angry that they had Lorelei go to Christopher at the end of Season 6. Yes, Lorelei had every reason to be mad at Luke, but going to Chris was so immature. While she finally takes responsibility for it at the end of season 7, I hated that she tried to make it be okay by completely breaking up with Luke and then marrying Chris. Everyone knew she wasn’t supposed to be with him. Even though it was nice for Rory to have her parents together, she wasn’t even that excited. So it was a boring plot line that dragged on for too long. And it took the writers way too long to get them back together – the last 2 minutes of the series???

I’ve done so much research with this new A Year in the Life and I have learned quite a bit. I wasn’t aware that the original writers of the show only wrote seasons 1 – 6. Once the WB became the CW, they couldn’t agree to contracts so new writers wrote the final season. Apparently the events that take place in season 7 are not how the original writers had seen the series going. In fact, she even said she knew what the final 4 words of the series would be very early on in the series. Unfortunately, we never got to hear those words. She’s kept quiet about it ever since, and we’re finally going to get to find out what it was!  I’m really hoping that since the original writers are doing the Netflix show that it will get back to what it’s good at and will bring some happiness and closure to the Gilmore Girls’ lives.

Weigh in on who you think Rory should end up with in the comments!

Book Review: Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King

Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King (The Guardians #1)
by  William Joyce
Date Read:  7/5/16
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I was having trouble finding an audiobook for my husband and I to listen to on our commute to work. I somehow stumbled across this, and since we enjoyed the movie, I checked it out.  We are so happy we did.  (Side note: this story also has a series of picture books titled "The Guardians of Childhood" as well with origin stories of the Man in the Moon, Sandman, and Jack Frost – and the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.)

The book was a little slow to start up – it gave a lot of back history on Pitch (the nightmare King) and how he came to be (a fallen hero) and setting up the setting of the story in Big Root and what was going on there with Umbric and Katherine. Once Nicholas St. North actually shows up in the story it really started getting interesting.

The background story is all needed to really understand the story – and it’s a very interesting world. I love the magic and the twists on the childhood characters. I liked how protective North became of Katherine even though he started out as just a thief. Everything was built up really well and in a believable amount of time.

Overall a great story. I feel like I missed out though listening to the audiobook. Reading others reviews, it sounds like there are illustrations in these chapter books as well. I might have to go look at in the library just so I can see the illustrations. The ones that are included in the picture book series are just marvelous (haha, I couldn’t think of any other words that describe how beautiful they are!).

I’m really excited to read more of North’s story to see how he eventually becomes Santa Clause. I’m also really excited to see how Joyce brings to life and twists more of our favorite characters like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.