Long Over Due

A few times, I've mentioned my love for Barnes and Noble. Well, I say love when I really mean obsession but you get my point. It is one of my favorite places to go. But its also dangerous because then I add several more books to my never-ending reading list. I swear if I actually wrote it all down, I think I'd have over a hundred books.

Since I got out of class early this week, and I had some time to kill before I met up with my best friends, I decided to drive head on over there. It was long over due. I think the last time I went there was at least three months ago. Considering I used to go there every couple of weeks that was quite a long time for me.

Usually my friend, Courtney and I go there together because she is a huge bookworm too. When we hang out we end up there at some point. Its like we can avoid it even if we tired, though honestly we don't try at all. Barnes and Noble is right up there with the library in my book. Anyway, back to my story. This time I went by myself and I found about twelve more books to add to my list. A few I had already known about but I didn't know they were out yet. What's even better is when I find that an author that I love has come out with a new book. It always gets me excited to read it. I always get a good feeling walking through those doors and seeing all the new books on the shelves. 

Here are a few of the books I found:

                       

Dangerous Lies was an exceptionally good find because I didn't even know she had a new book out. All the books I've read by Becca Fitzpatrick have been super good! She wrote the Hush, Hush saga, Black Ice, and that's just the more recent and more popular books. This one is about a girl who is the star witness in the murder trial of a big drug dealer and she is in the Witness Protection Program. She has to stay under the radar but trouble seems to have a way of finding her. It definably had chills running up and now my back when I read the summary of it. Also I know after reading her other books, that she is sure to deliver a fantastic novel.

The White Rose is the sequels to The Jewel. I loved the first book. For anyone who has read The Selection series by Kiera Cass then you would defiantly like this series. Its about a society in which girls are bought by the wealthy women that live in the Jewel, which is like their capital, to bear children for them. Its a great book about not being in control of your our body and the cruelty the owners show their surrogates. I have no doubt that the sequel will be just or maybe even better than the first book.

Survive The Night is about an all night underground rave in the tunnels of New York. It's one hell of a party until Casey, main character, finds a murdered girl in the tunnels. Then she and her friends, desperate for help search for a way out. But will they find help before they are hunted down by who or what killed the girl? Who knows, but I for one am excited to read this one. Hopefully it won't lead to any nightmares. :)

Here's to my new finds and hopefully I'll get to them before too long. I hope I'll find the time to visit Barnes and Noble again soon and get even more books to stock up on the cold days ahead.

Happy reading everyone!

On The Go

Road trips are always fun. Whether it be to a amusement park, seeing family, or just because you felt like it. There is something about getting in the car and getting away from the chains of everyday life. My family is big on camping. Its one of my favorite parts of summer. I love getting the chance to get away from the normal day to day activities. It's where I get a ton of reading done. Both in the car ride there and once we are at the campsite.

Since my mom always liked to go somewhere different, that meant at least a three hour drive. Sometimes more if we decided to go to the UP. Packing six kids into a car for a three hour plus drive wasn't always easy. My brothers and I learned very quickly that we had to keep ourselves occupied. So I always made sure that I had a book. Actually, I always made sure I had several books depending how long our trip was.

Reading in the car isn't always the greatest of places but I made it work. Mostly by taking breaks when my eyes would start to hurt.

All of my extended family lives in Muskegon, Grand Rapids, and some of them are even out of state. When I was younger, we used to have a family reunion every summer. It used to be the family canoe trip down the Rifle River. But it had since changed to the family kayak trip because kayaks are much easier to handle down that river. If you've never been on the Rifle River, its a fairly large river and its very fast. I was never particularly interested in going down the river once I was old even to go. I had this fear that if the kayak tipped over (and on the Rifle, you will tip at some point) I wouldn't be able to get out and I would drown. Not a really rational fear but very few fears are rational.

Since I stayed behind I would fill my day with going to the beach and reading the many books I had brought with me. The quiet that I get when I go camping is perfect. It's nice to be able to unplug from the outside world every now and then.

I remember when my brother, Evan was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Georgia. It had finally worked out for us to go see him and have a nice vacation. Since we were driving down there rather than flying, I knew I was going to need lots of books to get me through the trip. If you have even done the summer reading program and you get a tote bag as one of the prizes, I filled one of those to the brim and then some with books. It was so heavy and I really thought I was going to read them all. I was even a little worried I hadn't brought enough.

In reality though, instead of reading the many books I brought, I slept. Seriously, I practically slept the whole way there. I really only woke up when we stopped for food. I'd eat and be wide awake but once we were back on the road I'd be asleep once again. To say the least, that's not how I thought it was going to go. So then I was stuck lugging around that colossal bag of books from the car, to the hotel rooms we stayed at and back again.

Now a days though, I don't read in the car as much. Simply because now I'm the one driving myself to the places I want to go instead of my mom. Sometimes I wish I could get that time back to read books but until they come up with a way to safely read while driving, I'm stuck. But for now that's okay.