04/15/17 - Reading Challenge Update

Previously I mentioned that I have challenged myself to read 12 books in 2017.
I figure 1 book a month is do-able, despite the fact that last year I only managed to read 7.

I am here to share w/ you my progress.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram you already know most of this.
But I am including 1 more book and a bit more info about the others I already mentioned on IG, including  brief summaries from and links to Amazon or GoodReads , so you may want to read this post anyway.


Books I've Read (in the order I read them):


1. (Previously Shared on a past Blog Post):
"Detour From Normal"

Despite access to the greatest healthcare in the world, U.S citizens are not immune to medical horror stories. Such was the experience of Ken Dickson, a beloved husband and father and respected engineer, with no history of mental illness. What should have been an ordinary surgical procedure changed that, propelling him into a high security psychiatric ward where psychiatrists branded him a danger to himself and others.

Read More:  Detour From Normal

 

 

2. "She Sins at Midnight"

Lila Montgomery, thirty-two-year-old Hollywood assistant extraordinaire, has a secret. On the outside, she’s a hard-working dedicated employee, a good friend, and a loving daughter. But above all else, she’s been raised to be a lady, which of course is why she’s determined to conceal her secret life. If her straight-laced friends and family back home ever discover that she is really the smashing new author of a steamy romance novel, their disapproval would shame her forever!

Read More:  She Sins at Midnight



 

3. "Rags to Bitches"

The boy named Most Likely to Succeed back in high school? That would be handsome, wealthy Gabe Moreau. Everyone assumed Gabe’s devotion to girlfriend Dena Devlin was mere puppy love, a rebellious stroll on the wrong side of the tracks. Dena was, after all, the janitor’s daughter. Unfortunately, even a love as strong as theirs couldn’t withstand Gabe’s act of betrayal.



Read More: Rags to Bitches



 

4. "Only the Truth"

Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.

Read More:  Only The Truth



 

5. "The Lovely Bones"

"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on eath continue without her - her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling



Read More:  The Lovely Bones



 

6. "Waiting for Ethan"

When Gina Rossi was in junior high, her best friend’s psychic grandmother got everything right—from predicting that Gina would break her arm and travel to Italy, all the way to leading police to a missing neighborhood child. The one time Gina didn’t listen to her, she almost got herself killed. So when she says that Gina will marry a man named Ethan—but she will have to wait for him—Gina believes her, and waits…

Read More:  Waiting for Ethan



 

7. 'Openly Straight"

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes.

He likes to write.

And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.
So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret --

Read More:  Openly Straight

**This one was my fave and there is a sequel I'm hoping to read! **

 

 

 

 

 

In order of the way I liked them:

1. Openly Straight

2. The Lovely Bones

3. Waiting for Ethan

4. Only The Truth

5. From Rags to Bitches

6. She Sins at Midnight

7. Detour From Normal

I'm currently on book number 8, which I will talk about on another blog post.

8 out of 12 and it's only April... I'm definitely hitting my goal this year (hopefully I didn't just jinx myself)!!!

Hope your reading goals are coming along!
If you happen to read any of the books I listed here, please let me know!!!



02/10/17 - Still Blogging and My Reading Challenge

Hello!

I wanted to thank all who responded to my question: Why Do You Blog?

There were a variety of answers and some of you are in the same boat as me as far as not having a lot of followers, well "active" followers at least, and that made me feel a bit better about my situation. 

I loved learning why you still continued to blog even when it felt like you really had no audience.

I appreciate the responses for those of who have reasons for blogging that are different from mine also, such as family or business-related needs.
All your responses caused me to think more on the subject and I realized, like some of you, I just really like sharing my stories and projects even if not that many people see or care about them!
It's another great creative release for me!
I do explain my layouts, the story behind them and/or the creative process of making them on SB.com, but not as much or in as much detail as I feel I can here.
Plus I noticed that although I don't get a lot of comments I do get a lot of visitors to my posts and I thought that maybe the reason I don't get many comments is you have to have a blog and/or Google account in order to leave a comment and not a lot of people do (if that's not true, don't burst my bubble, LOL)!
Also I know I enjoy reading blogs even if I don't always leave a comment and perhaps people feel the same about mine (again, don't correct me if I'm wrong, hahahahahahaha)!
So for now at least I will continue to share my projects here, even those that are not Design Team related.
.......

Now on to another subject.
If you take a look of the tag line to my blog, you will see that it says: "Art, Books, and Randomness".
I think I've done a great job covering the "art" and "randomness" parts, but "books".... not-so-much!
Last year I set a goal to read 12 books.
1 a month should've been easy but I failed; I only read 7 total books for the year.
I love to read, normally, but last year I just couldn't get into it!

This year I'm going to try that 12 book goal again. 
I finished reading my first book; I was not impressed:

Summary:

Despite access to the greatest healthcare in the world, U.S citizens are not immune to medical horror stories. Such was the experience of Ken Dickson, a beloved husband and father and respected engineer, with no history of mental illness. What should have been an ordinary surgical procedure changed that, propelling him into a high security psychiatric ward where psychiatrists branded him a danger to himself and others.
This gut wrenching novel is leaving readers shocked at the author’s treatment, and appalled by how quickly a medical situation fell through the cracks, sending the patient spiraling uncontrollably into medically induced madness.
This novel is not, however, only about Ken. It is the story of two people deeply in love, but torn apart by fate, an eye-opening introduction to the stigma of mental illness, and a personal run-in with the poor broken souls trapped in psychiatric care. It is a rich and varied exploration of our humanity written from the unique perspective of someone suffering from mental illness.
Detour from Normal is a novel that you cannot afford to ignore, with a message that you will not want to dismiss: tomorrow, next year, or five years from now, this could happen to you.

 

Sounds good huh?!

I found it to be good at the beginning but it eventually got really boring really fast!

It took me 2 weeks to finish and I forced myself to keep reading it because I figured all the "rave reviews" couldn't be wrong; they were!

I would not recommend this book.
.
Well, I'm off to a bad start... but at least I finished it! 1 down, 11 more to go.

Anybody else have any reading goals this year?