Reading Challenge: Poetry - check!

I literally just got this book tonight and finished it while giggling to myself during many entries. So my book for poetry was:

Anyone who has been married for a while will appreciate the humor between these covers. This was one of my favorite entries - couples counseling (part 1):

The couples therapist urges

us to repeat

what each of us

has just said.

Okay. So I hear you saying

that I am a terrible husband,

man, and human being.

Hold on, Roger, the therapist says.

That's not what Amy said.

Yes, but that's what I heard.

Okay but what she actually said was she wanted you to listen

more.

Let's try to repeat the actual words

and not our interpretation.

Sorry, I wasn't listening...

This book was a fun, lighthearted view on what marriage is. We get excited when kids go to sleep. Leggings, sweats, anything comfy is what we look to wear. Sexy lingerie is not the goal as it may have been during the "wooing" stages. Oh my how I giggled while turning the pages!

A nice change of pace for me. A solid 4 stars for the entertainment value!

Reading Challenge: YA (young adult) - check!

Okay, so I have now finished 10 books in this challenge. What a way to hit double digits. This book:

Oh my. It was heartbreaking. The main character, Caitlin, goes through anger, sadness, despair, confusion...a gamut of feelings. Ultimately she gets to hope and the ride with her is so special. This book digs into a tough theme: teen suicide. That in itself is heartbreaking. Being a teen is tough enough without losing your best friend to suicide and not knowing that they even needed help. The questions and confusion that come from such a blindside can only be devastating in nature. The way that Caitlin's journey was described took me right back to being a teen in high school and all the awkwardness of that time. To have it all feel so real is a testament to Nina LaCour's writing. Photography plays a major role in the story and every image was written with such detail that I felt like I was looking at the pictures or felt like I had seen them somewhere. Every emotion and every act from Caitlin just made sense. Even when she was confused by her own actions, they made sense. I just wanted to give Caitlin a big ole hug. Taking the journey with her as she discovered new friends throughout the pain she was experiencing was also something that gave me pause. I was hoping that she would be able to open up enough to allow these new entities into her life even with such raw emotions under the surface. The moments where she stumbled made the whole story believable. If the storyline had been too perfect, I think it would have lost me. The stumbles added beauty to the story. I really loved it all (and flew through the book, I was so mesmerized).

This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I rated it 5 stars. Phew!

I have not decided on my next book yet, so that will just have to be a surprise.

Reading Challenge: A Book You Tried Once But Didn't Finish - check!

This next book was one that I originally tried to read once, but at the time I could not get into it, so put it down to read something else. I then tried it again and it became my 9th book in the reading challenge. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult:

I enjoy books by this author and several of my 5-star ratings are her books (The Storyteller, Small Great Things, etc...). I love what Jodi can do with a moral dilemma and show both sides with such skill. This one was about a very polarizing theme: abortion. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, most people do not waiver from what they believe. This story wove several stories around each other. I have read her back and forth between the present and the past in other books of hers and I have found it to be an effective tool. I am sorry to say I found the approach in this book to fall a bit flat with me. I prefer when she starts all the way back and works up to the present. In this book, she kept going further and further back. I found it a bit more tedious only because every I did not find that it brought me to what should have been the climax of the story. Although I enjoyed the book, it was not one of my favorites by this author. I felt like there were a few too many characters with too many points of view trying to be covered. Because of that, I did not really gravitate to any of her characters like I normally do. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

And with that, I present the next book on my list:

Reading Challenge: Book That Takes Place in Another Country - check!

I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago and am only getting to my post now. So this is my 8th book of the reading challenge. I put it under the category of taking place in another country as it was set in England. The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances:

This was a book that was a slow burn and then a roller coaster ride. When it hit the full-on crazy, it picked up a lot of speed. I enjoyed this book. The funny thing is that I was not really into any of the characters: Cherry was just way too focused on changing her place in the pecking order and was way crazy. Laura's lies kept compounding the problem and got way out of hand. And Daniel just did not have a clue. Even though I did not really like the characters, I really liked the story around them. I, as a mother, cannot imagine using a lie to try to get rid of someone - I am much too straight-forward for that. However, I can understand the desperation to keep her son safe. I was kind of annoyed with Daniel for so easily doubting his mother because he was so caught up in Cherry. How he did not see through her manipulative nature irked me. I would have liked to see a bit more sway between him with both women rather than just being on one side most of the time.

I see that Michelle Frances has a couple of other books - I may just have to try them out. I rated this book 4 stars on Goodreads for the fast pace at the end and the fact that I really needed to know where things were going. I was engaged the whole way.

I have also loaned this book to 2 different friends already and the one who has already finished it really enjoyed it.

My next book is by a favorite author of mine: