ramblings of the perpetual new girl

Are you surprised, seriously?! All my best learning was while reading. Life lessons happened to my favorite characters and knowing they were going through what I was, is why I still love books today. via Reader's Nook

Oy! Did you miss me? While I've been gone... reading has happened. Finding time to write up the reviews means shifting priorities and my daughter is turning TWENTY-ONE so that requires planning... lots and lots of planning involving chocolate cake and Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments on black miniature Christmas trees. Oh yeah and steampunk outfits. Woohoo. All the fun happens here. However, since reading the Holiday anthology  I was in the mood for more Rainbow Rowell words. My daughter was reading Fangirl for the first time, and since I've reread that novel already -- I guess it was time to revisit the darlings Eleanor and Park. These two might seem like your stereotypical love birds but when you pair them with the honesty and raw emotion that comes in the forms of quips and glimpses into a past era that takes one back to when being young and in love didn't necessarily mean you were stupid or naive, true love conquers all feels a bit more plausible than other YA r...

So yeah, my facebook feed is full of this 16 Personalities Test. I believe it might be an abbreviated version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test. Possibly. Interestingly enough, I used to remember what type I was having taken the Myers-Briggs twice... the full thing mediated by a psychologist. Both times, I was in college... the first and second time I attended. Each time I was so close to the middle, that I had to choose which description felt more like me. Weirdly, I always have felt like an outsider because I am way too positive and happy and willing to look at the good in people and situations that hardly no one I knew could relate. It was -- is -- frustrating. Tonight, I thought why not... why not take this personality quiz on facebook and see what exactly I'd get. Not unlike my past results, I again got the rare type and totally relate to the description. Hmmm?! What about you all? Any of you feel like you don't change much over the years, personality-wise and ye...

Right on schedule for my second book read in 2015, although I do not think that I will be able to keep up this pace once the kiddos are back in school and I go about actively trying to get a new job (preferably by Barnes & Noble)! Oh the joys of pounding the pavement while attempting to chauffeur the kiddos everywhere they need to be. The kitties have their wellness check-up and shots this week so they're going to just LOVE me after that visit, but what can you do? Someone has to be the villain, yeah?! Speaking of villains, has the Lunar Chronicles got one that's ever so frighteningly mysterious. I truly loathe Queen Levana and yet... her own childhood played a huge part in shaping her into the monstrous manipulator that she is in Cinder, Scarlet and Cress . In fact, she seems downright mild in nature in comparison to her two advisors -- Thaumaturge Aimery Park and Thaumaturge Sybil Mira -- in this book, Cress . TITLE:  Cress  AUTHOR(S): Marissa Meyer...

Today’s the second day of 2015 and hey… helllllloooooooo readers, have I got a holiday hangover chaser for you! Need to hold onto the spirit of giving for a little longer before facing the harsh realities of winter again?! My True Love Gave To Me *Twelve Holiday Stories*  includes the twelve days of Christmas with all the schmaltz, tinsel and bubbling disbelief you expect from romance, but brings you all the bleeding heart liberal doses of humanity that makes every day transform from hardened, gray and ordinary into magic, into minor miracles that while seem nothing special touches lives and offers hope where there might not otherwise be any. That’s the beauty of Christmas! (Even when you don't call it Christmas or prefer science over religion or celebrate the many other religious holidays that come during the winter holidays.) It shows up in every single story contained within My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins (who also contr...

While it is rare that I make resolutions, this year -- 2015 -- comes after some startling changes in my personal life as well as where I hang my hat. Oh yes, newsboy caps, fedoras, trilbies and a top hat... they've all moved along with 2 kiddos, 2 cats and a beta fish. Now that the heat has shriveled me up and my lungs... and we've been here long enough to change our licenses -- why shouldn't I start off the New Year with a mind and heart set to the future and the challenges, the opportunities that might come with it. I've done enough changing and adapting to last a lifetime so here I go again. Right?! Must be something in the air, because Neil Gaiman who has some of the loveliest benedictions for New Years had mentioned he wouldn't be writing a new one for 2015 but guess he couldn't help himself this year either, because he came up with this lovely benediction that I am repeating here as a personal prayer for my family, myself and all of you. Be kind to ...