Journey of a Bookworm

As a child I adored the Winnie the Pooh stories, The Wind in the Willows, Little House on the Prairie, and anything by Shel Silverstein. Then Animorphs, Goosebumps, and The Babysitters Club were books I collected faster than Pokémon.

I love rereading Harry Potter too, mostly the 1st-3rd books.

I've been obsessed with Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy since high school and now I read every book/series she releases.

Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson series is another favorite of mine. I’ve always loved mythology and this series just brings it to life so well.

My more recent book obsessions are Gini Koch's Alien series because it's actually laugh out loud funny and you'll care about all of the characters. Then there are books by Rainbow Rowell and Stephanie Perkins which are more than awesome and have a plethora of unique characters.

Right now I'm immersed in the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, it's so very good (if you love science fiction, really strong world building, and stupendous characters than this is the series for you.)

My book choice can veer anywhere from MG,  YA, comic books, to anything Fiction or beyond that catches my interest.

Oh, and I'm drawn like a moth to a flame to books with superheroes or mermaids.

The Journey of a Bookworm though is forever ongoing so what has your journey been so far/what is the best thing you’ve read lately?

Discussion Time - Yay or Nay?

Did you read Underwater? If so, what did you like or dislike?

My Favorite Quotes/Lines - Underwater

Underwater by Marisa Reichardt

* Received from NetGalley for review.

“That’s my rule: Nothing will ever hurt me if I don’t cross the threshold.”

“Of course he meant was I physically sick, like with pneumonia or explosive diarrhea. Not mentally sick.”

“One second you’re whole, the next second you’ve melted.”

“You have a good laugh. Like when you hand one out, you mean it.”

“He will be a boy living out in the world.

I will be a girl peeking out from behind a curtain.”

“Sometimes it’s nice to know someone without having to talk all the time.”

“You should keep writing. Putting things down in words might help you to process them.”

“Sometimes the things we are sure of aren’t true at all.”

“Why can’t I be happy to be alive instead of afraid of living?”

“I swim. I float. I breathe. I burn. I hope. I dream. I think. I wonder. I am.”

“Morgan, don’t you know? Making you laugh is my greatest accomplishment.”

“But loving isn’t the same as forgiving, and I still need to work on that.”

“Now reality is back. But it’s a good reality. It’s a promising one.”

Review - Underwater

Underwater by Marisa Reichardt

* Received from NetGalley for review.

4 out of 5 gnomes

Such a great character study of a story. Looks at guilt/a horrible situation and how it can eat at you. Makes you just imagine what effect this would have on someone.

Shows Morgan’s recovery and how none of it is easy. All the characters are fleshed out pretty well too.

I lover her therapist Brenda, her mom and her brother Ben. Can just imagine how a small child would deal with all this. This book is also a good in depth look at a family that’s having plenty of problems.

Her next door neighbor Evan is a hot diversion but also a unique character in his own right. I really liked how it’s not instalove right away.

The bulk of the story is figuring out why Morgan feels this way and what she hasn’t told everybody. It’s a compelling read and I love that it leaves you with hope.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.

Sentence Sneak Peek - Underwater

Underwater by Marisa Reichardt

The first sentence from each chapter of Underwater, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Received from NetGalley for review.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

“I just moved.”

“My emergency pills are in an amber prescription bottle on the second shelf of the medicine cabinet.”

“Ben loves pancakes.”

“Nighttime makes the darkness last forever.”

“My mom and Ben are still at the birthday party when there’s a knock on my door.”

“The weekend passes, and when Brenda comes on Tuesday, she says we need a plan for how I can help myself when something triggers a panic attack.”

“Two weekends have passed since Evan and I watched his surf video.”

“I sit at the computer in my too-tight jeans.”

“Brenda comes at one p.m.”

“Brenda was right.”

“I decide to deliver my letter to Evan as soon as I’m done writing it.”

“The sound of Evan thumping down the stairs early the next morning wakes me up.”

“Do you want to come in?”

“When I walk Evan to the door, he asks me for my phone.”

“I’m a little groggy today because I stayed up way too late texting Evan last night.”

“My mom’s cell phone rings after dinner, and she excuses herself to go outside and sit on the stairs to talk.”

“I run to my room.”

“A week passes, and on the last Thursday of April, after my mom and Ben leave for the day, the rain comes down like a last hurrah to April Showers.”

“After I say good-bye to Brenda, I sit down at the computer to work.”

“Evan knocks at the door every fifteen minutes.”

“All weekend, my mom fields phone calls from my grandma about my dad.”

“Monday morning comes and my grandma calls.”

“I’m glad today is Tuesday.”

“I decide to wait for Evan at the bottom of the stairs after Brenda leaves.”

“Hop on my back and I’ll take you to the river,” Ben says.”

“A week passes and Evan doesn’t stop by.”

“My grandpa Ben took care of his car.”

“After I finish my homework, watch two videotaped lectures for school, and mop and vacuum the floors, I sprawl out like a starfish on top of my bed to think.”

“Ben comes busting through the door at six p.m.”

“Today, May twenty-third, is Ben’s birthday, so when Brenda arrives, I suggest we walk to the corner market to buy a cake mix and a tub of frosting with the money I still have saved up from teaching swim lessons.”

“My mom is relieved I baked a cake, because we’d be up hours past Ben’s bedtime if she had to bake one herself.”

“I see Aaron Tiratore in my dreams.”

“Summer is almost here.”

“By the time my mom gets home, Taylor is long gone, off to some class at the gym to build muscles even bigger than the ones she already has.”

“So I have a boyfriend,” I tell Brenda as we stroll around the block, past dilapidated doorways and beaten-up bus stops two days later.”

“There’s no texting about whether Evan and I should hang out after school the next day; we just do.”

“After breakfast on Monday morning, I do aerobics in front of the TV with the windows open wide so the day can come in.”

“My mom calls into work to say she has a family emergency and can’t return.”

“Evan insists that going to Ben’s play is our first date.”

“I freaked out at Ben’s play,” I tell Brenda the next Tuesday as I sip a Slurpee on the hood of my car in a 7-Eleven parking lot a few blocks from my house.”

“That afternoon, after Brenda and I have finished my driving lesson and I’ve made a nausea-inducing phone call to my testing proctor to confirm that I’ll be at my final exams at the Ocean High library tomorrow, Evan shows up at my door.”

“The next day, Evan’s finals are on a block schedule, so he’s done at noon.”

“When we get home, Evan only has a little bit of time to get ready for a celebratory last day of school dinner he’s going to with his mom, aunt, and uncle.”

“The first day of summer vacation roars to a start.”

“Brenda and I decided to make our once-a-week meetings on Tuesdays, so almost a whole week of summer passes before our first session.”

Discussion Time - Yay or Nay?

If you read Firsts, what did you think about it?

My Favorite Quotes/Lines - Firsts

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

* Received from NetGalley for review.
* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

“And I’m proud of myself, it might be the very first time.”

“When you’re in the bathroom, that’s when shit gets real.”

“Maybe it’s not carbohydrates that I’m starved for, but actual affection.”

“This time, I can’t pretend nothing happened.”

“Well,” she says softly, “there’s something about you, too.”

“Lots of things look different horizontal,” Faye says.”

“I’m saying I want to eat spaghetti with you.”

Review - Firsts

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

* Received from NetGalley for review.

3 out of 5 gnomes (only got up to 3 gnomes because I really liked Faye's character)

This is by no means an easy book to read, I can imagine it’s going to offend quite a few people. It is an interesting depiction/view of sex though. I thought this book was going to have more humor and some better reasoning to it. The best word to describe this book would probably be Messy.

Dear Firsts,

I thought you would be something like the movie Easy A which was hilarious. My good book though you are sorely lacking in humor. I really do like your characters but your reasoning skills are more than a tad shady. I could almost see why your main character would think her de-virgining services were a good thing. The more you think about it though the more the whole idea unravels.

The character I liked the most was Faye. She kind of showed up out of nowhere and by the end of the book I liked her a whole lot more than Mercy. I think it was because she was more direct with everybody and way more open with her feelings.

The couples in the story and how the pairings turned out were not what I was expecting either. I think it would have been a lot more interesting if they went in another direction.

I don’t want to spoil anything but I’m pretty sure with some of the stuff that happens that the police would realistically have gotten called at some point especially that solution at the end. A good but not great read.

Sentence Sneak Peek - Firsts

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

The first sentence from each chapter of Firsts, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Received from NetGalley for review.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

“Tonight, I’m doing Evan Brown’s girlfriend a favor.”

“My mom’s car is still in the driveway when I head out the door in the morning, which means I have to maneuver my Jeep around it to avoid hacking a side mirror off.”

“I wasn’t lying to Zach.”

“I’m surprised to see Kim’s car still in the driveway when I get home, parked haphazardly, the wheels on the right side halfway into the flower garden, which would mean nothing except the dining room lights are on, too.”

“I always like to do some research into the person I’m about to sleep with.”

“The next morning, I pretend I’m surprised to see Kim home, even though I heard her thump into the house sometime after midnight.”

“I’m vaguely aware when I walk into home economics later that day that I’m not anonymous in this class, and not because of my barely there outfit.”

“Her name is Faye.”

“I’m almost grateful to Angela for dragging me to Charlie’s soccer game after school the next day, more for the distraction than anything else.”

“I showered,” he says when I open the door to him waiting in full-on formal wear: a dress shirt, dress pants, and a tie, almost like this is a date.”

“The morning after Don Wannabe, I’m feeling especially on edge.”

“In addition to prayer group and regular Sunday service, Angela and Charlie are part of a youth group that meets at church every weekend.”

“I don’t get it,” Angela says, slumping over my carefully constructed diagram.”

“I don’t plan on sleeping with Jeremy Roth.”

“I’m woken up by two things: Jeremy’s morning wood poking into my back and a loud knocking on my door.”

“I end up getting to Faye’s ten minutes late, because her house is totally hidden from view of the street and dwarfed by bigger houses on both sides.”

“Faye doesn’t mention dinner when I see her during chemistry on Monday, but the way she puts her hand on my arm and leans her face so close to mine that our safety goggles touch makes me hyperaware of everything she does.”

“I didn’t bank on Kim being home when Charlie comes over, and I definitely didn’t expect to find Charlie seated at the kitchen table with her, drinking what must be her smelly detox tea and smiling broadly, like he always has tea after school with people’s moms.”

“I have a revelation the next morning in the unlikeliest place.”

“After the kitchen is clean, I know I should start my home economics assignment, the one I haven’t even chosen a topic for yet.”

“You’re wearing that?”

“You,” Zach says, handing me a glass of clear liquid that I sure hope isn’t vodka, “are the cheapest drunk I have ever seen.”

“Our yoga instructor tells us to “clear our heads.”

“I pace around my bedroom until Rafe is scheduled to arrive, but I’m not sure if I’m listening more for the sound of the doorbell ringing or the sound of Kim’s key in the lock.”

“On Wednesday, I drive to school hoping Zach still wants a lunch date.”

“Charlie beats me home.”

“Of all the things I thought Charlie might say—that he was drunk, that he was nervous, that he was sorry for scaring me—that wasn’t one of them.”

“Knock knock, knock knock.”

“I won’t go to the door.”

“Angela drops her fork on her plate.”

“I don’t go home.”

“I tell them about the virgins, and I don’t mince details.”

“Faye calls me when I’m huddled in a heap on the floor, trying to sleep.”

“It was worth is,” Faye says after school while she walks me to my car.”

“Before school on Friday, I do what I have been avoiding for the last several days.”

“I wait for Faye and Zach after school, but after an hour and a half of pacing back and forth down the hallway in front of Principal Goldfarb’s office, it’s obvious they might never come out.”

“We drive in silence, which is something Fay and I haven’t had much of since we met.”

“Zach has the decency to pretend the other night never happened when I get to school on Monday.”

“I told Angela all about Luke in the letter, and I told her about the baby.”

“The jeep can’t get there fast enough.”

“It’s funny how giving up control can actually end up putting things back in place.”

“I’m nervous to see Zach.”