It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 3, 2017

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

**************************************

We had a pretty quiet week here. The weather is starting to turn around and we are having some beautiful days. 

March into April is a busy birthday time for us. Looking at my calendar, we have 16 birthdays between both extended families, ending with mine on April 22nd. 😀 Party, party!! I'm thinking I might hold a special birthday giveaway post. What do you think I should do? 🎈🎂🎉

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a great week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading/listening to

Lucky Bastard (Lucky O'Toole #4)
by Deborah Coonts
Catching up on this fun series.


Summer of the Loon
by Deanna Lynn Sletten
(audio-book)
Loved reading the book, now I'm enjoying the audio.


Indulgence in Death (In Death #31)
by J.D. Robb 
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

White Sand, Blue Sea: A St. Barts Love Story
by Anita Hughes
My thoughts will be posted soon.


Heavy Weather (A Carolina Coast Novel)
by Normandie Fischer 
(audio-book)
Wonderful book, wonderful narration!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
We had a great discussion at book club.

Sad Perfect

by Stephanie Elliot 

You can read my thoughts here.

What I am going to read next


The Forbidden Garden
by Ellen Herrick

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

*************************

Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot ~ My Thoughts

Sad Perfect

Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot 
Print and e-book, 320 pages
Published February 28th 2017 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The story of a teen girl's struggle with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and how love helps her on the road to recovery.

Sixteen-year-old Pea looks normal, but she has a secret: she has Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). It is like having a monster inside of her, one that not only dictates what she can eat, but also causes anxiety, depression, and thoughts that she doesn’t want to have. When she falls crazy-mad in love with Ben, she hides her disorder from him, pretending that she’s fine. At first, everything really does feel like it’s getting better with him around, so she stops taking her anxiety and depression medication. And that's when the monster really takes over her life. Just as everything seems lost and hopeless, Pea finds in her family, and in Ben, the support and strength she needs to learn that her eating disorder doesn’t have to control her.

 

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"You float. It's hot out, not kind of hot, not medium hot, but midsummer-Arizona hot."

Sad Perfect took me on a journey about a topic I knew nothing about. We get to go inside the mind of a teenage girl who has always been a 'picky-eater' but who, in reality, has a form of an eating disorder that not very many people know anything about. 

The author lived through this with her daughter and shares a little bit of what it must have been like to not have any answers for this serious problem. What a relief they must have felt to finally have some answers after all those years of struggle. 

Sad Perfect is an informative, insightful look at the hard life of a teen girl trying to fit into what society thinks should be 'normal'. The storyline takes place over a relative short period of time and I know that there had to have been years and years of issues and angst for Pea and her family. The only criticism I might make about this story would be that it seemed to be all tied up neat and tidy at the end and fairly quickly too, when I know that this would be a long process to resolve. On the other hand and to end on a positive note, this is information that needs to get out there for others who may be dealing with the same issues. 

Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing what you and your family have been through. I know that others will be helped by your story. 

About the author

Stephanie Elliot is the author of the young adult novel Sad Perfect (Margaret Ferguson Books/FSG, Winter, 2017), which was inspired by her own daughter’s journey with ARFID, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She has written for a variety of websites and magazines and has been a passionate advocate of other authors by promoting their books on the Internet for years. She has been, or still is, all of the following: a book reviewer, an anonymous parenting columnist, a mommy blogger, an editor, a professional napper, a reformed Diet Coke drinker, a gecko breeder and the author of three self-published novels.

A Florida native, Stephanie has lived near Chicago and Philadelphia and currently calls Scottsdale, Arizona home. She graduated from Northern Illinois University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Stephanie and her husband Scott have three children: AJ, McKaelen and Luke. They are all her favorites.

Connect with Stephanie

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

***********************

Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? March 27, 2017

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

**************************************

Another busy weekend when we thought we had nothing planned. We had kids and grandkiddos in and out from about 5 pm on Friday until about 5 pm on Sunday. A few were sleepovers too. Whew! Back to work on Monday to recover. LOL 😀

I am so tired of the overcast days and just want to see the sun and have warmer temps. Soon, hopefully. What's the weather like where you're at?  

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a great week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading/listening to

Sad Perfect
by Stephanie Elliot 


Heavy Weather (A Carolina Coast Novel)
by Normandie Fischer 


Indulgence in Death (In Death #31)
by J.D. Robb 
(audio-book)

What I recently finished


Beach Breeze
by Joanne DeMaio
My thoughts will be posted Tuesday.

Wish Me Home
by Kay Bratt
Read my thoughts here and enter the giveaway too!

What I am going to read next



The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
This is a reread for me for my book club.

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

*************************

Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Release Day! Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot

Happy Release Day!

Sad Perfect

Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot
Print and e-book, 320 pages
Published: February 28th 2017 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The story of a teen girl's struggle with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and how love helps her on the road to recovery.

Sixteen-year-old Pea looks normal, but she has a secret: she has Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). It is like having a monster inside of her, one that not only dictates what she can eat, but also causes anxiety, depression, and thoughts that she doesn’t want to have.

When she falls crazy-mad in love with Ben, she hides her disorder from him, pretending that she’s fine. At first, everything really does feel like it’s getting better with him around, so she stops taking her anxiety and depression medication. And that's when the monster really takes over her life.

Just as everything seems lost and hopeless, Pea finds in her family, and in Ben, the support and strength she needs to learn that her eating disorder doesn’t have to control her.

  

I admire Stephanie and all that she does for books & authors. I have read all of her books and have loved each one of them. I am so excited to read Sad Perfect!

Congrats on your release today, Stephanie!!

About the author

Stephanie Elliot is the author of the young adult novel Sad Perfect (Margaret Ferguson Books/FSG, Winter, 2017), which was inspired by her own daughter’s journey with ARFID, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She has written for a variety of websites and magazines and has been a passionate advocate of other authors by promoting their books on the Internet for years. She has been, or still is, all of the following: a book reviewer, an anonymous parenting columnist, a mommy blogger, an editor, a professional napper, a reformed Diet Coke drinker, a gecko breeder and the author of three self-published novels.

A Florida native, Stephanie has lived near Chicago and Philadelphia and currently calls Scottsdale, Arizona home. She graduated from Northern Illinois University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Stephanie and her husband Scott have three children: AJ, McKaelen and Luke. They are all her favorites.

Connect with Stephanie

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

*****************

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!