Rekindling My Love Of Reading.

I’ve always loved reading, ever since I was little. The library was my absolute favourite place to be. Falling down the rabbit hole of a good book and getting lost in the pages. I remember I would stay up till midnight reading. It’s a great way to escape without actually escaping.

I’ve always been an active reader but as an adult, life gets busy. Sometimes you just don’t have time to sit and read. Or if we’re being honest it’s more of an “I have better things to do” type of situation.

So I would read the occasional book, but nowhere near as often as I read when I was a teenager. As an avid reader/bookworm, I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself.

Over the last few years, I’ve been thinking about what makes me happy. I’ve slowly been making steps towards that. I want to be back to being the happier version of myself. In the last couple of years; I’ve made myself a vision board, I’ve paid off all my debt twice, I got laser eye surgery, we got a dog (Shadow), I started going to college, then I quit my toxic job, and we got our second dog (Flash.)

These are great steps in the right direction, but I still feel like I’m living the life that everyone expects me to live. It’s very much like a Sims character, just going through the motions. I want to take back control over myself. I don’t want to feel like I’m on autopilot anymore.

So in November, I made a conscious choice to start reading more books. I know that reading brings me joy. Balancing kids, birthdays, holidays, school, and work I still managed to squeeze in some reading time. I even started writing more, mostly stuff I keep private for myself. For now anyways (Hello aspiring author of a book.)

Fast-forward to the middle of March; all my in-class school work had finished up. All I had left to do was find myself a practicum placement to complete my hours and then I’d be completely finished school.

I managed to get myself a practicum placement at a veterinary clinic near downtown Calgary. My start date wasn’t until June 1st, because the clinic had an overflow of other practicum students. This worked out for me though, since I had time off I was able to get more reading and life stuff done.

Without a goal in mind, I’ve read 9 books so far this year

That feels like a huge personal accomplishment for me, especially when I know that I’ll be reading a few more before the years up. Lot of people make themselves a personal goal to read a certain number of books, in a year. To me that feels like a lot of unnessesary pressure, to make your goal.

Often people will decided on a book by reading the back, or the inside flap of the book. When deciding on buying a book, I don’t read the back of the book or the inside flap. I feel that when you read the back of a book, you tend to make a judgement on that book. I prefer to go in completly open-minded, without any assumptions or judgement.

Which is why I read such a variety of book genres, it’s exciting!

I started off my reading this year with the wildly popular Colleen Hoover books.

Slammed by Colleen Hoover, was recommended to me by one of my friends on Instagram. The book is kind of about a forbidden love story between a woman named Layken and a man named Will, with twists.

Point Of Retreat is the second book in the series, which follows the same characters Layken and Will, but things from their past come up. I fell in love with this one.

This Girl was the last book of the Slammed series and was more of a retelling of the first two books but from Will’s point of view. Readers often see the woman’s side but rarely the man’s side, so this makes the reader see the books in a whole new light.

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover I loved this book, but some could say this book requires a trigger warning with some of the content. This book is about a woman named Tate, and a airline pilot named Miles. They agree to have a friends with benefits situation, but there’s a twist about Miles past. Overrall a very good read though.

The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan is the third book I’ve read this year, and it will always be one of my favourite books. It’s about a young woman named Marnie who marries an old man to save her family, and they relocate to a small village. Events occur (not giving away spoilers), and she decides to befriend the village “mad man” and the Priest. The first time I read this book I was 14 years old, and I’ve thought about it often since than.

You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao honestly the beginning was confusing, but one chapter in I started to really enjoy it. This book pulls at your heart strings and the last chapter of the book had me bawling my eyes. This book is definitely one I’d recommend you read, especially if your looking for a good cry. The story is about a 17 year old girl named Julie and her boyfriend Sam that dies.

Nothing Personal My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno by Nancy Jo Sales, is a raw memoir, it’s about dating, sex and relationships in the digital age. This one was an interesting read, certainly a book that needs to be approached with an open mind and a sense of humour. I feel that many women can relate to this book, and I personally couldn’t put the book down.

The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher, this book is a thriller. At the beginning of the book it follows the main character named Juno, but it completely blows your mind with twists and turns a few chapters in. The ending caught me completely by surprise.

I think that Tarryn Fisher writes awesome books. Another thriller of hers that I read was The Wives. I read that one back in December of 2021 and that was another book I wasn’t able to put down!

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, this book was another I couldn’t put down. The book is about two best friends Poppy and Alex who vacation together every summer. I found this book relatable, the characters Poppy and Alex are just lovable. This book had me smiling, laughing and crying which was a nice change from my usual thrillers.

Now I’ve hopped back to Colleen Hoover, starting back with reading Verity. I’ve made sure to avoid reviews, and spoilers. So I’m going in blind and completely open-minded, all I know is it’s a thriller.

I’m very eager to dive into it, but I can’t help but notice my TBR pile staring at me with jealous eyes. There’s well over 50 + books waiting for me to read…so I might have to put myself on a book buying ban. We shall see if I’ve got the self-disipline.

This blog post contains some affiliated links, and if you click on them I may get a small commision at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog! Make sure you write down in the comments what books you’ve read. Or what books you’re currently reading. As well as any recommendations on books I should read.

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