Fitness!

Sorry it has been so long since a blog post. I increased my hours at work and have been trying to balance that with the boys, running, reading, the husband, the house, etc. The blog is the last thing on my list.  I had a little time before work and decided to do a quick blog post not about books but about fitness! I hope to have a race review in March. The husband and I are doing a St. Patrick's Day 5k on the 17th and then I have something in the works for April. Fingers crossed!
 
Yesterday I did a 7 mile run on the treadmill, which is the longest run that I have been able to do since July!  The leg feels good today, so I must be doing something correct.  I found a half-marathon training program that consists of run/walk training. Here it is: http://running.competitor.com. I figured I needed to start from scratch when trying to come back from an injury. Also, because I am trying to be more aware of my body, I like that I can run the miles for a particular day, or scale back and run/walk if I am feeling any twinges.

Because I am feeling great and itching to get back into some racing, I signed up for the Danbury Half Marathon on April 7th. I paid in full but also paid the extra $7 for insurance in case I am ill or too injured to run.  I have a friend to run with and my husband is running the 5k, so he can cheer me on. 

I also decided that I needed a new pair of shoes. After a couple of pairs that I bought and returned, I finally found these:



I have a couple pairs of not so expensive Asics that I absolutely adore.  So I went with a mid-priced pair.  I wore them yesterday for the first 5 miles of my run, then decided to change into an older pair. I felt like I needed to break them in a little more.  So far so good. Plus, I love the color. Nice and cheerful.

I also found myself watching an infomercial one late evening for this exercise program called JNL Fusion. It looked to be a little like Insanity (but a little less insane) and with weights.  I ordered it and it came in the mail so I added it to my routine last week.  Each DVD is about 30 minutes and concentrates on a specific body part (shoulders, legs, biceps) mixed in with some intense cardio. Like the dreaded burpees and lots of plyo. I did the Shoulder Shredder this morning and was beat at the end of the 30 minutes. It came with a calendar to guide you as to which DVD to do for that particular day. I am not sure how much I am going to follow the calendar because of my running, but I do like having something else to fall back on on days that I am not running or can't get to the gym. Mixing things up is always good.  You can read more about JNL Fusion on their website here: http://www.bodyfx.com/JNL_C1/

To quote an instructor at my gym: "Today is a great day for fitness!"

Stormy Weather...

Finally got out of the house today after many days at home. We woke up on Saturday morning to this:

30+ inches of snow.  This is the view from inside my garage.  Took about 6 hours to clean it up. The roads are still one lane around here and the children have missed three days of school. Hoping they can make it back tomorrow.  They are asking to go back to school.

So what did I do all weekend? Read, read, read.  Luckily I had hit the library and stocked myself up. I read a total of 5 books;  1 adult, 1 children's and 3 young adult titles.  I enjoyed them all.  Just going to touch briefly on each book.


I started with My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick.

 

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself? (Description from  http://www.amazon.com)


My thoughts:
This book was great.  A perfect summer teen romance. I loved the Garrett family, every single one of them. The author wrote them all quirky and easy to love. Especially George. And Jase is the boy that every girl wants; a good son, a great brother, a sweet boyfriend.  Samantha on the other hand, wasn't my favorite at the beginning, but she did grow on me. So did Tim.  Huntley Fitzpatrick really spent some time developing the secondary characters and I enjoyed seeing them grow. I do have two problems with the story. The conflict did not happen until about 3/4 of the way through and I kind of felt it was left unresolved. I also feel that the issue between Samantha and her best friend Nan came out of left field and was also left unresolved. But overall, a good young adult story.


I then moved on to something totally different. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.  I had previously read Gone Girl and Dark Places and was anxious to read her debut novel.



WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming. (Description from http://www.amazon.com)

My thoughts:
I am a big fan of Gillian Flynn. Her writing is terrific and her her mind is warped. If you are looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you reading and make you say "WHAT THE HELL?" this would be the book.

On to a Young Adult that I have been waiting for! Prodigy by Marie Lu, which is the sequel to Legend.



June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.
But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong? (Description from http://www.amazon.com)

My thoughts:
Marie Lu totally delivered on this one. Sometimes a second novel in a series is just a filler and just does not go anywhere. This one was filled with loads of conflict. Conflict between Day and June, conflict between The Republic, the Patriots and the Colonies. It was one of those novels where you had to pay attention to every detail (well, at least I did) so you can understand exactly who is on what side of this political conflict. Just when you think you have it straight in your head, something will change.  And the ending. Ugh! How long until the next book?

Then I read Girl of Nightmares, which is the sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake which I reviewed here.  Being that I just read Anna a week or so ago, everything was still really fresh in my mind. That makes me happy.
 
 

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor. (Description from http://www.amazon.com)

My thoughts:

Great ending to a fun series. Well developed characters, interesting plot twists. Ending was as it should be!

The last book I finished was something that some of my librarian friends had been talking about and I just happened to find a copy on the shelf. I was surprised to find it, as it had just been announced as a Newbery 2013 Honor Book. This might have been my favorite book of the five that I read.  Although I am a trained Children's Librarian, I read far less juvenile fiction than I should.  Sometimes it seems well, a little juvenile, and it takes a special book to get me excited to read some kid's fiction again. This was one of them! Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage.





A hilarious Southern debut with the kind of characters you meet once in a lifetime

Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.

Full of wisdom, humor, and grit, this timeless yarn will melt the heart of even the sternest Yankee. (Description from http://www.amazon.com)

My thoughts:
This book was delightful. It was so well-written. The book has heart. I loved, loved, loved the characters, the plot and the pacing. It made me laugh out loud. While funny and heartwarming, it did deal with some tough issues (alcoholism, domestic abuse and abandonment). Parents and kids will enjoy it. I keep raving about it to my boys and hope that they will pick it up. I love talking about books with my kids!

Happy reading!

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life. (Description from http://www.amazon.com)

My thoughts:

Usually I am not a big fan of the horror genre; book or movie!  This all goes back to 7th grade and a sleepover and The Exorcist and having to call my Mom to come and get me. I had never been that scared in my entire life. Talk about embarrassing. I still cannot watch that movie. Even the music creeps me out. 

So a ghost story is not something that I naturally gravitate to. I cannot remember the last time I read a really great ghost story; adult or young adult. I had seen this book reviewed by other bloggers and I put it on my list.  I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to read the sequel. 

It had the perfect combination of ghost story and love story.  It had violence, gore and even a little bit of humor. It had a strong male lead character who had a completely developed back story.  The main female character was Anna and I wanted to hate her and protect her at the same time, which shows how great of a writer Kendare Blake is.  I mean, she is a ghost! I liked the fact that Anna and Cas's "relationship" was unconventional and real. I almost forgot what Anna really was. 

I also liked that the supporting characters were a little different than usually portrayed in Young Adult novels.  For example, when Carmel was introduced, I thought she was going to be just one of those fluffy girl characters who stands there and screams or gets killed. Not so. She was pretty strong and kick-ass.

The book was a page turner and I finished it in a few hours yesterday. Nice plot twists to keep you reading. I could not put it down.

The book is marketed as a YA, but I would say that it is for older YA's, not the 13 year old crowd due to the the f-bombs and fair amount of blood and gore.

The sequel is called Girl of Nightmares and it was published in August 2012. Hoping to get my hands on it soon.

Also read that Stephenie Meyer is producing the film version of Anna Dressed in Blood.

Happy Reading!