Book Reviews...a bunch of them

I'm on call tonight! So here I am!

I've been reading lot lately. If I reviewed every book I read, you wouldn't have much else to look at on this blog. But I'll do a power dump quick of some of my more recent completions, just for giggles.

FOUR STARS

So Much More by Taryn Plendl
     - A very quick read, I finished tonight in roughly an hour, I enjoyed this little novella. Very simple, without all of the fancy intricacies many books bring these days, a story of friends becoming more, I recommend it.

How to Tell a Lie by Delphine Dryden
     - I really enjoyed this one actually. Two teachers at the same school coincidentally meet through a gaming website but because the girl is shy, she's okay with cybersex but not seeing him in real life. Eventually they move past that, blah blah blah. I thought it was really creative, unlike anything I've read in a while, seeing as the only books I can read are romance.

Forever Wishes by Leeanna Morgan
     - Essentially a Hallmark movie in a book with a little bit more sexy, librarian falls for lawyer who moves back to town because he has a big heart and helps his family. Meet through mutual friends, she wants babies and marriage, he's afraid of them. End up falling in love. Very cliche, but well written.

THREE STARS

Six Days by Randileigh Kennedy
     - I only gave this book 3 stars because I liked the general message - an awesomely loyal group of friends, where the new girl was integrated easily and ends up falling for one of the guys in the group as she finds herself through a dare. It was HARD to read. A lot of really simple, repetitive phrasing, including the exact same sentence used multiple times in relation to the exact same characters in the same situations.

Summer of Change by Elena Aitken
     - This was just okay. Okay story line, decent characters, cute enough scenes. A guy comes into town, builds a big hotel, girl at the local bar upset, ends up falling for each other. Just very simple.

Brothers by K.C. Falls
     - I liked the general idea behind this one too but again just sort of average. Girl falls for the guy who works for her parents. Some stupid character doesn't tell the truth to another so after they hook up once there's a big misunderstanding and they go their own way. There's a sequel to it that I didn't read yet and don't know if I'll bother.

TWO STARS

Gloria's Secret by Nelle L'Amour
     - I have a hard time giving a book only 1 star because people work hard on their stuff, just like I don't give many books 5 stars for being perfect. But this one was pretty rough. Lingerie store CEO meets a superstar advertising guy and they're immediately super hot for each other. Super unrealistic, annoying wording, he was kind of disgusting, I only finished it because I only quit reading books when they're intolerable. It wasn't intolerable...but it wasn't good.

Chosen for Power by Kathleen Brooks
     - Not sure why so many people gave this 4 stars on Goodreads. While the concept is cool, a powerful woman standing on her own, I feel like this plot was much too fast, the writing wasn't great, and the overall schemes were a little too far out there. Not quite as difficult a read as the other, but kind of whiplash-y.

No Regrets!

I am not even sorry I am only capable of binge watching TV tonight.

It's funny how things have worked out the past few days. I felt really down and out yesterday afternoon, feeling that I would never be good enough for the new job, that my coworkers are talking about me behind my back and don't like me, I'm being put where things are easier and my fellow new hires are way better than me, all that kind of nonsense that happens in a broken brain. But then I went to work and had a HELLA busy night on labor, and it was freaking awesome.

The difference between being pooped before and being pooped now is that now I love my job.

So as it is, I go in for 16 hours tomorrow. Tonight is for not thinking.

Trying

This is me.

It's approximately 11:30pm my time and I've still got hours to stay awake; tomorrow I return to the land of the vampires. My current activity of choice; writing.

Or more accurately, attempting to write.

I'm going to be a little shallow, a little selfish with this post tonight. It's late and I feel like I need to say a few things. I'm considering this my warm-up piece before I work on the story itself.

I've been struggling for probably a year now in my writing. I was extremely caught off guard to find that a story that I had been writing and brainstormed with a high school friend is now being written with another high school friend; I thought they were both wonderful people. When I first found out about it, I was furious. They didn't tell me; I read a synopsis of the story online. After that, once it was pretty obvious that I had figured it out and acted a little distant, the one friend finally told me about it. Of course I was cordial to her face. To be totally honest, I was really excited that I found someone in my life who was still writing! I didn't really care that it was my potential story that I had started with someone else and that I was being shut out. I was just thrilled to find a comrade!

The more time that passed, the more frustrated I became. They slowly closed off to me even more. The other friend never said a word to me. The girl who was in town actively writing with me and stood up in my wedding for crying out loud...slowly began to distance herself until she was no longer in the picture. I log on to Facebook to find that the other friend came back to town, the two of them took pictures together and hung out (I also like photography a lot...and hoped to hang out with the long distant friend when she was here).

I was hurting way more than I thought I was going to. I've been really good at letting things go lately. And I'm really not so offended at the idea that they are writing this idea together. But being shut out hurts. It's always been a problem for me, ever since I was really little, no matter who was doing the excommunicating.

Now I feel like it's affecting my writing. I literally went over six months without typing a word. I figured, hell, I'm not good enough. If nobody wants to write with me, nobody wants to read my work, I'm not worth anyone's time or effort, why on earth would I bother?

Recently, since these night shifts have started, I've tried to pick up again. That picture at the top of this post? That and the rain outside my window are my attempts at getting myself in the mood tonight. I've learned the hard way before; sometimes I just have to bully myself into doing it, even if I don't necessarily feel like I can and the inner Darkness is whispering in my ear that all of my writing sucks.

So I'm going to get off of here now and try.

Never stop trying.

Edit: 12:40am. 2200 words later. I consider that success.

Frustration

Life and I aren't getting along so hot this weekend.

I was supposed to have 6 days off to enjoy myself and relax after working my first week without a preceptor. But making plans never goes according to that plan, does it?