The City of Bones (Immortals # 1) by Cassandra Clare

I'm a little unsure of where to go with this review, so I will keep it brief.


Overall, the book was intriguing and kept me interested enough to keep listening. To be 100% truthful, I think it was the audio narrator (I listened to this on audiobook) more than the actual story that I had a hard time with at some points. I just don't think her voice/style fit the story.... but that's just me.

This book was a little more "fantasy" than I normally read and it was certainly "out-there" but entertaining.

This morning, one of the girls on my book club asked me what I thought about it, and I said "There were some very good parts, there were a few "meh" parts and one total W.T.F. part at the end that both weirded me out and insured that I would continue with the series". I realize now that when I continue I will need to actually read the book because I have a hard time with the narrator.

All in all, I would say this book is just good. I enjoyed it, I will continue with the series, but I'm not in a huge rush.

Focusing on my health again....

Okay- here’s the deal. I’ve blogged before about my weight loss and the trails/tribulations surrounding it, but I feel the need to write a quick summary because I need reminding of what I worked so hard for that I am now allowing, albeit slowly, to slip away.


In July of 2007, I decided to rejoin weight watchers, having had success there just before high school. I went to my first weigh in and I was… *gasp*… 212lbs! Yep- that’s right. 212lbs on my 5’8 frame. I was heartbroken. I had struggled with my weight since 6th (ish) grade, but this was the heaviest I had ever been. My husband, who has always been a very large person (hence the nickname Bubba), was at his heaviest at the same time at about 350lbs.

Aug.  2007- Celebrating1st Wedding Anniversary

To make a long story short, after a conversation with my Mum expressing concerns that my husband was literally killing himself- which led to a complete breakdown in the middle of the night complete with tears and one very surprised husband- we decided to make some changes. We didn’t diet, but just made changes to what we were already eating (such as switching to low-fat, low-cal, whole wheat options) and how much of it we ate and we started walking for 30 minutes a day, rain or shine. The weight literally fell off. I’m not kidding. My husband literally transformed before my eyes. The best part was that we never felt deprived, we ate pretty much whatever we wanted, just in moderation and the time spent walking was a great time for us to catch-up with each other. It was so easy and I remember thinking “how could I have struggled so long with this…. look at how easy it is now”. The end result was a combined weight loss of almost 180lbs less than 2 years later (110lbs – him, 68lbs- me).

May 2009- Vacation in Florida

For me, it transformed into more than just walking. For 2 winters, I would get up at 6am and hit the gym or pool for running and lap swimming. In the nice weather, I started running outside. I had plans for a 5K and even took a women’s outdoor boot camp class and was the likely the fastest and most fit person in the class. Aside for not being able to kick my smoking habit, I was LOVING being healthy and feeling great.

Then, for whatever reason (and I still don’t know what it was) last summer, the number of days between runs grew longer and longer. The dogs weren’t getting their regular walks anymore and I stopped tracking my food intake. In September, when I started back to school full-time (while keeping my regular full-time job) my running shoes were permanently hung up. I have not been out for a run in over 5 months. I have not slipped back into anything near what I was before all these changes (I’ve only gained back 3lbs), but I feel it going that way. My husband had also stopped regular exercising and he also quit smoking which had led to a 15lbs weight gain since last April.

As much as I truly don’t have time to fit exercise back into my days, I have to find a way. I don’t have the money for a gym membership this year so I will have to settle for the old cross-trainer in the basement, running/walking outside when possible, and starting the 30 Day Shred. I miss being able to say “I had a great run this morning” or “ugh, what a terrible work out today”. I miss being one of those fit people.

So here’s my plan:

1. Start tracking my calories again. A lot of people say this is a waste of time, but it really helps keep me in check. I have to stay under 1600 calories a day to lose.

2. Three mornings (minimum) per week, get up and go for a walk/ do 30 Day Shred.

3. Once I’m back in the groove of morning work-outs, start Couch to 5K training program again mixed in with the strength training from 30 Day Shred.

I’m determined to become that person again. Everyone was so impressed with us, and we still get questions like “are you still running every morning” or “are you still swimming every morning” and now I have to answer no. I want to make taking care of my body part of my daily routine again and the time demands from school are going anywhere for the next almost 4 years, so I have to find a way to make them work together.

Wish me luck!

Lookie what I found!

I found a great new book blog with a fantastic giveaway going on right now.... check it out!

Steph Su Reads: Blogoversary Giveaway!

I'm dying to get my hands on an ARC of Linger or Sisters Red! 

School Update

I got back an assignment we handed in at the beginning of November as preliminary research for our papers this term (for my humanities class). I only got a 75% which would have been the worst mark I’d received yet since returning to University. I had a couple of concerns about the assignment, so I made an appointment with my (tutorial) professor to discuss them with her. I didn’t really want to argue my mark so much as I wanted to make sure that I was on the right track to start my paper and to do well on it since it’s worth 30% of my mark.

She stood me up for my first appointment after I left work early, drove down and paid for parking, on the same week that I arrived to my ECON class with a completely dead laptop and no other method to take notes (ya… it was a craptastic school week). But we rescheduled for last week and I went in to speak with her. The long and the short of it was, she up’d my mark to an 82% after re-reading my assignment and gave me some really good tips. She hadn’t actually been the one to mark it to begin with as she was off for surgery and her replacement marked them. I’m so happy I took the time to go in there because a) I ended up with a better mark and b) I now have a much better idea of what she will be looking for when she marks the paper. It was good for my ego too because after she re-read it, she basically discounted the comments made by the replacement, told me NOT to follow her suggestions and instructions and said “this is definitely an A assignment, I’m upping your mark right now” and I watched her update my mark on her spreadsheet.

I’m still dreading the paper, but not as much.

So, I can still officially say that I still haven’t received anything lower than an A as of yet. Hopefully I can keep that up.

I'm facing some frustrations with my OB class (my online class) because of the infuriating professor, but I got an A in her class last term so I'm gonna work just as hard to do the same this semester.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E with a capital T!

Since we purchased our home about a year ago, the budget has been tight. Then when I decided to go back to school, it got even tighter (yes I’m still working, but tuition, books, the commute, and parking are expensive!). Then we had to buy a "new" car because our old one was finally no longer worth repairing and so we were once again strapped with a car payment & the budget became super-duper tight.

What did all of this mean? It meant that along with many other things, I had to stop purchasing books. I did really well. I was a regular at the library and any books that I absolutely had to own, I asked for, for Christmas or bought used/on sale, and I just stayed away from Chapters.

Then, one of the ladies on the forum that I frequent posted about this site. The Book Depository is a site where you can order pretty much any book, including international versions, with free shipping around most of the world. And the prices are fantastic.

Remember my post about not being able to get my hands on a copy of The Dark Divine? Well, I found a copy on this site for 50% off- so it was worth the wait! I also ordered a copy 2 old favorites: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry to add to my library. My total order including tax? $16.71. For three brand new books!!!

This site is going to be trouble for me. Within minutes of placing my first order, I was searching for and building a second order. I’ve made a decision not to place order # 2 until order # 1 arrives and I can ensure that there are no catches or extra charges. But if it goes like I think it’s going to, my library is about to get a whole lot bigger!

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

What a great read! Easy and super fast, I loved this book from start to finish. 

First of all, Patch = HOT! I’m always drawn to the bad boy type, and Patch, as sort of the ultimate bad boy, was no exception.

This was my second brush with Fallen Angels and I really, really enjoyed it. Having been raised Christian and now being completely agnostic, it’s interesting to have references, however brief, to the stories I was told as a kid and to be able to look at them from a totally different perspective.

I’ve read several reviews that say it was another copy of previous YA paranormal romance books, and I can definitely see the similarities- but let’s be honest; it would be incredibly difficult to write a book that had absolutely no similarities to others in the same genre… that’s why it’s called a genre. I really had no idea where the story was going. Yes some parts were obvious (based on the cover of the book, or the genre that it falls under) but Patch’s secret where it related to Nora was very surprising to me and the identity of some of the other characters shocked me as well. This makes up for the similarities in my head. As long as I don’t know what’s coming the whole way, it’s a winner for me.

Were there a few things here and there that bothered me? Yes. However, there are very few books in the world that don’t have elements that I don’t like or don’t “get”:

-I never seem to like the best friend… ever. Vee was meh to me.

-I can’t stand that parents are made out to be completely clueless or incredibly gullible in most YA novels… my parents were usually one step ahead of me. Nora’s Mom just buys her stories without much question and it’s a little unbelievable to me. Maybe I just had really smart parents?

-Nora was obviously really flawed as most girls would have run the other way if they suspected Patch of what she did. But I guess you have to have a flawed protagonist to write a story like that or they would all end the same boring way- mysterious boy, perfectly smart and rational main character gets weird vibes and is afraid of him, immediately tells her parents and they move far, far away to somewhere safe, never see the boy again, girl meets “safe” boy falls in love, marries him and has babies, everyone lives happily ever after, book ends.

Beyond the few things I didn’t like or the few things that bothered me, I really loved this book. It sucked me in more than any books I’ve read in a while and I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read Crescendo even though I was happy with the ending of Hush, Hush. It was refreshing to read something that wasn’t concluded as a setup for the next book.

I'm just not meant to read this book...

Ever since I accidentally came across a summary of The Dark Divine by Bree Despain early last fall I’ve been dying to get my hands on it. Apparently it's just not meant to be.

It was one of the books on my Christmas list that I didn’t end up getting because my husband was done his shopping by the time it was released (Dec. 22).

My library doesn't have a single copy, nor do they have any on order.

My local bookstores and even the bookstores that I frequently pass in Toronto on my way to school never seem to have any in stock. My local Chapters shows 1 in stock, but they can't locate it.

It's too new for used book stores.

I'm not willing to pay $8 shipping for a $20 book on chapters.ca.

It's seriously TORTURE!  I don't know why I'm so intrigued by this book (beyond the stunning cover), but it's killing me that I can't read it yet.