Books, Books, Books, and a Cat

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking story that is not only about starting over but about growing and making yourself a better person. I feel like I learned so much about myself from reading this and while I know I can't travel back in time I want to make the most out of each day that I have. <br /><br />Lou, on her quest to have a better life, deal with her anxiety, and find love, is destined to go back in time 5 times to a fixed point in her life. She is a native Swiss but moved to England to try teaching French. Her job is not going well, her only true friend and flatmate Yuki, has just moved out, and Lou feels like her life is going nowhere. One day, Yuki calls her and asks her to go to a funeral for a guy that she met briefly at Yuki's birthday party. At the memorial service afterwards Lou finds herself being transported back two years in the past. This pattern will continue until Lou can figure out who she is and what is the best possible life path. <br />...

  Silver in the Bone is an epic fantasy novel that blends the real world with Arthurian mythology. Tamsin has spent her whole life feeling unwanted.  She has no magic but trained with her foster father and brother to find lost magical treasures.  One day her father disappears leaving only her brother, Cabell, to try and survive.  After getting into a huge fight with her brother, Tamsin decides to go after a ring that will hopefully set everything right.  However, she is not the only one searching for it.  Along the way she teams up with a sorceress and a competitor from a wealthy family called Emrys.  They must work together in order to survive and to meet their goals.   This novel was action packed and filled with magic, mystery, a little romance and more.  Even though this is a young adult novel it is a novel any adult would enjoy as well.  It is a long novel but there I was engaged with the story the entire time.  I can't wa...

After reading this novel I really wish I could go to Clock Island. This novel is a blend of childhood longing, adult problems, and a desire for a magical solution. Lucy is a teacher's aide who really wants to foster a young boy named Christopher. The problem is Lucy does not have her own place to live, a car, and she does not make enough money to support a child. Lucy comes from a family who were completely devoted to her older, sick sister. She was an afterthought. She knows what it is like to be unloved and wants more than anything to give Christopher a better childhood than he has had. Both of them have found solace in a series of children's books known as the Clock Island Series. When a new book is written Lucy has a chance to win the one and only copy but only if she can win the game. To do that she will have to solve riddles and face her fears. It will be worth it though because in the end she could finally make her wishes come true if only she can beat out her c...