Day 3 of Five Fall Favorites: PEACE Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

 

Wow! It's already day three of Five Fall Favorites 2024 hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary. This week has flown by fast. We are halfway through the blogging challenge, and it certainly has been a challenge, but I'm grateful that I took this challenge on. Today's word is peace! As I considered what peace books I would associate with peace, I decided that while fiction can be cathartic and a great way to process feelings, it's non-fiction books that have often brought me peace and healing. Here are Five Favorite Non-Fiction books!

1. Getting Good at Being You: Learning to Love Who God Made You to Be by Lauren Alaina, forward by Tasha Yearwood.

This 2021 book is the most recent non-fiction title that I've finished reading. From CMA awarding winning country singer and American Idol alum, this is book part self-help advice and part memoir. Alaina shares her story and connects it to practical steps and meditations to help readers assess their own lives. The personal anecdotes range from funny short stories to heartbreaking memories. She shares moments when she was triumphant, and moments when life was out of her control. This book has Christan themes and speaks about God. I picked this book up because I remembered her from American Idol and wanted to read her story.

View on good reads.

2. It's All Love: Reflections for Your Heart and Soul by Jenna Ortega

Readers might recognize this young actress's name; she's recently found fame in television and movies such as the Netflix original Wednesday and Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. This book is made up of bite sized advice and personal anecdotes, it is perfect for daily, inspirational reading. Topics range from relationships, to following your dreams, to faith and spiritualty. It has religious and even Christian undertones but is not a Christan devotional. All the advice is encouraging and challenging. I have been reading these in the morning and often say a quick prayer for discernment on how to use the advice. Many of the tips have shifted my perspective and encouraged me.

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3. Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love by Ruth Soukup

Soukup takes a look at different types of fear and how they impact our lives. Written in a conversational and encouraging tone, she shares her own life struggles and how she turned her dream of being a business to owner to a reality. She also shares the tales of others who have identified their fears and taken steps to overcome them to start chasing their dreams. This book is written and published by a Christian author and a Christian publishing company, but it does not require you to be a Christan to follow the practical advice and do the work to turn dreams into reality. 

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4. You Are the Girl for the Job: Daring to Believe the God Who Calls You by Jess Connolly 

God has given you a purpose, and you can do it, but not in your own power. You can do it because of God's power. About trusting God and following Him in faith, this book is a devotional that searches God's Word and provides inspiration. Focused on encouraging people to step into their callings and understand that God will provide along the way. This is a Christian devotional and calls people to follow Jesus and understand when your dreams and goals are from Him. This book accompanies a Bible Study but can be read alone. The focus is on trusting God and letting Him carry you through the hard work.

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5. When God Writes Your Love Story: The Ultimate Guide to Guy/Girl Relationships by Eric Ludy and Leslie Ludy

Written by married couple, they take turns writing the chapters and offering insight on both guys and girls. This book is a challenge to purity and to having a godly relationship that not only saves physical intimacy for marriage but also emotional and spiritual intimacy. Filled with humor and heart, it will make you laugh, cry, and laugh and cry, as you read about other couples and examine your own life. I have used this book to help me get over heartbreak of failed relationships, because it shifts the perspective from momentary relationships to the eternal impact of them. This book searches the Bible for how to have godly relationships with all members of the opposite gender and what characteristics are in a healthy relationship.

View on good reads.

Conclusion

Honestly, today was a heavy topic and these books were not always easy reads. These were challenging, emotional and convicting. But they all left me with more peace than when I started reading them. Among these pages I have found healing and encouragement. If this was a little too serious for you, tomorrow's prompt is patience. I have decided to take a lighthearted approach of sharing my favorite books in five of my favorite longer series.

I love meeting new booklovers! Best way to do that is to follow me on Instagram: @Skai_BooksAndBracelets

Read all the other fabulous fall blogs here: Once Upon An Ordinary – where ordinary life is a big adventure (wordpress.com)

Read Monday's blog here: Inspirational Skai: Day 1 of Five Fall Favorites: LOVE Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

Read Tuesday's blog here: Inspirational Skai: Day 2 of Five Fall Favorites: JOY Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

Day 2 of Five Fall Favorites: JOY Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

 

It's Tuesday! Which means it is day two of the Five Fall Favorites 2024 challenge hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary. Today's prompt is Joy. The dictionary definition of joy is "a feeling of great pleasure or happiness." (From Mariam Webster dictionary) I decided I would share five of my favorite stories where the ending wasn't what I expected, but it made me happy and was an even better way to end the story. Here are five favorites with unexpected happy endings.

1. The Swap by Megan Shull

In this middle grade novel, Ellie and Jack are twelve years old and on the precipice of childhood entering into adolescence. Otherwise, they could not have less in common Jack is a popular, hockey player with four older brothers. Ellie is a shy, soccer player and the only family in her life is her mother. After a bad day, Ellie and Jack swap bodies. They have to live each other's lives, the good, the bad and the awkward, until they can figure out why they swapped bodies and how to switch back. Without saying anything about the ending, there are two epilogues. The first epilogue is a few months later and the second epilogue was a few years later and reader checks in with the characters and see the happy changes that have happened in their lives.

View on good reads.

2. The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak

From the author of My Life with the Walter Boys (now a Netflix TV show), this is a story about love, growing up and standing up for yourself. Stella has always been defined by her siblings. First as one in a set of triples and now as the girl whose twin sister has cancer. Being one of three, photography is the only thing that is unique to her, and she carries her camera everywhere she goes. While looking for a great birthday present her sister, Cara, Stella stops into a coffeeshop for some caffeine and meets a cute boy who notices her camera, but she does not know that he's Oliver Perry, the lead singer of her sister's favorite band. This story was a beautiful blend of serious themes and hilarious shenanigans told from both Stella's and Oliver's perspectives. The ending is grounded in reality. 

View on good reads.

3. Famous In a Small Town by Emma Mills

For Sophie it is the summer before senior year, she is busy planning for college, fund raising for her school's marching band and babysitting for a young couple in her neighborhood. When her neighbors take in a seventeen-year-old, they ask her if she can show him around and introduce him to the teens in their small town. Inside this story there are many sub-plots and hilarious moments which lead up to a gut-wrenching climax and surprising conclusion. The ending plot-twist changes how readers view every moment of story. 

View on good reads.

4. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Drawing upon both Hans Christan Anderson's and Disney's The Little Mermaid stories for inspiration, this is a sweet, modern retelling. The youngest of six sisters, Elyse was a talented singer before a boating accident stole her voice, now she's alone, away from her home island of Tobago staying in Atargatis Cove, Oregon, a popular summer destination, with family friends. New friends Kirby and Vanessa warn her about the summer population playboys, and that Christian Kane is the worst. However, his kid brother Sabastain is fascinated with mermaids and when the boy meets Elyse, he is convinced she is one. Between that and an upcoming boat race, she'll have a hard time staying away from Christan. This is a beautiful story, not about romance, but about reclaiming your voice, and finding family again.

View on good reads.

5. The Match by Sarah Adams

Evie works for a non-profit which trains service dogs and pairs them with people who need them. When she receives an email from a single father with a nine-year-old daughter who has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy, she feels a kinship to the girl and wants to help her. Only when she shows up accompanied by her faithful service dog, Charlie, she learns that the girl set up this meeting without her father's knowledge. Her father, the handsome, brooding, Jacob does not want a service dog and is rudely vocal about Evie and her dog. This romance is about trust and loyalty dealing delicately and informatively about epilepsy and disabilities. While the ending might not surprise, the happiness of all of the characters is too joyful to not include in a list about joyful books.

View on good reads.

Conclusion

This list is full of joyful memories of books which made me happy, and that I would love to get to read again like it was the first time reading them. Tomorrow's word is peace! I will be sharing five favorite non-fiction titles.

I love meeting new booklovers! Best way to do that is to follow me on Instagram: @Skai_BooksAndBracelets

Read Monday's blog here: Inspirational Skai: Day 1 of Five Fall Favorites: LOVE Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

Read all the other fabulous fall blogs here: Once Upon An Ordinary – where ordinary life is a big adventure (wordpress.com)

Day 1 of Five Fall Favorites: LOVE Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary

 

Today is the first day of Five Fall Favorites 2024 Hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary! The first prompt is five books about Love. I'm going to share five romance books that reading them made me believe in love and I hope you love them as much as I do!

1. Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Macallan and Levi meet in seventh grade when Levi moves to town. This story follows the ups and down of their lives as they grow up and the challenges of dating when your best friend is a member of the opposite sex. This story has such a sweet love story. It shows the significance of friendship, and that love grows as people grow. The spilt narrative is beautifully done and both characters have a unique voice.

View on goodreads

2. As If On Cue by Marisa Kanter

As long as Natalie can remember, it has been Natalie vs. Reid. Their prank wars are legendary, and a new prank war begins when their school’s arts budget gets cut and Natalie’s drama club has to compete with Reid’s award-winning school band for funding. A prank gone wrong ruins expensive AV equipment, and they have to work the together to put on a musical. As Natalie has been competing with Reid for everything, Reid has been competing for Natalie’s attention. The love between the two enemies is palpable as they try to destroy each other. This book is well plotted as everything clearly leads up to the climax.

View on goodreads

3. Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

Ever wanted to spend her summer after graduation dancing, but her strict Taiwanese immigrant parents decide to send her to Chien Tan, an education program in Taipei. She makes new friends and decides she before the end of the summer she will break all of her parents' rules, rule number one: no boyfriends until after med-school. Quickly Ever's reckless choices land her in a messy love triangle and an even bigger mess with the school. Loveboat, Taipei is about young love, but even more importantly it's about loving oneself and living to fulfil one's potential.

View on goodreads

4. Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

When they were little, Maddie's dad was the chief of the President's secret service and Logan was the President's son. They were best friends and got into all sorts of trouble together. After an attempted kidnapping of the First Lady, Maddie and her father move to Alaska. As a new President is about to be elected, Logan gets into trouble and is sent to live with Maddie and her father for the rest of the President's term. Soon after he lands in Alaska, Maddie and Logan are attacked. Logan is kidnapped and Maddie is thrown from a cliff. With a coming winter storm, they will have to save each other from the elements and the enemy. This is perhaps the sweetest story of survival and love between two best friends.

View on goodreads

5. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

How about a sandwich feud? Pepper's family owns an ever-growing chain of diner restaurants, and Jack's family owns a little bistro that's popular with the neighborhood. When Pepper's family's chain announces a new sandwich which matches the signature sandwich of Jack's family bistro, it's an all-out Twitter war. The split narrative reveals that these two are also secret friends messaging over the school messaging app, only neither of them knows it. Much of the plot is reminiscent of You've Got Mail. This novel illustrates with humor and honesty that differences can actually be what brings people together.

View on goodreads

Conclusion

All week I will be sharing Five Favorites based upon the category prompt. Tomorrow will be Joy, I will be sharing books where the ending wasn't what I expected, but somehow, better. Read all the other fabulous fall blogs here: Once Upon An Ordinary – where ordinary life is a big adventure (wordpress.com)

I love meeting new booklovers! Best way to do that is to follow me on Instagram: @Skai_BooksAndBracelets

Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Read from: June 29, 2020 Till: July 19, 2020

Genre: YA Dystopian, Sci-fi and Fantasy 

Sub-Genre: Dystopian, Sci-fi and Fantasy

Summary:

The prequel to the Hunger Games Trilogy, this book follows the future President of Panem, Coriolanus Snow, as he’s about to graduate from school. He mentors a contender in the tenth annual Hunger Games. Although, he’s stuck with the girl from District 12, she turns out to be a singer with a flair for theatrics. As they survive the road to the Games, they have to weigh the choices and options. Following Coriolanus, this book sees him from the mentor assignment, through the tenth annual Hunger Games, and a summer serving with the Peacekeepers.

Review:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a solid prequel to the original trilogy. It followed the villain from the original story and shared his story in a way which explains how a scared kid from the Capital became a powerful dictator. It was interesting to see how he fell in love with the girl from District 12, even ready to run away with her. I loved how it used lyrics to tell the story and about the characters. Cleverly it foreshadowed the end of their story and made me want a better ending for them. This book is very much a romantic tragedy.

Notes: (Spoilers ahead)

Snow’s lover wrote The Hanging Tree which is a song that really made him mad in the original trilogy. The Mockingjay’s were used as a for shadowing of his undoing. Readers learn where his love of roses came from (his mother) and how he started using poison on his victims.

View The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on Good Reads.

Review written in 2020. Edited in 2024.

Author's Note: Welcome back to another review! These first two reviews (Click to read the Not If I Save You First book review) are from a book journal that I've kept since 2020. Stay tuned for more! Side note: Since these were written in a book journal, they do contain spoilers. I've attempted to blue out the spoilers, click and drag your mouse curser over the text to reveal the spoilers, or simply read around it to skip the spoilers.

Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

Book Review: Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

Read from: June 23, 2020 Till: June 26, 2020

Genre: Drama/Romance/YA

Sub-Genre: Survival

Original review was written in 2020.

Edited in 2024.

Summary:

Logan and Maddie were best friends. He was the president’s son, and she was the daughter of the chief secret service agent. After the first lady was kidnapped and Maddie’s father was shot saving the first lady, she and her father move to Alaska. There Maddie's only form of communication is letter writing. Six years and no reply letters later, Logan finally gets into enough trouble that he is sent to live with Maddie. Right before the biggest snowstorm of the season, an assassin arrives, kidnaps him and pushes her off a cliff. She’ll have to save him from the kidnapper and the Alaskan wilderness, but he has to save her from herself.

Review:

Such a good story. Dynamic characters, plot-driven action and non-stop danger. It’s a well written tear-jerking, beautiful story about two enemies who are also best friends. I really enjoyed reading it and getting wrapped up in the story. The only thing was with the ending, but I liked the humor of her in his environment at school, but it needed something in between, a chapter of them being rescued.

Notes:

I read about this story in her writing book. The book made it sound so good. I just had to read it. It was just as good as it sounded. I loved the characters, the drama, the action. I was disappointed there was no bear attack, but Logan carrying Maddie after she was shot certainly made up for that.

Not If I Save You First on Good Reads

Author's note: Hi all! I'm back. I will be posting on this blog again. I will be focusing on sharing book reviews and other book related blog posts. There may be more fiction in the future, but at the moment I don't have any upcoming fiction works announced. This will also be a place where I have my different book focused social media accounts converge. Currently, I have an Instagram, @Skai_BooksAndBracelets I have been working on a video to launch a YouTube Channel, but I also don't have a timetable on that. Stay tuned here for more book reviews, stories, and more!

Six YA Enemies To Lovers Novels

In this booklist these characters say, “I hate you!” but actually mean “I love you!”

For my first booklist, I’m starting off with one of my favorite genres. Young Adult Romance! Within the genre, this is easily the most popular troupe. Enemies-to-lovers. Here is a list of six young adult enemies-to-lovers romance books.

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

From the author of The Lunar Chronicles and Renegades, Instant Karma is Marissa Meyer’s first contemporary romance. Prudence Bennet, Pru is a straight A student, so when her lazy slacker partner Quint Erickson gets them a low grade on their final project and a B in the class, she’s looking for an opportunity to redo it. When Pru gains the ability to cast “Instant Karma” on people, she hopes to get Quint back for her bad grade, but only good things happen to him. So, instead she agrees to help at his mother’s marine animal rescue if he agrees to redo their class project. As they work together and get to know each other, they learn that they may have misjudged each other. Instant Karma is a modern Pride and Prejudice, enemies-to-lovers tale with marine animals.

Instant Karma on Amazon

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Emma Lord’s debut novel, Tweet Cute is Romeo and Juliet meets You’ve Got Mail, in an adorable enemies-to-lovers rom-com. Pepper’s an all-around perfectionist. Since she moved with her mom to New York in ninth grade, she’s has had no time for anything not in her five-year plan. Certainly not Wolf, the nice guy she met on her school’s anonymous messaging app. She also doesn’t have time for her mother’s restaurant’s twitter feud with a local deli. Jack is the class clown because his twin brother has the popular, golden boy role taken. He’s fine helping out at the family deli and building apps in secret.  He’s finally met someone who understands him, on his secret messaging app. When Pepper’s family’s chain restaurant steals his family’s deli’s signature sandwich, he is caught in a heated twitter war. This enemies-to-lovers story is told in first-person spilt narrative.

Tweet Cute on Amazon

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

Recent high school grad, Ever Wong wanted to spend the summer before college dancing, but her over controlling immigrant Asian parents send her to Chien Tan, a strict study abroad program in Taipei. Once in Taipei, she makes new friends and meets Rick Woo, the most accomplished Asian American of her generation. At least that’s what her parents think. When she tells her new friends about her parents' strict rules, they encourage her to break them while she’s in Taipei. Rule number one, no boys until after med school. Good thing there are plenty of hot boys in Taipei, if only the perfect Rick Woo would leave her alone.

Loveboat, Taipei on Amazon

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

Rosie Thorne is a book lover in Small Town, America. Vance Reigh is Hollywood’s most notorious bad boy, but when his actions attract too much bad publicity, he’s sent to live with his godfather until his eighteenth birthday. After a really bad day Rosie chases a running dog into what she thought was an abandoned house and meets Vance. Together they destroy a priceless first edition book. To avoid legal consequences, although they cannot stand each other, they have work together to fix up a library.

Bookish and the Beast on Amazon

As If On Cue by Marisa Kanter

Natalie vs. Reid! For High School junior Natalie, that’s how it’s always been. Competing for fun, for first chair clarinet or for her father’s attention. When the school’s arts budget gets cut, she has to compete with Reid (and the school band) for the ability to do theatre as an after-school activity, she and Reid end up in one of their legendary prank wars. When they accidentally destroy a sound system, the principal makes Natalie and Reid work together to put on a musical.

As If On Cue on Amazon

Chasing After Knight by Heather Buchta

Alexa Brooks met scrawny, ninety-pound Carson Knight during summer camp before ninth grade. They were instant best friends before “the incident,” then she moved from Los Angeles to Los Vegas. She’s spent the last three years making every effort to forget him, which is no small feat when he is now famous Hollywood bad boy, Cayden McKnight. A camp craft bracelet and English assignment bring up old memories and new friends encourage her to find Cayden McKnight and profess her love, but Alexa already has a boyfriend and Cayden wants nothing to do with her.

Chasing After Knight on Amazon

In Conclusion

Making this list, I realized that I read a lot of this trope. I love enemies to lovers because I believe in second chances and that forgiveness is more powerful than hate. These stories absolutely embody that people are far more than your first impression of them. From learning the annoying project partner has already given the best hours of his day help others to the perfect person is just as insecure, these characters learn lessons and teach us something about ourselves. I have also read several enemies-to-lovers holiday stories. That could be a possible future list.

Please stay tuned for more.

Post contains affiliate links. I occasionally receive free books to review, but opinions are all my own.

"Bratz"

I found this old one. I wrote this piece ten years ago. There should be something new for next week!

Bratz

 

Recently, my mom, my little sisters, Anna and Rebecca, and I went to the post office because we had to deliver a package. At the post office, there is a very friendly mailman who has worked there since I was a baby. He is always very friendly to us whenever we go to the post office. While the mailman helped my mom, he made small talk and asked what grade me and my sisters were in. As we were leaving the post office, the mailman said, “Bye, brats.”

 

After my mom, sisters and I had walked out of the post office and were in the parking lot Rebecca asked, “Why did he call us Bratz?”  My mom said, “That was probably the first name he could come up with.” And then Anna added, “Yeah, we have never even played with Bratz.”

My sisters and I have never played with the Bratz dolls. We’ve always preferred the wholesome and yet recently slightly immodest Barbie dolls.

 

 

 

age 13