Porch Swing Girl {book review}

Have you ever read a book and felt like it needed to be a movie?  Yeah, that's what happened to me with this book.

Now, most of you have probably already heard wonderful things about this book (if you haven't, where have you been?), and I'm here to tell you that they are all completely justified.  Taylor Bennett has written a wonderful story of grief, God's redemption, and summer beach days.  And because she is one of the sweetest people ever and I'm part of her street team now, she sent me a copy to review for you today! (And yes, I do already have a copy of "Sand Castle Dreams", and yes, I'm going to be reading it very very soon)

Porch Swing Girl



Author: Taylor Bennett
Genre: Christian fiction
Content: None
Main Character: Olive Galloway
Placement in Series: 1 of 3

Synopsis:
What if friendship cost you everything?
Stranded in Hawaii after the death of her mother, sixteen-year-old Olive Galloway is desperate to escape. She has to get back to Boston before her dad loses all common sense and sells the family house. But plane tickets cost money—something Olive gravely lacks.
With the help of Brander, the fussy youth group worship leader, and Jazz, a mysterious girl with a passion for all things Hawaiian, Olive lands a summer job at the Shave Ice Shack and launches a scheme to buy a plane ticket home before the end of the summer.
But when Jazz reveals a painful secret, Olive’s plans are challenged. Jazz needs money. A lot of it. Olive and Brander are determined to help their friend but, when their fundraising efforts are thwarted, Olive is caught in the middle. To help Jazz means giving up her ticket home. And time is running out.

Add on Goodreads ~ Purchase on Amazon

What I Thought:

This was exactly what I wanted it to be, oh my goodness.  The setting, the characters, the faith content, it was just perfect. 
Things I loved:
- Brander (*heart eyes*)
- Jazz (I want to be her friend please)
- Macie (she's the cutest)
- Olive (eventually. she had to grow on me)
- The setting (even though I haven't been to Hawaii, I felt like I was there!)
- The Shave Ice Shack (can I go there please?)
 - The way Taylor handled grief.  I have to talk about this.  As someone who has lost a parent, I really appreciated it.  Olive handled it differently than her dad, who handled it differently than Macie, who handled it different than Gramma.  And that was perfection.  How Olive doubted God and her Gramma clung closer to Him.  It was amazing, and I applaud Taylor for writing it.
- The ship... I loooooved it. (and I just loved how pure and adorable it is and I can't wait to see where it goes in the next books)
- I want to visit the church, it seems so awesome.
- It was just so nostalgic feeling and wonderful.

Overall Rating: 5 shave ices out of 5

((I made an edit ooooh)

((also I made a Spotify playlist ooooooh))



If you're looking for a summer-y read that's gonna give you all the feels and has awesome faith content, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

~ Abby

What I've Been Up To (Welcome Back!)

Hehe... sorry about that hiatus.

I do want to make this blog a priority, I do!  It's just difficult with the fifty million other things it feels like I have to do, you know?  So starting now, I'm going to try my very best to post once a week.  And if I don't... poke me.  Go to one of my social media links over there in the sidebar and just say "hey, Abby, how's this week's post coming?" if you don't see it before Saturday.  Yeah?  Maybe I just need to set an alarm for like... Monday night.  GO WRITE A BLOG POST. or something.

So here we are again, and I thought, to kick off this new chapter of my blogging life, I'd catch you up on where I've been, and what I've been doing.  I basically haven't posted in 2019 so far, which is a shame, because a ton of stuff has gone down around here!

- reading -

I've already read 19 books in 2019, and to be honest, I feel like this is a grand accomplishment.  Especially since some of them have been massive tomes of books.  A few examples of the awesome books I've read so far:

A Boy Called Christmas - a story of magic, a boy named Nicholas, impossibilities, and reindeer.
Cinder (and the whole of The Lunar Chronicles) - everything I wanted them to be and more.
Rose in Three Quarter Time - a marriage of convenience plot that's just so darn CUTE.
and I've been re-reading-via-audiobook the HTTYD series and I just love this series and these characters so much *melts in a puddle of feels*

- writing -

Okay, okay, okay, this is really, I think, the main reason I haven't been blogging.  Because all my words are going into my WIP and I'm not too mad about that, tbh.  The story I'm writing is called Parker and Barrow (or that's the working title, anyway), and it's a historical fantasy retelling of the story of Bonnie and Clyde!  Which is super fun so far.  Bonnie is surprisingly bitter and Clyde is surprisingly soft and basically this whole book so far has been full of surprises and I'm only a chapter and a half in.  It's been nice, being passionate about writing again.  I've missed it a lot.

- watching -

The most recent show obsession I've had is with The Dick van Dyke Show.



I'd seen a few episodes through the years, but when I got my wisdom teeth removed at the new year, my sister and I started watching through the show and it is just... the purest, funniest, best ever show I just love it to pieces. Laura and Rob's relationship is actual life goals, I want Laura's whole wardrobe, tbh, and it's genuinely hilarious and clean.  Ah, it's so good.  And it's all available on Amazon Prime, so if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it.

I also started rewatching Once Upon a Time because I was feeling all nostalgic and it's so overdramatic but also it's great.

- doing -

Really, the reason I haven't posted here has been the busyness that comes with life.  Irish dance performances (because St. Patrick's Day, hey!), upkeeping a YouTube channel (which is way more work than one would expect), being consistent with bookstagram (or at least as consistent as I can be, lol), it's a lot.  How do some people do it all?  I don't understand it. 

But hey, you know what else has been happening?  I'm so sure of God's faithfulness to me.  He's been carrying me through all of this craziness, and I'm sure He'll keep on carrying me through the next parts of His plan for me.  I may not know where I'm going, but I know who's going to be there.  You feel me?

- blogging -

If you've reached this point in this post, you know I haven't been blogging.  Thus, we've reached the questionnaire portion of this post!  So, I have a couple of questions for y'all.

What would you like to see me post about?  More book reviews?  Some stuff about writing?  Random fun with gifs and such?  Some of all of it?  My blogging well is coming up with very little water at the bottom, which is a problem because I genuinely want to make this more of a priority.  So I want to know what you want to see!  Let me know in a comment below!



Here's to many months in the future where I consistently post once a week and don't disappear for months at a time!  Let's do this thing.



~ Abby

Live Without You {blog tour + book review!}

I return!  From an entirely unplanned, accidental semi-hiatus!  Sorry for disappearing.  Life got insane there for a bit.  But today, I'm back, and I bring with me a book review!

Live Without You


(is this cover not just gorgeous??)

Author: Sarah Grace Grzy
Genre: Christian fiction
Content: Piper gets shot in the first chapter, flashbacks to a gang shooting, and memories of medical trauma.
Main Characters: Piper Redding and Ezra Bryant

Synopsis:
Piper Redding is a loner, but lonely. Everyone she loves has abandoned her and opening her heart to others is just asking for more pain. She can’t help but blame herself for her brother’s tragic death six years ago, and in her guilt, she shuts herself off from the world. No one could love her—not even the God who promised to be there for her but wasn’t.
For paramedic Ezra Bryant, failure is not an option. He’s had enough of it, and only by God’s grace is he able to put it behind him. But when a traumatic event brings Piper’s greatest fear and Ezra’s failures to light, can they use that event to allow God to mend their broken pieces? Can love triumph over fear, and grace over guilt?

Add on Goodreads ~ Purchase on Amazon ~ Get a signed paperback

What I Thought:

I am an emotional mess.  My feelings are all over the place what is this.  Am I happy?  Am I sad?  What are emotions?  I went in for a fluffy feel-good time.  Why did I expect that from a title like this?
Okay but in all seriousness, this was beautiful.  Piper and Ezra's stories were perfectly realistic, and wonderfully woven.  There were a couple of times where the pacing was a bit fast for my taste, but it's a novella, so I kind of expected it.
I fell in love with the characters from the first page.  They felt like people I could be friends with (and Ezra is totally swoon-worthy, am I right?).  I loved the relationships in this story; Piper and Ezra, Ezra and Tyler, Ezra's dad and pretty much everybody, they were all great.  The faith content was presented in a way that was consistently there but not in your face.  Piper's redemption is such a sweet arc.
Agh, it was just... It was pretty darn near perfect.  If you like friends-to-lovers, kitties, pizza, or stories that tug on your heartstrings, this is definitely the book for you.

Overall rating: 5 hot cocoas out of 5

About the Author:

Sarah Grace Grzy is a voracious reader, and if it weren’t for this crazy thing called 'Life,' she’d be tempted to spend all her days in front of a wood stove, book in one hand, coffee mug in the other.
A lover of learning, she finds enjoyment in many things and has more hobbies than she knows what to do with. Sarah Grace is a freelance web and graphic designer, and when not working, spending time with her ever-growing family, or reading, she can be found painting, playing the piano, or fangirling with her sisters and friends. She inhabits the State of Great Lakes, and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else—unless it meant she could have a baby penguin, in which case, she’d gladly move to the South Pole.
Connect with Sarah Grace!
Newsletter signup ~ Goodreads author page ~ Goodreads profile page ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

There's a super exciting GIVEAWAY going on where you have THREE chances to win a copy of this sweet book!  Check it out at this link!

There are also a ton of super amazing bloggers also in on this tour, so for a full schedule, click right here!

Huge shout-out to Sarah Grace and her fabulous tour coordinator, Victoria Lynn, for including me in this tour!  Y'all, seriously, go check out this book and this lady.  Both are wonderful. ;)

~ Abby

The Daily Life of Hailey Grace {blog tour + book review!}

Hello, fellow book nerds!  Today, I'm here with another blog tour that I am very excited about! 

This book was like a blast of nostalgia.  It took me back to another time in my life when this kind of book was what I loved.  So I'm really pumped that today I get to bring you a review of it!


The Daily Life of Hailey Grace



Author: Beloved
Genre: Christian fiction with fantasy elements
Content: None

Synopsis:
For Hailey Grace, birthdays suck! She hopes with all her heart that her big day passes without gifts, or even a birthday wish. But with loving parents and two witty best friends who keep her on her toes, there’s no telling what adventure Hailey Grace will be forced to explore this time. Unexpectedly, her best friend Alex challenges her to do something she’s never done before. With that comes a whole new set of rules, and another life Hailey isn’t sure she’s quite ready for. Now questioning all that she has ever believed, she takes Alex up on the dare by asking for something that no one but God can give her. Her request also comes with a twenty-four-hour deadline. As the minutes slowly but surely tick by, Hailey’s life shifts into overdrive and she wonders if she has asked for too much too soon.

What I Thought:

This started out exactly as I expected, and then about 30% took a sharp turn and became something that was both completely different and completely the same.  Certain plot developments had making this face:

and others had me making this face:

It was really something fascinating.  I'm not going to go into details because spoilers are evil, but here's what I loved:
- Hailey's character.  She was so cute and relatable, and I loved her struggles with her faith.  They were totally realistic and I really enjoyed seeing them portrayed.
- ALEX is my FAVE!  Sweet boy just wants to be loved.
- The friendship between these two was the most adorable thing.  Y'all know I'm a sucker for friendship and I just love them a lot, okay?  The way they rely on each other and know each other so well and just gah it's perfection. (also I can't wait to see where their relationship goes in the next books because the only thing I love more than friends are friends-to-lovers)
- Hailey's parents are the cutest, oh my word.  And they're actually involved in their kids lives!  And they both have a really solid relationship with Hailey and it's awesome.
- The book is set in Florida, and I'm from Florida, and I could totally picture the location even if the actual town is fictional. 
- ALL the faith content!
- It did keep me on my toes.  I had no idea where we were going for... most of the book, tbh.

The few things I didn't love mainly focus around spoilery stuff, so I won't go into them, and really, they were very minor.  I almost felt like the author had too many plots going on at once?  At one point I wanted to write down what I knew because I was having trouble keeping characters straight.  But here's the thing - I think this is a problem that only 20-year-old Abby can experience.  13-year-old Abby would have had zero problem with it.  So that brings me to my main point: I'm not the right audience for this book, but I can think of at least three or four kids in my life off the top of my head that I would hand this book to in a heartbeat.  This is a story I would have adored as a tween.  It was nostalgic because it reminded me of some of my favorite books of that time in my life.  I'm not in there anymore, so while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it.  But gosh, it's perfect for a tween, particularly one who isn't super firm in their faith. 

So, I recommend this book!  To a select audience, yes, but that select audience, I think, would get so much out of it.  I kinda want to get a copy to put in our church library because seriously there are some kids I want to read it. 

Overall rating: 4 food trucks out of 5

About the Author:
Beloved is a ministry leader and Christian Romance Author born and raised in Miami, FL.  She spends much of her time studying the scriptures and has a gift for sharing the Gospel.  Through her debut novel, Beloved hopes to inspire youth to seek God whole-heartedly, knowing there is nothing impossible with Him on their side!

Follow Beloved at: Her website ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Twitter

You can pick up a copy of The Daily Life of Hailey Grace on Amazon here and add it to your Goodreads shelves here!

There's also a super awesome giveaway for a paperback edition of this book going on right now, and you can enter it by clicking right here!

Huge thank you to Beloved and to Livy Lynn (who organized this awesome blog tour!) for letting me participate!  I can't wait for book 2, haha!

~ Abby

My Favorite Books of 2018

Last year, I did a post just like this.  And somehow, it's time to do another one?  Excuse me?  2018???

So I was looking on my Goodreads to try and plan ahead for this post and... uh... this is going to be hard.  I read a lot of really great books in 2018, and I mean. I read 104 books, there were bound to be some gems in there.  That and my average Goodreads rating for the year was 4.5.  So yeah, I found a few new faves.

(also 104 books, I'm pretty sure, is the most books I've ever EVER read in a year.  I am very happy.)

To keep this from completely exploding my head with indecision, I'm excluding re-reads, because I also re-read a LOT of books (PJO, HOO, HTTYD, The Underland Chronicles, and various children's classics, to name a few).  Let's get started!


January:
 
Starting off with a tie... this is not a good sign xD  I absolutely loved reading the "Guardians of Childhood" series for the first time between December of 2017 and January of 2018, so the top spot here has to go to books 3 and 4: Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies and The Sandman and the War of Dreams.


February:

 

Another tie because I genuinely could not choose.  Both Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Breadcrumbs moved me deeply, in different ways, and I can't not hold them both up as favorites.  I want to re-read them both already.  So that says something. 


March:

Cute romances!  Small towns!  Childhood-friends-to-lovers!  Fish and chips!  As Easy as Riding a Bike has all of my favorite things!
{Honorable Mention: Dissemble}


April:

This book was everything I wanted and didn't know I needed.  You can find my full review of At Her Fingertips here!  An adorable romance with loveable characters and a heart-warming message.


May:

Big, magic-filled, ballgown-wearing fairytale retellings were basically all I read for a solid year and half of my life at one point.  I've since kind of fallen out of the genre, not because I don't love them (they were an important part of me becoming me, tbh) but because I struggle to find ones that are of good quality and genuinely surprise.  Entwined was such a pleasant surprise.  It was pure magic and like a trip back in time.  I loved it.
{Honorable Mentions: The Rebellion and Dagger's Sleep}


June:

Feelzy middle-grade packed with friendship, family relationships, and eggs?  Sign me up!  The Science of Breakable Things is a book I didn't expect to love as much as I did, and I can't wait to see what Tae Keller comes up with next.
{Honorable Mentions: Perfect Scoundrels, Kiera, and School of the Dead}


July:

Some of y'all probably know that Winnie-the-Pooh is my all-time favorite classic and one of my all-time favorite books, so when I saw Return to the Hundred Acre Wood for cheap at a library sale, I had to grab it.  What I found was absolutely everything I wanted.  More adventures with Pooh and the gang (plus some new friends), adorable illustrations (in color!), and endearing stories.  Fantastic.
{Honorable Mentions: Gentle's Holler and The Real Boy}


August:

A mystery set in steam-punk London, following the niece of Sherlock Holmes and the sister of Bram Stoker, plus a good-looking inspector and a few mysterious boys.  It's great.  I participated in a buddy-read for the first time with The Clockwork Scarab, and it was awesome, I really enjoyed it!
{Honorable Mention: Not if I Save You First}


September:

Um?  I'm emotionally destroyed?  But that was awesome?  So I'm not really mad I'm just conflicted?  I have a lot of emotions about The Burning Maze, okay?


October:
  
I CAN'T CHOOSE AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME.  this is my blog post I do what I want.
No but genuinely, these were three of my absolute favorite books of the year, so I honestly don't think I can really pick.  October was my best reading month in 2018 in quality (if not quantity).  I really liked every book I read, but A Certain Sort of Madness, The Storm Runner, and Beyond Her Calling all now have proud places on my "absolute favorite books" list.
{Honorable Mentions: [see, I told you it was an amazing month] The Screaming Staircase and My Plain Jane}


November:
 
It's about time a Sarah Addison-Fox book showed up on this list, lol.  Discerned was so good!  Sad saying goodbye to my babies but a satisfying way to leave them.  And oh my gosh, y'all I started reading Blades of Acktar in November and Dare was amazing?  This whole series was amazing??  I loved it so much how have I not read it before now???


December:
 
Several absolutely incredible books came into my life in the last month of the year, and these two were the top of the line for me.  Blank Mastermind was everything I hoped it would be and more, and Deliver started out as my least favorite Acktar book and then skyrocketed to the top spot?  Dunno how that happened but here we are?  Both of these were just jam-packed with character development and healing and sass and I loved them.
{Honorable Mentions: A Christmas Carol and East}


And there you have it!  My favorite books of 2018.  What were your favorite books you discovered last year?  Any favorite re-reads?  Tell me all about it in the comments!

~ Abby

Retrieve Blog Tour {+ book review!}

Hi there, friends!  It's been awhile.  I got extremely busy around the holidays, and then I got my wisdom teeth taken out, so this week has been spent recovering and preparing to greet the new year with open arms.  And reading.  I've done a lot of reading.  Which leads me to today's post.

Because one of my favorite authors, Sarah Addison-Fox, has released a new book!

And I apologize in advance for any typos in this post, I'm kinda fangirling really hard right now, lol. 

Because Sarah is awesome, I get to give y'all my review of this awesome book, so let's get started!


Retrieve



Author: Sarah Addison-Fox
Genre: Fantasy adventure romance
Content: Violence, a few bad words sprinkled throughout, concern of what unsavory men will do to Hadley if she's found out.

Synopsis:
What if the job you took to stay alive might be what kills you?
Kade knows what it is to suffer. He knows what it's like to lose everything and everyone around him.
His job in a Stormer Unit guarantees not just his survival in the decimated country of Azetaria, but his sister Meg's. Even if it means facing the Numachi warriors baying for his blood, he'll do what it takes to keep her safe.
Hadley is alone and surviving the only way she knows how. By hiding where predators won't find her and scavenging enough just to keep her alive.
When desperation drives Hadley to search for her missing brother, she mistakenly accepts the offer of recruitment into the Stormer's camp, only to be partnered with Kade and sent as a scout into Numachi territory.
The intimidating young Stormer may just know where her brother has gone. But can they stay alive long enough to find him?

What I Thought:


This was AWESOME.  It was reminiscent of Blades of Acktar, in the best ways.  Hadley and Kade were amazing protagonists (both of whom I want to snuggle in a blanket and put them in the "safe character space" corner because please let them rest they're tired).  Knowing this was going to be a romance just meant that I shipped it immediately and while nothing really happens with it in this book (I'm sure it's going to get serious in the next ones), there were some really cute moments.  My shipper heart is happy.
But really it was also an awesome adventure that I could see as a movie, 100%.  Kade is a kick-butt boy who's secretly soft and sad and I love him.  Hadley is a scared girl who can climb really well and is generally distrustful but when she trusts she trusts completely and I love her.  I just love them both and love them together a lot okay there were a lot of cool fight scenes but also some good Soft scenes that I highly appreciated.  Gosh, I'm easy to please.  Give me a scene where one love interest falls asleep on the other's shoulder and I'm set. xD
Also THAT ENDING.  *screams for next book*
So yeah.  Highly recommend.

Overall rating: 4.5 awesome fight scenes out of 5

About the Author:
Sarah Addison-Fox is a New Zealand-born misfit who writes action-packed fantasy with a smattering of punch ups, mega amounts of romance and a dash of family values.

Follow Sarah!

Facebook: Instagram: Website: Twitter: @saddisonfox Facebook Fanpage:  Blog:

 You can add Retrieve to your Goodreads shelf here and pick up a copy on Amazon here!

And that's all for today's post!  Go check out "Retrieve" and all of Sarah's books! 

~ Abby

It's Christmas Day! + a look at my story - 12 Days of Christmas

Merriest of Christmases, my friends!!  I hope you're all having a wonderful day full of family, friends, food, and most of all, God's love!! 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS.  I just do!  I'm sad that the season has peaked and will start winding down, but it's been a great one, hasn't it?  I participated in 12DoC (and had a fantastic time!!), I got Christopher Robin Funko Pops from my amazing brother, I got to spend time with my family and friends, our church's annual drive-through nativity went really well, it's been really excellent. 

I thought today, for the final day of 12DoC, I'd let y'all into my stories a little bit.  I know I don't talk about them a ton on here but since it is Christmas (and I often wonder what my characters do this time of year), I'd like to share that with you!

I have a lot of story ideas whirling around in my head at any given time.  But right now, my main attention is on my untitled book which I refer to as Tasia's Story and I've been working on since January 1st of this year!  So it's almost a year old.  My little book baby is growing up. <3

The story centers around Tasia (obviously xD), her best friend Nigel, a princess named Katya, and her guard, Julian.  It's a tale of them becoming friends in spite of mob boss fathers, assassination plots, and very ugly cats.  And how do I think these kids would spend Christmas?

Well, in their world God is called Kaam, so it probably wouldn't be called Christmas.  It's... Kaammas… Kaamtide… idk I haven't decided what it's called yet, but it's basically the same thing.  People exchange gifts, time is spent with family, lots of food is eaten. 

Thing is, Tasia and Nigel don't have families, they've formed their own.  So they totally spend every holiday together, exchanging gifts they could get their hands on, which is usually something practical like socks or mittens (that they probably made because both of them can knit, my savvy little crafters).

Katya and Julian both have families (well... Katya has both parents and a little brother and Julian just has his dad but), so they spend the holidays with them.  Katya and Niko come bouncing in to their parents room, bursting with excitement and anticipation at what awaits them under the massive decorated tree in the entry hall of the palace.  Julian and his father probably have a rather formal exchange of gifts (all extremely practical) before Katya drags Julian into her celebration and showers him with baubles and generally useless things that he keeps on his one shelf of chaos in his otherwise pristine room. 

Once Tasia and Nigel join the palace staff, they find that the whole palace staff eats a massive meal all together, laughing and singing and being generally jolly.  Also they totally have a white elephant exchange.  And Nigel totally ends up with something completely ridiculous while Tasia gets a pair of socks.

And at the end of the day, they all go to sleep with happiness like they haven't had in a long time.  Which makes me happy too.


What do your characters do for Christmas (or the equivalent of Christmas)?  And what are YOU doing for Christmas? 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!  JESUS IS BORN AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF!!! 

(no but seriously, I hope that you have a very merry holiday and a wonderful new year.  Thanks for sticking around through these [less-than] 12 Days of Christmas, I had soooo much fun, and I already look forward to next year!)

Wishing His blessings for you and yours,
~ Abby