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January 5, 2015 Jen

First order of the new year is in the mail. #etsy #superheroes #justjoshinkids

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#swapaddict: A Guide to Online Craft Swaps is now available on Apple iBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo and Bibliotheca

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Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Wow! This book is going to stay with me a long time. There is so much to love about this book. The writing is incredible and the characters are so real and complex. The main character, Annabelle, is 11-going-on-12, living in a rural community at the advent of the Second World War. She has a loving family, two supportive parents and two rambunctious younger brothers, a nice home on a farm, extended family and relative peace. Their whole word changes when a new girl Betty, moves to town. Betty is a bully, manipulative and cruel, and she targets Annabelle. The story starts out as a story about one girl and her bully, but the situation quickly escalates and changes the lives of everyone around. Annabelle is a strong, smart girl with a good heart, who sees the best in people, has the confidence to stand up for herself and those around her and she is a female heroine for the ages. The story is layered and intertwined, relatable, touching, heartbreaking, inspirational, moving and thoughtful. A must read! 5/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads #youngatheartyareader #ireadya #yareader #yareadersofinstagram #laurenwolk

Severance by Ling Ma. This during- and post-apocalyptic story is well written and mostly interesting, but ultimately it sort of fell flat. Candace is one of only a few survivors of a world-wide fever caused by an airborne fungus, which doesn’t necessarily kill people, but sort of zombifies them into an endless cycle or rote behavior. (Like serving food for a mom or folding sweaters for a retail worker.) She is a child of immigrants, her parents are already deceased, so she has no reason not to keep going to work in her New York office, despite the world ending around her. Eventually she does walk away, long after every person she knows is “fevered” and she flees the Big Apple, meets up with a group of other survivors (led by a controlling nutjob) who loot homes and businesses to survive. Some parts of this will stick in my mind for a long time but the last 1/3 was sort of bleh and didn’t really wrap up in any meaningful way. 3/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads

I checked this out of the library before was even half way done with the first book, Truly Devious, and I am not sure how I will survive the wait for the third installment. Like the first, this book is hard to put down, and answers some questions and raises many more. The characters are complicated and likable and quirky, the setting is creepy and mysterious, and the story, well, the story is a mystery that needs to be solved, I have to know. 5/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads #youngatheartyareader #ireadya #yareader #yareadersofinstagram

This book was riveting and creepy and I couldn’t stop reading. I had already checked out the second one from the library, 1/3 of the way into this one! Excellent, quirky, and intriguing characters spanning two different eras, plus lots of mystery and an incredibly creepy setting. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book. 5/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads #youngatheartyareader #ireadya #yareader #yareadersofinstagram

The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. The fictional town of Crystal, CO the kids aren’t all just above average, they’re incredibly gifted. Or so the parents all believe. When the school district announces a gifted magnet school in town, the parents collectively lose their minds, and possibly some friendships, maybe a few jobs. The story follows four families, all with kids heading into middle school, all of whom live a life of comfort and privilege. They embody parenting as a competitive sport, in all the worst ways. I wish it seemed unbelievable that adults would say and do the things these people do, but it’s really not. Lying, cheating, exploiting connections, bribery, you name it, none of it is too low to sink for these families in their pursuit of a spot in the gifted school for their kids. The characters are well-formed, not very likable, and completely believable. The story has some predictable spots and some twists, and sticks with you after the last page. Are people really this horrible to get their kids “ahead” in life? Without doubt. The book was entertaining and thought provoking and made me conscious of the insanity of modern parenting. 4/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. I don’t know why I put off reading this book for so long. I love Rainbow Rowell have completely enjoyed all of her books, especially Fangirl, which is where this story originated. Simon and Baz were fictional characters that the main character in the fictional book Fangirl wrote about in her fan fiction. Which became its own world in Carry On. The book started out sort of slow and very reminiscent of Harry Potter, but switched gears and suddenly you’re not in Hogwarts anymore. I love the characters and the alternating point of view storytelling, friendship, attraction, awkwardness, adventure, and love. I can’t wait for the sequel to Carry On, which might be the only benefit of waiting so long to read this, only a couple weeks until the next one! 5/5 stars ⭐️ #19IGRC #19readingchallenge #justjoshinreads #2019readingchallenge #goodreads #readersofinstagram #readersofig #booksofinstagram #booklife #bookstagram #booknerd #booksarelife #booklover #bookblogger #reads #youngatheartyareader #ireadya #yareader #yareadersofinstagram

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