Reading, Writing, and Me

Today I wanted to share a short story that I wrote a little while ago and is one of my favorites I've written. I submitted this to the National Council of Teachers of English awards and received recognition for Superior Performance in Writing, but since they don't publish an anthology, I never got to share the story with an audience. I thought that this would be a great first short story of mine to post on the blog for the writing section (I don't post more since many contests publish your work which prohibits me from sharing it myself). I really hope you enjoy it, and please leave me a comment with your thoughts. (And just to restate, everything I post on my blog I have worked hard to  create. These are all protected under copyright and reproduction for any reason without my written consent is both unacceptable and illegal.)             Goodbye             “ Come ...

Hello, everyone! Even being off school this week, I didn't realize how crazy my life could still be, so maybe I overestimated my ability for summer reading. I still haven't really found my summer groove yet and next week will still probably be crazy with my midweek travel, but, afterwards, when I get used to being back off and have more time on my hands, I'll work on my reading. Next week, at the very least, you can expect a review of Royce Rolls by Margaret Stohl, which I'm super excited to start right after I get this up. 10 Things I Can See From Here  by Carrie Mac Overview: Mac brings readers the story of Mave Glover. At sixteen, Mave has no interest in driving, crippling anxiety, and a brain filled with plenty of empty facts and stats about death rates and accident causes. She often scripts obituaries in her head when things go amiss, and she has a hard time just experiencing life. This is made even worse when her mother leaves for Hati with her much older ...

Hello, everyone! This week has been a bit of a crazy week (I finished an entire English course in two weeks!). Since I took my final on Friday, I've started to get into my summer groove. Expect more books and longer posts the more we get into summer as I plan on putting lots of time into crafting great content for all parts of the blog. I got to read two great books this week, and, as a look into next week, 10 Things I Can See From Here  by Carrie Mac will defiantly make the list. The One Memory of Flora Banks  by Emily Barr (290 pages) Overview: Flora banks has amnesia. She doesn't remember anything that has happened to her since the age of ten. Her journal tells her that it was a side effect of a surgery to remove a brain tumor. She goes through life with her brain constantly resetting about every hour with only notes on her arm to give her small reminders. And then something breaks through. A kiss with her best friend's boyfriend who was leaving for the Arctic. This...

Hello, everyone! I cannot believe I've kept this up for the past ten weeks! Unfortunately, this week has been crazy busy with school stuff and other things, so I only managed to finish one book this week, but after how many I squeezed in last week, I'll give myself a pass. There are tons of books that I am eager to read, though after my recent trip to my local indie book store. I just have to find the time to read them! I love the other cover for this book with the red push pin. This was the edition the library had. Paper Towns  by John Green Overview: I bet you've probably heard of this book before (it was one of the few YA books I knew about when I was too young to read it), but I thought I would go ahead and share my thoughts. This book is about two seniors in high school whose lives exist on very different wave links, though they have a tendency to cross at strange times like when Margo crawls into Q's window one night and orchestrates a chain of spectacular...

On account of getting out of school early every day this week, I have four books to share with you this week. All of these were solid reads, but I found Under the Rose-Tainted Skies  to be absolutely spectacular. I thought my favorite Kate Spade notebook summed up these books lovely protagonists.  Under the Rose- Tainted Skies  by Louise Gornoll ( https://www.amazon.com/Under-Rose-Tainted-Skies-Louise-Gornall-ebook/dp/B01912OSG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494770309&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+rose+tainted+sky   This was such an amazing book I wrote an article entirely dedicated to it. You can view that here:  http://www.readingwritingandme.com/2017/05/standout-book-under-rose-tainted-skies.html Always and Forever, Lara Jean  by Jenny Han ( https://www.amazon.com/Always-Forever-Lara-Loved-Before-ebook/dp/B01GD9DP08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494770360&sr=8-1&keywords=always+and+forever+lara+jean Overview: For the last installment o...

Hello, everyone! The last book I got to read this week was beyond phenomenal, so I decided that I would feature it today. I had high expectations for this book and was thrilled when I found it at the library on Friday. Under the Rose-Tainted Skies  by Louise Gornall (  https://www.amazon.com/Under-Rose-Tainted-Skies-Louise-Gornall-ebook/dp/B01912OSG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494770458&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+rose+tainted+sky ) Overview: Under the Rose-Tainted Skies  is the story of Norah who has agoraphobia and OCD. She has remained in her house homeschooling and watching the world through television and social media since she quit Cardinal High School during her freshman year four years ago. Life follows a normal pattern of school work and therapist visits until the new boy next door moves in, and, despite catching her in a few odd moments, wants to get to know Norah better. As this happens and she gets closer to Luke, Norah worries that she is h...

Last Updated December 2023: Please reach out to me at  readingwritingandme@gmail.com Brand Collaborations: If you have a bookish brand, I would love to work with you to promote your product! I absolutely love book boxes, book clubs, stationary, and enamel pins, and I know my readers will love them too. Send a pitch telling me about your brand to readingwritingandme@gmail.com  where we can work out the details. I can't wait to hear from you!  Review Pitches: I am no longer able to reply to every review request I receive because of extremely high volume. I'm sorry! If I am interested in reading the book, I will reach out to you as soon as possible. Accepting a review copy does not guarantee a final review or a positive review as I must maintain my integrity as a reviewer. If you do not hear back from me within two weeks, please consider it a pass. I do not generally read self published books and want to make sure that the books I review are widely accessible to the most rea...