May is the cruelest month

Being an elementary school teacher can give me a case of the mean reds at any time of year but May is the worst. There is too much going on, too much to do, too many nights & weekends spent in my classroom, and too much pollen in the air. Also too much chocolate consumed.

But it is now Memorial Day and happily the end of May. I still have to write report cards and do a fair number of unpleasant end of the year tasks but it is less soul defeating because there are only 9 school days left.  I can do anything for 9 days!

Which leads me to this post of laziness. I've been reading over the past month I just don't want to stop and think and write about most of it at this point so here is my wrap up:

This was a fast paced & suspenseful romance novel with a mystery thrown in for good  measure. It was a good stress reliever.

I enjoyed all of these books on writing and they were easy to read little bits at a time while I was so busy with everything else. I liked The Writer's Idea Book and Pen on Fire the best.

I can't bring myself to post the covers for the next two books I read seeing as they feature burly Scottish men in kilts. But I did enjoy reading Lucy Monroe's Moon Awakening and Moon Craving. They were a clever mix of werewolf supernatural stuff with historical Scotland stuff. They were light and fun to read. These would join Be My Baby in the stress relieving category.

This is a book I loved! It is a hilarious semi-spoof of all the supernatural teen books out there and I had so much fun reading it. I was honestly laughing while reading and I can't wait to read the next one in the series. After I finished it I checked out Rachel Hawkins' blog which was pretty entertaining too.

Being pretty much antisocial I don't like developing relationships with bookstore employees. It's one of the reasons I love buying books online so much, it's why I love the self-checkout machine at the library, it's why I alternate going to Barnes & Noble or Borders so nobody gets too familiar. I just have no desire to talk books with the store people. They try to recommend things when they see what I'm buying and I shoot them down when I tell them I've already read whatever they are hawking at me. They keep trying. It gets embarrassing and turns into a conversation about how I must read so fast and aren't I lucky. I end up feeling like a stuck up rhymes with witch. Which leads me to Franny & Zooey.

There is a teeny tiny independent bookstore near my school that I hardly ever go to because they don't stock a lot, they have a cat that makes me sneeze, and it is so small that you are forced to interact with the 1 employee. I was buying some really random books (cozy mysteries, The Carrie Diaries, a few romance novels, etc)  that I did not want to talk about at all with this lady so I threw Franny & Zooey on top to confuse her. Which worked out well for me too since I really liked this book. I liked enough to give it its own post in the upcoming future.

 I adore Jennifer Echols so I was super excited that this sequel to The Boys Next Door was finally out! I loved it! I think there should be a new YA sub-category for romantic realistic fiction that features beaches (or lakes), summer activities (wake boarding or going to summer houses or lifeguarding, etc), and having crushes on boys you grew up with who are also your older brother's friends. One of my other favorite YA books, The Summer I Turned Pretty, fits in nicely too.

I think this could be like how there are a bunch of different vampire or werewolf YA titles or how the Harlequin rack at Walmart features 10 different books with titles created from Mad Libs that you know all have the same plot (The [Greek or Italian or Russian or sometimes even Sicilian] [Tycoon or CEO or Executive or Millionaire or even better Billionaire's] Virgin Bride. I also love the Harlequin titles that all feature doctors and their lovahs. How do I get the job crafting those titles? I want it!