Book Junkie Giveaway!

It's no secret that I am quite the book junkie. I love reading and having a huge pile of books ready for me to read. I was elated when 20SB and Random House gave me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh. You can find the link to her website here! The book's official release was on March 11th.

The following is a brief summary that you can also find on her website:

The town of Henbane sits deep in the Ozark Mountains. Folks there still whisper about Lucy Dane’s mother, a bewitching stranger who appeared long enough to marry Carl Dane and then vanished when Lucy was just a child. Now on the brink of adulthood, Lucy experiences another loss when her friend Cheri disappears and is then found murdered, her body placed on display for all to see. Lucy’s family has deep roots in the Ozarks, part of a community that is fiercely protective of its own. Yet despite her close ties to the land, and despite her family’s influence, Lucy—darkly beautiful as her mother was—is always thought of by those around her as her mother’s daughter. When Cheri disappears, Lucy is haunted by the two lost girls—the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn’t save—and sets out with the help of a local boy, Daniel, to uncover the mystery behind Cheri’s death.
 
What Lucy discovers is a secret that pervades the secluded Missouri hills, and beyond that horrific revelation is a more personal one concerning what happened to her mother more than a decade earlier.

Alright so now for my review. I must say that this book had me from page one...okay I'm exaggerating more like page 5. But seriously, I cruised through this thriller/mystery novel in about THREE days. The character development in this book is great and had a very interesting writing style. McHugh would switch points of view between characters in the beginning of each chapter which at times made things a little confusing, but her attention to detail and the quick story development made me flip through each page faster and faster without getting lost in the story.

I learned very quickly that I could not read this book at work since I ended up shouting "NO WAY" several different times....out loud. There are several things that are important to me in a book that makes me recommend it to everyone I know and a unique plot and a great writing style are two key components. She never gives you a chance to put the book down and does a great job at building the suspense throughout each chapter. The author also makes you feel several different emotions with each character in the book. For instance Crete, I wanted to just reach through the book and punch in the balls. If a book makes me feel that much emotion, the author did his/her job! I'm obviously not going to give you my in-depth opinion of the ending because I don't want to spoil it! BUT I was pretty satisfied with it. I didn't feel like it was rushed at all, something that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.

For McHugh's first novel, it was quite impressive! I would definitely look out for future books written by this author. I definitely know why other reviewers compared this author to Gillian Flynn now, so if you're a fan of Flynn, this is a must-read!

And NOW for the big event, a giveaway I'm hosting for The Weight of Blood! Good luck, fellow book lovers! The giveaway will end on March 20th. The winner will receive a copy of the book courtesy of Random House.

Feel The Burn!

This week I just realized that within the next 66 DAYS, I have to finish wedding planning, go house hunting and hopefully move in sometime soon after the wedding! No big deal right? Josh and I are blessed times a million to have such amazing and supportive families or else I think I'd be bunking with Amanda Bynes somewhere. I keep on telling myself, "we can do this!" "We got this!" When really...that tiny voice in my head is all, "girl you better grab a box of thin mints and a bottle of wine for the shit storm of stress that is about to consume you. (Too late it already has).

Source

Since I'm just about finished with most of the wedding planning and have a bunch of final appointments lined up, it's not TOO daunting...but I'm sure Josh will have to suffer through a few more cryfests before I get my shit together. Can I just be in Barbados with my hubs already? That brings me to my next issue. I went to Target the other night and bikinis are ALL on display (this makes me rethink that box of Savannah Smiles at home). I'm really not all too worried, but I think every girl just coming out of sweater weather's reaction would be similar- if not close to- THIS.

Josh is my biggest man cheerleader when it comes to my body image and it's an amazing thing to have. Even before my fitness transformation and I would rather die in the fiery pits of hell before even stepping foot into a bikini, he told me how beautiful I was in and out.  It wasn't until last year (see post here) until a friend dragged me on a bikini shopping date and I actually didn't feel like death. Before visiting Rihanna's homeland, I should probably kick my fitness routine up a notch now that I'm through with being sick. It's been a little above freezing for the past couple of days and I've been DYING to go for a run outside. I'll have to start thinking of ways to multi-task...i.e. running in place or doing burpees to test out the floors in the homes that we visit? Testing the integrity of the floors is always helpful right?

Nothing feels better than kicking my ass at the gym after not being able to go for so long! Stupid stomach bug...This med ball right here is the very reason why my abs feel like they are on FIRE (in addition to some hardcore kickboxing). Several V-ups, Russian twists, med ball push-ups, med ball slams etc. are definitely making me feel the burn!! I have three measly weeks until my alterations appointment for my wedding dress and there is NO room for excuses! Does anyone else feel like the Incredible Hulk the first day back to the gym post sickness? I always feel a million times stronger and have WAY more energy to burn.

In order to take things a little more seriously though for the sake of my wedding dress, I wanted to try out Advocare's 10-day Cleanse Phase that is part of the overall 24-Day Challenge. I'm not doing the whole challenge simply for monetary reasons. It's not that cheap and with all of these wedding expenses, my bank account has me by the throat! I've heard nothing but good things about it so I'm excited to see what it'll do for me!

I think the biggest challenge for me is eating breakfast on time. I'll have to eat according to the schedule that comes along with it and have my Spark drink 30 minutes before each meal. It's essentially supposed to kick your metabolism up a notch. You know, like Emeril Lagasse style. Has anyone else done this? What were your results??

Even better, I got my advance copy of my book in the mail today! It's called The Weight of Blood and spoiler alert to a future post, I'll be reviewing the book and hosting a giveaway in the beginning of March! It looks like an awesome thriller and I can't wait to dive into it!

Also, happy blog hop Wednesday!! Link up with Fitness Blondie and co-host High Heels and Treadmills. They're both pretty much amazing ladies. Liz over at Fitness Blondie is also hosting a giveaway for an amazing fitness package! What are you waiting for??? Go look!

The Book Hangover

 First off, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!! I'm sure everyone isn't sick of all of the heart-shaped foods, balloons, flowers, chocolate, crafts etc.!!!! Sometimes it comes to a point where I just want to punch Pinterest in the vag and I'm not even single! There is a fine line between having WAY too much time on your hands and being crafty with all of these Pinterest ideas floating around. You can just classify me under one of those Pinterest Fail photos. Yep, that's me.

If I have any free time at all, it's dedicated to feeding my book addiction. I'm a bookworm to the max and nope, I'm not ashamed! For all of you book lovers out there, I'm sure you can relate to having a book hangover, a condition you get when you finished a book or series and you just are in complete denial of it ending and want it to continue!! My biggest hangover was with Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. It was so fantastic. Now, I'm just starting Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. Nesbo is a Norwegian writer who was compared to Larsson so I figured that I MUST invest in this series. I'm usually not into crime-fiction novels either! It's a long series (10 books) so I'll be busy for quite some time! I have so many other books on my shelf/iPad too that I have yet to dive into. This is what Josh has to deal with all the time. He's such a keeper.

I absolutely love going to bookstores. I hate that I have succumbed to reading books on my iPad...but they just cost less AND it just takes up a little space in my bag (I read huge clunker books at times). I'm such a book addict, I have the Nook app, Kindle AND my iPad's bookshelf. Is there a support group for book addicts?

My only fear in life is when I find out about a movie adaptation of one of my fav books.

What is everyone else reading? What book has left you with a severe book hangover??