Confessions Of A Bookaholic – Guilty Pleasures Edition #74 – Sweet Valley High #67 – The Parent Plot

This book has political scandal, sleuthing, and love schemes, both trying to bring people together and keep them apart. And on that last one, it is twin versus twin. Get ready for some fun! 😉

“The Parent Plot”

svh_the_parent_plot

Sweet Valley Scale: 4 out of 5 Twins

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield’s father is running for mayor of Sweet Valley. Both of the twins are hard at work on the campaign, but they’re taking opposite sides in an even bigger contest: a contest to bring romance into their parents’ lives. Even though Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield only recently separated, Jessica thinks it’s time for them to start dating other people – and she’s going to make sure that’s exactly what happens. But Elizabeth is just as determined to get her parents back together, and she’s thinking up some romantic schemes of her own. It’s Jessica versus Elizabeth – may the best twin win!

So, I admit this book was much better than the last few books, but “The Parent Trap” it was not. So Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are still separated and living apart. Liz is still super sad about it, but Jessica has moved on. Yep, it’s only been a few weeks, but Jessica thinks that her parents should date other people and she is just the matchmaker to help them find true love, whether they know it, or want it, or not. Good lord, this is so screwed up. I mean if your parents are truly better people without each other – fine. Or is they have had problems for years, or have been trying for years, but none of these statements apply to this situation. I don’t know what else to say…

Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, fiction, Guilty Pleasures, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bad Body: After Ten Days Of Neglect My Body Is Taking A Stand (And Making Me Pay)

I don’t think I’m very high maintenance, but my body is another story. I mean talk about a drama queen! It’s either this is broken or this organ is slacking or needs surgery or my blood is out of whack, either on its chemistries or my body is making too many red blood cells again, and let’s not forget my evil stomach and my kidneys – the two more life-altering organs that affect me every day. But I have a pretty good system in place to make my body happy, and in turn my body won’t make me too miserable. Most are things that I should never do, but there are three big ones that I must do every day or my body can get a little pissy.

  1. Thou Shall Drink At Least 100 Ounces Of Water Per Day.
  2. Thou Shall Get At Least 7.5 Hours Of Sleep Per Day.
  3. Thou Shall Spend At Least One Hour Per Day Relaxing/Winding Down.

From Thursday April 2 through Monday April 13 I kind of gave my body the middle finger. And now it’s giving that finger back to me.

Continue reading

Posted in Health, Life, Personal, travel | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AWP 2015 Minneapolis – A Very Rough Beginning

“What the fuck am I doing here?”

“I am never fucking going this again!”

I apologize for the language, but this was a singsong in my head last Thursday morning. It was my first time at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference (AWP) and everything seemed to be going wrong while all of my fears before were loud and sharp and real. And all of the things I was looking forward to had yet to happen.

“What the fuck am I doing here?”

“I am never fucking going this again!”

The night before our car broke down. When we turned it on after meeting one of Roy’s friends for a drink, it said the battery was dead. But this couldn’t be the case because the battery was only a few months old. Then it said something was wrong with the alternator. And then it was the radiator. And then the car started overheating so we shut it off. We drove slowly to the nearest Tires Plus, which luckily wasn’t far, but we had to keep stopping as the car’s internal temperature kept climbing. The same friends we had just left picked us up and dropped us at our hotel. Now we had to figure out what to do about the next morning.

Continue reading

Posted in Life, Personal, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nebraska: A Drive-By Visit

I haven’t been back to my home state of Nebraska since 2013. That wasn’t the plan, I mean true I am not crazy about Nebraska… All right, I hate the state. I mean the story I submitted to prospective graduate schools (and was accepted – even landed a scholarship) was titled, “Fucking Nebraska.” I think that really says it all. But I go back there because people that I love and miss live there. And there are a few places I really like eating at, and they’re only there too. So the people and some of the food keep me coming back. The plan was to visit once a year and now twenty months later I finally made it back again… but it was kind of a drive-by.

I went to the AWP conference in Minneapolis last week and we (my husband, Roy, and I) decided to drive and make a road trip out of it. And one of the reasons (there were several) was to be able to visit Nebraska and all of those people that I love who still happen to live there. We arrived Saturday evening and left Tuesday morning, and were there for a whole 64 hours. And yet, despite the incredible rush and lack of time, I still got to see everyone I wanted/needed to see (with the exception of my sister, but that won’t happen until she turns eighteen, so it doesn’t count). I had to see my three of my four besties that all live in the Omaha area: Crystal, Jay and Krystin, and my brothers, my father and his wife, and my grandmother. Done, done and done. I had a strong desire to eat at five of my all-time favorite places, but only made three of them, but there’s always next time.

Continue reading

Posted in Family, Personal, Relationships, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Confessions Of A Bookaholic – Guilty Pleasures Edition #73 – Sweet Valley High #66 – Who’s To Blame?

This book picks up from where “Trouble At Home” left off. Feel free to give that a look see if you haven’t already and watch as the picture-perfect Wakefield family begins to crumble…

“Who’s To Blame?”

svh_whose_to_blame

Sweet Valley Scale: 3.5 out of 5 Twins

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield’s parents have separated and Mr. Wakefield has moved into an apartment of his own in downtown Sweet Valley. The Wakefield house seems so empty without him… Elizabeth has never been so miserable. She would do anything to bring her family together again, especially because she is certain that she is the reason her parents split up. But when Jessica tells her twin that she thinks their parents’ separation is Elizabeth’s fault, it’s too much. Distraught and guilt-ridden, Elizabeth decides to move away from home and say goodbye to Sweet Valley. If she really is the cause of her parents’ unhappiness, then perhaps they’ll get back together once she is out of their way…

This book was absolutely slaptastic. As in I wanted to slap so many people, so hard, my hand hurt! Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are not happy with each other anymore. Mrs. Wakefield got stupid, while also working a real job fulltime and Mr. Wakefield’s inner jackass has taken a semi-permanent residence. Mr. Wakefield moves out at the beginning of the book and into a one bedroom apartment downtown. Because it is an apartment and not a house, and it is empty since he hasn’t unpacked, Elizabeth thinks it is the most depressing place in the world and wants to cry. You better get used to it because Elizabeth wants to cry every other page in this book.

Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, fiction, Guilty Pleasures, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment