Mama Bear Reviews

I fell in love with Lily Anderson with her first book The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You. I was so happy that she created a sequel titled Not Now, Not Ever. Lily Anderson writes young adult novels packed full of genius teenagers and nerdy references. Not Now, Not Ever tells the story of Elliot who has decided that she will go against her parent's wishes and run away to a summer camp to try for a chance to win a college scholarship. Shortly after arriving, Elliot finds that her cousin has made the same decision to run away from his family and is now blackmailing her to ensure that they both stay at the camp undetected. The students at the camp have to compete in challenges that range from the academic to light saber wars. Elliot makes friendships, fall in love and finds out more about herself during her month at camp. I really loved this story and look forward to more books from Lily Anderson. She has such wonderful and unique characters that are all very relatable.

This year, I am not only pushing myself to read more but to try out a lot of new authors. I just finished Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins . She is such a big author that I am not sure how I am only now getting to reading one of her books but I am glad that I did. I loved her writing style and the story as well.  Now That You Mention It centers around Nora who is a doctor in Boston. Nora grew up on a small island but had a difficult time in high school and left rather abruptly to move on and make changes in her life. She believed that her life in Boston was perfect but after being hit by a van, she begins to question if she is truly happy. Moving back to the island where she grew up to heal, Nora works at confronting everything that she ran away from. She also works at healing some old relationships and creating new ones as well.  I have to say that my favorite part about the character of Nora is that she is a huge Harry Potter fan. There are references sprinkled th

My husband and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary in August. Over the course of our marriage, I have read a handful of book on relationships. I think it is good to look at new perspectives and get a fresh viewpoint at times. I just finished How to be Married: What I Learned from Real Women on Five Continents About Surviving My First (Really Hard) Year of Marriage by Jo Piazza. I thought this book had an interesting take on the topic simply because it was not just straight advice. This book is also a bit of a travel memoir. The author talks about her travels with her husband during her first year of marriage and some of the advice that she picks up during that time. While I did not think that the advice was anything new, I did think it was a good collection of lessons and stories. I think any couple, old or new, can benefit from this bit of marital wisdom and stories. I also think that there are some great travel stories that will make anyone want to take an adventure.

Happy New Year! Ok, I may be a little late saying that but we are still in the first week of the new year. I have been reading a lot over the last few weeks but have not gotten on to post as much as I would like. Last year, I set my reading challenge to be 150 books. I ended up finishing the year at 167. I was pretty proud of surpassing my goal so I have set my goal this year to be 175 books read. You can set up your own goals at Goodreads . The site makes it really easy to add books that your have read so you can keep well organized. I discovered some new authors that I have enjoyed. One of my new favorites is Eloisa James. I have been slowly making my way through the Desperate Duchesses series. The first one that I picked up was Seven Minutes in Heaven which I would absolutely recommend. Another author that I have enjoyed is RaeAnne Thayne. I have only read Sugar Pine Trail so far but look forward to picking up the rest in the series. I found this book to be a great Christm