2014 is not off to a good start

So, I'm rather embarrassed by my lack of reading so far this year.  Only three books.  Yes, I said three.  That's a grand total of 911 pages.  I hang my head in shame.  I vow to do better.  Or at least try to do better.  What can I say- Buffy the Vampire Slayer has distracted me.

Promises to Keep by Jane Green (337 pages).  I started this book on the way home from Key West.  Apparently, I decided that I wasn't going to read too much this month.  As evidenced by the fact that it took me until Snowpocolypse 2014 to finish the book!  Of course, the subject was a tough one for me, so I think that added to it.  Callie is a forty-something year old mother of two, happily married to the love of her life.  She's a breast cancer survivor.  Several years after she's been declared in remission, she suddenly starts having unexplainable migraines and pain.  After weeks in the hospital, they are finally given a diagnosis.  Her family (husband Reece, sister Steffi, mother Honor, father Walter) and best friends (Lila and her boyfriend Ed) rally around her.  As Callie's life slowly leaves her body, her loved ones learn to cope with the idea of life without Callie.  They also learn that life, and love, does go on.  It was a beautiful, sad, lovely story.

Enders by Lissa Price (272 pages).  Sequel to Starters, a book I really loved.  The downside?  I read Starters nearly 2 years ago.  So I had a devil of a time remembering details of what happened.  Callie is a Starter, a younger person who survived the Spore Wars.  Don't ask.  In the first book, she allowed a microchip to be placed into her brain and had rented out her body to Enders, old people who had survived the Spore Wars.  Long story short, there was some Old Man who was trying to take over bodies.  And a government issue.  Or something like that.  In this one, Callie still has the microchip.  And the Old Man can still get inside her head.  Callie eventually befriends another Starter named Hyden.  Turns out, he's the Old Man's son.  And might have answers to what the Old Man is up to and maybe even how to stop him.  I think I enjoyed the first book more.  But it was a great read for a snow day!

Spelling It Like It Is by Tori Spelling (302 pages).  Yep, I read yet another of Tori's books.  I'm sorry- I like her.  And Dean (or at least I did before the cheating rumors came out).  Despite the fact that they cheated in order to be together.  But that's a whole other story.  On to this one.  I had heard that Tori had had a rough time with her last pregnancy.  I mean seriously, she had a one month old when she got pregnant with her fourth!  But I had no idea how tough the pregnancy had been.  This book focuses on the last few seasons of Tori & Dean, the last few moves and their last two kids.  I like that Tori is open and honest about the troubles she and Dean have (arguments, money, etc.).  I like that she's honest about her flaws (she's got champagne taste on a Budweiser budget.  OK fine, more like on a Stella budget).  I like that she geeks out when she meets her idols.  I literally read the whole book in one day!

Long story short- thank goodness for a snow day.  It was basically like a pool day for me.  I got two books read from start to finish and one just finished!