It’s been a while since I’ve updated; that’s because I’ve had a lot going on IRL. It’s fairly personal so I’d rather not get into it here, but suffice to say it’s been a huge drain on my energy and my time. But after all the upheaval, I’m finally ready to ease back into the flow of reading and writing about my reading.

Over the next few weeks, I intend to catch up on my backlog of books awaiting reviews (and emails—sorry if you’ve sent me one and I haven’t responded, I’m not ignoring you, promise!) and get caught up on the wonderful books still waiting to be read.

To give you a taste of what’s coming up, some of the titles that I’m looking forward to reading which include Thirst No. 2 & 3 by Christopher Pike (I read the first one, but haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet), The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, Floors by Patrick Carman, and Want to Go Private? by Sarah Darer Littman.

Oh, life is looking much brighter already.

I haven’t done a Mailbox Monday post in a long while because I’ve been giving the books individual spotlights as they come into my home through my recent arrivals series. But I’ve been slacking a bit and am many, many books behind; doing an individual post for each would take days. So, I’m just going to do a quick round-up post highlighting all the new additions to my TBR pile.

I’ve already finished (and loved!) Still Missing by Chevy Stevens; the review is forthcoming. I actually set aside Stolen by Lucy Christopher in order to read it. The two books run along similar lines—kidnap victims and the aftermath, though Stolen is for a younger audience and Still Missing is purely adult. Another difference between the two is the pacing: Stolen is slow going and Still Missing flew by at breakneck speed.

After finishing Still Missing, I decided to try my hand at Stolen again and after another thirty agonizingly slow pages, I decided to set it aside (…for the second time) and picked up Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell. While this book took more than a few chapters to get into, I’ve warmed up to the story and the characters. Frankly, though, the Anglicisms are tripping me up and I’m not overly fond of the writing style—but the story is shaping up to be a good one.

And a quick note about the cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson…the image does it no justice. It’s absolutely beautiful and the blue is a lovely hologram-y type of material that reflects and changes as it bends and shifts. Words cannot describe.