5 Clean YA Books Worth Re-reading

In honor of National Read a Book day falling this week, I thought I would share a few of my favorite clean YA books since I know how hard it can be to find something.

(Goodreads)

My mom introduced me to Moonraker's Bride when I was home sick my Junior year of high school. I was a bit skeptical, since the book is "old", but it turned out to be an enjoyable read. The mystery of Nicholas Sabine was intriguing and I liked cheering on Lucy. The ending was surprising and suspenseful, but it has a happy ending, which is important to me.

(Goodreads)

This is by far my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty is a smart bookworm worth cheering on. I also liked that the author gave her two sisters that are actually nice and that you'll enjoy reading about too. It is a bit slow at the beginning, but the story definitely picks up speed and is well worth it in the end.

Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret are by the same author. I am bummed that there aren't any plans for a 3rd book because I enjoyed them. Both stories are quick to get through. Wildwood Dancing is the first where we meet the 5 sisters: Tatiana, Julia, Iulia, Paula, and Stela. The story is a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses and another story that you'll figure out soon after starting, but would be a huge spoiler, so I won't add it here. Cybele's Secret follows Paula and her father several years after the events of the first book and their trip to obtain a rare artifact for a buyer.
I must warn that there is a scene in the first book where the main character gets groped briefly. It's not very descriptive, so it is easy to miss; however, I think her reaction is very important and a good example to readers.

(Goodreads)

The final book is Crown Duel. It originally came out in two separate books: Crown Duel and Court Duel, but was later combined into one novel.

From Goodreads: A deathbed promise to their father sends a daring girl and her brother off to war. Filled with intrigue, romance, and magic, this spellbinding novel is a dramatic coming-of-age story about a girl who rises from impoverished beginnings to take command of her own fate.

The first half is a little slow, but still a fun adventure to read as the brother and sister attempt to overthrow the current, evil government. I like the second half better, however, and how it goes over the aftermath of them taking down the evil ruler. Another important thing about the main girl is that she admits her faults and is willing to learn from her mistakes. It bugs me when the main character does something stupid and then acts so confused as to why things went wrong. The other major players in the story are also fun and add a lot to the story. 

Now that I've shared some of my favorite clean stories, what are some other favorites out there? Post your favorite clean books below!

2017 Reading Challenge: Legend by Marie Lu

Woke up feeling horrid, so I decided to finish Legend by Marie Lu.

From Goodreads: "What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death."

The story splits between the perspective of Day and June. This seems to be a popular tool used by authors lately. While I enjoy Lu's writing style, I wish there was more to set the two narrators apart besides the different font color and writing their names at the top of the chapter. June's and Day's parts read so similar to me that they might as well have been the same person.

In terms of cleanliness, the story is overall pretty clean; however, there were a few swear words here and there.

I do enjoy the characters, but I do wish we got a bit more out of the minor characters. I could've used more Metias, Tess, and even Thomas. Just a bit of development would've been great. On the other hand, I did enjoy seeing Day and June grow a bit during the course of the story.

The post-apocalyptic settings were interesting and a bit creepy (but I am oversensitive to creep factors in stories). I felt like this could be part of a neighborhood not too far from me (I am living in southern CA). I did appreciate that the settings were vague enough that I couldn't tell exactly where in California they would be. It's important to me that authors leave some things to the imagination, especially when they use real places as their settings.

I did enjoy reading the story more the second time, but that is most likely due to the fact that I haven't just had a baby and wasn't dealing with postpartum ( and just trying to survive). I started a different story today, but I will be sure to pick up books 2 and 3 in the series to see how the story of June and Day ends!

What did you think of the story? Any books you think I should put on my radar?

Jazz up your meal preps

C has a 4 day weekend because of the holiday and today is my birthday, so meal planning is postponed until Monday. However, I did want to share this post that I found for meal prep.

(site here)

Seriously, what did we do without Pinterest and the internet?? I was searching for some ideas for recipes because I get tired of the same old thing multiple weeks in a row. I am curious to try some of these. If you are looking for more ideas, follow my Pinterest board here. 

2017 Reading Challenge: Rebel of the Sands and Traitor to the Throne

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk.  (Goodreads) 

Rebel of the Sands was a surprising Barnes and Noble find a few months ago when my parents were visiting. It tells the story of Amani and her escape from the county of Dustwalk. 

I just finished the sequel, Traitor to the Throne, a couple of days ago and thought they would be a series to review next. 

The main character in the story is Amani. She lives in her uncle's house and dreams of escaping the town of Dustwalk. The characters in the story are pretty well developed and I liked seeing how they have changed over the course of two books (with a third on the way). I appreciated how Amani was written, since lately by the second book I am getting sick of the main character. 

The world of the book is well developed and the author paints the scenes in an interesting manner. It was easy to imagine the desert towns and the oasis. 

The books are pretty clean. I don't recall much in terms of language. The second book does have a scene that gets a little heat, but it ends before anything too salacious happens. 

Another thing to appreciate is that the author isn't long winded. I never felt like the author was carrying on just for the sake of increasing the length of the story. Hopefully, she doesn't ruin it with book 3. I feel like authors should only write a lot if what they are writing adds to the story. There can be too much of a good thing!

If you want to follow the author, Alwyn Hamilton, check out her website here.

I am currently working on Legend and will probably review that, unless anyone wants me to switch to a children's book. What would you rather see next Sunday?

Something Old and Something New: Meal Prep Week 2

Today C was out hiking, so I tackled our meal prep solo during Baby A's nap time. The whole thing took a bit over an hour on my own.

 I did some of the same chicken that we did last week. It and the rice held up pretty well. Nothing tasted funky or was soggy by the end of the week, so that was pretty nice. I also tried out this recipe from Damn Delicious here. I've done several of her recipes before and they all turn out well.

 After everything finished cooking, I added butternut squash since I bought it in a microwavable bag.

A lot of chopping later and everything is packaged and ready to go for another week. I didn't buy green beans or yellow squash this week, but I didn't get enough to replace them so we were short a few vegetables.

Meal prepping saves me a lot of time during the week. I don't have to take time each day to make our lunches, so I can have something healthy (or somewhat healthy) to eat without putting too much thought into it. This is really helpful with my one year old, since when she is hungry she does not like to wait.

What are some of your favorite meal prepping recipes?

2017 Reading Challenge: Talking as Fast as I can

Today I am reviewing:

From Goodreads: In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

I've been a fan of Lauren Graham for a while now. I remember watching Gilmore Girls with my mom and sister(s). I finished all of Parenthood while pregnant/after she was born. I haven't really been disappointed by her work until I read Someday, Someday Maybe. It was alright, but I just didn't connect with the main character. I figured I just didn't like her writing style. 

This book was different. 

I decided to give this book a chance, since it had gotten some pretty good reviews on Tumblr (don't base all book decisions off of Tumblr). It was well worth it!

The book is barely over 200 pages long, so it isn't too much of a commitment. It felt like Graham jumped around between events in her life, but she did it smoothly so the reader doesn't get jostled along the way. 

The book covers a bit before Gilmore Girls part one, Gilmore Girls part one, time in between and Parenthood, and finally Gilmore Girls part two. 

There are some spoilers for the revival, if you haven't watched it yet, but to me they didn't feel that significant to the whole story to truly spoil it. 

To me, Graham writes how Lorelai speaks, so the writing was fun and had a lot of moments that made me chuckle. This is definitely a book to read if you are in need of an upper (but these days, who isn't in need of an upper?). 

My favorite part was probably the advice she had gotten on writing. I like the suggestions and I think I am going to try to apply it to this blog. I think doing the scheduled time and adjustments would work for other aspects of life, so I may play around with it. 

What did you think of the book? What were your favorite parts? Any book recommendations floating around out there?

How can I save some time with cooking meals?

We are starting to meal prep! C's cholesterol and mine both came out on the bad side, so we're hoping this will fix our cholesterol issues and help us to be healthier. 

We figured we'd keep it simple and do chicken as our main protein. We went with 3 different seasonings and seasoned the chicken separately. We baked all of the vegetables and chicken together. 

We baked everything at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cutting the chicken in half helped it cook a bit faster. 

C ordered these microwave safe containers to use for the meal prepping. We filled each with 1/2 a cup of rice, some chicken, and then lots of vegetables. 

Depending on how everything tastes, we may cook the veggies separately from the chicken. I'm not sure if we cooked the vegetables too long, but it would depend on personal preference. 

Does anyone have any tips for prepping? What about favorite recipes? Share them below!