May Happenings

Annnnd, it’s time for the May monthly wrap-up!

on the bookshelf

Added to the bookshelf this month, other than review copies, were a few for-fun ones! Life After by Katie Ganshert (after all the amazing #bookbestie reviews), Behind the Scenes by Jen Turano (yay for giveaways!), and finally a paperback version of The Cautious Maiden by Dawn Crandall (now my Everstone Chronicles series is complete on the shelf!).

on the blog

Most popular posts:

1. Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Memorable Moms in Literature
2. How-To: Solar Dyed Yarn Project (With Kool-Aid)
3. April Happenings

Most popular book reviews:

1. I’ll Be Yours by Jenny B. Jones
2. The White Feather Murders by Rachel McMillan
3. Right Where We Belong novella collection
4. Unraveling by Sara Ella (review + excerpt)

in the kitchen

One of the new things I made this month was this “healthy” flourless almond butter chocolate muffin recipe. Of course, I added extra chocolate chips. It was awesome!

This sorta fits in the kitchen category. I found myself drooling over several Instagram accounts one evening and stumbled upon this mostly-vegan Instagram account! It’s just SO PRETTY I want to stare at all the yummy food.

on the screen

I’ve seen a few movies this month, but the very best was Lion. A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. (summary from imdb.com) To say this is an excellent movie is an understatement. It is an emotional rollercoaster of the very best kind that exhibits the powerful love of family, whether related by blood or by choice. It was even more special to me because I have close family members who are adopted from India.

Oh, and another epic thing I finished this month was the PBS-aired American Experience 3 part documentary The Great War, outlining America’s role during that awful war, including fascinating profiles of individuals and a ton of footage and photographs. I’ve since added several of WWI-era books to my TBR (thank you, Rachel McMillan, for starting that list for me!). If you have any to recommend, please do so in the comments!

On the small screen, I enjoyed the new Hallmark movie The Art of Us. It took the “My Fair Lady” plot basis and turned it into a sweet romance and lesson in honesty. The characters were portrayed in a genuine manner by their respective actors. I thought the chemistry and flirty banter between the two leads was adorable! And, the way the ending was (and wasn’t) neatly wrapped up felt realistic. If I haven’t convinced you, check out this review of it on The Silver Petticoat Review.

around the web

Thanks to awesome author e-newsletters (I’m talking about you, Hillary Manton Lodge), I heard about this article touting Emma Watson’s acting skill and Oscar-worthy performance. It’s fun.

Rachael and Meghan have started a new blog series titled “Love Life & Literature: Romance in Real Life”, with new posts up each Friday. They are discussion relationships and singleness from a romance-loving, Christian worldview. Start with the first installment, On Meet-Cutes & Settling.

If you aspire to write or plot a story, you might find this Novel Rocket article by author Dawn Crandall helpful. I thought it an interesting way to plot the plot beforehand :).