September 2021 Reads

I cannot believe we are 3/4 through 2021! This year seems to be flying by. But here we are starting a new month with my favorite post!

I read 8 books this month to get my total to 91! 100 will not be hard obviously, so I'm hoping to get to 120 - basically 10 books/month the rest of the year. This was NOT my most diverse month of reading, but I enjoyed everything I read!

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons - This was a little gem of a book that reminded me of A Man Called Ove. Eudora is a curmudgeon who is ready to be done with life, but meeting her new neighbors gives her some pause about those wishes. This book goes back and forth from Eudora's childhood to what made her who she is as an adult. I felt this one in my heart, it really tugged at me, and it was a good one!

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center - The more I read by Katherine Center, the more I like her books. This was about a new mom whose boyfriend leaves her when their baby is born and how she rebuilds her life. I loved how realistic Katherine described new motherhood, and I thought this story was good. Her books can be a little cheesy, and this one was, but that isn't always a bad thing! I'll keep her books in my rotation for sure!

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams - I liked, but didn't love, this story. The first book I read by Beatriz Williams, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, sucked me in within a few pages. This one took a LONG time for me to get into - a kind of Amelia Earheart mystery - and I struggled with it for probably 2/3 of the book. When it finally did pick up {with a DOOZY of a reveal I did NOT see coming} I was hooked and stayed up until 1:00 AM to finish. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get me really engaged.

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell - This was the most non-thriller thriller I've maybe ever read. Lisa Jewell knocked my socks off with the first few books of hers I read, and while I liked this one, it wasn't my favorite. A girl is missing and we go back and forth from her therapist and his family to her POV to figure out why she is missing. The big reveal was different than what I expected but just not the most exciting of surprises.

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley - We read this for BFBC and we all really enjoyed this! I haven't read anything from a Native American perspective, and this definitely makes me want to read more. The main character is a teenager helping solve a mystery for how meth is being trafficked through her reservation. It was a slow building story but I really got invested in the characters and story and thoroughly loved it by the end!

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles - A WW2 book with an alternating timelin AND it's set in a library?!?! Sign me up! This wasn't my favorite but it was good. I really liked the development in the present day storyline (actually in the 1980s) and figuring out how the character from the library in Paris ended up living in Montana.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave - Ooooh this is my kind of thriller! I struggle to connect with characters in thrillers but since the main character is the one who is trying to figure out what happened to her husband, it was just different enough to really hold my interest! I read this on the plane ride home from Florida and couldn't put it down!

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare - Very standard Regency romance but I super enjoyed it! Cheesy but had some heart to it and definitely great passion! This is a series, and I am for sure going to keep reading.

I'm excited to see how the last few months of the year go with my reading - I've got a lot of great books on hold, whoo hoo!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I got back late Tuesday night from my amazing trip to Harry Potter World with my best friend, Kristen. We had the BEST time! We've been best friends for 15 years, and this is the most uninterrupted time we've had together just the 2 of us, and it was glorious. 10/10 would recommend!

I won't go into all the details because I doubt most people care about HP World the way the 2 of us do. If you have any specific questions about what we did, what we loved, what we wished we had done differently, ask away!

Our trip was scheduled for Saturday - Tuesday with 2 days of tickets for Universal Studios on Sunday/Monday. We decided to add Saturday at Epcot Center once we arrived in Florida because they were having their annual Food and Wine Festival.

On the way to pick Kristen up, wearing my awesome HP shirt!

HAD to try poutine and we LOVED it!

Wine flight? Don't mind if we do!

The beignet that was not a beignet and we threw it away, sad.

Look at that funnel cake, yum!

We only went on 1 ride at Epcot.

We spent a lot of the trip looking like a couple, ha!

One great thing that we did on this trip was set no rules for ourselves and not go crazy with forcing in EVERYTHING. We slept in every day, took it easy, relaxed, and enjoyed ourselves. We didn't want to come home exhausted from our vacation and were on the same page the whole time. Such an amazing feeling.

So Sunday we did NOT get up early to rush to HP World and got there around 12:00 or so. There are 2 parts to HP World - Diagon Alley is in the main Universal Park and Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure, so we got a park-to-park pass to be able to enjoy all the Universal parks. We didn't go to the water park, so I can't tell you anything about it.

First thing we saw once we go to the HP side was King's Cross!

The Knight Bus

No. 12 Grimmauld Place with Kreacher peaking out

Our first view of Diagon Alley!!!!!!!

We might have been 100% freaking out here!

There are 4 Harry Potter rides - Escape from Gringott's, Hagrid's Motorbike, The Forbidden Journey, and Flight of the Hippogriff. We are NOT rollercoaster people but decided we would try all of these. And were scared sh*tless the whole time about it. On Sunday we did Escape from Gringott's and Flight of the Hippogriff. Gringott's was a mix of some rollercoaster elements but a lot of 3D stuff. 

Scared before we got on!

It was definitely scary but we survived and both said we would do it again. Now that we know what happens it would probably actually be fun the second time, ha.

After that we felt like we deserved a treat, so we had some lunch at The Leaky Cauldron and had our first taste of butter beer...the sweetest nectar of the Gods.

SO DELICIOUS

We went into all the shops in Diagon Alley and then decided to head to Hogsmeade. A definite annoying part was the line to take the Hogwarts Express. Took us an hour to ride the 5 minute 'train' ride - which basically covered what takes 15 minutes to walk. But definitely an experience!

Our first view of Hogsmeade! We loved the 'snow' on the buildings.

And more butter beer at The Three Broomsticks!

THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!

We shopped in Hogsmeade and rode The Flight of the Hippogriff, which is described as 'family friendly' but still scared us ha. We had heard there was a Death Eater show at 7:30 so we hung around for that.

One more butter beer while we wait!

A Death Eater! Run!

Islands of Adventure closed at 8:00 so we went back to the hotel, read, watched crap tv, talked and just vegged.

Monday we headed back to Universal to ride our last 2 rides - the 2 we were most scared about and buy gifts for the kiddos.

Is this cute or nerdy? Both? Ha!

We actually got a ton of comments on our glasses ha. Thanks, Target!

I had to take a picture in the Simpsons area because Trent loves that show!

I got him a Bart Simpson hoodie, ha.

Hanging out with the dragon

We didn't take many pictures on Day 2, but we DID ride Hagrid's Motorbike and The Forbidden Journey. Hagrid's Motorbike was a 50-mph rollercoaster and I wanted to cry through most of it. I'd do it again because it was way cool, but it was also very scary. The Forbidden Journey was a virtual adventure and I like those because I can close my eyes when I get freaked out ha. It was my favorite ride for sure!

We ended up getting wands for all our girls, the hoodie for Trent, and Rhett {Kristen's son} loves The Cat in the Hat, so she got him a stuffie from Dr. Seuss-land. Which also had some very weenie rides that we rode and LOVED ha.

We ended the night with pizza and Harry Potter trivia in our hotel room!

Tuesday we talked about hanging out by the pool but ended up just lounging in our room. Our flight out was at 4:00 so we checked out at 1:30 and headed to the airport. Super long day of travel with some delays but finally got home at 11:00, whew! So much fun! {And I guess I can't help share way too many details!}

Paige being extra cute Wednesday morning in my HP gear! XOXO

I couldn't get this to insert where I wanted it in the post, but it's really cool what the dragon does every 5 minutes!

A trip a decade+ in the making, and we had the absolute best time!