It’s a fact. Reading makes life better. The other day I gave in and impulse bought two books and read them in two days. Which is honestly how I wish it could be all the time.

First up was Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. Sara’s a local young adult author who I had the pleasure of listening to before I actually ever got a hand on one of her books. She was a national book award finalist for her book Story of a Girl.

Sweethearts

Here are the basics (sans spoilers of course): On her birthday a girl gets a note from her best friend, a boy who supposedly died years ago when they were in grade school. I won’t tell you more, but essentially she has to deal with this boy, Cameron, reentering her life and all the complications that brings with it. What I liked most about this book was how much I identified with the main character, Jennifer. She is the kind of character that I connected so well with that when I took a break mid-book crisis I carried her with me (I was in quite a mood actually, haha). On a side note, it was a little bizarre to read a book that was set so exactly where I live. I know Salt Lake so much better now I knew practically every place mentioned.

You can check out Sara Zarr’s website sarazarr.com You can also follow her on twitter @sarazarr.

Next I finally picked up Mazerunner by James Dashner. He’s also a local young adult author who I’ve heard loads about. In fact I heard him address a writer’s conference one time and I was crazy impressed by him. He is the type of author that always writes and never gets up. The kind I want to be.

Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 1)

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I was I really couldn’t stop thinking about it. Dashner creates a world that is unique and, honestly, a bit strange, but still completely relatable. I won’t get into the specifics, but the story centers around a boy, Thomas, who wakes up and finds himself in a strange box. He can’t remember anything except his own name and finds himself attempting to adjust to a strange and dangerous world (think distopyian setting). Things quickly change and progress and Thomas has to find out if he’s up to the challenge.  This book went by way too quickly. Good thing this is the first installment in a trilogy, and it’s been optioned for a movie. Although it does kind of bend my brain to think about how they are going to portray these things on the big screen.

You can see James Dashner’s website at jamesdashner.com and follow him on twitter @jamesdashner.

Oh yeah I’ve done a few other things too. I made homemade fruit snacks, rewatched Overboard (that movie always makes me smile, even if the real world version would be a series of terrible crimes), witnessed a live version of make way for ducklings, went on a little hike/campfire adventure up Millcreek canyon, and started a new job. But not all on the same day, thank goodness.

I made fruit snacks! Or fruit snack-like cubes anyway. They tasted pretty good (ignore the austerity of this picture, haha) and were actually quite easy. However, I don’t think they’ll replace those addictive little snack packs I’ve come to love. The best thing about this cooking adventure was my search for silicone ice cube tray/ jello molds led me to my new favorite store, Spoons n’ Spice.Seriously, this place is cooking heaven.

I followed these cuties all around Liberty Park. There were a few of us actually. The mom kept getting up on the curb and not understanding that her babies couldn’t jump that high.

We went on a little hike at church fork in millcreek canyon. Then we made “hobo dinners.” It turns out none of us are very good at outdoor cooking, but we still had a fun time. We couldn’t get the fire started on our own, so we ended up taking over someone else’s fire after they left to get ours started.

Currently: Happy that life brought me sushi today. Everything at Ginza was amazing. Oh, and eating dinner off paper Christmas plates, because some days I just can’t stand to wash another dish.