Roaring Right Back at the Lion

You know the saying, March Roars in like a lion and out like a lamb. I am waiting for the lamb. I feel like march roared in and I got stuck on the bottom of its shoe and am being dragged along until April. Maybe those April showers will clean me off and set me right again.

It has been a rough month and we are barely a week in. Illness, schedule, loss of a church friend, gray weather have made this a month I’d like to move beyond already. Spring break for the kids is in two weeks and I feel like we are not limping, but crawling on hands and knees towards that freedom from schedule.

When life gets like this, reading is my comfort. Well, that chai tea lattes, blueberry muffins and all the feel good Hallmark movies I can stomach in a day.

The books I pick up when I feel like this are warm, light, not necessarily cheerful, but books that wrap around me like a hug. The books I look for are about family or tried and true authors, characters who take me on a journey from the gray Ohio days to a life of color and warmth and love.

I just finished Still Me by Jojo Moyes. There have been mixed feelings about the book. Do we really want to know how Lou’s life is after Will Traynor? Can she even have a life after him? Don’t we want to picture her forever on the streets of Paris feeling the sun on her skin and a future of possibilities.

Do the readers really want to know how Lou’s life goes after Will Traynor?

I don’t want to see her sad or struggling, do I?

But I enjoyed Me After You and I loved Still Me even more. Sure it isn’t the same as Me Before You, but it shouldn’t. Lou has grown. Mostly.

If Lou can find happiness after such devastation, surely I can muddle through some rainy days, right? And she helps me do just that.

I find reading through my feelings the best way to get through difficult times

I’m not sure what is up next to read, but I do know it needs to involve warmth, friendship, family and a reminder that good days are on their way.

Feel Good Books for Hard Times

(I am an Amazon Affiliate. I am not paid for my suggestions or reviews, but if you click on a picture it takes you to Amazon, where if you make a purchase I receive a portion of the sale.)

I started listening to Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery after I watched the first episode of Anne with an E on Netflix. The show is a little darker than I wanted so I turned to audible and found this reading with Rachel McAdams. I light some candles and relax in a bath and let the story capture me.

I love, love, love Joshilyn Jackson. Her books always give me a book-hangover because I don’t want them to end. I love all her books, but this one gives me that happy, hug warm feeling I need right now.

Another book-hangover giant is Beatriz Williams. Her historical fiction capture you and transport you to a world that has pain and grief, but almost always a happy ending. The setting, the characters,

the yearning…

A Hundred Summers was the first I read of hers and there isn’t a one I wouldn’t recommend.

Coming home again stories are a favorite for me. The setting is usually a main character in the story and the the family ties are strong and while the main protagonist struggles with a troubled past you know things are going to work out okay.