This month, I had the opportunity to go on Global News and share my most anticipated books of 2020 for National Reading Month, along with tips to help children and teens pick up a book. One of my passions as an educator is to inspire children to read for both meaning and enjoyment. With that said, here are my 5 tips to get back into reading - and stay committed...as well as some new releases and books to look forward to. 

1. Always have a book on you. 
Whether its an eRead, an audio book, or a tangible copy in your vehicle. Instead of aimlessly scrolling through social media sites as you hunker down and partake in social distancing, you can be reading to help pass the time. I've recently adopted audiobooks when I'm cooking or walking, and I find it makes the more mundane parts of your day quite enjoyable.

2. Set an attainable reading goal.
Read one book a month, or read for 15 minutes a day. The average 300 page book takes approximately 5 hours to finish. With fifteen minutes set aside in the morning while you have your coffee or in the evening before bed (which will actually help you sleep better), you can easily finish a book in about 20 days.

3. Quit Early
If you’re not completely invested in a book by the 1/4 mark, abandon it. Life is too short to settle for mediocre books

4. Swap TV Time
During this isolation period, I know it's so easy to resort to watching hours upon hours of TV...flying through series after series...but borrow 30 - 60 mins of this time and devote it to reading a book. I've always found that it takes me about 50 pages, or 30 minutes, to really be invested in a story. It's like starting a TV show and watching 5 minutes... you've barley been introduced to the characters. Take the time, and I promise you, it will be so much easier to swap your TV time to read. On average, people watch between 3-5 hours of TV per day, so don’t say you don’t have time to read! Reduce your screen time by 30 minutes a day and try reading instead. We want to model the importance of reading to our kids. 

5. Have your next book ready!
Its great to jump right into your next book. There are so many awesome instagram accounts dedicated to sharing new and noteworthy books. I always know which book (or in my case...books) I'll be reading next. With so many amazing companies providing free listening and reading experiences during this self-isolation, you have many to choose from! I've been recommending libro.fm for listening, and scribd for e-books!

Upcoming and Noteworthy Books by Canadian Authors:

1. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

• Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: “Why don’t you swallow broken glass.” High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients’ accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.
  
  In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, the business of international shipping, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.

2. Hurry Home by Roz Nay

• Close to my heart you’ll be, sisters forever you and me...
  
  Alexandra Van Ness has the perfect life. She lives in an idyllic resort town tucked away in the Rocky Mountains, shares a designer loft with her handsome boyfriend, Chase, and has her dream job working in child protection. Every day, Alex goes above and beyond to save children at risk. 
  
  But when her long-lost sister, Ruth, unexpectedly shows up at her door, Alex’s perfect life is upended. Growing up, Ruth was always the troublemaker, pulling Alex into her messes, and this time will be no different. Still, Alex will help Ruth under one condition: we will never, ever, talk about the past. But when trouble befalls a local child, both women are forced to confront the secrets they’ve promised to keep buried.

3. The Upside of Falling by Alex Light

• A fun, flirty teen debut from Wattpad phenom Alex Light about a fake relationship and real love.
  It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having had a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she’s been secretly seeing someone. 
  Brett Wells has it all. As captain of the football team and one of the most popular guys in his school, he should have no problem finding someone to date, but he’s always been more focused on his future than who to bring to prom.
  When he overhears Becca’s lie, Brett decides to step in and be the mystery guy. It’s the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not having a meaningful relationship and she can keep up the ruse that she’s got a boyfriend. 
  Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy, though, especially when you barely know the other person. But with Becca still picking up the pieces from when her world was blown apart years ago and Brett just barely holding his together now, they begin to realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.
  When the line between what is pretend and what is real begins to blur, they're forced to answer the question: Is this fake romance the realest thing in either of their lives?
  

4. What if Bunny's Not a Bully by Lana Button

• Ideas about bullies (and how we define people) are turned on their heads in this playful rhyming story that questions why a child is being labeled a bully. 
  Gertie the elephant says everyone on the playground should stay far away from Bunny because she's super mean. But Kitty has questions: How did Bunny become a bully? Was she born that way? Was she stung by a bullybug? Or maybe she caught the bully flu? Wait, does that mean bullying is contagious? And if it is, couldn't the other animals catch it, too? But ... then no one would play with them either, and that doesn't seem fair. Is it possible that Bunny is sorry? Should they give her a second chance?
  Not your typical bullying story, Lana Button's fresh take flips the focus from the child being bullied to the one being called a bully. In cadenced rhyming text, the compassionate and insightful Kitty leads children through a series of questions that get at the core of the assumptions we make about others and how it feels to be on the other side of name-calling. Christine Battuz's expressive illustrations use tenderness and a touch of humor to complement the emotional level of the text. Altogether, this is a perfect child-level exploration of empathy. It would be an excellent choice for discussions about bullying, or more broad issues of social development. It also works for character education lessons on empathy, compassion, fairness and inclusiveness.
  

5. Mama Needs a Vacay by Tage Lee

• This book reminds you to find a little vacation in your imagination, even if your next solo trip is a long while away. Feel the sun on your skin and stir memories of evenings spent with bottles full of champagne instead of milk. You deserve a break, even if it’s just to disappear into a tropical daydream for a little while.

OMG is all I have to say. I was asked to participate in a blog tour surrounding the newest book from Margot Hunt, and my immediate answer was YES! 

First off, I only came across Hunt's work last year, when I picked up For Better and Worse. My book club loves psychological thrillers, so we ended up selecting it as one of our book club's monthly picks. I love any type of thriller/mystery that sparks discussion, especially from a morality/ethics standpoint. After reading this, I went straight to the library to pick up her other novel, Best Friends Forever. It was twisty and engaging...exactly what I needed to get out of a reading slump. 

And now...she finally has a new book out on November 26.

Introducing The Last Affair...and I have an excerpt for you to read! (scroll down).

Margot Hunt is a critically acclaimed author of psychological suspense. Her work has been praised by Publisher's Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.

BOOK SUMMARY:
Gwen Landon—poster woman for perfect wife, mother, and suburban bliss—is found brutally
bludgeoned to death behind her Floridian McMansion. Beautiful and beloved by her community, Gwen makes an unlikely victim. But just a scratch below the surface of her perfectly curated world reveals one far more sinister. When looking back over the six months leading up to her death, the question of, “who would do this?” quickly shifts to, “who wouldn’t?” Commercially successful food blogger and mother of three, Nora Holliday never imagined she would have the nerve, let alone time, to get involved an affair. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, she does whatever it takes to keep it all together. But when Nora runs into Gwen Landon's husband at a hotel in Orlando, his easy kindness and warmth proves too tempting to resist. As their affair spirals dangerously out of control, it seems things can’t get more complicated—until Gwen turns up dead.

Educator, book connoisseur, life-long-learner, and new Mom! 
​

As an educator, I’ve always promised myself that I would never become one of those ‘Helicopter Moms’. There’s a huge difference between being a supportive and encouraging parent, and smothering your child. As a primary teacher, I often cringe when I watch the way some parents hover over their children, controlling every action, displaying overly protective tendencies, and enabling certain behaviors. When I read the synopsis of this book, I knew it was the perfect first parenting book to read. If you’re looking for advice on how to be “an easy, calm authority” with your kids, and raising children that “are – by design – toddling around and discovering the world at their own pace,” then this one is for you.  ​

This book is awesome! This book isn’t about doing more, but rather approaching parenting differently, so that you’re able to raise a family full of joy. It’s all about small shifts! Moving away from stressful and chaotic mornings, improving chores, how to handle scree time, and the dreaded homework hour: all topics that each new mom needs (especially me!) ​

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster.  

This book was highly recommended to me by multiple friends. Written by an economist, Emily Oster shares about conventional pregnancy rules and wisdom, and which ones are unwarranted or bogus. Full of hard facts and practical advice, this book explores the big discussion topics amongst new moms, such as caffeine (I had black tea throughout my pregnancy - I could not give up London Fog's), drinking wine, and eating for two. It’s also organized by each of the trimesters, as well as a section on labor and delivery, so you won’t feel overwhelmed diving into this one at any point in your pregnancy.  ​
The Yes Brain: How To Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in your Child.  
 
If you’re like me, you’re looking to raise children that approach life with “openness and curiosity.” This book shares insightful information to help raise children who take chances, explore, and aren’t afraid of making mistakes.  
 
Breathe Mama Breathe: 5-MinuteMindfulness for Busy Moms by Shonda Moralis 
 
Who doesn’t need 5 minutes of mindfulness daily? This book is easy to read, and packed full of simple, straightforward practices that you can squeeze into your day. With short chapters that help you connect more with yourself, your family, and the world. A great book to introduce you to emotional self-regulation, and boy will you need this after the sleepless lights!

​If you have any great parenting books to share, please comment below!   
 ​

This summer was jam packed with amazing new releases by coveted authors and debut writers. I've compiled a list of my favourite reads from the summer for your enjoyment, summed up in three words . I'm one book away from my Goodreads reading challenge, and hoping this last read will make it onto this list. Stay tuned! (Descriptions from Goodreads)

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe. ​

Single mother Lee has the daily routine down to a science: shower in six minutes. Cut food into perfect squares. Never leave her on-the-spectrum son Mason in someone else’s care. She’ll do anything--anything—to keep his carefully constructed world from falling apart. Do anything to keep him safe.

But when her best friend Grace convinces her she needs a small break from motherhood to recharge her batteries, Lee gives in to a weekend trip. Surely a long weekend away from home won’t hurt?
Noah, Mason’s handsome, bright, charismatic tutor—the first man in ages Lee’s even noticed—is more than happy to stay with him.

Forty-eight hours later, someone is dead.

But not all is as it seems. Noah may be more than who he claims to be. Grace has a secret—one that will destroy Lee. Lee has secrets of her own that she will do anything to keep hidden.
As the dominoes begin to fall and the past comes to light, perhaps it's no mystery someone is gone after all…

Because You're Mine is a breathtaking novel of domestic drama and suspense. ​

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne—sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Francis and Lena’s daughter, Kate, and Brian and Anne’s son, Peter. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while tested by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace. ​

Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting...

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder. ​

Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.

When the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life.

When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anaconda? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? Love-struck Lily is oblivious. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle--its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience.
​

Life is a mixed bag for Piper Calloway.

On the one hand, she’s a twenty-nine-year-old VP at her dad’s multibillion-dollar real estate development firm, and living the high single life with her two best friends in a swanky downtown penthouse. On the other hand, she’s considered a pair of sexy legs in a male-dominated world and constantly has to prove her worth. Plus, she’s stuck seeing her narcissistic ex-fiancé—a fellow VP—on the other side of her glass office wall every day.

Things get exponentially more complicated for Piper when she runs into Kyle Miller—the handsome new security guard at Calloway Group Industries, and coincidentally the first love of her life.

The guy she hasn’t seen or heard from since they were summer camp counsellors together. The guy from the wrong side of the tracks. The guy who apparently doesn’t even remember her name.

Piper may be a high-powered businesswoman now, but she soon realizes that her schoolgirl crush is not only alive but stronger than ever, and crippling her concentration. What’s more, despite Kyle’s distant attitude, she’s convinced their reunion isn’t at all coincidental, and that his feelings for her still run deep. And she’s determined to make him admit to them, no matter the consequences. ​

Bear Brook is by far my favourite podcast from this year. It has everything you want from a true crime story: mystery, a cold case, and new technologies that helped solve this gruesome crime. Personally, I don't like investing in true crime podcasts that don't wrap everything up with a perfect bow...because I need to know! 

The podcast that wrangled me into this world of episodic digital documentaries. I loved the story of Adnan Syed, but more importantly, because Sarah Koenig hosts it. She is superb at showing both sides of the case, without appearing biased. 

The story of Tara Grinstead is complicated and confusing. This story starts at point A, and suddenly veers you of the course you think you're taking. It's exciting, exhilarating, and one incredible investigative true crime story. It's hosted by Payne Lindsey, who is easy to listen to, and the episodes fly by (there are a lot).  

Missing Richard Simmons is not a true crime story, but it is a mystery that I couldn't stop listening to. When my friend first recommended this story, my initial thought was 'that eccentric fitness instructor from the 80's???' I downloaded the first episode and never listened to it for 3 months. What a mistake that was. This is still one of my all time favourites. It's like falling down a rabbit hole to another world. 

Who would have thought all of this was happening right where we live? A huge part of this story takes place in Vancouver, BC. It's an incredible story about a cult, masking as a multi-level marketing company. This is dark and not for the faint of heart. 

An Australian true crime podcast from last year, that looks at the disappearance of Lynette Dawson. This story is peculiar. Long story short - her husband moves his teenage mistress/student into their family home. It's all levels of creepy and disturbing. 

The Netflix story that took the world by storm, is first told through a podcast. I really enjoyed listening to this one, and although the daughters voices are almost unbearable, and the mothers frame of mind antagonized me, you'll thoroughly enjoy this California family drama.

My sister and I both found this story to be devastating. When the doctors who are supposed to help you, end up taking advantage of your mental state, and abuse that relationship. The whole time I was shocked and enraged over what these people went through. 

I'm only on episode 3, but so far so good. It's the story of a missing actress from LA.