I'm not sure how many people here even remember me since I've been away so long. But just in case anyone does I want to give a little overview of why I have been absent and away from the interwebz and books in general over the last year and a half.

In July of 2014 the police raided my family's home and my father was arrested for sharing and possessing child pornography. This came as a total shock to my mom, sisters and I. As I'm sure you can imagine our lives as we knew it were completely destroyed.

I have pretty severe OCD and was not working at the time this happened because I had no idea how to control it. But after the arrest I went back to work. To say I learned how to control it one day at a time is an understatement. It was a struggle and even though I'm doing very well at my job and have amazing coworkers I still have days where I struggle with it. I discovered in a most extreme circumstance that I am stronger than I realized. And that I was capable of more than I even thought possible.

I'm pleased to say that we are all doing well now. We had to move out of the family home but my mom, sisters and I have managed pretty well for ourselves.

I still hope that my father will get the jail time he deserves, but the justice system is taking it's sweet time actually sending him to trial so as of this moment we have no closure on that front.

One of the strange blessings of this whole life changing experience is that I met and fell in love with a very wonderful man that would do just about anything in the world for me. So even after things got back on an even keel, you could say I was still a bit distracted from my previous book-loving habits.

I guess the point of this post was just to explain why I've been absent and also to just get some of my feelings about everything out in the open. If you actually took the time to read all this, thanks!

Well, I have reached the last week of my summer semester of grad school. All that stands between me and graduation is telling a story for my Storytelling course and writing a paper for my History of Children's Literature course! I'm almost done - my freetime is (mostly) back, which means that once my assignments are done, I can read again and actually have time to blog on here! Woohoo!

My summer has been fantastic, so far. On June 1, my husband Dan and I became the parents of a beautiful little girl, Olivia May! She's basically the best baby ever - already sleeping through the night on a fairly regular basis, and because she's so content during the day I've been able to get my schoolwork done on time! I love being a mom and I can't wait until school's done and I'm able to completely devote my attention to taking care of her. I've actually found a few mom-and-baby groups in my area and I plan to join them when school's done. 

As for Dan, he's still working on his CPA. He took the third of four parts of the exam yesterday. We should find out how he did in about two weeks. He's not totally optimistic because he had a lot of distractions from studying this time around (I mean, we did just have a baby), but hopefully he passed, and then he'll be one step closer to being certified!

I hope you're all having a great summer filled with lots of fun outside and great books! Once I'm done with my school work, I'll make a post about what I'll be reading next - if you've read anything lately that really stood out at you, please pass the title along so I can check it out! Looking forward to catching up with you all! :) 

Hi everyone!!! 

I just finished my second of three semesters of grad school and so I'm back, at least for a few weeks! Just wanted to give you all a quick update on what's been going on. 

This semester has been CRAZY. I took 15 credits so I'd only have to take 9 credits this summer, since the baby is due June 2 (mid-semester), and the less courses I have to take while juggling a newborn the better! Well, I think I managed the 15 credits pretty well, I'll find out grades next week but I think I'll be getting all As which is awesome. But I've been suuuuuper busy, hence the complete lack of any posts at all. I have a few weeks off before my summer semester starts, so I plan to catch up on reading a bit and I'll have a brief return to what used to be normal for me as far as posting goes. This summer I'll be taking History of Children's Literature and Multicultural Library Services online, and Storytelling on campus until I can't anymore and then I'll be taking it online until I'm ready to go back to on campus. I might be crazy for saying this, but I think that after my crazy semester this spring, the summer is actually going to be easy. Yes, I'll be having a baby and that's a huge adjustment, but it'll really only be the last 6-8 weeks that I'll be juggling her and class and, like I said, most of my classes are online, so I really don't think it'll be that bad. I guess I'll find out though! 

As for the baby herself, everything is going super well! I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant and my due date is June 2. We can't wait to welcome her into the world! I've had an amazingly smooth pregnancy so far and I'm hoping that will continue to be true in these last few weeks. As I've been telling most people, aside from mild hip discomfort, I really only have to deal with having a big belly that sometimes makes me run into things - otherwise, I don't really feel any different. I've been so blessed; some people have such a hard time while pregnant and it's just been so easy for me. I'm really thankful for my health and the baby's health :) 

I hope everything's going well with all of you! I'm looking forward to being back, even if it ends up just being for a few weeks. But I graduate in August, so even if the summer gets so crazy that I can't be on here, I'll be back in full swing after that! 

<3 Kara

I have ONE paper standing between me and my mid-winter break between the fall and spring semesters!! And then I can finally read for fun again!!!!! Books are calling my name, and, if you can't tell by the increase in my posts over the past few days, I am having the hardest time staying focused on my homework because I'm so excited to be able to be more active on here again and read more. So what I need right now is some encouragement to maintain my self control for just this one last paper and stop procrastinating! Anyone on here have any tips for staying focused on work that you reeeeeeeally don't want to do? (And yes, I do realize that making posts on booklikes is a form of procrastination.)

Well, now that I have finished posting book reviews for the past month... 

Happy Halloween!! I have to start this off by acknowledging one of the most fun holidays, even if it's not particularly meaningful in terms of appreciating loved ones or being thankful etc... but there's no denying that Halloween is just a great time to have a good time! I'm actually not doing anything to celebrate tonight other than eating pizza and watching Netflix with Dan, but tomorrow we're hosting a murder mystery, which should be SO. MUCH. FUN!! I've had one before but this is the first I'm hosting as an adult. I can't wait! I hope you all have fun plans :) 

So anyway, I have missed this site SO SO MUCH! I miss interacting with all of you and I miss reading for fun and basically I'm glad I'm going to grad school, but it's definitely meant sacrificing a lot of the things that mean a lot to me. I just have to keep telling myself that it's only for a year and it's going to result in me being able to have my dream job of being a children/youth services librarian! So even though this year is going to be tough, it'll be a good one. 

What else... oh, I haven't been posting many updates on my internship. Again, SO SORRY. I plan to post one tomorrow at some point (or maybe Sunday?). But again, I've just been so busy. Grad school, again, is insane, plus my husband's brother got married last Friday so there's been all sorts of busy-ness and drama with that. 

And most exciting, Dan and I found out we're having a baby in June! Not expected but very much a good thing :) we've always wanted to be parents and we're happy we're going to be able to be while we're young. So I just wanted to share that exciting news with you! :) 

I'll try to be on more frequently, but no promises! I miss this a lot! Hope you're all doing well - can't wait to be back for good!