Life: 20's edition

Life gives you a lot of chances to screw up, which means you have as many chances to get it right. 

Pick a path, change course. Pick another path, change course again. This defines my 20's. 

Law school. My dream. My goal. My path. Till it wasn't. 

I would love to say that I found another passion, a calling that I couldn't refuse, but I cannot. I found a boy. Suddenly his dreams and wishes became mine, and my dreams were left behind in the dust. His thoughts and words became my own, he had swallowed me whole. There was no coming back. 

We know how this story ends. No need to rehash the past mistakes. 

Columbus. New dreams. New goals. New path. 

Columbus was good to me and introduced different dreams, different goals, and a different path. Being in a college town was complicated though. I wanted to meet people in my age group but had nothing in common with them now. Divorced early 20-something, not in school, and working full-time - it was a different world. 

Before I knew it, a year had passed. A little worn, a little smarter, and a little hardened I felt prepared to face the world again. Not completely healed, that would take years, but ready to face a new challenge. 

I enrolled back in school. Moved back into the dorms, coming from an apartment that was a major adjustment. But I did it. Contrary to popular belief, I came back to school to finish the path I had started years ago. 

Education. Fresh dreams. Fresh goals, Fresh path. 

Challenging because of my age and life experience but those things made me wiser and more determined than ever. 

 The 20's end well. I graduated and went onto grad school and graduated from there as well. I turned a corner from that girl sitting in her therapist's office asking "How can I start over?" to sitting in a new therapist's office saying "I survived." 

Publisher Appreciation Post!!!! RE: Akashic Books!

 It's Wednesday which means it's time for another publisher appreciation post! This week is dedicated to Akashic Books!! 

Akashic Books!

Please be sure to check out my review of "Palm Spring Noir" which was amazing!!! Here is a link to order your own copy! 

Palm Springs Noir - available now! 

This is the perfect read! Short noir stories that are written by those who live in the area of Palm Springs so you have a first hand account! I loved this book so much that I'm going to be working my way through the remaining Noir series published by Akashic! Check out the catalog of Noir books here - Akashic Noir Series you will not be disappointed! 

Little bit about Akashic: 

Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers.

Here are some of the amazing titles Akashic has gifted me for promotion/review! 

The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory - available now! 

Sid arrives in New York City in 1995 eager to join the anarchist squatting scene. She’s got a tattoo, she listens to the right bands . . . so why would she get a job and rent some tiny shoe-box apartment when she could take over a whole building with a gang of wild young pirates? 

A Student of History - available now! 

Rick Nagano is a graduate student in the history department at USC, struggling to make rent on his South Los Angeles apartment near the neighborhood where his family once lived. When he lands a job as a research assistant for the elderly Mrs. W—, the heir to an oil fortune, he sees it at first simply as a source of extra cash. But as he grows closer to the iconoclastic, charming, and feisty Mrs. W—, he gets drawn into a world of privilege and wealth far different from his racially mixed, blue-collar beginnings.

Zero O:Clock - Part of the Black Sheep Imprint for young readers! 

Release date- 9.7.21 

In early March 2020 in New Rochelle, New York, teenager Geth Montego is fumbling with the present and uncertain about her future. She only has three friends: her best friend Tovah, who’s been acting weird ever since they started applying to college; Diego, who she wants to ask to prom; and the K-pop band BTS, because the group always seems to be there for her when she needs them (at least in her head). 

She could use some help now. Geth’s small city becomes one of the first COVID-19 containment zones in the US. As her community is upended by the virus and stirred up by the growing Black Lives Matter protests, Geth faces a choice and a question: Is she willing to risk everything to fight for her beliefs? And if so, what exactly does she believe in? C.J. Farley captures a moment in spring 2020 no teenager will ever forget. It sucks watching the world fall apart. But sometimes you have to start from zero.

I hope you will order these titles from Akashic and support publishers/authors! I love working with these publishers who appreciation posts have inspired my book-friends and others to order! If you order please let me know, I'm always looking for book-talk!!