Book Review – Disappeared

Book 5 was a gift from my mom, and a book far from the realms of my comfortable genre choices. Young adult, I love, but thriller, I loathe.

I think books are the perfect gift. They give you a chance to learn, to grow, to use your brain and to escape to another world. Book 5 was a gift from my mom, and a book far from the realms of my comfortable genre choices. Young adult, I love, but thriller, I loathe. I get so wrapped up in stories, that I sometimes struggle to escape them, and therefore, I generally avoid thrillers. However, I assumed I could handle the intensity of a young adult thriller, and I’m glad I took that chance. 

Book 5:
Disappeared
by Francisco X. Stork

Genre:
Young Adult – Thriller

Published:
September 2017

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Disappeared is about a brother and sister, Emiliano and Sara Zapato, in Juarez, Mexico who battle poverty, violence, justice, right and wrong and love in the tangled web that is the violence and cartel activity of Juarez. When things go too far, the siblings are forced to make the illegal immigrant trek across the desert to the US in search of safety.

Favorite Quote:

When you’re walking in the desert, the step in front of you is the only one that demands your attention.

― Francisco X. Stork, Disappeared

Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.

Pages:
329

My Overall Rating:
3 – I want to be more generous with this rating because I learned so much from this book about the cartels, the extreme amounts of violence in other countries and immigration. It pushed me to do further research and to think on a different level about my opinions on these things. I loved that the book had me rooting for illegal immigrants because, as an American, I think we’re too accustomed to the negative connotations revolving around illegal immigration.

But let me bring it back to the reason for the 3. There was just something missing. Most good young adult books take me probably two days to read, because they’re easy and I don’t want to set them down. I set this one down multiple times, and I can’t decide if it was so I could take the time to do my research and form some opinions about what I wanted for the characters or if it was something wrong with the writing.

That being said, I would recommend doing some research on the author, Francisco X. Stork, because he’s lived a pretty incredible life himself. And I would also still highly recommend this book given the simple fact that it made me think so deeply. From a literary standpoint for a fictional, young adult thriller, 3. From a conversational, thought-provoking, opinion-changing standpoint, 5. This is another one I hope my daughter reads someday. Though, by that time, I’m sure our laws and processes for immigration will be vastly different than they are now…

Donating Dimes

We’ve got 69 days to finish up our fundraising for the March for Babies. Who cares? We do. Could you give a dime for each day Oaklee was in the NICU ($6.90)?

Friends, we’ve got 69 days to finish up our fundraising for the March for Babies. Who cares? We do.

Oaklee’s first 69 days of life were spent in the NICU. When talking about raising money, 69 days doesn’t seem long enough. When talking about living in the NICU, it feels like an eternity. In these next 69 days, could you help us reach our fundraising goal of $1000?

Every donation helps us get a little bit closer to our goal and, ultimately, helps expand programs and educate medical professionals to make sure moms and babies like me and Oaklee get the best possible care. Your donation is funding research to find solutions to the biggest health threats and supporting moms through every stage of the pregnancy journey, especially when things don’t go as planned.

If you’re not feeling gung-ho like us Grasmeyers over here, could you give a dime for each day Oaklee was in the NICU ($6.90)? Thanks, in advance, for your contribution!

Sponsor/Join Oaklee's March of Dimes team.

P.S. Click here for a reminder of what March of Dimes does/did for us.

I’d Like to Thank the Academy

Being nine weeks pregnant on a friends’ weekend away to northern Michigan is rough. We went up north to Glen Arbor to ski and go wine tasting, two things I could not do, being pregnant.

2.22.17

“I can’t believe we’ve kept the secret this long. So. Hard.”

Being nine weeks pregnant on a friends’ weekend away to northern Michigan is rough. We went up north to Glen Arbor to ski and go wine tasting, two things I could not do, being pregnant. The weather wasn’t ideal for winter activities, so while I did manage to get out on my cross country skis once, what’s more impressive is that I managed to hide the fact that I wasn’t drinking… for an entire weekend… where people went wine tasting.

How did I work my magic? The answer is three-fold.

1 – My drink of choice was “apple cider and fireball” (sans fireball of course), though I did bring fireball, and I did get it out and put it away several times. Really, I just drank half a gallon of apple cider all by myself over the course of about 24 hours. The sugar. Oh, the sugar. When offered a glass of wine, I said, “Sure, just a half glass though,” and held onto it long enough to make people believe I’d been working on it before handing it over to my husband to finish off. I couldn’t be double fisting with my “spiked” apple cider, now could I?

2 – When the girls started getting ready to head out to go wine tasting, I needed a reason to stay behind. My reason didn’t feel very believable, but it worked in the end. I acted as though I was between going and staying, when, really, I knew I could not go. I stayed back because “I wanted to get out on my cross country skis once more and the snow was quickly melting away”. Luckily for me, the poor skiing weather played into my needs.

3 – When we paid a visit to a meadery on the way home (one that I absolutely love, by the way), while our friends tasted various meads and my husband filled our howler, I stood off to the side taste-testing various flavors of honey, and picking one out to take home. I was oh, so interested in that honey. And you know what? We still have that jar of honey today, unopened. Thanks for being the decoy – I bet you’re delicious, but you’re not mead. Maybe we’ll get to you this year.

Weekend away with friends aside, we also had our first pre-natal appointment, which was really just a consultation with a nurse where they pretty much tell you not to drink or smoke while pregnant. Um, ok, got it.

In other news, just over two weeks and we would finally get to spill our secret!

In the stats: 
Gestational Age: 9 weeks, 4 days

P.S. As we get further along into this, you’ll realize how crazy it was that I could go from February 6 to February 22 with no updates due to an uneventful two weeks.

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Book Review – Red Clocks

Red Clocks did the unimaginable, and it’s one redeeming quality was simply that I made it all the way through a book that was 100% a challenge for me.

This book was my second Book of the Month pick (January). I was disappointed in my options for January, and thought this one was my best bet. It was not. After December’s pick/review, I wondered if I generally rated all of my books too high, because there’s rarely a book I can’t find at least something good in. Then, alas, Red Clocks did the unimaginable, and it’s one redeeming quality was simply that I made it all the way through a book that was 100% a challenge for me.

Book 4
Red Clocks
by Leni Zumas

Genre:
Literary Fiction

Published:
January 2018

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Red Clocks is about five women in different stages of life who are, in some way, affected by newly formed government regulations relating to pregnancy, adoption and parenthood.

Favorite Quote:

Acceptance, thinks the biographer, is the ability to see what is. But also to see what is possible.

― Leni Zumas, Red Clocks

Awards (based upon my brief research):
A New York Times Editor’s Choice
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
An Indie Next Pick
One of Wall Street Journal’s Twelve Books to Read This Winter
An Esquire most anticipated book of 2018
An Elle Best Book of Winter
A Popsugar most anticipated book of Fall
A Ploughshares most anticipated book of Fall
A Nylon Best Book of the Month
One of Publishers Weekly’s most anticipated titles of Fall 2017

Pages:
356

My Overall Rating:
1 – On a scale of 1 to 5, I would only give less than a one if I didn’t finish a book, so… at least I finished. I chose this book because it said “dystopian” and it was related to pregnancy/adoption laws. I knew it would be a challenge for me. My fear before reading it was that it would be similar to The Handmaid’s Tale, which is a phenomenal book, and that it wouldn’t be as good, so I would therefore be disappointed. However, it was nothing like The Handmaid’s Tale. Instead, it was 351 pages of vulgarity and confusion. I felt uncomfortable with the repetitively, freely used anatomical language and I struggled to see a plot until I was a little over half way through. In my opinion, that’s not ok.

That being said, I would not recommend this book. I realize people love it (it’s only been out for a month and it’s won several awards and has very high ratings), but I’m apparently not on the same page as most critics. This book is for the literary adventurous, a group I would claim to be a part of, but a group who’s willing to read books they will hate for the sake of a new experience.

You Have to Tell Your Dentist if You’re Pregnant

Turns out, when your dentist asks if there have been any recent changes in your health, becoming pregnant qualifies.

2.6.17

“Once my secret was out with the hygienist, it was an amazing moment of relief. For just maybe 10 minutes, I could tell someone what I was going through.”

Turns out, when your dentist asks if there have been any recent changes in your health, becoming pregnant qualifies.

I went to the dentist and, throughout the appointment, learned I had to come back and have a quick procedure that would require some local anesthesia. Being asked whether there were any changes in my health didn’t seem to merit sharing my secret, but being told I would have local anesthesia did. After the dentist left the room, I asked my hygienist, “So, can you have local anesthesia if you’re pregnant?”

From there, it was like everything just came gushing out of me. I shared my excitement, my nerves, my questions, my emotions… I don’t even know my hygienist’s name, but I think I could have taken her out to coffee and given her a hug for finally being someone I could talk to about it without getting in trouble with my husband for leaking our secret.

I would suggest finding that person in the early stages of pregnancy – someone you can spill everything to without feeling like you’re giving your secret away. I’ll be forever grateful for the conversations and excitement we had pre-trauma, while things were still “normal”.

So thanks, dental hygienist whose name I do not know… you played an important roll in a special time of my life, and props to you for being the first person to know I was pregnant. If I recall correctly, when you asked why I didn’t tell you, my response was, “Because my own mom doesn’t even know yet.”

Also notable: We bought cross country skis in December. While you should probably not downhill ski while pregnant (though I think people do it), I’m so glad we got out on those skis when we did. In a year where I’d become so inactive, it was nice to at least have seen the woods – to have used my body.

In the stats: 
Gestational Age: 7 weeks, 2 days

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