2020 hasn’t been my best reading year so far. I’ve been distracted and have had a hard time connecting with a lot of the books I’ve read. I don’t know what changed in October, but it has been the BEST reading month. I absolutely loved each and every book I read and can’t wait to share these reviews with you! I finished the month with 11 books read, all 4 and 5-star reads/listens. 

If you are looking to get out of a reading slump, here are some great books that will catapult you out of the reading slump and into happy reading mode. Let me know if you’ve read any of the books from my October reads and also if you have any book recommendations for me! I’d love to end the year reading some of your favorites. …

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Dear friend,

Since getting  my reading glasses and solving the whole “I’m losing my mind because words are jumping around on the pages” problem, I’ve been taking advantage of reading ALL THE BOOKS. It feels SO good to be reading again!

I thought I’d do a quick roundup of some of my July must-read books. As always, if we aren’t friends on Goodreads click here to friend me there so we can share real time book recommendations with each other. It’s my favorite site to hang out on although my “to read” shelf is dangerously large. There are way too many good books out there and not enough time, am I right?…

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Dear Friend,

First of all, thank you so much for your kind response to my letter last week. It’s so good to have the support and understanding of someone who understands and gets it. The response I received definitely made me feel so much less alone. This time / age / season of life is full of changes and I never really know which part of it is just me or which part of is it a normal part of getting older. Either way, it was so great to hear from you and to get your perspective….

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Hi friends! Welcome to my first episode of The E.A.R.L.Y Show. The E.A.R.L.Y Show is all about:

• E – What I’m Eating (maybe a recipe I’ve tried or a food product I’ve loved)
• A – What I’m Asking (things I’ve been curious about and asked Google, Siri or Alexa)
• R – What I’m Reading (this could be a book I’ve recently read or a blog post or magazine article I’ve found interesting)
• L – What I’m Loving (anything I’ve come across lately that I’ve really, really loved)
• Y – Your Turn (you get the chance to share some of this with me!)

You can watch the first 10 minutes episode below, but know it’s a little rusty. I’m definitely still learning and I’m actually looking to hire someone to do some simple video editing for me to pizazz these videos up some. Do you know of anyone? If so please have them email me!…

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It always drives me nuts when I see “Best Of the Year” book lists that come out before the year is up. I read some of the best books during the quiet downtime between Christmas and New Years. I think reading is at its absolute best in December.

Words in Deep Blue is just one of those books that would have been skipped on my best of list if I shared a list a few weeks ago like a lot of sites do. It’s been sitting on my desk after a visit to the library, and yesterday I decided to scrap my to-do list and read. I am so glad I did because this was definitely one of my favorite books from 2017! I love reading really well written Young Adult books, and Cath Crowley hit the mark with this book….

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I’m going to come right out and say it – even with a few months remaining in 2017 and plenty of books left to read, I know the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will make my list of favorite reads from this year.

This gem of a book is about a very quirky woman in her late 20’s, Eleanor Oliphant. Eleanor is a definite loaner with no friends, she has absolutely no filter, and says whatever is on her mind. In fact, I found myself laughing out loud at times at Eleanor’s straight forward bluntness when dealing with people. …

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This morning I started what I’m calling “The 2 Minute Book Chat” over on my Instagram Stories. I love reading and one of my favorite things is to talk books. I thought I’d do a little 2 minute book review each time I finished a new book.

But then, of course, I thought of you all over here…my loyal readers and book lovers, who are my absolute favorite friends to chat books with and I thought “well, that’s not very fair, Kristen. You need to start sharing your book thoughts again on Dine & Dish too so your loyal book loving friends can have the chance to chat books with you.” So, this post (and future 2 Minute Book Review blog posts) are for you. Those of you who aren’t on Instagram but still want to chat books like we used to.

If you are on Instagram and want to keep up with my 2 Minute Book Chats, make sure you’re following me over on that platform as well!…

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I’ve been keeping something from you… I’ve been cooking from a cookbook I received a couple months ago so regularly that I’ve almost forgotten how to cook without it!

Mary Younkin, from the food blog Barefeet in the Kitchen, has written the most amazing and practical cookbook for busy families called The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook. This cookbook is so practical I’ve turned to it when I’m in a dinner time pinch so many times, but have failed to take the time and photograph any of the meals we’ve made, until now. …

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