Changes

Well, here I am.

I've been in New York for two and a half weeks now. It feels like longer- much longer. Unpacking, organizing, school, and just life in general all have made those last two and a half weeks a bit crazy. But we're settling in and getting used to our new home. And trust me, there's a lot to get used to. Some of it's good. For example, we didn't have a view like this from our back deck in Virginia:

It's even prettier when the sky is properly blue, rather than the pale blue-white that just washes out and makes everything look cloudy. (I swear, the only clouds in the picture are at the far left- just by the only visible patch of blue.) Granted, more trees would be nice- but I'm definitely not complaining. We also have a lot more yard, which means more space for me to practice archery- if I get around to it before the weather turns cold. I'm not quite sure when that'll happen (October maybe? Hopefully not this month!), but I'm not looking forward to all the snow. White Christmases are lovely. I can even do with a snowfall or two in January and February, just to make things a bit prettier. But what I've heard about snow up here . . . nope. Not my thing at all. (Unless I take up snowshoeing/cross-country skiing/some other winter sport . . . but who knows if that'll happen?)

Another (mostly) good thing about New York: the library. There's two within a three-mile radius of us- but both are tiny. (One of them is actually kind of cute; it looks a bit like a fairy-tale house on the outside.) However, they're connected to a very, very large library system . . . which means that my first stack of library books (all of which I requested online) looks like this:

Forgive the lousy phone camera photo, please!

In case you can't see the titles, that's House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo, Relic by Heather Terrell, Swipe, Sneak, and Spark by Evan Angler (I'm still waiting for Storm, the third book, to come in), Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, and Lion Heart by A.C. Gaughen. Five of these books I hadn't read before coming here; three or four of them I couldn't get at my old library. And I'm still waiting on more- the River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergen, for instance, The Princess Spy and The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson, and Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson. And I'm certain I'll find yet others; I just haven't looked for them yet. The one downside I've found is that they don't have Andrew Peterson cds . . . or many cds at all, really. (That and they don't seem to have the entire Dreamhouse Kings series.) But I can live with that.

Then there's school. For the most part, it hasn't changed much, except that we do it in a different location and I'm down two subjects. All I have at the moment is English (same old, same old), Literature (I get to read Beowulf! and Macbeth! And some of the Canterbury Tales! and a lot of other British literature!), Calculus (the first chapter is all review, thank goodness), and Principles of Biology. The last is an online dual-enrollment course I'm taking through Cedarville University. So far, I'm enjoying it more than I expected- much more than I liked 9th grade biology! It's possible that I'll post some of the essays I have to write for it, if I'm particularly pleased with them- or I might not. We'll see.

Some of the changes, though, aren't so good. I miss my youth group and my Bible study friends even more than I thought I would. Part of that's because I can't help wondering, even though we haven't really been here that long, if I'll actually find a group of friends like that here. I've met one a few people who I think I could be friends with- homeschooled girls like me, both of whom love some of the same books and movies I love and talk about things like fandoms and shipping and series speculations and all that sort of thing. But there's no guarantee I'll see them on a regular basis, and not all the churches around here have youth groups- or even youth, period. I know God wouldn't bring me here and leave me stranded with no offline friends, no one who I can see on a regular basis, no one with whom I can talk and play games and watch movies. But waiting for Him to guide me to those people is hard.

And, in the same vein, it's hard to be the new girl after so long. It's one thing at something like Cedarville Summer Studies or WSS Support Staff- everyone's new, and just that is enough to break down some of the barriers between people. But here, it's just me (well, and my sister, who's old enough now to be counted in my age group), and everyone else knows each other already. I don't remember how to slip into conversations and find my way into established groups- if I ever knew; maybe I never did. Last time I moved, I was young enough that anyone who played nicely with me could be considered a friend.

But I'm not alone, and I keep reminding myself of that. My family's in the same situation, for one, and I have my online communities- Whitehall Forums, The Potter School, blogs, and Goodreads- standing behind me. And most importantly, I have the Great Author writing the story of my life. So, one way or another, it'll all work out. I just hope that happens soon.


What's been going on in your life lately? Please tell me in the comments! Thanks for reading!
 -Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Summer Reading Plans

When I think of summer activities, there are many things that come to me: swimming, biking, writing, and most of all, reading. For as long as I can remember, I've done the summer reading program at my library every year, and if I can find others, I like to do those too. This year, however, I'm doing something I haven't done before: a summer reading list.

Most of the books on my list are ones I haven't read in a year or more and want to make sure I reread sometime relatively soon. There are some new titles on the list, however, and if anyone has suggestions of other books I should add to it, I'd be happy to hear them. I'm always on the lookout for new books to enjoy.

First on my list is The Door Within Trilogy by Wayne Thomas Batson. This was one of the first contemporary Christian fantasy series I read, and when I first started writing, it heavily influenced my stories. However, in the last year, I've been more focused on other Batson books, namely The Tide of Unmaking and his short stories. I'm very much looking forward to returning to the Realm this summer and joining Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby on their adventures once more!

Another trilogy on my list is The White Lion Chronicles by Christopher Hopper. When I first read Rise of the Dibor, I don't think I was really mature enough to appreciate these books, since they're longer and move at a slower pace than most books I was reading at the time. After they were rereleased, I gave them another try and really enjoyed them. However, until now, I never quite got around to rereading them. This is the only series on my list that I've already gotten started on rereading; I just reread Rise of the Dibor last week.

For a change from fantasy to dystopian, I'll be reading Sneak, the second book in the Swipe series by Evan Angler. Though Sneak was released some time ago, my library only recently obtained copies of it. I can hardly wait to read it and find out what in the world is going to happen to Logan, not to mention whether or not my theories about the Mark and such are true. Of course, since Storm just recently came out, and I'm pretty sure my library doesn't have it, I'll be back in the same boat again. Oh well. Such is life.

Back to fantasy! This time, however, the fantasy is a classic. It's a tradition of mine to make sure I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at least once every year. I used to try to do this in either November or May (near either my birthday or half-birthday), since the first time I read The Lord of the Rings was shortly after my birthday some years ago. More recently, however, I decided that summer was the best time to read these books, since I'll have more time to read and therefore I'll be able to enjoy them more. 

Another classic I'll be rereading is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I first read this book in September of last year and promptly decided that it was my new favorite non-fantasy classic. I also hope to find another Austen book to read, though I'm not sure which one. I read Sense and Sensibility in January and, though it was fairly good, didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Pride and Prejudice. I'm leaning towards Emma for this summer, but if any fans of Jane Austen's books are reading this, suggestions are more than welcome!

Two weekends ago, I did the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt, an online scavenger hunt hosted by thirty-two Christian fiction authors. To complete the scavenger hunt, you had to go from blog to blog and collect all the clues to put together a quote and be entered in a drawing for the prize. Along the way, I discovered a few authors I'd like to try, most notably R. J. Larson, author of Prophet and the rest of the Books of the Infinite series. Her books, which are fantasy set in a world similar to the Biblical time period, looked interesting, so I decided to give them a try. I can hardly wait to find out if they live up to my hopes.

By far the longest series on my reading list is the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I've read these books several times each since first discovering them, but I've been too busy with other books to read them for some time. This summer, however, I intend to change that. It might take a miracle to get through all of them, however, unless I decide to listen to some of them on cd or such instead of actually reading them. There are, after all, twenty-two books in the series!

Taking second place for longest series on my list is John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series, along with its companion series, The Brotherband Chronicles. I've actually read several of these semi-recently (within the last few months), but I decided to put them on my list anyway, since I've been thinking of rereading the two series for a few weeks now.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a newer book that I first noticed because two people recommending it in the same day: Jill Williamson in her ABC Reading Challenge and Emma, a friend of mine from WI. Cinder is a Cinderella remake set in a sci-fi/dystopian-type setting, which I thought sounded interesting. After asking both Emma and a lady at my church (who's recommended several other fairy-tale remakes to me) for more details, I decided to go ahead and add it to my reading list.

Another dystopian series on my list is The Cantral Chronicles by Amanda Davis. Like The White Lion Chronicles, I haven't quite gotten around to rereading the books in this series since around the time they first came out. In this case, however, that's mostly because I'd have to borrow the first book from a friend. I'm hoping she'll be ok with me borrowing it, since I remember really enjoying The Cantral Chronicles the first time I read them.

The last book or book series on my list? That's still a bit of a mystery. A friend of mine (who's pointed me towards many of my favorite authors and books) suggested that I try reading something by Shannon Hale. However, I'm not sure where to start. I know she wrote The Goose Girl, as well as the Princess Academy series and a whole lot of other books. (The library has twenty-two items by her, though some of those are books on cd, not actual paper-and-ink books.) Has anyone reading this read anything by Shannon Hale? If so, do you have any suggestions of which of her books I should read first, or any of her books I should avoid? Thank you in advance for your advice!

What about you? Do you have any summer reading plans?
Never alone!
- Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)