2014 Releases That I Never Got To.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovelies over at The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic was a freebie week so I chose to do the 10 2014 releases I meant to read...but the year kinda slipped by without me getting to.

Defy by Sara B. Larson

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Of Scars and Stardust by Andrea Hannah

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

(granted I haven't even gotten to the second book sooo....)

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis

After the End by Amy Plum

Split Second by Kasie West

What books slid past you in 2014?

Waking the Dead by John Eldredge

"There is a glory to life that most people-including believers-never see. In this insightful new book, John Eldredge presents the heart as central to life. Not only is the heart essential; the heart God has ransomed is also good. Building on these foundational truths, Eldredge shows readers why real Christianity is a process of restoration, where the broken parts of our hearts are mended and the captive parts are set free.

"Waking the Dead" leads listeners to understand how to live from the heart, care for their heart like the treasures of the kingdom, and give from fullness instead of emptiness. This message also shows how living from the heart can energize people to love God and others in a way they've never experienced, revealing to them life's purpose: fighting for the hearts of others." 256 pages Published July 22nd 2003 by Thomas Nelson (first published February 29th 2000)- Goodreads

John Eldredge is a personal hero of mine. The way he looks at life and Christian living is incredible, the things that him and his wife have been through and where they are now is incredible, the way he makes movie references in his books is, well, pretty awesome.

Seriously, who else would think of comparing Neo's journey in the Matrix to our journey as Christians? 

John Eldredge would.

John and his wife Stacey live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, so he talks about being outside and being all adventurous and what not.

Now, what you need to understand is Colorado Springs in one of my FAVORITE places on earth. And I love being OUTSIDE in Colorado Springs. It's a adventurer's paradise.  So I LOVE the fact that he can talk about being outdoors, enjoying and appreciating nature, and loving God all in the same book.

Waking the Dead  focuses on waking your heart to the love of God and realizes that your heart, is in fact, not evil.

That is such a liberating fact.

It helps readers learn how to mend their hearts and be set free from things that we have been told all our lives and how to get on the right path to moving forward in our lives, to set our mind AND heart on kingdom things.

Waking the Dead was so enjoyable and I cannot wait to dig into another book by John Eldredge.

And why 2015 will be different.

2014 was a weird year for me.
The whole year was me focusing on things other than book blogging. Which I don't regret at all, I just always felt bad that I'd come back to my blog every now and again, make a basic post, then disappear again.

A lot has gone on in my life over the past 2 and a half years that has just made me not feel it. I read 14ish books last year...that's it! I've never read that few in a year...
But when you have such a huge life change like I did you have to take time to refigure things out. So that's what I was doing. And while I did pop in every now and then, blogging felt so forced. And sadly it ended with me not wanting to read and falling out of touch with a lot of bloggers that I used to be close with.
It was disappointing but I really feel like I have a better handle on myself and how I want to blog. 2 years ago when I was incredibly consistent it started feeling like a keeping up with the blogging Jones' and it became a chore. So that along with all the major changes going on I hit a downhill in my online life.
Now I'm back and I'm so happy. I considered shutting down my book blog and just combine it with my personal blog that I've been paying a little more attention too, but then I thought why would I do that? It would be the same amount of work, so Firefly Book Loft is up and running again.

I've made promises to myself though.

1)Don't force posts.
I'm not going to make myself feel like I have to post every day or participate in memes just to get people to pay attention to my blog. There are times when I may only be able to do a couple posts a week, but I have to be okay with that. I started this for me and I will now continue it with it being for me. But if you stop by and join in my bookish life, I will love you.

2)Read what I want.
The pressure to feel like I need to keep up with all the new releases was fine 4 years ago when I had less to do in life. But now I am a busy busy lady and may only have time for a post or two a week. So I'm not going to waste my precious reading time on books that I feel like I am making myself read just because everyone else is.

3)Don't join every challenge known to blogging man.
Hello, my name is Jessica Clark and I have a book blogging challenge problem. I join all of them. Except this year! Yay! Go me!
I think it was either 2012 or 2013 I tried joining about 10 or 11 challenges and it got to be so much and so stressful that I didn't finish a single one. NO MAS! This year I only have a couple personal challenges and my Goodreads challenge and that is it.

4)Have fun.
While books and writing are a huge part of my life and I love both soo much there are other things I love. Hiking, traveling, playing music, all these things have a huge part in my life. They are also all fun for me. None of them have become chores or forced, so why did books become that? I don't know. But not anymore. I will read for fun. I will write for fun. I will blog for fun. Just like I hike, travel, and make music for fun. BLOGGING AND BOOKS WILL BE FUN AGAIN.

Thank you for hanging around and waiting out the weird life time with me, and welcome new followers. I appreciate every single one of you!
And I cannot wait to see what 2015 brings!!




(also, 2015 really is a big year for me, with writing, traveling, ministry, music, and so much more. so if you'd possibly like to be nosey and see what's going on in my personal life, I do have a personal blog I am determined to keep up with this year as well, if you ever wanna take a looksy click HERE)

Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson

The epic made simple. The miracle in the mundane.

One day, while browsing an antique store in Helena, Montana, photographer Tyler Knott Gregson stumbled upon a vintage Remington typewriter for sale. Standing up and using a page from a broken book he was buying for $2, he typed a poem without thinking, without planning, and without the ability to revise anything.

He fell in love.

Three years and almost one thousand poems later, Tyler is now known as the creator of the Typewriter Series: a striking collection of poems typed onto found scraps of paper or created via blackout method. Chasers of the Light features some of his most insightful and beautifully worded pieces of work—poems that illuminate grand gestures and small glimpses, poems that celebrate the beauty of a life spent chasing the light. (144 pages Published September 2nd 2014 by Perigee Trade) - Goodreads

I was so pleased that Chasers of the Light ended up being my first book of 2015.

Though some of the poems seemed to be taken right from mass tweets, most of them were really beautiful and original.

Tyler really has a knack for taking simple observations and making them profound. He makes falling in love just sound and feel beautiful. 

He takes moments that not a lot of people feel are significant and really makes you rethink those moments of your life that you just let pass by without a second thought. But those always seem to be the moments that we look back on that have so much meaning anyway, and Tyler just highlights that in the pages of this book.

I've seen Tyler's poems float onto my Tumblr often but I didn't know that he was in the process of putting them into a book. So when I found out about this I was sure to request a buy at the library and sure enough, within a week I got an email saying that they approved my request and the copies were on their way.

Now I am severely regretting getting it at the library.

I should have just bought a copy because now I want it and I want it bad. 

It has a beautiful hardcover and would fantastic on my shelf. I cannot wait to own Chasers of the Light and reread it many times and I cannot wait for another book from Tyler!