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summer reading list
A few people have been asking me what I’ve been reading this summer, so here’s a list of what I’ve already read and what is still piled up on the kindle:
Bad Men- John Connolly (dark thriller with shades of the supernatural mixed in)
Climbing the Broken Stairs – Frieda Adkins (biography about a girl horribly abused as a child)
The Fort- Aric Davis (story about 4 teenaged friends in the 80’s who witness a crime)
Gemma- Meg Tilly (told from the viewpoint of a 12 year old girl who is kidnapped and abused)
The Silver Star- Jeannette Walls (two sisters left by their mom who have to find their own way in the world)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman (supernatural story about kids fighting back against bad spirits)
The Kitchen House- Kathleen Grissom (slavery and the slave owning families and the overlap between them with a great story mixed in)
Every Dead Thing- John Connolly (very, very, very dark story about a detective and the murders he solves. first in a series.)
20th Century Ghosts- Joe Hill (short stories by the son of Stephen King. some dark, some scary, some sad, some funny. all awesome.)
And the Mountains Echoed- Khaled Hosseini (definitely his weakest of his 3 novels, but in the same vein as the other two.)
Me Before You- Jojo Moyes (unconventional love story. need a ton of tissues for this one, but i loooooooved it.)
Cleaning House- Kay Wyna (what got me started on my whole life skills tear. a must read for all of us “over helpful” moms. my full review here.)
NOS4A2- Joe Hill (amazing and long supernatural thriller )
The Last Child- John Hart (i read this one a while ago but including it anyway. the twin sister of a 12 year old boy goes missing and he does most of the investigating to find her. very dark and twisted.)
Joyland- Stephen King (actually read this one in paperback because he wasn’t releasing it in kindle. I kept swiping the pages and was confused when they didn’t turn by themselves. A college aged carnival worker, supernatural aspects, but mostly just awesome character development as per the usual SK books.)
Do you notice a theme with what I read? Besides Me Before You, The Kitchen House, and Cleaning House all my books are dark, twisty, supernatural and/or scary/disturbing. What exactly does that say about me?? Don’t answer that.
Still in the queue to be read:
Guilt-Jonathan Kellerman
Thumbprint- Joe Hill
The King of Lies- John Hart
This Beautiful Life- Helen Schulman (reading this one now- about a teenaged girls video of her doing inappropriate things going viral and the ramifications it has on everyone)
Dark Hollow- John Connolly (2nd in series of Charlie Parker novel. I think there are 11 altogether.)
Live by Night- Dennis Lehane (i’ve read all of his other books and loved them)
Save Yourself- Kelly Braffet
beyond belief- Jenna Miscavige Hill (escape from scientology)
Left Neglected- Lisa Genova
Last Letter to my Lover- Jojo Moyes
We’re All in This Together- Owen King
Same Kind of Different as Me-Bud Hall
Shiver- Michael Prescott
The Magicians Assistan- Ann Patchett
Then Came YOu- Jennifer Weiner
The Language of Flowers- Vanessa someoneorother
If you have any recommendations for me, feel free to send them my way. Especially anything dark and twisted. You can find my past reading lists here and here .
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visiting wrigley
We went over to visit our dog we no longer own in July and I just can’t get over how big she has gotten. She was just a little excited to have some company over and was running around like crazy with the boys on one of the hottest days of the year. The poor puppy just wanted to go back inside and lay by the a/c. Smarty.
Thanks so much to Wrigley’s family for the visit as always!
Always so smiley, even when hot. And yes, I still miss her but so glad she’s in a great home with lots of love. And we get to visit.
Pictures and story from the California & Arizona adventure will be up on the blog soon. Shooting for next week- but we have a weekend full of very fun activities planned including 2 reunions, so we’ll see it all works out. I do promise the vacation pictures will be on the blog before Christmas though. -
the schwa family
its been a few years since I photographed this awesome family and I was so happy that they called me for a session this year before their oldest daughter leaves for college this month as a freshman at UNC. A last family portrait before everything changes. It was such a fun night at the beach and they all seemed to have a wonderful time together. There were a few “moments” for mom- I’m not looking forward to the day when I have two ready to go to college. Although 4 years isn’t a very long time at all.
As much as I love the red hair (and I do love it so!) I had to do one in black and white.
The (almost) college freshman!
Momma and her girls. 
You go mom!!
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the marc kids (& mom)
You might remember this completely adorable family from their lifestyle newborn session a few months ago. Mom thought she’d capture her little family almost 6 months later as they grow and change. She wasn’t going to be in the photos but what can you do when your baby boy doesNOT like the grass. You hold him. A lot. And I work really, really fast to get a shot or two before smiles change quickly to tears.
And this one? More gorgeous every time I see her!
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the wool family
This was a session I was seriously excited for. Caren & Tim were “my” bride and groom back in 2010 for their wedding in Jamaica and since then, they’ve welcomed a beautiful baby boy (who is now just over a year old) into their family. They live far away in upstate New York, but come down every summer to visit family & friends. When they contacted me to do a session for them, I was super excited to not only see them but to meet and photograph Owen for the first of what I hope to be many times. Of course the session had to be at the beach! But someone was not a fan of the sand. Or the water. Made for an interesting session, but we got it done with singing, food, a lot of time being held and tickles for smiles.
Snuck in a sitting in the sand shot super quick before he realized he was in the sand. 
Ha!
He disliked the sand and water so much he went all flamingo and tried only standing on one foot. 
