Mundie Moms

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Mundie Moms Best of 2013: Our Favorite Series


Hello! Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! It's that lovely time of year where I feature our favorites of this past year. I'm finally climbing out of the influenza A cave! YAY! I'm a bit behind on all the posts I had planned for this week's Mundie Moms Best of 2012 feature due to that. Today I've condensed our series lists into one post.

Today's Mundie Moms Best of 2012 feature is: Series  There's been a lot of fabulous series that were started this year, ones that continued one, and ones that ended. Here are our favorites:

There were some incredibly awesome first books in a series released this year, and it was impossible to do a top ten list for them, so here's our top 12 favorite first books in a new series (in no order):

  1. Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
  2. Rift by Andrea Cremer
  3. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
  4. Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
  5. Carnival of Souls by Melissa Mar
  6. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
  7. Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas
  8. Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
  9. Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
  10. The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa
  11. Defiance by C.J. Redwine
  12. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Other Favorites: 
Along with new series, there are also some great series who had new installments this year. These books are ones we really enjoyed reading this year, and apart of a series we'd definitely recommend picking up. Here are some of our favorites (in no order):
  1. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
  2. Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter
  3. Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
  4. Deity by Jennifer L Armentrout
  5. Pure by Jennifer L Armentrout
  6. Until I Die by Amy Plum
  7. Dreamless by Josephine Angelini
  8. The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell
  9. Timepiece by Myra McEntire
  10. Once by Anna Carey
  11. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
  12. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
  13. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
  14. Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton
  15. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
  16. The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton
  17. Austenland by Shannon Hale
  18. The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen
We all great book series come to an end. Often times we dread reading that last book, not because it's horrid or we lost interest in the series, but because we don't want to say goodbye. Here are some of our favorites series, or should I say our favorite last books in a series, we said goodbye to in 2012: 
  1. Endlessly by Kiersten White
  2. Firelight by Sophie Jordan
  3. Black Heart by Holly Black
  4. Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer
  5. The Savage Grace by Bree Despain
  6. BitterBlue by Kirsten Cashore
  7. Bourne by Lisa. T Bergren
  8. Reached by Ally Condie
  9. Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick
  10. Destined by Aprilynne Pike
  11. Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
  12. Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers
  13. Promised by Caragh O'Brien
  14. Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay 
  15. Anastasia Forever by Joy Preble 
  16. Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
What were some of your favorite new series that started this year? What series were sad to see end?  *please forgive my flu brain if I've left any obvious series off this list*

Thoughtful Thursday - 26 Random Acts of Kindness and Snowflake Making


Like most of us throughout the world, Katie and I were at a complete loss for words when we heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We have kids of similar age as most of the victims. Some of our dearest friends are elementary school teachers. During the days following the shooting, we kept thinking of what can we do. We will be participating in both the 26 Random Acts of Kindness as well as the Snowflake Project.

Ann Curry, NBC News Correspondent, took to her twitter and came up with #26ActsofKindness. Here's how it started in Ann's words:

Newtown's heartbreak has a lot of us asking, "What can I do?" Thinking about this, I took to Twitter and asked people to imagine what would happen if all of us committed to 20 acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown. I added, "I'm in. If you are, RT #20Acts."

Tens of thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook not only seized the idea, they increased it to #26Acts, to include the heroic teachers, and are launching acts of kindness big and small all over America. The acts are spreading overseas, including one tweeted from Borneo.

People are using the hashtag #26ActsofKindness and if you look it up on twitter, you will be amazed at the global community of kind acts that is building. Today my daughters and I started our acts by letting two couples cut in front of us in line at the post office. They were older and were trying to balance so many packages. Two police officers were in our favorite coffee shop and we bought them their drinks. We're currently making gingerbread cookies to deliver to our closest fire station.

And then when I was on twitter this morning, I saw a tweet being rapidly re-posted. It was from the National PTA organization asking for paper snowflakes to be sent to support Sandy Hook Elementary School:

When school resumes for Sandy Hook, it will be in a new building. Parent-volunteers are working to ensure that the students are welcomed back by a winter wonderland with the entire school decorated with as many unique snowflakes as possible. We encourage senders to be as creative as possible, remembering that no two snowflakes are alike. Please make and send snowflakes by January 12, 2013 to the Connecticut PTSA address:

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connolly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514

I know most Mundie Moms are the types that want to do something in the wake of such a tragedy. So here's your chance -- make a few snowflakes and send them off so the kids can see how much the world cares about them. And if you can do those 26 RAKs; I guarantee it'll make you feel better about this crazy world of ours.

Labels