My name is Abbey, and there are a lot of unique things about me. First, I'm a right-brained learner. This basically means that I'm blessed with high imagination and cursed with anxiety. Second, I'm a Latter-Day Saint, who is amazed by the goodness of the Lord and all He does for me in my life. Third, I am an unschooler. The biggest lesson I learned from this education is to love learning and to pursue my passions. This blog is a collection of personal musings that will probably fall into one of these catogories. Thanks for visiting!


*All stamps courtesy of Mirz123

Books I Like



Spiritual Books
These books are written by Latter-Day Saint authors and are full of spiritual wisdom based off of content found in the Holy Bible and Book of Mormon.  For content guide, click here.

Believing Christ
Stephen E. Robinson
None of us are Celestial material; we all make mistakes every day.  But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ can make us as clean and pure as He is.  This book explores what the Atonement of Christ really does for us, and in so doing, stops the guilt and starts the joy.  This book is eye-opening, and quite frankly, life changing.  It's a must-read for every Latter-Day Saint, and anyone who wants to understand the Atonement a little better.
Content: E for everyone.



No Doubt About It
Sheri Dew
To a young girl of twelve, Sheri Dew was a shining example of a Woman of God.  All of her books are wonderful, but this book especially touched my heart.  Life is difficult, but it's also full of joy, if you know how to recognize it.  A big part of this is knowing who you are and why you are here.  This book touches on many beautiful concepts of the gospel sprinkled with her own life experiences.  It's an easy-to-read testimony that I still love to his day.
Content: E for everyone


Marriage Books
It's not easy being married, and these books have just the right balance between wisdom and humor to keep your love strong.  For content guide, click here.


The Five Love Language
Gary Chapman
Everyone goes into a relationship expecting something from the other person, and if they don't get what they were expecting, trouble erupts.  That's because everyone feels love in different ways.  Even if your significant other is showing love, you might not feel it because it's a different love language from yours.  This book is an amazing breakthrough in human love.  Reading and understanding it saved my relationship with my husband, so it's a must-read for any couple.
Content: mild language, sexual references.



Becoming Your Spouse's Better Half
Rick Johnson 
Let's face it: men and women are so doggone different!  Understanding things from a man's perspective (and vice versa) helps quell fights and fosters love.  This book is down-to-earth; bluntness mingled with humor makes it a delightful read.  It helped me understand my husband and overcome some personal issues I had about men.  It's a great book to read as a couple, since it covers both men and women.  
Content: sexual references.



Anime and Comics
I don't hide the fact that I love anime and comic books.  The visuals really add to the storytelling!  Here are some of my favorites.  For content guide, click here.


Fruits Basket (volumes 1-23)
Natsuki Takaya
Tohru Honda is a bright, cheerful, and perfectly normal girl trying to make it through high school.  Her life changes, however, when meets the Sohma family and accidentally discovers their hidden secret: they turn into animals when hugged by the opposite gender!  This deceptively deep series has romance, comedy, drama, and magic all rolled into one.  It's my favorite book series of all time!
Content: moderate language, mild sexual references, disturbing images, violence and blood, homosexuality (suggested).


Shaman King (volumes 1-32)
Hiroyuki Takei
Manta had no idea that magic still existed in his modern world until he meets Yoh Asakura, a budding shaman who can talk to ghosts and harness their powers.  Yoh only wants a life of ease and comfort, but when a great tournament for the ultimate power begins, he and his friends are thrust into a world of magic, both good and evil.
Content: mild language, disturbing images, violence and blood.



Bone (volumes 1-9)
Jeff Smith
This deceptively cute series is full of action, danger, and good laughs.  Follow Fone Bone and his cousins as they stumble upon a land where nothing is what it seems: animals talk, dairy products are used as currency, and grandmas race cows.  Fone Bone becomes especially attached to a young girl named Thorn, whose destiny will lead her and the Bones on the adventure of a lifetime.
Content: mild language, disturbing images, violence and blood.

 
Fiction
This is the section you've been looking for.  ;)  I read so much fiction, but here are the best of the best.  For content guide, click here.

The Darkest Powers series:
The Summoning; The Awakening; The Reckoning
Kelley Armstrong
It all started when Chloe started receiving random visits from disturbing strangers that no one else could see.  As a result, she is diagnoised with schizophrenia and put into a home with other teenagers with mental disabilities.  Or is there more to these kids than what meets the eye?  I love this book series because I truly feel like I am the one experiencing what Chloe is going through.  It is raw, engaging, and just plain awesome.
Content: mild language, violence and blood.    



The Bartimaeus Trilogy:
The Amulet of Samarkand; The Golem's Eye; Ptolemy's Gate
Jonathan Stroud
Enter a world where magicians summon demons instead of wave magic wands.  One of these demons - Bartimaeus - is used to being ordered around by humans, but that doesn't stop him from trying to have his own wayIt doesn't help that his new master, Nathaniel, unknowingly thrusts them into a war with an enemy more powerful than they could imagine.  This dark, tantalizing series highlights human corruption, and under it all, human hope in a complicated world.         
Content: mild language, disturbing images, violence and blood.


The Dark Is Rising Sequence:
Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver On The Tree
Susan Cooper
This deep and often abstract series is a wonderful story of Good verses Evil set in Welsh and Celtic legends.  The Drew children think their Great-Uncle Merriman is rather mysterious, but look forward to spending vacation with him.  It doesn't take long, however, for them to become tangled in a race for power between two great forces: Good and Evil.  The mortal children, however, have it easy.  In the second book, a boy named Will becomes introduced to a society of magic and wonder beyond his imagination.  This series is a true epic with many ties to the battle of Good and Evil in the world around us.
Content: Disturbing images.


Other Books I Love
There's no way I can list all of the books I've read and enjoyed individually, so here is a collection of other types of books that have touched my heart in some form or fashion.

Historical Fiction
Ben and Me - Robert Lawson
Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George
The Cay - Theodore Taylor
The Fighting Ground - Avi
The Door In The Wall - Marguerite de Angeli
Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brin
After the Dancing Days - Margaret I. Rostkowski

Childhood Favorites 
The Unicorn Chronicles - Bruce Coville
Spirit of the Cimarron: Bonita; Sierra; Esperanza - Kathleen Duey
The Dragonology Handbook
Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast - Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris
My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George

Religious Fiction
The Tennis Shoes Series - Chris Heimerdinger
The Kingdom and the Crown Series - Gerald N. Lund
Chester, I Love You - Blaine & Brenton Yorgason

Other Great Fiction
Eragon - Christopher Paolini
My Friend Flicka - Mary O'Hara 
Twilight Series - Stephanie Meyer
Harry Potter Series - J. K. Rowling
Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
Dinotopia - James Gurney

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