Wow! The month of December was a crazy one. Luckily, I finished the first draft of Unexpected Peril before my guests arrived for Thanksgiving. I then began editing it once everyone left but soon had to put it aside for Christmas shopping, parties, the children being home from school, and a lot of travel. My children went back to school today, and although I just returned from a relaxing island vacation with my husband, I already feel burned out from putting away Christmas decorations, unpacking, and doing a crazy amount of laundry. I still haven’t had a chance to stock up on groceries and am feeling quite overwhelmed.

As for my getaway with my husband, we went to St. Lucia, and the wifi was very spotty where we were staying. Although I took my laptop thinking I would get some work done, I was forced to step away from the Internet, and I highly recommend others doing that on occasion.

We live in a society of laptops, smart phones, and tablets, and we’re always plugged in and connected. With no wifi, I was forced to put all of my electronics aside (except for my Kindle). After a while, I noticed my meals were much more relaxing–without the feeling of needing to check my email or other social media. I gave my husband one hundred percent of my attention, and I savored my chamomile tea each evening after dinner. It reminded me of life before the Internet, and it was amazingly wonderful.

Then I came home to a pile of mail and emails that need my attention. I even had trouble sleeping the other night because I had not had a chance to get to my emails, and many of them were important. Sure enough, I awoke to a few emails stating they had not heard from me, and it was imperative that I answer them as soon as possible. I’ve spent my entire morning answering emails and still need to get everything added to my calendar. Once again, I am chained to the Internet.

I did get some reading in while on vacation and will soon be adding more reviews. I made the mistake of not downloading many books onto my Kindle Paperwhite before I left, and I can honestly say that iPads are horrible for trying to read poolside. Luckily, I got a decent wifi connection one afternoon, and I quickly downloaded more books onto my Paperwhite before the connection went out again. The Kindle Paperwhite is the best for reading while in the sun.

I’m a bit frustrated that I had to start four books before finding a decent one to read and will soon be venting my thoughts on another post. I just don’t quite understand how young adult books can be filled with severe language (I’m talking the worst words on the list) and some rated R sexual situations–yet the authors consider them clean enough for a teen rating.

This is a big thing for me since I’m surrounded by erotica in the romance industry, and I have higher standards for young adult books. My daughters–and even I–should not have to read explicit things when that is not what we’re looking for. I’m beginning to think books should have a rating on them, because teen reads no longer means a PG-13 rating. My daughters’ Kindles are filled with young adult books, and I’m highly bothered that when I went to read some of them, I found they are not appropriate reads–not even for me. Although I don’t like giving low ratings to authors, I am a bit outraged that these authors labeled their books as young adult, and it’s a bit hard for me to hold my tongue on this issue.

Anyways, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the beautiful island of St. Lucia. Enjoy!

We rode all over the island in the back of a safari jeep, and the driver stopped at this house for us to try the local fruit. The farmer that lived there had a small table at the side of his house and was cutting a variety of fresh fruit for us try. One of them was delicious, and I hope to find it in the U.S. somewhere. I forgot the name of it but remember what it looks like.

St. Lucia is known for exporting bananas and is filled with banana fields. The blue bags are to protect the bananas from certain pests.

We stopped at a sulfur spring for a mud bath. Because I’m allergic to sulfa, we didn’t know if I could enter the bath. Once I got home, I Googled it and realized it would have been safe. However, I’m not all that sure I missed much. It stunk a little and was dirty! This picture shows my belief of “Strive to be different!” just a bit 🙂

This is where they get the fresh mud for the bath.

The water was SO cold. I didn’t get too wet.