What a time to be alive, eh?! I was laid off from my job mid-June due to COVID-19 crippling my previous companies major projects group. That’s been a fun adventure of trying to find a new job, while home full time with both my kids (15yo male, 3yo-going on 4 this month-female), and I went ahead and started school again at University of Phoenix for my MBA! All positive things in that regard, just started this week and will finish up in 11 months. It’s a competency based program, geared for working students to utilize their previous, and current, working experience.

While 2020 has been an absolute chicken-coop-show of a year, there are some positives that have come out of all of this: time with my kids that I didn’t have before, I get to cook again (I love to cook)-trying new recipes and eating as a family is wonderful, though I will admit some nights are pizza or cereal here and there, I’ve applied myself to school once more after a Four Year Break (YIKES! Anxiety, anyone?! Hahahaha), being present for my kids in a way that was sparse before, and there are now Far more jobs available and Search Options to work REMOTELY-this is the best for me personally and career wise! My daughter will be watched by my sister-whom I will be paying, she has FOUR BOYS, all about 2 years apart, 7 (going on 8) and under. She’s a BOSS. It’s also been really nice to take my kids to the pool-it’s been pretty empty at our neighborhood pools, and we’re all getting tans! And by tans I mean…I’ve gotten a little golden, and my kids have gotten true tans xD! CHEATERS I SAY! Hahaha, both my kids with their Native American Indian blood out-tanning me, seems wrong!…but I’m glad they don’t burn like I do.

Now, positives in line, there are some negatives, as everyone is experiencing. I get pennies for unemployment, and had to get Cobra to retain my insurance. It costs $1700 a month to retain our insurance-Obamacare is absolute SHIT in case you had not yet experienced that debacle. That hurts, considering how little I get from unemployment-it just barely costs covering my insurance. Thankfully I had things in place to cover us for several months, but there will be a price to pay for that later on. Writing. I honestly thought I would be able to write So Much More! I was Ecstatic-how much writing I figured I could execute! Lord help me, how wrong I was. My daughter is incredibly demanding of my time, I spend my time at night to enjoy a little peace and quiet, and when she’s gone to visitation that’s when I knock out things I have to take care of in the home!

Now, I added school to the mix, but even though I have that plate overflowing once more-and I’m interviewing for jobs-I have still been thinking about Hail on the daily. My plans for the story are still in line with what I originally planned, but there has been one aspect that has been fluid in regards to how I want to handle it…well, two. So, while I have been distracted, not able to write as I so desired and believed, I have used the time to better form what I want in the latter part of the book. It’s also given me a chance to fully flesh out the first half which I am getting close to finishing up. What I need to do is utilize my career skills-I need to utilize my planning and scheduling ability to organize myself and my time, and pray it works out well enough! Set aside time for school and writing, respectively, every evening. It’s a problem I know every author struggles with-just sitting down, opening the documents, and WRITING. I hate that it’s taken me this long to write this book, but I will finish writing Hail. No matter what it takes.

Finished up The Guardians Crest by Michael Chrobak! Review Here! Can also read below😉!

Michael Chrobak has a way with bringing you, the reader, to finding the beauty and wonders of faith. I find the topics he takes head-on to be prevalent, no matter your age, though he does utilize his written works to reach the youth, especially. That being said, I’m a mid-30’s woman, and I truly appreciate what he’s been building through these books, and look forward to what’s to come!

Minor spoilers ahead!

Let’s start with the first half of this book: it’s a look into the Guardians, but particularly Thomas’ sister Julianna. The insight to the different Guardians was something I really enjoyed, and you get to find how all the stories begin to tie together, forming the intricate pattern that is the Guardian’s story. I did have some points that I have mentioned in previous reviews, where it seemed to be a bit disconnected to how youth acts and behaves in today’s society, but I will say when you understand the Guardian’s, you understand why they are the chosen ones. Still, there are pieces that were a little hard to digest. At one point there is a party for a friend who has reached “young lady” status, and at her birthday party, the girls are said to be wearing 4-INCH HEELS! I was like-wait, what?! At the young, fresh age these girls are at not ever would you see them wearing 4-inch heels. As a grown woman, even in my 20’s, that was a rare occasion, and only because I’m so short and my dresses hid those the whole five times I wore them. This is not a norm for any girl in their early teen years, let alone finding heels that high in the sizes they should be wearing in general would be almost impossible. There were some details that were obviously avoided just for the fact it made the scenes easier, and allowed the story to flow in the required direction-such as a seemingly major lack of adult supervision/involvement. However, those points aside, I loved the first half’s insight that was otherwise missing. Your heart will hurt, hope will rise, and it all leads well into the second half of the book, which picks up where the second book left off.

The second half of this book: it was a lot of fun. Action packed, but also pulled a little at the heartstrings. You will feel the confliction of the characters as they happen, and understand why these things are happening. Why the struggle is real, and that as we are as people without any spiritually powers/gifts would see both sides of said struggle. While coming out of one spiritually realm, and visiting another, and then another, it’s intriguing to get the provided insight to the individuals. I wonder if the next book(s) will delve any further into all the other Guardian’s realms! This book, too, is left on a cliff hanger, even more exciting than the last, but I definitely approved if this one more than the last! Not a complaint against the last, just a matter of what you’ll be lead up to, and wondering how it will all come together. Now, minor things I found-more grammatical errors than expected was an issue for me (I’m a grammar freak, and this happens, falls back on the editor and proof reading in my eyes *shrug*). Some of the speech patterns overlapped with multiple characters, but that didn’t bother me too much, as I think it is found easily that a certain group, or coupling, of people will have a habit of duplicating speech patterns/phrases. However, it was repetitive at times, and still something that should be watched a little more carefully-I will say it’s difficult when trying to manage a Multitude of character’s as what’s being done here, so I feel it was still a valiant effort applied, and it did not detract from my joy of reading!

Kudos to Mr. Chrobak for a fantastic job! I can’t wait for the next book to come!