I have always told Ryan that one of my favorite parts of the day occurs the moment we crawl into bed together at night. We will chat and read and I love unwinding and relaxing at the end of a long day.
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved reading at night. I love getting lost in a story and reading until my eyes feel heavy and I can turn off the light and fall immediately to sleep.
Well, that is a lot easier to do when the book I am reading isn’t about a serial killer.
It’s much harder to turn off the light and drift peacefully to sleep when you’re dying to know if another person is about to turn up dead and you really want to see if your predictions about the murderer are correct.
Needless to say, I had a hard time falling asleep last night. But if you are looking for a book that sucks you in (when it’s not competing with House of Cards for your nighttime attention, that is), I highly recommend After Her!
Breakfast
Ryan and I slept in this morning which was glorious, except I drifted in and out of sleep and remember dreaming a rather intense dream about a murderer (I wonder where that one came from?) that used dogs to lure women in and kill them.
Sadie was in my dream and I remember coaching her to run to a neighbor’s house if a scary murderer approached. Because she’s totally trainable like that.
My dreams are usually pretty uneventful and frequently involve people I know. Ryan is the one who has action-packed dreams in our house, so this was a little unusual.
And wow, that was quite the tangent this morning, huh!? Moving right along…
Breakfast this morning included lots of good stuff!
Eggs + Cheese + Black Beans + Chicken Sausage + Chives + Spinach
Nice and filling!
Plus a hot mug of s’mores coffee with extra foam and a sprinkle of cinnamon on the side.
And now I’m heading out the door to the gym!
Have a great Wednesday!
Questions of the Morning
- Do you usually have action-packed dreams? Do you ever dream about people you know?
- What was the last book you read that was seriously suspenseful?
My dreams typically seem to be “real life” scenarios and frequently involve people I know from all different stages of my life.
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Great read, and you may finish in one night it’s such a page turner! “The Bride Will Keep Her Name”. Sounds like a cheesy wedding book (and while I do love those also) it is actually a murder suspense!!
I will look for it at the library early this evening! Sounds intense!
It is by Jan Goldstein, I hope you find it and like it!!
I rarely remember my dreams, but when I do they are always really strange and typically involve friends or family members. I usually wake up thinking whaaaaat?
The last book i read that suspenseful was Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I couldn’t put it down, but it was definitely a little dark.
I love reading your blog everyday! The smores coffee looks amazing!
Thank you so much, Jen!
My dreams are usually crazy. 🙂 If I watch a tv show before bed, the characters occasionally appear in my dream. I just finished Frozen Heat – based off the television show Castle. I love the show and enjoyed the book.
I love reading thrillers- serial killers, detective stories, you name it, but I always have super weird dreams too. Between that and watching True Detective on HBO, my dreams have been messed. up.
I just read about the book on amazon and it sounds like something I would definitely like. I’ll keep it in mind for me next book!
My dreams seem to come in phases. For several nights in a row I will have really vivid dreams and then nothing.
Some of my dreams get a little crazy and most of the time there are people I know in them. The problem is I always forget what I dreamed about when I wake up! I’ve also loved to read before going to bed since I was little. I can’t wait for the day that I can read a novel for leisure instead of a textbook for class or a Shakespeare play for a paper!
I really don’t dream much, or at least I don’t remember them when I do!
I typically don’t remember my dreams…at least until I live them later. No joke, I get extreme deja vu and the only thing I can tie it back to is a dream that at one point in time didn’t make much sense.
I also have action packed dreams and/or dreams about people from high school. It’s so weird!
If you’re looking to pick up a new book or get rid of any old ones I’m hosting a book swap on my blog today! I’m so excited it’s almost time for summer vacations and reading on the beach!
Awesome!!
I really need a new book to read! This looks great! I don’t remember what I dream about half the time. HA!
I’m always looking for books to add to my “to read list”. I will have to add this one! Thanks for the suggestion!
I never remember my dreams, but when I first started watching The Walking Dead I had a few very vivid zombie dreams. Thankfully I haven’t experienced anything like that after watching The Following. I haven’t read anything suspenseful in a while, but I love horror and suspense so I need to give your suggestion a try as well as some mentioned in comments.
I am known to have crazy, insane, vivid, wild and funny dreams. I go through phases where they are action packed, info packed, lessons to be learned packed and then weeks on end where I don’t recall any of them!
I’m totally the same with books! But reading scarier ones or watching horror movies before bed is a big nooooo when it comes to me haha. I have super vivid dreams, so they’re always terrifying!
I’m like that too when it comes to scary stories before bed! I’ve been in a bad habit of playing on my phone (Instagram, Pinterest) before bed, and it takes me too long to fall asleep!
Will definitely be getting that book to read. I love mysteries and since the author and I have the same last night, I feel it calling to me!
I might get the weird award for this, but I always have crazy dreams when I cook something in the crockpot overnight! I guess smelling the food when I sleep triggers hge strange in my brain!
LOL!!
I love your smores coffee! I rarely remember my dreams. I think one or two in my lifetime I actually remember and they were scary!
I love books and shows about serial killers!!!! I just finished the series dexter. If you like shows about serial killers I highly recommend it! All the episodes are on netflix!
I always love books you suggest can’t wait to check this one out!
Julie, I’m a huge fan of The Walking Dead and inevitably I have several zombie dreams during the season and I always wake up in the middle of the night scared. LOL Those dreams usually have people I know in it and we are usually running from or trying to fight the zombies. Serves me right for watching it right before bedtime! Funny dream about Sadie. 🙂
I dont dream a lot, but when I was pregnant last year I had the craziest dreams every week. My husband would wake up in the morning & ask me what I dreamed about – it was always so off the wall so we both found it to be entertaining. My little boy is 6 months old now, so most of my crazy dreams have dissipated, which is sort of a bummer because it always made for great morning conversations. Haha
Smores coffee?! That sounds amazing!
I LOVE murder and suspenseful books.. will definitely have to add this one to the list!
I don’t know how reliable this is but one thing i have heard (a decent amount) is that drinking a glass of apple juice before bed can give you really vivid dreams.
I’ve always had incredibly vivid and complex dreams that are also very fantastical and usually completely zany, like something on the level of Alice in Wonderland. I almost always remember them, which is great. My sleeping self has a crazy imagination, that is for sure.
I am currently reading the Divergent series and am on the last one, Allegiant. I couldn’t put the first one down but thought the last two were just meh.
I agree! I was disappointed with the last two, especially because the first one was such a page-turner.
That sounds like an intense book! I have to be careful what books I read riiiight before bed or else I really can’t sleep.
But when I was pregnant last year, I had crazy dreams no matter what. It was pretty hilarious to tell my husband all about them. ANd sometimes I would talk in my sleep…he got a kick out of that one! Have a fun day at the gym!
I miss reading. I’ve not read a good book in a few months and need to jump back on the reading bandwagon.
Yes, my dreams to get intense, and they are always so realistic that I’m happy when I wake up and know they aren’t real life.
My favorite part of the day is also crawling in bed at night. 🙂
Just finished a random book, Deep Storm, and really enjoyed it. It was a science fiction mystery/thriller and was really entertaining.
I’m now starting Devil in the White City, which my friend literally put in the freezer when she read it because it was so disturbing and scary.
I absolutely can’t do murder/mystery novels, especially before bed! I get super into books and I wouldn’t be able to sleep, terrified something bad will happen 🙂 Then again, I’m a fan of young adult dystopian novels like “The Hunger Games’ which you would think would also freak me out, but I guess they aren’t as intense as adult novels.
S’mores coffee? Sign me up!
I have complex dreams almost every night! Sometimes they’re pretty cool and I’m kind of entertained by them, and other times I just wish I could sleep more peacefully.
Recently, I had a dream that I re-enrolled in college (just for kicks) and a guy on campus started stalking me. He even hired an a capella group to follow me around and serenade me with creepy songs. Haha.
i have ridic vivid dreams. i had one where i was late to work and came up with a great excuse, i haven’t told anyone what it was b/c i’m saving it for the day i need it 🙂
the graphic novel y: the last man was the most suspenseful book i’ve read in a while. i’m half way thru the game of thrones series and it didn’t have nearly the hook of anything vaughan has written.
I love suspense novels but they are tough reading before bed! I rarely dream but when I do they are completely crazy and leave me pondering for days.
I am the same exact way and I tell my husband it at least once a week. I love crawling in to bed, chatting, and reading. I have always been a nightime reader and it definitely helps lull me off to sleep. I like being able to let my mind drift into another world.
My dogs have action-packed dreams sometimes – more often than I do; I love watching them! Their legs make little running motions and they make tiny little excited yelps – I wish I could see inside their dreams and find out whether they’re running across fields or chasing sticks. Whatever it is that they dream about, it seems to make them happy!
(But then they don’t read books about serial killers!)
The only time I like to read is when it’s a book I picked out myself and genuinely WANT to read! Otherwise, it’s a no go, like in high school, I don’t think I ever completely read a single book we were supposed to! How bad is that! I was always too active to sit still and read 🙂 I like books that make me think, or true stories like memoirs, books that really grab you emotionally!
Julie, are you doing any more book reviews? I know you used to have a book club, but that has not been on the blog for some time. I am a big time reader and love suggestions and reviews. Thanks!
I am always looking for really good page-turners…thanks for the recommendation! I don’t think I’ve read a good suspense novel since “Gone Girl” (which you also suggested…). Keep the book reviews coming!
Adding “After Her” to my reading list!
Also, mmmmmm….smores coffee…… 🙂
I just finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, sheer perfection. Great read! I will check out After Her, I was looking for another page turner.
I love your blog! I also love to read…I just finished Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (literally like 10 minutes ago) and if you haven’t read it yet you must!! It is in my top 3 books for sure! I don’t even want to start reading my other book because I know it won’t compare!!! I would not recommend reading the reviews because a few of them kind of give away the ending…
I’ve had that book on my “must read” list for a while now!
Great book suggestion, thank you! I just read Panic by Lauren Oliver and I really liked that. Kinda suspenseful but not scary.
-AJ
OccasionallyAJ.com
Hi Julie! You may have covered this in an earlier post, but I was wondering if you were going to do your book selection for the month again. I really miss those! One of the last suspenseful book I read was one of your suggestions: Gone Girl. Definitely a great read! Now I’ve been into Kate Morton’s books, which keep your attention because of the mystery, but they aren’t dark. Really good books!
I have a mix of crazy dreams and dreams that could happen in real life. And I always have people I know in my dreams. I love dreaming, and I think it’s so cool that your brain makes up stories like that!
Gosh, my boyfriend and I just started watching Dexter and I had the craziest dream that same night — a guy friend of mine was a serial killer who kept all of the earrings of the girls he killed and hid them inside his recliner. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep watching Dexter before bed time…maybe I’ll try reading After Her instead!
Ok. some of Greg Iles’ early books are waaay out there, but the series with the character Penn Cage is great. It begins with either The Quiet Game or Turning Angel (could not put Turning Angel down), then there are a few more w/ the newest one being release later this month. I also love the David Baldacci series with King & Maxwell who are both ex-secret service agents. The first book in that series is Split Second, and there are four more that are all great.