never surrender

possession.  have you read it?  i LOVED, LOVED this dystopian novel by elana johnson.

i must say, she is an amazing author, one to be looked up to and revered.

possession had it all...an imaginative and unexpected setting, a strong protagonist, a mysterious antagonist, hot love interests, twists and turns, vivid descriptions...and best of all, it created that internal ache when i turned the final page, the one that lets you know how much you lived the story because it's like a part of you dies when it's over and now you have to go on living without it, like the book literally stole your breath away and locked it inside its pages.  except, thankfully, i knew there'd be another book.  i only had to cross off many days on my calendar pages...

it was a long, painful wait.

but the day has finally arrived!  surrender, possession's companion novel, was released on june 5. !!!!! that's right.  so, today, many fans of elana johnson and her cast of characters from possession are blogfesting about a time they never surrendered...in honor of the release of her second high-class, first-rate novel.

buy it.

buy it.


was there a linky for this blogfest?  i'm unsure, but we here at erica and christy are participating anyways, because how could we not pass the word on about elana and her stories?

a time i never surrendered...

huh.

many are sharing completely hopeful and inspirational stories.

i don't have one of those.

thankfully, so far in life, i've been very blessed and fortunate and lucky that i've not had to overcome any wretched, horrific moments.

the one thing i can say to you is....i never gave up on finding...

the right guy.

oh, man.  did i go on lots of dates. 

i had a serious boyfriend in high school.  another my first two years of college and one other one my last two years of college.  (so, yeah, for me at that time, serious meant spending two years with a guy, getting to know their families and sharing mine...and crying uncontrollably for three months (or years) after they broke my heart.)

after graduating from college, i moved back to my hometown, rented an apartment, got my first teaching job and waited for that hot guy that was supposed to live in my apartment building.  well, guess what?  he didn't.  he didn't live on my street or in my neighborhood, shop at my grocery store, go to the bars i went to, teach in my school....where was that boy?  my love life so didn't work out like it did in my day dreams!

so then i resorted to...the set ups.  and a few blind dates.

teachers set me up with their brother-in-law's cousin's neighbor.

my aunts set me up with their friend's godsons and their son's hockey coaches.

my mom set me up with her co-worker's son.

my friend set me up with her boyfriend's friend.

my friends set me up with their friends.

people got mad at me when i wasn't into the people they set me up with.  apparently i was too picky.

well, let me tell you.

the hockey coach took me for a bite to eat and then to watch a movie at his apartment..where his tongue like attacked me.  helloo...i hardly knew the guy for more than an hour.  so, no.

the co-worker's son, well, now this is mean, but he waddled. my mom said he looked like some hot country star...can't think of which one at the moment...and after he picked me up that night, i was like...mom? mom?  what?!?  and he offered to take me to mcdonald's for breakfast some time.  erm, no.

some of the other guys were very nice, but there was no spark.  i believed in spark.  people were frustrated that i believed in spark.  they thought i should just like someone already and not be waiting to be swept off my feet cuz in reality, they said, this just does not happen and i should like a nice guy already.

my friend's friend.  well, he was a firefighter.  i didn't think he was as dreamy as i'd heard, but he was fun.  we had fun for four months. 

then, i was ready to give up.

i was ready to call ex-boyfriend number 3 and cry my eyes out to him and beg him to come back even though he was so not good for me or my life.

i almost did.

then, fall came. i went in to set up and organize my classroom.

and the district's computer guy walked in.

we chatted.

later that afternoon, i called  my mom and told her that this cute guy worked in my district.

a few days later he asked me out to dinner.

a few months later we decided we should probably plan our wedding.

we bought an old house.  we adopted a puppy.  we went to hawaii for our honeymoon.

and now, 9 years later, we built a house and have three amazing, beautiful, smart, witty and loving sons.

see, people?

spark.

i waited, i didn't surrender to what people thought i should do.

i knew what was right for me.

and, boy, oh boy, are my kids glad.