Harry Potter and the pregnant pause

It’s been a long time since anything has been posted to Cracking the Cover. There’s a reason for that — a 7 pound, 12 ounce reason. My daughter was born on Feb. 15, and getting her here was not easy.

While I was sick from the very beginning of my pregnancy, it was during the second trimester that things became interesting. At 19 weeks, I was admitted to the hospital with kidney problems. I ended up undergoing surgery and missing a month of work. The numerous medications I was on made it nearly impossible to accomplish anything. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to read and spent most of my days watching reruns of “Bones” on Netflix.

When the fog lifted, it was Harry Potter that I turned to. Sure I had stacks of books — both physical and digital — I needed to read and review, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. I needed to read something easy and familiar. It took me two weeks to read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” If healthy, it would have taken me two hours. Slowly I worked my way through the series, and over time, my speed picked up. Once again I was caught up in the story. My love of reading returned.

That love of reading continued throughout my pregnancy, but by the end of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was write. I’d get home from work and crash. Hence, no reviews.

Now I have stacks of books finished and ready for reviewing and a 7-week-old napping in the room next to me. I want to share my thoughts on these books that have waited so long to be reviewed, but I know that in order to get caught up, I’m going to have to cut some corners.

I hate cutting corners. It’s always been my policy to write a synopsis of a book rather than use a publisher’s blurb. I figure that if you’ve read it, you should be able to summarize it. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. In the following weeks, I will be using publisher blurbs (fully attributed) in my reviews. My reviews will also be shorter but should still give a clear picture of how I feel about each book.

Hopefully, I can get caught up quickly. I thank you for your patience and your continued support of Cracking the Cover. —Jessica