Are you a grab-a-handful-and-swallow until the bag is empty kind of chocolate eater?
Or do you chew and swallow one M&M at a time, so there is plenty to come back to for later?
Time for me to ‘fess up…
There are very few things that survive in our household, and one of those things are chocolate. Ice cream lasts a bit longer. For whatever reason no one touches store-bought brownies.
I don’t care what sort of chocolate it is or how fast I’m able to eat it, as long as it’s available when and if I need it.
You get me?
So, you also realize the challenge.
I don’t live alone.
Nope. I have a house of two boys and a grown man … none of which have those days every month when they just crave a bite of chocolate. Not ice cream and not brownies but the M&M bite-size chocolate.
When I say crave, you know what I mean. I need chocolate N-O-W!
So, how do I keep the stash available… ??
… when there are six other hands grabbing at the same thing??
And watch out for the day when there is no chocolate to be found.
It’s happened and it’s not pretty!
So, I developed a method. And so far I’ve maintained my stash for three months running.
Here’s my current stash:
(I’m sorta not into plain o’ milk chocolate these days. Can you blame me? I mean, caramel cold brew?!)
My method?
I freeze ’em.
Either the kids don’t know they are tucked behind the ice cream (although I’m pretty sure they’ve scouted every corner of every location known to hold food)…
Or, more likely, they don’t care for cold candy.
Cold or melted (because let’s be honest, M&M’s do melt in the hand!), as long as it’s chocolate and that time of the month, it works for me.
This is also a problem…
Since it’s rock solid, I can only grab something like three at a time.
Then I realized…
But that’s also the benefit, isn’t it?
Since I freeze the chocolate and it’s not so easy to chew (literally), the chocolate lasts a long time!
But what do the chocolate candies have to do with reading?
It all started two years ago when I first read Kellie Vanhorn’s novel, Fatal Flashback. (Amazon links are affiliate.) I met her on Twitter originally as a fellow homeschooling mama and a mutual friend of another Christian Romance author.
Interestingly it was also the first time I’d ever read Love Inspired Romantic Suspense … and oh wow I loved the characters, the romance, the danger.
However, there was a problem.
If you’re familiar with Love Inspired books, they are short. Intentionally. Harlequin probably intends readers to consume several books.
Which I would have … except that this was Vanhorn’s debut novel. That’s right! Once I’m done with this book, what would I read next week? Next month?
There’s a term for that period of intense withdrawal after finishing a fantastic book you didn’t want to end.
And who knows when you’ll be able to find another awesome story? It can’t be soon enough!
To relieve this upcoming Book Hangover I knew I’d be experiencing, I slowed down. Not just slowed down, but I mean came to almost a complete halt. I allowed myself to read only a page, hanging on to every snippet of dialogue, sitting on every action beat …
And when I wasn’t reading, I would mull over those few paragraphs again and again and again.
In this way, I read one book for nearly 6 months.
Yes, it’s a certain type of suffering …
Like eating one frozen M&M at a time when I could inhale the whole bag. (Especially peanut butter M&M’s.)
This is a technique I’ve continued to use with those few books that catch my breath, have my heart racing. When I find myself re-reading a certain line because it could have been spoken to me.
And, recently, this happened to me again.
On March 23 of this year I started Kept by Sally Bradley. It’s about a young woman who is trapped in a life of sin and lives across the hall from a young pastor. There’s lots of Scripture (which I love) and a strong theme of redemption (which I love even more!).
Here I am, two months later and I only allow myself to open Bradley’s book once a week (when really I could find a comfortable seat and finish every delicious morsel in a few dedicated hours). And even then, I read a chapter, stopping halfway through a scene sometimes because, well … I might not be able to pull away if I see the first few words of the next chapter.
I’m already dreading the day I finish this oh-so-compelling Christian Romance.
This book isn’t for everyone (no book is), but if you enjoy watching a character be redeemed by Jesus’ grace, from being broken to brand-new, I highly recommend Kept.
And it gets better! Bradley’s book is free on Kindle Unlimited …
Your turn: How do you cope with Book Hangover?! I’m open to any new remedies!
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