Hey mersquad! It’s been a hot minute since I said I was going to talk about my experience at the Winter Reading Retreat that I got to experience earlier in February, and I don’t know why I didn’t just write this sooner. So I’m doing it now while I still have some energy in my mind and body, and before it goes out of my brain and I forget everything I got to do!

So here’s my mini recap of it, and I hope you like it.

First things first: this was my first ever reading retreat. I have seen them around on the ‘gram, and honestly I didn’t think I would ever be able to participate in something like this because they were never near my area, or I didn’t save up enough money, or didn’t have anyone to watch my dogs, or I couldn’t take off work, or whatever other excuses I would use to get out of doing something that I really wanted to do. I will say that the money thing was a big one, and that’s a conversation for another day, but I was glad that I came across this one. It was hosted by one of the indie bookstores in the Hampton Roads area, called Read Books VB.

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I’ll be honest. I don’t even remember how I found out it was going to happen, but it was probably this post right here that I saw on Instagram while I was scrolling through my feed. I was like WAIIIIIITTTTTT… an actual reading retreat less than an hour away from me?! BET!

I was very excited, and I had time to make sure I was able to fund my trip and get one of my best friends to come with me so we could experience it together. It worked out. We were able to get a room together, do our thing, and get super excited for our weekend away from our partners and work. We didn’t even need to switch Saturdays or anything at work because we were early enough in requesting off! So that was a huge bonus, because we would have been working that weekend, but we were able to dedicate it to this retreat.

I will say that I didn’t do some parts of it because I still had to coach my kids’ youth indoor soccer game that Saturday – my kids meaning my team, since I do not have my own children – but after that I was there for the retreat completely.

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One of the things that I really liked about the retreat, was that Read Books VB asked us to fill out a survey ahead of time so that they could curate this experience for us. They tailored different elements of it to what we liked as readers, and were able to accommodate different reading tastes. It was just really cool and personalized. After we all met for breakfast and coffee at this super cute cafe called Sawdust, they gathered us together and gave us a goodie bag that included a letter of books that they personally picked out for us based on the survey we filled out weeks before. We had the opportunity to go shopping at the bookstore for about two hours before the store opened to the public, and at the bookstore, they had our picks set in piles spread throughout the store for us to find. It was absolutely adorable! I found my stack and ended up buying everything they picked for me. They did an amazing job picking books for me! I want to say all of us were satisfied with our curated picks. It made me think about the Ready Reads program that my library does, and how well they did at taking our answers and turning it into a stack of books for us to enjoy.

During the free time in the middle of the day, that’s when I had to go back towards my area to coach the soccer game, but I was able to make it back in time for the Classically Fresh Author Event. Our retreat price included tickets to this event since it was hosted by Read Books VB, and we also got to pick one of the author’s books that they were going to talk about. It was such an awesome panel! I got to ask them an interesting question after their talk, and it was so cool to get to hear what their takes were on remixing classics and how they were inspired to write their novels. Another thing that was really really cool, was that two of the authors – Virginia and Amanda – got to join our group for dinner! We had a private dinner at a restaurant down at the Oceanfront, and I got to sit at a table with Amanda and get to know her better. I hope I get to meet all of them again, because they were such amazing women. Super cool to learn from.

The retreat ended the next morning with breakfast at the hotel and a book exchange. What was REALLY cool about this exchange, is that Read Books bought the books for us to exchange, so we didn’t have to buy or bring one from our own collection. The night before, we picked up our books – they were wrapped up like a “Blind Date with a Book” and we got to write a note for whoever would end up picking our book by letting them know what they could expect. Mine was more of a letter, but I still included what they could expect. It was so fun and we ended up with amazing books for all of us.

I wish it didn’t have to end, honestly. It was just an amazing time. I’m glad I got to write it down. I’ve never experienced anything like this, and while I was worried about whether I would fit in, I really felt like home with all of these amazing women that got to experience this with me. I was able to spend more time with Diamond and we got to do this together before I had to leave, and I’m hoping that this also allowed us to get out of our shells and be open to new things. It was truly a wonderful experience, one that I will never forget.

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I know I had a lot of words, and honestly I don’t know if it really shows how much fun I had, but I’m just so happy with how this reading retreat went. I feel like if I were to ever go to another one, my expectations will be pretty high because my first one was top tier. I actually wish I could host something like this when I get settled where I’m at, since I’m sure there will be readers where I’m going. I honestly don’t know though, but even if I never do this again on such a scale, I will have to try to do my own reading retreats to keep my love of reading fresh and meaningful for me. Just taking that time away to be in the presence of other book lovers and readers and doing things without having to worry about anything else for the weekend was just so great. I know I take myself out on mini reading dates every once in a while, but treating myself to a retreat like this would be good too.

Anyway, I wrote a lot! I hope you enjoyed this little hasty recap. Let me know if you’ve ever done something like this before and what your experience was like! If you haven’t, would you ever want to? Can’t wait to read your thoughts.