Have you ever had a hangover? A thick, stuffed head where you can feel a storm brewing behind your eyes and a rolling stomach where if you sit the wrong way, you swear everything you’ve ever eaten in your life is going to come right back up?

I’ve never had a hangover, but I’ve had these symptoms. In specific, this morning.

The semester is over, I was about to drive back to Connecticut, the RA’s closed the college residence halls. The night was cold, about to turn into morning. The snow was flurrying about, some fresh flecks mingling with old powder being picked up by the wind. And I wasn’t sleeping. It was like the opposite of that Christmas rhyme, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, “Twas the night before travel, and all through the hall, students were awake, screaming let me out.”

It’s silly of me not to sleep the night before an eight hour car ride home, especially because I get carsick. But I just couldn’t. And the main reason because of that was a book. It’s always gotta be some story or another.

“Thanks TOR.com eBook club”

Did you know that certain publishers will send you free ebooks to read? It’s great. You can download it via your computer or smartphone and you don’t pay a single cent. It’s a promotional tactic to get people to read the first book then buy the second. It works extremely well, because so far every book I’ve downloaded for free from the eBook club has been fantastic. As I’m broke, I normally go to my local library to see if they have the second instead of personally buying the book. If not, I request that they order it. This works out extremely well for both the author and the reader.

This book followed those same guidelines.

“Truthwitch” by Susan Dennard.

I literally couldn’t stop reading. Dennard’s writing was simple and still able to convey the faults of humans. Characters recognize their privilege while others (the rich kings) still thought they were better than others. It was realistic, for the actions of these characters, and yet with magic tied directly in with every character.

This isn’t a book review, if you want to check out my very brief review, check out my Goodreads account where I praise the book while my dad was driving us back to Connecticut. My point in this article is to read as much as you can, especially the free stuff that’s already published and you don’t have to pay for (like visiting your local library or signing up for free ebooks). And when you’re reading those books, you might find you can’t put them down. Get the fever for the love of reading.

It’ll ruin your life and give you symptoms similar to a hangover, but like the sensation of being drunk, it’s well worth it to exercise your imagination.