I don't want to move out of our home. I don't want a stranger taking care of MY peonies. I don't want to live the rest of my days without the quiet, peaceful woods of our property. I don't want to leave the magic our family created in this house.

I don't want to let go.

I feel like a child about to throw a tantrum. Shall I hold my breath, cover my ears and scream at the top of my lungs?

Downsizing is our new mantra and that means I have to part with things that we either don't need or use. The problem with that is I'm overly sentimental and become attached to things. As a child I was often told I was sensitive, a word that made me angry, sending shivers down my spine.

I despise labels but particularly that one.

Today I realize that being sensitive and sentimental are what makes me uniquely ME, and that's fine. I'm okay with that. But I prefer to think of being sensitive as Edgar Allen Poe once described it:

"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears." ~Edgar Allan Poe

Being sensitive and sentimental explains why I love every animal on the planet. It's why I'm in awe of cloud formations in a cerulean sky and find beauty in the rise and ascent of the sun on the horizon.

It also explains why I long for summer because I can once again hear a choir of crickets harmonizing with owls and woodpeckers.

I'm also sensitive and sentimental about people, places and things. There's nothing wrong with that. As a writer it serves me well. But, and this is a big but, if you're making drastic life changes your heart takes a beating.

The advice I'm usually given from well-meaning people in my life are typical platitudes (one door opens, life is all about change, look at this as your next great adventure) that don't help one bit.

Your heart feels heavy and no platitude is going to lighten the load.

So every piece of beautiful bone china gathering dust in our basement, each piece of yellowed scrap paper neatly tucked away with scribblings from my son and newly found Beanie Babies hidden under a pile of baby books are all tugging at my heart.

What do I do with them? (The scribblings definitely stay...)

Then there are my beloved books. We have a library filled with them. They are my prized possessions.

To borrow a line from Shakespeare, books are the stuff as dreams are made on.

My contribution to our library includes books that were required reading in college such as Shakespeare, James Joyce, Chaucer and Edith Wharton. Weary and yellowed I love these old friends and will never part with them.

I have textbooks from the health advocacy course I took for my certification. Those are part of my permanent collection.

The remainder of my library consists of books passed down from my mother, ones from my days as a member of various book clubs and those I chose for myself.

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.” ~Gustave Flaubert

But I have to start drawing the line of what's moving with me, so I chose 8 books to include in a book giveaway. Here's your chance to call them your own.

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella: #1 New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella returns with her trademark blend of sparkling wit and playful romance in this page-turning story of a wedding to remember—and a honeymoon to forget.
 
Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose, but then his big question involves a trip abroad—not a trip down the aisle. Completely crushed, Lottie reconnects with an old flame, and they decide to take drastic action. No dates, no moving in together, they’ll just get married . . . right now. Her sister, Fliss, thinks Lottie is making a terrible mistake, and will do anything to stop her. But Lottie is determined to say “I do,” for better, or for worse.

Three Junes by Julia Glass: An astonishing first novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises.

The First Warm Evening of the Year: A Novel by Jamie M. Saul: Following his extraordinary debut novel, Light of Day (“An exhilarating emotional roller-coaster ride” —Washington Post), author Jamie Saul now explores the intricate relationships between friends and siblings, husbands and wives.

Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes: A Novel by Betsy Woodman: Meet Jana Bibi, a Scottish woman helping to save the small town in India she has grown to call home and the oddball characters she considers family.

Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen: Carl Hiaasen serves up his unique brand of swamp justice in the New York Times bestseller Skink—No Surrender. (A National Book Award Longlist Selection)
 
When your cousin goes missing under suspicious circumstances, who do you call? There’s only one man for the job: a half-crazed, half-feral, one-eyed ex-governor named Skink.

Glitter and Glue: A Memoir by Kelly Corrigan: From the author of "The Middle Place" comes a new memoir that examines the bond—sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine—between mothers and daughters.

Angle of Repose: Wallace Stegner: An American masterpiece and iconic novel of the West by National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner—a deeply moving narrative of one family and the traditions of our national past.

Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt: Steely and formidable, Jerene Jarvis Johnston sits near the apex of society in contemporary Charlotte, North Carolina, where old Southern money and older family skeletons meet the new wealth of bankers, land speculators, and social climbers. Jerene and her Civil War reenactor husband, Duke, have four adult children―sexually reckless real estate broker Annie; earnest minister Bo; gay-but-don't-tell-anyone Joshua; and naive, impressionable college freshman Jerilyn. Jerene's brother, Gaston, is an infamously dissolute novelist and gossip who knows her secrets and Duke's; while her sister, Dillard, is a reclusive prisoner of her own unfortunate choices. When a scandal threatens the Johnston family's status and dwindling finances, Jerene swings into action...and she will stop at nothing to keep what she has and preserve her legacy. Wilton Barnhardt's Lookaway, Lookaway is a headlong, hilarious narrative of a family coming apart on the edge of the old South and the new, and an unforgettable woman striving to hold it together.

Here's your chance to enter to win these incredible books by leaving a comment below and tweeting the following tweet. The contest ends Tuesday, September 6 at midnight and the winner will be notified by email.

Sorry, only those living in the U.S. can enter to win.

[Tweet "Enter for your chance to win 8 incredible #books Contest ends September 6. "]

Good luck!

NOTE: All book descriptions are from Amazon.com.