Welcome to my book list!  A few years ago I set a goal of reading 50 books in a year.  Since then I’ve either hit that goal or come really close.  I may not be reading the most popular or thought provoking books, but I’ve managed to find some hidden gems along the way.  I plan to share the good, the bad, and the ugly here so get ready! (Since I read so much, I read a lot of books that are free with Kindle Unlimited.  I pay for a few, or I try to get them from my local library.)

2018 Book List  – In Progress (July 18)

A beautiful Poison	Lydia Kang
The Water’s Edge	Sara Gruen
The Haunting of Blackwell House	Darcy Coates
Buried Secrets	TJ Brearton
Unwritten	Charles Martin
Bring her home	David Bell
Neighborly	Elle Monago
After Nightfall	AJ Banner
The Good Samaritan	John Marrs
The Voice Inside	Brian Freeman
The Wrong Sister	T.E. Woods
The Girlfriend	Michelle Frances
The Breakdown	BA Paris
The Secret Mother	Shalini Boland
Filthy English	Ilsa Madden-Mills
The Last Thing I Saw	Alex Sinclair
Rum Runner (The Key West Escape Series Book 1	Tricia Leedom
The Weekenders: A Novel	Mary Kay Andrews
Bring Me Back	BA Paris
The Summer Children	Dot Hutchison
The Woman in the Window	A J Finn
The Flight Attendant	Chris Bohjalian
Everything We Give: A Novel (The Everything Series Book 3)	Kerry Lonsdale
Bhama Mama	Tricia Leedom
Girls’ Night Out	Liz Fenton; Lisa Steinke
Then She Was Gone	Lisa Jewell
Force of Nature	Jane Harper
Something in the Water	Catherine Steadman
The Last Time I Lied	Riley Sager
The Secret	KL Slater
The Death of Mrs. Westaway	Ruth Ware

Let’s hit the highlights of the year and then see what happens. 🙂

The Good: 

A Beautiful Poison – Not my usual read but very good.  Early 1900’s whodunit. With a mix of history thrown in.

The Water’s Edge – Again, not something I normally gravitate towards but I found it hauntingly good! Set in Scotland in the 1930’s, it focuses on lore and love. (Cheesy review, I know!)

Unwritten – I mean come on, after the Mountain Between Us, you know this will be good.  And it is!  Maybe even better!

The Voice Inside – book 2 in the Night Bird series.  If you read the first one, pick this one up.

The Breakdown – Better than Bring Me Back but really probably belongs on the okay list.

Rum Runner – Surprisingly good for a random romance novel.  The characters are a little cliched but a good, fun read.

The Summer Children – (Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book.) Book 3! I was VERY excited to receive an early copy of this book and I really enjoyed it.  So much so, I hope there is a 4th book.  As with the first 2, some of the Butterflies are still around.  I love that you get to keep up with them as the other stories unfold.  Mercedes comes home one day to find a child on her porch. And they keep coming.  The subject matter in this book is a little hard to digest but so worth the read!

The Flight Attendant – I saw the hype on this one and threw it on my library list. I didn’t have a lot of expectations so I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Girl’s Night Out – (Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book.)  So far, this might be my favorite book of 2018! Three friends head to Mexico for a girl’s trip to reconnect.  The night before they are to leave, something happens and one friend goes missing. The story is told from all points of view both before and after “the night”.  This book keeps you hooked until the very last page!

Something in the Water – (Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book.)  This one started off slow……really, really slow.  To the point I went and read reviews to see if I should keep going.  One review said it picked up at the 30% mark and they were right.  From there out the book moves, as does the story line.  This begs the age old question “what would you do if….”  I enjoyed thinking of my “what ifs” with the story line. The main character is annoying as she continues to do stuff that make you want to yell at her.

The Okay: 

Bring me Back – This one just didn’t do much for me.  I hate the “it’s not believable” review but this def had a lot of that.

The Woman in the Window – I know there is/was lots of hype around this one.  I found it okay but nothing spectacular.

Everything We Give – Let me say I HATE putting this one on the okay list but man.  As good as the first two were, this one just wasn’t.  It felt rushed and not well thought out.

Then She Was Gone – I read this in June (it’s July), unfortunately it’s kind of forgettable.

The Secret – Just okay.  Nothing shocking. It kept me reading waiting for the big reveal but the “secret” just wasn’t that suspenseful.

So far 2018 hasn’t turned up anything just awful. I currently have several ARC copies from Netgalley I need to read.  I’ve been trying to get to those in between the top reads I have on hold from the library.

 

2017 Book List

Title	Author
The Art Forger	BA Shapiro
Big Little Lies	Liane Moriarty
The Butterfly Garden	Dot Hutchison
The Night Bird	Brian Freeman
Only the Truth	Adam Croft
What She Knew	Gilly Mcmillan
Behind Closed Doors	BA Paris
The Widower’s Wife	Cate Holahan
Etched in Sand	Regina Calcaterra
The Couple Next Door	Shari Lapena
The Girl from the Sea	Shalini Boland
Everything you want me to be	Mindy Mejia
Swing	Adriana Locke
Switch	Adriana Locke
Sway	Adriana Locke
Roses of May	Dot Hutchison
Everything we keep	Kerry Lonsdale
Everything we lost	Kerry Lonsdale
The Phantom Limb	Lucinda Berry
Water Under the Bridge	Britney King
The Girl on Mill Street	Peter Gilboy
The Black-eyed Susan	Julia Heaberlin
The Woman in Cabin 10	Ruth Ware
Let Dead Speak	Jane Casey
All the Breaking Waves	Kerry Lonsdals
Unseen Messages	Pepper Winters
Stillhouse Lake	Rachel Caine
Lock the Door	Jane Holland
The Kind Worth Killing	Peter Swanson
Dead Certain	Adam Mitzner
A criminal defense	Wiliam Myers
The Peach Keeper	Sarah Addison Allen
Trust	Kylie Scott
Untouchable	Sibel Hodge
Rumor Has It (A rockstar romance)	Elisabeth Grace
All the Little Children	Jo Furniss
SEAL’d Heart	Alice Ward
Edge of Control	Trish Loye
The Silent Sister	Diane Chamberlain
When I Wake Up	Jessica Jarlvi
I Am Watching You	Teresa Driscoll
Undiscovered	Anna Hackett
Dark Matter	Blake Crouch
The Watson Girl	Leslie Wolfe
Final Girls	Riley Sager
The Stolen Marriage	Diane Chamberlain
The Wife Between Us	Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
The Mountain Between Us	Charles Martin
The Marriage Lie	Kimberly Belle
Cold Harbor	Matt Fitzsimmons
Killing Her Softly	Barb Warner Deane
Everything I Never Told You	Celeste Ng
Train Wreck	Elise Faber
Bad Sister	Sam Carrington
The Lying Game	Ruth Ware
The House	Simon Lelic
Killman Creek	Rachel Caine
The Broken Girls	Simone St James
Chasing Luck	Brinda Berry

So far 2017 is shaping up to be pretty good in the book department.  Looking over this list, I only see a few that stand out for the wrong reasons.  All in all I’ve had a lot of “hits”.

The Bad:

Only the Truth – I got this as a Kindle first early release.  My best description of this one is it feels like several different books in one.  And it’s very disjointed.  SPOILERS: Part 1, Dan cheats on his wife with the hotel receptionist. Wife comes to hotel, ends up dead.  Dan and receptionist go on the run.  Part 2, they are on the run, receptionist ends up dead.  Part 3, Dan still on the run goes to Bratislava . I keep waiting for something to happen here to connect it all but nothing does.  He’s just hanging out “running packages” for someone.  Part 4, he goes back to France (idk where he was from now) stops in on friend of receptionist, who turns out to not be dead. Turns out she’s the killer.  I was really hoping Dan was going to be the killer and have a split personality or something but yeah, that’s not what happens. Don’t waste your time.

Water under the bridge – Sounded good, turned out to be meh.  

The Good:

Big Little Lies – Really only adding this to the list because I enjoyed the book more than the TV series.  I have a whole rant about the show but we’ll save that for another time.  All in all, I thought the book was good and would recommend.

The Butterfly Garden – This is one of the better books I’ve read this year.  I thought it was a super interesting idea.  A serial killer who keeps girls locked in a garden and tattoos them with butterfly wings. Well written and entertaining and surprisingly not really brutal.  Follow up was Roses in May.  I found Roses of May to be okay. I think the first book was such an amazing concept that I was underwhelmed with book 2. I thought it was fine and I’m looking forward to the 3rd book but this one just didn’t blow me away.

The Couple Next Door – Anne and Marco leave their infant home alone while they have dinner at the neighbors house only to return and find the baby is missing.  The story takes you on a crazy who-dunnit ride. I thought the ending was unexpected but a little out there.  Overall I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next release.

Everything We Keep & Everything We Left Behind – Hand’s down my favorites so far. Everything we lost is book 2 and heart wrenching.  I love, Love, LOVED book 2!!!!  I’ve recommended these to everyone I meet!  I found book 1 a little frustrating but overall I enjoyed it.  I just think book 2 blew it away.  Follow Aimee and James across these books and enjoy the journey!  I don’t want to give anything away.

The Stolen Marriage – (Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC of this book.) Another good read from Diane Chamberlain! Set in the 1940’s, it was a different day and time and Tess feels she can’t live a lie. She gives up the life she’s knows and the life she wants not to shame her family. Little does she know her new husband is hiding his own secrets. Little by little Tess tries to find her way in small town Hickory NC and finally gets the chance to do something she loves, nursing, when polio comes to NC. When tragedy strikes Tess fights to learn the truth and in turn, finds everything she was looking for. Great story!

Written 7/18 – Sorry it’s been a while. 

The Lying Game -This one has stayed with me for a while. Childhood friends meet and secrets are revealed.  Read the description if you need more. ;P  I will say, this is one of my favorite Ruth Ware books.  I’m not sure why, but I kind of got under my skin.  I’ll still randomly think about it. Not necessarily the book but the back drop.  Set in coastal England, she did a good job of getting imagery in your head.

The Broken Girls – Definitely one of my favorite books from last year and one I recommend when giving recommendations.  The story goes between past and present and the disappearance of a girl from a private school in the 40’s.  I don’t want to give anything away because this is worth the read.

2016 Book List

Title	Author
In this moment	Autumn Doughton
Wool Omnibus	Hugh Howey
Need, Crave, Covet, Want, Fate (for the love of the billionaire)	Alison Ryan
The Prettiest One	James Hankins
The Magpies	Mark Edwards
Because she loves me	Mark Edwards
The Short Drop	Matthew Fitzsimmons
No Longer Safe	A J Waines
The Girl You Lost	Kathryn Croft
No Coming Back	Keigh Houghton
The One That Got Away	Simon Wood
The Dead Key	DM Pulley
Luckiest Girl Alive	Jessica Knoll
The Girl on the Train	Paula Hawkins
Bravo Two Zero – audiobook	Andy McNab
The Summer Games	RS Grey
Whiteout	Vella Munn
The Remains	Vincent Zandri
Unintended Consequences	Marti Green
The Girl in the Ice	Robert Bryndza
In the Dark	Chris Patchell
Wrong Place, Right Time	Elle Casey
Get Lucky	Lila Monroe
Descent: A lost Tribe (book 1)	Kallie Ross
Defend: A lost tribe (book 2)	Kallie Ross
CyberStorm	Matthew Mather
Before I go to sleep	S. J. Watson
Terrified	Kevin O’Brien
Dethroning Crown	Lila Felix
In a Dark, Dark Wood	Ruth Ware
My Girl	Jack Jordan
The Wronged Sons	John Marrs
Pretty Girls	Karin Slaughter
See how they run	Tom Bale
13:24: A dark thriller	M Hickmon
Water’s Edge	Jennifer McArdle
The Game you played	Anni Taylor
Poisonfeather	Matt Fitzsimmons
The light between the oceans	M.L. Stedman
And then she was gone	Christopher Greyson
Girl Jacked	Christopher Greyson
Jack Knifed	Christopher Greyson
Jacks are Wild	Christopher Greyson
Jack the Giant Killer	Christopher Greyson
Data Jack	Christopher Greyson
Escaping Vegas	Danielle Bourdon
All that is lost between us	Sarah Foster
A Place in the Sun	RS Grey
Rendezvous in Rio	Danielle Bourdon
A Dangerous Tryst	Danielle Bourdon

 Looking back, 2016 was an odd year for reading.  Out of the 51 books I read, there aren’t a lot that stand out for good reason.  So let’s just dive in.

The BAD: 

The Luckiest Girl Alive – Having read reviews on other sites, I know I’m not alone in this but OMG.  Could this book be worse?  I seriously have this in my top 5 worst books EVER! I barely got through the first chapter and had my friend not forced me to keep reading, I would have stopped.  The writing was awful and the story, meh.  I get it’s based on true events, and it could have gotten better, but it didn’t. I had no love for Ani.  She was unlikable and I definitely didn’t feel remotely bad for her.  I’m still floored by all the positive reviews….

Bravo Two Zero – To be fair, this isn’t a book I would ever choose on my own.  It was an option for a work challenge and I ultimately got the audiobook to be able to finish it.  If you like war books, you’d probably like this one.

My Girl – Don’t be fooled by the name.  There is nothing warm and fuzzy about this book.  In fact, it’s one of the most f’ed up books I’ve read in a while.  Torture, incest, it has it all.  The end of the book was kind of hard to read.  I don’t want to give it away but the brother did it. Not something I would recommend.

The Wronged Sons – Again, not a great year for books.  “What would you do if someone in your life up and vanishes?” Well in this case, you just let Simon go.  Seriously.  He was one of the most unlikable characters I’ve met.  He’s a bad person.  He up and leaves his family and creates a new carefree life for himself.  I don’t remember liking this book.

Here are a few of the highlights:

The Short Drop – This was one of the better books I read last year.  Gibson Vaughn has a checked past and is finally rebuilding his life when he has the opportunity to find answers regarding the disappearance of his childhood friend Suzanne. There are twists and turns and a surprise ending.

13:24: A dark thriller – This book was horrifying, yet good.  It dives into child abuse in the church.  It’s not an easy read but it’s very thought provoking and pulls at your heart to know that things like this actually happen. 

Dethroning Crown – I feel like the title makes it sound trashier than it is.  If you are looking for a cute, sweet, romance novel, this is your book!  Quick read with very little sex.

Christopher Greyson Series – I blew through all 6 of these books in about a month I think.  I read “And then she was gone first”.  I enjoyed Jack Stratton so much that I decided to read the rest of the books in the “Jacked” series.  And then she was gone is more of a stand alone but I think if you enjoy it you will enjoy the others.  Highly recommend if you are looking for a good mystery series.

Wool Omnibus – I debated putting this on the list but if you enjoy post apocalyptic books, this one is really good.  I’ve been debating reading the rest of the series and just haven’t gotten around to it.  What if you had to live underground?  What if the only glimpse you had of outside was a lie?

2015 Book List

Jan072016

 

The coolest thing!

Jan202015

 Last night as Matt and I were getting ready to go to sleep, I heard my email alert on my phone.  It was almost a quarter till 11 (yes, I know we are old 😉 ) and I normally wouldn’t bother looking at my phone but with all the showings we’ve had in the past few days I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a showing alert.  I grabbed my phone and saw I had a blog comment.  I figured it was spam until I read it.  Umm holy cow!

Not only was this NOT spam, ya’ll, it was someone famous!  Author L.N. Cronk managed to find my blog!  But not only did she find my blog,  she commented on my 2013 Book Review post that featured her Chop, Chop series.  A series of 8, or 9 as she graciously pointed out ;), books that span across the life of a boy and girl from highschool to death.  The series will tug at your heartstrings as you follow their journey through life.  I will say again, the series is rooted in religion though I didn’t find that it distracted from the overall storyline.

When I first started my blog like 5 years ago, I had dreams of being a “famous” blogger.  As time has passed, I’ve realized 1) I’m not a really good writer, not that I ever claimed to be and 2) this blog is for me.  Should people see it and find it interesting, YAY and welcome!  That would make me extremely happy but the days of me being a “real” blogger have gone to the wayside.

Can I just say, I’m still kind of freaking out that L.N. (we are besties now :D) commented on my blog.  I’ve had a huge smile since last night.  I really just think it is the coolest thing!

2014 – A Year End Book Review

Jan072015

I did this post last year too and I like the idea of keeping a list of books I read throughout the year.  The current tally is 50 books!  WOO HOOO!  That was my unofficial goal for the year.  It was also a rather pricey year for books at Casa de E.  hehe.  Thanks to mint.com Matt was able to pull up how much I’d spent on books.  Whoops.  It was a little more than I expected.  I feel like this was the year of the series though.  I got sucked into several numerous series this year.  Most of the books weren’t more than a few dollars but it adds up for sure.

A Demon’s Wrath: Part 2 (Peachville High Demons Book 8), Sarra Cannon

Demons Forever (Peachville High Demons Book 6), Sarra Cannon

Rival Demons (Peachville High Demons Book 5), Sarra Cannon

Shadow Demons (Peachville High Demons Book 4), Sarra Cannon

A Demon’s Wrath: Part 1 (Peachville High Demons Book 7), Sarra Cannon

Beautiful Demons Box Set, Books 1-3, Sarra Cannon

Hard to Come By: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans (Rose Gardner Mystery), Grover Swank

Conquer Me (Royals Saga, Book 2), Geneva Lee

STRIPPED, Part 3, Kellie Perkins

STRIPPED, Part 2, Kellie Perkins

Billionaire Unmasked ~ Jason (The Billionaire’s Obsession), J. S. Scott

Being Neighborly: a novella, Carey Heywood

One Night with a Billionaire, J. S. Scott

BROKEN SYMMETRY: A Young Adult Science Fiction Thriller, Dan Rix

Command Me (Royals Saga, Book 1), Geneva Lee

STRIPPED, Kellie Perkins

Crash (Billionaire New Adult Romance), Vanessa Waltz

Going Down (Wish Upon A Stud – Book 1), Elise Sax

Hard to Hold On To: A Hard Ink Novella, Laura Kaye

Shattered Hearts (Shattered #1), Octavia Wildwood

The Job Offer, Eleanor Webb

PSYCHOPHILIA: A Disturbing Psychological Thriller, Michelle Muckley

Thirty-Two and a Half Complications (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

Thirty-One and a Half Regrets (Rose Gardner Mystery, Book 4), Denise Grover Swank

Thirty and a Half Excuses (Rose Gardner Mystery, Book 3), Denise Grover Swank

Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

Business as Usual (Off the Subject Book 3), Denise Grover Swank

Redesigned (Off the Subject Book 2), Denise Grover Swank

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

After Math (Off the Subject Book 1), Denise Grover Swank

Top Secret Twenty-One: A Stephanie Plum Novel, Janet Evanovich

Hard As You Can: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Hard As It Gets: A Hard Ink Novel, Laura Kaye

Presumed Dead (A Dylan Scott Mystery), Shirley Wells

The Back Road, Rachel Abbott

Only The Innocent, Rachel Abbott

Worn Me Down (Playing With Fire, #3), T.E. Sivec

Because of You (Playing with Fire, #2), T.E. Sivec

Sleep Tight , Rachel Abbott

A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire, #1), Tara Sivec

Here (YA Romance), Ella James

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes (Rose Gardner Mystery), Denise Grover Swank

The Last Year Boxed Set, Books 1-4, Trisha Leigh

Last year I kind of got on a paranormal kick.  I’m not normally one to read about things like witches, demons, or aliens, but this year found me reading about all of these things.  Mostly the books are well written and suck you in.  Here are a few highlights from the past year.

The Rose Gardner Mystery series by Denise Grover Swank

These books are similar in style to the Janet Evanovich series I’ve read for the past few years.  The difference being Rose has a gift for seeing things that will happen in the future.  It could be something as mundane as a dog running away or something big like a murder.  Her “visions” find her in a series of comical adventures which lead to a relationship with a local State Trooper.  Over the course of the series (which isn’t complete) Rose finds herself in numerous bad situations caused by her visions.  The books are funny and well written.  By the time I finished the last one, I’d say I was a tad bored with the series as a whole but I also read most of them back to back.  I will more than likely keep my eye out for the next book and read it when it comes out.

If you hadn’t noticed I’ve developed a little bit of a thing for Denise.  Something about her books draw me in.  If you are looking for a new author check her out!

The Playing with Fire series by T.E. Sivec

I stumbled across these books when I was looking for something a little more “adult” oriented.  I was pleasantly surprised that the storyline was actually good.  The sex scenes were steamy but played well into the storyline.  This series is about 2 friends who set out to find the truth behind what happened when one of their friends is tragically killed. Book 4, the last of the series, came out in Sept but somehow I missed that one so I will be downloading it later today.  🙂  You can now buy the series as a boxset if you’re interested.  I would definitely check out this series if you like a little spice and a fast moving story. (ETA: I read book 4 in a day and it deals with pregnancy loss. It was quite the tear jerker. I think you could read the first 3 books and not miss if you don’t read the 4th book)

The Hard Ink series by Laura Kaye

Not a bad overall plot but the individual storylines pretty much the same: troubled guy meets girl in some extraordinary circumstance and falls in love.  All of the books take place over the course of a week or two.  A group of dishonorably discharged Army buddies come together to find out what really happened on a mission gone wrong involving their commander when the commander’s son goes missing.  His daughter contacts one of the guys and the group is reunited in order to save the son and clear their names.

The Peachville High Demons by Sarra Cannon

I finished the year with this series about witches and demons.  Harper is a teen that has been bounced around from foster home to foster home when she finds herself at a home for girls in Peachville GA.  Once arriving, Harper starts to discover that Peachville isn’t your ordinary small town.  The town has secrets and she is about to be thrown right into the middle of them.  It turns out Harper comes from a long line of witches from Peachville.  The story unfolds as she falls for Jackson, a demon from another dimension.  Together they set out to right the wrongs being done the demon world by the Order of Shadows witches.

2013 – A Year End Book Review

Jan022014

Several months ago Matt bought me a Kindle Paperwhite just because. I replaced my old regular Kindle. Since then I have been reading up a storm. I LOVE the Kindle Paperwhite. It is small, compact, easy to read in the dark and well I have a cute case. 🙂 Since I’ve read so many books this past year I thought I’d do a year end review. I like to find free or cheap books on Amazon. I still have quite a few sitting waiting to be read that were free.

These are in order from newest to oldest.

1 Here (On the Otherside) Swank, Denise Grover
2 Redemption (The Chosen #4) Swank, Denise Grover
3 Sacrifice (The Chosen #3) Swank, Denise Grover
4 Hunted (The Chosen #2) Swank, Denise Grover
5 Chosen (The Chosen #1) Swank, Denise Grover
6 Takedown Twenty: A Stephanie Plum Novel Evanovich, Janet
7 Angels of Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun Series: Book 4) Chase, Deanna
8 Jade Calhoun Series Boxed Set (Books 1-3) Chase, Deanna
9 Haunted on Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun Series: Book 1) Chase, Deanna
10 Night Marchers Gober, Rebecca, Nuckels, Courtney
11 Dentelle (#3 The Guardian Series) Bowhay, Heather
12 Linked (#2 The Guardian Series) Bowhay, Heather
13 Amethyst (#1 of the Guardian series) Bowhay, Heather
14 Collateral Damage: A Matt Royal Mystery Griffin, H. Terrell
15 Honeymoon For One Keniston, Chris
16 One Tiny Miracle… (Harlequin Medical Romance) Marinelli, Carol
17 The Isle of Devils Janacek, Craig
18 Death by Honeymoon (Book #1 in the Caribbean Murder Series) Skye, Jaden
19 Hot Summer (The HOT CARIBBEAN LOVE Series) Powell, Judy
20 Uncharted: An On the Island Novella Graves, Tracey Garvis
21 Longboat Blues Griffin, H. Terrell
22 Life’s a Beach Then You Die (Max Fried Mystery) Jones, Falafel
23 The Shortcut Sabol, William
24 The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls: A Novel DiSclafani, Anton
25 Murder Key (Matt Royal Mysteries) Griffin, H. Terrell
26 Blood Island: A Matt Royal Mystery (Matt Royal Mysteries)Griffin, H. Terrell
27 Going Under Walden, S.
28 Summer Secrets Freethy, Barbara
29 Alone – Book 8 in the Chop, Chop Series Cronk, L.N.
30 Not Quickly Broken (Chop, Chop Series – Book 7) Cronk, L.N.
31 Gone (Chop, Chop Series – Book 6) Cronk, L.N.
32 The Other Mothers (Chop, Chop Series – Book 5) Cronk, L.N.
33 The Other Brother (Chop, Chop Series – Book 4) Cronk, L.N.
34 Pon, Pon (Chop, Chop Series – Book 3) Cronk, L.N.
35 Day-Day (Chop, Chop Series – Book Two) Cronk, L.N.
36 Chop, Chop (Chop, Chop Series – Book 1)
37 Ryan’s Return Freethy, Barbara
38 The Last Call (The Bill Travis Mysteries) Wier, George
39 LOVE, LIES AND HIGH HEELS CONRAD, DEBBY

Here are a few of the highlights: I started out 2013 reading the Chop, Chop Series. This series spans 8 books and chronicles the lives of a boy and girl from highschool to death. Clearly I got hooked because I read all EIGHT books. I did enjoy them but I must say they are heavy on religion. Not normally something I would pick up but still a good read. If you are looking for a good series this is definitely one to pick up.

Going Under. I read this on our trip to Jamaica. I was surprised to find it set in Raleigh however, I was NOT prepared for this book at all. It’s about a teenage girl determined to discover the truth behind her friend’s suicide. What the girl discovers is a secret club that has teenage boys drugging and raping girls. While the rape scene isn’t incredibly graphic, it still haunts me. I would NOT suggest reading this book. While it was a decent storyline, it bothered me.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls was on the list of top summer books on Yahoo. I took a chance, and spent $12.00 for this one. I really enjoyed this book. It was very well written with an interesting storyline set in 1930’s North Carolina. It wasn’t overly exciting but def worth the money.

Ohh, The Shortcut. I made it about halfway through this one and well, the writing was TERRIBLE. So bad in fact, I (and quite a few others) wrote a review on Amazon. The terrible grammar wasn’t what sent me over the edge, though close. The story itself was interesting enough until I realized it was about aliens. Whomp Whomp Whomp. I don’t do aliens and I sure as hell wasn’t going to suffer through anymore awful writing to find out what happened. You’ve been warned!

The Guardian series is next on my list of good reads. This series borders on Twilight but they are NOT vampires. The characters do however, have mystical powers set in modern day Washington state. This is definitely not my usual reading style but the books were well written and at the end of Book 3 I still wanted more. Unfortunately this seems to be all the author has written to date. 🙁

The Chosen Series is another good read. Again, I didn’t really know what the books were about and was not prepared for mystical parts. With that said, I clearly liked it and read all 4 books. I think the 1st was the best but it leaves you hanging to the point you want to keep reading. I really liked the author and picked up the On the Otherside Series a few days ago. I just finished Here last night and started on There.

In recent months I’ve been drawn to more paranormal books. I have no idea why. I think it started with the Guardian series. Since then I’ve read about witches, angels and even shapeshifters but NO vampires! I draw the line there. 😉

Summer Secrets by Barbara Freethy. This is a random book I picked up off Amazon a few months ago. Every now and then I’ll go through and buy a few cheap/free books from the Kindle store. This way when I get the urge to read I don’t have to browse through Amazon. Anyway, this book is about 3 sisters who sail around the world as teens. Like 10 years later, a reporter decides to start digging to get to the real “truth” behind the trip. I haven’t gotten very far yet so this may by on my list for a while. 😉

Reading, reading, reading

Feb222013