WWW Wednesday [Oct. 30]

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @Taking On A World Of Words, the rules are simple you just have to answer these three questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I do like this one, but I’m not fully sure because of the mixed reviews. I’m just wondering if it was written because of the show (which I haven’t caught up on) so I don’t have a definitive answer about my feelings regarding this book yet.

I started watching Rizzoli & Isles years ago, but I never finished the series now I’m watching it again. I decided it was a perfect time to pick up the novels, too. I’m hoping for good things.

I’m listening to this on audio on Scribd with the free trial. I’m definitely liking this book, and I can see why it’s gotten such high ratings. However, I’m not a fan of Scribd so I’m glad I made sure to cancel my free trial so I wouldn’t be charged.

I recently finished:

This was a cover pick from NetGalley, but I really liked this book. I’ll have a review on it closer to its publication date in November. So, more thoughts coming soon.

I wanted to love this book, but it fell short of my expectations. This one also has a review coming soon.

Next I may read:

I started this series last month, and then I changed my tbr for a readathon I was doing so I didn’t read it. Next month is non fiction November, and I may be doing Tree Hill Athon casually as well, so I may pick this book up, I may not.

What is your WWW Wednesday looking like? I’d love to see your posts so share them with me. This is definitely one of my favorite weekly posts (which I call meme posts on my blog because I’m odd).

If Only I Could Tell You [Book Review]

Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Format: Read via NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So this book should come with a big old trigger warning. All the warnings. For cancer, suicide, and miscarriage. They are all talked about extensively and somewhat graphically in my opinion.

I chose this book for the cover and because of the JoJo Moyes blurb. I thought it would be a nice familial drama that made me cry. Since this book has been out in England, there are a lot of reviews that are 4 and 5 stars. I guess some people really liked this book. I, however, am not one of those people. I am rather disappointed with this book because I was expecting a nice good cry, and I ended up with a whole lot of nothing

. I like sad books when the mood is right. This is why I requested this book, a change from all of the sweet romance I’ve been reading the last month. But this book was just a lot of sadness. I want to call it melodrama because the book just didn’t know how to stop being so ridiculous. It just seemed like everything would get worse and worse for the characters. There was not even a little glimmer of hope and happiness, it was just all dreary and sad until the ending. I feel like I wasted my time reading this book.

Jess and her sister Lily have been estranged for thirty years because of some secret. Their mom is dying and wants them to reunite before she is gone. Like it’s just over and over with the secret and you can’t figure it out because the mystery isn’t revealed til later, and it kind of really bugged me that was used as a plot device because it took away from the story. So you get sisters that are not speaking and a mother who wants to make it all better.

Then the book is really sad the entire time. I don’t want to give anything away and it’s impossible to really talk about the book without doing so. You just have a lot of bad events in this family, and then the book is over. The miscarriage scene is hard to read… the suicide is very descriptive… there’s even someone coming out and it’s just handled so poorly…

I ended up skimming the end of this book because I just needed closure. I suppose if you want a sad book with nothing happy at all, this is a good one for you. After this one read, I don’t plan to ever pick up a book by this author… it’s really not for me…

This book isn’t a good thing I’ve ranted about at all.

Until I rant about books again,

WWW Wednesday [October 9 2019]

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This meme was originally hosted by A Daily Rhythm but was revived by Sam from Taking on a World of Words. It’s a place to talk about the books you’ve been reading, plan to read and have read.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following questions:

What are you currently reading?

What have you recently finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

I am currently reading:

• How To Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper on Audible Escapes. I’m enjoying the free month trial. I plan to start using the library for audio books more often. To save money and because I don’t listen to audio books enough to justify paying for Audible Escapes.
• The Academy of Stolen Magic by Sullivan Gray. This is an ARC I got from the author awhile back, and I just kept putting it off. I really adored the first book so I have high hopes for this book as well.

I recently finished:

The Witches Halloween Hero on Audible Escapes.

I am planning on:

This is one of my favorite weekly posts. It’s so much fun to see what everyone is reading, read, or will read. I would love to know what you’re reading. Or if you’ve read any of these books or want to. Please, let me know.

Until I rant about books again,

First Line Friday [October 4]

First line Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words. Each week, choose a book from your TBR or your current read, turn to the first page and copy the first line/s. Just enough to hook the reader, then reveal which book the mysterious line is from.

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Dear Misha, So, have I ever told you my secret shame? And no, it’s not watching Teen Mom like you. Go ahead and try to deny it. I know you don’t have to sit there with your sister, man. She’s old enough to watch TV by herself.

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From New York Times Bestselling Author, Penelope Douglas, comes the latest standalone love-hate romance…”We were perfect together. Until we met.” MishaI can’t help but smile at the lyrics in her letter. She misses me.In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?F*ck it. I need to meet her.I just don’t expect to hate what I find.RyenHe hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should’ve gotten his phone number or picture or something.He could be gone forever.Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.*Punk 57 is a stand alone New Adult romance. It is suitable for ages 18+.

This is the most intense enemies to lovers book I have ever read. I picked it up after watching a video from Chandler Ainsley about enemies to lovers recommendations on Kindle Unlimited. I can’t really adequately explain why this book is so … whoa without giving too much away. Let’s just say the circumstances for the enemies to lovers is a little strange to me, and there are some parts of the book I can’t stop thinking about. I’d say if you are interested by the blurb, try it out for yourself.

What’s the first line of the book you are currently reading? I’d love to know.

Until I rant about books again,

Culling my Goodreads Shelf [Unhaul in my mind]

So I’ve had a pretty big Goodreads TBR for awhile, and a lot of the books have just been sitting on the shelf for a long time. So this is an unhaul of sorts. Here are some books I’ll be removing from my Goodreads TBR because I’m never going to read them. I did remove more than ten, but some of them I had no clue how they got on there so I have no desire to look them up and explain about them. Honestly, if you’re dreading your TBR on Goodreads, you should Marie Kondo it. This makes me feel a lot better when I do it.

And you can add me or follow me on Goodreads if you’re interested.

American Psycho is a huge pass because I couldn’t handle the dog dying in the movie so I don’t think I could get through the book. I love reading about serial killers, but I also heard this book has other issues so I think it’s just going to a hard pass for me.

All of the books from the Bloodlines series. Listen, I could barely finish Vampire Academy. I can’t invest myself in another mediocre series. The only thing that would be worth my time is Adrian, but I know it won’t be written the way I want so… thank you, next.

The Foxhole Court is so boring. I tried to read it before and literally nothing was happening? Why did I buy this entire series on Kindle when it’s just really like stupid to me? It’s cool if you like it, I just don’t.

Restore Me. Why couldn’t they just leave Shatter Me as a trilogy? It was just fine. I should not have wasted money on this book, and I have no plans to read this. The trilogy is the end for me, and that’s just fine. I don’t need more added on. Warner is great how he is. I don’t need more complications added to my boy.

So if you like these books, that’s awesome. I don’t so I kicked them off my Goodreads shelf. I’m curious to know if anyone else culls their Goodreads shelf from time to time ? If you do, let me know. I would love to talk about books kicked off the shelves.

Until I rant about books again,

October TBR [Blogtober]

I haven’t been sticking to a TBR recently because I have been trying to get through the massive amount of NetGalley books I’ve accumulated. I’m currently down to 14 I need to read with 12 pending. I do not plan to go on a requesting binge again because it almost drove me to a massive slump. My TBR can change. So this is a tentative TBR for this month.

The first two books on my TBR are for sure since these are the ones I’m currently read. They are:

The Young Elites has been on my TBR for years. Something told me to read it finally. The supernatural power thing definitely seems like an October feels thing. I am liking this book so far. I have liked everything I’ve read by Marie Lu.

This is a thriller I picked up from kindle Unlimited. I need a break from romance for a bit so this was in the popular section. I just started it, but I’m curious to see how Jessica Shaw is going to handle the situation of finding out she was a missing child and the story behind what happened. I have a feeling I am going to really like this one.

Here are a few more books I want to read this month (hopefully):

Started this last month, need to actually finish it.

This just seems like a fitting October read.

Since I’m reading the first one… makes sense to read the second.

Of course I need to know how it all ends.

Cats. Enough said.

I love my cats. Here they are:

Daisy.

Buddy.

These are some books I hope to read this month. At least I want to try and stick to some type of list. I’m also going to be reading NetGalley books, but I think most of them come out next month (I could be wrong). There will also be more kindle Unlimited books in the mix. I’m really unsure.

If you are doing Blogtober, I’m excited to see the posts and TBRs. It’s cool to be doing an event like this. I wanted to do a readathon… and I’ll possibly be doing Trope-athon at the end of the month. Readathons usually make me nervous, but I am weighing towards actually doing it so be on the look out on a TBR for that soon.

Until I rant about books again,

Six for Sunday [Books I Read At School]

The creator of this weekly Sunday book prompt is A Little But A Lot. The month of September has been school themed, which I think is pretty neat. This week, it is books you can recall reading at school. I’m getting old so I don’t remember all of them, but here are the six I do remember.

1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. – I remember thinking this book was so strange, that a future like this could never happen. Now I look at the world about ten years later, and I can see how it’s kind of already started. Definitely a good book though.
2. The Great Gatsby- All I remember is talking about what the eyes on the billboard mean and the green light. Oh yeah, myrtle is killed. When I think of this, I think of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. Yikes.
3. Tess of the D’Ubervilles- This Book was so boring. So boring. And such a shamer of females who have sex outside of marriage even when it’s rape and it’s just a gross book. It still makes me annoyed to think about it.
4. 1984- I didn’t understand why we were talking about the snow globe back then, and I didn’t think it could happen. Once again, I was damn wrong. Especially regarding the depletion of language in the book juxtaposed with some language of today.
5. Hamlet- Why is the only thing I remember about reading this in high school was doing an oral presentation on it? I remember in college there’s a weird modern movie version. I mostly just think of The Lion King.
6. The Hunger Games- I read it for a college class. Everyone was like this book focuses on war, and all I could think about was how much I loved Peeta. Oop.

These are the six books I remember from school. What books do you remember? I can’t be the only one who read these for school, I think… make sure you check out other six for Sunday posts or let me know if you’re doing one!

Until I rant about books again,

Rapid Fire Book Tag

I wasn’t feeling the theme for top 5 Saturday so I thought I would do the rapid fire book tag. I’m sure everyone has done it so if you haven’t, I would love to see what you have to say. I stole this tag from Chelsie. The creator of this tag is GirlReading over on booktube and the goal of the tag is to answer the questions as quickly as possible.

E-Book or Physical Book?

E-book. So much easier when I have a baby and am trying to do reading on my iPad or iPhone is so much simpler and I get more reading done.

Paperback or Hardback?

Paperback because I can fit more of them into my bag.

Online or In-Store Book Shopping?

Online. Books at the touch of a button, be it ebook or physical. Thanks Amazon.

Trilogies or Series?

Trilogy. I can get bored of a series when it drags on much too long.

Heroes or Villains?

Villains, just because I like people with depth and darkness.

A book you want everyone to read?

I think everyone should read Every Heart A Doorway by Senan McGuire. I have never loved an entire series so much and never been disappointed by the next installment.

Recommend an underrated book?

Nobody’s Goddess by Amy McNulty. She’s an indie author from Wisconsin, and this is one of my favorite YA series ever.

The last book you finished?

Cowboy Christmas Homecoming. It was a NetGalley I was hoping to love, but it was just okay. I think I had too many cowboy expectations.

The Last Book You Bought? 

I bought some free kindle book about dragons. I also have two Alexa Martin books in my amazon cart for when I actually have the money to order them because I have been hearing about her books and need them in my life immediately.

Weirdest Thing You’ve Used as a Bookmark?

I think when I was pregnant, I used food. I’m a bad person.

Used Books: Yes or No?

Yes. I’m poor. I love used books.

Top Three Favorite Genres?

Contemporary, Romance, and Thrillers. Also YA. Oops. That’s four.

Borrow or Buy?

Buy.

Characters or Plot?

Characters. There’s not really a book without those.

Long or Short Books?

Long, usually. I like short novellas to help me out of a reading slump.

Long or Short Chapters?

Short. I can’t do long, especially with long blocks of text. It turns me off the book.

Name The First Three Books You Think Of…

The Hunger Games. Percy Jackson. Kindred.

Books That Makes You Laugh or Cry?

Laugh.

Our World or Fictional Worlds?

Fictional… that’s why I read so much.

Audiobooks: Yes or No?

Yes. I like them when walking. I should get back into them.

Do You Ever Judge a Book by its Cover?

Yes, I’m such a cover art person. That’s why I’m so annoyed by all of the romance covers that look like cartoons lately.

Book to Movie or Book to TV Adaptations? 

Movie… unless it’s Hulu.

A Movie or TV-Show You Preferred to its Book? 

The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Series or Standalone’s? 

It depends on the story. Series are an investment. Stand-alone is good when I just want a quick read.

So, those are my answers. I’d love to see if anyone else is doing this. Comment below if you do.

Until I rant about books again,

Romance Mash Up [Mini Review]

I’ve been reading a lot of romance lately. So I decided to just do a mini review mash up thing. Here are three recent romances I’ve read along with my mini reviews.

Genre: Romance

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Format: Read via NetGalley

Thank you Netgalley and Source Books Casablanca for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So this is book number nine in a series which means there are a lot of people to keep up with. I’m not really a fan of series which stretch out this long but I was able to keep up mostly fine. You can read this book on its own but it’s part of a larger verse. I read this book because I liked the cover when I requested it, but I had not read anything by the author before.

In A Dash of Christmas, Emery is dealing with a scandal about her ex fiancé and so she’s trying to escape the media and her horrible parents. Carter is about to open a new restaurant. Emery is staying at Carter’s family condo when he shows up and is surprised to see her. They have been rivals since childhood and do not get along. Emery just wants to eat junk food in peace while Carter wants to eat home cooking with a variety of ingredients. They start butting heads at first but grow closer as they spend more time together.

This book is cute. I like the romance but neither character was very appealing to me. Carter just seems too obsessed with fancy cooking and Emery isn’t dealing with her ex fiancé and other issues well. I think another problem is they are supposed to be rivals and have this past but it’s not really established well. The dynamic I expected for rivals to lovers was weak. It’s more just like saying they had issues and suddenly they kiss and it’s all good. Building up a stronger foundation to believe the rivalry would have made this story much better. The story isn’t bad. I just had a hard time keeping up with all the characters and really caring about the plot.

Starting at book nine is never a good idea so that’s probably what my issue is. Still I did like the Christmas and family aspects included. A Dash of Christmas is a good read. I suggest reading the other eight first though. There are so many people to remember, it probably makes more sense when read sequentially. I did like the book, but I don’t think I’m going to read the other installments. This is a good book for someone wanting a long series to read. I may try the novellas this author has.

Genre: Thriller, Romance

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Format: Read via NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book three in the series. How do I not pay attention and end up in the middle of a series all the darn time? Who knows? I think I just get too excited for the romance and intrigue I just can’t help myself when it comes to requesting these books on NetGalley. Seriously, someone needs to stop me. Jamie works as a sheriff deputy and Nate just moved back to work as a wildlife officer. When she finds another victim of the killer the sheriffs department has been searching for, the two are forced back together to work on the case.

Jamie is focused on caring for her sister Donna and had no need for Nate. He left her seven years ago, and she has no desire in dealing with yet another broken heart. The killer is still on the loose and she wants the case solved before there’s another victim. Nate wants them to be friends and Jamie doesn’t want to be at first. She’s closed off from pain after losing her parents and having to take care of her sister. Her life is just fine the way it is. But the pressure of trying to catch the killer is a lot for the town to deal with so Jamie and Nate keep growing closer.

I like how they don’t just get back together… it takes a little time because of what happened in the past. This is the third book in the series so I would say start at the beginning to unravel the full mystery of the killer and to get the other romances. This was a pretty decent read, and I wanted to know who the killer was. I can see myself reading more from Myers in the future.

Genre: Thriller, Romance

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Format: Read via NetGalley

Thank you to netgalley and harlequin for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fourth book in a series. And so confusing when you have not read the others. I need to read what books are about instead of just asking for them on impulse. It’s going to save me a lot of confusion in the long run. I say this now but I’ll probably be doing it again because I can’t say no to a Harlequin Intrigue book no matter what.

Bree and Tanner are getting married. This book literally picks up right after the other one so it’s like imperative you read the others first. They are getting married in like two weeks and Bree is losing her stuff over all the things she needs to do in order to get ready for the wedding. So Bree is freaking out about the wedding. Tanner is excited because they are going to be married and he’s so in love with her. It’s going to be amazing. Then something comes up and maybe they will end up at death til us part sooner than even getting married!

There’s a fire that happens at the shelter Bree works at and they think it’s targeting a specific woman. So tanner and Bree are trying to find out who did this and make sure the woman and her family are safe. So they end up going on a camping trip. This is where all of the intrigue and such in the story plays out. I was invested the whole time and could not stop reading.

This is a great intrigue story, but it would have been better had I read the others. Of course there’s a HEA. It’s so cute. I would definitely read the other books to see how the couple got to this point. There’s also mentions of other stories the author has done in this book so I would be keen to check those out as well. Bree and Tanner have been through a lot it seems, they definitely deserved the wedding and happiness they got.

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Whew. So those are three more romances I’ve gotten done this week. I’ll probably be doing a lot of mash up reviews for my NetGalley books because I have so many of the darned things to get through. It’s a good problem to have, I’m not complaining.

Until I rant about books again,

BookTube Boyfriend Tag [Tag Post]

I don’t do YouTube, but I still thought this tag would be fun. The source of the tag is here.

Here are the questions

1. how long have we been dating

2. are you a reader

3. what hogwarts house are you in

4. what is my most anticipated book (this year or next year)

5. what was the last book i read 

6. what’s my favorite book

7. what is my favorite book genre

8. how much time do i usually spend reading

9. what is one thing you notice about my reading habits (ie: watching tv, listening to music etc.)

10. what book should i read sometime soon?

11. what book would you consider reading 

12. superhero or supervillain 

13. ask your s/o booktube terms

• Booktube
• Reading Slump
• Tbr
• wrap up
• readathon
• reading vlog

Here’s a photo of Ethan and the baby

Ethan and Ever

And here are Ethan’s answers:

1. A year and three months (please note he counted on his fingers)
2. Dyslexic.
3. Hufflepuff (ew)
4. Sarah J Maas books
5. The last one he remembered is Frankenstein
6. Jane Eyre
7. YA
8. All the time
9. You just read whenever you can read
10. The Shadowchildren Series
11. The ones above
12. Super villain
13. BookTube- where people talk about books on YouTube. Reading slump- where you don’t read for like a day or two. Tbr- Tuber. Wrap up- summary. Readathon- where you just read until you pass out. Reading vlog- where someone talks about books on video.

I thought this would just be a fun silly little post. Enjoy 😊

Until I rant about books again,