August 2019 Recap

I am so glad August is over! It was a stressful month. I am officially moved into my new place. There were a few hiccups on moving day and there have been a few more since then, but I’m finally starting to feel ok about it. The other big thing that happened in August was seeing Kristan Higgins on book tour! You all know what a fan I am of her, and I have always hoped she would come to Ohio. The crowd picture below is one Kristan took and put on her Facebook page – can you find me and Amanda?

One thing I have mentioned about Higgins books several times on this blog is that I absolutely love her Romance books, but she’s moved more into Women’s Fiction the past few years and I don’t enjoy those quite as much. Someone in the audience asked her if she would return to her Romance roots and she basically said no. She said the older she gets and the farther away she gets from her first kiss, etc., the less interested she is in writing that. She wants to write about women closer to her own age. I get that, but I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. I was also a little disappointed in a couple of other things. I didn’t want a copy of the book tour book, since I didn’t love it, so I planned on buying one (or several) of her older books for her to sign when I got there, but they only had one of her Romance books available. I loved The Best Man, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, they only gave out sticky notes to get your book personalized to people that bought the newest book. When it was finally our turn to get our books signed, I felt like she really just rushed through it. I am also in her Super Readers group and she had posted to tell her that you’re a Super Reader and she would have something special for you, but when I told her, she asked my name (and still didn’t personalize my book) and that was it. Out of all the authors I’ve been fortunate enough to meet over the last couple of years, I really expected her to be the most personable and friendliest, and I honestly felt pretty let down.

Books Read: 9

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

The Last Widow (Will Trent #9) by Karin Slaughter

  Books Reviewed: 5

Trust Me When I Lie by Benjamin Stevenson – 3/5 Stars

On the Corner of Love and Hate (Hopeless Romantics #1) by Nina Bocci – 3/5 Stars

Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown – 4/5 Stars

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon – 4/5 Stars

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle – 2/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 97

Funny Fridays:

August 9

August 16

Other Posts:

July 2019 Recap

WWW Wednesday: August 7, 2019

WWW Wednesday: August 21, 2019

WWW Wednesday: August 28, 2019

Reviewing the Unreviewed: August 2019

Advertisements

July 2019 Recap

Summer is just flying by. In July I attended my favorite summer tradition, seeing Linda Castillo on book tour. This year, she was joined by another author, Amanda Flower. I had never heard of Amanda before, but she is local (lives in Tallmadge, OH) and has over 30 books published. She also writes Amish fiction, but hers are cozy mysteries. They joked that on a panel they were both on they were told to line up from scariest to least scariest book and they were on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. They talked about their different writing styles (Linda is a plotter and Amanda is a pantster) and each answered questions about their process and books. They were so funny and it was a great evening.

Books Read: 15

Adult: 10
New Adult: 2
YA: 3

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

Shamed (Kate Burkholder #11) by Linda Castillo

  Books Reviewed: 8

One Little Secret by Cate Holahan – 3/5 Stars

Truth or Die (DS Imogen Grey #5) by Katerina Diamond – 4/5 Stars

A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell – 4/5 Stars

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham – 3/5 Stars

Say You Still Love Me by K.A. Tucker – 3.5/5 Stars

The Arrangement by Robyn Harding – 4/5 Stars

The Killing Tide (Coastal Guardians #1) by Dani Pettrey – 2.5/5 Stars

Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins – 3/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 88

Funny Fridays:

July 5

July 12

July 19

July 26

Other Posts:

June 2019 Recap

WWW Wednesday: July 10, 2019

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag: 2019

WWW Wednesday: July 17, 2019

Reviewing the Unreviewed: July 2019

June 2019 Recap

Oh June, where did you go? I took my first vacation from work since starting my job last October. My sister and her family from Canada visited and we also spent a couple days at my brother’s, so I got to spend time with both of my nieces, which is always amazing. I also signed a lease on a new place to live. I gave up rather quickly on buying a place, due to there being pretty much nothing I liked in my price range. I looked at a couple different places to rent and ultimately decided on one. After signing the lease I immediately regretted it, but it’s too late now. I don’t move in until August, so at least I have plenty of time to pack.

Book of the Month Recommendation

Are you signed up for Book of the Month – YA? If you are, I definitely recommend Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg. I was contacted by BOTM and asked if I would be interested in writing a recommendation for it (I had already read it, via NetGalley). You can see my rec HERE! There’s also a link below to my full review.

6 Year Blogiversary!

Once again, my blogiversary snuck up on me. In June, I hit 6 years of blogging. I honestly never thought I would stick with it so long, but I have read so many wonderful books because of it and made some wonderful friends (even if I’ll never actually meet most of you).

Books Read: 13

Adult: 9
YA: 4

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

  Books Reviewed: 6

Those People by Louise Candlish – 4/5 Stars

In the Darkness (Zoe Bentley Mystery #2) by Mike Omer – 4/5 Stars

One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase – 2/5 Stars

Call it What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer – 4/5 Stars

The Doctor by Lisa Stone – 1/5 Star

Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 72

Funny Fridays:

June 14

June 21

Other Posts:

May 2019 Recap

WWW Wednesday: June 5, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases of the Second Half of 2019

WWW Wednesday: June 19, 2019

WWW Wednesday: June 26, 2019

Reviewing the Unreviewed: June 2019

May 2019 Recap

I got some good reading done in May, but that’s about all I can say for it. I was informed my rent is being raised by an extra $55/month. I’m already paying a ridiculous amount of money for my crappy one-bedroom apartment and I just don’t feel like I can stay here anymore. The other rental options really aren’t much better. I thought maybe it would be a good time to re-evaluate buying a condo and I went to talk to a loan officer and ended up being really disappointed in what my price range would be. I work so hard at saving money and deny myself so many things and it just all feels so pointless right now. There are also crappy things happening at work and I’m just feeling very disappointed with life. Anywho, onto the important parts of this post…

Celeste Ng Book Signing

Amanda and I went to see Celeste Ng on the paperback tour for Little Fires Everywhere. I haven’t actually read it yet, but it’s set in Ohio and she is a former Ohioan, so attending seemed like a no-brainer. It was interesting, but she made a couple of political statements that kind of put a damper on the whole experience. However, I’ll still be reading the book.

Books Read: 12

Adult: 10
YA: 2

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

Truth or Die (DS Imogen Grey #5) by Katerina Diamond. Watch for my review in July!

  Books Reviewed: 7

The Killer Across the Table by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker – 4/5 Stars

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – 3/5 Stars

Just One of the Groomsmen by Cindi Madsen – 4/5 Stars

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda – 4/5 Stars

Storm and Fury (The Harbinger #1) by Jennifer L Armentrout – 4/5 Stars

The Honeymoon by Rona Halsall – 2 Stars

Sweet on You (Bradford Sisters Romance #3) by Becky Wade – 3.5/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 60

Funny Fridays:

May 3

May 10

May 17

Other Posts:

April 2019 Recap

WWW Wednesday – May 8, 2019

WWW Wednesday – May 15, 2019

Reviewing the Unreviewed: May 2019

Book News

The Hating Game is being made into a movie!  It’s going to star Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell. The casting wouldn’t be my first choice, but I don’t hate it. Super excited to see what this ends up looking like.

April 2019 Recap

April was a pretty awful blogging month for me. I was out of commission for about a week because I got pretty sick, but I don’t really have much of an excuse for the rest of the month. April was not a great month for me, overall, actually. One bright spot was getting to visit my niece one weekend, though. Now she can walk and babble and she’s so fun. I really wish that they lived closer so I could see her more often.

Books Read: 10

Adult: 8
YA: 2

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

Just One of the Groomsmen by Cindi Madsen and Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

  Books Reviewed: 3

The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman – 1/5 Stars

Summer by the Tides by Denise Hunter – 4/5 Stars

Bridesmaids by Zara Stoneley – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 48

Funny Fridays:

April 12

April 19

April 26

Other Posts:

March 2019 Recap

WWW Wednesday: April 10, 2019

WWW Wednesday: April 17, 2019

WWW Wednesday: April 24, 2019

Reviewing the Unreviewed: April 2019

March 2019 Recap

March was a blur. Spring has finally arrived, but in true Ohio fashion, the month still ended with snow. The highlight was going with Amanda to see Harlan Coben. Some interesting things he shared: he has had several books adapted to film, but he is only interested in doing it if he can be involved. He also doesn’t mind if they make a lot of changes from the book. He said if you want the book experience, read the book. An adaption should be different. (We have to agree to disagree on this point.) He also said that after he wrote Run Away, all of his children read it and then fought over which one of them the main character’s drug addicted daughter was based on. He said that all of his characters are made up, except for one popular character that appears in several books (I apologize for not remembering the character name, as I have only read a couple of Coben’s books so far) that is modeled off of his college roommate. He said his old roommate was at one of his book signings once and ended up getting a longer line for autographs than Coben did.

 I like this picture of me and Amanda because I’m kind of fuzzy in the background like I’m her weird stalker or something 🙂

Books Read: 13

Adult: 9
YA: 4

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

In the Dark (DI Adam Fawley #2) by Cara Hunter

  Books Reviewed: 7

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren – 4/5 Stars

Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren – 4/5 Stars

Passion on Park Avenue (Central Park Pact #1) by Lauren Layne – 3/5 Stars

Fumbled (Playbook #2) by Alexa Martin – 4/5 Stars

The Wedding Deal (Heart in the Game #1) by Cindi Madsen – 3/5 Stars

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin – 3/5 Stars

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett – 3.5/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 38

Funny Fridays:

March 1

March 8

March 15

March 22

March 29

Other Posts:

February 2019 Recap

Top Ten Tuesday: Standalone Books that Need a Sequel

Reviewing the Unreviewed: March 2019

February 2019 Recap

I was kind of an awful book blogger in February. Winter time in Ohio just doesn’t inspire me. I did get a good number of books read, though. Real life in February had some good things, though. I got to meet up with Brandie from Running on Words and Wine for coffee. We exchanged some books and got to catch up and it was a good time. I also went with Amanda to see Lisa Gardner! I haven’t read any of her books yet, but still really enjoyed the event. I liked hearing how she got started as a writer and how her books killed off people with the same name as some of her former bosses. She’s also had 4 books made into tv movies and she was really honest about how much she hated one of them lol. I’m really looking forward to reading her books.

I also was contacted by a couple of publishers in February about ARCs. I received copies of Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren and Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett!

Books Read: 12

Adult: 7
NA: 1
YA: 4

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

Fumbled (Playbook #2) by Alexa Martin

  Books Reviewed: 4

On Thin Ice (Juniper Falls #3) by Julie Cross – 4/5 Stars

Romancing His Rival (Accidentally Yours #3) by Jennifer Shirk – 3.5/5 Stars

Huge Deal (21 Wall St #3) by Lauren Layne – 4/5 Stars

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2019 Overall: 25

Funny Fridays:

February 8

February 15

February 22

Other Posts:

January 2019 Recap

Reviewing the Unreviewed: February 2019

Looking Forward to March:

Harlan Coben is going to be in the area in a few weeks!