June 2018 Recap

June was a pretty good reading and blogging month for me, as you’ll see below, so I’m going to take a moment to talk about some life updates. My parents’ dissolution was completed this month. It’s been a very stressful several months and there has been a lot of changes in our family and I’m glad we can all finally move on. My mother has been staying with me, in my one bedroom apartment, for over 7 months. (I’m not sure what the qualifications are for sainthood, but I’m pretty sure I meet them haha.) She is finally going to get back to her condo soon and I think we’re both pretty pleased about that. Maybe one day I will do a whole post about the events that led up to all of this. I think it could be kind of cathartic. It’s felt like a poorly written Lifetime movie. Anyways, on to the books!

Books Read: 14

Adult: 12
YA: 2

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

The Promise (DI Imogen Grey #4) by Katerina Diamond

  Books Reviewed: 9

The Book of Me by Peng Shepherd – 3/5 Stars

Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering – 4/5 Stars

The Paris Wedding by Charlotte Nash – 4/5 Stars

Providence by Caroline Kepnes – 2.5/5 Stars

Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley – 2.5/5 Stars

One Small Thing by Erin Watt – 4/5 Stars

The Date by Louise Jensen – 2/5 Stars

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage – 3/5 Stars

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall – 3.5/5 Stars

Books Read in 2018 Overall: 82

Funny Fridays:

June 8th

June 15th

June 22nd

Other Posts:

May 2018 Recap

Top Ten Tuesday: My Summer TBR

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I’ve Given up on / Don’t Plan to Finish

Reviewing the Unreviewed: June 2018

Bellarke

I’ve never been a huge fan of the show The 100, but I’ve watched it – mostly as background noise – since it’s been on. I’ve always shipped Clarke with Bellamy and that has basically been the only reason I’ve stuck with the show for so long. However, I’ve really been enjoying this season so far and decided to go back to the beginning because I don’t remember who a lot of these characters are or how they got there. Between the current season and the first couple of seasons I’ve re-watched now I’ve become, like, a #Bellarke super fan. I spent so much time on Pinterest lately looking at Bellarke pins. It’s a problem, but I can’t help myself. I ship them so hard!

Looking forward to July

  

There are 2 author events I’m really excited about in July. As part of my favorite Summer tradition, Linda Castillo will be in the area for her book tour. (Look for my review of her latest book on July 2nd). She is also holding a writing seminar while she’s here that I’ve signed up for. I am also going with book buddy Amanda to see one of my favorite authors, Linwood Barclay!

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May 2018 Recap

Like I’m sure most other bloggers do, I drafted this post awhile ago, to finish editing closer to the posting date. However, as I tried to add pictures I’m having a lot of problems with WordPress. Once a picture is added, it will not let me edit it. I can not select the picture to re-size it and whenever I try to click on it, the whole page shifts up or down. Am I the only one this is happening to? I’m also having issues with Goodreads. I finished a book and marked it as read, but it would not let me enter a Finish date, which means it doesn’t update my reading challenge. Again, is this just me? I’m so frustrated right now. Sorry this post looks like crap.

Books Read: 15

Adult: 10
YA: 5

Books Reviewed: 10

Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin – 2/5 Stars

Hangman (Detective William Fawkes #2) by Daniel Cole – 4/5 Stars

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll – 2/5 Stars

Hot Asset (21 Wall Street #1) by Lauren Layne -4/5 Stars

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne – 3.5/5 Stars

The Ever After by Sarah Pekkanen – 3.5/5 Stars

Just One of the Royals (The Chicago Falcons #2) by Leah and Kate Rooper – 3/5 Stars

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier – 4/5 Stars

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West – 4/5 Stars

Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2018 Overall: 68

Funny Fridays:

May 4

May 11

May 18

May 25

Other Posts:

April 2018 Recap

Kindle Unlimited Review

December 2017 Recap

Happy New Year! December seemed to fly by. I had a better reading and blogging month than November. I also had several life things I wanted to highlight.

First off, I want to sing the praises of RC essential oil. My mom is obsessed with Young Living essential oils and recommends them for pretty much everything. Some of them I like, some I don’t care for, but RC has kept me sickness free so far this winter. There was all sorts of sickness going through the office over the last couple of months and usually I’m right in the thick of it. But, I’ve been putting on RC every morning and night and whenever I feel like my throat is starting to get sore and it’s taken care of it. I really recommend this! And if you decide to buy some, you should buy it from my Mom (I can give you or sponsor/enroller ID # to order from the website) and she can follow up with you. She loves talking about oils!

Ok, other notable things for December. I have a new niece! Morgan was born a couple of weeks early, but she is doing great. She lives a couple hours away, so I’ve only seen her once, but I plan on going back down sometime this month for another visit. I also got to meet up with Brandie from Running on Words and Wine for the first time and it was so cool to meet one of my favorite bloggers! We lent each other a few books, which was also amazing. Christmas was good, despite being very different this year than in years past.

Books Read: 10

Adult: 6
NA: 1
YA: 3

Favorite Books I Read This Month:

     

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills, Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West, and The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon.

  Books Reviewed: 4

Blog Tour and Review: The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen – 4/5 Stars

Shoot the Moon (Seeking Mansfield #2) by Kate Watson – 3.5/5 Stars

Bargaining with the Boss (It Happened One Night #1) by Jennifer Shirk – 3.5/5 Stars

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2017 Overall: 134

Funny Fridays:

December 1

December 8

December 15

December 22

Other Posts:

Top 5 Wednesday: Bookish Things I’m a Grinch About

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Books of 2017

Happy Jolabokaflod (The Christmas Book Flood)

Merry Christmas!

My Most Disappointing Books of 2017

Top 5 Wednesday: 2018 Wishlist

Reviewing the Unreviewed: December 2017

End of the Year Survey: 2017

October 2017 Recap

October was kind of a rough month for me. Work was pretty awful. A lot of new fee changes that we weren’t really trained on or understand went into effect and we’re all kind of scrambling to figure things out. There was also some pretty significant family drama. Lots of big changes ahead. If you are a praying person, please say a prayer for my family if you think of it. And a special thanks to Deanna for letting me vent to her! …In book news I am proud of the number of reviews I ended up posting, but I didn’t read as much as I would have liked. I took part in a book tour – just my second in the 4 years I’ve been blogging. I decided that I won’t be signing up with that particular tour host again. I found the information and graphics they provided hard to use (though I will take responsibility that it was probably my own user error that I couldn’t get them all to format correctly) and they did nothing at all to promote my leg of the tour. I only saw a couple of tweets from them during the whole tour actually. Maybe that’s normal for blog tours? Please share your experience with various blog tour hosts in the comments, if you have any.

Books Read: 9

Adult: 8
YA: 1

Favorite Books I Read This Month:

      

I read all of the DS Imogen Grey series this month and I love them!

  Books Reviewed: 7

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough – 3.5/5 Stars

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins – 1/5 Stars

How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst – 2.5/5 Stars

The Secret (Imogen Grey #2) by Katerina Diamond – 4/5 Stars

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz – 3/5 Stars

The Angel (Imogen Grey #3) by Katerina Diamond – 4/5 Stars

My New Crush Gave to Me by Shani Petroff – 3/5 Stars

Books Read in 2017 Overall: 118

Funny Fridays:

October 6

October 13

October 20

October 27

Other Posts:

September 2017 Recap

Top 5 Wednesday: Non-Horror Books that Scared Me

Reviewing the Unreviewed: October 2017

Fall TV Disappointments:

I have not found one new show that I liked enough to watch past the pilot. I tried: Young Sheldon, 9JKL, Seal Team, Valor, Ghosted, and The Good Doctor. After watching Once Upon a Time to find out how they explained having Hook on the show without Emma I am now done with that show. The only reason I watched it the last couple seasons was because I was a Captain Swan shipper. I also am finding  the second season of Riverdale pretty disappointing so far and am really hoping it gets better soon.

August 2017 Recap

I didn’t think that I had a very good reading or blogging month until I was preparing this post, but I actually read much more and posted much more than I thought I did. So yay for me. The most exciting thing to happen this month was that I got to go with Amanda to two different book events to see Karin Slaughter and Lisa Scottoline.

I also won a contest for an ARC (and “swag”) of Renegades by Marissa Meyer! I’ve started the book and am enjoying it so far. The “swag” were some pens and a slap bracelet. Are slap bracelets back in? I remember them being very popular when I was a kid…until people kept getting cut by them. This one has a rubbery exterior so I think it’s safer than what we had back in my day. I don’t really know what I’ll do with it, though.

Books Read: 17

Adult: 10
YA: 7

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

   Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg (link to review is below).

  Books Reviewed: 7

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum – 4/5 Stars

Ready to Run (I Do, I Don’t #1) by Lauren Layne – 4/5 Stars

Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg – 4/5 Stars

Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg – 4.5/5 Stars

Fallen Heir (The Royals #4) by Erin Watt – 3.5/5 Stars

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton – 4/5 Stars

Sociable by Rebecca Harrington – 2/5 Stars

Books Read in 2017 Overall: 97

Funny Fridays:

August 4

August 11

August 18

August 25

Other Posts:

July 2017 Recap

Top 5 Wednesday: Second Book is Best

Chocolate Book Tag

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Bromances

Summer of Mystery (Authors)

Book News:

Emery Lord is writing a sequel to The Start of Me and You

My favorite Emery Lord book, The Start of Me and You is getting a sequel! Unfortunately we have to wait until 2019 for The Map from Here to There, but it’s always exciting when the author of a beloved standalone decides to continue the characters’ stories.

July 2017 Recap

I had my best reading month I’ve had in awhile in July. That is mostly due to taking a week of vacation from work where I read 7 books. I didn’t go anywhere, did some shopping and some cleaning, and lots of reading and it was just the relaxing break I needed. Also notable in July I got to see Linda Castillo on book tour for the fourth year in a row and she remembered my name when I went up to get my book signed! Book Nerd’s dream right there. In life news, my dad went to the ER due to chest pains and ended up being admitted for a few days and had a couple of stent procedures done. He had an emergency bypass about a decade ago and has had to have a few stents put in over the years, but this is the first time it was an emergency like that again. Thankfully, all went well, there is no heart damage, and he is pretty much back to normal.

Books Read: 14

Adult: 10
YA: 4

Favorite Books I Read This Month:

    

  Books Reviewed: 9

(I can’t even the remember the last time I reviewed this many books in 1 month!)

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus – 4/5 Stars

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly – 3/5 Stars

Waste of Space by Gina Damico – 3.5/5 Stars

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter – 4/5 Stars

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker – 3/5 Stars

The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond – 4/5 Stars

Down a Dark Road (Kate Burkholder #9) by Linda Castillo – 4/5 Stars

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – 3/5 Stars

Trust by Kylie Scott – 4/5 Stars

Books Read in 2017 Overall: 80

Funny Fridays:

July 7

July 14

July 21

Other Posts:

June 2017 Recap

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag: 2017

Get to Know Me Tag

Reviewing the Unreviewed: July 201

Book News:

The Raven Cycle TV Show Being Developed for Syfy

The Raven Cycle being adapted for tv is a little bit of old news, but it was announced that it is going to by on the SyFy network and that Catherine Hardwicke is producing. Fangirls will remember Hardwicke as the director of the first Twilight movie and I have to admit this makes me a little skeptical of how good the Raven Cycle will be. Fingers crossed, though!

Looking Forward to August:

 

I’m very excited to go to two different book events with my book buddy, Amanda, this month. We are going to see both Karin Slaughter and Lisa Scottoline!

September 2016 Recap

I felt like this is the first month in awhile that I’ve been a decent blogger. I’ll never be a Post Everyday type of blogger, but I was a little more consistent. Oddly enough, my stats seem to be worse this month than the months where I hardly post anything. Hpmh. Of course the most exciting news of the month is that I went to one of Leigh Bardugo’s book tour stops for Crooked Kingdom!

Books Read: 9

Adult: 4
New Adult: 3
YA: 2

Favorite Book I Read This Month:

The Twenty-Three (Promise Falls #3) by Linwood Barclay

(Look for it November 1st)

Books Read in 2016 Overall: 100

Books Reviewed: 3

November 9 by Colleen Hoover – 4/5 Stars

Beautiful Maids all in a Row by Jennifer Harlow – 1/5 Stars

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti – 3/5 Stars

Funny Fridays:

September 9

September 16

September 23

Other Posts:

Pokémon Go Book Tag

The Elusive 5 Star Rating and Backing Myself into a Corner

Top 5 Wednesday: Books I want to see as TV Shows

Birthstones as Books Book Tag

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall TBR List

Reviewing the Unreviewed: September 2016

Trouble Makers Tour Stop with Leigh Bardugo

Looking Forward to October:

I am soooo ready for fall! I want to start brainstorming ideas for NaNoWriMo in November – I’m determined to win again this year (unlike last year which was a huge crash and burn). I have three reviews already drafted and ready to go. I’m really excited for one of my favorite books of the year, This Adventure Ends, to be out (my review for that will be up on Monday).

I’m thinking about going on a Twitter Hiatus until after the election is over. I’m so tired of the hate being spewed – from both sides of the aisle. If I don’t take a step back I think I’m going to end up unfollowing half the people I’m following. I recently saw an author I really like tweet a video that was a straight up lie (I saw the actual footage live that the clip cuts off) and it was retweeted nearly 1,000 times. There were a few comments on it saying how misleading it is, but she never responded or acknowledged it. And you know that is just one example of the media being misleading (on both sides) and people just believe it without ever investigating further. It makes me feel sick. I urge you to support your candidate (if you have one) without spewing hate at the opposite side. Hate begets Hate, people. Rise above it. And that will hopefully be the first and last thing I say about politics on this blog.