Top Ten Tuesday: Backlist Books I Want to Read

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl, is: Top Ten Backlist Books I Want to Read. I’m not sure how everyone else defines “backlist”, but I’m going to use it as any book currently published I haven’t read yet, even if they came out recently.

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor. I bought this book from the bargain shelves a couple years ago and still haven’t started it yet.

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The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater. I got Shiver as a free e-book a couple years ago and I started it once, but never finished it. I’d like to go back and give the series another try.

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Speaking of Stiefvater, I haven’t read All the Crooked Saints yet, either.

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I’ve only read the first two books in the Helen Grace series by M.J. Alridge. I did enjoy them, but somehow it just fell off my radar and I’d like to go back and pick up where I left off.

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The Conqueror’s Saga by Kiersten White. I remember being really excited for this series (mostly due to the beautiful cover, if I’m honest), but I started it once and couldn’t get into it. I’ve read so many great reviews of this series, though, and I want to try it again.

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My brother, who is not a big reader, is obsessed with the Mitch Rapp series and I’ve read the first couple books and enjoyed them, but need to get to the rest. One interesting thing about this series, it recently picked up with some new books written by a different author after the original author (Flynn) passed away.

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Wonder Woman by Leigh Bardugo. This was one of my most anticipated books last year, but I have yet to read it. I did actually start it once, but didn’t get past the first chapter or two.

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From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon. I love Amy Harmon books and this is one of the very few I haven’t read yet.

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All of the Rosato & Associates and Rosata & DiNunzio books by Lisa Scottoline. I’ve read the first book in each series (one is a spin-off of the other, but really I think is just a continuation?) and I need to get to the rest of them.

What backlist books do you want to read?

Reviewing the Unreviewed: October 2018

I read a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing for whatever reason. Some because I wasn’t impressed. Some because I didn’t have the time. Some I just wasn’t feeling it on whatever particular day I finished. Reviewing the Unreviewed is my monthly post where I share my few thoughts on all the books I didn’t formally review.

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Bad Mommy by Tarryn Fisher. Read September 28-30 (yes, this was September, but I finished it late in the month and it didn’t make the last post). 3.5 Stars. 

I started out really liking this and just how crazy all the characters are. I was completely addicted. But then about half way through I started to get a little bored. I thought things drug out a little long. And I was expecting Jolene to really be more crazy than the other two and have some master plan or something, but I found her incredibly boring. I kept waiting for something completely shocking to happen at the end and was left really underwhelmed. ****Maybe a spoiler-alert??? So is this story supposed to be something that actually happened in real life to the author? Is that what the ending means? If it is, it kind of annoys me that the story had to rely on something outside of itself and couldn’t stand alone. If that’s not what it was supposed to mean….then what was the point?? Can someone please fill me in!!

**Note: I did get some comments when I posted this review on Goodreads that this story is in fact based on something that happened to the author. While it’s crazy, I still wish it would’ve been addressed in an Author Note or something instead of having the twist at the end be “this is based on true events.”

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Without Merit by Colleen Hoover. Read October 5-6. 4 Stars. 

First, I want to say a big thanks to Brandie for giving this to me for my birthday last year! I also want to say I’m sorry it took me so long to read it! Though there were a few things I didn’t like (I thought dressing up the statue of Jesus was a little offensive), overall I thought it was a great story about family and communication and forgiveness. I can definitely relate to secret-keeping and lack of communication in family. I loved the characters, even when they sometimes frustrated me, and their whole quirky living situation was kind of fascinating. I am not the CoHo fangirl so many are, but this has been the second book of hers I’ve had a hard time putting down. I liked that the angsty romance wasn’t the main focus of this book, too. I really enjoyed this and definitely recommend it!

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Reluctantly Married (Married #2) by Victorine E. Lieske. Read October 14-15. 4 Stars. 

This was a super cute fake relationship story. I liked both the main characters and was definitely rooting for them. While it could have been maybe a little better plotted, I just enjoyed reading it so much that I’m bumping my rating up to 4 stars. I also thought this was a good example of how a Romance can still bring all the feelings without any of the graphic content, which is always a plus in my book.

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Acting Married (Married #5) by Victorine E. Lieske. Read October 16-17. 3.5 Stars.

Another cute, sweet fake-relationship story. This was a super quick read with likable characters. There was one major thing that bothered me, though. Tara sometimes acted like she had no say whatsoever in what happened. Like in the beginning when the topic of getting married to save Rick’s image comes up and was dismissed she says something like, “Thank goodness he didn’t insist.” Like because she was one of the maids in his employment she wouldn’t be able to say no if he really insisted? There were a few things like that that bugged me. But overall, it was cute and I shipped the romance.

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Blissfully Married (Married #4) by Victorine E. Liekse. Read October 18-19. 2.5 Stars. 

I did not like this book nearly as much as the other books in the series I’ve read. I had a really hard time liking Sidney. Blake was a little better, but I honestly didn’t care much for him either. I just couldn’t understand any of the choices Sidney made and found her really annoying. I also didn’t really get why Blake pursued her so hard. While I definitely recommend this series to Fake Relationship fans, I think it’s ok if you skip this one.

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Breaking the Ice (Juniper Falls #2) by Julie Cross. Read October 23-25. 3 Stars. 

There were parts of this book I really liked and enjoyed, but there were also very large portions where I was just rolling my eyes a lot. I don’t remember a whole lot of the first book in this series, but I definitely didn’t like Haley in that book (though she did kind of redeem herself by the end). I honestly didn’t really like her any better here. She really annoyed me about 90% of the time. I did like Fletcher, though. I thought the severity of his allergies were a little inconsistent throughout the book, but I did find everything he had to go through because of them interesting.

*****Back on the TBR*****

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Betrayed (Rosato & DiNunzio #2) by Lisa Scottoline. Some day I will actually get this book from the library and read more than a chapter. It just wasn’t this month.

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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. After loving the Beartown series I decided to give this book a try. I only got a couple chapters in and just wasn’t into it. I’ll try it again someday, though.

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Say You Will (Summerhill #1) by Kate Perry. This book has been on my radar for years, but it’s never been at the library. Recently it was a free Kindle book and I snatched it up. Unfortunately, I just had such a hard time getting into it. I really disliked almost all the characters and pretty much everything they did. I’ll give it a try another time, though.

*****Book with Future Reviews Scheduled*****

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – 4 Stars

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen – 3 Stars

The Smiling Man (Aidan Waits Thriller #2) by Joseph Knox – 4 Stars

My Blog’s Name in Books

I saw this tag over on Fictionophile not too long ago and thought it looked fun. The basic rules are to use your current TBR list (no cheating!) to spell out your blog’s name. This might take awhile, folks.

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Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

T

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Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

E

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Exposed (Rosato & DiNunzio #5) by Lisa Scottoline

P

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Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

H

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Hangman (Detective Williams Fawkes #2) by Daniel Cole

A

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After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

N

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Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick

I

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It’s Always the Husband by Michele Campbell

E

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The Echo Killing (Harper McClain #1) by Christi Daugherty

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Silent Scream (D. I. Kim Stone # 1) by Angela Marsons

B

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Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

O

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One Small Thing by Erin Watt

O

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Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

K

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King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

R

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Rolling in the Deep (Rolling in the Deep #0.5) by Mira Grant

E

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Each Little Lie by Tom Bale

V

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Visions (Cainsville #2) by Kelley Armstrong

I

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It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

E

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The Ever After by Sarah Pekkanen

W

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Watching You by Lisa Jewell

S

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Still Me (Me Before You #3) by Jojo Moyes

Do we have similar books on our TBRs? Did you find anything you wanted to add to yours?

Feel free to tag yourself if you’d like to play.

Reviewing the Unreviewed: September 2017

I read a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing for whatever reason. Some because I wasn’t impressed. Some because I didn’t have the time. Some I just wasn’t feeling it on whatever particular day I finished. Reviewing the Unreviewed is my monthly post where I share my few thoughts on all the books I didn’t formally review.

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My New Crush Gave to Me by Shani Petroff. Read September 5-7. 3 Stars. 

This book was light and cute and I enjoyed it. It will definitely get you into the holiday mood. Full review to come closer to release date.

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With a Twist (Bad Habits #1) by Staci Hart. Read September 7-9. 2 Stars. 

I’m kind of surprised that I decided to finish this one, to be honest. The characters were ok and I did want to see West and Lily get together, but most of it was pretty boring. It wasn’t that graphic compared to most books in this genre, but the characters were just constantly talking about sex and anatomy and it was sometimes kind of crude. There were a couple of nice moments between West and Lily and it was kind of interesting that Lily was a ballerina, but those are the only good things I can really say about it. I’m sure that people who are big fans of New Adult romance would enjoy this a lot more than I did.

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A Family for Christmas (Willow Park #3) by Noelle Adams. Read September 9-10. 3 Stars. 

A cute, quick read featuring a marriage of convenience. I read the first book in this series a while ago and liked it and have had this one on my e-reader for awhile and decided to give it a try. I didn’t like it quite as much as I did the first one, but it was cute and I liked the relationship between Lydia and Gabe. What I really like about this series is that the characters are Christians, but it’s not Christian Fiction. It has all the elements (including the love scenes) you would get in regular mainstream Romance, but the characters stand apart a bit from the norm. I like this bit of diversity that you don’t often see in mainstream fiction.

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13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough. Read September 9-11. 3.5 Stars.

I’m excited to be part of the blog tour for this. Look for my review on October 2nd. 

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Always You (Bachelor Brotherhood #3) by Denise Grover Swank. Read September 12-16. 3.5 Stars.

I enjoyed this. Matt is definitely one of the sweetest male leads I have read and I wish he was real. While it did take me a little bit to get into the romance and to like the kids, I did eventually get on board with all of it. There were several humorous parts, including a scene in Chuck E. Cheese that made me laugh out loud. Full review to come closer to release date.

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Accused (Rosato & DiNunzio #1) by Lisa Scottoline. Read September 16-18. 3.5 Stars. 

I really needed a good mystery and Accused delivered for me. I thought it was just a tiny bit drawn out, though, and did not find the conclusion surprising. I was really frustrated with a lot of Mary’s behavior for most of the book, but she was much better by the end. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series.

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Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz. Read September 23-25. 3 Stars.

I love a good holiday romance and I love Pride and Prejudice re-tellings, so Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe looked like it would be perfect for me. While it was a fun read, it ended up falling short of my (pretty high) expectations. Full review to come.

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Killing Kate by Alex Lake. Read September 25-27. 3.5 Stars

Short chapters just make books so much more readable and I must say that they served this book really well. Even though the pace was actually pretty slow, the short chapters kept the suspense up and made it so much easier to say “just one more chapter” long after I should’ve stopped reading. As for the story itself…it was ok. It was kind of a different angle of a serial killer book and I liked that. Kate was not a very likable character. I preferred the chapters from her ex-boyfriend’s POV, Phil. A little over half way through I guessed who the serial killer was and what the slight “twist” with it was. It wasn’t too long after that that everything was revealed, but then it just drug on and on and on. I was not at all satisfied with the ending. However, the fact that I found it addicting for a while is bumping my rating up the extra half star.