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  • Goodreads Monday #1: An Upcoming Release

    January 13th, 2020

    Hello and happy Monday, fellow book lovers! I’m trying a new book feature starting today. 🙂

    Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. For this meme, you choose a random book from your Goodreads TBR to share and talk about.

    This Week’s Book

    The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

    Publication Date: February 18, 2020

    The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

    Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

    Three Reasons It’s on My TBR

    1. The book is shelved as mystery/thriller on Goodreads and described as suspense in its summary, and I don’t read many thrillers or suspense novels. They’re genres I want to read more of this year–to push my reading outside my comfort zone–especially thrillers and suspense by female authors.
    2. I’ve heard good things about Simone St. James’s previous books.
    3. The cover captured my eye.

    Is The Sun Down Motel on your TBR? Have you ever read anything by Simone St. James? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!

  • The Sunday Post #3

    January 12th, 2020

    Hello and happy Sunday, lovelies!

    The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer.

    This post recaps the past week in my personal life and on the blog, spotlights the non-book media I enjoyed, and shares what’s coming up this week on the blog.

    Personal

    I went to a local cat cafe/lounge with a close friend–as a Christmas gift to her–and it was really fun. I realized that hanging out in a comfortable lounge with a bunch of cats can serve as self-care; who knew? We’re definitely going back.

    I have two months until my wedding reception/celebration(!). Although it’s going to be low-key and small, I have all of the decorations to make, so my frequency of posts on here will probably decrease during the next eight weeks.

    Media I Enjoyed Last Week

    Fated Mates: a Romance Novel Podcast with Sarah MacLean and Jen Prokop. Probably my new favorite podcast.

    Smart Podcast Trashy Books: I’ve been listening to their (four) episodes about their reviewers’ favorite books of 2019.

    Last Week on the Blog

    Ten of My Most Anticipated Book Releases of 2020

    Three More of My Most Anticipated Book Releases of 2020

    Book Review: The Suspect

    First Lines Fridays

    2020 Reading Goals: Audiobook Challenge

    This Week on the Blog

    Trying Dot Journaling to Track My Reading Plus a Mini Book Review

    TTT: Five Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2019

    Mini Book Review: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

    Audiobook Review: The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

    First Lines Fridays

    I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday and happy reading!

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  • First Lines Fridays

    January 10th, 2020

    Hola and happy Friday, my fellow readers!

    First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words.

    What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

    • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
    • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
    • Finally… reveal the book!

    This is not the way to spend a beautiful spring morning! Elena Klovis thought, as she peered around the pile of bandboxes in her arms.

    Want to know which book these first lines begin?

    The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

    Goodreads

    Summary

    In the land of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can’t carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale…

    Elena Klovis was supposed to be her kingdom’s Cinderella–until fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! So she set out to make a new life for herself. But breaking with “The Tradition” was no easy matter–until she got a little help from her own fairy godmother. Who promptly offered Elena a most unexpected job…

    Now, instead of sleeping in the chimney, she has to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who keep trying to rise above their place in the tale. And there’s one in particular who needs to be dealt with…

    Sometimes a fairy godmother’s work is never done…

    I was gifted The Fairy Godmother last year. It’s one of Mercedes Lackey’s many backlist titles. I’m about a hundred pages in and enjoying this fairy tale retelling of Cinderella.

    It’s the December 2019/January 2020 read for the book club for nerdy/geeky women that I co-moderate IRL. Each month, we read and discuss a science fiction or fantasy novel.

    What are you reading this week? Feel free to let me know below. 🙂

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  • Book Review: The Suspect by Fiona Barton

    January 9th, 2020

    Hello and happy Friday Eve, fellow book people! I’ve got a book review of a psychological suspense novel today.

    Cover image and summary from Goodreads.

    Title: The Suspect (Kate Waters #3)

    Author: Fiona Barton

    Publication Date: January 22, 2019

    When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared?

    Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth—and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, whom she hasn’t seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling.

    As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think…

    The Suspect is listed as the third in the Kate Waters series but can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel, which is how I read it.

    • The narrative involves alternating points of view–we hear from DI Bob Sparkes, the mother of one of the girls, one of the girls herself, and Kate–and the author interweaves each character’s story together expertly over the course of the story.
    • I’ll admit, I go into suspense, thrillers, and crime novels expecting the plot to take center stage the entire time I read so I was impressed by the characterizations. The author is really good at creating relatable characters quickly, with merely a glimpse into a character’s mind.
    • Although the novel begins with a gradual build up of tension as the author introduces characters and sets up the story, the initially slower pace is worth the wait for the suspense it builds up to and the pay off.
    • The audiobook. It’s narrated by four different voice actors, each of them skillful in helping to bring the twisty story–and its flawed characters–to life in sound. I was immersed from the start.
    • Barton raises questions I was still thinking about for days after I finished reading.
    • The handling of some problematic stuff:
      • In the audiobook, the voice actor(s) give the Thai characters–particularly one character who has a significant amount of dialogue–accents that are, at best, unbelievable.
      • The depiction of a young woman sleeping with whomever she wants as somehow saying something about her character/morality. (Can you tell I’m really tired of slut shaming?)

    ⭐⭐⭐

    Rating: 3 out of 5.
    • Entertaining, missing persons psychological suspense that could’ve been ripped from the headlines.
    • Relatable and believable characters.
    • Thought-provoking, immersive story.
    • Asks serious questions like:
      • How does the media sensationalize events involving crime and shape them into a narrative that they can sell? How do victims of crime and their families cope with this phenomenon?
      • Where is the boundary between a parent protecting their child and a parent shielding their child from the consequences of their child’s actions?
      • How do we mold the truth in our telling and retelling of our experiences?

    Have you read this book or any of the other novels by Fiona Barton? If so, what did you think?

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  • Three More Most Anticipated Book Releases of the First Half of 2020

    January 8th, 2020

    Hello and happy hump day!

    Because I love reading about new releases and making lists, I decided to share three more of my most anticipated books coming out during the first half of this year.

    The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

    Pub. Date: March 26th

    Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city in the first book of a stunning new series by Hugo award-winning and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

    Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got five.

    But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

    Little Eyes: A Novel by Samanta Schweblin

    Pub. Date: May 5th

    In Samanta Schweblin’s wildly imaginative new novel, Little Eyes, “kentukis” have gone viral across the globe. They’re little mechanical stuffed animals that have cameras for eyes, wheels for feet, and are connected to an anonymous global server. Owners of kentukis have the eyes of a stranger in their home and a cute squeaking pet following them; or you can be the kentuki and voyeuristically spend time in someone else’s life, controlling the creature with a few keystrokes. Through kentukis, a jaded Croatian hustler stumbles into a massive criminal enterprise and saves a life in Brazil, a lonely old woman in Peru becomes fascinated with a young woman and her louche lover in Germany, and a motherless child in Antigua finds a new virtual family and experiences snow for the first time in Norway.

    The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

    Pub. Date: March 17th

    A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

    Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

    When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

    But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

    An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

    I can’t wait to check out these books, especially N.K. Jemisin’s new novel, which I had forgotten is coming out in March.

    Are any of these titles on your TBR?

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  • Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

    January 7th, 2020

    Hello and happy Tuesday!

    Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.

    This week’s Top Ten theme is Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020.

    My Most Anticipated Book Releases

    Links, Publication Dates, and Blurbs

    • Check, Please!, Book 2: Sticks and Scones by Ngozi Ukazu
      • Pub. Date: April 7th
      • Eric Bittle is heading into his junior year at Samwell University, and not only does he have new teammates―he has a brand new boyfriend!
      • I love Eric “Bitty” Bittle.
    • House Rules (Uptown #3) by by Ruby Lang
      • Pub. Date: February 10th
      • ROOMMATE WANTED to share a gorgeous sun-filled apartment in Central Harlem. Must love cats. No ex-husbands or wives need apply.
      • Second chance contemporary about ex-spouses living together as roommates? Sign me up!
    • Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
      • Pub. Date: July 1st
      • Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend. Practically perfect in every way
      • Contemporary with fake boyfriends by a queer author whose writing I enjoy.
    • Forever Strong (True Heroes #6) by Piper J. Drake
      • Pub. Date: January 28th
      • On the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, not all is paradise in this high-stakes, action-packed romantic suspense. He’ll risk his life for her . . . but will he risk his heart?
      • A new-to-me author. Romantic suspense isn’t one of my go-to sub-genres, and I’m reading more of it in 2020.
    • The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel
      • Pub. Date: May 12th
      • A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy debut about first impressions, second chances, and finding the love of your life in the most unexpected way.
    • Headliners (London Celebrities #5) by Lucy Parker
      • Pub. Date: January 20th
      • Sparks fly when two feuding TV presenters are thrown together to host a live morning show in Lucy Parker’s latest enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance.
      • I love the author’s writing. The first book in the London Celebrities series, Act Like It, is one of my favorite books.
    • Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) by Rebel Carter
      • Pub. Date: January 29th
      • For as long as anyone can remember Seylah Wickes-Barnes has been at the side of August Leclaire, her best friend and the boy her fathers took under their wing.
      • A new-to-me author I’m excited to try! Historical is another sub-genre that I don’t read much of.
    • A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee
      • Pub. Date: July 14th
      • Korean-American author Jayci Lee delights with this delicious and light-hearted romantic comedy that readers will devour and ask for more.
      • There is baking. 🙂
    • Whiteout (Survival Instincts, #1) by Adriana Anders
      • Pub. Date: January 28th
      • Angel Smith is ready to leave Antarctica for a second chance at life. But on what was meant to be her final day, the research station is attacked. Hunted and scared, she and glaciologist Ford Cooper barely make it out with their lives…only to realize that in a place this remote, there’s nowhere left to run.
      • I really liked the author’s Under Her Skin, a dark romance with an abuse survivor heroine.
    • Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson
      • Pub. Date: May 19th
      • When their foster-turned-adoptive mother suddenly dies, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop, while dealing with life and love in Harlem.
      • Contemporary that takes place in Harlem and another new-to-me author.

    Are you looking forward to reading any of these books? What are your most anticipated book releases of 2020? Let me know!

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  • 2020 Reading Goals Part 3: Another Challenge

    January 6th, 2020

    Hello and happy Monday!

    2020 Audiobook Challenge

    I stumbled upon the 2020 Audiobook Challenge hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer and Hot Listens just yesterday, and I couldn’t help but jump into it.

    The objective is to “find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2020 than you did in 2019,” the latter of which is exactly one of my reading goals for 2020. Last year, I listened to only a handful of audiobooks, but I quite enjoy them when the voice actor’s narration works for me. Not to mention, my ADHD brain really likes that I can do something with my hands–like color, crochet, or chores–whilst someone reads me a story.

    There are eight Achievement Levels to choose from as part of the challenge. I’m going for 15 to 20 audiobooks. This level is called Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me), which I find highly amusing. I’ve already listened to two audios this year, so I’m off to a good start.

    Check out any of the links above if you’re interested in signing up!

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  • The Sunday Post #2

    January 5th, 2020

    The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer.

    In each Sunday Post, I share a bit from the past week in my personal life along with the non-book media I enjoyed. I also list some highlights from the past week on the blog and my blog plans for this week.

    Personal

    The first week of 2020 has come and gone. Kind of strange to think about, but they were fairly uneventful days in my personal life, even New Year’s Eve, which I spent at home with the spouse and fur babies after being away for several days.

    Today–not so much uneventful. I learned upon waking up that Belle, the hamster in our household, went missing some time during the night after her cage fell over. We have yet to locate her. My best friend (who brought the hammy with her when she moved in with us during this past summer) is trying not to freak out. Since I’m a night owl and hamsters are apparently nocturnal, I will be looking for Miss Belle tonight whilst my family sleeps. Wish us luck!

    In other news, I participated in an end of 2019 readathon hosted over on Litsy by @jb72, @TheReadingMermaid, and @Andrew65. (By the way, if you haven’t already checked out Litsy, what are you waiting for? It’s basically Instagram for readers.) #24b4Monday is a readathon hosted semi-regularly; their end of 2019 version had the goal of reading for 24 hours from December 27th through December 31st.

    My total reading time: 19 hours and 5 minutes

    Not bad considering I was pet sitting at a friend’s where I watched a lot of TV lol.

    The Books I Bought

    A red Moleskine 2020 weekly planner, paperback of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, paperback of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton on cushion with a black dog lying curled up in the background.
    Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton were my haul. I also got a 2020 weekly planner. I received a few Barnes and Noble gift cards for Christmas. 🙂

    Media I Enjoyed

    • More of The Expanse. I finished season three yesterday. It only gets better!
    • Reading Envy: a podcast in which an avid reader talks about the books she’s been reading and has others on to do the same. I’ve been listening for years (her voice is so soothing)–and was even a guest myself! I’m in the process of catching up with the last few episodes.
    • Re-watched Brave and Finding Dory. I needed the feel-good.

    Blog Highlights

    • Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books I Read in 2019
    • 2019 Reading Wrap-Up
    • Currently Reading and Quote of the Week
    • Mini Audiobook Review: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

    Plans for This Week

    • I’m sharing my participation in another 2020 reading challenge that I stumbled upon today.
    • Book Review: The Suspect by Fiona Barton
    • Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020
    • Currently Reading and Quote of the Week
    • Mini Audiobook Review: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

    Hope you have a good week!

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  • Reading Goals Update: Mini Audiobook Review and #Classicscommunity Reading Challenge TBR

    January 3rd, 2020

    Because I finished reading my first book for the #Classicscommunity Reading Challenge, I thought I’d share a mini review of the classic I read in audio format as well as the books remaining on my TBR list for the challenge.

    Mini Review: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

    I stumbled upon the audiobook when I was looking for something new to listen to in Libby, and since I finished it yesterday, it counts for the #Classicscommunity 2020 Reading Challenge. (One book down, eleven more to go!)

    If you’re on the fence about trying Murder on the Orient Express for fear that you might find it monotonous or boring, consider trying the audiobook. Dan Stevens, the voice actor who narrates, has such skill with accents I was nearly spellbound by each conversation Poirot has with the various characters in the novel. Having read a couple other Hercule Poirot novels by Christie, I felt that the narrator’s performance/delivery of Poirot’s character was spot on.

    This is basically a radio drama performed by one actor. I can’t ask for anything more from an audiobook.

    #Classicscommunity 2020 Reading Challenge TBR

    In no particular order:

    • Villette by Charlotte Brontë
    • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
    • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
    • Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
    • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
    • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Edit: I plan to read Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers instead. It’s the first in Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.
    • The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
    • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
    • Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
    • The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Edit: I’m replacing The Woman in White with The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I remembered that more than one reader has recommended it to me multiple times, and I want the majority of classics I read this year to have female authors.
    • Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

    My list is comprised of many of the classics I’ve never gotten around to reading but have wanted to try for a long time. It’s heavy on the Gothic literature. I’ve also included some Victorian literature and a few modern classics.

    I’m still deciding the order in which I’m going to read them. For example, I might read The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abbey back to back in order to compare the two. Radcliffe’s novel is held up as elevating “the Gothic romance to a new level,” and Austen’s novel is satirical of the Gothic novel, so reading them one after the other–or even at the same time–may prove interesting. We shall see.

    What about you? Do you have a TBR list planned for your reading challenge(s)?

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  • Quote of the Week

    January 2nd, 2020
    Quote: "Some of us, in the words of the divine Greta Garbo, want to be alone.”
― Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express
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