December Wrap Up

This month started on a high note with my listening to Roses by Leila Meacham, but the remainder of the month the reading was pretty mediocre with no real standouts, but I'm hopeful that next month will be a better reading month. 

	Wow, I loved this book. It was a family saga and covered between 75-100+ years. I didn't expect to love it this much. It may become one of my favorites of the year. I look forward to reading or listening to the prequel, Somerset. I definitely recommend this book!  5 STARS!!!

I received this as an e-ARC from the publisher through NetGalley. I only read the first 2 stories, Christmas Passed by Fern Michaels and a Glory Junction Christmas by Stacy Finz and really enjoyed them. Stacy Finz is one of my newer favorite authors and Fern Michaels I had never read although I have heard of her. The other 2 stories, I tried reading, but they just didn't appeal to me and when you have a huge TBR pile, why force yourself to read something you don't enjoy.  3 stars.

An interesting book to listen to on a topic that one is hearing about more. Glad to hear the parents were so supportive and such advocates for their child and that although Jazz is only 15 or 16, I'm glad that she told her story and is able to help other youth and young adults who are feeling the same way, as well as their parents.. I'm glad I listened to this. 2 stars.

This is the 5th book in a series that is put out each Christmas, I wait until the next holiday season and get it from my library. So, I know there will be 1 more after this one. A Texas Hill Country Christmas took me quite awhile to really get into. It wasn't until past the halfway point that I really started to enjoy it. The very end really redeemed the entire story, Hopefully, the next one in the series, A Colorado Christmas I enjoy more. I'll find out next year at this time! 3 stars.

This is the first book that I read by Donna VanLiere. The story itself was pretty much enjoyable, but several times, especially near the beginning, I found myself contemplating putting it away and not finishing it. The story is written in the third person present tense, which is extremely awkward to read. So many people have raved about this author and her Christmas stories that I felt I needed to keep with it. Although I liked most of the characters, the friendship and interaction between Gloria and Miriam really irritated me, mainly Miriam. I am not sure that I will read future books by Donna VanLiere or the previous 8 Christmas stories, I'll have to look into whether the other books are in the 3rd person present or not. as I did not enjoy that reading experience. Had it not been written in 3rd person present, I may have given the book 4 stars and I was seriously considering only 2 stars, but in the end I felt a 3-star rating was more fair since the story was a heartfelt one. I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

Stacy Finz is one of favorite authors that I discovered in the past couple years. Her Nugget series takes place in Nugget, California in the Sierra Nevada. I love visiting the town of Nugget through the pages of her books and catching up with the residents of Nugget, although I have to admit that this particular book I was not quite as entranced by. I just did not enjoy the chemistry between Gia Treadwell and Flynn Barlow and some of the storyline seemed very predictable, I am excited to see that there will be another book in this series coming in April, though, before her new series starts in July in the nearby town of Glory Junction. Hopefully, she will have the occasional appearance or mention of one of the Nugget residents. Although I give this 3 stars, I feel it deserves more of a 2.75 or 2.5 stars.



A very short story and part of the Welcome Home series that I was invited by the author to download. It is a continuation of Val and Griffin's story, which was told in Welcoming the Bad Boy. I'm excited to read her new series coming out in April.

I'm not quite sure how to review this one. I haven't been reading (listening to audiobooks) Nicholas Sparks books long. Although I've seen a couple of the movie adaptations back in the 90s or early 2000s. This book seemed incredibly long, but it could have been that I had to listen to it over a greater than usual period of time than I usually do. I just wasn't that engaged with the story. It seemed very slow and mot that exciting. At times, I considered DNF'ing it, but I continued with it. The end was satisfying and saved the book from being rated 2 stars, just OK, but as a whole I wasn't impressed and am glad this wasn't my 1st Nicholas Sparks' book, as it probably would have also been my last.
3 stars (actually 2.5 stars)

I'm reading an ARC of  by Leila Meacham, that I only have 20% more to read, but don't expect to get to tonight.  I'm also reading a library book that was available at my local library,
, which I'm about 20% through.  I should get to some more tonight.  It's a middle grade book, but I am really enjoying it so far.  So hopefully, it will get me out of my reading slump.  Also, I am a little less than 10 minutes into an audiobook,  by Rinker Buck.  It is rather long at 16+ hours, so we'll see how it goes.

Holiday Books 2016

Every Christmas season, I try to read several holiday books to get into the holidays spirit.  This year I read 5 Christmas books.




Christmas in Eternity Springs
by Emily March

This year I started my holiday reading earlier than I usually do; at the end of September, but that was due to me having signed up to participate in a blog tour for Christmas in Eternity Springs, whose Eternity Springs series is a favorite.  This was one of two of my favorite holiday books this year.  Definitely a 5 star read for me.


Welcome Home for Christmas
by Annie Rains

This was my other favorite holiday book this year, another 5-star read.  This author was new to me this year and I believe this was also her debut series and I have to say that I loved it.  She is starting a new series, I think in the early spring and can't wait to see where she takes it.


The Most Wonderful Time
By Fern Michaels, Stacy Finz, Sarah Title, Shirlee McCoy

I only read the first 2 stories, the one by Fern Michaels and the one by Stacy Finz.  The other 2 I didn't care for, so I didn't finish them.



This series has a Christmas book come out every year, I've been reading one each Christmas for the past several years.  I usually enjoy them very much, there's a good mix of adventure and romance, but this year I was just not crazy about the one that I read. 



This was the last Christmas story that I read this year.  I don't think I'll be reading anymore until next year. I had heard of this author for several years; she writes a Christmas story every year.  The story itself was enjoyable, but what was not enjoyable was that it was written in 3rd person present tense, which makes for very awkward reading.

November Wrap Up

A very good month for books.  I finished reading 4 books and listening to 7,

I listened to this book on audio. I had tried to listen to this book several months ago, but sent it back to the library, but I decided to give it another try. Although, I wouldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed, I did listen to it in its entirety this time and I will try the next book in the series. This series may though be a bit too juvenile for me to read as a 40-omething. I'll be giving this on Goodreads only 2 stars since for me it really was only slightly better than OK, but personally, I'd rat I listened to this book on audio. I had tried to listen to this book several months ago, but sent it back to the library, but I decided to give it another try. Although, I wouldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed, I did listen to it in its entirety this time and I will try the next book in the series. This series may though be a bit too juvenile for me to read as a 40-something. I'll be giving this on Goodreads only 2 stars since for me it really was only slightly better than OK, but personally, I'd rate it 2.25 or even 2.5 stars.

I had this on reserve at my library's e-book website for several months. I had expected that I would thoroughly enjoy it and waited anxiously for it. Unfortunately, I was not as enthralled by it as I hoped to be and actually was not enthralled at all. As more and more reviews were done on it, many people complained about the lack of character development, since primarily each chapter focused on only a few select characters and a particular generation, with the chapters alternating sides of a family tree, one in Ghana and the other although originally from Ghana, the other side of the family tree were taken away to America as slaves. Some of the chapters were better than others, but the lack of character development due to the brevity of time we spent with each generation of characters was a detriment to the book as a whole, at least for me. I did enjoy how the final chapter completed the story. The book did take me longer to read than usual. It has been difficult to decide on a rating for this book, but on Goodreads, after much consideration, I give it 3 stars, but on a personal level, I would give it 2.5 stars or even 2.75 stars.

This is the second book in a trilogy which centers on a mystery in a New Order Amish community of who killed one of the young men. of the community. I read the first book a couple months ago and the second book continues where the first book left off without really reminding us anything that happened in the previous book. Although\, I have read books where nearly half of the new book is a summary of the previous book and those are just too repetitive, but I would have liked a bit of a summary, j This is the second book in a trilogy which centers on a mystery in a New Order Amish community of who killed one of the young men. of the community. I read the first book a couple months ago and the second book continues where the first book left off without really reminding us anything that happened in the previous book. Although\, I have read books where nearly half of the new book is a summary of the previous book and those are just too repetitive, but I would have liked a bit of a summary, just a page or so even dispersed through out the story. At first, I was confused about some of the stories that were going on in the book, although after awhile I did get back into the stories and enjoyed the book. I usually like taking sometime between books in a series, but after feeling like even a couple months between book 1 and book 2 was too long, I am going to listen to book 3 later next week. 3 stars for this book, since I did not enjoy it to the same degree that I did the first book, Missing.

I've been trying to get into fantasy, but I finally after listening to over 60%, I had to just DNF it. It was just too confusing and strange. I could not stand the writing, much too descriptive and I just could not follow the story. I was intrigued by the fact that the narrator was Bronson Pinchot, who I remember as Balki in Perfect Strangers in the 80s; as a narrator, he was fine, quite good in fact. It was the story itself that turned me off.

I enjoyed the first book in the series very much, the second book was not as good as the first, but this the 3rd book in the series, was another very enjoyable and engaging story. 4 stars

I absolutely loved this book. Annie Rains is my favorite newly-discovered author of 2016. The stories are always good, the characters likeable, and the chemistry between the 2 main characters red-hot! Definitely a 5-star book for me! I can't wait for her new series next year; although I will miss this series. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 5 stars



I was not quite sure what to expect from this one before I listened to this. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though; it was full of various stories over the years when he was a practicing pediatrician. First in Russia and later in the Chicago area. I enjoyed the fact that much of his stories took place in the Chicagoland area. The book is narrated by the author himself and although he is not the best narrator, there was a certain charm to the fact that he narrated it himself.  4 stars.


What an extremely brave woman. I'm having difficulty deciding if I should give this 4 or 5 stars. It's definitely a 4.5 in my eyes. This was an extremely well-done biography of Irena Sendler and the saving of thousands of Jewish children and babies from the Warsaw Ghetto. I had not realized how bad things were in Poland, which is where my paternal ancestors came from; although they came to America in the early 20th century.

3.5 stars for this one. This is one of the better books about dogs that I read (listened to) Jessica Vogelsang is a veterinarian and in this book she talks about her life mainly with 3 dogs she had during her life and her choice to become a veterinarian.

Very cute pictures of dogs accompanied by 50 fact about them. There's only 50 of them, so it is a short 50 pages though. I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.  3 stars,



Originally, I started reading this a couple months ago and sent it back to the library. Found the writing too simplistic. I was going to retry it in audio and requested the book on Overdrive both in audio and as an e-book, both with a long waiting list. The e-book came available first, so I tried reading it again. At first the I didn't care for the writing, but I kept reading and it grew on me. I plan on reading the next book sometime next year.  3 stars.

I listened to this book yesterday and although, it is a good story of a young woman who defected from North Korea, I find the book The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Storyby Hyoenseo Lee much better. One can't judge too severely, as pretty much any story told by someone who defected from North Korea is personally their own, but I feel the other book is told better and was just more engaging as a whole. What this family went through is harrowing as is any story of people escaping from North Korea. I find EunSun and in fact her entire family very brave and wish them the best.  4 stars


All in all, this was a very well-rounded month. I had at least book in each rating, except for one-star and that happens rarely that I give a book one star, because I usually quit reading the book if it is that bad.  If I quit reading a book I then do not rate it, since I did not read it from beginning to end.  My favorite book was Welcome Home for Christmas, but Irena's Children was a close second

Christmas In Eternity Springs Blog Tour

---

EMILY MARCH

"March's return to Eternity Springs exudes warmth, love and courage; all the elements of a cozy Christmas romance.” -RT Book Reviews AAS, Martin's Paperbooks

Christmas In Eternity Springs
Emily March
St. Martin's Press (Expected publication date October 4th, 2016)
320 pages
5 stars


Yes, it is early to start one's holiday reading, but what a wonderful way to get into the holiday mood.  This is a great new addition to the Eternity Spring series.  You do not need to start at the beginning of the series, but can just jump in, starting with this book.  You will most likely want to end up reading the others.  I started this series in the middle at #7, Miracle Road, another book set for the holidays and have read everyone from #7 to #12  and I'm slowly getting  to the previous ones.I love the entire Eternity Springs series, but her books that take place during the holiday season are even more special. When can I move to Eternity Springs?

EXCERPT of Christmas in Eternity Springs

In her apartment, he discovered she’d been busy since making the decision to move to Three Bears Valley.

“That’s a lot of boxes.”

“I know. I’m not quite sure how I’ve accumulated so much stuff. My closets aren’t that big. Of course, most of the boxes are filled with books.”

“That sound is my back groaning.”

She glanced at him in alarm. “You don’t have to help, Jax. I planned to hire some—”

He cut off her protest by placing his index finger against her lips. Her full, soft, cherry- red lips. His voice rough, he said, “I was teasing.”

She’d gone still. The pulse at her neck visibly fluttered.

Jax recognized that he’d made a mistake by touching her.

However, now that he’d done it, he couldn’t seem to stop.

He allowed his fi n ger to slide, stroking her bottom lip back and forth. Her mouth fell open. Back and forth. “Do you like to be teased, Miss Christmas?”

“No. Yes. It depends,” she replied, her voice low and breathy.

Jax chuckled softly. “ You’re quite a tease yourself.”

“Why do you say that?”

Had she swayed toward him as she spoke? Maybe so.

“You have mistletoe hung from every doorway in the building.”

“That’s not t- t- teasing. It’s marketing.” Her gaze was locked on his mouth. “Customers who shop with their significant others tend to love it. They linger.”

He lifted his free hand to her waist. “I like to linger.”

“You do?”

“Oh, yeah.” He pulled her closer. “I’ve been thinking about lingering since last July.”

“You have?”

“You ask a lot of questions, Miss Christmas.”

“I’m curious.”

“ You’re delicious.”

“How do you know?” she challenged. “You haven’t kissed me.”

“Now, you have a point right there. But like I said, I like to linger.”

He tilted her face up to him and finally . . . finally . . . lowered his mouth to hers.

Jax hadn’t kissed a woman in a very long time, and he wanted to savor the experience, so he lingered as promised. He nipped and nibbled and leisurely explored, banking the rising heat her response triggered and keeping the moment within the bounds of a totally appropriate first kiss.

So when it suddenly caught fi re, it caught him by surprise. He wasn’t aware of backing her against the wall. He didn’t consciously tug the tie of her apron and free the knot, then slip his hand beneath her blouse to skim across the downy softness of her skin. She tasted of peppermint—

of course she does, she’s Miss Christmas— and smelled of cinnamon and made him ache. For sex, oh, yeah, definitely for sex, but also for something more.

For home.

For hearth.

For love.

Whoa. That last was just what he needed to shock himself out of the sensual haze into which he’d fallen. He shifted his hands back to safer territory and broke the kiss, lifting his head and gazing down into her upturned face.

The vision of her lips pink and wet and swollen from his kiss proved irresistible. He needed one more taste, so he dove in again.

The one more taste became a second taste and then a third. Only when it threatened to flare out of control completely was he able to release her and take a step back. For a long minute, they gazed at one another in a bit of a daze. When Jax finally found his voice, he said, “Wow. You pack

a punch, Miss Christmas.”

The slow smile that spread across her face was as sweet as a candy cane. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a very long time.”

“That kiss is the nicest thing I’ve shared with anyone in a very long time,” he responded honestly.

She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. A shadow crossed her face and her teeth nibbled at that sweet lower lip. “What’s wrong?” Jax asked.

“I just . . . well . . . this is probably the absolutely wrong thing to say. Way too presumptive. But . . . after my last romantic disaster, I promised myself . . . you see . . . expectations are a dangerous thing. I don’t ever want anyone to think . . . I don’t want you to think . . .”

“Spit it out, Claire.”

“I like you, Jax. I really, really like you. And Nicholas, too. Like I said, I know this is presumptive, but I’d like to spend time with you. I’d like to share more . . .” She waved her hand about, obviously searching for a word. “More. But I’m not in the market for a relationship, and I want to be up- front about that.”

Copyright © 2016 by Emily March and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Paperbacks.

Social Links:

Emily March Website

Twitter: @EmilyMarchBooks

Facebook: Emily March

Pinterest: Emily March

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Macmillan

Here is a link to a copy of a coloring page from the upcoming Eternity Spring coloring book.

Books in my Future - The First Half of September

Most of the books I got the 1st part of September were ARCs from NetGalley. 

ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies)

Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge



This sounds really interesting and relevant about all the gun violence in America and the loss of lives of so many children on one particular day in America. 

You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson



An essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from celebrated stand-up comedian and WNYC podcaster Phoebe Robinson.  I look forward to reading this it sounds like it could be funny, while also discussing relevant topics.

The Chibok Girls by Helon Habila



In April 2014, over 200 Nigerian school girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram.  Helon Habila, an author and journalist born in Nigeria tells the story of the girls and their parents and the background of BokoHaram.  This is a short book of about 128 pages, so I think I will be reading this sooner rather than later.

Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids by Nicholson Baker



This is about the experiences of the author, who appears to be a best-selling author  of non-fiction, as a substitute teacher in Maine.  After getting approved to read this ARC, I' ve noticed a couple things on Goodreads.  The reviews on this are mixed with more 1 and 2 star ratings and reviews than 4 and 5 star reviews and ratings.  Also it shows the page count as over 700 pages!!Hopefully, this is an error; I can't imagine that a book on this subject is worthy of this length.  Because of this, I don't think I'll be in much of a rush to read this in the immediate future.

The Most Wonderful Time by Fern Michael, Stacy Finz, Sarah Title and Shirlee McCoy



Christmas will be here before we know it and Novenber is a perfect time to start your holiday reading.  I wanted to read this mainly for the story by Stacy Finz, which is suppose to launch her new series.  This book comes out near the end of October, so I may be starting my holiday reading early.

Welcome Home for Christmas by Annie Rains



Another ARC for the holiday season  by my newest favorite author and also the last book in her Hero's Welcome series, which I am very excited to read.


Christmas In Eternity Springs by Emily March



I've been reading and review Emily March's Eternity Spring series for the past 3 years or so.  Recently, I've been asked to participate in the Christmas in Eternity Springs blog tour.  I'll be participating on Sunday, October 2nd on this blog.  I'll be reading this as soon as I finish my current book.  Guess that means my holiday reading will start real early this year!


LIBRARY BOOKS

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Njikamp



I had waited on the reserve list for so long for this book and finally got the book on Kindle from Overdrive.  Well, I had seen so many mixed reviews and wanted to decide for myself.  You'll need to check my September wrap-up to see what I thought.

Hillbilly Effigy by J.D. Vance



I am currently reading this for #DiverseAThon, which is a read-a-thon to encourage reading diverse books.  I did not think I was going to be able to participate in #DiverseAThon, since I knew I had to read this book before the library loan ended  and I had requested this awhile ago , but the wait list is even longer now than it was when I first got on it.  I did not think this book would be considered diverse, but after watching someone's video discussing what #DiverseAThon is, I decided that since this book talks about a sub-culture of America and the lower socioeconomic class, it could actually be included in this readathon.  I am only 20% into it and it is quite interesting, but you'll have to wait for my September Wrap-Up post to find out what I think of it.  Here is the Goodreads link if you want more info about it.  Maybe it's not the most diverse book I could have read for #Diverse AThon, but one I read a goodvariety of diverse books and this was where I had to read this or lose the oppiortunity to read this book anytime in the near future.


AMAZON

The Key by Jennifer Anne Davis (True Reign #1)



I was watching a Booktube video by one of my favorite Booktubers at Sarah's Nightstand.  She had just read the entire trilogy and really enjoyed it.  The first book was free as of the other day (it still may be, but I'm not sure).  I've been wanting to try fantasy, since I can't really think of any that I have read (unless you count Miss Perregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) and since she recommended it and the first book was free, I thought why not

Hopefully, I won't get anymore books this month.  I'm getting close on a couple reserves, but I think it will be more like next month.  I suspended a couple holds for a couple weeks, so I think i'll be okay.  My biggest problem, if you really consider it a problem, is requesting and being approved for more ARCs on NetGalley.

#T5W Books That You Want to Read Before the End of the Year

Top 5 Wednesdays were created by Ginger Reads Lainey and now is hosted by Sam of Thought on Tomes and you can find the Goodreads page here for more information. 

This week's topic is Top 5 Books That You Want to Read Before the End of the Year.

I really enjoyed the first book, Miss Perregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which I definitely did not expect to enjoy as much I actually did.  I am thinking September or October to read this.  Once it starts to become cooler seems to be a perfect time to curl up and enjoy this book.




I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley and the publisher.  Originally, I believe it was being released in early 2017, now the release date has been moved to October of this year.  hope to read it in September.



Every year for the holidays for the past several year I have read one book in the series that came out the previous holiday.  I get them through the library and will be getting this one hopefully in November or December to read.  I am excited to see that a 6th one in the series is coming out later in the year that I will be reading next year during the holidays.



I recently heard about this book a couple weeks ago.  It also has just been added to Oprah's Book Club.  I actually wanted to read this book before Oprah chose it for her book club and really hope to get to read this before the end of the year.  I'm waiting for it to be added to my library system's Overdrive application.



This book is the 2nd in a series by my favorite author of all time, Rosanne Bittner.  I have been reading her books since the late 90s.  The 1st book in the series, I read in 2000, a few years ago, Rosanne Bittner decided to write a sequel which this one is.  She has since I believe written an additional 2 more sequels, of which the 3rd one is coming out either later this month or in September and the fourth and final book sometime next year. 

December Wrap Up/2015 Wrap Up

 

 2 stars

 

I started December finishing Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward Countywhich I started end of November.  This was a true story of a county in Virginia that closed its public schools, rather than desegregate them.  the schools remained shut down for several years.  The whites of the county opened a private school for their children, while the African-Americans had to send their children to live with other relatives in other counties or states to create crude classrooms, where they learned less than the basics.

 

 2 stars

 

Next, I read an ARC provided to me by NetGalley.  Operation White Christmas: Escape to the Country novella was reviewed earlier in December.  To keep it brief, I wasn't a big fan of this book.  Overall, I really didn't feel a connection or care about the characters.  The author is Australian and I believe her books often take place in Australia; therefore I may give the author another read , but this time with a full page novel.  I often don't enjoy novellas since. they are too brief to get into proper character development, etc.

 

2 stars

Cimarron Girl was another ARC through NetGalley. It is children's literature (probably 8-10 year olds)  and is the story of a young girl during the Great Depression in Oklahoma (the Dust Bowl) and later California.  It's kind of a child's version of the Grapes of Wrath.

4 stars

Next a library book came in, A Frontier Christmas by J.A. Johnstone and William Johnstone.  The Johnstones have written prolifically in the western genre.  They write mostly for men, but their Christmas series, of which there are currently 5, is written for both men and women

 

2 stars

 

Over the last half year, I've slowly been reading Yell Less, Love More: How the Orange Rhino Stopped Yelling at Her Kids and How You Can Too by Sheila McCraith.  I wasn't too crazy about it and gave it only 2 stars and thus, took me nearly half a year to get through.

 

3 stars

 

The last book that I finished in December and in 2015, Tom's River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin. I did a  review of this book at the end of December when I finished it on audio.  I gave it 3 stars, but if it had not been so full of a confusing discussion of the science of chemicals, carcinogens, and the epidemiology of disease, which would be confusing if not somewhat boring to the average reader unless they have a scientific background, I would have given it 4 stars as the writing was good and it was very well-researched, but more of a laymen;s discussion would have been more appreciated.

 

I only started this blog in mid-November, but I had set a Goodreads goal of 50 books and I ended up completing 56 books in 2015, five of which were audiobooks, one was a hardcover, and the remaining 50 were read on my Kindle.  About 41% of what I read were ARCs through NetGalley, about 30% were from the library and about 27% were my own books.  I read 70% fiction and 30% non-fiction; 25% of the books were by male writers and 75% were by female writers.  None of these stats were especially surprising, but I wish I had read more of my books, so I could decrease my TBR pile.  I know I have at least 20-something more ARCs to read, but I will try not to request any more new ones, except those by a small handful of favorite authors, umtil I get most of these read and reviewed.  It probably will take me all year, since I know I will have some books from the library and I need to read some off my TBR pile!