WWW Wednesdays 5/27/20

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Although time in quarantining is going slowly, at the same time, it is also going quickly at times. We are getting ready to enter into Phase 3 in Illinois on Friday.  I'll be looking forward tp getting a haircut hopefully soon and a color soon after since where I go they are just doing haircuts the first week or so.

I'm currently reading The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf.  I should finish this tomorrow, possibly today if I finish this blogpost soon

Next, I will be reading. Breakfast at the Honey Creek Cafe by Jodi Thomas and I will be listening to The Inn at Hidden Creek by Olivia Newport

I just finished listening to My Name Is Tani ...  and I Believe in Miracles by Tanitoluwa Adewomi

Have you read any of these books or want to?

Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To (But TOTALLY plan to)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme/original feature created at The Broke and The Bookish this weeks list are Ten New-To-Me Authors you read for the 1st Time in 2016.  For more information check it out here. 


I've heard lots of good things about this book.  I've seen this at my library even though it's a new release no one seems to have checked it out.

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This is over 500 pages, so I wanted to wait until I could get it as an audiobook on Overdrive.  I'm currently on the waiting list, so hopefully not too much longer.


Heard this is good, but since it's about a doctor who was diagnosed with cancer and then died before he finished the book, I know it will be a sad one.



This sounds really interesting.  Not sure why I didn't read it. I had it on hold on Overdrive, but I ended up removing it for some reason.  Probably another book, I wanted to read more.  I need to remember to put it on hold or borrow it this year.



I listened to Columbine just before this book came out and wasn't in the mood for another book on the same topic, although from the point of view of the mother of one of the killers.  Maybe I'll get around to this later in the year or even in 2018.



I've read and listened to a few of his books in 2016 and sometimes his books all seem somewhat similar if you read too many too close together,



I discovered Harlan Coben last year and he has so many books that I want to read. This one has a longer reserve list, so I'll probably read some with no reserves or at least fewer.



Another interesting and timely book.  This actress, who I never heard of before, was 14 and born in the U.S. to parents who illegally immigrated to this country and were arrested and later deported, while  she was at school. 

Another very timely read with all the gun violence in our country,  I do have this as an ARC and hope to read this within the next month or two.

The third and I believe final book in the Sunset Cove series by an author I discovered in 2015.  I also have of an ARC of this, so I plan to read this before too long.

I could go on, but I want to get this out on my blog, while it is still Tuesday.

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme/original feature created at The Broke and The Bookish this weeks list are Ten New-To-Me Authors you read for the 1st Time in 2016.  For more information check it out here.

These are in no particular order, other than the order I read them this year.

Ransom Riggs

I was a late comer to these books and decided in the spring of this year to finally pick up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I really was unsure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed the book and went on to read Hollow City this fall.  I'll tackle the final book in the series, Library of Souls in the spring again.  Hopefully, he will come out with a new book soon!

Annie Rains

I discovered this author through NetGalley and have read the Welcome Home series, she put out this year.  She is starting a new romance series next year and I look forward to it.

Harlan Coben

I had been hearing about him for several years, but never read any of his books. Finally, I decided to listen to one of his books on audio through the Overdrive app from my library, Caught.  I really liked it, but think that next time, I'll read it rather than listen so I won\'t miss any of the details to the story.

Martha Hall Kelly

Ms. Kelly wrote her debut novel, Lilac Girls and it is up for the 2016 Goodreads award for Debut Author and I definitely think she stands a good chance of winning.  It revolves around 3 women during WWII, the only female doctor at Ravensbroucke concentration camp, a young woman interned at Ravensbroucke, and an American debutante involved in the war effort at home.

Kristin Hannah

I've been meaning to read Kristin Hannah and even have had her Firefly Lane on my Kindle for the past few years, but this year I listened to the audiobook, Home Front.  I now need to move Firefly Lane up in my TBR.

Heather Burch

I got her book One Lavender Ribbon, a couple years ago as part of Amazon's Kindle First program where a few books that will be released the following month is made available early on Kindle format, but I kept putting the book off until later.  But earlier this year, I finally read it and just loved it.  I have just noticed, a new book by Heather Burch was available on NetGalley as an ARC and was able to get it.  Since it will come out in January, I hope to get to it by then or at least before the end of the  month.

Nicholas Sparks

Surprisingly, I don't think I ever read any of his books until this year and quite recently at that.  I saw a couple of his books that became movies, but never read them.  I listened to The Best of Me on audio at the end of August and really enjoyed it.  I definitely plan to pick up others.

Shelley Shepard Gray

Ms. Gray is a Christian author and writes Amish mystery/romances.  Although I do not mind Christian fiction at all, I am always a bit leery, because I like them more on the lighter side than in the ones where it seems as if the author is preaching to you through the characters.  These books did not have that feel and although the story took place in an Amish community, one did not feel the story was preachy.  I would consider reading or listening to more by Shelley Shepard Gray in the future.

Lee Childs

I've been hearing about the Jack Reacher novels for years and they just never highly appealed to me.  But since they are making it into a movie, my interest kind of was piqued; although I cannot really see Tom Cruise as a convincing Jack Reacher.  Isn't Jack Reacher suppose to be well over 6 feet, while Tom Cruise is about 5 foot 5 or 6?  The first book, Killing Floor while very long, at over 500 pages also kept my interest and I have put the next book on reserve.

Leila Meacham

I very recently listened to her book, Roses on audio and loved it.  I look forward to reading the prequel, Somerset and have an ARC of Crowning Design which is being released.

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

September Wrap Up

I enjoyed listening to this book. It kept me listening and although there is an overlying mystery, there are other active storylines in this history. This book does not tie anything up neatly and you will have to continue on with Book 2 in the near future and I expect Book 3 as well. Also, although Shelley Shepard Gray is a Christian author, the story is not preachy and can be appreciated by non-Christians or those who do not enjoy a story with strong religious overtones.

A solid 3.5.



I posted a review of Small Great Things here.  I really enjoyed this book and cared about the characters.  The author does a great job on the characterization of each of the characters.  Even though, you don't like what the parents stand for, she still is able to make you understand some of the feelings the parents are going through.  This is probably my favorite of the Jodi Picoult books that I have read.

5 stars.



Back when Jon and Kate Plus 8 was on TV, I enjoyed watching the show at first, but after awhile, although I liked seeing what the 8 kids were up to I just felt turned off by the parents. This book is the same way, except I started disliking John and Kate quicker. This book is all about their pregnancy up through the sextuplets 1st birthday. Nothing new, I'd be more interested in how the kids are doing now as pre-teens and the twins as teens. But I'm glad they are getting to live more or less normal lives and not be in the spotlight. There was really nothing that I hadn't read or seen before. I listened to this on audio and it was pretty short, not quite 5 hours.

2 stars

This book was marked DNF.  I tried to stay with the story and got almost a third through it but I just was not caring about any of the characters. There were many conflicting reviews, but it sounded like it still might be interesting and I wanted to judge for myself. But I just can't go on anymore. I of course won't give it a star rating since I did not complete the book. I do recommend Jodi Picoult's 19 Minutes for a fictional book about a school shooting and the non-fiction book, Colimbine.

I actually feel guilty about only giving this 2 stars, but I really only felt it was okay. When I was not reading this book, I did not feel that anxious to return to it and continue, except merely in order to get to my next book. The kidnapping and the years she was imprisoned were horrific and it is remarkable that she was able to survive and endure such a life and , but at the same time, I can not sugar coat my reading experience and say this book is 4 or 5 stars.

2 stars

2/3 to 3/4 of the book I found very interesting, but the remaining 33% to 25% was kind of boring, I still give the book 4 stars as for the most part I found it interesting all that he was able to overcome. It almost feels like 2 different people wrote this book. I do wish there would have been a couple photos of his family and the area.

4 stars

When I started listening to this book, I found it interesting, but it just kind of went downhill after awhile. The narrator was good, but the length of the book was way too long. I feel like it took me forever to listen to this, partly because it was over 17 hours long and it did not call me to keep listening to it. By the time, I decided I wanted to quit the book, I was over half done and thought of all the time I would have wasted if I didn't finish, but now looking back I ended up wasting that much more time. Since I enjoyed hearing some of the backstory of when they were growing up and before they made it to the news, I will give it 1.5 stars. 

I'm participating in the blog tour for this book.  I will be posting my review on that day along with an excerpt and a link to a coloring page.  Check on October 2nd for the blog post. 

I finally got The Underground Railroad after waiting quite  awhile for this book.  Since this was an Oprah Book Club pick and Usually have not enjoyed the books Oprah chose for her book club, I had doubts on whether to even read this in the first place, but it sounded interesting and had lots of good reviews, so I decided to give it a try  and put it on reserve at several places.  Lately, I've seen quite a few reviews by people who did not enjoy the book and some who just DNF'ed it.  I started reading it yesterday and am not enjoying it for several of the reasons that others did not.  I am debating just DNF'ing it.  I do not care for his writing and have found myself re-reading paragraphs several times, which I rarely have the need to do.  I have a long list of other books that I want to read.  So many books, so little time!

Book Review: Mermaid Moon by Colleen Coble

Mermaid Moon (Sunset Cove series #2)
Colleen Coble
Thomas Nelson Publishing
352 pages
4.75 stars

Synopsis

Mallory s mother died fifteen years ago. But her father s last words on the phone were unmistakable: Find . . . mother.

Shame and confusion have kept Mallory Davis from her home for the last fifteen years, but when her dad mysteriously dies on his mail boat route, she doesn t have any choice but to go back to Mermaid Point.

Mallory believes her father was murdered and childhood sweetheart Kevin O Connor, game warden in Downeast Maine, confirms her suspicions. But Kevin is wary of helping Mallory in her search. She broke his heart and left without a word years ago.

When Mallory begins receiving threats on her own life and her beloved teenage daughter, Haylie their search intensifies. There s a tangled web within the supposed murder, and it involves much more than what meets the eye.

As answers begin to fall into place, Mallory realizes her search is about more than finding her father s killer it is also about finding herself again . . . and possibly about healing what was broken so long ago with Kevin. She just has to stay alive long enough to put all the pieces together."

My view of the book

This is a fantastic book by Colleen Coble. It is fast-paced suspense and I think I liked this book even better than the 1st in the Sunset Cove series, The Inn at Ocean's Edge. There is a third book coming out in September and I look forward to that one . I don't want to give away too much of the story, which is filled with so many twists. The book starts out right away drawing you in and it continues to the very end. I hated to put this book down, and that is a sign of a truly great book. Although this book is from a Christian book publisher, there are very few references to god and unlike many Christian books, no biblical verses found in the book. If you are turned off by the many Christian fiction books that seem to try to convert you to their way of thinking or ram Biblical theology down your throat this is pleasantly not one of those. There really are no sex scenes and although suspenseful, there is no violence or at least a very mild dose, just a very clean, but suspenseful story filled with twists and turns. I give this 4 stars out of 5, but it deserves 4.5 or even 4.75 stars

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#T5W Top 5 Wednesday: Top Authors You Discovered This Year

Although the actual topic for this week is Top 5 Hunger Games Moments (movies or books), I have never read the Hunger Games (not a fan of dystopian fiction) since this is my 1st Wednesday book blogging.  I thought I'd pick a Top 5 from the other month (I think it was from October).  Since it is November, I'm going back 12 months to December 2014 to choose the authors that I discovered..

In no particular order the Top 5 authors I discovered this year are:

1.  Stacy Finz - She writes the Nugget series, which takes place in Nugget. California, a small town in the Sierra Nevadas.  I started at the beginning of the year reading an ARC of the 2nd book in the series, Finding Hope. I loved the book and she hooked me into reading the first one, Going Home and since then have been lucky enough to get the next 3 as ARCs.  I'll be reading #4, Starting Over within the next couple weeks, I hope and #5, Getting Lucky just came out last week. and a new one is coming in February, Borrowing Trouble.  I'm looking forward to reading them all.

2.  H.Y. Hanna - I discovered her last December.  She is an Australian writer and wrote her first contemporary romance series, Summer Beach Vets, which takes place in Australia and consists of 5 short books.  This summer, she continued with a spin-off series, Summer Beach Brides.  I'm anxiously awaiting the release of her next book.

3. Jenny Hale - I discovered her also last December, also through an ARC from NetGalley.  I'm on the third book written by her.  I think she has 5 books out, 3 Christmas ones and 2 that aren't.  She writes sweet romance novels.  It is refreshing to be able to read a book where the characters don't either jump in bed way too soon or just have steamy, love scenes.  I do enjoy those too (although not  Fifty Shades of Grey).  I am currently reading her newest release, Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses.

4.  Collen Coble - Although she has written quite a number of books, I first read her earlier this year.  The Inn at Ocean's Edge, which was the first book in the Sunset Cove series.  She is a Christian fiction writer.  But boy was that a good book.  Mystery, suspense, romance, it had it all and was full of plenty of twists and turns.  She has Mermaid Moon, which will be released in January as the second in the Sunset Cove series.  I have this as an ARC and hope to be able to read this in the next month or so.

5, Linda L.T. Blair - Like the other authors, I discovered her through an ARC I received on NetGalley.  She wrote a memoir/auto-biography of her life in Vietnam during and before the time of the Vietnam War.  I usually do not enjoy books on the war, but as this was her personal story, it was extremely interesting. She is coming out with a 2nd book that I believe follows her life after Red Blood, Yellow Skin: A Young Girl's Survival in War-Torn Vietnam.