01 | December | 2017 | Rebeccabookreview

thanksgiving

I was NOT a good reader this month. Between working way too many hours and the holidays and trying to actually be a human being sometimes, I fell really behind this month. I don’t have many reviews scheduled for December, and I’m hoping things will calm down at work (although I’ve been saying that for over a month) and I’ll be able to catch up a little. And I can’t wait for CHRISTMAS!!!! So below is my progress for November:

Monthly Stats:
# books read this month: 5
# pages read this month: 1,492
# books read year-to-date: 96
# pages read year-to-date: 28,659

Favorite Books I Read:

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The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers – 4.75 stars (great read!)

Status of 2017 Reading Challenges:

Finish 2016 ARC’s from NetGalley that I missed – Still have 26 more to go, plus going to have another 30ish from 2017. Shouldn’t sign up for any 2018 reviews and should just read my backlog LOL – but looks like its already too late for that
Participate in 2 reading challenges – During May I participated in the Bout of Books challenge and during August I participated in ARC August so this Goal is checked!
Other goals:
1. Write shorter reviews – I think I’m doing better at this, this past month I was able to get out a few shorter ones
2. Continue establishing relationships – I think I’m doing it, we’ll see how it goes I guess!

Next Month TBR List:

I only have a few scheduled reviews for December so I’m hoping to use any extra room to catch up on the backlog and also to read some books I’ve borrowed from friends and haven’t read (I am awful at that – don’t lend me books if you want them back). Below is my TBR list for December deadlines only though, I’ll keep it loose on the backlog catch up and see how things go. Make sure to check back regularly for some great reads this month as I catch up on my backlog!

-The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
-The Dry by Jane Harper (I’ll be participating in an online book discussion for this one, read it too so you can join in on the discussion!)

Title: Deja New
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Date finished: 11/29/17
Genre: Fiction, fantasy
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: November 7, 2017
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: #2 in the Insighters series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Leah Nazir lives in a world where the past can and will come back to bite you in the ass. No, not teething ghosts—reincarnation! As an Insighter, it’s Leah’s job to delve into the murky and (often) deadly former lives of her patients. And she knows a thing or two about danger after killing her mother’s murderer with the help of new beau, Archer Drake.

Isn’t he the best?

Now, it’s time to take their relationship to the next level, but not in any way Leah could have predicted. She and Archer head to Chicago to meet his parents—and try to figure out why Archer’s dad killed his brother decades ago. When someone tries to sabotage their investigation, Leah must decide if the Drake family past is a deal breaker…

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book continues the story of Leah Nazir and Archer Drake, whose relationship began in the last book in the series, Deja Who. It’s hard to pin down exactly but it sounds like this book picks up a few months to a year after the last book left off. Leah and Archer are visiting Archer’s family, hoping that Leah’s Insighter ability will be what makes the difference in solving a years old mystery: why Archer’s father (Dennis) killed his brother (Donald – Archer’s uncle). Angela Drake is Archer’s cousin and is thrilled that he’s bringing Leah home to meet the family. An Insighter herself (but with far less strength to her abilities than Leah’s) Angela is having a bit of celebrity shock over meeting one of her heroes. It’s this and the new detective on the case, Jason Chambers, that Angela hopes will finally help settle the family’s questions once and for all. But Dennis does not want to cooperate. He’s serving what he feels is a just sentence and has no interest in being freed. The family is quite convinced that he didn’t kill his brother though, so why is he so determined to stay in jail? And why is Angela’s mom been a ghost ever since that fateful day so many years ago?

Overall I liked this book a good amount. Similar to the last book in the series this book has a really creative plot, and this book has a great twist ending! Also similar to the last book, the conversations can get a bit confusing since they’re so fast paced and there’s usually multiple people involved. But that’s part of the charm of the book, I think, is that there is so much going on in it. And the characters are all really funny too, and the situations they all get into are pretty comical as well. I liked that we got to hear more about Leah and Archer, while also seeing a relationship develop between Angela and Jason in this book. I thought this was a great continuation of the story line and I love meeting the different members of the Drake family. I would be interested to see what happens with Leah and Archer’s situation in the future or to hear more about one of the brothers/cousins, I hope for the possibility of more books in the series! I’d recommend giving this one too try, it’s fun and light and I think very interesting.

The bottom line: I liked this book a lot, it was funny and fast-paced and has a very interesting plot. I would recommend giving this one a try!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page