Category Archives: 2017

ARC August 2017 – Check in #1 – 8/1-8/7

Posted in 2017, ARC August 2017, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

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So the first week of ARC August 2017 was slightly productive. I managed to read a good amount during the week but Friday my husband and I went on a winery trip and then Saturday and Sunday I was traveling and visiting with family. So the weekend was pretty busy, not much reading got done but many good times were had! So here’s where I stand:

MY PROGRESS

-Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber – Reading now
-Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes – Read and reviewed
-Leave the Night On by Laura Trentham – Read and reviewed
-If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss
-Bad Girl Gone by Temple Mathews
-Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
-Seeing Red by Sandra Brown
-13 Dates by Matt Dunn
-The Other Girl by Erica Spindler
-Ready to Run by Lauren Layne
-The Uncertain Season by Ann Howard Creel
-Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy

Books Read August 1st – 7th

Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes – 1.0 stars
Leave The Night On by Laura Trentham – 3.5 stars

Plan for Upcoming Week

Work for me this week is going to be a bear so I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done but I’m hoping to get a couple books in. Goal Day is thankfully this Saturday so that will give me a chance to get some solid reading devoted time (hopefully). We’ll see how it goes though, happy reading everyone!

2017 Book #66 – Leave The Night On by Laura Trentham

Posted in 2017, ARC August 2017, Book reviews, Contemporary romance, Reading Challenges by

519Uqdwv8ELTitle: Leave The Night On
Author: Laura Trentham
Date finished: 8/3/17
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Pages in book: 331
Stand alone or series: #4 in the Cottonbloom 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:

Love, betrayal, and sweet revenge—life in Cottonbloom is about to get a whole lot hotter . . .

Sutton Mize is known for lavishing attention on the customers who flock to her boutique on the wealthy side of her Mississippi town. So when she finds a lace thong in her fiancé’s classic cherry-red Camaro, she knows just who she sold it to: her own best friend. In an instant, Sutton’s whole world goes up in flames. . .

Wyatt Abbott has harbored a crush on Sutton since he was a young kid from the other side of the tracks. He witnessed Sutton’s shocking discovery in the Camaro at his family-owned garage—and it made him angry. What kind of man could take lovely, gorgeous Sutton for granted? But then Sutton comes up with an idea: Why not give her betrothed a taste of his own medicine and pretend that she’s got a lover of her own? Wyatt is more than happy to play the hot-and-heavy boyfriend. But what begins as a fictional affair soon develops into something more real, and more passionate, than either Sutton or Wyatt could have imagined. Could it be that true love has been waiting under the hood all along?

My rating:  3.5 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 tells the story of Wyatt Abbott, a mechanic, and Sutton Mize, a judge’s daughter. Wyatt has had a crush on Sutton since they were kids, but being from the wrong side of Cottonbloom, he never acted on it. Well that isn’t entirely true, he acted on it in the sense that, like a young boy does, he teased her and played pranks on her, but Sutton appropriately interpreted this as him being mean rather than him liking her. Now that they’re all grown, Sutton brings her fiance’s car into Wyatt’s family shop to get renovated. She’s completely thrown for a loop when she finds another woman’s panties under the front seat of the car. She’s thrown for an even bigger loop when her fiance (Andrew) admits to everything she feared, and so in a spur-of-the-moment decision Sutton tells Andrew that she doesn’t really care anyway since she’s been fooling around with Wyatt. And so begins a tangled web of lies that really only end up acting as a cover for Sutton and Wyatt’s growing infatuation. But with a relationship that began on so many unfounded facts (aka lies), can they really build something lasting?

Overall I like this book okay. It was a pretty solid read for a romance novel, it didn’t do anything to wow or surprise me but at the same time I did enjoy it for the most part. Some of the conversations are a bit cheesy, and the miscommunication between the hero and heroine was frustrating since the reader can read their thoughts the whole time. Books like that I always get frustrated thinking ‘if you could just be honest with each other we wouldn’t have these issues.’ Maybe that’s something that we as humans should strive more for is being honest with people around us whether we know them super well or not. But I think that’s a talk for another time. Anyways Wyatt and Sutton’s love story was sweet and cute and I like the setting of the book especially. This one had a bit of a Grease (like the musical) feel to it since the goody-two-shoes girl is a good influence on the guy and the guy is a little bit of a bad influence on the girl (just enough to let her experience some different things). In the end they develop great affection for each other and it’s a pretty good love story. I would recommend, especially in connection with the series, which I enjoy.

 

The bottom line: I thought this was a fairly good romance novel. I think the series overall is pretty cute, I would recommend it.

Link to author website

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

2017 Book #65 – Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes

Posted in 2017, ARC August 2017, Book reviews, Fiction, Women's fiction by

51BaCBQAllLTitle: Emerald Coast
Author: Anita Hughes
Date finished: 8/1/17
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date:August 1, 2017
Pages in book: 304
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
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:

Set on the glamorous Italian island, Emerald Coast is a touching and humorous story about marriage and the difficulty of finding love and happiness at the same time.
Lily Bristol arrives at a luxurious resort in Sardinia for the grand opening of her newest home furnishing store on the Emerald Coast. She’s a successful business woman with an international chain of stores from San Francisco to Milan. Thirty-two and newly divorced, she’s ready to handle things on her own. At least until her private butler, Enzo, escorts her to a beautiful suite where she notices a suspiciously familiar pair of men’s slippers and shaving kit.
Lily is horrified. Her ex-husband Oliver moved out of their restored Connecticut farmhouse six months ago, but they booked this trip when they were trying to save their marriage and never cancelled the reservation. Oliver, a food critic for the New York Times, is here covering Sardinia’s hottest new restaurant. The only other available room is the adjoining suite; and worse, Oliver isn’t alone. He’s brought a twenty-something named Angela with him.
Lily is determined to make do and enlists Enzo to find her a suitable man. But it’s not as easy to find new love as they both expected. When Lily and Oliver find themselves alone on a very important night, they turn to each other. Sparks begin to fly, but can they be together without breaking each other’s hearts?

My rating:  1.0 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 is about Lily Bristol and her ex-husband Oliver, who through one of those crazy twists of fate end up both trying to use a reservation after their divorce. Oliver brought his new girlfriend (Angela) and Lily ends up hooking up with a guy named Ricky from Sardinia (where they are) but while all this is happening they both also can’t stop thinking about each other and their shared memories.
Overall I did not care for this book. I’m going to try to be honest here without being (a) cruel or (b) overly dramatic. I found Lily’s character to be a complete mockery of a strong and independent woman. She has random conversations with strangers and just is everything that I would hate to become as a women and as a wife. Oliver has some extreme jealousy issues and may be addicted to sex since he can’t seem to stop having it with his new girlfriend. However (**SPOILER ALERT**) he apparently NEVER THINKS TO ASK HIS NEW GF ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL. Sorry the caps were dramatic I just can’t believe that any logical person in this day and age would overlook that in a new relationship. Anyways moving on the characters were irrelevant and unrealistic, the story line was half-hearted and not at all engaging, and I honestly couldn’t even read most of the conversations they were so awkwardly structured. I did not care for this novel. However, all of that being said I know these are popular novels and that some people do like them so that’s fine. Amazon has mostly 4 star reviews. So maybe its just me.

The bottom line: I did not personally enjoy this book. I cannot personally say that I recommend it, though I know many people who enjoy this author’s books so maybe its just me.

Link to author website

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

ARC August 2017 Reading Challenge Sign Up

Posted in 2017, ARC August 2017, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

arc-august2

Woo Hoo! ARC August is here again, and honestly it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. I’m really glad to be participating in ARC August again this year to try and decrease my backlog a little bit at least. I still have 27 ARCs from 2016 that I never got a chance to read, plus I missed the “deadline” for 23 additional ARCs so far in 2017. PLUS I have 12 ARCs scheduled to be read in August. SO you could say I’m just a tad bit backlogged. For those of you that don’t know, ARC August is a month-long reading challenge hosted by Read.Sleep.Repeat. and the only participation requirement is reading ARC’s! I participated in this reading challenge last year and in 2015, and both years worked out really well for me and I was able to catch up a bit. I hope to be super productive with this challenge this year since I have so much to read! Plus in a beyond perfect twist of events I will on an island for a week in August with no wi-fi and no cell service and no electricity (again but different week than I was last year)! What else is there to do but read!

So here is the list I’m going to be working off of for this year’s challenge (more or less):

-Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber
-Emerald Coast by Anita Hughes
-Leave the Night On by Laura Trentham
-If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss
-Bad Girl Gone by Temple Mathews
-Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
-Seeing Red by Sandra Brown
-13 Dates by Matt Dunn
-The Other Girl by Erica Spindler
-Ready to Run by Lauren Layne
-The Uncertain Season by Ann Howard Creel
-Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy

This listing is honestly just my August ARCs, I’m not sure how true to this list I’ll actually stay. I really feel like flaunting the rules and just reading whatever ARC I feel like. Its hard to predict exactly what that will be though so we’ll start with this for now. I think 12 is a good goal though so my plan is (if I decide to read whatever I feel like) to switch out one book for every book I add to the list. We’ll see how it goes! I hope you all also have a successful August and Happy reading everyone!

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2017 Book #45 – The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler

Posted in 2017, Book Clubs, Book reviews, Bout of Books 19, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

51RzRwlEwRL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Title: The Mediterranean Caper
Author: Clive Cussler
Date finished: 5/14/17
Genre: Fiction, military
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: July 16, 2013 (40th Anniversary reprint)
Pages in book: 220
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Dirk Pitt Adventure series
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

On a quiet Greek island, a U.S. air force base has come under attack—by a World War I fighter plane . . . a famous yellow Albatros supposedly lost at sea in 1918.
Now it is up to Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino, and the rest of the NUMA team to root out the elusive truth behind the incident—and find out how it’s connected to mysterious acts of sabotage against a scientific expedition, an international smuggling ring, and a dark-haired beauty with some dangerous secrets.  The search for answers will lead Pitt from a lavish island villa, to a moving freighter eerily empty of crew, to a massive underwater cavern housing the heart of a criminal operation that is larger and more elaborate than he ever could have imagined . . . a lucrative operation that its mastermind would kill to protect.
With its fearless and dashing hero, high-stakes action, and non-stop excitement, The Mediterranean Caper is classic Dirk Pitt . . . and classic Cussler.

My rating:  1.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (May). This was a military adventure type novel, supposedly in the same vein as an Indiana Jones type novel. Dirk Pitt is called out to a Greek island with his friend Giordino to help with a problem that’s come up. Along the way, through a series of events that could only be arranged by fate, Pitt gets involved in a larger issue: major drug deals and a dastardly villain who is the very definition of evil.
Overall this was not my favorite book. The hero was so cocky and arrogant, I hated it. And it didn’t make any sense how he kept figuring out the scheme/story behind every twist and turn, I couldn’t understand how Pitt seemed to be this all-knowing character. I mean yes he was smart but it was ridiculous how much he knew about each facet of other people’s plans just by guessing. And I think part of the reason I didn’t love this book was because it was written so long ago there were certain things that just were cringe-worthy. In the first 40 pages of the book, Pitt meets a beautiful but sad woman on the beach, backhands her, and then has sex with her all within like a page and it was just so ridiculously unrealistic. So overall not my favorite but I can where it would appeal to certain readers.

The bottom line: This book was not my favorite, it just didn’t capture my interest. The hero’s character didn’t appeal to me personally but I am sure this book would appeal to some.

Link to author website

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

Bout of Books 19 Update & WRAP UP

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

KcxHEGZ

Day 7 was mostly spent with family and I also spent the morning volunteering but I managed to read about 2 hours at night before bed. My Sunday’s progress is below followed by my wrap up of my overall Bout of Books accomplishments:

Updates

Sunday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 110
Total number of pages I’ve read: 1,076
Books read today: I finished Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler, review will be up tonight!
Challenges: Sunday was a free day so there was no challenge

Time Devoted to Reading

My goal was to devote at least 2 hours a day to reading and I unfortunately did not reach that goal every day! I read about 17 hours over the course of the 7 days which was good, but last year for this challenge I read 27 hours so there was a definite decline. And I only read just over 1,000 pages compared to over 1,700 pages so while I accomplished a lot in one week I wish it had gone a little better!

My Goals

My goal for this read-a-thon was to do the daily challenges, read about two hours a day and have fun! I posted a update every day on how the previous day went and I also did Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday‘s “challenge” post.  I really had a lot of fun with Thursday’s “Character Dating profile” post!

Books to Read

Overall I think it was a pretty successful week considering how many other engagements / work projects I had going on. I had a great time participating and I will definitely want to participate in another Bout of Books in the future!

Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 6

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

KcxHEGZ

Day 6 was not my most productive reading day. I had planned to get up early and read before the plans we had with our family but I ended up sleeping in so I only really ended up reading for like an hour before bed. So anyways, my Saturday’s progress is below:

Updates

Saturday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 70
Total number of pages I’ve read: 966
Books read today: I continued reading Mediterranean Caper
Challenges: I did not participate in the Saturday challenge, there just isn’t enough time in the day, and also similar to Friday I didn’t feel like digging through my boxes of books

Today (Sunday) is the last day of the read-a-thon and I spent time volunteering this morning and then spent the afternoon at my little cousin’s First Communion and then having brunch with my family! I am going to try and do some reading now but seeing as how its already almost bedtime I’m not sure how much I’ll get to read. That’s ok though, Happy reading everyone!

Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 5

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

KcxHEGZ

Day 5 of Bout of Books 19 and I have to say I thought things would move a little faster for me. I tried to schedule a bunch of time for reading this week but other plans got in the way! I read probably about 5-6 hours yesterday though so that I think I’ll count as a good day. So anyways, my Friday’s progress is below:

Updates

Friday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 316
Total number of pages I’ve read: 896
Books read today: I finished The Simplicity of Cider (I loved it, you can see my review here) and started Mediterranean Caper
Challenges: I did not participate in the Friday challenge, the challenge was to make a book spine rainbow and all my books are currently packed up in boxes until the library is done. I didn’t feel like digging around in the boxes.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day of the read-a-thon and between family plans today and tomorrow (Mother’s Day and my little cousin’s First Communion) and a Lions event that I’ll be helping with, I’m not sure how much reading I will get done, but I will try my best! Happy reading everyone!

2017 Book #44 – The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert

Posted in 2017, Book reviews, Bout of Books 19, Fiction, Magical realism, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

61EYgKWCiDLTitle: The Simplicity of Cider
Author: Amy E. Reichert
Date finished: 5/12/17
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: May 16, 2017
Pages in book: 336
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
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:

Fall in love with The Simplicity of Cider, the charming new novel about a prickly but gifted cider-maker whose quiet life is interrupted by the arrival of a handsome man and his young son at her family’s careworn orchard by the author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake and Luck, Love & Lemon Pie.
Focused and unassuming fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard, despite her brother’s attempts to convince their aging father to sell the land.
Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure, driving across the country. Chance—or fate—led them straight to Sanna’s orchard.
Isaac’s helping hands are much appreciated at the apple farm, even more when Sanna’s father is injured in an accident. As Sanna’s formerly simple life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places—friendship with young Sebastian and something more deliciously complex with Isaac—until an outside threat infiltrates the farm.
From the warm and funny Amy E. Reichert, The Simplicity of Cider is a charming love story with a touch of magic, perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Gayle Forman.

My rating:  4.5 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 tells the story of Sanna Lund, who lives with her father at their family orchard. The orchard has been their family’s land for generations, with their normally large family all living together in the large farm house. It’s narrowed down to just Sanna and her father, Einars, now though and they rattle around the house and the land, trying to keep their orchard afloat. Sanna has a talent for making cider and her father decided to invest in a great renovation of their barn to install more cider machinery. Unfortunately neither of them know how to get the word out though so the orchard is now pretty deep in debt. Despite that, when father and son Isaac and Sebastian roll into town Einars decides to hire them to help out. Isaac feels an immediate attraction to Sanna, but his life is complicated enough with what he’s running from. With all their complications, is there really any chance for them to have a happy ending?
Overall I really just loved this book. There was just a touch of magic in the book and it really made it come alive for me. I loved Sanna’s character, she was strong and proud but also so loving and generous. And the cidery and orchard added such an interesting aspect to the story. The author really did such a wonderful job too of weaving this romantic and touching love story, Sanna and Isaac’s story really reached into my chest and just squeezed my heart tight. And I loved the ending and how creatively the author made a happy ending not only for Sanna but also for so many of the other characters in the story as well. This was such a great read and I would really recommend it!

The bottom line: I just loved this book, this was a beautifully woven love story with just a touch of magic to it. This one is a must read for the summer, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

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

Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 4

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

KcxHEGZ

I had a really busy work day yesterday and then Kris and I went out to dinner and watched a movie, so I definitely didn’t get to even read for two hours, I’d be surprised if I read for one hour. Luckily today (Friday) I have off so it will be a catch-up day for reading. Anyways, my Thursday’s progress is below:

Updates

Thursday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 30
Total number of pages I’ve read: 580
Books read today: I continued reading The Simplicity of Cider
Challenges: I did the Thursday challenge, which was to create a dating profile for a character from a book. I picked a character from a recent read, Vasya from The Bear and the Nightingale

Today (Friday) I’m home reading and hope to get a lot done. Especially since the upcoming weekend will be such a busy one! Happy reading everyone!