Annual Reading Challenge 2019

[Colleen27]

#3/130 - Stray: Memoir of A Runaway by Tanya Marquart

I picked this one up through Amazon First Reads a while ago, but didn't get to starting it until I decided to check off the "memoir" category on my reading challenge for the year. The story of a young woman's journey from an abusive home through a high school career marked by running away from both parents at different times, this had some really heartbreaking moments. Big chunks of the story were rooted in the goth club scene in the 1990s, a subculture where I spent a lot of my own running-away years, and even though it was set in another country on the other side of the continent (Vancouver), so much of the author's descriptions of places and people within the scene felt familiar that it inspired a melancholy but not unpleasant sort of nostalgia for me. I'm not sure whether I'd recommend the book, though. It was disjointed at times and came to rather an abrupt end, as real life tends to do, without a lot of resolution or closure, which left me with the sense that it fell short somehow of what it could have been.

#4-6/130 - Fire & Ice Trilogy by K.F. Breene
#7-9/130 - Magical Mayhem Trilogy by K.F. Breene

Kindle Unlimited recommendations are a dangerous thing...

I've read two other series by this author, so my Kindle app kept telling me I might be interested in these. And it didn't take much to get me hooked. Like the other series I've been reading by Breene, these are supernatural adventure/thriller stories with a romantic subplot, and they're the kind of books that keep me up past my bedtime to see what happens next. There's definitely a bit of a formula to her storytelling - quirky, sassy heroines pairing up with powerful supernatural alpha men to have wild adventures defeating seemingly invincible enemies - but somehow that doesn't really detract from the enjoyment of each series. Then again, I was the kind of kid who read literally hundreds of books across various Dungeons & Dragons realms and never got tired of them, so maybe it is just me...

 

[Disney_Alli]

#5 - Dance with the Devil - Sherrilyn Kenyon.

I'm still really loving re-reading this series although after either book 6 or 7 I'm going to hop over to one of my new books to break it up a bit.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Book 1 of 20: Trial of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters.

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel to the rez to unravel clues from ancient legends, trade favors with tricksters, and battle dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.

As Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past—if she wants to survive.

Welcome to the Sixth World.

This is a dystopian fantasy set in the near future (ho hum), centering on the Navajo people of the Southwest United States (wait...what?!?! MUST READ!), who are all that are left after a flood that washed away most of the country. The protagonist, Maggie, is a monster hunter. She is thrown into an adventure with Kai, and they need to figure out where a new breed of zombie-like monsters are coming from. Adventure. Fantasy. Navajo mythology. Mystery. I loved just about everything about this book. The plot seemed to lose itself close to the end of the story honestly, but besides that, I loved this. The second book, Storm of Locusts, comes out in April.

4 stars.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Book 1 of 20: Trial of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse



This is a dystopian fantasy set in the near future (ho hum), centering on the Navajo people of the Southwest United States (wait...what?!?! MUST READ!), who are all that are left after a flood that washed away most of the country. The protagonist, Maggie, is a monster hunter. She is thrown into an adventure with Kai, and they need to figure out where a new breed of zombie-like monsters are coming from. Adventure. Fantasy. Navajo mythology. Mystery. I loved just about everything about this book. The plot seemed to lose itself close to the end of the story honestly, but besides that, I loved this. The second book, Storm of Locusts, comes out in April.

4 stars.

I'm intrigued! I'll have to look into this

 

[CallieMar]

Count me in for 50 books.

1/50: Key of Light by Nora Roberts (Key Trilogy #1) - I'm a big NR fan but somehow have never read the Key Trilogy before. Good but a bit slow, as I expected since she's also setting up for the rest of the books in the trilogy.

2/50: Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #4) - I was really looking forward to this after how the last book ended! A little too in-your-face with Strike's and Robin's feelings in the first few chapters...I like when JKR is more subtle about it but their friendship/whatever the hell it is is the best part of the series.

3/50 Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Claire (The Dark Artifices #3) - I'm not sure what I wanted to happen in this book. I was pretty invested in Emma and Julian at first but was a little indifferent by the end. It was also WAY too long! At one point it felt like it was headed towards a conclusion but I was only halfway through! The third book is always the weakest in these series, except for The Infernal Devices which I feel is Clare's best work so far. The next series will apparently be a sequel to The Infernal Devices, so I am really excited about that!

 

[KevM]

Book 1 of 20: Trial of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse



This is a dystopian fantasy set in the near future (ho hum), centering on the Navajo people of the Southwest United States (wait...what?!?! MUST READ!), who are all that are left after a flood that washed away most of the country. The protagonist, Maggie, is a monster hunter. She is thrown into an adventure with Kai, and they need to figure out where a new breed of zombie-like monsters are coming from. Adventure. Fantasy. Navajo mythology. Mystery. I loved just about everything about this book. The plot seemed to lose itself close to the end of the story honestly, but besides that, I loved this. The second book, Storm of Locusts, comes out in April.

4 stars.

I’ve got this in the tbr pile. Planning to read it soon.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

#1 Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
Not off to a good start. This was one of my daughters books I grabbed as I had nothing to read on way into work last week. I like to read this level once in a while as one of the series that I write is a similar age group. I just found now looking it up for authors name is it was first book of series. My daughter did not seem to continue the series and I do not blame her. Not terrible just did not appeal to me though there were couple line that made me laugh a little bit.

If anyone is interested, I would gladly send a kindle gift version of any of my works “Written for You”, “Three Twigs for the Campfire”, “Cemetery Girl” or “Reigning”. You can see them all reviewed at Goodreads (Click to see). If you are interested in reading any just message me here or at Goodreads.

 

[tazdev3225]

9/60 The Forgotten Hours by Katrin Schumann

Another Amazon First Book I picked this month. Really good book with a twist I suspected might happen but it had me guessing.

 

[willowsnn3]

03/50
The Address by Fiona Davis
After a failed apprenticeship, working her way up to head housekeeper of a posh London hotel is more than Sara Smythe ever thought she’d make of herself. But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility—no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one’s station. The opportunity to be the female manager of The Dakota, which promises to be the greatest apartment house in the world. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in The Dakota with his wife and three young children.

This one was very good. Best of the three I've read so far.

 

[Colleen27]

#10/130 - Protective Custody: Prisoner 34042 by Susan Cernyak-Spatz

Well, this one was definitely outside my rut. WAY outside. My daughter came home talking about this book because her social studies and world cultures teacher took classes from Cernyak-Spatz when he was in college. She actually asked about reading it herself, but it very obviously wasn't appropriate so I steered her toward Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (one of my favorite YA authors). But since the book was available on Kindle Unlimited, I started reading it. It took me a LOT longer than most books do, mostly because I walked away from it for a long while and then came back to it over the last week or so. It is really hard to read, partly because of the subject matter - a first-hand memoir of life in Birkenau and Ravensbruck during the Holocaust - and partly because the writing style is a bit scattered and the narrative somewhat disjointed. It reads very much like an oral history, complete with the tangents and side paths that accompany any conversational storytelling, and the author expresses more bitterness and anger than many Holocaust survivors weave into their stories.

 

[virge]

Hi! Is it too late to join? I’ve never done a book challenge before. While I feel like I’m always reading or listening to a book, I have no idea how much I read & listen to in a year. I’m going to start with a goal of 50.

 

[Swimnoid]

3. Haunted by James Patterson
Michael Bennett series #10. Michael fights drugs in a small town where he is on vacation with his family. Typical

4. Counting by Sevens by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Young adult featuring a 12 year old genius and how she faces tragedy and recovery. Explores her relationships and her effect on the people around her. Interesting and amusing

 

[NJlauren]

2/24: If I stay by Gayle Forman, I have ready some of her other books and I like them just fine. They aren’t overly fast paced but tell a good story. I liked this one better then the last one I read. It was an interesting way to tell a story and while short I feel like I really know Mia.

There is a sequel, but I’m torn on if i want to ruin how I feel about these characters.

 

[virge]

1/50: Dogs of War by Jonathan Mayberry
Part of the Joe Ledger series. A fun read, but nothing special. Having just finished this book, I was a little creeped out by a recent article about robot delivery dogs.

2/50: The Last One by Alexandra Olivia
I read a lot of post-apocalyptic books. This was an interesting take on the genre. The apocalyptic event occurs while a Survivor style reality show is being filmed, so the main character thinks what she is seeing/experiencing is part of the show.

 

[sjrec]

Since you liked this, my I suggest
The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America’s Enemies. It’s the biography of Elizabeth Smith, one fo the women talked about in Code Girls.

I read both of these and really liked them. These women were truly remarkable and deserved having their stories told.

 

[sjrec]

I just saw this thread and would like to join-I have already been keeping a book diary. So many good recommendations from everyone! I will commit to 50 books.

I enjoy non fiction and just finished The Husband Hunters by Anne de Courcy. It’s about the young women that married into the British aristocracy during the Gilded Age. Some were love matches, but many were pushed into these marriages by their mothers-having a daughter with a title gave them access to high society in this country. Fascinating. I also read the play Major Barbara for my book club.
Not a big fan Shaw, but we had a great discussion about it.

Does anyone else belong to a book club?

 

[design_mom]

#5 of 24 - The Bark Before Christmas by Laurien Berenson. This is one of the Melanie Travis Mysteries. These are pretty lightweight mysteries (like Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich) usually centered loosely around dog shows. This one had a holiday theme and involved a West Highland Terrier stolen from a get-your-pet's-photo-taken-with-Santa booth... and Santa also turned up dead. It was enjoyable and an easy read. I also like these because the protagonist, Melanie, has black Standard Poodles... and so do I.

 

[Tiggerish]

Never Too Late by Jo Barney. Main character is almost 70 and awakes on Christmas morning to find her husband has died in his sleep. It turns out it was a somewhat loveless marriage where the husband has been behaving oddly prior to his death. In trying to figure out what was going on with her husband, the widow comes to terms with her bitterness and her role in contributing to the poor marriage. There is also a co-mingled story about their son and it turns out the husband's activities involve the son.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. I had to get on a waiting list to get this book from my library. The story takes place in France bounces between the present and WWII. The narrator was a nine year old girl during the war portions of the book. The book explores how she and her mother, brother and sister are drawn into cooperating with a german soldier and how that haunts each in a unique way throughout their lives. Initially I did not enjoy this book but I kept being drawn back to it. In the end, I am glad I finished it because I finally got into the rhythm of both the story and the language of the book.

3 and 4 of 104

 

[Kirby]

3/50 - The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White, genre - general fiction

Karen White is a new author to me and I enjoyed her book. It's a great beach/summer read. I liked her book enough to want to try another so looked her up on Fantastic Fiction. Some of her earlier books sounded more like Harlequins, which is okay, lots of authors start out with them. I passed up some of her earlier books and chose one that sounded like it might have more substance to it. I'll add it to my stack and later this year will read it.

03/50
The Address by Fiona Davis
This one was very good. Best of the three I've read so far.

That sounds good. I've put her first one on my shopping list on Amazon to watch it till it comes down in price.

1/50:
2/50: The Last One by Alexandra Olivia

I enjoy this genre and have ordered it to read later this year.

Does anyone else belong to a book club?

I do. It's more of a social club than anything. Sometimes the worse the book the better the discussion. We do discuss the books we read just not in depth.

 

[mmouse37]

Never Too Late by Jo Barney. Main character is almost 70 and awakes on Christmas morning to find her husband has died in his sleep. It turns out it was a somewhat loveless marriage where the husband has been behaving oddly prior to his death. In trying to figure out what was going on with her husband, the widow comes to terms with her bitterness and her role in contributing to the poor marriage. There is also a co-mingled story about their son and it turns out the husband's activities involve the son.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. I had to get on a waiting list to get this book from my library. The story takes place in France bounces between the present and WWII. The narrator was a nine year old girl during the war portions of the book. The book explores how she and her mother, brother and sister are drawn into cooperating with a german soldier and how that haunts each in a unique way throughout their lives. Initially I did not enjoy this book but I kept being drawn back to it. In the end, I am glad I finished it because I finally got into the rhythm of both the story and the language of the book.

3 and 4 of 104

I enjoyed Five Quarters of the Orange. Read it in 2017

MJ