ANNUAL READING GOAL CHALLENGE for 2015!

[mumloveseeyore]

18 Appleby farm part 1 by cathy bramley
from Amazon
Freya Moorcroft has wild red hair, mischievous green eyes, a warm smile and a heart of gold. She’s happy working at the café round the corner from Ivy Lane allotments and her romance with her new boyfriend is going well, she thinks, but a part of her still misses the beautiful rolling hills of her Cumbrian childhood home: Appleby Farm.

Then a phone call out of the blue changes everything…

Freya’s beloved Uncle Arthur and Auntie Sue need her help. For the first time in years, Freya is back on the farm feeding the chickens, mucking out the stables, and loving every moment. As her visit comes to an end, she has a difficult decision to make: stay, or go?

Freya has to follow her heart, but just where does her heart lie?

As with ivy lane by the same author this is a novel in four parts. It features some of the same characters. Alight fun read.

19 summer at Fairacre by miss read. A gentle read about an english village and it's schoolteacher.

 

[threeboysmom]

Finished #4 out of 30

Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) - Gosh, I love this series!! However, with that being said, I am skipping over The Fiery Cross and moving onto Breath of Snow & Ashes - cannot wait!! I've read through this series once before and ended right after The Fiery Cross (didn't care for it at all). So reading Breath will be brand new to me and I'm so excited!

I've also just started All the Light We Cannot See since it just became available at the library last week, and I don't want to lose my place in line (have been waiting since November!) About 100 pages in and really beginning to enjoy it.

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #11 - Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small

I don't normally read these type of books, but I wanted to read something fun and sexy over Valentines weekend. So I just grabbed this from the library. Well, there was plenty of very descriptive sex, but the writing and storyline were horrible. There were bad mistakes and she flipped between the characters' thoughts constantly made it hard to keep track of whose head we were in. 0.5/5 stars

Some think librarians are stuffy, narrow-minded prudes-but that's not true of Kathryn St. John. She runs Egret Point's library and is very involved in her community, even down to keeping them up with the latest trends. One major trend she turned the local ladies on to is the interactive network The Channel. It's there that Kathryn extends her occupational passions into the bedroom by playing out her favorite pieces of medieval English literature. Kathryn is quite satisfied with the princes, musketeers, and highwaymen her personas seduce in The Channel. But her seductions spill out into the real world and reach Timothy Blair, new to Egret Point. He wants to satiate both of their desires, but how can he possibly compete with fantasy lovers? That is unless he can create a wicked plot twist that even Kathryn couldn't think up in her wildest dreams...

 

[ronandannette]

Finished #4 out of 30

Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) - Gosh, I love this series!! However, with that being said, I am skipping over The Fiery Cross and moving onto Breath of Snow & Ashes - cannot wait!! I've read through this series once before and ended right after The Fiery Cross (didn't care for it at all). So reading Breath will be brand new to me and I'm so excited!

I've also just started All the Light We Cannot See since it just became available at the library last week, and I don't want to lose my place in line (have been waiting since November!) About 100 pages in and really beginning to enjoy it.

Thanks for your advice awhile back about the first book - I did indeed read it all; have just finished it actually and started Dragonfly in Amber today. I'm giving it about a 5/10 so far as I prefer a little more sci-fan and a little less bodice-ripping. I was finding those all too frequent passages pretty tedious by the end. Can you tell me if the tone changes at all in Volume 2? If not I'll probably move on to something else and the beautiful box set DH gave me for Christmas will get re-gifted. TIA

 

[CajunMomof3]

7/35 More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon
I had a little trouble getting into this book. The beginning was confusing to me, but as I sorted out who was who in the two different timelines, it all fell into place. It was an interesting story about first loves, difficult family relationships, and the inability to let go of the past with a ghost story thrown in for good measure.

 

[CajunMomof3]

Thanks for your advice awhile back about the first book - I did indeed read it all; have just finished it actually and started Dragonfly in Amber today. I'm giving it about a 5/10 so far as I prefer a little more sci-fan and a little less bodice-ripping. I was finding those all too frequent passages pretty tedious by the end. Can you tell me if the tone changes at all in Volume 2? If not I'll probably move on to something else and the beautiful box set DH gave me for Christmas will get re-gifted. TIA

It's been awhile since I read the first few books in the series, but I remember there being quite a bit of bodice-ripping. The story line totally makes up for it in my opinion. I would say this series is too much of a commitment if you aren't totally enamored with Jamie and Claire.

 

[ronandannette]

It's been awhile since I read the first few books in the series, but I remember there being quite a bit of bodice-ripping. The story line totally makes up for it in my opinion. I would say this series is too much of a commitment if you aren't totally enamored with Jamie and Claire.

Great input - thank you very much. I'm a little dejected though - I've been looking for another "epic" series to love ever since I finished the last volume in The Wheel of Time.

 

[MegMurry]

#2 Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I've read and enjoyed other books by this author and this book didn't disappoint. Liane Moriarty stays in her usual genre of domestic fiction, centering the story around 3 women whose children all attend the same preschool. Drama ensues at meet-the-teacher day when one child accuses another of hitting her. Sides are chosen and alliances are formed. This book also adds an element of mystery by revealing that one of the parents will be killed at the schools annual Trivia Night fundraiser.

Each of the 3 main characters is given a distinct voice in which to tell her story. These point of view chapters are supplemented with a Greek chorus of secondary characters. The chorus serves to intensify the drama, by referring to the upcoming murder, as well as adding humor by providing an alternative view of a scene. At first I found the Greek chorus voices distracting, but I eventually got used to it and thought it was used well.

 

[E&Cmom]

#9/65 Echos of Scotland Street ( on Dublin Street series book 5) by Samantha Young


...... I read the other books of this series and actually liked this one more than the previous book. 4/5

#10/65 The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

From goodreads
In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
---------------------------------------------------

....like all her other books I loved it. 4.5/5

 

[K and K's Mommy]

#5 Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Ha-ha! I got on to review it, and the poster above me had! So, I won't describe.

I loved this book! It is definitely heartbreaking when describing life in occupied France during WW II. If you like historical fiction, I definitely recommend. I've also read All The Light We Cannot See and probably like this one just a bit better.

 

[kt_mom]

Thanks for your advice awhile back about the first book - I did indeed read it all; have just finished it actually and started Dragonfly in Amber today. I'm giving it about a 5/10 so far as I prefer a little more sci-fan and a little less bodice-ripping. I was finding those all too frequent passages pretty tedious by the end. Can you tell me if the tone changes at all in Volume 2? If not I'll probably move on to something else and the beautiful box set DH gave me for Christmas will get re-gifted. TIA

I am a huge fan of this series, but to be honest I did not get fully invested until the third book then I was hooked. I have to say I'm jealous of your box set! I had a few of the first books in paperback (that I gave away) and then borrowed the rest from my aunt. I plan to slowly purchase some nice copies of the books to have.

Finished #4 out of 30

Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) - Gosh, I love this series!! However, with that being said, I am skipping over The Fiery Cross and moving onto Breath of Snow & Ashes - cannot wait!! I've read through this series once before and ended right after The Fiery Cross (didn't care for it at all). So reading Breath will be brand new to me and I'm so excited!

I've also just started All the Light We Cannot See since it just became available at the library last week, and I don't want to lose my place in line (have been waiting since November!) About 100 pages in and really beginning to enjoy it.

All the Light we Cannot See is next on my list to read, glad to hear you're enjoying it.

I finished Book 22 Wonder by RJ Palacio this is a book my DD read last year and loved. It was a quick read but I really enjoyed it.

Right now I'm reading Grave Robber by Mark Batterson and then after that is All the Light We Cannot See.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Oh goodness, I hope #4 doesn't read this thread.

http://frawty.com/10-writers-who-took-themselves-way-too-seriously-godsavemcqueen/

See my post #459.

 

[lovegrumpy]

#6 Fern Micheal Kentucky Rich Book #1
On his deathbed, racing horse magnate Josh Coleman has unfinished business--his long-lost daughter has come back to settle an old score. It's been 30 years since Nealy Coleman Diamond slipped away with her illegitimate daughter. In that time, Nealy has become a woman to be reckoned with. When the truth about her father and a family's troubled past are revealed, Nealy finds herself faced with the greatest challenge of her life.

#7 Fern Micheal Kentucky Heat Book #2
With Nealy, horses come first. So when her two grown children's irresponsible acts nearly cost her Shufly, the foal that carries her hopes for the Triple Crown, she throws them both off Blue Diamond Farms. To the world Nearly looks unbreakable. Inside, her heart has shattered, as she struggles alone to build her racing stables into the best in Kentucky - and Shufly into the horse of the century. When Hatch Littletree, her ex-husband's law partner, pays an unexpected visit, he brings Nealy both much-needed comfort and turmoil, as he urges her to heal the painful rift with her children. Raw with emotion and yet filled with unstoppable determination, Nealy will stand strong...and ultimately, triumph

 

[threeboysmom]

Thanks for your advice awhile back about the first book - I did indeed read it all; have just finished it actually and started Dragonfly in Amber today. I'm giving it about a 5/10 so far as I prefer a little more sci-fan and a little less bodice-ripping. I was finding those all too frequent passages pretty tedious by the end. Can you tell me if the tone changes at all in Volume 2? If not I'll probably move on to something else and the beautiful box set DH gave me for Christmas will get re-gifted. TIA

Haha, yeah, the "bodice-ripping" is a consistent theme throughout all of the books I've read so far. But I LOVE Jamie & Claire's relationship and the depth of their love for each other so it doesn't bother me in the least. The only thing that gets me now and then is the violence! She's hit him, kneed him, shoved him, bit him, lol.........

 

[willowsnn3]

Goal 72
#11 The Here and Now by Ann Brasheres

From the back cover:
Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.
The world I come from is in ruins. We're here to prevent humanity's destruction. But if we don't follow The Rules, everything that matters will be gone:
Friends. Families. Dreams. Love.
Ethan can never know my secret. That I'm not from another place. I'm from another time.

Pretty good YA book.

 

[willowsnn3]

I've also just started All the Light We Cannot See since it just became available at the library last week, and I don't want to lose my place in line (have been waiting since November!) About 100 pages in and really beginning to enjoy it.

I just couldn't get into All The Light We Cannot See. Read close to a hundred pages and just had to let it go.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I'm rereading the Harry Potter series. I got the bug again when DH and I started playing around with planning a trip to UOR next year. I won't review each one I read, I'll just add it to my list.

 

[CajunMomof3]

8/35 Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
I have read several books by this author and enjoyed them all. Her females characters are always witty and self-sufficient. Sophie exhibited those same traits. It's a story about destiny (in this case family obligations) versus free will (falling in love). It was a good read but not particularly thought provoking (which I need from time to time). The only complaint I have is that the sex scenes weren't totally consensual in my opinion- lots of "I know what you really want so I'm going to ignore your no because you don't really mean it." That could be because I just had to explain Fifty Shades of Grey to my 14-year-old, though...

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

8/35 Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
I have read several books by this author and enjoyed them all. Her females characters are always witty and self-sufficient. Sophie exhibited those same traits. It's a story about destiny (in this case family obligations) versus free will (falling in love). It was a good read but not particularly thought provoking (which I need from time to time). The only complaint I have is that the sex scenes weren't totally consensual in my opinion- lots of "I know what you really want so I'm going to ignore your no because you don't really mean it." That could be because I just had to explain Fifty Shades of Grey to my 14-year-old, though...

This was my least favorite book by her.
Agnes and the Hitman and Maybe This Time are my favorites.

 

[mumloveseeyore]

20 Changes at Fairacre miss read
21 Harry potter and the philosophers stone
Must be something in the air! like a pp i decided to re read the harry potter series.