Annual Reading Goal Challenge for 2016 - Come and join us!

[Kirby]

34/80 - Never Die Alone by Lisa Jackson. Genre - Romantic Suspense

Fans of #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Lisa Jackson brings back fan favorites Detectives Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya to match wits against a ruthless serial killer targeting twins in this new suspense-filled thriller. Never Drop Your Guard It should be the best day of their lives. Too bad they never get to see it. On the cusp of their twenty-first birthday, he strikes. His victims are always twins, their ritualistic murders planned in exquisite detail, down to the moment when they breathe their last together. Never Close Your Eyes A possibly innocent man is in prison, and Brianna Hayward needs to convince the New Orleans police. Not just to free her cousin, but to save others who will suffer until the true culprit is found. Reporter Jase Bridges is intrigued. It s a story that could make his career as long as Brianna never guesses the secret in Jase s past. Or You ll Never See Him Coming Detective Rick Bentz had doubts about the 21 conviction when he worked the case in L.A. Now the real murderer may be loose in Bentz s backyard. Twin sisters from All Saints College have vanished on the eve of their twenty-first birthday. And as Bentz and his partner, Reuben Montoya, desperately follow the trail, a killer prepares to unite his next victims in death forever. "

I sped read through this book and hit only the high lights. I couldn't really get into it but it caught enough interest to want to see how things turned out. I've read other books of hers and really liked them but not this one.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

#14 The Last Guardian
Eion Colfer

It has been a long time since I read an Artimes Fowl book. I really enjoyed this ending to the series. Humor and action were dead on even if Artimes, himself was a little off his game..

(If anyone is interested in reading any of my works, I would gladly send kindle gift versions of any (Written for You , Cemetery Girl, Three Twigs for the Campfire, or Reigning.)

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I'm not exactly participating this year. Between taking 15 credits a semester and hoping to start nursing school next year I don't get a whole lot of time to read for fun . But I have the summer off so I have read a few. Nothing has really wowed me yet. This one I enjoyed and wanted to share:

The Family
Marissa Kennerson

Just like any average seventeen year old, Twig loves her family. She has a caring mother and a controlling father. Her brothers are sisters are committed to her family’s prosperity…

All one hundred and eighty three of them.

Twig lives in the Family, a collective society located in the rainforest of Costa Rica. The Family members coexist with the values of complete openness and honesty, and a shared fear of contagious infection in the outside world.

So when Adam, their Father, prophet, and savior, announces that Twig will be his new bride, she is overjoyed and honored. But when an injury forces her to leave the grounds, Twig finds that the world outside is not necessarily as toxic as she was made to believe. When she meets Leo, an American boy with a killer smile, she begins to question everything about her life within the Family, and the cult to which she belongs.

But when it comes to your Family, you don’t always get a choice.

It was little face paced and maybe kind of... IDK basic(If that's the right word). I've come to expect that with the YA books though. The story and setting are good and I found myself staying up late some nights to keep reading so that I could find out what was going to happen next.

 

[Christine]

#21/50: The Barkskins - Annie Proulx: In the late seventeenth century two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord, a “seigneur,” for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters—barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a Mi’kmaw woman and their descendants live trapped between two inimical cultures. But Duquet, crafty and ruthless, runs away from the seigneur, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business. Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over three hundred years—their travels across North America, to Europe, China, and New Zealand, under stunningly brutal conditions—the revenge of rivals, accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks, and cultural annihilation. Over and over again, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face to face with possible ecological collapse.

Proulx’s inimitable genius is her creation of characters who are so vivid—in their greed, lust, vengefulness, or their simple compassion and hope—that we follow them with fierce attention. Annie Proulx is one of the most formidable and compelling American writers, and Barkskins is her greatest novel, a magnificent marriage of history and imagination.

------------------

Uuuggghhh, just don't read this. Now, I sound harsh I know. Overhaul, this a story of America and Canada that is VERY rich with history (something I ordinarily enjoy), but it was very long and convoluted and I started having trouble keeping the the two family lines straight. In the end, it ended with a dud (possibly because I raced through some of it). It was 726 pages and my library Overdrive due date of 21 days was not enough. I had only a few hours left to finish it today.

 

[willowsnn3]

#33 Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
#34 The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

Read these two simultaneously, lol. Started with Bittersweet and it was kinda slow and boring so thought I would give The Hired Girl a chance since those were all I had on hand. It was kinda slow too, lol, but I kept switching between the two and they both got better so I put down The Hired Girl and finished Bittersweet first then the other.

Bittersweet: (from Goodreads)
Suspenseful and cinematic, Bittersweet exposes the gothic underbelly of an idyllic world of privilege and an outsider’s hunger to belong.

On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it’s the kind of place where children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour. Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she’s ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs.

But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact - and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family’s dark secrets and make Ev’s world her own.

The Hired Girl: (from Goodreads)
Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future.

Inspired by her grandmother’s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her sharp wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a comedic tour de force destined to become a modern classic. Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) takes its reader on an exploration of feminism and housework, religion and literature, love and loyalty, cats, hats, bunions, and burns.

 

[Colleen27]

Ever have a pile of books waiting for you and no desire to attack any of them? I'm having that problem right now. I have a bunch of highly recommended DTBs sitting here, but it is hot, I've been hanging out at the beach every day, and I just wanted some fluff instead. So I hopped on the library Overdrive portal and downloaded a bunch of books that just happened to be available right now.

#42 - Even Vampires Get the Blues by Sandra Hill

From Goodreads: New York Times bestselling author Sandra Hill delivers a sizzling new entry in her Deadly Angels series, as a Viking vangel's otherworldly mission teams him with a Navy SEAL who's more than his match— she's his predestined mate . . .

The fact that vampire angel Harek Sigurdsson was a Norseman in his mortal life doesn't make thawing out after exile in Siberia any easier. But things heat up when his search for evil Lucipires connects him with Camille Dumaine, a human who thrums with sensual energy that can mean only one thing: she's the mate Harek's been seeking for centuries . . .

The SEALs call her "Camo" for her ability to blend into a crowd—yet Harek's intense blue gaze singles Camille out like a white-hot spotlight. The security wiz was hired to help bring down a ruthless band of international kidnappers, but Camille senses an unspoken agenda—besides Harek's bold declaration that she's his "destiny." Just Camille's luck that the sexiest man she's ever met may also be . . . a vampire!

This one was just bad. Trying to do too much, to be too topical and relevant at the expense of the love story.

#43 - The Maddening Lord Montwood by Vivienne Lorret

From Goodreads: The Rakes of Fallow Hall wagered that they would never succumb to love—yet in Vivienne Lorret's newest novel, the final rogue meets his match.

Frances Thorne can handle anything—except losing her position, her home, and her father to debtor's prison all in one day. So when a generous offer of assistance falls into her lap, she's grateful for a second chance, even if it seems too good to be true. The last thing she needs is for the charming, infuriating—maddening—Lord Lucan Montwood to stand in her way.

The end of the bachelors' wager is near, and Lucan Montwood can taste victory—just so long as he can stay away from the one woman who sees through his façade. Yet when he learns that Frances has been caught in an insidious trap, Lucan can't deny that he will do anything to help. Convincing her to trust him is the hard part, resisting her is next to impossible, but falling in love with her? That may be far too simple.

Meh. This wasn't a great read either. It was formulaic, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in a series romance. And I usually enjoy historicals. Still, something about this one just fell flat for me. The conflict/mystery that drove the storyline was just too contrived and too obvious to be believable, which detracted from the love story.

#44 - Matched by Ally Condie

From Goodreads: In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

I think I must have started this one before because the characters were familiar, but I didn't see it on my Goodreads lists so I don't think I finished it. I didn't find the story as compelling as some other YA series my daughter has turned me on to, but it was a fun read and I've already borrowed the 2nd and 3rd books to my Kindle for this afternoon's beach adventure.

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #26/50: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

From Goodreads:
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

 

[MochaDrinker]

76/200-Nation on the Take by Wendell potter and nick penniman

77/200-On Fire by John O'Leary

 

[Kirby]

35/80 - Ford County by John Grisham.

John Grisham returns to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his immensely popular first novel, A Time to Kill. This wholly surprising collection of stories reminds us once again why Grisham is America's favorite storyteller.

This was my July book club selection. I did not like this book. It's a collection of stories and that's where it started going down hill. I'm not a fan of short stories and most of them did not hold my attention. I read the first one, skimmed through the second and peeked at the others until the last story which held my interest a little. This one will definitely not get a good rating from me when we meet up at the end of the month.

36/80 - Pegasus by Danielle Steele.

In a rich historical novel of family and World War II, #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel unfurls a powerful saga that spans generations and continents. This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate as two families face the challenges of war . . . and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever.

PEGASUS

Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children - Nick's two lively boys and Alex's adored teenage daughter - in peace and luxury on the vast Bavarian estates that have belonged to their families for generations. While Nick indulges in more glamorous pursuits, Alex devotes himself to breeding the renowned white Lipizzaner horses that enthrall audiences throughout Europe with their ability to dance and spin on command, majestic creatures whose bloodlines are rare and priceless. But it is Nicolas's bloodline that changes everything, when his father receives a warning from a high-ranking contact inside the Wehrmacht. A secret from the past has left the family vulnerable to the rising tide of Nazism: Nick's mother, whom he never knew, was of Jewish descent.

Suddenly Nicolas must flee Germany, wrenching his sons away from the only home they have known, sailing across the Atlantic for a new life in America. Their survival will depend on a precious gift from Alex, their only stake for the future: eight purebred horses, two of them stunning Lipizzaners. In Florida, where Nicolas joins the Ringling Brothers Circus, he becomes Nick Bing, with Alex's prize white stallion - now named Pegasus - the centerpiece of the show.

In this extraordinary book, Danielle Steel tells the story of a family reinventing itself in America, while the country they left behind is engulfed in flames and madness, and men like Alex von Hemmerle are forced to make unbearable choices. Alex's daughter will find sanctuary in England. In America, Nick will find love, his sons will find a future, and their left-behind world will eventually find them. A novel of hope and sacrifice, of tragedy, challenge, and rebirth, Pegasus is a brilliant family chronicle that unfolds across half a century - a masterwork from one of our most beloved writers.

The ending was a little too much but I enjoyed reading it.

 

[Colleen27]

#45 - Crossed by Ally Condie

From Goodreads: The Society chooses everything.

The books you read.
The music you listen to.
The person you love.

Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him.

And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope.

But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems...

A rebellion is rising.

And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.

#46 Reached by Ally Condie

From Goodreads: After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

Once I got started on the trilogy I was hooked enough to want to finish it. It wasn't the best YA series I've ever read but it was pretty good, and I felt like it got better as it went on. I can see why it was so popular with my daughter and her friends - between the threads of questioning how well you ever really know another person and the main character's journey from the rigid, tightly-controlled Society to developing an artistic voice of her own, it was well crafted to appeal to teenage girls. The whole series made for a nice set of beach reads, and I did love that unlike so many of the other dystopian series my daughter has recommended, this one had a happy ending.

 

[MochaDrinker]

78/200-Top of the Morning by Brian Seltzer

 

[willowsnn3]

#35/72
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
from Goodreads:

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same.

Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.

As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.

Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?

Really liked this one.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#43/75: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (3.5/5) (historical fiction)(moves between different time periods)

#44/75: Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan (5/5) (historical fiction/Robert Louis Stevenson)

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #27/50: Intrusion by Mary McCluskey

From Goodreads:
Kat and Scott Hamilton are dealing with the hardest of losses: the death of their only child. While Scott throws himself back into his law practice in Los Angeles, Kat is hesitant to rejoin the workplace and instead spends her days shell-shocked and confused, unable to focus.

When an unwelcome face from Kat’s past in England emerges—the beautiful and imposing Sarah Cherrington—Kat’s marriage is thrown into a tailspin. Now wealthy beyond anything she could have imagined as a girl, Sarah appears to have everything she could need or want. But Sarah has an agenda and she wants one more thing. Soon Kat and Scott are caught up in her devious games and power plays.

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #28/50: Abandon by Blake Crouch

From Goodreads:
On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman, and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins - and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town, so they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic and a paranormal photographer, as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

 

[MochaDrinker]

78/200-Manhunt by James L. Swanson

 

[Colleen27]

Book #28/50: Abandon by Blake Crouch

From Goodreads:
On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman, and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins - and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town, so they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic and a paranormal photographer, as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

How did you like this one? It caught my eye the other day at the bookstore since I enjoyed the Wayward Pines series, but I haven't gotten around to requesting it from the library yet.

 

[Colleen27]

Unfortunately my car broke down today. But on the bright side, I had a couple of ebooks on my phone by authors I've read and enjoyed in the past so waiting for my husband to come to my rescue wasn't as bad as it could have been. Fingers crossed the repair bill doesn't hurt too much come Monday!

#47 - One Night For Love by Mary Balogh

A quick, light read typical of the historical/regency romance genre, a "win" as far as picking up whatever happened to catch my eye on the library's Overdrive site. I do tend to enjoy Balogh's writing more than a lot of series romance authors and this was no exception.

#48 - Burning Dawn by Gena Showalter

Supernatural romance, again by an author that I've enjoyed in the past when I was looking for an escapist read. Much more of a page turner, less predictable and faster paced than a lot of romances. Basically a perfect distraction for a lousy day.

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #41/65 - The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck

I read this for my book club and I liked it. I enjoyed reading the stories of the 4 women, especially Emily in 1912. There is a little bit of religious aspect to this story (in case that may bother you).

Four brides. One Dress.
A tale of faith, redemption, and timeless love.
Charlotte owns a chic Birmingham bridal boutique. Dressing brides for their big day is her gift . . . and her passion. But with her own wedding day approaching, why can't she find the perfect dress...or feel certain she should marry Tim?
Then Charlotte discovers a vintage dress in a battered trunk at an estate sale. It looks brand-new-shimmering with pearls and satin, hand-stitched and timeless in its design. But where did it come from? Who wore it? Who welded the lock shut and tucked the dog tags in that little sachet? Who left it in the basement for a ten-year-old girl? And what about the mysterious man in the purple vest who insists the dress had been "redeemed."
Charlotte's search for the gown's history-and its new bride-begins as a distraction from her sputtering love life. But it takes on a life of its own as she comes to know the women who have worn the dress. Emily from 1912. Mary Grace from 1939. Hillary from 1968. Each with her own story of promise, pain, and destiny. And each with something unique to share. For woven within the threads of the beautiful hundred-year-old gown is the truth about Charlotte's heritage, the power of courage and faith, and the timeless beauty of finding true love.

Finished book #42/65 - All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

I didn't care for the way this story was told at all. The middle of the story is told in reverse starting with Day 15 to Day 1 which makes the story choppy. After I read Day 15 & 14, I ended up jumping to Day 1 and reading the chapters in chronological order through to Day 15. The story flowed better, but it still had holes. I had no interest in any of the characters and guessed correctly what happened with the first disappearance.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

 

[Kirby]

Finished book #41/65 - The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck

I read this for my book club and I liked it. I enjoyed reading the stories of the 4 women, especially Emily in 1912. There is a little bit of religious aspect to this story (in case that may bother you).

Four brides. One Dress.
A tale of faith, redemption, and timeless love.
Charlotte owns a chic Birmingham bridal boutique. Dressing brides for their big day is her gift . . . and her passion. But with her own wedding day approaching, why can't she find the perfect dress...or feel certain she should marry Tim?
Then Charlotte discovers a vintage dress in a battered trunk at an estate sale. It looks brand-new-shimmering with pearls and satin, hand-stitched and timeless in its design. But where did it come from? Who wore it? Who welded the lock shut and tucked the dog tags in that little sachet? Who left it in the basement for a ten-year-old girl? And what about the mysterious man in the purple vest who insists the dress had been "redeemed."
Charlotte's search for the gown's history-and its new bride-begins as a distraction from her sputtering love life. But it takes on a life of its own as she comes to know the women who have worn the dress. Emily from 1912. Mary Grace from 1939. Hillary from 1968. Each with her own story of promise, pain, and destiny. And each with something unique to share. For woven within the threads of the beautiful hundred-year-old gown is the truth about Charlotte's heritage, the power of courage and faith, and the timeless beauty of finding true love.

This was my book club's selection a couple of years ago. Everyone liked it.