Top Ten Books from 2017

Top Ten Books from 2017

Top Ten Books from 2017

Here are some of my favorite books that came out this year, that have been reviewed here by Kasey or me:

The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill– February 7th, 2017

Stephanie Morrill’s latest book is a mystery set in Chicago during the Roaring 20s. It features a strong heroine and a swoon-worthy detective, along with several unexpected twists. Kasey reviewed this book back in March, and said it was a must read for historical fiction and mystery lovers alike. After reading it for myself, I definitely would agree!

The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron– March 7th, 2017

The Illusionist’s Apprentice is another historical fiction/mystery novel … Continue reading

Monthly Wrap-Up: September 2017

September 2017 Monthly Wrap-UpSeptember 2017 was another wild month packed with some of my favorite books this year. If you missed my review of Elsie Mae Has Something to Say by Nancy Cavanaugh, just stop and go check that one out. I reviewed nine books this month, and Gabrielle shared her review of the sequel to Wolf by Wolf. If you followed along, let me know which was your favorite. Which reviews made you add books to your reading list?

As we head into the fall, I’m mostly focusing on catching up on some books that have been sitting on the shelf next to my bed forever. Some are books I got last November at YallFest … Continue reading

September Update: Five Ways You Can Help

BirthdayIf you know me on social media, you probably saw that it was my birthday this month, and that Hurricane Irma dropped in uninvited and altered all my plans. One of the hazards of having a September birthday in Florida.

At any rate, we survived the storm, and I’m back to work, and hoping to actually celebrate my birthday soon, but all of this got me started thinking. What if instead of a hundred comments on Facebook saying happy birthday, I could ask for something equally free and simple, but much more meaningful? What if you could support me in a way that costs you nothing more than a few seconds of time but makes a difference for the whole year?

So I came up with a list … Continue reading

April AVA Reading Challenge Update Part 2

This month I’m participating in the AVA Readathon Challenge with Bookshelves and Paperbacks. I listed the ARCs (advance release copies) of books I’m planning to read this month in an earlier post, and last week, I posted an update on what I’d read so far. This week I read a few more from the list, so I’m posting another quick update.

Here’s an updated list from the one I posted at the beginning of the challenge:

ARC Challenge Part 2

Note: I originally included Between the Lies by Cathy MacPhail by mistake, since it doesn’t come out until September 2017. I’ve replaced it with Shadow and Thorn by Kenley Davidson which came out in March and I haven’t … Continue reading

April AVA Readathon Challenge Update

This month I’m participating in the AVA Readathon Challenge with Bookshelves and Paperbacks. I listed the ARCs (advance release copies) of books I’m planning to read this month. Some have been lingering in my to-be-read stack for far too long. Others were a bit of a cheat because they come out this month, so I wanted to read them anyway.

Here’s the list I posted at the beginning of the month:

AVA Readathon ChallengeNote: I don’t know why Between the Lies ended up on this list, since it doesn’t come out until September. Probably I got it mixed up with something else, though now I can’t remember what. So that one is last on my list for now.

What I’ve Read So Far

Racial … Continue reading

March 2017 Monthly Wrap-Up

This month’s big to-do was ApollyCon, which I had the pleasure of attending for the first time as a volunteer. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, ApollyCon is sponsored by Jennifer Armentrout and 1001 Dark Nights and is a huge, two day book-signing extravaganza.

Out of the over 70 authors, there were really only a handful that I’ve read before, since many write new adult, which I don’t get much chance to read. (I’ve got my hands full with young adult and middle grade as it is!) This might sound like I had fewer reasons to attend ApollyCon, but actually, I have to say two things. First, it was about an hour from my house, so not much expense there! … Continue reading