Top Ten Reads of 2017

2017 seems to have flown by and here we are again with the best of lists coming out all over the place.  I absolutely adore seeing what books other bloggers loved in 2017.  My holds list at the library is a bit ridiculous thanks to all of these posts but I just can't seem to resist putting just one more book on hold.  It wasn't my best year of reading but quality wise it was a very strong year.  I ended up finishing 59 books in 2017.  This wasn't my lowest year numbers wise but it was pretty darn close to it.  I'm already looking towards ways of changing this in 2018 but that is for a different post.  I read a ton of really great books this year (actually the majority of the books I read were four star reads) so that makes me very happy.  My top reads for 2017 were the following:

The Doll's House by M.J. Arlidge is book three in this amazing series and also makes this the 3rd year in a row that this series has hit my top 10 reads list.  I am such a huge fan of this series and each book has been a five star read for me.  That should tell you all that you need to know - this is a must read series for me to catch up on in the new year!

Two Can Play by Kate Kessler is the second book in what is fast becoming another favorite mystery series of mine.  The cover quote says "Deliciously twisted" and I can't agree more!  While I think the first book was slightly better than this one, I still found this to be a five star read.  Audrey's character is a favorite of mine and I can't wait to continue on with this series in 2018 as well!

A Twist of the Knife by Becky Masterman was yet another amazing read by this author.  This is also the 3rd year in a row that this series has hit my top 10 reads list - I'm a lucky girl to have found so many great series that I love so much!  I haven't yet seen anything for the next book in the series but I sure do have my fingers crossed that it happens in 2018!

Dark Saturday by Nicci French was a dark, thrilling read that I couldn't get enough of!  This is my first time reading anything in this series (of which I read this one completely out of order).  It was just so good and now I plan to go back to the beginning and read the rest of the books in this series.  I loved this one and can't wait to read more!

Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell wasn't the only book in this series that I read and adored in 2017.  I would actually have put both books on this list but I'm cheating and just including this one (the other was From Potter's Field).  Both were fast paced and intense five star reads for me.  This is a series that I can't read fast enough but am also trying to savor.  Highly recommended!

Asylum by Jeannette De Beauvoir was a mystery series were the dual storylines ended up blowing me away - especially after realizing that the author based this book off of true events.  It was a book that left me thinking about it long after I finished.  There looks to only be two books in this series so far but I won't be waiting long to read that 2nd book in 2018!

Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was everything that I had hoped it would be and even more.  I've loved Grant's Newflesh trilogy previously and after loving this book just as much....well, I basically feel like I will love everything that she writes!  I cannot say enough good things about this book or this author.  You'll just have to try her for yourself!

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary was the beginning to a new to me mystery series that I just adored!  I am so thrilled that I have more books to look forward to after loving this book so much!  It was unexpected in the way that the author handled the mystery but I loved this book all the more because of it.  I will be continuing on with this series in 2018!

Final Girls by Riley Sager was everything that I enjoy in a good thriller - it was dark, intense, and one of those books that I just couldn't put down!  It had a horror movie vibe to it that I just couldn't get enough of.  I am so excited about this author and will be there for anything that he writes!  This was just that good and deserving of all of the attention that it got!

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter wins the award for the darkest and most thrilling book that I read this year (which says something after you've seen some of the other books that I've read in 2017).  This book was just so completely intense and full of twists and turns.  Slaughter's books are all now on my must read list after reading and loving two of her books this year.

There are so many amazing books on this list!  I plan on reading books by ALL of these authors in 2018!  There were so many other books that I read in 2017 that I really could have included on this list as well.  The following are honorable mentions (*by authors not included above):

• All The Secret Places by Anna Carlisle 
• The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal
• A Season to Lie by Emily Littlejohn
• The Breakdown by B.A. Shapiro

I better stop there or I will end up listing the majority of the books that I read and enjoyed in 2017.  I am hoping for a better year quantity wise in 2018 but I would love to have just as great of a year quality wise.  I plan on stretching myself in 2018 with my reading so here is to a wonderful year in books in 2018!  May you and your family have an amazing and wonderful year in 2018!

Happy Reading!

The Daughter by Jane Shemilt (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"How well do you really know those you love?

Jenny loves her three teenage children and her husband, Ted, a celebrated neurosurgeon. She loves the way that, as a family, they always know each other's problems and don't keep secrets from each other.

But when her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Naomi, doesn't come home after her school play and a nationwide search for her begins, secrets previously kept from Jenny are revealed.

Naomi has vanished, leaving her family broken and her mother desperately searching for answers. But the traces Naomi's left behind reveal a very different girl to the one Jenny thought she'd raised. And the more she looks the more she learns that everyone she trusted has been keeping secrets.

How well does she really know her sons, her husband? How well did she know Naomi? If Jenny is going to find her, she'll have to first uncover the truth about the daughter she thought told her everything."

My Thoughts:

Oh my goodness, this book!  I have no words to express how this book made me feel other than it utterly wrecked me for other books for two days after I finished it.  I'm still thinking about this one and it is almost a week later.  This is one of those books that was just so haunting and engrossing and left me reading even when I didn't want to.  As a mother I feel like this one struck a chord with me from the very beginning.  What Jenny goes through is every mother's worst nightmare.  It is almost too terrifying to think about or put words to.  Yet I sat there and just could not tear myself away from the pages of this book.  I was utterly caught up in this family's lives which just goes to show you how much talent this author has.  She made me feel like they were a real family and I almost needed to remind myself that this was fiction.  Just a story.  But one that is going to stick with me for awhile and one that very well make my list of top reads for the year.  Wow!  That's all I can really say.  Just wow.

This one was by far one of the most intense reads that I have read as of late.  It was one of those books where when I got near the end I just sat down and read.  I couldn't have done anything else or set it down by that point.  I was just too invested in the characters by that point and needed to find the answers.  Was this a perfect read for me?  No it had a few faults but that made it a even better reading experience for me because of it.  I would have liked more answers in regards to Naomi's brothers and their "secrets".  I'm being vague there so it doesn't spoil anything and also because it is hard to put into words what I was looking for.  I just felt that there were other secrets that Jenny didn't know about that were alluded to but we really never got the answers for.  I did really, really love the ending of this one though.  There was a twist there that really took me by surprise.  Overall, this was one of the most engrossing reading experiences that I have had lately and I can do nothing but sing this book's praises!

Should my summary just be READ It?  I feel like it should be but I suppose I can give you a bit more.  This is a book that left me thinking about it, has me excited to talk about it with others (so you should really read it and we can discuss), and gave me a bookish hangover.  I am so excited that this is Shemilt's first book because that means we have more amazingness to look forward to!  This book left me gutted but in the best possible way.  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  A devastatingly good read!  Read it!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of a TLC book tour.  Thoughts are my own!

The Sunday Salon: Let's Talk Books

Let's talk books today, shall we?  I have been such a bad, lazy blogger as of late with no real good excuses except work, work, work.  But while I may have been a bad blogger, I have been a much better reader which means I'm even more behind in reviews.  I'm going to try and not dwell on that though because since I'm feeling slightly more motivated than usual I have hopes to knock out a few today.  A girl can hope and dream, can't she??

Besides writing up some reviews I'm hoping to share a book haul post.  I know that I KEEP saying that I'm going on a book ban (and I really, really am) but sometimes I just cannot resist.  And really who can stop themselves from browsing anyways?  It isn't my fault that they seem to all come home with me afterwards, is it?  My shelves blame me though so I am absolutely, definitely, positively banning myself from book buying after this.  FOR REAL THIS TIME!  So anyways look for that post soon too.  But onwards to the books I have been reading as of late.  Here are the books that I finished last week:

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner was an intense, dark thriller but it left me with a few mixed feelings at the end.  I'm not sure if the author is planning on making this into a series (I definitely think that he probably could) but I would read more by this author without hesitation.  I'm hoping to write up my thoughts on this one for this week, and I'm eager to see what other readers think about this book.

Forgiving Lies by Molly McAdams was my very first foray into the New Adult genre but it won't be my last!  It was both cute and fun at times but with very serious undertones.  The ending was disappointing but I will talk about that more in my review which will be up tomorrow as part of a TLC book tour.  I liked it enough that I will be picking up the next book for sure!

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs was a reread for me and absolutely, positively just as good as the first time that I read it.  I actually managed to read this one in less than two days which just goes to show you how unputdownable I find these books to be.  I can't wait to move on to the next book (the last book for me to reread) so that I can move on farther into this series.

Finally, I finished on audio Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling this week.  I cannot tell you guys how much I am loving listening to these books on audio!  The narrator does a fantastic job and I find myself completely immersed once again in Harry's world.  In fact, I'm a bit nervous about continuing to listen to this series at work because I'm convinced that I will find myself listening while crying at my desk during the sad parts.  LOL!  I'm sure you can imagine how that will look to my coworkers :)

This week I'm currently reading the following books:

I haven't even cracked open The Stranger You Know but I will hopefully later on today.  I'm reading this book as part of a TLC book tour as well so I need to get moving on it.  I have been failing miserably with my reading plans so far in November (meaning not reading ANY of my e-books) but I'm hoping to really make some progress with A Study in Silks this week.  On audio, I'm currently listening to All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark.  I used to read this author all of the time before I started blogging and listening to this book has reminded me why. It is both creepy and tense and I'm loving the narrator for this one as well.  I'm still sticking with listening to audiobooks of books that I have already read so this week at the library I grabbed Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn and Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb for future listens.  I can't wait to re-experience them both!

Today I'm hoping to fit in a lot of review writing, some commenting/blog visiting, and lots of laundry.  Hopefully I will also manage to fit some reading in between all of this.  I hope you guys have a great week and an amazing Sunday!

Happy Reading!

E-Book Hoarder???

Please tell me that I'm not the only one that scours the internet for good deals on e-books.  Like once a day.  Seriously.  And I will also freely admit that I can NEVER not look at a blog post that advertises cheap reads for my reader.  Free books?  Even better!  I love, love, love finding good deals on books for my Kindle but the other day I came to realize that I'm turning into an e-book hoarder.  Maybe that's a little extreme....or maybe it isn't.  I will say that I seem to have quite the number of books loaded onto my e-reader ready for me to open up.  Yet I always seem to still want more.  I can't be the only one like this, can I????

I'm guessing I'm not the only reader out there that it finds it all too easy to click buy when the price of the book is right.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the books that I've picked up for my Kindle lately in the hopes that I will at least read a few of them sooner rather than later :)  Because I probably wouldn't feel so bad about acquiring all of these books if I was actually reading them.  LOL!  Here are the books that I've bought recently for my e-reader (a few were probably free):

 

What good e-book deals have you found lately????

In other news, WTF happened to being able to manipulate multiple pictures with blogger???  Do you see what my book covers look like on this post???  I don't even know how I managed to get them like this but I can tell you lots of R-rated words left my mouth.  And I hate it because I can't seem to align them the way I want to.  Why, why, why can I not figure out an easy way to put pictures side by side?  I HATE the new blogger because stuff like this should be easier and not harder.  Tell me someone has figured this out and can share tips with me.  I may end up stroking out otherwise :P

Getting Back to the Basics

My little ones chowing down on some homegrown cherry tomatoes. Woohoo for me actually keeping plants alive!

I've been mentioning for months now that I would like to make some blogging changes. But as of yet, it really hasn't happened. I could use a dozen excuses but it really comes down to the fact that I haven't pushed myself yet. I like safe and comfortable so the idea of change always tends to make me nervous. But after the latest rounds of controversy that seem to just keep on coming, I've been forced to re-evaluate my blog and the reasons why I blog about books. I started this blog 4 and 1/2 years ago because of my love of books. That fact hasn't changed in all of the years that I have been blogging. In fact thanks to all of the lovely bloggers out there, I may love books even more now than I did 5 years ago.

Changes. For me to continue blogging about books and my family, they need to happen and sooner rather than later. As the title of this post indicates, I need to get back to the basics of why I started blogging. This means less drama and more of the following:

• Reading challenges that create community
• Group reads that expand my reading comfort zone
  
• Read-a-longs that create discussion
  
• More commenting and meeting both new and old bloggers
• Personal posts that allow for me to develop friendships with other bloggers

With all of the positive, I'm hoping to jump start my love of blogging once again. And I'm going to need less of the following:

• Review copies that make me feel like I owe something to the author and publisher. I don't.
• Stress because blogging about books is supposed to be enjoyable and not a chore.
• Pressure because I'm the only one who is putting pressure on myself. Time to take it off :)
• Drama that just creates negativity. I don't want that here on my blog.
  

2012 has been a CRAZY year for blogging but I think with a little bit of change it can end. It's time to focus on what is important and get back to the books.