Too Far Gone by Allison Brennan (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Things finally seem to be going well for FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid. She's just finished training for Hostage Rescue, her husband's relationship with his son is back on track, and her tense relationship with her boss, Rachel Vaughn, has become much more bearable. That is, until her first hostage case throws everything off track.

When a man who appears under the influence and mentally unstable holds a group of people hostage and dies in a shootout with the FBI, Lucy is assigned to investigate what happened. His descent doesn't make any sense - he was an upstanding citizen a year ago and only started declining after a series of blackouts and strange occurrences. Even his autopsy seems suspicious, and the body has been cremated without the proper approval. As Lucy investigates, she realizes that this story may be more complicated than she thinks, and that her own life might be in danger."

My Thoughts:

Too Far Gone was such a fun and suspenseful read - I can't wait to read more books in this series!  I'm notorious (as you probably know by now) for starting series in the middle or just completely out of order which is what I did with this book.  It didn't matter though as I found myself completely sucked into this book from the very beginning pages.  There are two different mysteries or storylines going on.  One is the case Lucy is investigating of a man that was shot and killed after holding a group of people hostage at a coffee shop.  The second one relates to Lucy's husband Sean and his son who is staying with them for the summer but is possibly in danger.  I really found this to be such a suspenseful read because of these two different storylines.  You aren't sure if the storylines are going to connect or what is going on exactly.  I found myself really caught up within both storylines which was nice as I didn't prefer one over the other.  Instead I found myself reading as fast as I could which has happened a lot as of late (those darn reading slumps will do that to you).  It was nice to find myself swept away within the pages and reading at every free point that I had for a change.  I also really appreciated the fact that it didn't matter that I hadn't read the previous books in the series.  I wasn't lost and the author did a good job of including just enough of the back stories from other characters to allow me to get to know them.  I do plan on going back and starting at the beginning of this series very soon.  I was able to figure out the "bad guys" on one part of the storyline quite easily but it really didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.  By then I was too caught up within the book already and just needed to see how it would all play out.  Those last one hundred pages or so were intense!  I couldn't stop reading at the point as I just had to see how it would all end.  So good!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and am excited to read more by this author.  I feel like this was the perfect book to pick up and really knock me out of the reading slump that I had been in.  I breezed through the pages and didn't want to set it down.  That's the sign of a great read right there!  Luckily for me I can go back to the beginning of this series to play catch up.  I think I have like thirteen more books to look forward to!  I love when that happens and I find a new long running series to catch up with!  I would recommend this book to fans of suspense and mysteries alike.  You definitely don't need to read the series in order from what I can tell so feel free to start right here if you haven't read this author yet.  I did and had a really great reading experience honestly!  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A book that knocked me right of the reading slump that I had been in!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher for the book tour of this book.  Thoughts are honest and are my own.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (November 19th)

"It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date."

It has been awhile folks!  Life just doesn't slow down really when you have three kids even when you expect it to.  Alas, I'm perfectly okay with this and am just now trying to figure out ways for next year to be different.  I'm not ready to give up blogging - I love sharing my thoughts on books too much.  And honestly, I really enjoy being able to go back and read my thoughts on a book years later.  I think my plan is to call 2018 blogging a wash and start fresh in the new year.  I have a couple of reviews I still plan on sharing with you so I won't be completely silent here the next month and half.  But I just think that I'm going to start working ahead and prescheduling posts for next year.  Maybe then I won't have only three posts a month or go weeks without blogging at all.  Ha!  Who knows if that will really happen but it still will be fun to try and get ahead.  I've got plenty of reviews waiting to be written - some of those I will post in the next month or so (just not regularly) and the rest I will save for the new year.  So there are my blogging plans in a nutshell!  I'm not going to lie - I'm already starting to think about reading plans in the new year as well.  LOL!

Reading wise, I've really slowed down these past two months dramatically.  According to Goodreads I'm about four books behind schedule with my reading challenge - I've been ahead all year until now. I'm not too worried about it because really what can you do?  I'm not as fast of a reader as some and I'm perfectly okay with that.  Not much else is new bookwise.  I'm still checking out WAY too many books from the library.  I'm still adding books to my TBR list on an almost daily basis.  And I'm still enjoying reading although I was starting to slump there for awhile (hence, the drop in the number of books I've been reading).  I don't think I'm going to attempt to catch you up on all of the books I've read since my last reading update - instead I'm just going to share with you the books that I'm currently reading and what I finished last.

I'm currently reading the following books:

Can you tell I was in a reading slump?  I NEVER read four books at a time to be honest but here I am.  I'm off this entire week so I'm really hoping to finish up a couple of these but only time will tell.

A Duke Changes Everything by Christy Carlyle is my current print read and a review copy courtesy of the publisher.  I needed a change of pace from the mysteries and thrillers so I'm excited to read this one.  I've just barely begun it so I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.

It's a Charmed Life (The Grimm Files) by Selene Charles is my current kindle read thanks to Kindle Unlimited (of which I'm trying thanks to a great deal for the next three months).  I'm loving this one so far!  I don't even know how to explain this one or describe it - it has characters from all of the Disney movies you know and love but is so much darker.  I am so glad that I heard about this one and that there is another book for me to look forward to after this!

Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe is a book that I stopped reading only because it was due back at the library and I couldn't finish in time.  I instantly put it back on hold and just picked it back up this past week.  I'm ready to dive back in as it has been really good so far, but I want to focus on finishing up one of the above two books first.

In The Darkest Hour by Anna Carlisle is a NetGalley review copy that is currently languishing on my Kindle.  I loved the first two books in this series but this one just hasn't pulled me in.  It could be because I was trying to read it right in the middle of my reading slump - or maybe it was part of what put me in my reading slump.  I'm not really sure so I moved on to It's a Charmed Life and will be going back to this one afterwards to try again.

I just finished reading:

Too Far Gone by Allison Brennan was such an enjoyable read.  I read this one as part of an upcoming book tour so my thoughts will be posted on it soon.  I've never read anything in this series but I definitely plan on reading more now!  I love when I find new series to read and follow like this!

Up Next:

I'm not too sure what I will read after these four books but these two are currently calling my name the loudest.  Or my mood will change and I will read something completely different (that's what usually happens with me being such a moody reader).

One's a library book and one is the next KU book that I've downloaded to read.  It has been fun chatting with all of you again!  I'm off to work around the house a bit and get ready for Thanksgiving.

Happy Monday and Happy Reading!

Murder on Millionaires' Row by Erin Lindsey (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Rose Gallagher might dream of bigger things, but she’s content enough with her life as a housemaid. After all, it’s not every girl from Five Points who gets to spend her days in a posh Fifth Avenue brownstone, even if only to sweep its floors. But all that changes on the day her boss, Mr. Thomas Wiltshire, disappears. Rose is certain Mr. Wiltshire is in trouble, but the police treat his disappearance as nothing more than the whims of a rich young man behaving badly. Meanwhile, the friend who reported him missing is suspiciously unhelpful. With nowhere left to turn, Rose takes it upon herself to find her handsome young employer.

The investigation takes her from the marble palaces of Fifth Avenue to the sordid streets of Five Points. When a ghostly apparition accosts her on the street, Rose begins to realize that the world around her isn’t at all as it seems―and her place in it is about to change forever."

My Thoughts:

I'm not even going to lie - I jumped at the chance to read this book almost entirely based off of that gorgeous cover.  I'm a sucker for good cover and this one has that in spades!  Happily I enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed that cover!  This feels like it has been the year where I've discovered historical mysteries.  I've started some really great historical mystery series  and I can add this one to the list.  In this book, Rose Gallagher goes searching for her missing boss when she realizes that the police aren't taking his disappearance seriously. I really adored Rose's character because she was just so determined and strong willed.  Her adventures made this book so much fun to read.  I really just found myself sucked into the pages of this book.  This book took me to a different time and place...heck, it was really a different world where ghosts walked and certain individuals had different kinds of "luck" and I was just transported by it all.  The author swept me into the pages of this book so that I didn't want to stop reading.  I just HAD to see what was going to happen next.  I loved that in this book ghosts were actually dangerous to humans - everything to do with the paranormal actually felt very original to this book.  I wasn't sure when I read the book summary how the author would fit ghosts into the storyline but it worked beautifully.  I feel like the author really just managed to create this unique world in this book that I couldn't get enough of.  I enjoyed my time within its' pages and am looking forward to reading more of this series in the future.  Really, what more could you ask?

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and am very excited to have found both this series and this author.  I need to check out what else Lindsey has written - hopefully she has written more so the wait for book two doesn't seem so long.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble Rose can get herself into next.  If you are looking for a fun, fast-paced read then look no further then this book. It's a definite page turner with a world that I won't be forgetting about any time soon.  I can easily recommend this book to fans of historical mysteries and really mysteries in general!

Bottom Line:  A fun beginning to a series that I can't wait to read more of!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher.  Thoughts are my own.