Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good..."

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book so much!  It was just such a fun read that had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions.  I've had this book on my TBR list for over two years which is a shame considering how much I enjoyed it.  But that's what happens sometimes, and I won't be waiting that long to pick up the next book in this series!  In this book, Violet gets drawn into a murder investigation because her grandmother is considered to be the prime suspect.  One of the things that caused me to hesitate a bit with picking this book up at first was the idea of a magical bookstore.  I'm here for any and all cozy mysteries set in bookstores but I wasn't sure how the author was going to work a magical bookstore.  She did it beautifully though and in a way that just fit in perfectly with the story.  What could have been over the top just seemed to fit perfectly.  I really loved everything about this book!  It was a fun read and kept me guessing throughout.  I also really, really enjoyed that the author included some pieces of history in the book.  I don't want to say more than that as I feel like it is a slight spoiler.  

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am left very excited to have finally tried this cozy mystery series.  I've got two more books now to look forward to which is always a good thing!  I'm glad that my personal TBR challenge finally gave me the push I needed to read this book.  It was a great way to start off this challenge for me in 2019 even if it added more books to my TBR rather than lessening it.  What a great problem to have!  I would recommend this book to fans of cozy mysteries and mysteries alike.  It was a really fun read so I hope that other readers enjoy this one as much as I did!

Bottom Line:  A fun beginning to this cozy mystery series!  I can't wait to read more!

Disclosure:  I read this book courtesy of my local library.  Thoughts as always are my own.

Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Anna Pigeon has fled New York and her memories to find work as a ranger in the country’s national parks. In the remote backcountry of West Texas, however, she discovers murder and violence. Fellow park ranger Sheila Drury is mysteriously killed, presumably by a mountain lion. But the deep claw marks Anna finds across Drury’s throat and the paw prints surrounding the body are too perfect to be real."

My Thoughts:

This is my second book read for my personal TBR challenge.  I actually picked up my copy of this book from the used bookstore but then it just languished on my shelves.  I'm grateful for the push to finally pick it up that this challenge gave me because I really enjoyed this one.  It was a quieter mystery but it was the perfect choice for the reading mood that I was in.  I loved this book for the setting alone.  The author was able to just draw me in to the wilderness and stark back country of Texas within the pages of this book.  Through Anna's love of nature and the area where she lived, I was also able to feel like I was there myself.  I found that the mystery came almost second to me in comparison to just experiencing the atmosphere that Barr created within this book.  

What I loved about this book besides the setting was the feel of it.  It almost reminded me of a Sue Grafton novel although they are two very different type of books.  I think it was the fact that both series are set in a different way of life - a time where technology and cell phones aren't the every day norm.  Anna has to use a pay phone to make calls to her sister in New York and can barely type up reports that she needs to do.  Both series feature a different type of investigating where it isn't all focused on forensics but instead focuses more on uncovering the secrets leading up to the crime.  This was a shorter book but I still was so easily caught within the pages.  I found myself surprised by the ending as I didn't see any of it coming.  It just made the book that much more enjoyable and has me eager to continue on with this series (which is why I now have a copy of book two on my shelves ready and waiting).

Overall, I really enjoyed this quiet mystery and am very excited about this series in general.  Luckily for me I believe I have many more books to look forward to.  I'm two for two as well when it comes to books read for this challenge.  Both have been really great reads for me and finally knocked a couple of books off of my TBR that have been on there for entirely too long.  I don't plan on waiting long before moving on to the second book!  I think that fans of mysteries and suspenseful reads will enjoy this book.  I really do see a lot of comparisons to the Sue Grafton series so if you enjoy that one you may like this one as well.  Easily recommended!

Bottom Line: A quiet mystery that sucked me into the beauty of its' surroundings!

Disclosure:  I purchased my copy of this book from my local used bookstore.

Reading Plans 2018 (Bout of Books, 2018 Reading, and Winter's Respite)

The next Bout of Books read-a-thon is coming up and I'm super excited to join in on the fun.  I think that I've participated in this read-a-thon the last three years in a row at least.  It is always a good way to get my reading started off right in the new year!  If you haven't yet had the chance to participate in Bout of Books before now, here are the rules:

 "The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 8th and runs through Sunday, January 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 21 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

I would love to finish at least two books for this challenge.  Since I'm writing this post a bit earlier than usual, I'm not really for sure what I plan on reading yet.  These two are definite possibilities though as I'm hoping to read both of them this month:

It will all depend on what I actually finish reading this first week of the new year - I'll post updates on Litsy and Twitter of what books I actually end up reading during this read-a-thon.  I'm really looking forward to it though and cannot wait to begin!

I've previously talked about my TBR challenge that I'm doing in 2018 which is a personal challenge.  I'm also planning on a 2018 releases challenge (which will also be personal).  The plan is I have a list of 30 books being published in 2018 that I want to read.  For every book that I read off of this list, I'll add a new release in it's place.  Participating in both of these personal challenges will help to give my 2018 reading a variety of backlist reads along with new releases.  The best of both worlds if I do say so myself!  I will also be creating a page to list out all of my 2018 releases that I'm wanting to read if you are interested.

The final change to my 2018 reading that I'm hoping to put into place is really stretching my reading limits.  I read a TON of mysteries and thrillers last year.  I would say that the majority of the books that I read were books that were part of a series.  I'm fine with both of those things alone but I also really want to stretch myself as a reader.  I want to expand my reading horizons and that means trying new things.  It means reading more nonfiction (in 2017 I finished 3 nonfiction reads which is a pretty low number; but also a really great number for me considering there were many years where I didn't read any nonfiction books).  It also means participating in read-alongs, focusing on reading books featuring diverse characters or written by diverse authors, and just picking up books that I normally might not.  Reading different genres is also something that I want to do more of!  In the spirit of all of this, I have signed up for a read-along of the following book on Litsy:

I know absolutely nothing about this book other than it was one of the choices for the Book of the Month club.  I went ahead and put it on hold at the library anyways because this is the year where I'm going to try something different.  And for me, this is definitely outside of what I would normally read.  I'll keep you updated with the different books that I read but I'm hoping to become a much more well-rounded reader in 2018!

Finally, I'm also signing up to participate in the Winter's Respite read-a-thon which goes through the entire month of January.  There are no rules to participating besides read, read, read.  I'm planning on using this read-a-thon to help me get some quality reading done in January while also making progress on the #COYER Winter Switch challenge that I'm participating in.  I'm really hoping that month long read-a-thon will start my 2018 reading year off on the right foot with tons of great books!

Enough rambling, I'm off to get some quality reading done but let me know what your reading plans/goals are for 2018!

The Sunday Post #38 (2018 Reading Plans)

"The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme"

Good morning everyone!  I'm actually writing this post ahead of time which means it won't get posted in the late afternoon like it usually does.  Success on my part - LOL!  As the title of this post probably already shows, I've been really thinking about my reading plans for 2018 already.  I've said this before but 2017 has not been my best year of reading.  In fact, I'm on track to read the fewest number of books this year since I began blogging back in 2008.  I'm sitting at 50 books read for the year - if I finish 4 more books I will tie with my reading year in 2012.  I know I shouldn't worry about the numbers so much but it is quite the difference when in the last two years I have finished eighty books both years.  My TBR keeps growing but my reading pace has slowed down and I'm not really sure why.

I'm not going to sit and moan about it though, instead I'm trying to figure out what I can do to make 2018's reading better.  Signing up for #COYER was a great way to begin but I'm not going to stop there.  One of my new plans to jump start my reading with really great reads is I have come up with a list of fifty books that I'm calling my TBR list (not very original - I know).  This is a mixture of fiction and nonfiction reads that have all been on my TBR list for some time- no new 2018 releases involved.  Every month (or more than once a month if I like) I'm going to use the random number generator to pick one of these books to read.  I'm going to knock some of these books off of my TBR list once and for all!  I have a tendency to "save" books to read that I think I'm going to really like but I don't want to read right away because then I won't have them to look forward to read.  This makes no sense but there you have it.  I put a bunch of books like this on my list to finally give myself the push to read them.  I made a tab on my blog if you are interested in seeing the fifty books that I chose (I might make a separate post but it is doubtful because that is a lot of books covers to share).  The plan is to keep my list at fifty constantly - for every book that I finish I will add a new one to the list.  And at the end of the year I'm going to look back at all of the books I finish for this personal challenge.  It should be fun! I've got other reading plans for 2018 but I'll post about them at a later date.  I've already got my first book picked out for this because I can't wait until the new year to begin.  I will be reading this gem very soon:

It has been a few weeks since my last reading update which means I have a lot to catch up with you on.  I've actually finished three books since my last post which is pretty awesome considering.  These are the books that I've recently read:

Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was just as amazing as I had hoped that it would be.  I loved every minute of reading it so I'm absolutely thrilled that it looks like it is part of a series.  I need more killer mermaids in my life!  I'm going to post my thoughts on this one soon but expect a lot of gushing to be involved.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie was delightful read.  I've actually already written up my thoughts on this one which I'm calling a success.  This book was such a great read!  It has me wanting to read more of her books soon, and I heard on another Read or Dead podcast episode that there is another movie coming in the future based off of one of her books.  I'm pumped!

Bloodstains with Bronte by Katherine Bolger Hyde was a fun follow-up to the first book in the series (Arsenic With Austen) that I recently read.  While I definitely liked the first book more, it was great to get back to this cast of characters and cozy series once again.  I will be working on writing up my thoughts on this one very soon as well.

I'm now currently reading the following two books:

 

Final Girls by Riley Sager is so completely intense!  I can't stop reading yet find myself unsure if I want to keep going.  I'm loving every minute of it!  I'm also reading Troublemaker by Leah Remini as my nonfiction read.  I'm a huge fan of her show exposing Scientology so I couldn't resist picking up the book.  I'm enjoying it although I have to say that most of my attention is currently focused on Final Girls at the moment.  These are both print books and I don't have an ebook on the go currently which is rare.  I'll be picking up one of my choices from my #COYER reading pool soon to start on my kindle.

Plans for the day are the usual.  My youngest has basketball pictures before his game so we have that in the afternoon.  My laundry piles are sky high so I'm going to be working on getting those down to a more manageable level.  Reading and blogging as much as possible.  And then football, family time, and The Walking Dead of course.  It sounds like the recipe for a great Sunday and perfect start to my week.  I'm off to work on said laundry piles but do share if you are also already thinking about your reading in 2018.  I would love to hear what your plans are!

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!