Another year of reading draws to a close. Jana and I are celebrating with a giveaway below, be sure to enter! As I say over and over and over again on Instagram, ho ho ho, mofos.
Don't forget, December is a special Double Show Us Your Books month - the regular monthly link up today and the Show Us Your Books Best of 2016 on the last Tuesday of the month (December 27). You can see my post from last year here.
This link up happens the second Tuesday of every month.
The next regular monthly one is Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Special Show Us Your Books Best of 2016 on Tuesday, December 27, 2016
1. Please visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & meSpecial Show Us Your Books Best of 2016 on Tuesday, December 27, 2016
2. Please display the button (need it? let me know) or link back to us on your blog post
2. Please visit a few other blogs who've linked up and get some book talk going!
Here's what I've read from the last linkup.
Engrossing Reads
Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens - I liked the story, the writing, and most of the characters. It could be from jet lag but I didn't see the twist coming. I read it in 24 hours. Stevens has let me down before but not this time. Free e-copy from netgalley for an honest review.
If the Creek Don't Rise: A Novel by Leah Weiss - Appalachia is one of my favorite settings for a book. It often leads to novels that are so despairing yet full of pockets of hope. I can't resist it. This book was no different. I really enjoyed the parade of characters with intertwined stories. Free ARC from Netgalley for an honest review, e-book
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay - Lured in by the title, I did not realize this was a book of short stories. Not my favorite type of read by far, but this collection absolutely was. Roxanne Gay is masterful, and this is a stellar follow up to her essay collection Bad Feminist. Free ARC from Netgalley for an honest review, e-book
Cause to Kill (Avery Black Mystery #1) by Blake Pierce - I think I heard about this through BookBub. I tore through it. A strong but faulty female lead + a redemption story + serial killers = homerun for me. e-book, Kindle
Passed the Time Just Fine
In Twenty Years by Allison Winn Scotch - These people got on my nerves, but the thing that got most on my nerves was Scotch not doing her homework and talking about people buying beer in Wawa in Philadelphia. When this was written, you couldn't buy beer anywhere in Pennsylvania except in a beer store (this is slowly changing). I get it, it's fiction, but some things are really easy to research and that's one of them. This is the kind of thing that annoys me and crawls up my ass sideways to cast a shadow over the rest of the book. The dramatic antics of the characters didn't help. e-book, Kindle
The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French - All of the Dublin Murder Squad books take me a bit to get into, and a few days to get through as they're big. But this one was just a drag ass book. I liked Antoinette a lot and I liked the story a lot, but the pace is off here. I can't remember the last time it took me a week to get through a book I liked. library hardback
Sister Dear by Laura McNeill - This was sort of predictable, but sort of not predictable. A few things: the lead character is a lot more forgiving than I'd be, there was too much manufactured crazy here, and I think the author wants you to feel bad for the teenagers in the story but she makes them so one dimensional and unlikable that it's hard to empathize with them. This passed the time fine for me, but if you don't read a lot, I'd probably skip it. e-book, kindle
The Unquiet Dead (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #1 by Ausma Zehanat Khan - This book haunted me and just gutted me with a plot around the Serb conflict in the 1990s, but as fiction and particularly as a mystery this sort of missed the mark. I did like Rachel and Esa, so I will probably give the second one a go. library hardback
Escape Clause (Virgil Flowers #9) by John Sandford - All of the Virgil stories are a little far fetched, but this one seemed like it was taped together with Scotch tape and lacked some of the verve and humor the previous eight had. library hardback
The Good Mother by Sue Miller - I like Sue Miller, but sometimes it takes an epic century for her to get to the point. Then you realize the point is not actually the point - as in the action you've been waiting for is not actually what the story is about, it's about everything surrounding that. This was hard to read, and I'm not exactly sure why but I don't think I'd recommend it even though it was okay for me. e-book, kindle
Good Behavior (Letty Dobesh Chronicles 1-3) by Blake Crouch - Three novellas in one book, all around Letty Dobesh. Interesting character, interesting reads. This is a TV show now on TNT I think, I might even watch it. Free e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Not Worth It
Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith - I waited for this YA book for eons from the library, and now I think that the person who had it for an eternity before me also thought it a slog to get through. library hardback
Giveaway
Winner gets a $25 donation in their name to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which looks to early childhood literacy in kids around the world, regardless of their economic status. And as a merry happy joyful everything, the winner also gets a $25 Amazon giftcard.
Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith - I waited for this YA book for eons from the library, and now I think that the person who had it for an eternity before me also thought it a slog to get through. library hardback
Giveaway
Winner gets a $25 donation in their name to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which looks to early childhood literacy in kids around the world, regardless of their economic status. And as a merry happy joyful everything, the winner also gets a $25 Amazon giftcard.
