SUYB - July 2017

Hello from Emerald Isle, NC, which is where I'm reading this week.

The purpose of this link up is for sure to share what you've been reading - but it's also to be a part of a larger reading community. So make sure you drop me and my co-host Jana a line on our posts and visit and strike up conversation with as many other booknerds as you can. We had a lot of new faces last linkup and it's nice to be conversational, right? 

Linkup Guidelines:

This link up happens the second Tuesday of every month. The next is  Tuesday, August 8, 2017 
Please: 

1. Visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me
2. Display the button and/or link back to us on your blog post
2. Visit other blogs who've linked up and get some book talk going!

Here's what I've read from the last linkup.

Engrossing Reads

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris - Can I just say that I'm sick of people forgetting shit and thinking they're crazy in books? It felt good to get that off my chest. Regardless, once I got over that annoyance, I liked this and zoomed through it in a few hours. I enjoyed it more than Behind Closed Doors. I think this gets published July 18th. ARC e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

A Million Junes by Emily Henry - This is not my typical subject matter - there was magic and ghosts and adventure. It had a YA feel, I'm not sure if it's a YA book. I loved the title and fought against liking it a little but in the end I stayed up until 12:30 on a Sunday night to finish it and to put it simply, I loved it. It was different and totally unexpected. Book of the Month Club hardcover, own

The Other Girl by Erica Spindler - Quick read, I wish it was fleshed out a little more but I enjoyed it. It sort of read like the first book in a series. Free ARC e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Her Last Breath (Kate Burkholder #5) , The Dead Will Tell (Kate Burkholder #6), After the Storm (Kate Burkholder #7), Long Lost (Kate Burkholder 4.5), and A Hidden Secret (Kate Burkholder 6.5) by Linda Castillo - As you know, I love this character and series. The .5s are the short stories in between the big books. I liked them fine but was also like hey just flesh this out at the same time. Greedy, I know.

Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons - It just seems right to read both Anne Rivers and/or Pat Conroy while in the Carolinas, even though I am in North and they dabble in South. I picked this paperback up at a used paperback bookstore and was delighted to find that I hadn't read it. paperback, own

Passed the Time Just Fine

The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane - I loved this. It could have been a lot more, but it was short and dark and sweet for YA. e-book

The Manservant by Michael Harwood - This book has a little Downton Abbey flavor plus a dash of 50 Shades plus some Ab Fab TV show. I would say it's not worth it, because it wasn't really ABOUT anything, but the main character made me laugh as did his love interest Frank. library paperback

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson - I initially thought this was going to be a DNF because the teenage mopey main character in the first hundred some pages was on my last nerve. It's a Young Adult book, so that is always a possibility. I honestly kept reading it because I was on the beach and didn't bring a back up. It turned into something I didn't mind at all. Library hardback

Resistance by Anita Shreve - I picked this up because I realized I hadn't read it. I opened it and thought fuck, it's a WWII book. But as WWII books go, it was not as graphic as some. Unfortunately it was not as good as most of her other novels either, but it was a super quick read. Library paperback

The Summer that Made Us by Robyn Carr - There was too much going on in this book and too much writing towards a happy ending, which should have made me not like it, but I found myself into it regardless. Free ARC e-book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Not Worth It

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance - Yes, I read nonfiction. This book is a good example of why I go into books with no expectations. I expected it to be more of a commentary on the culture in crisis. He is a self-centered jerk with a weird distaste for poor people and people who hold new deal community centered ideals based on where and who he comes from and it shows.

Secrets of Southern Girls by Haley Harrigan - I loved the title of this. The rest of it, not so much. It was a mess and it didn't need to be. There was at least one but more like two or 2.5 extraneous storylines. Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican - Were you ever reading a book and no matter how much you read it, it seemed like there was still over half left? That was this book. I gave it three stars, but I still think it's not worth it for the everyday reader to plow through. Kids being brutal to each other with little glimpses of humanity in between. The End. paperback, own

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber - Not a bad read even though there was definitely some suspension of belief required and extreme naivete on the part of the narrator. Free ARC e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review 

The Stolen Twin by Michele Pariza Wacek - This book was a fucking mess. The End. Amazon e-book


Did Not Finish

The Third Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders - I've liked other stuff by him, I adore the Archie McNally books, but this was irritatingly slow. free Amazon kindle book

The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig - I picked this up based on the cover. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it does not. This did not. It was definitely the lingering Victorian era shit in the book that pushed me off. Not in the mood. OCNJ library hardback

What are you reading?

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