Disis19 Hearts...

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming My rating: 2 of 5 stars I read this as part of the Read Your E-Reader Read-a-thon to complete the challenge of reading a book with a white cover. I've been wanting to read this series for a while because I have such fond memories of enjoying the films with my Grandpa when I was younger. This book really was just ok. There was way too much time spent explaining in detail, the gambling portions which really bogged down the story for me. Also, having Bond's inner monologue regarding his thoughts on women really got on my nerves. I have seen the movie this book is based on and I have to say that it is so much better than this. There are several differences for sure, but they made the movie so much more intriguing. That's a lot for me to say considering that the movie wasn't a favorite of mine. I will be continuing with the series because I am interested to see how the books differ from the films. Will probably read the book and then ...

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this as part of the Read Your E-Reader read-a-thon to complete the challenge of a book that feels like Spring and a book that I got for free. I've loved The Secret Garden since I was little, but have not read the book until now. I have seen two of the movies which were done, my favorite being the one from The Hallmark Channel. I have to say that I loved this book as much as I do the Hallmark film and I don't know why this took me so long to get to it. Will definitely be buying a physical copy for my collection. View all my reviews

Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakouji My rating: 4 of 5 stars This series took me almost a year to complete but I did really enjoy it. I can see how Misao & Kyo's relationship would bother a lot of people. but I didn't read this series to be critical about it. It was enjoyable while it lasted and a step outside reality. A guilty pleasure read if you must. I'm a bit bummed that it is over, but I will definitely be checking out the mangaka's other works in the future. I really love her art style. View all my reviews

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters My rating: 4 of 5 stars Probably more like a 3.5 This book did start out a bit slow for me, but once they finally got to Egypt it did get more interesting. I did kind of figure out who the culprit was, but there was a little twist I wasn't expecting that brought the whole story together. While reading this, I couldn't help but picture an old Scooby Doo episode in my mind, but that just made the story all the more enjoyable. I look forward to getting into more of the books in this series. Read as part of Read Your E-Reader Read-a-thon. View all my reviews

I read 6 books in March! You can find my written reviews on all the books mentioned in previous posts. Two buddy reads with Lee, who's channel is  here One buddy read with Raul, who's channel is  here I also participated in #MarchMysteryMadness Read-a-thon hosted by Troi Towel & Lizzy Faye Loves Books. The Goodreads Group is  here  where you can come and discuss mystery books all year round. New blanket in the opener! This was crocheted by me. Blanket shown in closer was hand knit by me.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ebook, 357 pages Read from Scribd Read as part of the Read Your E-Reader Read-a-thon. I read this to complete the challenges of reading a book I most recently downloaded and a book that's outside my comfort zone. This was a spontaneous buddy read with my friend Raul (latinlector on BookTube). We've been buddy reading the Benny Imura series by Jonathan Maberry for a few months now. He started reading this and needed to discuss the book with someone, so I said why not. I don't read very many contemporary novels so this was a good opportunity to try something different. Also, I have never read a book by Lauren Oliver, so that was another plus even though I had never intended on reading this book before he mentioned it. I'm happy to say that I'm very glad he did nudge me to read this because I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was very easy to get into and the story intrigued me. The splatteri...

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm going to say that this is probably more of a 3.5 for me than a 4.Read as part of the Read Your E-Reader Read-a-thon hosted by Raul (latinlector) and Janie (Bookworms Buddy) For a good portion of this book, I felt disconnected from the story and the characters. I didn't form any kind of emotional connection to anything or anyone. My hatred of Prospero and his teaching method was the only kind of emotion I felt for a long time, and that only lasted when he was prominent in the story. Other than that, I was pretty much reading just to get to the end for a majority of the book. The way the story was told was very confusing for me. The cast is pretty large and the story felt like each set of characters had their own stories, and then those stories were split up and alternated with other characters stories. Sometimes you would end a chapter and the next chapter would rewind a bit and bring you up t...

Time to update you with how I'm doing on the Reading Challenges I set for myself at the beginning of the year! I also participated in the March Mystery Madness Read-a-thon and I've included a list of the books I read for that as well. If you're interested in knowing my thoughts on any of the books below, I have review posts here on my blog as well as on Goodreads.

The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt My rating: 4 of 5 stars Was able to squeeze in one more book for #MarchMysteryMadness Though this started out pretty slow for me, it ended up being a rather enjoyable read. I did expect it to have a bit more witchiness than it did, but it is understandable why there wasn't as much of this since this is the first book in the series. I am hoping that future installments include more of this element as that was part of the draw to this series for me. I think there's already a love triangle in the making (ugh), but the mystery was interesting and I look forward to the next one. View all my reviews