Disis19 Hearts...

Redeemed by P.C. Cast My rating: 3 of 5 stars I took a 6 year hiatus from this series and finally decided to finish reading this series. I think that had to do with the fact that I really didn't enjoy Revealed and just wasn't interested in what was happening in that installment. That being said, I didn't feel the series as a whole wasn't interesting enough to not finish it. I do feel like this series ended well with this installment. It didn't have any of the things that I recall bothering me in the series before and it did keep my interest throughout. Since I had been away from this series for so long, I thought I'd have a hard time getting back into it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that these characters did stay with me all these years. Glad to have finally finished this series and I will be looking into other work by this author in the future. View all my reviews

My thoughts on The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross by Arina Tanemura.

Outtakes from the Grave by Jeaniene Frost My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed reconnecting with these characters. It's been a while since I read volume 7 so things aren't as fresh in my memory as to the goings on in each installment. As such, there were times I was a little lost in regards to timelines, but I still enjoyed these little snippets. It's interesting to hear why these scenes were cut from the original publications and it would've been nice to have these extras as I was reading the series. Each scene is cut into a separate chapter and starts with a preface from the author stating which installment the scene is from and why the scene was not in the final publication. I found the narrator, Tavia Gilbert, when I started this series and she has become one of my favorite narrators. Each character has their own unique voice and she really does a great presentation. Even if this type of book is not your thing, I'd definitely rec...

The Shark by Mary Burton My rating: 4 of 5 stars Picked up this book because I won the second one in a giveaway. Interesting mystery. Had no idea until it was revealed, who was involved. Based on the sneak peek of the next book that was at the end of this installment, I think I'm going to enjoy that story as well. View all my reviews

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente My rating: 3 of 5 stars Listened to this one on audiobook and I have to say that the experience this time around was much easier than I had with the previous installments. The narration was very soothing also. These books are never what I expect, to be honest. We find September a year older in this one, but she doesn't seem to have matured at all. The story wasn't gripping for me and I really think I need that for a book to be more than just enjoyable. These books are definitely more like a stroll where the destination is never really set until you get there. At least that's how I feel. The uncertainty of where the story is finally going to end up I think also hinders my enjoyment because I'm constantly looking for how the story will resolve. I will still continue with the series as I do like them. The end of these books always makes me curious about what will happe...

Primal Waters by Steve Alten My rating: 3 of 5 stars This installment has taken me the longest to finish so far and it was the least enjoyable as well. Fast forward a couple decades and we have an older Jonas and his family including two teen children, one who thinks she can do anything she wants because she's almost 18. She really grated on my nerves and I did not like how her character progressed at all. We again have the dual POV situation here, but it didn't bother me in this installment as much as it did in the second book. The reality TV show aspect of this installment wasn't enjoyable at all and it wasn't believable to me considering the situations these characters were in. I am still going to progress through to the next book in the series though, because though I enjoy them less and less, this series is still keeping my interest at the moment. View all my reviews

Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined by Stephenie Meyer My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed revisiting this story. It was more hilarious than I remember the original to be for sure. I'm not sure if it was because the lines sounded different in my head, if it was the way the narrator delivered them, or if they were in fact slightly different. There are a few differences in the story as well, which I found interesting. It's been several years since I read the original series and I will need to go back and re-read it just to see what differences were made other than the obvious ones. View all my reviews

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare My rating: 4 of 5 stars Finally got to the next book in this series and I'm really enjoying it! Yes, I am watching the TV show and enjoying that as well. The differences in the book and show are interesting and I'm curious what will happen in the next installment. I really feel like with adaptations, I need to watch them first before reading the text. I seem to be able to enjoy the show for what it is without the constant voice in my head telling me things are different or being disappointed as to why certain things aren't in the show. View all my reviews

The Trench by Steve Alten My rating: 4 of 5 stars More like a 3.5 I felt this installment had 2nd book syndrome. It wasn't as good as the first one was for me. Though it was still enjoyable, I didn't like the alternating POV every chapter. I felt that due to this, I lost some of the flow to the story and I was more interested in one POV than the other. I definitely recommend these books over Jaws, which I also read this month and I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series. View all my reviews

The Bat by Jo Nesbø My rating: 3 of 5 stars I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie The Snowman and looked up the book it was based on, only to find out it's the seventh book in this series. I don't read series out of order and since the movie looked interesting, I thought I'd check this series out. For me, this book was good but not very enjoyable. It didn't seem like anything really exciting happened and the investigation dragged. Harry gets intoxicated quite a bit in this book (which I understand is part of his character, but it doesn't make him a likeable or interesting person to me as a reader) and there's a fair bit of foul language. The end was poetic, though I believe it was unrealistic. I did find it a bit strange that we start this series not in the main character's home land, but in a different country entirely, though I did enjoy the Australian backdrop. I did read the snippet for the next book that was includ...

I had a great reading month in March. 4 books for #MarchMysteryMadness, 1 ARC, 1 book in prep for a buddy read in April, and 5 volumes of manga. A nice change of pace since I haven't been able to read that much in the last few months. Elizabeth's channel ( LizzyFayeLovesBooks ) Troi's channel ( Troi Towel ) March Mystery Madness Twitter Mystery Madness Goodreads Group My LuLaRoe Boutique (US Only) The blankets shown in the opener and closer were hand knit by me.

#Book1CoziesClub pick for May! I'm looking forward to reading this one as I know a few of our members have already enjoyed this title. Please join the First in a Series Cozy Mystery Book Club in the Mystery Madness Goodreads Group to talk about it. You can also interact with us on Twitter @marchmysmadness Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

A Ghostly Undertaking by Tonya Kappes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for #Book1CoziesClub Really enjoyed this and the writing was so easy to read! I found myself just going from chapter to chapter and not wanting to put the book down. I'm beginning to think that paranormal mysteries or cozies are my favorite types of books to read. I enjoyed that Emma Lee used how everyone thought she had "Funeral Trauma" to her advantage. I had no idea who the culprit was, though I did have several suspicions. All of my suspicions were wrong, but that's what makes reading a mystery fun, at least for me. I'll definitely be continuing with this series and checking out more of the author's work. View all my reviews

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare My rating: 4 of 5 stars The last time I read this book was back in late 2010/early 2011, but I never continued to the following books! I've been wanting to continue this series for a while and finally got a chance to re-read this one in preparation for that. I really enjoyed this. I listened to a majority of it this time on audiobook with Mae Whitman narrating and thought she did a wonderful job. I laughed out loud a few times and was surprised that the story stayed with me, for the most part. It's probably the fact that I've seen the movie and TV show, but I still really enjoyed revisiting this one. Looking forward to finally getting to the next book in this well known series! View all my reviews

Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke My rating: 3 of 5 stars Read as part of #MarchMysteryMadness It's been a while since I read the previous book in this series, but it was very easy to get back into it and it was nice revisiting the characters. Of course the recipes all look and sound yummy. I enjoyed the mystery aspect of it, but the love lines are getting on my nerves. Three books in and we still have a love triangle. I'm not a fan of that because it seems like she's just stringing both guys along with no intention of making a decision. It sure seems, at least to me, that she likes one more than the other, but she shares romantic gestures more with the other guy. Not sure how long this is going to keep up, but I hope she makes a decision soon. View all my reviews

One of my goals for 2017 is again to read from my own shelves. I participated in #RockMyTBR in 2016 and accomplished what I set out to do, but I wanted to try something different this year. I was just going to go about completing a "Read From My Own Shelves" type challenge myself, without participating in one already out there, but then I stumbled across the Beat the Backlist Challenge  which is hosted by NovelKnight. This one had some fun Hogwarts mini-challenges, so I decided I wanted to give this one a try this time around. I will be participating as part of Ravenclaw house for those mini challenges! This challenge is also perfect for me because I do not read a lot of new release books. I'd say less than ten percent of the books I read in one year are new releases. Now on to my TBR. I decided to post 26 titles as my plan is to read 52 novels in 2017. Not all of these books will be from my personal library as there are series that I would like to finish which I ...