Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, January 22, 2018

Mailbox Mondays

Only one book this week …. picked it up on a whim at Wal-Mart. It’s been on my radar since it was released, so I was glad to finally get a copy of it.

The Alice Network1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She’s also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the “queen of spies,” who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. That is until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth … no matter where it leads.

Meme, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – January 16, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday

So Top Ten Tuesday has a new home! I’m glad that this is being continued on. I look forward to getting more active with it!

January 16: Bookish Resolutions/Goals

Hm…. ok, so I did a post kind of dealing with this back in November. To briefly summarize …..

  1. Rein in the book purchases. …. for the most part I don’t spend a lot of money on my books (hello used bookstore/Goodwill/library book sale) … but I also buy like 10-15 at a time …. oops?!
  2. Clear off my shelves …. read it or get rid of it (and then get rid of it … I don’t keep very many books I’ve already read, I’m not a re-reader). My shelves are at critical level right now. Gotta change that!
  3. Work on backlists AND new releases. I need to find a good balance of both.
  4. Read more non-fiction. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that I spent most of my undergraduate years doing nothing but reading. And because of that when I first graduated (many years ago now, lol) I really went on a fiction spree. I needed the break it allowed me. But now I’m ready to get back into reading some non-fiction. I need to read more than just mystery books. I need to broaden my horizons – read some history books again, read some current affairs. I’m aiming to get at least 1 non-fiction book a month. I have this ultimate desire to start a sort of “president reading challenge” where I read a book on each President. In historical order. Sounds great, right? Until I look at the fact that the book I’ve chosen for George Washington is like 1000 pages and I just move right along to something else, lol. I have to stop being intimidated. It doesn’t matter if it takes me 6 months to finish that book.
  5. Scale back on the Goodreads challenges I sign up for. Basically I need to take a break from group challenges. I much prefer the freedom individual challenges allow me to reading what I want when I want to. A run-in with a fellow group member didn’t help my feelings on group challenges to be honest…. so yeah. Definitely time to get back to my individual challenges. Believe it or not – I really enjoy spell out challenges 🙂
  6. Enjoy myself. If I read 1 book in a month, who cares? That’s still 1 book. Don’t worry about the numbers. Don’t worry about the “it books.” Don’t worry about the “fluff books.” Just enjoy myself and read what and when I want. No stress. Just enjoyment!

So I think that’s all I’ve got for right now. Pretty broad and basic.

Basically …. have fun and enjoy whatever I accomplish with my reading 🙂

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday – January 15, 2018

Mailbox Mondays

Two books came in this week. My Book of the Month selection + the extra book I purchased.

The Woman in the WindowWhat did she see?

It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside.

Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers.

But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?


Two Girls DownWhen two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied.

With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.

Meme, What Should I Read Next

January 2018 – What Should I Read Next Results

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Last weekend I posted my poll for my reader’s to choose my next read. I posted my three oldest Book of the Month Selections that I hadn’t yet read. The choices were What I Knew, The Verdict, and The Night Charter. 

With 50% of the votes, the winner was

The Verdict

I’m looking forward to digging into this one! I’m still loving that cover 🙂 Hopefully you’ll come back in a few weeks for my review of this one!

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday – January 8, 2018

Mailbox Mondays

I haven’t participated in Mailbox Monday in forever! I had a slim mailbox this week with only one book coming in. I ordered this off of Paperbackswap shortly after enjoying the first book in the Maggie Hope series, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary.

Princess Elizabeth's SpyAs World War II sweeps the continent and England steels itself against German attack, Maggie Hope, former secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, becomes a spy for MI-5. Possessing one of the sharpest minds in government for mathematics and code-breaking, she fully expects to be sent abroad to gather intelligence for the British front. Instead, to her great disappointment, she is dispatched to go undercover at Windsor Castle, where she will tutor the young Princess Elizabeth. Yet castle life quickly proves more dangerous – and deadly – than Maggie ever expected. The upstairs-downstairs world at Windsor is thrown into disarray by a shocking murder, which draws Maggie into a vast conspiracy that places the entire royal family in peril. And as she races to save England from a most disturbing fate, Maggie realizes that a quick wit is her best defense, and that the smallest clues can unravel the biggest secrets, even within her own family.

Meme, What Should I Read Next

What Should I Read Next – January 2018

Wow, here we are in 2018! Doesn’t seem possible! Remember how when you were younger time passed so slooooooooowly? Now it’s like I blink and it’s a new year! Crazy! Anyway, once again I am here to ask for your help to pick my next read. Last month you wonderful friends chose Mr. Churchill’s Secretary for me out of the three historical fiction books I put forward for you.

So this month I wanted to keep with another theme ….. this month I’m giving you my three oldest Book of the Month selections. I have gotten some really great books through BOTM in the over 2 years I’ve been a member and I am ashamed to say that I have actually only read 2 of the books I’ve paid for from this program. **WHAT?!?!** So… one of my 2018 resolutions for my reading was to read some of these past selections. And with your help I’m going to clear one of the three oldest off my shelf!! Here’s what I’ve got for you…..

What She KnewWhat She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
Published Dec. 1, 2015
512 pages
ok, so this was my December 2015 BOTM selection. This one was her debut book. I have read another book by this author (The Perfect Girl), it was a so-so read for me, but I’m still interested in reading more from this author.

In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.

In a heartbeat, everything changes…

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking…


The Verdict

The Verdict by Nick Stone
Published Dec. 7, 2015

512 pages – this was my January 2016 BOTM selection. I always love a good legal thriller and I was (and still am) drawn to that cover …. and I’m not even a cover person! 

Terry Flynt is a struggling legal clerk, desperately trying to get promoted. And then he is given the biggest opportunity of his career: to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite.

The only problem is that the accused man, Vernon James, turns out to be not only someone he knows, but someone he loathes. This case could potentially make Terry’s career, but how can he defend a former friend who betrayed him so badly?

With the trial date looming, Terry delves deeper into Vernon’s life and is forced to confront secrets from their shared past that could have devastating consequences for them both. For years he has wanted to witness Vernon’s downfall, but with so much at stake, how can Terry be sure that he is guilty? And what choices must he make to ensure that justice is done?


The Night Charter

The Night Charter by Sam Hawken
Published Dec. 8, 2015
326 pages
so BOTM now has a feature where you can “skip” a month if you want to. I so wish they had had this feature available in February 2016, because for whatever reason that month had nothing very appealing to me. This was my selection that month and it was only because it was the best sounding book, not because I was dying to read it. It’s probably a good read, but the blurb still leaves me a little “eh” about it. (PLEASE!!!! Don’t let my initial feelings sway your vote if this is the one of the three you like best!) 

Exactly one year ago, Camaro Espinoza killed five bad men in New York City and fled town. Now she’s keeping a low profile in Miami, running night charter catch-and-release fishing trips off the coast. It’s a simple life for a former combat medic. But it wasn’t easy to come by. Camaro plans to do everything she can to hold onto it.
Trouble comes knocking in the form of Parker Story, a man in over his head with all the wrong people. Parker wants to book Camaro’s boat to run a small errand off the coast of Cuba. Camaro knows she shouldn’t get involved. But Parker’s got a teenaged daughter named Lauren, and Parker’s associates have threatened to harm her if the mission doesn’t go off without a hitch. Camaro has never met the girl. Barely seen her picture. But that doesn’t mean she can ignore her plight.

Camaro’s used to being wanted–by men good and bad, by soldiers wounded on the field of battle, by the long arm of the law. But she’s never been needed before. Not the way Lauren needs her. Joining forces with Parker, Camaro soon finds herself in the midst of double crosses, international intrigue, broken promises and scattered bullets. Even a skilled warrior like herself may not be able to escape unscathed.

So there you have it….. those are my three selections for you to vote on this month. I look forward to the results and can’t wait to get some of my BOTM selections read!!

 

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Meme, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – January 2, 2018

toptentuesday

Well it has been years since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday! (And it’s soon moving over to a new host…) Anyway…. this week’s topic appealed to me, so I figured it would be a great time to jump right in.

January 2: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2017

Okay, so looking back at my 2017 books read …. I read 24 new-to-me authors in 2017. Of these 24 authors, only 7 really make my “top ten” list. So in alphabetical order, along with the books I read, here’s my list:

  • M.J. Arlidge ….  Eeny Meeny and Pop Goes the Weasel
  • Julie Hyzy …  State of the Onion
  • Victoria Laurie … Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye and Better Read than Dead
  • Gilly Macmillan … The Perfect Girl
  • Susan Elia MacNeal …  Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
  • Leslie Meier … Mistletoe Murder
  • Michael Palmer … Oath of Office
4/5, AUTHOR, Author Debut, Book Review, Fiction, M, Maggie Hope, RATING, Read in 2017, SERIES, What Should I Read Next

Review: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
by Susan Elia MacNeal

Mr Churchill's Secretary

Copyright: 2012

Pages: 349

Read: Dec. 9 –15, 2017

Rating: 4/5

Source: Purchased new

 

 

Blurb: London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her indefatigable spirit and remarkable gifts for codebreaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined—and opportunities she will not let pass. In troubled, deadly times, with air-raid sirens sending multitudes underground, access to the War Rooms also exposes Maggie to the machinations of a menacing faction determined to do whatever it takes to change the course of history.

Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival. And when she unravels a mystery that points toward her own family’s hidden secrets, she’ll discover that her quick wits are all that stand between an assassin’s murderous plan and Churchill himself.

In this daring debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character,  Maggie Hope, into a spectacularly crafted novel.


Review: So this was my December pick chosen by you dear readers! I was really looking forward to digging into it! So what did I think? ……

Well. The beginning was excruciatingly slow. EXCRUCIATINGLY. No joke. To be completely honest, had I not been also reading this one in conjunction with a Goodreads challenge that required the book to be finished by Dec. 15th, I have a pretty good feeling I would have walked away from this one.

But. But. But! …. I am very glad that I stuck it out because it got really good around the halfway mark and was a lot better from that point on. The first 100 pages or so was really setting the scene. I understand that. But it just didn’t grab me like I wanted it to. So once I got past that 100 page mark it got a lot easier, and by the halfway mark I was fully invested in the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Maggie’s character. She felt very real to me. And the supporting characters were all well-developed with their own backgrounds. This book is very character driven and I personally enjoy that. I like series where I can get invested in the characters. So just that alone makes me look forward to continuing on in this series!

Like I said, once you get past the first 100 or so pages the pace really picks up and the book gets a lot more interesting from that point on. I would definitely recommend this book to historical fiction lovers as well as mystery lovers and even espionage lovers too! It’s a good book that will appeal to a variety of readers. And I’m really looking forward to reading more from this series in the future.

So, dear readers …. you did pretty good for me this first go around! I’ve got another three selections coming up for you to vote on for my January version of this! Hopefully it’ll be another good read! See you next week!

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Meme, What Should I Read Next

Dec. 2017 What Should I Read Next Results

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Last week I posted a poll for my readers to choose my next read. I was feeling a historical fiction and selected The Empty Glass, The Yard, and Mr. Churchill’s Secretary.

So per the rules of the event, I am here today to announce the winner of last week’s poll and the book that I am starting next!

Mr Churchill's Secretary

This one took an early lead and never relinquished the lead (I checked my responses obsessively, ha!) Even though I was looking forward to any of the three selections to win, I’m over the moon that this one pulled through!

I can’t wait to dig in 🙂  I hope you chose a winner for me!!

And I hope you’ll return for my review!!