Cover Runway Sunday

    

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! 

Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point Killer, an infamous serial killer known for how he marked each of his victims with a brand. He was convicted for murdering 20 people and was the talk of countless true crime blogs for years. Some say he was possessed by a demon. Some say that they never found all his victims. Some say that even though he’s now behind bars, people are still dying in the woods. Despite everything though, Temple never believed that her dad killed her mom. But when he confesses to that crime while on death row, she has no choice but to return to his old hunting grounds to try see if she can find a body and prove it.

Turns out, the farm that was once her father’s hunting grounds and her home has been turned into an overnight camp for queer, horror-obsessed girls. So Temple poses as a camp counselor to go digging in the woods. While she’s not used to hanging out with girls her own age and feels ambivalent at best about these true crime enthusiasts, she tries her best to fit in and keep her true identity hidden.

But when a girl turns up dead in the woods, she fears that one of her father’s “fans” might be mimicking his crimes. As Temple tries to uncover the truth and keep the campers safe, she comes to realize that there may be something stranger and more sinister at work—and that her father may not have been the only monster in these woods.

HAPPY READING!!

2024 Book BINGO

 

Tomorrow is the last day of 2023, which means in two very short days it'll be time to start a new BINGO card. At this point, I don't know how long we've been doing this. Maybe at least a decade, and last year two of us were really close to clearing the entire board. There is still a chance I might still manage it. I might take it all the way down to the wire. However, the 2024 card might be a little harder. There are a couple of squares that I'll need to flip through my Goodreads to find some ideas on. The hardest one is going to be 342 pages squares. Which is my own fault, I open the door to this square. So I only have myself to blame!

If you want to participate in this year's BINGO you are more than welcome! On January 1st I'll have a post to track my own progress throughout the year, and the comments will be open all year so you can let me know how your own progress is going. I'll be logging everything via Instagram! Also, if you have thoughts on books I should look into for any of the squares, drop them in the comments below. 

HAPPY READING!!

2024 Reading Goals

 

It's that time again: a new year means new Reading Goals. For the first time in three years, I'm changing my reading goal. Over the last two years, I've managed to blow my goal of 65 books out of the water. So it felt like time to up my challenge with the coming new year and give myself a bit more of a challenge. My job has become a lot more hands-on and does take up more time, but buying myself a Kindle this year and finding an opening is a little less stressful with my audiobook going. I think I can handle the new goal. After all, I'm upping the goal by five books. Not a huge gap from this year's goal.

Books Read:  70

Pages Read: 15,000

Reading BINGO:  Clear the board

A to Z Challenge:  No set goal

My page goal is to stay the same. While I was in the ballpark, I was still a little under two thousand pages away from this goal. My attention span was small when it came to books this year has been pretty small, which means a lot of quick reads. This makes hitting my To Read Goal easy to hit. It does however make a Pages Read Goal a little harder. So that goal is staying the same.

Now BINGO. As of this post, I am one book away from clearing this year's board. A book I just started reading today. Now last year I set the goal for one BINGO which I blew out of the water because I'm one square away from clearing the board. It's still a fifty-fifty shot on whether I'll manage it, but it's made me that much more determined to clear this year's board as well. Though this year's already feels a bit more like a challenge.

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

 

Edgar Cantero is one of my favorite authors, and Supernatural Enhancements is one of my favorite books. So when I saw he had a book on Amazon Prime, I jumped to add it to my Kindle. It was my first read over the holidays, despite already reading two books. Just under thirty pages, this was as weird as I expected it to be, being written by Cantero. I went into this book blind, not reading anything about it other than the very long title and who it was by. My favorite thing about this short story is that you get thrown right into the story with no introduction, and if you still need to read the synopsis, there is no back history on what's about to happen. It's a plot that doesn't wait for you to catch, and you have to keep pace with what's happening with four different fears coming to life at once. I liked this one because of how fast it moved, and it has some solid creepy moments. Of all of Cantero's work, this isn't my favorite story, but it was good. I'm glad I'm stumbled across and if your looking for was weird, slightly creepy weird, I suggest this one.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought. There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside. While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.

Why I'm Waiting: I've read a couple of other books by Christopher Golden and really enjoyed them. So I'm excited for his next book!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

She thought she had her life back. She was wrong. It was a mistake to trust him.

A gripping debut thriller perfect for fans of Natalie D. Richards and Vincent Ralph.

Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.

When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.

HAPPY READING!!

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy Monday! No matter how you celebrate I hope it's a stress-free day full of books, your favorite snacks, and at least one good nap. Today I'm spending the day curled up in a nest of blankets, watching movies, and reading! I made a huge brunch for us so soon I'm sure all of us will be having a nap. But first, we're watching Klaus because one of my friends hasn't seen it, and it's a favorite of mine!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

    

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! 

A quippy and irreverent collection of illustrated profiles of the great American women who weren’t attractive, well-spoken, demure, or sinless enough to receive their rightful place in history, until now, from New York Times bestselling author Therese Oneill.

Slut. Shrew. Sinful. Scold. The 19th- and early 20th-century American women profiled in this collection were called all these names and worse when they were alive. And that’s just fine.

These glorious dames earned those monikers, and one hundred years later they can wear them proudly! They refused to conform to societal standards. They bucked everyday niceties and blazed their own trails. They were collectively unbecoming as women, but they forever changed what women can become.

With irresistible charm and laugh-out-loud impertinence, New York Times bestselling author Therese Oneill chronicles the lives of eighteen unbecoming ladies whose audacity, courage, and sheer disdain for lady-like expectations left them out of so many history books. Curious readers will learn about forgotten heroines such
-Dr. Mary Edwards who, despite being the only woman ever awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, was shunned and forgotten due to her insistence on wearing pants in public.
-Elizabeth whose careful record of her own unjust incarceration in a 19th century madhouse by her husband (her not wanting to be Presbyterian anymore) led to nationwide law reforms to protect the rights of those with mental health issues.
-Lilian best remembered for being the real-life mom of Cheaper by the Dozen but who probably should be remembered for scientifically removing the stigma of the sanitary napkin and designing the modern-day kitchen.
-And many more!

With dozens of illustrations and historical photographs throughout, Unbecoming a Lady shines a light on unforgettable, impressive women who deserve to be remembered.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

October 1993. One night. One house. One dead body.

When single mom Eleanor Mazinski goes out a for a much-needed date night, she leaves her two young children —sweet, innocent six-year-old Ben and precocious, defiant twelve-year-old Mira— in the capable hands of their sitter, Amy. The quiet seventeen-year-old is good at looking after children, despite her anxiety disorder. She also loves movies, especially horror flicks. Amy likes their predictability; it calms the panic that threatens to overwhelm her.

The evening starts out normally enough, with games, pizza, and dancing. But as darkness falls, events in this quaint suburban New Jersey house take a terrifying turn —unexpected visitors at the door, mysterious phone calls, and by midnight, little Ben is in the kitchen standing in a pool of blood, with a dead body at his feet.

In this dazzling debut novel, Emily Ruth Verona moves back and forth in time, ratcheting up suspense and tension on every page. Chock-full of nods to classic horror films of the seventies and eighties, Midnight on Beacon Street is a gripping thriller full of electrifying twists and a heartwarming tale of fear and devotion that explores our terrors and the lengths we’ll go to keep our loved ones safe.

Why I'm Waiting: This sounds like it's going to be a lot, mixed with a lot of callbacks to some of my favorite horror movies!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

    

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! 

Last summer, they searched for Audrey Covington.

This summer, they'll search for the truth.

Paige Redmond has always felt lucky to spend her summers in Clearwater Ridge, with lazy days sunning at the waterfalls and nights partying at the sprawling houses of the rich families who vacation there. The Covingtons are one of these families, and beautiful, brilliant Audrey Covington is Paige's best friend. And last year, when Audrey's crush-worthy brother Dylan finally started noticing Paige, she was sure it would be the best summer ever.

Except Audrey didn't seem quite like herself. Then one night, she didn't come home. Though Audrey wasn't the first girl to disappear in Clearwater Ridge, she left behind more lies than clues. Now, one summer later, her case has gone cold, and nobody, least of all Paige, can make sense of what happened.

When Paige stumbles across a secret hidden in Audrey's room, however, it changes everything she thought she knew about last summer. She and Dylan set out on their own investigation, discovering things even the police don't know about the people of Clearwater Ridge. But tracking down missing girls—girls who might be beyond saving by now—means entering a world far darker than Paige has ever imagined. And if she isn't careful, she'll become the next girl to vanish.

HAPPY READING!!

Book Mail

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Quirk Books! I got some surprise mail this week and was very confused about what they could send. I knew it was a book, that goes without saying, but which book could it be? They've had so many great books come out this year. Some I managed to squeeze in this year, some I didn't. But seriously need to add to the top of the 2024 pile.

But, I'm so excited about what they sent! 

How cute is this book?! I'm so excited, everyone in my house is excited about this one. I've only just flipped through it a little bit since I got it, but I know it's going to be adorable! 

Who doesn't love opossum?! 

HAPPY READING!!

The Death of Dulgath - Review

Author: Michael J. Sullivan

Genre: Fantasy 

Format: Paperback

Pages: 448

Jumping back into this series has been the best way to end the year. While I know this is one of my favorite series. To the point my copy of The Crown Tower has seen better days, I always forget how much I adore Hardrain and Royce. How much I enjoy the world Sullivan has created, and the stories he tells within them.

The Death of Dulgath has been on my shelves for far longer than I wanted to admit, but what matters is I finally picked it up. Or, well finally dove into the audio book. The two fellows they cast to play Royce and Hadrian are spot on, and it's the voices I'll hear anytime I go back to re-read the books. And, I will go back, I always do. No matter how many times I've read them. 

The Crown Tower is a comfort read of mine.

What I liked about this book is a great a number of things. The first is how well it fits into the series itself. The Death of Dulgath was written a few years after the series was originally completed. However, reading them back-to-back like I have, you'll never notice. This is set about a year after The Rose and The Thorn, and it's like no time had passed between writing the one book, to this one.

I also really like that this one is very Royce-facing with its plot. While yes I do know how this series ends, it's nice to see more of his backstory, and his history laid out in these books than we saw in the first two books.

Now if you read this series in publication order, that will mean very little to you because you'll learn most of this that way. But! If you are reading them the way I did, in chronological order, it's nice to get to know a bit more about Royce before all of that gets dropped on you.

As for the plot, it's not my favorite, my heart is always in the Crown Tower, but I liked it. I enjoyed Lady Dulgath and the way they wove Royce's past into the story. Scarlett was a joy! She's one of my favorite side characters. The plot moved quickly, and I had to use chapter breaks to stop listening. Normally I don't keep my audiobook going long at work. This week I made an exception as I got to the last three chapters.

Once you start putting the puzzle together and the end is nearly there it gets really hard to put down. I also loved the nod to the prequel series we got in there. It took me a second to realize what Royce was talking about when he saw the painting. I might even have just glanced over it if I'd been reading it because I've only read the first book, Age of Myth, but I remembered the girl and her wolf.

So I thought that was fun!

And I loved this ending. I am bummed I was promised holes to be punched in chests, but that never happened. However, Hadrian did get to throw down quite a bit in this one. Though, did we really have to keep drugging the poor man. Still, I thought Lady Dulgath had an amazing solution to the problem. There so much double and triple crossing in this book, it's really shows how good Sullivan is an author that you never get confused.

And the voice actor they cast Sherwood, did such a good job with him. He sounded exactly how he should of, smarmy and annoying. Like he has a punchable face. 

Such a good book. So glad I finally picked it up, and I've already jumped straight into the next book, The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter!

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.

People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.

Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.

An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits , brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.

As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.

Why I'm Waiting: I loved a good cookbook, but this looks like more than that. These sound like cherished family recipes and stories, and I'm super excited to not only read it, but try some of the recipes myself.

HAPPY READING!!

2024 Most Anticipated Reads pt 1

While it's hard to say for sure, I feel like at this time last year I was having to narrow down the books I was most excited for. Otherwise, this list was going to be very long, it was basically going to be its own library. There were just a lot of books that were getting published this year that I wanted to read. Of the thirty I picked, I've read a whole three. Which is honestly better than most years. However, I own nine of those books, eight of which I haven't read yet. Also, very par for the course for me. However, who knows what the next couple of weeks of the year will bring. I might manage to change those stats before 2024 is here.

Still, all of that being said, I didn't have the same problem picking my Most Anticipated Reads for the first half of 2024. Eight books stuck out as ones I want to get my hands on before the end of that upcoming year. Books by authors I adore, authors I've been hoping will have a new book arriving soon. Sequels to favorites that I've been waiting for, or dreading because I know they're going to rip my heart from my chest. Others are just books I really think I'll enjoy. Two are cozy-sounding mysteries that I feel I need more of in my life, and two are cookbooks I can't wait to not only read but get my hands dirty with.

I don't know if I'm getting pickier about the books I really wanted to read now that I have less time to actually sit down and read. Or, if the first part of the year just doesn't have a lot of books that have caught my notice. It could be a great number of things. However, these nine are without a doubt ones I can't wait to crack open. Even Something is Killing the Children, which I know is going to hurt. The closer to the end we get that series, the worse I know it's going to get. 

None of this means there aren't other books I wanted to read. Already my TBR for 2024 is sitting at two and a half pages on Goodreads. There are a lot of books I want to read that coming out next year. These are just the ones I'm really excited about. And the one book I cannot wait to get my hands on, the book I was so excited to see was happening, Unbecoming A Lady by Therese O'Neil. I've read her other two books that have to do with the Victorian Era and they cracked me up. I adored them so much, and I've been waiting for her to publish another book! So this will be a must-buy for me in March!

What are ya'll excited to read next year?

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

    

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon! 

Dami is a demon determined to cancel every deal they've ever made in order to tether their soul to earth and become human again. There's just one person standing in their Silas. An irresistibly (and stubborn) cute boy cursed to die young, except for the deal with Dami that is keeping him alive. If they cancel the deal, Silas is dead. Unless... they can destroy the curse that has plagued Silas's family for generations. But to do so, Dami and Silas are going to have to work together.  That is, if the curse doesn't kill them first. . . .

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

Many years ago I started another series by Christopher Fowler, and while I don't remember the details I remember liking it. So when I saw someone had read this on my Goodreads Dash, I pretty much ran to Amazon to put this on my Kindle. Mostly because I'm a sucker for anything related to Dracula. It's one of my favorites of the 'classics'. This was good and weird, but really good. It jumps back and forth between the present and the missing piece of the original Dracula story. The present-day plot moves really quickly and Fowler does a great job of quickly setting the scene and introducing it to the players. Honestly, I couldn't think of a person who deserves what they got more than our main Carter. He's kind of pathetic and very entitled. And, the whole thing with the tree was very cool. As for the missing pages of the original book, those were also really good. Shocking in a couple of ways I was not prepared for, but I'm not upset about it.

Short, long, it doesn't matter what form these stories come in, I adore Hadrian and Royce. More to the point, I really like the way Micheal J. Sullivan writes. This series has become one of my favorite worlds to escape to. Whether I know the ending or not doesn't matter. The bickering between Hadrian and Royce make me laugh, and there was just enough action in this to keep from getting bored. Though I think I could read a book where these two just biker for two hundred pages and still enjoy it. Though, honestly, it wouldn't feel write if Royce didn't at least almost stab someone. Or, complain at least the Hadrian stopped him from stapping someone. I do love with Hadrain pulls out the spadone! This was short story was a lot a fun. A quick read on my day off that made me laugh and lifted my spirits!

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms Unboxing

December Theme: Killer Christmas

It's that time again! The best part of every month, my Night Worms package has arrived. A little early Christmas cheer! Mostly because the books I wanted to read this month are inside. I've seen it all over Instagram, and have almost ordered it twice. Only to have to stop myself because I already have a copy coming through Night Worms. So I just need to be patient, and today is the day! This means I can crack open the first Christmas-inspired horror book on my next two days off! As for the second book in this month's box, I know very little about it. But, it has my attention with dinosaurs. Everything else is just a bonus!

HAPPY READING!!

Welcome to Dead House - Review

Author: R.L Stine

Genre: Horror / Middle Grade

Format: Paperback

Pages: 123

I thought for sure I'd read this one back in the day. However, I don't think that's the case because if I had I don't think I'd have forgotten this one. As the kick-off for the entire Goosebumps series maybe it was a go big or go home situation. Whatever the reason for it this so far is the creepiest of all the books I've re-read in the series. Even as an adult, I had a couple of no-thank moments, and this is one I definitely need to dig into and see if we got an old Goosebumps TV version of.

Welcome to Dead House follows a couple of classic tropes: mysterious dead family member giving away a creepy house to an unexpected family, not-so-haunted house, creepy small town, annoying little brother, and my favorite of all, the aloof 90s parents. I don't know what it was about parents back then, but they never listened, believed, or seemed to know where their children were. Thinking on it now, I'm not sure my parents knew where I was most of the time then either. 

In fact, this story reminded me a bit of the Watcher case that popped up around 2013. Eleven years after this book was published, they share a few similarities I couldn't help but notice. Especially when one of the kids calls himself the Watcher. I'm not drawing any red-string conclusions, just mentioning the similarities is all.

However, it does give the book an interesting plot. It's one of those stories you wouldn't hate if a backstory happened because I have questions about this yellow cloud. But I'm also curious about the end of the book. I liked that it wasn't as tied up as you think. There's that hint of, wait a minute, did they really make it out. What's going on here? I'm not hating on a solid happy ending, every once in a while it's nice to see everyone get what they deserve. Sometimes though it's nice to know it's still sideways and while the last a hundred pages was an adventure you weren't sure how to get off. It's not as done as you thought.

So for the first book in what is now an iconic series, I really liked it. This was a great way to wrap up my month of reading for November and reminded me why I fell in love with this series as a kid. I've already picked up my next pick for this month, something fitting for the winter months!

HAPPY READING!!