July - 2022

Terrie

Jul 31, 2022

Three Mini-Reviews for July

To wrap up for July, I have a three mini reviews to share. Maybe you'll see something here for your summer reading list. Angel of Goliad by Jean M. Roberts Genre: Historical Fiction / Fantasy Published June 2022, 283 pages I was contacted by the author and sent an e-book for review - the comments are my own (and apparently in a minority of the GR reviews) Based on an actual person, Francita Alvara, I found this very historical novel interesting but not particularly engaging.

Stacking the Shelves #9, Sunday Post and Sunday Salon #9

Terrie

Jul 29, 2022

Stacking the Shelves #9, Sunday Post and Sunday Salon #9

It's the weekend, so it must be time to enjoy a few of my favorite book memes. Stacking the Shelves is hosted every Saturday by Marlene @ Reading Reality and promotes sharing books you actually received during the week - library, purchase, ARC, gift, etc. as well as what you think you might read in the upcoming week. The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer and is a place to share posts, reviews, personal updates, etc. The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb

Terrie

Jul 29, 2022

A Second TBR List for July - oh my!

This month has been DEADLY to my TBR. For the first time in ages, I had to break the TBR list into two posts. The first one had 24, count 'em, 24!!! books (see them here). Now I'm adding 16 more! I love Top 10 Tuesdays, but honestly, all those book bloggers are killing me (really, thanks everyone)! Here are the books I've added in the 2nd half of July. I'm thinking of linking each book cover to the Goodreads blurb page. Would that be helpful? Should it be INSTEAD of my mini-b

Terrie

Jul 28, 2022

Hench - Superheroes and Villains Galore

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy Published Sept 2020, 416 pages This book has been on my TBR for a couple years and when I started the "Beat the Backlist" challenge (track my progress on the Challenges tab at the top of the page), I picked it for the superhero category. I listened to this book and the audio is excellent - the narrator voicing is so great and makes it easy to follow the various characters. GENERAL PLOT LINE The story is ...... diff

Terrie

Jul 27, 2022

Celebrity Book Recommendations

Are you a reader that also follows favorite celebrities? Then you might also be interested in what they're reading. Ever since Oprah started her successful book club (was their a celebrity before her that recommended books?), various celebrity book clubs have come and gone. It's hard work to read enough books to be able to pick one a month as a recommendation for 'the world' to read. As I'm looking to expand my Celebrity Reading Lists (see the Reading List tab at the top of t

Top 10 Tuesday: Books from past TBR posts I still haven't read

Terrie

Jul 25, 2022

Top 10 Tuesday: Books from past TBR posts I still haven't read

Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl is hosting another week of Top Ten Tuesday. I enjoy participating each week for a couple reasons. I'm a compulsive list maker and love a good list. And, I love a connection with other readers as I wander their book blogs. This week's prompt is to share books from past seasonal posts that I still haven't read. This one is hard because I haven't been doing TTT that long and don't have any previous seasonal TBRs, so I'll just share books on previous

The New Neighbor - a CIA thriller full of twists

Terrie

Jul 25, 2022

The New Neighbor - a CIA thriller full of twists

The New Neighbor by Karen Cleveland Genre: Thriller / Mystery Publish Date: July 26, 2022, 320 pages Thanks for #NetGalley and #RandomHouseBallantine for this free copy of a new release book; the opinion expressed are entirely my own. THE PLOT BREAKDOWN Beth is a CIA agent in counter intelligence and has been working for years to catch a foreign infiltrator who is trying to gain access to the CIA and FBI networks. She takes a week off to help her last child settle in at colle

Stacking the Shelves #8, Sunday Salon & Sunday Post #8

Terrie

Jul 23, 2022

Stacking the Shelves #8, Sunday Salon & Sunday Post #8

Terrie

Jul 22, 2022

ARC Reviews I Missed Sharing

I'm an obsessive list keeper. But, I have so many lists that sometimes I fall a bit behind in updating them. I was just spending time updating my ARC (advance reader copy) list and realized there are a few ARCs that I've read and never reviewed. Now is the time! (most recent read to oldest) Do You Follow? by J.C. Bidonde Genre: Thriller Published January 2022, 248 pages (read Feb '22) Do you see the twist coming? An interesting book about a young woman stretching her wings

The Passengers is a terrifying look at the power of social media

Terrie

Jul 20, 2022

The Passengers is a terrifying look at the power of social media

The Passengers by John Marrs Genre: Thriller Published 2019, 400 pages You may remember, my sister Donna and I choose two books a month to read "together" as Buddy Reads. This is the first one of July. THE PLOT BASICS Such an interesting premise - England prioritizes the first mandate for AI run, driverless cars. The claim is that they're cheaper to run, better for the environment, and fewer accidents. And, they're perfectly safe - unhackable. Well, that obviously proves to b

Grave Lies - a thriller with a touch of paranormal

Terrie

Jul 19, 2022

Grave Lies - a thriller with a touch of paranormal

Grave Lies #1 by A.N. Willis Genre: Thriller, Mystery Publish date: July 26, 2022, 320 pages Thanks to #BookSirens for the advance copy of this novel - the opinions are my own. THE PLOT Secrets abound in the small Wyoming town of Coldwater. Ghostly apparitions of a murdered couple haunt the cabin where they were found. There is a questionable 'church' that demands its followers keep to the "Path" of light and avoid the darkness. A psychic and medium arrive to help with the gh

10 Very Evocative Novels (including snippet reviews)

Terrie

Jul 18, 2022

10 Very Evocative Novels (including snippet reviews)

Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl is hosting another week of Top Ten Tuesday. I enjoy participating each week for a couple reasons. I'm a compulsive list maker and love a good list. And, I love a connection with other readers as I wander their book blogs. This week's prompt is a freebie - make up my own theme. I settled on Evocative Novels. I'm including a snippet about each book - Here goes. Evocative = bringing strong images or feelings to mind I couldn't put this oft-nominate

Stacking the Shelves #7, Sunday Salon #7, Sunday Post #7

Terrie

Jul 16, 2022

Stacking the Shelves #7, Sunday Salon #7, Sunday Post #7

A Female Russian Sniper in WWII: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Terrie

Jul 15, 2022

A Female Russian Sniper in WWII: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn Genre: Historical Fiction Published March 2022, 435 pages My sister, Donna, and I have become big Kate Quinn fans and love her historical novels - always about such strong women, usually set around WWII. Though I have to admit I get kind of tired of SO many novels being set in that time period. Surely there were strong women making things happen at other times throughout history. Right??? THE PLOT This story is based on the true story of Lyudmila

Terrie

Jul 13, 2022

Glass Houses by Louise Penny: a review

Glass Houses #13 Gamache by Louise Penny Genre: Cozy Mystery Award: Agatha Award and other nominations Published 2017, 391 pages A STORY WITH THREE THREADS In this installment of the Inspector Gamache series, set in Canada, there is the expected complex multi-thread plot lines: a murdered woman, Gamache enmeshed in one of his intense plots to break the drug cartels (instead of rooting out police corruption like the last couple books), and a trial where Gamache is the primary

Top 10 Tuesday: Book Covers That Feel Like Summer

Terrie

Jul 11, 2022

Top 10 Tuesday: Book Covers That Feel Like Summer

Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl is hosting another week of Top Ten Tuesday. I enjoy participating each week for a couple reasons. I'm a compulsive list maker and love a good list. And, I love a connection with other readers as I wander their book blogs. Here in the heat of summer the prompt is to share book covers I think feel like summer. What better time of year to choose a book by its cover?? I actually found a number of books I've read or that are on my TBR that have cover

Stacking the Shelves #6, Sunday Salon and Sunday Post #6

Terrie

Jul 9, 2022

Stacking the Shelves #6, Sunday Salon and Sunday Post #6

Terrie

Jul 8, 2022

A Collection of 5 Mini Reviews

In an effort to catch up on my reviews, here are reviews for a few books I've read recently. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Genre: Chick Lit (RomCom) Published May 2021, 364 pages I see that her newest offerings are all over the internet (Book Lovers and Beach Read), both titles guaranteed to draw summer readers! In fact Beach Read is on my own Summer Reading List. I added this to my TBR thanks to the YouTube review by Jack Edwards (Jack in the Books). Bear in mind

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: a book review

Terrie

Jul 7, 2022

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: a book review

Full of hope, I requested an ARC of this book, and was pleasantly surprised when I received it. So, huge thanks to #Netgalley and #knopf/doubleday for the early copy and, yes, these comments are strictly my own. This book is from the author who gave us the terrific award winning book The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. That book was a 5 star read for me so I was excited to get this book although the premise of video gaming isn't really my thing. Let me say up front that you don't h

Terrie

Jul 6, 2022

It's Time to Make Room on Your Shelves!

Before it gets entirely out of hand, here's a list of books that made my TBR so far this month. The first six are all chosen by my sister for our upcoming Buddy Reads. We pick our reads for a year at a time, and July starts our new year - we each choose 12 books giving us two per month to read together. Then I found some great ones from Top Ten Tuesday blogs, both the Summer Reading list and most recently, the Most Anticipated New Releases. Oh my. I linked to each of the blog

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