Ani's Book Abyss

Cover Shot

by LynDee Walker
Book 5 of A Nichelle Clarke Crime Thriller

Cover Shot was another enjoyable installment of the Nichelle Clarke series, with more convoluted twists to Nichelle's investigation, and a sort of personal touch involving some emotional back story on Nichelle's part, even if only touched upon briefly.  This particular book was also a bit more subdued on the dark and gritty than the previous book was--you don't even get to see the first murder victim, and the entire "hush-hush" on the investigation thing almost made me forget that there'd been a murder victim in the first place from page one.

There isn't a whole lot to say, as Nichelle is as spunky, resourceful, and persistent, as usual... except I DO wish she would stop trying to get herself killed while proclaiming that she has no desire to get herself killed.  As an investigative crime reporter, TSTL seems to be one of her traits that I've learned to live with, and meeting unknown sources in back alleys is probably one of the few ways she depends upon for information.

Meanwhile, I absolutely enjoyed focusing more on the multiple lines of investigation going on, with two crimes occurring that verge together in the end to make sense.  Gone are the 'Mean Girl' cat claws and hissing between Nichelle and Shelby, and even Charlie seems more subdued after her first sarcastic insult at Nichelle.  Unfortunately, without those, the book seems to fade the two rivals out, as if their only purpose was to be rude and antagonistic to Nichelle.  But whatever, at least we can skip all of that, because Nichelle had more worries on her mind to deal with in the first place.

We've also set the romance on the back burner, as Nichelle had officially made her choice previously, so we got to kiss the love triangle good-bye... even IF I still don't see the chemistry between her and Joey, and even IF the male posturing still continues on.  In fact, the mystery mafia man still doesn't strike me as all that appealing, and it seems that aside from a mutual attraction, food, and sex, the two don't really have a whole lot in common.  And since Joey remains so shrouded in shadows, you don't get to know him well enough, and neither does Nichelle, to understand why he's the better choice.  Although in the long run, I suppose Nichelle's feelings on the matter are truly all that matter.

On the flip side, Kyle has grown a bit petty.

Anyway, another strong, solid entry into the series that I'm still enjoying!


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #17:
Square: The Stay-cation 9 | Read a book that includes a visit to a museum, a concert, a library, or a park, or that the author's name begins with one of the letters in R-E-L-A-X.

How it fits:  Author's name begins with the letter 'L.'
Page Count:  360
Cash:  $3

Her Deadly Secrets

by Laura Griffin
Book 2 of Wolfe Security

It's quite signature of Laura Griffin to give you a few main POVs to follow during the course of one of her books--it's kind of a way for her to very subtly, and sometimes very naturally, introduce more characters into her series, and setting up a background for them for future books.  And so while this book's main focus should have been Kira Vance and her bodyguard, Jeremy Owen, Her Deadly Secrets also spends a lot of time following around police detective Charlotte Spears and her partner as they investigate the death of Kira's mentor, Ollie.

In a way, it felt like two separate investigations going on at the same time, following two different investigators, which all ultimately tied together in the end.  And it wasn't until closer to the end of the book that you realize that aside from having about equal book time for Charlotte as much as for Kira, there was also very little in the romance department, considering this book is filed as a romantic suspense.  And normally, I would have been quite disappointed that the romance was set on the back burner for so long... but, in truth, I enjoyed the entire book, as the murder mystery and both lines of investigations were quite interesting to follow.

Well... I take back one thing I just mentioned.  I did get slightly disappointed that the story was so light on the romance, because it kind of ended up sidelining Jeremy's character status to not-quite-main-hero, sliding him in right behind Charlotte.  Of course, while he didn't stand out all that well, he DID assume his role properly as the bodyguard.  But since I had a hard time recalling his name just to right this post, that kind of goes to show how memorable his character truly was.

But aside from that, I think I thoroughly enjoyed, and was entertained by, this second installment of the Wolfe Security series.

And I'm also quite happy to say that I'm glad that Kira wasn't TSTL and after her first attempt at resisting having a security team guarding her, she kind of readily relied on them to help keep her safe while she tried to do her job as a PI for the fancy defense lawyer who hired her.  It was a bonus that Jeremy also pitched in to help unearth some info for her investigations.  And so, in a way, while Kira and Jeremy's romance felt a little lackluster, they're working relationship turned out quite fun to follow.

As is typical of Laura Griffin, the pacing was non-stop the entire way through, starting from the murder at the beginning.  I'm looking forward to the next book now, and am hoping it will be following Charlotte, since I absolutely enjoyed her POV of things, romance or no, though there's a little hint of who might be her main love interest somewhere in this book.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #15 (July Fourth Bonus):
Square: The Stay-cation 9 | Read a book that includes a visit to a museum, a concert, a library or a park, or that the author's name begins with one of the letters in R-E-L-A-X.

How it fits:  Author's name begins with the letter 'L'.
Page Count:  368
Cash:  $3

Okie doke!  Here's a quick update.

I finished reading Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart the previous night, getting $3 for its 372 pages.  This brings me to my unofficial goal of breaking into the triple digits of cash by reaching $100!  Yay!

Because I finished this book right before midnight, I passed out before I rolled again.  So I rolled real quick this morning before heading to work, giving me a bit of time to think about what I wanted to read next.

My next roll was a 7 which took me to The Lake House 19, another square I've been to before; another square with loads of possibilities.

It's a party on the BL-opoly board tonight.  My younger brother and his wife went to a Harry Potter party that was being thrown for one of their nephews, and brought me some party favors.  And so Monkey and friends have decided to throw a small Harry Potter party of their own!  Monkey wields his magic wand to keep Teddy Bear on his spot, and Peek-a-Boo Penni plays her namesake's game from inside an HP-themed baggy.  =D

Fun times!

There were a bunch of other books that I could choose from, and even some books that I feel like I need to get read.  But I'm in the mood for a romantic suspense, and specifically I'm feeling Jayne Ann Krentz.  Deep Waters fits this square in both ways, where the cover is most definitely greater than 50% blue, and Jayne Ann Krentz's last name starts with a 'K' which fits the "first or last name starts with any letter in the word L-A-K-E".  Perfect!

Deep Waters is 376 pages, paperback version, which will give me $3 when I'm finished reading it.


Tomorrow is August 1st, which is coming into the last two week (a little less than two weeks actually) stretch, which means even if I finished my books in time for each next roll, I'll only get to roll a whole of four more times.  I'm going to make the most of these last few rolls, but most likely, I'm just going to go with the flow since I've already made it to $100 and am quite satisfied with my progress.

Besides... I'm kind of gearing up for Halloween Bingo now!  Whoo-hoo!

Novelty Cards Currently In My Pocket

Novelty Cards Used

Roll #18 Book Chosen: Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart

My Progress

Current Bank:  $100
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  19
Pages Read:  6,337

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.

I had hoped to have had my previous BLopoly book read by Saturday, but that didn't happen.  So I finished reading Cover Shot on Sunday (7/28), so I took my roll last night.  Meanwhile, Cover Shot was an entertaining cozy mystery that banked in at $3 with it's 360 pages.  A review should be out sometime in the next few days.

On the personal front, I'm hoping that life starts settling down a bit more the next few weeks post-wedding hangovers and the like.  I've been on a weird work schedule as well, and am hopefully moving back to normal for the next while.

Also, my elder brother and his wife have returned from their travels, honey-mooning in the Grand Cayman Isles, then following by traveling for work purposes as well.  This just means that it was time to say good-bye to the pups that we've been dog-sitting for the past weeks, and the house will definitely be a lot quieter and maybe even a bit subdued for a while as we get used to not having Bear upending everything in sight.  Yogi was always the quiet, unassuming presence, but I loved that he would routinely climb right into my lap every evening whenever I sat down on the couch.

Here's a little pic of all three of the doggies, including our very own Baby, all enjoying a leisurely afternoon on said couch.

Since they live about six hours away in a different state altogether, it will probably be some time before we get to see them again.  Baby, certainly is showing some signs of depression, missing his companions, so we've been trying to play with him more lately, but all he wants to do is lay around.  Hopefully, he'll bounce back to his usual self in a few days, because if not, that means we might have to find a chance to take a road trip to visit the pups... Not that we wouldn't be happy to also see my brother and his wife.


And now onto the next roll of BLopoly...

Roll #18 was a five, which took me to Beach Week 13 (even though the photo shows 12, the square on the board is actually 13).

It's also a fairly subdued time on the board, with Monkey just hanging around and Penni adrift in her boat.  Maybe the excitement will come back soon, though I've said this before:  I'm not sure Penni is ever NOT looking excited about something.  Which is why we love her so much!


There are exactly two books I'd found that would have fit this roll's square.  But unfortunately, while perusing my shelves, I just wasn't feeling in the mood for either of them.  And so I'm finally throwing in a Novelty card.  Since I've got four in my pocket, and two of them are Robot cards, I decided to go ahead and use one of them.

1.  Lethal Lifestyles by LynDee Walker
2.  A Study in Death by Anna Lee Huber
3.  Surrender by Pamela Clare
4.  The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
5.  Silken Threats by Addison Fox
6.  Open Season by Linda Howard
7.  Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart
8.  The Pirate by Jayne Ann Krentz
9.  The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
10.  Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Mariller


My list of books weren't as much random as they were in the order of books I really wanted to read first, then following with whatever other book I thought of next.  Aside from Open Season by Linda Howard, I already own all of them, and there's a nice mix of historical and contemporary, as well as one fantasy.  There are ten different books by ten different authors (I hadn't even realized I'd done that until after I was finished).

And so then I went and found a random number generator app on my phone and came up with this:

The above cover for Madam, Will You Talk? corresponds to the Kindle edition I currently own, though I'm not sure I really like that cover.  But anyway, this book is 372 pages long, which will net me a $3 addition to my bank balance, and so with the completion of this book, I'll have hit exactly $100!  Yay!

I knew I wasn't going to be reading as much as I did the last time I played this game, and so one of my unofficial goals was to hit the triple digits by breaking $100.  And I'll be there soon!

I've already started reading Madam, Will You Talk?, which so far isn't as intriguing as previous Mary Stewart books I've read, but hopefully things will pick up soon.  The main character kind of reminds me of another main character from another book, though I can't quite place my finger on it.

Novelty Cards Currently In My Pocket

Novelty Cards Used

Roll #18 Book Chosen: Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart

My Progress

Current Bank:  $97
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  18
Pages Read:  5,965

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.

Devil in the Deadline

by LynDee Walker
Book 4 of A Nichelle Clarke Crime Thriller

Another solid entry into the Nichelle Clarke Crime Thriller series by LynDee Walker that drew me right into the book.  The murder mystery itself is a bit gruesome in this one, and the subject matter was as dark and gritty as in previous books.  The truth is, this series feels less cozy mystery and more crime thriller, which makes it all the more intriguing.

I appreciate that our heroine, Nichelle is a level-headed, resourceful, smart, and tough main character.  None of that weird accident-prone traits for the sake of a few laughs that I've seen in other cozy mysteries.  Nichelle knows what's she's doing with herself and doesn't draw attention if she doesn't need to, and you can count on her to do her job properly.  She still has her moments of stepping into situations that she knows damn well are dangerous... but as an investigative crime reporter, I suppose I'll have to accept that it's all part of the job.

The murder mystery itself was quite twisty, and there were a lot of possibilities for the whodunnit.

As much as I enjoyed reading this book, there were a few quibbles that didn't work for me.

The murder mystery, while outlined rather well, ended up also including a lot of side tangents that felt a bit chaotic.  I didn't expect that some of Nichelle's personal history would be touched upon, and I'm glad that it happened, concerning her absent father and a brief mention of the tension between her and her mother and her grandparents... but the introduction of that felt a bit sudden.  Maybe we'll expand on that in the next book?

Meanwhile, I'm still not feeling the love triangle, if only because I'm still not feeling any chemistry between Nichelle and either of her two potential love interests.  And also, the truth is, I don't really care for love triangles, so I'm doubly not feeling this continued dragging out of the love triangle.  And even though we can clearly see that Nichelle is leaning more towards one man over the other... it's still not quite working for me.

On the other hand, when Nichelle and Kyle are bantering as friends, I'm quite enjoying, probably because the two have a history.  But when the romance swings around, it's hard to take it seriously if only because even Nichelle herself isn't feeling that spark with Kyle.  On the other hand, I'm personally not feeling the spark with Joey...  I was still holding out hope for Grant Parker... but he barely makes an appearance in this book, so no go on that one, and also he's got a serious girlfriend already, so boo... because I'd be loathe to make Nichelle an "other woman" character.

And so I'm glad that this book is more than just romance, and that the murder mystery as well as Nichelle's work as a reporter are the main focus.

I'm also extremely happy that we've finally got a satisfying conclusion to the newsroom "Mean Girls" stuff going on with Shelby.  Truth is, great female relationships are hard enough to find in a lot of books without purposefully including one as toxic as the one between Shelby and Nichelle.  From book one, I've felt that this particular part of the character interactions were unnecessary.  It's already been hard enough that there are upper administration, outside reporters, and lots of other influences threatening Nichelle's ability to do her job.  We didn't need a Mean Girl Shelby, and we didn't need the slut-shaming.  So I'm glad that Shelby and Nichelle have finally called a truce and have stopped sniping at each other.

Otherwise, like I'd already mentioned, the murder mystery and the writing and the book itself, is extremely solid, and enjoyable, and very exciting.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #16d:
Square: Who? (3) | Read a mystery or detective story, or a book with the word "who" in the title.

How it fits:  This book is a cozy mystery.
Page Count:  282
Cash:  $3

Wonder Woman: Warbringer

by Leigh Bardugo
Book 1 of DC Icons

Leigh Bardugo is a solid and wonderful author, which is one of the reasons why I'm forever following her writing, and always excited about all her new releases.

Wonder Woman takes the famous super hero and gives her story an interesting new twist, by presenting her as a teenager, full of insecurities and ambitions, going on a journey to prove herself to her sisters and her mother as an Amazon, and dropping her in present-day New York filled with cars, phones, internet, and all sorts of fancy technology.  I love that Bardugo takes this bit of backstory of the Amazon princess, the fact that she is different than the rest of the Amazons, sculpted from clay and given life on Themiscyra, as the push to propel her story line in this book.

The premise was extremely promising, and as per usual, Bardugo gives us a ragtag band of heroes who fall together to somehow save the world.  The banter is wonderful, the characters created wonderfully with an excellently diverse group of kids, and the interactions are all fun.

Unfortunately, the book DID take some time to get into, and then might have gotten a bit complicated after the climax at the end.  I'm also not quite sure that we were able to focus on Diana all that much, as she was a bit overshadowed by both Alia and Nim.  This story, I felt, had set out to be a tangential story line in Diana's journey to becoming Wonder Woman, the superhero, but I feel like it ended up turning into a story outside of the Wonder Woman saga.  In fact, this book could have been about any other young teenage hero setting off on a journey, with a Greek mythology backdrop, and it would have still worked.

This book didn't need a Wonder Woman basis, and it felt more like we started with Diana's story, but ended up telling another adventure journey instead.  And while I DID enjoy the conflicts and loved the side characters, it sometimes felt like there might have been too much going on, and that the characters were all not as developed as I feel like Leigh Bardugo is capable of.

Nonetheless, as the story picked up, it was easy to get drawn into the world of Wonder Woman: Warbringer, and easier to want to know how our band of heroes would finally save the world.

On a side note, I will admit that I got taken aback by the turning point in the end... and as yet am not quite sure how I felt about it.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #13a:
Square: The Summer Blockbuster 27 | Read a book that features a hero's journey or is a Bildungsroman (coming of age tale), or that has a word related to space in the title (I.e., star, planet, rocket).

How it fits:  This book is a hero's journey.
Page Count:  374
Cash:  $3

I have been so lazy and out of touch with the blogging world lately that this BLopoly update post is a whole two days late.  I finished Devil in the Deadline by LynDee Walker late at night, right before midnight on 7/23, and so I rolled again right before the next day came around.  But I was too tired to do anything but screen shot my roll and set up my live board movements.  And then I had planned to post my update yesterday (7/24)... which also didn't happen... because, reasons.

So here I am, finally, at the tail end of 7/25, finally getting this post up and out.

Anyway, Devil in the Deadline was a great read, and I'll have a review out soon... hopefully.  At 282 pages, the book gained me another $3.

Roll #17 gave me a 7, which walked me to The Stay-cation 9 (even though the card says 8, the square is actually 9).  I was just here two rolls ago and just finished reading a book for this square.

Alert!  Alert!  We had a bit of a mishap and Penni's lucky star-studded game board got toppled over via Bear-tastrophe...  Basically, the naughty little pupper managed to hop up onto my desk, grab Monkey by the head, and knocked all the stars onto the floor.  Fortunately, Monkey made it away just fine, but Penni's board was such a mess that I didn't really feel like resetting it all up.

Meanwhile, Penni has already brushed off the incident and is happily drifting in her paper boat with Teddy Bear... who cannot seem to stay stuck to the board, so he's also just kind of drifting along.  Monkey has gone back into Zen Monkey mode, and we will probably try to continue this game in an unassuming way... well, as unassuming as Monkey and Friends is capable of.

Meanwhile, SOMEONE got grounded...

Just kidding.  Bear actually tipped the tub over and climbed into it himself to take a nap, completely separate from the big Penni board disruption incident.  The he followed by trying to dig himself a nest in the solid tub.  I just thought this was a cute photo to share... not that there's a Bear photo in the phone right now that ISN'T cute.

For the Stay-cation 9 square, I've been reading Cover Shot by LynDee Walker, the next book in the Nichelle Clarke series.  I'm using the prompt for the author's name beginning with a letter in the word 'RELAX.'  Cover Shot is 360 pages and will earn me $3 when I finally finish reading it.  There's nothing wrong with the book--I probably would have finished it by now and would be rolling again if I weren't feeling a little bit slumped and lazy.

Novelty Cards Currently In My Pocket

My Progress

Current Bank:  $94
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  17
Pages Read:  5,605

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.

Keeping this post pretty simple since there wasn't as much reading activity as I would have liked, but I did as well as I'd predicted, so I'm not too sorely disappointed in my weekend.  As of midnight, I finished reading one book, Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin, which clocked at 368 pages, though I really only read 353 pages of the book for the readathon.  The amount of time I spent reading, according to my stopwatch, was 5:39:32.  So it basically took me about five and a half hours to finish one book... and I was nowhere near the proposed 24 hour goal, but whaddya gonna do?

I guess I'm at least happy that I finished one book at all, but the rest of the weekend was spent shopping with family, eating out, and being in a generally lazy mood.

Until the next readathon, then!

Books Read

Currently Reading

I did not start reading any other book this weekend.

It feels like it's been ages since I last rolled, almost three weeks ago!  When I last updated, I was reading A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters for my most recent regular roll (Roll #12), wherein I needed to read a book that was either made into a film or television series.  Since there's a television adaptation for the Cadfael series, this book fit right in.  An interesting read, but I had a hard time getting into it, though it's hard to say whether it was the book, or just my lack of time.  At 199 pages, the book gave me $2 to add to my bank.

Meanwhile, I'd also taken advantage of the July 4th Bonus rolls and prepped myself for more books to be read.  We all got three extra rolls, but due to the nature of my rolls, I ended up with four books!

I had considered, very briefly, skipping The Summer Blockbuster 27, as I'd had a hard time finding something to read for this square the last time I landed on it.  But then I remembered that I had all three of the four DC Icon series books, and what better "hero's journey" than one about the making of a superhero in Wonder Woman: Warbringer?  Also, I like Leigh Bardugo.  =D  The book itself had a lot of potential, but I'm not sure it really set out to do what I'd been hoping it would do.  But still well-written.  This book was 374 pages, earning me another $3.

The next square would have been an easy pick for choosing a historical or time travel book, if only I didn't have so many possible historical fiction books to choose from.  But then my library pinged a hold for me and so Silence for the Dead was inserted in as my choice.  Taking place in the time after WWI, this book fits the bill just fine.  Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James was 386 pages, earning another $3.

The next square was another Question Square, this time Who?, which required a mystery or detective story, and so I randomly chose one of my romantic suspense crime thrillers, and so Jayne Ann Krentz it was!  Sharp Edges was 338 pages, which was another $3!

The last square I landed on for the bonus rolls was The Stay-cation 8, and I chose the easier of the prompts, choosing an author whose name began with a letter in the the word "RELAX."  Just as well, I'd taken long enough with my previous read that Laura Griffin's newest release happened on July 2, so I happily decided to purchase and read the latest in the Wolfe Security series, Her Deadly Secrets.  This book was 368 pages... another $3!


And now that we're caught up, here's the next roll, which ended up becoming a bit complicated, taking me ALL around the board, so sit tight for a fairly long post.

My first roll was a double 2, which took me to the Robot Card.  Since I get to pocket the card and roll again anyway, I'm going to forego the whole "doubles, roll again" thing, because I'm not even sure how that would work since I'm already rolling again.

It's been a great readathon weekend, and even though I wasn't able to get a lot of reading done, it looks like Monkey and friends are all gathered around for story time anyway.  But being the great buddy that Monkey is, he's opting to sit at the bottom of the board and try to keep Teddy Bear from sliding further down off of his square.  Yay, Monkey!

My next roll for this turn was a seven, and landed me on Free Parking:  Roll 2 dice.  A 2 or 3 sends you to the robot; 4, 5, or 6, go to the race car; 7, 8, or 9, go to the Scottie Dog; 10, 11, or 12 takes you to the cat.

Still having their reading session, and Monkey's still giving Teddy Bear a hand.  =D

The roll for Free Parking gave me a nine, and so off to Scottie Dog card it is!  As per the rules, I'm pocketing this card and moving on.

Alllll the way across the board we go.  And Monkey is taking his job quite seriously, I see.

Finally, after pocketing my shiny new Novelty card, I rolled a ten and ended up back at the Question Card: Who?, passing Go and collecting $5 while I was at it.  I was just here not long ago, and even though I've got four Novelty cards cramming my pocket now, I don't need to use them for this square.  Finding a mystery to read will be easy peasy... it's picking one out of several that will be the hard part...

And it looks like Monkey is quite worn out.  Teddy Bear is sticking to the board okay, so Monkey has decided to join the others at the top for some reading time.

Happy 24in48 readathon weekend!  And hope everyone had a great time and a great weekend!


Meanwhile, I've got a few books I'm considering, though haven't quite made a decision yet.  Though I'm leaning towards a more contemporary book since I'd spent most of the beginning of the year in historical fiction.

Devil in the Deadline by LynDee Walker is a cozy mystery that is 282 pages for $3.  I've been meaning to get back to this series, so this might be a good time to do it.

A Study in Death by Anna Lee Huber is a historical mystery that is 324 pages for $3.  I'm also super curious about continuing the Lady Darby series, so this is another possibility.

Ricochet by Jessica Andersen is a romantic suspense with a murder mystery, clocking in at 250 pages, also for $3.  I picked this book up at a library sale, and am very interested in it, as it involves a crime lab scenario.

As of right now, I'm kind of leaning more towards Ricochet, but at the same time, it'd be more convenient for me to read an e-book, which the other two are.  Oh, sigh!  Decisions, decisions.  I might just do a random book draw... or dash all of these options and end up reading something else entirely.  I'll give myself a little time to decide.

Novelty Cards Currently In My Pocket

My Progress

Current Bank:  $91
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  16
Pages Read:  5,323

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.

Silence for the Dead

by Simone St. James

Silence for the Dead is one of those books that has a great premise and a gorgeous cover, and so you end up with some high expectations, especially knowing how well our author, Simone St. James, can write.  And it has all of this, but in the end, I felt like the book never reached it's full potential.  As much as I'm a weeny when it comes to ghost stories, I was really looking forward to this particular book because of the haunted hospital aspect.

But the book never truly got appropriately spooky, with maybe one or two scenes that came close, but didn't quite do it.  I had read this during the night and expected to fully be scared out of my wits, but even with the lights off, it didn't really do that much.

I will give the book props for touching upon the lack of medical and psychological treatment and care for the war heroes of WWI, the men who had come home with shell shock, and whom society were all unable to accept.  In fact, the story line involving the patients at Portis House seemed to be the stronger of the story tangents.  The way that these men were treated was the more horrifying of everything presented in this book, and even as you knew (and still know) how veterans of war were treated upon returning home with PTSD, it's still a shock to realize the extent of how terrible it all was.

Story-wise, it was a bit unfortunate that everything starts falling apart towards the end of the book.  The romance was also lacking some chemistry, and the men of Portis House ended up just fading into the ending.  Kitty's family issues were never truly resolved either, and her misgivings about men seemed dealt with too readily with the standard "love cures all" treatment.  The same could be said about Jake Yate's PTSD, wherein his fatalistic and suicidal desires were dissolved just because he met Kitty.

Still, I DID get hooked into the book, and the writing is still beautifully done.  The atmosphere created was a great attempt, and the book was still entertaining.  I DID still like Kitty and her gumption, though I found her lack of sense, thinking she could imitate a nurse without repercussions a bit irresponsible, though I appreciated her awareness that her actions could have gotten someone killed in the long run.

Another enjoyable book by Simone St. James, though not necessarily my favorite, and probably more disappointing just because of my own high expectations.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #13b:
Square: When? (34) | Read a book that is time travel or historical fiction, or a book with the word "when" in the title.

How it fits:  This book is historical fiction.
Count Page:  386
Cash:  $3

Circle of Evil

by Kylie Brant
Book 1: Chasing Evil | Rating:  3.5 Stars
Book 2: Touching Evil | Rating: 3.5 Stars
Book 3: Facing Evil | Rating: 3.5 Stars

Average Series Rating:  3.5 Stars


Circle of Evil was a pretty riveting crime thriller that follows the same two main characters throughout the whole trilogy.  The second and third books also throw in two other possible romantic pairings, but they aren't elaborated on much.

While I loved the banter and partnership between Cam and Sophia, the two of them DID take a little warming up to.  In the end, you're just glad that all the angst and all the avoidance and the non-communication going on between them were dealt with in the first book.  It took me a second, but I slowly realized that each chapter of the first book was set up to show a flash back of Sophia and Cam's initial relationship before the main investigation in the book starts.  At first I was a little thrown, and wasn't sure that I liked it, but I think by the end of the book, I found that those scenes were handled pretty well, and even added to my understanding of what was going on between Cam and Sophia.

It sort of gave their love story more depth than if they'd just met in that first book and fell in love immediately.  Meanwhile, some trigger warnings for this book, and the rest going forward, as there is a lot of mention of rape and violence, then pedophilia and necrophilia in the next books, even if not detailed.

I think I could have done without being in our serial killers' or rapist's head so much, to be honest.

The second and third books focused on the serial murderers and the investigation, which Kylie Brant has always excelled at writing.

Side characters were all wonderfully incorporated as part of the investigative team rather than just being background props to showcase our main couple.  This is what I like about Kylie Brant's romantic suspense crime thrillers.  The action also never seems to quit, and you're hooked wondering how everything will play out.

The one thing I DID feel I didn't care for was how over-powered the killer is in the last book.  Facing Evil just felt like a never-ending chase, and it was frustrating to watch as Cam and his team always seemed to be one step behind the killer the entire way through, and how their investigation just kept falling apart with each move forward.

Otherwise, I quite enjoyed this trilogy, even if it doesn't really live up to my love for Brant's Mindhunters series.

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #9:
Square: Beach Week 10 | Read a book that appears on any Beach Reads list, or a book whose author's first or last name begins with any letter in
B-E-A-C-H.

How it fits: Author's last name beings with a 'B.'
Pages:  324
Cash:  $3

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #10:
Square: Mountain Cabin 16 | Read a book that is considered mystery / suspense genre, or which has a title that contains all of the letters in the word C-A-B-I-N.

How it fits:  Book is romantic suspense / suspense genre.
Pages:  288
Cash:  $3

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #11:
Square: The Lake House 19 | Read a book with a cover that is more than 50 percent blue, or by an author whose first or last name starts with any letter in the word L-A-K-E.

How it fits:  Author's first name starts with 'K.' / Also, cover is more than 50% blue.
Pages:  314
Cash:  $3

The whole of Saturday was spent with family, hanging out for lunch, and going shopping, so obviously I didn't really get any reading done.  But that's fine, cause I expected it anyway.  It was a rather lazy day, as we also spent most of the afternoon staying out of the sun and trying not to melt, because it was so freakin' hot outside.

Anyway, I DID still manage to get some reading done before the end of the day, clocking 1:13:23 on my stopwatch, and getting another 78 pages read of Her Deadly Secrets.  This only means I don't really get to roll again until maybe later today, because it'll probably take me about three or four hours to finish the book... and that's assuming I don't get distracted.  But I'm definitely determined to finish it, at least before the weekend is over, which will give me exactly one book finished reading... if I'm lucky.

Current totals so far this weekend include 162 pages read, and 2:38:20 hours spent reading.

Meanwhile, here's a pick of a pup with his head propped on my leg as he watches me munch on a cracker.

Conclusion:  Yes, he was given a cracker.  Those puppy eyes and the patiently waiting propped head pose was a little hard to resist.

Books Read

As of this update, I have not finished reading any books.

Currently Reading

Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
Total pages: 368 // Pre-readathon: 15 pages read
Progress:  177 pages read
-- 84 pages read by Hour 11
-- 78 pages read by Hour 24

As I'd already mentioned, my reading updates for this time's 24in48 will probably be a bit sporadic.  I usually try really hard to schedule updates every eight hours, but have never really been successful about that.  So I'm just going to update as I see fit, when I get the chance.  In other words, I'm winging it this weekend.

It looks like this update is going up around about Hour 11.  I started reading Her Deadly Secrets pre-readathon, but only got a chapter in before midnight rolled around.  Then I started my stopwatch timer, and according to it, the amount of time I've spent reading so far (give or take a few seconds) was 01:24:57.

Not bad to start, I think, and while I haven't finished the book yet, I'm still hopeful I'll have it done before the end of the night and can move onto my next BLopoly roll, and choose my next book!

Books Read

As of this update, I have not finished reading any books.

Currently Reading

Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
Total pages: 368 // Pre-readathon: 15 pages read
Progress:  99 pages read
-- 84 pages read by Hour 11

It's been a long week, and I've been mostly absent from the blogosphere, but I promise I'll be back with reviews and some updates soon.  And yes, I'm here to announce and confirm that I will be making my attempt to participate in this summer's 24in48 Readathon.

There are already some social plans being made for the weekend, but I'm still going to do my best to read as much as I can.  I'm proposing no goals this time, and plan on just keeping track of my reading time, and reading as much as possible.  Updates will probably be sparse and chaotic, but I want to at least update twice this weekend.

The only book I'm reading right now is Laura Griffin's newest release, Her Deadly Secrets, which is the last book I need to read for my Booklikes-opoly July Fourth Bonus Rolls.  Normally I have multiple books going at a time, but with how my current reading progress is going, I'm trying to take my books one at a time.

I'm only on the very first page, which means that I might just start over from the beginning and count the whole book for the weekend readathon.  I might spend a couple hours reading at midnight, then we'll get back to the book first thing in the morning after I get some sleep.

And then with the BLopoly Dice Roll Pantheon deciding the fate of my reading list, I'm not sure what my next read will be, so I've made no concrete plans.  But being me, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some hopeful reads for this weekend.  My hope is to finish Her Deadly Secrets sometime Saturday, which will allow me to roll again for BLopoly.  Then we'll move on and hopefully one of the books I've listed below will fit whatever square I land on.

Obviously, I'm not going to read all the books I've listed below, but one can hope, right?


Readathon Hopefuls:

What is everyone else reading this weekend?

Hi everyone!

So I've been absent for long enough that I feel like I've been slacking off in my blogging life.  But things have been super busy around Chez Puppy House in the past week or so.  For the week of Fourth of July, while I was able to toss in a post about my bonus BLopoly rolls, I haven't really had much to do with reading.

My big brother's wedding happened this past weekend, and the days leading up to it were full of LOTS of last minute preparations.  My brother and sister-in-law have expressed a wish not to have any of their photos shared outside of family and friends, so I won't be posting any of those.  But doggies and non-human subjects are all fair game...  Thus, the above picture is just of how the wedding gift trays, the wedding candles and incense, and the roast pig (on the far left that you can't really see) was set up.

As part of the tradition, these are the gifts we took to the bride's home, wherein they then split the gifts in half and return half to us.  We then commence with a brief tea ceremony of toasting her parents as they let their daughter be married off, then we bring the bride home wherein another tea ceremony happens with toasting tea to the groom's parents, as they welcome a new daughter into the family.

Ahh... traditions, they are interesting to learn about as they happen, though this isn't the first Vietnamese/Chinese wedding we've had in recent years.  Two years ago at about the same time, my younger brother was married and a lot of the same things happened.

But anyway... back to the wedding prep chaos... my sister-in-law wanted to build her own bouquets, boutineers, and flower display decorations in order to save on money.  So we spent a few hours just messing around with that a couple days before the wedding.  There were tons of flowers to play with, and I'd say that the results were quite beautiful.  My sister-in-law is a woman of many resources.

Meanwhile, my brother wanted the introduction of the wedding party at the evening dinner reception to be unique, so they also spent some time practicing a choreographed dance, lasting the first minute or so of the Korean pop song, Boy With Luv by BTS.  I've linked the official BTS dance practice video if anyone is curious as to how the dance was supposed to look.

In actuality, they only made it about fifteen seconds into the dance moves, then ended up doing a freestyle to their seats, which was also fun.  But the most important part was that they had a lot of fun, even if their end result was still kind of messy.  I'm not sure anyone at the reception really noticed anyway.

Meanwhile, my job during the entirety of the day, aside from playing personal family photographer during the tea ceremony in the morning, was dog-sitting.

The pups had free reign of the house for a little bit during the early morning.  Meanwhile, Yogi and Bear were put into their spiffy wedding attire, as the puppers belonging to the bride and groom, to celebrate with them.

Here's Yogi in his cute little doggie tux, as he makes himself comfortable in my cousin's lap.

And here's Bear in a formal suit with bow-tie.  Please excuse the photo as Bear was moving his head in the way of my camera and I couldn't get a better pic afterwards either.

And if anyone is wondering, Baby didn't have a suit since he wasn't really part of the wedding.  Meanwhile, Yogi and Bear were allowed to come out to the dinner reception venue and be in parts of the reception with their human parents.

The wedding went smoothly, lasting all day, with tired feet, happy people, yummy food, and lots of drinking...

The days following after the wedding really was just a recovery phase for most of us who either had too much fun, or were achy and sore from the long festivities of the day as well as the clean-up afterwards.

And then, in my own little reading world, I kind of couldn't get back into reading or blogging for a another couple days, which is why this monthly wrap up is about two weeks late.  Whether my mind was just distracted, or exhausted, I don't know, but I just haven't been into anything bookish in days.

However, I'm hoping that I'm moving back into my bookish world now, and we're picking up where I last left off with the Fourth of July bonus rolls, and the regular roll I had been reading for before that.  Yeah, I'm seriously behind in my reading.  But I'm also stubborn enough to finish reading for all the squares I've landed on before moving forward.

So as a fair warning, I'll probably be AWOL for another duration of time while I try to catch up on my reading.  There may or may not be a review or two posted as we move forward.

Thanks for reading my rambles, everyone!  Now onto the bookish part of this post!

June Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

Currently Reading

June Reading Stats

Total works read: 8

• 8 print/e-book novels

Average rating: 3.44 Stars

• Highest Rated:  7 books // 3.5 Stars
  • I am not going to list all of the books rated 3.5 Stars, since I only had one other rating this month, with the below listed book the only one NOT 3.5 Stars.
• Lowest Rated:  Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier // 3.0 Stars

Series I started reading:

• Saga of the Light Isles by Juliet Marillier

Series I completed:

• Also Known As by Robin Benway
• Circle of Evil by Kylie Brant

Series I have made progress on:

• Lady Darby Mystery by Anna Lee Huber
• Tracers by Laura Griffin
• Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa

Favorite reads:  As I mentioned above, 7 out of the 8 books I read in June had a rating of 3.5 Stars.  This is a fairly mediocre rating for me, but if I had to choose one or two books that were my favorite, they would probably be either Going Rogue by Robin Benway, or Stone Cold Heart by Laura Griffin.

Disappointing reads:  Obviously as the only book rated 3.0 Stars in June, Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier was the lowest rated book as well as the book I was quite unimpressed and disappointed in.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

• Packaged Thoughts June 2019: A Bunch of Book Rambles
• Wolfskin by Juliet Mariller
• A Grave Matter by Anna Lee Huber
• Stone Cold Heart by Laura Griffin
• The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
• Going Rogue by Robin Benway

Memes

• Did not meme this month!

Other Posts

• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #6
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #7
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #8
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #9
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #10
• Ani's Personal Essential Bookshelf
• Ani's Personal Essential Bookshelf | The Romance List
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #11
• Read-a-thon: 24 in 48! July 2019 | Ani's Plans!
• Booklikes-opoly 2019 | Roll #12
• BL-opoly 2019 | Mid-game Update

Coming Up In July

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

So hopefully the rest of the month won't simply be about me catching up on books that I'd intended to have finished more towards the beginning of July.  Unfortunately, I feel like that's probably what's going to happen if I don't get my act together.  The above books I've listed as my tentative reads include the next Haruhi Suzumiya book which I hope to insert at some point in the month, as well as Sourcery by Terry Pratchett, a book I'm overdue to have read along with the Discworld book club.  But I'm just going to take things at my own pace and enjoy.

Meanwhile, the other four books are the ones I've chosen to fulfill the BLopoly Fourth of July bonus rolls.  So as soon as I finish my current reads, I'm going to move into Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo, then Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James, Sharp Edges by Jayne Ann Krentz, and Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin.  Although I probably won't be finishing them in that order, since all but one are books I own.  I just checked out Silence for the Dead via e-book library and might focus on that one first.

2019 Wrap-Ups 

Past Monthly Reading Wrap Ups (2016 / 2017 / 2018)
See Also: 2015 Reading Wrap-Up posts (scroll to bottom of page)

(updated as year progresses by month)
January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December

In celebration of the 4th of July, Moonlight has thrown in another chance at extra rolls for us!  Yay!  This post is going up on 7/3, but that's because I took my rolls at the tail end of 7/2 right before midnight.  Not that it matters, because it will definitely take me more than two days to read all the books coming out of these extra rolls anyway.

I'm still reading for my previous roll (I ended up choosing A Morbid Taste for Bones), and since it's been kind of busy, it's taking me longer to read than it probably should.  Coupled with all the extra rolls, it looks like I've got some heavy reading ahead of me.

My first bonus roll (Roll #13a), ended up being a doubles roll of snake eyes, which takes me two spaces forward to The Summer Blockbuster 27.

Oh look, Monkey's up and moving again!  Yay!

With a doubles roll, I'm rolling again as part of the first bonus (Roll #13b), and ended up with an 8.  This moved me to the Question Square: When? (34).  And since it's a little hard to read in the photo above, the square reads: "Read a book that is time travel or historical fiction or a book with the word "when" in the title."

And... what is Monkey doing?  Where are you trying to go, buddy?  You're startling Penni...

My next bonus roll (Roll #14) is a 5, which brings us to another Question Square: Who? (2), while passing Go and collecting another $5 in the process.  Again, the pic is a little hard to read:  "Read a mystery or detective story, or a book with the word "who" in the title."

Um...  I don't know about this...

My third and last bonus roll (Roll #15) was a 7 and took us to The Stay-cation 9... which actually shows as a number 8 in the graphic, but we'll pretend that it's a 9 since it's a 9 on the board.

Alrighty then, Monkey.  I think you've made your point.  Whatever that may be.  (Climbing the walls again?  This time in reverse?)  At least Penni doesn't look too worried anymore... as if she ever looks anything but excited.


So... being that this post is already pretty long, and because it's pretty late and I'm getting kind of sleepy...  I'm going to take a bit of time to think on my book selections.  My only lament is that I don't think the Flat Book Society read for this month will fit any of the squares.  And also I'm not really enamored with The Summer Blockbuster 27--I had my issues with that square the last time.

So there's a possibility I might skip at least that first square I landed on.  I will probably go ahead and read for When? and Who? and The Stay-cation 9, all three of which have a wide variety of choices I can pick from.

Stay tuned!

Novelty Cards Currently In My Pocket

My Progress

Current Bank:  $72
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  11
Pages Read:  3,658

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.