Still Reading... Just Not much to say

I am still reading (though slowly and not as much as I would like) but I just haven't found the last  few  ones I've read enough to write a blog about.

But  here's what I have read since the last update.


015 - Just In Time (A Rocky Hill Romance #3) by Barbara Benton. Cute short story. Predictable but cute. 3 stars. 

016. Avow (Last Selkie 0.5) by Elizabeth A Reevs. Quick short story but  it didn't hold my interest. 2 stars.

017. Relatively Famous (Famous #1) by Heather C. Leigh. Liked it. Didn't love it. It was really slow in spots and then did that thing where  it shoves all the "moving forward" stuff into like the last three chapters.  But it ended on a cliffhanger so I may read book 2 at some point. 3 stars.

Currently  reading Shopping for a Billionaire's Wife (Shopping for a Billionaire #8)  by Julia Kent

Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?

by Jen Lancaster

 

011-014 Short Story Round Up

So I went  on a bit  of a short story  binge the  last few days. All of them being super short  don't really warrant their  own posts but I wanted to make sure that I did post that I read them.

011 -  How (Not) to Play With Magic (Cindy Eller 0.5)  by  Elizabeth A. Reeves.  
This is a prequel short story to set  up  her series  of books featuring Witch/baker Cindy Eller. It's a totally cute  funny read  that  introduces you to Cindy two of her sisters and  Cindy's roommates that I assume will play  the main parts in the series. I enjoyed  the story and plan to try  and check out the first full length book soon. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads. 

012 - Baehrly Beginning: A Goldie Locke and the Were Bears Short Story (Goldie Locke and the Were Bears 0.5)  by Elizabeth A. Reeves.
This is a tie into the Cindy Eller  book. Another sister  of hers Goldie Locke   is  on a quest to avenge  her father's death (different father then Cindy) This one wasn't quiet as funny as the Cindy one but it's definitely  interesting and  another one that I will  likely try to continue at some point.  They  both seem like the books would be fun easy reads. And I am always game for those. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads. 

013 - The Right Wrong Number by Barbara Delinsky.
This was a cute little love story about how  you can find just the person you didn't realize you  needed when  you make a simple  mistake like dialing the wrong number. It will make you trust  fate and love. I gave  it 3 out  of 5 stars. 

014 - What She Really Wants by Barbara Delinsky 
While the first short story above was about suddenly finding love this one  is about  if  it's still there years  later and what a couple learns about each other after so many years  of marriage.  It was a good read. I gave  it   3 stars out 5. 


Thanks to this  little binge and the fact that they count as a book each on good reads I am 3  books ahead  on my goal. So yay for a buffer.

I am currently reading Relatively Famous and Just in Time. 
               


 

010 - Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

"Addie, please." More tears dripped down her cheeks. "Don't be so hard."
"Oh, please," I muttered...and that was as far as I got. 'You broke my heart' were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn't say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend. She'd laugh. And I'd had enough of being laughed at. I'd worked hard to get to a place where it didn't happen anymore, where I didn't move through life like a walking target, where it was just me and my paints and brushes and my big empty bed every night. "You weren't a good friend," I said instead.

I did such a back and forth between  loving and hating this book while I was reading it. I think in the end I like  it. I don't love  it. I still hate  parts of it and a little bit of  how Weiner wrote both the main female characters but  as the book goes on you start to understand why she does.

I think  maybe why I had such a  hard time with this book for most of it  is that I see myself  in Addie. Maybe a little too much on some levels and that's uncomfortable. But especially and for the  purpose  of this  in the way she  handles friendships. This friendship with  her  best friend since childhood Valerie.

As a child Addie  feels shy awkward and socially not  able to put herself out there. And then she has a girl  move in across the street; Val who for all  her own  reasons and issues is looking for a friend just as much as Addie  is so they bond quickly and fiercely.  The  thing  is as time goes on and they  grow up and things  change.... everything seems (to Addie) become easier for Val and while they  remain best friends they grow apart and Addie feels left  behind. 

I know that feeling. I had  my  own "Val" growing up. We were quickly  best friends and while we remained friends for years  there  came a time when I knew  and felt like her "back up"  best friend for whatever reason. 

This is how  Addie spends much  of  high school.  And then senior  year everything  completely falls apart for the two  of them and their friendship when something happens to Val. Val would rather forget and just move  in. Addie though speaks the truth, thinking she's doing what's best for  her  best friend.  Because  of that  one  night and both their choices afterwards they  don't speak for  more then fifteen  years. 

The  book  is the story  of what brings  them back together and full circle from that night  all those  years  earlier.  It's an up and down  cycle for  me  of weather  these two  should even  be friends again for most of the book. Again though that could be  me and  my feelings. So I have to  give it to Weiner for writing a story that as  angry  as  it  made me in spots  is definitely  realistic (most of the time....) to what  it takes to  bring two friends  back together.  

The book is funny and  sad (very sad  in spots; the  whole first part was  utterly  depressing to  me. It gets better though) and touching. There are parts that seem a bit  out of left field and even seem out  of character  for the women later on  in the book  but I can  overlook them for the most  part. 

I gave this 3 stars  on good reads.

Currently  reading: Relatively Famous  by  Heather C. Leigh.

009 - Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice by Maureen McCormick

“From what I've been able to figure out, all of us are here together and we need one another. We must celebrate each others differences. Learning to ask for help is as important as learning the value of helping other people. I believe all the people in my life have been there for a reason, and I hope I have been in theirs for a reason as well. It's taken me a while, but I feel truly blessed. After all is said and done, I love life, I love people, and I love being me.”

I grew up  watching The Brady Bunch. I am great at Brandy Bunch Show  trivia  and I even already knew most of the  behind the scenes stuff that she shared about  her time on the show. Nothing  in that area was all that shocking to me.  But, her more personal and private  life that she opened up about in the book shocked me. It saddened  me and it  made me admire  her more for  what she managed to  live  through and pull herself out  of. 
My heart  breaks for her  for what she was still going through at the time the book was written/published (2009) with her brother and her father. I hope they were able to find some  sort  of peace with everything.

As with most  tv star biographies  we learned that everything  was  not nearly as perfect in real life as  it was  for their  on screen characters. Maureen  spent almost 30 years feeling depressed  stressed and  like she was  or very well may go  insane. She struggled with a huge drug  problem for many  years. All of this  fuled  many years  of up and downs for  her. When she was finally able to find  her way through those nightmares slowly  becoming the person she and the people that  loved her always  knew she was  deep down  inside  her  life was again turned upside down when  her  mother got sick and  the events that followed that with her brother Kevin and her father  are probably worse in a lot of ways then  her  years struggling with drugs and anxiety.  It was  brave  of  her to share her story  of the elder abuse of her father at the hands of  her brother Kevin. I am not sure  what the outcome  of this was as  it was still going on at the time  the book came out.  I do hope the family was  able to find peace though. 

This was a good read. It wasn't really the light funny  read I was going  for as a distraction from the other book I am reading but  it was still a page turner and I enjoyed  it. I gave it 3 out  of 5 stars on goodreads. 

I am still currently  reading Best Friends Forever  by Jennifer Weiner 

I am still  on track with  my goal  of 50 books this year.

008 - One Spoonful of Trouble by Nic Saint

No quote from the book for this one  or  lines that stood out to  me   because I am still trying to figure  out why I actually finished this book?  I got  it for free  from kindle because an ad showed up on  my  facebook  claiming that  the  mysteries of Belle & Whitehouse were the in the same realm as Stephanie Plum. I am always up for a good mystery and  if you can  be funny to boot? Totally  in.  We  have some funny scenes. Some cute  ones and I even  liked the  main character for the  most  part  to start with. Felicity  seemed  like a strong willed stubborn woman who  knew what she wanted from  life and was content with that.  But she quickly seemed to  turn  into a naive  girl who had no  real thought process  of her  own. No true  gut instinct so to speak. If someone was  nice to  her  they were  a good person but  if they turned around and had a cross word  for her they were  evil and she flip flopped with each mood swing  of each character.  It got old  quickly that she seemed unable to  read  people.

I could go on and on about how this book drove me nuts. There was no real mystery to speak of to  start with.  The chapters  seemed out of order and out of place at times. And while I do like  at  times when a book will give you more then one character's point  of view in the book there  is such a  thing as too many  different points of view. It all became to  jumbled and confusing  on  who you were following at any given  moment. 

I only gave  this one 2  stars. Mostly because there were some funny moments and some cute moments. It was a quick easy read but  I don't think I will  be  reading anymore in the series.

Currently reading: Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

I am currently 2 books ahead  of my 50 books goal. I have a feeling I may fall behind though  Best Friends Forever  is a fairly long book and I haven't decided on other one to start along side  it yet.

007 - Tricky Twenty Two by Janet Evanovich

"Ranger slung an arm around me and hugged me into him, and I could feel him laughing. “It’s not funny,” I said. “Babe, I haven’t got a lot of funny in my life. Let me enjoy the moment."

There are certain things you can always count on  in a Stephanie Plum book.  A car (or more)  is going to some how ended up  wrecked. Lula's hair  is going to change colors at  least  once. There will be at  least two  viewings at  the funeral home.  And at one of those viewings Grandma is going to get  into some  sort  of drama.  You can also always count  on  Stephanie being forever  stuck  between  who should she  be with?  Morelli  or Ranger (Team Ranger here!)  but     I have come to expect that she's never fully going to make that choice. It's just not  in the cards when  it comes to Steph. 

Overall I always  enjoy the books. And this one was no exception. Even though the formula  is almost always teh same and you have the  things you know are going to happen; you can't  help but  laugh. You can't help but wonder what mess Steph and Lula will get themselves into and how they  will get  out of it.    I enjoyed the amount  of Ranger in this book. I liked that  Connie and  even momma Plum got in  on some of the action  with Steph and her FTAs.

The thing with Plum books; they are  easy funny  lose yourself  for a while reads. Just what you  need sometimes. So even though Steph  is probably never going to greatly improve as a bounty hunter. She's forever going to be  stuck  in  some sort  of limbo with the men in her life  and  poor Rex  is just always going to be running on his  hamster wheel and it's going to feel like no one  is ever  moving forward. The gang  is going to be there to  let you come be entertained  by their crazy lives  once a  year. And I will take it. I will keep reading. I can't wait for number 23  in November.

I rated this 5 out 5 stars on goodreads. 

Currently Reading: One Spoonful of Trouble by Nic Saint & 
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

I am currently  1 book ahead of schedule on my 50 books  goal. 

004-006 The Complete... Collection by Julia Kent

"That you love them unconditionally but want them to be exactly what imagine in your mind, That when they stray from your own set viewpoint of the world should work, it's like you've failed."  (Mike: Complete Harmony) 

The Complete Collection is a set  of four short novellas  that are considered the 5th  book in the "Her Billionaires" series  by  Julia Kent. Good-reads  lets you count  each one as one book so this counted as four  books for me.  I admitt that when I first decided to read the Her Billionaires  series I assumed  it was going to be some love triangle story. It's not though. It's main three  characters Laura, Dylan and Mike find themselves in a threesome relationship.  It's something  hard to  wrap your  head around on some level but  they make it work and Julia  does a good job  of explaining how  they make it work  on an emotional level. How even though what you're taught   is that  you're only suppose to love and be with  one person at a time  and if you're not there's something wrong with you; that way  of thinking  isn't always true. It's as much about the fact that Laura  loves both Mike and Dylan  and couldn't see  herself without them  (or just with  one of them and not the other) as it about the fact that while Dylan and Mike aren't gay  or sexually attracted to each other they do share something  on a deeper  level that only the two  of them can understand and they realize that they wouldn't want to  be in this type of realtionship with anyone else.  

In this set  of books we  see them along with Laura's best friend Josie and her boyfriend Alex along with Josie's cousin Darla and her boyfriends Trevor and Joe (Their story  is told in Kent's Random Acts...series) trying to navigate  new phases in their  lives and  deal with the outside world's view of their respective realtionships.

It was nice to see Dylan and Mike try to  help Trevor and Joe   figure  out what being in a relationship  like they are means to them. To watch Alex and Josie  who aren't in a threesome  with anyone else  both try to be there  for their friends and  yet at  times struggle to understand  it. 

But for all  my  rambling  this series is anything but a strictly  serious look at threesomes. It  is a comedy  just as much and there's always something   in each chapter to  make you  laugh.  

It's definitely a fun read. Maybe not  my favorite series by Kent (Shopping for Billionaire is so far)  but  it's definitely  enjoyable and I am looking forward to the sixth (final?)  book  coming out later this year to see how she manages to wrap up  this crazy roller coaster ride she's had Laura and company on. 

Overall I would rate the full set 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads, 

Currently reading: Tricky Twenty Two by Janet Evanovich about 100  pages in.

Not reading anything on my kindle app  right now because the tablet I use for ebooks has been on the fritz since I was trying to finish off the  last of this series  earlier this week. I've ordered an actual kindle though now as a late Christmas present  last night so I am sure I'll have a kindle read again soon.