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. 

 

 

002 - Hello, It's Me by Wendy MarkHam

Hello, it's me
I've thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something's wrong
There's something here that doesn't last too long
Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine

Hello, it's me
I've thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something's wrong
There's something here that doesn't last too long
Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine

I grabbed this book to read  because I got  in  on part  of  it in movie form on Halmark and wanted to read the book. As  usual I think I liked the book  more then I liked the movie but for the  most part the two  are completely  different from  each other  minus the  main plot  points  of a young  mother Annie  trying to move on after her husband dies suddenly.  But she doesn't really want to  move on  to start with and keeps calling her husband's  cellphone just to hear  his outgoing message. As  she does this though  it seems as though  her husband (Andre)  is trying to reach out to her through the phone. She belivies she can hear his voice off in the distance  in spurts and fragments  when she calls his phone  during times  of bad weather.    Enters James  though. A handsome wealthy  young  man that is quickly  taken with her  and her young children. 

It is a good story. Sad and a very real  in  moments as you see Annie struggle with the promises that she made to Andre  "One love; one lifetime"  and realizing that she can  love again with James even though  part  of  her  doesn't want to  let go  of Andre. 

I gave this  one 4  out  of 5 stars  on goodreads.   The subplot stories in the book were also  better in the book then in the movie. It gave you  more insight  into James'  side  of  trying to figure  out where his  place in Annie's life was suppose to be because he honestly does want to respect   her and the memory  of Andre  

Technically  this is my  third  book  of the year but  my 2nd one  is part  of a compilations  or stories that I will review together when I finish (but I get to count  each  part as one book on goodreads. So win win. 

So right now I am  reading:  Complete Harmony by Julia Kent  &  Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich. 

 

001 - When You Return to Me (Short Story) by Dana Marton

This  was a free kindle  read that I came across and downloaded because it was  free(!) and said it was a short story. Admittedly that was my draw  to start  because I haven't been able to get into my 'reading mode' yet this year and I was hoping that a short story would  jump start me. At least  get me  back to 'on track' as I already fell behind. 
This is a short story that I have a feeling comes at the end  or at  least in the middle of the author's series (Broslin Creek) but  not having read any  of the other stories  doesn't take anything away from this sweet Christmas time story. 

You get a glimpse  into the life  of Maggie who has  lost her true  love Cam (Cameron) 4 years earlier to war. Her struggle  to still come to grasp with  the idea that everyone  believes him dead and gone but she just can't seem to bring her heart to  believe this.

Listen to the wind, it talks
Listen to the silence, it speaks
Listen to your heart, it knows. 

This was my first  read from this author and I enjoyed  it. I have  downloaded the 1st book in the series now to  read later :)  I gave it a goodreads  rating  of 4 out  of 5  

50 Books in 2016

I have challenged  myself to read 50 books in 2016. I did this in 2015 too but I fell 3 books short. Let's hope 2016  goes better and maybe I even  beat the goal. We shall see. I plan to use this  blog pretty much  only to post  book  thoughts but I  may throw some  other stuff in a long the way.