First Line Fridays: February 8th

As always First Line Friday comes courtesy of Hoarding Books Blog. I discovered this magic thanks to Crystal at Must Love Reviews.

Today I am just going to jump in and see if you can guess what I’m reading…ready?

“You do a lot of thinking in jail. Especially when you’re locked in the box that’s your cell.”

Here’s a hint…this is from an advance reading copy book.

Ready???

So far this book is really interesting and has taken hold of my full attention! If only I wasn’t so busy and tired I could be finished with this book by now, ugh, life stop getting in my way!!! What are you reading right now?

Top Ten Tuesday: February 5th

It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for another TTT courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl! This week’s topic is…

Upcoming Releases I’m On The Fence About

Hmm. This week is all about deciding if upcoming books are worth being put on your TBR list. My list is a mile long and the way I see it, I could add 1 book or I could add 100 books, it does not mean I’ll get to it any sooner than I would normally. I am taking this week to discuss the top ten Most Popular Books Added on Goodreads that are being published THIS month. This was a pretty neat find if I do say so myself. Here at the top ten:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Black Leopard, Red Wold by Marlon James
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
The Priory of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

I have already read the first book on this list and as you are probably well aware I did not particularly care for it. I am a fan of Sophie Kinsella and Lisa Wingate so I added those 2 to my want to read shelf on Goodreads.

What upcoming books are you on the fence about?

Goodreads Monday: February 4th

Goodreads Monday comes courtesy once again of Lauren’s Page Turners. Every Monday I will randomly pick a book on my Goodreads to read shelf and pair it with the cover image and Goodreads description. This week I picked another favorite number of mine, 72, and went the book that was there.

Quick Goodreads Stats

342: To Read Shelf

62: Read Shelf

5: Read 2019 Shelf

My Pick This Week

SharpObjects

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Released: September 26, 2006

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.95 stars (490,896 ratings, 36,605 reviews)

Goodreads Summary

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

My Thoughts

I have yet to read anything by Gillian Flynn and I always hear such positive things about her. This summary has me hooked after the simple statement of “fresh from a brief stay at psych hospital.” That right there has my interest peaked!

finalthoughts

It is still $9.99 on the Kindle. This may be a book I get if I see it at a thrift store. It is not offered in a hardcover and I much prefer reading hardcover over paperback and will typically just go for it on the Kindle then. If it goes on a flash sale for the Kindle, consider it part of my library from that point on! What do you think of Gillian Flynn?

January Wrap Up!

HAPPY SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!

What a better day to recap January than on the day that I hope the team who represents my childhood roots wins. Care to take a guess at which one that would be? Moving on now…haha…my total book count for January was 6 books!! Not bad, I am 2 books ahead of schedule to complete my Goodreads Challenge of 52 books this year! I also was able to use 5 of these books on my 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge! Whoop, whoop! Now, let’s recap the 6 I read!

weddingguest lifewewanted iamwatchingyou toughtruths TheInnocent

The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman: 3 stars

The Life We Wanted by Kelsey Kingsley: 5 stars

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides: 3 stars

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll: 5 stars (READ THIS NOW)

Tough Truths by Deirdre Maloney: 5 stars

The Innocent by David Baldacci: 5 stars

Not bad, I thoroughly enjoyed 4 out of the 6 books I read, I will take it! Here is hoping I can on this pace (or increase it) for February! Any of these reads on your TBR?

Stacking The Shelves: February 2nd

Well…I failed at my attempt of not buying/obtaining any books this week…haha. Here’s my usual blurb about it all…I stumbled across Stocking The Shelves on Jill’s Book Blog (check it out). This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Here’s what they say about it…

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

So, in theory I only “bought” ONE book…but, I added three to my shelf! *sigh* I have soooooo many books, but, I can’t leave them be all alone! All the books I got this week I got via Kindle, so they are all ebooks! Here we go….

Educated by Tara Westover

This one I got because I apparently had over $12 in credit on Great On Kindle reads that was expiring so I **HAD** to get a book! Now I have over $10 in credit and I need some ideas on what to get next so help me out with my next one! I have seen this all over social media and this looks like a great read, I am super excited!

Spare Room by Dreda Say Mitchell

This one has been all over my feed on WordPress and the reviews have been jaw dropping! It was only 99 cents for the Kindle, how could I pass that up?!?!

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

This is my pick for the month through Amazon First Reads (so it was free)! It was the only book that stuck out to me. It is billed as a domestic suspense novel and you know I love thrilling, suspenseful novels!

I am going to attempt to not get any new books this upcoming week…we will see if I can resist the power of the books I come across…probably not, I’m not that strong willed, hahahahaha. What did you add to your shelves this week?

First Line Fridays: February 1st

As always First Line Friday comes courtesy of Hoarding Books Blog. I discovered this magic thanks to Crystal at Must Love Reviews.

This week I have started & finished reading this lovely advance reader copy courtesy of Celadon Books!

Amazon //\\ Goodreads

“July 14

I don’t know why I’m writing this. That’s not true. Maybe I do know and just don’t want to admit it to myself.“

Here’s the synopsis from Goodreads…

Promising to be the debut novel of the season The Silent Patientis a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive…

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….

Should be a good one (*note: I wrote this and scheduled it before I finished reading it…see previous post, haha)! What are you reading right now??

Book Review: The Silent Patient

Let me start this review off by saying when I finished this book I threw it across the room. This review is going to be one of unpopular opinion, fair warning.

This is a quick read. A woman is found guilty of killing her husband, but, instead of being in jail, she’s in a psychiatric hospital. Why? Ever since she killed him she has not spoken, she’s been silent. Enter Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist who has been obsessed with Alicia ever since her case gained media attention. He gets a job at her care facility with the intention of getting her to talk once again. And when I say obsessed, I mean OBSESSED. He tracks down people that knew her and question them like he’s a detective, it gets a little bizarre.

This was a weird one guys. I read it and completed the book in just a few days, however, I never felt that into it. It was enough for me to read it, but, it wasn’t a heart racing, can’t turn the the page fast enough thriller for me. It felt like a mystery with some messed up characters.

Unreliable narrator. Without giving much away this is all I will say on that.

The twist? I cursed out loud. It was a huge shock and from that point on I picked up my reading speed. The end? I cursed again. By now you should know I love a solid ending…the author tells us, x happened. This one I felt was open too much. Reflecting upon the ending maybe the author plans on writing a sequel because you certainly could. Without giving too much away once again, there are a few characters in here who are batshat crazy. You could write an entire novel based off of where it leaves us. If you have read this one, you’ll understand…and you’ll also understand why I threw the book BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE EFF HAPPENED!

3 star read for me. It wasn’t pulling me in from the get go, it was alright. It is an easy read. The book is separated into 4 parts which I feel is a little unnecessary as it all flowed continuously with flashbacks to what happened to before the murder courtesy of Alicia’s diary. This reminds me of when I read another book and described it to someone saying, “I read it and I wanted to read it, but, it just fell flat and was not that interesting. It doesn’t make sense I know, but, it was just a weird read.” And when they read the book they told me the exact same thing, haha.

Have you read this? Have this on your list? I know everyone is raving about it right now, but, I just can’t get in to the hype. Have you read a book like this where all you see are rave reviews and you’re like, what?????

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Celadon Books

Release Date: Expected February 5, 2019

ISBN-10: 1250301696

Amazon //\\ Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: January 29th

Another TTT courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl! This week’s topic is…

The Ten Most Recent Additions To My To-Read List

Oh. Boy. Let me tell you what I do…I see a book I like and I add it to my Amazon wish list. I have decided that from now on I always add the Kindle version of books to this list only. Why? Amazon alerts me when books on this list go on sale and I can always sort my list out by price from low to high. When a book I have been eyeing goes on sale at a price I can’t say no to (usually $2.99 is the highest I like to go for Kindle ebooks) I jump on the opportunity and buy it. Now, I also use this list as my go to for when I buy physical books as well. If I buy it as a physical copy (off Amazon) I just delete it off my wish list.

Without further ado…here is my list! If you see a book on here that is an absolute must-read, please, be a bad influence and let me know so I buy it immediately!!

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll

After the mind blowing twisting and turning of I Am Watching You, I *had* to add her 2 other novels to my list…this one comes out soon, February 7th to be exact!

The Friend by Teresa Driscoll

See above, ha. But this novel is already out!!!

Day Of The Accident by Nuala Ellwood

I saw this one here (Book Review – Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood #BookBlogger #AmReading) and after reading the review how can you NOT put this on your wish list?!?!

What’s Great About Georgia? (Our Great States) by Andrea Wang

This was added to my list so I could remember a series about the 50 states! My son showed an interest in wanting to read books about them so after a quick search I found the Our Great States collection and added it to my list so I would not forget it!

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott with Mikki Daughtry & Tobias Iaconis

I am a sucker for reading a book and then watching a movie and folks…this is being brought to the big screen in 2019!!!

No Exit by Taylor Adams

This book has been EVERYWHERE: Facebook, Bookstagram, you name it, I have seen it there. For a book to have this much presence over social media I need to read it for myself!

I Remember You: A Ghost Story by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

In a Facebook reading group I am in someone posted all about this one…it sounds like a read you cannot read in a room by yourself at night…I LOVE THE SOUNDS OF THAT!

Stay Up With Hugo Best by Erin Somers

After doing a Goodreads Monday feature on this (click the title to see) it flew on to my Wish List!

Forget You Know Me by Jessica Strawser

A book coming out February 5th…I know you have seen the buzz about it.

The Liar’s Room by Simon Lelic

When a book has the catchphrase of “Two liars. One room. No way out,” you bet I am going to want to find out what happens!

Sorry for no pictures this week but I feel like sometimes they just clog the post up! Let me know what you think about the last 10 books I have added to my Wish List and if you have any recommendations based off of them!

Goodreads Monday: January 28th

Quick Goodreads Stats

328: To Read Shelf

61: Read Shelf

4: Read 2019 Shelf

My Pick This Week

The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky by Jana Casale

Released: April 17, 2018

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.61 stars (523 ratings, 131 reviews)

Goodreads Summary

Leda is a girl who knows what she wants and who she is—or at least believes she does. When we meet her as a college student in Boston—confident, intelligent, independent—she’s hopeful that a flirty chat with a cute boy reading a book in a café will lead to romance. They have a fleetingly awkward conversation that dwindles into little more than mortifying embarrassment, but the encounter does leave her one positive, and ultimately transformative, thought: Leda decides she wants to read Noam Chomsky. So she promptly buys a book and never—ever—reads it.
As the days, years, and decades of the rest of her life unfold, we watch Leda confront what it is that she really wants and who it is that she is really meant to be.

My Thoughts

I am fairly positive I added this book to my want to read shelf because I entered a giveaway for it…

I am taking it off my want to read shelf. I have too many books and the short synopsis on Goodreads does nothing for me. I have too many other books on my shelf that I am dying to read to worry about this one! Oh well, on to the next one! If you have read this book and I should keep it, let me know!

Book Review: I Am Watching You

Woah. I need a moment to process what just happened. Everything I knew that was happening just changed in a split second!

Let me set this book up for you…read it. Ok, ok, ok…but just a little because this book is a page turning, nail biting thriller that will leave you speechless. It is a story about a young teenage girl who goes missing on a trip to London. It is told from multiple perspectives; a witness who saw her traveling to London on the train, the father, the friend she was traveling with, and a private investigator that the witness hired. The case ends up going cold and unsolved for over a year until…well, just know that the case gets solved and you find out whodunit…and if you can guess who did you must be a psychopathic serial killer.

I read this as a buddy read with my friend and we finished this book within days. I took off running and then she surpassed me and was cheering me on to finish. You should see the text I sent her when I finished reading chapter 46. I would show you, but, then I’d have to kill you. Honestly we didn’t know much about this book except that I have heard rave reviews about it and it was highly rated.

We almost didn’t read it because she kept seeing reviews where people drone on about the witness describing flower arrangements…ok…so to those reviews I say, yeah, not quite what it seems. I will say that Driscoll does an amazing job at stringing you along and giving you just enough details to keep you hooked and wanting more.

This earns a solid 5 star rating from me. It was just…amazing. I have since added her other 2 thrillers (one out and one coming out soon) to my want to read list because that’s how amazing this read was. I am telling you, my mind was absolutely blown! And for what it’s worth, my friend who can usually predict everything in a thriller, did not see the ending coming. Read it. Tell all your friends. Then come back and TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS BOOK! OH EM GEE!

Title: I Am Watching You

Author: Teresa Driscoll

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: October 1, 2017

ASIN: B06Y1264PX

ISBN-10: 9781542046596

Amazon //\\ Goodreads

BONUS: I want to share a quote from this book that speaks VOLUMES to me. Also, after reading this book, good luck to my kids to ever getting them to allow me to go anywhere by themselves! 😉

Because once you become a parent, you learn that love can involve more fear than you had ever imagined, and you never quite look on the world in the same way again.

Doesn’t that just hit right home for my fellow parents out there??? Anyway…pick up the book, trust me, it’s a GREAT one!