Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts: June 25th

Welcome to the new Thursday book blog meme that (un)Conventional Bookworms has started! The point of this meme is to post some quotes from a book you’ve read where they talk about…FOOD! As a self-claimed foodie, I love this meme! Here’s my line…

When Trey returned, we unwrapped out respective burritos and dove in. The first bite was sheer heaven. Whoever had the bright idea to stuff meat, cheese, and French fries into an oversize flour tortilla was a culinary genius.

This reminded me of the ever so wonderful and tasty Nevada Burrito I get at a local Mexican chain called Faustos. Oh man…now I’m craving this burrito! If you’ve never tried anything like this…YOU. NEED. TO.

Now…for the book this line came from…

Catch my spot on the Blog Tour on July 6th!

Have you read anything lately that made you hungry??

Book Review: City Of Girls @GilbertLiz @riverheadbooks

This was the last physical book I got in our little book exchange at work…is it sad that I really miss work because of all the books I’d get to read?!?

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this book, but I am glad I gave it a chance!

Vivian’s life story is being retold by herself through a letter to a dear friend’s daughter. We start in 1940 after she’s been kicked out of college and we see how her life has evolved. We learn right in the beginning the father’s name so it’s an interesting tale to see how we get there.

It was such a great story and hearing about the lifestyles and things Vivian did was like you stepped back in time. She spent most of her early 20s around showgirls, actors, actresses, and all around party people. The growth Vivian has was remarkable, we forget how living truly shapes us.

As I kept reading I kept finding myself more and more interested. The father is not introduced until much later on in the book and from that point forward I could not put this book down. I even shed a few tears. This is just such a truly moving, powerful story.

4 stars. It is a bit long, but everything is needed to explain Vivian’s story. If parts were missing it would not make sense as to who Vivian is and what the daughter’s father meant to her. I felt for the daughter and I felt for Vivian. This truly was a breath of fresh air to read, I’m glad I didn’t pass this one by!

Title: City Of Girls

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Riverhead

Release Date: June 4, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: June 23rd #HappyBirthdayTTT

That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesdays is TEN today!!!!! To celebrate the ten year anniversary/birthday of Top Ten Tuesday this week’s topic is…

Past Topic Of Your Choice

I have decided to revisit my very FIRST #TTT post which is back on January 8, 2019. Here’s what the topic was that week…

This week we are highlighting our top ten most anticipated reads of the first half of 2019! I listed these in scheduled release order!

So I’m going to go back over each book, say if I read the book or not, and give a quick star rating of what I thought of it! Here’s we go…

The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman

Read (click on title for link to full review): 3 stars

And Then You Were Gone by R. J. Jacobs

I never got around to reading this one…it sounds really good though!

Lovely Little Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Oh yes, this one was a GREAT one. With the subject matter it was a little difficult for me to read, but this has stayed with me. Click the title for a link to my full review: 4 stars

The Night Before by Wendy Walker

I have this on my Kindle, it’s a past (over a year) Netgalley title. The plan is to get to this one THIS summer! *fingers crossed*

The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver

I never got around to reading this, but I am a fan of his work!!

Montauk by Nicola Harrison

I loved this one so much I bought a copy for my grandmother to read! Click the title for a link to my full review: 4 stars

Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand

You KNOW I read this one by my girl Elin!!! Full review can be found by clicking on the title: 4 stars

Please Send Help by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin

I remember checking this one out of the library, I loved it so much I read the sequel! The link to my full review can be found by clicking the title: 4 stars

The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets by Molly Fader

An emotion read, the full review can be found by clicking on the title: 5 stars

Things You Save In A Fire by Katherine Center

Another great read, full review found by clicking the title: 5 stars

So overall, I read 7 out of 10 books!!!!!!!!! I’m quite proud of myself!!! What are you doing on this lovely Tuesday?

Summer Reading Challenge

My local library has started something NEW this summer…their first all virtual summer reading challenge! I am very excited because there is an ADULT category!! YAY!

Their challenge is simple…every 5 hours you read you earn a ticket into a drawing. For adults there is one prize, a $25 Target gift card. Kids can choose between multiple prize packs (my daughter has her eye on entering the iPad prize). It’s a neat way to encourage reading from now until July 31st! (School goes back in session in early August here.)

This year they even have an app I’ve downloaded to my phone that I can keep track of books read easily! My goal is to complete the max amount of hours for adults (100 hours or 6000 minutes). Currently I’m 1/3 of the way there!!

Is your local library doing any fun summer challenges?

Sunday Funday: “What Makes Me Pick Up A Book” TAG

Real quick: HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all the Dads out there!!!!

I saw this on Kristin Kraves Books page and I just absolutely loved it so I decided to do it! If you enjoy this tag please fill it out yourself! I love seeing the little details behind all of us book bloggers!!

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Whether it’s wrong or right a cover has a huge influence on if I pick up a book to read or not. I’m not ashamed of this and I freely admit it!!

Focusing just on a cover, what attracts you to pick it up?

I don’t really know. I prefer my covers to have a picture of some kind on them…I don’t like cheesy covers, but cartoony covers (meaning the people may be solid block colors as opposed to real people) are ok, and I really like real images. I’m not big on covers that feature a person as the prominent feature, nor do I really enjoy books that just have the title and a pattern around it.

Do you read the synopsis first, or prefer to go in knowing nothing about the book?

I enjoy knowing not too much about the book. I find that when I read reviews, if a person has posted the blurb of the book I will skip over it and go right to their review of what they liked and didn’t like. Usually they have a brief synopsis and that lets me know if it involves something I’d like or not. When I hear about the book from the reader I know they are going to highlight the most important, broad part of the book and I enjoy that over a blurb. Sometimes this back fires and it’s like…wait…I thought I wanted to read this?! Haha, but overall I find with the method I use, I read books I end up enjoying!

Do you have any auto-buy authors?

Elin Hilderband & Teresa Driscoll are my top two! I will usually stop what I am doing and read these ASAP!

Are you more likely to pick up a book if it has specific elements/themes?

No. I have a favorite genre (thrillers), but I will give most any book a chance. Elements and themes really don’t matter to me.

Do you ever read a book that has generally negative reviews just to form your own opinion on it?

I will look at book reviews and see why it got bad reviews. A rule of thumb I use (on pretty much anything) is I go for the 3 star reviews. These are usually the most honest ones (books and products). They usually highlight what they liked and what they didn’t. If I see a lot of trending themes of why people didn’t like the book and it’s something I don’t enjoy, I will usually steer clear. If it’s something that I don’t mind, I’ll still have it on my list, but I usually have it down further on my list to read. There are so many books to read and I want to ENJOY what I’m reading. Most of my reviews on Goodreads are 4s and I know that may drive some people nuts, but I really look at what I’m reading and read books recommended to me. If I’m going to give a book hours of my time I want to enjoy it!

Do you ever buy a book just because another booktuber/blogger has talked about it a lot?

YES! This is where I find a lot of good books to pick up, from YOU! When I keep seeing a book over and over it’s like, I want to be in this club! You rarely let me down!

Is there anyone whose book recommendations you always trust?

Of course!!!! One of those being one of my friends who loves thrillers even more than I do. I know if she raves about a book it is going to be good! There are a few book bloggers that I look to for books as they have similar tastes to myself as well. More importantly I know the people I AVOID as I usually don’t enjoy books they recommend!

This was so much fun! I hope you take the time to do this yourself so we can learn more about each other as readers too!

Saturday For The Kids

For those of you who may not know, I have two beautiful children…Robert (Bob) who will be entering 4th grade and Jennifer (Jenny) who will be entering 2nd grade. I would say they are the occasional reader and will read when I ask them to. My husband has come up with an idea over the summer for them…

My husband thought it would be neat to have the kids create their own YouTube channel and do verbal book reports based off what they have read. I even promised them I would feature their videos on my book blog and well, here we are…

They have completed her first videos!!! As promised, here at their YouTube videos, in order of how they were created!

Strike Three, Marley by Jenny (33 seconds)

Wayside School Beneath The Cloud Of Doom by Bob (1 min 45 seconds)

If you know of any kid booktubers please let me know and leave the link so I can show my kids and we can follow more. I am excited that my children are excited to read more and more! I just wish the library was open so they could freely browse, so if you know of any good books too, make sure to let us know! Fingers crossed this becomes a regular posting on my blog!

First Line Fridays: June 19th

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

Prologue
Clients trust me because I blend in.

Interesting, right? This is from my advance copy of…

Blurb

From the internationally bestselling author of The Perfect Girlfriend.

Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down.

Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down.

Nina and Marie were best friends—until Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she died, Nina asked Marie to fulfill her final wishes.

But her mistake was in thinking Marie was someone she could trust.

What Nina didn’t know was that Marie always wanted her beautiful life, and that Marie has an agenda of her own. She’ll do anything to get what she wants.

Marie thinks she can keep her promise to her friend’s family on her own terms. But what she doesn’t know is that Nina was hiding explosive secrets of her own…

What are you reading today???

Clearing My TBR #2

I’m back at it again. I’m still looking at my Amazon Wish List and going through that. This is where I put the books I really want so it’s HARD to take some off…but I managed to take off another few…

Something To Live For by Richard Roper

Blurb

Sometimes you have to risk everything to find your something…

Andrew works with death for a living. Searching for people’s next of kin and attending the funerals if they don’t have anyone, he’s desperate to avoid the same fate for himself. Which is fine, because he has the perfect wife and 2.4 children waiting at home for him after a long day. At least, that’s what he’s told people.

The truth is, his life isn’t exactly as people think and the little white lie he once told is about to catch up with him.

Because in all Andrew’s efforts to fit in, he’s forgotten one important thing: how to really live. And maybe, it’s about time for him to start.

Why? The blurb kind of sells this one short. I am sure I found this through some rave reviews on here, but if I can’t remember them, then it has to go!

The Silver Sting by Angela Dandy

Blurb

It has been thirteen years since the elderly residents of Magnolia Court were scammed out of a comfortable retirement by an unscrupulous developer who took their money and ran.

A twist of fate leads Gabby, Uncle Max and Aunt Hetty’s niece to uncover the developer’s whereabouts.

Pointed in the right direction by Gabby, the residents draw on their life skills to overcome one obstacle after another in order to recover what is theirs by right.

No one should underestimate the tenacity and ingenuity of this charming and endearing bunch of senior citizens. Age and infirmity are set aside as they set out on their quest to seek retribution.

In Uncle Max’s own words: “I believe that our little ruse could well go down in history as an example of what can be achieved when people, irrespective of their age, pool their skills and work together as a team. Regrettably, we cannot write the story – none of us would like to spend the rest of our days at Her Majesty’s pleasure – but maybe someday someone will write it for us…”

Why? Meh…this just doesn’t do anything for me. This is one where I read the description and go weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, if it landed in my lap I’d read it ASAP. No, this would collect dust on my Kindle, haha. Like the 30 some odd books I’ve paid for and are just sitting there…doing nothing…it’s a problem, I know!

The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry

Blurb

“Take her out back and finish her off.”

She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.

And that she must run.

In her riveting style, April Henry crafts a nail-biting thriller involving murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive, in The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die.

Why? Again….I have sooooo many more books that peak my interest more than this one, so…it has to go!

Have you been clearing your TBR shelves at all? Should I have kept any of these??

WWW Wednesday: June 17th

This is my FIRST ever WWW Wednesday!!!!! Description taken from Taking on a World of Words!

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived at on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:

Recently Finished (you should be proud of me):

Reading Next:

What are you reading today?

Top Ten Tuesday: June 16th

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

Books On My Summer 2020 TBR

If I read only one of these I’ll be thrilled (I failed MISERABLY with my list I made last summer), haha.

I’m super pumped about this book…it’s arriving on my doorstep today (Happy Publishing Day)!!!!

This sounds like it could be the thriller of the summer!!!

I have The Summer I Turned Pretty and It’s Not Summer Without You sitting on my shelf right now…I won’t start this trilogy until I get We’ll Always Have Summer…learned my lesson after I started her To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, haha.

I am currently in line at my local library for this one…I’m number 16 in line with 5 books out for lend. I know it’s going to be a little slower, any time a book is returned it has to sit for 3 days before they touch it. Fingers crossed the line still moves quickly!

I have a stack of Elin Hilderbrand books I’d like to get through this summer too: Beautiful Day, Here’s To Us, Castaways, Barefoot, The Island, and The Identicals. They’re stacked up right next to me, but I have a tendency of grabbing other books and telling myself I’ll read this one next…and then I never do, haha. It’s time for change this summer, I’ll read all of these darn it!

What’s on your summer TBR list????