Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

So, it’s halfway through the year and I haven’t posted much, but I have been reading. Depression sucks, am I right? We’ve had multiple funerals, dealing with cancer in the family and honestly I just couldn’t get up the energy to do much posting.
I had thought about a quarterly thing and just posting a little wrap up of what I read the first quarter and a little highlight reel of the good stuff, but that didn’t happen and now here we are half a year gone.
I saw Lala post her tag and thought at least I can do that! So here we go!

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019.
The best book I’ve read so far this year would have to be Beartown by Fredrik Backman. I love hockey, small towns, sports in general. Halfway through this I actually thought about putting it down because it felt like it was dragging a bit and I couldn’t figure out where it was going but the ending just brought it up to 5 stars. I’ve read a lot of good books this year, but I don’t think any will top Beartown for me. I have Us Against you, the sequel to Beartown, out from the library and I’m pretty excited to read it.
2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019.
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. That’s such a lame answer for me, obviously if you’ve read any of my post I’m obsessed with everything written by her.
I also liked The Reptile Room which is the second book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really wish we had those books when I was a child because I know I would have loved them and they would have been my favorites.
3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.
Outpost Zero volume one.
4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
99% Mine by Sally Thorne
5. Biggest disappointment. Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren. I love them so much, but boy was this book just irritating. It was also compared to The Hating Game, which is one of my new favorites of all time, so I went in with high hopes.
6. Biggest surprise. I just read Better When He’s Bad by Jay Crownover and I’m not usually into the bad boy romances just because I feel like so many of them just romanticize abuse but this book wasn’t like that at all. I thought it would be a 2 star read for me but gave it 4.
7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you) Maria Luis.
Our book club read Hold Me Today, which I loved, and after that she hosted one of our meetings (our book club is online). She was so sweet and had such a great personality and her writing was just awesome. The book was a perfect romantic comedy and I can’t wait to read more by her.
8. Newest fictional crush.
Leo from the Jane Yellowrock series. I’ve read the first 4 books and loved him since book 1. He’s a super powerful vampire and the Blood Master of the City. Jane and Leo are my ship, the rest of the guys are just whatever for me honestly.
9. Newest favourite character.
I’m super late to the party, as usual, but I just finally read Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. Kate Daniels is super bad ass while also being sarcastic and funny. I’m aware this book has been out for over 10 years. But I’m here for it now!
10. Book that made you cry.
https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1512278185l/35068763.jpg The Home For Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman. That book was a flipping tear jerker from start to finish if you can’t already tell by the title.
11. Book that made you happy. I just realized I’ve been reading a lot of dark, depressing books this year! Night in Werewolf Woods by R.L. Stine is a horror story choose your own ending book that I read with the kids and they loved it, so while the story wasn’t always the happiest (Depending on the ending) we had fun reading it and that made me happy.
12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)
13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year? My main focus is completing my romanceopoly tbr which I’ll be posting about soon.

That’s my mid year book freak out! If you want to see my answers from last year when I also did this tag hit the link here:
2018 mid year book freak out tag

Book Review:Much Loved by Mark Nixon

Much Loved by Mark Nixon

I saw this book reviewed by a friend on Goodreads awhile back and while photography isn’t really my thing, she rated it 5 stars and I trust her opinions so I figured it was worth a try. For me, this was more of a 2 star read but I gave it 3 because it reminded me of my childhood and my heart just wouldn’t let me go so low.
Basically this is a story of people’s lovies. Their bears/bunnies/stuffed toys that got them through their childhood and are still with them today. Each page has a picture of the toy and usually a super short story next to it.
To be honest, I had high hopes for this and that is my fault. It didn’t help that the introduction of this promised that there were interesting stories that these animals had. What we got wasn’t that interesting. One person didn’t even have their bear as a child, she worked her way into the book by purchasing her bear at an auction and saying “it looks well loved.” Many of them are 40 years or more old but there isn’t really much of a story behind them other than where they got it from and it’s falling apart from years of love.
Maybe it’s normal for photography books to have more pictures and very little story and leave you wanting for something.
I can’t end this review without telling you about my Much Loved toy.

His name is Fuzzy. He’s not the first Fuzzy. The first was a bear with a Santa hat who I was obsessed with. My mom had even crocheted him a blanket and I carried this bear with me every where. The day the bear Fuzzy went missing, we went to the park and then at bedtime I realized he wasn’t anywhere. I couldn’t sleep without him, I refused, so my daddy went out looking. He only found the blanket and I guess the hat or the head. The body was thrown onto the roof of the apartment building. I called my mom and asked the story because I was so little it’s hard to remember. This girl who was not much older than me had a fight with me that day and that was how she decided to get even. My dad couldn’t do anything about it, Fuzzy the bear was gone. He pulled down this raccoon from the closet and he became the new Fuzzy. He was given to me originally by my grandmother on my mom’s side. From that day he has been my constant companion. He’s not your average raccoon, Fuzzy was a Karate raccoon. He would fight the bad guys and keep me safe at night while I slept. He lost his eye in an unfortunate dodge ball accident, and his tail has fallen off and been stitched back on…though it’s currently hanging on by 2 threads. He’s been cried on, cuddled, his nose rubbed of it’s previous color because it just felt soothing to rub it. When I had kids I co-slept and now Fuzzy no longer sleeps in my bed. So he sits on my bookshelf, still watching over me while I sleep.

Comment and let me know about your favorite stuffed animal and if you have any interesting stories with it.I would love to hear from you!

Buy it here on Amazon

Book Review: In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

Rule 1. Ask for nothing.
Rule 2. Names have power.
Rule 3. Always give fair value.
Rule 4. Take what is offered and be grateful.
Rule 5. Remember the curfew.
After her father becomes the school principal, Katherine Lundy doesn’t have a friend in this world. No one even comes to her birthday party. She retreats into books and studying. While walking home from school one day she is so engrossed in the story she is reading that she doesn’t even realize that there is a huge tree on the trail in front of her until the shade from the tree blocks her ability to read. There is a door on the tree with a note that says “Be sure.” She opens the door to the Goblin Market.
The world in this book is centered around fairness. To make any purchase, you have to give fair value. What is fair to one person isn’t fair to another. Children can’t work, so shopkeepers are easier on them to purchase things like food. They can use buttons, ribbons, pencils. It’s an interesting concept. Of course there are punishments. If the child doesn’t return everything to fair value, these punishments can even follow them back into our world.
Unlike other books in this series, while Lundy remains a child she can travel back and forth between her door and the real world until she becomes an adult, and then a choice must be made.
Like all the other books in this series, this is told like a wonderful fairy tale. It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the entire series anyway. Every single book has been 5 stars for me.
Buy it here: Amazon Link

Book Review: Dead Mountain

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar

I first heard about this book in Booksandlala’s 2018 favorites video. Honestly, if it wasn’t for her book review I probably wouldn’t have even picked this book up, but immediately I felt like I had to read this story.
In February 1959, 9 Russian hikers died in the Ural Mountains. When they didn’t return home, search teams were sent out to find them. What they found was mysterious and frightening. The bodies were unclothed, many missing shoes in below zero weather. Evidence points to the tent being cut open from the inside as if they were fleeing something. Radiation levels on their clothing were high. Some of the bodies had trauma to the head, broken ribs, and one was missing a tongue. When Donnie Eichar hears of this mystery he heads to Russia himself to interview and retrace the steps of the hikers to see if he can piece together what happened that night. After decades of speculation, with some saying aliens, yeti, government conspiracies, Donnie hopes to find the scientific truth.

Using photos taken by the hikers, the diary that they kept, interviews and his own experience hiking to the same spot, the story is brought to life. I had a hard time sleeping while reading this, and in all my dreams over the past few days I’ve been haunted by this story.

That being said, I didn’t agree with the ending at all.In the last few pages Donnie paints this picture of how he believes that the hikers died. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the way he wrapped up the mystery in this scientific theory and dismissed other theories that were far more plausible didn’t sit well with me. Maybe he was trying not to anger the Russian government? I’m not sure what his motivation behind it was, but it may have been better off left as “an unknown compelling force.”

Buy it here on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1452112746/ref=x_gr_w_glide_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_glide_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1452112746&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Not related to this book, but while doing my own research I came across this comic and you know I can’t resist a well done comic. Here is a link for those interested http://www.emigennis.com/dyatlov-pass/

2018 wrap up and 2019 goals

Happy New Year everyone! We had a great New Years Eve and watched the Disney Fireworks on Youtube. It was magical! My son loved it! Daughter was at her dads.
I looked back on my goals from last year and failed most of them haha! But here are some of my accomplishments:
I read 200 books and completed my goodreads challenge. Here is My Year in Books on goodreads.
I did read more books that I actually own, but only 36 out of the 200 books I read were owned books.
I read more books than graphic novels.
I didn’t complete the Read Harder Challenge or the Goodreads Challenge or any other challenge. While I did read a lot and I read across all different genres and age groups, some challenges just don’t interest me. I’ve stopped doing a lot of readathons for that reason.
Here is the number break down.
I read 113 Books, 71 Graphic Novels, and 17 Mangas.
Of the books I read 54 were adult, 32 YA, and 16 middle grade. There are 11 that didn’t fit any of those categories because they were classics or for readers of all ages. I was surprised the YA count was so low!
I read 36 2018 releases. I usually wait awhile until hype dies down to read anything so this number is crazy to me.
I listened to 24 audio books, mostly in December while wrapping, cleaning, cooking. I’ve found that I love how I can still get a lot done while listening to a good story.

My 2019 goals are very much the same as 2018.
I’d like to read 200 books with at least 100 being actual books.
I want to read more books I own, at least one a week.
Last year I only read 5 nonfiction books so this year I want to read at least 1 nonfiction book a month.
I want to review more both on here and goodreads.
I want to post on here more.
That’s all for this post! I know it was long and maybe boring to some people but it’s only once a year! I’ll be putting together a list of my favorite books that I read in 2018 within the next week.
Comment and let me know your reading goals and your favorite book you read this year!

Book Review: Petals by Gustavo Borges

Petals by Gustavo Borges and Cris Peter

Buy it here : amazon link

This isn’t the first wordless graphic novel I’ve ever read, but it is by far the best!

This story starts with a young fox who is searching for firewood to bring home to heat the den where his father lays in bed sick. Along the way he meets a bird who lends a helping hand and comes to stay with them.

This is a beautiful story of love, friendship and loss. I would never have though that a book told only in pictures would make me feel so much emotion. I highly recommend this.

4.5 stars

Read on Hoopla

December Childhood Look back

This is the last month of my childhood look back series on here! I’ve had a blast reading some of my old favorites. I have something new coming in this new year that I will be announcing soon, but I will definitely keep reading some old favorites, it’s just going to be a little different.
This month’s book is not your typical Christmas story.

Silent Night by R.L. Stine
was not only the first Christmas horror book I’ve ever read but one of my first horror reads overall. It’s a part of the Fear Street series, which I never read in order and I’m not sure the order matters but you can easily read this as a stand alone.
Reva Dalby has been very naughty this year. She plays with people like they are toys and is cruel to everyone she comes in contact with. Her daddy owns Dalby Department Stores, and she wont even help her own family and give her cousin a vacation job. Someone has decided Reva deserves to be punished, and everyone has motive. Starting with a needle in her lipstick everything escalates until someone is murdered. Will Reva find her stalker before it’s too late?
I rated this 3 stars this time around. It’s definitely scary/thrilling and follows the pattern of R.L. Stine’s other books, but the characters are all so unlikable I didn’t really care what happened to any of them. Even the “good” guys were really bad people when it came down to it.
Take a look at some of my other childhood favorites I re-read this year!
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

November Childhood Look Back

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell by Kristiana Gregory

Dear America books were just starting to come out when I was growing up. This one came out when I was years old and was one of the first in the series that I read. There isn’t any order to the series, each book is it’s own separate diary that isn’t continued in any of the other stories so you can start anywhere you want.
Rereading this I was shocked by how graphic this was. Many people and children died and there were some graphic descriptions of the deaths. Depending on your child’s maturity I would be hesitant to let some read before 13.
Hattie Campbell was given a journal by her aunt that she uses to record their family journey on the Oregon Trail. They started off in Booneville, Missouri after the death of Hattie’s uncle. Her sisters had already passed away from swamp fever leaving only Hattie and her 2 younger brothers. Her father wanted to take them away after hearing of all the opportunity there was out west. She records everything from the moment they leave including her fears, babies being born, people dying, weddings, Indians, even Mormons.
Even as an adult I enjoyed reading this. If you like historical fiction I definitely recommend this whole series, I haven’t read one yet that I didn’t like!

2018 Christmas Movie Watch List

I know this blog is mostly about books, however movies are another form of stories and I did this last year.

I’m going to list the movies I want to see, and as I watch them I’ll add a star rating.

The Christmas Chronicles (2018) *****

The Princess Switch (2018) ****

Last Chance for Christmas (2015) *****

Broadcasting Christmas (2016) ***

Girlfriends of Christmas Past (2016)***

The Christmas Contract (2018) ****
A Very Merry Toy Store (2017) ***

Christmas in Mississippi (2017) ***

Snowed -Inn Christmas (2017) *****

Christmas in the Smokies (2015) ****

Switched for Christmas (2017) (****)

October Childhood Look back

I’ve had this typed up for a month now and forgot to post.
My October book of the month is one of my favorites from when I was really little. The first time I read this I think I was in 2nd grade, which is younger than my daughter is now.
Bunnicula A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe is a great book for kids.
It was around 2nd grade when I was terrified of vampires. I used to sleep with an arm over my neck so no vampire could drink my blood at night. But I loved reading about them.
Bunnicula was found outside a Dracula movie. He’s not too spooky for kids, he doesn’t drain blood from his humans. He just drains vegetables. Chester the cat is convinced he is evil. “Today vegetables, tomorrow the world!” he says. He’s trying to get Harold the dog to help him to get rid of Bunnicula. Harold isn’t so sure the rabbit actually is a vampire though.
I had no idea that this book was made into a series. While I enjoyed this reread, I don’t think I’ll ever continue with this story.