Monthly Wrap-up: March 2021

Total Books Read in March: 5
Total Books Read in 2021: 12

The Perfect Couple
By: Elin Hilderbrand
Read by: Erin Bennett
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Mystery, Romance
Rating: 4/5

Catla and the Vikings
By: Mary Elizabeth Nelson
Genre: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade
Rating: 3/5

Abduction!
By: Peg Kehret
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 3/5
NOTE: This book was listed as middle grade because of the age of the children involved. but it wasn’t written that way. Therefore I have decided to just list the genre as mystery/thriller.

The Mystery at Lilac Inn
(Nancy Drew, 4)
By: Carolyn Keene
Read by: Laura Linney
Genre: Mystery, Middle Grade, YA Lit
Rating: 2.5/5

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
By: Dawnie Walton
Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
NOTE: I was sent a copy of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 5
Total Number of Fiction: 5
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 0
Total Books Sent for Review: 1
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 1
Total Library Books Read: 3

Formats Read

Physical Books: 0
eBooks: 2
Audio Books: 3

Currently Reading

Monthly Wrap-up June 2020

Total Books Read in June: 4
Total Books Read in 2020: 33

Murder on Astor Place
(A Gaslight Mystery, 1)
By: Victoria Thompson
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Series
Rating: 5/5

Something Real (Something Real, 1)
By: Heather Demetrios
Genre: YA Lit, Contemporary
Rating: 3/5

Meet Cute
By: Helena Hunting
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Audiobook
Rating: 4/5

I’ve Got My Eyes On You
By: Mary Higgins Clark
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Rating: 3/5

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 4
Total Number of Fiction: 4
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 0
Total Books Sent for Review: 0
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 2
Total Library Books Read: 2

Formats Read

Physical Books: 1
eBooks: 2
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

July TBR

Bout of Books 28 Read-a-thon Fail

The Bout of Books Read-a-thon ran from May 11-17. This is my wrap-up of my reading progress.

Total Books Read: 1

My Lost Family
By: Danny Ben-Moshe and Dasha Lisitsina
Genre: Non-fiction, Audiobook
Rating: 5/5

Challenges

Day 1: Introduce yourself in 6 words.

Boy Mom, Cat Mom, Book Lover

….and unfortunately that is as far as I got. I had high hopes that I would make some great reading progress during this read-a-thon. Unfortunately life got in the way.

I did make decent progress on Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, but wasn’t able to get to An Awakened Heart (Orphan Train, 0.5) by Jody Hedlund.

I’m hoping for better luck in the next round of the Bout of Books Read-a-thon.

Monthly Wrap-up: April 2020

Another month has gone by and we are still social distancing. We had a very quiet and sparse Easter this year. It was the first holiday we spent at home. Instead of turkey, I did a small roast for the three of us.The Easter Bunny left some treats and an egg hunt for my son Charlie. April is also the month in which my family has many birthdays to celebrate; both my parents, my niece and several cousins. Charlie celebrated his birthday in April too. My little guy is now 3 years old!

I didn’t feel as motivated to read this past month, as I did in March. I read my first ever graphic novel, which I borrowed from my local library in eBook format. I also read a short story. Both of these I have included in my monthly total.

Total Books Read in April: 5
Total Books Read in 2020: 23

Bundle of Trouble (Maternal Instincts Mystery, 1)
By: Diana Orgain
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Series
Rating: 2.5/5

The Beatles in Comics!
By: Michels Mabel and Various Artists
Genre: Graphic Novel, Biography, Non-fiction
Rating: 2.5/5

The Heiresses
By: Sara Shepard
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
Rating: 3/5

The Engagement Party
By: Kimberly Freeman
Genre: Historical Fiction, short story, ebook
Rating: 2.5/5

The Unexpected Everything
By: Morgan Matson
Genre: Contemporary fiction, YA Lit, Audiobook, Audible
Rating: 4/5

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 5
Total Number of Fiction: 4
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 1
Total Books Sent for Review: 0
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 3
Total Library Books Read: 2

Formats Read

Physical Books: 1
eBooks: 3
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

May TBR

Bout of Books 28 begins on May 11. I’m going to sort through my collection for books to read during this week long challenge.

My possible read-a-thon TBR includes:

And that’s all for this wrap-up. Wishing you all a safe and healthy May.

NOTE: Please excuse the unaligned images. Once again I am having trouble formatting my post. Has anyone else had this issue with WordPress?

Monthly Wrap-up: March 2020

What do you say about a month that has brought about so much fear, sadness and unease? I’m not sad to see March end as the pass of time will hopefully bring us closer to better days. Here in Ontario Canada, our government is tightening its reins, in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19. We have been “Social Distancing” for over 2 weeks now. As someone with serious heart problems, I have been taking the warnings very seriously. Unfortunately many people still aren’t listening and so the number of cases continue to grow. Its hard on everyone, especially children. It breaks my heart that families are being kept apart. My son is so upset that he cannot see his Nanny and Poppy and he is too young to really understand why. However it is important that we all do our part.

I’d like to send a shout out to all the front line medical and retail workers for all they are doing to fight this deadly outbreak. We will be forever grateful.

I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy.

As you will see by my total of books, I made great progress on my reading challenge for the year. This is due in part to the two reading challenges I participated in. Charlie and I read some of these books together, along with MANY MANY more of his current favourites, haha.

Total Books Read in March: 9
Total Books Read in 2020: 18

Check out my Charlie’s Corner wrap up for more information on the middle grade fiction, I read in March.

Total Middle Grade Read: 5

• A Study in Scarlet (The Sherlock Holmes Children’s Collection, 1) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Adapted by: Stephanie Baudet
• Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons by Ashli St. Armant, Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
• The Canary Caper (A to Z Mysteries, 3) by Ron Roy
• The Deadly Dungeon (A to Z Mysteries, 4) by Ron Roy
• The Empty Envelope (A to Z Mysteries, 5) by Ron Roy
  

The following books are those I read for March Mystery Madness.

Total Mysteries Read: 3

Death of a Rhinestone Cowboy
By: Jenna Brown
Rating: 3/5

Decked (Regan Reilly Mystery, 1)
By: Carol Higgins Clark
Rating: 3/5

The Mystery of the Blue Train
(Hercule Poirot, 6)
By: Agatha Christie
Rating: 3/5

Additional Book Read:

The Number of Love
(The Codebreakers, 1)
By: Roseanna M. White
Rating: 3.5/5
NOTE: I was sent a copy of The Number of Love by Roseanna M. White, from the publisher, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 9
Total Number of Fiction: 9
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 0
Total Books Sent for Review: 3
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 6
Total Library Books Read: 0

Formats Read

Physical Books: 6
eBooks: 2
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

April TBR

As of this time, I don’t know of any read-a-thons to participate in, but if I do see any that catch my interest, I will make a post about it.

2 of the books I hope to read in April include:

Charlie's Corner: Middle Grade March 2020 Wrap-up

Welcome to Charlie’s Corner, named after my little boy. Here I will share baby/children’s product and book reviews.

This past month I participated in Middle Grade March. It is a genre I don’t read a lot of, but I really enjoyed participating and am looking forward to joining again next time. What made this read-a-thon special to me was that some of the books I shared with my son Charlie. He especially enjoyed listening to the audiobook Viva Durant.

Middle Grade March is hosted on YouTube by Life Between Words and Books and Jams. The prompts for the month included:

• Books set in another country.
• Book to screen adaptations.
• Mystery books.
• Books with illustrations.
• Books about stories

My Middle Grade March Wrap-up

Total Books Read: 5

1. A Study in Scarlet (The Sherlock Holmes Children’s Collection 1) by Stephanie Baudet

NOTE: I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Prompts Covered: A book set in another country (England), Book to screen adaptation, Mystery book, a book with illustrations.

2. Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons by: Ashli St. Armant
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Rating: 5/5
Prompts Covered: A book set in another country (USA), Mystery book.

3. The Canary Caper (A to Z Mysteries, 3) by Ron Roy

Rating: 3/5
Prompts Covered: A book set in another country (USA), Mystery book, A book with illustrations.

4. The Deadly Dungeon (A to Z Mysteries, 4) by Ron Roy

Rating: 2/5
Prompts Covered: A book set in another country (USA), Mystery book, A book with illustrations.

5. The Empty Envelope (A to Z Mysteries, 5) by Ron Roy

Rating: 3/5
Prompts Covered: A book set in another country (USA), Mystery book, A book with illustrations.

Monthly Wrap-up: February 2020

I hope that you all had a wonderful February. I was happy to have participated in my second read-a-thon for the year. (I’m hoping to participate in one a month, if possible). It was my first time joining the Contemporary-a-thon and I managed to complete some of the prompts. You can see my wrap-up here.

Total Books Read in February: 5
Total Books Read in 2020: 9

The Book of Gutsy Women
By: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4/5

The Victory Garden
By: Rhys Bowen
Narrated by: Saaskia Marleveld
Genre: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Audible
Rating: 3/5

The Flatshare
By: Beth O’Leary
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
Rating: 3.5/5

Snowfall and Secrets (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers 1)
By Kimberly Loth
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Series
Rating: 2.5/5

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (Confessions of a Shopaholic 2)
By: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Romance, Series
Rating: 3/5

DNF

Crashing the A-List
By: Summer Heacock
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
NOTE: I was sent a copy of Crashing the A-List by Summer Heacock, from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Tinaca Jones
By: Matt Boren
Narrated by: Retta
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Audiobook, Audible Original
Note: Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get into the plot of this audiobook and decided to move on.

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 5
Total Number of Fiction: 4
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 1
Total Books Sent for Review: 0
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 3
Total Library Books Read: 2

Formats Read

Physical Books: 3
eBooks: 1
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

March TBR

March is Mystery Madness Month. I’m not signing up for any groups or a read-a-thon for this theme, in particular. However I do hope to read some books from the mystery genre over the next 4 weeks.

Another genre I am hoping to read from is middle grade fiction. So, I have decided to participate in the Middle Grade March Read-a-thon. This is a month long challenge, that is hosted on YouTube by Life Between Words and Books And Jams. I will make a separate post announcing my intentions soon.

Monthly Wrap-up: January 2020

NOTE: I apologize that the formatting for this post is off. I was having technical difficulties, but wanted to get my wrap up posted anyway.

Every year I try to take a set approach to my reading. For example in 2019, I focused on reading at least 1 new release and 1 book from my TBR Jar each month. Unfortunately because I was so strict with keeping to those goals, I missed out on reading a lot of books that had caught my eye. I also found myself stuck reading some books that I wasn’t as interested in, because I wanted to get through them. So for 2020, I decided to throw the schedule out the window and read what I want. I plan to pick up books as they interest me and if I find them lagging, then I will DNF it. As you can see from my wrap-up below, it is going well so far. Here is my reading progress for the first month of the year.

Total Books Read in January: 4
Total Books Read in 2020: 4

Then Came You (A Bradford Sisters Romance 0.5)
By: Becky Wade
Genre: Novella, Christian Fiction, Romance
Rating: 1/5

The Mother-In-Law
By: Sally Hepworth
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Mystery
Rating: 3.5/5

Daisy Jones & the Six
By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Audible
Rating: 5/5

The Stats

Total Number of Books Read: 4
Total Number of Fiction: 4
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 0
Total Books Sent for Review: 0
Total Books Read from My Shelves: 3
Total Library Books Read: (1 book borrowed from my mom)

Formats Read

Physical Books: 2
eBooks: 1
Audio Books: 1

Currently Reading

(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS) A Rant Review: Then Came You (A Bradford Sisters Romance 0.5) by Becky Wade

Then Came You
(A Bradford Sisters Romance, 0.5)
By: Becky Wade

Published: March 2017
Published by: Becky Wade
Format Read: eBook, Kindle
Genre: Christian Fiction, Romance, Novella, Series

Rating: 1/5

Synopsis

A leather-bound journal. A single father. A woman in pursuit of freedom.

Garner Bradford, heir to the troubled Bradford Shipping empire, doesn’t know much about babies. But he’s going to have to learn fast because he’s just become a single father to his newborn daughter. As he confesses through his journal entries, he’s not entirely sure how to keep a newborn alive, whether or not he’ll ever patch together his shattered heart, or how to forgive himself for his mistakes.

Career girl Kathleen Burke is wholly uninterested in settling down. She has big dreams, and none of them include Garner and his small hometown in Washington State. Yet she can’t seem to get her handsome boss out of her head or her heart. There’s something extraordinarily tempting about his beautifully sad green eyes. . . .

Told through journal entries, phone conversations, and letters, Then Came You
is a unique, heart-stirring romance novella by acclaimed author Becky Wade.

Source: Goodreads

My Thoughts
(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Then Came You is the prequal to Becky Wade’s Bradford Sisters Romance series. It follows Garner Bradford, the heir of a shipping company and Kathleen Burke; a recent college graduate starting her career at the company.

What did I like about this novella? Well, unfortunately not a whole lot. In fact I found it rather disappointing. For such a short story it was filled to the brim with tragedy. So much that it just didn’t feel believable. I really didn’t see any point in the two main characters coming together. Perhaps there wasn’t enough time given to establish their romance as it mainly focused on their lives before. Some of the decisions the characters made contradicted their earlier thoughts or actions.

There were several parts that frustrated me, but none more than the constant mention of premarital sex being a sin and the embarrassment of having a child out of wedlock. While I respect that this is a Christian book and that people have their own beliefs and values, I felt as if it was insinuating that those who choose that path (myself included) are worse than dirt.

The only redeeming qualities for me was the format it was written in: letters, journal entries, postcards and phone conversations. I also appreciated that this story focused on a single father, as that isn’t as common in books today. The scenes where it showed Garner bonding with his little girl were sweet.

I am disappointed to say that I won’t be continuing with the Bradford Sisters series, nor do I plan to read this author again.

Bout of Books 27 Wrap-up

During the week of January 6, 2020 I participated in Bout of Books 27 read-a-thon. Although I didn’t post my intention or progress here on my blog, you can see my posts over on my Instagram. Today I will share my wrap-up.

My goal for the read-a-thon was to complete 1 full length book. I chose to read The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth.

And I am pleased to say that I completed my goal on the last day of the read-a-thon! The number of pages read totalled 347. I didn’t participate in any of the posting challenges, however I do hope to in the next round.

I look forward to participating in the next Bout of Books Read-a-thon which is scheduled to begin May 11, 2020.

Did you participate in Bout of Books 27? If so how did you do? Also if you know of any other read-a-thons that are coming up, I’d love to hear about them. Leave me a message in the comments.