Top 5 Saturday: Series I Want to Finish Before 2019 Ends…

Yes, I’m aware it’s now Sunday but yesterday was a weird day for me combined with work + bingeing The Good Place. I didn’t realize I hadn’t posted anything until it was 1AM and I was still binge watching the series. So I’m posting this a little late… But one day late is better than never!

It’s time for another Top 5 SaturdaySunday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books to be read by the end of the year. I actually answered a similar prompt for last week’s Thursday Discussion post, which you can read here. For this prompt I decided to look at the final books in series that I wanted to read this year and still haven’t got to. Is it highly ambitious to want to finish these series seeing as December is already here and I’ve got so many freaking books that I hope to finish before 2019 ends? It definitely is. But who knows what’ll happen, right?! Maybe December will be my miracle month of reading and I’ll be able to fly through whatever I pick up, even if I’m unsure that I’m really in the mood for it 😃It could be my tropical Christmas miracle! 😂

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [31]

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’ve spent this Sunday in and out of bed with TH1RT3EN (Eddie Flynn #4) by Steve Cavanagh. I received the e-ARC of this thriller earlier this year and for some reason I kept putting it off until last night. Since I started reading it last night, I’ve kind of sped through it. It’s pretty twisted and the POV of the serial killer (yes, we know who the serial killer is from the start) can get pretty graphic, but as always when reading thrillers, it’s hooked me in and I’m impatiently waiting to see how it all unfolds! I’ve gotta feeling it’s gonna be a pretty wild ride 😅

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Top 5 Saturday: Books with Fake Relationships!

It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books with fake love couples. So… I’m assuming this means the fake relationship trope and I’m here for it! By now you know how much I love romance because who doesn’t love the good feels? Romance can be pretty full of tropes and sometimes those tropes get old quick, especially if what you get is the same story over and over again. That said, if I had to pick some of my favorite tropes, fake relationships/dating would definitely be near the top of that list! I mean, yeah it gets pretty predictable but still. THE GOOD FEELS!!! There are plenty of books with this trope on my TBR and here are five of them that I’m hoping to read soon.

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#WWWWednesday: 20 November

It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

What did you read last?

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Down the TBR Hole – 08

We’re back with another episode of Down the TBR Hole! My TBR currently sits at a whopping 1,005 books, which is the same number I ended this post with last week. I reviewed 10 books again this week but… I’m just gonna be up front here and let you know that I cut ZERO books out this week. NONE. NIL. ZILCH. Because I really want to read all of these books and I’m convinced that I will (eventually) read them all. It’s gonna happen! So all of these are staying 😂

Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Story that attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [30]

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I spent this Sunday in bed finishing up both Malamander and Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven!

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy’s death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer — the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew — Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy’s death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer — the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew — Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.

What are you currently reading?

It’s been such a stressful Sunday, friends and I’m so over it. Although I haven’t been feeling the best over the last two days, the day started off well enough. I got a few hours of sleep, finished a couple of books, and I watched the adorable movie on Netflix called Klaus! I love a good animated film and this was no exception; it was touching, sweet and funny and I’m so glad it popped up on my suggestions today! It’s the well-imagined backstory of how Santa Claus came to be and I thought it was inventive and entertaining! I’ve possibly been feeling a little more emotional than usual lately but it definitely had me shedding a couple of sad-happy tears and I loved it! Would 100% recommend it if you’re looking for a cute holiday movie to watch, whether alone or with family!

Aside from that it was a relatively chilled out weekend until late this afternoon when there were some work things that came up and stressed me out big time. I’m leaving on a very short work trip tomorrow but it’s so disorganized, everything is feeling a little too last minute and chaotic for my tastes and it’s making me feel extremely anxious. I especially hate that it’s put a damper in my evening as I scramble to do last minute things that people request of me. I really should learn how to say no… That said, I’m going to put on How the Grinch Stole Christmas after this because that black heart is a mood right now 😅

Reading & Blogging Recap

I finished four books this week which isn’t bad considering how busy and stressful it was. I managed to read my first Nonfiction November read and I also finished my first successful week of the Triwizardathon! I had originally set out to read three books to complete the challenges, but in the end, I completed four prompts for the two challenges in my first task! The graphic novel that I listed in my Triwizard post wasn’t the one I ended up reading in the end, but it still counts towards completing the challenge. Not off to a bad start, if I do say so myself 😊

I’ve been doing pretty well on the blogging front as well, although I only posted one review and I’ve still got tons to write for books I read last month 🙈 Slowly, though, right? As usual, in case you missed any of my posts from this week, you can find them all listed below:

Top 5 Saturday: Books by Unread Authors!
Friday Favorites: Hyped Books!
First Lines Friday: 15 November
Review: The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
The Book Snob Tag!
Thursday Discussion: Books That Make Me Laugh Out Loud!
This or That Book Tag!
#WWWWednesday: 13 November
Triwizard Tournament Readathon: Task 1 Possibility Pile
#TopTenTuesday: Favorite Bookmarks!
Down the TBR Hole – 07
Goodreads Monday: 11 November

I’ve been listening to a lot of throwback tunes this week and it’s all thanks to discovering that there’s a musical inspired by Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album! I’m sharing the video that set me off on this jaunt down the 90s to early 00s music memory lane below. This is the cast of the musical singing one of my favorite songs off Morissette’s album: You Learn.

How has your week been? Hope everyone has/had a great weekend!

Top 5 Saturday: Books by Unread Authors!

It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books by unread authors you want to read. Friends, I’m loving and hating this prompt because it’s a keen reminder of all of the unread books sitting sadly on my shelves and the guilt is making itself known just a little bit right now and it’s making me feel like such an irresponsible reader! *flails dramatically under mountain of guilt* Now, with that out of the way, here are five books by unread authors that I’m hoping to read before the end of 2019! 😂

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

SYNOPSIS: How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies? In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident. A powerful showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Chapter by chapter, we shift alliances and gather evidence: Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?


The Farm by Joanne Ramos

SYNOPSIS: Nestled in the Hudson Valley is a sumptuous retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, private fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. In fact, you get paid big money—more than you’ve ever dreamed of—to spend a few seasons in this luxurious locale. The catch? For nine months, you belong to the Farm. You cannot leave the grounds; your every move is monitored. Your former life will seem a world away as you dedicate yourself to the all-consuming task of producing the perfect baby for your überwealthy clients. Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines and a struggling single mother, is thrilled to make it through the highly competitive Host selection process at the Farm. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her own young daughter’s well-being, Jane grows desperate to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on delivery—or worse.


Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

SYNOPSIS: Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own. Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago. Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?


How to Make Friends With the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

SYNOPSIS: Here is what happens when your mother dies.
It’s the brightest day of summer and it’s dark outside. It’s dark in your house, dark in your room, and dark in your heart. You feel like the darkness is going to split you apart.
That’s how it feels for Tiger. It’s always been Tiger and her mother against the world. Then, on a day like any other, Tiger’s mother dies. And now it’s Tiger, alone.
Here is how you learn to make friends with the dark.


Birthday by Meredith Russo

SYNOPSIS: Two kids, Morgan and Eric, are bonded for life after being born on the same day at the same time. We meet them once a year on their shared birthday as they grow and change: as Eric figures out who he is and how he fits into the world, and as Morgan makes the difficult choice to live as her true self. Over the years, they will drift apart, come together, fight, make up, and break up—and ultimately, realize how inextricably they are a part of each other.

Are any of these books on your own list? What books by unread authors would you have on your list? Any of them to be read before 2019 ends?

#WWWWednesday: 13 November

It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

What did you read last?

It’s once again been a pretty slow reading week. Since last week I’ve only managed to finish two books–although technically I’m on the last few pages of The Stranger Beside Me, so I’ve only managed to finish one read! I don’t know why reading has been going so slowly? Maybe it’s the books I’ve been picking up? Either way, here’s what I’ve managed to read:

Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan ★★★☆☆
Yeah, this one was pretty disappointing because I had such high hopes for it and it was one of the reads I’d been most excited to receive in my Owlcrate this year. That said, I felt there was a lot of potential with the story and characters but the execution let me down. Read my full review!

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule ★★★★ ½
So I’m actually just finishing up the second afterword by the author (a few pages left to go) but I thought I’d put this up already. This book… Holy hell, this book, friends! I don’t even know what to say about it? Literally still processing how I felt because I went through a whole spectrum of emotions. For sure there was total disgust, as well as deep and intense fear, but oddly I also felt sympathy and quite a lot of sadness. I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like being in Ann Rules’ shoes when it comes to her odd, almost sibling-like relationship with Bundy, but that she was able to write a book like this is incredible. My full review will hopefully be posted sometime this week after digesting this read further.

What are you currently reading?

Having just finished an intensely disturbing and dark read, I NEED some feel good, fluffy and happy reads in my system right now. So I’m picking up my favorite Pumpkinheads again for that quick shot of happiness to my system, plus it’s one of my picks for the Triwizardathon! Since that’s going to be a quick read, I’m also picking up Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob and Well Met by Jen DeLuca. I’ve heard amazing things about both of these reads, especially Well Met, so I’m excited to finally get to it!

What will you read next?

Malamander by Thomas Taylor is the third book that I’ve picked for Week 1 of my Triwizardathon challenge; I’ll be reading this only in bed as per the prompt and I’m hoping to do that this weekend because I don’t have any plans until Sunday! I adore this cover and have heard really positive reviews about this MG read, so I’m definitely looking forward to it!

What are you currently reading? How’s your week and reading going?

Down the TBR Hole – 07

We’re back with another episode of Down the TBR Hole! My TBR is currently sits at a whopping 1,011 books because I added some books to my list after last week’s culling 😅 I’ll be reviewing 10 books again today and I’m hoping to find it easier to cut more out!

Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Story that attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go

Verdict: Keep

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. I bought this book earlier this year because I thought for sure it’d be my jam but now I’m not so sure anymore… I’m gonna try it since I already have it. I hope my first thought was right! 🤞

Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges #2) by Stephen King. I sped through Mr. Mercedes and absolutely loved it, so I was really keen to get my hands on Finders Keepers. So far I’ve tried reading it twice and both times I’ve put it down with the intention of ‘picking it up later’. Third time’s the charm, I guess? But if it’s still not working for me, it’ll definitely go in the bye pile!

The Quiet Game (Penn Cage #1) by Greg Iles. After reading his Natchez Burning trilogy, I’m convinced that I need to read the rest of Iles’ books — especially involving Penn Cage! 😍

The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician #2) by Charlie N. Holmberg. I remember loving The Paper Magician so much and don’t know why I didn’t continue with the series right then. I have this on my Kindle library though and I’m still keen to check it out!

Verdict: Bye-bye-bye!

Notorious (Max Revere #1) by Allison Brennan. Just doesn’t appeal to me so much anymore. Didn’t even recall ever seeing this book before LOL

Austenland (Austenland #1) by Shannon Hale. I LOVED this movie so naturally thought I wanted to read the book. The reviews scream a big fat NO — especially Emer’s review (and the shelves she chose for this) on Goodreads, which is plain gold and had me dead 🤣

Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love by Sarah Butler. Reading this synopsis just doesn’t appeal to me at all anymore…

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. This sounds interesting but I’ve had multiple times to pick it up in stores and I never do… So I think I’m taking that as a sign to say bye-bye-bye?

The Master Magician (The Paper Magician #3) by Charlie N. Holmberg. I’m only removing this one because I haven’t read the second book yet (which I decided to keep!). I read the first book AGES ago but remember loving it, so this’ll probably come back if I love the sequel!

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg. It was really hard for me to decide on this one but I’ve chosen to remove it for now. The synopsis is interesting but not so much that I’m sure I’ll read it ASAP. So, bye-bye-bye for now!

bluepanda

BAM BABY! I let 6/10 books go this week bringing my TBR tally to 1,005 books. Still a lot but we’re making progress by removing 60% of the list this week, right?! 😃 Again, I think I’m pretty satisfied with my decisions; perhaps more so this week than I was last week!