Top Ten Tuesday: March 14th

Top 10 Books on My Spring TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I have quite a few books on my TBR list, I cannot lie, it is a bit longer than is realistic.  This was actually a nice organizer for me to prioritize what books I will be reading next.

• The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele Book 3)
• Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices Book 2)
• Dying Breath: A Paranormal Romance Novel (Krewe of Hunters)
• The Medium: Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Series, Book 1
• Witchy Sour (The Magic & Mixolo​gy Mystery Series 2)
• The Darkness of Light: Historical Fantasy (The Dia Chronicles Book 1)
• Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay Book 1)
• Against a Brightening Sky (Delia's Shadow Book 3)
• Carve the Mark
• Dating-ish (Knitting in the City Book 6)

Have a great week! Can't wait to see what everyone has on their spring reading lists!

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at the Book Date and is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and are about to be reading over the week and it's an opportunity to visit, comment, and add to that ever growing TBR pile! 

What I finished last week:

What I am reading this week:

Next week, I will most likely still be working on these two books but when I finish them, I do have my next two books waiting in the wings.

Looks like I am going to have off from work tomorrow due to the snowstorm here in the mid Atlantic region.  Extra reading time for me! Have a great week everyone!

Review: The Woman in Cabin 10

I had seen The Woman in Cabin 10 on a lot of book blogs and on Amazon with mixed reviews.  However, some people said a lot of good things about it and a friend of mine had a copy and was willing to let me borrow it, so I decided to give it a go.

What did I think? I would probably give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  If you don't want spoilers, stop here.

To begin, I loved the cover.  The water droplets are slightly raised so not only did it look pretty, it felt cool too.  The plot was interesting.  I liked the idea of a woman on a cruise who is sure she witnessed someone thrown overboard even though no one on the passenger list is missing.  It seemed intriguing. Lo was perfect for the main part, having past emotional issues and blatantly displaying her alcohol problem, it was easy to see how people had difficulty believing her story.  I also liked Ben's character even though he was a little bit full of himself.  He was really the only one who genuinely wanted to help.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that bothered me.  First, Lo's character was a little bit too much like the main character in The Girl on the Train.  Past issues, an alcoholic who is kind of lost in life, with people around her who just don't believe her story.  I would probably have liked this book more if I hadn't just read TGOTT only a few months ago. Second, I think there were some holes in the story. The ending was a bit rushed and while I know it had to be Carrie who wired the money to Lo's account, I don't see how she had access to Richard's money or to Lo's bank numbers.  I also felt that it was a bit far fetched that they actually found Ann's body in the middle of the North Sea.

I didn't dislike the story.  It was enjoyable enough and if you like a mystery with minimal action but a few interesting twists, give it a try. 

WWW Wednesday, March 1st

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by 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.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I have two books right now.  One on Audible and one in print.  On Audible, I just started listening to The Watchmakers Daughter, which is fun so far, and in print, I am reading The Woman in Cabin 10.  I'm liking it but it has taken me a few weeks to finish because I'm not loving it.

I just finished Eleventh Grave in Moonlight.  This is book 11 in the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones and it was just as good as all the others in the series.

Next, I have a couple of books in line, both from Netgalley.  The Bone Witch and Ensnared.  Hopefully, I can finish The Woman in Cabin 10 this week and move on. 

What are you reading?

First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. February 28th

Every Tuesday, this book blog prompt is hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. The idea is to share the first chapter, first paragraph of a book you are reading or plan to read in the near future so others can decide if they might be interested as well.

Today, I am starting a book that I received from Netgalley.  I love the cover and, though I haven't officially started yet, the first paragraph sounds intriguing...

"Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there's anything I've learned from him in the years since, it's that the dead hide truths as well as the living.  I have not been a bone witch for very long, whatever the stories you've heard, but this was the first lesson I learned."

I will definitely be continuing on...

Review: Spying in High Heels

Several years ago, I was binge reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I adored the first six books, enjoyed the next few, and then they began to get so repetitive that I just had to stop. She is a great writer and I loved the characters but I wanted to finally have some relationship resolution or some kind of new twist to the plot and it just never happened. It was like the never-ending love triangle.

Spying in high heels reminded me a lot of the Stephanie Plum series when it was still enjoyable to me. I loved the main character, Maddie. She is sassy and snarky and a little bit of a hot mess in life. She accidentally gets involved in a murder investigation when her current boyfriend goes missing. She meets Jack Ramirez, one of the officers assisting with the investigation. He reluctantly shares information with her and ultimately ends up fishing her out of some sticky situations as they try to solve the murder mystery.

The story is a lot of fun. I laughed a lot and the character interactions are engaging. There is a nice pacing to the story and I never got bored. Yes, Maddie makes some dumb decisions but it isn't too overdone and she eventually smartens up a bit. There is action, mystery, and some romance but it's not overwhelming. In my opinion, it was a great first book in a series and I plan to pick up the second one immediately.

Will I get bored of this series as I did with the Stephanie Plum books? It's possible, but I'm hoping the author doesn't fall into the pit of repetition and knows to end the series while it is still on a high note. For now, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Feature and Follow Friday, Feb 3rd

The Feature and Follow is a Friday meme hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. The idea is very simple and the name explains itself. It is about following and meeting new bloggers. 

This week's post prompt is:
Groundhog Day! What book or scene from a book could you live in and have it on "repeat?"

While I'm sure so many people including myself could easily pick any Harry Potter book, I'm going to go with A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  I would love to be a part of this magical adventure as Matthew and Diana join forces and begin to unravel the mystery of the enchanted manuscript at the Bodleian Library at Oxford.  One of my all time favorites.