Tag: humor

Humor/Funny · Non-fiction/Biography

Things my son needs to know about the world – Fredrik Backman

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42833687| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Things My Son Needs to Know About the World collects the personal dispatches from the front lines of one of the most daunting experiences any man can experience: fatherhood.

As he conveys his profound awe at experiencing all the “firsts” that fill him with wonder and catch him completely unprepared, Fredrik Backman doesn’t shy away from revealing his own false steps and fatherly flaws, tackling issues both great and small, from masculinity and mid-life crises to practical jokes and poop.

In between the sleep-deprived lows and wonderful highs, Backman takes a step back to share the true story of falling in love with a woman who is his complete opposite, and learning to live a life that revolves around the people you care about unconditionally. Alternating between humorous side notes and longer essays offering his son advice as he grows up and ventures out into the world, Backman relays the big and small lessons in life, including:

-How to find the team you belong to
-Why airports explain everything about religion and war
-The reason starting a band is crucial to cultivating and keeping friendships
-How to beat Monkey Island 3
-Why, sometimes, a dad might hold onto his son’s hand just a little too tight

This is an irresistible and insightful collection, perfect for new parents and fans of Backman’s “unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness). As he eloquently reminds us, “You can be whatever you want to be, but that’s nowhere near as important as knowing that you can be exactly who you are.”

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My thoughts:

“Irresistible and funny.”

After I finished “Folk med ångest” I was in the need for more. Just more from Backman. First I thought about maybe a reread but decided on to “finally” read that one book I thought I would never read. I have no kids and actually do not like kids that much. So I just thought it was not for me. But oh boy, oh boy this is one irresistible and funny book no matter if you have kids or not.

I can’t relate to the stuff Backman writes about off course due to not have my own kids, but It did make me appreciates my Saturday mornings a lot more and that I can come and go as I want without worrying about poop, pressure and constant fear is certainly a freedom parents no longer have. It makes me appreciate my childless situation and gave me a future glimpse into what may be stored for me in the future. And even if nothing is going to be easy, I hope it will be just as great.

Parents are heroes for sure.

Adult fiction/Erotica · Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Romance

Delectable – R.L Mathewson

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25170118| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Reese Bradford is a typical Bradford, he enjoys his food, is easy on the eyes, and has a killer smile, but there’s one thing about him that he doesn’t want anyone to know about, which of course is the first thing that his ex-fiance makes sure that everyone finds out about after she leaves him for his best friend. Out of options, he reluctantly heads out of town to spend the summer in the cottage that he’d rented for his honeymoon only to find himself tormented by a woman that never should have crossed his mind twice.

More intrigued than he’d ever thought possible, he can’t help but wonder about the woman that made him smile.

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My thoughts: I LOVED the characters. Absolutely loved them all. This is probably, so far, Mathewson’s best character development, connections and familiarity she has written. Reese we have meet before, Kasey is a new and such funny character to get to know. Then Reese enters the picture and I must say the way he entered was so perfect, funny and captivating. Then we have my absolute favorite character, Mikey. Kasey’s 10 year old daughter who with her quirky personality, it makes the whole book. It was also nice to meet some of the other characters from the earlier books.

But the plot however did nothing for me. It was kind of slow and bland. I have always found the food obsessions pretty funny and thought it would be a huge part in the book, since Kasey is a cook. But it wasn’t. And the whole virgin thing? Come on! Can it be more cringe and flamboyant?

It kept balancing on the border between funny and immature. Some parts really was to much for me and they felt forced, so in the end, it wasn’t good. And I certainly missed some groveling and the huge “explosion” between two of the characters that I really thought would come.

So over all, I loved the characters, not the plot and in total I did like the book.

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Romance

Beard in mind – Penny Reid

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30315673.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: All is fair in love and auto maintenance.

Beau Winston is the nicest, most accommodating guy in the world. Usually.

Handsome as the devil and twice as charismatic, Beau lives a charmed life as everyone’s favorite Winston Brother. But since his twin decided to leave town, and his other brother hired a stunning human-porcupine hybrid as a replacement mechanic for their auto shop, Beau Winston’s charmed life has gone to hell in a handbasket.

Shelly Sullivan is not nice and is never accommodating. Ever.
She mumbles to herself, but won’t respond when asked a question. She glares at everyone, especially babies. She won’t shake hands with or touch another person, but has no problems cuddling with a dog. And her damn parrot speaks only in curse words. Beau wants her gone. He wants her out of his auto shop, out of Tennessee, and out of his life.

The only problem is, learning why this porcupine wears her coat of spikes opens a Pandora’s box of complexity—exquisite, tempting, heartbreaking complexity—and Beau Winston soon discovers being nice and accommodating might mean losing what matters most.

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My thoughts: Penny Reid is still in the top five, favorite female authors, after this wonderful gem of a book. God damn she is a good writer! She writes such funny, heart-warming, sad, happy and lovable stories that I have no words left to describe it. It is just pure enjoyment to read her books.

The series about the Winston brothers is funny and light but often has one thing that is more of a serious note in it. Reid mix it well and makes it such a part of the story that it is so significant to the whole of the plot. One book has more focus on oppression, another has on hate and malice and this one has sickness and unprocessed feelings. It makes you think and for me personally I do recognize myself so much in Shelly. And Reid has done a wonderful job with writing about something as hard as OCD. Shelly is such a unique person and I love the way she has been written. It is in a way that you do not like her at first but love her at the end.

Beau is just beautiful. I love how the most of the book is from Beau’s point of view and about his feelings. It is like he is the girl but it is so much more rational but still not. It is wonderfully refreshing to read a book mostly from a guy’s point of view and the small chapters from Shelly was enough for me.

However I do have one small problem with the book. And that is that somethings do not feel finished or has a satisfying ending. Maybe there will be more about the situation in the coming books but other things went so fast and suddenly the book was over. Some serious happenings and discussions was never written, only explained after it had taken place. Like a side-note. I was just left hanging, wondering and feeling that it was not done. There is no cliffhanger to explain my feelings. But still it just felt incomplete.

Monthly summary

October Summary

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monthlysummery2

Horror month is over and even though I did set out to read mostly horror, I did get in some other genres as well. The month have been very up and down but did read some new favorites and several that I can put on my “will read again” list which I like.

I’m glad I got as much reading in as I did because now November is here. The one month of the year I pretty much work nonstop and don’t have a life. Will get some reading in but impossible to say how much and what.

Favorite book this month: Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley.
Least favorite book this month: Survive the night by Katie Ruggle.

Number of physical books: 6
Number of e-books: 5
Number of audiobooks: 3
Total pages: 5624.
Female authors: 7
Male authors: 6

715834The Apprentice – Tess Gerritsen
Settings: Boston, Massachusetts, USA Pages: 376 Published: 2002
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The Rizzoli & Isles series.
34466922Sleeping beauties – S. King & O. King
Settings: USA Pages: 702 Published: 2017
Genres: Horror, fiction, thriller, fantasy.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
27504442Crystal whisperer – Camilla Monk
Settings: All over the world Pages: 330 Published: 2016
Genres: Romance, suspense, mystery, contemporary.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Spottless series.
34453613Butterfly in amber – Camilla Monk
Settings: All over the world Pages: 454 Published: 2017
Genres: Romance, suspense, mystery, contemporary.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 4 in The Spotless series.
25445622Färjan (Blood Cruise) – Mats Strandberg
Settings: Baltic Sea Pages: 479 Published: 2015
Genres: Horror, thriller, paranormal, fantasy, swedish.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
25526965End of watch – Stephen King
Settings: Midwest, USA Pages: 432 Published: 2016
Genres: Horror, fiction, thriller, mystery, crime.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Bill Hodges series.
42187371Lullaby – Jonathan Maberry
Settings: USA Pages: – Published: 2018
Genres: Horror, fiction, short story, Audiobook.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review. Short story. Review only at Goodreads.
12542561.jpgCooper – Liliana Hart
Settings: USA Pages: 54 Published: 2018
Genres: Contemporary, romance.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review. Short story. Review only at Goodreads.
Book 4 in The MacKenzie Family series.
34747260The woman left behind – Linda Howard
Settings: USA Pages: 368 Published: 2018
Genres: Contemporary, romance, suspense, thriller, military.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The GO-team series.
17837762Uzumaki – Junji Ito
Settings: Japan Pages: 648 Published: 2000
Genres: Horror, fiction, manga, graphic novels.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1-3 in The Uzumaki series.
9460487Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children – Ransom Riggs
Settings:  Florida,USA, Wales, UK Pages: 352 Published: 2011
Genres: Fantasy, young adult, fiction, paranormal.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children series.
35023951Survive the night – Katie Ruggle
Settings: Colorado, USA Pages: 373 Published: 2018
Genres: Romantic suspense, contemporary.
My rating: 1/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series.
36244389Hocus Pocus and the all-new sequel – A.W Jantha
Settings: Salem, USA Pages: 521 Published: 2018
Genres: Young adult, fantasy, paranormal.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
18869204Lady Luck – Kristen Ashley
Settings: Colorado, USA Pages: 535 Published: 2011
Genres: Romance, contemporary.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Colorado Mountain series.
Everyday things

Faire un voyage

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bonvoyageI’m going on a vacation and will not be able to write any reviews in that period. But I will still read and when I’m back, hopefully I have lots and lots of books to review. (Probably not but hey, I can dream.)

A fun thing however is that I’m going book shopping while there, so I probably will have a little book haul to share with you. Wish to follow me on my travel? Take a look at my Instagram.

Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Butterfly in amber – Camilla Monk

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34453613.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He’s waiting for you…

Under a blanket of snow, surrounded by dark woods and a frozen sea, lies an ogre’s castle. There lives a little princess, trapped in the maze of her own mind.
On a battlefield where the past meets the present stand a fairy godmother and a pirate, an old ice cream man and a knight in shining clean armor…
The clock is ticking fast, and to pierce the ogre’s secrets and defeat him, Island Chaptal will have to fight to remember…and stay alive.

Can the Lions and the Roomba cats be stopped before it’s too late?Untitled

My thoughts: I was pretty angry with Monk when I ended the third book in the series. I was not yet ready to read the fourth book and had actually other plans for my next TBR. But she pretty much forced me to continue with that ending of the third book. I do not like to be forced to do things and it is not a good thing to have me go into a book a lot frustrated, a little angry and hoping for something more satisfying this time. Thank you for not disappointing me.

I was a little confused at the beginning of the book. I did not read it since I was at work but could not wait so ended up listening on it. The audiobook is wonderful and the narrator Amy McFadden is fantastic. Spectacular! The story started of really weird and it took me a while before I understood what was really going on. It is different from the first three books. It is even more darker and serious. I miss the ironic humor and *give a shit* attitudes but I see what Monk was going for here. It is also a lot more action filled than the third book and it is certainly quite a ride. It did get little excessive in the end but if it is something Monk is good at, it is surprises. And it was certainly quite a surprise.

I’m happy that I did get answers on all my questions *whew* but I do want more. Just a little more. To settle it all down. And I’m not the only one apparently since Monk have written a fifth book in the series due to the popular demand.

The series as a whole is great, so fun and wonderful. It is hard to not fall in love with the characters and just, oh I wish they were real. That is how fantastic it is.

Adult fiction/Erotica · Chick Lit · Humor/Funny · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Sweet Dreams – Kristen Ashley

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18656253| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: She’s ready for the ride of her life . . . 

Lauren Grahame is looking to reinvent herself. After leaving her cheating husband, Lauren moves to Carnal, Colorado, and gets a job as a waitress in a biker bar called Bubba’s. It’s a nothing job in a nowhere joint . . . until Tatum Jackson walks in. Lauren has never seen a man with such good looks, muscles, and attitude. But when he insults her, Lauren doesn’t want anything to do with him. Too bad for Lauren he’s also the bar’s part owner and bartender.

When the rough-around-the-edges Tate meets the high-class Lauren, he thinks she won’t fit in at Bubba’s. Yet there’s more to Lauren than meets the eye, and Tate soon sets his mind on claiming her as his own. Before long, the desire burning between them is heating up the cold mountain air. But when violence strikes the town, Tate must reveal a dark secret to Lauren-one that may put an end to their sweet dreams.

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My thoughts: Overall I would like to describe the book as deep, complex characters, complicated, thrilling, butterflies in my stomach, knock me on my head, god damn perfect with that satisfying ending, horrible tearful chapters and beautiful closing. I can’t enough English words to try explain what I’m feeling. But for me, this book, was pure perfection and exactly what I needed, wanted and sought.

KA is starting to be an addiction. I literally have to prevent myself from binge reading all her books. That is how good she is. And this is as usual a book who takes hold of you from the first page. It hooked me and never let go. I’m happy I started reading this only a day before the weekend because work at Friday was awful. I could not stop thinking about the book. I dreamed about it in the nights and on the days I only wanted to look myself in my home, abandon society, all my responsibilities, sleep and food. All I wanted was Lauren and Tatum.

It is a sweet story really. I love the characters and how diverse they were. Ashley is such a great author who writes these perfect characters that are deep, complicated and so easy to love or hate. I get invested in all her books and it is like I know them. I connected so hard with this one that when I ended the book, I could not stand starting a new romantic book right now. That is how huge impression this book, these characters and their story made on me. I can only say, read it! Hopefully you will to, love it.

Chick Lit · Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Mystery/Crime · Romance

Hot six – Janet Evanovich

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6858.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Low-rent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum reaches depths of personal experience that other women detectives never quite do. In Hot Six, for example, a sequence of new and hideous cars bite the dust; she finds herself lumbered with a policeman’s multiply incontinent dog; and she has several bad skin days. All this when she is trying to prove her distinctly more competent colleague and occasional boyfriend Ranger innocent of a mob hit; avoid the heavies trailing her in the hope of finding him; and cope with a wife-abusing bail defaulter with nasty habits, such as setting Stephanie on fire.

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My thoughts: This is, by far, the best one in the series (so far). Book number 6 totally knocked me out of the park. It is funny, quirky and the characters and plot is just over the top great. I love how easy it is but still really exciting and hilarious. How bad luck Stephanie keeps having but this time it isn’t on the border to be too much. An we get to meet a new character. Bob! I love Bob and hopes to see more of him in the future books.

Homicidal maniacs, dog poo, Ranger, Morelli, a dead guy in a lawn chair, eccentric grandma Mazur, the nemesis from hell, good friends, bad luck, mobsters and a Star Trek party. That is just some of the many fantastic highlights from this laugh out loud story where we are following Stephanie Plum and many great secondary characters like Lula, Vinnie, Eddie, Connie and many more.

The writing is great. I always forget how good the writing really is. It is easy, fast and makes you not realize how long you have been reading. You are totally eaten by the book so hear my advice and make sure you have someone to remember you about the important stuff. Like eating. Sleep you can do when you are dead.

Stephanie is an character that is easy to connect with. Her bad luck is recognizable and true and you cant do anything other than just love her. She is a bad luck charm walking and everyone around her needs to be careful. In the earlier books, all that bad luck got a little to much sometimes but in this book it is just the right amount. She is strong and funny and o I would love to see this series as an tv-show. (The movie was awful).

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Romance

Grin & beard it – Penny Reid

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23337863.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Sienna Diaz is everyone’s favorite “fat” funny lady. The movie studio executives can’t explain it, but her films are out-grossing all the fit and trim headliners and Hollywood’s most beautiful elite. The simple truth is, everyone loves plus-sized Sienna.

But she has a problem, she can’t read maps and her sense of direction is almost as bad as her comedic timing is stellar. Therefore, when Sienna’s latest starring role takes her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park she finds herself continually lost while trying to navigate the backroads of Green Valley, Tennessee. Much to her consternation, Sienna’s most frequent savior is a ridiculously handsome, charming, and cheeky Park Ranger by the name of Jethro Winston.

Sienna is accustomed to high levels of man-handsome, so it’s not Jethro’s chiseled features or his perfect physique that make Sienna stutter. It’s his southern charm. And gentlemanly manners. And habit of looking at her too long and too often.

Sienna has successfully navigated the labyrinth of Hollywood heart-throbs. But can she traverse the tenuous trails of Tennessee without losing her head? Or worse, her heart?

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My thoughts: I’m in love. Yes I am. I’m in love with Penny Reid. And even though i’m straight I can totally appreciate beauty. Specially if you have the beautiful gift of writing. Which Reid totally has. And it is so obvious in this book.

I’m that kind of reader who makes faces when I read. I smile, frown, I cry and even look bored if the book is boring. But I do NOT laugh out loud, hardly ever cry so that other notice, gasp or talk to the book and the characters. Do you still follow me here? Okay… but this book started with me laughing out loud. Yes. I was like 4 pages in, it was 06:22 am in the morning and it totally made me laugh and I was hooked there and then. The book is highly funny in this sarcastic, in your face, type of way and I totally love it.

I have read one book by Reid earlier (the first book to this series, this one is the second). And even though I really liked it, I did not LOVE it. Not like I love this one.

The characters is just wonderful and it is nice to really get to know them more. Cletus (who is not the main character in this book) has such a big part and you can’t do anything other than loving him, and looking forward to his own book. Sienna is wonderfully quirky, funny and has like “joke diarrhea” which is funny as hell. Jethro is this dark, brooding type of man who is trying to make amends for his past and make everything right by his family and friends. He is open, funny and lovable if given the chance and him and Sienna really match each other perfectly.

I thought, half way through the book, that some shit would happen and you would get this tense, anguished and mentally exhausted part, but it never came and it was so uplifting that Reid not followed the mainstream way, that seems to be dominating in this types of books. And that just made it all that much better.

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Romance

Double Dare – R.L Mathewson

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22593948.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Marybeth still couldn’t believe that she’d survived this long with a friend like Darrin, but somehow she’d managed to beat the odds and not give in to temptation and smother him with a pillow while he slept.

Of course some days were more difficult than others…

For twenty years he’s been biding his time, waiting for the right moment to make his move and now that it was here…
He couldn’t seem to stop screwing up.

My thoughts:I Love the neighbor from hell series. I stumbled over the first book as an freebie at Amazon last year when I just had bought my kindle. Didn’t know what to expect but I laughed, cried and loved the first book and off course had to read more. This is the sixth book in the series and the journey have been great. It’s sad to think that is soon over. If I’m remember correctly there only gonna be 10 books.

This book however was not my favorite but it still was really good. Hadn’t it been for the great emotional story line, I would probably not have liked it that much. Because it was a little to much drama and deceiving. Darrin is an great character. A little to chicken for his own good. That’s the same for Marybeth to actually.

Then we have the family Bradford. Haha. You can’t do anything other than laugh. They are just so fantastic and if I ever would meet a family like that I would be terrified since I know how to cook, cook pretty well and actually likes to cook.

Mathewson says that you can read the books in the series as a stand alone, except for this one. Because Darren and Marybeth are also in the fifth book (not with a big part) and the main characters from the fifth book have a big part in the this one (makes sense?), so for your own peace of mind I do recommend that you start with the fifth book if you not want to read the others. Me however has big problem with not reading series in orders even if they are stand alone or not. But that’s just me.

One more thing, don´t let the books cover fool you. Every book in the series has something like that. I think the cover is kind of cheesy and not that appealing, but the books are so great. To bad how a cover can be destroying.