Monthly summary

March Summary

monthlysummery2

March has not been a good month for me. My focus have been on other stuff and it have been a lot of overtime at work. So my reading has been suffering for it I’m afraid. I have however read some really good books that I can warmly recommend, as for an example Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Favorite book this month: The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Least favorite book this month:
A discovery of witches – Deborah Harkness

Number of physical books:
3
Number of e-books:
 3
Number of audiobooks:
1
Total pages: 3003
Female authors: 6
Male authors: 1

34503674Nevernight – Jay Kristoff
Pages: 463 Published: 2016
Genres: Fantasy, epic, adult.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Nevernight chronicle series.
38746485Becoming – Michelle Obama
Pages: 426 Published: 2018
Genres: Nonfiction, memoir.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
30315676Dr. Strange Beard – Penny Reid
Pages: 350 Published: 2018
Genres: Contemporary, romantic.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 5 in The Winston Brothers series.
32620332The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Pages: 388 Published: 2017
Genres: Historical fiction, contemporary, romance, adult, LGBT.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
41952734A discovery of witches – Deborah Harkness
Pages: 704 Published: 2011
Genres: Paranormal, romance, fantasy, fiction.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The All souls trilogy.
420741Diamond bay – Linda Howard
Pages: 247 Published: 1987
Genres:
 Romantic, suspense, contemporary.
My rating:
 3/5
Links:
Review
Book 2 in 
The Rescues series.
36576332Nine lives – Sharon Sala
Pages: 425 Published: 2006
Genres: Contemporary, romantic, suspense, mystery, crime.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Cat Dupree series.

 

Contemporary · Romance · Sports/Games · Young, New adult/College

From Lukov with love – Mariana Zapata

37683751| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one.

After seventeen years—and countless broken bones and broken promises—she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.

But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she’s spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.

Including Ivan Lukov.

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My thoughts: I want so badly to give this book a five star rating. It was so good, I’m serious. It was! But there was a couple of things that totally ticked me off and no matter how much I tried, I can’t ignore it. But first, lest talk about the positive things.

God I Love Jasmine and Ivan. They are such funny characters and their constant banter toward each other is never to much or excessive. And it certainly makes the sport part of the book a lot more fun to read. Sport books can often be tedious due to all the technical talk. But that never happened here. I love the side stories and how much deeper characters Jasmine and Ivan are. Nothing is as you first think it is and it is a wonderful story to follow. I don’t know what it is but Zapata is a queen when it comes to writing books. They are complex and deep which just makes your heart warm, fuzzy and you feel so good after ending the book.

The two things I did not like however is how slow start it was and that it was a lot of writing between the characters talk and somewhat repetitive. But when the story finally kicked off, that was no longer a problem. The second thing is the romantic aspect of the story. You, who follows my reviews, knows that I love slow burn romance but come on, here you could have kicked it up a notch at least 100 pages earlier in my opinion. I would have liked to seen more of it and due to the slowness off it, the book ended to fast.

But still, god damn this is a good book. Perfect middle of the week read when everything else feels dull and boring.

Monthly summary

July Summary

monthlysummery2

I’m happy with this month. I have made a huge dent in my TBR pile in Kindle and I have soon reached my goal. Still have my goal on my physical TBR shelf and when I reach it, my no buy books ban will be lifted. Oh can’t wait. The last couple of months I have focused on getting my pile downsized. Specially in my kindle since I had like a 100+ books on it when the year started. Not to mention all the physical books on my TBR shelf and I have had a hard time stop buying books.

I have been deep in the romance genre this month. Some offside, mindless books and some thrillers just to break the stride. But I’m happy. 🙂

Favorite book this month: The Score – Elle Kennedy
Least favorite book this month: 
Sinful intent – Chelle Bliss

Number of physical books: 
2
Number of e-books:
 13
Number of audiobooks:
1
Total pages: 6492
Female authors: 11
Male authors: 3

25151764Sinful intent – Chelle Bliss
Settings: Florida, USA Pages: 300 Published: 2015
Genres: romance, contemporary, suspense
My rating: 1/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The ALFA Private investigation series.
6858Hot six – Janet Evanovich
Settings: Trenton, New Jersey, USA Pages: 336 Published: 2000
Genres: Chick lit, romance, mystery, humor, funny
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 6 in The Stephanie Plum series.
25476363Midnight revenge – Elle Kennedy
Settings: – Pages: 363 Published: 2016
Genres: Romance, suspense, military, contemporary.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 7 in The killer instincts series.
26495964The boat man – Dustin Stevens
Settings: USA Pages: 285 Published: 2015
Genres: Mystery, thriller, suspense
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Reed & Billie series.
17345748.jpgAnd the mountains echoed – Khaled Hosseini
Settings: Afghanistan, USA, Paris Pages: 480 Published: 2012
Genres: Historical fiction
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
25883848The hating game – Sally Thorne
Settings:
– Pages: 387 Published: 2016
Genres: 
Chick lit, romance, contemporary, adult.
My rating:
 5/5
Links:
Review
34275222Force of nature – Jane Harper
Settings: Australia Pages: 326 Published: 2017
Genres: Contemporary, mystery, thriller, crime
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 2 in The Aaron Falk series.
32148091The Silent corner – Dean Koontz
Settings: USA Pages: 464 Published: 2017
Genres: Suspense, thriller, horror, mystery
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Jane Hawk series.
450619The Island – Heather Graham
Settings: Florida, USA Pages: 384 Published: 2005
Genres: Romantic, suspense, mystery.
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
27252717The Score – Elle Kennedy
Settings: USA Pages: 361 Published: 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Sports, contemporary.
My rating: 5/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The off-campus series.
1412138Iron kissed – Patricia Briggs
Settings: Kennewick, Washington, USA Pages: 287
Published: 2008
Genres: Paranormal, romantic.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
Book 3 in The Mercy Thompson series.
32757849Badd Motherf*cker – Jasinda Wilder
Settings: Alaska, USA Pages: 354 Published: 2016
Genres: Romance, contemporary, adult, erotic.
My rating: 1/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Badd brothers series.
18246040The Gamble – Kristen Ashley
Settings: Colorado, USA Pages: 679 Published: 2011
Genres: Romance, contemporary.
My rating: 4/5
Links: Review
Book 1 in The Colorado mountain series.
25596593Known – Kendra Elliot
Settings: Portland, USA Pages: 348 Published: 2016
Genres: Romantic, suspense, thriller, mystery.
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
Book 5 in The Bone Secrets series.
14769803Plea of insanity – Jilliane Hoffman
Settings: Miami, Florida, USA Pages: 608 Published: 2007
Genres: Thriller, crime, mystery
My rating: 2/5
Links: Review
15752757Roch Chick revolution – Kristen Ashley
Settings: Denver, Colorado, USA Pages: 530 Published: 2013
Genres: Romance, contemporary
My rating: 3/5
Links: Review
Book 8 in The Rock Chick series.
Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The rabbit hunter – Lars Kepler

36448430.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: It begins with a nursery rhyme. Nineteen minutes later you die…

The sixth gripping thriller in Lars Kepler’s bestselling series featuring Joona Linna. Perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

There’s a face at the window.
A stranger wearing a mask stands in the shadow of a garden. He’s watching his first victim through the window. He will kill him slowly, make it last – play him a nursery rhyme – make him pay.

A killer in your house.
There’s only one person the police can turn to – ex-Detective Joona Linna – but he’s serving time in a high-security prison. So they offer him a chance to secure his freedom: help superintendent Saga Bauer track down the vicious killer known as The Rabbit Hunter, before he strikes again.

Only one man can stop him.
Soon another three victims have been murdered and Stockholm is in the grip of terror. Joona Linna must catch a disturbed predator, whose trail of destruction leads back to one horrific night of violence – with consequences more terrifying than anyone could have imagined…

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My thoughts: Joona Linna is back in one more of those intense and thrilling books where he is hunting a cold blooded killer out of the ordinary! Old secrets, new promises and a rabbit hunter is what he tries to unravel. And even though I really liked it and I like all the characters, I find that I don’t like this book as much as the others. The reason for that is probably that the whole police investigation alignment is not as prominent as usual and the side characters in the mystery has a much bigger part. It made the old characters fall a little flat and I missed them.

I wouldn’t say that it is a bad book but it is the weakest one in the series in my opinion. It is a little too long and slow in the middle. Some stuff didn’t make sense since the details were not fulfilling but I don’t think they were important for the plot itself so I can ignore it. It still has the same psychological depth, uncomfortable detailed descriptions as always which makes it easy to imagine what is happening and it is certainly terrifying. I did like the history and the old secrets twist but however I did not like the ending. It was a bit confusing but I hope I will get my answers in October when the 7th book in the series has release in Sweden. Will probably be some months before it has a release on English though.

This is the 6th one in the series and they really should be read in order. So you know. I think I have told you that before but one time to many can’t hurt.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Sports/Games

Beartown – Fredrik Backman

33413128| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

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My thoughts: This was one hard book to read. It was a lot darker than first expected and was certainly not what you would expect from Backman. He has changed his tone and the seriousness of it is mindblowing. And the worst part is, I know this from real life experience. I know how it is to grow up in a town that is dying. I know how it is to live so far north that in a year, you have more dark days than light days. Where snow is more than a way of life. It comes a part of you. When I moved south, I did miss all that snow, but life was just so much more simpler without it being so much of it. And I still do not live far enough south to get no snow at all. The difference is that where I come from, it’s not Hockey that is the big sport everyone love. Where I come from there is two type of “family’s”. Those who ski some way or another. Or those who hunt. I’m from a hunting family. That’s what we do. Live for. Talk about. And plan to do next season. Sometime I miss it, but in reality I’m more of a city girl with one booted foot in the woods and one foot in a 6 inch high heel outside the city’s IT club. When I don’t read of course. And I like it just like that. The best of two worlds. But I do understand that mindset from a small community. We take care of our own. We offer coffee or beer instead of asking how you are. I do not always agree, but I do understand.

Even though the book could be described as hard, cold, dark and so Swedish that it is incredible Backman has been able to put it into words. But still the book is warm, fuzzy and lovable. Some parts of it I had to seek comfort in the arms of my man. I wouldn’t be able to read more if not. I have few triggers when it comes to books but one of them is in this book and even tough it is not that graphic, a girl/woman do understand without not being in that situation herself. And it is heavy. Maybe more heavy for me this time than what it would have been if I didn’t recognize the characters as people I grown up with. Backman understands. He is Swedish to. Other parts I feel that the book is awesome and even some parts a little funny. The seriousness of it all takes a big toll of it tough.

The writing is as always, fantastic. Backman has a great ability to put worlds, characters, minds, feelings and his own soul  between the lines in his books. You can just feel him and it is a wonderful experience. One I do not often get to feel when reading books. Often when I give a book a top star rating, it is more for the story itself. This one it is more for the meaning of the story and what it leaves me with when done. It is impossible to explain.

I do however miss Backmans funny, easy-going, fuzzy heartwarming way of writing his books. This one is just a little too dark and it will take me sometime before I’m ready to read the second book in the series. I will someday, but right now my soul is just not ready for that kind of hit. Soul-wrenching. That’s a word I would describe this book with. Soul-wrenching!

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction

Eleanor Oliphant is compleatly fine – Gail Honeyman

35508633| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. 

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes, The only way to survive is to open your heart…

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My thoughts: I was quite surprised when I started to read this book. It was not quite what I had expected and actually a lot darker. I had imagine that it would be like an female version of Don Tillman (The Rosie project) with a lot of charm and humor. Well, in my opinion it was not!

Eleanor is a lost soul, a person who has had a rough childhood and never got to learn all those social rules that everyone else seems to understand without even trying. She has no friends, no family and a quirky way of handling her mundane routine of daily life. She is so content in her own world that she doesn’t seem to realize that she misses something and wants more. She just trots on in the same way she have done the last 10 years or so. One day, fates steps in and breaks her life down to pieces and gives her the ability to build it up again, just the way she wants it.

The book is a lot darker than expected and touches hard subjects like depression, loneliness and alcoholism in a lighter kind of way. I would have found the book a little better if it was a little deeper in those subjects though. It is pretty much what the book is all about, so why not do it proper. I read somewhere that Honeyman didn’t want to make Eleanor an victim. But I feel the book lost something in that decision. You can be two victims. That one who accepts and does nothing, or that one who fights for something better and the right to live. Use it! Anyhow, back to the topic, loneliness and depression is something I personally knows a lot about and it is probably the reason to why I did not find this book as funny and humorous as many others have found it. Yes it certainly had its moments and Eleanor do say some pretty funny stuff sometime. But it was no a laugh out loud type of book for me.

I did however cry a couple of times and I did enjoy the book immensely. Eleanor is an oddball, you can’t do anything but love her and Raymond is my hero. He stands so far away from my typical literary love, but he seized my heart and refused to let it go. He is so ordinary and common to real life people that he is so easy to relate to and he felt warm and lovable.

I missed the charm I had expected in the book. The tone is very up and down, but it is still cute. I often felt to step in the book to hug her and say that everything is going to be alright. Because when it is bad, it can get better. Speaking by experiences here.

I can’t say that I loved, loved the book. But I did love it.

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Slow Burn – Julie Garwood

107771| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Every fire begins with a little heat–and in Slow Burn, bestselling author Julie Garwood provides the spark, skillfully blending pulse-pounding action, intense emotion, and characters with grit and heart. The result is an electrifying novel of romantic suspense that will have readers burning through the pages.

An unpretentious beauty who radiates kindness, Kate MacKenna doesn’t have a bad bone in her body–or an enemy in the world. So why are bombs igniting everywhere she goes? The first explosion brings her face-to-face with a handsome Charleston police detective. The second sends her into the arms of her best friend’s brother–a Boston cop who’s a little too reckless and way too charming for comfort. But Dylan Buchanan won’t let emotion prevent him from doing his job: Someone is trying to kill Kate, and Dylan is the only one standing between her and the monster who wants her dead.

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My thoughts: Sometime you seek that kind of book, that gives you a feeling of comfort. That makes you want to settle down on the couch, in bed or in that favorite reading chair. With the biggest blanket (that you bought just to have when you read) with a big cup of beverage of your choice, and just stay there. The world outside does not exist and it is just you and your new friends. And for those brief moments, it all feels okay. Well, this is one of those books for me. And I hadn’t really expect anything less since this is Julie Garwood. I know what to expect and I’m so happy that I got it. It was just what I needed. Garwood is an great writer in this genre and one of my favorite authors. And I always feel so good after one of her books.

Here we get to follow Kate. After her mother’s death her life is starting to crumble around her. But she is a strong woman and refuse to give up. After she almost been blown up twice, in one week, Dylan Buchanan, Kate’s best friends brother, comes to help find out what is happening. He is on leave from his work at Boston PD and since he always had strong, secret feelings for Kate, he can’t let her fend for herself. The situation is intense and fireworks is going off right from the start.

This is a “typical” romantic suspense book. You pretty much know what is going to happen. Though I do not want to call it predictable. I couldn’t early one foresee who the bad guy was in this book. It was easy to see why and there was no secret about the reasons, but it was not as predictable to find out who it really was. It was awesome.

It is a great book. Just what I needed. There is great characters, great development, great story and plot and the way it is unfolding feels real and suitable. There is never any cliffhangers and sometime you get to meet characters that have had bigger parts earlier in the series. Mostly I would say that you can read it as an stand alone. But if you are as OCD as me, I do not recommend it.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Dead woman walking – Sharon Bolton

33602123| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: In Dead Woman Walking, from master of suspense Sharon Bolton, the sole survivor of a hot-air balloon crash witnesses a murder as the balloon is falling.

Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, a man murders a young woman. At the same time, a hot-air balloon crashes out of the sky. There’s just one survivor. She’s seen the killer’s face – but he’s also seen hers. And he won’t rest until he’s eliminated the only witness to his crime. Alone, scared, trusting no one, she’s running to where she feels safe – but it could be the most dangerous place of all…

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My thoughts: This book was hard to rate and i´m gonna tell you why. At first I thought this was a book by Sharon Sala. But when I started reading something was off so I looked it up and found out that this is no Sala book. It is a Bolton. I just confused the names. And no worries because I actually like Bolton more than Sala. I have read her Lacy Flint series and really liked it. Funny that I could detect that this was not a Sala book. Anyway, when that misunderstanding was out of the way I could really start reading. And i did. And did. And my god, the book is so slow. I mean, turtle on a snail, slow.

Then after 50% it started to pick up but it is still slow. Nothing really makes sense and it feels like you as a reader are missing several important clues. I even reread some pages because I was certain that I was missing something.

Then at 70% it really started to pick up and the rest was just one curve ball after another. One twist after another and the truth is finally making some sense. It even made me gasp and say “NO WAY” out loud so Mr M thought I had company in the living room. (In one way I did but not the way he thought.)

So the book went from a two star rating to a five star rating. But, and here is the but! It was to slow and now when I´m done I feel that Bolton did leave out to much so now after, I can see how much holes there is in the story. The writing was also a little bit off. But overall it is a great book and a great story as long as you are a patient reader and it deserves a four star rating by me.

And one last thing. I´m glad this one is not a series becalms i don’t know if I could take one more book like this. I hope not her other books are like this. Her Flint series was not.