I haven’t run the numbers yet, but I have a feeling that I about broke even on books added and removed this week… mainly because I’m super behind on reading other people’s reviews!!!
Added to the General TBR:
Well, it looks like I actually added eight books!
- Three books are thanks to random book advertisement emails
- I’ve mentioned before that I really enjoy books about people who own and operate hotels or B&Bs because I’ve always secretly wanted to do so myself. Cranberry Bluff by Deborah Garner sounds like it may fit the bill.
- Suspicion by Alexandra Monir is billed (on GoodReads) as “A modern-day twist on the classic thriller, Rebecca, with a dash of the supernatural, a powerful romance, and a deadly family mystery.” May be worth a whirl!
- Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells showed up on several emails this week at a bargain price (that was higher than 99¢ so I didn’t bite haha) and is supposed to be a sci-fi thriller about some scientists who go to explore an empty spaceship – and find out that it isn’t empty after all.
- After finding In a Dark, Dark Wood interesting, even if it wasn’t 100% my cup of tea, I added Ruth Ware’s other book, The Woman in Cabin Ten, to the TBR. I’ve read reviews of this book on a few blogs and the consensus seems to be that it wasn’t as strong as her first outing, but I’m still interested to read it.
- This week, it was Heart Full of Books that gave me the double-dose of TBR additions!
- Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly sounds like a lot of fun, and who doesn’t want to read a lively YA lighthearted mystery that takes place in the same town where Nancy Drew grew up?? Maddie says, “When you read this book, you can definitely expect a lot of trouble, mischief and hilarity as the situation gets progressively harder to get out of.”
- Bee reviewed both books in a duology by C.J. Daughtery and Carina Rosenfeld, The Secret Fire and The Secret City. I haven’t read a lot of urban fantasy, and these sounded like a lot of fun. And there are a lot of times where I feel like two books are the perfect length for a story.
- Another pair of blogging sisters, Bibliobeth and Chrissi Reads, discussed The Readers of Broken Wheel by Katarina Bivald. They recommended this “book about books” although I am a little leery of reading a story where the potential romance is between Sara(h) and Tom!
- Finally, Carol’s review over at Reading, Writing and Riesling encouraged me to pick up Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta. She says, “This is an incredibly well written contemporary mystery/thriller with such well-developed characters you feel like you know them! Redemption, forgiveness, hope…its all here. I can’t praise this read highly enough. Add this to your book buying list now!” …Or at least to my mythical TBR, right??
Off the General TBR:
- Another week of two DNFs!
- Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor was just too… something. I couldn’t get into it. I think it’s partially because I really don’t enjoy reading books about people who are being abused. I realize that it’s a real and horrible thing, but I don’t want to read it in my fiction, because I read fiction for enjoyment. Plus, I’m not completely convinced that reading about horrible situations in fiction really helps people learn about those situations – sometimes I think it just begins to desensitize them and normalize behavior instead. Anyway, I just didn’t like either of the voices in this story, and wasn’t interested in them as people after a few chapters in. It’s a shame, because reading about Japanese-Americans shortly after World War II sounds really interesting – but I just wasn’t feeling like I was really going to get a lot of historical background.
- I’ve read multiple reviews of The Wind is Not a River by Brian Payton (also published as All This Will Be Lost), but it just wasn’t the book for me. It goes back to that enjoying happy books thing – and while I was interested in John Easley’s part of the story (stranded on a Japanese-occupied Alaskan island during WWII, trying to avoid detection), his wife’s story was really boring me and felt disjointed and strange. I also genuinely hate present-tense narratives, like a lot, so unless I love the story, I’m not wading through such a stupid, stilted way to tell a story. I have no compunctions about skipping to the end of books that I’m meh about and seeing if it’s actually worth reading to me – and this one wasn’t. I’m not wading through hundreds of first-person narration listening to people suffer so I can get to a depressing ending. So while I’m sure this book is lyrical and lovely and deep, it wasn’t for me.
- Two more books were removed without being read.
- After rereading they synopsis for Sanctuary by Ted Dekker, I just wasn’t feeling it.
- A while back, I added a bunch of random Beauty & the Beast retellings. But when I was flipping through Roses and Thorns by Chris Anne Wolfe, I realized that it just wasn’t my style.
- Finally, two more books were removed because I actually read and reviewed them!
I finished Two Men on the Bummel, the sequel to Two Men in a Boat, but because they go together, they only count as one book on the list. Both of them were highly enjoyable, and I still can’t believe I’ve gone my whole life without reading them before.- I also read, as mentioned above, In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware, which I devoured in one evening. Even though I personally didn’t like the main character, and wasn’t totally on board with the ending, it was still a gripping read.
Total for the General TBR: 845 (up two)
*******************************************
Added to the Personal TBR:
- Thirty Days to Thirty by Courtney Psak was another Kindle freebie that sounds like a fun and lighthearted chicklit read.
Off the Personal TBR:
Still nothing here, as I’m reading a trilogy. I’m halfway through book three, though, so this one should be off the list next week!
Total for the Personal TBR: 556 (up one!)
*****************************************
Added to the Series TBR:
- I really enjoyed the Menagerie books by Tui Sutherland and Kari Sutherland, so I added Tui’s other series, also aimed at middle-schoolers, Wings of Fire… about dragons!!!
Off the Series TBR:
- Speaking of the Menagerie series… I realized that I never actually took of this tab, so even though I’m still in the middle of the Lynburn Legacy (I reviewed Book #2 this week!), I still got to drop a number!
Total for the Series TBR: 139 (even!)
*******************************
Added to the Mystery Series TBR:
Nothing!!! Score!
Off the Mystery Series TBR:
…also nothing! But I’m through 4/6 books in the Amanda Jaffe series (I haven’t reviewed book four yet), and the one I reviewed this week, Proof Positive, was probably my favorite in the series so far.
Total for the Mystery Series TBR: 64 (even!)
*************************************
Added to the Nonfiction TBR:
Actually, nothing here either. Go me.
Off the Nonfiction TBR:
Um. Well. Nothing here either.
Total for the Nonfiction TBR: 50 (even again!)
*********************************
Grand Totals for the Week: Ten added, seven removed, so overall three up on the overall TBR!
The Aroma of Books 