#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | December

I'm so stubborn. I'm writing this post on the very last day of 2017 because I'm trying to squeeze one more book into my read list like a real book addict :) I listened to a few audio books this month and forced myself through a book that I didn't like. I'm ending the year having read 60 books- New record! Looking forward to what 2018 will bring. My personal reading goals are to read 61 books, request/receive ARCs, and to read more books written by women and/or people of color. What are your reading goals?

Thank you for following along with #12DaysOfReadThis! 

Last day to enter my International Instagram giveaway! I'll be selecting one winner tomorrow. I'll DM the winner and give them 48 hours to respond, and if I don't hear from them I'll select another! 

Beartown | Fredrick Bachman | I won't lie- I have been meaning to read this one all year and finally got to it in December. I thought it was going to be all about the boys and all about hockey, and boy was I wrong. The writing is incredible and this is a story that needs to be told, especially in the wake of the #metoo movement. Full review here. 

Dreamland Burning | Jennifer Latham | A really unique way to tell the horrible story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Seventeen year old Ro Chase finds a body on her family's property and, desperate to find out anything she can about the body's identity, takes a wallet from the crime scene. Her story is interwoven with Will Tillman, a young man who lived during the race riots 100 years ago, and their two stories slowly converge. I love YA books with some heft to them, and this one did not disappoint. Rating, 4.5

The Good Daughter | Karin Slaughter | This is my second Karin Slaughter book- shes quickly become one of my favorite thriller writers. A family is torn apart after a break in that ended in murder. It goes unresolved for years until another shooting rocks the small community, bringing things that were long buried to the surface. All of the trigger warnings for this, but if you have a strong stomach this is definitely worth the read. Rating, 4.5

The Sister's Chase | Sarah Healy | When a mother suddenly dies in a car crash, her two girls inherit her debt and are forced to leave the only home they've ever known. A sad story about family, obligation, and class. The writing carries this one. Rating, 3.25

 The Murder House | James Patterson | This was my first foray into James Patterson and I don't think I'll be going back. I don't mean to sound like a book snob, but I swear this book was written to be a cotton candy thriller for people who don't read. His chapters were 2 or 3 pages in length, which I guess this is his style. I don't think it made it more of a page turner; it just bugged me that the plot kept flashing forward and between characters so quickly. I could tell the female protagonist wasn't written by a woman- there were way too many cliches to make her believable or relatable. I never figure out the "whodunit" in books, but this one became obvious to me pretty early on. Pass. Spend your time elsewhere. Rating, 2

NOS4A2 | Joe Hill | My first Joe Hill book! I saw this everywhere on Instagram this Christmas, and didn't realize why until I picked it up. Vic McQueen has a magic bridge that allows her to find things that are missing. Charles Manx has a similar gift- but instead of having a bridge that allows him to find things, he's able to take children in his Rolls-Royce Wraith to Christmasland, a place where they will get to be kids forever. Vic stumbles upon him when she's a kid but is the only one that manages to escape. We catch up to her in adulthood and find out that Manx is back- and this time he wants revenge. I loved Vic as our protagonist. She takes no shit. I would recommend this on audio- it's narrated by Kate Mulgrew, who you might know as Red from Orange Is the New Black! Well done all around. 

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER

#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | November

I thought November was a slow-ish reading month- but turns out Goodreads was trying to play me by not showing me all of my 'read' books. I ended up reading four. It was definitely quality over quantity this month because I found a couple of books I love, including my favorite book of the year!

Also- one more day to enter my $50 book depository giveaway!  Open internationally.

Sydney on Fire | B. B. Cary | This was a fun, quick read by an indie author. Sydney is a bad ass motorcycle riding anesthesiologist who is intensely loyal to her family and those she loves. A boy goes missing from the hospital where she works, and when she begins to suspect it's an inside job she takes things into her own hands and calls in favors to try and solve the mystery. I liked that our protagonist was not a damsel in distress and handled business on her own. Full review here. Rating, 3.

The Nix | Nathan Hill | The Nix was right in my wheelhouse. It's set in Chicago and follows the life of Samuel Anderson-Andersen, a burnt out college professor, failed author, and gamer. When his mother gets publicly shamed for throwing a rock at a potential presidential candidate, he's set down a path of finding out who his absentee mother really is. The plot is very layered and has a lot of sub-stories woven in between the main story line, but Nathan Hill's writing made it work. If you decide to read this- get it on Audible. It's a really long book and the narrator, Ari Filakos, has become my favorite audiobook narrator of all time. Rating, 4.5

The Hearts Invisible Furies | John Boyne | Now for my favorite book of 2017! This book... how to begin? Cyril Avery's mother had him when she was a teenager, and because it was Ireland in the 1960s she was cast out the church and her family. She moved to Dublin to work in the tearoom and gave her son up for adoption. We get to know Cyril- who is not a real Avery- and follow him throughout his life from a young boy through adulthood. I feel like I can't do this book justice by a brief synopsis so I'll say this: if you're looking for a book that will make you laugh, think, cry, and angry all in one, this might be for you. Looking forward to reading more of John Boyne's books. 

Lie To Me | J. T. Ellison | I was still reeling from The Hearts Invisible Furies and needed a breezy thriller so I picked up Lie To Me. I didn't know anything about it, but found myself hooked from the first sentence: "you are not going to like me very much". Sutton and Ethan seem like the perfect couple- they are both writers and have recently built a beautiful home in Nashville. After tragedy strikes and they lose their young son and their marriage begins to come apart at the seams. Ethan wakes up one day with a note from Sutton, telling him that she's left and to not come after her. Something is off, though. Sure, they were having issues but she wouldn't really leave him, would she? I thought this was going to be a quick run of the mill thriller, but I was pleased to see that this had some staying power. It ended up being one of my favorite thrillers of the year! Rating, 4.

That's all for November. I'm going to exceed my Goodreads goal of 57! I read a ton of door stoppers this year, too. 

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER

#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | October

I thought my goal for October was to try and cram as many scary books I could into one month. But then John Green's new book came out and all of that went out the window. 

Sidenote... I love how the pictures of these books turned out. Give me all the fall things! 

Turtles All The Way Down | John Green | Another one of my favorite books of the year. I'm a huge John Green follower- I love his vlog channel he runs with his brother Hank and I listen to their podcast. I was super impressed with his video on "Failing to Follow Up The Fault In Our Stars", because I loved how honest he was and that we got to peek behind a best selling author's curtain.

Anyway.

Alll of this to say that I had high hopes going in to this book, and it did not disappoint. Our protagonist, Aza, lives with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Green was able to truly articulate what it must feel like to live with your thoughts tightening inside of your head all the time. I loved the characters and his writing- once I was finished, I wanted to turn around a re-read my favorite parts again. Highly recommend! Full review here. Rating, 5

Fen | Daisy Johnson | I tried reading this in an attempt to get outside of my normal reading routine, but I ended up not being a fan of this at all. Fen is a collection of short stories where the characters are loosely connected to one another. There were some interesting ideas, sure, but I got lost in the detailed writing. Wasn't scary, wasn't creepy, just weird. Rating, 2

Young Jane Young | Gabrielle Zevin | I picked this up on a whim because I saw it kicking around Instagram. I thoroughly enjoyed it- so much so, I literally read it in a day. Young Jane Young is about an intern who has an affair with a married congressman. The affair took place in the early 2000s- before we really knew how deep the internet goes- and to help her work through her feelings, she blogs about it. Predictably, the affair is not kept hidden forever and her blog is discovered. This was an Interesting, sweet book and I loved the characters' voices. The women are smart and strong in this book, and the author makes a lot of great points about the disparity between what happens to women after affairs versus what happens to men. Full review here. Rating, 4

The Secrets She Keeps | Michael Robotham | This is right up there with my favorite thrillers of the year. I love how the book opens up- with a stalker approaching her prey. It's a thriller that is told from two different perspectives, but has a lot of red herrings that threw me off a few times. The author did a nice job of setting up the story- and was able to show empathy toward those who suffer from mental illness. Read this over some of the more hyped thrillers of the year (Still giving Goodreads readers the side eye for ranking Into the Water as the #1 thriller for the year). Rating, 4.75

Pet Semetary | Stephen King | Finally, a Stephen King book that I have been meaning to read! I always say that it takes a lot to REALLY creep me out and scare me. There are very few books that are able to do so, but I have to say Pet Semetary has now jumped to the top of my list. In the forward of the book, we hear that King himself even originally thought he went too far with this one, and he might be right. SO many creepy things!! Rating, 5

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER

#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | September

I had a great reading month in September! I listened to my favorite book of the month on Audible and read one of my few non-fiction books. I also finally got to cross off one of the books that has been on my TBR for a long time. 

This Is How It Always Is | Laurie Frankel | One of my favorites of the year. A large family with a truly remarkable youngest child grapples with doing what is best for the child and what is expected by those around them. This book presented a lot of issues with tact and humanity, and I really enjoyed the characters. Especially the youngest at the center of the story. Great for readers who like reading about family drama with a little heft. Rating, 5

Bird Box | Josh Malerman | I kept hearing people cite this book as one of the scariest books they've ever read. I don't know if I'd call it my scariest (that award might go to Pet Semetary), but I did really enjoy the premise- there is something unknown that is killing people. No one knows what this unknown threat is, only that if you open your eyes outside or look out the window, you run the risk of dying. It's tense dystopian with a compelling character at its center. The TV show Lost meets Station Eleven. Rating, 3.75

The Fourth Monkey | J.D. Barker | Another book I really enjoyed! This book opens with a twist- a detective who has been hunting a serial killer for years finds out that the killer is now dead. He is dead, isn't he? This book was pretty brutal and comes with all of the trigger warnings, but I enjoyed the lead detective and liked unraveling the story. It didn't hurt that it was set in Chicago. It  reminded me of of the Jussi Adler-Olsen Department Q books. Full review here. Rating 4.75

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women | Anne Helen Peterson | My reading goals for 2018 include reading more books like this- non- fiction, written by woman, or written by people of color. I loved the structure of this book- 12 or so chapters that each presented a woman that is considered too X by some: too sexy, too shrill, too old to be doing that. There were a ton of themes presented- feminism, age, weight, sexual orientation- all in an accessible way supplemented by strong citations. Great to give as a gift or to have on your bookshelf. Rating: 4

The Wife Between Us | Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekenen Finally, I read an ARC for a book that comes out in January 2018. This was SUCH a good book. I thought it was going to be your "typical" Gone Girl-esque thriller, but there were a couple of big twists here that totally threw me for a loop. This was a really fun domestic noir- I only had a few notes I took while I read it, one of which was "I'm so sweaty!" Expect to see this one everywhere in 2018. Full review here. Rating, 5

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER

#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | August

 It's Day 8 of #12DaysofReadThis! At this point I'm starting to wonder why I thought it would be a good idea to run down all 55+ of the books I read in 2017... but I have to persevere :) We moved in August, so it's a wonder I was able to read anything. I did a couple of audiobooks, an ARC, and two highly anticipated reads that were just middle of the road. 

The Lying Game | Ruth Ware | This book reminded me a bit of The Secret History. Four female friends from boarding school play a game with one another. The Lying Game is a higher stakes version of the Mean Girls Burn book: lie if you can, don't get caught, and don't lie to each other. Most importantly- if someone from the group says "I need you", you show up. Something terrible happened when they were in college and they promised never to speak of it again. We catch up with the girls some 10 years later after Kate says she needs them. They haven't seen each other for years, but human remains have recently been found on the beach where they spent their summers threaten to disrupt their adult lives. I liked it, but it wasn't the best story. It's one of those where a super simple act could have saved everyone a lot of heartache. Rating,  3.5. 

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft | Stephen King | I'm obviously a huge Stephen King fan and have been meaning to read this for awhile. I don't have aspiration to be a fiction writer, but I still loved this book so much. it's filled with writing tips and information about how he got started. I also loved hearing about his writing process, his relationship with his wife, and about who he was before becoming one of the most prolific authors of our time. Listen to it on Audible if you like audiobooks- King narrates. Rating, 5

See What I Have Done | Sarah Schmidt | I had high hopes for this book and it did not disappoint. See What I Have Done is a fictionalized account of Lizzie Borden and her 40 whacks. No one *really* knows what happened to her parents, and this book does a good job giving us a hypothesis. There was a ton of imagery that set the tone and really made me uncomfortable. It's not for the faint of heart, but it did a great job telling a creepy story in a unique way . This was a debut novel that really nailed it! Rating, 4

Annihilation | Jeff VanderMeer | This book was super strange. I liked that it was different but I had trouble getting into it. It's set in a future world where something has happened on Earth and explorers from various backgrounds go into an area that's been blocked off to try and figure out what is causing it. There's a lot of unknowns and are learning about what the explorers see right along with them. What we do know is that there have been 12 expeditions and that the explorers from each of the other groups have all had something catastrophic happen to them after they returned. Area X was surreal and had a dreamlike feel to it. I'm not totally sure if I'll continue on in the series- this is book 1 of 3- but I'm not dead set against it. This might be one of those "good books, but not for me". Rating, 2

Are You Sleeping | Kathleen Barber | This was probably my biggest letdown. Are You Sleeping had a ton of potential: inspired by the podcast, Serial, Are You Sleeping introduces us to Josie Behrman, a young woman who has spent the last 10 years rebuilding her life after her father was brutally murdered in her childhood home. One day, everything in her current life gets put into jeopardy due to a podcast, Reconsidered, which unearths the decade old murder case to re-examine the fact of the case. I thought it started out really strong, but fizzled out by the end. Rating, 3

What do you think? See any of your favorites so far on my list? 

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER

#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | July

 Day 7 of 12 days of read this! There's still time to enter my giveaway on Instagram: $50 to the Book Depository. Open internationally!  I read quite a few good books in July- two five star and a mix of fiction and non fiction.  

I Found You | Lisa Jewell | This was my favorite of the month, and ended up being one of my top 3 of 2017. A single mother is doing her best to raise her kids, despite feeling like she's not always the best at making choices. When a man shows up at the beach in front of their house, she eventually goes out to him and realizes that he has no idea who he is or how he got there. She invites him in, and the  story unravels from there. This had all the goods: a likable protagonist, a story well told from different viewpoints, a pretty sizable twist that I was not expecting, and a satisfying ending. What's not to like??  Rating, 5

The Good House | Ann Leary | Hildy Good is a successful realtor who enjoys a glass of wine from time to time. Her kids thinks she has a problem, but she works hard. Why shouldn't she enjoy what she loves? There were quirky characters and the story offered perspective as to what it's like to feel like an outsider in the town you were raised in. My favorite part about this was that it featured a protagonist who was in her 60s. I never find myself reading books with an older narrator, so I was happy to get a chance to hear Hildys story. Rating, 3.5

Final Girls | Riley Sager | Final Girls introduced me to a new term: final girl, or the girl who is the last one who is left alive after a mass murder. This was a very addictive read that was pure entertainment. Three girls were victims of separate attacks and the media lumped them together as the Final Girls, despite having never met one another. When the Final Girl # 1 kills herself, Final Girl # 2 seeks out our protagonist, Final Girl #3 Quinn, for reasons unknown. It was a heart pounding race to see if our girl was going to make it out alive, again. Pretty good ride! Rating, 4

The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck | Sarah Knight | This book is a spin on Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It's one of those books that I can't believe is actually a book- it really reads more like a blog post. I did like the message- do what makes you happy, as long as you're not hurting anyone else. Stand up for yourself. Stop feeling bad for saying no. This was pretty funny at times, and I could relate in a lot of ways (stop trying to make your MLM happen, Susan) but overall, nothing that I would reach for again. Rating, 2

Every Last Lie | Mary Kubica | Full disclosure: Mary Kubica is an auto-read for me. I think she is technically a thriller writer, and I like that her books are often a lot more literary than straight page turner. Every Last Lie features TOUGH stuff- a woman is breast-feeding her days old son when her husband, who is in the car with their daughter, dies in a car crash. Thankfully, the daughter is safe but she and the mother are understandably traumatized. The daughter keeps saying there was a bad man following them, which causes the young mother's imagination to run wild. Was it truly an accident, or was foul play involved? This was moving, sad, captivating, and thought-provoking all in one. Rating, 3.75

Reading People | Anne Bogel | This was so fun to read! Anne Bogel is a blogger (Modern Mrs. Darcy) and personality nut. She has been studying various personality tests for years and has compiled a lot of the overviews into one place. It's a great way to get an overview into personality typing without getting lost in the detail. But - if you're a detail person, she gives you the references so you can go to the source! Very helpful in helping me understand myself and those around me. Rating, 5

Find me me here! 

BLOGLOVIN' | GOODREADS | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM  | TWITTER