🟣 ::READING THREAD:: Week of December 31 (w/ Reading Goals)

I read three books this week.

Before You Found Me This had a lot of potential but left a huge question unanswered and went another direction that I didn't like at all. 3/5 stars.

The Quarry Girls Content and trigger warnings for child abduction, sexual assault, rape, and murder. I just finished this this a.m. Hard to read in spots, but the character development was exceptional. The plot was nonstop too. All the love for plucky Beth. Heather and Junie were amazing too. All the hate for quite a few other characters. 5/5 stars

The Drowning Woman Honestly, one of the best twists ever. I had to reread it to make sure that I read it right. But after the twist, I thought the plot went somewhat downhill. Still, I practically binged the entire thing. 5/5 stars

I ended up reading 102 books and blew my GR goal out of the water. (I had 70 books.)
For this year, my GR goal is 80 books.

Lisa

We don't set goals but loosely keep track: I read 48 and DH read 44. I'm sure I missed putting some on my spreadsheet.

I'm almost finished with The Manor House by Gilly Macmillan. I'll come back with my thoughts tomorrow.

My GoodRead's goal was 52 books. I ended up reading 63 books.

I stuck with 52 books again this year (one book per week seems my pace).

This week I finished:

2.5 Stars for Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. This book did not need to be 800 pages. The pacing was terrible, and to introduce a bunch of new characters just to kill them off (I guess she needed to kill someone not important)... this book was really just filler.

I added some detailed thoughts in as spoilers on GR, bc I can't really discuss without talking specifics. Dont come at me if you haven't read.

and

4 Stars for The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss. My last lighthearted read of 2023, cute premise - Kate is early 30s and ready to settle down, so she goes on 12 dates of Christmas using a dating app. An idylic English village outside of London is the perfect backdrop for this story. Of course this is predictable, but it was cute.

I finished four the last couple of weeks of the year with mixed results.

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Parson
The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first…
Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’.
But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’.
Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.
It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.
What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again…
A completely heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting story, guaranteed to make you smile but also make you cry. Perfect for fans of My Name is Ove, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and The Keeper of Stories.
*Meh... I didn't love it. 3 stars

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, old money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood but giving up far too much in the process; Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family, and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider; and Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can’t have and must decide what kind of person she wants to be.
Shot through with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is an addictive, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognizable, lovable—if fallible—characters, it’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love—all wrapped in a deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class.
*I'm mad at myself for not reading this sooner. I really liked it and didn't want the book to end. 5 stars

The Maid by Nita Prose
*So many have read this and loved it and while I liked the character Molly Gray, I found the story to be very Hallmark Movie-ish. I gave it 3 weak stars.

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon
When Wren realizes her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.But Wren doesn't know that Anders is harboring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone. Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?
*From Hallmark to Lifetime Movie Network! I did like this one more than The Maid and found the story to be a little more unique. It's not a must-read but it was enjoyable enough. 3.5 stars

Go as a River, by Shelley Reading is my first book finished in 2024. It was okay. I’d give it 3/5.
It move slowly and was pretty choppy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our readers !

I don’t set reading goals.  I finished out 2023 with 119 reads, with the (2) 5-stars listed below.  I had a great reading year with (26) 5-Star reviews and (56) 4-Star Reviews.  THANKS to all who post such great recommendations each week.  I appreciate them all !  



DON’T LET HER STAY (‘23 - 288 PGS - 5 STARS) BY NICOLA SANDERS
DESCRIPTION : It seemed only five minutes ago that Richard went to the station to pick up Chloe, and now they were here. I was so excited. Finally, I would meet my stepdaughter for the first time, and Chloe would meet her baby sister Evie.
Richard was over the moon that his daughter wanted to come back into his life. ‘You’ll love her,’ he'd said, beaming. ‘She’s very sweet. She just had a wobble about me marrying again, but that’s over now.’ Well, she was going to find out she had nothing to worry about. I’d been fantasising non-stop about the two of us becoming close. I had visions of us baking together while Richard was at work, chatting about her boyfriends, her studies, what kind of job she’d like to do...Anyway, let’s just say things haven’t quite worked out that way.

REVIEW :
I grabbed this book due to all the recommendations on Facebook Psychological Thrillers Group.  First book by this author for me.  

Easy read and nice flow to the plot. I like her writing but I do think this is a subject that has been covered by many authors. Let’s see if this is any different as the book progresses. DEFINITELY different for me! Loved how the tension really picked up all the way to the end. This would make a great movie! Some might hold the ending against their rating but I thought it fit.



ALL THE LIES (‘20 - 242 PGS - READ ‘23 - 5 STARS) BY NICOLA SANDERS
DESCRIPTION : As far as everyone is concerned, Amy and Jason have the perfect marriage. Except that Amy is trapped in a nightmare. Jason is a controlling, violent husband. Then on a short cruise without Jason, Amy befriends Liz, a young woman travelling alone on her way to meet her birth mother for the first time. Liz looks so much like Amy that they could be sisters.  When Amy regains consciousness after a ferry accident that takes the lives of many passengers, she finds that because of a mix-up in personal effects, everyone believes she is Liz. Only she knows it is Liz who has gone missing, presumed dead. Now, Amy has to make the most important decision of her life: tell the truth and return to a life of fear or become Liz for a while, until she figures out an escape plan.

REVIEW :

First book by this author for me was Don’t Let Her Stay (‘23 - 5 Stars). It was so good, I jumped right into this book.  This was her debut book in 2020. For a short read, this author is great at getting you involved with the characters quickly. Just like in the first book I read by this author, she’s great at building the tension right up to the end. Can’t wait for her next book!



CHEERS to 2024 and hopefully many GREAT reads !

I really loved Lady Tan's Circle of Women. It was one of my favorite books of 2023.