2019 Reading Challenges Update #1

After 2018’s amazing reading numbers, I decided to capitalize on my momentum and really ramp up my numbers and my challenges. And so I have committed to 23 different challenges and a total of 225 books read for this year. Let’s check out my progress at the end of the first quarter.

Perpetual 4/30 13.3%*
UnRead Shelf 12/50 24%
Library Love 24/60 40%
For the Love of Ebooks 8/30 26.7%
Random TBR Pick 4/12 33.3%
Picture Books 59/70 84.3%**
Popsugar 16.40 40%
Modern Mrs. Darcy 7/12 58.3%**
Finishing the Series 2/10 20%
Alphabet Soup 12/26 46.2%
Women Authors 17/30 56.7%**
Monthly Keyword 4/12 33.3%
Monthly Motif 4/12 33.3%
Literary Escapes 8/51 15.7%*
Nonfiction Bingo 10.25 40%
Graphic Novels 29/52 55.8%**
Dancing with Fantasy and Science Fiction 8/52 15.4%*
Horror 5/10 50%**
Cloak and Dagger 3/10 30%
Romance 5/10 50%**
Historical Fiction 1/10 10%*
Creativity 1/10 10%*

Total Challenges 0/23 0%

Total Reading Slots 243/624 . 38.9%

* - Needs Work
** - Doing a Great Job

Comments: So far, I’ve read 100 different books this year! I can’t even believe I’ve read that much. Even though some of the challenges are lagging, I feel really good about reading across the challenges. Hoping to keep it up for the next quarter.

Next up on the TBR pile:

April 2019 Wrap-up

April’s TBR Pile (23/26):

Book of the Month Club: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green ✓
Girly Book Club: Fight or Flight by Samantha Young ✓
Friend Book Club: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan ✓
UnRead Shelf Pick: Ghostland by Colin Dickey ✓
Random TBR Pick: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco ✓
Series Pick: And Now for Something Different by Jodi Taylor (iPad) ✓
Monthly Keyword (All): Turtles All the Way Down by John Green ✓
Monthly Motif (Mystery): Cloaked in Malice by Annette Blair ✓
Comic: Lady Mechanika Vol. 3 ✓
Comic: Umbrella Academy Vol. 1 ✓
Ebook: The Magnolia Inn by Carolyn Brown (iPad) ✓
Ebook: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (iPad) ✓
Historical Fiction: The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
Short Stories: How Long ‘Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin ✓
Nonfiction: The Library Book by Susan Orlean ✓
Nonfiction: Atlas of the Unexpected by Travis Elborough ✓
Nonfiction: Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy by Anne Boyd Rioux ✓
Young Adult: Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott ✓
Contemporary Fiction: The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker ✓
Mystery: Tulle Death Do Us Part by Annette Blair ✓
HP Year-Long ReRead: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
HP Year-Long ReRead: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Added: The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin ✓
Added: The Winter Duchess by Jillian Eaton (iPad) ✓
Added: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye ✓
Added: Tales of Mystery and the Macabre by Elizabeth Gaskell ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6836 pages
Pages Remaining: 614.111 pages

Current Read - The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books bought/received (0)

May TBR Pile:

Book of the Month Club: The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Girly Book Club: A Curve in the Road by Julianne Maclean (iPad)
Friend Book Club: TBD
UnRead Shelf Pick: The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips
Random TBR Pick: The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg
Ebook: The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury by Mary Levy (iPad)
Series Pick: Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
Alphabet Soup: Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Monthly Keyword (Daisy): Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Monthly Motif (One Sitting Reads): Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen
Nonfiction: The Problem of Democracy by Nancy Isenberg
Nonfiction Cities by Monica Smith
Comic: The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 8
Comic: The Beauty Vol. 5
Comic: Heathen Vol. 1
Comic: Giant Days Vol. 8
Science Fiction: Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor (iPad)
Horror: The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Romance: 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
Romance: The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli
Historical Fiction: The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
Historical Fiction: The Light Over London by Julia Kelly
Historical Fiction: Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Historical Fiction: Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
HP Reread: The Chamber of Secrets
HP Reread: The Prisoner of Azkaban
Short Stories: Toil and Trouble
Young Adult: Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta
Young Adult: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Movies watched

MCU - We are officially caught up with all the MCU movies out. I need to go watch Captain Marvel, but otherwise we are ready to see Endgame.

TV Shows watched

The Tick S2 — I figured out the Duke twist towards the end, but still loved this series so much!
Letterkenny — We are completely caught up with the series. Goodness! This better come back sometime this year. At any rate, this is going to be a series that we will probably rewatch many many times. Hilarious!
Superstore — Keeping up with the current season.
The Magicians S4 — Holy crap! This season was bonkers, but I loved every minute of it!
Veep S7 — Still funny.
Umbrella Academy S1 — We finally started this series and I’m really loving all the changes they made from the comic. Especially love Klaus!

Comments - Such a great reading month! I thought things would slow down, but amazingly I kept it up. Plus I met my Unread Shelf goal of four books. I’m super ambitious for May, but I may just accomplish my reading goals.

Next up on the TBR pile:

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Title: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Author: Hank Green

Publisher: Dutton 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 352

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf; Popsugar - Debut; Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi - Alien

The Carls just appeared.

Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.

Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

Finally picked this one up and enjoyed every page of it. I loved the not-relatable main character of April May. She’s not likable and that’s okay. I really enjoyed following her descent into fame along with the unraveling mystery of the Carls. I loved the puzzles and games. This reminded me a bit of Ready Player One. The one thing I don’t like: the ending. Seriously Hank Green!?!?! How could you do that? At any rate, this was such a fun book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Ben Platt "Grow as We Go"

Hauntingly beautiful song

Tales of Mystery and the Macabre by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title: Tales of Mystery and the Macabre

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Publisher: Wordsworth 2008

Genre: Classics - horror

Pages: 305

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf; Women Authors; Horror

In the great mirror opposite I saw myself, and right behind, another wicked fearful self, so like me my soul seemed to quiver within me, as though not knowing to which similitude of body it belonged... Elizabeth Gaskell is better known today for her pioneering social novels such as Mary Barton (1848) but she also wrote some fascinating tales of the supernatural and the macabre, which are collected here in this volume. The real charm of this dark anthology is its variety. Unlike so many writers of this kind of material, Gaskell allows the story to fit the style rather than the other way around and as result there is a charming freshness to each tale. This remarkable author uses different voices, tones and topics to engage her readers and as you turn from one story to the next you cannot be quite sure what to expect.

I’ve read Gaskell’s North and South and Cranford, but didn’t realize that she had also wrote gothic horror stories. Overall, this volume was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed some of the stories especially those that focused on a specific character. I wasn’t as much of a fan of some stories that just seemed to meander instead of heading to a point. I also couldn’t get behind many of the rambling sentences and asides.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #11

On my bedside table: A giant stack of library books! Including Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco and The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli.

On my TV: We finished Letterkenny this week along with moving through Veep S7 and Umbrella Academy S1. The big watch was almost finishing the Marvel movies ahead of Endgame. I still need to see Captain Marvel and I don’t imagine we will get to the theater for Endgame anytime soon, but we’re basically caught up.

Listening to: Podcasts mostly… the usual.

On the menu: My meal plan is in tatters right now. Need to get it sorted out, but I do know that I’m planning on Greek Grilled Cheese and Tater Tot Casserole this week.

On my to do list: I’ve schedule a ton of errands for this upcoming week, so my to do list is a bit smaller. Mostly I need to take care of some house items. I also need to get confirmation from the twins about a summer camp they were interested in and double check with people about summer dates.

Happening this week: So many many activities and errands already on the schedule for this week —

Oil change for the van
Doctor appointments for both boys
Tinkergarten for Quentin
1 regular day of Preschool for Arthur
Girly Book club discussing Fight or Flight by Samantha Young
Preschool field trip to Wenninghoff Farm
Park playdate
Kindergarten Round-up on Friday
Kindergarten Parent Meet and Greet on Friday (during round-up)
More things will pop up I imagine!

What I am creating: Still working on my 100 Day Project (1/4 of the way through!). I’m trying to focus on retiring product cards and my Memory Planner this week.

My simple pleasures: A good night’s sleep. Seriously, I’ve been so tired lately…

What I’m planning: Working on some summer ideas, scavenger hunt for the zoo for summer, and travel plans for summer.

Looking around the house: Things have exploded a bit around here. I need to get the boys to clean up the playroom and I need to tackle the kitchen. Lots of things just out of place right now.

Looking forward to: Next week’s preschool field trip to the farm and Kindergarten round-up.

From the camera: Two little honeybees at the zoo.

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

Title: How Long ‘til Black Future Month?

Author: N.K. Jemisin

Publisher: Orbit 2018

Genre: Short Stories

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Modern Mrs. Marcy - Been Meaning To Read; Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi - Classic Fantasy

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories, Jemisin equally challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

Spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story "The City Born Great," a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis's soul.

A beautiful collection of stories running the gamut of science fiction and fantasy. I really enjoyed the stories set in our world but with something a little different. Anything dealing with ghosts or spirits was favorite. Some of the stories that were a direct response to classic stories fell slightly flatter for me. I was much more intrigued when Jemisin created something totally new. I also enjoyed the stories that were clear precursors to The Broken Earth trilogy. Short stories are not my favorite style of fiction, but this collection was very interesting and entertaining.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Title: Turtles All the Way Down

Author: John Green

Publisher: Dutton 2017

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 286

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Key Word: All; Modern Mrs. Darcy - Same Author; Literary Escapes - Indiana

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

I had heard that the main character suffered from generalized anxiety disorder, but wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this book. John Green perfectly describes anxiety and specifically thought spirals. I was uncomfortable in my many parts of this book as Aza’s experiences are very similar to mine at times. I really felt for Aza and her daily struggles. I loved hearing her inner thoughts on a variety of topics but specifically her thoughts on the self. I couldn’t put this book down. I was hooked from chapter one. The plot was okay and the mystery of Russell Pickett’s disappearance kept the book moving, but I was here for the characters. I loved the relationship and ultimately the honesty between Aza and Daisy. I really put myself in Aza’s mom’s shoes in many places through the story. I finished the book and am left with a feeling of understanding. There are others that struggle with anxiety just like me. (Logically I know this, but sometimes my depression brain tells me that I’m the only one.) Most definitely an amazing book and one that I really want to put in many specific people’s hands.

Next up on the TBR pile:

And Now for Something Completely Different by Jodi Taylor

Title: And Now for Something Completely Different (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #9.7)

Author: Jodi Taylor

Publisher: Accent Press 2019

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 78

Stars: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Here's a question for you. What's the most exciting thing ever found in a fire bucket? And don't say 'fire' because you'll be wrong.

Suppose - just suppose - it was the technology to take a pod to Mars? Yeah, now we're talking!

Every Christmas, for reasons which seem good at the time - especially after an eggnog or two - Max and the others leap into the nearest pod and indulge in their illegal Christmas jump. It's a tradition. This year, however, just to be different, they find themselves part of someone else's illegal Christmas jump. It's time to don a spacesuit and bring your own urine!

This short story was definitely different. We get a story told not from Max’s perspective, but from the Time Police. I liked the shift even if Max is still my character. Plus we get an amazing new setting: Mars!!! It seems unlikely, but I would love a follow up story dealing with subsequent Mars settlements.

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s:

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Title: The Bookshop on the Corner

Author: Jenny Colgan

Publisher: William Morrow 2016

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 427

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Popsugar - Makes Me Nostalgic; Alphabet Soup - C

Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile — a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

I really need to get out to the store so I can buy some good soil. We need to do a bit of yard/garden improvement and the current soil is just not great.
Am I turning into someone who likes gardening? Maybe…
The creative juices are at a trickle this week. Need to dive back in and craft!
Looking at the planner, next week is so incredibly busy! Knocking out a ton of to-do items.
Quiet mornings at the library recharge me.
Thinking about creating a summer bucket list and zoo scavenger hunt in travelers’s notebooks. Departure from the usual only digital format, but the idea came to me at the Children’s Museum (they had a mini scavenger hunt for their newer exhibit).
Seriously need to follow through with a library ban… It’s a bit out of control.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Title: Jane Steele

Author: Lyndsay Faye

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2016

Genre: Fiction - Retellings

Pages: 427

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf; Popsugar - Retelling of a Classic; Women Authors

A sensitive orphan, Jane Steele suffers first at the hands of her spiteful aunt and predatory cousin, then at a grim school where she fights for her very life until escaping to London, leaving the corpses of her tormentors behind her. After years of hiding from the law while penning macabre “last confessions” of the recently hanged, Jane thrills at discovering an advertisement. Her aunt has died and her childhood home has a new master: Mr. Charles Thornfield, who seeks a governess.

Burning to know whether she is in fact the rightful heir, Jane takes the position incognito and learns that Highgate House is full of marvelously strange new residents—the fascinating but caustic Mr. Thornfield, an army doctor returned from the Sikh Wars, and the gracious Sikh butler Mr. Sardar Singh, whose history with Mr. Thornfield appears far deeper and darker than they pretend. As Jane catches ominous glimpses of the pair’s violent history and falls in love with the gruffly tragic Mr. Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: Can she possess him—body, soul, and secrets—without revealing her own murderous past?

I was super excited about the premise and was super excited to read this retelling of Jane Eyre. But the first volume really bored me. There was too many reference and similarities to the original Jane Eyre. It was constant. Too much… I thought it weird that this retelling was set in a universe where the original book exists. It took me awhile to deal with this fact. And the section about Jane’s childhood was not amazing. Thankfully volume two was so much more interesting! The story really picked and up and I sped through the rest of the story. Jane really started growing on me as a character and the additions of Sardar Singh and Mr. Thornfield completed the story.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #7

Reading: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan for book club in early May. So far, it’s been nice and light. Just what I needed.

Watching: J and I took a mini break from our Marvel marathon to start Umbrella Academy. I wanted to wait until I read at least the first trade of the comic. Only two episodes in, but really loving the show!

Listening: Lots of NPR Politics, but I might need to take a bit of a break from political news. (Or at least ration it out).

Making: I’m trying a new-to-me recipe of Coconut Lentil Soup. Really hope it’s good!

Feeling: This past weekend the temperature was in the high 80s. Yesterday and today the temperature plummeted into the 50s. I’m so cold!

Planning: Working on finishing out our summer plans.

Loving: While at the Mall of America, we stopped at a fun candy store and I bought a pound of fancy gummi bears. Many of them were cocktail flavored (margarita, bourbon and coke, pina colada, etc).

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - The Amity Affliction "Drag the Lake"

Loving this song on Octane lately.

Lady Mechanika Vol. 3

Title: Lady Mechanika Vol. 3: The Lost Boys of West Abbey

Author: Joe Benitez, Marcia. Chen, Peter Steigerwald, Martin Montiel, Beth Sotelo

Publisher: Benitez Productions 2017

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 64

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel

Lady Mechanika's investigation into the murders of "undesirable" children in Mechanika City triggers an unexpected reaction from her subconscious self. But are they truly lost memories finally surfacing after so many years, or just simple nightmares? And what connection does the killer have to Lady Mechanika's past? Collects the complete third Lady Mechanika mini-series, The Lost Boys of West Abbey, including extra pages which were not published in the original comic books.

A very short little volume, but full of a great mystery and more insight into Lady Mech’s past. I loved the introduction of the new character, Inspector Singh, as well as another great showing from Mr. Lewis. I definitely need to pick up the next volume in the series.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Life Right Now #10

On my bedside table: The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan; Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

On my TV: We’re still working our way through the Marvel movies. We finished Thor Ragnarok last night. Plus we finished S4 of The Magicians this week. That was intense!

Listening to: All the podcasts. The Apocalist put out a new two part episode on H.G Wells’s War of the Worlds.

On the menu:

Monday - Beef Tips and Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread
Tuesday - Golden Coconut Lentil Soup
Wednesday - Grilled Cheese of some kind
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Chicken Pad Thai Nachoes
Saturday - Spaghetti
Sunday - Honey and Lime Jalapeno Chicken

On my to do list: So many things I imagine, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what they are right now.

Happening this week: Q has his Tinkergarten class and Arthur has school and a dentist appointment. We also have a birthday party on Saturday and a theatre performance on Sunday.

What I am creating: I finally got back into card making and started my retiring product series. I think I got my groove back.

My simple pleasures: Cherry Limeade from Sonic; Easter chocolate; feel-good books; great movies

What I’m planning: Working on summer plans. Not suer what’s going on yet, but I do have Arthur’s summer camp weeks set up.

Looking around the house: Toys have exploded…

Looking forward to: Dragons Love Tacos at The Rose on Sunday!

From the camera: Egg dyeing adventures from yesterday

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

Title: The Dreamers

Author: Karen Thompson Walker

Publisher: Random House 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 303

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Popsugar - College Campus; Alphabet Soup - W

One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster.

Those affected by the illness, doctors discover, are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, higher than has ever been recorded before. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

I had heard so many great things about this book, but didn’t really know what to expect. What I got was a beautiful story of life past and present. The book is about a mysterious dreaming illness that infects a small town in California, but really that’s just a plot device. We focus on a few different families and see how they react to the illness and then later how some of them react to waking back up. I loved Sara and Libby'‘s story as well as Annie and Ben. We get such interesting characters packed into very little space. When I first started reading, I thought the quick cuts and almost unfinished passage would bother me, but instead they feel more like dreams. There is a stream of consciousness quality to the writing that I actually really enjoy. After reading this one, I want to pick up Walker’s previous work: The Age of Miracles.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Winter Duchess by Jillian Eaton

Title: The Winter Duchess (A Duchess of All Seasons #1)

Author: Jillian Eaton

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services 2017

Genre: Romance

Pages: 181

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook; Women Authors; Romance

Their wedding was the event of the season...
A shy wallflower, Caroline hasn’t the faintest idea why the Duke of Readington chose her to be his bride. She could ask, but that would mean speaking to him…and truth be told she’d rather have a conversation with the devil. Her new husband may be one of the most powerful men in all of England - not to mention the handsomest - but he’s also cruel, callous, and has a heart colder than ice.

But it was never meant to be a love match…
Eric married Caroline for one simple reason: he wasn’t in love with her. Having seen firsthand how love can bring a man to his knees, he’s determined not to make the same mistakes his father did. Which is why he’s going to spend just enough time with his new bride to assure himself of an heir before he leaves her and returns to London. At least that was the plan until a winter storm leaves them stranded. Now every time Eric turns around he finds himself stumbling over the wife he never wanted...but is slowly beginning to desire.

….or was it?
As cold winds howl outside the manor, inside of it a duke’s heart is finally starting to melt as he finds himself falling for the one woman he was never supposed to love…but can she love him in return?

This was another Amazon Prime Reading selection. I enjoyed the fluffy romance story of Eric and Caroline. I would have liked a bit more towards the end of the story. The beginning of the novella was lots of fun and I really enjoyed the fast pace. Caroline is a great character. Overall, this was a nice and fluffy romance quickly read before bed.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lots More Videos

Yep. Must see.

Mildly entertaining

Hmm… I don’t know about Hannah

Must watch!!!

I laughed way too hard at this one.

Creepy creepy…

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2)

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson 2017

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 418

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Random TBR Pile; Finishing the Series; Horror

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine...and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

Another fun and horrifying romp through murders and anatomical pursuits. I just love the pairing of Audrey Rose and Thomas. Their back and forth flirting and figuring out clues brings me life. I just love how the dialogue is written. Such fun! And the mystery and murders in this book were sufficiently horrifying. I loved the play on Prince Dracula and Elisabeth Bathory. Great folklore and setting. And we get to see the furthering of Audrey Rose’s academic pursuits. I can’t wait see what happens as they travel to America.

Stalking Jack the Ripper:

#1 Stalking Jack the Ripper
#2 Hunting Prince Dracula
#3 Escaping from Houdini

Next up on the TBR pile: