Goodreads First Reads and Amazon Free 100 Reads

Free books, how can you not love them!

The Housewife Assassin's Handbook (The Housewife Assassin #1)
- Josie Brown
I liked this one and would consider reading others in the series. This was off of Amazon so I recommend you look it up! It is exactly what the title says. A housewife becomes an assassin once her husband is murdered. Its her story on how to tries to avenge his death and learns there was a lot more to what her husband was not telling her.

Bound (Forbidden #1)
- Melody Anne
An adult erotica off of Amazon (if you like erotica the free list is always full of them...). This is about a young woman down on her luck and she is asked to audition for an escort service that specialize in giving high brow customers whatever then want. The young woman though is a virgin and the customer she ends up with is not looking for commitment. It has a pretty good plot for erotica so if you like a story line along with the sex then this would be a good read.

Killer Christmas (An Emma Wild Holiday Mystery #1)
- Harper Lin
Another Amazon read. I like murder mysteries and this was a super quick read but it still managed to throw in some loops. A famous pop star heads home for the holidays and she stops by her sisters coffee shop where a fan that shares her same name is poisoned. The pop star is now on the hunt for her would be killer and the detective assigned to her case is an old flame. Though the mystery is answered the question of love is left for the next book in the series.

A Grand Design (Quilts of Love #20)
- Amber Stockton
Goodreads First Read
This was a super quick read but worth every minute. A cute love story about a girl returning to her childhood stomping grounds and overcoming some past misadventures. A love story without jumping into the physical nature of the relationship.

A Sweet Murder (Storage Ghost Murders Book 3)
- Gillian Larkin
Another Amazon read. This book is again like the title states. A woman can see ghosts that are attached to objects that her brother purchases from storage lockers. She uses her ability to help solve why they are lingering behind and close their murder cases. In this story our lady meets a ghost that once ran a sweet factory and the main suspects behind her death are her three children that stand to inherit everything, the victim is not as innocent as she seems though.

Tis the season... I wish I was reading

Had an amazing vacation and actually got to do a lot of reading! This will be a catch up post of the books I managed to read in the last two weeks (so hard to make time to read with work, school, 1 year old, baby still cooking in the oven, husband, four dogs and whatever else life throws at me...) Warning...some of these contain spoilers.

Anyways! In New York I was able to read:

Graveyard Shift by Angela Roquet
Cutsey book about a reaper that bends the rules. Quick easy read and helped get me back into the flow of reading and did not require tons of attention while we were travelling/exhausted from not sleeping for 40 hours due to normal day life/travelling with a screaming infant on a midnight flight/full day of meeting with family I have not seen in almost 10 years. It is a series, the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc, and could potentially be worth reading but I did not have them downloaded on my kindle. I got this as a free read from the kindle top 100 free.

Random Acts Of Crazy by Julia Kent
A super short quick read. Story had a ton of good potential but fell flat. A young girl stops and picks up a random naked stranger on the side of the road that turns out to be the boy from a small band that she is crazy about. The story focuses on them wanting to have sex, having sex and then having a threesome with another band member... if the author focused more on the plot lines that were not about sex I would have enjoyed the story a lot more. A free read of kindle top 100 free.

Jamaica reads:

Her Christmas Bonus by Rain Danvers
This is a short story that I got for free off of the kindle top 100 free list (I love all the free books! Kindle ends up paying for itself and sometimes you stumble across some amazing new books). If the author takes time to make this into a novel I would love to read it. As a short story everything happens really quick and there is not a ton of room to develop any plot lines or intricate details in the story. Gist is (and a spoiler...hard to not spoil a short story...) woman works for boss that she crushes on, boss and woman get the opportunity to meet outside of work and instantly a relationship develops where they both admit they have had feelings the whole time for each other and they live happily ever after.

In Between by Jenny B Jones
This was another free book from kindle top 100 free and a pretty good read. I have a soft spot for the main character though. She is a foster kid that is thrown into a foster family and has to learn what it is like to be part of a "normal" family. Like all families this new one is not perfect but she grows and so does the family. This book made me laugh out loud several times and I wish I could be half as quirky as the main character. Definitely worth a read.

That Boy by Jillian Dodd
Ahhhhh... yet another free read from kindle top 100 free. This was one of those rare finds that you end up wanting to read again. Girl and boy are next door neighbors, I pegged from the start that this was a happily ever after with these two characters and (spoiler!!!!) I was right but not in a predictable way which was totally refreshing. Girl and boys perfect relationship is thrown for a loop when another boy moves into the neighborhood. The three grow up as best friends and there are some very strong relationships between these three characters. I loved the way this story unfolded. There was lots of predictable and cheesy moments but peppered with things that could actually happen in real life. You root for all the characters and are torn by all the relationships. Some parts of the book seemed too rushed for my taste but thats because I never want a good story to end and I want every single detail!

After Jamaica we went to Florida for a couple nights but I did not get to do any reading as I had homework to complete.

Once we got home I was able to open a package from Barnes and Nobles, Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton. This is a photography book so only descriptions of the pictures. I love following HONY on all social media and was so excited to get this book!

Last for this post...

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
LOVED this book. Hubby bought me the box set, will be reading Where She Went during my break from school. We watched the movie before we left on the vacation and it was really well done so I was excited when Hubby bought me the books. It was done so closely to the book so that not much was lost by the translation from book to movie. Would recommend that you read the book and watch the movie if you have not already!

Now time to write my paper that I am avoiding...

Phoning Home - Jacob M.Appel

GoodReads First Read

I usually love memoirs and autobiographies but I felt this was more a collection of short biographies on people I cannot relate to, at least not yet. This book raises medical ethical questions and could be engaging and witty but just not for me.

The Ghosts of Nagasaki - Daniel Clausen

GoodReads First Read

This book is not an easy read at all but if you have the time definitely an interesting book to pick up. Everyone has their demons and this was an interesting, and sometimes confusing (when I was not focused on reading) story of a man taking on his demons.

I think I would have rated this book higher if I had more time to focus solely on it.

Eating Animals - Jonathan Safron Foer

I was given this book to read from a lifelong friend.

It is a hard subject to read about but a necessary one in my humble opinion. 

This book is an eye opener to the problems of factory farming.  No easily made solution is clearly presented though on how to correct the system in place other than the thought that "the world will shake it off like fleas"... There are steps each individual can take on a personal scale, which really wont impact factory farming on a larger scale. The whole factory farming system will not be going anywhere anytime soon. People are too in love with the cheap cost of items, and with the taste of meat, for it to go away in this generation or the next.

I would be interested in reading more about the side effects of humans consuming animals raised in factory farms versus grass fed free ranging animals that live on farms as they were hundreds of years ago. I think the medical side behind this issue would cause more steps in changing the system then the animal welfare unfortunately. I am not okay with the treatment behind how factory farmed animals are created and treated but I am guilty of comparing the prices of meats in the deli and buying the cheapest that also stills has good enough flavor.

Change Your Clothes Change Your Life - George Brescia

Every once in a while life gets away from you... Seems like its been forever since I have been able to sit down let alone log in to write up a blog. I am back though!

Goodreads First Read

This book was excellent and I would recommend to every girl, lady or woman. I was never into fashion growing up. I wanted to wear a t-shirt and jeans every day and it didn't matter the size or age of either. Just as long as I thought it was comfortable. As I went through college though the jeans and t-shirt look was not going to cut it any longer. Not only just in my social life but also in my academic and professional life. I did not know where to start though and was constantly depressed about my wardrobe. I wish I found this book back then. I have it now though and am taking all the lessons and applying it to my closet and shopping decisions and already I am getting those compliments on my choices that send me into a good mood regardless of all the work stacking up on my desk! I still have a lot to improve and need to find my own personal "George" to help me but I am finally on the right path (and have the promotion to go with it too!).

An Anguished Cry For Our Endangered Planet - Gladwin Das

Goodreads First Read

This book was fantastic. A physician's view of a global problem, it is written in a way that everyone can understand (not too technical). The truth can be hard to swallow but the sign from the Indian national park sums it up perfectly, "Nature has enough for our needs but not enough for our greed".

As a first time mom I have a different view of the world around me. It is no longer about what I can get from my surroundings but what I can provide for my daughter. Looking around the current global landscape the people on the earth will consume it in her life time which is a scary and terrible thought. What type of world will she have, will her children have?

All we can do is wake up individually to these real crisis we are generating. Personally we have chosen to install solar panels and buy an all electric vehicle, like a teardrop in the ocean I know, but if everyone took it upon themselves to change small things then the world would improve as a whole. My favorite quote of all time, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Innocent in Las Vegas - AR Winters

A good quick read. A story that has been told before though.

A woman wants to become a private investigator and gets her first case and muddles her way through it with the help of a sexy mysterious guy that owns his own security firm. The family loves the guy and who wouldn't but the girl is in denial of needing help let alone a hot sexy man...

Everybody Freaks Out! - T Rowe Price

I received this as a Goodreads First Read. I ranked this as "it's ok". It is a children's book but for adults. I guess my daughter would like the pictures but the content I would not read to her once she is able to understand.

Having gone to college, and still enrolled in a Masters program I fully am aware of the cost of college and how expensive it is right now. I can only imagine how much it will be when my daughter is ready to go. I started a very simple savings plan before she was born to help with the cost and I still worry that it may not be enough.

I am not overly fond of people talking to me like a child and while this is a cutsey rhyme about saving up for college and the 529 plan I could have skipped reading it and just read an informational pamphlet. Illustrations were not bad though so I did like that.

Hogwarts Library

As a very early birthday present my hubby bought me the Hogwarts Library set. This set was awesome! I am a huge Harry Potter fan and these three books are supposed to be like textbooks that Harry would have carried to class. They are a further glimpse into the world that JK Rowling created.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  describes some of the creatures that Harry sees in the 7 books we all know and love. There are some scribbles from the characters that make it cutsey.



The Tales of Beedle the Bard are magical children's stories. I think these will be great night time stories for my little monkey! The last story in the book is about the Deathly Hollows, nice to have it in a short story form to read aloud!



Quidditch Through the Ages breaks down Quidditch through the ages... see what I did there? It is amazing how much detail JKR puts into every aspect of her magical world. It makes it all the more vivid.

Itsy Bitsy Spider - Willow Rose

This book captured me from page one. I have been having difficulty finding a book to grab my attention, I am currently in the middle of about five books since not one of them really grabbed me. Itsy Bitsy Spider is a page turner though. I thought I knew what was happening, I thought I knew the ending but this book pulled one turn after another and I got lost in the pages!

Haiku My Cat Told Me The Kitty Speaks - Ken Malcom

Another Goodreads First Read. 

Cute haiku with popular internet photos.

Poems are not usually my first choice of reading material so not really sure how to review them. If you ever owned a cat you can appreciate the truth behind some of the haiku written. Great brain break book.

Nine Friends: In Time of Loss - Jeannie Seeley-Smith

I received this as a free download from the author. 

I thought this book was just okay. It was a super quick read and I think the price point would be a little high to grab my interest in a bookstore or online for a book that is barely 60 pages.

This book allowed for a more visual picture of the stages of loss and grief. I think it would offer someone a shallow glimpse of what someone else is going through to potentially help understand where they are on the road to recovering from a loss of someone or something. I have been through the stages of loss/grief and I do not think this book totally grasps at the emotions that I went through, this could be because of the small number of pages or because the author themselves experienced a different type of loss/grief. The title and the plot holds a ton of potential and if it was fleshed out it could be worth the price tag.

Children's Books

Just recently read The Tooth Book by Theo Lesieg (Dr. Seuss) and It's Not Easy Being Big by Stephanie St Pierre. These  are great books to have a sing song tone to when reading and easily grasps the attention of my nine month old. She loves to smack the pages once they are turned or close the book so she can pet the cover of the books which have great images!

Just One Thing - Holly Jacobs

I received this as a Goodreads First Read. My only complaint is the font used throughout the book. my eyes are old and italicized font is harder to read. The story itself was well done. Two people find themselves and overcome their past with a little help from each other. An over used plot idea but somehow different and beautifully done. You laugh and cry and want to hug your family members and fur kids close and be thankful for all the little moments. This was an easy read, took me just over a day but worth it. Makes you want to slow down and appreciate the moments, the "one-things" that you have had in the past and now that make you who you are.

Children's Books

There are some nursery rhymes that just get caught in your head. Especially the ones that your children love to hear and you read 100 times a day. As of right now my nine month old is obsessed with the Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton. I must say that I like it too, but that just might be because her cute little face scrunches up and she huffs and puffs at me as I sing it to her (her version of a giggle).

Then there are the books from when I was little, Little Bunny Foo Foo by Michael Rosen and Arthur Robins. I love singing this to my little monkey. She closes her eyes every time I tap her on the top of her head and smiles as I tell her sternly I am going to turn her into a goon!

The classics, Dr. Seuss. One Fish Two Fish is sadly my least favorite, though I still like it since I love all of the doctors works! I do not remember a lot of this story past the fishes and it is all over the place. I think it will be great when my daughter starts learning to read but there is no personal enjoyment for me to read it to her. I much prefer his other books such as the Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

The Undecided - Robin Donaruma

I received this as a Goodreads First Read. This book was very interesting! Usually not my favorite genre but my attention was grabbed in the first couple chapters. I liked that there was not a lot of useless dialogue that a lot of books these days seem to have. Also, I liked that there were a few life lessons to be learned a long the way. I will save this book and make my children read it once they are in school to hopefully impress on them some of the behaviors that the main character has. It was overall an easy read but not mindless. There is a lot of supernatural involved but the underlying meaning is a great life lesson that not only do I enjoy as an adult but I could see a teenager enjoying too.

The Safe: A Mystery Novel - Leo Cragg

I downloaded The Safe: A Mystery Novel by Leo Cragg as a free novel off of Amazon. I am addicted to looking at the top 100 free list for new reads.

The Safe is my type of book. I love a good mystery. I am usually pretty good at guessing how a book ends at the very beginning, just have to look for the clues that the author leaves in the first few chapters. In this book I thought I knew the ending but there were a lot of surprises towards the end. Bad people that were not so bad and good people that were thrown into shady situations. A quick read and worth the spare time!

Second Verse - Jennifer Walkup

As I mentioned earlier I received this as a Goodreads First Read, and I am happy I stuck it out. Overall gist of the book is boy and girl meet, boy and girl have outside drama impacting their relationship, love and murder occur hand in hand and then crazy plot twists prevent me from revealing anything more without spoiling the end.

It took me a while to get into this book. I am not a huge supernatural fan despite my love for Harry Potter books. This book was interesting. Its hard to come up with totally new and creative ideas it seems but this story took its own twists and it was exciting to read something new...ish.

Overall this is a good popcorn book, a little love, a little mystery and danger but does not require your full attention.

Child's Play

Since children's book play a role in my life these days I guess it is only fair that I review them as well. Below are the last five that I read to my little girl. She has no idea what I am reading to her but she likes to grab the pages. I let her hold the board books but the drool is dangerous on the pages so I proceed with caution and make sure lots of toys are nearby.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly - illustrations by Melissa Webb

Ever wonder why you like something so much as a child? Reading this to my daughter I couldn't help but think, wow, I was a pretty grim kid for liking this story so much...I do not remember that once she swallowed the fly she could die.

Marley Goes To School - John Grogan

I have Marley and Me by John Grogan that I still need to read, maybe I will move that up in the pile. I did see the movie (and that is most likely why this book is so far down on my stack to read...). This child's book though was cute! I love the antics that this pup gets up to and I can completely imagine him running through a school terrorizing the adults.

Romeo & Juliet - Jennifer Adams, illustrations by Alison Oliver 

This is a cute counting primer! 1-10 following the story of Romeo and Juliet, got to love the classics.

Alice in Wonderland - Jennifer Adams, illustrations by Alison Oliver

I love Alice in Wonderland with all my heart and this color primer did not disappoint!

I Can Do It Myself! - Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Sara Gillingham

Eh, not much substance to this book. It is a board book which is great for my girl to hang on to, not as easy to destroy. As she gets older and understands words this will be a good book to start with simple sentences. For right now the illustrations grab her attention and she likes to smack the book closed.

Half Past Winter - Ginger Nielson

I received this book as a Goodreads First Read. My daughter is too young to understand the story but she did like reaching for the pages which were well illustrated. I personally love children books that have morals and values to teach but this is a cute book to add to my daughter's collection and I can appreciate the art which a lot of children books tend to lack.

I really hope that all this time I put into her library while she is this young and all the reading we do together she will grow to love books as much as me. Then maybe my little book club would have a second member!
Or I will just have an excuse to re-read all my favorites such as Harry Potter...

GoodReads First Reads First Read - Being Audrey Hepburn by Mitchell Kriegman

Now that title was a mouth full...

I must say, I recently discovered that an ordinary Jane like myself could be privy to advanced copies. I am in love.

I won a free copy of "Being Audrey Hepburn" by Mitchell Kriegman from Goodreads.com and it was actually pretty good!

A lot happens in this fast paced story and my only complaint would be it was hard to gauge how much time passed between all the events. I may be the only one but the passage of time in a story is important to me. It helps me understand what is happening with the characters though process better. How they fly from one emotion to the next. I felt as though this story chopped out chunks of time without letting the reader fully process it was happening since the transition could have been seconds worth of time per the flow of the story but the words lead you to think maybe days if not weeks went by. Besides that though, this is not the typical girl likes a boy story even though there is that story line. This story focuses mainly on the drama behind finding the passion in life. If you have ever felt lost and adrift, without a passion or a plan in life you become the main character and cheer her on as she trips into a glamour filled life. There is a lot that is unbelievable in this story but that is why we read, or at least why I do. This story could happen in an alternate universe, to a girl that is not me. Or maybe it has happened to someone just not in such extremes.

This is definitely a popcorn book. Easy light reading that keeps you entertained without making you think too much about the plot or where the story was going. Everyone lives happily ever after, even with the various hiccups and roadblocks along the way.

Popcorn Reading

So my freshman roommate had a term for books that were easily read and without a lot of substance, popcorn. If they were bad, chips. There are so many book out there that are popcorn reading and I love a lot of them. They are easy to read when my mind is focused on a million and one other things such as homework or just work in general. Also, when travelling it is nice to have a popcorn book that does not require all your attention so you can keep an ear for your boarding directions and an eye on your bags.

Book Club...Members (1)

Moving to a new part of the valley I was hoping that new opportunities would open up to meet new people. Maybe, just maybe there would be a book club nearby. As an avid reader I am constantly looking for other people that share my passion and love of all books. That is a lot harder then I thought it would be. Partially because my nose, in all my abundant free time *sarcasm*, is always in a book.

I married a man that has no love of books, or anything longer then a memo. Hand him the sports in highlight and he is a happy man. Along with having a husband that has no passion for books I was raised in a household that lacked the bookworm bug.

So a little bit about myself...

I am married. We just celebrated our first year of marriage! Time flies when you are having fun. Our first year of marriage was packed with buying a new build home, getting married and having our beautiful eight month old daughter, and I swear its not because I am biased that I say this! I have been told by random adults and children, and you know how open children are about what they think, that she is beautiful!

Along with my human family members we have a full house of furkids. Adrienne is our 10 year old Boxer whose partner, Rocky, recently passed, he was gone too sudden... Then there is our three year old Pomeranian/Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix Capone. Tiny little guy packed with lots of attitude and aged beyond his years, poor guy turned gray before his first birthday. Before Rocky left us we took in another Boxer, Bonnie. Once Rocky was gone though Bonnie went a little stir crazy with the "too old to play" folks so in came Drago the Great Dane. Before you say anything, yes we are a little crazy.

So, with full time wife and mommy duty you would think I have enough on my plate. Nope! I work full time as a cubicle monkey, lots of spreadsheets and people with big attitudes. Work and family is not enough though to keep this girl busy. I am also in the midst of completing a Masters in the Science of Accounting.

That just about sums me up! With all that I have going on finding a book club keeps getting pushed lower and lower on the list of things to do. So, since I do not have enough time to join one, and keep up with meetings or their books they choose, why not start my own? Book club with one member. No pressure behind choosing a group friendly book and no deadlines to meet. This could work for me!

Now what to read...