Better Dead - Pamela Kopfler

Current TBR List: 16
Currently Reading: 6
Books Finished in December: 26

A GoodReads First To Read free physical copy in exchange for an honest review.

Better Dead by Pamela Kopfler

Publication Day: December 26^th, 2017

First book in the A B&B Spirits Mystery series this is a great cozy mystery. A quick easy read we get all the elements of a typical cozy mystery but with a supernatural element and second chance romance.

Holly is all about Southern hospitality and will do anything to make Holly Grove, her historical plantation, survive as a bed and breakfast. The home has been in her family for generations and she doesn’t want to be the one to lose it. Against Holly’s best intentions her childhood moniker, Hurricane Holly, seems to have a good reason to still stick to her. Though things go awry, her financial troubles are all Burl’s fault, her recently deceased husband. Just like Burl’s mess though, Burl won’t go away. Holly’s ghost ex-husband haunting her would be enough of a headache but now her old flame is renting a room, can the house fit both men?

Holly is doing everything she can to stay on track to saving her home and business but it seems like her financial troubles are only the tip of the iceberg. Turns out Burl was using Holly Grove as a front to drug smuggling and his unfinished business is the new drop that is coming any day now…

I was thoroughly entertained as I read through the story! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the series brings.

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving

Attachments and other personal stories

Current TBR List: 15
Currently Reading: 5
Books Finished in December: 23

My love for Rainbow Rowell continues!

I finished Attachments, my third Rainbow Rowell book this year, and it was super cute! Don’t get me wrong, its Very problematic, yes capital V not a typo. It still doesn’t stop me from loving it though. Rainbow Rowell just knows how to hit you in your feels. I must read all her books now. Eleanor and Park is still my favorite one though!

In Attachments, Lincoln is awkward and back living with his mom. His weekends are spent playing D&D and mooning over his first love from a decade ago. To shake things up he just signed up for a great paying job as cyber security for a newspaper company. He wanted an easy job where he would have plenty of time to sort out his life, or lack of life. Instead, he gets caught up in reading personal emails, not everyone’s though. Just the ones between Beth and Jennifer. He slowly grows to love her through her inappropriate emails. Then one day the emails start discussing him. Now what does he do?

This is far from a perfect relationship, or even a healthy one, but you root for it all the same. Which brings me to my side rant, why is okay for attractive people, and people that are attracted to each other, to behave in these stalkerish ways and it be deemed acceptable?! 

When I was in college I was in the phone store a lot because I had the worst luck with phones, they literally would be put in my hands to die. I was in the store at least twice a month for an entire semester and the guy there was cute and he flirted with me while I hung out (it was a very long walk back to the dorm). One day I got a text message from him… I had never given him my number outside the “what’s the number on the account”. I immediately looked at my friend and was like “I should be creeped out right?!?! But he is just sooooo cute”. Well, I should have trusted my initial instincts because on the “first date” he was flirting with the waitress and even managed to score her number, well, I scored $50 in sushi so it was a wash in my books. So as I cringed my way through Attachments I knew what the characters were going through. It could be possible and I wanted the happy ending because this was supposed to be a cute contemporary read not horror!

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving

The Monster of Selkirk Book 2: The Heart of the Forest - CE Clayton

I am so lucky to be part of this second book tour! I read the first one and I loved the world that was starting to be built. I cannot wait to dive back into it. I received a free e-book copy in exchange for being part of this tour and honest review when I am finished!

http://www.ceclayton.com/

Dec. 18th:
Jen (http://www.happylilbooknook.com)

Dec. 19th:
Sarah (http://www.transientdrifter.blogspot.com)

Dec. 20th:
Paige G. (http://www.popthebutterfly.wordpress.com)

Dec. 21st:
Jess (https://xlittlebookwormx.wordpress.com)

Dec. 22nd:
Kat (http://www.instagram.com/katsbookstagram)

Dec. 23rd:Kira (http://thelonelybookclub.blogspot.com)

The Chalk Man - C.J. Tudor

Current TBR List: 16
Currently Reading: 6
Books Finished in December: 21

A free e-book from Penguin First to Read in exchange of an honest review.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
Publication day: January 9, 2018

BAM BAM BAM

Damn…The opening, the first chapter… You are hit with a lot very quickly when you start this story. Very gruesome things so the squeamish beware.

I absolutely loved the way this book started. Yes, it does drop off and becomes a more mellow mystery after the opening but the horror that was inspired in the start remained with you and hooked you to see what the hell happened.

Told in past and present we follow a group of friends from Eddie’s perspective. The little group of misfits ride around on their bikes, hang out around town and in the forest. A gift of chalk and an inspiring talk with a teacher leads to secret messages being left, a secret code of chalk men to say who was calling and where they were going. A fun little prank leads to very real dead and dismembered body in the woods.

Though nothing is the same after finding the body Eddie was not expecting the chalk man to show up again, especially not decades later. Each friend receives a note with the ominous drawing and the solved mystery is reopened for the friends, especially when one of them turns up dead.

Reading this story, especially after the huge revival hype around It by Stephen King, all I could think of was “is this set in Derry? Is chalk man a euphemism for creepy ass clown?”

We have a group of misfit boys and one tomboy girl that has an abusive father. The similarities continue from there. There are the bad kids in town that molest and terrorize everyone else. Lots of unexplained deaths and creepy drawings and visions. Where It relied on supernatural though there was nothing  supernatural in this story. The events in this story could actually happen. Everything that happened was horrific. What made it even more horrible was the ending. That last little bit of extra the author puts in. So normal, so every day and yet…

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving

Catching Up

Current TBR List: 17
Currently Reading: 7
Books Finished in December: 20

AHH! I "fell behind" in my reading schedule because I was knocked out sick over the last weekend… I slept for 13 hours on Sunday and lost precious valuable reading time! Still though, reading game is strong this month even though I am neglecting my TBR in lieu of some mood reading.

I picked up the short story For I Have Sinned by Darynda Jones after reading First Grave on the Right. Even though it was less than 100 pages it was pretty emotional and lets you see Charley Davidson in a different light. It makes the character that more endearing and I seriously cannot wait to pick up the rest of the series.

Switching gears I listened to A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I don’t think I was emotionally prepared for this story. I see where all the hype is and I was thoroughly impressed with the story myself. Ove is a grumpy old man. At least, that’s what his behavior screams. Looking into his thought process though you see the emotion and the reasoning behind his behaviors and you cannot help but love him. A great reminder that you never know a person and you cannot imagine the journey their life has taken them through. A great read for everyone (unless you are sensitive to suicide/suicide attempts). Ove has lost the love of his life and is on a journey of closing up his affairs so that he might be able to kill himself in peace. Then the new neighbor keeps interrupting, he can’t leave without everything being in perfect order. This book was super touching and the last couple chapters just killed my heart. 

I then finished Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie. Just like all anthologies there were hits and misses. I did not care too much for the start of this book. I get what was happening but the execution was just okay for me. The latter half of this book though I really started to enjoy! Favorites: The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer, Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon, Death Knell by Victoria Schwab, Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith, Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke and Sera by Nicola Yoon.

After each short story there was the prompt and then a couple pages from the YouTube personality. In my personal taste, I would have liked to see the story prompts and the reason behind the prompt before the actual story. Not all the prompts/character draws were as self-explanatory or well known as others so it was a bit harder to connect to the story. Some are well known villains i.e. the sea witch, death, and the beast, so it was easier to set an expectation for behaviors of the characters knowing it is such a short story and you don’t get a lot of room for background. As for the YouTube personality pages, some added a lot to the story. Made you think deeper either about the short story itself or about the topic that faced that particular villain. Others just seemed very young and impromptu additions.

Overall, it was a good collection but not my absolute favorite. I would love to see some of my favorite stories expanded though!

  

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving

The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks; Sarah Pekkanen

Current TBR List: 17
Currently Reading: 8
Books Finished in December: 18

A free e-book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

With the reviews this book was getting, I had much higher hopes. I wouldn’t call this a thriller, more a mystery, and a slow burn one.

After finishing this book the cover and description make so much more sense. Good job marketing!

Vanessa (Nessa) is having a hard time letting go of her ex-husband Richard. So she of course stalks him and his new fiancé. We are tossed between past and present, between Nessa and Nellie. I found myself interested enough to keep reading but at the same time bored because I saw the ending coming by page 100.

The characters were not easy to like and the constant clothes name branding that happened for no reason at all was just boring to read about. How many times did I read “Chanel with a dented button” and “it was 4 seasons out of date”.

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving

First Grave on the Right - Darynda Jones

Current TBR List: 16
Currently Reading: 7
Books Finished in December: 17

A free e-book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
Published on: February 1, 2011

How did I just discover this series?! Thank you NetGalley for having this book available! Darynda 

Jones just released the 11^th book in this series, Eleventh Grave in the Moonlight earlier this year and I guess to build interest they were giving away book one.

If you ever read the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich you know what this series is, just add a bunch of dead people and steamy scenes and BAM you have Charley Davidson.

Charley Davidson is a private investigator by day and a grim reaper by…well…24/7. Charley helps the dead deliver their last messages such as “I didn’t use the last of her mousse” and “my lily pad is bigger” sometimes she is sucked into solving murders. Which tends to be easier for her to do since she can talk to the victims.

Just like the Stephanie Plum series there is the normal guy who she buts heads with, the mysterious guy that she has the ultimate hots for and the uncle that gets her into the business. She also is a bumbling hot mess and obsessed with food. Though the two series have a lot in common I cannot wait to dive into Charley’s next story! I would say this is the PG and PC version of the Plum series and the jokes made kept me laughing out loud.

Instagram: @shelf.loving

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelfloving