I saw this meme on It’s All About Booksand thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for originally posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are wonderful and take you to places you would never get a chance to go. That includes places of fantasy too!!
This is where I traveled in August:
United Kingdom
England–London
Ireland—Dublin
Scotland—Castle Kincaid
Scotland—Glasgow and Kendrick Castle
Scotland—Scottish Highlands/Dreagan
2. Spain
Madrid
4. United States
North Carolina—Raleigh
Louisiana and Mississippi—Cottonbloom
Washington—Seattle
Washington—Seattle
New York—NYC, Brooklyn, Queens
Pennsylvania—undisclosed locations
5. Canada
Toronto
6. Godsland
The world of Godsland
7. Earth Two
Earth Two—various settlements
8. Aerthlan
Aerthlan, Isle of the Moon, Vindalyn Castle—Eberon
Let me know if you have read any of these books and, if you did read them, what you thought of them.
On a summer night in London, art teacher Eve Chapman finds herself in a hospital emergency room. She watches surgeons desperately operate on a young woman with a terrible head injury. But when the bandages are removed, Eve is horrified to find her own body on the operating table.
Trapped in a coma, Eve struggles to cope with the fact that no matter how hard she tries, her family and friends cannot see or hear her. But then she meets Luca Diaz, a handsome and comatose lawyer who can see her. He takes Eve under his wing and teaches her how to use her new abilities to help the living.
As the weeks pass, Eve struggles to find a way back to her body and to Nathan, the man she loves. But the more time she spends with Luca, the more she wonders if her old life is worth going back to at all.
First Line:
It’s joyful weather, a day for looking up rather than down, for seeing the blue of the sky, latticed with vapour trails, not the grime of the dusty pavements.
I Let You Fall by Sara Downing
I Let You Fall is one book that grabs you by your heartstrings and continuously yanks them throughout the book. I wasn’t expecting this book to have that kind of hold over me. I haven’t been this affected by a book in a while.
I Let You Fall has an interesting plotline. Eve finds herself in a hospital OR, watching a surgeon operating on a young woman with a horrible head injury. Wondering why she is there and why no one is talking to her, Eve follows the young woman to a room, where she makes a horrifying discovery. That young woman is her, and she is in a coma. Distraught, Eve doesn’t know how to cope until she meets a man who sees her and talks to her. That man is Luca and is also in a coma after being attacked by an ex-client. Luca explains to Eve that she can help people and teaches her how to use them. They also grow close, and Eve starts developing feelings for Luca, even though she has a boyfriend. Eve desperately wants to go back to her body and wake up. That is compounded when she loses Luca. Will Eve wake up? And more importantly, will she find Luca when she does?
I loved Eve in this book. I thought she dealt with the shock of seeing herself in a coma pretty well. If that had been me, I would have been freaking out, curled up on the floor crying. My only complaint was that she either refused or didn’t see how much of an idiot Nathan was (I will get to him in a bit). I loved how she embraced her abilities and pushed herself when testing them out. She made me cry a little bit when she comforted her family and friends who came to visit. But, what she did towards the end of the book made me love her.
I can’t say enough about Luca. He was there for Eve when she needed him. But he also gave her space to accept her new reality and adjust to it. He was her rock; later in the book, after Nathan did what he did. Also, I liked how the author connected him to several events before Eve’s accident. I was a little shocked when his storyline took the turn it did, but I expected it.
Let’s talk about Nathan (set to the tune of We Don’t Talk About Bruno). He was despicable. At first, I thought it was because of Eve’s accident, but when he started asking about how bad Eve’s scar would be, I started to dislike him. My dislike was cemented when he brought his side piece to Eve’s hospital room. My mouth dropped open, and I was like, “Oh hell no, he didn’t do that.” I was glad the author took him out of the storyline shortly afterward. He was just too much.
A secondary storyline starts right after Eve’s accident involving Ron, Susan, and their sons: George and Will. The storyline is sad, George is in kidney failure, and the stress affects everyone. I wondered how the author would connect their storyline to Eve’s. But, when she did, it was something that broke my heart and made me happy at the same time (two separate things happened).
The secondary characters also made the book. The nurses, the surgeons, Eve’s parents, and friends each left an impression on me.
I liked the author’s angle with Luca and Eve having abilities. It made the book more interesting to read. The author did start Eve off little (helping a woman with a husband who was dying) and worked up to the bigger events.
The romance angle was very subtle. I liked that the author chose to do that. Mainly because Luca and Eve were in comas and never met while awake but also because there was so much else going on. I felt that if the romance were more in your face, it would have taken away from everything else in the book.
The end of I Let You Fall was a tear-jerker. I loved how the author ended the book. I can’t get into it because of spoilers, but the ending was perfect (chef’s kiss). I couldn’t have asked for anything better than what happened.
I would recommend I Let You Fall to anyone over 16. There is mild language, some violence with some mild gore, and no sexual situations (even though Eve and Luca kiss a couple of times).
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Personal:
Here’s what has gone on since last week’s WWW Wednesday:
Well, it’s been over a month, and I have a ton to cover. So, here goes nothing.
Miss R had her tonsils and adenoids surgery on July 1st (which was a big part of why I went MIA). She had some complications during the surgery with her blood pressure. It was very high (a PA I know told me they should have canceled the surgery because of how high it was), and it had a problem coming down after the surgery. Because of that, her recovery was extended to 2 weeks and complete rest. Ever try keeping an active 8-year-old inactive? Yeah, it was as difficult as it sounds. But she made it through. Her throat healed, and she is back to her usual self.
BK got laid off in mid-July. We saw it coming (the company was downsizing because of lack ofsales), but still, it sucked. But, as the old saying goes: when one door closes, another opens. He got a call 2hours after being laid off and was offered a job where he used to work (the company he was at for10years). Of course, he took it and is super happy about it. The only sucky thing is that we won’t have insurance until October (I told the kids not to get sick until after October 1st…lol).
I am in therapy (due to PTSD) and starting a new therapy type called EMDR (click the link for details). My wonderful therapist and I are excited to try this. She (mytherapist) even went to get certified so she could start this with me (and others).
I was in a huge reading slump which started when Miss R went in for her surgery. It got to the point where I didn’t even want to pick up my Kindle or read the paperbacks sent to me. Over the past couple of weeks, I had a big heart-to-heart with myself and decided to delete my NetGalley account (along with the ARCs). I had gotten overwhelmed with the number of books I had gotten from them. Also, I realized that almost all the books I had gotten from there were not from genres that I liked but were from more mainstream authors. I started this blog by reviewing indie authors and decided to take it back to its roots. So, for now on, I will be only reviewing books from author requests, my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads, and BookSirens.
One of my cats passed away during this time too. Her name was Skittles, and she was a long-haired diluted tabby. Even though she was mean to other cats, she was a sweetheart to people. We don’t know what happened. One day, she was doing her usual cat stuff, and the next, we woke up to a dead cat. She was only 5 1/2 when she passed.
Miss B was inconsolable after Skittles died. So, what did we do (and against my wishes)? We went to our county’s humane society and adopted a kitten (they were adopting cats and kittens out for $1 with no background check…smh). His name is Vinnie, and he is a terror. His paperwork put him at 10 weeks old. But when we took him to the vet (he had a cough, and I wanted an overall checkup), she said he was 8 weeks old. We think he is at least part Eygptian Mau. He has all the physical characteristics (including his eyes turning green) and many personality traits the breed exhibits. When I take him in for his 2nd set of kitten shots, I will ask my vet what she thinks.
I am gearing up for back to school. My kids go back on the 29th, and we have already started scaling back their bedtimes (they all go to bed around 9-930 and are asleep later). I am waiting for MissR’s teacher assignment (they mail it), and Mr. Z has freshman orientation on the 23rd.
So that’s the major things for this past week. How was your week?
As always, let me know if you have read or are planning to read any of these books!!
What I Recently Finished Reading:
Nothing. I haven’t read a darn thing in over a month. I am going to fix that pretty shortly
What I am currently reading:
On a summer night in London, art teacher Eve Chapman finds herself in a hospital emergency room. She watches surgeons desperately operate on a young woman with a terrible head injury. But when the bandages are removed, Eve is horrified to find her own body on the operating table.
Trapped in a coma, Eve struggles to cope with the fact that no matter how hard she tries, her family and friends cannot see or hear her. But then she meets Luca Diaz, a handsome and comatose lawyer who can see her. He takes Eve under his wing and teaches her how to use her new abilities to help the living.
As the weeks pass, Eve struggles to find a way back to her body and to Nathan, the man she loves. But the more time she spends with Luca, the more she wonders if her old life is worth going back to at all.
What books I think I’ll read next:
A whisper of someone like her being born has been discussed for aeons by the gods. The question is, who is she, and where is she? Meara lives an ordinary life with her eccentric grandmother and three siblings in a small Georgian house in Dublin. On her eighteenth birthday, her little sister is kidnapped by an incredibly powerful man, and her entire world turns upside down. Long hidden family secrets tumble out, and supernatural beings suddenly surround her. However, she thinks she is a side character, the hero’s friend, and the heroine’s sister. After all, her nature is more girl-next-door than a tortured soul with ninja fighting skills. Her only desire is to get her sister back and keep her safe but to do so; she must battle dangerous beings and reign in her treacherous heart which has begun to beat for her family’s sworn enemy, a gorgeous demigod.
Immerse yourself in complex romance and suspenseful serial-killer psychology that bend and break all expectations. Weaving together two innovative plots and completely unforgettable characters, The Killings Begin stands out as one of the most creative takes on storytelling in the last century. Don’t miss this thrilling debut to the Spectrum Series!
Gia Delgado flips her life upside down when she escapes from her arranged marriage and moves to Madrid. Finally, she can live the life she wants… if only it were that easy. When she realizes the lifestyle she craves is just out of reach, she enters into a contract with three complicated men. In exchange for an apartment and stipend, she’ll pretend to be their “no strings” wife, whether they want to display her in public or lead her to the bedroom. There are vital rules, though: They are all bound to secrecy, and no one is allowed to fall in love.
If you think you know what comes next, excuse me… you’re wrong.
Gia doesn’t know it yet, but someone sinister is destined to tear her life to shreds. From the outside, Tracey Lauch looks like the adopted son of a perfect high-society family. Who wouldn’t trust him? He works in the justice system, sits on his family’s art museum board, and even establishes a foster home to keep siblings together. These appearances mean nothing. As he tries to cope with his abandonment trauma, a reconnection to his past triggers him, and he loses control with deadly consequences. Now a serial killer, Tracey panics. Fleeing to Europe, he hopes that a change of venue will quell his murderous desires. Can he heal his past, or will his anger and pain enslave him forever?
Dive into an unpredictable world of secrets, murder, and psychological thrills unlike any other.
The Killings Begin was previously published as Murder in Zaporozhye.
In his semi-autobiographical novel, This Time Next Summer, Mikheyev weaves a tender tale about love and loss, one that is distinctly personal and yet universally human.
She was beautifully broken. And his everything.
Hurt and scarred by every man in her life, Jasmine had vowed to never love again. Then she meets Avgust, and her broken heart resumes beating.
A romantic idealist who measures love by his poetry output, Avgust had given up on finding that elusive once-in-a-lifetime kind of love he’d always dreamed of. But the moment he spies Jasmine in a coffee shop, he knows unequivocally that she is his Her—the woman who will change his life.
It was the perfect love story.
Until the secrets and betrayals of the past threaten to break them apart.
Will their love be strong enough to save Jasmine from her past, and Avgust from his future?
Zoe was still in high school when she saw her father shot dead by a classmate obsessed with her, and then still a kid, witnessed the killer’s sentencing. A horrible tragedy, but now, thirteen years later, she’s thoroughly rebooted her life.
She’s the CEO of her own cyber security company, a celebrity in her field, and a speaker in high demand.
She’s just the kind of strong, self-reliant woman who can take care of herself in any situation.
Except the one she’s in.
She’s got a stalker.
And she already knows he’s a killer.
Given her background, Zoe knows instantly that she needs protection and she knows how to get it—her sister Mel’s the owner of Blackhawk Security.
But trust Mel to send Spence Flynn, the one agent Zoe can’t be alone with, but not because they don’t get along. It’s because attraction sizzles between the two of them like runaway electricity. And because they both know the last thing a body guard should do is get into a relationship with his principal.
It’s unethical and dangerous.
But how are they supposed to fight this thing? Spoiler: Good intentions suffer a knockout in the first round. And then, to the delight of the reader, the earth moves in the most delicious way.
Meanwhile, Zoe’s stalker is still sending her charms from a bracelet he stole from her thirteen years ago, the scariest being a heart he’s had engraved with both their names. Unnerving enough– and then he starts dropping off lunch for her, tailing her in a white Subaru, and trying to break into her condo.
Spence has his hands full in more than one way. And Zoe has a public appearance coming up. The perfect time for a stalker to strike.
