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 initially posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy too!!
Bon Voyage!!
Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.
Earth 2
Government, Settlement
United States
New York (Crescent Cove), Nevada (Las Vegas)
Maryland (Pikesville)
California (Los Angeles)
Washington (Seattle)
New York (Seneca Springs)
Colorado (Longmont)
Kansas (Liverly)
Indiana (English), California (San Fransisco), Virginia (Perryville), Arizona (Tombstone), New York (New York City)
North Carolina (Neapolis)
New York (Manhattan), California (Newport Beach, Balboa Island, Newport, Menlo Park, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Goleta)
Louisiana (Unknown city), Rhode Island (Emerald Bay)
Unknown State (Unknown City)
New York (New York City, New Rochelle)
Wyoming (Wallace), Iowa (Fort Madison)
West Virginia (Huntington), Ohio (Crown City)
Pennsylvania
California (Mojave Desert, Aspen Flats, Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Aptos, Pajaro Dunes)
2023 Monthly Themes (Continue a series or reread an author already read this year): Claim My Baby—Finished 3-31-23
Romanceopoly 2023! (Read a book where the main character works at or owns a bar)-About Love—Finished 4-1-23
Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (words in the title related to emotions, from happy to sad, smile to frown, pride to rage)—P.S. I Hate You—Finished 4-3-23
2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (a book with one of these words in the title: Sunny, Bright, Cloud or Rain): Brightest Shadow—Finished 4-6-2023
Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (a flower): A Spirited Manor—Finished 4-7-2023
The StoryGraph’s OnBoarding Reading Challenge 2023 (read one of the first 10 books you added to your to-read pile): The Night Swim—Finished 4-8-2023
The StoryGraph Reads the World 2023 (Italy): Find Me—Finished 4-10-2023
The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a biography about someone you don’t know much about): Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot—Finished 4-11-2023
Beat the Backlist 2023 (take place primarily in winter or a cold region): Tainted—Finished 4-19-2023
Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (go to the acknowledgments of the last book you read for this prompt. What name did you first see? Find a book written by an author with that name): Frost Burn—Finished 4-20-2023
Scavenger Hunt (Book I found that day): Delicate Ink—Finished 4-20-2023
Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (a book by a first time author): The Fifth Floor—Finished 4-21-23
2023 TBR Toppler (continue a series): Ten Thousand Lies—Finished 4-22-23
2023 Reading Challenge (book that has been on my TBR for the longest time): Purple Death—Finished 4-23-23
2023 ABC Challenge (D): Descendants—Carrying over to May
2023 TBR Prompts (A BookTok Favorite): The Song of Achilles—Carrying over to May
Widowed sounded better than divorced. Or at least it did the first time.
Despite having survived the trials and tribulations of The Diseased – Paige finds herself in a situation that seems even more impossible.
The President is dying.
Those four words set Paige’s life on a course she could never have predicted.
The President is dying, only Paige can save him.
Those eight words are the only ones keeping her friends Georgia and Violet alive.
The President is dying, only Paige can save him. She won’t.
It is those ten words that keep Paige motivated, that keep her sane.
First Line:
The President is sick. Those four words are the tiny gap between life and death for me.
Body Count by S.M. Thomas
Starting shortly after the events of The Diseased, Body Count follows Paige, Georgia, and Violet as they try to keep one step ahead of Paul, the President’s advisor. The President is dying, and Paige knows how to cure him. But she won’t tell. The lives of her son, Georgia, and Violet depend on her silence. Paige is also starting to remember the night of the car accident that killed her husband and caused her amnesia. What she remembers could be the thing that breaks her. What happened that night? Who can’t she trust? Will she be able to save her son and friends?
I don’t even know where to begin with Body Count. I was super excited when I got the heads-up email from the author and immediately downloaded it. I devoured this book. It took me over 3 hours to read. I read it in the car pick-up line (the best place for uninterrupted reading), at dinner, and in bed.
Body Count is the 2nd book in the Paige Hanson series. This book is not standalone. You need to read book 1 to understand what is happening in book 2. If you do read book two first, you will be confused.
Body Count is a fast-paced book that is set on the planet of Earth 2. Most of the book takes place in apartments where Paige, Georgia, and Violet are held captive or in the lab where Paige has done much of her work. This environment, along with the intense pressure that Paige is under for more than 90% of the book, is perfect for the book.
I liked Paige. There were times when I wanted to take her and hug her. Her mental state was shaky during the first half of the book. Not that I blamed her for feeling the way that she did. She thought she couldn’t trust anyone, including her best friend, Violet. She also was dealing with her memory coming back. It wasn’t like a waterfall, and everything came back at once. Nope, it was disjointed and confusing. There were things she remembered that didn’t make sense. But still, she was one of the strongest people in the book.
The secondary characters of Violet, Georgia, Ryle, and Paul were well-written. I liked that the author made it a point to make me not trust Violet, Georgia, or Ryle. Paul, on the other hand, was despicable. He was a faithful sycophant. Like Paige’s, my trust in Violet, Georgia, and Ryle wasn’t strong. I kept wondering what ulterior motives they had.
The main storyline was fantastic. As I said, Paige’s mental health was shaky for the book’s first half. It was understandable with everything that she had been through. She didn’t trust anyone and told her friends half-truths about things. It was understandable. But the book’s second half is where everything starts to pick up. Paige’s memory started returning, and she planned to get her, her friends, and her son out. There are a few big twists in the storyline that I did not see coming. It was sad when her memory returned, and she understood what her husband was trying to say. The author also didn’t hesitate to kill off the main characters. I was shocked at who was killed off. I didn’t see it coming and felt blindsided.
The end of Body Count annoyed me. Mainly because it ended with a To Be Continued. While I am glad that there will be another book, and I hope that Paige gets her revenge, I also wanted a resolution now (stamping my foot like Veruca Salt). I guess I’ll have to wait….sigh.
I would recommend Body Count to anyone over 21. There is language and violence but no sexual situations. Also, see my list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the post.
Many thanks to S.M. Thomas for allowing me to read and review Body Count. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
It has been a while since I have done a monthly wrap-up. Usually, I am pressed for time (between thekids, their activities, and other life issues), and I choose not to do one. But I am making a change starting with this month. I will do a monthly wrap-up (even if it is only a couple of things).
So, here is what I read/posted in the month of September.
As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.
First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts by Linda Budzinski, Melissa Maygrove, Sylvia Nay, Katie Klein, Michael di Gesu, Templeton Moss, S.E. White, Denise Covey, Sammi, Spizziri (review here)
Last Place Seen by Alessandra Harris (review here)
Since waking up from the accident Dr Paige Hanson has been asked that question over and over. By the hospital staff, by her mother in law and by Government officials.
As she struggles to grasp the wisps of memory returning to her Paige learns that there’s more at stake than Leo’s whereabouts.
Turning towards the teachings of the one person she swore never to become she begins to realise that some questions are best left unanswered.
First Line:
“We were drowning. That’s the last thing I remember.”
The Diseased by S.M. Thomas
I like books that keep me guessing what will happen as I read. I also like books that do not fit into what you think a specific genre would be like (if that makes sense). But, most of all, I like books that suck me in, don’t let me go, and make me want more after the ending. Those reasons are precisely what TheDiseased did to me as I read it.
The Diseased is the first book in the Paige Hanson series. And what a first book it was!! Seeing that it is the first book, I won’t tell you if you need to read the series first or if it is a standalone.
The Diseased is the story of Dr. Paige Hanson and the mystery of what happened to her husband the night their car drove into a lake. Paige has very fuzzy recollections of what happened and almost none of what led to the accident. Paige, a brilliant scientist, is released from the hospital only to be kept under surveillance at all times. What happened that night? What are Paige’s secrets? Paige realizes she isn’t the only one keeping secrets, but her secrets could kill her.
Paige was a highly complex character which, in my eyes, meant she was complicated to get to know and like. There were several different sides of Paige that were gradually introduced. They were: Paige the scientist; Paige the mother; Paige the wife; Paige the daughter-in-law; Paige the friend; and Paige the daughter/child. The author did a fantastic job of building up each side of Paige and then merging them towards the end of the book. At first, I wasn’t her biggest fan, but the author was able to change my mind about her during the book.
What surprised me the most about this book is that it doesn’t take place on Earth. Nope, the entire story takes place on a planet called Earth 2. There was a disaster on Earth 1, and a lottery was set up to select people to travel to Earth 2. Paige’s mother was one of those who had won the lottery. Nothing else was mentioned about the original Earth, except that it was burning. I figured everyone else died. The new planet was very similar to Earth 1, except there were already intelligent, human-like creatures who occupied it. Those creatures kindly allowed the settlers to build settlements. But, humans doing what they do best and started abusing the original lifeforms, which struck back. When the book begins (about 50 or so years after touching down), there is an uneasy peace. This information was told by Paige, remembering what her mother-in-law and mother had told her about her journey from Earth 1.
I wasn’t surprised by how the ruling government was. The original leaders of Earth 2 decided they didn’t want what happened on Earth 1 to happen again. They decided to remove the settlers’ customs and fundamental rights to make a more cohesive and obedient population. I was terrified and fascinated as I read this book.
I wish the author had gone more into Earth 2’s original occupants. All I knew was that they were human-like, could procreate with humans, and were pissed about what the settlers were doing. There was mention of an influential family with which Paige’s mother was involved, but that was it. Hopefully, in the next book, the author will explain more.
The mystery angle of The Diseased was well written. The author had a stranglehold on where Leo was and why they ended up in the lake. Her remembering those events was terrific and shed so much light on everything!!
The suspense and thriller angles of the book were just as well written. The author kept me in suspense about various plotlines (main and sub) that were going on throughout the book.
The storyline with Regina, Paige, and Franklin was very intense. As a mother, I could see both sides of the coin. I could see why Regina was pushing Paige to remember, and I could also see why Paige was protective of Franklin. Of course, a massive twist in that storyline took me by surprise. It made me rethink Regina (I was not too fond of her actions over most of the book).
The storyline with Paige, Leo, and the mystery of what happened that night was one of the most amazing ones I have read. The author kept me guessing about what happened to Leo and why Paige was driving. She let little details trickle down, gave slight hints, and got everything under wraps. So, when the author revealed everything, I was surprised.
The storyline with the pandemic and Paige hit a little too close to home for me. I did like seeing Paige’s process to develop a vaccine, but at the same time, I kept flashing back to quarantine.
The storyline with Paige and her mother was raw and difficult to read. It was tough to read because of Paige’s emotions. I could see how torn she was between wanting to have a relationship with her mother and, at the same time, she wanted to denounce her. I liked seeing her eventual realization that maybe her mother was on to something and waiting for her mother to do something at the trial.
The end of The Diseased was interesting. I was a little miffed that it ended on a cliffhanger, but it did its job!! I say that because of where Paige ended up and what she did after talking to her friends. I need to read book two and see where Paige goes next.
I would recommend The Diseased to anyone over 21. There are no overtly sexual scenes. But there is violence and language. There are scenes where a baby drowns, a man gets hanged, and another man is forced to denounce his sexuality.
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Personal:
We are getting ready for the first day of school. Backpacks and shoes were bought, and I went school cloth shopping for Miss R. We’re going shopping for Miss B and Mr. Z next weekend.
I can’t believe I am saying this, but we got another freaking cat. We went to the shelter and picked up a 10-week-old longhaired orange and white male kitten. Staying with the gangster theme for names, we named him Tony (after Tony Soprano, Vinne is after the actor who played Big Pussy in the Sopranos). He’s a spitfire who doesn’t like to be handled (we’re working on that).
On the reading front, I enjoy not reviewing books from NetGalley. To be honest, once I made the decision to cut the cord, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I am reviewing a book a week (well, two this week), and again, just love that I can read what I want when I am done reading the books I need to review.
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:
A river divides Cottonbloom in two: the upscale enclave on the Mississippi side and the rundown, rough and tumble side in Louisiana. They’re worlds apart—but nothing can build a bridge like love…
Cade Fournette never had it easy Cottonbloom. He stuck around long enough to raise his orphaned siblings and then hightailed it out West—and never looked back. Even though he’s succeeded in Seattle, Cade never lost the toughness and the angry edge that helped him survive down South. His only weak spot: the girl he left behind…
Monroe Kirby came from the wealthy side of town, but that didn’t protect her from her mother’s drinking—or her mother’s boyfriend. It was Cade who did that, on a long-ago hot September night, before he disappeared…along with a piece of her heart. Now Monroe is a physical therapist who can fight for herself, and it’s Cade who could use some conditioning when he returns home unexpectedly. Will he and Monroe pick up where they left off and finally explore their mutual passion—or will the scars and secrets of the past divide them once more?
What I am currently reading:
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?
A Highland warrior battles to reclaim his birthright in the first of a new series filled with seduction, revenge, and soul-stirring passion…
They call him the Beast—a hardened mercenary whose heart seems as cold as his icy blue gaze. They do not know his true name: Niall Braewick, son of the Laird of Kincaid. It has been years since he escaped into the forest the night his father was murdered. Now he has returned, ablaze with a vengeful hunger. He will gain the MacClaren chief’s trust, gather his clan, and take back his lands. And take the MacClaren’s daughter as well…
Though he pulled her from the river, saving her life, Elspeth has been warned to keep her distance from her father’s hired warrior. He is a barbarian—a shame, as he is far more compelling than the lechers and fools competing for her dowry. Little does she know that, like the castle itself, she is a prize Niall intends to claim…but will he extract blood for blood and possess what is his, or will his enemy’s beautiful, innocent daughter tempt him to forsake his dream of conquest?
What books I think I’ll read next:
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 becausethey 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.
The sweetness of first love…
Could a fiercely independent cop’s heart be stolen by the guy who makes her favorite doughnuts? Will a maid who used deceit to snare a mail-order husband get a dose of her own medicine? Can her handsome neighbor rescue a modern-day “princess” from a tenacious ex-boyfriend? Can two strangers in a rideshare be honest enough to fall in love for real? Can you remember your first love? How about your second? Third? Fourth?
Featuring the talents of Linda Budzinski, Melissa Maygrove, Michael Di Gesu, Sylvia Ney, Katie Klein, Kim Elliott, Templeton Moss, S.E. White, Denise Covey, and Sammi Spizziri. Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will touch your heart and rekindle lost feelings. Prepare to return to that first love…
“Where is your husband?”
Since waking up from the accident Dr Paige Hanson has been asked that question over and over. By the hospital staff, by her mother in law and by Government officials.
As she struggles to grasp the wisps of memory returning to her Paige learns that there’s more at stake than Leo’s whereabouts.
Turning towards the teachings of the one person she swore never to become she begins to realise that some questions are best left unanswered.
She doesn’t believe in fairy tales. He is married to his job. Maybe whiskey is the secret ingredient that will bring them together–and give true love a shot.
Wedding photographer Charlotte Linley loves her work –even though she hates weddings. Sure, she still holds a grudge after being left at the altar by her high-school sweetheart. But today Charlotte is just happy to have complete control over her career, which is flourishing. Especially since she joined forces with one of the three gorgeous owners of The Stag, a boutique distillery that has become Kansas City’s hottest wedding venue.
Dean Troyer, bitter after the end of his own marriage, knows that Charlotte is the real deal–beautiful, talented, and successful. He may flirt with her every time she comes to The Stag, but Dean is determined to keep his professional distance…particularly now that she’s helping him with his own sister’s wedding. The only problem? The more time Dean spends with Charlotte, the deeper their connection grows. Is this a rom-com cliche’ or could it be that these two jaded souls in the wedding business have finally found their real-life happily ever after?
