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Overall, I had a pretty good month with 14 books read. 🥰
Hands down best book I read in February. 🥰
A Secret history earned this spot without trouble.
3✨ After Pearl Harbor, Adam and his family move to California where his mom and him start working. Adam receives a letter from his friend Davi from Hawaii about his family being taken because they were born in Japan. This book highlights Japanese internment camps that Adam visits at one point. It also shows how Adam is growing and becoming the man he needs to during this timeframe. #SeriesLove
3✨ Going into this book I knew I was going to be uncomfortable. Casey is a behaviorist at a children‘s school, so all the troubled kids come to her. When she meet Kiara and learns her history there are red flags that she is slipping through the system. While there are many kids in this class dealing with more real life than they should, Kiara has a worse case scenario that literally made my jaw drop at one point. Poor kid. #Roll100 February
3✨ I was wondering while reading this if I‘ve already read it or if many horse stories are the same. The difference with “The Black Stallion” or other horse stories I‘ve read is this one follows Smoky as he grows, becomes a bronco in rodeos, and ages out of that. The ending is what really excited me for this horse. #Roll100 February
4✨ I‘m a big fan of this author for her retellings. When I was looking for a Snow White story for #FairytalereadingChallenge (Yes, I‘m behind) I found this. It followed most of what you would expect from a Snow White story, and I was on the edge of my seat just waiting for the step-mother to become the villain. It was at times a slow read and it twisted and turned to keep me reading.
3✨ I didn‘t like it as much as the first one, but having an apprentice and trying to learn a shellfish language was pretty fun to add to this world. I am wishing I could talk to my snail Gary 🐌🥰💛 Note I still have one more title in this volume, but the image is in this book. 😍
5✨ I‘ll admit it took me a bit to get the sisters and passengers of the Titanic straight, but I knew it would have to be a lot of characters based on what we know would happen by the end. I like that the author did a lot of research to make it a mostly true story. I loved this story! 🥰
3✨ This was a really quick novella that brought our characters forward in time about 15 years. I‘ve been liking these characters. There is a huge cliffhanger at the end of this so will need to get the next book really soon. #SeriesLove
4✨ I really like the Grinch that finds love direction this went. Dream Harbor is becoming a favorite town to visit for me. Plus throughout the book we get to check in with the previous romances from other books. This one had dogs too! #SeriesLove
2✨ I really only finished this because it was a book club pick. It had moments that were really interesting, but I really struggled to get into the story. #HTBookClub @Littlewolf1
3✨ Starting this book by the description I was intrigued. I liked that there were ghosts inhabiting this castle and a mother and daughter duo inherited the castle. There was a couple of the ghost characters I really liked that reminded me of Hodor from GOT and a kind girl who cared about him. It did jump around in time so it could unfold what happened to the ghost which is always a challenge for me, and it started and ended with the same scene.
3✨ I‘m not a big fan of the Liam and JoJo side of this series, and they kept pulling up the past which is what I didn‘t like about them. There is some heartwarming moments that I really appreciate for them to move forward on. I‘m getting closer to the end of this series. 😭 #SeriesLove
While I‘m audio cleaning I gave Gary a tomato 🍅 🐌 One of my students wanted a snail from another science teacher and got tired of him after a couple hours. Their loss may gain! 🤩
3✨ normally I like a good hate to love, but I did not like this paring until the reality check Bianca‘s father got from Wesley. It is very much a YA books that I personally don‘t enjoy when there is any sort of sex in them. The message of the term “DUFF” is a believe a good message for everyone to hear, and by the end the story grew on me.
4✨I found out when reading these that it is a series. This makes me think there may be more characters I‘m missing in this town. However, it worked really well as a stand alone book. Noah is working on being a pastor in this town and Ellie is a young mom of two with a crazy back story. This unlikely love story was well written and has only a little spicy, which I personally prefer. #roll100 January @PuddleJumper
My hubs got me a new blanket, I had a bad day so retail therapy happened again, then my cat wanted to blend in with all the grey. Got to say feeling much better. 🥰
My only DNF. Baby E took out my bookmark and I was more relieved than mad.
I was able to finish my friends pick for me in January. Up next will be one of my sister-in-laws pick: How to Survive Your Murder
3✨ I know what you are thinking… my first read of February is a Christmas story. 🤣 Well, it took me a while! Laurel, her husband, and her Nana all live together. After many failed IVF treatments, a failed adoption situation, and Nana losing her memory Laurel and husband Zach look to release some holiday stress by getting a day companion for Nana. Enter Mrs. Miracle. Laurel frustrated me so much! I‘m glad I stuck it out until the end though. 🥰
3✨ If you know the history of Pearl Harbor you can feel the dread as you hear certain names and time frames. It was written for kids so it started with a bit of introduction, but it moved forward to provide situations beyond just the attack. Such as some characters born in America, but with Japanese roots. It didn‘t flow very well, but it seemed to try to hit accurately without a lot of detail on purpose. A coming of age in maybe the worse way.
3✨ I‘m glad I stopped to read the first book. This one I wasn‘t as engaged in, but it still had a lot of adventure. It continued exactly where the first book left off and had “the flaw” which brought them to another world with floppy eared people. It had a multiverse feel to it where we saw people from their home dimension. It wasn‘t bad just not as good as the first book #roll100 @PuddleJumper
4✨This book had some gripping action all throughout. It even started on the first chapter! I found that I didn‘t want to put it down. I think my only complaint would be that I could have used more world building. It wasn‘t difficult to understand, but it focuses on the ability of the “round ears”, battles, and magical objects alone. Not much was mentioned of the surroundings. Overall, I enjoyed this so much. Read so I could read my #roll100 book.
5✨ This book was amazing! I‘ve been really liking the twisted tales I have already read so I was really excited when my friend suggested I read this one for my #12in12 personal challenge. Sally‘s character grew a lot in this story, and she helped others to be proud of who they were. I liked that even through it was based in Christmas town it was where the bad guy was, and the characters were facing the issues in the story.
3✨ I remembered a lot of this one with my reread. The thing I remembered the most was the really annoying guy the girls were trying to avoid the whole time. Plus helping out a couple that should have been together was a nice touch to this one too. #NancyDrewBR @Librarybelle
3✨ This did not capture me as much as Anne of Green Gables did, but it still had a lot of dialogue providing food for thought. I really like that she made connections with others that use their imagination to survive the sad and painful parts of life. #SeriesLove @Andrew65 @TheSpineView
4✨ It took a while for this one to really grab me, but when it did, I didn‘t want to put it down. These roommates just got out of their long relationships for the same reason. Their ex‘s, who were just friends, decided they were going to get married instead! In the beginning it was just the roommates feeling sorry for themselves, but once the characters began to grow it made an interesting read. #HometownBC @Littlewolf1
3✨It took me a long time to get in this one. The kids dying was the hardest for me to get through. I lost track of all the characters, but the overall plot was good. #LosersClub @BarkingMadRead #DoubleBookSpin @TheAromaofBooks
5✨It is well written, has a plethora of examples, and the author is obviously a leading mind in this field. I did the audiobook read by the author making an even better story. Very well done and informative. #NaturalLitsy @AllDebooks
5✨ That was an amazing roller coaster. I thought for sure I knew what happened to Jess‘s brother,Ben, and who did it. Boy was I completely wrong! It kept me on the edge of my seat and luckily I was off work when I hit a really good spot where I couldn‘t stop. Who needs sleep anyways! I was completely floor when it all started to become more clear. This will be a recommended book if anyone needs a thriller. Wow! #FableBR
DNF- Baby E took out my bookmark and I found I wasn‘t mad. So it‘s being unhauled and I‘m just going to stop reading. I kept going thinking she can‘t possibly keep having a crush on this jerk. Her crush would kiss her just to make his girl jealous, and then make up with her and then out POV character goes to Paris with all of them. Just yuk! #BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks
3✨ I feel like these books are really rushed. It‘s a great read for young kids to boost confidence. I‘m wondering in the notes are a build up as well. The first two books are building up a mystery in the series that might give the books more main plot than going to other places from their magical treehouse. #SeriesLove
3✨ The mystery was intriguing enough to keep going. I was struggling with this story because of the multitude of characters, the various timelines, and it wasn‘t really a thriller in my book. This story I read with my #htbookclub that we all pretty much agreed that it was not the book for us.
3✨ I wasn‘t completely engaged to this story, but enjoyed the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. Read for #FoodandLit 2024 Finland
3✨ Very much a young reader series. This first book just introduces the magical idea of the tree house. Reading to baby E for bedtime. He‘s normally just waiting for the pictures, but gives me different reading material while he doesn‘t care what I read right now.
4✨This series is proving to be a new favorite. Hazel, a bookstore manager, is finding passages highlighted in the bookstore books. These clues are helping her live a little bit before she turns 30. Noah is a fisherman that lives a lot and is up for an adventure when Hazel asks. Unlikely love, dreamy town, and a few conversations with our previous couple. 🥰 it‘s pretty spicy which was a bit too much for me. Otherwise, I loved it!
What can I say. I couldn‘t resist the colored edges. 🥰 My single book haul book (cause I‘m on a major budget) 😒
3✨ The characters go from one adventure to another. Dolittle is not a rich man so it takes them time to get from one place to another, and everyone is trying to keep them captive. However, he is rewarded for his efforts and the animals we encounter are forever change.
Right?! If my son was missing I wouldn‘t sleep until he was found. Why is he so unconcerned? 🤔
I haven‘t been reading much, but I have a book related(ish) video game. Hogwarts Legacy. Such a good game! I‘m hooked. 😍🤣
Out of 200 reads in 2024- Horrorstör beat my December favorite for its imprint on my mind of how truly unique it was. However, you can‘t beat the master of Horror so Fairy Tale won that round. Then it was a battle of world building which Fairy Tale did the best in to make it to the finals. This was a challenge so I looked at which book stuck with me the most and I it was really no contest to make One Puzzling Afternoon my best read of 2024! ??
The worst of December was Sweet Tea and Christmas Trees. Quickly overtaken by Wife Between Us, then easily out by Watch Mommy Die. On the other side of the bracket I added Kilt for Christmas which is a insta-love Yuk! It was against another DNF for its encouragement of infidelity. Watch Mommy Die was badly written so it won that challenge. Anna K and its glorification of teen drinking, drugs, and sex was the winner though of my worst read of 2024.