Angels are Kids and Furkids: October 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

October Wrap Up!!

October was a scary good reading month for me! I got in some great reads this month. Maybe we are getting into the swing of things again at our house. Only to have a schedule change in November due to a new job on my end. Still hoping to get in some reading time though. :-)

I JUST WANT TO SHOUT OUT A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND TO ALL YOU LOVELY VISITORS THAT STOP IN TO READ MY BLOG!!! I APPRECIATE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU EVERY DAY!

Here's what I have read in October: 5 Grand Total of Books!!
You can click on the title of the book to get to my review of that book. :-)

~ 0 Young Adult Fiction:

~ 5 Adult Fiction:
~Town In A Blueberry Jam by B.B. Haywood
~Town In A Lobster Stew by B.B. Haywood
~Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
~Precipice by Paul Doiron
~Gathering Prey by John Sandford

~ 0 Children Fiction:

How are my Challenges looking as we hit the decline of this year's hill?
You can click on each challenge below and you will go to my post for that challenge to see which books counted for each challenge or what each challenge entails. As I complete challenges I will highlight them! :-)

2015 Reading Challenges:

1. 2015 Reading Challenge Addict Challenge On The Roof: Complete 6-10 Challenges Entered and Completed.

3/10 Completed!

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2. 2015 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge Getting My Heart Rate Up: Read 1-5 more books in 2015 than in 2014. I read 31 books in 2014.

0/5 Completed!

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3. 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge Read 12 books from TBR pile that were published before 2014.

12/12 Completed!

Wrap Up Post: COMPLETED!!!

4. 2015 What's In A Name Reading Challenge Read one book from each categories that has title with certain words in.

4/6 Completed!

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5. 2015 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge Read a book with title starting with each letter of alphabet.

9/26 Completed!

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6. 2015 What An Animal Reading Challenge VIII Read 6 books with animal in title, on cover, as a major role, or turns into an animal.

4/6 Completed!

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7. 2015 Cruizin Thru The Cozies Reading Challenge Level 1, Snoop. Read 6 cozy reads.

6/6 Completed!

Wrap Up Post: COMPLETED!

8. 2015 Color Coded Reading Challenge Read a title containing each color listed.

3/9 Completed!

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9. 2015 Mount TBR Reading Challenge Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from TBR pile owned prior to 2015.

21/36 Completed!

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10. 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge Read books with authors of all the 26 alphabet letters for last names.

9/26 Completed!

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11. 2015 Reading Road Trip Reading Challenge Read books set in the states. Wayfarer 21-30 States.

9/30 Completed!

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12. 2015 EBook Reading Challenge Bits- Read 5 eBooks.

0/5 Completed!

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13. 2015 Mocha Girls Reading Challenge Read books with titles starting with "MOCHA GIRLS 15".

3/12 Completed!

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14. 2015 Audiobook Reading Challenge Newbie Level. Listen to 1-5 Audiobooks.
5/5 Completed!
Wrap Up Post: COMPLETED!!!

15. 2015 Witches and Witchcraft Reading Challenge Initiate Level. Read 1-5 Witchy books.

0/5 Complete!

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Perpetual:

1. Stephanie Plum Reading Challenge Read all the books in this series.
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Monday, October 19, 2015

Book Review: Gathering Prey

Title: Gathering Prey
Author: John Sandford
Pages: 407
Publication Date: 2015
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winner John Sandford.

They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes—they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them.

Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she’d befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody’s killing her friends, she’s afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She’s hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Letty tells Lucas she’s going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty’s getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman’s story, though, he begins to think there’s something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger—but just may change the course of his life."

My Review:

Gathering prey is about a BCA agent who may not play by the book, but he sure is determined to get his guy...or in this case group of bad people. Letty, his daughter, befriends a couple travelers and helps them out by feeding them and giving them some money. When she hears from the female of the group she goes from happy to hear from her to terrified for her in a matter of minutes. Letty learns that there is a killer out there attacking travelers, the twist...it may very well be a fellow traveler who thinks himself to be the best of the best of them all. Soon Letty and her dad are hot on the heals of this bad traveler and trying to find Let toy's friends before something bad happens to them. Problem is, no one messes with the leader of the travelers and wins or lives to tell about it. How can a BCA agent and his daughter fight this guy and try to win? Can they stop the killings that are taking over the traveler's community? Will they survive long enough to even try?

This was a book that was fast paced, edge of my seat thriller, and one that I think had glue on the cover because I could not put it down once I started reading it. The characters were amazing and so great to get to know in the book. They were all so passionate about their beliefs in what was best, whether they were good or bad characters. The bad characters you kind of had to like for their spirit and determination. The good characters you had to like for that and more! The writing was so vivid I watched this book play out in my head like a movie. Hitting pause only when I had to so I could see what happened next.

This was a book in a series, but it was very easy to pick up and read as a stand alone book. I had never read any of Sandford's books before but I was, at no point, confused or feeling like I had missed anything. This book was all about this book and what was going on in its plot, not past plots from other books. I love and admire any author that can write series books that are stand alone also. I don't always want to start 10 or more books back just to get to the one I wanted to read. I want to pick up the book that interested me first and read it and love it. This book accomplished that for me for sure!

Anyone seeking an amazing mystery that they won't want to put down until the end must must must read this book!!

5/5 Stars!!

Friday, October 16, 2015

Book Review: Precipice

The Precipice: A Novel (Mike Bowditch, #6)

Title: Precipice
Author: Paul Doiron
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2015
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"In this riveting new novel from Edgar finalist Paul Doiron, Bowditch joins a desperate search for two missing hikers as Maine wildlife officials deal with a frightening rash of coyote attacks.

When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness—the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail—Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia.

When two corpses are discovered—the bones picked clean by coyotes—rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine’s governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote, and wildlife officials are tasked with collecting the carcasses.

Despite some misgivings, Bowditch does his grisly job. But he finds his complacency challenged by his new girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, who insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers. Were the young women really killed by coyotes or, as Stacey insisted, were they murdered by the most dangerous animal in the North Woods?"

My Review:
Bowditch is a Warden who is trying to reign in his reckless ways and follow his job title and rules a bit more than he has in the past. His headstrong girlfriend does not make this an easy task at all, nor does her father. Bowditch is also trying to make a lasting relationship with Stacey, who is not willing to move very fast in that department since a really bad break up. A romantic weekend should help things, but Bowditch is called away on a missing persons call before that weekend can even start. He tells Stacey to stay and relax seeing he paid for the cottage, but wild horses couldn't keep her away from a missing persons case. Soon Bowditch discovers that the two missing girls are not just two girls who have gotten lost, but are two girls who may have met an unfortunate end....and not in any kind of accidental way. Before he knows it Bowditch is eyeball deep in a murder investigation, that his superiors insist is nothing more than a coyote attack that went horribly wrong, and it soon takes a personal turn when Stacey seems to have disappeared while asking questions about the missing girls to prove to them all it was not simply coyotes. Can Bowditch figure things out quickly enough to find Stacey while she is still safe? Were the two girls really murdered like Stacey insists?

I found this book to be a great read! It had everything I crave in a mystery..,.a little love, great characters, mystery, drama, twists, and turns. I thought many times I had this book all figured out, only to continuously find I was very very wrong. The writing in this book was fantastic, so very vivid that I could see the beautiful scenery of the Maine woods setting along with the gruesome scenes of the crime scenes. I've never been to Maine, but if it is even half as beautiful as this author describes it is somewhere I very much would love to see in person. The characters in this book were wonderful. They were very easy to love and become "book friends" with. They were described in so much detail I could see them take form and develop in front of me. I just love Bowditch and Stacey! They are so headstrong and determined characters who also care about each other very deeply, no matter how they each say they feel out loud. As for the plot, it was AMAZING! There were little side plots off of the main plot...or so you think while reading. As you read you realize that some of those "side plots" are really just extensions of the main plot. It was a plot with more twists and turns than the winding roads that go through the wilderness in the parks.

Absolutely a must read book for any mystery lover! You will not be disappointed!

5/5 Stars!!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Book Review: Knit One, Kill Two

Knit One, Kill Two (A Knitting Mystery, #1)

Title: Knit One, Kill Two
Author: Maggie Sefton
Pages: 273
Publication Date: 2005
Version: Paperback
Genre: Adult Fiction (Mystery)

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Despite the fact that her aunt was an expert knitter, Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair knitting needles she liked -- until she strolled into House of Lambspun. Now, in the first in a brand-new series, she learns how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind her aunt's murder. — Kelly Flynn would be the first to admit her life in Washington, D.C., is a little on the dull side. But coming back to Colorado for her beloved aunt’s funeral wasn’t the kind of excitement she was seeking. The police are convinced that her Aunt Helen’s death was the result of a burglary gone bad, but for the accountant in Kelly, things just aren’t adding up. After all, why would her sensible, sixty-eight-year-old aunt borrow $20,000 just days before her death? With the help of the knitting regulars at House of Lambspun, Kelly’s about to get a few lessons in cranking out a sumptuously colored scarf -- and in luring a killer out of hiding... "

My Review:
What a book!!! I loved this book from the first page all the way to the last page! Now this is the type of mystery I fall for every time...fast paced, quick to hook the reader, and more twists than a stick of licorice. This book had it all for me; great characters that I just couldn't help falling in love with, great relationships among those characters that makes me want to keep reading on to see how they develop, amazing writing that keeps me feeling like the book is just rushing along, writing that is so vivid I can see every step that's happening, and a mystery that has me hooked from the start. I just love the character of Kelly. She is so independent and headstrong, but at the same time is vulnerable and needy. The ladies in this book are ladies I found myself wishing existed in my home town so I could become their friend and have that close knit relationship that they seem to have. Kelly may have just had some death in her life, but she is determined to figure out why before she just calls it dealt with and moves on. She is a caring woman who wants nothing more than justice for her Aunts murder, no matter how that justice will have to be achieved. Kelly and the knitting ladies follow the leads and soon discover some secrets run deep and are more shocking than ever imagined. But will they find out who killed Aunt Helen or will he find them and silence them first?

I just love love loved this book. I can't say enough good things about it. I not only would recommend this book, but I am going to seek out the next book in this series for myself to see what happens next. There are some cliffhangers that I just have to see how they turn out. Nothing concerning the main mystery of this book, but relationship wise and other decisions about Helen's house and such.

If you like mysteries and just a great read, you must pick up this book!

5/5 Stars!!!

Book Review: Town in a Lobster Stew

Town in a Lobster Stew (A Candy Holliday Mystery, #2)

Title: Town In A Lobster Stew
Author: B.B. Haywood
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2011
Version: Paperback
Genre: Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Things start to boil over at the annual Lobster Stew Cook-Off when an award-winning recipe is stolen and a seven-time contest champion mysteriously disappears-leaving Candy no choice but to find out who in Cape Willington, Maine, would get steamed enough to break the law."

My Review:
I just have to say I was disappointed in this book. I guess I kind of thought that this book would start with a "hit the ground running" type of mystery, even though the last one did not. I was disappointed in that expectation. The book started out with a huge OH BOY factor and then it kind of stalled out. The book, like the last one, seemed to just mosey along until almost half or three quarters of the way through, then it took off and was a real page turner. I guess I have to rate the book overall a decent rating, as once it got going it was amazing, but it took a LONG time to get going. Once again, I say...great characters and theory behind the plot. Great mystery aspect. Just poorly executed in my opinion. Had I just read the last hundred pages or so and not the rest I'd say, amazing book and an edge of my seat book that blew my mind.

So, short review for this book....yes, but I just can't give my usual.type review for a book I don't feel great about. Sorry to say, but I don't foresee myself continuing on in this series. The books have amazing covers and such fun titles....just not a book that took off very well out of the reading gate. Kind of reminded me of a racer that came from behind to win in the end.

3/5 Stars

Book Review: Town in a Blueberry Jam

Town in a Blueberry Jam (A Candy Holliday Mystery, #1)

Title: Town In A Blueberry Jam
Author: B.B. Haywood
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2010
Version: Paperback
Genre: Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"First in the fabulous new Candy Holliday Murder mystery series.

In the seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, Candy Holliday has an idyllic life tending to the Blueberry Acres farm she runs with her father. But, when an aging playboy and the newly crowned Blueberry Queen are killed, Candy investigates to clear the name of a local handyman. And as she sorts through the town's juicy secrets, things start to get sticky indeed... "

My Review:

I got this book some time ago. I wanted to read it sooner, but it always seemed that life got in the way. I just love the title of this book, it sounds so cheery and like summer.

All Candy wants to do is try to get her life back in some sort of order after going through an extremely bad time. Seemed for so long like anything that was bad and could happen, did for her. She lost a husband to another woman, her mother to illness, a best friend to suicide, and a job to depression all in a very short time. To cope she decides to move to a tiny town in Maine with her father on his new blueberry farm and help him out. It's far from the big city she came from, but the people are great and the country life really seems to be for her. Not much excitement that's unexpected...that is until there are two murders and a sweet man Candy knows is accused of being a murderer. Candy soon puts on a sleuth hat and goes about trying to solve the murder for her friend's sake. Can she figure out the tangled web of lies and secrets in time to clear her friend? To what extent will people go to to keep secrets just that? How can she make anyone listen to her if she does find the road to the truth? Is she safe in her small town...really?

This book had a very slow start to it. I have to admit I even contemplated pulling the plug on reading it. It started out with lots of mystery, drama, and on the fast track to being an amazing book. However, after a couple chapters the book seemed to putter out. It became a slow moving book with, what I felt, was too much details about things we didn't really need need details on. After that continued on for a few too many chapters I was close to putting it down and never looking back. What kept me going? That first couple chapters is what kept me going. I really was entranced on what happened and the solving of the mystery in the first part of the book. Then I got rewarded with the book taking off like a jet plane! All of the sudden it became an edge of my seat read that I couldn't wait to pick up again. The mystery, drama, adventure, and wonder all came back. The flow of the book became a raging river of who really did it.

The writing was great overall. The characters also were a big part of why I kept reading through the lull. I just loved them and had to see where they went and what they did and who they really were. Candy and Maggie were, by far, my favorite characters. Their friendship reminded me of my own beat friend as I read all the things they did together to try and figure out the big murder mystery.

I must say I will probably pick up the next Candy Holliday murder mystery. I want to see the characters develop even more and see what kind of mischief Maggie and Candy get into next.

4/5 Stars