Throwback Thursday Book Edition - 12 December 2019

 Welcome to Throwback Thursday: Book Edition, a weekly meme hosted by Taylor Fenner's Bookish World.

How It Works:

Each week we'll go through our Goodreads stats and throwback to what book we were reading on that specific date years earlier and what we thought about it then.

The Witness

Standalone

by Nora Roberts

Format I Read In: Paperback

Pages: 538

Published: April 2, 2013 by Berkley

Blurb:

In her stunning new novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts proves why no one is better “when it comes to flawlessly fusing high-stakes suspense with red-hot romance” (Booklist).

Daughter of a cold, controlling mother and an anonymous donor, studious, obedient Elizabeth Fitch finally let loose one night, drinking too much at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent to lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive.

Twelve years later, the woman now known as Abigail Lowery lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance security systems programmer, her own protection is supplemented by a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. Unfortunately, that seems to be the quickest way to get attention in a tiny southern town.

The mystery of Abigail Lowery and her sharp mind, secretive nature, and unromantic viewpoints intrigues local police chief Brooks Gleason, on both a personal and professional level. And while he suspects that Abigail needs protection from something, Gleason is accustomed to two-bit troublemakers, not the powerful and dangerous men who are about to have him in their sights.

And Abigail Lowery, who has built a life based on security and self-control, is at risk of losing both.

Throwback Questions

Started Reading: December 11, 2013

Finished Reading: December 14, 2013

My Rating: 4 Stars

Shelved as on Goodreads: Read 

Have You Reread This Book?: No

Would You Reread This Book?: No

Do You Still Own This Book?: No

Have I Read Other Books By This Author Since Reading This Book?: Yes

Things You Remember Liking About this Book:

I like that the main character is super smart. She reminds me of a female Spencer Reid. 

Favorite Character:

Brooks

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Make Me Want to Travel

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Awaken the Travel Bug In Me

This week's TTT is all about books that make you want to get in the car and take a trip or hop on a plane and explore somewhere new. As my interpretation I'm not only listing book settings I'd love to visit, but books about road trips.

1. The Suicide Road Trip (Crash Into Me by Albert Borris)

2. Cordelia and Jake's Road Trip (Getting Lost With Boys by Hailey Abbot)

3. Bram Castle, Romania (Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco)

4. Ireland (Chasing River by K.A. Tucker)

5. Paris (Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins)

6. Denver (The Marked Men Series by Jay Crownover)

7. New Orleans (Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts)

8. The Hamptons (Rush Duet by Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland)

9. Greece, Archaeological Dig in Turkey, Baja, etc. (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series by Ann Brashares)

10. China (North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley)

What books about real places awakened the travel bug in you? Let me know in the comments or drop me a link to your answers.
Happy reading Bookdragons!
- 💀 Taylor

“What I’m Reading” Wednesday #110

This “WIR”-Wednesday I’m between physical books and since I don’t want to start a new book until the beginning of the month tomorrow I’m listening to an audiobook instead...

See How She Dies by Lisa Jackson

Blurb:

London Danvers was kidnapped as a child from her wealthy family. Over the years, many women have claimed to be her, trying to lay claim to the long-lost heiress's inheritance. Among them is Adria Nash, who has arrived in Oregon, claiming to be London-but, unlike the others, she's different: she knows personal details only London could have known. And there is someone who does believe her-who is watching her every move, waiting to see how she runs, how she screams, and how she dies... 

​Why I Chose This Book | What I Think So Far:

​I liked the sound of this book and initially I had it on my Amazon to-buy-in-print-Book list but then I introduced my grandmother to audiobooks and this was one of the ones she chose. We have a household account so I just shared it to my kindle so I could listen to it to. I like the narrator’s voice, she doesn’t put me to sleep or annoy me and I’m enjoying the story so far. One thing I’m noticing though is that some of the chapters are very long. (Example: one chapter is 43 minutes long when on audiobook.) I’m eager to see how this ends though because I like Lisa Jackson’s work.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want To Pass On

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Pass on to the Next Generation 

This week's TTT is all about books I want the next generation (whether it's my future children... should hell freeze over and I actually desire some, or children in general) to read. Okay, so technically I only came up with six books this week, but two of those picks are series, one with seven books and the other with thirteen so I think that should count as bonus points!

Harry Potter (1-7)

Harry Potter, whether you love it or not, is definitely a series that kids should read. It pretty much should be required school reading. 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond was one of the rare school-assigned books that I actually loved. Maybe it's the witch thing or the fact that it has a hint of romance in it, but this book enchanted me in the sixth grade and continues to bewitch me to this day. 

Crash Into Me

Crash Into Me is not a book for young children, but for the teen that might be struggling with life, both this book and 13 Reasons Why will definitely help you realize that you're not alone and hopefully that you'll get past the hard times. 

13 Reasons Why

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I loved these books more than Harry Potter. There, I said it. I couldn't get enough of these books in middle school and they'd be the top of the list of books I'd recommend to my kids if I had any.

One of my Books...

Of course if I had children, I'd want them to read my books when they were old enough.

These are the books I could think of off the top of my head. What are some books you'd want your future children to read? 
Drop me a link to your answers!
As usual, happy reading bookdragons!
- 💀Taylor

Book Review: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Blurb:

A dazzling novel that captures all of the romance, glamour, and tragedy of the first flapper, Zelda Fitzgerald. 

When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. 

Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes. 

My Review:

Z begins with a wild, flirty, rebellious young girl living in a conservative household who falls for a man with big dreams. 

During the first part of this book, I felt sorry for F. Scott because Zelda acts like a flighty girl just playing with his feelings. Zelda is wild and kind of crazy but she's accustomed to a type of living that at first F. Scott cannot financially provide for her so she won't marry him until he "becomes something." F. Scott is a piece of work in his own right as we learn as the book goes on.

At first Zelda's story about marrying F. Scott and their life together in the early days was interesting, but then it seems to just be repetitive as all they seem to do is drink, party, spend money, and get kicked out of places. Then things get just plain depressing as Zelda's mental state begins to crumble.

Overall I liked this book, but at times felt like it dragged. I thought it perfectly portrayed the era in which Zelda and F. Scott lived and it was interesting to see glimpses of the life of the man behind Gatsby and his fascinating wife, but in a way it made me lose respect for him, as well as other people of that era. The ending was probably my favorite part as we learn about F. Scott and Zelda's tragic end. They were two people who lived life hard, if not to the fullest and in the end it took a toll on them both.

My Rating:

3.75 of 5 Stars

#BookTag Saturday: The Book Blogger Memory Challenge

Today I'm tackling the Book Blogger Memory Challenge. I saw this challenge on Google but I'm changing the questions a little to suit my needs.

1. Name a book written by an author named Jennifer.

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie

2. Name a book with a dragon on the cover.

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

3. Name a book about a character named Matthew.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

4. Name a book written by an author with the surname Smith.

The Secret Circle: The Initiation by L.J. Smith

5. Name a book set in Australia.

Saving Wishes by G.J. Walker-Smith

6. Name a book with the word "one" in the title.

The One by Keira Cass

7. Name a book turned into a movie.

Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

#BookMail Thursday #24

This #Bookmail Thursday was completely not my idea... my grandmother wanted the new Nora Roberts novel, so I merely ordered that and another book she wanted from Amazon while ordering a candle making kit for myself. This is this week's book mail...

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts and The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

About Come Sundown:
A novel of suspense, family ties, and twisted passions from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obsession...

The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers. A little over thirty thousand acres and home to four generations, it’s kept running by Bodine Longbow with the help of a large staff, including new hire Callen Skinner. There was another member of the family once: Bodine’s aunt, Alice, who ran off before Bodine was born. She never returned, and the Longbows don’t talk about her much. The younger ones, who never met her, quietly presume she’s dead. But she isn’t. She is not far away, part of a new family, one she never chose—and her mind has been shattered…


When a bartender leaves the resort late one night, and Bo and Cal discover her battered body in the snow, it’s the first sign that danger lurks in the mountains that surround them. The police suspect Cal, but Bo finds herself trusting him—and turning to him as another woman is murdered and the Longbows are stunned by Alice’s sudden reappearance. The twisted story she has to tell about the past—and the threat that follows in her wake—will test the bonds of this strong family, and thrust Bodine into a darkness she could never have imagined.

About The Good Widow

Bestselling authors Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke make their suspense debut in this twisty, emotional thriller.

Elementary school teacher Jacqueline “Jacks” Morales’s marriage was far from perfect, but even in its ups and downs it was predictable, familiar. Or at least she thought it was…until two police officers showed up at her door with devastating news. Her husband of eight years, the one who should have been on a business trip to Kansas, had suffered a fatal car accident in Hawaii. And he wasn’t alone.

For Jacks, laying her husband to rest was hard. But it was even harder to think that his final moments belonged to another woman—one who had left behind her own grieving and bewildered fiancé. Nick, just as blindsided by the affair, wants answers. So he suggests that he and Jacks search for the truth together, retracing the doomed lovers’ last days in paradise.

Now, following the twisting path of that fateful road, Jacks is learning that nothing is ever as it seems. Not her marriage. Not her husband. And most certainly not his death…

Yes, I'm Still Waiting On...
Signed Copies of:
- Roar by Cora Carmack
- The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
- The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
- Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh
-Obsidian and Stars by Julie Eshbaugh

-Sexy Stranger by Kendall Ryan

Contemplating:
I got a $5 Amazon Gift Card, so I'm contemplating buying this book:

About Given to the Sea:
Kings and Queens rise and fall, loyalties collide, and romance blooms in a world where the sea is rising—and cannot be escaped.

Khosa is Given to the Sea, a girl born to be fed to the water, her flesh preventing a wave like the one that destroyed the Kingdom of Stille in days of old. But before she’s allowed to dance an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs that will carry her to the shore in a frenzy—she must produce an heir. Yet the thought of human touch sends shudders down her spine that not even the sound of the tide can match.

Vincent is third in line to inherit his throne, royalty in a kingdom where the old linger and the young inherit only boredom. When Khosa arrives without an heir he knows his father will ensure she fulfills her duty, at whatever cost. Torn between protecting the throne he will someday fill, and the girl whose fate is tied to its very existence, Vincent’s loyalty is at odds with his heart.

Dara and Donil are the last of the Indiri, a native race whose dwindling magic grows weaker as the island country fades. Animals cease to bear young, creatures of the sea take to the land, and the Pietra—fierce fighters who destroyed the Indiri a generation before—are now marching from their stony shores for the twin’s adopted homeland, Stille.

Witt leads the Pietra, their army the only family he has ever known. The stone shores harbor a secret, a growing threat that will envelop the entire land—and he will conquer every speck of soil to ensure the survival of his people.


The tides are turning in Stille, where royals scheme, Pietrans march, and the rising sea calls for its Given.

#BookMail Thursday #23

As last week's post was posting I received a bargain books order from the Edward R. Hamilton Book Club where I had found some great buys, most under $5.00!

Bargain Books Order:

Wicked by Joanne Fluke

Midnight Crossing by Charlaine Harris

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy

Wicked Ways by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush

The Mermaid Collector by Erika Marks

The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston

Death by Pumpkin Spice by Alex Erickson

I also was lucky enough to get an eARC of...

Trust by Kylie Scott

June (Still) Waiting On:

Signed Copies of:

- Roar by Cora Carmack

- The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

- The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

- Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

-Obsidian and Stars by Julie Eshbaugh

-Sexy Stranger by Kendall Ryan