Author: Lauren

I'm not a good writer, so I'll just keep writing until I am.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Week of February 5, 2022

Lauren2 Comments

Well hello, beautiful people! Just a random thing. Did you know you can get free books from Amazon as long as you have a Prime membership? It’s called Amazon First Reads, and every month you get to select from several new release titles and choose one. This month you get to pick two! All you have to do is type Kindle First Reads into the Amazon search bar and it should take you to the page for it. But yeah, free! I just thought I would share this very valuable information with you. I also feel like I’ve shared this before…

What I Read This Week

Immortal In Death by J.D. Robb

Book three in the In Death series. A top model is found brutally murdered and Eve’s best friend is a suspect. I loved how Eve struggled with being both a cop and a friend in this book. It’s not the only time in this series this happens, but it is the first.

Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

Book four! Eve is called upon to investigate an apparent suicide, but everything is not as it seems. This one did a good job of hiding the killer until the very end. I appreciated that the first time I read it.

Decieved by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark

The story of a witch tired of dating people who are just after her for her family’s name, so she goes to the magical matchmaker to set her up, but it doesn’t turn out the way she expects. I’m trying to read more romance books to give the genre more of a chance, but y’all. Y’all. If you like very spicy books, go for it.

Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb

In this, the fifth book in the series, Eve is called upon to investigate the suspicious death of a fellow officer, which plunges her headlong into the world of the occult. This was a solid entry into the In Death series, though not as good as the last few.

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

A group of young women are abducted and then are left stranded on an alien planet. There Georgie, the unofficial leader of the group, must venture away from the crash site and find help. What she finds is a seven-foot-tall blue alien. TikTok put this on my radar a while ago, and while I was debating reading it, I finally just gave in. It was okay for a spicy book. It actually had a plot to it, and I found the language barrier a thing you don’t often see visualized in a lot of sci-fi books.

Instagram Posts

Would you believe that I was too busy reading and worrying if my power was going to go out that I didn’t actually post anything? It just completely slipped my mind. Ah well. Tomorrow is a new week.

Blog Posts

I started off the week with a post about how I’m going to read my way through the In Death series.

Tuesday was a list of books with names in the title. This was a fun list to come up with.

WWW Wednesday was up next. You can see how my reading has really progressed as opposed to last month.

Thursday was my January reading wrap-up. It was a pretty decent list considering how my month went.

Friday just so happens to be First Lines Friday. I picked a book I’m hoping to get to this month.

Top Ten Tuesday and WWW Wednesday are tied for my most popular posts of the week.

In Other News

They released character posters for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. They are stunning. We have no idea who is who, but they are still fabulous nonetheless. I got this poster from Theonering.net. You can see the rest of the posters there.

First Lines Friday: February 4, 2022

Lauren1 Comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author, or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

Well hello beautiful humans! It’s Friday! We survived the winter storm yesterday! It was very nice to sit and watch it snow, ice, and sleet. Yup, we got it all. I took the day to relax and read, which was a nice way to spend the day.

But today is First Lines Friday! I tried to keep with the theme of my TBR for this month (post coming next week!).

The Lines

Jessica Davis used to think it was an honest-to-God tragedy that only twenty-six percent of women believed in true love. Of course, that was nearly a decade ago, when she couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be anything but deeply and passionately obsessed with the man who would one day be her ex.

Intrigued?

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. After all, her father was never around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn’t “father material” before her daughter was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close but working constantly to stay afloat is hard…and lonely.

But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that’s predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers:This Jess understands.

At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98 percent compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly’s founder, Dr. River Peña. This is one number she can’t wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Peña. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get ‘to know him and we’ll pay you. Jess—who is barely making ends meet—is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the “Diamond” pairing that could launch GeneticAlly’s valuation sky-high, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist—and the science behind a soulmate—than she thought.

I had a fun time reading In A Holidaze (I gave it three stars) and it was enough to make me give the authors another chance. Also, a “science” based dating website? I’ll try that.

January Reading Wrap-Up: 2022

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Hello beautiful people! I hope you are having a good day today! I’m going to be enjoying a cozy day indoors while the winter weather continues. I’ll be cuddling up with a warm fire, a comfy blanket, several cups of tea, and a good book.

As for my wrap-up this month, I got off to a very slow start because of reasons, but I managed to read a total of seven books, including one DNF.

The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews

Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

I started reading this one in the middle of December as an audiobook and because I was so busy I wasn’t able to finish it until the beginning of January. That being said, I really liked this book. I thought it was a cute and heartwarming romance with a mild mystery thrown into it. If you are looking for something adorable to read over the holidays later this year, I highly recommend it. Four stars!

Once More Upon A Time by Roshani Chokshi

Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

This short fairytale is about a prince and princess who have their love taken away by a witch. I thought it was adorable and full of hope, and random talking badgers. It’s mostly about finding love again when you thought you had lost it. It was originally an Audible original, so you can find it there if you are so inclined. Four Stars.

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott

Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

I reviewed a copy of this one, and I wasn’t thrilled with it. It’s the story of a mage who is, essentially, kidnapped by rebels to free some people trapped in a mine. This novella had a lot of potential, and I really dug the magic system, but it just didn’t live up to that potential for me. Two stars.

A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass

Amazon Barnes & Nobles Bookshop.org

Another book I reviewed this month, and my only DNF. This is the story of three witches who get a letter from their cousin saying she is leaving town and taking one of their partners with her. As you could probably guess, I didn’t like this. You can read the review for my full thoughts. One star.

The In Death Series by J.D. Robb, books 1-3

Massive trigger warnings for this series. Please check online for each book, as they differ.

Naked in Death: The start to the series. Eve Dallas is a dective in future NYC. She ends up being called to investigate the murder of a senator’s grandaughter. Along the way she meets Roarke, an intriguing Multi-billionaire who becomes involved in the case. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one. Five Stars. Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

Glory in Death: Book two in the series. In this one Eve is called on to investigate the death of the District Attorney. Another one I loved. Five stars. Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

Immortal in Death: A mysterious and brutal attack claims the life of a world-famous supermodel, and Eve’s best friend is caught in the crossfire. I loved seeing Eve having to balance her duty to the law with her duty to her friend. Five stars. Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

On to my favorite part, the stats! As previously mentioned, I read seven books last month, coming in at 1796 pages. Go me!

I foresee a few months of that mysterious piece of the pie being the largest slice. But this month, there were four mysterious books.

That doesn’t seem right somehow. I may have selected the wrong option for this stat here and there.

This is about what I thought, what with so many of the books being novellas.

So it seems that the In Death series is not only a Mystery series, it’s a Romance series too. That’s really going to skew my stats this year.

I don’t think I gave a single two star rating last year, so we are off to a good start this year, I guess.

You can see where I had Covid fog because I read nothing during that period. Go me!

As always, these stats come to you courtesy of The Storygraph. I cannot recommend them enough. For those interested, they have a place under each book for content warnings. So helpful.

How did you do last month?

WWW Wednesday: February 2, 2022

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It’s WWW Wednesday! It’s the day when we answer the three W’s: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? It’s hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words but was previously hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm.

Hello beautiful people! Today is Groundhog Day here in America. It’s a day built on superstition. Basically, if the groundhog sees its shadow, we get more winter. Lots of people get a kick out of it, and Punxsutawney Phil (the aforementioned groundhog) is a national celebrity. He’s also adorable, so that helps.

On to the W’s!

What are you currently reading?

Ceremony In Death by J.D. Robb

I started reading this one last night. These books are short (usually around 300 pages) and make for quick and fun reads. It’s the 5th book in the In Death series. I am really enjoying myself in this readthrough. I can’t remember the trigger warnings for this book, but I recommend looking them up.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

I just started this one. And yes, I’m trying to read this while I’m reading the In Death series. You will see that a lot. At this point, I have no opinion of this book, I’m only a few pages into it, but I have high hopes!

What did you recently finish reading?

Rapture In Death by J.D. Robb

I loved this book (go figure). In it, Eve is investigating the apparent suicide of a defense attorney who, it seems, loves his life. This tale has trigger warnings for suicide, mentions of rape, and mentions of child abuse.

Vengeance In Death by J.D. Robb

I am not surprised that I am reaching for this one next, as it is book six in the series. You’ll be seeing these for a while. Sorry (not sorry) about that.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

I caved and bought it. It should be here today, in fact. It is extremely hyped, so I hope it is able to fulfill my expectations. I’ve also heard it’s supposed to be a little funny, so here’s hoping!

What side do you stand on? Do you hope the groundhog sees his shadow and thus the rest of us will suffer because we don’t like winter weather? Or are you optimistic that it will be a cloudy day and Phil will miss out on this time and winter will be over early? Enquiring minds want to know.

TTT: Books With Names/Character Names in the Titles

Lauren3 Comments

It’s Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Well hello beautiful people! It’s going to be an interesting day for me today. I’m preparing for inclement weather that may, or may not, happen. There are some very cold temps heading my way and with that comes snow and/or ice. Maybe. See, I live in the south, so when the weather calls for snow and ice, there is a 75% chance it won’t happen. But you have to act as if it will happen because we are ill-prepared for the poor weather. As evidenced by how last year’s storms wiped out our power grid.

It was…fun.

But today’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about books with names in the titles. As I was trying to focus on books I actually own, I honestly thought this was going to be harder to complete, as I read mostly fantasy, and that genre doesn’t often use names in the titles. But I managed to find more than ten! Huzzah!

Some of these will be on my TBR pile, and some will be books I have already read!

The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield

A TBR pile book. The Apollo in the title is an obvious reference to the Apollo missions which saw American Astronauts land on the moon. It took place between 1961 and 1972, with the first crewed flight being in 1968. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Le Morte d’Athur by Sir Thomas Mallory

I have read part of this book, gotten distracted by other books, and not finished it. It’s a dense thing. These are the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. My illustrated copy is 800 pages long. This book was originally written in the late 1400s and Mallory was not a nice guy, having been imprisoned for a variety of violent crimes, including attempted murder. The things you find out when you get curious.

Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead

This second book in the Raven King Trilogy is named after Will Scarlett, this series is all about the fictional hero of Robin Hood. I say fictional hero as there is no actual evidence that Robin Hood actually existed. From what I was able to find, the first written account of him was in the late 1300s. Apparently, today is history day.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

This is also a book on my TBR. I picked this book, named after its main characters, years ago at McKay’s in Nashville. Weighing in at 865 pages, I have just avoided picking it up. Because of time. And weight. That book is heavy.

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

This book on my TBR pile was a total cover buy. I have since learned that it is number one in a series of five, so that could be fun. From what I understand, the whole series is told in memoir form, told from Lady Trent’s point of view.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

A BOTM pick that made its way onto my TBR. I love the idea of inheritance, magic, and mysterious circumstances leading you back home. Should be a fun read, you know, when I get to it.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Oh, look, another book on my TBR. This book has all the praise and that cover is gorgeous. This book is named after its main character and she has a ghost dog! A ghost dog!

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

I read this book years ago, and I liked it. I thought the first book, Angels and Demons, was so much better. This book really isn’t about Leonardo Da Vinci, but it’s a fun read if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller to read.

Polgara the Sorceress by David and Leigh Eddings

I read this book twenty years ago. I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember much about it, so I should probably re-read it. I do know it’s the final book in a series that I have never read another book in. This was a recommendation from a friend in my college days.

Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The story of the mysterious head of the Dark-Hunters, Acheron. It took 14 books to get to his story, and it was well worth it. In my opinion, it was the best of the Dark-Hunter novels up until this point. I really need to re-read this series. That will have to come later!

Honorable mention to Willow, the novel based on the movie. I found it listed on Amazon for $700, so yeah, no. Suffice it to say that one is out of print.

I had a lot of fun trying to find all these books. Looking of my bookshelves at all the books I own reminded me how very lucky I am to be able to have reading as a hobby. So very, very lucky.

Do you have a favorite book with a name in the title?

Reading My Way Through: The In Death Series

Lauren1 Comment

Hello beautiful people! And how are we doing today? Me, I decided to do something crazy this past Thursday.

I decided to read my way back through the In Death Series by J.D. Robb.

So there’s that crazy idea.

I know, I had mentioned reading one book a week until the end of the week, but I just can’t bring myself to do that. It’ll take too long and I’m not that patient. Don’t tell my mom.

So basically what’s going to happen is what it says on the tin. Over the course of the next few months, I’ll be reading all 53 (soon to be 55) books in the series. I’m trying to get this done as quickly as possible.

Naturally, I’ll be reading other books while this re-read is happening, so make sure you follow me on Goodreads or The StoryGraph to keep up with how far I’ve gotten into this.

If everything goes according to plan, I should have this done in three months. But let’s be honest, when in life does everything go according to plan? Never. The answer is never.

What book series would you re-read?

Weekly Wrap-Up: Week of January 29, 2022

Lauren1 Comment

Well hello beautiful people! We’ve come to the end of another week. I hope you’ve been kind to yourself and have been able to read a good book. I managed to carve out some time this week. Didn’t finish one of the books I started, but that’s okay. I’m not going to be mean to myself about it. Besides, I’m listening to the audio book while I play animal crossing, so it’s going to take a while.

What I Read This Week

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

This is the start of one of my all time favorite series and I cannot recommend it enough. That being said, this series does deal with some pretty heavy subject matter that may trigger some people, so I can’t recommend it to everyone. TW’s include rape, incest, child abuse, death of a child, and pedophilia. And that’s just this book! The whole series delves into the worst of humanity, and I love it. What does that say about me?

Glory in Death by J. D. Robb

The second book in the In Death series. As with all the books in this series, I love this one too. I love how complicated Eve makes things because she just doesn’t get how to be anything other than a cop.

Instagram Posts

Blog Posts

I’m back to posting five days a week. Hooray! Always exciting to be back on track!

I started the week off with a review of the Servant Mage by Kate Elliott. I found the book kind of blah. Read the review for my full thoughts.

TTT Tuesday was up next. This week it was new to me authors I discovered in 2021. This was hard, apparently I read a lot of authors I was familiar with last year. But don’t we all do that?

WWW Wednesday happened. I have not followed along with it so far. So that’s fun.

Then it was on to my most popular post of the week, a mini book review for A Letter to Three Witches. Apparently, when you dislike a book a lot, the review does better.

First Lines Friday was another dip into the annals of my TBR. I really need to read some of the older entries in my TBR.

In Other News

I finally sat down to watch Discovery of Witches the other day. Naturally, I started over from season one, because why not. I wasn’t able to concentrate enough while I was sick to actually watch so I’m very excited to be able to watch it now.

How did your week end up going?

First Lines Friday-January 28, 2022

Lauren2 Comments

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author, or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

Well hello, beautiful people! And how are you doing this fine Friday? I know for some of you it’s the weekend. Congratulations! You made it through the week! Double congrats if you made it through without killing your seven evil bosses! Points for you if you can name that movie.

Today is First Lines Friday. It’s always fun for me to look over the unread books on my TBR and pick one for this. It makes me want to read the book. Kind of the point I guess.

The Lines

Some people are born under a lucky star, while others have their misfortune telegraphed by the position of the planets. Casiopea Tun, named after a constellation, was born under the most rotten star imaginable in the firmament. She was eighteen, penniless, and had grown up in Uukumil, a drab town where mule-drawn railcars stopped twice a week and the sun scorched out dreams.

Intrigued?

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. 

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

This is one of three books I own by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The synopses of her books are all very appealing to me. Have I read any of them yet? Nope, but I need to before I buy more of her books!

Do you have an author you own multiple books of that you haven’t read yet? Please tell me I’m not alone.

A Letter to Three Witches: A Mini Book Review

Lauren2 Comments

A big thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for my copy of A Letter to Three Witches. As always I will provide an honest review.

Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting…
 
Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with her at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research.
 
Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes?

Hello beautiful people! How are you all doing this fine day? I had a great day yesterday. I went out into the world, for the first time since I was ill, and went to lunch with a friend. To no one’s surprise, we also went book shopping. I managed to only buy three books.

Speaking of books. What to say about this one?

The characters didn’t sit well with me. Especially our main character, Gwen. I just found her tiresome, not a trait you want in your main protagonist. The character interactions were fine, but everyone’s immediate distrust in their partners says a lot about them, and I didn’t enjoy that part.

I was initially intrigued by the synopsis, but when it came time to read about the actual letter, I was a little disappointed. I expected them to have a little more oomph to them, but it felt like the author couldn’t quite find our antagonist’s voice.

I didn’t make it far enough into the book to really speak about the world-building or the pacing, so I won’t.

At the end of the day, I DNF’d it about 25% of the way through the book. 1 star.

WWW Wednesday: January 26, 2022

Lauren2 Comments

It’s WWW Wednesday! It’s the day when we answer the three W’s: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? It’s hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words but was previously hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm.

Hello beautiful people! And how are we doing today? Myself, I’m doing okay. I’m working on ending my reading slump by reading some fun and interesting books.

What are you currently reading?

Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner

This book is proving to be full of references to the noir films of old. I’m having a good time reading it thus far, which is good because I had high expectations for this one.

What did you recently finish reading?

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott

I recently reviewed this book. Like Monday recently. Truth be told I wasn’t a big fan. I didn’t DNF it, but it was a close one. You can read more about my thoughts and feelings here.

A Master OF Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

This one just came through on my library app, so I guess I am reading it next! I had other bookish plans, but life doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to. I have high hopes for this one too, as it has garnered all the praise from all the people! Well, not all the people.

What are you currently reading? This inquiring mind wants to know!