Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Review of Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Read for: Recently Added/ Audio Book

Synopsis: "In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth "Evvie" Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn't correct them. In New York, Dean Tenney, former major-league pitcher and Andy's childhood friend, is struggling with a case of the "yips": he can't throw straight anymore, and he can't figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button.

When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie's house, the two make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's late husband, and Evvie won't ask about Dean's baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken--and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they'll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they've broken, the plans they've changed, and the secrets they've kept. They'll need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there's always a chance--right up until the last out."

My Review: I have had this on my TBR for quite a while and finally got around to picking it up. I listened to the audiobook but found that I wasn't really invested in the story or characters, so picked up the print book, sadly that didn't improve much. The characters and story are okay but a bit forgettable, I only read it a week ago and I am already forgetting quite a bit about it. I did enjoy that there was a good platonic friendship throughout the story and the way that can change with life developments and how it can so easily be damaged. I enjoyed Dean's character but I feel like we never really got to know him, there is so much more I wanted to know about him. The story obviously focuses more on Evvie and honestly she drives me up a wall, she is immature, she acts fake to the people who care about her, she is overly emotional, she is just not the type of character I enjoy reading about. Over all, this one just fell short for me.

My Rating: This was a bit of a let down for me. It did have some interesting bits about guilt and grief, as well as friendships, but it wasn't quite enough to hold my attention.  Maybe if I had been in a different reading mood or had more time to really simmer in this story, I would have had a different reading experience with this one.  I give it a rating of Two Paws.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Top 10 Tuesday: Books on My Summer TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  It is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and you can find the list of topics on her page HERE.



Happy 10th Birthday Top Ten Tuesday!!  In celebration of their birthday this week, the topic was left open but I really wanted to do last week's topic.  So here we have the top 10 books I want to read this summer. . .




I want to read not only Ink and Bone, but the entire 5 book The Great Library Series. These books have been on my shelves for a few years now and the final book came out last year, so why not binge the entire series?!

 
Speaking of series I want to read, after just re-reading The Tiger's Daughter, I am ready to read the other two books in the trilogy. They are hefty but I think they will totally be worth it. 

Being cooped up in the house for 3 1/2 months, managing the house, teaching my son, working full time, with my husband working outside the house every day has really drawn me to this book. It looks like it will be a book I will be able to relate to entirely!

For me, summer means romance, especially paranormal/shifter romance. So again not only do I want to read Wolf Kiss, but the entire 5 book Warrior Wolves Series, it is complete and will be a completely binge worthy series on a long weekend.

Normally I save the heavy fantasy for the fall and winter, but this one is giving me tropical jungle vibes. So I feel like reading it in the muggy summer days will make it all the more atmospheric.


August for me has become a pirate filled month, and it is about time that I got back to the series that started it all for me. Seafire is what sparked my idea for Arr-gust but I haven't read the second book yet, and with the 3rd due out this fall, it is time to read Steal Tide.

On that same note, I met Lisa Olech at the Fall In Love with New England romance event last year and she totally sold me on her pirate book.  This needs to be read on the beach this summer!

Another series that really got me into the pirate books was Dark Shores, and now I have this, the second book in the series, in my hands,  I am a little worried that we will be getting away from the sea adventures in this one but I am still very excited to read it.


This book has been on my TBR for the last 2 months, it has been calling out to me big time. I just need to make it more of a priority and dig my teeth into this chunky fantasy.


So there are 10(+) books on my summer TBR.  Of course I have many more especially all the requested reviews I need to catch up on, but I cannot wait for these. With all of our travel plans canceled for this summer, and all the remaining construction on the house being done by contractors, I am planning on taking full advantage of our stay-cations!








Monday, June 22, 2020

Monday Reading List


It is Monday again, and time to update with what I read last week, what I am currently reading and what to look forward to next week.


Reviews Posted Last Week:
Links will take you to my review

Queen's Peril by E. K. Johnston
Network Effect by Martha Wells
Max Spaniel: Dinosaur Hunt by David Catrow (Bedtime Story)
Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju & Ryan Estrada (Graphic Novel)

 Books Finished Last Week:
Reviews will be posted at a later date

Banned Book Club
Uncommon Stories
Cold-Hearted Bastard
A Highlander Walks into a Bar


Currently Reading:

You Can't F*ck Up Your Kids by Lindsay Powers - Print - on page 98 of 320
Realm by Alexandrea Weis - ebook - on page 46 of 397
The Ranger of Marzanna by Jon Skovron - print/ebook - on page 134 of 528



Pages Read/ Time Listened
480:40 Hours Listened (21:09 listened this week)
14,696 Pages Read (492 this week)

Books Added to Shelves Recently: TBR
The Eyes of Tamburah (gift)
The Wolf in the Whale
~~~~~~~~~~March Birthday Waiver Books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rain Dragon Rescue
The Order of the Unicorn
#Frankenstein
The Book of Boy
All the Wandering Light
Life on the Leash
Phoenix Unbound
You Can't F*ck Up Your Kids  (gift)
Mary Shelley Monster Hunter Vol. 1
The Caged Queen
The Mum Who'd Had Enough
Ash and Quill
The Voyage to Magical North
I Needed a Viking
Smoke and Iron
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Birthday Waiver~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red Hood (gift)
Scavenge the Stars
Beefcakes
Hades & Persephone
Finding Forever
Uncommon Type - READ
Red, White & Royal Blue
Beach Read
Dark Skies
No Country for Old Gnomes (gift)
About That Kiss
The Ranger of Marzanna
A Heart of Blood and Ashes (gift)
The Girl and the Stars
A Choir of Lies
Loving Cara
Queen's Peril - READ
This Will Kill That
One to Watch
Woven in Moonlight
Steel Tide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Things are finally starting to settle down for us. We have gotten into a bit of a routine finally and it feels great.  I have started getting a bit more reading done. Getting close to being caught up on writing reviews for the books I have finished. Started responding to some emails. I am still relying heavily on audio books, which isn't great for catching up on requested reviews, but the good news is that for my anniversary I got a new Kindle paperwhite, so I will be able to start reading ebooks with ease again!

While I have a pretty clear list of books I need to get working on, this week there is a Romance readathon hosted on Youtube and Instagram. So, I will be diving into a nice pile of romance books this week. Since it is near 90 degrees here, I feel like it is time to break out those romantic beach reads anyway.

What are you reading right now?