May TBR

I had a great reading month in April, May is shaping up to be a busy month with outdoor sports.  That means it is the perfect time to read my physical books since my kindle is not ideal for reading in sunny weather.  One of my goals was to read more of the books on my shelves and spring/summer is the perfect time to do that.  I'm excited to get to some of the books I picked up at my local library sale.  I also picked up some great kindle books on World Book Day and through the many daily deal emails I get for kindle books.  I'm really looking forward to reading those as well. 

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• The Librarian: A Pirates Revenge (The Librarian #3) by Eric Hobbs
• I read book 2 in April and I'm anxious to finish out the trilogy.  This is a fun middle grade/YA retelling based in classic fairy tales.  The first two books had solid foundations in Peter Pan and Oz.  I'm looking forward to getting to seeing where this one takes us.
• Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout
• I was hoping to get to this in April but I ran out of time.  This comes out in June and is one of my most anticipated reads of 2019.  
• The Boyfriend Bargain by Ilsa Madden-Mills
• This is a standalone hockey romance due out May 5th.  It sounded good, so jumped on the chance to read and review it.  Madden-Mills is a new author to me, but I don't think I'll be disappointed.
• Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
• This a relatively new release, but it has gotten a ton of hype.  It is a YA Fantasy, with some mythology/religion elements from what I can tell, political intrigue, and supposed to have an awesome female warrior lead.  I've only read the first chapter so far, and it is interesting.  I may listen to the audio of this instead as some reviews have said the pacing is slow.
• The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland
• This is my 11 year old son's favorite series.  I promised him I'd the first book if he'd give Percy Jackson a try.   I knew he would fall in love with Percy and the gang if he would just give the books a chance.  He wouldn't read them for some reason, probably because I told him they were good and he'd like them, same thing with Harry Potter (though he has read the first 3 of those).  He started Percy last weekend and has devoured them. He is almost done with the first series, lucky for him I have all 10 books and The Kane Chronicles.  I have to keep my promise, so I'm going to read this in May.
• Courting Darkness by Robin LeFevers
• I'm so excited there are more books in this series.  I really loved the original trilogy, and this follows Sybella, one of the assassins trained at the convent of the daughters of death.  It was a really interesting concept and I'm looking forward to meeting the new characters as well as revising old friends.

Audiobooks

As usual I've got a bunch of books on hold at the library.  I've been requesting new and popular books, so things have been coming in slowly.  Hoopla and the available now option have been great in the interim.  Libro.fm also had a bunch of free books on Independent Bookstore Day so I've got several new books I can listen to whenever I want now.  Audiofile's Summer Reading AudioSYNC Program kicked off last week and I picked up their 2 books for week 1, the are doing 2 books a week from April 27th through August 1st.  They always have amazing titles and narrators.  My son and I are looking forward to listening to the titles on our long drives to and from basketball practice.  

• Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
• I still haven't gotten to this one.  It is high on my priority list for May.  
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• This has gotten so many good reviews, and it is narrated by Cassandra Campbell who is one of my favorite narrators.  This is listed as a coming of age, historical fiction, and mystery on Goodreads so we'll see how I like it.  It sounds interesting, and I think I can use it for a reading challenge prompt.
• Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen
• This is the final installment of the Nyxia Triad.  The Genesis crew is still trying to win the prize and escape with their lives from the planet they've flown so far in space to get to.  I'm anxious to get to this one as I've really enjoyed the series so far.  

April Wrap Up

I will say that April has been a pretty successful reading month.  I finished 10 books and 6 audiobooks.  I reviewed a few ARCs, and I found the OWL read-a-thon, and knocked off several of my reading challenge prompts.  Considering I went on vacation for a week and didn't really read for a whole week and I've been very busy with work and life in general I'm really happy with how much I got done this month.

I'll be posting a wrap up for the OWL read-a-thon challenges later this week, but most of these books fit a prompt or I added to fill a prompt.  I'm enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone with these read-a-thons and challenges to find really great reads.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• Review
• This was a great retelling of The Wizard of Oz.  I've been meaning to read this forever and I'm glad I finally got to it.  It is darker than the first book, but I still enjoyed it.  The kids have to put the story back the way it was as their good hearted change had unintended consequences in the real world.
• Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre (illustrator)
• I won a copy of this via a Book Riot giveaway.  Huge thanks to KaBoom and imprint of Boom Studios for hosting the giveaway and sending me an ARC.  This is a YA graphic novel.  It has some mythology, sci-fi, and my only complaint is that it wasn't long enough.  For kids it was probably the perfect length to keep their attention, I just didn't want it to end, I wanted it to keep going.  That is more of a compliment than a complaint.  This was highly entertaining and beautifully illustrated. 
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• Review
• Technically I'm not done with this, but I'll finish it tomorrow.  This is due out on May 7th.  It mainly follows Ogden Milton and his offspring through time starting in 1935.   The timeline and perspective jumps around, I prefer a more linear timeline or for several chapters to stay in one time period or another so I can engage with one set of characters.  I found it hard to stay focused because it switches years or character almost every chapter.  The story and characters were interesting and the history is really well done.
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young
• Review
• This is the third book in Sam's On Hart's Boardwalk Series.  This is due out on May 7th.  I really loved Dahlia and her story is heartbreaking.  This book was really emotional.  This series makes you feel like you are a part of the community and every time you read one of the books it is like coming home after a long trip.  If you like romance you have to give this a shot.
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
• Review
• My son and I both really enjoyed Nevermoor.  He devoured this as soon as I brought it home from the library.  I think he read it in 24 hours and it has been killing him not to tell me what happened.  This is a bit darker as Morrigan learns about wunder and the legacy she is inheriting from past Wundersmiths.  She is also learning the ins and outs of the Wunderous Society and learning to interact with other people.  There is a conspiracy within her unit and Morrigan is again at the center of all of the bad things happening.  I really enjoy this series.  I can't wait for the next one.
• Time by Penny Reid
• Review
• I this came out on April 15th.  This completes The Laws of Physics trilogy.  I'm sad it is over, but I'm happy that Mona and Abram got the ending they deserved.  I'm also holding out that Penny will give us more stories from this series hopefully Allyn and Poe will show up in the future with books of their own.  This covers a ton of issues and wraps up many of the outstanding issues Mona and Abram have with each other and with other people.
• When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
• I'm not a big poetry reader, but I enjoyed most of these.  The poems are fairly straightforward and I liked that.  I didn't have to struggle to figure out the meaning, it was usually right there in your face what he was talking about.  Sometimes the poems weren't to my taste, but I found his writing style for the most part to flow nicely and his writing to be beautiful.  This fulfils the Read Harder prompt for a collection of poetry that has been published since 2014.   
• Skyward. Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, and Antonio Fabela
• I read this for the OWL readathon.  I was watching Hardback Hoarder's Library Haul video and she mentioned it as set in the future which is a prompt I was struggling with.  This is pretty entertaining and the plot is interesting.  Gravity is basically broken and the main character has to fix it in future volumes.  It was a quick read and I'll be checking out volume 2 soon.
• Star Mage #1 by J.C. De La Torre (author) and Ray Dillon (illustrator)
• This has a lot of potential.  I'm not a big comic reader so maybe because I've only read omnibuses I felt like this was over before it had a chance to get started.  It was only 24 pages, so by the time we find anything out about the main character it was over.  Fortunately this is a little older and the other issues are available.  This was another OWL prompt read.
• The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• Review
• This was an impromptu read, but it fit into my OWL challenge for a book with a red cover.  I was watching  BooksandLala Trash my TBR update and she recommended it because so many of her subscribers said it was a good thriller and that she would like it.  It is a short little book and follows a group of friends in the in the 1986 and 2016 through a series of weird events.  It is told from the perspective of Ed, one of the friends, who has his own strange experience.  It is captivating and I didn't want to put down this creepy, thriller.   

Audiobooks

• City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
• I really enjoyed this.  If you are looking for a middle grade/YA ghost story I recommend this.  It isn't very long, but I really enjoyed it.  I can't wait for the next one.  This installment is set in Scotland and the main character can travel between the world of the living and the dead.  
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• I'm so glad I finally took the time to enjoy this.  It was such an impactful book.  It was hard to listen to at times, but the writing is beautiful and the message is so important.  I now understand why it is the winner of so many awards and the #1 book on The Great American Reads list.  The audio is excellent, I highly recommend it.
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• I listened to this right after To Kill a Mockingbird and I don't think it is as good.  As a sequel it just doesn't stand up.  The plot doesn't always match up and the message just isn't as good.  Knowing that this was written first and never intended to be published by the author that makes a lot of sense.  Lee's writing is beautiful and the narration is wonderful.  Had I not read them back to back, this might have been OK, but it just isn't as good as Mockingbird and you can tell it was written first and just isn't as good.
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden 
• I love this series.  I was worried Vasya wasn't going to play a part in the beginning, but this tale involves her brother and sister as much as it does her.  We get to know Sasha and Olga a bit more as well as many other characters.  Vasya is still up to her antics of not being a prim and proper maiden and getting herself into predicaments.  I still love the folklore behind this series and can't wait for the next one.  
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
• This fulfils the prompt for a book written in prison.  I don't think he actually wrote this while he was working in the prison, but we are going with it.  I also read Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, so I'm covered there.  This is a memoir of a very well educated, Orthodox Jewish man, who after giving up his faith finds himself needing a job that pays better than the one he's got.  He applies to be a prison librarian, and these are the tales which are quite raw and real of his experience there.  The narrator does quite a great job of capturing the personalities of the inmates.  
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• This has gotten a ton of hype.  I admit I didn't know much about the plot, but I kept hearing how scary it was.  This is a work of literary fiction, and while there are plenty of harsh conditions and graphic situations (read trigger warnings) this is by no means a horror novel.  The characters experience very real fear based on the things they are experiencing in the wild Alaskan territory.  I'm not a big literary fiction reader and while this is extremely well written it just isn't the type of book I prefer.  It is very good, just not the type of book I normally go for.

April TBR

It is rare that I'm actually all caught up on everything I need to read.  I have some ARCs that are due out in May and some others that I've had waiting to be reviewed so hopefully I can get to those.  I've got a bunch of stuff on hold at the library as usual, and I'm slowly making progress on my reading challenges.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• I'm currently reading this now.  I've had a copy of this to review for quite a while, and I'm just getting around to it.  I have the 3rd one as well, and hopefully I'll get to that as well.  It is a little bit of a retelling and a little bit of a mashup of favorite fairy tales and classics.  The two main characters altered reality when they changed the classic Wizard of Oz tale.  They find that the people they know and even their own personalities have changed.  So far it is good, I need a good adventure story.
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• The is due out on May 7th.  This is a historical fiction book set in the 1930's.  It sounded really interesting to me and appears to tackle a lot of tough issues that have plagued the US for a very long time.  
• Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout
• This is the first book in a new YA Fantasy/Paranormal series.  If you have read The Dark Elements you will be familiar with some of the characters, as this is Zayne's story post Layla.  The Dark Elements is one of my favorite series, and I'm looking forward to seeing some old favorite characters and Zayne getting his own story.  If this is anything like the original you will have whitty banter, romance, gargoyles, demons, and who know what other manner of creature to take us on a crazy adventure.  This is set to release June 11, 2019.
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young
• This is the third book in Sam's On Hart's Boardwalk Series.  Fans of the series have been patiently awaiting Dahlia's story for quite some time now.  We don't have to wait much longer as this is due out on May 7, 2019.  Dahlia is a local artist and she owns a local gift shop on the boardwalk.  We don't know much about her yet, but at the end of the last book Michael waltzed in and upended Dahlia's quiet demeanor.  I'm so excited to get to know them.

Audiobooks

I'm hoping to get Bloodwitch on audio (or in print) so I can finish it, but I've got a ton of other things on hold as usual.  The two I've got checked out currently are both to fulfil challenge prompts.

• City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
• I really love Victoria Schwab/V.E. Schwab's writing.  I've been looking forward to this book for a while.  I started this yesterday and so far so good.  It is a middle grade/YA paranormal story about a girl who can see ghosts.  I love a good paranormal fantasy.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• I don't even know what this is about except it has won lots of awards, everyone speaks highly of this book, and it won the Great American Read vote.  It also has over 3 million ratings on Goodreads which is why I'm reading it.  I'm using it for my reading challenge prompt for a book with over 1 million ratings.
• Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
• I won a copy of this in a giveaway that Highbridge Audio was having.  It is narrated by Robin Miles, who is a fantastic narrator, and is about and African soldier who deserts his post, political scandal, and many other things.  This fits a couple of the challenge prompts, and from the few chapters I've listened to its interesting.

Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book. This follows a brilliant 15 year old boy named Christopher, who is a bit different. He loves red, dogs, math, and physics. He hates brown, yellow, and being touched. When he finds his neighbor's dog murdered one day, he decides he is going to take on the mantle of one of his favorite characters Sherlock Holmes and solve the murder. Christopher also decides to write a book about solving the murder of poor Wellington the dog.

As Christopher puts on a brave face and talks to neighbors he doesn't know to solve the crime, he comes to find out more about his family than he expected while also finding out who killed Wellington. As he find out more about what happened to Wellington, he also learns about his mother, he faces many of his fears to achieve his goals, and he learns many new things.

This is more of a family drama than it is a murder mystery. We learn about Christopher's journey through life through his eyes as he sees the world through a totally different lens and most people just think he's crazy or weird. His own parents get frustrated with him because they don't understand his needs and why he does things the way he does.

I'm really curious how a person with Asperger's/Autism would feel about this book or a parent with a child would view this book. While I really enjoyed the story and learning about Christopher's journey, I have no personal experience to draw from or to compare to. I am a mom and I can certainly relate to some of the parenting struggles that Christopher's parents went through with the general parenting stuff as all kids have things they do that make them unique.

I listened to the audiobook and I very much enjoyed it.  I read this for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge prompt for a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse.  This was also on The Great American Read list, and I'm trying to read as many of those as I can.  I can see why this gem is on that list.  I'm so glad I took the time to read this.

View all my reviews

Top 5 Wednesday: 2019 Reading Resolutions

Topic:  2019 Reading Resolutions - This one is pretty self explanatory.

1. Read more of the books I've already bought.  I use my library a ton, and I still plan to do so, but I have a ton of books on my Kindle and my bookshelves that are waiting to be read.  My goal is to read books I've bought.  I am not going to resolve to stop buying books because I'll break that resolution, but I can try to be more selective with my purchases.
2. Post more reviews.  I was lucky enough to get quite a few ARCs last year, and I reviewed all of them.  I reviewed plenty of the books that weren't ARCs, but about half of the books I read went unreviewed.  I want to up my review percentage.
3. Read some of the books on the Great American Read list.  I printed off the list of finalists for the Great American Read to see how many I had read.  I've only read 19, some of those were entire series, but I want to cross some of them off.  This will likely been a long term goal but if I get to a couple of them this year I'll be happy.
4. Complete the 2019 Popsugar and Book Riot Read Harder Challenges.  I'm being ambitious by trying to complete 2 challenges this year, but some of the prompts overlap and both of these help me read more diversely and expose me to new authors.
5. DNF books if I don't love them.  Life is too short for bad books or books you don't love right?  I can count on 1 hand the books I've never finished.  I always trudge through books even if I can't stand them.  I think it is time I start passing on books if I just don't like them.