Annual reading challenge 2018- Join in on the Fun

50/50 Deepest Waters by Dan Walsh (Synopsis taken from Amazon)

For John and Laura Foster, what began as a fairytale honeymoon in 1857 aboard the steamship SS Vandervere, quickly turns into a nightmare. A terrible hurricane strikes and the grand ship begins to sink. Just before it goes under, a rescue ship appears on the horizon. But it only has room enough to save the women and children. Laura soon finds herself sailing away toward New York city on a ship filled with orphans and widows, to meet John's family whom she’s never met. Desperate for a miracle, Laura braces herself to face life alone.

After reading the Jack Turner books I read this one. It was a good read.

I have reached my 50 books in 6 months. Think I will continue but make them (+) books now.
 
40/50

After You by Jojo Moyes

Glad I listened to those who recommended it! Will request Still Me!

After You is the one I'm reading now also, just started it. For me, it's #31 for the year. I also just finished "Educated; a Memoir" by Tara Westover (#30). A rather interesting book about a girl who never attended school (her family were survivalists), but when she was older, she attended school and received her doctorate. I found the early part of the book, when she was living the survivalist life more interesting than later, when she was in college.
 
#30 The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea

This book was good in a way and a bit too 'wordy' in other ways. While I stayed up way too late to finish it, I don't think I'm in a rush to add this author's books to my must read list.
From Goodreads:
Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are both high school seniors in the small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. When they disappear from a beach party one warm summer night, police launch a massive search. No clues are found, and hope is almost lost until Megan miraculously surfaces after escaping from a bunker deep in the woods.

A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has turned Megan from local hero to national celebrity. It s a triumphant, inspiring story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing. Nicole's older sister Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole's body will be found, and it will be up to someone like Livia to analyze the evidence and finally determine her sister's fate. Instead, the first clue to Nicole's disappearance comes from another body that shows up in Livia's morgue that of a young man connected to Nicole's past. Livia reaches out to Megan for help, hoping to learn more about the night the two were taken. Other girls have gone missing too, and Livia is increasingly certain the cases are connected.

But Megan knows more than she revealed in her blockbuster book. Flashes of memory are coming together, pointing to something darker and more monstrous than her chilling memoir describes. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you've been looking for.
 
41/50
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

Flushing out corruption at the Academy.
 


40/50

After You by Jojo Moyes

Glad I listened to those who recommended it! Will request Still Me!

Glad you enjoyed it!

41/50
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

Flushing out corruption at the Academy.

Love this series! Picked up a DVD of Still Life at the library for my parents; hoping I get a chance to see it before I need to return it.
 
#49/90: Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford (4.5/5) (historical fiction/Seattle fairs)
Novel goes between the early 1900s to 1962. Two young Asians brought over illegally end up at the same brothel.
Same author as Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

#50/90: The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin (4/5) (historical fiction/early Hollywood)
The relationship between Mary Pickford and Frances Marion from the silent films through the changes in the industry.
Same author as The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviators Wife.
 


15 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling

My daughter is going to see The Cursed Child Next week so we both decided to both reread a Harry Potter. I choose the Deathly Hallows.
After reading some okay at best books, this one blew me away just as much this time as last. What a fantastic read,



If anyone is interested, I would gladly send a kindle gift version of any of my works “Written for You”, “Three Twigs for the Campfire”, “Cemetery Girl” or “Reigning”. You can see them all reviewed at Goodreads. If you are interested in reading any just message me.
 
First In Line by Kate Anderson Brower. Non-fiction. An in-depth look at the Vice-Presidents, how they were chosen to be on the ticket with the Presidential candidate, how they viewed the office and did their job, and the relationship they had with their president. It covers the current vice-president and goes back to Eisenhower/Nixon. I had read her book about the White House staff so was familiar with her writing style but still found it difficult to follow how she jumps around between people.

35/52
 
#32 Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan

Last in the 'No Evil' trilogy:

In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.

Instead of preparing for her high school graduation, Lucy Kincaid is facing a vicious execution. Lured by an online predator, she’s destined to die horribly–live on the Internet–while hundreds of heartless viewers watch and vote on the method of her slaughter. Her family’s only hope rests with Kate Donovan, an FBI agent who took on the same sadistic killer once before . . . and lost. Blamed for another girl’s gruesome murder, Kate’s been fighting to clear her name. But she agrees to join the hunt for Lucy–and reluctantly steps back into her worst nightmare.

With time running out before the bloody webcast airs, Kate teams up with forensic psychiatrist Dillon Kincaid to get inside the head of her twisted quarry, zero in on his chamber of horrors, and reach Lucy before grim history repeats itself and another innocent’s brutal death goes hideously live.
 
#51/90: Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s by Tom Doyle (4/5) (biography)
Since I have adored Paul since I was six years old, I enjoyed this book!
 
#33 Music of Ghosts by Sallie Bissell
Fifth book in the Mary Crow series

Deep in the Appalachian woods stands the old Fiddlesticks cabin, the scene of a bloody double murder from decades past. Now the haunted cabin lures young thrill seekers who hope to hear the killer's ghostly fiddle music. When a group of college students comes to call, Lisa Wilson--the daughter of a former North Carolina governor--is tragically murdered, and her flesh is mutilated with disturbing symbols.

Pisgah County sheriff Jerry Cochran is in hot water when the ball-busting politician shows up, threatening to tear the county apart in search of his daughter's killer. But Nick Stratton--the handsome raptor center specialist and Lisa's boss--is in even hotter water when evidence points to him as the prime suspect. As Nick turns to attorney Mary Crow for help, it's up to the Pisgah County native to discover the truth. Did Nick do it? Or is there a deranged mountain killer on the loose?
 
#20 Missing in Death by JD Robb

#21 Fantasy in Death by JD Robb

#22 Indulgence in Death by JD Robb

#23 Possession in Death (Novella) by JD Robb

I am at #23 out of 52 for the year.
 
43/50. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I enjoyed this book, great recommendation from here! Personally, I would not make it living in Alaska, but looking forward to my cruise there next May!
 
I'm still here!

#5 "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
This book came highly recommended by several of my friends. So I had high expectations, and that was the first problem. I thought the book started out very well but it turned Harry Potter-esque and I'm not a Potter fan. It's also the first book in a trilogy and that was the second problem. I'm okay with book series but I like for each book to have somewhat of an arch. This one felt like it was only setting up whatever is coming in the following books. I liked it but maybe not enough to read the others.
 
51/50 Hidden Currents by Christie Barritt
52/50 Flood Watch By Christie Barritt
53/50 Storm Surge by Christie Barritt
54/50 Dangerous Waters by Christie Barritt
55/50 Perilous Riptide by Christie Barritt
56/50 Deadly Undertow by Christie Barritt

These were the 6 books in the Lantern Beach Mysteries. Cassidy Livingston AKA Cady Matthews is an under cover police detective hiding out in a small town on the Outer Banks. She is scheduled to testify against a drug organization but there is a million dollar price on her head after she accidently kills the head of the organization. She can't help getting involved in things going on in the town which puts her in more danger. The books cover the 6 months she hides out and the troubles she gets into. It was a fun read although a little predictable.

57/50 Brodrick by LL Muir

58/50 Murdoch by Diane Garcy

These were two more from the Ghosts of Culloden Moor series. Quick reads as the ghosts try to fulfill their good deeds to leave the Moor forever.

59/50 The Black House by Peter May. Book 1 in a trilogy.

Taken from Amazon -
When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on mainland Scotland, Edinburgh detective and native of the Isle of Lewis Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.
As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs assert their grip on his psyche.

I head to Scotland this weekend so I expect to get through another couple of books. 7 hour flight and a lot of bus time equals reading for me.
 
#34 The Kill by Allison Brennan
Her worst nightmare brought back to life, she risks everything for a second shot at justice.

For thirty years, FBI scientist Olivia St. Martin has lived with guilt and one abiding certainty–that while she wasn’t able to save her sister’s life, she did testify and helped to convict the rapist and killer. When shocking new evidence exonerates the man Olivia is sure she saw abduct her sister, she breaks every rule in the book to uncover the truth.

Driven by the possibility that she put the wrong man behind bars, Olivia discovers that a serial killer has been at large all these years. Believing that the monster has just struck again in Seattle, Olivia leaves her lab and poses as a field agent, sharing her unofficial investigation with a hardworking Seattle cop. Olivia doesn’t want to lie to detective Zack Travis. And she certainly doesn’t want to fall in love. But as the investigation intensifies, Olivia and Zack find that they’re rapidly losing control–over their hearts, their secrets, and a case that threatens to consume them
 

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