What are you reading
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I finished The Heart Hopes last night and will probably start the next in the series - Two Hearts Denied - later today.0
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I just couldn't get back into the third book in the Hallee Bridgeman series - he's mad at God because "He took his brother". Ugh, I get tired of that scenario. Ok, so heaven is an awful place to be? It's better to be here in this world that keeps getting darker and darker just so you can experience love and marriage and whatever else you'll miss out on if you die? Yes, for those who aren't saved, by all means - stay alive! You need to give your heart to Jesus so that when your time comes you can go to heaven where you will have joy and peace and never be sick or grow old... Hmmm, earth and sickness, and aging, and struggle or a life forever in light and peace and joy??? Why do these authors make going home to heaven such a bad choice for people? Make it more about how you will miss them, not that God is an ogre for taking them!!! Ok, rant over.
I've been listening to my Bible for a bit before I go into my fiction, that's been very enjoyable.0 -
Bill and I used to take Bible CDs with us on road trips. We always enjoyed getting our Bible reading that way. On one Colorado trip we got all of the way through the New Testament and one Old Testament book that our Pastor was teaching on...don't remember which one, though.
Currently I am reading DOG DAYS OF SUMMER by Kathleen Y’Barbo (Gone To The Dog's series). I read the first one last month. They are about a pet rescue organization and different people connected to it. The was written by Janice Thompson. It looks like book for is ready for pre-order, but I will get through the library. The are cute and kind of mystery. Fun reads, in other words.0 -
Working on Radialloy sci-fi. It's hard to put down because there's no lag time, just goes from one situation to another! Fun!
I'm going through the color-coded Bible I did on the computer, filling in things I missed the first time. I'm starting in Genesis and will try to go all the way through, hopefully over the next year.0 -
I finished THE NOBLE GUARDIAN by Michelle Griep. Historical England is never my favorite, but many times I enjoy after I get into the books. I have an Elizabeth Camden Christmas book checked out, but I need something else between them.
I also finished a couple Christy Barritt books.
FATAL VENDETTA by Christy Barritt (Vanishing Ranch #7) KU
TROUBLED TIDINGS by Christy Barritt (Vanishing Ranch #8) freebie novella
Current:
THE CHRISTMAS TOWN by Donna Vanliere (Christmas).
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I started another of the Vanishing Ranch books last night, 5 - LETHAL BETRAYAL. Not too far in, but lots of action from the get-go!
I also started BOUND BY MURDER by Christy Barritt, her Beach Bound Books and Beans series, book 1) So far it's been pretty good.
I started the second book in a fantasy series FIRMAMENT: IN HIS IMAGE by J Grace Pennington. This is the sequel to Radialloy. Again, lots of action right from the start.
I'm trying to listen to another sequel called ABERRATION by Cathy McCrumb, another sci-fi. I'm not enjoying the audiobook as much as I enjoyed reading the first book. The reader reads with an attitude and it's hard to get past that. Hoopla doesn't have the e-book, just the audio, so I will slog through some more and see if I can get into it. I have an e-book borrowed by Melanie Dickerson, VEIL OF WINTER, part of a series by her. If I can't get into the first one I'll move on to her book.
I don't think I will have a list this month, I haven't really kept up with what I have actually finished reading! LOL! I've started and stopped quite a few!0 -
I am stopping my 2022 list and starting on 2023 a little early. I'm not sure about a couple reading challenges that I usually complete since they haven't been published at this point, but I can start working through the states and the two monthly ones that I have.
Current read:
THE GIFT by Shelley Gray (Amish) - This will work for one of my challenges for January that the book has to start with "THE" and will tick off Kentucky on my states.
Finished"
RESCUING THE WEAK by Anne Perreault - This is book #3 of a series that I have really enjoyed. This will tick off Connecticut on my states list, and I think that the big challenge I am waiting for will have a "Black Cover" prompt - she posted several items that she was considering for the challenge, but not the final list.
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Oh boy, not a lot of authors do black covers! I thought about BLACK by Ted Dekker, but the cover on that one is green - go figure! LOL!
I started THE ROGUE PRINCESS by Melanie Cellier last night and didn't want to put it down. It is part of a series that includes her other series characters as well. Now to remember them all! Two of the previous characters showed up in this one and I was trying to remember them. One I figured out, but don't remember the other one - it's been years since I read that series!
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I think I will do Robin Lee Hatcher's newest book on the "Black Cover". All She Ever Dreamed has a LOT of black on the cover, so I think it will work. If not, there is a Grace Livingston Hill book that is basically all black with a flower on it.
Current:
THE SISTERS OF SEA VIEW by Julie Klassen - This will tick off "takes place in a foreign country". It is good, but long. It is about 30 pages shy of another of the challenges that is harder to fill. Now I have to find a book over 450 pages. If one doesn't come up soon, I will search one out. Staci Stallings and Lori Wick have some longer books, if I haven't already read them.
Getting ready to start:
ALL THE LOST PLACES by Amanda D.ykes (won't let me type her name correctly). Her books are so good, so I know I will enjoy it. This will tick off the challenge "book with a map inside."0 -
OOO, if you read fantasy you would have lots of choices for a book with a map inside. Does a three-in-one series count for your 450 pages or does it have to be a single book?
Oh my, I saw that the sequel to a book I really liked is out, but so far, only in paperback. I guess I will have to keep on waiting.
Another sequel I wanted is out in e-book, but it's $7.99. Hoopla has the audio, but I tried to listen to it and didn't like the reader, so I had some credit from Amazon for the points I get using my credit card and used that to get the book - woohoo! I'm now 12 points away from getting a $3.00 credit for buying books. Somehow that just doesn't seem like a great deal, but I guess if you buy books anyway... It's taken me a long time to work my way up to getting that discount! LOL!
I am working on a couple of books, a re-read of SELKIE'S SONG by Kimberley Rogers. I really liked this series, so am going to try and go through it again.
I am also still working on the Halle Bridgeman, book 3 in that series - not into this one like I was the first two.0 -
I finished THE SISTERS OF SEA VIEW by Julie Klassen and it was very good. I am still working on ALL THE LOST PLACES by Amanda D.ykes and it is a bit different. I am not extremely excited about it, definitely not the 5* that I have given her other books. I think it is more due to the language (not bad language) in the older part of the book. Most of the book takes place in Italy and seems hard to follow for me. I'm close to 80% though it, so I will barrel on through.
I am listening to CRITICAL THREAT by Lynette Eason (her newest). This will tick off Virginia on my states and 2023 release on the big challenge.
I was reading through a post on facebook from someone wanting an idea for a book set in Central or South America and came across a book recommendation for Two Weeks in Guyana by Laura Ware. When I was a teenager, I spent 5 weeks there. It was a real learning experience. I looked up the book and it was $8.49, but I had $8.00 in credit from having orders shipped later. I thought about it for a couple of days and went back to purchase it...I just hated the .49 going against my gift card balance (I know, silly right?). I went in to go ahead and purchase and it had gone down to 7.99! WooHoo! That credit paid for the book. It will probably be my next read.
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I started listening to A CUP OF DUST by Susie Finkbeiner (historical) Depression era / Oklahoma. Whew, this is another hard one. Ir is rather sad and when I looked at the books I had read by her, one of the others I had noted that it is sad.
I really needed something light to go along with it. I am reading some of Valerie Comer Urban Farm Fresh series. Several of them fit into areas of the big challenge i am working on, and they are always lighter. It seems like I forget about her books until challenges come along and something always fits into it....then I get started on the series.0 -
I finished the newest book by Melanie Cellier in her princess fairy tale re-tells - it was very good.
I'm reading ABERRATION (the one I tried to listen to) and am enjoying reading it far more than the audio version. I am trying to read some Bible or missionary stories before I read my fiction.0 -
Kim- I know your have read some "classics" and I have to read one for a challenge. What is fairly short and would be considered a classic. I don't think I have ever read anything that would fit, so I am open.
Oh, I just read that LM Montgomery books are now considered classics. I loved her books and it has been many years since I have read one. If all else fails... I guess CS Lewis books would work. I listened to one a long time ago, and read some of his non-fiction.0 -
I just re-read the challenge and LM Montgomery may not work, since it says, "for the first time". I need ideas, preferably on the shorter side.
I am currently reading THIEF OF GLORY by Sigmund Brower. I had stayed away from his books, but this is a very good WW2 book taking place in the Dutch East Indies internment camp. I need a Christy Award Winner and went all the way back to 2015 before I found one that interested me and I hadn't already read.0 -
Connie, have you read all of the Narnia books. They are probably of mid-length. All of the Jane Austin ones are fairly long....... Have you read Christiana's story, the sequel to Pilgrim's Progress? That's a pretty quick read. How about Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys? They should be easy reads. John Steinbeck might have some shorter stories, or perhaps Edgar Allen Poe? I haven't really ready anything by Poe, so I'm not sure about that. Robinson Crusoe? I looked under classics at my library site and there are quite a few pages. Most of them aren't short though... Hope something helps there.
I am reading two books right now, a fantasy re-read and a sci-fi, ABERRATION, the sequel to RECORDER. It's futuristic.
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Right now I am going back and forth on A Christmas Carol, an LM Montgomery book from a series I haven't read (but it is 15 hours long on audio), and looking at Mark Twain books to see if there is something I haven't read. I kind of forgot about Twain. I also might do a Narnia book. I have a while before that one comes up, although I could do it early.
I finished a couple of good books. Carol Dyer that used to be on Sparkpeople recommended them on facebook.
THAT END OF LILAC LANE by Sharon Schuller Kiser (historical) KU - this was about an orphanage in Illinois in the early 1800s. I think it is the first of a series and I want to find more.
A HEART TO CHERISH by Judith McNees. I think this was her debut novel. It was about a girl that was homeless and started living with a guy to get out of a shelter. She wound up pregnant and back in a homeless shelter because she wouldn't abort the baby. This is also the first of a series. I will go back and pick up others from both authors after I finish these reading challenges.
Right now I am listening to THE MOBSTER'S DAUGHTER by Rachel Scott McDaniel (historical) this is
1920s Pennsylvania. It is really good. I almost just kept listening this morning, but I have a lot more kindle books checked out and in my reading plan than audiobooks.
I am reading THE AMISH CLOCK MAKER by Susan Meissner and Mindy Starns Clark - I needed a 1st person POV and I usually got to Susan Meissner for these, but this is the last that I haven't read. I am going to have to do some research for next time. Some of Chautona Havig's older books are 1st person, but I have read them. I went through some of her more recent books that I haven't read and none fit.
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I am re-reading a fantasy series that I quite enjoyed the first time. This one is called MASQUERADE.0
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It's kind of funny, but after I typed about 1st person POV, I realized that THE MOBSTER'S DAUGHTER was also 1st person. I counted it there and counted the Amish book as written by more than one author.
Current:
MERIAM'S SONG by Jill Eileen Smith. This is 100% due to the challenge because I usually don't read Biblical fiction, but this is a really good book. I am just looking at it as fiction.
A MARK OF GRACE by Kimberley Woodhouse (historical) - this one was 100% because I wanted to read it...but it does fit into "sunset on cover" slot in challenge. I didn’t think it would fit anything, but realized that it would.0 -
I just saw Miriam's Song on my Christian Book Finds e-mail on sale.
Did you like the Kimberley Woodhouse series, Connie? Hoopla has them if they are good.
I started a sci-fi last night, LOST BITS. It's interesting. The story is taking place in a junk yard and a robot comes back to life when the sun reaches him and he is trying to get out of there so he can find his family - but it looks like the world has been trashed! He meets other bots along the way, some trying to help him others trying to hurt. I'm probably the only one who would like it, but it's interesting - no human so far.
I'm still working on MASQUERADE as well.
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I am a fan of Harvey Girls, the Grand Canyon and Kimberley Woodhouse...so all three in one series was a real boon for me. I really enjoyed the books.
At this point, i am reading what is coming up from the library and if it fits into a reading challenge, good. If not, I am going to enjoy it anyway.
current:
DARK OF NIGHT by Colleen Coble (suspense) audiobook- I'm not too far into it, but it is very good.
ACCIDENTAL DAD by Lois Richer (LI) - light, typical Love Inspired. One category in the big challenge is to read a Love Inspired book, and this fit, but it was one that had been on hold from the library for a long time, so I needed to get it read and hunted to find something that it would fit.
finished:
WILDERNESS DEFENDER by Maggie Black (LIS) - Alaska / cool climate
THE ONE TRUE LOVE OF ALICE-ANN by Eva Marie Everson (WW2) - friends to more. This was only the second book that I have read by her, but it was very good.
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I finished a sci-fi - LOST BITS by Kerry Nietz. Most of the story takes place among the robots. One robot K-404, known lovingly by his bot friends as Four, is trying to find his human family, but realizes that quite a bit of time has passed and they may not be alive anymore. The world is totally different from before he ended up in the junkyard. He eventually does find one of his humans though, and they are fighting for their lives and he has to find a way to save her!
I also finished THE ELEMENT OF LOVE by Mary Connealy. I don't always like the madness some of her stories have in them, but this one was very good. Three brilliant sisters escape from their wicked stepfather and need to find husbands to wrest control of their lumber empire from him.0 -
Current:
DARK OF NIGHT by Colleen Coble (suspense) audiobook - Very good, still working on it, mainly at bedtime. I guess I need to move it up to daytime since I have several audiobooks in the TBR list.
THE COWBOY'S MIRACLE by Penelope Marzec (romance) KU - This is my New Jersey read. I always have a hard time finding one set there. This is a fairly short Christmas novella. It is pretty good, though.
Finished:
ACCIDENTAL DAD by Lois Richer (LI) - typical, but good.
HOPE TAKES THE REINS by Jenny McLeod Carlisle (romance) KU- Debut author / Arkansas - This was good enough that I will probably continue the series at a later date.
BECAUSE OF YOU by Juliette Duncan (romance) KU - different country - Always enjoy her books.
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Oh my! There have been a lot of people recommending a book THE UNLIKELY YARN OF THE DRAGON LADY by Sharon Mondragon. I recommended it to the library and it came up about a week ago, but I just now am getting to it. It is about a church prayer shawl ministry - and yes, there is a "dragon lady" in charge, but the pastor is forcing them to quit knitting the the church. It is funny and has some deep issues as well. Kim - no real dragons
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That's cute, Connie! Sigh! We call ladies who smoke "dragon ladies".
I am working on a fantasy (no surprise there) called THE WISHTRESS. It's interesting. Her tears can bring people wishes. No one taught her how to use her gift and she made a wish that ended up killing two little boys and their mother curses the Wishtress who now needs to stone off her heart so she sheds no more tears, for the first tear she sheds she'll die!
I'm also reading INVENTIONS OF THE HEART by Mary Connealy, the second book in her Lumber Baron series. So far the series has been very good.0 -
So far THE UNLIKELY YARN OF THE DRAGON LADY by Sharon Mondragon is the best book I have read in 2023. That doesn't sound like much, but I have read a lot of books this month.
I am getting down to the harder books on the long challenge I am working on. Right now I am reading THE PROMISE by Anne Perreault - over 450 pages. This is book 3 in the Protect and Serve series. I really like her books. They are all available in KU and aren't just normal romances, they also have some really hard issues in them. The 2nd book was an absolute cliff-hanger. WHOA! I'm glad I had this one already lined up and ready too go. I checked out the 2nd book for my state challenge (takes place in Boston) and saw that it was fairly long, so I checked book 3 and it was long enough for this challenge.0 -
Thanks for the recommendations, Connie. So far I've put THE UNLIKELY YARN OF THE DRAGON LADY on my watch list - to see if it goes any cheaper. Now I'm headed to Amazon to check out the Anne Perreault series.0
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I am reading NANNY WITNESS by Hope White (LIS). I will start a new audiobook by Amy Clipston this evening. This is part of her new non-Amish series. I liked book one, so am looking forward to it.
I am getting toward the end of the long challenge. I have to do a book with a flower on front (have 2 good authors to choose from), out of my comfort zone (using a Morgan L Busse YA Fantasy because the YA will work on another challenge), a book that takes place over 200 years ago (using an Abigail Wilson Regency) and one that I thought would be easy, but haven't found one - involves a wedding. I have read some that would work, but used for "harder" challenges.0 -
I'm enjoying the Mary Connealy series although book two got a wee bit more steamy than I am comfortable with (not described but implied too much). I'll skip to the end of it and then go on to book three. Lots of suspense and romance in this series.
I didn't get back to Wishtress last night, but will continue it tonight.0 -
I am a little more than half way through the Abagail Wilson book. I finally got involved in the plot. It was hard to get into.
I am also reading THE SHADOW ON THE QUILT by Stephanie Grace Whitson. This is for the state challenge (Kansas).
I finished GARDENIAS FOR BREAKFAST by Robin Jones Gunn. This was good. A mother and daughter from Hawaii traveling through the US and visiting family from Washington to Atlanta. It fit my flower on cover challenge and a couple in the short challenges (starting with G in one and women's fiction in another).0
