January 2024 Wrap-Up

I read eleven books in January. I was really happy that I was able to squeeze in Esrahaddon at the end of the month.

  

Everlost (Skinjacker #1) by Neal Shusterman

5 of 5 stars

See my review here.

 

A Litter of Bones (DCI Logan #1) by J. D. Kirk

4 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

Baking Bad (Beaufort Scales #1) by Kim M. Watt

3 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

Voice of War (Threadlight #1) by Zack Argyle

3.5 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

 

After the Funeral (Hercule Poirot #33) by Agatha Christie

4 of 5 stars

 

 

 

The Narrator by K. L. Slater

2.5 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

 

A Winter by the Sea (On Devonshire Shores #2) by Julie Klassen

4 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

Trouble is My Business (Philip Marlowe #8) by Raymond Chandler

3 of 5 stars

This was a collection of short stories and it didn't quite hit the mark with me like most of the full length stories have. They were still pretty good though. There are four stories, Trouble is my business, Finger man, Goldfish, and Red wind. I think I enjoyed Goldfish the most. I ended up giving all 4 stories 3 stars.

 

A Lost Ship in a Dark Grave (The Lyra Cycle #2) by Rene Astle

3 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

Esrahaddon (The Rise and the Fall #3) by Michael J. Sullivan

5 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

 

2.5 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

 

 

January 2024 Reading Challenge

 

The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi
Content: Clean

 

In the near future, humans choose life - for a price. Injectable nanite technology is the lifeblood that flows through every individual wishing to experience the world through the lens of their own theme. While death from mortal wounds is still possible, life is made easier in a socially liberated society where automation and income equality allow passion pursuits to flourish over traditional work. Renewal stations are provided to every law-abiding citizen for weekly check-ins, which issue life-sustaining repairs in exchange for personal privacy. But what becomes of those who check out, of those who dare to resist immortality and risk being edited under the gaze of an identity-extracting government surveillance system?

When Holly Winseed wakes up in a hospital room, her memory compromised and a new identity imposed on her, a team of government agents wastes no time stating their objective. With intent to infiltrate and defeat the terrorist group ICON, the agents tell Holly that she is now a Provisional Replica and has one week to hunt down and kill her Original for the murder of her husband, Jonathan. If she succeeds, she’ll assume her Original’s place in society. If she fails, her life will end. Holly’s progress is monitored by an assigned contact that feeds her information as she confronts the blank, robotic world around her, discovering that others view life through the theme of their own choosing.

With her newly implanted combat and deduction skills, Holly fends off both attacks by terrorists and doubts about her own trustworthiness as clues lead her to her Original - and to the truth about Jonathan. In the end, one body remains and one walks away. Although questions persist, one thing is certain: Life will never be the same.

 

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on along with the main character, a clone sent to kill her original self.  I thought the narrator did a fantastic job, and the music and effects reminded me a little of a graphic audio production. Certain aspects of this story reminded The Matrix—people seeing the world through virtual eyes and not what's really there. If you enjoyed Sanderson's novella Snapshot, then you will probably like this one too.

January 2024 Book Club: Everlost (Skinjacker #1) by Neal Shusterman

   

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Content: Clean

 

Nick and Allie don't survive the car accident...

...but their souls don't exactly get where they're supposed to get either. Instead, they're caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no longer exist. It's a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.

When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost kids, Nick feels like he he's found a home, but Allie isn't satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the "Criminal Art" of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost.

In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between.

 

In December our book club did a ladies choice where all the ladies brought a book and we voted for one to read. I brought Everlost and it ended up winning the vote. I was excited to read this for a second time. The last time I read this was back in 2009. I originally gave this book 4 stars, but after reading it this time, I bumped my rating up to 5. Since I was going to be reading this anyway, I also turned it into a buddy read at Fantasy Buddy Reads and it was nice getting to discuss this book with two different sets of people. 

I really love this unique fantasy about the space between this life and the afterlife. If I had to describe it, I guess I would say Everlost could be compared to Never Never Land in some ways. Maybe Lord of the Flies meets Peter Pan would be a good way to put it. The thing I enjoyed most about this book is the world of Everlost and how imaginative it was. I enjoyed the characters as well. There are so many humorous moments that had me giggling, despite that fact that some rather dark things were happening. I also enjoyed the way objects could be pulled into the world of Everlost if they were loved enough or had a tragic ending. 

This is a trilogy and I'll be rereading all three books at Fantasy Buddy Reads. We're doing one a month through March. 

 

 “There are mysteries in Everlost. Some of them are wonderful, and others scary. They should all be explored, though- perhaps that's why we're here: to experience the good and the bad that Everlost has to offer.” 

 

Now onto some book club photos- 

It was easy to come up with food ideas for this book because there's a lot of food mentioned, but also I had to find a way to incorporate the pickle barrels in the book. I ended up finding these on Amazon, then writing "Pickles" on them and putting sour patch kids inside them. If you read the book then you will know about the kids in the pickle barrels.

There was a birthday cake in the book that got pulled into Everlost so my friend Rebecca brought a birthday cake. She even wrote "Happy Birthday Suzie!" on the cake cover.

Suzie was 5 in the book, but she put 7 candles on the cake because coincidentally, it was the seventh anniversary of our book club this month. 

My husband had a couple of ideas too. A bucket of chocolate coins.

And a bowl (we didn't have a spittoon) of some fortune cookies. Again, If you read the book, you'll know what these two things are about.

 

 

 

 

 

The finder in the book was finding lots of different kinds of food, so our friends brought several kinds of things. 

 

Chicken by Risa

Egg rolls by Natalie

Salami with cheese and crackers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Youtube Video

 

The Secret Sister by Karen Clarke, and Amanda Brittany

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller
Content: Strong language, off page sex

 

Can you trust a sister who is a stranger?

Ella Matthews has it all. A beautiful house, a charming husband and a precious baby daughter – her life has pretty much turned out exactly as she planned.

But when Ella’s mother tragically dies, her perfect life starts to crack. Her mother had been harbouring a life-long secret. Ella has a sister – an older sister – called Colleen.

Excited by the thought of no-longer being an only child, Ella can’t wait to find her.

But Colleen has a whirlwind past of her own. Desperate to escape her troubles, she is ready to go to any length to start afresh.

As their paths collide, someone is keeping secrets… and when Colleen mysteriously disappears without notice, Ella can’t help but question if she should have started looking for her at all…

 

This is the second collaboration I've read by these two authors and I liked it better than the first one, The New Wife. I liked the characters better in this one and I read it instead of listening, so I didn't have narrators I didn't like adding to the overall experience. I docked half a star from my rating because there's a character—Ella—that was yet again, too stupid to live. Thankfully it wasn't throughout the whole book. I liked Ella except for when she didn't use her brain a few times. Her sister, Colleen was one of those characters that I kept wondering if I could trust or not, and I liked that aspect of the book a lot. 

There was a twist that surprised me in this one, so that was a real plus for the book. There was one minor plot hole that I found that I'm still wondering about, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable story that once I got going, I had a hard time putting down.

A Dead Ship in the Deep Black (The Lyra Cycle Book #1) by Rene Astle

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera
Content: Strong language

 

Rule number 1: Whatever you do, don't open the box.

Well, that’s rule number two actually. Rule number one is don’t take salvage jobs from people who’ve tried to sell you to an Antillian bug salesman.

Neara “Tink” Bell is used to a life of odd jobs and even odder crewmates, working as the engineer and all-around fixer on the cargo ship Lyra. But when the ship picks up two new crew members and a salvage job on a third-rate space station, things go sideways in a cosmic way.

Alek Wa is on the run. And he’s pretty sure he can hide amongst the motley crew of Lyra . But that’s not the only reason he’s on-board. He has a mission. If only his minders had told him what it was.

Captain Rebeka Mino just wants to retire with a whiskey and a steamy novel. She’d even let the ship’s cat sit on her lap, provided he keeps his claws to himself. Too bad the ship keeps getting shot at.

And when they arrive at the coordinates for the salvage job, they're confronted by a dead ship in the deep black.

Can Tink keep the Lyra running despite unexplained accidents? Can Alek outrun the people hunting him? Can Rebeka prevent their pursuers from blowing them up? Most importantly, can they keep their curiosity in check and not look in the box?

Find out now in this rollercoaster ride of a sci-fi adventure!

 

This was a fun space adventure that in some ways reminded me of Firefly, but it was still it's own unique thing. At first, because of the way some parts were written, I thought this was going to end up being too heavy on the romance, but I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't go that route. There are definitely two hunky men that seem to be interested in the same character, but I also knew that I couldn't trust at least one of them. In the end, I did end up figuring out correctly who could and couldn't be trusted. I thought that part of the story was a little obvious, but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book. 

I liked the overall plot of this book and the ending made me want to pick up the next book right away and keep reading. I did restrain myself because I wanted to read other things before the end of the year, but I do plan on reading the second book in January.

This ebook is free on all platforms right now. 

 

Another book haul and a YouTube video

Hi everyone! I posted my first ever YouTube video today. It's short, but check it out at Recordings of a Reader and if you'd like to see more videos please like and subscribe.

 

I received book mail from Bridget Baker in December and I was super excited to get my signed paperback copies of these books!

Look, she even has her own packaging with her book printed on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received my preorder copy of A Winter by the Sea by Julie Klassen. I decided to give this one to my mom because she loves Julie Klassen's books too, so I'll be ordering another one for myself.

I bought two more Tracy Crosswhite books. These were discounted on Amazon. 

This was another book that was discounted on Amazon. I still need to buy book one.

I bought several books from Book Outlet when they had a sale. This was one of them. I still need to buy the other two books in the trilogy.

Another Book Outlet purchase. I already had this in paperback, but this hardcover was less than I had paid for the paperback, so why not upgrade? The rest of the Book Outlet Books were cookbooks, so I won't post pictures of those.

And finally, I bought this deluxe edition of Dune on a black Friday sale. I have to confess that I'm not really a fan of Dune, but my husband is, and this edition is just so gorgeous that I couldn't resist buying this copy of it, even though he only listens to audio books. I kept trying to talk myself out of buying this book, but when it went on sale I gave in.

Blue sprayed edges.

The naked hardcover.

 

Beautiful artwork on the other side of the dust jacket.

Beautiful end papers.