Wednesday, December 30, 2015

2016 A-Z Mystery Author Challenge

 

I am still a mystery lover and I know I have several devoted challenge participants, so I will continue with this challenge in 2016.

I just finished The Good Girl by Mary Kubica and am so excited to have found a new psychological mystery author!  I hope to read more by her in the next year.

Who have you discovered this past year and would like to read more of?

Challenge Rules:

  • Read any author within the mystery genre; thriller, noir, suspense, etc. Use last names as the letter (i.e. S= John Sandford)
  • Post your links in the comments below.
  • See if you can complete the whole alphabet!!!
I look forward to reading what you all are reading. 

                           Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by! 

                                               red headed book child

 

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Who me? A Book Blogger?

It's funny. I was at one of my book club get togethers for the holidays. It was a book and cookie swap. I brought books, not cookies. It's how I roll. I met a new woman there and after being introduced as the "friend who has a book blog and gets lots of books", I thought, "Well, shoot! I should probably blog then!" I hopped on my blog later that night and realized my last post was from July and it wasn't even written by me! I felt immediately silly for handing out my blog business card to someone new and for her to google search my rather stale site!

Did this motivate me to want to write a million reviews? No, not really. I don't think the art of book blogging is dead by any means. It just hasn't been my platform to recommend and talk books for quite some time. I created a Facebook page for my blog and I link books I liked and am reading on there. I donate, give away, swap and talk books with family and friends. I recommend to every one I can during my job at the library. And I read a lot of kids books with my son and then donate them to his school.


My blog has brought me a ton of opportunities and connections in the world of books and I'm forever grateful. Last year, I posted that I may include some more personal posts instead of all books. In all reality, I like the short and sweet aspect of Facebook rather than a meandering post here on my blog. For now.

I will probably continue my A-Z Mystery Challenge because I have some faithful followers and it really requires very little time.

And I will pop over occasionally with a review or two. I like to see some old faces out there but I am truthfully pretty behind on any new book blogs. I still don't do Netgalley or ebooks of any kind so that does limit my opportunities to review some of the newer titles. I'm okay with that.

The pace of the library has changed my reading. I don't need the newest and the best right away. I placed a request and I wait in line. I've turned 40, so I'm over the fan fare of "Gimme Gimme!".

I guess my purpose of this post was my introduction and definition as a Book Blogger. And though I do identify in some ways to that, I really truly am just a Book Lover. I will get the word out for what I love in any way I can.

For now, it's just not here so much.

Hope you all are well in the book blog-o-sphere!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Guest Review: Constant Fear by Daniel Palmer



Constant Fear by Daniel Palmer

When Jake Dent’s dreams of baseball glory fell apart in a drunk-driving incident, his marriage did too. In those dark days, a popular survivalist blog helped to restore Jake’s sense of control. He’s become an avid Doomsday Prepper, raising his diabetic son, Andy, to be ready for any sudden catastrophe.

Andy, now a student at the prestigious Pepperell Academy where Jake works as a custodian, has a secret—he’s part of a computer club that redistributes money from the obscenely wealthy to the needy. Usually, their targets don’t even realize they’ve been hacked. But this time, they’ve stolen from the wrong people: a vicious drug cartel that is coming to get its money back…

Staging a chemical truck spill as a distraction, the cartel infiltrates the Academy, taking Andy and his friends hostage one by one. Jake, hidden inside the school’s abandoned tunnels, knows that soon the killing will start. With his training, and a stockpile of weapons and supplies, he’s the last, best hope these students—including his son—have of getting out alive. But survival is no longer an abstract concept. It’s a violent, brutal struggle that will test Jake to the limit, where there are no rules and no second chances…

Cheryl’s review
As you know, I’ve been reviewing Daniel Palmer’s books since the beginning. I was lucky to win a review copy from him by posting to Facebook (become a fan: https://www.facebook.com/danielpalmerbooks). I’ve enjoyed all his books and the more he writes, the better he gets. I found myself on the edge of my seat and tense while reading, signs of a great suspense novel.

Technology is the underlying center of all his books. In Constant Fear, it’s the fragile world of earning money online. He explains how it works, benefits, faults, and in this case it made me glad I have not entered that world. There is a mix of characters immersed in the world and those who avoid it, creating a conflict where both have to learn important lessons. Jake is a survivalist while his son has the technology talent.

One of Palmer’s talents is building the story. He starts with character development and backstory, so that you feel immersed in the people’s lives. Then you get sucked in and don’t want to stop until you know what happens. Many times as I read, I found myself tense and had to remind myself to relax. As the cartel took over the Academy and the computer club they suspected of stealing their money, it was nonstop action.

What Palmer also does very well is mixing the action with physical and psychological - it’s not just kidnapping and survival, but the reasons why they took action. This book was more violent than his others, but he painted a realistic portrait of why the characters acted the way they did. Often I wonder, what would I do if I were in their situation? (which I hope I never am) And, as always, there was an unexpected twist at the end. 

Palmer truly is a great suspense novelist and I am a dedicated fan. 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness Giveaway!

 Who else is excited that these books exist? I love books like this; the gothic, the romance, the mystery, the paranormal. It's completely up my alley. I was so thrilled to be a part of this promotion for the paperback release of the Book of Life, the third and final book in this series. I was even more thrilled when I received all three books. 
 The publisher is doing some amazing promotional giveaways with lots of added perks and I'm sure you will see them all out there in the blogosphere. I decided to share with you all a Q& A with the author, Deborah Harkness and also the giveaway. 
To sign up for the giveaway, please leave your name and email. Winner will be chosen June 2. 

Enjoy getting to know the author and a little bit more about these books!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by! 

red headed book child 

A CONVERSATION WITH DEBORAH HARKNESS

Q: In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and 

have focused on alchemy in your research.  What aspects of this intersection between science and magic 

do you hope readers will pick up on while reading THE BOOK OF LIFE? There’s quite a bit more lab 

work in this book!

A. There is. Welcome back to the present! What I hope readers come to appreciate is that science—past or 

present—is nothing more than a method for asking and answering questions about the world and our place in it. 

Once, some of those questions were answered alchemically. Today, they might be answered biochemically and 

genetically. In the future? Who knows. But Matthew is right in suggesting that there are really remarkably few 

scientific questions and we have been posing them for a very long time. Two of them are: who am I? why am I here? 

Q: Much of the conflict in the book seems to mirror issues of race and sexuality in our society, and there 

seems to be a definite moral conclusion to THE BOOK OF LIFE. Could you discuss this? Do you find 

that a strength of fantasy novels is their ability to not only to allow readers to escape, but to also challenge 

them to fact important moral issues?

A. Human beings like to sort and categorize. We have done this since the beginnings of recorded history, and 

probably well back beyond that point. One of the most common ways to do that is to group things that are “alike” 

and things that are “different.” Often, we fear what is not like us. Many of the world’s ills have stemmed from 

someone (or a group of someones) deciding what is different is also dangerous. Witches, women, people of color, 

people of different faiths, people of different sexual orientations—all have been targets of this process of singling 

others out and labeling them different and therefore undesirable. Like my interest in exploring what a family is, the 

issue of difference and respect for difference (rather than fear) informed every page of the All Souls Trilogy. And 

yes, I do think that dealing with fantastic creatures like daemons, vampires, and witches rather than confronting 

issues of race or sexuality directly can enable readers to think through these issues in a useful way and perhaps come 

to different conclusions about members of their own families and communities. As I often say when people ask me 

why supernatural creatures are so popular these days: witches and vampires are monsters to think with.

Q: From the moment Matthew and a pregnant Diana arrive back at Sept-Tours and reinstate themselves 

back into a sprawling family of witches and vampires, it becomes clear that the meaning of family will be 

an important idea for THE BOOK OF LIFE. How does this unify the whole series? Did you draw on your 

own life?

A. Since time immemorial the family has been an important way for people to organize themselves in the world. In 

the past, the “traditional” family was a sprawling and blended unit that embraced immediate relatives, in-laws and 

their immediate families, servants, orphaned children, the children your partner might bring into a family from a 

previous relationship, and other dependents. Marriage was an equally flexible and elastic concept in many places and 

times. Given how old my vampires are, and the fact that witches are the keepers of tradition, I wanted to explore 

from the very first page of the series the truly traditional basis of family:  unqualified love and mutual responsibility. 

That is certainly the meaning of family that my parents taught me.

Q: While there are entire genres devoted to stories of witches, vampires, and ghosts, the idea of a weaver – 

a witch who weaves original spells – feels very unique to THE BOOK OF LIFE. What resources helped 

you gain inspiration for Diana’s uniqueness?

A. Believe it or not, my inspiration for weaving came from a branch of mathematics called topology. I became 

intrigued by mathematical theories of mutability to go along with my alchemical theories of mutability and change. 

Topology is a mathematical study of shapes and spaces that theorizes how far something can be stretched or twisted 

without breaking. You could say it’s a mathematical theory of connectivity and continuity (two familiar themes to 

any reader of the All Souls Trilogy). I wondered if I could come up with a theory of magic that could be comfortably 

contained within mathematics, one in which magic could be seen to shape and twist reality without breaking it. I 

used fabric as a metaphor for this worldview with threads and colors shaping human perceptions. Weavers became 

the witches who were talented at seeing and manipulating the underlying fabric. In topology, mathematicians study 

knots—unbreakable knots with their ends fused together that can be twisted and shaped. Soon the mathematics and 

mechanics of Diana’s magic came into focus. 

Q: A Discovery of Witches debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and Shadow of Night debuted 

at #1. What has been your reaction to the outpouring of love for the All Souls Trilogy? Was it surprising 

how taken fans were with Diana and Matthew’s story?

A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central 

characters who have a considerable number of quirks and challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero 

should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like 

Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in the world of the Bishops and de Clemonts. 

Sometimes when I meet readers they ask me how their friends are doing—meaning Diana, or Matthew, or Miriam. 

That’s an extraordinary experience for a writer.

Q: Diana and Matthew, once again, move around to quite a number of locations in THE BOOK OF LIFE, 

including New Haven, New Orleans, and a few of our favorite old haunts like Oxford, Madison, and Sept-

Tours. What inspired you to place your characters in these locations? Have you visited them yourself?  

A. As a writer, I really need to experience the places I write about in my books. I want to know what it smells like, 

how the air feels when it changes direction, the way the sunlight strikes the windowsill in the morning, the sound of 

birds and insects. Not every writer may require this, but I do. So I spent time not only in New Haven but 

undertaking research at the Beinecke Library so that I could understand the rhythms of Diana’s day there. I visited 

New Orleans several times to imagine my vampires into them. All of the locations I pick are steeped in history and 

stories about past inhabitants—perfect fuel for any writer’s creative fire.

Q: Did you know back when you wrote A Discovery of Witches how the story would conclude in THE 

BOOK OF LIFE? Did the direction change once you began the writing process?

A. I knew how the trilogy would end, but I didn’t know exactly how we would get there. The story was well thought 

out through the beginning of what became The Book of Life, but the chunk between that beginning and the ending 

(which is as I envisioned it) did change. In part that was because what I had sketched out was too ambitious and 

complicated—the perils of being not only a first-time trilogy writer but also a first time author. It was very important 

to me that I resolve and tie up all the threads already in the story so readers had a satisfying conclusion. Early in the 

writing of The Book of Life it became clear that this wasn’t going to give me much time to introduce new characters or 

plot twists. I now understand why so many trilogies have four, five, six—or more—books in them. Finishing the 

trilogy as a trilogy required a lot of determination and a very thick pair of blinders as I left behind characters and 

story lines that would take me too far from the central story of Diana, Matthew, and the Book of Life.

Q: A Discovery of Witches begins with Diana Bishop stumbling across a lost, enchanted manuscript called 

Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, and the secrets contained in the manuscript are at long last 

revealed in THE BOOK OF LIFE. You had a similar experience while you were completing your 

dissertation.  What was the story behind your discovery?  And how did it inspire the creation of these 

A. I did discover a manuscript—not an enchanted one, alas—in the Bodleian Library. It was a manuscript owned by 

Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, the mathematician and alchemist John Dee. In the 1570s and 1580s he became 

interested in using a crystal ball to talk to angels. The angels gave him all kinds of instructions on how to manage his 

life at home, his work—they even told him to pack up his family and belongings and go to far-away Poland and 

Prague. In the conversations, Dee asked the angels about a mysterious book in his library called “the Book of 

Soyga” or “Aldaraia.” No one had ever been able to find it, even though many of Dee’s other books survive in 

libraries throughout the world. In the summer of 1994 I was spending time in Oxford between finishing my 

doctorate and starting my first job. It was a wonderfully creative time, since I had no deadlines to worry about and 

my dissertation on Dee’s angel conversations was complete. As with most discoveries, this discovery of a “lost” 

manuscript was entirely accidental. I was looking for something else in the Bodleian’s catalogue and in the upper 

corner of the page was a reference to a book called “Aldaraia.” I knew it couldn’t be Dee’s book, but I called it up 

anyway. And it turned out it WAS the book (or at least a copy of it). With the help of the Bodleian’s Keeper of Rare 

Books, I located another copy in the British Library.

Q: Are there other lost books like this in the world? 

A. Absolutely! Entire books have been written about famous lost volumes—including works by Plato, Aristotle, and 

Shakespeare to name just a few. Libraries are full of such treasures, some of them unrecognized and others simply 

misfiled or mislabeled. And we find lost books outside of libraries, too. In January 2006, a completely unknown 

manuscript belonging to one of the 17th century’s most prominent scientists, Robert Hooke, was discovered when 

someone was having the contents of their house valued for auction. The manuscript included minutes of early Royal 

Society meetings that we presumed were lost forever. 

Q: Shadow of Night and A Discovery of Witches have often been compared to young adult fantasy like 

Twilight, with the caveat that this series is for adults interested in history, science, and academics. Unlike 

Bella and Edward, Matthew and Diana are card-carrying members of academia who meet in the library of 

one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Are these characters based on something you found 

missing in the fantasy genre?

A. There are a lot of adults reading young adult books, and for good reason. Authors who specialize in the young 

adult market are writing original, compelling stories that can make even the most cynical grownups believe in magic. 

In writing A Discovery of Witches, I wanted to give adult readers a world no less magical, no less surprising and 

delightful, but one that included grown-up concerns and activities. These are not your children’s vampires and 

witches.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Feature: Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

My son and I started the Dragonbreath series by Ursula Vernon and took quite a liking to them. Seeing there was a new book by her and a stand alone, I was intrigued.

This one is on my son's nightstand to read for the summer. Sounds super fun!



"When Molly shows up on Castle Hangnail's doorstep to fill the vacancy for a wicked witch, the castle's minions are understandably dubious. After all, she is twelve years old, barely five feet tall, and quite polite. (The minions are used to tall, demanding evil sorceresses with razor-sharp cheekbones.) But the castle desperately needs a master or else the Board of Magic will decommission it, leaving all the minions without the home they love. So when Molly assures them she is quite wicked indeed (So wicked! REALLY wicked!) and begins completing the tasks required by the Board of Magic for approval, everyone feels hopeful. Unfortunately, it turns out that Molly has quite a few secrets, including the biggest one of all: that she isn't who she says she is." (Goodreads)

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Mystery Lovers Check out these titles!

Lately I haven't had too many chances to read but that doesn't stop the offers for review requests. To compromise, because I still love knowing what is new and hot, I have offered to do Features! to appeal to my A-Z Mystery Author Challenge folks.

So today I have many wonderful mystery/thrillers to let you know about that cover quite a few different  sub genres within the mystery genre.

Gathering Prey by John Sandford
Sandford is a local boy for me. He is from Minnesota and is very well loved. His Prey series especially is always popular and the list is long, especially at the library I work at.
"They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes—they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them.

Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she’d befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody’s killing her friends, she’s afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She’s hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Letty tells Lucas she’s going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty’s getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman’s story, though, he begins to think there’s something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger—but just may change the course of his life."


Midnight Crossroads by Charlaine Harris
What? A new series by Charlaine Harris. Sign me up. Obviously a huge fan of True Blood here. This is a little different but looks just as fun.

"Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own)."



Dry Bones (A Longmire Mystery) by Craig Johnson
Now this is a new series and genre for me. But I have heard amazing things about the TV show. Anyone read these before? Adding it to my challenge...

"Longmire, the TV adaptation of Craig Johnson’s New York Timesbestselling Walt Longmire Mystery series, has ratcheted up demand for the Wyoming sheriff’s written adventures. Publishing on the heels of the Longmire boxed set, Dry Bones is certain to join Johnson’s four most recent Longmire novels when it moseys on up the New York Timesbestseller list.

When the largest, most complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is discovered in Absaroka County, it would appear to have nothing to do with Walt. That is, until the Cheyenne rancher who finds her is found face down in a turtle pond. As a number of parties vie for ownership of the priceless remains, including rancher Danny Lone Elk’s family, the Cheyenne tribe, the Deputy Attorney General, and a cadre of FBI men, Walt must recruit undersheriff Victoria Moretti, Henry Standing Bear, and Dog to investigate a sixty-six million year-old cold case that’s starting to heat up fast."


A few extra books to add to your mystery pile, right?

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Monday, April 20, 2015

Guest Review: The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry



 

Guest Review – The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry


The 16th Amendment to the Constitution is why Americans pay income taxes. But what if there were problems associated with that amendment? Secrets that call into question decades of tax collecting? In fact, there is a surprising truth to this hidden possibility.

Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired and owns an old bookshop in Denmark. But when his former-boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files—the kind that could bring the United States to its knees—Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four hour chase that begins on the canals in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia.

With appearances by Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon, a curious painting that still hangs in the National Gallery of Art, and some eye-opening revelations from the $1 bill, this riveting, non-stop adventure is trademark Steve Berry—90% historical fact, 10% exciting speculation—a provocative thriller posing a dangerous question.

What if the Federal income tax is illegal?

Cheryl’s review:

Last year I reviewed The Lincoln Myth (http://www.redheadedbookchild.com/2014/05/guest-review-lincoln-myth-by-steve-berry.html) and was happy to have the opportunity to review Steve Berry’s latest, The Patriot Threat.

Cotton Malone is one of my favorite recurring characters in a book and The Patriot Threat doesn’t disappoint. Berry writes with a mix of a history lesson and fast-paced action. As his third Malone book with the United States as the starting point, he creates a realistic conspiracy incorporating historical figures and politics. Reading this in April during tax season made it especially speculative: “What if the Federal income tax is illegal?”

Although I enjoy all Berry’s books, this one was particularly fun. I couldn’t help but imagine what the country would be like if the Federal income tax was illegal. I’m familiar with Andrew Mellon’s financial legacy, but I didn’t know when or how it came about. Secret conversations, blackmail, and deception related to a President’s decisions also make you wonder what may have happened in past administrations.

I always appreciate the depth of historical research Berry does. Starting with the facts, he creates a realistic and though far-fetched, a believable conspiracy. As an archivist and historian, I also enjoy when his characters do archival research or visit archives. His explanations at the end of the book are worth reading to sort through the fiction from fact. While reading the story it can be hard to tell the difference, which is what makes the book good. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!


Thank you, Cheryl!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Feature: Aunt Dimity and the Summer King by Nancy Atherton


There are so many mysteries out there that it is hard to keep up! The Aunt Dimity series has been around for many years and I sort of overlooked them until now .I was given the opportunity to feature the newest title, book 20! I couldn't pass it up. I didn't realize they had a paranormal twist. That is certainly right up my alley.

 
Has anyone read any of these? What's your opinion?
They sound delightful.

Cozy mystery lovers’ favorite paranormal sleuth is back with her twentieth otherworldly adventure

There’s trouble in Finch. Four recently sold cottages are standing empty, and the locals fear that a developer plans to turn their cozy village into an enclave of overpriced weekend homes. But for once Lori Shepherd can’t help.

Her infant daughter, her father-in-law’s upcoming wedding, and the crushing prospect of her fortieth birthday have left her feeling inadequate and overwhelmed. Until, that is, she has a chance encounter with an eccentric inventor named Arthur Hargreaves. Dubbed the Summer King by his equally eccentric family, Arthur is as warmhearted as the summer sun. In his presence, Lori forgets her troubles—and Finch’s.

But Lori snaps out of her happy trance when she discovers detailed maps of Finch in the Summer King’s library. Next, a real estate agent comes knocking. Is Arthur secretly plotting Finch’s demise?

With Aunt Dimity’s otherworldlym help—and her new daughter in her arms—Lori mounts a crusade to save her beloved village from the Summer King’s scorching greed.
IndieBound

Though my list is long, I will add this one to my pile and maybe scratch off the letter A in my Mystery Author Challenge.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child


Audio Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer




 
This book has been on my list for a few years now and I finally got around to it. I checked it out on audio and it is amazing. I have taken a break from dystopian/paranormal/teen fiction for awhile now and it was nice to get back into it with this one. Also, I really like books that take on well known fairy tales and twist them around. 
Cinder is a take on Cinderella, obviously. Cinder is a cyborg who falls for the Prince and battles the evil Queen Levana. 
"It is read by Rebecca Stolar who has narrated other Young Adult books before. She is magnificent!
 "Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future."
Goodreads

Highly recommended. 

Happy reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child 



Wednesday, February 11, 2015

So what happened to my reading/reviewing in 2014...

As I was driving home from picking up my son from school today, it hit me. MY reading has fallen by the wayside over the past year, as HIS reading and listening as flourished! And....I'm okay with that. But I had to get it all out in a post because, well, there is a bit of guilt for all the books that were sent to me having not produced reviews for most of them. Does this mean I didn't talk about them? Nope. Share them with others? Nope. It just means I didn't officially sit here at my blog and write a full page report. And....I have to be okay with that. I did what I could and all those books made their way to readers who ate them up.
So on to what I HAVE been doing. I have been watching and enjoying my son, now 7, become an amazing reader and lover of stories. We have been busy! We have always read every night but many times we read over breakfast AND we now listen to audiobooks!!!! In the car on the way to and from school or anytime we are in the car going anywhere. I'm so excited because he is at that stage of reading that I love! The early chapter book stage! Okay, who am I kidding? I love them all!

Here is what we have read over the past year together.
Ready, Freddy series by Abby Klein (all 28 of them!)
Andrew Lost series by JC Greenberg (6 of them!)
Charlotte's Web by EB White
The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever
Stink by Megan McDonald
Calendar Mysteries by Ron Roy (all of them)
A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy (A,B,C,D)
Capital Mysteries by Ron Roy (first one)
Captain Underpants series ( 1-6 and yes, we love them!)
Ricky Ricotta series (1-5)
Kitty Korner: Otis
Kung Fu Chicken series (book 1)
Eerie Elementary (books 1 and 2)

Listened to:
The Secrets of Droon series (books 1-8)
Magic Treehouse series (books 1-3)
Mercy Watson series (all of them)
Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar (LOVED these)
Chet Gecko by Bruce Hale (books 104, read by Jon Cryer (Ducky from Pretty in Pink!!!))

I know I am forgetting some but man, it's been so much fun. So, alas dear readers, publishers, I AM reading and I will share your books you send me with the world but right now, at this wonderful age, I am enjoying reading with my son the most!


Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child


Friday, February 6, 2015

2015 A-Z Mystery Author Challenge


 
It is Februrary 6 already and look at me, posting for a new year challenge! Go me. Obviously blogging hasn't been my top priority but here I am!. For those of you who wish to take on this challenge, please share your results in the comments below. I am not going to do a link this year. I hope to be a bit more successful in my mystery reading efforts this year than last. Overall, I was pretty slow in the reading process. Every year brings new hope, right?
 Rules:
 
-A-Z applies to the LAST name of the author in the mystery, thriller, crime, cozy , suspense, noir, etc. genre.
-Read as many or as little as you want.
-Post your links in the comments below.
-Challenge runs February 6, 2015-Febraury 6, 2016
-Have fun!
 
 
Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping!