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About Dee

I'm one of those people that no matter how many books I have, I can't turn down a sale or a trip to the bookstore. There are no limits to what I'll read and I hope you enjoy my reviews.

Review – Sweet Serendipity – Jamie Farrell

22 Jan

sweet-serendipitySweet Serendipity
Author: Jamie Farrell
Series: Part of Kindle Worlds tied to Hope Falls series (Melanie Shawn)
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by the Author

Description:
Wyatt Owens has had a crush on his best friend’s little sister for as long as he can remember. So when he unexpectedly finds her at his buddy’s vacation home – naked, no less! – when he arrives for a week of hanging in Hope Falls, he can’t decide if this is his lucky day, or if he’s in for the longest week of his life.

Skye Ryder has never much liked Wyatt. He’s bossy and disapproving and he never does anything wrong. But she’s also never been alone with him before. Nor has she ever noticed how sexy he can be, especially when he’s showing off his military-issue muscles and flashing those rare smiles. She’s not looking for love, but the man she hated is suddenly the man she can’t resist.

Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve read and/or reviewed one of Jamie’s books – mostly because she is a good friend of mine and I struggle to sometimes remain impartial on my reviews (because I could go total fan girl). But when she mentioned that she had been asked to participate in Melanie Shawn’s Kindle Worlds novellas for the Hope Falls series – I was intrigued (and even though I haven’t read any of the Hope Falls series, I’m now planning on it). If you aren’t familiar with Kindle Worlds, authors license the use of their fictional world to other authors to write novellas in – stories need to stay to the same vibe of the original series (so no vampires in a historical romance world) – I haven’t read many of these Kindle Worlds books, although I’ve been intrigued – so Sweet Serendipity seemed the right way to dip my toe in.

Not only did Sweet Serendipity feature a romance trope that I love (friend falling for best friends sibling), but it also featured a smexy military and an adorable, yet slightly klutzy young boy. Having known Jamie for several years (and her kids through her various social media postings) – I have no doubt that some of Nicolas’s adventures may have been inspired by her own kids. I love that when she features kids in her stories, they aren’t just there for added kid drama, but rather that they contribute to the story in often significant ways (in this instance, some of Wyatt and Skye’s relationship was due in part to Nicholas wanting them both with him during certain events in the story). Skye’s backstory was intriguing and her ex was (for lack of a better term) a dick – so seeing her struggle a bit with that as she and Wyatt developed a relationship make the book feel more real to me.

If you are looking for a small town romance, with a hot military hero and a (fairly) stable headed heroine – then Sweet Serendipity might be a book for you to try. You can purchase Sweet Serendipity from Amazon.

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2017 in Book Review, Review

 

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TBR Tuesday – 17 January 2017

17 Jan

TBR Tuesday
TBR Tuesday is an opportunity to you to find and read those lost gems that might be hidden on your TBR shelves! In order to be eligible for TBR Tuesday a book should have been on your TBR pile for more than a year (so any book purchased prior to January 2016 is fair game right now. Let me know what book you read, how long it has been lost on your TBR pile and what you thought of it? Is it a hidden gem or a dusty throwaway or somewhere in between…

Simply Sexual – Kate Pearce
Bought: February 9. 2009
Time of TBR: 2899 days

Review:
Another week, another book on Mt TBR and another book that was only so-so…I’ve heard good things about this author in the past and unfortunately, Simply Sexual just didn’t live up to my hopes for it. It was an ok book, don’t get me wrong – I gave it 3 stars, but it was good, but it wasn’t great. I think my biggest issue was that while Valetin’s backstory was interesting – it didn’t draw me in like it could have – while I felt detached like I think I was supposed to, I wanted more – it was just ehh…the scenes between Valentin and Sara were steamy in places but the rest of the book just mediocre at best…hidden gem Simply Sexual was not…but I’ll keep digging through the pile for that diamond in the rough

 
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Posted by on January 17, 2017 in TBR Tuesday, Uncategorized

 

Audiobook Review – What Stands in a Storm?

12 Jan

what-stands-in-a-stormWhat Stands in a Storm? Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South’s Tornado Alley
Author: Kim Cross
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Narrator: Tracy Brunjes
Run Time: 9hrs, 46min
Narration Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Description:
April 27, 2011, marked the climax of a superstorm that saw a record 358 tornadoes rip through twenty-one states in three days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes. It was the deadliest day of the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history, which saw 348 people killed, entire neighborhoods erased, and $11 billion in damage. The biggest of the tornadoes left scars across the lan so wide they could be seen from space. But from the terrible destruction emerged everyday heroes, neighbors and strangers who rescued each other from hell on earth.

Review:
Ashley Harrison, Danielle Downs, and William Stevens are just three of the victims of the tornados that hit Alabama in 2011 – all three were college students at the University of Alabama, who died when a tree fell on the house where they were taking shelter during the storm. They are three names that are imprinted on my memory after listening to What Stands in a Storm? But over 300 people died during the storm and the author, Kim Cross gave homage to all of them through her telling of these three days – it was poignant and moving – I even ended up tearing up a few times. What Stands in a Storm was told through the eyes of the people who both survived the storm and those who perished in it – through text messages, voicemails, facebook posts; from interviews with family and friends. These memories formed the basis for a narrative that struck fear into me – I felt like I was watching the storm bear down on me – not knowing what was coming next – just waiting for it to hit.

I often find that non-fiction leaves me feeling rather detached because of how its written, but What Stands in the Storm? wasn’t like that. I was tearing up while listening to it – in fact, I had to pull over the car a few times to wipe tears away. I can remember the last book that did that to me – it was one about the Canadian Army and deaths in Afghanistan. I attribute these emotions not only to the writing style of the author, but also the narration of Tracy Brunjes. She is a new to me narrator – and from taking a quick peak at her name on audible, only had 4 books to her name. Unfortunately, while I would like to listen to more by her, those other books aren’t really my thing – but i’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for other stuff in the future.

What Stands in a Storm? is a book that will stick with me and is well deserving of the 4.5 star rating that I gave it.

 
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Posted by on January 12, 2017 in Audiobook Review

 

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TBR Tuesday – 10 January 2017

11 Jan

TBR TuesdaySo after a rather long hiatus, TBR Tuesday is back!

TBR Tuesday is an opportunity to you to find and read those lost gems that might be hidden on your TBR shelves! In order to be eligible for TBR Tuesday a book should have been on your TBR pile for more than a year (so any book purchased prior to January 2016 is fair game right now. Let me know what book you read, how long it has been lost on your TBR pile and what you thought of it? Is it a hidden gem or a dusty throwaway or somewhere in between…

And without further ado, here is my TBR Tuesday book and review!

Fire and Ice – Liz Andrews
Bought: Nov 26, 2009
Time on TBR: 2594 days

Review:
Some of the hardest reviews I find to write are those for books that I liked but didn’t love – those that probably fall into the mid-star range and Fire and Ice is a book like that. Fundamentally, there was nothing really wrong with it – I’d say that the whole sequence of events may have moved a bit too fast for me, even though I understand it was part of the whole fantasy aspect. It just for me felt a bit empty and mechanical at times – I didn’t really get the passion between Victor and Tanya at times. Fire and Ice was an ok read, I’d probably give it 2.5-3 stars but I don’t know if I would widely recommend it to people to read – it just didn’t have that kind of zing for me.

How about you – what book is your TBR Tuesday read?

 
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Posted by on January 11, 2017 in TBR Tuesday

 

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It’s Monday – What Are You Reading? (9 Jan)

09 Jan

its-monday-what-are-you-reading

It’s Monday – What are you reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

fire-and-iceHappy Second Monday of 2017! I spent the last week participating in Bout of Books 18 (hosted by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal) and while I didn’t hit my reading reading goals (just a tad over 400pgs and I was hoping to hit at least 750pgs), I had a huge number of hours listened to during the course of the week (over 25 to be exact). I also listened to my first re-read in a long while (typically i’m not a re-reader, but a reading challenge required a book that I had read previously). And while I only finished reading 1 books – it was a book that I bought off Amazon in 2009 (and which I dug out of my archives) – so i’m slowly working on my reducing Mt TBR goal.

blood-shotThis week marks the start of a new job (which I’m excited about), but also the fact that I’m going to be back having a longer commute each day – which means, drum roll please…more audiobook listening time (yeah, I’m not excited at all…haha!) My goal for this week is to tackle a few of the books that I have in progress, since that number is starting to creep up (I normally have multiple books in progress, but its starting to get a bit wacky with my number right now). Another goal is to also make progress on at least one of the many challenges that I have in progress (likely the Scattergories challenge in the Goodreads group – Pick A Shelf – because I only have 3 books and 1 audiobook to listen to in order to finish the January iteration of it). Focusing on this challenge will also let me knock at least 1 book of Mt TBR.

Currently Reading:
Sarah’s Key
The Coffee Girl
The Gift
Then He Showed Up
Fly with Me – read 111pgs

Currently Listening:
What Stands In A Storm
In The Company of S1herlock Holmes

What about you – what are you reading today?

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2017 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

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Bout of Books 18 – Day 6 through the end

09 Jan

bout-of-books-18

So this post is going to kind of serve as my summary post for not only the last couple days of Bout of Books, but also my overall summary post because in all honesty – I’ve barely done any reading in the last few days. Friday was my last day on my current contract – I start a new job tomorrow (Monday), as well as having Navy Reserve drill this weekend (which involves me leaving my house around 6am and not getting home until 6/7pm). Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and serving my country – but it makes for some long weekends. That being said, I made good progress on several of my audiobooks that I was listening to; as well as starting and deciding to not continue another book that I started (it just wasn’t holding my attention, even though its an author that I do enjoy).

Overall Status:
Total Pages Read: 451pgs
Total Hours Listened: 25hrs 58min
Sarah’s Key – read 65pgs
The Coffee Girl – read 41pgs
The Gift – read 84pgs
What Stands In A Storm – listened to 6hr 29min
Then He Showed Up – read 36pgs
In The Company of S1herlock Holmes – listened to 1hr 25min (16%)
Fly with Me – read 111pgs

Finished
Seduction in Death – audiobook/re-read – Finished

On Hold
Angel’s Flight – listened to just over an hour, before deciding that I wasn’t feeling it.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t as successful in the reading reading portion of this Bout of Books, but holy shit, when I added up my audiobook listening that was a doozy! I mean, I listened to over a hour day in hours during the course of the week. I guess the ability to sit on my ipod at work and listen to a book while I was neck deep in assessment development helped me. I had a great time participating in Bout of Books (like always) and can’t wait until the next event!

If you participated in Bout of Books, how successful were you?

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2017 in Bout of Books

 

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Random Reads Rebooted – 07January

07 Jan

Random Reads Rebooted

Random Reads was a blog feature that used to be hosted by the blog, I’m Loving Books, however, it is no longer active (at least that I can fid). Random Reads Rebooted is a reimaged version of this and I hope you will join me.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a bad habit of buying books and then forgetting about them…I’m like a squirrel storing away its nuts for winter, except I do it with books. Random Reads Rebooted is dedicated to finding (and reading) those books that have long been forgotten about it.

On the first Saturday of the month (or within that first week), randomly select a book that is on your bookshelves (it could be a virtual shelf like a Goodreads one, or a real shelf that you have someone randomly numbered). I recommend using random.org to help you pick that special or forgotten book. At the end of the month, come back and let us know what you thought about the book that you picked.

January Pick
Over the last month or so, I’ve been trying to catalogue all my books that I’ve bought on Amazon over the years. There is nothing more annoying than seeing a book that is free/on sale and then when you follow the link, finding out that its been lost on Mt TBR for several years…plus, I’m making it a goal to try at read at least 4 books a month from these archives (although that won’t even begin to make a dent in the pile!). For Random Reads Rebooted, my picking methodology is going to be simple – i’m going to rotate through the years of books that I have catalogued (2008/09 through 2016) – so the first year that I will be reading from is 2008/09.

so Drum Roll please…my pick for January is…The Sari Shop Widow – Shobhan Bantwal

the-sari-shop-widow Purchase Date: August 25, 2009

Description:
Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents’ sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison’s bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling…

To the rescue comes Anjali’s wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah — a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he’s Indian. Rishi’s cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn’t felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual…

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she’s vowed to live without it — though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi’s past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth…

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2017 in Random Reads Rebooted

 

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Bout of Books – Day 5

06 Jan

bout-of-books-18

Yesterday turned into one of those days – all i heard the whole day at work was will it snow, will it snow…coupled with friends in other parts of the US who had snow days and my introduction to the WTForecast app on my iPhone (trust, me, take a look – as long as profanity doesn’t bother you – which ultimately lead to probably my most unsuccessful day in Bout of Books 18 so far. I think I listened to a sum total of about an hour in audio and finished up the one book I was reading (but I only had like 20% left of a 200pg book…so like 40 pages). Here’s hoping that today (Friday) will be a better reading/listening to…I have to say after my little bit of reading in the car this am – its already looking up

Day 3 Tally:
Sarah’s Key – currently at 33% (from 22%)
The Coffee Girl – currently at 42% (from 31%)
The Gift – currently at 38% (from 25%)
What Stands In A Storm – listened to 3hr 10min – currently at 36% (from 12%)
Seduction in Death – audiobook/re-read – listened to 7hr 29min – currently at 58% (from 49%)
Then He Showed Up – currently at 6%

Books Finished
Fire and Ice – Finished (from 73%)

Bout of Books 18 Challenge – Day 5
If you like this – try this
I always struggle with providing book recommendations to people because often times all i get is recommend me a book – no delineation on fiction/non-fiction; sub-genres in fiction etc…so it often takes a bit of back and forth dialogue to get to a point where I feel I can make a recommendation without feeling like I’m leading someone down the wrong path – that being said – when I give recommendations, especially romances – i tend to say if you like this trope, then you might like this author; rather than a specific author to author recommendation (since so many authors nowadays are diversified in what they are writing).

If you like small town romance, then you might like Kimberly Kincaid’s Pine Mountain series or if you like series where family is important then you might like Avery Flynn’s, Sweet Salvation Brewery series. Finally, if you like real-life military romance (compare to the very popular special forces romance storylines), you might like Jamie Farrell’s Southern Fried Blues or Jessica Scott’s Coming Home series

What about you guys – what is your favorite, if you liked that, try this book recommendation?

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2017 in Bout of Books

 

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Bout of Books 18- Day 4

05 Jan

bout-of-books-18

Wednesday’s are normally one of my favorite days of the week – and not only because its hump day in a normal week (although in a shortened 4 day work week, it does mean that the week is halfway done) – but its one of my favorite days because on Wednesday nights I take a TRX class at a local workout studio. If you’ve never seen it, TRX is suspension training bodyweight exercises and since i started working it into my schedule, i’ve noticed that my core is getting stronger and that my swim times are slowly getting faster. Although from my creative cursing during class, you would never actually know that I do enjoy it…haha!

It seems that for this Bout of Books, the focus has been much more on audio for me – I’ve had some really good ones that i’ve been listening to, on top of being able to immerse myself in them at work since i’m doing some monotonous stuff right now. And starting next week, I’m going to go back to having a longer commute each day, so that will just increase my listening time 🙂

Day 3 Tally:
Sarah’s Key – currently at 22% (from 11%)
Fire and Ice – currently at 73% (from 44%)
The Coffee Girl – currently at 42% (from 31%)
The Gift – currently at 38% (from 25%)
What Stands In A Storm – listened to 3hr 10min – currently at 36% (from 12%)
Seduction in Death – audiobook/re-read – listened to 6hr 21min – currently at 49% (from 9%)

Day 3 Books Finished:
None to report

Hope everyone has a great Thursday and its filled with enjoyable, fun reading adventures 🙂

 
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Posted by on January 5, 2017 in Bout of Books

 

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Bout of Books 18 – Day 3

04 Jan

bout-of-books-18

So it seems that winter finally decided to make an appearance in my neck of the woods (after being 54deg and sunny on New Years Day) – so it has been cold and drizzly the last 2 – which has meant hellish commutes for work (because it rains and people seem to forget how to drive) and well as just general lethargy at work and at home. I’m even hearing rumor that we might see snow this weekend (since we haven’t had any yet this year). Day 2 of Bout of Books also marks me recommitting to my 2017 goal of commitment to my nutrition (since anyone who knows me, knows that in general, I prefer the diet of a pre-schooler – up to and including sugary cereal) – but I know that isn’t healthy for me, so i’m making changes. Last night for dinner (and while listening to an audiobook), I made Ground Turkey and Sweet Potato Skillet – it was one of my more successful recipes and I see it going into the regular dinner rotation (and would be easily tweakable to use both ground chicken or bison

Day 2 Tally:
Sarah’s Key – currently at 22% (from 11%)
Fire and Ice – currently at 44% (from 21%)
The Coffee Girl – currently at 42% (from 31%)
The Gift – currently at 25% (from 18%)
What Stands In A Storm – listened to 1hr 14min
Seduction in Death – audiobook/re-read – listened to 1hr 15min

Books Finished
Promises in Death – audiobook – FINISHED

Bout of Books Day 2 Challenge – Book to Movie
Have a book you think would make an excellent movie?
I always suck at questions like this because most books I love, I can never see brought to the big screen – they’d have to cut stuff out to make it fit into prescribed time limits etc. The same is the case on made for TV movies – I was so excited to see that one of Lisa Kleypas’s books was made into a movie (Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor and yet when they turned it into a movie – it just lost the magic – they made changes to what the characters did, how they interacted with each other…they would have been better off to not even say it was based on a book! Heck, they even changed the name of it to Christmas with Holly!!!

That isn’t to say that all book to movie adaptations are horrible – To Kill a Mockingbird, the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice are two of my favorites because they were so true to the story…that being said – I’d be interested to see how the In Death series (JD Robb) could be adapted into a TV show (not I say show not movie, but for a series that is so on-going – I think a show would work better). I’ll also admit that I am intrigued to see Hulu’s adaption of The Handmaid’s Tale that will be out mid-2017 (they also adapted 11/22/63 by Stephen King that I still need to watch). So I know I didn’t really answer the question – but when I saw it, these were the thoughts that came to mind.

How did your Bout of Books Day 2 go?

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2017 in Bout of Books

 

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