Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  QUOTES FROM or  ABOUT BOOKS.

I often jot down favorite quotes from books I'm reading, and I love quotes about books and reading, too. So this week's TTT was right up my alley. Here a few recent favs:

"No one likes third-act breakups."

--Sarah Monzen, Hearts in Circulation

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated."

--George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

"In the book of life, everyone has chapters they don't like reading out loud."

--Heather Webber, South of the Buttonwood Tree

"Devouring books came as naturally to us as breathing."

--Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

"I consume romance novels for the same reason I watch birds--for the sparks of joy, because I prefer to be happy when the world gives us so many reasons to be sad."

--Sarah T. Dubbs, Birding With Benefits

"Adventures are measured in moments and memories, not minutes."

--Savannah Scott, Are We There Yet?

"It's all about writing the very best story of your life. Not just how you live it--but how you choose to tell it."

--Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

Happy Reading!

The Clearing by Simon Toyne

 "Never go back into the woods.

That's what she and Maddie had vowed to each other after they had escaped.

Never go back and never look back.

Maddie had done both."

And now she was missing.

Midsummer's Eve. The Forest of Dean. A local legend known as the Cinderman--a local legend who supposedly haunts the woods and preys on young women. An off-grid commune in the forest called The Clearing. Two sisters (Adele and Maddie)...one missing, the other desperate to find her. An Earl and his son. And Dr. Laughton Rees, a criminologist who's been tracking cases of missing women. She heads to the insular community of Cinderfield to help investigate Maddie's disappearance, not knowing there are other dark secrets in play. 

My thoughts:  I think I've found a new favorite author. I really enjoyed this mystery. Toyne creates a real sense of urgency as the evil in Cinderfield starts to close in on Rees and Adele. The tension is palpable. Good writing and good suspense made this a very compelling read. And I really liked Laughton Rees. I very much want to read Toyne's previous mystery with her now. There is one major plot twist at the end of this one that had me questioning the feasibility of it in regards to the timeline. But then I decided to let it go and just enjoy the moment.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

February's bookish art...

 

Claude Buck -- Woman Reading

"I think books are like people in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them."

--Emma Thompson

Inside Man by John McMahon

 

The team:  Gardner Camden, Joanne "Shooter" Harris, Cassie Pardo, and Richie Brancato, the rookie.

"(We) work for an FBI unit called PAR, which stands for Patterns and Recognition....Our job is to identify peculiarities in cases that have stalled or gone cold. To uncover details that others have missed, then hand the case off, either back to the field office that sent it to us--or to a team in Quantico. When people speak well of us, they call us puzzle-solvers. When they don't, we are thought of as oddballs. Freaks with a bent toward data. Often, they call us 'head cases.'"

Gardner Camden is the leader of this eccentric team, the oddest...and the smartest. He sees and calculates patterns others can't. He also has to remind himself to make small talk, and to smile, and try to show concern for others. Though never with his young daughter, Camila. With her, "I try not to be me."

He and his team are working a fraud case in Florida that quickly becomes complicated with a dead C.I., a missing shipment of ghost guns, the threat of domestic terrorism, and a possible serial killer.

My thoughts:  This book is as propulsive and gripping as McMahon's first Gardner Camden mystery, Head Cases, which was one of my favorite reads last year. Gardner is one of those characters that you can't help but like. And he's dealing with a lot in this novel. I love his interactions with his daughter, and how he figures out the intricacies of this cases. I couldn't put this one down. This novel is well-written, intense, compelling and entertaining. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading! 

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

 

The plot:  Anna Horn's life is not easy -- she's bullied and tormented at school, she doesn't seem to fit on the rez either, and she's haunted by a ravenous, mythological entity her uncle told her about when she was seven. The tribal stories she once knew are being forgotten, her parents are arguing, her 15-year-od sister, Grace, is sneaking out at night, and there's something mysterious going on in suite 808 at the casino/hotel where she works. And young women from the reservation are disappearing. As Anna struggles to put all the pieces together, Grace goes missing, too. Now it's a race against time if Anna is going to save her sister.

My thoughts:  This novel is both a coming of age story and a mystery with hints of Native American lore and a touch of supernatural horror. The chapters alternate between the days leading up to Grace's disappearance, and the hours afterwards. It was a little confusing at first, but once I got used to the switches in time, I found the narrative to be very compelling. And I really liked Anna and sympathized with all her struggles. And I liked the Native American myths and stories she remembers and tells. But it's also a dark story at times. The plight of young Native American women who go missing or are murdered every year is a heartbreaking one, and Medina does a good job of highlighting this crisis. This novel is propulsive, suspenseful and very well-written.  

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading! 

Top Ten Tuesday...

 Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  LOVE/VALENTINE'S FREEBIE.

So I decided to go with 10 Romance Books on my TBR List that I'm hoping to read this year. 

Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Maybe This Once by Sophie Sullivan

Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt

Bookmarked For Love by Sarah Monzon

Happy Ending by Chloe Liese

The Summer Share by Jenn McKinlay

The Shippers by Katherine Center

The Great Outdoors by Kayla Olson

Only On Gameday by Kristen Callihan

Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf by Isabelle Taylor

I have about 20 other romance titles on my Goodreads Want To Read List, so I could easily keep going and going with this post, but I'll try to make myself stop at just 10 titles this time. 😉 Have you read any of these? 

Happy Romantic Reading! 

My Year in Books (2025) ...a Meme

 

I got this from Cindy's blog, Cindy's Book Corner, and she got it from Anne's blog, My Head is Full of Books. And I thought it looked like fun, so I'm doing it, too. 

The rules? Answer the following questions with titles from books you read in 2025. Some may be silly, some serious. But the idea is to have fun. 

Participate by copying the questions below, erasing my answers, and filling in your own. Then you're supposed to link it back to Anne's post, but I think I missed the deadline for that. Anyway, here's my list of titles to answer these questions.

Questions:

In high school I was: Once Smitten, Twice Shy (Chloe Liese)

People might be surprised: You Are Here (David Nicholls)

I will never be: World's Greatest Sleuth! (Steve Hockensmith)

My fantasy job is: The Third Gilmore Girl (Kelly Bishop)

At the end of a long day I need: The Grump Whisperer (Katy James)

I hate: Dungeons and Drama (Kristy Boyce) 

Wish I had: The Geographer's Map to Romance (India Holton) 

My family reunions are: Chaos (Constance Fay)

At a party you’d find me: Flipping the Birdie (S.L. Woeppel)

I’ve never been (on a): Blind Date With a Werewolf (Patricia Briggs)

A happy day includes: The Best of Friends (Sarah Eden)

Motto I live by: Look on the Bright Side (Kristan Higgins)

On my bucket list is: [a] Summer Romance (Annabel Monaghan)

In my next life, I want to have: A Quantum Love Story (Mike Chen)

Be sure to check out Cindy's and Anne's lists...then do your own. 

Happy Reading!