TTT - Top Ten Favorite Movies

This top 10 weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and can be found HERE.  Each week they focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading. Today we are branching out and looking at a movie related theme. So I'm sharing ten of my favorite movies - in no particular order.

I try to watch this movie every winter.  I never seem to grow tired of it,

If I had to assign one film as number 1, this would be in a tie with the next one on my list.  This movie is so sad and beautiful and I when I think of it, I can always hear the music played during the ending scene - which in my opinion is perfect!

It's Prince....enough said!

A complete guilty pleasure - and not a movie for the faint of heart!

I saw this for the first time this year and it's has quickly become one of my favorites.

My favorite movie as a kid....Pooh still holds a dear place in my heart.

Still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen!

I love this classic and watch it every Memorial Day when some channel has a marathon running.

I've always enjoyed this one as well.

Nothing like the old classic!

So did any of these make your list this week.  Did you love these one or hate them?  

Deadly Dog Days (review) - Watch Out For Brutus!

TITLE: Deadly Dog Days (A Dog Days Mystery #1)
AUTHOR: Jamie M. Blair
PUBLISHER: Midnight Ink
PUBLISHING DATE: November 8, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: New to the historic town of Metamora, Indiana, Cameron Cripps-Hayman is looking to make friends with her neighbors. What she isn’t looking for is one of their bodies floating in the canal.

When she and her estranged husband, the town sheriff, are both named suspects for the murder, Cameron takes solving the crime into her own hands, teaming up with her eccentric co-workers who dub themselves The Metamora Action Agency.

As if hunting for a murderer with two high school geniuses, the town drunk, and an elderly kleptomaniac isn’t hard enough, Cameron adopts the five mangy guard dogs of her deceased neighbor. But maybe a stint at playing gatekeeper is just what she needs to come face-to-face with the killer and save another neighbor from being the next victim.

MY THOUGHTS: 
This is a super cute start to a new cozy mystery series and if you know me by now, you probably know that with the pups on the cover, I'm sold. However, I must add that I found this to be a well written cozy mystery possessing all the elements I know and love without being redundant or boring.

Cameron Cripps-Hayman moved to Maramora, Indiana four years ago when she married Ben, a town sheriff. During the four years, she has encountered numerous problems such as an eye-rolling step-daughter, an IMPOSSIBLE mother-in-law, but none have presented the hurdle that finding a dead body in the canal one day while eating lunch has. And if that isn't enough, her husband, whom she separated from six months ago was dating the deceased so both he and Cam become prime suspects.

The dogs in this book are a rather ragtag group. Perhaps because she is one of the prime suspects, Cam feels the need to rescue the dogs of the deceased and opens her house to them. One is mean and cranky, one is huge, one is vicious and two don't have names - although by the end of the book they are called Thing One and Thing Two. Plus, one is still missing and may hold the secret to what really happened the night of the murder. Cam and a group of individuals who are trying to help he revitalize the town (and work of their community service) form a detective group and try to locate a murderer.

Like most cozy mysteries, I loved the small town setting and the characters. For such a cozy little town, there sure are a lot of people with issues living there. Cam also gets a visit from her sister Mel and I love the familial bond and dynamic between the two of them. Cam is a flawed individual and her detective work does not fall into place like it seems to do in some cozy mysteries. For me, that just made the book that much enjoyable. The ending was satisfying and the promise of future installments, which I hope include more of Cam's newly adopted mongrels, has me curious. Definitely considering picking this book up if you like cozy mysteries and like me, love some pups!

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

 

Stacking the Shelves (89)

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves or TBR piles, may it be physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in a physical store, online, books you borrow from the library or friends, review books, gifts and of course, ebooks! The original meme was started over at Tynga's Reviews.  Clicking on the book (or title) should take you to the Goodreads page. 

I grabbed a few books for my Kindle this week. A couple of them were free and a couple were $.99 and right off the top of my head I don't remember which is which.  However, I do know I paid full price for Snowed.

Tobacco Sticks is a mystery I saw over on Laura's blog.  Ever since I saw Snowed, I knew I want to add it to my Christmas read list.  It's a dark and twisted tale so it sounds perfect to break up some of the monotony of my other planned holiday reads. Bad Dog is some sort of thriller novella but to be honest, I couldn't resist the cover.

Tor was kind enough to send me digital ARCs of the following.  I couldn't help myself and I already read Idle Ingredients.  I read a book by Caitlyn R. Kiernan a few years ago and really liked it so I'm looking forward to delving into Agents of Dreamland and in order to read Standard Hollywood Depravity, I'm going to have to seek out the first book in the series first. 

Netgalley also approved some of my requests....

Give the Devil His Due is the third in the Tarot Mystery series and I loved the first book.  Since it doesn't come out until April, I figure I can make room to read book 2 and this one.  The River at Night and If the Creek Don't Rise are both very interesting looking thrillers and you all know I features Pit Perfect as a book I just added to my TBR/wishlist this week so I am thrilled to have an ARC of it.

So what did you guys add this week. Leave me a comment and I'll be sure to stop by your post!

Friday Reads (11/11/16)

So as I predicted last week, November is just flying by.  I don't know where the time goes.  I do know that I'm still adjusting the the time change from daylight savings time and it hasn't necessarily been easy.  Hubby has been sick most of the week with respiratory stuff and we are getting a new dining room table and chairs delivered today so in the evenings, I've been preparing/cleaning that room.  It was a gift to each other for our upcoming anniversary in a few weeks.

I haven't really watched any good movies this week.  We still have a few episodes of Longmire on Netflix to catch so we've watched them here and there.  I managed to finish 3 books in the past week which has helped me catch up some on the reviews.  Here's what's currently up on the stack:

The Budweiser Clydesdale Horses are coming to a neighboring town for a Veteran's Day Parade so tomorrow, my Mom and I are headed to the local county farm, where they are keeping them. so see them and hopefully get some great up close pics and interactions.  Maybe I'll have something else to show next week.  I've always been in awe by these lovely creatures.

So that's about it.  The pups are fine and as spoiled as ever.  So what are your plans for this coming week?

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day - NOW the Title Makes Sense!

TITLE: Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day
AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire
PUBLISHER: Tor
PUBLISHING DATE: January 10, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: When her sister Patty died, Jenna blamed herself. When Jenna died, she blamed herself for that, too. Unfortunately Jenna died too soon. Living or dead, every soul is promised a certain amount of time, and when Jenna passed she found a heavy debt of time in her record. Unwilling to simply steal that time from the living, Jenna earns every day she leeches with volunteer work at a suicide prevention hotline.

But something has come for the ghosts of New York, something beyond reason, beyond death, beyond hope; something that can bind ghosts to mirrors and make them do its bidding. Only Jenna stands in its way.

MY THOUGHTS:  So this book pretty much sealed the deal for me with Seanan McGuire. I know I've read the first two her her Incryptid series and enjoyed them, but after reading "Every Heart a Doorway" earlier this year and "Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day" now, I think I'm going to have to devour everything this woman writes - and that's a lot of books because doesn't she write as Mira Grant as well?

This book is just beautiful and similar to "Every Heart a Doorway," McGuire takes an urban fantasy theme and makes it somehow become so much more and touch your heart. "Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day" tells the story of Jenna, who accidentally dies as a teen following her sister's death. However, Jenna's death was a tragedy whereas her sister's was all part of the plan, and she is left haunting the earth in New York City. McGuire has captured such an interesting concept with her ghosts. People who die before their "scheduled" times are doomed to haunt the world. They can "steal" time from individuals until they internally age to the point where they would have died if things has played out as charted, and they are also able to give time to other people to extend their time haunting. Jenna wants to move on and meet her sister, but she is depressed and has specific methods in which she feels stealing time from others is acceptable. All of a sudden, Jenna learns that many of the ghosts in her city are disappearing. She and her acquaintances, for Jenna really has few true friends, start to unravel the mystery and eventually learn what is happening.

While a relatively short book, it sure packs a punch. There are a variety of interesting characters and the subject matter clearly takes aim at loss, depression and moving on. I was totally absorbed by the story and hated for it to end. If you want an urban fantasy that contains so much more, or if you love ghost stories, this book is definitely for you!

RATING: 5 PAWS

Waiting on Wednesday (81)

"Waiting on" Wednesday" is weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming anticipated releases.

 March 1, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: For the first female Pinkerton detective, respect is hard to come by. Danger, however, is not.

In the tumultuous years of the Civil War, the streets of Chicago offer a woman mostly danger and ruin-unless that woman is Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective and a desperate widow with a knack for manipulation.

Descending into undercover operations, Kate is able to infiltrate the seedy side of the city in ways her fellow detectives can't. She's a seductress, an exotic foreign medium, or a rich train passenger, all depending on the day and the robber, thief, or murderer she's been assigned to nab.

Inspired by the real story of Kate Warne, this spirited novel follows the detective's rise during one of the nation's greatest times of crisis, bringing to life a fiercely independent woman whose forgotten triumphs helped sway the fate of the country.

WHY I'M WAITING:  I've really been enjoying some historical reads lately so when I saw this a few weeks ago, I knew I'd want to at least check it out.  I also really like the cover.

What are you waiting for this week??? 

TTT - 10 Books I've Added To My TBR Lately

This top 10 weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and can be found HERE.  Each week they focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading. This week we are focusing on 10 books we've recently added to our to-be-read lists.  I feel like I could narrow this down to 10 books I've added LAST WEEK and still manage to easily hit 10.  So here we go....

Snowed is a dark Christmas take I just picked up for my Kindle and Christmas Magic is a re-release of a short-story sci-fi Christmas themed tales.

I have to have my dog titles so I couldn't resist adding Boomer's Bucket List when I saw it on Netgalley and I'm ordering A Pug Like Percy from Book Depository this week.

I always enjoy a tad bit of odd every once in a while so I couldn't resist adding Department Zero and Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter.

I've really been in the mood for some cozy mysteries lately so I added these Pit Perfect and Spies and Spells...it doesn't hurt that they both have a paranormal element.

And because in my opinion, you can never have too much horror, I recently put Ghost Road Blues and The Apartment on my TBR.

So what have you recently added to your TBR?  (I just know my TBR will grow after this topic!!!!)