2 Bloggers 1 Series - A Virgin River Christmas

 

So at least Stormi and I are still finding joy in the Virgin River series.  We've skipped around here and there to add some other series reads in but we always seem to come back to this one.  Since #4 has a Christmas theme, we thought it would be perfect for July.  So read on to see how much I loved this one and then hop over to Stormi's  at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! to see what she thought as well.

TITLE:  A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River #4)

AUTHOR: Robyn Carr

PUBLISHER: MIRA

PUBLISHING DATE: October 28, 2008

PAGES: 320

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: 

Last Christmas Marcie Sullivan said a final goodbye to her husband, Bobby. This Christmas she’s come to Virgin River to find the man who saved his life and gave her three more years to love him. 

Fellow marine Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby’s shattered body onto a medical transport in Fallujah four years ago, then disappeared as soon as their unit arrived stateside. Since then, Marcie’s letters to Ian have gone unanswered. 

Marcie tracks Ian to the tiny mountain town of Virgin River and finds a man as wounded emotionally as Bobby was physically. But she is not easily scared off. As Marcie pushes her way into his rugged and reclusive life, she discovers a sweet but damaged soul beneath a rough exterior. 

Ian doesn’t know what to make of the determined young widow who forces him to look into the painful past and, what’s worse, the uncertain future. But it is, after all, a season of miracles and maybe, just maybe, it’s time to banish the ghosts and open his heart.

MY THOUGHTS: Just when I thought I couldn't enjoy this series even more, along comes another installment with some new characters as well as some of our favorites.  It's Christmastime in Virgin River and Mel and Paige are busy decorating a town tree in honor of the people who have been in the armed services.  Marcie has recently lost her husband and seeking some closure, she ends up on Virgin River searching for the man who saved his life.  She finally locates Ian who is living on a remote mountain all alone.  Marcie forces herself upon him looking for some answers and we end up with a sort of a hate to love trope.

Marcie was so diligent and feisty that I liked her right from the start.  And Ian?  He stars off as a grumpy old bear, hair and all, and ends up being more of a teddy bear.  I had so much fun with their interaction and Marcie adjusting to Ian's rustic way of life.  And it nice seeing Ian come out of his cave.  

This installment was a tad shorter than the previous ones so I read it extremely quickly.  It was just enough Christmas to not be annoying (at least for a July read).  It was nice to see some new people introduced but still have some of the same old favorites.  My only complaint is that there just wasn't enough Preacher but that's okay, season 3 has started on Netflix so I'm happy. 

And just a side note, the Netflix show while similar is also really different and much more drama-filled so I'm finding it actually like two separate entities.  Double the fun!

RATING: 5 PAWS

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Titles That Are Questions

 

The top 10 weekly meme used to be hosted by The Broke and the Bookish they  handed over the reins to That Artsy Reader Girl who can be found HERE.  Each week she will focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading.

This week's topic is book titles that ask a question. I already know I'll struggle with this one so let's see if I can at least get 5!

This was fun but it did not meet my expectations.  3/5

Honestly I don't even remember reading this one but it looks like something I'd pick up even today.  3/5

I really enjoyed this one but don't think the sequel ever came out.  4/5

(oops, I'm wrong.  2 more books were released)

So okay.  I give up.  I went back 10 years in my reading history and only came up with 3!  I can't wait to see how everyone else does.  I feel like I just failed a test :)

Random Things Tours - The Lost Girls

 

TITLE: The Lost Girls

AUTHOR: Heather Young

PUBLISHER: Verve Books

PUBLISHING DATE: 2021

PAGES: 341

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: 

In the summer of 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys her mother, who spends the rest of her life at the lake house, hoping in vain that her favorite daughter will walk out of the woods. Emily’s two older sisters stay, too, each keeping her own private, decades-long vigil for the lost child. 

Sixty years later Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before she dies, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person to whom it might matter: her grandniece, Justine. 

For Justine, the lake house offers a chance to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the stable home she never had. But it’s not the sanctuary she hoped for. The long Minnesota winter has begun. The house is cold and dilapidated, the frozen lake is silent and forbidding, and her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more than he’s telling about the summer of 1935. 

Soon Justine’s troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily’s disappearance, her mother arrives with designs on her inheritance, and the man she left behind launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house steeped in the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

MY THOUGHTS:  The Lost Girls is a perfect novel to get wrapped up in a joyfully read the day away.  I read it in a short amount of time because I had to see where the story ended.  Justine inherits a lake house from her great aunt.  She takes her children and moves there there hoping to escape her current predicament.  Soon, her youngest daughter becomes obsessed with learning all she can about a disappearance of a young relative years and years ago.  

This book incorporates current day (1999) with the past, which is told through a notebook written 60 years ago.  I really felt badly for the women in this family and in fact, all of them, in some ways, were also lost.  The book is relatively slow-paced but the story is strong and the setting of the dilapidated old lake house becomes a character of its own.  

If you love slow burn novels and endings that pack a punch, then this is the book for you.  It's a wonderful way to spend a rainy weekend as its the perfect backdrop for an entertaining tale about generations of women I won't likely forget anytime soon.

RATING: 4 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: HEATHER YOUNG is the author of two novels. Her debut, The Lost Girls, won the Strand Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award. The Distant Dead has also been nominated for the 2021 Edgar Award for Best Novel. A former antitrust and intellectual property litigator, she traded the legal world for the literary one and earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2011. She lives in Mill Valley, California, where she writes, bikes, hikes, and reads books by other people that she wishes she’d written.

Retro Horror - Vol. 9

So Stormi and I have been kind of striking out with this project and I'm sad to say this month wasn't much better either of us.  So looked for a revamped version coming up soon.  I promise it will still be horror related and hopefully it will work better for both of us.  I don't think I've had over a 3-paw rating for any choice this year - how depressing.  So read on for my review of this month's choice and the hop over to Stormi's  at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! to see how she did with her Bentley Little read.

TITLE: Allhallow's Eve

AUTHOR: Richard Laymon

PUBLISHER: Headline

PUBLISHING DATE: 1985

PAGES: 246

SOURCE: Own Library

FROM GOODREADS: 

The Sherwood house has been deserted since the horrific killing of a local family in the sleepy town of Ashburg. When invitations to a mysterious party to be held there are sent out, nobody is particularly surprised - after all, everyone wants to party in a house of death on Allhallow's Eve.

MY THOUGHTS: So the book starts out in a small little town at the scene of a horrific murder which happened years before.  Right off the bat bodies start piling up so I had high promise for this book.  However, as the book goes on we have a temperamental teenager who grated my last nerve and a local cop who I really loved right up until he proposed to his girlfriend and swore he'd never leave her at the same time he's fantasizing about the motel clerk he just met.  And don't even get me started about the very end.  Apparently not everyone who needed to die did.

This book read really fast and thank heavens it was short.  I loved the premise and felt that the creepy Halloween party in the scary old house really had potential.  But see that awesome look creepy house on the cover?  Well the one in the book was described more like the Brady Bunch house.  In fact, the whole book had me saying "Richard, Richard, Richard."  Also, I know older horror was filled with problematic content and I really expect a lot of descriptions, many degrading, about the female body.  I can usually look past it and take it for what it is but in this book, it became so redundant and unnecessary.

I'm sure I'll eventually try something else by this author as I know so many love him but unfortunately, this wasn't the one for me.

RATING: 2 PAWS

Top Ten Tuesday - Most Anticipated Releases July - December 2021

 

The top 10 weekly meme used to be hosted by The Broke and the Bookish they  handed over the reins to That Artsy Reader Girl who can be found HERE.  Each week she will focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading.

This week I am sharing some of my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2021.  This week's topic could also be called "LET'S WATCH OUR TBR EXPLODE"

Faithless - Hunter Shea/Releasing October 21, 2021

I'm always excited to see a new Shea book on the horizon. 

The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig/Releasing July 20, 2021.

I must be anticipating this one because I pre-ordered it, something I rarely do.

The Great Gatz - Lauren Baratz-Logsted & Jackie Logsted/Releasing December 7, 2021.

If this one isn't under the Christmas tree this year someone might get hurt!

Stalking Shadows - Cyla Panin/Releasing September 14, 2021.

Gothic Beauty and the Beast retelling?  What's not to love about this one?

Seven-Year Witch - Angela M. Sanders/Releasing August 24, 2021.

The first in this series was one of the best cozy mystery books I've read in a long time.  

Red Wolf - Rachel Vincent/Releasing July 27, 2021.

I love this author and Red Riding Hood retellings.  Plus look at that cover!

Mark of the Wicked - Georgia Bowers/Releasing August 10, 2021.

Witches?  Yes please.

So there you have it.  It may only be 7 but that's because I know all of you guys will have additional ones I need to add to my ever-growing list!

Random Things Tours - The Maidens

 

TITLE: The Maidens

AUTHOR: Alex Michaelides

PUBLISHER: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

PUBLISHING DATE: June 10, 2021

PAGES: 352

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.

MY THOUGHTS: I think I'm one of the few people who has not read The Silent Patient but I can assure you, after reading The Maidens, I definitely want to pick it up.  Mariana is living a quiet life as a psychologist in the small home she once shared with her deceased husband.  One evening she gets a call from Zoe, her niece who is studying at Cambridge, that a close friend has been murdered.  Mariana runs to Cambridge to comfort her niece but as more students begin to die, and a mysterious group led by a charismatic leader starts to emerge, Mariana finds herself deep in the middle of the investigation.  But will she like where it heads?

The Maidens was such a quick read.  I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Sometimes I found myself rooting for Mariana and Zoe, and sometimes I cursed them for the secrets they were keeping.  Edward Fosca was the perfect creepy teacher preying on young students and some of the side characters were just enough to keep the reader guessing.

In the end, I can honestly say the twist threw me.  While it did bother me somewhat and I kind of wished it had played out differently, I totally commend the author for the shock factor.  I definitely didn't see it coming which is something I think a lot of us wish for when reading a thriller.  I highly recommend this one which is good because most of the bloggers I follow already have it on their radar.

Small notes - there is a pet death in this one which disturbed me.  However, it happens in a flashback and while I don't fully understand why that made it easier to read about, it did for some reason.  Guess it's just another  quirk of mine.

RATING: 4 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Michaelides was born and raised in Cyprus. He has an M.A. in English literature from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an M.A. in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient was his first novel and was the biggest-selling debut in the world in 2019. It spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list and sold in a record-breaking forty-nine countries. Alex lives in London.

Can't Wait Wednesday (321) - A Double Dog Dose!

 

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

SYNOPSIS: XK9 Rex is a dog who knows too much. Now his past is gunning for him.

Rex and his Packmates were bio-engineered and cyber-enhanced to be cutting edge law enforcement tools. So smart they’re considered uplifted sapient beings on Rana Habitat Space Station. Rex may be the Leader of the Pack on Rana, but his past is still gunning for him.

Before Rex came to Rana Station, he ran afoul of Transmondian spymaster Col. Jackson Wisniewski. He deliberately flunked out of the espionage program and threatened Wisniewski’s life. Now Wisniewski wants Rex dead. Transmondian agents watch and wait for any opportunity to strike.

Rex takes pains to evade his old enemy. His human partner, Charlie, faces a different struggle. He works to recover from catastrophic injuries – and comes face-to-face with a once-in-a-lifetime love he thought he’d lost forever.

Can Rex and Charlie confront their pasts and secure their futures? Or will events force them to sacrifice everything?

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I feel like I've been waiting for years for this book.  When Jan contacted me last week and said it was getting ready to roll out, I actually squealed as bit.  And how awesome is that cover?  You can find my review for the first one HERE.

CASSIUS'S PICK:

SYNOPSIS: It's scary being the new dog.

In this suspenseful new series, readers meet Sophie, a dog who can't remember what happened. She doesn't know how she ended up in this house. She doesn't recognize any of these other dogs. She knows something terrible happened but she just... can't... recall... Wait! Where's her lady? It's all coming back to her now, and it's enough to raise Sophie's hackles. Now Sophie has to figure out where she is, what's happening and how she's going to survive this.

They say there's no such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners.

STRAY DOGS is a heartbreakingly adorable suspense thriller by My Little Pony comic artists TONY FLEECS and TRISH FORSTNER. It's Lady and the Tramp meets Silence of the Lambs.

Collects STRAY DOGS #1-5

WHY CASSIUS CAN'T WAIT:  I'm a very visual dog so I love reading graphic novels with Mom.  I'm super curious about the tag of Lady and the Tramp meets Silence of the Lambs.  I can't imagine what that's all about.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???