Goodreads

This year I have gotten back on the bandwagon of reading and reading a lot. In my young mother days, I would read a book week. 

I heard that. 

I heard that gasp. 

I hear it all the time when I say I read a book a week. Because seriously people? What the crap else do you do in the summer? There is not any good TV on, so I read. A lot. 

I've always been a big reader and I have a serious weakness for books. I love books. I usually have several sitting on my nightstand, and in my Kindle so that I always have something to read. Reading, truthfully, saved me as a child. I was a rather shy, insecure little girl and I found comfort in my books and the friends that I had in them. You are never lonely or left wanting when you read a book. 

I give Thing 1 a hard time about her addiction to books, but people, she gets it from me.

Anyways. 

Here are the last 10 books that I have read this year (in no particular order): 

1. Dead Ever After (Sooking Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris - I thoroughly enjoyed this series! These books were easy to read guilty pleasures. If you like Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies and supernatural types of things, you will like these books. The Showtime series, True Blood,  has taken TONS of liberties and the show really is nothing like the books. I would say that the show is LOOSELY based on the books. With the same characters, just jacked up on Vamps and Sex. The books? Not so much.

2. Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews - This book had me laughing from the very first page. True to its title, the main character throws a gigantic hissy fit in the first chapter when she finds her soon to be husband cheating on her with her best friend at the rehearsal dinner. Hissy Fit is justified, me thinks. However, she takes to a new level when she vandalizes his car in a rather humorous way and then spends the rest of the book trying to move on from that fit. I really enjoyed the book and wit of the author. 

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth - I have seen this book floating around a lot and finally picked it up. Holy Amazeballs, Batman! I read the entire book in one day. ONE DAY people. I haven't had a book that grabbed me quite that fast and intensely in a long time. It's a lot like The Hunger Games -- only not as violent. It's that type of a world that the kids are living in and its fascinating to read. I couldn't put it down. If you need a book for your teens to read and they liked Hunger Games, get them this book. They'll love it! 

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth - Ten seconds after I finished Divergent, I was buying Insurgent on my Kindle. I kid you not, it was that good. I couldn't wait to pick up where I left off, and pick up it does. The author has a fantastic imagination and I couldn't get enough of book #2 either. I read this one in a day as well... good thing I had lots of down time at work! I love this series and was seriously bummed when I realized I have to wait until October for book #3. If you liked Hunger Games, Maze Runner and those types of books, then you really need to read this series! It is great for Junior High and High School aged kids as well. 

5. Pure by Julianna Baggott - Thing 1 brought me this book one night and demanded that I read it. Usually when she is that adamant about me reading it book its because it's mind blowingly good. And this one is just that. This book is again in the post-apocalyptic genre and when "the event" happened whatever you were holding or standing near became fused to you. At first, I'll be honest, I found that kind of gross, but then as the story moves along, you realize how important those little details are to the story. I loved this book and I am thrilled that there is a book two.

6. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen - This is another book that Thing 1 brought me and demanded that I read. I'm thinking the girl has pretty good taste in books, don't you? Again, it was a new author and absolutely delightful. I found myself underlining various passages because of how beautifully they were written. For example: How tall is he?" she asked, her voice hushed, as if he might hear.
"Tall enough to see into tomorrow." I found myself hungry quite a bit while reading this book because of the characters and all the baking and cooking they do. I love books that interweaves all my senses into it and creates an experience for me, and that is what this book did. 

7. Strangers on Montague Street by Karen White - This is the third book in a series and I have to say that I absolutely LOVE this author. She is a Southern writer-- writing about Charleston, a fancy real estate agent  and the various ghosts that this woman is able to communicate with. I have to say that I love the history in the story inter weaved with some mystery and ghosts. The books are not scary in the least, which is another reason why I really liked them. I don't do scary novels at all. The first book is called The House on Tradd Street and the second book is called The Girl on Legare Street. You most definitely want to read these books in order.

8. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond - I first read this book as blog posts on Pioneer Woman's blog, back in the day when she was first starting to create her kingdom. I would anxiously wait for each new installment to come out and devour it in mere moments. She is a gifted blogger, and that's the key word. Her book was a series of blog posts and it was basically regurgitated straight from her blog. I don't know what I was expecting-- something more, I guess because it was a book and not a blog. I was really disappointed with the book. I actually never finished it. Once we got to the part where she got married and all she did was whine, I had to put it away. I would be interested to hear if anyone else read it, finished it and further liked it. 

9. The Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult - I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult for years. When I am wanting something mindless to read, I turn to her because I am always up for a good mystery. However this book really bugged me and dragged on. I just couldn't get into, so after 100+pages I gave myself permission to put it away. 

10. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen-  I just started this book this past weekend and I have to say I love it. Allen has done it again and grabbed me from the first page. I am excited to have found another author that I love.

Edited to add: I just finished The Sugar Queen and it was absolutely fantastic! I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, the story and the magical that is mixed in with the current, every day life. One of my favorite passages from the book: "It was as sweet as sugar. It was as warm as warm pie. The whole world opened up and I fell inside. I didn't know where I was, but I didn't care. I didn't care because the only person who mattered was there with me."  

It is a fast read and I've already started another one of her books called Garden Spells. 

What have you been reading?

Tweet