April 11, 2018

Winning Wednesday--Bookish Giveaways!!


Bookish Giveaways to help you get over the HUMP!!

WIN FROM BOOKRIOT!!

Enter for your chance to win 15 of the best mysteries so far this year from BookRiot

Click to see my review of Before I Let Go

Open to US Residents only-- Ends May 9th

Image result for audible Enter for your chance to win a year of Audible from BookRiot
Winners will receive one credit per month for 12 months.  You have to sign up for the newsletter from Macmillan called Hear, Here.
Open to US Residents only--Ends April 16th


Enter for your chance to win one of 10 copies of Improvement by Joan Silber.

Open to US Residents only--Hurry Ends Tomorrow April 12th




 Enter for your chance to win one of 10 sets of LitChat cards from BookRiot.  Each of the 50 cards in this conversation deck is printed with two reading-themed questions (100 questions total). Some invoke books that are tied to memories (name your favorite childhood picture book); others prompt you to choose ideal reading material for a hypothetical situation (if you were stranded on a desert island, what book would you want with you?). Some of them aim to get people comparing their favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters or authors, and others engage in popular debates amongst readers (name a movie adaptation you liked and defend your choice). Created to give readers of all persuasions an excuse to talk about books, ideas, and life itself, this deck is a great addition to any booklover’s shelf.


Open to US and Canadian Residents--Ends April 30th


MORE GIVEAWAYS!!

Enter for your chance to win a copy of Force of Nature by Jane Harper. Brought to you by PureWow.  This giveaway is on Instagram, so you will need to be signed in to enter.

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 13th



Enter for your chance to win a copy of Failing Up by Leslie Odom Jr. and an Inspirational Poster.  Leslie Odom Jr. is the star of Hamilton and Nationwide commercials.  Brought to you by Macmillan Kids.

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 30th



Enter for your chance to win a copy of Knocked Up by the Other Brother by Ashlee Price and a $50 Amazon giftcard.  Brought to you by the author through Facebook.  You have to be logged in to Facebook to enter.

Contest does not say whether it is international or not--Ends April 16th




Enter for your chance to win a copy of Sometimes I Lie (click to see my review) by Alice Feeney.  I just finished this book and the twists are abundant.  Your chances are good for this one, they are giving away 1,000 copies.  Brought to you by Macmillan Books

Open to US Residents only-- Hurry Ends Today, April 11th


Library Week Sweepstakes
LIBRARY WEEK SWEEPS!!  Brought to you by Out of Print
Enter for your chance to win: One (1) library stamp market tote;
One (1) library card pocket tee;
One (1) library card slap bracelet;
One (1) pair library card socks; and
One (1) complete audio series of Harry Potter books, 1-7.

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April  19th



Enter for your chance to win one of 50 Advanced Readers Copies of The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang.  Brought to you by BookPerk. An epic historical military fantasy inspired by the bloody history of China's twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu's Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy.  Book is available May 1st.  This giveaway is on Facebook so you will have to be signed in to win.
Open to US Residents Only--Hurry Ends Today April 11th


Enter for your chance to win a copy of The Sunshine Sisters (click for my review) by Jane Green along with a beach mat, in honor of the paperback release on May 1st.  Brought to you by Penguin Random House

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 16th



The Wreck of the Nymph
Enter for your chance to win  the Ultimate Girl Power Book Set.  Brought to you by Kirkus Reviews with their first all Women Edition.  You could win these four books.  Click for my review of The Radium Girls


Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 15th


Enter for your chance to win a copy of 16th Seduction by James Patterson in anticipation of the next book in the series The 17th Suspect available April 30th.

Open to Residents of the Continental US  & Canada(except Quebec)--Ends April 13th









Book Riot Giveaway Page -- Click here

Giveaways from Goodreads



**These giveaways are not sponsored by What 'Cha Readin'? Please see each giveaway for official rules.**


April 9, 2018

Review: The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Released: March 20, 2018

Barrons, Vermont -- 1950
A young girl who is a student at Idlewild Hall goes missing. Idlewild is a school for wayward girls. The authorities believe she has just run away with some boy, but her friends and roommates know this is the farthest thing from the truth.

Barrons, Vermont -- 1994
Deb Sheridan another young woman is found dead in the field at Idlewild Hall, which has now been closed for many years. Her killer is her boyfriend at the time, Tim Christopher. Why would he leave her at this place?

Barrons, Vermont -- 2014
Someone has bought Idlewild Hall and plans to renovate it. But why? The place is nothing but a money pit. Fiona Sheridan is determined to find out who is buying the property and their motivation behind it. Will she be able to deal with all the secrets this place holds? When a body is found during the renovations, Fiona's attempts go into overdrive? Will she be able to find out who is behind this before she too becomes a subject of Idlewild?

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Going through this book, I was a little skeptical about what was going to happen. I'm not a big fan of books with ghosts, but this one wasn't too bad. I gave the book a rating of 3.5 stars. While the book was interesting, I found myself going for other things to do besides reading this book. The story flowed naturally even switching from the past to modern day.

Mary Hand is a ghost that haunts the grounds of Idlewild. She will show you things that you may not want to see. But is a ghost behind all the strange things that happen at Idlewild Hall or is there another culprit. We know for sure that Deb Sheridan was killed by her boyfriend, but what about the body found during the renovations? In 1950 the school was full of wayward girls. Girls who in those days, parents could not be bothered by and mental health was a taboo issue. So they sent their daughters away to school. Four girls in room 3C became very close friends. Sonia, Katie, CeCe and Roberta. The book tells their story from 1950 leading up to the disappearance of one of them and Fiona's perspective from 2014, trying to find out the history of Idlewild Hall and the new owners.

Overall, for me the book was good, not great. This is the first book I have read by Simone St. James. If her other books deal with ghosts and spirits, I'm not sure if I will read them or not, but I may give them a chance.

If you like ghosts though, I think you should give this book a try, YOU may enjoy it.




View all my reviews

To order a copy of this book for yourself, please click the book cover below:

April 6, 2018

March Readin' Roundup!!


March was a slow reading month for me.   I was recovering from surgery and I thought I would be reading a lot, but I was very tired.  Plus, sitting up for more than 5 minutes was painful and trying to read laying at the angle I was, was not great for my neck muscles.  So with all of that, I was only able to get in 5 books in March.  


Here is a list of what I read in March.  Click on the title to read the full review.  What books did you read in March, I would love to know!


BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH


An American Marriage by Tayari Jones -- 5 stars

Roy and Celestial have been married for almost two years when their relationship takes a hit no one could ever anticipate. As they are in rural Louisiana visiting Roy's family, he is wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit. Sentenced to twelve years in a Louisiana prison, the time they have spent married will be much shorter than the time they are about to spend apart. Will they both be able to survive the predicament they are in? With Celestial in Atlanta trying to continue to live her life and Roy in Louisiana, writing letters back and forth and having sporadic visits, will their marriage survive?

JUST UNDER FIVE STARS


Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison -- 4.5 Stars

On the outside, Ethan and Sutton Montclair seem like the perfect couple. They are both writers and are crazy about each other. But they have secrets in their past that will soon surface. Sutton has disappeared and told her husband she didn't want to be found. Her friends are convinced, that Ethan has done something to hurt her, but the police are not convinced. When bodies turn up and secrets are revealed, will Ethan be able to maintain his innocence?



Look for Me by Lisa Gardner -- 4 Stars

DD Warren is trying to find out who has killed the Baez family. Mother, Justine; her boyfriend, Charlie; her youngest daughter, Lola; and her only son, Manny. But there is another child, Roxanna, as well as two dogs, Rosie and Blaze. Where are they? Did Roxanna do this to her family? If so, why? But Roxy was the protector of the family. Her mom is a recovering alcoholic and when she was drinking Roxy made sure her siblings ate and made it to school. When the state took the kids away from Justine for a year, this role for Roxy became more prominent. After that year, the girls were never the same. Did something happen during their year in foster care that could have warranted this kind of violence? Will DD be able to find the person or people responsible for this before more people are killed? Will her new CI, Flora Dane prove to be helpful or detrimental to this case?

THREE STAR REVIEWS

Image result for mistress james patterson

Mistress by James Patterson -- 3 Stars

Benjamin Casper has been asked by a friend of his to put some surveillance cameras up in her apartment. Shortly after he leaves her building a body is thrown from her balcony. Everyone says it's his friend, Diana and that she committed suicide, but Ben is not convinced. Trying to figure out what is really going on with Diana and what she was up to is not going to be easy. Will Ben be able to find the answers before he loses his own life? Set in the heart of our Nation's Capital, Ben fights for his life to find out the truth about Diana.


Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney -- 3 Stars

Amber is in a coma. She can hear the people around her, but there is nothing she can do. The book travels back to the events leading up to the coma and the diary of a young girl with a lot of troubles. This book is full of shocking events. Is her husband to blame for the accident that put Amber in a coma? Will her sister be able to find out what is going on before Amber wakes up? Will Amber ever wake up? How will the events of her past shape her future if/when she does wake up?

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 
1. I’m in a coma. 
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 
3. Sometimes I lie. 



So there you have it.  I hope you will take a look at the full reviews and let me know if you have read any of these and your thoughts on them.  Here is what I plan to read in April:


The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . . 

Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced. . . . 


Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal.

By Monday morning, one of them is gone.

Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce—and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her—and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions—especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.

As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors—and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else.


As She Fades by Abbi Glines

On the night of her high school graduation, Vale McKinley and her boyfriend Crawford are in a terrible car accident that leaves Crawford in a coma. They were supposed to spend the summer planning for college, for a bright future full of possibility. Together. Instead, Vale spends long days in the hospital, hoping Crawford will awaken.

Slate Allen, a college friend of Vale’s brother, has been visiting his dying uncle at the same hospital. When he and Vale meet, she can’t deny the flutter of an illicit attraction. She tries to ignore her feelings, but she's not immune to Slate's charm. Slowly, they form a cautious friendship.

Then, Crawford wakes up . . . with no memory of Vale or their relationship. Heartbroken, Vale opts to leave for college and move on with her life. Except now, she’s in Slate’s territory, and their story is about to take a very strange turn.


Bridal Girl by Meredih Schorr

Sassy book blogger-turned-author, Kim Long, thought her life couldn’t get any pinker when she received a two-book publishing deal and a marriage proposal in the same night. 

If only she could drown out the conflicting opinions of her overzealous bridal party. 

If only everyone would adore her first book—or she’d take Nicholas’s advice and stop reading reviews.  

If only Nicholas’s past would remain there rather than threaten their future.

The pressure is on and the clock is ticking. Will Kim ever write “The End” on her sophomore novel? And, will she and Nicholas make it down the aisle to say those two precious words: “I do?” 

Put on your reading glasses, fill your champagne flute and prepare to laugh with (and sometimes at) Kim as she rewrites her happy ending until it’s worthy of five pink champagne flutes. 

This book does not come out until July, but I will be doing a blog tour for this book at the end of April.

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Meet Hanna.

She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

Meet Suzette.

She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette's husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.


I hope you will come back next month to read the reviews for these books as well. 

HAPPY READIN'!!


April 5, 2018

Winning Wednesday!!--Bookish Giveaways!


Bookish Giveaways to get you over the HUMP!!

You guys know I have been on hiatus for about a month.  I have been recovering from a major surgery and trying to get used to my new normal.  So for the month of March, my posting was a bit sporadic and there were no Winning Wednesday posts :(  But I'm back in full force and hope to continue to give you great content for the month of April.  So let's get it started shall we. 


Enter for your chance to win a copy of Falling Up by Leslie Odom Jr. and an Inspirational Poster.  Leslie Odom Jr. is the star of Hamilton and Nationwide commercials.  Brought to you by Macmillan Kids.

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 30th


ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A TRIP TO MOROCCO
Enter for your chance to win a trip to Morocco from Simon & Schuster.  Winner will receive:

  • $1000 AirFare Voucher
  • 4 days, 5 nights in a Boutique Hotel
  • Artisan Market Visit
  • Hands-on Cooking Class
  • Behind the Scenes City Tour
  • 8 Great Reads from Simon & Schuster(they don't say what they are)
  • 2 Wandrd Backpacks
Open to Continental US Residents only, Ends April 7th

Enter for your chance to win a copy of The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan.  Brought to you by BookRiot

Open to US Residents Only--Hurry ends today April 3rd



Enter for your chance to win a copy of The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton.  Brought to you by BookRiot.

Open to US Residents Only--Hurry Ends tomorrow April 4th



March Madness  Enter and Vote for your chance to win 64 books. Brought to you by Harper Collins Canada.

Open to Canadian Residents(except Quebec) only--Ends April 6th


Enter for your chance to win a copy of Knocked Up by the Other Brother by Ashlee Price and a $50 Amazon giftcard.  Brought to you by the author through Facebook.  You have to be logged in to Facebook to enter.


Contest does not say whether it is international or not--Ends April 16th



Enter for your chance to win a Sociable Prize Pack.  Brought to you by Penguin Random House Prize Pack includes:

A copy of Sociable by Rebecca Harrington
A Poppin Tape Dispenser
A Marble Notebook
A Pencil Set
Birdie Sticky Notes
File Folders
A Walker Bag
Open to US Residents only, Ends April 6th



Enter for your chance to win the Ready Player One Grand Movie Sweepstakes.  Five lucky winners will win a copy of the book, 2 tickets to the movie and a movie poster.
Brought to you by  Penguin Random House .

Open to US Residents Only--Ends April 5th


Enter for your chance to win a copy of Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney.  I just finished this book and the twists are abundant.  Your chances are good for this one, they are giving away 1,000 copies.  Brought to you by Macmillan Books

Open to US Residents only--Ends April 11th




Book Riot Giveaway Page -- Click here

Giveaways from Goodreads



**These giveaways are not sponsored by What 'Cha Readin'? Please see each giveaway for official rules.**


April 2, 2018

Review: Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amber is in a coma. She can hear the people around her, but there is nothing she can do. The book travels back to the events leading up to the coma and the diary of a young girl with a lot of troubles. This book is full of shocking events. Is her husband to blame for the accident that put Amber in a coma? Will her sister be able to find out what is going on before Amber wakes up? Will Amber ever wake up? How will the events of her past shape her future if/when she does wake up?

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Book for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I must say that I'm just as confused now as when I was reading the book. Usually for me it is because the book travels back and forth through time, but this time, the story itself was confusing. You think you may know what is going on, but then a curve in thrown into the story and you have no idea what is going on. The story held my attention and I was able to finish it rather quickly, but even days after finishing it, it has left me with questions.

Is Amber really as bad as you think? What about her sister Claire? Who is the real culprit in all the disaster that has happened in their lives?


View all my reviews

To order a copy of this book for yourself, click the book cover below: