So Many Books, So Little Time

Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors (Volume 2) Publication Date: September 30, 2015 Madison Street Publishing Hardcover, Paperback, eBook; 598 Pages Genre: History An anthology of essays from the second year of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book transports the reader across the centuries from prehistoric to twentieth century Britain. Nearly fifty different authors share the stories, incidents, and insights discovered while doing research for their own historical novels. From medieval law and literature to Tudor queens and courtiers, from Stuart royals and rebels to Regency soldiers and social calls, experience the panorama of Britain’s yesteryear. Explore the history behind the fiction, and discover the true tales surrounding Britain's castles, customs, and kings. Visit the English Historical Fiction Authors blog & Facebook page . "Thoroughly enjoyable and diverse...leisure reading for any history fan."...

Publication Date: September 2, 2015 Circle B Publishing LLC eBook; 229 Pages Genre: Literary/Mystery/Thriller A tough Navy SEAL and a beautiful Persian woman clash before working together to confront a ferocious common enemy. It is a tale of jihad, terror, and forbidden love. A Jeffrey Quinn novel. “I stayed up late reading this book a second time. I read it first for the intriguing story and the second time for the wonderful language. Mr. Booker has crafted a timely and compelling story filled with a cast of characters from the slimy to the sublime. I would like to have a friend like the main character, Jeffrey Quinn . . . a man with a past and his own demons . . . honest . . . loyal . . . .” -Rebecca K. McWhorter (5 Star Amazon Review) AMAZON US | AMAZON UK About the Author Soldier of fortune Thomas Booker has traveled widely in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He currently is helping to build a children’s clinic in South East Asia. He resides in Texas. ...

  The Three by Sarah Lotz This was the strangest book I have read in a long time.  I'm still not one hundred percent sure I understood the whole thing.  I expected it to be a lot scarier and while there were creepy parts, it really wasn't scary at all.  It was just really weird!  I feel like I'm still trying to process what happened.  I will say that it was well-written and was a quite the page turner; it just ended very strangely and I didn't feel like I had all my questions answered.  I'm giving this 3 stars as a neutral rating because I can't decide if I liked or disliked this book. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica I'll start by saying that I didn't dislike this book but I was disappointed in it.  It seemed like there was a lot of hype surrounding it and I just thought it fell flat.  The story did suck me in and keep me interested but most of the characters were not likable at all so it was hard to relate to anyone or feel...

I'm so excited to welcome Shanna Hatfield to the blog today!  I recently read her book, The Christmas Bargain, and absolutely loved it!  (review here) Welcome to the 2nd annual Cowboys and Christmas Blog Tour! Raising funds and awareness for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund Ring in the Holidays with a Helping Hand November 1 through Dec. 24,   10 percent of the net proceeds from all Shanna Hatfield book sales will be donated to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund . The JCCF is a non-profit organization that assists rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries and are unable to work for an extended period. Every book purchased during this promotional period adds to the donation total. Don't forget to add books to your Christmas lists!  Thank you, Krista, for hosting me today! It's so fun to be stop here on my blog tour this week. What inspired you to write the Rodeo Romance Series?  ...

From Goodreads:  Luke Granger is about to get more than he bargained for… As owner and manager of the Hardman bank, Luke Granger is a man of responsibility and integrity in the small 1890s Eastern Oregon town. Calling in a long overdue loan, Luke finds himself reluctantly accepting a bargain in lieu of payment from the shiftless farmer who barters his daughter to settle his debt. Philamena Booth is both mortified and relieved when her father sends her off with the banker as payment of his debt. Held captive on the farm by her father since the death of her mother more than a decade earlier, Philamena is grateful to leave. If only it had been someone other than the handsome and charismatic Luke Granger riding in to rescue her. Ready to uphold her end of the bargain as Luke’s cook and housekeeper, Philamena is prepared for the hard work ahead. What she isn’t prepared for is being forced to marry Luke as part of this crazy Christmas bargain. My Thoughts:  I d...

From Goodreads:  A glittering Persian king has a vast empire that reaches farther than where the sun meets the horizon. He is bathed in riches and commands a frightening military force. He possesses power beyond any other mortal man and rules his kingdom as a god. Anything he desires, he has. Any woman he wants, he possesses. Thousands of them. Young virgins from all across his many lands. A Jewish girl is ripped from her hut by the king’s brutish warriors and forced to march across blistering, scorched earth to the capitol city. Trapped for months in the splendid cage of the king’s palace, she must avoid the ire of the king’s concubines and eunuchs all while preparing for her one night with the king. Soon the fated night arrives, and she does everything in her power to captivate the king and become his queen. But wearing the crown brings with it a new set of dangers. When a ruthless man plies the king’s ear with whispers of genocide, it is up to the young queen to...

Hey y'all!  I'm linking up with Mailbox Monday this week!     It's been a while since I've done one of these.  I got a lot of books this week and they're all books that I can't wait to dive into. From the library (ebook): The Lake House by Kate Morton From the Library (physical books):   Down the Rabbit Hole by Holly Madison The Stranger by Harlan Coben The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh Skandal by Lindsey Smith For Review (from HFBVT/the author): In the Shadow of the Storm by Anna Belfrage (To say I'm excited to read this is an understatement.) Kindle First freebie: Daughter of Sand and Stone by Libbie Hawker   What books did you get this week?  Leave your link in the comments so I can check out your stack!

Publication Date: September 12, 2015 Paperback; 433 Pages Genre: Contemporary/Women's Fiction For her entire life, Alexandra Kramer has been checking a series of boxes. Trapped by the expectations of everyone else around her, she’s made good grades, married the right guy, and secured a place at the prestigious Harvard Business School. But in the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis, Alex suddenly finds herself running into the fire, instead of seeking a safe haven from the flames. Ditching her Ivy League plans, she becomes dedicated to showing she has what it takes in the high-stakes, fast-paced boys’ club of Wall Street trading, as she forges her own path for the first time in her life. As these volatile changes drive her husband Jamie into his own crisis, Alex is forced to examine the choices she’s made—as she’s torn between her traditional role as wife, and the exciting, Wild West appeal of the trading floor. When her two worlds suddenly collide, it becomes clear the...

I'm linking up with Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts over at Bookishly Boisterous . Trick-or-treating with grandma!   1.) We had so much fun on Halloween!  Julia was a Rockford Peach from 'A League of Their Own' and she was just too cute.  She can be pretty shy but she had so much fun trick-or-treating.  My mother-in-law lives in a very friendly neighborhood so everyone was handing out candy and there were kids everywhere.  It was great! 2.) I swore that, for the rest of the year, I would only read books I own.  Yeah...that lasted about two seconds.  I went to the library to drop some movies off and wound up having time to browse the shelves and ended up leaving with four books.  Oops. 3.) When I first finished grad school, I bought the first two Harry Potter books in Russian so I could practice my language skills.  Fast forward to many years later, I finally bought the rest of the series in Russian and plan to start r...

 I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!  We took Julia trick-or-treating for the first time and she had a blast!  It was really fun to watch her experience the holiday now that she's old enough to now what's going on.  Now bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas! October was a good reading month for me.  I participated in Dewey's Read-A-Thon this month so that helped a lot.  I hit my goal of reading 80 books this year and have decided to raise it to 100.  I finished October with 9 books read in the month and 84 books read for the year which is 2 more than I read in the whole year last year. If I can read 8 books per month for the rest of the year, I will hit 100. I'm also going to try something new for November and December.  I'm going to try to just read books I own for the rest of the year.  I do have two books on hold at the library and two review books to read but otherwise I want to solely read books I own (whether ebook or physical)....