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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

#Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan @GillyMacmillan @HarperAudio

TITLE: What She Knew
SERIES: Jim Clemo, Book #1
AUTHOR: Gilly Macmillan
PUBLISHER: Harper Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: December 1, 2015
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 11 hrs and 53 mins
GENRE: Mystery
ISBN: 9780062444622
In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.

In a heartbeat, everything changes…

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

MY REVIEW:

This book is every mom's worst nightmare! 

Rachel takes her son, eight-year-old Ben, to the park and he begs to run off ahead of her as children often do. She allows him to do so, and then he is gone. The police are called, and a search turns up Ben's clothes. It is evident that someone has taken him.

I really felt for Rachel. The public scrutiny is unfair, and she's labelled a bad mother for allowing Ben to run ahead without her. The story is told through dual points of view from Rachel and Detective Jim Clemo. 

Macmillan did a great job at raising suspicion towards multiple suspects, and I enjoyed trying to figure this one out! I thought it was a great debut, and I will certainly read more from this author.

I loved the dual narration by Penelope Rawlins and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart. This is a highly emotional story given the content, and they both conveyed the turmoil of the characters. Here is a sample of the narration:


MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR if you enjoy mysteries!

This book qualifies as:

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Last by Hanna Jameson @Hanna_Jameson @AtriaBooks

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.


Here is this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection:

TITLE: The Last
AUTHOR: Hanna Jameson 
PUBLISHER: Atria Books
EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: April 9, 2019
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 288 pages
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller
ISBN: 9781501198823
Breaking: Nuclear weapon detonates over Washington

Breaking: London hit, thousands feared dead.

Breaking: Munich and Scotland hit. World leaders call for calm.

Jon Keller was on a trip to Switzerland when the world ended. More than anything he wishes he hadn't ignored his wife Nadia's last message.

Twenty people remain in Jon's hotel. Far from the nearest city, they wait, they survive.

Then one day, the body of a girl is found. It's clear she has been murdered. Which means that someone in the hotel is a killer...

As paranoia descends, Jon decides to investigate. But how far is he willing to go in pursuit of justice? And what happens if the killer doesn't want to be found?

I love post-apocalyptic books, and this one sounds like it will be total chaos!


What are you waiting on? Please leave a comment in the section below. If you participate in this meme, please leave a link so I can visit your blog!

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

2018 Scary Books Releases On My Wishlist


This is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, they post a new Top Ten list that one of their bloggers will answer. Everyone is welcome to join!

Today's list is:

Halloween/Creepy Freebie

Last year for Halloween, I featured my Favourite Scary Books and Movies. This time, I'm going to spotlight some of the 2018 scary book releases that are on my Wishlist!


by Kiersten White


Baby Teeth
by Zoje Stage


Contagion
by Erin Bowman
(Contagion, Book #1)


The Hunger
by Alma Katsu


Hunted
by Darcy Coates


The Dark Beneath the Ice
by Amelinda Bérubé


Neverwake
by Amy Plum
(Dreamfall, Book #2)


#Murdertrending
by Gretchen McNeil
(Murdertrending, Book #1)

Blood Cruise
by Mats Strandberg
This was previously published in Swedish in 2015. The English translation came out this year.


Glimpse
by Jonathan Maberry

Halcyon
by Rio Youers

The Outsider
by Stephen King

The Chrysalis
by Brendan Deneen

Ghost Virus
by Graham Masterton

Strange Ink
by Gary Kemble

Nightingale
by Amy Lukavics

Dracul
by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker

Shade: A Re-Imagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
by Merrie Destefano
(The Frankenstein Saga, Book #1)

Kingdom of Needle and Bone
by Mira Grant
Expected publication: 31 Dec 2018


Are there any on this list that you've read and, if so, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments, or leave me a link to your blog post if you are also participating in the meme!

Monday, October 29, 2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.


I'm reading: 

Something from the dusty bookshelf. A good choice for RIPXIII and FrightFall Read-a-Thons.

AUTHOR: Joe Hill
PUBLISHER: Harper
PUBLICATION DATE: March 25, 2008 (first published 2007)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 366 pages
GENRE: Horror
ISBN: 9780061147944
Aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals...a used hangman's noose...a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unique or as dreadful as his latest purchase off the Internet: a one-of-a-kind curiosity that arrives at his door in a black heart-shaped box...a musty dead man's suit still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner. And now everywhere Judas Coyne goes, the old man is there—watching, waiting, dangling a razor blade on a chain from his bony hand.

Something from the library. I have the regular edition sitting on my dusty bookshelf, but I wanted to read this new edition which I started during Banned Books Week.

AUTHOR: Anne Frank
PUBLISHER: Anchor Books
PUBLICATION DATE: February 1, 1996 (first published 1947)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 352 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction, Classics, Autobiography/Memoir
ISBN: 9780385480338
For almost fifty years, Anne Frank's diary has moved millions with its testament to the human spirit's indestructibility, but readers have never seen the full text of this beloved book--until now. This new translation, performed by Winona Ryder, restores nearly one third of Anne's entries excised by her father in previous editions, revealing her burgeoning sexuality, her stormy relationship with her mother, and more.


Something from the library, to fulfill a prompt for a reading challenge which is to read a book of poetry by an author of colour.

AUTHOR: Maya Angelou
PUBLISHER: Random House
PUBLICATION DATE: September 13, 1994 (first published 1986)
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 273 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction, Poetry
ISBN: 9780679428954
For the first time, the complete collection of Maya Angelou's published poems-including "On the Pulse of Morning"-in a permanent collectible, handsome hardcover edition.
I completed a nine-week course with a group of people, which featured DVD Study sessions and a Participant Guide with study questions (homework!) for discussion each week. The book is a lot to digest, and I'm still reading it in chunks.

PUBLISHER: Zondervan
PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 1992
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 314 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-Help
ISBN: 9780310585909
Having clear boundaries is essential to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. A boundary is a personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Boundaries impact all areas of our lives: Physical boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances -- Mental boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts and opinions -- Emotional boundaries help us to deal with our own emotions and disengage from the harmful, manipulative emotions of others -- Spiritual boundaries help us to distinguish God's will from our own and give us renewed awe for our Creator -- Often, Christians focus so much on being loving and unselfish that they forget their own limits and limitations. When confronted with their lack of boundaries, they ask: - Can I set limits and still be a loving person? - What are legitimate boundaries? - What if someone is upset or hurt by my boundaries? - How do I answer someone who wants my time, love, energy, or money? - Aren't boundaries selfish? - Why do I feel guilty or afraid when I consider setting boundaries? Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer biblically-based answers to these and other tough questions, showing us how to set healthy boundaries with our parents, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and even ourselves.

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter. We are loving this series! It just gets better and better!

SERIES: Warriors, Book #5
AUTHOR: Erin Hunter
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2015 (first published 2004)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 368 pages
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780062367006
Join the legion of fans who have made Erin Hunter's Warriors series a #1 national bestseller--with new editions featuring a striking new look! More thrilling fantasy, fierce warrior cats, and epic adventures await in Warriors #5: A Dangerous Path.

ShadowClan has chosen Tigerclaw as their new leader, and Fireheart fears that this old enemy still harbors dark plans for vengeance on his former Clan. A mysterious threat has invaded the forest, placing every cat's life in peril. And Fireheart's beloved leader has turned her back on their warrior ancestors. Fireheart can't help but wonder if she's right--has StarClan abandoned them forever?

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter.

TITLE: The Outcast
SERIES: Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #8
AUTHOR: Kathryn Lasky
PUBLISHER: Scholastic, Inc.
PUBLICATION DATE: September 1, 2005
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 207 pages
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780439739511
Haunted by his past, hunted by the Pure Ones, Nyroc flies alone. He yearns to go to the great tree, where good and learned owls do noble deeds, but he cannot. He is son of Kludd and Nyra, sworn enemies of all Ga’Hoole stands for, feared and despised everywhere.

By Nyroc has glimpsed hope-and a new destiny-in the flame over his father's very bones. In search of that destiny, he trains his gaze and beats his wings toward a dark, lawless place where desperate characters roam a barren landscape and fire splits the sky-The Beyond the Beyond.

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which my daughter is reading aloud to me for home reading.

TITLE: The BFG
AUTHOR: Roald Dahl
PUBLISHER: Puffin
PUBLICATION DATE: 2008 (first published 1982)
FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 199 pages
GENRE: Childrens, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780141326238
Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.

I'm listening to:

Something from my review pile!
AUTHOR: Kiersten White 
NARRATOR: Katharine McEwan
PUBLISHER: Listening Library
PUBLICATION DATE: September 25, 2018
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 10 hrs and 15 mins
GENRE: Young Adult, Historical, Horror, Retelling
ISBN: 9780525636120
"Exquisitely disturbing," raves internationally bestselling author Stephanie Garber of this stunning and dark reimagining of Frankenstein.

Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend.

Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.

But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.


I just finished:

AUTHOR: M.C. Beaton 
NARRATOR: Alison Larkin
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: October 20, 2017
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 6 hrs and 37 mins
GENRE: Mystery/Cozy
ISBN: 9781504780490
The Witches’ Tree continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin mystery series―now a hit T.V. show. Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead―and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster, has been murdered―and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime. 1Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion (a little glad for the excitement, to tell the truth, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books). But Sumpton Harcourt is a small and private village, she finds―a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation―and even her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better...

SERIES: The Woman in Black, Book #1
AUTHOR: Susan Hill 
NARRATOR: Ralph Cosham
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: September 1, 2011 (first published 1983)
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook, MP3-CD
LENGTH: 4 hrs and 33 mins
GENRE: Horror, Gothic
ISBN: 9781441779779
What true readers do not yearn, somewhere in the recesses of their hearts, for a really literate, first-class thriller--one that chills the body but warms the soul with plot, perception, and language at once astute and vivid? In other words, a ghost story written by Jane Austen? Alas, we cannot give you Austen, but Susan Hill's remarkable Woman in Black comes as close as our era can provide. Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and most dreadfully--and for Kipps most tragically--the woman in black. The Woman in Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine-tingler--proof positive that this neglected genre, the ghost story, isn't dead after all.

TITLE: Deliverance
AUTHOR: James Dickey 
NARRATOR: Will Patton
PUBLISHER: Audible, Inc.
PUBLICATION DATE: October 31, 2011 (first published 1970)
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 7 hrs and 33 mins
GENRE: Classics, Thriller, Adventure
ASIN: B0061HS5L2
The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where the state's most remote white-water river awaits. In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.

This classic tale is vividly read by movie and TV star and Audie Award-winning narrator Will Patton.

What are you reading? Have you read any of these books and, if so, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments and, if you are also participating in this meme, leave me a link to your blog post so that I can stop by!

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Stacking The Shelves and Sunday Post


This meme is hosted by Tynga over at Team Tynga's Reviews, which she describes as follows:

"Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!"



Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme


I can't believe that it's nearly the end of October! The snow is holding off and, for that, I'm grateful. We have two more leaf pick-ups for the season, so I need to get as much raking done as I can. Halloween night is going to be chilly for the kids with only a high of 3 degrees Celsius that day and a low of -1.


The repair in my daughter's closet is nearly complete. I primed the new drywall yesterday, and today I'll be painting. I won't have time to get the bathroom done this weekend, so that will be next weekend's project!



I won this paperback in a giveaway hosted by Kathryn @ The Book Date:

Dry
by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Thanks again, Kathryn!


Even though I was not the first place winner of the Clear Your Shelf Giveaway hosted by Jemima Pett, she still sent to me my book of choice which is this autographed paperback:

Inheritance
by Christopher Paolini
(The Inheritance Cycle, Book #4)

Thanks again, Jemima!


Recap: Last Week On The Blog


Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Bookish Villains

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Chrysalis by Brendan Reichs


Friday: 5 out of 5 stars for Matilda by Roald Dahl


What books have you added to your shelves this week? If you are also participating in either of these memes, please leave me the link to your blog post in the comments so that I can come and drool over all your goodies!
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