Thursday Throwback!

This post appeared last year, but I thought I would share it again here. Some of these books have been popular with reviewers, but I really didn’t like them.

Book Sins

I hate to single out books for hate, so I thought of a a way to do it without getting too nasty. You could still figure it out if you try, and if you really want to know, you could send me a private message and I’ll tell you, but I’m not trying to single out anyone for unfair criticism here. After all, it’s just my opinion. But there are some things that really bugged me about these books and I think it’s fair to warn you if you’re planning to read them.

• A, S D by M K – cozy mystery. Tried too hard. Why do cozies do this? They remind me of the kids at school who want to be liked so much that they wear the latest fashion, attach themselves to the coolest crowd, and try to fool everyone into thinking that they belong. If you have to try that hard, you’re not cool. Your humor either works, or it doesn’t, and desperation is not helping.
• TWWBK by KC – biography. Speculation. Look, either it’s biography or it’s fiction, but quit trying to be both. If you don’t have the sources to back up your guess work, just write it as historical fiction. Don’t try to sell it as non-fiction. You’re just irritating your readers.
• A&TFK by SP – YA romance. General grump here. I think I was the wrong audience, but hey, tell your characters to quit whining already. You’re in Paris. That’s not too bad. Enjoy it already.
• F by MRC – could you be more depressing? a druggie kills a kid and goes to prison? Why did I read this? My fault here, I should have expected it to be bleak.
• Y by CK – thriller. This book does nothing by glorify stalking. It is disturbing and horrible. Why is this rated so highly? And why are some readers defending him? He’s a stalker, abusive, and a murderer. There’s no defense.

Those were my 1 star reads of the year. I may end up with more. Did you guess any of them? All of them? Some weren’t too hard.

 

NaNoWriMo – Winner!

I finished! I know I posted this a couple of days ago, but it was worth posting again.

This was my third year of participating in NaNo, and my first win. The first year I didn’t come as close as I would have liked, about 38k. I tried planning that time. I had an enormous epic fantasy planned and found myself drowning in details as I kept going back and trying to get everything just right before moving on. Rookie mistake, I think.

Last year I got right up till the last day and ran out of story ideas with 5,000 words left to go. I think if I had met my daily goals I would have been OK, but trying to catch up at the end was just too hard.

This year I “cheated” by rewriting last year’s book. I made sure to get my daily goals and I realized that I needed an entirely new ending. In fact, I still haven’t finished the ending, but I’m thinking it over and I feel like I’m close to getting it.

My book is tentatively called The Second Killer and I finished with 50,168 words. Yay!

How about you? How did you do? What did you learn? What are you planning to do next?

Read-a-Thin November 2017

I heard of this from Kathy@Books&Munches. I’ve been looking for a

An important part is that I can’t buy any new books to count for the challenge, and I’m assuming no new library books except for the one challenge.

THE CHALLENGES

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1. Read a 2017 release

2. Read a diverse book – Paving a New Road, Jewish character and subplot

3. Read a book that is related to your favorite emoji

4. Read a book with a fall themed cover

5. Start and finish a series

6. Read a book in 24 hours

7. Read a new to you author – Dissolution by CJ Sansom

8. Buddy read a book

9. Read a horror/thriller

10. Read a book outside of your favorite genre

11. Read an eBook

12. Listen to an audiobook of a book you own

13. Read a book that counts toward another readathon

14. Read a book that is due back to the library the soonest – Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

15. Read a book you ended up putting down previously

16. Read a book you got from a subscription box

17. Read a book you got for free (gift, ARC, giveaway, etc) – Paving the New Road by Sulari Gentill (free from NetGalley)

18. Read 4 books (At least 8 challenges)

Ugly Covers Day

I’ve seen so many beautiful covers lately. But as we all know, you can’t judge a book by its cover, no matter how pretty. So how about the ugly ones? The really, really ugly ones. Well, sometimes you CAN a judge a book. WARNING: These are ugly. You’ve been warned.

WTH?

I’m sort of reading this one right now. A friend gave it to me, so I feel like I have to finish it. It’s weird. But I could have guessed that from the cover, amirite? What exactly is that? It’s got to be the ugliest cover I’ve seen this year.

That goat.

This one is the ugliest cover from last year. I read a different edition, one much more boring. I think it was just black and white. But this – wow, I have to admit I would have thought twice if I saw this. This time, I did kind of like the story.

Just guessing here

Did the artist even read the book? Or the description? Or anything? I mean, it is about a carnival, so I give them that. But this is just bad. Great book, though.

Here’s a real winner for you – TWO terrible covers FOR THE SAME BOOK! I’ve read the book. I think it’s amazing. (I know not everyone agrees with that.) But someone, please, give the cover a makeover!

Really, Dad?

Finally, one that’s on my TBR list, mostly because it belonged to my dad and I’m reading his favorites because I miss him so much. This cover, though, wow. So bad.

What about you? What covers made you cringe? Did you hesitate before you picked up a book? Show and tell! I want to know.

November Book Giveaway!

Designed by Freepik

My birthday is next month, so I’m giving you a gift! But this time, I’m really being careful not to tell you what it is, but to make you guess. I’ll reveal it ahead of time, though, I’m not going to make you wait right up until the very end.

1. This author grew up in California then moved to China.
2. This is her first published book.
3. It’s published by Simon & Schuster.
4. This is a YA sci fi/dystopia.

Right, that’s all the clues I’m giving you today. You’ll have to check back if you want to win! And how do you win? I can hear you asking!

1. Follow my blog
2. Like this post
3. Comment and tell me one other post that you read

For an extra chance to win, follow me on Twitter @Cindy_Bohn and tell me your username. That’s it! Only people who follow the rules will be eligible to win. For this contest, I will ship anywhere. You must enter by November 4th. Winners will be announced November 5th. Good luck!

NaNo Prep #1 – Are You In?

This is the first in a series of articles I will be doing about prepping for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. 

Hey, fellow writers! Next month is NaNoWriMo, and whether you’re a first timer or a repeat, there’s one question you have to ask yourself LONG before November 1st if you want to be a success.

Are You In?

Are you in – as in – are you committed? Are you in this project for the long haul? Are you going to write every day, right up until November 30th?

This really matters, because if you’re just casually committed to your book, you’re not going to finish it. Hey, you don’t HAVE to write a book. But if you want to write, you need to really want it. That’s been my problem lately. I’m kinda half-hearted about writing. I want to finish my book, but I want to finish my other projects too.

So for the month of November, I’m committing to writing every day, for at least 30 minutes a day. If that means leaving the house so I can use a computer, then that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to the library, or getting on my tablet, or using a freaking notepad and a pencil. But I’m going to write.

What about you? Are you going to stick with it, even when you feel like you have nothing to say that day and you really want to go do something else? If you really will write every single day, you can absolutely hit 50,000 words by the end of the month. You can finish. We’ll do it together.

 

September Wrap-Up

September is over! I’m so glad summer is over! I feel like this year has flown by. It’s definitely been a better year than last year for me. And this was a pretty good month, for reading and other stuff. Here’s a look at what I read this month, and best of each category.

Audiobooks

It has been the year of the audiobook for me! And this month was no exception.

• Frogkisser by Garth Nix – 4 stars, review here
• Newt’s Emerald, also by Garth Nix – 4 stars, review here
• The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner – 5 stars!!!
• American Colonies by Alan Taylor – 3.4 stars, review here
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – 5 stars, review here
• Entwined by Heather Dixon – 4.2 stars
• The Sans Pareil Mystery by Karen Charlton – 4 stars, review here

Lots of great choices this time. I actually have 2 books with 5 star ratings, and I’m torn between the two. TQOA was a reread, but AMCO was new to me. Still, I love Eugenides the Thief so much, I have to give the award to that one.

Graphic Novels

Only one this time, Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon. Only rating it 3 stars, although it got higher marks from other folks. Still, I’m glad I read it. Review here.

ARCS and Review Books

Two finished this month, and I didn’t like either one.

• Trust in Axion by Bruce Meyer, 1.5 stars, review here
• Darkwater: Xenkur Chonricles by DW Johnson, 1 star, review here

 

Challenges

This month was my Off the Shelf Challenge, to clear out some of my TBR books around the house and off my Kindle queue. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped – those darn library books were just so tempting. (Maybe if I actually stayed out of the library it would have helped, right?)

• Passage by Connie Willis, 4.3 stars
• Enchanted by KM Shea, 4 stars
• The Dragon Man by Garry Disher, 2.2 stars, review here
• The Pierced Heart by Lynn Shepherd, DNF
• Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen by Bill Crider, 3.75 stars, review here
• Something New by PG Wodehouse, 3.5 stars

Not bad, but not great. Still, the winner was Passage, solid sci-fi by the master. I haven’t done a review yet, but it was really good.

Library Books

Yeah, I meant to stay out of the library all together, but I sneaked in at the end of August and didn’t get around to reading the books until this month, so here they are.

• Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews, 3.5 stars
• Die Like an Eagle, also by Donna Andrews, 3.3 stars

It doesn’t matter much, here, but I liked the Halloween setting of the first book slightly better than the second. Still, both are recommended if you like funny mysteries. Reviews here.

 

So that was my month in books! I’m currently STILL reading The Queens of the Conquest (it’s going to kill me!), plus Nation by Terry Pratchett on audio, and a fantasy/myth anthology. No definite plans for October other than maybe some spooky fare. We’ll see. What was your favorite book this month?

Australian Police Mystery

Title: The Dragon Man, DI Challis #1

Author: Garry Disher

Setting: Australia present day

Off the Shelf challenge

Meet Hal Challis, Detective for the Mornington Peninsula police force in Southeast Australia, in the first investigation in this prize-winning crime series

“A serial killer is on the loose in a small coastal town near Melbourne, Australia. Detective Inspector Hal Challis and his team must apprehend him before he strikes again. But first, Challis has to contend with the editor of a local newspaper who undermines his investigation at every turn, and with his wife, who attempts to resurrect their marriage through long-distance phone calls from a sanitarium, where she has been committed for the past eight years for attempted murder—his.”

The police procedural is a name for a type of mystery which is pretty much like the name implies – it centers around a group of police officers and one or more crimes they are trying to solve. Generally there’s one central case and a few others minor ones. Depending on the writer, there’s also some stuff about the officers, about their home lives, their relationships, their backgrounds. It’s like Law & Order or NCIS.

Normally I like police procedurals. I’ve read a lot of them, set throughout the 20th century up until modern ones. My favorite authors tend to be out of print, but there are some writers who are still producing first class books.

This one was not one of them.

I see that it won quite a few awards and has all kinds of blurbs on the back. What can I say? I was not impressed. It wasn’t that I hated all the characters. DI Hal Challis, the MC, is interesting with quite the back story.

It’s just that I got bored. I thought this was about a serial killer, but the writer wound up spending so much time on other crimes, on the personal lives of the police officers, on accusations of police misconduct, that the serial killer case got lost. I think if I had been in a different mood, I might have enjoyed it more.

I did like the setting. I don’t read much Australian fiction, so it was nice to get out of my comfort zone and see what else is out there. So that part did work for me.

Overall, I don’t know if I’d recommend this one or not. Maybe if you want to try a police novel and are looking for an unusual one, you could give it a try. Also, it’s the first in the series, although it doesn’t necessarily read that way, and it’s possible the series gets better as it goes. Unfortunately, I don’t think I could find any more by this author if I wanted to. And I guess that’s OK. I think I’ll just call it quits here and move on. 2.6/5 stars

Trigger Warning: sexual violence

 

 

Humorous Mysteries

If you like a little humor with your mysteries, Donna Andrews has got a series for you. Meg Langslow is a blacksmith whose family has a tendency to get involved in stuff that leads to murder. She has discovered a wide array of murder victims over the years, but she keeps her head and always manages to figure out who done it.

I love funny books, so I took a break from my Off the Shelf challenge this month and read two of Andrews’ latest books, Lord of the Wings and Die Like an Eagle. All of them have birds and bird-related puns in the title.

Lord of the Wings revolves around the mythical town of Caerphilly, Virginia where they’ve begun a new Halloween Festival. Things were going pretty smoothly until someone started a strange scavenger hunt. It started at the zoo and ended in a murder. The next book in the series, Die Like an Eagle, centers around Meg’s twins and their first baseball team. The books are #18 & 19 in the series, but you can start anywhere really and give it a go. My favorite is probably We’ll Always Have Parrots which involves a fan convention. It is just hilarious.  Great reads for curling up with a good book.

Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen

Title: Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen 👑 🔪💈 (Sheriff Dan Rhodes #19)

Author: Bill Crider

Setting: small town Texas present day

Petty young Lynn was a favorite stylist at the beauty shop, especially with the men. But someone didn’t like her – enough that they got her over the head with her own hair dryer. Is her murder connected to the string of thefts in the county? Or was it her love life? The sheriff needs to catch the killer before someone else dies.

I really like these books. There’s a lot of humor in them, as well as a slice of small town life. As a former Texan, I just really get a kick out of this series. I would start with the first book in the series, Too Late to Die. They’re all pretty quick reads.