My Own Little Book Corner

September was just an ok month for me as far as reading goes.  I only read 7 books.  2 of those books were better than average, 3 were average and 3 below average.   My favorite was "A Slow Fire Burning."    I usually hit a little slump sometime during the year.   I'm not sure if it will pick up in October, but so far it is a good start.    I hope your September was better than mine and that you have happy reading ahead! The Chain Adrian McKinty A letter chain - but in real life - that involves kidnapping and extortion.  A child is kidnapped and the parent receives a phone call informing them that the "ransom" is for them to pay and to kidnap another child.  In the middle of a health crisis, Rachel finds herself caught in the chain.   Now she must face what she is willing to do in order to save her daughter.    This plot sounded so promising.   I expected it to be a "sitting on the edge of my seat" book, but I never came close to that.   First off, I d

  August ended with reading 9 books.   There were a couple that I didn't care for that much - "Ellie and the Harpmaker" and "The Maid".   The rest were either average or just above.  I didn't find that 5 star book, but "Fox Creek" - the latest Cork O'Connor book - came close.    My book club book was "The Maid".   My 12 Books in 12 Months Challenge book was "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking".  I also read one that had been recommended to me by a friend, Cindy, quite a while ago - "Cora Jean" and one that I had on my shelf and picked up when I saw my great niece, Allisa, was reading it.  I always welcome any recommendations.   It may take me a while, but I will probably pick it up at some point.   Ellie and the Harpmaker Hazel Prior ⭐⭐ This story is set in England where Ellie and her husband live.  One day while Ellie is walking in the countryside, she happens upon a barn where Dan is inside making beautiful Celtic Ha

  I read 6 books in June.  That number is down from my usual.  I read 2 books that were a little longer than I normally read.   One was 496 pages and the other was 416.  We also took 2 trips - one to Nevada to see our granddaughters and their parents.   Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of reading while there.   The other was a trip to Louisville for a few days.   One of my friends met us there, so there again, not much reading.   I tried reading in the car, but found it made me sleepy.  Sandwiched in between the trips, we had Vacation Bible School and I taught the 3rd, 4th, 5th graders 3 of the nights and helped the other 2.    On top of being busy, I didn't find a book that was excellent.   However, I did have 2 - 4 Star books, both bordering on the 5 star read.  3 were in the average category and 1 disappointed.   I'm looking forward to a better month in July. Not That I Could Tell Jessica Strawser ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A neighborhood in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is surprised when one of t

I'm late with my May books, and have condensed my reviews.   I haven't put a summary of the books.   As always, you can click the link to get a synopsis.   Things just got busy and I have just got around to finishing up this post.    My favorite book in May was "The Lioness".   "Once There Were Wolves" was a pleasant surprise and the most useful book I've read in a while, without being a dry read was "Laundry Love".    The Love of My Life   Rosie Walsh ⭐⭐⭐ This is a book that was passed on to me by my sister.   For the most part, I enjoyed it.   I became invested in the characters, especially the husband, Leo.   I wanted to have resolution and know where Leo and Emma's relationship ended up.  The downside is that most of the characters seem to have the same emotion as motivation behind their actions.   While reading it, they almost all blended into one person.  Plus I kept thinking that over the years it seemed that as least one of them wou

I read 10 books in April.   It wasn't my best month as far as books go, but it wasn't a bad one either.  I only had one 5 star book - "The Heavens May Fall" by Allen Eskens.   A reminder to myself to check out those backlisted books.   They are often the ones I like over the new releases.    This month was one in which I decided I have a "it's not you, it's me" category of books.   Those are books that while I didn't connect with them, I can understand why others would.  There were around 3 or 4 of those books out of the 10 I read.    For the most part though, all of the books were average or above in my eyes, so another good month. The Nurses Secret  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amanda Skenandore Historical fiction set in the 1880's when the Bellevue School of Nursing was new.   Una finds herself as a student at the school, not because of a great calling to be a nurse, but as a refuge from prison.   Just as Una begins to set into being a nurse, and a good one at

 March was not my best month.   I read 10 books, but only 3 of them were above average for me.   But, as I've often said, just because the book wasn't for me, it doesn't mean it won't be for you.  I had a range of genres, four backlisted books, one second in a series and 3 authors that I had read other books they have written.   Half of the books I had checked out from the library, while half of them had been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to pick them up. "Hail Mary" was my book for my 12 Books in 12 Months challenge that was recommended by Christa Resweber.   "Five Decembers" was recommended to me by Bill Gautreau and was our Book Club read this month.   "Will" was the book that I had gotten from out Book Club Christmas book swap.   "The Nothing Man" and "The Current" were both books I had originally heard of from Currently Reading Podcast.    As always, if you have any to recommend, please let me know.   It may ta