Books

Bargain books March 05, 2022

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BookBub is suggesting three bargain books today. I haven’t read the first book yet but I have read and enjoyed the other two.

Saving Sara (THE JAMIE AUSTEN THRILLERS Book 3)

Sara is missing in the Cayman Islands. No one knows it. Except her abductors, of course.

Beloved CIA heroine, Jamie Austen, is sent to Tampico, Mexico, to rescue four girls, abducted on their senior class trips. Are the cases related?

All of Jamie’s skills are tested as she must overcome the powerful drug war lord, El Mata, his ruthless band of heavily armed killers, and a hurricane that’s bearing down on the Caribbean islands.

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The Accidental Guardian (High Sierra Sweethearts Book #1) 

When Trace Riley finds the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he recognizes the hand behind the attack as the same group who left him as sole survivor years ago. Living off the wilderness since then, he’d finally carved out a home and started a herd–while serving as a self-appointed guardian of the trail, driving off dangerous men. He’d hoped those days were over, but the latest attack shows he was wrong.

Deborah Harkness saved her younger sister and two toddlers during the attack, and now finds herself at the mercy of her rescuer. Trace offers the only shelter for miles around, and agrees to take them in until she can safely continue. His simple bachelor existence never anticipated kids and women in the picture and their arrival is unsettling–yet enticing.

Working to survive the winter and finally bring justice to the trail, Trace and Deborah find themselves drawn together–yet every day approaches the moment she’ll leave forever.

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Cry in the Wilderness (Acts of Valor, Book 3): Romantic Suspense

Rachel LeMere is certain she’ll never love again. It’s taken three years to move past the tragic death of her husband and high-school sweetheart, Blake.

Rachel’s adoptive brother, a military lawyer, has managed to gain shared custody of her twelve-year-old son, Liam. Forced to live with her brother and endure his cruelty, Rachel promises her son they will escape to freedom and a new life. If only she can convince Blake’s best friend, Saul, to help them escape.

Legendary Navy SEAL Saul Wade is headed to Oklahoma to reclaim the ranch where he grew up. It’s bad enough Saul has to face his tragic past. Honor also demands he risk his entire career by helping a woman he scarcely knows.

What begins as a debt to a friend sets Saul on a journey of forgiveness, healing, and love. But when evil threatens his and Rachel’s burgeoning relationship, Saul is forced to make a life-changing decision—remain America’s top sniper or allow God’s grace to give him a whole new reason for living.

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The last few days have more than made up for the latest no-book days. We have had a number of great suggestions.

Enjoy reading this weekend along with me.

Read and enjoyed. March 05, 2022

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This book is right up there on my favorites list. There are aspects of the story that I know will stay with me for a long time. It was well written, well thought out and I would love to read the other five books in this series. This one is still free, grab it quick before that changes.

His Pledge to Honor: a Sweet Marriage of Convenience Romance (The Silver Star Ranch Book 1)

Scout Silver can rehabilitate the most wounded of horses. But when an injured soldier shows up at her ranch, will she follow his lead down a trail of love?


Though she’s the daughter of a general, Scout Silver is used to giving orders, not taking them. That’s why horses thrive on the rehabilitation ranch she runs with her half-sisters. Over the years, her absentee father’s many divorces created a patchwork family, held together by their love of the ranch. But his last will is an order that threatens to rip their lives apart.

As the leader of an elite group of soldiers run by the brilliant tactician General Abraham Silver, Lincoln Rawlings has set out on his final mission—to fulfill the dying wish of his commander by ensuring that the general’s six daughters are taken care of. When Linc arrives on the Silver Star Ranch, he learns that what the Silver sisters need are husbands, else they’ll lose their beloved business. Instead of doing an immediate about-face, Linc’s heart stands at attention under the assessing gaze of Scout, the eldest Silver.

Unwilling to let her father once again interfere in her life, even from the grave, Scout has no plans to give in to the general’s demands. But when she meets the handsome and accommodating Linc, she has a hard time reigning in her heart.

Letting down the general is not an option, but Linc is hiding a secret from Scout. And if she learns of the deep wounds he bears, he might lose everything—the ranch, his honor, and the woman he’s falling for.

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Here is my next read, just started. This is a favorite author and I’m looking forward to another one of her books.

Bookshop by the Sea

Sophie Lawson should be enjoying her sister’s wedding day. But nothing could have prepared her to see the best man again.

After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove—the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children.

Now it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits. Seth has a new job, and Jenna is set to marry her college beau in Piper’s Cove. But the destination wedding reunites Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance.

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Happy Reading y’all.

Current read March 04, 2022

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I’m still excited about my current read and I did promise to share it with you. This looks to be a first book for this author and it’s great. I’m looking forward to book 2 whenever it comes out.

I enjoy fantasy but my tastes are fairly narrow in this genre. Although I guess in a way it’s not that much different from other genres, in than not every book appeals to me on a deep level. There are a select few that rate like the best meal I’ve ever eaten.

I can still remember the specific fantasy books I loved over the years. I can’t tell you the names or quote much of the story line but I still have vivid recollections of the emotional experience. Caught up in lands that belong to another realm. This book has done that for me. I’m living life with them. I love it when that happens.

Tempest: The Veil Chronicles, Book One

To unearth the truth, she must embrace the legend within.

For eighteen-year-old Lexi, freedom is a luxury. She’s spent her life evading capture for a genetic gift that feels more like a curse. Her bulletproof immunity and monstrous disfigurement is of great interest to a secret organization, but they aren’t the only ones. A cryptic tip alerts Lexi that something else hunts her—something darker.

Desperate to enjoy her life before it’s too late,Lexi leaves the protective cocoon her parents created for her and signs up for art classes at her local college. There she meets Conner, who is confined to a wheelchair, and they become friends who are willing to share each other’s secrets. But a chance encounter with Connor’s foster brother Killian changes everything.

Killian shares the same mysterious secret within his blood as Lexi. Their fateful meeting sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic events that exposes the terrifying truth—Lexi is a celestial queen of a bygone race. Connor is their last royal heir, and Killian is a half-breed abomination hated for his very existence. With Connor kidnapped by an ancient god determined to rid the world of the stain of humanity, Lexi and Killian find themselves under the protection of the secretive Order of Kings.

Lexi believes she’s been thrown into a world of myths and legends, but things are not as they seem. Lexi becomes convinced the Order is keeping dangerous secrets that threaten not just her but all of mankind.

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There are so many things I’d like to say about this book but I would be giving out spoilers and that would never do.

Right now, Lexi is in a tough spot and it will be interesting to see what surprising twist happens to facilitate her rescue. Up until now there have been awesome new details emerging at opportune moments and I can’t help but root for her as she discovers new things about who she is and the what she can do. Speaking of that, there are some crazy elements in this fantasy but I can’t tell you what they are..

I’m in the final chapters and since it’s a series I’m pretty sure the story will close on a cliff hanger.

This tale certainly is it’s own person. It is not a cookie cutter plot or a look-alike book, by any means.

I would give it 4.5 stars. There was one consistent element that didn’t seem all that important to the story and it began to be annoying. That resolved itself when something dramatic happened and the importance became clear.

Overall, this has been a very good read. Highly recommended.

Bargain books March 04, 2022

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1531 Entertainment has several bargain suggestions for us.

The Number of Love (The Codebreakers Book #1) 

Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network–field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.

Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy who just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the intelligent Margot, but how can he convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?

Amid biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save themselves from the very secrets that brought them together.

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The Witnesses

Young lawyer Parker House is on the rise—until his grandfather’s mysterious past puts both of their lives in danger.

Parker House’s secret inheritance is either his greatest blessing . . . or his deadliest curse. The fresh-faced North Carolina attorney shares his German grandfather’s uncanny ability to see future events in his mind’s eye—a gift that has haunted 82-year-old Frank House through decades of trying to erase a murderous wartime past.

While Parker navigates the intrigue and politics of small-town courtroom law, Frank is forced to face his darkest regrets. Then, a big career break for Parker collides with a new love he longs to nurture and the nightmares his grandfather can no longer escape. Sudden peril threatens to shatter not only Parker’s legal prospects but also his life and the lives of those dearest to him.

Two witnesses, two paths, an uncertain future.

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I’ve read and enjoyed The Number of Love but not The Witnesses and I’m looking forward to it after reading the first chapter.

Contrary to first impressions, it has turned out to be a decent week for books afterall. Just in time for weekend reading. It will be good.

Happy Reading y’all.

Free and bargain books part three … March 03, 2022

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This has been an excellent day for free books.

BookRunes has another FREE suggestion for us.

Bayou Liberty

An emotional story about the importance of family, the secrets of the past, and the healing power of love.

Growing up, sisters Maggie and Sawyer were close and carefree. Following their parents’ death when they were teens, Maggie was forced into a caretaker role for her younger sister, changing the nature of their relationship forever.

Years later, Sawyer’s turbulent marriage finally ends, and she returns home to live with her sister. But the reunion is bittersweet. Maggie, now running their parents’ old bed and breakfast, reveals a diagnosis of cancer. As the sisters reconnect and support each other through tragedies, a friend from the past reemerges, and with him, secrets about their parents that could change everything.

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1531 Entertainment has a bargain suggestion for us, from a favorite author.

Bookshop by the Sea

Sophie Lawson should be enjoying her sister’s wedding day. But nothing could have prepared her to see the best man again.

After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove—the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children.

Now it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits. Seth has a new job, and Jenna is set to marry her college beau in Piper’s Cove. But the destination wedding reunites Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance.

When an advancing hurricane strands Aiden in Piper’s Cove after the wedding, he finds the hotels booked to capacity and has to ask Sophie to put him up until the storm passes. As the two ride out the weather, old feelings rise to the surface. The delay also leaves Sophie with mere days to get her bookshop up and running. Can she trust Aiden to stick around? And will he find the courage to risk his heart?

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This has been a good day and I’m thrilled with all the new books we are seeing.

I would have saved some of them for tomorrow but you can never tell whether the good price will last that long. Often it is only set for a day or two so we have to move quickly

We will find something else to talk about tomorrow if necessary. I’ll tell you all about my current read. I’m loving it.

I promise this is it for today.

Happy Reading

Free book part two… March 03, 2022

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Cruising through the suggestions strip a FREE romance showed up. I’ve read a few book by this author but didn’t add her to my assessment list. The read is hazy in my memory but must have been good or I’d remember more.

His Pledge to Honor: a Sweet Marriage of Convenience Romance (The Silver Star Ranch Book 1)

Scout Silver can rehabilitate the most wounded of horses. But when an injured soldier shows up at her ranch, will she follow his lead down a trail of love?


Though she’s the daughter of a general, Scout Silver is used to giving orders, not taking them. That’s why horses thrive on the rehabilitation ranch she runs with her half-sisters. Over the years, her absentee father’s many divorces created a patchwork family, held together by their love of the ranch. But his last will is an order that threatens to rip their lives apart.

As the leader of an elite group of soldiers run by the brilliant tactician General Abraham Silver, Lincoln Rawlings has set out on his final mission—to fulfill the dying wish of his commander by ensuring that the general’s six daughters are taken care of. When Linc arrives on the Silver Star Ranch, he learns that what the Silver sisters need are husbands, else they’ll lose their beloved business. Instead of doing an immediate about-face, Linc’s heart stands at attention under the assessing gaze of Scout, the eldest Silver.

Unwilling to let her father once again interfere in her life, even from the grave, Scout has no plans to give in to the general’s demands. But when she meets the handsome and accommodating Linc, she has a hard time reigning in her heart.

************************

This next book also showed up as FREE, It’s one I have read and enjoyed in the past and I’ve probably even shared it more than once.

Sapphire Ice: A Christian Romance (The Jewel Series Book 1)

To Robin Bartlett, men were nothing more than violent users. After a hair-raising childhood, Robin and her two younger half sisters battled simply to survive. Determined to give her sisters a very different life from that of their mother; to never have to rely on a man for anything, she worked two jobs and put them both through college, while accepting help from no one. Her heart had turned to ice and she had no use for men or God.

Antonio “Tony” Viscolli had grown up on the streets, homeless. At seventeen, he entered a downtown church with the intent of casing it, but found himself on his knees at the alter. After being fostered by the youth minister, Tony followed God’s leading and eventually became a very successful and powerful businessman. In a fallen world, he was a gem.

When Tony bought the restaurant where Robin bartended, she immediately resented his intrusion into her well ordered, but exhausting, life. She suspected his offering her special attention and constant kindness was merely his way of expecting something from her in return, something she wasn’t willing to give.

Tony knew God had led him to Robin. Would she ever allow herself to trust him? Could she ever allow herself to trust God? Or would the winter of their tragic youth rise from the shadows of the past and freeze any chance at happiness?

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Part three coming right up.

Happy Reading.

Free books March 03, 2022

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This could be a good book day.

BookBub has a FREE suggestion for us.

Signs of Life Series: A Christian Fiction Thriller Series Boxed Set

SIGNS OF LIFE (Signs of Life Series, Book 1)

High school teacher Tyson Cooper is just dismissing his class when a student flashes his phone. “Another shooting, Mr. C.”And this one is too close to home. Tyson races to Pioneer Square . . . but he’s too late. The light of his life has been snuffed out—and so has his faith.

Veteran Portland Police Investigator Wayne Deetz, two years shy of retirement, is charged with leading the interrogations. When he meets 19-year-old shooter Rogan Sneed face-to-face, his life is changed forever.

Will Tyson settle for anything less than the death penalty in the case against Rogan Sneed? He’s bent on justice and will do anything to make Rogan pay for the pain he inflicted on Tyson and the entire city of Portland that rainy, haunting May day.

LET MY DAUGHTER GO (Signs of Life Series, Book 2)

Rogan Sneed is spending life in prison for the mass shooting he committed at Pioneer Square in Portland, Oregon. The copycat shooter who attempted a similar attack on the anniversary of the event is dead. Time has passed. Wounds have healed.

A teenage girl is kidnapped in Portland. Her diary says there may still be someone out there who helped plan the original attack that killed 21 innocent people.

A local plumber is a person of interest in the girl’s disappearance, but Portland Police Investigator Wayne Deetz believes something much more catastrophic is simmering beneath the surface.

Close to retirement and still struggling to tame the demons of his anxiety, Deetz is forced to explore the chilling underworld to which he vowed he’d never return.

I PICK YOU (Signs of Life Series, Book 3)

A year from retirement and still reeling from daughter Leena’s kidnapping, Portland Police Investigator Wayne Deetz is called upon to check on a domestic violence case. From the moment Deetz and his friend Callie Freeland show up to help Sunny Carlisle, they are blindsided by a lawless toxic steamroller named Blaine Milligan.

At a breakneck clip, things go from bad to worse as Callie is stalked and her fiancé Tyson is lured into Blaine’s web of evil and madness. While the city of Portland is being burned and dismantled by rioters, Deetz must race against the clock to protect Sunny, Callie and Tyson, and possibly even his own family.

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This synopsis is long so if we have more good suggestions there will be a part two post.

Happy Reading!

Free books March 02, 2020

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BookRunes has a Free collection suggestion. I’ve read and enjoyed this author but not these books, a very pleasant surprise indeed. It seems like most of the suggestions lately, I’ve read. Although, as I check out the synopsis book 1 is sounding awfully familiar. Not a big deal if I have, there are still three more in the set.

Wind River Hearts Box Set: Books 1-4

BOOK 1: MARRYING MISS MARSHAL
Town marshal Danna Carpenter doesn’t need anybody. Especially not city slicker Chas O’Grady who seems determined to get in her way at every turn. But when she and Chas are forced into a marriage of convenience, they’ll have to work together to find a way out of the parson’s trap and catch the outlaw gang that’s terrorizing the town…

BOOK 2: COUNTERFEIT COWBOY
Erin O’Grady is the perfect mark. Or she would be, if former confidence man Jesse Baker hadn’t reformed. When they end up stuck together on a long train journey at Christmas, Jesse discovers that starting over isn’t as easy as he’d hoped. Can he complete his quest for redemption? And win Erin’s heart?

BOOK 3: COWBOY PRIDE
First impressions count and Liza Bennett and Rob Darcy seem to be star-crossed from the moment they meet. Liza wouldn’t care about the man at all except for the fact that he seems determined to ruin her sister’s chances with her perfect match. She vows not to let that happen. Even if it means she has to endure Rob’s presence and her secret feelings for him…

BOOK 4: THE HOMESTEADER’S SWEETHEART
Penny Castlerock needs a place to hide from an unwelcome suitor. The quiet refuge she finds on her grandfather’s ranch is short-lived when she finds herself roped into helping neighbor Jonas White with his passel of ornery kids. Matchmaking kids. Who seem to think she’s a perfect match for their shy father, a man with secrets she delights in discovering…

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Happy Reading!

I’m liking my current read. I’ll share it next post

Bargain books March 02, 2022

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BookBub has a bargain for us. It’s a three book collection and I’ve read and enjoyed two of them.

Coastal Hearts: The St. Simons Novels

Book 1 The Art of Rivers
Rivers Sullivan bears both visible and invisible scars—those on her shoulder from a bullet wound and those on her heart from the loss of her fiancé during the same brutal attack. Not even her background as an art therapist can help her regain her faith in humanity. Still, she scrapes together the courage to travel to St. Simons Island to see the beach cottage and art gallery she’s inherited from her fiancé. When she stumbles upon recovering addicts running her gallery, she’s forced to reckon with her own healing.

After the tragic drowning of his cousin, James Cooper Knight spends his days trying to make up for his past mistakes. He not only dedicates his life to addiction counseling, but guilt drives him to the water, searching for others who’ve been caught unaware of the quickly rising tides of St. Simons. When he rescues a peculiar blond woman and her sketch pad from a sandbar, then delivers this same woman to his deceased grandmother’s properties, he knows things are about to get even more complicated.

Book 2 Star Rising
Star Youngblood has always been a fighter–a necessity after her mother married a monster of a man. Now, she’s finally on the path to the stable life she’s always wanted. Her employer, Priscilla Kelly, is a sweet woman ravaged by rheumatoid arthritis, and Star will do anything to help her. Even if that means going toe to toe with Mrs. Kelly’s neglectful son.

After being betrayed on the mission field and devastated by the tragic death of his father, Paul Kelly gave up on God. He lives life on his own terms, biding his time as a corporate pilot until he can save enough money to begin his own flight school closer to home. His mother is all he has left, and he wants to be near her. He just didn’t expect her health to decline so quickly. When he discovers his mother has taken in a stray—a woman he’s not at all sure can be trusted—his protective instincts kick into high gear. Paul’s handled a lot of turbulence, but he’s never gone up against a force like Star.

Book 3 For the Love of Joy
Is he married or isn’t he?

Years ago, a Dear John letter and then an IED explosion overseas rocked Davis Donnelly’s world and left him unclear about his marital status. He’d signed divorce papers, but broken mentally and physically, he’d never bothered to find out if his marriage actually ended. Now that he’s about to start a new position as an outreach minister, it’s time to settle things once and for all. At the moment he tracks down his wife—or former wife?—she takes a tumble while chasing a little boy. Her son. And that’s when life flips upside down.

Joy Jennings Donnelly made her share of mistakes. But one thing she never considered a mistake was her child, and she’ll do anything to protect him. Even keep his paternity a secret.

When she’s suddenly injured with not a soul to help her or her son, Joy is forced to rely on the man who has the most reasons to hate her.

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Happy Reading y’all

There may a part two if things look as good as I think they will.

Bargain book March 01, 2022

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Today was a search day. I’ve found one so far.

Waiting For Rachel: (Those Karlsson Boys Book 1)

Damian Karlsson, the oldest of Those Karlsson Boys, has decided it’s time to settle down and start a family. Rachel Perkins has captured his attention, but she won’t even give him a chance to romance her. It seems to Damian she feels something for him, but still she resists. Damian is determined to find out why.

Though she is attracted to Damian and even finds his pursuit of her flattering, Rachel is equally determined to keep her secrets close to her heart. Betrayed in the past by men she’s loved, she isn’t prepared to take that risk again. But when her secrets are forced out in the open, will Rachel discover that forgiveness and trust are worth the risk when it leads to love?

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Some days are less than fruitful. Like today.

One is not much but I guess it’s something.

It’s discouraging searching these days because the big push is toward what amounts to soft porn. I know I keep harping on this but it’s frustrating. I don’t have anything against affection. I would appreciate it intensely if I had a significant-other in my life. The trouble is the focus in these books is on including as many swoon-worthy moments as possible, and to be perfectly honest, it’s boring. I don’t want to keep reading the same thing over and over. I want you to tell me a story that is strong and real, the kind to draw me in and make me forget I don’t live where the story is happening.

The writer loses me every time there is another swoon worthy moment. And when it happens often, not only has the spell been broken but now I’m irritated and impatient too.

I realize there is a market for these kinds of stories but surely to goodness I’m not the only reader out there wanting something more than what they are offering.

My beef is more with the site I’m searching than with the authors. (the site shall remain nameless) because the algorithms are set to push the kinds of books I don’t want and to hide the books I do want.

And that brings up a sore point that really gets me worked up. I don’t appreciate someone trying to push things on me, trying to force me to buy whatever it is they are selling. The makers of search engines try to do that too. Force me to use the engine of their choice. NOT happening.

That’s the reason I’m finding so few books these days. It’s like searching a hay stack looking for a needle. I’m mad and out of there in about three minutes flat. OK, so that was an exaggeration but it’s not too far from the truth. I used to spend a lot of time searching through different pages looking for books I hadn’t read. Now I’m down to just minutes before giving up.

My frustration levels rise pretty quickly when I’m pushed but now that I’ve let it all out … I think it’s pretty funny.

We still don’t have many new books. Major disappointment.

There will be good books again another day though. I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to books.

They can’t hide always.

I would share my current read but it is turning out to be one of those books. Way too much time spent on PDA.

That’s probably what set me off on this rant in the first place. It’s not the worst offender I’ve seen but sadly, it’s getting there. Sadly because it has so much potential to be a really good story. And sadly because I try to weed out books like this early in the decision process, before they make it onto my TBR pile.

OK, I’m done. I’m going back to hurry through reading this book to see how the interesting parts of the story end.

Happy reading y’all