Audiobook Review: Rowdy (Marked Men #5) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Rowdy  
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men #5  
Genre:  NA Romance
Published:  October 21st, 2014
Source:  Digital audiobook downloaded from public library

Now, Rowdy is the guy who sounded in looks the most like he would be my type.  Not to mention that his style of tattooing that was described makes him the guy I'd want to do my tattoos if he was real.  What was even more fun about listening to this book was that I was driving out to Colorado for my little mini-vacation, and of course the whole story takes place in Denver.  As with all of the books in the series, you can of course read any of them without reading the others in order.  But all the characters are interconnected in some way, and I loved that in this book we got to meet a few new ones that I know are in the new Saints of Denver series that I now can't wait to read!

Of course Rowdy is our male main character, and the female main character for this book is Salem.  We learn about Rowdy's past, that he'd lost his mother at a young age and been in foster care.  It was the family he lived with where he met Salem and her younger sister. Salem's father was a minister, and very strict with his family.  But Salem was always one that wanted to break out and be different, and so when she turned 18 and ran away, she did go a bit crazy.  So now she's basically a pin-up looking girl, one that Nash's dad called in to work at the  new tattoo shop.  And it seems he did it on purpose, to get Rowdy and Salem together and reunite them.  You see, Phil had once done a tattoo for Salem, and she had told him all about her past, which gave him the connection to Rowdy.  Salem's younger sister was supposedly the love of Rowdy's life.  He'd asked her to marry him, and she'd said no.

Salem had always liked Rowdy a little herself.  And the hardest thing for her to leave home, was leaving Rowdy behind.  She'd always thought about him.  And now she wanted to prove to him that she was what he needed.  But at first he didn't want to be with her. When she left him, it made him so mad at her.  But soon, he'll figure out that they should at least be friends.  And with the friendship comes all the attraction they feel too.  But of course as things get better, ghosts from the past, Salem's sister, Poppy, will show up to throw a wrench into things.  Not necessarily in the way you might think, although partly.  And then, there is something else from Rowdy's family's past that will really be a surprise.

I really did like this book too, as I've loved all of them I guess you could say.  I loved the fact that Rowdy used to be a college football player!  Never would have guessed it. And Salem gets a puppy, love that puppy!  Once again the author has left a tie-in to the next book at the end of the story, not that you'd have to read this one to go on to the next one, but it makes you anxious for the next book when you read this one.  I also have realized that this series has made me look up different types of piercings, and so means that I need to make sure to clear my browser history just in case.  :-)  I am so ready for NOLA Story Con in September when I get to go meet the author! 

Sunday Post #61 and Stacking the Shelves June 19th, 2016

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.  Still crazy busy!  But looking forward to my retreat this coming weekend where I will be by myself and hopefully do lots of writing, reading, and maybe some sightseeing.  Anyway, on with this post.

Last week on the blog:

• Blog tours:  My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (Giveaway), Race Girl (The Go Girl Chronicles #3) by Leigh Hutton (Giveaway), and Mr. Jones and Me by Lindsay Marie Miller 
• Waiting on Wednesday:  Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
•  Cover Characteristic:  Arrows
•  Reviews:  Slammed by Colleen Hoover, and Nine New Adult Free/Cheap E-book Mini-Reviews

 It's been a busy week, with lots of working at the bookstore. And then, on Friday, I had planned to go to the gym right after I got off work at 2 pm at the bookstore. But they didn't have a lunch break scheduled for me, and so after being there 5 hours, I was starving. So I had to eat right after, and then I went home and kind of decided a nap sounded better. So today I did the gym right after work, because I guess my whining about no lunch break yesterday got me one today!  So I guess you could say I'm on track with my exercise goal so far.  Now, I think my reward for the last exercise goal met is going to be the books I've been buying.  I didn't do too bad with actual purchases for myself this week, but I did spend a little bit more than I'd prefer on a planner for next year for  my blog.  It was just so cute, that I couldn't not buy it!  It is Kate Spade, and you'll see the picture down below in the Stacking the Shelves portion of this post.  I was also worried at first that I would only have one review this week,  until I once again decided to put off my discussion post idea till next week, and add the ebook reviews in.  Plus, there were nine of them to share! 

Coming up this week on the blog:

• Reviews:  Timely Death Series #1-3 by Shannon A. Thompson, Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young (audiobook)
• Waiting on Wednesday
• Cover Characteristic:  Classrooms/schools
• Discussion Post - If you have a blog, do you still post your review on other sites?

Now, as I mentioned, I'll be going out of town on either Thursday, or Friday morning. At the moment it depends what time I can drop my dogs off at the place they're staying while I'm gone.  I'm excited, it's somewhere I've never been. But I'm also a bit nervous about the drive itself.  I live in Kansas City, Missouri, and I'm going to drive to Fort Collins, Colorado.  I've never driven by myself that long of a distance.  The GPS's touchscreen in my car doesn't work, so I can't program in the address.  I can still see the map on it, just can't program it.  But, it should be a pretty straight drive, I-70 until almost Denver, then I'll take a little different route to skip driving right through Denver.  My plan was to just use the time for writing and reading and relaxing. But everyone keeps telling me I need to go to the mountains or do something while I'm there.  So I guess I may try to go do a hiking trail or something one day while I'm there. That will also get my exercise in.  Then on Monday I'm going to drive back to Kansas City.  The other thing I have to do is figure out if I am going to try to subscribe to a service for a week in order to get wifi while I'm there.  I don't want to do a hotspot through my cell phone because I'm on my brother's bill and I don't want to use up all our plan.  But I'm not sure if there is anyway to do it through my home cable/internet.  So that is something I'm going to do some research on this week.

 Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  I did much better with buying physical books this week.  Not so great with downloading the free e-books though.  I did get a package from a friend, Mary at Bookhounds, some books she was not wanting anymore.  I also got the prize from the I Read YA week that I won as well!

Physical books:

I purchased a copy of Nash by Jay Crownover which I just finished listening to the audiobook of last week.  I needed a copy to get signed!  I think Nash might be my favorite of the Marked Men so far!  On the left is the cool new planner/organizer for 2017 that I bought at the Barnes and Noble where I work.  It is a Kate Spade Barnes and Noble exclusive, and I love it!  It wasn't cheap, but with my 30% discount, I went ahead and bought it to be ready for next year!  And, since there are some e-galleys already available for books that are published next January, I can already start using it.

The ARC was a little extra surprise!  And I was so excited to see it because it was one of the samplers at the B-Fest last weekend, and from the little bit I read, I am very excited for it!

   
Mary at Bookhounds emailed and asked me if I wanted any of these books she was going to be cleaning out, and I said yes!  Now, the dachshund book was a little surprise, but a cute one!  One of the books, the Melissa de la Cruz one at the bottom is for my school library, I'm going to take it in for my students, but the rest are for me!  Unfortunately I can't remember if I have the other book in the Earth and Sky series by Megan Crewe, hoping I do, so that I can have a complete set!  I haven't finished the series by Cynthia Hand, so I needed that one. And then I need to read that Sarah Rees Brennan series, and I think now I have all of them!  The Dream Thieves ARC by Maggie Stiefvater may actually be one I end up trading.  We'll see.  

E-galleys:

  All three of these are from Edelweiss.  Before I can read the second one I'll have to hurry up and read my ARC of Wolf by Wolf I guess. And the last one sounds so spooky!

Free or cheap e-books:

All of these are from Amazon. And I'm pretty sure all of them are free, except for Wednesday by E.L. Todd. That one was $4.99, and I bought it because I got a $5 credit on Amazon for downloading their mobile app.  Although the app itself can't be used for downloading digital books.  Weird.  

So, once again too many ebooks, but all were pretty much free, so if I get to them, great, if not, oh well!

How did your shelves change this week?  

 

Deviant by Adrian McKinty

Deviant by Adrian McKinty

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After reading the reviews already posted before I'd really gotten into this book, I was a bit nervous about reading it. But then I got into it and really enjoyed it. The serial killer aspect to the book was very interesting. I liked how really it kept me guessing, it's that guy, no it's this kid, no wait, it's that kid. I love when it takes me a bit to figure out who the bad guy is. As a science teacher I also like how it talked about Tesla and other science topics. As a teacher, can I say that while I don't think that is the proper method for helping children learn, I would be in heaven if I had a classroom of students who sat without talking when they weren't supposed to? HEAVEN!



The main character is Danny Lopez, but he is actually part Native American. He doesn't really know his real dad, but doesn't really like his stepdad either. He's grown up in Las Vegas now moving to Colorado because of a mistake he made. Also his mother will be in charge of the new casino opening up on the reservation here. His stepdad is working at the prison, with the convicts that are really close to being let go for the end of their sentences. Danny meets some interesting prisoners, on in particular who will be a help, but could be the problem later on. The girl who lives right by him, Tony, tends to just walk into his house without knocking, even going into his bedroom when he's still sleeping! But he kind of has a crush on her. He is immediately asked to join one of the secret societies in this school with its unorthodox method of teaching students. There are cats being killed, and this seems to be the work of a serial killer in the way it is being done. Danny has issues with other students at the school of course being the new kid. All in all this was a good book, I can see many boys I've taught that would enjoy it. Danny is also a big skateboarder, which is kind of difficult in Colorado with the snow.

I read this as an egalley from NetGalley.com from Abrams publisher, it will be released in October.



View all my reviews

Allison Hewitt is Trapped: A Zombie Novel by Madeleine Roux

I have to start with when I first started reading this book. I was sitting in the break room at the bookstore I work at reading about the main character, Allison Hewitt, sitting trapped in the break room at the bookstore she worked at. The name of her bookstore was Brooks & Peabody. The name of my bookstore, Barnes and Noble. She's trapped with the store manager, and two of the assistant managers. One of the assistant manager's name is Matt, so is one of my store's. The other assistant manager is Janette, well, our other assistant manager is named June, or we also have Jolynn. She's also trapped with two regular customers. Their break room, like ours, has no windows. The nice thing about her's though, is that it has a bathroom in it. We unfortunately have to share with the customers. Which can be a real pain on really busy days.

So anyway, they are trapped by zombies. Somehow the people have changed to zombies, and these are the people left. Allison has her laptop, and is able to log into an internet called SNet. On here she blogs about what is going on. And there are other people around who follow her blogging as well as comment and tell what they are also dealing with where they are.

Well soon, they decide they must leave, in search of food, etc. There are apartments above the store, so they decide to go up there. Once up there, there is a guy named Zack that they find in one of the closets, and he becomes a part of their group. Until, one of them is killed by a squirrel that bites her and turns her into a zombie. And when they are done mourning her, they return to their apartment to find that Zack has taken off with all their supplies. In the meantime they've heard a voice on the radio inviting them to come to the college campus nearby for more supplies and other people and safety. So they decide to head there, but first Allison and Ted decide to go after Zack to get their supplies back. Turns out Zack was also a thief that stole from the college campus people. Allison gets her first look at how this situation can change what you would do.

Allison gets a message from her mother on the internet, and that makes them decide to wait on her before they go to the college, but her mother never shows up, so Allison goes to the college hoping maybe her mother got that far and couldn't get out to Allison.

The book follows Allison through all the stops on her search to find her mother. Clear to Colorado. Along the way there are zombies, she falls in love, then has a setback with that. She has to do surgery on a friend, and set up a big rescue mission.

This was a really fun read. I wish I'd been in on the internet beginning of this before it became a book. I feel kind of out of it. But that's okay. The book was good. And I read at the end there is going to be a sequel called Sadie Walker is Stranded. So I'll be looking out for that.