Cleaning Up My TBR with a Giveaway: Down the TBR Hole #10

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I'm going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time.

1.  Something To Talk About by Sarah Webb:

Lucy is determined to find a girlfriend for her best friend, Max and introduces him to her beautiful friend, Jenny. Soon easy-going Max is running scared of man-eater Jenny and would prefer to be out flying his power kites than falling into the dating pit again. But fate works in mysterious ways.

My thoughts:
Hmm, not a lot of info on this one to really go by.  Makes it hard to decide if I would want to read this or not.  I know I liked the other books I read by the author.

Verdict:  Toss



2.  2 books by Leslie Schnur:

From the acclaimed author of "The Dog Walker" comes "Late Night Talking," a tender and funny novel about bad behavior, the fragility of friendship and family, and how we cannot choose whom we love.Jeannie Sterling, host of a late-night NYC talk show, vents with her listeners about everyday injustices, from rude cell phone users and poor gym etiquette to bad drivers and negligent pet owners -- the many aggravations of modern urban life. An idealistic California girl raised by two free-spirited parents, Jeannie believes in a life of value through activism. She's passionate about making a difference, about making the world a better place, one annoying person at a time.

For as long as she can remember, success in her career has been more than enough. But after all these years of being single, Jeannie realizes that some of the pieces of her perfect puzzle aren't fitting quite right. The people she thought she knew best all harbor secrets, secrets Jeannie isn't prepared for, secrets that can't be digested, processed, and solved in the neat three-hour window of her show. Her best friend, Luce, is growing distant and distracted; her wayward father unexpectedly moves in; and an ambiguous relationship with her college crush ignites.

When the radio station is bought by the maverick mogul Nicholas Moss, Jeannie's career, her one safe haven, also descends into chaos. She is pushed to increase ratings and goes too far, risking the loss of everything and everyone important to her.

Delightfully real and deliciously flawed, Jeannie Sterling is a character we can't help but root for as she faces her life's most hilarious -- and heartbreaking -- challenges. 

My thoughts:  I have no idea why this book is on my list. I haven't read anything else by the author.  The reviews on Goodreads have it rated at below 3 stars.  And it doesn't sound necessarily like one I'd want to read.

Refreshing and insightful, rich with humor and brimming with life, The Dog Walker is the story of Nina Shepard, Manhattan dog walker extraordinaire. With the keys to her clients' apartments, Nina has the freedom to cross several foyers and a moral boundary, and enter their lives...where she just might find the things that are missing in her own. 

And so she falls in love with Daniel, a man she has never met but whom she thinks she knows from snooping around his apartment when she picks up Sid, his Weimaraner, for walks. But by the time each of them unleashes the truth about who the other really is--after all the mishaps, deception, and lost dogs--it's too late. Nina and Daniel will never be the same again. 

The Dog Walker is the hilarious and heartwarming tale of a single woman's quest for fulfillment. It is about city living--any city, all cities--and the struggle to feel at home in the world. Finally, it is about life itself: unpredictable, bursting with love, and not to be missed. 

My thoughts:  Now this one sounds more like I might like it. And the rating on Goodreads is higher.  
Verdict: Toss the first one, keep the second one for now.


3.  Welcome to Promise City (The 4400 #3) by Greg Cox:

The 4400 were only the beginning. Now anyone can become extraordinary. The rewards are great. But so are the risks. . .Mere months have passed since a viral outbreak transformed Seattle. Over nine thousand people died horribly, while thousands more gained remarkable new abilities. The disaster has also left Jordan Collier, the charismatic leader of The 4400 Movement, in charge of the city, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

To Collier's followers, the birth of "Promise City" heralds the dawn of a glorious new future that will forever change the face of humanity. But not everyone welcomes Collier's vision of tomorrow. An internationalconspiracy, composed of many of the world's most powerful figures, will stop at nothing to destroy the Movement, even if it means igniting an all-out war against Promise City.

NTACNTAC agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris find themselves caught in the middle of a historic clash as they try to save Seattle from both Jordan Collier and his mortal enemies...with the future of the planet hanging in the balance.

The saga of The 4400 continues.  

My thoughts: 
I loved this tv show when it was on, well the first season or so. But then I lost interest.  Don't know if I'll ever have the interest to go back to it.

Verdict:  Toss


4.  Rediscover the Joy of Creative Writing:  Overcome Writer's Block, Boost Your Creativity, Reignite Your Creative Fuse by Paul Lima:

With over 50 exercises to get you started and to keep you writing, (re)Discover the Joy of Creative Writing will spark creative writing ideas - whether you are an aspiring writer or an experienced writer looking for a creative spark. It will help you discover, or rediscover, the joy of writing. Also includes chapters on character development and editing your own work.

My thoughts:
I don't know if I'm a big fan of too many books on "how to write".  Not that I don't feel they are helpful.  It's just that I have a few, and if I spend time reading instead of writing, I won't get any writing done.

Verdict: Toss



5.  Angelology by Danielle Trussoni:

Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her care was entrusted to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Now, at twenty-three, she discovers a 1943 correspondence between the convent's late mother superior and the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller that plunges her into a secret history stretching back a millennium: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim. Blending biblical lore, the Miltonic fall of the rebel Angels, the apocryphal Book of Enoch, and the myth of Orpheus, Angelology is a luminous, riveting tale of ordinary people caught up in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.   

My thoughts:  I still feel like I want to read this.  I had a friend who read it and loved it.  

Verdict:  Keep



6.  2 books by Douglas Preston:

Yesterday, Special Agent Pendergast still mourned the loss of his beloved wife, Helen, who died in a tragic accident in Africa twelve years ago.

Today, he discovers she was murdered.

Tomorrow, he will learn her most guarded secrets, leaving him to wonder: Who was the woman I married? Why was she murdered? And, above all . . . Who murdered her?

FEVER DREAM

Revenge is not sweet: It is essential.  

My thoughts:
I don't even know if I've made it this far in the Pendergast series, so not sure if that is why this one is saved to my list or not.  I can probably get rid of it, and if I ever decided to move on in this series, I'll be able to figure out by which books I've got on my read shelf.

Wyman Ford is tapped for a secret expedition to Cambodia... to locate the source of strangely beautiful gemstones that do not appear to be of this world.


A brilliant meteor lights up the Maine coast... and two young women borrow a boat and set out for a distant island to find the impact crater.

A scientist at the National Propulsion Facility discovers an inexplicable source of gamma rays in the outer Solar System. He is found decapitated, the data missing.

High resolution NASA images reveal an unnatural feature hidden in the depths of a crater on Mars... and it appears to have been activated.

Sixty hours and counting.

My thoughts:
Now, I've read the first book in this series/trilogy. And I liked it.  But I don't know if I'll read on.  So, not sure this needs to be kept on my TBR either.

Verdict:  Toss both



7.  Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (Kitty Norville #2.5) by Charlaine Harris:

New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, Carrie Vaughn, and Karen Chance-along with ten other masters of the genre-offer stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept of birthdays and vampires found in Many Bloody Returns.

The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone- particularly lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand.

Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year's morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe. 

My thoughts:  Hmm, this isn't the True Blood series, obviously, so I'll probably pass on it.

Verdict:  Toss



8.  My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (There Be Pirates #1 - Dead Man's Chest) by P.N. Elrod:

Werewolves, vampires, witches, voodoo, Elvis---and weddings

An "ordinary" wedding can get crazy enough, so can you imagine what happens when otherworldly creatures are involved? Nine of the hottest authors of paranormal fiction answer that question in this delightful collection of supernatural wedding stories. What's the seating plan when rival clans of werewolves and vampires meet under the same roof? How can a couple in the throes of love overcome traps set by feuding relatives---who are experts at voodoo? Will you have a good marriage if your high-seas wedding is held on a cursed ship? How do you deal with a wedding singer who's just a little too good at impersonating Elvis? Shape-shifters, wizards, and magic, oh my!

"The Wedding of Wylda Serene" / Esther Friesner
"All Shook Up" /P.N. Elrod
"Tacky" / Charlaine Harris
"A Hard Day's Night-Searcher" / Sherrilyn Kenyon
"Something Borrowed" / Jim Butcher
"Spellbound" / L.A. Banks
"Dead Man's Chest" / Rachel Caine
"Charmed by the Moon" / Lori Handeland
"...Or Forever Hold Your Peace" / Susan Krinard   
 
My thoughts:
Hmm, I'm going to go with the similar thoughts on the book above.  Not sure I'll ever get to this one.  There's one short story by Charlaine Harris, but I don't know if it is even part of the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Verdict:  Toss

  

9.  Meeting Your Half-Orange:  An Utterly Upbeat Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match by Amy Spencer:

How would you like to have a wonderfully well-suited, kind, adoring half-orange who feels like a teammate, a partner in crime, a true other half? "Half-Orange" refers to the Spanish term mi media naranja, which describes one's sweetheart, that perfect other half. What if you heard he or she would be coming along soon? Would you be relieved? Excited? Happy? Well those are the feelings that dating optimism can give you.
Rather than admonishing readers to make themselves more available, or turn dating into a full-time job, Spencer's program of dating optimism is a fun, results-oriented way to find a healthy happy relationship, based on brain science and psychology that can help you become a more positive dater. She'll guide you through sowing the orange seed of your ideal relationship and growing it to "fruit-ion." In essence, by focusing positively about dating, you can actually change your brain, which changes everything from your body language to the way you perceive others and what you ultimately attract.
Meeting Your Half-Orange is the pep talk that puts finding true love back into your own hands. It will guide you toward becoming so focused on the relationship you want and so happy in your own skin, the right person will be naturally drawn straight to you. You've never read a dating guide like this before. But best of all, it will be the last one you'll ever need.  

My thoughts:  Um, yeah, I don't care about self-help books for dating.  I'm pretty much going to be alone, so why bother.

Verdict:  Toss



10.  2 books by Maureen Johnson:

Sometimes you have to get lost . . .

The Girl: Clio Ford, seventeen, wants to spend the summer smooching her art-store crush, not stuck on a boat in the Mediterranean. At least she'll get a killer tan.

The Mission: Survive her father's crazy antics. Oh, and also find some missing underwater treasure that could unlock the secrets of civilization.

The Crew: Dad's wacky best friend Martin, his bizarre research partner Julia, her voluptuous daughter Elsa... and then there's Aidan, Julia's incredibly attractive, incredibly arrogant assistant. What's going on behind Aidan's intellectual, intensely green eyes, anyway?

As Clio sails into uncharted territory she unveils secrets that have the power to change history. But her most surprising discovery is that there's something deeper and more cryptic than the sea—her own heart...

...to find what you're looking for.

My thoughts:
I know that I'll always be interested in reading a book by Maureen Johnson, but I don't know that I need to keep those titles on my Goodreads TBR.

The funny thing about stop signs is that they're also start signs.

Mayzie is the brainy middle sister, Brooks is the beautiful but conflicted oldest, and Palmer's the quirky baby of the family. In spite of their differences, the Gold sisters have always been close.

When their father dies, everything begins to fall apart. Level-headed May is left to fend for herself (and somehow learn to drive), while her two sisters struggle with their own demons. But the girls learn that while there are a lot of rules for the road, there are no rules when it comes to the heart. Together, they discover the key to moving on -- and it's the key to their father's Pontiac Firebird.. 

My thoughts:  Not sure on this one.  It might be good, might not.  Not sure I'll ever actually want to read it though.

Verdict:  Toss both from my list.  I might still read the top one, but the bottom one I probably won't.


Final thoughts:
I got rid of quite a few!  I noticed a few of you decided to join in last week.  If you want to join in and link up, I made a link-up below and we can go check your post out.  I'd love to see if you do this and how well you do with cleaning up your TBR.

  Inlinkz Link Party

Now, while you're here, don't forget about my weekly giveaway!  Just go fill out the Rafflecopter below.


Giveaway:
Once again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  Just as with the past weeks, you get to pick any book from the pictures below, as long as they don't get traded away, or picked by last week's winner, and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice.  Here are your choices: 

Above are the 2018 ARCs you can pick from.

Above are the 2017 ARCs you can choose from.

These are the 2013-2016 ARCs you have to choose from.

Just enter in the Rafflecopter below:


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A to Z April: I Reviews - It Had to Be You by Sarah Webb/Infected by Scott Sigler

Today I've got another chick lit title, along with an adult science fiction title to share.  Once again I'll share the synopsis from Goodreads along with a few sentences about what I remember liking about the book.

First is It Had To Be You by Sarah Webb.  It's set in Ireland, where I'm sure my perfect man must be just waiting to speak to me in his sexy Irish accent.  The main character is an aspiring author (kinda like me, I like to write) who works at a bookstore (also like me as I do work at a bookstore!).  It's a story about actually three friends and how their lives and love lives will get better or take a new turn.  Here's the blurb from Goodreads:
Still-unpublished author Molly Harper would die for a passion like those depicted in the novels sold at Happily Ever After, the bookshop she manages in the Irish village of Burnaby that specializes in romance fiction. And she'd love a boss—any boss—other than her store's detestable, super-smooth new owner, Milo Jones . . . though Milo's very attractive son may be the one good reason why Molly should not take flight.

Molly's best friend, Paige Brady, is a happily married mother of two and running for local office. But suddenly she faces two unanticipated challenges: an opponent's stingingly personal attacks . . . and a surprise pregnancy.

Kate Bowan sells trendy designer shoes by day, and potential matches-made-in-heaven by night. Because of her hectic schedule, the determined dating service entrepreneur has no time to pencil in for loneliness. What she does have, however, is a client who's proving to be a lot more than she can handle.

Welcome to modern life and love in tiny Burnaby, Ireland, where three very different women with big dreams, the closest of friends, are about to discover that "happily ever after" could be only a heartbeat—or a heartbreak—away.

Second is Infected by Scott Sigler.  I first discovered him with this book.  I loved the cover, and it immediately grabbed my attention.  I was reading a lot more adult science fiction at the time, and so this fit right into that niche.  I also got to meet him at  BEA last summer, but I don't think I got my picture taken with him.  :-(
The characters in the story are interesting, and the whole basis for infection is really scary as well.  Here's the blurb for this one:
Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.

Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common – they’ve been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.

Meanwhile Perry Dawsey – a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey – awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices . . . he is infected.

The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.

So those are the two books I'm sharing today for my I Reviews.  Have you read either of these, or anything by either of the authors?  Have any similar titles to recommend for me to add to my TBR list?

And of course, don't forget to enter my month long giveaway below!


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A to Z April: A Reviews - Always the Bridesmaid by Whitney Lyles/Sarah Webb and Giveaway!

I'm excited to get started on the A to Z Blogging Challenge for the 2nd year!  Actually this year I've not had any problem with making sure I have a post every day.  In fact, I even had to cut back some of my regular weekly features this month so I don't have too many posts. I already prefer not to do more than one post a day.  This year I'm going to be doing reviews of books that I read before I started my blog.  I thought that would be a fun way to bring some attention to books that I enjoyed in the past.  While the title of this post my suggest that I am only reviewing one book, it is actually two separate books with the same title, but by different authors.  Both are chick lit as well.

This is a fun book about Cate Padgett, who has just spent the past few months going to four different weddings.  She's been a bridesmaid in each, had to buy the dress that they all say they've picked so that you can wear again, but really that's never possible.  She's had to buy gifts for each wedding, and now she's watching as her friends move on to the next stage in their lives while she seems to be stuck where she's at.  Back when I read this book I was in a similar state, all my friends were getting married, and then having kids, etc. And I was, and am still, single, and no kids/husband in sight.  I enjoyed reading this because of how much I identified with the main character, and it was nice to read about a happy ending for her, gave me hope for my own future. 

This book had a similar theme, the main character, Amy O'Sullivan, is also watching her friends get married and move on while her life seems to be going nowhere.  Add in the fact that she's almost 30, and you can see how it is getting to be even more sad to be stuck where she is.  For one thing, not only is her love life falling behind, but her job is going nowhere fast.  She works at a bookstore, like I do, only she is the "Story Princess."  Another issue, even her younger sister is moving past her!  Her younger sister has a fiance before she does!  Something I deal with constantly with two younger sisters.  Once again if you're looking for a quick, fun read, this is a good one.



Those are my two chick lit reviews for the letter "A".  It's been a while since I've read them, so not more detail that I can give.  Go check them out if they sound good!

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