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:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ghost Whisperer: Revenge by Doranna Durgin

I enjoyed the tv series this book is based on, and saw the books at the bookstore where I work.  When they became strip cover books at the store, I took one or two of them home, and now that the series is no longer being filmed, I decided it was time to read them to get my fix of the show.  Well, actually, I started reading this in September of 2010.  I was keeping it in my car for when I went places and forgot to bring a book to read.  I had been keeping books from the tv series The 4400, and those were always good for reading.  But now that I have the Nook app on my iphone, and I'm doing better with bringing books with me, I didn't really get around to reading it.  Plus, this book really needed to be read within shorter breaks, because it got kind of hard to keep up with the story when I hadn't read it in a while.  So I brought it in the house and kept it by my nice Jacuzzi tub so that when I was reading on my Nook, or a book I'd checked out from the store, I would have a book I didn't mind if it accidentally got wet or dropped in the tub. 
GRRRRRR!!  I just hit a key and it deleted my whole 2nd paragraph of this review!  Then it automatically saved without it like 1 second!  Okay, let's see if I can remember what all I said.  First I had some complaints about the characters, Rick Payne, who was played by Jay Mohr, his character didn't seem to have quite the same part in helping Melinda as he did in the show.  Then Delia, played by Camryn Manheim, seemed way more accepting of Melinda's "talent" than she did in the actual show.  But again, not exactly sure maybe when in the timeline this was supposed to have occurred.  Other than that, it really played just like an episode of the show.  I liked that you didn't know who the killer was till the end.  There were 3 ghosts bothering Melinda.  One that knew exactly why he wanted to exact revenge on, even if the person he chose wasn't actually the killer, just someone who didn't do anything to help him.  The other seemed really confused, didn't know who he was or what he wanted, or at least couldn't really communicate with Melinda.  All he could do was keep repeating "swing, batter, batter, swing" and usually at times that it warned Melinda to upcoming danger.  But soon we learned the connection between the ghosts.  And the way their issues were solved was a good way I think.  I'll be sure to read the next book I have from this series in a similar way.  But I may skip to one about the tv series Eureka next.  Especially since that show only has part of a season left before it is cancelled.

The 4400: Wet Work by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

This book is the one I kept in my car for those times when I was somewhere that I needed to read something and didn't remember to bring a book. So I started it quite a while ago.

The 4400 was a show I liked on tv that was cancelled after only a few years. It started out with a great premise, but as many of those types of shows tend to do, it got bogged down into what I call the "mythology" of the show.

This was a good representation of what an episode of the show could have been about. An internation assassin known as "the Wraith" was one of the people taken, she disappeared in 1992. One of our main characters, Tom Baldwin, was actually part of finding her on one of his first cases. When she comes back with the rest of the 4400, she immediately disappears. She had actually planned on that last kill to end her career anyway and retreat into oblivion with her girlfriend. When she comes back, it seems someone from the future, which is where the 4400 have been sent back from, has chosen her to be an assassin for them, to kill other 4400 members who might be messing up the plans. She of course has her own kill list, the people who assigned her all the jobs in the past, who she knew would want her back so that she couldn't incriminate them in these illegal political assassins assigned by the CIA.

As I read the end of the book about the authors, it was very interesting to note that they are both Kansas City residents, or were at the time of the book. I found that cool!

The 4400: The Vesuvius Prophecy by Greg Cox

A tv series that I enjoyed at the start, but at the end it was going downhill, too much conspiracy stuff. The 4400 was a USA network show about 4400 people who disappeared throughout history, and were all returned one day near Seattle Washington. It was assumed at first they were kidnapped by aliens, but we soon learned it was the future who took them. The future took them, and gave them each some kind of ability that was supposed to help save the world. Abilities of all sorts, telekinesis, future telling, and in this case, the ability to cause the ground to shake, volcanoes to erupt. Maia can see the future, she's one of the main characters, an 11 year old girl. She hasn't aged since she was taking many years ago. She sees her new adoptive mother, Diana, on top of Mount Ranier with a man and the volcano starting to erupt. So now Diana and her partner Tom Baldwin, both of NTAC, must find and stop this man. I won't go into all the backstory of the show. Just want to say that if you enjoyed the show, you'll enjoy this visit back with the characters.