Rea-A-Thon Wrapup

Oh my HECK!!!! That was so much fun. Even though I didn't read for the full 24 hours, I made it 18 1/2 hours! I am very proud of my daughter for participating with me. She was such a good sport. I was able to complete four books during my stretch and still take care of our puppy, who had bad accident requiring bath! lol I look forward to the next Read-A-Thon and hope to participate. I loved the interaction and support that people give each other during this challenge, it was just amazing. Until next time.....

Oh, my 4th book was:

4. A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Hour 12 - Read-A-Thon

I thought I would take quick break and check in. I have finished two books so far, which I am very proud of. Although my daughter has more than me, "it ain't over..." :) This is so much fun. We are laughing about our books and finding hidden gems that were sitting on our bookshelf. Hopefully she will get her books posted soon, but here are mine:

1. Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani
2. The Ultimate Gift by Rene Gutteridge


I'll do a blog later about each book, but so far each book is awesome! Off to read A Cold Red Sunrise by Stuart M. Kaminsky.

I just joined the 24 hour Read A Thon with my daughter. This will be the first time I have done anything like this so I am totally excited to see how this goes over. Thanks to Deborah for giving a little push. My mind has been racing through my TBR pile to see what books I can read. While I know my pile of finished books will not be large, I'm hoping to see more than one or two. :) I'm totally not a fast reader. I will post a little later on what books are going to be in my challenge stack. I'm so totally excited......this is going to be so much fun!!! :)

Well-Read Reviews has created a Meme for Fridays:

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy. Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page. Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph. Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
ISBN: 9780061703256

"I haven't laid eyes on the island in several years."

The first sentence did not help draw me into the story. It is part of the prologue, which I found to be somewhat dry...kind of how I'm finding the book right now. However, as I have delved further into the book I am seeing the author set the stage for what is to come. So in my mind its ok that it didn't draw me in at first because I'm hoping for better things to come.

Natalie Greco loves being a law professor, even though she secretly feels like Faculty Comic Relief. She loves her family, too, but as a bookworm, doesn't quite fit into the cult of Greco football, headed by her father, the team captain. The one person whom she feels most connected to is her colleague Angus Holt, a guy with a brilliant mind, gorgeous façade, and a penchant for helping those less fortunate. When he talks Nat into teaching a class at a local prison, her world turns upside down.

A violent prison riot breaks out during the class, and in the chaos, Nat rushes to help a grievously injured guard. Before he dies, he asks her to deliver a cryptic message: "Tell my wife it's under the floor."

Plunged into a nightmare, Nat suddenly finds herself suspected of a brutal murder and encounters threats to her life. Now, not only are the cops after her, but ruthless killers are desperate to keep her from exposing their secret. In the meantime, she gets dangerously close to Angus, shaking her dedication to her safe boyfriend.

With her love life in jeopardy, her career in the balance, and her life on the line, Nat must rely on her resources, her intelligence, and her courage. Forced into hiding to stay alive, she sets out to save herself by deciphering the puzzle behind the dead guard's last words...and learns the secret behind the greatest puzzle of all—herself.

I love Lisa Scottoline books because they clip along and they keep me wanting more. I couldn't put this book down. How Nat cleared her name was a little too far fetched for me, but it added some humor into the mix. Nat's interaction with the COs wife and her family was very telling. Nat found herself throughout the story, which was very visable. As she took off layer by layer of her very guarded self, a strong, wonderful woman emerged who learned she could stand on her own. Great thriller with a heart.

Am I my brother's keeper?

If I'd known I had a brother, I might have been. But he's dead—shot point-blank in a rat-hole apartment, wasted by hunger and heroin. Stephen Gaines, a man with whom I shared nothing…except a father.

For some reason this stranger who shared my blood came to me for help…and I blew him off thinking he was just some junkie. Now I'm forced to question everything I ever knew…and figure out why this man was murdered in cold blood.

All I can do for Stephen Gaines now is find his killer—and with the help of Amanda Davies uncover the whole, hard truth. If it means tracking down a vicious drug kingpin—who may or may not exist—then so be it….

Oh my heck!!! Jason Pinter is a new to me author and I LOVE HIM!!! Henry Parker is a man I can utterly swoon over and know he's got my back. The Fury is the 4th in the Henry Parker and I probably would have understood parts of the book a bit better if I had read the other three, however, Mr. Pinter explains enough that I was able to follow. While Henry is a reporter, he continues to find himself in somewhat of a sticky widget. Loved the interaction between him and his family. They put the "fun in dysfunctional". This book was fast paced and while it wasn't gory, it was intense enough that I had to sleep with my bedroom door open! lol

Nobody's home at the millionaire's estate on remote Frakes Island. And nobody seems to be watching. Becca Cantrell dives in for an illicit midnight skinnydip-and gets hauled out by a towering, hard-muscled guy with burning dark eyes. He seems to be in charge. Good. The man is the embodiment of her most intense fantasies. And she's up for risky thrills...

Nick Ward can't tell her that he's spying on a vicious Russian crime boss. Becca could be his worst enemy— an assassin sent to kill him, a call girl sent to distract him, or the worst scenario of all-a clueless innocent. Anyway he looks at it, she's trouble— beautiful, bare, dripping-wet trouble. The kind he can't resist.

She's not scared. After one taste of his hot mouth, Becca soon discovers just how fearless she can be. She'll need it, too-because things are about to explode on Frakes Island, launching Becca and Nick into danger they could never have imagined-and a passion that could destroy them both.

This was a week where I needed some danger and excitement, with a little romance mixed in. Shannon McKenna is an explosive author who can deliver all three. In Extreme Danger, Becca Cantrell finds herself in the middle of problem that only one person, Nick Ward, can help her get out of alive. Becca finds that she is not just a pretty like thing, but has some serious grit about her and with the two of them working as a team all bets are off that the mafiya boss with succeed.