Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            So this post is a little late I am dealing with migraines and some eye issues so that meant that I have been spending a lot of time recently not being able to look at any sort of light. I am getting over it but it means that I haven’t been able to be near my laptop much and therefore my post is late, sorry.

Well here we are again with another book post. Disclaimer time, I have not read much since the end of June. I am working on reading one now but I am not going to be done with it before the end of the month. Quarantine really hit me in July where I was just tired all the time. Living with depression and anxiety during a time of quarantine isn’t fun and I just couldn’t get the motivation to just sit and read so all of these books I read in May and June because I still want to hit my goal of 40 books but as the months pass I don’t know if I will actually hit that goal this year, oops. 2020 came in like a literal wrecking ball and I swear all of my goals for this year have kind of gone out the window. I wanted to wrap up six works in progress this year, I am going to be lucky to really wrap up three and for someone who writes a lot that tells me that I have been distracted this year. 

            It’s only 8 books this time so three books shorter than my last post and that means I am only 19 into my goal of 40, it is still doable if I actually buckle down and read but I have to get the motivation to sit down and just be and I don’t have that at the moment, lots chaotic energy going on in my head at all times.

Here we go though, what other books have I read so far? Mild spoilers so proceed with caution.

The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon: 

            This book was a gift because my best friend knows that Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies, this book however was a lot. I did finish it because I don’t like to leave books hanging though this will be one that goes in my donate pile. I am not a huge fan of books that use incest as a plot device and this one, oh man. It weaves Snow White and Rapunzel and while it’s an interesting concept there is a lot about it that I was not a huge fan of. I love fairytales and the moment they start changing my Disney childhood memories I get uncomfortable. Grimms Fairytales are fine because those are meant to be like that but this one just, while well written had some themes I am not a huge fan of. 

The Plot is Murder by V.M. Burns:

            The whole reason I even purchased this book was that it had poodles on the cover, my family dogs have always been standard poodles but toy and mini poodles are really cute so having a book with poodles in it is right up my street. I love cozy mysteries and if I can ever find the second on in a Barnes and Noble I will read it but Barnes and Noble has a bad habit of keeping random volumes in the store and then just not having the next, I saw one that was volume one and volume four and that was all they had which is a pain when as a person who absolutely devours cozy mysteries I can’t actually read a series. This combined a few of my favorite things though, murder mystery, book shops, and dogs so I cannot be mad about any of it and this book is a book within a book which is an interesting concept to me so kudos for that. 

Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen by Vicki Delany:

            Another cozy mystery, let me be honest hale of this list is cozy mysteries because they are all a plot formula and they are fun to read. This one was amazing from what I remember of it, I read it in May so I really need to start writing my little blurbs about them after I finish reading them but I don’t and then I suffer for it. It has an interesting cast of characters and the main character runs a Christmas shop and as someone who loves that time of year I love it so much, again if I could get the second one I would be reading it by now but sometimes that’s just too much to ask for. 

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski:

            My best friend is obsessed with The Witcher and I watched the Netflix series which was great, give it a watch if you like this kind of stuff. It was a lot of blood and stuff so caution to those who was faint of heart. It’s a book of short stories and some of them are from the first series of the Netflix series so I had a lot of familiar characters and I had to laugh at the fact that in the English translation the bards name is Dandelion because it’s amazing. It’s a good book and I have a few of the others so I plan on reading them eventually I also plan on playing the game but that will be down the road. 

Key Lime Pie Murder (Hannah Swenson #9) by Joanne Fluke:

            I read eight and nine out of order because I am an idiot and I had them backward in my bookcase. Again a cozy mystery because at this point no one should be shocked, they are easy to read. I like the Hannah Swenson mysteries and they have some of them on Hallmark as movies so that’s always fun. This one was county fair themed and I have many fond memories of our county fair in Indiana so I was able to picture it really well in my head and it was a good fast paced read overall. 

Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swenson #8) by Joanne Fluke:

            I read them out of order but that’s okay, I’ve done it before. I liked this one and it kept me gripped from page one to when I closed it when I was finished with it. I loved the story over all with the movie intrigue and mystery that seems to befall Lake Eden like all the time. That is one unbelievable thing about cozy mysteries like 20 murders in one small town over the course of a few years. I know that is the point but it’s still less than believable. It’s fun though and I really enjoy the series. 

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer:

            I wanted to watch this movie so badly and then I got rid of Hulu so I have to buy it. I saw a lot of reviews for the book that said it would leave me with more questions than answers. I really enjoyed the book it’s written in such an interesting way where no character has a name only a profession and that is so interesting I have never read a book like that before and I want to read the other two. It was fascinating and it kept my attention because it kept me wondering what was going to happen next and questioning if anything I thought I knew about this novel already was real. It was amazing, weird, suspenseful, and conjured up interesting and beautiful imagery.

Only Human by Gareth Roberts: 

            Huge Doctor Who fan, I still haven’t watched the 13^th Doctor because no one in my life has BBC America but I plan on watching it eventually. But this book was the Ninth Doctor and Rose and was written for the 50^th anniversary so it’s not a new book. I like the novels written that could be stories on the show and come from the imaginations of writers who are fans of the show. Reading them after watching the show you can almost see it in your head though and I have read a number of Doctor Who novels, there are more that I want but it’s hard to find some of them because I was not a fan until late 2012 because at the time it was on Netflix, as was Torchwood which I also loved. If you like Doctor Who and reading these novelizations are a great companion to the show when you are missing it.

            So that’s it, all the rest of the books that I have read so far this year and I am hoping that my last post of the year I have to split because I don’t want to bombard y’all with 20 books in one post, that’s the goal people that’s the goal. Who knows what the rest of the year brings because at this point 2020 is just one to go in the bin so I guess we will see. 

            I will see all of you later in the week with a new post!

            -MJ