Okay, first up we have...
Two Down, Bun to Go is the third book in the Oxford Tearoom Mystery series by H.Y. Hanna. I LOVE this series! If you like mysteries definitely check these out because I've loved every single one of them. They get better and better. I can't wait until the next one comes out in a couple of months. She gets them published really quick too. This book is one point in Scrabble.
My mom told me about Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon because it is a mystery (we both love mysteries) with a lot of humor in it. I wasn't disappointed. This was really funny. I love the characters!! They are so fun and interesting. Everyone had a lot of depth of character. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I just have to remember to go get the rest from mom. This book is one point.
When mom told me she had read a Q book and how well she was doing I freaked out because I'd been reading low point books. She is totally going to beat me again this year, but it isn't really a competition or anything so it doesn't matter. I just use it as motivation to read lots lol. So I dug around in the free Kindle books to find a Q book and I found Quietus by David Sellars. I unfortunately cannot recommend this book. I did not enjoy it. It was disturbing and I didn't like the ending at all. At least it was a Q so I get ten points for my effort.
I looked for another high point book and decided to read The Jungle Book because I actually had never read it before, even though I had the book when I was a kid and enjoyed the movie (and looking forward to seeing the new one). Is it sad that I had no clue The Jungle Book was actually several short stories?? I had no idea!! I did enjoy the stories, although the writing style was bizarre and I'm not really a fan of short stories. This is an eight point book.
I have actually been reading this book for months. I started reading it a couple of months ago at work. This wasn't a kindle book, I was reading the actual paperback. I kept it at work and was only reading it on breaks so that's why it took so long because at my old job I only got one break and a thirty minute lunch and was only working a few days a week (they were not giving me the hours they said they would which is one reason I moved on to another job). I finally finished it shortly after starting my new job because of my two breaks and hour lunch. If I'm not mistaken this was my first Dean Koontz book and I really liked it!! I was skeptical because I thought his books were really gory and disturbing, but it wasn't. It was definitely a thriller and had a touch of fantasy in it. I'm not exactly sure how well it flowed, because I read it in such small time blocks over such a long period of time. It might have been more intense and a quicker read if I'd been reading it every night like I normally do. Regardless, I really liked it and enjoyed how it ended. I am reading another Dean Koontz book at work right now so we will see if it was a fluke or if I am a fan of his. ;) This book is one point.
I found the first book in this series The Queen's Blade for free on Kindle and downloaded it because it was a Q book (all about those ten point books hehe). After reading the first one I LOVED it so much I actually purchased the rest of the books in the series! I'm on the fourth one (about 60% through it) and still loving them. It's a typical fantasy book like I grew up reading that I've always loved so much, but it's different from anything I've ever read (the main character is an assassin). I LOVE the book and all the characters and even the world and culture. It is a well written, well planned, well built series. This series is self published and you can't tell it!! I've grown cautious about self published books because I've read so many awful ones, but this doesn't have any typos or anything (kind of like the H.Y. Hanna books, you can't tell hers are self published). This series definitely breaks the stereotype of self published books (it's not in first person, present tense, heck yeah!!!!). I can't recommend this book enough. Love it! If you grew up reading Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey like I did I bet you'll love this series too. It doesn't have dragons or even magic really (but they do bond with animals), but it's still on par with those that I loved so much growing up. The Queen's Blade is ten points and the other two were one point. ETA: The first book is free and ends on a cliffhanger... you won't be able to resist buying the rest, so be forewarned!
That's all for April. So I made a total of 33 points. Not bad!
For anyone not familiar with the Scrabble scoring system here is it.
(1 point)-A, E, I, O, U, L, N, S, T, R
(2 points)-D, G
(3 points)-B, C, M, P
(4 points)-F, H, V, W, Y
(5 points)-K
(8 points)- J, X
(10 points)-Q, Z
My 2016 Reading Challenge is basically reading whatever books I want and keeping score using the Scrabble scoring system to see how many points I have at the end of the year. :)
So here is my tally so far. January - 5 points, February - 14 points, March - 1 point and April - 33 points. That's a total of 53 points and 21 books for the year so far. Here is my list so far.
A - Awakening You by Jessica Sorensen
B - The Bell House by Lori Titus
C - Chasing The Wind by Hannah Hooton
D
E
F
G
H
I - Ishtar's Blade by Lisa Blackwood/Inspiring You by Jessica Sorensen/Invisible Assassin by TC Southwell
J - The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
K - Keeping The Peace by Hannah Hooton
L - Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon
M
N
O
P
Q - Quietus by David Sellars/The Queen's Blade by TC Southwell
R - Raveling You by Jessica Sorensen/Relentless by Dean Koontz
S - A Scone To Die For by H.Y. Hanna/Spellbound by Kodilynn Calhoun/The story of Awkward by R.K. Ryals/Sacrifice by TC Southwell
T - Tea with Milk and Murder by H.Y. Hanna/Two Down, Bun To Go by HY Hanna
U - Unraveling You by Jessica Sorensen
V
W
X
Y
Z
I find it amazing that you can read that much that fast. My favorite Dean Koontz book is Life Expectancy. I've ready probably 90% of his books. His writing has definitely improved over the years, and he's got a wacky sense of humor that I like, which lightens the horror aspect. My daughter just lent me her two favorite books, so I'm trying to finish my Amazon Prime Lending Library book so that I can get to reading hers.
ReplyDeleteThe sad reality is that it's because of my insomnia... I spend long hours at night reading and trying to go to sleep. I also read on both my breaks and my hour lunch break. On days off if it's rainy and I've finished all the house work I'll spend hours reading then too. So I read a lot lol.
DeleteI can't wait to see what I think of more of Dean Koontz's books. I've always heard he's an amazing author and I don't know why I put off reading them for so long. Knowing that you like him makes me think I probably will like the others too. :D I'll definitely check out Life Expectancy. I'm always happy for book suggestions.
What are your daughters two favorite books? Let me know if you like them. :D
DeleteI like the Scrabble idea--it is so clever.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I wish I could remember how I came up with that. I know I was looking for ideas and found some good ones (like a book from each state), but I don't remember what gave me the idea for Scrabble. I really like it though because it makes it fun without adding a bunch of pressure. :)
DeleteThanks so much for featuring my book! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it as much as the previous two in the series! :-)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Hsin-Yi
Thank you for writing them! I've enjoyed them so much. It's definitely one of my new favorite mystery series now and I'm so looking forward to the next book. :D
DeleteYou've read a lot in April! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It helps when I'm reading really good books. I really liked the challenge last year, but some of those books were a nightmare to finish. I'm really enjoying this challenge because there is more freedom to read what I like. I probably don't branch out as much as I did last year, but that's okay. I'm having fun and that's what is important. :D
Delete