Whoops.....I purchased three more books!

I was only going to the library for one book; The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly. I have not been able to find it anywhere. I ended up spending six bucks! I was so excited. I completed my Cormoran Strike (Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling) series with this purchase. The book was 3$; really a steal. I also got The Memoirs of Cleoparta by Margaret George; which was a 1$. And The Fifth Witness was 2$! I am really excited about all of these. I am planning on reading the Cormoran Strike novels this summer ;) I think it will be a summer of mystery novels!

My 10 Newest Book Acquistions!!

Here is the list:

1) Balm by Dolen Perkins - Veldez

2) Left Behind by Lahaye/Jenkins

3) Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon

4) The Count of Monte Cristo by A. Dumas

5) Praying the names of God by Ann Spangler

6) A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

7) The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey 

8) Me before you by Jojo Moyes

9) Breakout by Joel Osteen 

10) Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Six Books I instantly loved....

Bookish love is a wonderful thing. And bookish love at first sight is even more wonderful. There are very few books that I fell in love with upon opening to the first page or at the conclusion of its first chapter. But here is a short list....

1) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - In Tan's bestseller I instantly felt as if June was a kindred spirit. I read the book at a time of my life when I was discovering who I was. I was finally learning more about my own family and about my own mother; and at the heart of this book is the story of daughters learning to value their mothers. 

2) The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank- I read this book at a very young age and it has stayed with me my entire life. Anne was so much like myself, she liked to read, she was curious about everything. She also was coming into her own; sadly Anne's life was cut short. I sometimes wonder what she would have done with her life had she survived the concentration camp.

3) Renee and Jay by J.J. Murray - This was the second book by Murrary I had ever read; however, it is why I kept reading his work. In that one little book he weaved a love story so real I was completely taken aback. What's funny is that supposedly the story is loosely based on his relationship with his real life wife. Another thing about this story that really made me love it was that he is a Caucasian man writng as a black woman and a very very convincing way. 

4) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - what's not amazing about this book. Austen writes about the way that people sometimes fall into love. It can come from out of nowhere; and sometimes that love can be bought on due to a few misunderstandings. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett's love story is be far one of my favorites and I know I will be reading it over and over again for the rest of my life! 

5) The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling - does this need any explaination. I mean what's not to love about The Potter series; it's got it all. Witches, Wizards, Magic, Danger, Loce and laughs. 

6) The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness - I read this series last summer and fell head over heels in love with it. Mainly I fell in love with Matthew Clarimont; the mysterious Oxford professor. Matthew is dreamy, and Diana (who would become his love interest)  has a mystery of her own to unreveal. It seems the closer they get to one another the more they need each other to work through every great the mystery of the series.

What books did you really fall in love with? Please feel free to comment!

The Bookbabe Returns to the House of Night....My review of Hidden by P.C. + Kristen Cast

Where do I begin....well how about at the part where I started this book in July of 2014 and stopped reading it! I honestly gave up on it. I will start by saying that once upon a time I was crazy about this series. I raved about it. Then came a few books in the series that I had a hard time digesting. Honestly, I think that this was because the characters never seemed to have any real "growth" or complexity. At least not the characters on the side of good like, Zoey, Stark and Stevie Rae. While the Villians, like Kalona, Neferet etc..... are well developed and well written. Which is one of the reasons I came back to the series. I wanted to know how they would fight evil and handle Neferet! 

What I loved about this book was that we finally see Zoey evolve. She is forced by Nyx to grow up. She is told point blank to stop acting like a child and step into her high priestess position. Same goes with Stevie Rae; who honestly I believed had handled her Red High Priestess position rather well up to this point. I honestly would have loved to have seen more of Stevie Rae throughout this book. She kind of took on a side kick role. 

It was also nice to see Kalona in action....to see him change his ways. We all knew he had it in him; but I was surprised by some of the developments with the character in this installment of the series. I think it would have served readers better if these changes had happened earlier in the series! Kalona's character is a very interesting one to me. He is deeply flawed and has done some very terrible things. However, he will do whatever he can to be forgiven and he proves that when he battles Neferet; only to find out that he can no longer control darkness. That was perhaps one of my favorite scenes of the book. Another scene I loved was when Zoey's Grandmother, Sylvia Redbird, takes on Neferet via the use of Native American charms and magic. 

I loved loved loved this element of the story. The Cast's mix in elements of Wicca and Native American religion and Greek mythology into these books. Which is a great and fresh take on the vampire storyline; and honestly is another reason I was so anxious to give the series another try. All in all, I do not regret listening to the audio book (yes I know that's cheating lol). However, I did give the book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. I downgraded it a three because of the overly sexual scenes in the book. Like the last book these made me extremely uncomfortable because some of it read a bet like a bad Paranormal romance when the book is written for a YA audience. I am not trying to be judgmental or anything but the sex could be completely avoided because it does not enhance the story line; and again these books are marketed for kids from middle school to highschool age. I have read several YA authors that allude to sex in their books but they are not as vivid with it. In my opinion that's a fine line that should not be crossed in YA unless you can deal with it responsibly. 

Here are some of the quotes I loved from the book...