For The Love of Reading.....#WOYBS

Welcome to my What's On Your BookShelf post. The #WOYB link party is hosted by Deb, Jo and Sue....all gals I follow on a few other link parties. I love their blogs. Go check them out. #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge

I also decided to link this with #shareyourshelf hosted by some great bloggers I follow, like Joanne. I'll link it on the week they post theirs, which I think is the first Thursday of each month. 

My rating system:

⭐ DNF (which there's a reason), story lacking any depth, grammatical or spelling errors (too many), just did not enjoy it and enough to it that I wouldn't recommend. Don't bother reading

⭐⭐ Story line is a bit all over the place, struggle to read it but maybe it had some redeeming parts. Characters  or story line weren't believable or too unrealistic. I wouldn't want to read it again. Too many storylines going on at the same time. Read it or don't read it.

⭐⭐⭐ Solid story line and characters. I liked it but didn't necessarily LOVE it, but I didn't HATE it either. I may have felt that it dragged on, or had parts that weren't necessary to the story. Maybe was a little hard to follow. Probably wouldn't recommend but it wasn't a total disaster.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ A really great read that I enjoyed picking up each time. I enjoyed it from front to back. The characters and storyline were really good.  As someone said "a truly good book, but missing the cherry on top".  Go ahead and read it

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book knocked it out of the park and I couldn't put it down. OR it was a book that really opened my eyes to something or taught me something about someones life. One I have bookmarked and even taken notes. It left me wanting to read more by the author or more in the series. Definitely go read. 

I had a great reading month in July. Three were audio books and the rest either physical or Kindle. I'm thinking 

What I read in July:

Horse by Geraldine Brooks ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had to send this book to the next reader (it was my passalong book club book) before I completely finished it, but I knew I'd give it a 5 star. I plan to check it out from the library and finish it. I may try it on audiobook since I'm in between audiobooks. I liked how the characters played out and it wasn't too difficult to follow. It is multiple timelines, I believe there were three. 

Butterfly Betrayal: A Seneca James Mystery by Ruth J. Hartman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Our July theme for our Murder They Write challenge was to read a book with a feline on the cover. This was my choice. I enjoyed this first book in the series. We are following Seneca James who is a butterfly farmer and cafe owner. I think I had mentioned last month that I had started the second book but then decided to read the first in the series before continuing. I always like getting a handle on the characters and so when it comes to a series I prefer to read them in order. There's murder, friendship and a possible relationship starting (of course they're just "friends" right now). In this book, Seneca is a possible suspect. 

Murder at The Painted Wings Cafe: A Seneca James Mystery by Ruth J. Hartman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second book in the series finds a body in the cafe and Senecas cousin is in the hot seat. Another one that had me guessing! I like when authors of cozy mysteries don't make it too obvious. The authors in the Murder They write FB group and their guests are really good at what they do. This one brought to the forefront a few new characters, and I got some good chuckles. 

A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

On one of the other cozy mystery pages I follow they had a weekly challenge, so I paused a few books to read this one which is first in a series. It was another fun read. This was also the first book I've read by Ellen Byron though she's been featured on a few of the FB pages I follow. I loved the cast of characters and it will be fun to see how many of them develop. 

The ServiceBerry by Robin Wall Kimmerer ⭐⭐⭐

On Goodreads I gave this a two but thinking of my rating above, I'll give it a three star. It had some good points and I did find many of the concepts valid and interesting. The parts that I had a hard time with would get me on a little soap box so I'll skip it. I haven't read her book Braiding Sweetgrass so maybe I should give that a try. 

Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize your life by Sarah Jakes Roberts ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had so many bookmarks on this audio, I just went ahead and bought the physical copy. I don't always agree with most books I read 100% but I am always wanting to learn and even challenge my thinking. This book again had a lot of good nuggets especially for someone like me who tends to be self conscious, not a risk taker, etc. 

My Tour with the Bodyguard by T.J. Amberson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I won this book in a giveaway and wanted to read it asap because I won it and wanted to let the author know what I thought. It was a fun Romcom/mystery following an up and coming music star who needs some protecting after a crazy person tried to approach her at a concert. She's assigned a bodyguard who doesn't care for guarding celebrities, and she doesn't think she needs one...it's sweet, clean and fun read. The premise is someone is trying to sabotage her tour, though it actually is making her more popular. She along with her bodyguard try to figure out the who is doing it.  

The Witless Protection Program by Maria Di Rico. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I wasn't sure about this one at first, but it ended up being a fun cozy/romcom...Following Mia Carina as she runs her Italian American Family's catering hall, hoping for a proposal from her beau but coming to find her husband who she thought was dead is really alive (for a little while)...yikes...oh and there is mafia involved. This was fun, especially because I have Italian heritage. A fun read. 

Being Henry: The Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fans of Henry Winkler will love this book. I have always loved his voice, so listening to this on audio was perfect. 

What I'm currently reading:

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg

Someone on here read this one and I've had on my list to read. It came on sale on Kindle so I purchased it. I've barely started it, but so far am liking it. It's title is pretty self explanatory. I'm sure we would all say we could do a better job when it comes to communicating with others and listening to others better. I'm looking forward to what I learn. 

Sociopath by Patric Gagne

This is our next in person book. A memoir revealing the author's struggle to come to terms with her sociopathy and shed light on the often maligned and misunderstood mental disorder. She discovers how different she is when she's in kindergarten. She is now a wife, mother, psychologist. I just started this one as well. One of our book club gals said she has read it and it will be a great discussion piece for our club. 

A Zappy Little Christmas: A Hometown Hardware book 3 by Paula Charles

Just received this in my in-box as an ARC so I will get started on that right away. I have loved the other two books in this series and I know this one won't disappoint. One of the taglines says "Jessica Fletcher meets National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". I mean, that's gotta be good! 

52 Bookclub Challenge:

I'm doing okay on my 52 book challenge, but not sure I'll finish it. I need to look back through the books I've read to see if any fit some of the prompts that I missed. I haven't been as intentional when choosing my books. I need to go back and look through some of yours and write ideas down. 

Murder They Write challenge:

This has been fun! There are so many challenges out there, I wish I could do them all. I've actually already finished my August book but will add that next month. 

This was another fun challenge. I read more than 6 books but you were only required to list 2 for each month. Once you submit, you receive a gift. 

I'm a part of several cozy mystery FB groups...well, okay, maybe 3 and then follow several authors. I've been pretty lucky at winning several books which is always fun. I just won two more this week...lol. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin