Hollow City

This is the second book about Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, and it is fantastically creepy. I have always been a fan of the abnormal (I was raised on Star Trek: TNG for crying out loud).

I haven't finished this one yet, but I was browsing/writing in some of my blogs and felt the need to update this one.

I am about 5/6 of the way through, and received an advanced copy - so no spoilers here.

I can appreciate excellent writing, and the only thing I'll say - I was fantastically ecstatic when I finally got my hands on a copy.

Do yourself a favor, and read the first one.

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

Seriously considering just using Goodreads instead.

I had a hard time focusing on this one. May go back and read it again later. Because it's important. I'm just at a crazy point in my life right now, and my mind has been elsewhere.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is my 8th, and last, book for summer reading. Catgory: Mystery.

(Who knew it was also a video game?)

I had originally picked up a different book. I started its pages and realized it was incredibly similar to the book I had just finished reading, and was therefore uninteresting.

The name Agatha Christie came to mind. I'm not sure how the name was planted there. Obviously, when considering great mystery writers, hers is a heavy-hitting name. This was the first book I had read of hers.

It will not be the last.

I appreciate my local library, for challenging me to expand my horizons. The next books I will read will all be similar in some aspects: love, women, happy endings. But my library has inspired me to read action, biography, and mystery, to name a few. (I should be doing this on my own, but honestly - I wouldn't).

Getting on: this book is excellently crafted. Perhaps not so much, to a different mind. But I was guessing until the very end. A classic "who-done-it".

It read every bit like an old black and white movie, and I loved that.

Recommended.

The Blue Cotton Gown by Patricia Harman

I was really, really into this book.

I've never really felt ok with the way I am. I am too emotional, too dramatic, take things too seriously, too erratic. I am organized and frustrated. I am silent and loud, colorful and pale.

This author was too.

And people have never understood why I've always been drawn to quiet, rock solid people.

I need a calm in my storm.

She kept referring to her husband as her metronome, and that thought resonated with me so completely - I was riveted.

Where he said "it's fine", she worried. Where she exploded, he remained calm. They each loved tirelessly, and passionately. They merely reacted to life situations in different ways.

I understood.

A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene

I've been having a lot of conversations in my head lately about practicality. Are things necessary, or important?

I am not engaged or planning a wedding. I hope to, someday.

This book offers a lovely peek into what is important about planning (the feeling, the committment, the love, two people molding their lives into one, sharing joy with close friends and family).

And gently reminds us what is not important: spending extravagant amounts of money, favors, lavish food, lots of people, perfection. Tradition, even.

All these things melt away to the baseline of what a wedding is about: the beautiful beginning of a marriage. A celebration of two people's love for each other. And entry into community as one unit, holding hands and willing to face the world.

The if two people are truly in love and ready to committ the rest of their lives to each other, the day will showcase their amazing joy and will spread to everyone present. Nothing else matters.

Screw expectation.

I will refer to this book again, should I ever be in the appropriate situation.

Miss Dempsey's School for Gunslingers

It's a western. Surprisingly entertaining, for what it was. Book #5, down.

The Next Always by Nora Roberts

I am proud of my love for book series.


It shows I enjoy committment and seeing something through until the end. Longevity. And above all, sappy love stories.

I was surprised at the language in this novel. Granted, it has a lot of guys as main characters. Guys who work construction. Of course brothers are going to rib each other. It was, surprisingly, legit.

I read a review of Nora Roberts recently, citing that she always had strong women for lead characters. I appreciate this, as well. She reaches a crazy amount of readers, so why not spread the good cheer that is "I am woman, hear me roar"? I concur wholeheartedly.

That little housewife in the midwest needs to know she has a voice.

So, again, I've fallen for a series. The next book is on hold at my local public library, just waiting for me to pick it up and devour.

Ah, but I've got miles to go until then. I'm in the adult summer reading club. I've got to get a move on.

I chose the option of reading 8 books from 10 different genres, instead of 20 from my own choosing. I need to read faster and more frequently.

I am halfway through. What am I reading right now? A western.

Yeehaw.