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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (3)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (9)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (4)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (3)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (2)
- England (25)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (1)
- Russia (2)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


2 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 8% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


43 / 100 books. 43% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


97 / 109 books. 89% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


136 / 165 books. 82% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


85 / 100 names. 85% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


30 / 80 skills. 38% done!
Showing posts with label Daniela Petrova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daniela Petrova. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Intriguing Premise Leads to Twisty, Compelling Psychological Thriller

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

After years of struggling with infertility, both 38-year-old Lana Stone and her boyfriend, Tyler Jones, are at their wit's end.  The difference is Lana's willing to continue, while her faithful partner is done—with Lana's baby obsession, with all the stress and financial burden it places on them, and with their whole relationship, which has become tense and angry.  When Tyler moves out, Lana's stung.  Then, she gets miraculous news—she's finally pregnant.  Tyler might be out of the picture, but Lana's determined to have their baby anyway.  

A chance encounter on a New York City subway brings Lana face-to-face with a woman she's never met, but with whom she shares an intimate connection.  Katya Dimitrova is the 21-year-old college student whose donated eggs are making Lana's dreams of motherhood a reality.  Lana knows she should not, under any circumstances, follow Katya off the subway, but she does it anyway, an impulsive action that leads to an unlikely friendship between the two women.  It's not long, however, before fun-loving Katya disappears under suspicious circumstances.  Suddenly, Lana finds herself the prime suspect in a missing persons investigation.  In a desperate attempt to exonerate herself, she digs into Katya's past, which brings some very disturbing information to light ...

Her Daughter's Mother, a debut novel by Daniela Petrova, is a compelling psychological thriller built on an intriguing premise.  The characters are complex and authentic, although not very likable.  Still, the propulsive plot kept me reading, needing to know what was going to happen next.  Although the novel is depressing and I didn't end up loving it, it definitely kept me turning pages.  I liked it enough that I'll keep an eye out for Petrova's sophomore attempt.   

(Readalikes:  Hm, nothing's coming to mind.  Help!)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language, violence, sexual content, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday: Hands-On Reading


Welcome to another edition of my favorite bookish meme!  I love Top Ten Tuesday, even if today's topic—Books That I Refuse to Let Anyone Touch (too special/valuable/fragile/etc.)—doesn't really apply to me.  I'm not interested enough to collect rare books, not sentimental enough to keep nostalgic reads (at least not old, fragile copies), and not cautious enough not to let family and friends borrow my books.  So, yeah, for this topic?  I got nothing.  Instead, I'm going to spin it a little and list the Top Ten Books I'm Hoping to Touch This Summer (or, My Summer TBR List).  This will actually be the subject of the TTT list on June 25, but since I'm constantly biting off more than I can chew (er, read), I will no doubt be able to come up with another, entirely different list in a month.  No problem.

Before we get to that, though, I want to encourage you to join in the TTT fun.  It's a simple way to spread the love around the book blogosphere while adding to both your blogroll and your TBR pile mountain mountain chain at the same time.  Just click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a couple instructions, make your own list, and voilá!  You're in.

Top Ten Books I'm Hoping to Touch This Summer (or My Summer TBR List, Part I)



1.  The County of Ross:  A History of Ross County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession, Educational Development, Industry and Agriculture, and Biographical Sketches by Henry Holcomb Bennett—Since February, I've been working hard to fulfill the first requirement in the process of becoming an accredited genealogist through ICAPGen.  It involves writing a lengthy research report on four generations of a family who lived continuously in the part of the world in which you are seeking to specialize.  For me, that's the Great Lakes region, where most of my ancestors settled after immigrating to the U.S. from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.  The specific family I'm researching has lived in Ross County, Ohio, for generations.  Thus, I'm reading this 785-page gem, which was published in 1902.  It's more scintillating than I thought it would be.  I actually stayed up until midnight the other night reading it!  #genealogynerd

That being said, The County of Ross is hardly the kind of page-turner that I'm going to be reading cover-to-cover just as fast as I can.  I'll be reading chapters in between other books (probably mystery/suspense novels that I will want to consume at warp speed) so it will likely take me all summer to finish this hefty tome.  I've got time since my report isn't due until August ... 


2.  The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King—I bought this Fred Rogers biography after seeing the excellent documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? in the movie theater.  I found the film so inspiring that I wanted to learn more about this iconic figure whose t.v. show was a daily part of my early childhood.


3.  Educated by Tara Westover—This memoir about a woman's unconventional childhood and education has gotten all kinds of buzz since it was published.  It's been sitting on my physical TBR pile for months and I still haven't gotten to it.  Soon, I will. 


4.  Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord—I love Lord's poignant children's books, so I'm excited to read her newest.  This slim novel is about a girl who's going to public school for the first time after being homeschooled and the rescue rabbit who helps her cope with all the challenges she's facing.  Sounds sweet.


5.  Amina's Voice by Hena Khan—I found this MG novel, which I've heard good things about, while browsing at the library yesterday.  The story revolves around a Pakistani-American Muslim girl and her struggles with friendship, culture clashes, etc. 


6.  After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson—This Australian post-apocalyptic novel sounds intriguing.  This is one I'd really like to get my hands on, but I can't find it anywhere, even though it was published last year.  It's not available at my local libraries and it's not for sale on Amazon.  Anyone know how to get a hold of this elusive volume without traveling to Australia?


7.  Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim—I'm reading this one for a blog tour and it looks really fun.  It's about a chef who wants to revitalize the Chinatown restaurant she inherits from her estranged mother.


8.  The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan (available June 4, 2019)—I pre-ordered this WWII novel, which concerns a disgraced divorceé who travels to London to reunite with her estranged daughter.  When she discovers that, in the chaos of war, her daughter has gone missing, she launches her own investigation to find her vanished child.


9.  Her Daughter's Mother by Daniela Petrova (available June 18, 2019)—An expectant mother who becomes an unwitting stalker of the "anonymous" egg donor responsible for her pregnancy is the star of this forthcoming thriller.  When the donor disappears, the woman launches her own investigation to find out what happened to the woman to whom she owes so much.


10.  My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni—I came across an intriguing-looking series by Dugoni while perusing the mystery/thriller section of the library yesterday.  My library didn't have the first installment, My Sister's Grave, so I requested it from another branch.  It's about a homicide detective who's determined to solve her sister's disappearance and alleged murder.  

What do you think of my summer reading list?  Have you read any of these titles?  What books are on your summer TBR?  If you did today's topic, which books do you refuse to let anyone touch?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave a comment on this post and I will happily return the favor on your post (please make sure to leave the URL so I can find you).

Happy TTT!    
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2024 Reading Challenge

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