With two bible studies, more blogging and YouTube I didn't finish nearly the amount of books as I expected, but I was also more selective about said books, so yay!
FIVE Stars
This is One Moment by Mila Gray aka Stay With Me - I liked this one better than the first book. The story probably had a similar flow but the romance in this one captured me and I loved the supporting characters stories as well!!
Synopsis: Didi Monroe’s waited her whole life for the type of romance you see in the movies, so when Hollywood heartthrob Zac Ridgemont sweeps her off her feet, Didi believes she might finally have met the one.
While Zac’s away filming for the summer, Didi begins her internship at a military hospital in California. There, she meets wounded Marine Noel Walker.
Frustrated on the outside and broken on the inside, Walker’s a pain-in-the-ass patient who refuses all help.
Yet Didi can’t help but be drawn to him, and though he’s strictly out of bounds it soon becomes impossible to ignore the sparks flying between them.
As the attraction simmers into dangerous territory, Didi finds herself falling hard for a man she knows is going to break her heart. Because Walker doesn’t believe in love or happy ever afters. So what possible future can there be?
Then tragedy hits, shattering both their worlds, and Didi is forced to choose between fighting for love or merely falling for the illusion of it.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara was so good, ever since BTK aka Dennis Rader came back into the public eye in Wichita (where I spent half my life) while I was there, I've had an unhealthy obsession with serial killers. Getting to read all of the information McNamara captured on the Golden State Killer and seeing the story solved around publishing time was awesome. I felt like this book kept my attention much like a fictional story.
Synopsis: For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.
Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic—one which fulfilled Michelle's dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer.
Four Stars
Arrogant Devil by R. S. Grey dragged for me. I thought once the story picked up it had a good story and romance. If you have read other R. S. Grey stories, let me know your favorite. I'd like to try another one by this author.
Synopsis: Everyone in Cedar Creek, Texas, knows Jack McNight is an arrogant devil. Physically, I get it: he’s tan and fit, with coal-black hair that’s clearly been scorched by hellfire. Oh, and his personality? It burns just as hot.
When I show up on the doorstep of Blue Stone Ranch, I’m run-down and rockin’ my last pair of underwear. I’m hoping for a savior, but instead, I find him.
My opinion of Jack is marred by a dismal first impression, but his opinion of me is tainted even before I arrive. He’s heard I’m a spoiled princess there to take advantage of his goodwill. To him, I’m more trouble than I’m worth.
Our button-pushing banter should get under my skin. His arrogance should be a major turn-off. Problem is, devils are known to offer their own form of temptation.
Every one of his steely glares sends a shiver down my spine.
Every steamy encounter leaves me reeling.
Sure, it could be the Texas heat messing with my head, but there’s no way I’ll survive the summer without silencing him with a kiss and wrestling him out of those Wranglers.
Who knows…going to bed with the devil might just be the salvation I’ve been looking for all along.
Killman Creek by Rachel Caine was a follow up to Stillhouse Lake and I flew through it but there's yet another story and this one wasn't as good as the first to me. I would have been just as happy to have only one book. Now I have to wait another year to read the next one.
Synopsis: Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…
You’re not safe anywhere now.
Her refuge at Stillhouse Lake has become a trap. Gwen leaves her children in the protective custody of a fortified, well-armed neighbor. Now, with the help of Sam Cade, brother of one of Melvin’s victims, Gwen is going hunting. She’s learned how from one of the sickest killers alive.
But what she’s up against is beyond anything she feared—a sophisticated and savage mind game calculated to destroy her. As trust beyond her small circle of friends begins to vanish, Gwen has only fury and vengeance to believe in as she closes in on her prey. And sure as the night, one of them will die.
Currently reading: In Bloom by Kayla Aimee and over half way through!!
Captivating by Jon and Stasi Eldredge,
Just Open the Door by Jen Schmidt and
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling.
What are you reading and loving?!
