Website for Cheap Audiobooks and A New #2021AudioBookChallenge Book Review!

 If you have an Audible Plus subscription this wonderful novella is included in your membership! Bonus!

I listen to this book to kick off my participation in the #2021AudiobookChallenge I've set a lofty goal for the year!  If you like to listen to books or want to start listening to books join the challenge, you don't need to use Audible. You can borrow audiobooks from your local public library and listen via an app on your phone (called Libby or Overdrive).  There is also a website called Chirp Books where you can buy books at a very reasonable cost.  I have a discount link here you can use to get $5.00 toward Chirp Books. Since they have options for $2.99, $3.99, etc. The $5 goes farther than you would think!

Below is my review, but before I leave you to that, a quick note on Monday 1/18/2021 I'll be participating in the MLK Giveaway Hop.  You can see a button for it on the right-hand side of this page. I am going to be giving away a copy of The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow to one lucky commenter. You'll be able to enter to win books by Black Authors on a bunch of other blogs as well. 

Here is my latest review!

The House on the Water by Margot Hunt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you enjoy Agatha Christie you’ll love this modern tale of a vacation gone wrong. It’s novella-length so you can listen to it over the course of a couple workouts or while cleaning the house. Margot Hunt gives everyone involved plausible motives and in the end, we are left to decide if the killer will get off or not. I think they won’t get away with it. What I loved about this story is that the killer thinks they have avoided becoming a cliche, when in fact by killing the victim, they have become a completely pathetic cliche. It's delightful! A very satisfying listen!



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Do You Listen To Books? Try the Audiobook Challenge 2021!

 Two weeks until the New Year. Are you planning to set goals? do resolutions? start a new eating plan?  

As a fan of planning in general, even though during the last two years most of my goals and plans have taken GIGANTIC detours, I'm still making plans and setting goals.  What can I say setting goals and making a plan to work on those goals makes me happy. 

If you are like me and you enjoy goals and plans to do things or try new things, you should consider joining me for the Audio Challenge by Caffeinated Reader & That's What I'm Talking About.   It's just for fun, and you might learn some new things or at least will have some adventures between your ears. 

Right now I'm listening to an audiobook I borrowed from my library on the Libby App. Yes that is right you can borrow books and listen to them on your phone. How cool is that? 

Right now I'm halfway through Booked For Death by Victoria Gilbert. 

I don't know how it will go, but my plan is to listen to a book a week. How about you? Do you listen to audiobooks?  If not, give it a try! 

Summer Reading Challenge

My local library is having a summer reading challenge, not just for kids, also for adults. Adults earn tickets for gift card drawings. There are some pretty good gift cards this go round  including Imperial Oak Brewing and our local independent coffee shop: Strange Brew . I'm doing my best to get as many entries as possible before the challenge ends on August 1st. 

Here are the two books I finished this week-

The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One in a long, long series of psychological crime books staring Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis. As is usually the case, the murder is really weird. I have read many of the books in the series. This was alright, not my fave. I listened to it on audible.com. I find the reader for this series is perfect and enjoy listening to these books when I run or when I am cooking. I found during this installment my mind tended to wander away from the story more than usual. I have no idea how writers manage to get 30 plus books out of a series, that's a lot of creepy murders. In any case, I was glad that Milo was still hanging in there, he really doesn't do a great job taking care of himself.


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Sweet Talkin' Lover by Tracey Livesay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fun contemporary romance! Lots of fun reading as Calia fell in love with not just Wyatt but also the town of Bradelton. You can't read this and not want to go stay at Sinclair House and go to the Harvest Ball. Tracey Livesay did a nice job of raising the stakes and making it seem harder and harder for our couple to find their HEA. I enjoyed that the issues between them were not other people but the expectations of others. Very well done. I am looking forward to reading all future installments of the Girls Trip books! 

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How Do Sudoku Puzzles Even Work?

As I mentioned previously, if you are an audible.com member and you listen to 3 audiobooks between now and March 3rd, you get a $20 amazon gift card. 

So far I have listened to two books.  I have a third partially listened to, but ah, I'm just not really in the mood for it.  It's a fantasy book, first-person male wizard or demon, I'm not quite sure because it's not grabbing my attention. I'm thinking I may use my last credit to buy a different book. I'd like to get a good thriller with lots of chapter cliff hangers.

And speaking of books and reading, my library is having a winter reading contest.  Woo Hoo!  I participated in the one over the summer and didn't win anything. The way it works is you get a ticket for each book read and you can put your raffle ticket toward various prizes (like gift cards).  Keep your fingers crossed that I win a gift card- Starbucks or Target would be great, but I am flexible and would be happy with any prize.

IS this contest an honor system contest?  Yes, yes it is.  I could definitely lie and get extra tickets, but I am not some sort of jerk that would lie about books read! So wish me luck, I have maybe time enough to read 1-2 books per week. Could I read more if stayed off twitter? You raise a very good point!

That being said audiobooks count so I can listen to a book this week and double-dip in these two reading challenges. 

Today I started this cozy mystery that I got as a Christmas gift. The main character has a Soduku column in the local papers so there are Sodoku puzzles in the book. I am trying to do one and it's not going well so far. 

Please keep in mind that this next statement is mostly facetious.  It's too bad I'm doing radiation right instead of chemo.  Sitting around during chemo gives a person plenty of time to read.  Silver lining right there. 

Happy Tuesday!

Just Me Talking About My First Friday in 2020

How did you spend your first Friday in this new decade? I had a groovy time this afternoon hanging out in the Radiation Department of my hospital.  Today was the dry run for my upcoming radiation treatments.  I am happy to report both my doctor and the nurses said I am very good at holding my breath.  I credit all the running I do.  Is this a skill I can add to my resume? 

Why holding my breath? It is supposed to help move my heart and lung away from the beam of radiation. This technique is called Deep Inspiration Breath Hold.  Very zen sounding. I'm all for whatever I can do to keep my heart healthy-- especially since I had chemo and that can impact the heart.  Like the cancer isn't bad enough!  Insult to injury and all that.

It would be great if I could zone out and listen to a book on the audible app while I am laying there with the machine moving around me, but I have to listen to them tell me when to breath, hold my breath, and most importantly when I can stop holding my breath.  So no listening to a book.

Today I spent one of my credits on a thriller that takes place in Australia.  The bad guy is killed right off the bat, so now the question is what all went down prior to his death.

I've been a member of Audible off and on for years and now is a really good time to be a member. They have a special where if you listen to 3 books between now and March 3rd, you get a $20 Amazon Credit. Then I can use my $20 Amazon Credit to buy some paperback books. You can join Audible anytime this month and get in on the deal. If you are already a member you don't have to do anything, it's all tracked through the website.

Looking for Summer Reads? Try some Urban Fantasy

I recently finished the Hollows Series by Kim Harrison. Below is my review of the final book in the series.  The first book is Dead Witch Walking. If you are tempted to take a taste of this series, the Kindle version is only .99 cents. That's how they get you sucked in! 😊 All the books were available at my local library, so you can read for free or order from audible.com for audio ( or get the audio or e version from your library as well). Or support your local independent book seller!


The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I started reading this book when it first came out and then I put it down for a few years, Why? It's the last book in Kim Harrison's Hollows Series and I wasn't ready to be done forever with Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and Al.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Back around book 7, I met Kim Harrison at a book signing. She is a lovely person. It's always nice when the writer whose work you look forward to reading is also pleasant and happy to answer questions about her stories.

I'm not 100% clear on the vampire resolution, like what will happen when Ivy dies her first death. Will there be some sort of vampire daisy chain? I'm not going to over think this, because I have to say I don't care as much about the vampires as I do the demons. The demon situation was resolved very satisfactorily.

I was disappointed on the fast forward that occurs in final chapters, I was really hoping to see Rachel and Trent marry and raising the kiddos (with Quen) shortly after the climax of the book. Ending with Rachel finally feeling like a full member of society would have been icing on the cake. Rachel says she is OK without a marriage, but I think we know better. Also Rachel's mom would love for her daughter to get married.  😊 Maybe Kim will do a short story follow up with a wedding, or maybe she has done one already and I don't know!

Having so many great books sitting in my TBR pile, and on my Audible wish list, I rarely re-read anything. However, The Witch With No Name did have me feeling surprisingly nostalgic and I want to go back to the beginning and read Dead Witch Walking  now that I know how the story ends.


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On the writing front, tomorrow starts the #1000wordsofsummer challenge.  You can click to join the challenge if you like to write!  I'm excited because yesterday I figured out what to do with the date I accidentally sent my protagonist on with one of her co-workers. It's going to be awkward!