50 Books 50 States - Eat, Tan, Read

Book 23: Minnesota

🍓Hannah’s back with more receipes and murders! I am so excited! I love this series so much. It is so cute, light, and a breeze to read through. The reciepes add so much fun to the reading and I have even tried a few of them myself.

Goodreads: When the president of Hartland Flour chooses cozy Lake Eden, Minnesota, as the spot for their first annual Dessert Bake-Off, Hannah is thrilled to serve as the head judge. But when a fellow judge, Coach Boyd Watson, is found stone-cold dead, facedown in Hannah’s celebrated strawberry shortcake, Lake Eden’s sweet ride to fame turns very sour indeed.

Between perfecting her Cheddar Cheese Apple Pie and Chocolate Crunchies, Hannah’s snooping into the coach’s private life and not coming up short on suspects. And could Watson’s harsh criticism during the judging have given one of the contestants a license to kill? The stakes are rising faster than dough, and Hannah will have to be very careful, because somebody is cooking up a recipe for murder…with Hannah landing on the “necessary ingredients” list.

Book 22: Michigan

Goodreads: “I’m not an old-timer. I’m an other-timer,” declares a Vietnam-scarred vet who had found safe harbor after the war as a barkeep in a small northern Michigan town. Now plopped stool-side far from home – having traveled all day on a bus to witness a landmark moment – his outpouring of memories prompts a young bartender to complain, “What’s it to me? I wasn’t even born then.” Thirty years later, however, remembering the old vet recalling people from his past, the younger man sees himself see him see them, and realizes that all our way-back-when times are just a mirror reflecting a mirror, a fading column of reflected reflections … of stories. The old vet had been right when he claimed that, for a bartender, remembering is an occupational hazard. Was it also true that memories can be a way to forget.

I just started this book yesterday, made it 1/3 of the way and spent several hours saying out loud “WTF did I just read”. I wasn’t sure if maybe I was just having an off day so I had my hubby read a page and let me know if I am just struggling with a case of the dumb but when he responded with a WTF of his own, I had my answer. Thankfully this book is short or otherwise I am not so sure I would be able to get through it.

July Recap

4 Books
2,182 pages
Average Rating 4.25

What Doesn’t Kill You 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Bayou Myth 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Digital Fortress 🌟🌟🌟🌟
IT 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I finally got out of my 2 book slump! Whew! July was a crazy month for me so I am very proud that I completed these 4. I am so ready for life to resemble some kind of normalcy. I need a vacation so bad it’s not even funny anymore. Our planned trip this year has been cancelled and rescheduled 3x so far. Which I completely understand, and I want to be safe, but it is just torturous. You get your hopes up and then… Just kidding! Now we are looking at November.
I am 7 books behind schedule on my year goal 😫 however 2020 is not like a normal year that’s for sure. I certainly don’t want to rely on my vacation to catch up, just in case, so we might need to schedule a little weekend getaway to unplug and relax.

Book 21: Massachusetts

“Bag of Bones meets Stranger Things…”

Ooh, I love both of those…color me interested! Everything about this book sounds good and scary.

I received this book back in 2018 as a Goodreads Giveaway and I am finally able to get to it. This year I have been focusing on gifted books as priority so that I can finally read and review those that have been sitting on my shelf for far too long. A big thanks to Christian Galacar for this gifted copy!

“Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children. In need of a fresh start, and compelled by strange dreams, the couple decide to rent a lake house in the idyllic town of Gilchrist, Massachusetts, a place where bad things might just happen for a reason. As bizarre events begin to unfold around them—a chance encounter with a gifted six-year-old boy, a series of violent deaths, and repeated sightings of a strange creature with a terrifying nature—Peter and Sylvia find themselves drawn into the chaos and soon discover that coming to Gilchrist may not have been their decision at all.”

“Set against a small New England town in the summer of 1966, Gilchrist is a sinister tale about the haunting origins of violence, evil, and the undying power of memory.”

Book 20: Maryland

I love that Dan Brown has brillant woman cryptographers as his characters! It’s so awesome to see a male author put women in powerful positions that are male dominate roles. Cyber books always bring out the geek in me.

“When the NSA’s invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage … not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple U.S. intelligence. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but also for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves.”

Book Review – Bayou Myth

Bayou Myth by Mary Ann Loesch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Young Adult, Paranormal Romantic Thriller

“You can’t be no great priestess if you are always walking on the safe side of the path. Take risks even if that might mean fighting against normal.”

16 year old Joan Renault is the great granddaughter of the legendary voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, whose magical gifts have been past down to Joan. Teased her whole life by the other kids and called “hoodoo hag”, she just wishes she was normal but what comes to her little town is anything but normal and she must rely on all her training in order to put a stop to the evil.

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Book 19: Maine

We all know this story and I am so excited to FINALLY read it. It is has been sitting on my bookshelf for YEARS and I am a asshamed to admit that I have been avoiding it due to the size, 1089 pages. 😳 I knew that this would take a long time to read and did not want to derail my reading goal so I always put it off, well not any longer. I got the brillant idea to listen to it on audio instead. It’s still gonna take me some time with 45 hours of listening to do but at least I can multi task while doing it.

“They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they were grown-up men and women who had gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them could withstand the force that drew them back to Derry, Maine to face the nightmare without an end and the evil without a name…”

Book 18: Louisiana

A young adult Paranormal Fantasy Novel. I love how fast you can just breeze through a YA book! Its a nice break from the novels I have recently been reading. I so needed it to help get me back on schedule and I am enjoying it more than I thought I would.

“As a sixteen year old voodoo queen in the making, Joan Renault just wants to be like all the other girls in the small town of Monte Parish, Louisiana—obsessed with boys and swamped with social lives. If the other kids would quit calling her “hoodoo hag,” she might have a small shot at normality. It would also help if Joan’s weekend outings with her secret crush, Dave, weren’t always being interrupted by her dead Grandmere, the legendary Marie Laveau. After all, it’s hard to make out with your best friend when your grandmother is watching! But when you come from a long line of voodoo priestesses with dried gator heads decorating the wall of their huts, normal doesn’t come easily.

When Joan witnesses the brutal sacrifice of a child to a tree Druid, she learns her Grandmere’s scandalous past has come back to haunt those living in the present. Hera, a vengeful voodoo priestess is determined to use the residual energy of Pandora’s Box to revive a sleeping voodoo god and declare war on the descendants of Marie Laveau, especially Joan. Suddenly, Greek myths are being re-enacted all over town, and Joan has her hands full trying to sort it all out. With the approach of Samedi’s Day—the voodoo day of resurrection—Joan must learn to accept her destiny in order to stop the approaching threat to her family and friends.”

June Recap

June Recap:

2 Books

866 pages

Average Rating 5.0

Chasing Evil 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Dark Places 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Another 2 book month but I’m not upset. It looks worse then it actually was. I was reading 2 more books in June but one I finished on 7/3 so technically that will count for July and I am half way through IT. It is just a beast of a book, I am listening to the audio version and it is 45 hours long! I know a lot of you can blaze right through that but I am not there yet! 😂 I have a full time job and 10 animals to care for (2 dogs, 6 tortoises, and 2 bearded dragons). I used to have a commute where it would have taken no time at all to get through but with the Rona I now work at home. Not complaining about that, it is the best thing to come out of this pandemic.

June was packed full of family visits though so not a whole lot of time was spent reading. I keep telling myself not to worry that I will catch up during my vacation but my vacation keeps getting cancelled and rescheduled.😭 Originally booked in April, then moved to September, now currently set for November but if we can’t get this pandemic under control I feel it will not be happening at all this year. Then I will reach the end of the year and be no where near my 50 book goal.😫

The books this month were awesome picks however! Both Thrillers that I really enjoyed. Be sure to check out my reviews page!

Book Review – What Doesn’t Kill You

What Doesn’t Kill You by Iris Johansen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Romantic Thriller

“I merely encountered Lucifer, and he thinks I can bring him out of hell and give him back paradise.”
“I avoid Lucifer if I can. I understand his ambition and recognize it in myself. It’s just another name for power, and it can be a heady brew.”

Catherine has just returned from a job in Peru when she gets a call from Venable, the deputy director of the CIA and her boss. He needs her in Hong Kong now. There is a situation that only she can help with, Hu Chang. A mysterious Chinese medicine potion maker, he is also a master poison maker and assassin but he is the closest thing to a father that Catherine knows. He took her in when she was young, alone, and on the streets.
“Hu Chang stopped being innocent a long, long time ago. He’s capable of doing anything that he chooses. But he doesn’t usually choose anything that would get him into this kind of trouble. What’s he done?” “I think he’s concocted some potion or drug that’s fairly world-shaking.”

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