Borrowathon #6

 This is the only readathon I did for this month. The readathon went from May 19th-May 26th.
There were 6 challenges and I was able to complete 5 of them. So what were the challenges. I will go by the pictures I have.
The first challenge was to read a book I was in the mood for. For this I read Fatality By: Caroline B. Cooney. I borrowed this book from my daughter Bekah. I have had this book for a really long time and really needed to get it read. This book is about a teenage girl who was involved with a murder that happen fours ago and it was never solved. The police are back asking questions and her mom has given them her diary since she wrote everything down in it for that year before she stopped writing. She is freaking out because she has a secret that she doesn't want anyone to know. She does the unthinkable and steals the police car to get it back. What happen four years ago? What is her secret? You will have to read the book to find out. I enjoyed the book and it was a quick read. The next challenge was to read a book completely outside of your house. For this I read Elevation By: Stephen King. I read this in the car as I waited to pick up David from school. I finished it on Saturday afternoon on my back porch. This book is short and not a horror. Something a little different for him. This book is about a man who is losing weight but he doesn't look like it. The doctor can't find anything wrong with him or has an explanation of what is causing it. It is a fun a little story and tells how he deals with it and some other things that he try's to deal with before the end comes. You should give it try.

 The next challenge is to read a book that features a library. For this challenge I listened to The Body In The Library By: Agatha Christie. As you probably already know this is a mystery novel. I don't like to go into much detail about these types of books. I am finding that I am enjoying her books. This book of course takes place in a library and they are trying to figure out who killed the young lady that they find. Another quick read. You will find that I tried to get small books for this readathon.

 The next challenge was to read a non-traditional format. For this challenge I listened to The Narrative of Sojourner Truth By: Herself and Olive Gilbert. This book is about her life. I love history and wanted something educational for a change. I enjoyed this book.

The last challenge I was able to complete was to read a book featuring one of your bucket list items. The book for this challenge was Sadie By: Courtney Summers. This wasn't my first choice but the book I wanted to read was over 400 pages and I was running out time so I picked up this one. I do want to eventually listened to podcast. This book is basically a podcast story. I listened to this on audio and I would highly recommend that you do also. This book is about a girl who going after her sister killer. It tells what she thinking and what she does. It is kind of a mystery so again I don't want to go into much detail. I liked this book. The book goes into details about this girl's life and what happened to her and why she is going after her sister's killer. She knows who he is.  The challenge I didn't get to was to read a book set during your favorite time of year.
While that is what I read for this week. Did you join in the readathon? If you did what did you read? I would like to know. Until next time keep reading.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Review

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
By: Kim Michele Richardson
Sourcebooks Landmark
Historical Fiction
Publish Date 7 May 2019
320 Pages

I really enjoyed this book. The author did a great job telling this story. This can be a hard topic to tell because it is about race. The race is a very uncommon type but does exist. Cussy Mary is what you would call a blue lady. That is her skin has a blue tint to it. The story takes place in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. She is part of the WPA program that FDR started when he became President. This program is called the Pack horse library. What she does is gather up donated books and deliver them to her patrons on horse back or mule. She actually becomes friends with her patrons and everyone is happy to see her. She does have some things happen to her. This story goes into  how these blue people are treated almost as bad as the blacks or the poor.  When I picked up the book I didn't want to put it down. This is a great story and you should give it a read. I learned somethings that I didn't know. I didn't know all the programs that FDR put into action when he was President to help us get out of the depression and back on our feet.  I gave this book 4.5 stars.

Ruby Review

This book was really hard for me to read. I have added a clip from Orpah's show with the author. I really didn't like this book because it had a lot of things I didn't want to read about. Well I actually listened to this book in the car as I ran errands and such. The reason I picked up this book is because of Orpah. I have read many of the books from her book club picks.
This book is mostly based in the 1950,s in the south. It is about a girl named Ruby and her life. There are other people mentioned but mostly about Ruby. At a young age Ruby is sexually assaulted by her pastor because he thought if you get the girls while they are young you can bring them around to the man's thinking. This really messes up the rest of her life and how the people in the town see her.
This is a really rough story and hard to put into words. If you read this book please be aware of sexual assault and physical abuse. There are some good things about this like the pastor's son who has always loved Ruby and tries to help her but she doesn't know how to take this this because she has never felt love before. This pastor was a very bad man and it does go into detail on how he got that way. This book tells a rough story. I for one had a rough time listening to it and it actually made me ill to my stomach. I am not denying that these things don't happen but I really don't want to read about them. To heart breaking.

Book of the Month unboxing

 I have been getting Book of the Month for over a year now and it is one of the best things I did. It is the best book box you can get because there is no extra items that you have to figure out what to do with. This month I am getting something extra because I have been with them for so long and usually always order the max of three books.

 My box was bigger and when I opened it there were two boxes inside.

 The box on the left held my books that I chose and the one on the right was my free item that I earned.

 Here is a quick peek of one of the books I ordered. If you read my May most anticipated book blog you will recognize this book. My free item was a book bag. I love me a book bag.

Here are the items I received this month. Two books were books that I highly anticipated and the book bag with a book mark. The book mark says BOTM*BFF*
The monthly cost is $14.99. That includes shipping and a free bookmark. You can purchase up to two more books for an additional $9.99 per book and still get free shipping. Remember these are hardback books. You can't find a better deal. Below is my link to give them a try and you will receive a free book and so will I. I hope you give this box a try. You won't regret it.
https://www.mybotm.com/0cxpwrpoiqlivn29

April Wrap up

 Here are the rest of the books that I read in April that were not on the OWLs that I did. A lot of these books were from the month of March and February. So the bottom book The Death of Mrs. Westaway By Ruth Ware was the library book club read for April or March I can't remember. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars. The City of Brass By: S.A. Chakraborty I started in February and finally finished this month. It is a fantasy so it took me a little longer to read. I also enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars. The book Ruby by: Cynthia Bond I listened to on audio as I ran my errands around town or just driving around. I didn't like this book and gave it only 2 stars. There were a lot of things I didn't like about and there are a lot of trigger warnings that I wish I knew about before starting this book. I will go into more details in a review once I get got up on things. Last Call at the Night Shade Lounge by: Paul Krueger was another book club read for me and I also listened to this on audio. It was an ok book and I gave it 3 stars. The last book on this stack The Cold Dish By: Craig Johnson was a disappointment for me. I actually met the author and he is a great guy and very funny but this book was only a 3 star for me. Maybe because it is more of western then a mystery. This is a mystery book but has a lot of western theme stuff going on. This is the first book in a series and I just don't know if I will continue on. I do own two more of his books that I got from book outlet. I will have to think hard on this one.

 This is a children's picture book that won the Goodreads award for 2018. I gave it 5 stars. I thought it was cute and had a message for the younger ones. I also enjoyed the pictures. I don't read in this area anymore because my children are older and my grandchildren live far away from me.

 This is a cute graphic novel. It is young adult and a quick read. I had a great time reading this and it only took me an afternoon to read. I gave it 5 stars.

This is a short story collection of women as the title tells you. I am trying to read a short story every day. I have discovered that I really don't like short stories but since I have quite a few of them on my shelves I need to get them read. I gave this book 3 stars. I feel that the short stories don't always give you enough information and it leaves me hanging and I just don't like that feeling.
I wasn't sure if I was going to do a wrap up so I don't have any statistics for you this month. I am keeping track for next month.
Until next time keep reading.

O.W.L.S Readathon Wrap up

 I have decided to take part in a month long readathon for the month of April. This readathon is the OWLS which is a magical readathon based on Harry Potter. I have enjoyed reading the books from the series by myself and then reading them to my younger two children. I have also watched the movies over and over again. When you have children who love the series you can't not help be involved with them. In this readathon there are 12 challenges and I was able to complete 11 of them. So not to bad besides the other 9 books I read which will be in the next blog.
So on with the books I read. The one challenge I didn't finish was called Ancient Runes which was to read a retelling this is the one I didn't get to. Arithmancy was to read a book by two authors and I read What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. I gave it 4 stars. Astronomy was to read a book with "star" in the title and read Girl Made of Stars by: Ashley Herring Blake. I gave it 5 stars. Care of Magical Creatures was to read a book with a land animal on the cover. I read Marley and Me by: John Grogan. I gave it 5 stars and be prepared to cry. Charms was to read a book of adult work and I read Crime and Punishment by: Fyodor Dostoevsky. I gave it 3 stars. It was a classic and they are hard for me to read and enjoy. Divination was to read a book set in the future and I finally read The Martian by: Andy Weir. I gave this book 4.5 stars but on goodreads it will show as 5 stars. History of Magic was to read a book that was published at least ten years ago and I read Coraline by: Neil Gaiman. I gave it 4 stars. It is another book like C.S. Lewis The Lion Witch and Wardrobe.

 This is the book I read for Muggle Studies which was to read a contemporary. I gave it 4 stars. This is another hard hitting book and I would recommend that you read it.

 I read this book for Herbology which was to read a book with a plant on the cover. I gave it 3 stars.
This is a memoir and it is hard for to rate someone elses life but for me it was a little boring.

 This is the book I read for Potions which was to read a sequel. You will also see this book again later in the year. I gave it 3 stars. It is a graphic novel and for me a little weird and starting to get boring and the series really needs to wrap up soon.

 This is the book I read for Defence of the Dark Arts which was to read a book that starts with "R" in the title. This was okay. I gave it 3 stars. Not one of his better books

The last book for the OWLs that I read was for Transfiguration which was to read a book with sprayed edges or a red cover. This book has been on shelves for a long time and I finally decided to read it. It is a short book just over 100 pages. I gave it 3 stars. This book talks about the religious aspects of the Da Vinci Code. At least the authors didn't bash Dan Brown and at the end of the book the do say to remember that The Da Vinci is a work of fiction.

These books really gave me a chance to round out my reading the month and some of them have been on my shelves for awhile and I was finally able to read them. Did you take part in this readathon? What did you read and were they any good?
Until next time keep reading.

Starworld Review

                                                               

StarWorld

By: Audrey Coulthurst and Paula Garner

Candlewick Press

Teens and YA

Pub Date 16 April 2019

352 pages

#Starworld #NetGalley

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Even though this book took me awhile to read I really enjoyed it. It isn't the books fault for the amount of time I took to read it but family and activities that were happening. This book is already out and I highly recommend that you read this book. 

At first I thought this book would be about space and wasn't sure about it but I was pleasantly surprised. This book is about a made up world called Starworld. This is a made up world that two teenage girls go to in text messages back and forth to take them away from their problems.

The girls names are Zoe and Sam. Zoe is adopted with a mom who has cancer and is in partial remission and a younger brother who has special needs. Sam is a girl who likes girls. Her parents are divorced and her Mom has a severe of OCD and Dad lives in London. Sam likes Zoe as more than a friend and Zoe only likes Sam as a friend. This book was hard to put down. I love the world they created and the way they interacted both on the phone and in real life together.

Sam and Zoe get along great and have some wonderful times together and things happen which make them look at themselves and to make their lives better.