Hooked on Books discussion

You will than take your partners name and treat it like acrostic form. Take each letter of your partners name and read a book that starts with that letter in the title. For example if someone was partnered with me you would read books:
A-An Anonymous Girl
M-Murder on the Orient Express
A-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
N-New Moon
D-Divergent
A-The Alchemist
A, AND, and THE do not count for the letter
Once you complete each others name only 1 team member has to go over to the
Check-In Thread


There will also be bonus tasks after you finish each others names to get to know each other better.

This is a 2 month challenge that will run April 1 to May 31. All standard rules will apply.
Q&A

Hi Rawaa!

Checking in! I’m Carrie. I live near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My favorite genres are mystery, thriller, noir, and horror. I’ll read almost anything though.

I’m looking forward to hearing all about you and starting this challenge!

Hi Michelle! I see you’re my new partner! (You can just look up at the last post to see my intro!)

I see you’re a fan of history books! That’s something pretty far out of my wheelhouse. I’ll read some historical fiction occasionally! Ideas for what you might read for this challenge?

Hey Carrie...

It's nice to meet you. I read a bunch of different genres. I like to hop around and not stick to one thig for too long, Otherwise I get bored. I read like my spotify playlist. Random and weird...lol

Since I will have 2 extra letters in my name and you only have 6, if you want to give me 2 extra letters that have significance to you, I will read for those as well. Just please don't give me an X or a U. lol.

I'm going to look through my list and see what I have that will fit your name. This should be fun.

Michelle's Books for CARRIE

C - Carnage in a Pear Tree: A Witchy Christmas Cozy Mystery - Dakota Cassidy - 4/3/23
A - The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson - 4/24/23
R - Rage by Jonathan Maberry - 4/14/23
R - Red Creek by Nathan Hystad - 4/25/23
I - The Invited by Jennifer McMahon - 5/6/23
E - Elsie: Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916 by Barbara Anne Waite - 5/8/23

S - Save a Truck, Ride a Redneck by Molly Harper - 4/23/23
M - Maze of Souls by J.L. Bryan - 5/1/23

Completion Post - LETTER C



Book - Carnage in a Pear Tree: A Witchy Christmas Cozy Mystery
Author - Dakota Cassidy
Date - 4/3/23
Rating - 3 Stars
Review - This was a cute little paranormal cozy mystery set in the town of Marshmallow Hollow, Maine where the town is everything Christmas. Our MC, Halliday Valentine, is a witch who owns a Factory that produces all things Christmassy and an amateur sleuth that sticks her nose in all the murder cases. She gets away with it because her bff is a cop so she gets all the info she should probably not get. Although I'm not a huge fan of cozy mystery, I can get behind this one because I want to live in Marshmallow Hollow..lol.

Hal gets involved with the latest case when the body falls from the ski lifts and into her pear tree on her property. It's discovered that the body was dead before it even hit the ground. So Hal begins to investigate with her boyfriend and the info she gets from her cop bff.

It's a fun and fluffy read, that is relatively short.

Love that you included a review! Marshmallow Hollow sounds like a great place to live (even for the name alone lol)! Is this a series that you have read other titles in?

I’m organizing my books to create my list today hopefully. I requested 4 books at the library (and of course they all came in at the same time!). One of them can be used for your name.

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

I hope to have my “H” book finished today. It’s an ARC I won on Goodreads by an author I like.

Have You Seen Her


I was thinking about the 2 additional letters for you. How about an S and an M?

Carnage in a Pear Tree is book # 4 in the series. So far that's the last book, I'm hoping she will write more. I'm all caught up for now. If you are interested the first book is Jingle all the Slay

Have You Seen Her looks really good. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

The two letters of S & M are perfect.

I went to start the A book today, but it won't be available on scribd until 4/12. I'll have to skip that one for now and see about another letter.

Completion Post

M - Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

Rupert Holmes
Date Read: 4/14/2023
Pages: 389

I - The Institute

Stephen King
Date Read: 5/10/2023
Pages: 561

C

H - Have You Seen Her: A Novel

Author - Catherine McKenzie
Date Read: 4/10/2023
Pages - 336

E - Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Benjamin Stevenson
Date Read: 5/23/2023
Pages: 384

L - The London Séance Society

Sarah Penner
Date Read: 4/19/2023
Pages: 352

L Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love

Kim Fay
Date Read: 4/28/2023
Pages: 208

E - An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

Helene Tursten
Date Read: 5/27/2023
Pages: 185

Thanks for letting me know the title of the first in that series. I’ve added it to my to read list!

I enjoyed ! It has a nice twist at the ending that I wasn’t expecting. I need to write a review (tomorrow). I won it on here as a giveaway.

Did you decide on which book to read while waiting for the book on the 12th?

I’m working on my M book. Hope to be done with it tomorrow maybe!

I'm working on the first R and reading:

by Jonathan Maberry

It has one of my favorite characters ever, Joe Ledger.

I have a Maberry book on my shelf. I received it in a Thriller book of the Month Club. It's Glimpse. Have you read it?

Finished my M book. Not sure where I'm going next! Probable L with The London Séance Society.

I have not read Glimpse, however it to is on my shelf here at home.

Completion Post - Letter R



Book - Rage
Author - Jonathan Maberry
Date - 4/14/23
Rating - 5 Stars

Review - This is the review I left when I completed the book.

Holy Forking Shit Balls Of Fire!!

What in the wide blue fuck did I just read? I don't know whether to love you Mr. Maberry or hate your ever loving guts. What you did to Joe is just unspeakable and you made me cry my eyes out right in the middle of getting an iron infusion. Now I have to go read Relentless like yesterday. I hope you're happy with yourself!!

As a side note, you should be happy with yourself, this was brilliant and my favorite Joe Ledger book so far. Does that mean I'm as sadistic as you?

The next letter I will work on is the A.

Love your review Michelle! Definitely feel like I need to add him to my TBR pile now!

If the Joe Leger series sounds interesting to you then start with

If you can get them audio, it's even better. His narrator is perfect.

I'll have to look on Libby and see if my library has it available on audiobook. Thanks for the tip!

How's your reading going?

I have not felt well all week, so my reading has slacked a little. I just started my A book today. So far it's really good.

Hate to hear that you didn’t feel well. Hope you are feeling better now!

No worries about reading. The book that I’m reading now doesn’t fit this challenge…

I do have my next letter planned and hope to start tomorrow!

I'm in so many challenges right now. I'm trying to line up some of the books to make them fit other challenges. Normally they all fall in together, but occasionally I get a week where nothing lines up and I have to scramble to get books done. After the A, I'm hoping to get to a the S.

Completion Post - Letter



Book - Save a Truck, Ride a Redneck
Author - Molly Harper
Date Read - 4/23/23
Rating - 4 Stars
Review - Book 0.5 in the Southern Eclectic #0.5 series by Molly Harper. I'm a sucker for southern fiction and Molly Harper is ridiculously funny. This is a side story of one of the side characters in book 1. Marianne is part of a family from Lake Sackett, GA where they own a funeral home and bait and tackle shop. The funeral home is in the front of the building and the bait and tackle store is run from the back of the house facing the lake. Marianne goes off to college because she thinks she wants more out of life that working in the family business. In her attempt to keep away from home she breaks up with her high school boyfriend, Carl and breaks his heart. She comes home for the summer 4 years later and she find herself questioning if what she really wanted all along was right where she left it.

This was a fun story with some really eccentric characters and some laugh out loud scenes.

My next read is going to be

I think I could use a little bit of horror reading.

Completion Post - Letter A



Book - The Almost Sisters
Author - Joshilyn Jackson
Date Read - 4/24/23
Rating - 4 Stars

Review - Leia is called to her grandmothers house in Alabama after an incident at the church fish fry where Birchie outs several people at the church for having "inappropriate relations" with other church members. As it turns out, Birchie is sick with a form of dementia, called Lewy Body. Birchie's roommate and bff who lives wth her has been hiding it from everyone and taking care of her. Leia arrives and tries to take over and place her grandmother in an assisted living home where she could get the care she needs, but everything is placed on hold when a skeleton in a trunk is discovered and the law gets involved.

Leia's life is also in topsy turvy mode because she is pregnant by a one night stand with an unnamed Batman after a weekend at a comic convention and her perfect step sister is also staying at the house after the breakdown of her once perfect marriage.

You would think this would be a pretty sad read, but honestly it was kinda fun and hilarious at times. Even though it dealt with some pretty hard issues like racism, rape, and bullying. Those were handled with care, but the rest of the story is pretty amusing.

Completion Post - Letter R



Book - Red Creek
Author - Nathan Hystad
Date Read - 4/25/23
Rating - 2 Stars

Review - The only reason this got 2 stars from me is because the town in this book, Red Creek, NY, is real and only an hour away from me. Plus it also has a really huge apple orchard there (different name) like in the book. Other than that, this was way down on my list of craptastic reads this year. It was supposed to be horror, but I've had an empty water bottle crackling scare me more than this book. It was also supposed to be a mystery. When you know from the very beginning what the mystery is, it's not much of a surprise at the end. You already knew how it would end and the middle part was just fluffy filler. Oh and the cover was pretty cool too. Too bad the story was not.

Hi Michelle,

Love your last review - empty water bottle crackling scares you more 🤣

I love horror books - hate when they fall really flat like that.

Finished my 4th book - trying to keep pace with you but got a bit behind the past couple of days.

The crackling water bottle is a true story. It scared me so bad I screamed and jumped like I was a pre teen who just won front row Taylor Swift concert tickets.

I'm currently reading for the M. That wont be finished till Monday. The husband and I ran away to Saratoga Springs, NY and Bennington, Vermont for a 4 day weekend. I did'nt finish the audio book on the drive there, but will probably finish on the drive back home. I'm making him listen as well.

So far, Ive added all the books you have read so far to my tbr pile.

That's too funny!

I hope you had a great getaway. Sounds like fantastic fun! Not been to either place. Did you select them on a whim or was there something in particular at each place that you went for? (If you don't mind me asking)

Did he enjoy the audio book? I try to listen to audio books but I struggle to stay focused for some reason!

Working on my C book now!

Saratoga Springs was planned about a month or so ago. Kevin Hearne was supposed to be at one of the bookstores there for a meet and greet. Both of us enjoy his writing and we have met him once before, so we said, let's go and spend the night since it's only a couple hours away from us. Sadly last week, he had to cancel and rescheduled for May 17th. We couldn't do May 17th because that was the day we had to drive to Buffalo to pick up our daughter and all her stuff from her college dorm. Plus, we couldn't get our money back from the motel so we just went with it. As we kept talking about it, it expanded from an overnight trip to 4 days and because Saratoga Springs is so close to Vermont, I just picked a city in Vermont that was close that looked like it had things we like to do and that's how we wound up there. We may be able to go to the rescheduled date to see Kevin Hearne, but won't know till my daughter gets back from the orthopedist tomorrow. I explained in the other challenge you and I are doing. She may be coming home early and that will free us up for the 17th to go back to Saratoga Springs. We already have the time off. All I would have to do would be cancel our hotel reservations in Buffalo.

Completion Post



Book - Maze of Souls
Author - J.L. Bryan
Date Read - 5/1/23
Rating - 5 Stars
Review - I love this series because it's right up my alley. Ellie is a ghost hunter who lives in Savannah, Georgia. This poor girl gets some really creepy ass cases. They are usually the ones with ghosts who are a bit angry and vengeful and have no problems creating havoc among the living. Sometimes they also get a bit violent. I also love that these are not bogged down by some ridiculous romance and angsty relationship garbage even though she does have a boyfriend. If you like creepy, this would be a great series for you.

Completion Post - Letter I



Book - The Invited
Author - Jennifer McMahon
Date - 5/6/23
Rating - 4 Stars
Review - How funny that the book takes place in Vermont and I just went there last week. We have another paranormal ghosty type novel that is a bit creepy. Nate and Helen inherit some money and decide to quit their teaching city suburban jobs in Connecticut to move out into Vermont and live a bit off the grid. They buy a piece of land and start building their dream house. What they don't know is that the land they are building on is haunted by the spirit of a woman who was hanged in the early 1900's by the towns people because they believed she was a witch. On top of that we throw in a mysterious hidden treasure, a neighbor girl whose mom disappeared, and a town full of weird locals who are superstitious. It was super creepy and a bit sad at the end, but overall a pretty good read.

Hi Michelle! Got a but behind in my reading with a busy weekend.

I hope to finish my I book today. I ended up picking The Institute by Stephen King. It's almost 600 pages so taking me a bit longer than expected.

I'm also reading Catherine House. It has really good reviews but I'm not loving it.

My "E" book has still not come in at the library and I still have to figure out another "E" book to read. I have a pretty quiet week so I'm hoping to make some progress on this challenge!

How are things with you?

Oh and I read The Invited as well. I thought it was a pretty good book as well!

Completion Post - Letter E



Book - Elsie: Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916
Author - Barbara Anne Waite
Date - 5/8/23
Rating - 1 Star
Review - This was an absolute snoozefest. If one were a descendant of this woman Elsie, I guess it would be exciting, maybe, but as someone who is not related I couldn't have cared less. It's a little harsh, but Elsie was not an exciting individual.

Elsie was a young woman of means from California who traveled to Arizona 1 year after the state reached statehood. While there teaching she kept a journal. It was a journal full of every day tasks. She ate meals, did laundry, housework, taught school to children she described as "common". She made it clear that she thought many in this town and the children she taught were beneath her. She made many comments that left me wondering why she bothered. It didn't seem like she enjoyed teaching these children, but it was more of a duty. Maybe I'm reading more into it than I should, but she did not strike me as someone I would want to know.

Hi Michelle,

Just wanted to you know that I've been busy the past week or so. I did pick up both of my E books from the library!

I'll get them posted as soon as I can...although the next couple of days I have a lot going on as well.

No rush, We have to go to Buffalo this week for a couple of days to pack up my daughters room and take her to the orthopedist to see if she stays in the boot or gets put into something else. This will not be a fun trip.

I can’t imagine it would be. Is she feeling any better?

Hopefully you have better results with the orthopedist this time around!

She is feeling better. We went to empty her room and see the orthopedist. She has upgraded to an ankle brace. She still can't work and that's making her mad.

Michelle wrote: "She is feeling better. We went to empty her room and see the orthopedist. She has upgraded to an ankle brace. She still can't work and that's making her mad."

A brace is definitely better than a boot! Hopefully the healing process will go quick and she'll be up and at it soon!