It's Monday, What Are You Reading? #27

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by The Book Date. 

This meme lets you show fellow readers what you have read, what you are reading, and what you will be reading.

Book Lists || My Favorite Urban Fantasy Series

I thought since we are all hunkered down all over the world that this might be a good time to dive into a new series. 

What is urban fantasy? Simply put, it's a subgenre of fantasy. Most usually, it's fantasy that is set in a cityscape. The "urban" in urban fantasy. It can be set in a modern city or even an alternate city in the modern world. There are typically strong tropes such as the hard-boiled hero of noir, gritty action, and/or a procedural style plot. Magic, supernatural creatures, and mystery play a big part in urban fantasy. Sometimes, urban fantasy can also be dark, even bordering on horror. 

Sometimes it's hard to determine a book is urban fantasy or paranormal romance, but while urban fantasy can have romantic elements, it usually takes a backseat to the action. I enjoy urban fantasy over paranormal romance. While I don't mind some romance, I don't want it to be all consuming. 

If you are looking to binge some urban fantasy series, these are my top 10 recommendations!

Top Ten Tuesday || Books with One Word Titles

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I haven't done a Top Ten Tuesday in FOREVER! I thought maybe it was time to resurrect it.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Books with One Word Titles.

Best Reads of 2019

I love looking back at the past year's reads. 

It's interesting to see what I rated them then and if that rating has changed in my mind now that the book has marinated in this brain of mine.  These aren't necessarily books that I rated 5 paws up, but books that I hated to finish or would definitely pick up again for a reread.

Here are the ten that made the cut:

Best Reads of 2018

There's something about tracking your reading on Goodreads that is so satisfying to me. It's so much fun at the end of the year to look back over all the titles I've read. And I'm a bit competitive in that I like to try and beat my goal from the year before. (Okay, okay, a LOT competitive.) 

I've read 130 books in 2018. Out of those, only seventeen were five star reads for me so it was actually rather easy to pick my top ten of the year. For me, five-star reads are books that 1) stay with me long after I've finished them and 2) books that I would have no problem picking up and rereading. Using those two qualifiers helps me to not get too star happy! It's actually pretty challenging for me to rate a book five stars. While I might really enjoy a book, most books are not something that I'd tuck away and reread on a rainy day.  

Here are the top ten that made the cut:

Sometimes urban fantasy feels like if you've read one, you've read them all. These four really stood out from the pack.

Blood Ghast Blues was such an uproariously fun read. Even though this is actually the second book in the series, the front blurb totes it as a "standalone ass whompin'". If that doesn't tell you a bit about what's inside the cover, I don't know what else will. Filled to the brim with great characters, constant action, unique world-building, and plenty of snark, this one was an easy pick. 
Read my full review here.

Death Be Blue is a police procedural urban fantasy. When you take out the massive world building that comes with most fantasy, and create your character on the mean city streets, you'd better have both a great MC and plot to help fill the holes. Death Be Blue does that and more. Terra Vane fights tooth and nail to establish herself as an Enforcer Field Agent; a human among paranormals. She's tough and yet vulnerable. With plenty of humor, action, and a wee bit of romantic tension, Katie Epstein is a UF author to follow. 
Read my review full here.

Hostile Takeover: I adore the PI trope of urban fantasy.  There's so much to love about it: the jaded, and edgier version of the detective, the film noir style narration, the blend of urban fantasy and the grit of noir. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is one of my favorites. Hostile Takeover is another excellent example. This adventurous romp is fast-paced, complex, and just a lot of fun!
Read my full review here.

The Night Crossing is a historical fantasy set in Victorian London. While multiple P.O.V's are not usually my thing, I highly enjoyed this gothic tale. Following Bram Stoker, theater manager, Mina Harcourt, archeologist, and match girl, Lucinda,  The Night Crossing interweaves history and the magic of fantasy. Truly a story of the triumph over evil, this imagined backstory is the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. 
Read my review full here.

When it comes to horror reads, I want stories that will make me check under the bed and behind the shower curtain. I want the kind of stories that make me question what was that noise I just heard. I love horror that creeps me out. I'm also incredibly hard to spook which creates quite the conundrum. These three stayed with me long after I turned out the lights:

Creature: If I had to narrow down my top three out of 2018, this would definitely make the cut. Man, this book tore my heart out.  Hunter Shea usually does great creature features, but they are more like cheesy 80's horror. He unquestionably wrote from the heart on this one and it shows. Creature was unique for me in how immediately and completely I was invested in the characters. You don't expect a monster book to break your heart, but that's exactly what Creature does. 
Read my full review here. 

Into the Drowning Deep: I've always been a fan of Mira Grant and Into the Drowning Deep just solidifies that for me. She combines science and horror in such a way that you think maybe, just maybe, there's some truth to this. I know I've always had a respectful fear of deep water and whatever lies below. It's beautiful and terrifying all in the same breath. Only Mira Grant can write a book about killer mermaids and make it so horrifically fun. This is the only one on my list that I haven't done a review on. Maybe I need to reread it so I can write one. Oh darn. 
Add to Goodreads

The Haunting of Natalie Glasgow (now released as The Possession of Natalie Glasgow) is actually a short story so for it to make it into the list is pretty amazing. Hailey Piper does such a marvelous job at conveying fear that I found the hairs on my arms standing upright while reading this one. The tension in this novella grips you tightly from the very first pages and doesn't let go. This one is truly a gem and I can't wait to read more by her. 
Read my full review here.

The last three on my list were complete surprises to me. Outside of my typical genres of fantasy and horror, I didn't expect to enjoy them as much as I did!

The Silver Ninja: A Bitter Winter was my sleeper read of the year! I didn't expect much going into it, but, wow! It's easily one of my top three as well. This book is filled with well thought out technology and plenty of action. So much, in fact, that within the first 20 pages, I didn't want to put it down. Wilmar Luna pens an incredible story and MC that would appeal to fans —not only of sci-fi— but of multiple other genres as well. 
Read my full review here.

Killing Adam is the only "true" sci-fi to make the list. While The Silver Ninja falls on the side of a superhero/crime fighter, Killing Adam takes a stark look at advanced technology and how our society might be using it in the future. The world building is superb and the technology isn't so far-fetched that it feels unbelievable. It's a dystopian look at the future of AI. 
Read my full review here.

The Frighteners is the only non-fiction to make the list. I love to learn, but I typically find most non-fiction boring and dry. Not so with The Frighteners. Written by Reverend Peter Law, it's an observant look into what draws us to the morbid and macabre. My own love of things that go bump in the night precipitated this read and I didn't once regret it. 
Read my full review here.

Well, that's it! 

My top 10 list of 2018!

I hope there might be one or two on the list that you might want to include in your own to-read pile for 2019! 

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday || Longest Books I've Ever Read

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

 The Longest Books I've Ever Read:

When I saw this prompt, I knew immediately which ones they'd be. 

I wasn't wrong! 

I didn't start reading the Outlander series until the tv show had already started. 

THEN I went back and binged all the books that were already published in the series 

before I would watch any more of the show.

My Goodreads challenge that year suffered in the number of books but the page count was waaaay up there!!

Top Ten Tuesday || Books by My Favorite Authors That I Still Haven't Read

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is Books by My Favorite Authors That I Still Haven't Read.

Top Ten Tuesday || Fall TBR

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is Books on My Fall TBR!

Top Ten Tuesday || TV time!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

It's TV time on TTT! I tend to gravitate towards tv that's a little dark and snarky. Really not that far off from what I enjoy reading! This week's top ten Tuesday is: shows you should binge watch.

Top Ten Tuesday || Nonfiction Books I Loved

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is Back To School/Learning Themed. 

I decided to go with the nonfiction books I've read and enjoyed.

Top Ten Tuesday - Reading Slumps

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is books that will pull you out of a reading slump. For those of us in the blogging world, we are almost in competition with ourselves. We eat, breathe and sleep reading. We are not the average reader though. 

According to the research, Americans read a mean average of 12 books per year, and the typical (median) American has read four books in the past 12 months. 

Can you imagine only reading that few? I certainly can't. That's a bad couple of weeks for me! What happens though when we hit that reading slump and no book is "talking" to us? When our TBR starts piling up and there's no end in sight?

Top Ten Tuesday || Popular Books, Worth it or Not?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is popular books that lived up to the hype. I decided to go with 5 that did...and 5 that did NOT. 

To put a different spin on it, I chose those that had movie adaptations. I wonder if that makes me somewhat biased, or if the movie just fed into the hype surrounding it. I tend to want to read the book BEFORE I see the movie. I think the book is almost always better than the movie. I don't want to ruin my perception of the story if I see the movie first. I like to be able to picture the characters in my own mind first. It doesn't always happen that way though as you'll soon see. 

Here we go! :)

Top Ten Tuesday || Books With Sensory Reading Memories

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is books with sensory memories.

"These are the books that are linked to very specific memories for you: where you were, what time of year it was, who you were with, what you were eating, what you were feeling, what you were seeing, etc. Ideas include books you read while on vacation, books that you read while you were eating, books you read at work/at a family or social event/on the train or plane, books you’ve buddy read with loved ones, books you read during an emotional time in your life, books you read by the fire, etc."

 I struggled with this assignment at first. I read so much! How can I possibly come up with TEN books that remind me of something like that? I remember places I've read, like the beach, or in the cabin on the cruise ship, or at my family's cabin in the woods. 

Top Ten Tuesday - Short Stories Edition

Hey guys, it's time for another...

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's TTT is short stories! I've read a lot of urban fantasy anthologies. Mainly because I love certain series and they'll throw a .5'er into the mix. Especially when a series has ended, you read all the little bits and pieces the authors may throw your way! 

My Very First Top Ten Tuesday!

Shew, I don't know about you guys but this week has come with a vengeance!

I was lucky enough to have last Wednesday off for Independence Day and didn't have to come back to work until Monday. It was wonderful while it lasted, but man, you pay for it when you do get back! I thought I'd try something new and give my brain cells a little rest today. So,without further ado, my first: