Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2019

Published on August 3, 2019September 8, 2019 by Rukky @ Eternity Books7 Comments

Happy Saturday my friends!! I hope you all are having a fantastic start to August. Today, I’ll be sharing my Monthly Wrap-Up post for July 2019.

July was meh. To be honest, I didn’t really want to blog, I didn’t post on time, I’m behind on two reviews, and I was really busy IRL. But I still posted when I got the chance, and I joined Top Five Tuesday for the first time which was great! I loved the A-Z book idea and you can find a link to the letters that I did, below. Let’s take a look at this meh month.

Books:

Covers are from Goodreads | Click on the titles to visit my reviews.

Key: * = Book for review | ^ = Review to come

So I read 6 books this month which is great, but I am behind by 5 books on my GR reading challenge which is bad. I really need to catch up and hopefully I’ll do that this month!

Trust Me I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer // Rating: ★★☆☆☆ One sentence summary: A disappointing read with a naive main character.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland // Rating: ★★★☆☆ One sentence summary: A quick thriller with okay characters.

Look For Me by Lisa Gardner // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A great mystery with strong and amazing main characters.

*The Bridge of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai // Rating: ★★☆☆☆ One sentence summary: An okay contemporary novel with a passionate main character.

^Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: An amazing political thriller with two spectacular main characters.

^The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton // Rating: ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: A confusing, but interesting and unique murder mystery.

DNF: I also DNF’d Captive Witness by Carolyn Keene. It was a bit dated, too cliche and unbelievable for me, which is sad considering I loved Nancy Drew as kid.

Total Number of Books Read This Month: 6

DNF: 1

Tags:

Okay, so I really can’t believe this but I have done only ONE tag all month! How…???

2019 Mid Year Freak-Out Tag (I tagged myself for this one!)

Here’s a link to the Top 5 Tuesday posts that I did:

K-O | P-T | U-Z

Great Posts From Around the Blog-O-Sphere:

5 Things No One Tells You About Blogging // ft. the real truth about what bloggers do!! by Olivia @ Purely Olivia

Beyond the Blurb | How Blogging Has Helped Me as a Reader by Siobhan @ Siobhan’s Novelties

Why You Should NEVER Compare Your Blogging Statistics with Others’ by Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea

Summer Blogger Promo Tour: Blogging Made Me More…Introverted? by Tiffany @ Read By Tiffany (Ok, so this wasn’t published in July, but I loved it and had to include it anyway!)

Anything Else?

Yes! I started a weekly meme called Let’s Talk Bookish which hopefully will encourage me and others to write more discussion posts (yes, I know, I posted this yesterday, August 2nd, but I shall sneak it on here anyway). You can learn more about that here. As you can guess, I didn’t do a discussion post this past month.

Also, school starts this coming Monday, and I’m not sure how easy it’ll be for me to blog and do my school work at the same time, so please bear with me if I don’t post regularly, or on time.

I also reached 1,000 comments/pingbacks, and I believe that is an achievement so HOORAY!! I’m also close to hitting the 150 followers mark so again, YAY!! Thank you guys so much for loving my blog, chatting with me so much, linking to me, and following 💚

That’s A Wrap!

In the end, I read 6 books, wrote 4 reviews, did 1 tag, and 0 discussion posts. 3 of the books I read were either 4 or 5 stars which is great, but sadly, I am behind on my reading challenge.

I did meet one of the goals I set in June, which was to read at least 6 books, but I think my content quality took a bit of a dip instead of a rise. I did discover some new blogs, thanks to May @ Forever and Everly hosting the 2019 Book Blogger Awards so that’s definitely a plus!

For August, my goals are to: post more often, but even if I don’t, I hope that my posts are great and not generic; do maybe 3 out of the 4 discussion topics for Let’s Talk Bookish (at least 2 though); and read 8 books.

And that’s it for this wrap-up! How was July for you? Did you get as much reading as you wanted done? Did you take part in the 2019 Book Blogger Awards? Ideas for discussion posts you’d like to share? Chat with me in the comments below!

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland – Review

Published on July 25, 2019July 24, 2019 by Rukky @ Eternity Books3 Comments

Welcome guys! Today’s review is of Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland. This was an interesting and quick thriller with an intriguing conspiracy plot and meh characters. I originally gave this 4 stars, but I’ve reduced my rating to 3.

Book: Keep You Close

Author: Karen Cleveland

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Summary: Stephanie Maddox makes tough decisions every day. She has her hands full heading the FBI’s Internal Investigations division, policing wrongdoers within the Bureau. But, as a single mother, the most important thing in her life is her teenage son Zachary, who’s anxiously awaiting college acceptance letters. So when she discovers a gun concealed in Zach’s room, her world reels. And then an FBI agent on the domestic terrorism squad shows up at her door and utters three devastating words: “It’s about Zachary. . . .”

Has she been wrong about her near-perfect son? Is Zach embroiled in something criminal–something deadly? And, if so, what is her greater duty: To protect him? Or to protect her country?

*Plot. I was completely engrossed in the novel and didn’t want to put it down. The conspiracy plot was intriguing and a lot bigger than a simple terrorist plot. I couldn’t figure out who was or wasn’t guilty. There was a lot of action which also made this a fantastic thriller. Steph’s past helped enhance the story and added a lot of suspects.

*Steph. Stephanie Maddox is an FBI agent who is the head of the Internal Investigations unit. She doesn’t have many friends, and she is estranged from her son, though she likes to believe otherwise. Her world swiftly comes crashing down and I sympathized with her a lot and really wished that there was a way for her to get out of this mess. Her broken relationship with her mother also meant that she didn’t have any real support besides her self.

*The Ending. I, personally, felt as though the ending could have been wrapped up more neatly, or at least an epilogue could have been added so that we could find out what eventually happened to the characters.

*Zach & Steph’s Mom. I didn’t like either of them at all. Zach was annoying, and though I understand why he was drifting away from his mom, I felt like he should have told her what he did, especially after all she’d done for him. Steph’s Mom was kind of judgmental in my opinion, so I didn’t like her either.

*Characters. This book was more about the plot than it was about the characters. That isn’t necessarily bad, but I would have liked the story to explore Steph’s character, and maybe Scott’s as well. But the mystery is great nonetheless!

In the end, I liked this, I would recommend it if you’re looking for a quick thriller, and I hope you enjoy it if you read it! The characters were okay, the plot and mystery intense, and there was a lot of action. It is also relatively short so you can read it quickly. I originally had this as 4 stars, but I’m going to bring it down to 3.

One sentence summary: A quick thriller with okay characters.

Overall, 3 stars

★★★☆☆

Have you read Keep You Close? Did you like it? Have you read any other books by Karen Cleveland? Let’s chat in the comments below!

WWW Wednesday #25

Published on July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 by Rukky @ Eternity Books18 Comments

Hello my fellow bookworms! I hope you are having a fantastic day! It is time for my weekly reading update, WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

All covers are from Goodreads

What I Just Finished:

I finished The Bridge of Little Jeremy last night. It was a an okay story with good characters, but I thought it was a bit too long. My review should be up, hopefully, sometime later this week!

I also finished Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland and really liked it! The mystery was intense, and the conspiracy plot a lot bigger than what it originally seemed. My review should be up next Monday! (07/22)

Finally, I also finished Look For Me by Lisa Gardner. I loved the characters, the mystery kept me guessing, and the ending was neatly wrapped up. My review should be up, hopefully, by next Friday! (07/26)

What I’m Currently Reading:

I haven’t actually started reading Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci yet, but I plan on doing so later today.

I’ve gotten through the first chapter of Captive Witness and it’s hilarious because Nancy and the story are kind of old fashioned. Hopefully, I will still enjoy the mystery!

What I Plan To Read Next:

Next up, I want to read Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco. Hopefully, I’ll have finished both of my current reads first, and caught up on my reviews before I start this!!

That’s it for this Wednesday. What are you reading? Have you read Hunting Prince Dracula? What did you think? Let’s chat in the comments below! (Be sure to link to your WWW’s so that I can check them out!)

Top Five Tuesday ~ K-L-M-N-O

Published on July 16, 2019July 16, 2019 by Rukky @ Eternity Books19 Comments

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday. However, this time, I’ve decided to try Top Five Tuesday! Top Five Tuesday was created and is hosted by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm.

Today’s topic is: Books that start with the letters K, L, M, N, and O.

This is actually part of a series that started the first Tuesday in July, starting from A and it will continue to the last week of July and end with Z. However, I still wanted to join in.

Let’s get started!

K is for Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland

I read this last week, and it was an amazing, edge of your seat kind of thriller! I was a bit confused by the end and would have loved it to be wrapped up more neatly, but I still enjoyed it! I felt so much for Agent Maddox and for all the trouble and pain that she’s been through in life. Also because it’s an FBI book and I absolutely love FBI or CIA or MI5/MI6 or basically any intelligence/law enforcement organization centered book!

L is for Look For Me by Lisa Gardner

I read this over the weekend and loved D.D. and Flora!! The mystery was great and I loved D.D. and Flora’s relationship. It was also interesting to read about Flora’s vigilante work and her survival group, and to know what it’s like to be a survivor. I was also glas because the book was easy to read as a standalone, and this happened to be book nine… so I’m definitely going to go back, and start from book 1!

M is for My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

This was a great mystery, with a bit of an annoying narrator, but I still really enjoyed it at the end. The POV was new and unique and I loved watching the story unfold. It’s an amazing debut novel and I’m going to be on the lookout for whatever the author publishes next!!

N is for No Exit by Taylor Adams

I’ve been recommending this book to all my friends who I think would be able to stomach the gore and the pain that is in this book. Because besides that, it’s a great story, and it’s also kind of like a short movie in book format. The plot is quick, there’s a lot of action, pain, and it is the very definition of a thriller! So if you think you can handle a good amount of gruesomeness, please please do try this out!!!

O is for One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

When I first heard about this book, I said nah, I’ll pass. Fastforward a couple of years, to when I joined GR, and everyone was talking about the author’s second book. That seemed more interesting to me, so I read it first, really liked it, and then decided to just give this one a try.

I loved it. The plot was interesting, the characters were amazing (Nick and Maeve were my favorites! Nick and Bronwyn together were so cute!!!!), the ending shocked me even though I’m pretty sure I’d read a spoiler beforehand, but I was completely blown away! It was the second mystery book that I gave 5 stars too (the first one being The Fixer) and I definitely highly recommend it!

That’s it for this Tuesday! Have you read any of the books I mentioned above? Did you enjoy them? Who are some of your favorite authors? Let’s chat in the comments below!

(Be sure to link to your Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Tuesday posts so I can check them out!!)

WWW Wednesday #24

Published on July 10, 2019July 10, 2019 by Rukky @ Eternity Books8 Comments

Hello!! How are you? I hope you are having a fantastic day! It is time for my weekly reading update, WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

All covers are from Goodreads

What I Just Finished:

My latest read was Trust Me, I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer. This was predictable and a bit implausible. I also didn’t like Julep so this was a 2.75 star. Review will be up next Monday.

What I’m Currently Reading:

I’m 36% into The Bridge of Little Jeremy, which I’m reading for review. I was given a copy of this by Estelle, a friend of the author. So far, it’s okay. I’m getting bored, and just want to skip to the end to find out what happens so I’ve decided to take a quick break from it.

My hold for Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland came in two days ago. The summary is interesting and I plan on starting it today.

What I Plan To Read Next:

I went to the library yesterday!! And I only got 3 books lol. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to the library and gotten real physical books so I’m kind of excited. I usually read e-books from the library.

I got Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci just because I had no idea what to get and I randomly pulled it off the shelf right before I left. Hopefully, I won’t be disappointed by this as I was with Long Road to Mercy.

I also randomly pulled Look For Me by Lisa Gardner off the shelf. It’s book 9 in the Detective D.D. Warren series, and I hope this can be read as a stand-alone.

Captive Witness by Carolyn Keene is the last book I got. I’m pretty sure I’ve read it, since I’ve read the ~30 other Nancy Drew books that my library has (and probably well over a 100 in my lifetime), but I snatched it anyway. I hope I still enjoy it!

That’s it for this Wednesday. What are you reading? Have you read any of the books I’m reading, just finished, or plan on reading soon? Do you know if Look For Me can be read as a standalone? Let’s chat in the comments below! (Be sure to link to your WWW’s so that I can check them out!)