Taylor Fenner's Blog, page 25
February 7, 2024
Time Travel Thursday: February 2014-2024
Time Travel Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog where readers take a look back at what they were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what you are reading now.
This week I’m traveling back to February 2014 for a fun coincidence!Ten years ago this month I was reading the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan for the first time and now ten years later I am currently rereading it!
There are 15 books in the series but they’re all under 200 pages so they’re fast reads. I’m a few books behind where I was 10 years ago today (book 5 vs book 9) but it’s been interesting rereading them. I almost died of embarrassment when the main character described a store clerk as “an older guy, probably in his early 30s,” in book 1. I’m a 31 year old woman and it’s making it sound like I’m a senior citizen! 
Something is happening to me that I don’t understand.
I see things, feel things in a new way. I can do things normal people can’t do. Powerful things. Magical things. It scares me.
I never chose to learn witchcraft. But I’m starting to wonder if witchcraft is choosing me.
Do you reread books? Have the rereads ever been around the same time of year or just random?
February 6, 2024
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Home Is Where the Bodies Are
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released.
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
Thriller, Standalone
ebook, Hardcover, Audiobook, 270 pages
April 30, 2024 by Blackstone Publishing
Blurb:From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here, comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate.
Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end.
Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction.
Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.
While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends. Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.
Why I Want to Read This Book:I really enjoyed You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by this author when I read it last year. This is set in a small town in Wisconsin and I, who live in a small town in Wisconsin, love reading creepy books set in my home state. I’m excited to see the twists in this book!
Will you be checking this one out? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?
February 4, 2024
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 5 February 2024
#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.
Hey Book Blogger Friends! I had a busy week last week between work and working on revisions on my next novel and I’ve been rereading a series where the books are under 200 pages each.
Last Week I Read:Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan
The Coven by Cate Tiernan
Blood Witch by Cate Tiernan
These are quick reads but while I rated them higher the first two times I’ve read them I rated them between 3-4 star this time.
Currently Reading:Katharine of Aragon: The True Queen by Alison Weir
I’m nearing 75% in this book and considering it’s 22+ hours long, that’s a good thing. I’m going to continue with the rest of the books but Iron Flame is next up on my audiobook TBR.
Dark Magick by Cate Tiernan
Book 4 of 15
Next Reads:Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Awakening by Cate Tiernan 
What are you reading this week? Have you read any of these? What is the longest series you’ve ever read?
February 3, 2024
The Sunday Post: Hello February
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.
Hello FebruaryHey Bookdragons! Happy Sunday! How was your week?
Mine was busier than normal. We had a lot of weird calls at work and between work and doing revisions on my novel I didn’t get much free time.
I did finish my second round revisions on my novel and will be working on the third round revisions this coming week once I set up my home office. My desk should be arriving Tuesday and I assembled my office chair yesterday.
I had a self-care day yesterday and had my nails done and today I’m going to see Argylle.
Last Week on the Blog:
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 29 January 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 5 February 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Home Is Where the Bodies Are
Time Travel Thursday
Book Blogger Hop: Do you post Happy Publication Day posts for books you read?
Stacking the Shelves – 10 February 2024
Around the Book Blogging World:None This Week
January 29, 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish and currently hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Tuesday: New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023This week’s TTT is about authors we discovered in 2023. Here are some that were new to me that I enjoyed books by…
1. Cynthia Murphy
2. Catherine Steadman
3. Rachel Hawkins
4. Chanel Cleeton
5. Jeneva Rose
6. Brittany Kelley
7. Elsie Silver
8. Catherine Cowles
9. Sangu Mandanna 
10. Catherine Mack
What authors were new to you in 2023? Were any of mine on your list?
January 28, 2024
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 29 January 2024
#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.
Hey Bookdragons! I got a little reading done last week but it was pretty busy and I’m still working on a couple current reads.
Last Week I Read:Death Unfiltered by Emmeline Duncan
I really enjoyed this one! It may be my favorite of the series but I’ve really loved all the books.
It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison
This was a solid 3 star read for me. There were parts I liked and parts that I didn’t care for. Just be sure to check triggers, as this book talks a lot about fertility issues and miscarriages.
Currently Reading:The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
I’m going to finish this book this week. I’m at 60% and I’m going to push through. It’s good, that’s not the issue, I just keep starting other books.
Katharine of Aragon: The True Queen by Alison WeirI’m about 50% into this audiobook and I’m enjoying it. I just recently watched The Tudors and I’m a bit obsessed at the moment.
Next Read:Book of Shadows by Cate TiernanThis will be my 3rd reread of this series. I need some short reads for a palate cleanser.
What are you reading this week?
January 27, 2024
The Sunday Post: Yummy Recipes, Travel Planning, and Readying the Home Office
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.
Yummy Recipes, Travel Planning, and Readying the Home OfficeHey Book Blogger Friends! How was your week? I actually accomplished things this week and finished the first round edits of my next book. I also binged all 4 seasons of The Tudors. Now maybe I can catch up on reading.
This week I tried out 5 different recipes I found on Pinterest and they were all really good. My favorite was the Garlic Butter Cod with Lemon Asparagus Skillet (below).
I put my 2024 vacation days into the work scheduler last week and they were approved so now I’m heavily into travel planning mode. My April trip to Charleston is as planned as I can do right now (airline and hotel booked, museum tickets and restaurant reservations to be made closer to my trip) so I’ve been working on outlining my fall trip. I’ll be heading to New England – starting in Maine and coming down the coast to New Hampshire for a couple days before ending up in Salem, Massachusetts which I’ve dreamed of going to since I was a kid. (Lifelong Halloween and Hocus Pocus fan here)
Meanwhile I’m readying to move into my mom’s old bedroom and turn my current bedroom into my home office so I’m picking out furniture on Amazon as well as decorations.
Last Week On the Blog: WWW Wednesday – 24 January 2024
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Murder Road
Time Travel Thursday – 25 January
Stacking the Shelves – 27 January 2024
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 29 January 2024
Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Home Is Where the Bodies Are
Time Travel Thursday – 1 February
Book Blogger Hop: What was the last book you read in one sitting?
Stacking the Shelves – 3 February 2024
Signed!
Signed!eARC:
Around the Blogosphere:#bookreview ~ A Lovely Lie by Jaime Lynn Hendricks on Mystery, Thrillers, Suspense – definitely adding this one to my TBR.
January 26, 2024
Stacking the Shelves – 27 January 2024
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual.
Books Added to My Shelves This Week:Physical:I got my signed copies of Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham and The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins from Murder by the Book this week.
eARC:When I saw Mind Games was a “read now” on Netgalley I scooped it up. Nora Roberts has been one of my go-to authors for years but I admit I’ve missed the last few of her releases. This one looks good.
Library Audiobook Borrow:
It’s One of Us has been on my audiobook TBR since November and I’m finally getting around to borrowing and listening to it.
What books did you add to your shelves this week?
January 25, 2024
Book Blogger Hop – 26 January – 1 February 2024
The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings or a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
January 26 – February 1, 2024 Question of the Week:How long have you gone without reading?Answer of the Week:If I’m in a book slump or not feeling good / not feeling in the reading mood I can probably go 3-4 days without reading a book.
How long have you gone without reading? What was the reason for it?
January 24, 2024
Time Travel Thursday: 25 January
Time Travel Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog where readers take a look back at what they were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what you are reading now.
On January 25, 2023 I Was Reading: The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson
Blurb:
In this deviously volatile, deliciously creepy thriller from the #1 New York Times bestseller, the lone survivor of a brutal family massacre must uncover the awful truth about the fateful night that left her forever marked…
Has she already had her last chance to be the final girl?
All her life, she’s been the girl who survived. Orphaned at age seven after a horrific killing spree at her family’s Oregon cabin, Kara McIntyre is still searching for some kind of normal. But now, twenty years later, the past has come thundering back. Her brother, Jonas, who was convicted of the murders has unexpectedly been released from prison. The press is in a frenzy again. And suddenly, Kara is receiving cryptic messages from her big sister, Marlie—who hasn’t been seen or heard from since that deadly Christmas Eve when she hid little Kara in a closet with a haunting, life-saving command: Don’t make a sound.
As people close to her start to die horrible deaths, Kara, who is slowly and surely unraveling, believes she is the killer’s ultimate target.
Kara survived once. But will she survive again? How many times can she be the girl who survived?
Today I’m Reading:Death Unfiltered by Emmeline DuncanBlurb:As the owner of Portland, Oregon’s popular Ground Rules coffee cart, hard-working young master barista Sage Caplin is excited to expand her business with a brick-and mortar store. But not everyone gives her a warm welcome . . .
Ground Rules isn’t the only newcomer set to open in Portland’s grand new Button Building. Fortunately, most of the fellow micro-restaurant owners and patrons are great—with two exceptions. There’s Rose, a true-crime podcaster and active TikToker who’s pestering Sage for an interview about her estranged con-artist mother; and Bianca, the familiar and perpetually unpleasant owner of Breakfast Bandits. Bianca is abrasive to everyone, so Sage doesn’t feel singled out. . . . Until Bianca falls dead at the building’s grand opening—a to-go cup of Ground Rules coffee in her hand. Laced with Ketamine, also known as Special K.
It doesn’t help that just before she collapsed, Bianca was publicly rude to Sage. Or that Bianca’s boyfriend points the police toward Sage. Or that Rose, still hung up on investigating Sage’s mom, has declared she’ll solve the murder. Now it will be up to Sage to sift through a complex blend of motives, blackmail, and old and new rivalries to get to the truth of a very bitter brew . . .
Comparison Notes:These both have murders in them but The Girl Who Survived is more of a gritty thriller where Death Unfiltered is a cozy mystery. The Girl Who Survived is one of my favorite Lisa Jackson books and I love Emmeline Duncan’s Ground Rules Mystery series.
What were you reading a year ago this week? Is it the same genre of what you’re currently reading?
