What's Samma Reading 2018 Review

Hey There Peeps!!!

I used to do a What's Samma Reading post pretty frequently but it got away from me and well.....I figured I'd just do a year recap in pictures.      These screenshots are all from GoodReads.   If you are on GoodReads then look me up because I love to see what others are reading when I get in a rut.
My goal for 2018 was 35 books and I finished with 41.  This year I upped my number to 45 but I can tell you I'll probably blow past that one and should finish in the 50+ range.  The biggest difference is going to be audiobooks.    I've just recently been sucked into the world of Podcasts....yeah, I'm no trendsetter for sure! haha  I found a great one called Levar Burton Reads and he reads short stories during the podcast.  Most of the podcasts last 45 minutes to an hour so I can listen while I work on things at my desk or during upcoming tax prep work or even while in the car.   However in the car I prefer to listen to My Favorite Murder or And That's Why We Drink, Levar has a pretty soothing voice and I might fall asleep.   Anywho, when you keep track of audio books in Goodreads it counts toward your reading goals plus lots of folks count audio books as "reading", I have mixed feelings about that but any who....    back to 2018!

That was my initial snapshot from GoodReads.

I did read Children of Blood and Bone and it was quite a departure from my normal reading genre's but it was good and I'm looking forward to the sequel coming out this year.   

On this screen snapshot I can tell you that Killers of the Flower Moon was a HUGE genre departure for me but I did enjoy it.  However it made me understand why Hoover is so disliked and very heartbroken for the Osage Indians.  Another note on this page is the Voice Inside by Brian Freeman, it was the 2nd in his Frost Easton series.  The 3rd installment comes out next week and I'm really looking forward to it.  

This screen shot has several good ones:   Killman Creek is the 2nd in the Stillhouse Lake series.  The second one creeped me out much less than the first in the series and I believe there is a 3rd book coming soon.  I LOVED the Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, it was a bit Agatha Christie-ish to me and I loved that!   

This screen shot also holds some good ones:  MatchMaking for Beginners might have been one of my very favorite books in awhile.   I could honestly read it again!   It's been awhile since Nelson Demille had something new and I enjoyed The Cuban Affair although we did get bogged down a few times in so many details about Cuba.   Children of Blood and Bone, we've already talked about.   The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson was a solid read.  I was very pleasantly surprised!  

This screen had my emotions everywhere:   A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer so seriously grossed me out in a sexually perverted kind of way a few times.  I had a hard time reading parts of the book and did find myself skimming some parts.  Apparently this is a new series for this author but I'm not sure I'll keep reading, the main character Zoe Bentley didn't give me warm fuzzies.  We'll see, maybe if I hit a rut I'll read another.   John Grisham, The Rooster Bar: well, let's just say total disappointment from the author who used to be one of my favorites.  Come on Grisham, get it together and write like you did in the earlier years!   It Ends With Her was a 3.5 star read for me, once again sometimes too sexually creepy and the emotional abuse dredged up some icky memories.   

On this last screen is The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.  I WANTED to love this book so much but truthfully it took me over a month to read it.   I'd fall asleep out of sheer boredom and I kept telling myself it would get better.  It didn't AT LEAST for me, however I've since discovered that the people who've read this book fall in two categories:  Love or Hate.  I appreciate and respect the incredible intricacy of the storyline but geezum it bored me to tears.   

I'm sitting on 2 books read, 1 audio book completed and I'm at the 90% mark on Discovery of Witches so I'll finish it in the next day or so.   Which is good because that should be just in time for the new Frost Easton to come out or to squish in a cozy mystery or two.  

What are your reading goals this year?   Any good reading challenges you're participating in?

Read on!