First Book of 2018

I can't believe we are starting 2018 already. It will be a year full of memories for me as our oldest is graduating from high school in just 4 months. FOUR MONTHS!!! With all the subbing I've been doing this fall, my reading has been pretty limited so I'm hoping to ramp it up with a thriller to kick off the year.

Last year I chose a fabulous fiction story about two families for my FIRST BOOK OF 2017. My choice for 2016 wasn't a favorite. In fact, I never finished it.

I love this feature that Sheila at Book Journey offers every year!  Click HERE to see all the submissions from around the world and the great books they are sharing as their First Books of the Year!

Now to share my First Book with you. I thought long and hard about this choice. I wanted one that will keep me interested all the way through. Since this one comes out this month, it sounded like the perfect choice. I've decided to read..................

JUST BETWEEN US
By Rebecca Drake
Published: January 9, 2018
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Four suburban mothers and friends conspire to cover up a deadly crime in this heart-stopping novel of suspense in the tradition of Lisa Scottoline and Lisa Unger.

Alison, Julie, Sarah, Heather. Four friends living the suburban ideal. Their jobs are steady, their kids are healthy. They’re as beautiful as their houses. But each of them has a dirty little secret, and hidden behind the veneer of their perfect lives is a crime and a mystery that will consume them all. Everything starts to unravel when Alison spots a nasty bruise on Heather’s wrist. She shares her suspicions with Julie and Sarah, compelling all three to investigate what looks like an increasingly violent marriage. As mysterious injuries and erratic behavior mount, Heather can no longer deny the abuse, but she refuses to leave her husband. Desperate to save her, Alison and the others dread the phone call telling them that she’s been killed. But when that call finally comes, it’s not Heather who’s dead. In a moment they’ll come to regret, the women must decide what lengths they’ll go to in order to help a friend. 


Feel free to share your First Book of 2018 in the comments here or on Sheila's Book Journey Page, HERE.

First Book of 2017

Sheila at Book Journey started this lovely feature where each of us can share our first book of the year. All of us can link up our choices and see what everyone else is choosing as their first book.

Of course, we all have different reasons for why a certain book is going to be our first book. But, for me, I like to choose a book that is one I want to read for my own enjoyment. Not because I HAVE to read it for a review or assignment. 

Last year, I chose A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN because I had heard so many wonderful things about it. Unfortunately, I only got half-way through it before I abandoned it. It just wasn't what I had hoped and when I set it aside, I realized I had no desire to go back to it. I have too many other great books waiting to be cracked open to keep reading something I don't care to read. So, sadly, last year's book wasn't a great choice, but I think this year's choice will be.

This year's First Book of 2017 is THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE by Lynda Cohen Loigman. I have only heard good things about this book. I just recently snagged it on a Kindle deal. I also recommended it to my cousin who just finished it and she liked it. So, I'm confident I'll finish this one! Goodreads shows a cumulative 3.95 out of 5 stars and Amazon show 4.3 out of 5 stars for the ratings. That's pretty impressive.



THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE
By: Lynda Cohen Loigman
Published: March 8, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Format: eBook

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

Brooklyn, 1947: in the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost but not quite wins.

Why do I think I'll love it? It's historical fiction. It's set during a blizzard which makes January in Iowa a perfect time to read it. It's about family drama and there is a secret. Also, this is a debut novel from this author which is also something I love. I think it'll make the perfect choice for my First Book of 2017.

What is your First Book of 2017? Feel free to share it with me in the comments!



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First Book of 2016

I'm joining up with Sheila at Book Journey and sharing along with other bloggers, the first book I'll be reading to kick off the new year! To see her original post and see photos from last year's First Books, click HERE. To see all the great books we are reading this year, click HERE.

Our family is traveling home today from Florida so I'll have plenty of time to get some reading in...before we stop and watch the

  Iowa Hawkeyes play in the Rose Bowl!!! WaHooOOOooo!!

I have so many books I "should" be reading and even more books that I "want" to read. So, I decided to choose a book that I just recently heard about and one I that I "want" to read. After listening to a couple podcasts about this book, I was immediately intrigued. I used my Amazon coupon for 30% off the purchase of one book over Black Friday weekend and have been anxious to read it ever since!

My first book of 2016 is 

A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN
Selected Stories
By: Lucia Berlin
Published: August 18, 2015
Publisher: Farrar, Staus, and Giroux
Format: Hardcover

A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the Laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers and bad Christians.


What book will you be reading to kick off 2016? Feel free to share it below! 


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