Can’t Wait Wednesday – ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby
/10 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby. Cosby’s last two gritty thrillers, Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, really blew me away so I’m eager to read more from him. This new book sounds timely and like it has the potential to be another powerful and mind blowing read.
ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby
Publication Date: June 6, 2023 by Flatiron Books
From Goodreads:
Titus Crowne is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County. A former FBI agent and security expert, Titus came home to take care of his father and look out for his troubled younger brother. He ran for Sheriff to make a difference, especially in the Black community, which has so often been treated unfairly by the police.
But a year to the day after his election, a school shooting rocks the town. A beloved teacher is killed by a former student, and as Titus attempts to deescalate and get the boy to surrender, his deputies fire a fatal shot.
In the investigation, it becomes clear that the student they shot had been abused by the dead teacher, as well as by unidentified perpetrators. The trail leads to buried bodies—and secrets. While Titus tries to track down a killer hiding in plain sight, while balancing daily duties like protecting Confederate pride marchers, he must face what it means to be a Black man wearing a police uniform in the American South.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday – My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2023
/23 Comments/by Suzanne
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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Bookish Goals for 2023. I think most of these are repeats of goals I had for 2022, either because I failed at them last year or because I did okay and really want to continue to work on that same goal in the coming year.
My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2023
1) My number one goal this year is a repeat goal from the past three years and that is to read more of the books I own. I love ARCs of course, but I hate feeling like I’m neglecting books I’ve purchased. I lost track of how many I read last year, but I know I put a pretty good dent in the oldest unread books I own. I’m not taking part in any challenges aside from Goodreads this year but I am setting a personal goal for myself of reading 70 books I already own. I’ve already read 4 books I own in January so hopefully that bodes well for another good year.
2) This is also a repeat goal from 2022 and 2021. I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book. I did really well with this last year, but it’s always so tempting when someone reaches out with a tour opportunity.
3) This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues. In 2022, I had a list of 3 series I wanted to finish or get caught up in and another list of 7 series that I wanted to start. I finished none of the series from the first list and started (and finished!) one from the second list. For this year, I have 6 series on my shelf that I want to finish and 6 sitting on my shelf that I want to start.
Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On:
- Lifelike by Jay Kristoff (2 books left)
- The Aurora Cycle (2 books left)
- The Inheritance Games (2 books left)
- City of Brass (2 books left)
- Crescent City (Re-read book 1, then read book 2)
- Bridgerton (5 books left)
Series I Want to Start:
- The Consortium Rebellion
- Six Crimson Cranes
- The Celestial Kingdom
- The Great Library
- The Invisible Library
- The Bloodsworn Saga
4) This is also a repeat goal from the past two years. I really want to continue to grow my Bookstagram account. Last year was my most consistent year since I started the account so I really want to build on that. Posting more and engaging more with other accounts are my two hot items this year. If you have a bookstagram account and are not already following me, you can give me a follow at https://instagram.com/thebookishlibra
5) Re-reading more. This is also a repeat goal and one I failed at in 2022. To keep it low pressure, I’m setting a personal goal of 1 re-read a month. Below are the books I’m hoping to re-read. Some are old favorites, while others are series books I need to re-read in order to facilitate goal #3 above.
- House of Earth and Blood
- Aurora Rising
- Ninth House
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
- The Chronicles of Narnia (5 books) – I did manage to re-read the second book in the series in 2022.
- Pride and Prejudice
- Jane Eyre
6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 85% or above in 2022. I did very well with this goal in 2022, finishing the year at 95%. I know I can’t keep it that high, but if I could maintain 85, I’d consider that a success.
7) I say this every year, but in 2023, I want to read more Nonfiction. Most years I only read maybe 1 or 2 nonfiction books. I’m setting a personal goal of 1 nonfiction book every two months. Here’s a list of some of the titles I’m hoping to read:
- What Unites Us by Dan Rather
- The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
- D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
- Spare by Prince Harry
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- Where the Light Enters, Building a Family, Discovering Myself by Jill Biden
8) This is a forever goal, haha. In 2023, I really want to work on being better organized, particularly when it comes to blogging ahead. I’m usually frantically writing posts the night before I want to post them and I would love to be able to get most, if not all, of my posts for the week done the weekend before.
9) Revisit Shakespeare. This is yet another repeat from last year because honestly I forgot about it and my son’s class put minimal effort into reading Romeo and Juliet. I don’t know if Shakespeare just isn’t being taught as much these days as it was when I was in high school or if his class was the exception, but it surprised me how quckly they breezed past it. So yeah, if I revisit the Bard this year, it will just be for me rather than to have any meaningful conversations with the kid about him, haha.
10) I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 175 books. I read 233 books in 2022 and could probably replicate that this year since we have cancelled our cable TV. I stream a few shows here and there, but for the most part, I spend almost all of my downtime reading. But to keep it from being too stressful, although still challenging, I’m aiming for 175.
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Do we share any bookish goals this year?
Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Family Game & The Girlfriend
/13 Comments/by Sharon
Happy New Year! Welcome to Sharon’s first 2023 Thriller Thursday post. I hope 2023 brings you all some fabulous reads. I read some great books in 2022 (thriller and non-thriller) and from the looks of new releases, 2023 is going to be another banner year. Today I am sharing my thoughts a couple of books that I finished off last year with. Catherine Steadman’s The Family Game and K.L. Slater’s The Girlfriend.
The Family Game Goodreads
Author: Catherine Steadman
Publication Date: October 18, 2022
Publisher: Ballantine Books
The Family Game is my first read by Catherine Steadman, but it certainly won’t be my last. I originally borrowed this from the library, but this book was so good that I bought a copy to have in my collection.
The story follows Harriet (Harry) Reed, a best-selling mystery writer, who is in a deadly cat and mouse game with her fiancé, Edward Holbeck’s family. The Holbecks are a very wealthy and powerful family, but Edward has distanced himself from them and forged his own path in life. Even though Edward has cut off most ties to his family, they still want him back because as the eldest son, he is set to inherit the family fortune. Harry meets Edward’s family on the night of Thanksgiving, and she is very nervous about meeting Edward’s father Robert and making a good impression. Robert pulls Harry aside to have a chat with her and all seemed to go well, but before they parted, Robert gave Harry a cassette tape with a shocking confession on it. Why would Robert give Harry a tape that could ruin their family? As Harry works to uncover the truth behind the confession, she learns things of the family she is about to be married into and what she learns could cost her her life.
The Holbecks have one twisted and dark sense of humor and they love to play games. Not your normal everyday run of the mill board games either. Monopoly, Scrabble, and card games, are not for this family, oh no. They celebrate Krampusnacht and they go full out. Harry participated and was paired up with one of Edward’s small nephews, Billy. Harry did not know what Krampusnacht entailed until the game started and Billy explained it to her. So needless to say, she was shocked that the adults would put the children through this. I was not familiar with Krampusnacht myself until I googled it and I am not sure if all families go to the lengths the Holbecks did, but I was right there with Harry in my thinking on what a twisted family this was.
On Christmas the adults take part in a scavenger hunt. Now that may seem all nice and fun, but nope, not with this family. Everyone in this family has secrets they want to keep hidden, Harry included, so the winner of the game gets to keep their secret and they also learn everyone else’s as well. It is as she is playing this game that Harry pieces together all she has learned from the tape Robert gave her and she knows which member of the family is willing to kill to keep their secret hidden.
I know I was vague on what happens in this book, but I didn’t want to spoil anything. The Family Game has so many twists and turns and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. If you like twisty cat and mouse thrillers, then you definitely need to check this one out. I don’t think you will be disappointed. 4 ½ stars
The Girlfriend: An utterly unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist Goodreads
Author: K.L. Slater
Publication Date: October 24, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
K.L. Slater’s newest book The Girlfriend is a fast-paced psychological thriller that is full of family drama and suspense.
Jennifer Finchman thought when her husband Cole died suddenly in a car accident that her world had hit rock bottom, but she was so wrong. A few days after Cole died, a woman named Sarah shows up on Jennifer’s doorstep claiming to be Cole’s girlfriend and that the baby in her arms is his son. And that should have been when Jennifer hit rock bottom, but nope there is still more to come. Sarah informs Jennifer that Cole borrowed money from her and everything Jennifer thinks is hers (the house, the cars, the money in the bank) is actually Sarah’s. Now Jennifer’s world has hit rock bottom. Sarah suggests that they share the home and since Jennifer does not want to be homeless with her own two children, she agrees. When the police determine that Cole was actually murdered and Jennifer starts to learn more about Sarah, she soon realizes that she and her children are living under the roof with an unstable and dangerous woman.
The book is told mostly from Jennifer’s POV, but we also get some chapters from Sarah’s POV, as well as chapters from when she and Cole started their relationship. Right from the start, I didn’t trust Sarah and wanted to know what her end game was. The more I learned of Sarah, the crazier I thought she was and feared for Jennifer and the kid’s safety. Jennifer came across as naïve at first and some of her decisions made me want to scream, but as the book progressed her momma bear persona came through and she would do whatever she had to do to keep her children safe.
I loved all the twists and turns the book took as Jennifer started digging into Sarah’s past and the police worked their investigation into Cole’s death. I was all over the place on where I thought things were going and I am happy to say that Slater kept me guessing until the very end. Then just when all was revealed there was another major twist that had my jaw drop. I also found myself having sympathy for Sarah at the end. Well done K.L. Slater, well done.
The Girlfriend is full of tension and suspense, with well developed characters that had me engrossed from beginning to end. 4 stars