BEA'S BOOK NOOK "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." C. S. Lewis “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts

Sunday, January 7, 2018

The 2017 Edition of The TBR Book Tag - How Many Books Are In My TBR Pile?

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaryBalogh/photos/a.186291551491885.39771.174810365973337/650273051760397/?type=1&theater
Image from author Mary Balogh on facebook

So this TBR pile meme has sort of become my yearly wrap up post. It's late this year; I usually post it during the last week of the year to which it applies. That didn't happen, so here's last year's post. :D

Sunday, December 31, 2017

2018 Reading Challenges

This year, 2017, I only did 2 challenges, the Goodreads reading challenge and the Library Love Challenge. I had such a rough year in 2016 that I cut way back for this year. Now, though, I'm ready to take on more. So for 2018, I'm doing not only the Goodreads and Library Love challenges but also the Blogger Shame challenge and the Backlist Reader challenge.

Friday, December 29, 2017

Bea Reviews Bad For Her by Christi Barth

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Bad For Her, Christi Barth
Series: Bad Boys Gone Good #1
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 31st, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Doctor Mollie Vickers loves the tight-knit community of her tiny Oregon town. But she’s not a fan of the limited dating options. Sleep with a guy who tried to copy off her in junior high? Pass. Mollie’s sex life is flatlining… until a deliciously handsome man she’s never seen before stops to help her fix a flat tire.

As an ex-mobster, Rafe Maguire’s no saint. But he’s trying to turn over a new leaf. Although he probably shouldn’t kiss the hot doctor on the side of the highway. Or suggest a no-strings fling with a woman he has no business pursuing. Rafe’s life is too complicated for love—his new WITSEC-provided identity doesn’t fit him at all and there’s a U.S. Marshal watching his every move. He can’t tell Mollie the truth… but their chemistry is scorching and being good doesn’t mean he can’t be a little bad.

Mollie can’t resist the guy who looks rough, talks tough, and is loyal to the bone. But it’s obvious Rafe is keeping secrets. When the truth comes out, Mollie must decide if she could ever love an ex-mobster… or if this bad boy has truly gone good.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Bea Reviews The Body in the Casket by Katherine Hall Page

Bea's Book Nook, Review, The Body in the Casket, Katherine Hall Page
Series: Faith Fairchild #24
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 5th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iBooks* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The inimitable Faith Fairchild returns in a chilling New England whodunit, inspired by the best Agatha Christie mysteries and with hints of the timeless board game Clue

For most of her adult life, resourceful caterer Faith Fairchild has called the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford home. While the native New Yorker has come to know the region well, she isn’t familiar with Havencrest, a privileged enclave, until the owner of Rowan House, a secluded sprawling Arts & Crafts mansion, calls her about catering a weekend house party.

Producer/director of a string of hit musicals, Max Dane—a Broadway legend—is throwing a lavish party to celebrate his seventieth birthday. At the house as they discuss the event, Faith’s client makes a startling confession. “I didn’t hire you for your cooking skills, fine as they may be; but for your sleuthing ability. You see, one of the guests wants to kill me.”

Faith’s only clue is an ominous birthday gift the man received the week before—an empty casket sent anonymously containing a 20-year-old Playbill from Max’s last, and only failed, production—Heaven Or Hell. Consequently, Max has drawn his guest list for the party from the cast and crew. As the guests begin to arrive one by one, and an ice storm brews overhead, Faith must keep one eye on the menu and the other on her host to prevent his birthday bash from becoming his final curtain.

Full of delectable recipes, brooding atmosphere, and Faith’s signature biting wit, The Body in The Casket is a delightful thriller that echoes the beloved mysteries of Agatha Christie and classic films such as Murder by Death and Deathtrap.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas to all of my readers who celebrate. I hope you have a joyous day. Eat, drink, read, nap, and be merry! 


Thursday, December 21, 2017

Bea Reviews The Pretender by HelenKay Dimon


Series: Games People Play #3
Publisher: Avon
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 26th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Avon Romance | Book Depository* | Google | iBooks* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

“Sexy, emotional, funny . . . Dimon gives it all to her readers.” New York Times Bestselling Author Jill Shalvis

They say it takes a thief to catch a thief, and Harrison Tate is proof. Once a professional burglar, he now makes a lawful living tracking down stolen art. No one needs to know about his secret sideline, “liberating” artifacts acquired through underhanded methods. At least until one of those jobs sees him walking in on a murder.

Gabrielle Wright has long been estranged from her wealthy family, but she didn’t kill her sister. Trouble is, the only person who can prove it is the sexy, elusive criminal who shouldn’t have been at the island estate on that terrible night. She’s not expecting honor among thieves—or for their mutual attraction to spark into an intense inferno of desire.

Under the guise of evaluating her family’s art, Harris comes back to the estate hoping to clear Gabby’s name. But returning to the scene of the crime has never been riskier, with their hearts and lives on the line.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Bea Reviews That Olde White Magick by Sharon Pape

Bea's Book Nook, Review, That Olde White Magick, Sharon Pape
Series: An Abracadabra Mystery #2
Publisher: Lyrical Underground 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 7th 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

It’s time to work her crime-solving magic again . . .

Kailyn Wilde enjoys running her shop, Abracadabra, in the quaint New York hamlet of New Camel, where she lives with her six cats. Her family’s been here for centuries, and she’d like to keep up the tradition. But the place may never be the same if a big hotel gets built, so she does her civic duty and attends a town meeting along with her aunt Tilly . . . and Merlin. Yes, that Merlin—though he gets introduced to folks as her “distant English cousin.” The wizard is pretty grumpy about being transported here, but there are things about the modern world he doesn’t mind—like pizza.

Kailyn was prepared for a heated debate about the hotel, but she wasn’t expecting murder. When Tilly finds the body of a board member outside the schoolhouse, Kailyn doesn’t want any suspicion cast on the wrong person. She plans to crack this case, even if she has to talk to every living soul in town—plus a few departed ones.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Bea Reviews Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood

Series: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #18 
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review 
Release Date: December 5th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Traveling at high speed in her beloved Hispano-Suiza with her maid and trusted companion Dot, her two adoptive daughters Jane and Ruth, and their dog Molly, Phryne Fisher is off to Queenscliff. She'd promised everyone a nice holiday by the sea with absolutely no murders, but when they arrive at their rented accommodation that doesn't seem likely at all.

An empty house, a gang of teenage louts, a fisherboy saved, and a missing butler and his wife seem to lead inexorably toward a hunt for buried treasure by the sea. Phryne knows to what depths people will sink for greed, but with a glass of champagne in one hand and a pearl-handled Beretta in the other, no one is getting past her.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Steph Reviews Hagar's Mother By Jim Nelson

Steph Reviews Hagar's Mother by Jum Nelson
Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle #2
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: November 15, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:
The anticipated sequel to BRIDGE DAUGHTER—Single mother Hanna Driscoll struggles to raise her “bridge daughters,” twins born pregnant with Hanna’s children. In six weeks the girls will give birth and die, leaving Hanna with two infants to raise.

Then Hanna’s busy life is shaken when an activist threatens to rescue her daughters from their fate and kill the children they bear.

A thriller of twists and turns, Hanna faces challenges from all sides to protect her infants-to-be…only to discover she too questions the mortality of her bridge daughters.


Friday, December 15, 2017

Bea Reviews A Covert Affair and An Uncommon Honeymoon by Susan Mann

Series: Librarian and the Spy Escapade #2
Publisher: Zebra Shout
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 29th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

910.4 TRAVEL, adventurous
306.7 ROMANCE, secret
341.5 HOSTAGES, saving

A CIA librarian and her handsome spy boyfriend find themselves in the middle of an international incident when the Indian ambassador is kidnapped from a Library of Congress event.
Agent-in-training Quinn Ellington and James Bond Anderson travel to India, where the key to saving the ambassador is tangled up with a long-lost sacred library, a desecrated temple, and some very modern machinations. At least their cover as blissful newlyweds isn t too hard to pull off . . .
1. Spies sexy. 2. India intrigue. 3. Terrorism foiling. 4. Best friends weddings of. 5. Series The Librarian and the Spy.
I. Ellington, Quinn."

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Review & Giveaway: A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Giveaway, A Murder for the Books, Victoria Gilbert

Bea's Book Nook, A Murder for the Books, Review, Giveaway, Victoria Gilbert
Series: Blue Ridge Library Mysteries #1
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 12th 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Books-A-Million  | Indie Bound  | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention with its severe lack of funds and overabundance of eccentric patrons. The last thing she needs is a new, available neighbor whose charm lures her into trouble.

Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house’s original owner was poisoned by his wife, who was an outsider. It quickly became water under the bridge, until she vanished after her sensational 1925 murder trial. Determined to clear the name of the woman his great-uncle loved, Richard implores Amy to help him investigate the case. Amy is skeptical until their research raises questions about the culpability of the town’s leading families... including her own.

When inexplicable murders plunge the quiet town into chaos, Amy and Richard must crack open the books to reveal a cruel conspiracy and lay a turbulent past to rest in A Murder for the Books, the first installment of Victoria Gilbert’s Blue Ridge Library mysteries.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Bea Reviews How the Finch Stole Christmas by Donna Andrews

Bea's Book Nook, Review, How the Finch Stole Christmas, Donna Andrews
Series: Meg Lanslow #22
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 24th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Meg's husband has decided to escalate his one-man show of Dickens' A Christmas Carol into a full-scale production with a large cast including their sons Jamie and Josh as Tiny Tim and young Scrooge and Meg helping as stage manager.

The show must go on, even if the famous―though slightly over-the-hill―actor who's come to town to play the starring role of Scrooge has brought a sleigh-load of baggage and enemies with him. And why is Caerphilly suddenly overrun with a surplus of beautiful caged finches?

How the Finch Stole Christmas! is guaranteed to put the "ho ho hos" into the holidays of cozy lovers everywhere with its gut-bustingly funny mystery.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Wolf Hunger by Paige Tyler


Bea's Book Nook, Review, Excerpt, Giveaway, Wolf Hunger, Paige Tyler
Series: SWAT #7
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 5th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble | Kobo |Google | IndieBound
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from the publisher:


She’s all the wolf he’ll ever need

When SWAT Officer Max Lowry meets Lana Mason, he falls fast and hard. He’s positive she’s The One. And Max’s favorite part? Lana’s a wolf shifter too, so they can skip the awkward reveal and head straight to the happily ever after. There’s just one problem: Lana doesn’t know that she’s a werewolf.

To make matters worse, hunters with intent to kill have tracked Lana to Dallas. Max has to figure out how to keep Lana safe, show her who and what she really is—and just how much she means to him.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Steph Reviews Bridge Daughter By Jim Nelson

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Bridge Daughter, Jim Nelson
Publisher: Kindle Press
Series: The Bridge Daughter Cycle
Format Read: E-Book
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:
Young Hanna thinks her thirteenth birthday will be no different than the one before--until her mother explains the facts of life. Hanna is a "bridge daughter," born pregnant with her parents' child. In a few months she will give birth and die, leaving her parents with their true daughter.

A mature bookworm who dreams of college and career, Hanna is determined to overcome her biological fate. Navigating through a world eerily like our own, she confronts unyielding attitudes and instinctive fears as old as humankind itself.

Then Hanna learns of an illegal procedure that will allow her to live to adulthood...at the cost of the child's life.


Saturday, December 9, 2017

Bea Reviews Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Anthony Del Col, Werther Dell'edera

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 28th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iBooks* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Volume collects issues 1-6

A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery unlike any other you've ever read! When the teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy are accused of the murder of their father - a detective in the small resort town of Bayport - they must team up with Nancy Drew to prove their innocence (and find the real guilty party in the process) in a twisting noir tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit, and dames.

Writer Anthony Del Col (Assassin's Creed, Kill Shakespeare) and artist Werther Dell'Edera (Batman: Detective Comics, House of Mystery) bring the iconic teen detectives into the modern age, and redefine noir for a new generation of readers!

Friday, December 8, 2017

Excerpt & Giveaway: The Last Wolf by Maria Vale


Maria Vale is a journalist who has worked for Publishers Weekly, Glamour magazine, Redbook, the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a logophile and a bibliovore and a worrier about the world. Trained as a medievalist, she tries to shoehorn the language of Beowulf into things that don't really need it. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two sons and a long line of dead plants. No one will let her have a pet. Visit her at https://www.mariavale.com/.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Bea Reviews Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Killman Creek, Rachel Caine
Series: Stillhouse Lake #2
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 12th 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.

Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…

You’re not safe anywhere now.

Her refuge at Stillhouse Lake has become a trap. Gwen leaves her children in the protective custody of a fortified, well-armed neighbor. Now, with the help of Sam Cade, brother of one of Melvin’s victims, Gwen is going hunting. She’s learned how from one of the sickest killers alive.

But what she’s up against is beyond anything she feared—a sophisticated and savage mind game calculated to destroy her. As trust beyond her small circle of friends begins to vanish, Gwen has only fury and vengeance to believe in as she closes in on her prey. And sure as the night, one of them will die.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Mini Reviews of Stay Calm and Collie On by Lane Stone & Escape Claws by Linda Reilly

Bea's Book Nook, Review, Stay Calm and Collie On, Lane Stone
Series: Pet Palace Mystery #1
Publisher: Lyrical Underground
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review 
Release Date: November 7th, 2017 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* iBooks* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Buckingham Pet Palace is known for treating dogs like royalty—until murder dethrones its good reputation!

As owner of an upscale doggy daycare and spa, animal-lover Sue Patrick pampers pooches for the most elite clients in Lewes, Delaware. Surely she can survive a week-long visit from Lady Anthea Fitzwalter, her well-to-do business partner from England. But before Sue can serve her guest a spot of tea, she discovers more-than-a-spot of blood inside the company van—and all over the driver’s dead body . . .

Someone abandoned the van full of dogs at the Lewes ferry terminal and got away with murder, leaving Sue and Lady Anthea pawing for clues. With a fundraising gala approaching and Buckingham Pet Palace facing scandal, can two very different women work together to fetch the culprit from a list of dodgy suspects—or are they heading toward a proper disaster?

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Author Anne Elizabeth’s Favorite Holiday Traditions & A Giveaway of The Power of A SEAL!

Bea's Book Nook, Anne Elizabeth, Guest Post, Giveaway, Favorite Holiday Traditions

New York Times bestselling author Anne Elizabeth is an award-winning romance author and a popular comic creator. With a BS in business and MS in communications from Boston University, she is a regular presenter at conventions as well as a member of the Author’s Guild, Horror Writers Association, and Romance Writers of America. Anne lives with her husband, a retired Navy SEAL, in the mountains above San Diego.

Today she's here to share some favorite Christmas traditions and there's a giveaway too. So make yourself a mug of cocoa or whatever drink you prefer, get comfy, and enjoy!

Bea Reviews The Power of A SEAL by Anne Elizabeth

Series: West Coast NAVY Seals Series 
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca  
Source: The publisher for an honest review
Release Date: December 5th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Chapters | iBooks* | Indiebound * associate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

With over two decades of experience, Navy SEAL Leaper Lefton is bringing his expertise to young and impressionable SEAL trainees in BUD/s. As an instructor, he knows he must prepare them for all kinds of situations—and there's a perfect opportunity for hands-on training when he spots a woman in danger in rough water. Kerry Hamilton, a marine mammal veterinarian for the U.S. Navy is beyond grateful when Leaper saves her from the rough seas, and their attraction is instant. But after everything Leaper has been through, can he truly love again? And is Kerry willing to give him the chance?