Two Thumbs Up: What I've Been Reading

Here are my quick takes on the books I read on our little getaway weekend...

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: A Novel with Recipes by Jenny Colgan. It followed quite predictable chick-lit guidelines, but was still very fun. Made me (a) want to go back to London and (b) bake delicious things. One thumb up.

What Darkness Brings: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris. As expected, I looooved this. Full review (and giveaway!) soon. Two thumbs up.

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequest. I started this one, but it made me tear up a few times. So I decided it's best for reading in bits and pieces, one or two essays at a time, rather than sitting down and devouring it as a vacation read. One thumb up (so far).

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien. Hands down the most addicting of the books I read in Show Low. In fact, Sunday when we got back I requested Prized (the sequel) at the library, and I've already read that whole one too! Now I'm eagerly waiting for Promised. I really like Gaia Stone, the 16 year old midwife whose adventures in the Enclave and the Wasteland and Sylum are fascinating, and inevitably revolve around questions of genetics, childbirth, and isolation. She has some of the annoyingly wishy-washy characteristics typical of YA heroines, but she doesn't bother me nearly as much as Tris from Divergent! Two thumbs up for Birthmarked. One thumb up for Prized.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I really enjoyed most of this one. But there were two big twists (one of which I saw coming) and the other of which completely surprised (and frustrated) me. I was irritated enough with that twist, that it made the other 95% not as good as I thought it had been. One thumb down.

Incidentally, two thumbs up for the Beautiful Mess photo app, which I used to create the image at the top of this post...

What have YOU been reading?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

My Vacation Reading Options

Noel, Eleanor and I are on our way home from Show Low, Arizona, after enjoying some lovely, relaxing days in the cooler 70s! I queued this up ahead of time, because I don't like telling the internet that we're on vacation till we're actually back.

Since there isn't any tv or internet where we stayed, I requested a ton of books at the library for all of us, packed some puzzles and board games, and bought Eleanor a new Color Wonder book and markers.

There's no way I could have possibly read all of these books, but I brought up spares in case I didn't like some of them. My selections fall into three basic categories:

These Need Reviewed, But They're Nice Light Reading

• Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: A Novel with Recipes by Jenny Colgan. Chick lit, about Issy Randall, who is starting her own bakery. I've read about a third of this one already, and oh man, the recipes make my mouth water. Perfect light vacation reading, for Shelf Awareness.
• What Darkness Brings: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris. I requested a copy of this from the publisher because I love these books. Stay tuned for a review and a giveaway for one of you soon!

Bread and Wine and a surprise visor from Noel arrived in my mailbox on the same day!

I've Been Meaning to Read These

• MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche. I read Katie's review of this forever ago, and I've been meaning to get around to it ever since.
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I've been wanting to read this for two reasons: I've heard it's really good, and South America is sadly neglected on my 2013 reading map.
• Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequest. I've read rave reviews of this all over the internet, and I was totally excited to win a copy of it at Hollywood Housewife a few weeks ago. I purposely saved it for this trip.

I Love Young Adult Lit

• The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg. I heard Elizabeth at the TFOB this year, and she was so funny in real life that I can't wait to read one of her books.
• Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien. At some point I added this to my "to-read" shelf on Goodreads, so I just randomly requested it from the library. It gets pretty good reviews, hoping it lives up to the hype! Of course, it's book 1 in a trilogy.
• Pure by Julianna Baggott. This one is ditto Birthmarked, although the reviews aren't quite as good.

Once I've unpacked everything and done our laundry, I'll fill you in on what I actually got around to reading!

What do you like to read on vacation? 

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Judging Books By Their Covers: Thunder on the Right

I've been re-reading bits of Thunder on the Right by Mary Stewart before bed the last few evenings. It's a gothic mystery, starring 22 year old Jennifer Silver, set in 1950s France. Jennifer's cousin Gillian supposedly died in a mysterious convent... but Jenny is quite sure that Gilly can't be dead. I know, it breaks my normal no-fiction-before-bed rule, but with a re-read I'm not as strict! 

I own the cover at left, which is super cheesy, but actually kind of accurate for the story. I think my favorite cover is the second from the right.

Which cover do you prefer?

This is part of my ongoing Judging Books by Their Covers series. Feel free to judge more of them too! The cover images are affiliate links.

Book Review: Criminal Enterprise by Owen Laukkanen

Owen Laukkanen reunites the team of FBI agent Carla Windermere and Kirk Stevens of Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (from 2012's The Professionals) in Criminal Enterprise. Windermere and her partner are tracking a gang of bank robbers whose crimes keep getting bigger; while her colleagues are investigating typical criminals, she suspects the main perpetrator is an accountant. Meanwhile, Stevens has taken a desk job investigating cold cases so that he can spend more time with his family. He's busy coaching his teenage daughter's basketball team, until he bumps into Windermere and realizes he has a strange connection to the robberies she's investigating.

Criminal Enterprise is a fast-paced thriller that keeps the reader guessing as Stevens and Windermere narrow in on the robbers' identities. Adding to the tension are alternating chapters told from the point of view of the main bank robber--detailing his transformation from an ordinary businessman into something much more deadly.

Laukkanen has done an excellent job creating an entirely plausible criminal--a man who would do anything to protect his family. The heightening tension of the escalating crimes keeps the pages turning, making the reader eager to see just how far things may go. Set in a vividly cold Minnesota winter, Criminal Enterprise offers a perfect escape into a freezing, suspenseful world.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. It seemed like a pretty generic thriller at first glance, but it was well-written, and I was fascinated by the bad guy's evolution from a typical family man into a vicious killer.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Possibly not. There are a couple of scenes with a lot of language/violence.

What's the best thriller you've read recently?

I originally wrote this review for Shelf Awareness. This post contains affiliate links.