Under Literary Construction

Mom with a Book

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The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling's Stab at Adult Fiction

The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling’s Stab at Adult Fiction

J. K. Rowling is best known for her Harry Potter series, and rightfully so. Harry Potter has created thousands upon thousands of lifelong fans and readers from varying backgrounds and cultures all dive in head first into the magical tale, leaving the real world behind.

I, myself, am a Harry Potter fan (Go Hufflepuffs!) and will probably continue to be well into my old age. I’ve always been…

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Giving Up on Goodreads

Giving Up on Goodreads

Goodreads…

Everyone in the book world knows about and most likely has an account, myself included.

When I was first introduced to Goodreads, I didn’t really dig into the site very much. I logged in a few books, but didn’t fully understand the extent of what the site can do.

Fast forward to my college book club that actually had a group page on Goodreads for month-long…

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A Novel Idea and A Real-World Killer

A Novel Idea and A Real-World Killer

About a year ago, I had an idea for a book. Something that I hadn’t read before, but was really intrigued on exploring. Here’s what roughly what I came up with and because I’m not one of those writers that plots out detail by detail before writing, it was really a rough rough draft…

A woman, psychologically abused by her writer husband, snaps one day (already sounds good, right). Moving on,…

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Audiobook Review: Sometimes I Lie

Audiobook Review: Sometimes I Lie

Synopsis:

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie.

I waiting impatiently for this book to come available at my library. Eventually, the audiobook was ready for me to borrow and I’m very glad I checked this one out as an audiobook.

Macmillan Audio has a…

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Book Review: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

Book Review: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

Synopsis:

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and… no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.

Review:

Look at that quick…

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Audiobook Review: The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3)

Audiobook Review: The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3)

Synopsis:

Catastrophes and misfortune continue to plague the Baudelaire orphans after they’re sent to live with fearful Aunt Josephine who offers little protection against Count Olaf’s treachery.

Review:

This series is a lovely little gem to binge, not only on Netflix, but also as audiobooks. This one was not narrated by Tim Curry, who does a fantastic…

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March 2019 Reading Wrap Up

March 2019 Reading Wrap Up

Another past due wrap up coming your way

March was a bit of a slow month, reading-wise, for me. I only finished 2 books and threw in the towel on book number 3. Here’s what the end of the month looked like for me:

March 2019 Finished Reading

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (audiobook)

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

I am, I am, I am

I can usually knock out at least 2 audiobooks a month,…

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February 2019 Reading Wrap Up

February 2019 Reading Wrap Up

February 2019 was another productive month reading-wise. I finished a total of 5 books:

Books finished February 2019

The Cutting Season (audiobook)

The Color Purple

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Dumplin’ (audiobook)

If We Were Villains (audiobook)

I knocked out more audiobooks than physical books this month and part of that is because I had trouble getting through Midnight in the…

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January 2019 Reading Wrap Up

January 2019 Reading Wrap Up

Since somebody got really behind on books reviews… ahem me… I’m going to start by catching up on monthly wrap ups. Then, I’ll link the individual reviews down the line. Probably.

So without further ado…

JANUARY 2019:

January 2019 Books Read

The Wide Window (audiobook)

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

Sometimes I Lie (audiobook)

The Wretched (ARC)

Orphan X (ARC)

My Grandmother Asked Me to…

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To Rate or Not to Rate - The DNF Question

To Rate or Not to Rate – The DNF Question

About a year or two ago, I joined the DNF club.

What’s that you say?

Nick Cannon Giphy.com

Well, it’s a collection of us readers that have decided there are far too many books and far too little time to torture ourselves reading a book that we are just not enjoying. Some of us nix books a few pages in if we aren’t interested, some of us give it a few chapters, but the bottom line is if…

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Back in Action - For Real This Time

Back in Action – For Real This Time

If you’re still with me, oh loyal 5 friends of mine :), I’ve fallen WAY behind. I mean WAAAYYYYYYY behind on here.

To be honest, I gave up on the blog for a while. I spent so much time focusing on this for nothing to come from it but stress. It became a source of frustration to have to sit down and compose a blog post following a book and that’s just no bueno.

Aaron Sanchez No bueno Giphy

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Son of a Witch - Wicked Years #2

Son of a Witch – Wicked Years #2

It took me a while to tackle the second in the Wicked Years series, there are just so many books on my TBR, but I finally got around to tackling it and I think, it was better than the first one.

No offense to Wicked, but this one was faster paced and didn’t dig into the political aspects of Oz that left the first book in the series feeling a little heavy and slowed down. It was interesting, don’t…

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Station Eleven (Audio)

I’ve mentioned this before, but aside from a good murder mystery, I have a sweet spot for dystopian/apocalyptic fiction. The end of the world scenarios just keep me on the edge of my seat and there are so many works to pick from in this category and they each offer something special.

In Station Eleven, the world as we know it changes quickly thanks to a flu-like illness that spreads quickly,…

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Sunrise at Sunset: Revamped

Sunrise at Sunset: Revamped

I had the wonderful opportunity to have the author as a guest in my book club’s monthly discussion of this book and wanted to take the time to say THANK YOU again to Jaz Primo.

For starters, this isn’t the kind of book I normally read. I love a good vampire novel, like most, but I tend to lean more towards murder mysteries and psychological thrillers than fantasy or paranormal romance. Honestly,…

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Kids These Days

Little Brown was hosting a giveaway for this book on Instagram and I was one of the lucky winners. I was looking forward to reading this and managed to get it in the mail the day I was packing for an impromptu trip to Louisiana. I packed it, planning to read it while on my mini-vacation, but, of course, I didn’t pick up any of the 3 books I brought with me while I was gone. When I came back home,…

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The Moor (Mary Russell #4 Audiobook)

The Moor (Mary Russell #4 Audiobook)

If you’ve read any of my past reviews, I’m a sucker for a good murder mystery or Sherlock-esque (as I lovingly call them) novels. You would think over the years, I would get my fill, but with so many novels being published constantly, I will never run out of a good murder mystery. There is always a new perspective on the story, a new way to look at the old tales, that takes me back to some…

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How do you eat a dinosaur?

How do you eat a dinosaur?

One bite at a time.

I let myself get behind on here, again. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it), I don’t get paid to do this. Otherwise, I would have been fired by now.

Anyways, I let myself get behind.

The problem is, it starts out small. One or two books that have been left un-reviewed. Sometimes, I have the gist of a review already written or typed…

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