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2026 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


27 / 30 books. 90% done!

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


39 / 50 books. 78% done!

2026 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona
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International:

- Australia (6)
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- Italy (1)
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- The Bahamas (1)
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My Progress:


34 / 51 states. 67% done!

2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


24 / 25 books. 96% done!

2026 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

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29 / 50 books. 58% done!

Booklist Queen's 2026 Reading Challenge

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38 / 52 books. 73% done!

2026 52 Club Reading Challenge

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34 / 52 books. 65% done!

2026 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

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22 / 40 books. 55% done!

2026 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

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24 / 51 books. 47% done!

2026 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2026 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

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19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2026 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


44 / 52 books. 85% done!

Shelf Reflection Candy Reading Challenge for Kids (and Adults)

My Progress:


54 / 65 books. 83% done!

2026 Countdown Reading Challenge

My Progress:


55 / 55 books. 100% done!

2026 Series Reading Challenge


23 / 36 books. 64% done!

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

My Progress:


70 / 125 books. 56% done!

2026 Southern Literary Reading Challenge

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9 / 9 books. 100% done!

2026 Reading Challenge (by Linz the Bookworm)

My Progress:


36 / 60 books. 60% done!

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

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10 / 40 books. 25% done!

European Reading Challenge 2026

My Progress:


7 / 50 books. 14% done!

2017 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge (retired challenge - doing old boards for fun)

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67 / 125 books. 54% done!

2026 Reading Challenge Addict Reading Challenge

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4 / 5 challenges. 80% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

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98 / 100 names. 98% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

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76 / 80 skills. 95% done!
Showing posts with label Astrid Scholte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrid Scholte. Show all posts
Saturday, October 17, 2020

Watery Dystopian Action-Packed and Exciting

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Five hundred years ago, the Great Waves destroyed the known world, burying its gleaming cities under fathoms of water.  The rusty ruins beckon to 17-year-old orphan Tempest "Tempe" Alerin, who scavenges them every day hoping to find treasures to sell.  She's been scrimping and saving her Notes ever since her older sister, Elysea, drowned two years ago.  When she finally has enough currency, she can exchange it for a wondrous gift—scientists will bring her dead sibling back to life for 24 hours.  That's all Tempe needs.  Five years ago, Elysea caused the death of their parents.  Tempe will do anything do find out why.

Reviving the dead is a carefully-controlled process, one that goes awry right from the start.  First, Elysea claims she had nothing to do with their parents' deaths.  Then, she asserts that they may still be alive.  In addition, Elysea doesn't want to spend her 24 hours of life sitting around in a boring research facility.  When the sisters find a way to escape their confines, 19-year-old Lor Ritter—the son of the scientist who invented the revival process—is charged with bringing them back.  Or else.  What ensues is a desperate race against time with Tempe and Elysea hunting for answers, with Lor in hot pursuit.  The closer the sisters get to uncovering the secrets of their watery home, the more dangerous their quest gets.  Can they find the answers they seek?  Or will both of them die trying?  

Watery dystopian worlds always fascinate me, so the setting of The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte definitely got my attention.  While not everything about the world made sense, it still created an intriguing backdrop for this exciting, action-packed ecological thriller.  I liked the characters at the story's center.  It was easy to empathize with them and root for their success.  As far as plot goes, I saw the Big Reveal coming, but there were other twists that caught me by surprise.  The ending was disappointing, which made the novel feel less than satisfying.  Overall, then, I didn't love The Vanishing Deep.  It did keep me turning pages, though, and I liked it for the most part.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (1 F-bomb, plus milder expletives), violence, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: It's Summertime and the Reading is Fine, Part Two

My favorite Top Ten Tuesday prompts are those dealing with seasonal TBR lists.  I enjoy them so much that I started my Summer 2020 list early.  To see the adult books I'm hoping to read this summer, click here.  Today's Part Two list will deal just with children's books, including YA and MG.  I'm going to feature new and upcoming titles because I've discovered some intriguing-looking ones that I really, really want to read. 

Before we get to that, I want to mention two things.  First, TTT is hosted every week by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.  Click on over to her blog to get all the deets on this fun weekly meme, as well as reviews, giveaways, etc.  Second, after this TTT discussion about how different readers use Goodreads, I decided to revamp my TBR lists on the site.  I deleted the 5000 books on my main TBR shelf and started over from scratch!  Then, I sorted all of the books I want to read into lists according to genre, setting, topic, etc.  I put the titles I'm most excited about in want-to-read order on a "Top 100" list, in the hopes that I can keep the list manageable.  If you want to check out my new and improved TBR lists on Goodreads, feel free.  The link is on the left sidebar.

Okay, here we go with Top Ten Books on My Summer 2020 TBR List (Part Two):


1.  Splinters of Scarlet by Emily Bain Murphy (available July 21, 2020)—I was blown away by Murphy's inventive debut, The Disappearances when I read it back in 2018.  I've been waiting and waiting for her sophomore novel and it's finally (almost) here.  I can't wait to dive into this book about magic and a mystery.   


2.  Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte—Inspired by the real deaf community that thrived on Martha's Vineyard in the early 19th Century, this MG novel is about Mary, a deaf girl who has grown up feeling secure in a community where nearly everyone is deaf and knows sign language.  When an ambitious scientist arrives on the island determined to get to the root of its prevalent deafness, Mary becomes a science experiment in the hands of a cruel captor.  What will happen to her and her unique community?  Sounds like a fascinating book.


3.  Orphan Eleven by Gennifer Choldenko—I enjoy Choldenko's books, especially her Alcatraz series, so I'm always excited when she comes out with a new book.  Her newest concerns a mute orphan who joins the circus, where she has to find her voice again in order to work with the animals.


4.  On the Horizon by Lois Lowry—I love historical fiction, so I'm definitely intrigued by Lowry's newest.  The MG novel concerns two infamous events—the bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.  Based on Lowry's personal experience growing up in Hawaii and historical research, the book takes an intimate look at how both events changed the lives of those who experienced them firsthand.


5.  Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk—Another historical, this MG novel is set during the Great Depression.  Because of economic hardship, Ellie and her family have to sell everything they have and move to a remote mountain location.  As if things aren't bad enough already, her father drifts into a coma after an accident for which Ellie is blamed.  To heal her father and soothe her guilt-ridden soul, she goes in search of a magical hag who can mend all kinds of hurts. 


6.  The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte—This YA underwater dystopian sounds compelling.  It concerns Tempe, a teenage girl who dives deep into the water that covers her world to search for treasures in the remains of the drowned cities of old.  She needs to earn enough to pay scientists to bring her dead sister back to life.  Her sister took a secret to her grave and Tempe is desperate for answers.  I'm in! 


7.  All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker—This MG novel features a young artist whose father, an art restorer, goes missing leaving behind only a cryptic note.  There's no one she can turn to for help, so she sets about solving the mystery of her missing father and the painting that seems to be linked to his disappearance.


8.  Fractured Tide by Leslie Lutz—Greg over at Book Haven featured this YA survival novel on his blog last week.  You better believe any book billed as LOST meets Stranger Things is going to get my immediate attention!  Naturally, it concerns a group of shipwrecked survivors and monsters both human and not.


9.  Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams—I don't know why, but I find cults super fascinating, so the premise of this YA novel caught my attention.  Admittedly, the main plot (a teen girl comes to realize she lives in a cult run by a megalomaniac and wants to escape with the Outsider boy she's fallen in love with) sounds fairly generic, but as a Type 1 diabetic, I'm intrigued by the book's subplot involving the heroine's diabetic brother.  In a community where medical intervention is outlawed, is it a sin for the MC to secretly break the rules in order to procure insulin for her sibling? 


10.  A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson—The murder of a teenage girl by her boyfriend still haunts the town in which it happened.  Pip knew the killer as a kind guy who would never do something so heinous.  For her senior project, she decides to investigate the murder.  In doing so, she finds new information that could exonerate the boyfriend.  Her digging has unearthed some dark secrets, however, secrets someone would kill to keep buried forever.  I can't resist an intriguing mystery and this one sounds like just that.

There you have it, ten MG and YA books I'm hoping to read this summer.  Which are you hoping to get to in the next few months?  Do we have any in common?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave a comment on this post and I will return the favor on yours.

Happy TTT! 
Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: 2020 Is Looking Promising Already


My kids are back in school, so the holidays must be officially over.  Never mind the fact that my Christmas decorations aren't completely packed away or that my family is still nibbling on holiday treats.  I'm ready for the new year, darn it!  2020's not going to get away from me like 2019 did.  I hope.  

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Top Ten Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020.  I already did a Winter TBR list that featured a lot of 2020 releases, so check that one out.  Never fear, though, I have more, which you will find listed below in order of release date.  Before you scroll down, though, take a minute to join in the TTT fun.  It's super easy—just click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, scan a few quick instructions, write up your own list, then hop around the book blogosphere checking out other people's posts.  I promise it will be a good time!

Okay, here we go with Top Ten (Okay, Eleven) Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020 (not including those from my Winter TBR list):



1.  The Girls With No Names by Serena Burdick (available January 7)—An ARC of this novel is winging its way to me as we speak.  I can't wait!  This historical concerns two sisters who live near a home for wayward girls.  When the girls unearth a shocking secret about their father, everything changes.  Then, one of the sisters disappears.  Assuming their father has incarcerated his missing daughter at the nearby home, the other hatches a daring rescue plan.   


2.  The Hollows by Jess Montgomery (available January 14)—I loved The Widows, a historical novel about a woman who takes over as sheriff after her husband's death in 1920s Ohio.  The second book in the series, this one concerns an elderly woman who is killed by a train while walking through an underground railroad tunnel.  Who was the woman?  And what was she doing on the train tracks?  It's up to the sheriff to find out. 


3.  Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain (available January 14)—This dual-timeline novel is the story of an innocent convict who is released from prison early in return for restoring an old mural.  A lot of my favorite tropes are rolled up in this one, so I'm expecting to enjoy it.


4.  Remembrance by Rita Woods (available January 21)—This triple-timeline historical novel about slavery looks intriguing. 


5.  Grace is Gone by Emily Elgar (available January 24)—Teenager Grace is so ill that her mother, Meg, who is beloved and admired in her town, does little else but care for her.  When Meg is found brutally murdered, with Grace nowhere to be found, the confusing mystery befuddles the town.  What in the world happened to the mother and daughter?  Sounds good, no?  


6.  Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald (available February 4)—After being struck by lightning, a woman wakes up in the hospital only to find out her mother has been murdered.  The police are suspicious of her convenient amnesia.  Desperate to prove her innocence, she sets out to find the truth.


7.  The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte (available March 3)—In this YA novel, a teen raises her sister from the dead for one day as a desperate measure to get answers about their parents' deaths.  Without enough clues as to what really happened, the girls team up to find the truth while being pursued by ill-intentioned foes.  Sounds fun!


8.  The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O'Shaughnessy (available March 3)—I just requested an e-ARC of this MG novel from NetGalley.  It's about a girl who discovers her estranged father will be judging a singing competition in Nashville.  She signs up to compete, but exactly how is she going to secretly get herself to Tennessee?  Adventure ensues ...  


9.  The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (available March 5)—I've enjoyed the first two books in McTiernan's Cormac Reilly series and I've been anxiously awaiting this third installment.  Looks like it's told from the perspective of both Reilly and another detective.  Interesting.


10.  Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia (available April 7)—I'm a big fan of Mejia's thrillers, so I'm excited for her newest which centers around a forensic accountant hired to track down millions of dollars of missing prize money.


11.  Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon (available April 28)—I love me a good pioneer story and this one sounds excellent.  It's about a young widow crossing the Overland Trail who faces hardships along the way.  An unexpected romance with a man who is half-Pawnee adds challenges to her already full plate.  
    
There you have it, eleven new releases I'm looking forward to.  What do you think of my picks?  Are you excited for any of these as well?  What other titles should I be keeping on my radar?  I'd truly love to know what you think.  Leave a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!
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