Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/10/25

 Hey, I know it's late, but I have an excuse.... well, several of them really... and it IS still Saturday.  

This week, I didn't get any new books, unless you count the fact that I just ordered a copy of my brand-new, never before seen or published book THICKER THAN WATER.  Yep, that's one of my excuses.  I've been working on getting the book published.  Another excuse was groceries.  A third excuse was planting my new tomatoes... but that's neither here nor there.  Let's just get on with it...

Books Read: 

18) Bill and the Last Cup of Coffee by Lance Lassen (5/8/25) - dystopian action/humor* (I read the ebook, but this is the link to the paperback. In the time between now and when I downloaded the book, the ebook page has been removed and the paperback was set to 'out of print'. :sadface:) - 5 stars.  New to me and so underappreciated it's not even available anymore.  I got this for free off of one of Amazon's top 100 lists.
Review: "I read this book in the e-version and it had a different cover, but I can't find it on Amazon anymore, so I'm leaving a review here. Not sure what happened there. I hope the author puts it back up because this is an amazing book.

I found it on one of Amazon's 'top 100 free' lists and gave it a try. I'm so glad I did. It's an amazing story. Sure, the humor doesn't stay amped up throughout the book, but that's probably a good thing because sustained giggling can be bad for your complexion. Anyway, this is so much more poignant. I loved the characters, I loved the premise, and I loved the ending. The plot was unique, the pacing was spot-on, and the writing was solid. I inhaled this, ignoring my husband and both cats, and stayed up late to finish. (Which was a bad idea because even after I closed the book, I couldn't stop thinking about it.)

Please, Mr. Lassen, if you're seeing this, bring the book back into print. And thank you for letting me read it."

17) Goldfinger by Ian Fleming (5/5/25) - action/hard boiled crime - 5 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  I got this from a thrift store for 25c.
Review: "All the twisty-turny action you can expect from a James Bond novel. I loved it."

16) In Plain Sight by Dan Willis (4/27/25) - magical hard-boiled crime* - 5 stars.  New to me but not underappreciated.  I got this for free off my Amazon wishlist - placed there after a friend recommended it on FB.
Review: "This is a most excellent and brilliant story with an interesting little treat at the end. A well-written novel with awesome characters and an intelligent plot. I inhaled it. I only wish I'd read it when it was first recommended to me and I put it on my wish list. Better late than never, I guess. It's definitely worthy of 5 stars and every glowing recommendation I can give it to anyone who'll listen."

DNFs:

5/5/25 - free SF - this was supposed to be a hard-boiled crime in outer space, so I was super jazzed to read it.  Unfortunately, the formatting was SOOOO bad, I couldn't get past the first chapter.  I'm not sure what the author was thinking, but every page (assume Word pages) had 'Chapter 1 Continued' and then the chapter's title.  I'd read like 4-5 paragraphs and BLAMMO I'd get hit with that again.  Plus, the author left extra spaces between every paragraph.  It was most disconcerting.  I hope he gets it fixed for future readers, but I never go back to check once I DNF an ebook. =o(

Currently reading... an Agatha Christie I picked up at the thrift store.  So much yummy Poirot goodness.  Squee.

What was on your reading list this week?