2016 Reading Year in Review!!

January

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
2. The Mistletoe Promice (Mistletoe Collection) by Richard Paul Evans
3. Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling
4. Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher

February

5. Corrupted (Rosato & DiNunzio #3) by Karen Slaughter
6. Mistborn (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
7. The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska #5) by Tami Hoag

March

8. Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard
9. NYPD Red 4 (NYPD Red #4) by James Patterson and Marshall Karp
10. Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
11. City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare
12. City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare
13. She’s Not There by Joy Fielding

APRIL

14. Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon
15. Private Paris (Private #11) by James Patterson and Mark T. Sullivan
16. Darkness by Karen Robards
17. The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) by J.R. Ward

MAY

18. Gone Again (Jack Swyteck #12) by James Grippando
19. The Obsession by Nora Roberts
20. The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court #1) by Richelle Mead
21. Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker
22. Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline

JUNE

23. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare
24. Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare
25. Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare
26. 15th Affair (Woman’s Murder Club #15) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

JULY

27. The Last Mile (Amos Decker #2) by David Baldacci
28. The BFG by Roald Dahl
29. Matilda by Roald Dahl
30. Cruel Crown (Red Queen #0.1 and #0.2) by Victoria Aveyard
31. The Widow by Fiona Barton
32. Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica
33. Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare
34. The Pursuit (Fox and O’Hare #5) by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

AUGUST

35. First Comes Love by Emily Giffin
36. Tomorrow, When the War Began (Tomorrow #1) by James Marsden
37. The Games (Private #11) by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
38. Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare
39. Damaged (Rosato & DiNunzio #4) by Lisa Scottoline

SEPTEMBER

40. With Malice by Eileen Cook
41. A Torch Against the Night (Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
42. Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy #1) by J.R. Ward
43. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
44. This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
45. The Trial (Women’s Murder Club #15.5) by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
46. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

OCTOBER

47. Bound to Darkness (Midnight Breed #13) by Lara Adrian

NOVEMBER

48. Bullseye (Michael Bennett #9) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
49. Missing (Private #12) by James Patterson and Kathryn Fox
50. Heartless by Marissa Meyer

DECEMBER

51. Cross the Line (Alex Cross #24) by James Patterson
52. The Mistletoe Secret (The Mistletoe Collection) by Richard Paul Evans
53. No Man’s Land (John Puller #4) by David Baldacci
54. Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum #23) by Janet Evanovich

No. 54 for 2016

Title: Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum #23)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Rating: 3/5
Book: 54
Pages:  288 pgs
Total Pages: 20,911
Version: Book
Next up: Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2) by J.R. Ward

As much as I love this series, I still think it’s time for Evanovich to end it. That being said, this book did get a few laughs out of me and I did enjoy the reference to The Minions.

About the Book:

Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an eighteen-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body—frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans.

As fate would have it, Stephanie’s mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who’s putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business. It’s going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It’s also going to be hard to explain to Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger, late nights with Lula and Randy Briggs—who are naked and afraid—and late nights keeping tabs on Grandma Mazur and her new fella. Stephanie Plum has a lot on her plate, but for a girl who claims to have “virtually no marketable skills,” these are the kinds of sweet assignments she does best.

No. 53 for 2016!

Title: No Man’s Land (John Puller #4)
Author: David Baldacci
Rating: 3/5
Book: 53
Pages:  420 pgs
Total Pages: 20,623
Version: Book
Next up: Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum #23) by Janet Evanovich

Not my favourite Baldacci book but it was a good read. It took me a good 200 pages to get into the book but once it took off, I couldn’t put it down.

About the Book:

Two men. Thirty years.

John Puller’s mother, Jackie, vanished thirty years ago from Fort Monroe, Virginia, when Puller was just a boy. Paul Rogers has been in prison for ten years. But twenty years before that, he was at Fort Monroe. One night three decades ago, Puller’s and Rogers’ worlds collided with devastating results, and the truth has been buried ever since.

Until now.

Military investigators, armed with a letter from a friend of Jackie’s, arrive in the hospital room of Puller’s father–a legendary three-star now sinking into dementia–and reveal that Puller Sr. has been accused of murdering Jackie.

Aided by his brother Robert Puller, an Air Force major, and Veronica Knox, who works for a shadowy U.S. intelligence organization, Puller begins a journey that will take him into his own past, to find the truth about his mother.

Paul Rogers’ time is running out. With the clock ticking, he begins his own journey, one that will take him across the country to the place where all his troubles began: a mysterious building on the grounds of Fort Monroe. There, thirty years ago, the man Rogers had once been vanished too, and was replaced with a monster. And now the monster wants revenge. And the only person standing in his way is John Puller.

No. 52 for 2016!

Title: The Mistletoe Secret (Mistletoe Collection)
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Rating: 3/5
Book: 52
Pages:  320 pgs
Total Pages: 20,203
Version: Book
Next up: No Man’s Land (John Puller #4) by David Baldacci

Pretty good and standard read for Richard Paul Evans. I always look forward to his newest Christmas release.

About the Book:

Dear Universe,
Is anyone out there?

Thinking no one is reading, a blogger who calls herself LBH writes about her most personal feelings, especially her overwhelming loneliness. She goes from day to day showing a brave face to the world while inside she longs to know how it would feel if one person cared about her.

Alex Bartlett cares. He’s reading her posts in Daytona Beach, Florida. Nursing his own broken heart and trust issues, he finds himself falling for this sensitive, vulnerable woman whose feelings mirror his own. Following a trail of clues LBH has inadvertently revealed, he discovers that she lives in the small town of Midway, Utah. He makes his way there just after Thanksgiving, determined to find LBH. Maybe she’s a Lisa, Lori, or a Luanne. Instead, he finds a woman named Aria, a waitress at the Mistletoe Diner, who encourages Alex in his search while serving his pie along with some much-needed sympathy and companionship.

Alex finally finds his LBH, a woman who is as beautiful and kind as he imagined she would be. How can he tell her that he knows her secret? What’s holding him back? Could it be his feelings for Aria?

No. 51 for 2016!

Title: Cross the Line
Author: James Patterson
Rating: 2/5
Book: 51
Pages:  400 pgs
Total Pages: 19,883
Version: Book
Next up: The Mistletoe Secret (Mistletoe Collection) by Richard Paul Evans

I used to love the Alex Cross and look forward to the annual release of the newest installment. Now? Patterson needs to put this series out of its misery. 90% of this book was just pure filler that didn’t help the plot at all.

About the Book:

Shots ring out in the early morning hours in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. When the smoke clears, a prominent police official lies dead, leaving the city’s police force scrambling for answers.

Under pressure from the mayor, Alex Cross steps into the leadership vacuum to investigate the case. But before Cross can make any headway, a brutal crime wave sweeps across the region. The deadly scenes share only one common thread – the victims are all criminals. And the only thing more dangerous than a murderer without a conscience, is a killer who thinks he has justice on his side.

As Cross pursues an adversary who has appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner, he must take the law back into his own hands before the city he’s sworn to protect descends into utter chaos.