Wishlist Wednesday #25

Welcome to my twenty-fifth Wishlist Wednesday; part of the great blog hop hosted by Dani at Pen to Paper. This week I've chosen Defending Evil by Charles Shea

Travis Knight is an extraordinary criminal defence attorney winning high profile cases in Atlanta. One of his recently acquitted clients kills again, which has Travis and his wife Julie, questioning what he does for a living. Travis is shaken to his core, but being a consummate lawyer, he is able to move past his feelings of guilt; Julie isn't.
In a bizarre twist, a mysterious vigilante begins executing Travis’ clients after he wins them an acquittal. This righteous vigilante decides that the clients Travis is helping to put back into society are guilty, and don't deserve to live--the vigilante delivers ultimate justice.
The police only half-heartedly search for the vigilante-off the record, they are glad someone is cleaning-up after the hot-shot attorney.
The vigilante's attention turns to the source, and sends Travis an ultimatum--stop defending guilty clients or he will be the next to be executed. Risking his life, and his marriage, Travis refuses to be intimidated, and continues to defend clients accused of murder.

This story chronicles the labyrinth of high-speed twists and turns of a deadly cat-and-mouse game - a game that can end with only one winner

So first things first... I'm guilty of judging books by their covers and this one doesn't exactly grab my attention very much, though thankfully the synopsis does as it sounds like the perfect mix... dark legal/mystery/thriller... my favourite genres all combined! I'm sure it won't be long before this book joins my kindle TBR list.

Want to join in??

• Follow Pen to Paper as the host
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get your hands on and read
• Wrote a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post
• Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere on your post with a note about the host
• Visit the other blogs, follow and enjoy :)

What's on your wishlist this week? Leave me a link to your post, I'll be sure to pop by and check it out!

Wedding planning with a difference...

I have to admit that since announcing our engagement on here last December I've kept pretty quiet about the whole wedding thing. Paul and I submitted our application to the embassy back in September 2012 and since then I haven't written about the process so as not to curse it! However last week I became the proud owner of my very own visa which allows me to enter the United States to marry Paul. AT LAST!!

So now exciting changes are about to happen as soon I'll fly to Texas and we can arrange our wedding. I feel surprisingly confident and calm about it all considering that we're getting married in about 5 weeks time and have no venue, date or anything else planned. We've been apart for such a long time that the show and flamboyance that people can get so fixated on doesn't come into it. The focus for us is not the entertainment of everyone else but the fact that we will be together again and all our hard work and patience has paid off. I have confidence that we'll find just the right place for the two of us. Most important of all we will be together again and able to say our 'I do's'.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

A Surprising Discovery

I'm a massive fan of my Kindle and couldn't live without it, but despite this I always thought deep down that part of me agreed with people that said they will always love an actual book more. However this week I realised this may no longer be the case.

I had an appointment at the American Embassy in London a couple of weeks ago. It's forbidden to take any electronic devices into the building so I bought a book on my way to keep me entertained while I waited for my appointments. On the day it turned out there was a lot going on so it was difficult to focus on reading but having bought it, typically for me, I was determined to read it at some point.

As I was reading I realised that I was no longer a fan of the good old fashioned paperback. Other than the smell (mmm book smell) I found myself struggling to get comfortable while reading. Somewhere along the line I've got super lazy... I like holding my Kindle with one hand, not moving to turn a page and not getting achy arms. I also hadn't realised how much I used the dictionary feature built into the Kindle. Added to the comfort factor is the cost ... the same book was half the price on Amazon than it was in the book shop, plus having a whole store instantly available at my fingertips 24 hours a day means I'm never short of something new to get into.

So after several years of reading on a Kindle I've finally realised, much to my surprise, that I'm not just a bit of a fan but really I'm 100% converted!!
Do you read on an e-reader or still enjoy a paperback? Please share your thoughts and leave a comment :)

Note to self...

Wishlist Wednesday #24

Welcome to my twenty-fourth Wishlist Wednesday; part of the great blog hop hosted by Dani at Pen to Paper. This week I've chosen Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes.


Catherine has been enjoying the single life for long enough to know a good catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic, spontaneous - Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell. But there is a darker side to Lee. His erratic, controlling and sometimes frightening behavior means that Catherine is increasingly isolated. Driven into the darkest corner of her world, and trusting no one, she plans a meticulous escape. Four years later, struggling to overcome her demons, Catherine dares to believe she might be safe from harm. Until one phone call changes everything. This is an edgy and powerful first novel, utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, and a tour de force of suspense.

This popped up on one of my emails as it is currently on offer on Amazon Kindle. It's been really well reviewed and I'm looking forward to getting it!

Want to join in??

• Follow Pen to Paper as the host
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get your hands on and read
• Wrote a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post
• Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere on your post with a note about the host
• Visit the other blogs, follow and enjoy :)

What's on your wishlist this week? Leave me a link to your post, I'll be sure to pop by and check it out!

Stop Keeping Clothes For Best

For one reason or another I temporarily diversified my reading material into a couple of self-help books (no groaning please!). I'm not going to suddenly going to turn into the Yes-Man though I think they do deserve a place on our bookshelves.

The phrase 'stop keeping clothes for best' popped up in 'Being Confident' by Judi James as part of a list of instant confidence boosters. I have to admit that this is something I'm massively guilty of. Even though I don't have multiple wardrobes full to bursting with clothes, I do wear the same things day in day out and keep some of the nicest and prettiest clothes I own 'for best'. Even when the opportunity comes along, such as a lunch with friends, for some reason I lack the confidence to wear them and shy away from looking my best.

Even though I read a lot of the book on Monday for some reason this particular piece of advice stuck with me. I went for a run that evening and afterwards, instead of chucking on the same old stuff, I popped on some cropped leggings and a cute casual dress that I've never found the right occasion for. You know what? I felt great!

Since then I've had a good rummage through my wardrobe only to discover that there's a whole hidden world of clothes that I love but don't wear. I'm not sure if it's because I'm saving them for best or because for some reason I lack the confidence to wear something other than my usual jeans and t-shirt. But why not enjoy them and feel good about the way I look? I don't buy clothes with the intention of stashing them away waiting for the right occasion for so long that they go out of fashion. I bought them to wear!

So why not be my best today, tomorrow and the next day? I'm going to give it a go!

Wishlist Wednesday #23

After a few weeks away I'm happy to be joining in with Wishlist Wednesday again, the great blog hop hosted by Dani at Pen to Paper. This week I've chosen Desert Places by Blake Crouch

Greetings. There is a body buried on your property, covered in your blood. The unfortunate young lady's name is Rita Jones. In her jeans pocket you'll find a slip of paper with a phone number on it. Call that number. If I have not heard from you by 8:00 P.M., the police will receive an anonymous call. I'll tell them where Rita Jones is buried on your property, how you killed her, and where the murder weapon can be found in your house. (I do believe a paring knife is missing from your kitchen.) I strongly advise against going to the police, as I am always watching you.

Andrew Z. Thomas is a successful writer of suspense thrillers, living the dream at his lake house in the piedmont of North Carolina. One afternoon in late spring, he receives a bizarre letter that eventually threatens his career, his sanity, and the lives of everyone he loves. A murderer is designing his future, and for the life of him, Andrew can't get away.

I'm loving the sound of this and it's currently on offer for Amazon Kindle users. I'm sure this will be making it's way on to my TBR pile pretty quickly!

Want to join in??

• Follow Pen to Paper as the host
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get your hands on and read
• Wrote a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post
• Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere on your post with a note about the host
• Visit the other blogs, follow and enjoy :)

What's on your wishlist this week? Leave me a link to your post, I'll be sure to pop by and check it out!

Risk the Unusual

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, 

you will have to settle for the ordinary.

~Jim Rohn

Book Review #7

I've had way too much going on recently to be reading but I need some time to escape from the craziness of life so I tend to turn to my kindle. The problem is that I picked up 'Killer Instinct' by Zoe Sharp and then couldn't put it down! As per my usual I don't know when or why I got this book but it was sitting on my TBR list so I got stuck in. Also quite typically for me, I hadn't read the synopsis before starting it and had no idea what was going to happen (to be honest I'm quite enjoying doing that as I enjoy being led by the author at the pace that they want rather than having the bones of the story before I've even begun). However I'm going to share the outline with you or you'll have no clue what I'm on about!


'Susie Hollins may have been no great shakes as a karaoke singer, but I didn't think that was enough reason for anyone to want to kill her.' 
Charlie Fox makes a living of sorts teaching self-defence to women. It's a skill she picked up of necessity having been kicked out of the army for reasons she prefers not to go into. So when Susie Hollins is found dead only a few hours after she mistakenly tussles with Charlie at the New Adelphi Club, Charlie knows it's only a matter of time before the police come calling. Only the police reveal that the unlucky Hollins has become the latest victim of the homicidal rapist stalking the local area. Charlie finds herself inadvertently drawn into the investigation when the Adelphi's enigmatic owner Marc Quinn offers her a job. Viewed as an outsider by the existing all-male security team, her suspicion that there is a link between the club and the serial killer doesn't exactly endear her to anyone. Charlie has always taught her students that it's better to run away from a danger than fight unnecessarily. But when the killer starts taking a very personal interest in her it becomes clear that he isn't going to give her that option...

I really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything by Zoe Sharp before and I hadn't heard any reviews about her work. Since finishing it I've seen a lot of people seem to compare her books to the Jack Reacher novels though they're not something I've ever been able to get into. I think this novel is written more as a female point of view and as a result I enjoyed the book a lot more. The protagonist, Charlie Fox, is strong but not too over the top. You never know for sure if she's going to be able to get out of trouble as her conscience can get the better of her. I can't promise that the plot is completely revolutionary but it had enough twists and turns to keep me interested and unsure of who to trust.

Zoe Sharp is a British writer and has written 10 books in the Charlie Fox series with Killer Instinct being the first. I'm pretty sure I'll be adding the next one to my wishlist (and probably my TBR pile before too long)!

Holly

A few weeks ago my Holly pup had to have some surgery to remove a lump from between her eyes. I was so worried about getting it done and, to be honest, have been putting it off. She's had some problems after surgery in the past as she doesn't heal very well but the vet had concerns since it recently started to grow bigger so they recommended removal to prevent problems in the future.

Straight after the op she looked so sorry for herself, poor girl. I felt terrible for putting her though the discomfort and whole experience.

She bounced back really quickly but wasn't too impressed that I had to put her collar on to stop her licking at her shaved legs!

I'm so happy with the result. Just a few weeks after the surgery she's looking amazing. I thought the scar would always be visible as the hair on her face is quite short, however it's nowhere to be seen!

She always was gorgeous in my eyes, but she's even more beautiful now!

Lost

I haven't been blogging much recently and to be honest I feel like I lost my creativity. I ended up working extremely long working hours and basically any left over time in the day was taken up eating and sleeping. My work life balance became totally unbalanced! I'm pleased to say though that now I can shift my priorities back again and make time, amongst other things, to write. However once I get out of the habit of writing I find it hard to know what to talk about. Hopefully the creative side of me will wake up and give me some good stuff to share with you but for now you've got this... a post about nothing really. It's just me saying 'hi, I'm back'.

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another-and ourselves.

Jack Kornfield

Change...

Book Review #6

I've been motoring through quite a few books recently so I thought I'd write about some of them.

The first one I'm starting off with is On the Run by Sue Fineman which is the first book in The Gregory Series. I'm guessing this one has made it's way onto my Kindle at some point as a free or discounted book that I thought would be worth reading. I love a good series so I'm always looking for a new one that I like so that I can follow a character through several books.

Here's the synopsis...

Who knew the man who claimed to be Neen's long-lost uncle was a big drug lord? Nobody told her what he did for a living. She didn't find out until the night of the raid, when Uncle Julio's men tried to shoot her. She got away, but she's been on the run for the past three years, staying one step ahead of the killers.

Former DEA agent Adam Gregory tried to get Neen out before the raid, but he was stabbed in the back by one of his own people. Greg is desperate to find the dirty agent who stabbed him and protect Neen from the killers. He finally finds her in the cemetery, visiting her mother's grave, but the killers have spotted her, too.

Greg takes Neen on a wild ride across the country, protecting her from the killers, but not from his love. She tries to keep her distance, but the macho dude cop is hard to resist, and he's determined to make her love him again.

I have a lot of unread books on my kindle that I'm working my way through so quite often I start one and have no idea what to expect. I rarely go into the book description as I think it's not necessary to know what's going to happen if you're about to read it. That being said, 90% of the books I own are legal dramas or crime / thrillers and the rest are running books so I know the genre before I start.

I hate to say it but this is another case of 'if I'd seen the cover I could've maybe judged the whole book by it and saved myself a load of effort'. Even when I've read the description from Amazon after finishing the book I don't think it accurately reflects the genre. I was expecting a cop thriller and instead I got a girly love story loosely based around someone running from a bad guy. A lot of thrillers include a personal story and love interest, and I have no problem with that, as usually it gives the story more depth. I was surprised by was the love story element of this novel with the very graphic love scenes. In this case I felt like this was the main point that the author was trying to get across. I'm sorry to say that the plot lacked any complexity or depth and had no suspense at all.

I rarely give up on a book and will almost always see it through, but if you're looking for a police thriller I'd steer clear of this one if I were you.

Wishlist Wednesday #22

Welcome to my twenty-second Wishlist Wednesday post for this great blog hop hosted by Dani at Pen to Paper. This week I've chosen Only The Innocent by Rachel Abbott

When Laura Fletcher approaches her home in Oxfordshire to find hordes of photographers crowding the gates, she knows there is something terribly wrong. She is faced with the shocking news that her husband is dead - brutally murdered - and according to Chief Inspector Tom Douglas, there is little doubt that the murderer is a woman.

In a marriage that has taken her from the glamorous five star luxury of London, Venice and Positano to a bleak and draughty manor house in rural Oxfordshire, Laura has learned to guard her secrets well. She is not
alone. It would appear that all the women in her husband's life have something to hide.

But there is one secret that she has never shared, and when the investigation reaches its dramatic and horrific climax, she realises that she has no choice. She has to give Tom Douglas the final piece of the puzzle. And this changes everything, leaving Douglas with a terrible dilemma: whether to punish the guilty, or protect the innocent.

Want to join in??

• Follow Pen to Paper as the host
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get your hands on and read
• Wrote a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post
• Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere on your post with a note about the host
• Visit the other blogs, follow and enjoy :)

What's on your wishlist this week? Leave me a link to your post, I'll be sure to pop by and check it out!

The Plus Party #7

Welcome to The PLUS Party #7!

<center> <a href="http://www.shapinguptobeamom.com"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbj-PnqspGyeTO2StixbKcS2SVfd-EqiGyjWbhb0FEblhmiUXH1aeLrIHoiHLU61k7K6u63hOE53KplhVnmE5WLMCoWMfmlOnbSlxOOogyDysBogUXAmXHGBDWzTW0wHyEIytLCqdh6mFT/s1600/pluspartybutton+250x250.png" /></a></center>

Google Plus and Bloglovin are the definite hot spots for following and engaging with your favorite bloggers! At The PLUS Party you can link up your profiles and follow friends old and new!

The Plus Party will run on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, so mark it on your calendars! We'd also love it if you could share the hop through your social media and/or post our button somewhere on your blog.

Want to co-host? Spots are open! Contact Megan at Shaping Up To Be A Mom for more info!

Make sure to follow the host and co-hosts, and then link up and party on!

Host:

Shaping Up To Be A Mom

Co Hosts:

Glued To My Crafts

Life As I Know It

Shushkat

The Closet Intellectual

The Squishable Baby