The County Library discussion

It's the announcement I know you all have been waiting for...the next round of nominees for Reader's Choice! The titles are:

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault by James Alan Gardner
Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe
The Broken Girls by Simone St James
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce
The Dog Walker's Diary by Kathryn Donahue
The Driver by Hart Hanson
Gale Force by Owen Laukkanen
I'm Sorry...Love, Your Husband: Honest, Hilarious Stories From a Father of Three Who Made All the Mistakes by Clint Edwards
The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth
The Philosopher's Flight by Tom Miller
Regrets Only by Erin Duffy
Rudy's Rules for Travel: Life Lessons from Around the Globe by Mary K Jensen
Star of the North by D. B. John
Talk to the Paw by Melinda Metz
Terminal Alliance by James Hines
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

Books and ballots will be available at your library beginning January 2nd! There was a slight mishap getting copies of one of the nominees so there are 19 titles instead of 20 for this round. Happy reading!

Reader's Choice has been in full swing now for a little over a week. Have you read any of the nominees yet? If so, what has been your favorite so far? Any that you just couldn't get into?

I checked out one and put a bunch of audiobooks on hold. Haven’t read any yet.

I just finished the audio book of Crimson Lake. I liked it fairly well (I think lol), but didn't like the language. I say "I think" because the book was due to go back today and I fell asleep reading it and it is difficult to go through an audiobook to see what you miss.

I really liked the range of emotions Ted went though. It was interesting how Amanda felt about prison.

POSSIBLE SPOILER IN MY POST (though I'm trying to word it so it doesn't spoil)

And I missed 2 major things and can't go back to it without quite some trouble. Anyone willing to spoil it for me? Feel free to message me.

The two things I missed:

What happened to Lauren? I caught all the circumstances around it, what happened that night, how they figured it out etc. I just didn't get what specifically happened to her.

Was Ted cleared?

I just happened to finish "Dear Mrs. Bird" at the end of 2018, right around the time this list was released. I can recommend it.

I read Terminal Alliance – quite good – and I’m Sorry Love Your Husband – pretty good.

Here is what I've read/listened to so far:
Barbed Wire Heart - listened at first, but found the language in my ear was too much, so picked up the book. I'm really enjoying the story and will finish soon.
Broken Girls - listened to, and liked.
Crimson Lake-listened to, and liked, mostly, but lots of swearing.
Dear Mrs. Bird-listened to and liked.
Lost Letter-listened to and liked.
Only Killers and Thieves-listened to and couldn't get into it; distracted by the swearing.
Philosopher's Flight - just started listening to.
Star of the North - just started listening to.
Talk to the Paw-listened to and liked.
Terminal Alliance-listened to and thought it was okay.

Just finished Dear Mrs. Bird and ADORED it. I am so glad it was on this list. I highly recommend it!

I’m going to read Dear Mrs Bird next.

Barbed Wire Heart was okay; I was kind of turned off by the preachy racism-is-wrong stuff juxtaposed with the man-hate. I also really hate first person present tense.

The Broken Girls was pretty good.

Brianon wrote: "Just finished Dear Mrs. Bird and ADORED it. I am so glad it was on this list. I highly recommend it!"
I also read this book and loved it.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Spring round of Reader's Choice! Make sure to turn in your ballots for a chance to win a Barnes and Noble gift card. The next round of Reader's Choice will begin in July so check back the last week of June for the new nominees!

I really enjoyed Dear Mrs. Bird.

I also checked out All Those Explosions … but I won’t have it done in time, so I guess I’ll just read it for fun.

Drum roll please....the winner of the Spring round of Reader's Choice is...

The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor!

The second place winner is Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce

The third place winner is The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Thank you to everybody who read and voted! Stay tuned for a sneak peek for the next round of nominees!