Where Is Your Bookmark? (03/15/2016)

My plan this weekend was to get in more reading, but it did not work out too well. I currently am in the middle of Kemper Donovan's The Decent Proposal, which is about two strangers brought together by a deal that seems too good to be true. Each of them will receive half a million dollars each if they meet and talk for two hours every week for a year. The where doesn't matter. A public place is fine. Just as long as the two actually talk with each other.

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a book they are reading or thinking about reading soon. It is also where I share my first impressions about the book I am sharing.

Before gray hair, or crow's-feet, or achy backs and fickle knees, there is one sign of aging that makes appearance early enough to bewilder its young(ish) victims instead of alarming them, as it should. And so one morning a few weeks after his twenty-ninth birthday, Richard Baumbach awoke in a state of bewilderment: 

Since when had the hangovers gotten this bad?

Every Tuesday, Jenn from Books And A Beat hosts Teaser Tuesdays at which time participants grab their current read, open to a random page, and share two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page while avoiding any spoilers.

Teaser from page 35 of The Decent Proposal:

"So do we have a deal?"

She extended her hand across the table.

"We do." 

They parted a few minutes later. Richard was eager to leave before she changed her mind, and Elizabeth figured there would be more than enough time in the year to come to run out of things to say. 

What do you think? Would you keep reading?  

Richard Baumbach doesn't make the most favorable first impression--at least not at first. Not to me anyway. Still, knowing what the book is about, I was eager to continue. The teaser isn't too far into the novel, but it gives you an idea of where the characters' minds are going into the deal. At least somewhat.

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it anything you would recommend?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at Broke and Bookish.

This week's  Top Ten Tuesday theme is Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR. It is important to keep mind this list is more of a "books I own that I would really like to read this spring" more than a list of books I will for sure read. I don't always do well with keeping to reading lists. The covers are linked to GoodReads if you want to know more about the books.

1.

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman ~ I still carry Ove in my heart (from A Man Called Ove), and Elsa as well (from My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry). I am looking forward to Backman's third book, in which he introduces readers to 63-year-old Britt-Marie who walks out of her old life and into a new one and becomes the reluctant soccer coach (a sport she hates) to a team of children. Described by the publisher as being funny and heartwarming, I have no doubt it's true.

2. 

Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop ~ This will absolutely for sure be the first book I read in April once the TBR Triple Dog Dare ends. It has been so hard to put this one off . . . It is the fourth book in the Others series, which I fell in love with last year.

3.

No One Knows by J.T. Ellison ~ Aubrey's missing husband is declared dead after five years. Filled with unanswered questions, secrets, a familiar person now haunting her . . . I am intrigued!

4.

Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower ~ The first in a new cozy mystery series, featuring a magical bookshop. You did not think I would pass this one up, did you?

5.

When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi ~ I will actually be reading this for an upcoming tour, although I have had a copy of the book for quite some time now. This promises to be a heart-wrenching story, as well as a tense one, about a schoolteacher whose life is uprooted by the Taliban, her husband is murdered, and she and her children flee the country, a move that proves to be its own nightmare. Just the description pulls at my heartstrings. I can't wait to finally read it.

6.

Mother Knows Best by Karen MacInerney ~ Who can resist a book with a pig in a car seat on the cover? The protagonist is a private investigator, wife and mother--roles that don't always play nice together. This novel sounds like a comical mystery--perfect for when I need a laugh. Maybe for after I read When the Moon is Low.

7.

All Stories Are Love Stories by Elizabeth Percer ~ As described on Goodreads, this book is about "a group of survivors thrown together in the aftermath of two major earthquakes that strike San Francisco within an hour of each other." The San Francisco setting is what initially caught my attention with this book, but it sounds really interesting too.

8.

Sins of the Angels by Linda Poetevin ~ This is the first in a series I have been wanting to read for quite some time now. It features a homicide detective who is teamed up with a fallen angel in the search for a serial killer. I have not read too many urban fantasy/crime fiction novels that feature angels, but this series sounds like a good one.

9.

The Girl With a Clock For a Heart by Peter Swanson ~ I had forgotten I had a copy of this book on my e-reader. Shame on me! Every time someone mentions it I find myself wanting to read it. This novel is about a man whose college girlfriend wasn't exactly who she said she was when they were dating--and now, twenty years later, she's back in his life, asking for his help.

10.

June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemere ~ A sixty year old mistake comes back to haunt a family when an unexpected inheritance uncovers murder, betrayal, and blackmail among other secrets long buried. I want to know more!


Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? What books do you plan to read this spring?

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 © 2016, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.