Series Sunday: American Gods

(American Gods on STARZ) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read or watch an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author, series name and TV channel.

My Series Sunday pick is American Gods, the first book in the series of same name by Neil Gaiman. It was first published in 2001 and is now an international bestseller. Critics call it the irreverently funny new obsession. I just began reading the TV tie-in book today in prep for the television show premiere on STARZ. I want to be familiar with the basic plot and main characters. Watch the video trailer then join me in live tweeting American Gods tonight at 9 p.m. ET. 

Title: American Gods

Author: Neil Gaiman

Published: March 2017

Pages: 750

Edition: Thick Ass Paperback

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

I found a great haul of reference and fiction books at the 2017 Bookstock, Michigan's biggest and best used book sale. My goal was to find the missing books in my Jack Reacher and Kinsey Millhone series collection. I also found a few reference books; the first lines are featured below.

Local bookhearts, the last day of 2017 Bookstock is Sunday, April 30. Go!!!

"Learning to read and write was just the beginning. After you had mastered that, you had to study how the language worked and, when you started to write your own stories, how to stay focused, develop content, organize material, maintain a consistent voice and style, and use proper grammar." ~ I Used to Know That by Caroline Taggart

"In the late-1500s, the state of English spelling and the invasion of foreign words was so troubling to scholars and teachers that some of them took it upon themselves to harness the language by compiling dictionaries." ~ My Grammar and I...Or Should That Be Me? by Caroline Taggart & J.A. Wines 

"Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November...How many times, perhaps anxiously awaiting payday, have you repeated this saying to yourself?" ~ i before e (except after c) by Judy Parkinson 

"Some of the best screenplays are based on historical events." ~ The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting by Skip Press 

"If you're like most people, your biggest investment is your house." ~ House Selling for Dummies by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown

"About 2 percent of the population suffers from some form of bipolar disorder." ~ Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families by Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D. 

"This book follows a tradition honored since ancient days. The creators and collectors of wise and witty sayings go back to the biblical times of Solomon about three thousand years ago." ~ 20,000 Quips & Quotes by Evan Esar 

Series Sunday: Finding Gideon

(Gideon Serial Novel) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

"Innocence meets sensuality." ~ 4%

My Series Sunday pick is Finding Gideon, the serial novel by Eric Jerome Dickey. My favorite gun-for-hire is back! Ah, it's been way too long. In this new novel, a professional job turns personal. Picking up exactly where the previous book left off, we see that neither Gideon nor Buenos Aires has recovered from the violent mayhem. And Gideon is not quite done doing damage. Enlisting the help of friend assassins, Gideon plots revenge on Midnight, the man he believed he'd already killed.

Meanwhile, Midnight is assembling a team of way more than Four Horsemen to take down Gideon and other targets. Lives and family are a stake in this all out international war spanning the globe from Buenos Aires to Uruguay, France, Athens, U.S. city of Atlanta and more. It is a whirlwind when their paths finally cross.

"I know twenty-two ways to end a life. I just didn't know how to save three." ~ 67%

"I know just as many ways to please as I did to kill." ~ 96%

Not many authors can combine adventure, suspense, dark fiction, erotica and thriller into one novel. ONE DAMN NOVEL! Finding Gideon is a prime example of the new genre that Eric Jerome Dickey now writes best: sexy thrillers. Longtime fans of EJD will be quite pleased to find almost all of his characters in this one book. I am trying to avoid spoilers but have to share my pleasure in seeing bits of Arizona, Sierra, Lola Mack, Hawks, Shotgun, The Four Horsemen, Scamz and others. And these characters were not just thrown in; they were all strategically placed in the story. Well done!

Because there are so many side characters, it may be difficult for some readers to follow along if you are unfamiliar with the backstories. I recommend at least reading Resurrecting Midnight first. In the Acknowledgments, EJD wrote it best: There are a lot of Easter eggs.

"Wingtips or high heels, an assassin was an assassin." ~ 50%

The only thing I did not like about Finding Gideon was the book cover art. It is similar to The Blackbirds in that it features a close-up of a woman of color. High cheekbones, full lips, eyes looking off to the side. On another book, I would like it. But Gideon is the main character. This is HIS story. So why is a woman on the cover? Am I missing the point here? *insert shrug emoji here*

If you are looking for a very detailed novel—the kind of book where you miss something if you blink or turn the page too fast—then purchase Finding Gideon when it is published next Tuesday, April 18. Thank me later.

Disclaimer: This book was received directly from the publisher for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are honestly my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins.

Title: Finding Gideon

Author: Eric Jerome Dickey

Published: April 2017

Pages: 384

Edition: Galley

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

   

Like Cranes in the Sky

Nothing like a half-birthday to put things into perspective. If there is ever a song to accurately describe my now, it is Solange's Cranes in the Sky. I try to keep my mind occupied, busy with multi-tasking when I really just need to chill. I try to stay informed but digesting too much information is exhausting. I try to read it away but fiction is only a temporary escape. And I will be broke if I continue with retail therapy.

Add that to the migraine I've had for the past 67 hours and counting. I'm almost to the 3-day limit and scheduled for treatment this Monday. Tis is the Life of a Migraineur. Please keep me in your thoughts.

So I am taking a few weeks away from blogging—and a lotta bit away from social media—until my head is clearer. Until the metal clouds are no longer looming above, obstructing my view. Until the pain is completely gone. Will miss you...and you..and you too. ♠♥

  

Series Sunday: Breathless

(Old West #2) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Revision. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

"Thank you for the novel cure." ~ pg. 220

My Series Sunday pick is Breathless, the second book in the Old West trilogy by Beverly Jenkins. Portia Carmichael is determined to focus on work, women's suffrage, guard her heart and keep her high-collared blouse buttoned. She works as the manager of one of Arizona territory's finest hotels and hopes to expand her bookkeeping career.

Portia pays no mind to the many suitors hoping to court her. Until a handsome cowboy from the past rides into town on his blue stallion. Kent Randolph hasn't seen Portia since she was around 12 years old. Now she's a stunning, passionate grown woman. Suddenly Kent has reason to stop drifting through the Old West and perhaps settle down in Portia's arms.

"It was easy to see that she wanted him, too, but was it enough for her to let go of her stance on remaining unmarried? He needed an answer because she was the only woman he wanted as his wife." ~ pg. 219

Portia Carmichael and Kent Randolph are two characters that I wanted paths to cross. They are so different, yet work well as a hotel/ranch team. Following the footsteps of Uncle Rhine and Aunt Eddy, Portia may have found the man that is worthy of letting her guard down and loosening her strong will. It is apparent through the author's well written descriptions and dialogue that love cannot be ignored; let it take your breath away.

I enjoyed Breathless just as much as the first book of this trilogy, Forbidden. I hate for this Old West story to end but looking forward to the final novel featuring Portia's little sister, Regan. Is she really going to be a mail-order bride? O_O

I will forever support my fellow Cass Technician who consistently releases 5-heart historical fiction novels. Want a quality love story with a bit of history and action? Breathless is it!

Title: Breathless

Author: Beverly Jenkins

Published: January 2017

Pages: 376

Edition: Paperback
Challenge: Popsugar—A Book Set in a Hotel; Bookish—Read a Love Story

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Revision. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

"I am learning to speak. To give myself a way out. A way in."

~ Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

American Street

"You have to come to this side because this new family of mine is both familiar and strange—just like how I am American by birth and Haitian by blood, bones, and tears. Familiar and strange." ~ pg. 237

Fabiola Toussaint thought her and her mother finally found a good life. But after they leave Haiti and make it all the way to New York, Fabiola's mother is detained by U.S. Immigration. (Sound a bit too real, doesn't it?) Teenaged Fabiola is left alone to navigate America, her three boisterous cousins and mysterious yet sickly aunt on the Detroit's west side.

Her new home is on American Street and Joy Road. Longing for her mother and struggling to adapt, Fabiola finds herself accepting a dangerous proposition all in the name of freedom. The crossroads in this coming-of-age story are both symbolic and real!

That feeling when you finish a book and think how right on time it was >>>

From the colorful eye-catching cover to the positive blurbs on the back cover, American Street was everything! I could be partial because it took place in the city of Detroit (shout-out to Coney Islands, Belle Isle and Joy Road). I love it when I recognize street names and places in literature. It is obvious the author did a bit of research on the setting.

"Here in Detroit Metro Airport, there are no long lines to show papers and proof to uniformed people. I ease into America's free air like a tourist returning home." ~ pg. 3

American Street is in the Young/New Adult genre but will be enjoyable to adults. In fact, adults may better follow the spiritual aspect and foreshadowing. The spirits, rituals and prayers play a huge part of this story. I was not bugged out about vodou and other cultural practices but rather educated. It was also an innocent not-in-your-face look at an immigration story. Well done, Ibi Zoboi.

I have always been an avid reader. Some stories stick with you forever. This novel reminds me of a couple books I read way back in the day: Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers and The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah. It is not quite coming-of-age by spanning years but more so survival in the community and adapting to your new surroundings. I hope it is added to a school's reading list but I will do my part in it reaching the masses by recommending it to the high school students I mentor as well as my grown bookhearts.

Before I end this review, take another look at the striking book cover. You need this on your shelves, bookhearts.

Title: American Street
Author: Ibi Zoboi
Published: February 2017
Pages: 336
Edition: Hardcover
Challenge: Popsugar—A Book About an Immigrant or Refugee
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♡