Crazy4reading (Monica) ROOTs in 2024

I am back again. I really enjoy this challenge because my goal is to clean out my books and get them organized and to do that I need to make room in my spare room for ,my books. I still have my books in boxes because I do not have enough shelves to store all my books on. Last year I read a total of 41 books that I owned. This year I am shooting for 30 ROOTS.

I consider a ROOT any book that I own in my house as of January 1, 2024. I am trying to count physical books more than ebooks for this challenge.

My Trackers

ROOTS 2024:

ROOTS read in 2024:

1. Look At Us by T. L. Toma
2. Undead & Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson
3. When I'm Dead by Hannah Morrissey
4. The Night I spent with Aubrey Fisher by Christopher M. Tantillo
5. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling
6. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
7. Trouble at Lone Spurt by Roz Denny Fox
8. Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen
9. Verity by Colleen Hoover
10. The Mystery of Agatha Christie by Gwen Robyns
11. Raven by Nora Hess
12. Expecting the best by Lynnette Kent
13. Born in Texas by Ginger Chambers
14. The Associate by John Grisham

Hi Monica. Happy New Year and great to see you back again for another year. Happy ROOTing!

Good luck with your goals. I'm trying not to think about clearing the spare room (it will be amazing when it's done, but before that, not amazing at all).

Welcome back, Monica! Good luck with your ROOT goal and your clear-out! I keep sporadically cleaning out the second bedroom but then make more of a mess because I move things around :D

Welcome back!

>4 connie53: I am happy to be back. Hopefully I stay consistent and post my notes as I finish books.

>5 Jackie_K: Thanks! I need to get the books out of boxes and onto shelves, but I do not have room to put shelves up because of all the other stuff I keep throwing into my spare room. I am slowly cleaning things out so I can move the boxes around and actually read more of my ROOTS.

>6 rabbitprincess: Thanks! I do the same thing! Now the mess is moving into my living room and kitchen. I feel like every time I start removing items from my house more seem to show up.

>7 cyderry: Thanks!

Happy ROOTing in 2024, Monica, and good luck with your goal!

>9 MissWatson: Thank you!

I will be visiting some threads this weekend.

I finished my first book of 2024.

1. Look at us by T. L. Toma

I won this book in 2021 and I never got around to reading it. That was the year my father passed and just dealing with life I forgot all about it. This is my goal is to read books that I own more then library books. I am not sure how I feel about this book. It was different and sometimes interesting. You have a family that hires a nanny from Ireland and the dynamic in the house changes. There is sexual tensions and parts that could be trigger warnings for some.

I did enjoy the characters but also felt at times that they were lacking something. You have Lily and Martin, the au pair Maive and the twin boys. Lily and Martin and two people that seem to be in their own worlds at times. He is in finance and she is a lawyer. Maeve is more of a mother to the children then Lily is at times.

3 stars

I am currently reading: Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

I will be starting my new ER book Pushing Back the Desert Operation Ajax by Gordon Zuckerman

I will also be starting Harry Potter & The Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling My sister and I are hoping to go on a bus trip to New York to see the play in May. I have to go purchase tickets this week.

2. Undead & Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

I seem to have read this book before. Here is my review. Well I seem to be on binge of reading series and vampires. I bought this book because the cover interested me along with the title.

Undead and Unwed was a funny book. I found myself laughing or cracking a smile while reading. Elizabeth Taylor or Betsy as she likes to be called gets hit by a car saving her cat one night and wakes up in the funeral home wondering what happened.

Once she finally figures out what happened she sees her father and stepmom then visits her mother. Her best friend is thrilled to see her up and walking even if she is a vampire. The abilities that she has make her a very unique vampire and the possible Queen.

This book would probably still be sitting on my TBR pile if not for the SOS Bingo game. I look forward to reading the next books in this series.

5 stars

3. When I'm Dead by Hannah Morrissey

This is my first book by Hanna Morrissey and I did not realize it was part of a series. I loved this book and will go back and read the previous 2 of the Black Harbor series. I was gifted this book and as soon as I read the synopsis I was interested in reading it.

When I'm Dead is the 3rd book in the Black Harbor series. You have a murder of a girl and one girl is missing. Chloe goes missing after leaving the local high school after her performance in the play. Her mother and father are out investigating the murder of her daughter's best friend.

The emotions that Rowan and her husband go through are nerve racking. I found myself getting upset because they wouldn't talk to each other about what they were thinking. Is their daughter the murderer or is their daughter the next victim of the killer?

You have Libby the neighbor who is friends with Chloe and is a very peculiar person. She practices taxidermy and is a little larger than most of the girls in her school. One of my fave reads so far this year.

5 stars

I will have to update my tracker when I am home because I cannot access it while at work.

Happy April! I have some reviews for books that I completed. I hope everyone is doing well. I have had some stressful days lately. My heater broke over the Easter weekend. I am just glad that it is the end of the winter so it isn't that cold out. I need to replace my heater, air conditioner, and hot water heater. I also need to replace my roof and gutters along with new doors and windows. Just trying to figure out my finances.

How is everyone else doing?

Reviews:

#4 The Night I spent with Aubrey Fisher by Christopher M. Tantillo

I have seen this book all over TikTok and decided to purchase the book. I enjoy YA books. This is a coming of age story with some trigger warnings. This deals with death, suicide and mental health. I love books that can make a reader think about things. This book made me think about life and how precious it is and how quickly life can change. Life can change from the choices we make, the choices others make and even just natural events.

The Night I spent with Aubrey Fisher is about Grayson dealing with his life after his brother dies. The emotions he keeps bottled up and how a strange person sees him and steps in to help him. The things that both Grayson and Aubrey learn about each other and themselves is one that brought tears to my eyes. I felt for all the characters in this book.

This book is the debut novel by Christopher M. Tantillo. I am glad I took the plunge into this somewhat dark book. I had an array of feelings after reading this book. Having lost friends and co-workders to suicide and not even realizing what someone is going through for them to make that decision and seeing how most of us do not even notice how people act could be away of them asking indirectly for help. I look forward to more books by Christopher M. Tantillo.

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#5 Harry Potter & the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling

I am going to see this play in May of 2024 in New York, so I decided I needed to read this book before seeing the performance. I love Harry Potter and reading this book was a different feel. I enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to seeing the performance.

This book is differrent in the fact that it is written as a screen play and not like the other HP books in long chapters. I loved that because it made the book move faster. Meeting some of the characters from the previous books was great, now they are adults, I tried picturing the actual actors from the movies playing these roles. Not sure I can picture them as adults and with families.

So excited to see the play in almost a month!!

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

>13 crazy4reading: That looks like a lot of problems coming your way all of a sudden. I hope you can fix it without going broke.

>15 MissWatson: I second that! To much to do at the same time.

>13 crazy4reading: Why is it that all these things happen around the same time? I hope everything gets fixed without costing a fortune.

>15 MissWatson: & >16 connie53: I am getting quotes for everything. The amount for the heater, AC and hot water heater seems high but when I talk to various people I get mixed reviews. Some feel that it is too high and others think it is a good deal. Now I am working on quotes for roof, gutters, doors, windows and a fence. My back door is not a standard size so it has to be shaved down. That one could cost me more then all the other ones.

>17 Jackie_K: That is exactly what I was thinking!

I am keeping a positive additude. It needs to be done. I was just hoping to have more money saved up. I am just happy to have a roof over my head. I believe I may have more reviews coming this week.

#6 One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

I thought I had read this book before but I did not remember it. I love Stephanie Plum. I have read a few of the books that stand-alone.

We are introduced to Stephanie Plum. She needs a job and decided to work for her cousin Vinnie, as a bounty hunter. I love meeting Ranger and Morelli.

Stephanie decides to take on the Morelli case since that has the largest payout. This book was entertaining and the fact that it takes place in nearby New Jersey is nice.

5 stars

>18 crazy4reading: Good luck with everything. It seems to eat up much of your time as well as yopur money.

>20 MissWatson: Yes it does! I did get my hot water heater installed. I woke up last Friday and I had no hot water. When I spoke with the company about it they worked with me to get that installed and payment will be at a later date. Now to move onto my heater and AC.

I have some books to post today!

#7. Trouble at Lone Spur by Roz Denny Fox

I picked this book up because of the TBR Jar Challenge I am doing. Another pleasant surprise read. I have so many books I keep putting off for a different book. This is a cute romance story. I love a good romance.

Trouble at Lone Spur is the story of Lizbeth Robbins and her daughter. Lizbeth is a widower and has been following the rodeo circuit that her husband used to work in. She has a daughter who is now in school and needs some stability. She becomes a farrier at the Lone Spur. She is enjoying the job. Gil Spencer is the owner of Lone Spur and has two young children of his own. He is a divorced man and hates rodeos because his ex wife loves them.

Gil returns from being out doing work for his ranch, to return to learn that he has a woman farrier, and he is not too happy about it. You can feel the tension between Gil and Lizbeth. Gil doesn't want a woman distracting his workers and when he learns that she is from the rodeo, that adds more fuel to his dander of dislike. He fires her and the story just gets better. A nice light read.

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

8. Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen

I picked this book up because of the TBR Jar Challenge I am doing. I really enjoyed this story. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. You have Molly Murphy who leaves her home in Ireland after killing someone in self defense. I loved reading this book due to the Irish accents written. I could hear them speaking as I was reading the story. Molly leaves Ireland under a false identity to America in the late nineteenth century.

As she is on the Ellis Island waiting to be allowed to enter New York a murder occurs and Molly is the prime suspect! Molly has a mouth on her and is determined to prove she is innocent. The way the storyline progresses kept me entertained and interested in the characters and the story. I do plan to read more of this series and to see what ultimately happens to Molly Murphy.

5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

>22 crazy4reading: At least you have some enjoyable books to take your mind off your household woes!

>23 MissWatson: Yes I do! I also finished one of them this weekend.

This coming weekend is my bus trip to New York to see the Cursed Child! I am so excited and planning to bring a book or two with me to read while on the bus. I hope I get some reading done while on the bus.

#9 Verity by Colleen Hoover

OMG!! I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book. This is my first book by Colleen Hoover and I enjoyed this book a lot. I could not put this book down! I kepts stopping to do something and then came right back to start reading it.

This book was had so many emotions in it. You have Lowen who is a struggling writer, that just lost her mother. Lowen has some issues, she doesn't like publicity, she has so much self doubt and she cannot take compliments. Then you have Jeremy Crawford who is married to a bestselling author Verity Crawford.

The things you supposedly learn about Verity and Jeremy are astounding!! The ending just got me. Part of me just wants to think that what Verity wrote in her autobiography manuscript was true but then I think or was she fibbing or exagerating things. I see now why people told me to read this book first. I will give her other books a try.

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

>25 crazy4reading: We are really divided on this Hoover book. I loved Nooit meer - 4* and Mijn belofte aan jou 4*, but this one I didn't like at all. Only 2,5 *.

But hey, taste is a personal thing.

I hope you had some nice reading on the bus and enjoyed your movie/play.

>26 connie53: This was my first book by Hoover, and it was suggested that I read this one first because it was not her usual stuff. I love romances but I do get bored with them. I love a book that keeps me interested. I was shocked by the ending of Verity and it made me wonder about which part was actually accurate.

#10 The Mystery of Agatha Christie by Gwen Robyns

I enjoyed learning more about Agatha Christie. She was an interesting person and seeing her through others makes her even more interesting. I enjoyed seeing actual pictures of her as she was growing up and into adult hood. I did not realize that Agatha had written some plays and how long some of them ran.

#11. Raven by Nora Hess

This book kept my interest and I had trouble putting it down. I would find myself thinking about it and wanting to stop what I was doing and to continue reading. I do enjoy a good romance once in a while.

#12. Expecting the Best by Lynnette Kent

I am cleaning off my shelve, and dressers, and floor etc. so I am reading books I have been putting off for a while. Expecting the best is the story of two people that shared a snowed in weekend and each think it was just a one night stand. Each one has feelings for each other but of course the woman doesn't think the man loves her. I kept yelling at the book like will you just speak your mind!! You two love each other.

#13. Born in Texas by Ginger Chambers

Another cute romance.

#14 The Associate by John Grisham

I enjoyed this book. I have read John Grisham before and the way he entangles people is interesting.

They were all 4 to 5 stars.

>28 crazy4reading: I'm a big Agatha Christie fan and was delighted to be able to see a production of The Mousetrap. I still prefer reading her mysteries... it gives me a change to discover who the murderer is (although I don't think I've ever figured it out!!)

>29 Cecilturtle: That must have been a wonderful experience! I love to try and figure out who is the murderer, and I do not think I have ever figured out who it was!

Hi Monica. Book # 12 sounds real nice. I like to yell at books too.