It's Monday! What Are You Reading? now at The Book Date (at Wordpress)
What Are You Reading? is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.
I am feeling much better although I seem to be taking a nap after dinner in the evenings.
I am without water again as my well pump suffered when we had a power outage Saturday. The well man said it will be a day or two to fix it.
I have to have another ultrasound and biopsy for the doctors to decide how to treat my situation. I am confident the tests will show negative and all will be well. I expect to schedule the testing in the next week or so.
I took two pictures after the storm on the 9th and Google Photos made a panorama that shows the downed trees on both sides of my driveway.
I continue to play catch up on work and it feels good to accomplish each task.
I am still enjoying my chair yoga and have lost a few pounds.
I will continue to pray for the Advent messages all year: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
Our weather did warm up into the 70s for a couple of days. Today it is back to the 50s and I need to turn the heat back on.
I finished four audios and made progress in the ebook. I posted one NetGalley review.
Audiobooks.com is still sharing some free listens for children.
- Sunday Post January 21 2024/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday January 22, 2024.
- NGTBR - #Netgalley Audio Book Review: The Fish of Small Wishes by Elana K. Arnold.
1. Audible on Smartphone (ATBR).
Zone War
By: John Conroe
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
Series: Zone War Series, Book 1
Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
My Rating 4.25. This tells the story of a Post-Apocalyptic reality show with a young hero helping the military, and vice a versa.
I like the protagonist and will probably pick up the next in the series.
Source: December 2023 Audible Plus Catalog.
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, and 2024Audiobook Goals.
Click on link to see full description.
2. Audible on Smartphone (ATBR).
Winter World
By: A. G. Riddle
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Amanda Leigh Cobb
Series: The Long Winter, Book 1
Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
My Rating 4.25. The earth is facing global freezing and it turns out there is an external cause. The story is told from the view of two characters, a disgraced roboticist scientist, and an astronaut who may be trapped in space.
I liked the characters, the science, and the story. I am glad I have the next book, Solar World.
Source: October 2023 Audible Plus
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, 2024Audiobook, and 2024Season Goals.
Click on link to see full description.
3. Audible on Smartphone (ATBR).
Always Faithful
By: Sherry A. Burton
Narrated by: Bethanne Reid
Series: Jerry McNeal, Book 1
Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
Genre: Supernatural, Ghosts
My Rating 4.5. Jerry McNeal has a "gift" that tells him when there is danger or death. Sometimes he gets there in time and sometimes he doesn't. But he has learned to listen to his feelings. In this introductory story, we meet Jerry, and he gets a bit of ghostly K-9 help. I liked the characters, the story and the narration. I wish the short stories in this series weren't priced higher than I'd like to pay for under $4.00.
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, and 2024Audiobook Goals.
Source: 12/2/2023 Audible $3.47.
Publisher's summary
Call it a premonition. Call it intuition. Call it anything you like, but Pennsylvania State Trooper Jerry McNeal simply thinks of it as “that feeling.”
That feeling may come on without warning, so intense he can’t breathe.
Or, it may be a gentle nag that pulls at him until he decides to do something about it. He never quite knows what “it” is until he gets there, but when he arrives, he always knows he’s found what he is looking for.
During one of the biggest snowstorms of the year, Trooper McNeal feels that familiar stir. An unease that grows with each flake that falls. Its intensity pulls at him until Jerry has no choice but to venture out onto the treacherous roads, following an invisible pull that grips at his very soul.
Tonight, that feeling is going to take Trooper McNeal into a blizzard when the streets are supposed to be empty to save a life that would have otherwise been lost.
Only tonight, Trooper McNeal is not going alone….
©2019 Sherry A. Jones (P)2022 Sherry A. Jones
4. Audio on Smartphone (ATBR).
Cut
Written by Annelie Wendeberg
Narrated by Emma Galvin
Run Time 6h 4min
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian.
My Rating 3.75. I had a lot of trouble with the protagonist in this dystopia. She is a troubled young girl who chose to abuse herself after suffering abuse. She is a 'late bloomer' who struggles against the 'status quo'. Her ability to push through her abuse, humiliations, and depression is, to her surprise, what results in her being chosen for a verly select position in society. Her mentor, Runner, is a man of secrets. The dystopian world is harsh and was interesting but I'm not really sure the story fits the reference to The Hunger Games. The narration was well done for the story. It is doubtful I will continue with the series but others might like this.
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, and 2024Audiobook Goals.
Source: July 2021 Chirp Purchase
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
I’ve reached my expiration date. Not that it matters. We’re all going to die. To sixteen-year-old Micka, all words have flavours. Her emotions come with such force that she can’t help but carve them into her skin. The night she decides to kill herself, she meets Runner, a mysterious stranger who makes her question everything she’s learned about the end of the world. His message is terrifying: it wasn’t some mysterious disease that killed ten billion people. We did this. Humanity sleepwalked into climate disaster and ecocide, just to butcher and rape until blood stained the seas. Micka is sure Runner is lying. Her instincts urge her to stay far away from him. But he makes her an offer she finds hard to resist. There are only two rules she must follow: Kill. Survive. Because the final wars were never meant to end.
Currently Reading:
1. Kindle (/NetGalley )App on Smartphone (NGeB2023)
The Altered Moon 2: The Tyrant of Unity
By James McGettigan, Jingjing Huntley (Photographer), Fabiana Granado, Kyle Davis, Jason Frank, Serena Lucatero, Jacqui Corn-Uys (Editor), Anthony McGettigan (Editor), Judy McGettigan (Editor)
This is still reading slowly. I have reached 45%.
I'm going to give it one more week. Then I may put this on hold to read one of my other NetGalley ebooks.
Source: December 27, 2023 NetGalley.
Archive date 1/11/24 I have it downloaded so I am able to continue to read it.
2024TBR, 2024NetGalley, 2024Alphabet, and 2024ebook Goals.
Click on link to see full description.
2. Audible on Smartphone (ATBR).
EMP: Equipping Modern Patriots
By: Jonathan Hollerman
Narrated by: Kent Clark
Series: EMP: Equipping Modern Patriots, Book 1 (4 books)
Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins Genre: EMP,
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
This is a rather typical post-apocalyptic story of family survival. It is entertaining and I have less than 3 hours left.
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, and 2024Audiobook Goals.
Source: 7/18/2021 Audible Sale $5.00.
Publisher's summary
EMP: Equipping Modern Patriots is a harrowing story of survival after the destruction of the electric grid and nearly every electronic device in the country. Jonathan Hollerman paints a vivid and disturbing picture of society falling apart after an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against our nation.
Can you imagine a world with no phones, no TV, no internet, and no way to access your bank account? Without the electric grid, there would be no lights, no heating or air conditioning in your home, no public water, and the sewer could back up into your home. Without modern vehicles or interstate trucking, the supermarkets would quickly run out of food. Since the majority of the military is not hardened against an EMP, they would be unable to come to the aid of its citizens and maintain order. Our humanity is questioned when survival of the fittest becomes reality.
This is not only a thrilling story but offers practical, life-saving advice for an imminent threat. If you enjoyed Patriots by James Wesley Rawles or One Second After by William Forstchen, then you will enjoy this story of survival.
©2013 Jonathan Hollerman (P)2014 Jonathan Hollerman
3. Audible on Smartphone (ATBR).
The Valley
A Lee Harden Novel
By: D.J. Molles
Narrated by: Christian Rummel
Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Post-Apocalyptic
I loved the series and the character, Lee Harden, so I want to continue in this new stage of his life.
2024TBR, 2024Alphabet, and 2024Audiobook Goals.
Source 6/16/2023 May Audible Credit.
Publisher's summary
It has been six years since plague, famine, and war ravaged the planet. World powers have collapsed. The human population has been reduced by 90 percent, and those who survived must always contend with a novel apex predator: human beings whose very DNA has been radically altered by the plague.
In a quiet valley in Northern California, a settlement of survivors called the Redoubt is threatened by Colin Horner, a savagely pragmatic ranch boss, whose land they’ve been squatting on for years. With barely any ability to defend themselves, all they can do is try to forestall Horner’s demands for a quantity of food they’re incapable of growing. But as the clock runs out for the Redoubt, a small group of heavily armed individuals shows up out of the blue, led by a man with a scarred face and a missing eye.
Lee Harden might be scarred and battered, but he is a professional warfighter, with years of near-constant combat experience and one mission: find settlements beyond the current reach of the Interim Government, give them hope, and keep them alive. Backed by his longtime team of operators, Lee aims to resolve the conflict between the Redoubt and Horner. But something strange is going on in this seemingly quiet valley. Someone is breeding hybrids—part human and part mutated apex predator—and using them as a weapon.
When peace talks between the Redoubt and Horner go bad, Lee finds himself stuck in the middle of a seething conflict that’s about more than just land. As the valley unravels into chaos, Lee and his team gamble with their lives to unravel a convoluted network of lies, secret obsessions, and ties that bind, in order to learn just who it is they’re protecting, and what exactly they’re protecting them from.
In his first-ever stand-alone Lee Harden novel, DJ Molles immerses you in a world of gritty realism and slippery morality, filled with characters that just want to do the right thing—if they can figure out what that is.
©2023 D.J. Molles (P)2023 Audible, Inc.
I expect to get to one or two more audios this coming week.
I am looking at the letters G, H and U for my next picks.
I am also enjoying a 21 day Fast, Read, Pray, Acts Challenge.
I finished four books, rated with mini reviews/comments above.
NETGALLEY STATUS--
I continue on an ebook. I now have two more ebooks. I still have an older audio on my shelf I need to listen to.
I still have the two old NetGalley ebook titles.
Other Sources: I have a dozen or so books that I received from Facebook links and newsletter sign-ups, not specific review requests. plus many titles through InstaFreebie over the past few years.
Welcome to Mailbox Monday.
Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
No new review titles.
I bought four audios on Chirp.
I still have Audible Plus titles to be listed when I get time.
I bought four audios on Chirp.
I still have Audible Plus titles to be listed when I get time.
Two new Kindle title this week.
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?
Review Titles
NONEWon
NONE
Purchased
January 24th, 2024 Four titles at Chirp
Written by Sarah Woodbury
Narrated by Laurel Schroeder
Written by TJ Green
Narrated by Diana Croft
Written by Madelyn Scott
Narrated by Caroline Turner Cole
Written by Michael Webb
Narrated by Tim Campbell
Free
January 25, 2024 Two Free Kindles – directed by a Newsletter. 
By Jocelyne Soto
By Petie McCarty
I still have audible plus titles to list.
Two new free title added to Kindle library. Free titles might be found at Bookbub, Book Adrenaline, Ereader News Today, Inspired Reads, or Kindle ebooks.
