monday musings…(& a mini review)

I don’t know what it is about book conferences but whenever I get home from one with all my beautiful books I have ZERO urge to read.

I think it’s because I tend to get overwhelmed by all the new pretties, can’t decide what to start first, and shut down instead. lol

This made me think of this gif Roberta from OffbeatYA sent me awhile back poking fun at my contrary (against myself) nature.

via GIPHY

I even had a nightmare about bringing all my ALA books to a Veterinary clinic I was working at and storing them in the Doctors office. They were all organized on his shelves. I went home and to bed – then woke up in the middle of the night panicking that others would see and steal the books – broke into the office right then and carried my books back home - walking...in the dark...with piles of books. lol

Clearly book conferences stress me out! haha

Anyway…I still haven’t done a full ALA wrap-up post and at my current pace I probably will never get to it. I posted one pic of all my LGBQTIA books and here’s another.

These are all books that I’ve either wanted to try the author or heard great things about the books. I picked up the little cat notepad on the end at ALA too. They have adorable bookish things for sale there.

Let's make this post even more random and throw in a mini review - shall we?

We shall.

Here’s a quick mini review for a book I read before ALA. It’s one of those twisty thriller type books so there’s not much I can say without spoiling the whole thing anyway.



Gabe and Elyse have never met. But they both have something to hide.
Quiet, shy Elyse can't believe it when she's cast as the lead in her Portland high school's production of Romeo and Juliet. Her best friend, Brynn, is usually the star, and Elyse isn't sure she's up to the task. But when someone at rehearsals starts to catch her eye--someone she knows she absolutely shouldn't be with--she can't help but be pulled into the spotlight.

Austin native Gabe is contemplating the unthinkable--breaking up with Sasha, his headstrong, popular girlfriend. She's not going to let him slip through her fingers, though, and when rumors start to circulate around school, he knows she has the power to change his life forever.

Gabe and Elyse both make the mistake of falling for the wrong person, and falling hard. Told in parallel narratives, this twisty, shocking story shows how one bad choice can lead to a spiral of unforeseen consequences that not everyone will survive. ~ GOODREADS

Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

My thoughts: I’ve tried….I’ve really, really tried to like thrillers but for some reason they don’t work for me. Honestly, I guessed the twist in this one from the blurb and I wasn’t even trying to. I don’t even know why – because it’s not that clear and not your typical thriller twist kind of reveal. I can’t really say more than that without ruining it.

What I did like was how Donaldson tackled the consequences of abusive relationships and the struggle to break free from them and I loved how Gabe and Elyse’s stories ended up tying together.

On the other hand – things got pretty over the top. Especially when it came to Gabe’s ex Sasha. She, and to some extent, Elyse’s boyfriend, became cartoon-ish villains when this could have struck a more realistic and chilling chord.

As psychological thrillers go, it was a pretty good one but I had figured out the twist so early that it took some of the fun out of it and it got a little too outlandish for my tastes.

I would still recommend it to fans of thrillers because I do think the author did things a little different than from the other twisty thrillers I’ve read so far. And I liked the realistic ending.

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So is my slump just me and post book conference stress or is it a summer thing??

I thought of taking a break but I have a few reviews I need to post coming up this month so I need to get over myself and start reading/blogging like…yesterday!