Chuckles Weekend Roundup

Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

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 Another week goes by and it is time for the roundup! We're also at the end of August which seems a bit unreal. Plans for moving the furniture (mentioned on Chuckles Chuntering) have come to a halt as my dad's chest infection is back and I packed him off to see the doctor this morning. I'm going to be doing pretty much all of the work myself now so next week is going to be a bit of a nightmare. I'm planning to ask a neighbour to help me with the bookcases though. I went on a serious splurge on Amazon to cheer myself up this week-as you do- and now it makes my room look messy as there are piles of books on the floor again. They'll have to stay there until my new bookcases are ready to go and that could be a few weeks now.

On the reading side of things I'd have liked to have got more read and I did have a 6 day spell of reading pretty much nothing so hopefully I'll do better next month. Overall it's not a bad haul but just not what I wanted. My September reading plan goes up tomorrow. I also have a couple of new downloads to share and a gift!

DOWNLOADS

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27381580-behemoth

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40861575-the-found-world

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41118520-hunted

PAPERBACKS

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36992448-fierce-kingdom
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38452796-the-15
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36170231-blackout

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41576596-as-we-fall
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41431856-as-we-break 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36321173-darkest-hour 

GIFTED!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18422328-innocent-traitor
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33245839-darien
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15799248-scare-me 

Chuckles Blogging World
 It felt like another one of those rushed weeks where I'm struggling to get anything done. I'm so glad that I have done so many of my regular posts in advance to give me some breathing space!

Book Reviews
I managed to get a few done! These reviews are for books read earlier this summer.

Chuckles Mini Reviews Catch Up
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/chuckles-mini-reviews-catchup.html 

Donald Firesmith-Hell Holes
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-review-hell-holes-by-donald.html 

Dave Jeffery-Frostbite
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-review-frostbite-by-dave-jeffery.html

Regular Posts
I did my usual sniffing Around The Blogs, Cover Love looked at Kelly Meding, Top Ten Tuesday was Back To School, Can't Wait Wednesday featured Hunted and Books From The Backlog was all about zombies! 

Chuckles Cover Love
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/chuckles-cover-love-89-kelly-meding.html 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/around-blogs-with-chuckles_27.html

Top Ten Tuesday
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/top-ten-tuesday-back-to-school.html 

Can't Wait Wednesday
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/cant-wait-wednesday-hunted.html 

Books From The Backlog
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/books-from-backlog-hudson-valley-zombie.html 

Discussion Posts
Chuckles Chat looked at how we use reviews and Chuckles Chuntering was all about DIY, book reviews and reading plans. Again!

Chuckles Chat
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/chuckles-chat-79-using-reviews.html 

Chuckles Chuntering
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/chuckles-chuntering_28.html

Film Reviews
none this week

Special Posts 

August Authorfest Final Update
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/august-authorfest-final-update.html

Book Tags/Blog Awards 

Stranger Things Book Tag
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/stranger-things-book-tag.html 

Tom Hanks Book Tag
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/tom-hanks-book-tag.html

Book Blogger Test Tag
http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-blogger-test-tag.html

Currently Reading/Up Next 
I'm starting my September reads now so I had to choose between series catch up, shark! or solo reads. It was hard to decide which subject to start! I think I'll go with the Kitty books so I can try to finish this series. These are books nine, ten and eleven of fifteen.

 

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August Authorfest Final Update

This month I'll be hiding indoors away from any heatwaves and the angry wasps in our garden and concentrating on some reading. Authorfest is all about those new to me authors that I keep saying I'll try but never seem to get round to! I've selected a wide range to read in different genres but none of them are authors I've read before so it should be exciting! This is my list and I'll try to read as many as I can this month!

Red is for what I read in the first week, green in the second week, blue for the third and purple the fourth week. I hadn't intended to read the second Murderbot novella this month but I liked the first and decided to squeeze the second one in. Week 3 started well and I got a few squeezed in and a couple of DNFs! With the challenge over I'm happy enough with what I got through and I'm bumping the horror books for my Spooky Booky Month in October and Illuminae and Damoren to my November New-To-Me Challenge.

1) Sarah J Maas-Throne of Glass (DNF)
2) Christa Faust-Final Destination 3 (read)
3) John Randall-The Yellowstone Connundrum (DNF)
4) Orlando A Sanchez-Tombyards & Butterflies (read)
5) Ernest Cline-Ready Player One (read)
6) Andrzej Sapkowski-The Last Wish (read)
7) Rajan Khanna-Falling Sky (read)
8) Alexandra Oliva-The Last One (DNF)
9) Kayla Olsen-The Sandcastle Empire (DNF)
10) Seth Skorkowsky-Damoren
11) Cynthia Hand-My Lady Jane (read)
12) Vivian Shaw-Strange Practice (read)
13) Ryan Graudin-Wolf by Wolf (read)
14) Jeff Menapace-Wildlife (read)
15) Martha Wells-All Systems Red (read)
16) Paul Tremblay-Cabin At The End Of The World
17) Jason Parent-They Feed
18) Lee Mountford-Horror In The Woods
19) Ania Ahlborn-The Shuddering
20) Michael Laimo-Deep In The Darkness 
21) GS Denning-A Study In Brimstone (DNF)
22) Amie Kaufman-Illuminae
23) Stuart R West-Demon With a Comb-Over (read)
24) Martha Wells-Artificial Condition (read) 

Book Review: Frostbite by Dave Jeffery

Grant Hastings was once the leader of an elite special ops team known as The Sebs. Now he’s retired, living alone in a bedsit over a pub, and haunted by the ghosts of the mistakes he’s made in the past.

Then a mysterious woman turns up to entice Hastings and The Sebs back for one last mission, to rescue an anthropologist, son of an esteemed professor, who is feared to be trapped on a sacred mountain in the Himalayas, a place where the locals fear the mythical yeti roams exacting cruel retribution on anyone who strays into its domain.

Unfazed by local superstition and folklore, Hastings and his team see a chance to make some easy money at the expense of their employer’s gullibility.

But once they make it onto the frozen mountain, The Sebs will find that sometimes there is truth behind every legend. 

My Review:
Grant Hastings considers himself and his special forces team retired from missions until he is approached with an offer. A father and daughter tell him that their son/brother has gone missing on an expedition in Nepal's mountains in search of the Yeti. With contact lost, they want Grant to lead a rescue mission and he eventually agrees to get his old team back together. However after smuggling themselves into Nepal they are ambushed by armed police and angry locals who don't seem to want their mission to go ahead. Now they must evade trouble just to get to the mountain and then deal with the cold and whatever else waits on the mountain. 

The book itself starts out as a rescue mission with the thought of whether or not there is going to be an Yeti action, though the cover of the book is a huge clue that there will be. There is a tribe of Yetis living on the mountain and they don't like having these intruders walking around. However that is only a part of the story and things do turn out a lot different, with the typical twists that I expect from the author, having read a few of his books now. I certainly didn't expect the way it went into science fiction territory rather than straight horror, though there are gory scenes to enjoy. I actually found the shift in the story interesting and I just loved Sully! I can't really say much more without spoiling the story. 

The main issue I had with this book is not greatly liking the characters. Knowles frankly is a foul mouthed rude bitch who never knows when to keep her mouth shut and I didn't like her at all. She is obnoxious to everyone and when somebody stands up to her, she gets violent with them. She's of the attitude that she can behave however she wants but gets angry if someone else acts the same way. Neither was I greatly keen on the continued bitching between her, Vine and Johns as the mission progressed. I find it important to like my characters especially in a group dynamic so that was a bit frustrating.  

Overall I'd call this a decent and entertaining read with suspense, twists and a few action scenes. Although some of the characters left me cold, the story itself was a twist on the Yeti story and was entertaining.

Read May 2018.
3 stars. 

Book Blogger Test Tag

I saw this tag at http://gregsbookhaven.blogspot.com/ , and thought I'd give it a go! I don't have any information about who created the tag, sorry!

RULES
1) Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog
2) Answer the questions asked on this post
3) Nominate and notify at least 5 people. 

1) What are your top three bookish peeves?
-love triangles
-obnoxious MCs
-books that take forever to get into the story

2) Name a perfect reading spot.
I generally read in my bedroom which is not dead exciting. If I could dream up the ideal reading spot it would be a comfy seat by a window, overlooking a river or lake in a quiet country setting. I always feel relaxed beside water!

3) Give 3 reading confessions.
-If I DNF I never go back to give a book a second chance
-A hint of a love triangle in the blurb is a dealbreaker for me and I won't try it
-I get twitchy about damage to the spines of my books!

4) When was the last time you cried reading a book?
It's been quite a while but the death of a character I love always gets me. I got a bit emotional reading PA Glaspy's When The Pain Is Gone.

5) Number of books on your bedside table?
I don't have one. Next to my bed are two bookcases. I read my books one at a time, picking one from the shelf when I go to read it. It sits on top of the bookcase until I finish it.

6) Favourite reading snack?
Crisps! You don't even need to take your eyes off the book to fish around in the pack for the next one before stuffing it in your mouth!

7) What are three books you'd recommend to anyone?
I wouldn't recommend the same books to everyone. I recommend based on the individual's reading tastes. So for this I'll recommend a book for fans of three different genres.
1) urban fantasy-James R Tuck's Deacon Chalk series.
2) horror-JG Faherty's Carnival of Fear
3) creature feature-Rick Jones' The Valley

8) Provide a picture of your bookshelf.
I have seven bookcases in my bedroom at the moment so no-can do!

9) How much do books mean to you in three words?
Love. Obsessed. Hoarder!

10) Biggest reading secret? 
I love SF films and TV series yet I rarely read a SF fiction novel. It's weird and I've no idea why this is happening!

Books From The Backlog-Hudson Valley Zombie Apocalypse

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf.  You might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. Go to Carole's blog and add your blog post link in to join in the fun! Hosted by Carole at https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.co.uk/

This seems like a fun feature and I have been planning to take part since Carole launched this so at last, here we go! I have a TON of unread books to choose from in various genres and I'm looking forward to sharing some of them with everybody.

It's 2012, the year the world is supposed to end, but no one expected this. An infection spreads through New York's Hudson Valley. The government tells us it is just the flu, but people are turning into crazed killers. Can it be stopped? Follow the story from the first days of infection, to the last days of civilization, as told by Dr. Rebecca Truesdale, aka, "Becks." Becks is smart and tough, and while she searches for a cure in the lab, she has to fight for her life in the streets.

I read a short story by this author about the zombie apocalypse where shoppers at a Black Friday style sale are attacked. I enjoyed it and decided to grab the two novels in the same series which look fun. We all need more zombies in our lives! I added this to my shelves in 2015.

Tom Hanks Book Tag

This tag was created By Emily Jean over on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtbPL0s1t7E . I saw the tag on Ceri's blog at https://bookmarksandpostcardsblog.wordpress.com/ 

1) Big
A book you read when you were young that was intended for a more mature audience. 
My dad read this to me as a bedtime story when I was about 7 and I loved him doing the voices! by ten I was reading them myself.

2) Forrest Gump 
Books are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. What book did you pick up not knowing anything about? 
Generally I've read the blurb and quite often Goodreads reviews before I choose a book to read. I never know nothing about a book before I read it now so I'll pick one I grabbed on impulse from the library as a kid.

3) Sleepless in Seattle
Last book to keep you up late reading.
I can't stay up all night reading now or I feel terrible for days! Midnight is generally my cut off. The last book I literally stayed up reading to get it finished by 5am was this one.

4) Toy Story
A timeless book you plan to share with any offspring you create.
I can't stand kids so there will never be Chuckles offspring! I'm picking a book that kids will always get something out of. Yes it's Harry Potter!

5) You've Got Mail
A book you heard about on the Internet and where you heard about it from.
I first seen this book on Greg's site http://gregsbookhaven.blogspot.com/ and loved the cover. Despite being picky about YA, the dinosaurs won me over and I loved it!

6) Cast Away
If you could only bring one book to a deserted island what would it be?
Urg that's a bit mean! I guess I better pick my favourite ever book! 

7) Cloud Atlas
What book did you have high expectations for that didn't quite meet them?
I don't know where to start with this one! So many fail to live up to expectations! I'm going to go with this one. I wanted to love, I was intrigued by the plot-and I hated it!

Can't Wait Wednesday-Hunted

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at http://www.wishfulendings.com/ to spotlight and discuss books we're excited about but haven't read, which may not even be released yet. 

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

She only went off the trail for a moment...

22-year-old Eileen goes missing while hiking in the remote Ashlough Forest. Five days later, her camera is discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken after her disappearance.

Chris wants to believe Eileen is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends create their own search party to scour the mountain range. As they stray further from the hiking trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to believe they’re not alone in the forest… and that Eileen’s disappearance wasn’t an accident.

By that point, it’s too late to escape. 

I like these survival in remote area kind of plots so this is intriguing and I've never tried the author. It came out August 20th so I plan to grab this soon!

Chuckles Chuntering

I've found myself this week thinking about how I'm going to rearrange my books into the new bookcases when they are ready. As both are small, they won't take a lot of these thick big paperbacks so I've changed my mind about putting the historical fiction in them. I don't think they'd all fit. Now I'm thinking it might be the ideal place to get all those pesky mass market paperbacks together and out of the way so I can fit more of the bigger books on the bigger bookcases. Isn't it fun to plan book arranging! It's like therapy!

Today it is Get On With The Darn Book Reviews days. I've been neglecting them for a while so I need to start getting a few done per week again. It's just so time consuming to actually get the things written! Plus I keep forgetting to go on to Twitter to share the links (thanks Mary for all those tweets you do about my blog!) So far I've put three reviews into my mini review post and a full review of another book. I need to press on and get a couple more done ready to post during the week. I'm also working on answers to another four book tags so things are pretty busy at the moment!

My dad and I are preparing for another round of Furniture Removals, now that he is fully recovered from the chest infection. This stage involves emptying the two bookcases and swapping them over. My dad's big bookcase will go into the hall downstairs and then the one in the hall will go upstairs to his room. He also has a cd unit to build for his room, plus the new 'bookcases' for my room. We plan to get that done over the next two weeks. Then he needs to sort out all his cds into his room and that could take weeks! It won't take me long to sort the books and dvds in the bookcase downstairs, and I already know what I'm doing for the ones in my room. We're behind schedule but we'll get there! Anyone else getting new bookcases or doing a bit of book sorting?

There are four reading days to the end of the month and I have three books that I really want to finish so I need to get on with the first one today. It's the first Warlock Holmes book. I've got my planned reading started for January and February as well! January's themes will be three categories Weather Gems, Catchup Gems and Pandemic Gems. February is Lurve Month so it'll be Love in the Tudor Court, Puppy Love if Barb is doing that again, and a free for all of books I'd just love to read. March might need to deal with some non fiction to get some space on the crowded bookshelves! I've been enjoying the planning so here's hoping I also enjoy all the reading!

Book Review: Hell Holes by Donald Firesmith

It’s August in Alaska, and geology professor Jack Oswald prepares for the new school year. But when hundreds of huge holes mysteriously appear overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle, Jack receives an unexpected phone call. An oil company exec hires Jack to investigate, and he picks his climatologist wife and two of their graduate students as his team. Uncharacteristically, Jack also lets Aileen O’Shannon, a bewitchingly beautiful young photojournalist, talk him into coming along as their photographer. 

When they arrive in the remote oil town of Deadhorse, the exec and a biologist to protect them from wild animals join the team. Their task: to assess the risk of more holes opening under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the wells and pipelines that feed it. But they discover a far worse danger lurks below. When it emerges, it threatens to shatter Jack’s unshakable faith in science. And destroy us all…

My Review:
Let me get this out of the way first-for some reason when I downloaded the book, I thought it was going to be about Tremors style giant worms underground and coming to eat people. I'm not sure exactly where I got that idea so I was kind of disappointed to see what actually came out of the holes! Now that is purely my fault for getting an idea in my head, not the fault of the book or author for giving a wong impression, because they didn't! Is that all cleared up? Good, then we can move on to the actual review of the book and forget Chuckles stupidity!  

Jack is a geologist and he is called to investigate why huge holes are appearing all over Alaska with no warning, threatening the pipelines in the area and the people who live and work there. Jack and his student Mark lower themselves into one of the holes to have a look around but the gas levels are dangerously high and a quick retreat is needed. However, a preventable accident then occurs which blows up the entire area...and from the holes in the ground comes the deadly demonic hellhounds to the shock of the explorers. It is then up to one team member to save them from the hellhounds and explain the danger that the entire world is in from demonic invasion. 

OK lets deal with the characters now. Jack annoyed me right at the start with the cliche of man turns into gibbering wreck at the sight of a beautiful woman even when his wife is right there with him. He allows Aileen, a stranger claiming to be a photographer to just tag along on the trip, no doubt because of her looks. When they land in Alaska, Bill the wildlife biologist and expedition organiser Kowalski are fawning over her like slobbering dogs. The fact that the woman has to use her feminine charms to get her way over dumb men with their brains in their pants is a cliche that does really annoy me in books. It made me dislike Aileen straight away.

Luckily, after disaster strikes, Aileen reveals that she is on the trip because she recognises the hell holes for what they are and talked her way onto the trip to get a look at the area to confirm it. She is part of an order that looks for demonic activity and tries to stop it, starting with saving them from the first hell hounds. Aileen explains that this will be followed by deadly imps and gargoyles and a full scale invasion from hell, which of course scares the group to death. Now they have to escape Alaska and all the demons and try to stay alive. By this point I had reformed my opinions of the characters, including Aileen and the idiot that is Kowalski. For someone who works around pipelines his gross stupidity for safety issues was quite shocking. The group dynamic actually becomes quite good after we learn what is lurking under the ground.

It did take a bit of time for it to get in to the main point of the story. It was 30% of the way in when the men started to explore the hole. I wouldn't say that it was slow, more that I was impatient for it to get going. I'll be honest-if it had taken any longer for the exploration to start, then I might not have continued to read. However it did start then, and after that, the story certainly kept me interested. It was a bit technical in the early part of the book with details about methane, climate change, permafrost and pingos(?) that I could personally have done without but I guess the author was trying to give some background information to the reader. I thought pingos were the nickname for those black and white winter birds with long beaks but who knew!

Once the story got going, I found it very interesting. I've always liked demons in my horror and urban fantasy reads so the actual story about demonic invasion was interesting. The tension was built up nicely as they tried to hide from the first wave of demons, creeping through a dark building where they could pounce at any time. I grew to care about the characters and not want anything to happen to them. It was also nice to see the men not knowing what to do and looking for the female expert to come up with the plans. I liked the different dangers that each type of demon brings as their dangerous journey continued. After the initial scientific info dump, i didn't find it over descriptive. The story flowed along nicely and there were plenty of demons to keep things interesting. 

For those who are interested, there was no real sexual content other than men drooling. I can't really comment fully on bad language as I have nothing specific in my notes about it but I'm sure there was some. There are of course scenes of injuries and death. The monsters are a bit scary for younger readers so I recommend this to adults and older teenagers if they like the genre. There is a pretty big cliffhanger at the end and you will need to read the second book to resolve that. I do intend to read on when I get the chance.  

Read May 2018.
3 stars.

Chuckles Mini Reviews CatchUp

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! Time to catch up with a few books read between April and August!

1) Alan Watkins-A Conservative Coup
Those who follow my blog know that I enjoy my politics so I thought this one would be great, charting the events that led to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister and the tense leadership contest that followed. Sadly this book was not what I expected. I understand that there needs to be background but in this case we got way to much of it. We know the Tories are in-fighting over Europe but we didn't need the entire history of the European Union and ERM, a lot of which was very technical and dull. I get that we needed a background to the Poll Tax and other reasons that she fell out with key ministers over and some of it was interesting, but there seemed to be too much padding rather than just the information we needed. 

I did like finding out the ministers on both sides who stood against the Poll Tax though, including Leon Brittan, Nigel Lawson, George Young, Ted Heath, Jack Straw and Tim Yeo. I just felt there was no tension to the whole downfall and contest, and the author bugged me by jumping about the timeframe which was confusion so the whole thing lacked cohesion. It was much more interesting to read about in Ken Clark's memoirs.  
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8123404-a-conservative-coup 
Read April 2018.
2 stars. 

2) Brian McClellan-Forsworn (Powder Mage #0.1) 
Erika ja Leora is a powder mage in northern Kez, a place where that particular sorcery is punishable by death. She is only protected by her family name and her position as heir to a duchy. When she decides to help a young commoner—a powder mage marked for death, fugitive from the law—she puts her life and family reputation at risk and sets off to deliver her new ward to the safety of Adro while playing cat and mouse with the king’s own mage hunters and their captain, Duke Nikslaus. Occurs 35 years before the events in Promise of Blood.

I decided to try a couple of short stories from the world to see what I thought before tackling the full novel and I enjoyed this. The blurb describes the plot so no need to repeat it. I liked Erika, having to hide her gift and her reasons for helping Norrine escape death for being the same but without the protection of a powerful family. I loved Santiole, the mistress-at-arms responsible for training Erika. I loved the idea of what a powder mage was, able to control powder ie gunpowder with magic. There was a lot of action for a short story-the events in the woods, the search for Norrine and the dangerous journey to Adro where they will be safe. I liked the way the story was told and it has intrigued me to read more about this world, maybe even the novels themselves!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20614529-forsworn 
Read June 2018.
3.5 stars 

3) John D Randall-The Yellowstone Conundrum
The blurb is so long that I'll give it a miss but there is a link if you want to see it. Basically, the Yellowstone Caldera has erupted, an earthquake under Puget Sound triggers a tsunami onto Seattle, dams fail and the power grid goes down. This is exactly the kind of apocalypse drama that I love to read. I can't get enough of them! I was looking forward to reading it until I saw some online reviews of it and I then approached it warily. And I did not like it one bit.

The writing style and the way he uses language is just weird. ie 'Still by the end of February there should have been more promise, if not the future, then at least for today.' Huh? This came right after we are told that the MC doesn't actually know if it is February or December as he can't tell the difference. I'm not sure what planet the MC lives on but I can tell the difference! We then switch to his personal POV then a page later we go back to talking about him. It's followed by a random rant about doctors and pharmaceutical companies. There seems to be random inane character thoughts put in the middle of info dumps about boats, building descriptions and scientific details that make my head throb. It all combines to disrupt any chance of the story flowing, there is no cohesion to what we are being told, with random subject changes going on constantly. There was no tension to the events due to this weird writing style that seemed to have no purpose. The spelling and lack of editing was really poor as well. And just before I DNFed it, here is the 'climax' to the sex scene! 

'Jimmy James hit the runaway just as her plane landed and the pair started to glide down the runway to the exit ramp.' WTF?????????
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18137265-the-yellowstone-conundrum
Read August 2018.
DNF 1 star.

Top Ten Tuesday-Back To School

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

This week is Back To School. I'm looking at my ten favourite childhood books and series!

1) Stan Berenstein-Bears in the Night
I could never resist this brilliant book where a group of bears sneak out of their house to investigate a strange noise. It isn't about Brother and Sister Bear who feature in a lot of books by the author. 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/900067.Bears_in_the_Night 

2) Walter Farley-The Black Stallion
It was years after getting it from a book club before I finally read it but I really fell in love with the series. I loved the horse races in it though the sport doesn't interest me to watch!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1288462.The_Black_Stallion 

3) Elyne Mitchell-Silver Brumby
My horse obsession  continued with the story of generations of wild Australian horses and their loves and lives. I was addicted to this.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10870732-the-silver-brumby 

4) Eunice Walkup-The Race
For two years I continually took this book out of my school library to read. It wasn't aimed at children but I loved the racing and intrigue. In the last few years I got a copy of it but haven't reread it as an adult. 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10870732-the-silver-brumby 

5) Enid Blyton-various
I loved the author and so many of her series like Famous Five, Secret Seven, Five Find-Outers, Naughtiest Girl, Wishing Chair, St Clare's, Malory Towers, Adventure series and so many more! Hard to pick out my favourites!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20330954-the-mystery-of-the-burnt-cottage 

6) Judy Blume-various
This was the first author I saw as a kid that dealt with real issues for YA-bullying, religion, divorce, first sexual relationship, physical disability, first love etc. Everyone I knew loved her work and it led the way for future teen authors.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17278767-forever 

7) Francine Pascal-Sweet Valley High
For someone who hates romance, it's beyond me why I loved this series so much but I did! I was fascinated by the sheer amount of guys Jessica goes through and how dangerous that town was for kidnappings and accidents! 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/529252.Double_Love 

8) Roald Dahl-Fantastic Mr Fox
I loved the adventures of Mr Fox and hated the farmers for what they were doing to his family! I've loved foxes since I first read this book. Also loved James and the Giant Peach. I don't think I read all of his books though.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1272765.Fantastic_Mr_Fox 

9) CS Lewis-The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
I was obsessed with getting through my gran's old wardrobe and into Narnia as a kid but it never happened. I wanted to meet Aslan! Funny thing is, I never read the rest of the series which does seem strange!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1551102.The_Lion_the_Witch_and_the_Wardrobe

10) JRR Tolkien-Fellowship of the Ring
This was always the book I read most in the trilogy!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1451516.The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

This week! 

1) Half Stars 
Nikki looks at whether or not they are useful.
https://breathesbooks.com/2018/08/20/discussion-half-stars/ 

2) Book Review-Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
Stormi goes horror.
https://www.booksmoviesreviewsohmy.com/review-of-kill-creek/ 

3) Book Review-Scream All Night by Derek Milman
Mogsy looks at contemporary YA.
https://bibliosanctum.com/2018/08/19/ya-weekend-scream-all-night-by-derek-milman/ 

4) Book Review-Renegades by Marissa Meyer
Elle looks at YA superheroes.
http://elleinked.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-review-renegades-by-marissa-meyer.html 

5) Book Review-What Happened That Night by Sandra Block
Verushka highly rates this book.
https://editingeverything.com/blog/2018/08/22/what-happened-that-night-is-a-gut-wrenching-tale-about-revenge-and-coming-to-terms-with-rape/ 

6) Book Review-Adrift by Rob Boffard
Greg goes SF.
http://gregsbookhaven.blogspot.com/2018/08/adrift.html 

7) Guest Post-Hunter Shea
Find out about his new book!
http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-secret-life-of-rats-by-hunter-shea.html?utm_source=bloglovin.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feedburner%2FDrqsA+%28Beauty+in+Ruins%29 

8) Book Review-Drinking From The Trough by Mary Carlson
Barb looks at stories from a vet.
http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.com/2018/08/dog-days-of-summer-drinking-from-trough.html 

9) Book Review-Creature by Hunter Shea 
Stormi looks at one of his latest releases.
https://www.booksmoviesreviewsohmy.com/review-of-creature/ 

10) Book Review-Paternus: Rise Of Gods by Dyrk Ashton 
Olivia looks at mythology.
https://www.booksinblankets.com/2018/08/paternus-rise-of-gods-by-dyrk-ashton.html 

11) In A Nutshell Mini Reviews
Sam looks at three YA contemporary reads.
http://weliveandbreathebooks.blogspot.com/2018/08/in-nutshell-reviews_27.html 

12) Book Review-The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie
Lindsi looks at YA SF.
https://www.doyoudog-ear.com/2018/08/the-raging-ones-raging-ones-1-by-krista.html 

13) Book Review-The Book Of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri 
Mogsy looks at a book that mixes several genres.
https://bibliosanctum.com/2018/08/27/book-review-the-book-of-hidden-things-by-francesco-dimitri/