First Book 2023

 

So what is First Book?  First Book is the first book you plan on reading in the New Year.  It can be a long-coveted read you have not had time for, a guilty pleasure read like a re-read of a favorite…  really it can be anything – it is…after all…YOUR First Book.  

This is the 10th year Shelia of Book Journey is hosting this fun event to kick off your reading year!  I look forward to it every year.

This year I chose as my first book:

Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.

I read The Hidden Beach this fall and knew I needed to read more books by this author.  And just look at that cover, makes you want to be there on the beach and escape the cold of winter!

What book did you choose as your First Read of 2023?

First Book of 2021

 Shelia of Book Journey has hosted "First Book" for seven years.  

So what is First Book?  First Book is the first book you plan on reading in the New Year.  It can be a long-coveted read you have not had time for, a guilty pleasure read like a re-read of a favorite…  really it can be anything – it is, after all, YOUR First Book.

I have chosen as my First Book As Death Draws Near by Anna Lee Huber

June 1831. In the midst of their idyllic honeymoon in England’s Lake District, Kiera and Gage’s seclusion is soon interrupted by a missive from her new father-in-law. A deadly incident involving a distant relative of the Duke of Wellington has taken place at an abbey south of Dublin, Ireland, and he insists that Kiera and Gage look into the matter.

Intent on discovering what kind of monster could murder a woman of the cloth, the couple travel to Rathfarnham Abbey school. Soon a second nun is slain in broad daylight near a classroom full of young girls. With the sinful killer growing bolder, the mother superior would like to send the students home, but the growing civil unrest in Ireland would make the journey treacherous.

Before long, Kiera starts to suspect that some of the girls may be hiding a sinister secret. With the killer poised to strike yet again, Kiera and Gage must make haste and unmask the fiend, before their matrimonial bliss comes to an untimely end...

Lady Darby Series

The Anatomist's Wife

Mortal Arts

A Grave Matter

A Study in Death

A Pressing Engagement (novella)

Happy New Year!  

First Book of 2020

Shelia of Book Journey has been hosting First Book of The Year for seven years now.  It is an event that I look forward to participating in, and begin to think about which book will be the First of the new year around the beginning of December.  I will begin the new year, new decade with a book from a favorite series.

Vendetta In Death #49 by J. D. Robb

She calls herself Lady Justice. And once she has chosen a man as her target, she turns herself into a tall blonde or a curvaceous redhead, makes herself as alluring and seductive as possible to them. Once they are in her grasp, they are powerless.

The first victim is wealthy businessman Nigel McEnroy. His company’s human resources department has already paid out settlements to a couple of his young victims—but they don’t know that his crimes go far beyond workplace harassment. Lady Justice knows. And in one shocking night of brutality, she makes him pay a much steeper price.

Now Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, are combing through the evidence of McEnroy’s secret life. His compulsive need to record his misdeeds provides them with a wide range of suspects, but the true identity of Lady Justice remains elusive. It’s a challenging case, made even more difficult by McEnroy’s widow, who reacts to the investigation with fury, denial, and threats. Meanwhile, Lady Justice’s criminal crusade is escalating rapidly, and if Eve can’t stop this vigilante, there’s no telling how much blood may be spilled

Happy New Year!!

Read a teaser here.

First Book of 2019

Shelia is hosting the annual First Book of the Year. It is always fun to look through the books to choose the one that will be honored with being the First! 

One summer, two sisters and a chance to start over…

Before the burglary that shattered her confidence, Phoenix Rose had a fiancé, a successful store and a busy, happy existence. After months spent adrift, she takes a job at the lakeside resort of Cooper’s Charm. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, friendly colleagues and a charismatic, widowed boss, Phoenix is slowly inching her way back into the world.

Visiting Cooper’s Charm to check up on her little sister, Ridley Rose impulsively agrees to fill in as housekeeper. Still reeling from an ego-bruising divorce, she finds satisfaction in a job well done—and in the attention of the resort’s handsome scuba instructor.

For Phoenix and Ridley, Cooper’s Charm is supposed to be merely temporary. But this detour may lead to the place they most need to be, where the future is as satisfying as it is surprising

Looking forward to starting the New Year with a lighter read!

First Book of The Year 2018

Shelia is hosting the sixth annual First Book of the Year. It is always fun to look through the books to choose the one that will be honored with being the First!

This year I choose:  The Midnight Line by Lee Child
Book #22 in the Jack Reacher series.

Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?

So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.

The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher.

Looking forward to reading the newest book in one of my favorite series.

First Book of 2017

Fourth Annual First Book of the Year hosted by Shelia of Book Journey

The First Book is a book that maybe you have been wanting to read for a while but have not had time for, a coveted book, an old favorite re-read – whatever you want.  The point is that this is the book that will kick off the year for you.

My book has been sitting on the stacks for awhile now.  I have it in print and audio.  I will begin with print and will listen as well.

 Find Her is the 8th book of Lisa Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren series

Flora Dane is a victim. 

Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Flora Dane is a survivor.

Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.

Flora Dane is reckless. 

. . . or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

What is your First Book?

Happy New Year.

2016 Favorites

Devoted In Death

When Lieutenant Eve Dallas examines a body in a downtown Manhattan alleyway, the victim’s injuries are so extensive that she almost misses the clue. Carved into the skin is the shape of a heart—and initials inside reading E and D . . .

Ella-Loo and her boyfriend, Darryl, had been separated while Darryl was a guest of the state of Oklahoma, and now that his sentence has been served they don’t ever intend to part again. Ella-Loo’s got dreams. And Darryl believes there are better ways to achieve your dreams than working for them. So they hit the road, and when their car breaks down in Arkansas, they make plans to take someone else’s. Then things get messy and they wind up killing someone—an experience that stokes a fierce, wild desire in Ella-Loo. A desire for Darryl. And a desire to kill again.

As they cross state lines on their way to New York to find the life they think they deserve, they will leave a trail of evil behind them. But now they’ve landed in the jurisdiction of Lieutenant Dallas and her team at the New York Police and Security Department. And with her husband, Roarke, at her side, she has every intention of hunting them down and giving them what they truly deserve . . .

I chose this book as my first book of the New Year.  It is book 41 of a great series that still delivers a good police procedural novel, and the characters continue to grow.  What was different about this installment was that we knew the killers identity before Eve and her team.  A Detective from Arkansas was the first to see a pattern and traveled to NY to consult with Eve, despite being turned away by other law enforcement agencies. We watched as they connected cases into a serial killing and then by searching for the missing victim hunted down the killers. The killers, a couple, were a twisted contrast to Eve and Roark.  There were a couple of character quirks from Eve that had me confused and I hope they stop with this book.  The next book Brotherhood In Death releases next month!  

First Book of 2016

Shelia at Book Journey hosts this event to share the book you chose as your first read of the New Year!  I have been devoted to the "In Death" series since the very first book Glory in Death.  It was hard to leave the book on the stacks so it would be the first book of the year!

It is hard to tell but my shirt coordinates
with the cover of the book! 

Devoted in Death by J.R. Robb 

When Lieutenant Eve Dallas examines a body in a downtown Manhattan alleyway, the victim’s injuries are so extensive that she almost misses the clue. Carved into the skin is the shape of a heart—and initials inside reading E and D . . .

Ella-Loo and her boyfriend, Darryl, had been separated while Darryl was a guest of the state of Oklahoma, and now that his sentence has been served they don’t ever intend to part again. Ella-Loo’s got dreams. And Darryl believes there are better ways to achieve your dreams than working for them. So they hit the road, and when their car breaks down in Arkansas, they make plans to take someone else’s. Then things get messy and they wind up killing someone—an experience that stokes a fierce, wild desire in Ella-Loo. A desire for Darryl. And a desire to kill again.

As they cross state lines on their way to New York to find the life they think they deserve, they will leave a trail of evil behind them. But now they’ve landed in the jurisdiction of Lieutenant Dallas and her team at the New York Police and Security Department. And with her husband, Roarke, at her side, she has every intention of hunting them down and giving them what they truly deserve . . .

This is book #41 in the series and I still look forward to each one.  Eve and Roark are great as a couple with mutual respect, love and admiration.  The secondary characters continue to develop and grow.  The case is always intriguing and interesting in how they investigate it.  One of my all time favorite series!
By waiting to read this installment I won't have long to wait for the next one as Brotherhood In Death releases in February.

Cole is reading a book all about dogs!

What book did you chose as your First Read?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

First Book of the Year: 2015

Shelia is hosting "First Book of the Year: 2015"  a fun event where we share the title of the first book we are reading for the New Year!

Being the good daughter that I am, ;) I choose Jane Porter's second book in the Brennan Sisters trilogy The Good Daughter.  After finishing the first book, The Good Wife, and falling in love with this family, I was anxious to catch up and see what happens next.

The Good Daughter by Jane Porter

Kit Brennan has always been the most grounded of her sisters. A Catholic school English teacher for seventeen years and a constant giver, her decisions have been sound—just not very satisfying. Her fortieth birthday is right around the corner, causing Kit to consider some wilder notions, like skipping right past the love and marriage to raising a child all by herself . . .

A girls’ weekend away is just the reprieve Kit needs from school, Mr. Wrongs, and life-changing decisions. It’s there that she meets a man who’s dangerous; a man who challenges who she thought she was, or rather should be. Kit wants to indulge herself this once, but with one of her students in crisis and the weight of her family’s burdens weighing heavy on her heart, Kit isn’t sure if now is the time to let her own desires take flight.

In the spirit and fun of the challenge, I am doing my best to match the good daughter on the lovely cover.  She is in pink and I am in purple.



What is the title of the your first book of the New Year?

First Book of 2014

Shelia of Book Journey asks you to join in this tradition of picking the book that you will be reading into the new year.  It can be a coveted book that you have been waiting to read, a guilty pleasure book, a re-read of a favorite that you want to explore once again… whatever you want.

My first book of 2014 is by one of my favorite authors - Susanna Kearsley

An Ancient Castle, a Tragic Love, and a Web of Secrets Begins to Unravel...

Emily Braden has stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings. When her fascinating but unreliable cousin Harry invites her on a holiday to explore the legendary own of Chinon, and promptly disappears—well, that's Harry for you. As Emily makes the acquaintance of Chinon and its people, she begins to uncover dark secrets beneath the charm. Legend has it that during a thirteenth-century siege of the castle that looms over the city, Queen Isabelle, child bride of King John, hid a "treasure of great price." And in the last days of the German occupation during World War II, another Isabelle living in Chinon, a girl whose love for an enemy soldier went tragically awry.

As the dangers of the past become disastrously real, Emily is drawn ever more deeply into a labyrinth of mystery as twisted as the streets and tunnels of the ancient town itself.

What is your first book of 2014?  Will it end up being on your favorite of 2014 list? 

Check out my favorites for 2013.