The Book Bit: December 2016 Ed.

No #blogtunes today, instead I have a Bob's Burgers reruns going; nice and hilarious.  I know it's barely still December, but I'm getting the post in under the wire.  Did December completely blow everybody else away this year?  It did for me.  My decorations are still up and my kitchen has still not really recovered from Christmas.  Plus, my kid's birthday is a mere days after Christmas and I'm getting ready to pack up shop to throw his birthday party back home for all the family.  In an effort to battle all the busy-ness that happens this time of year, I finished my books before Christmas.  So, enough of my Christmas shenanigans, here are the titles I got this month.


The Secret Place- Tana French

  This book is actually a part of a series, but I wasn't aware until after I had finished it.  It's part of the Dublin Murder Squad series.  Luckily, the books aren't dependent on each other and only occasionally have a few reoccurring characters, so I don't feel like I missed much reading them out of order.  This book is told by many characters, including Detective Stephen Moran and Holly Mackey.  Moran, who's been stuck in Cold Cases for too long, finally gets a break in a case that technically belongs to the Murder Squad.  Holly, a student from a posh boarding school, found a note tacked up in "The Secret Place" that simply reads "I Know Who Killed Him".  Almost a year prior, a student from the boys boarding school not far away was found dead on the property of the girls school.  Someone doesn't want to let this murder go and is ready to spill who killed him.  Unfortunately we're not just dealing with normal suspects, we're dealing with high school teenager girls.  Vicious, conniving little things who are ready to throw each other under the bus.  It's hard to decipher what's truth and lies as these girls get back at each other for their petty differences.  As Moran and the abrasive, controversial Detective Conway interrogate the girls, the story splits and gives us some interesting back stories on the girls involved, leading up to the death of the boy every girl wanted.  This book sucks you right in and doesn't let you go until the final page.  Plus, it's set in Dublin, so if you're like me, you'll get to practice the voices in your head with Irish accents.  Yes, I do that!  It's so much fun.  Enjoy this one.


First Love- James Patterson
 
  So, I've mostly only known Patterson to write thrillers and mysteries, but he also writes romance.  This book delivered for me.  Even though romances can sometimes be really cheesy, this one wasn't.  Meet Axi Moore, professional good girl.  She never misses class, she never gets in trouble and she always does the right thing.  Meet Robinson, Axi's best friend/secret crush, who is always trying to get Axi out of her shell.  And one day Axi pulls a fast one on Robinson.  Road trip.  As in, ditching school, sneaking out of the house and hopping a bus on the seriously best road trip ever.  Axi has everything planned down to a T, but Robinson has other plans for their trip.  And soon after the trip takes off, things go from all fun and crazy, to just crazy, to dangerous crazy.  It takes a serious turn and the trip goes South quickly.  Axi's past comes out in bits and pieces as does Robinson and we truly learn each of them as they go on this adventure together.  This isn't your average romance, this is an epic adventure story.  It made me want to dump everything and jump in my car for my own adventure.  Not long into the story I had these huge regrets for not doing something similar when I was younger, you know before I had a kid and got all domesticated.  This book is great, don't miss out on Axi and Robinson's love and adventure story.


Sweetheart- Chelsea Cain

  This is book two of  the Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell series.  I wrote my review of book one, Heartsick, here.  Like book one, Cain seriously delivered.  And we get a return of all our favorite characters, Archie and Gretchen (obviously) and Susan Ward.  When Archie gets let back in with his family, it comes at a price, no longer seeing Gretchen.  And when Susan's biggest story is about to go public, outing a politician with a sex scandal, her lead and a fellow reporter end up dead.  Susan and Archie get to work together again and the further they get into the case, the more it doesn't look like a simple accident.  Just as things get deep and bodies start piling up, Gretchen escapes from the prison.  Wait!  What!  Yes!  She escapes!  On top of all this, Archie is having some serious problems, both emotionally and physically.  Though the first book doesn't give much detail to Gretchen and Archie's relationship, we get a much deeper glance in this book; and it's an eye opener.  We also get a glimpse at some of her victims.  Don't read this one on a full stomach, they don't spare any details this time.  And soon after Gretchen escapes, the inevitable happens.  Archie is gone.  This is another great read, you will not be able to put it down.


  So that's what I had for this month, all great reads.  Hope everyone had a great holiday season, I know we did.  Catch you next time.  Oh, and Happy New Year guys!