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It’s one of my favorite days of the month, Steph and Jana’s Shows Us Your Books link up! I love getting to share my recent reads as well as get a bunch of new reading recommendations. Although February is a short month, I think I read a decent amount. Especially since I returned to work full-time at the end of January, which means my reading time has substantially decreased. Even better, most of my February 2018 reads were 4 stars!
3 Stars
52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life by Andrea Owen – This was my only non-fiction read this month. So far, I’ve been good with my goal of reading at least one non-fiction book a month. This book is made up of 52 very short chapters, where each chapter is a different tip. While this book didn’t really tell me anything new or wow me, Owen provided lots of reminders on how to live your best life.
4 Stars
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson – The “gardener” has created a beautiful garden of butterflies. The butterflies just happen to be kidnapped young girls. But something has happened and the garden is no more. The FBI question Maya, one of the survivors where we are told about the gardener via her stories and flashbacks. After reading about this book from several bloggers in past linkups, I had to read it. This is a disturbing story, yet I had to continue reading it to see how it all unfolded. It’s the first in a three book series, which I now want to continue.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – I have read so many rave reviews of this book on these linkups and I can finally understand why. Eleanor is such a quirky, likeable character. I enjoyed this book and can see how she has been compared to Ove in A Man Called Ove.
Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner – I thought I’d start listening to audio books on my commute to work. I listened to this book and then my cd player/radio died. I’ve been two weeks now without any radio/cd player as we wait for one more part my husband needs to replace it. So, no more audio books after this one for awhile. Live to Tell is the fourth book in the D.D. Warren series. In this book an entire family is murdered, with the father as the primary suspect. Detective D.D. Warren is assigned to the case and as she starts investigating, realizes that there’s more going on. I’ve been trying to avoid starting new series, especially those with a lot of books in them. However, I had started this series way back and it was nice to start back up with Gardner’s Detective D.D. Warren series. This was a really good book to listen to on audio, with multiple narrators.
Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine – Gina Royal accidentally discovers her husband’s secret…..that he is a serial killer. Even though he’s in prison, people still think that she was involved with her husband’s crimes and have targeted her and her children. They have been living a life on the run, constantly changing names and moving. Stillhouse Lake is actually starting to feel like home when a dead body turns up and they start receiving threatening letters. This is the first book in a series, which I didn’t know until I read it…..it ends with a cliffhanger! The author includes a soundtrack at the end of the book of songs that accompanied her during the writing of this book. I found it to be a unique concept to include and had fun listening to the songs on YouTube, though some were too heavy metal for my liking. Overall, a great, suspense read for those that like this genre.
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – This story revolves around three characters, the husband, the ex-wife and the new fiancee. It’s hard to say much more without giving away spoilers. This was a surprisingly enjoyable suspense read with several plot twists that kept me guessing. I recently read that it’s going to be made into a movie, which I think will be pretty good.
I haven’t read any of these, but I do want to read Stillhouse Lake and Eleanor Oliphant at some point. I’m glad to hear you really liked both of these!
-Lauren
Yes, I recommend giving both of these books a try!
I have had The Butterfly Garden on my TBR FOREVER.
I try to read at least one nonfiction book a month, too.
I recommend giving The Butterfly Garden a try!
Looks like a good reading month!! I still need to get to Stillhouse Lake and Eleanor Oliphant. Glad you enjoyed them!
I surprisingly did have a good reading month. This month hasn’t started off as well, but we’ll see. Can’t wait to hear what you think about Stillhouse Lake and Eleanor if/when you read them.
I want to read the next in the Stillhouse Lake series – I found out last month there was another one.
Loved Eleanor!
Yes, I need to get the second book in the Stillhouse Lake series soon!
ooh good to know about the wife between us going to be a movie! i have the book somewhere at home so it’s on my list. i also have Stillhouse Lake on my kindle, so glad you liked it! Eleanor was such a good character.
Can’t wait to year what you think about The Wife Between Us and Stillhouse Lake if/when you read them!
It sounds like you read a lot of really good thrillers this month! I really enjoyed the butterfly garden and tore threw it last year, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. Stillhouse Lake sounds really interesting, and I actually own it (I think it was a Kindle First book), so hopefully I can read it soon!
Yes, surprisingly I had some good thrillers. My more recent ones were eh. I am hoping to read the second in the Butterfly Garden series soon.
I loved Eleanor Oliphant, too. I thought she was a great character – she reminds me of Temperance Brennan (TV Version) a bit. I have the first two Butterfly Garden books on my kindle and I can’t wait to read them! I’ve heard nothing but good things.
I haven’t seen the TV version of Temperance Brennan but agree Eleanor was a great character. I’m hoping to read the second in the Butterfly Garden series soon.
I just finished The Wife Between Us, and it didn’t go as I thought it would. However, thrillers have given me a huge mistrust for husbands on this type of books…
Yes, the surprise is what I enjoyed about the book. I find that most thrillers/suspense point fault at the husband…..who isn’t always the “bad” guy.
I loved The Butterfly Garden so creepy and I enjoyed Roses of May a bit more but I’m sort of the anomaly there. The villain isn’t quite as fascinating (I’m not sure anyone is as freaky as The Gardener) but I LOVED the girl power aspect. And you do revisit characters (like Maya and Bliss) from The Butterfly Garden. I really enjoyed Eleanor and The Wife Between Us too. The cover to Stillhouse Lake looks really familiar to me but the book description does not. And holy crap, I must read it IMMEDIATELY! I’ve read the DD Warren books that Flora Dane appears in but not the other books. It sounds like I need to check them out too.
I think I just got notice that Roses of May is ready for me to pick up at the library so I’ll hopefully read it soon. I think you’ll like Stillhouse Lake!
I just finished The Wife Between Us and really liked it! It’s hard to review without giving anything away 🙂 Stillhouse Lake looks interesting!
Glad to hear you also enjoyed it!
Aw maaaan. The Butterfly Garden is on my TBR, but I din’t know it was part of a trilogy, and I’m not a big fan of series. I’ve been on the fence with The Wife Between Us, but since I have a weird thing of wanting to read the book before the movie, I guess I’m going to have to add it to my TBR!
I think you can just read The Butterfly Garden on its own and won’t feel like you HAVE to read the next book. I also need to read the book before seeing a movie. I’m sure since the book was only recently published, you have some time before the movie!
The Wife Between Us is wait-listed at my library, but I would definitely need to get to it before any potential movie comes out (because then I’ll never read it because of the whole visualizing the characters things).
The movie probably won’t be out for awhile. But yes, I’m also a need to read the book first kind of person.
I’m quite interested in Eleanor Oliphant. I just recently added it to my TBR and I keep moving it up closer towards the top. I love quirky characters. A Man Called Ove is one of my all-time favorite books!
A good friend of mine told me I HAD to read The Wife Between Us and I was able to pick it up on sale through Audible. I will read it sometime in May (after I finish a book challenge I’m participating in at the moment).
I used to be an avid reader of the D.D. Warren series, but I read them one right after the other and I burned myself out. I do like Lisa Gardner and she’s such a down-to-earth person (I meet her once). I think I will pick the series back up one day.
If you enjoyed Ove, you’ll likely love Eleanor. The Wife Between Us is a good suspense book. I think reading too many of any mystery series in a row leads to burnout. I’m going to continue the D.D. Warren series but not right away.
I just found The Butterfly Garden in my Kindle – don’t even remember buying 😉 haha Glad to hear its a decent read.
Oh then you should definitely give it a try!
I’m glad you liked Eleanor Oliphant! I just loved her as a character. I still haven’t read A Man Called Ove but after reading what you said about it I need to bump that to the top of my to-read. There are just too many!!
I think you’ll really like Ove if you liked Eleanor. I know what you mean about there being too many books that I want to read!
Oh man that stresses me out when a book ends on a cliffhanger that I wasn’t expecting, lol. I’ve heard about that book a lot lately though and it sounds intriguing!! So glad you liked Eleanor Oliphant. I agree in some ways about the comparison to Ove!!
Yeah, I was not expecting the ending and of course now need to read the next book!
I have The Women Between Us and Eleanor Oliphant on my tbr. Hopefully I can get to them soon. Pam 🙂
I really want to read The Butterfly Garden! XO – Alexandra
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