May went by so fast! But the big project, reading the 800+ page book for the Pop Sugar challenge, was a success and now I can easily finish the challenge in the second half of the year.

I took a day to read some really short freebies from my NOOK, none of which worked for me. Hurtling through space and time in a tin can for two days provided a lot of time for me to read. My BL-opoly bank balance is sitting at $68.00.

Highlights/Lowlights:

Best Books: London, Forbidden, Vision volumes 1 and 2

Worst Books: Shimmy for Me, Summer Flings series

Disappointing book: A Charming Cure - I had big expectations for this series and I hope the second book can live up to those expectations

Challenge Progress

Pop Sugar: 4; 33/52 for the year

Library Love: 4; 32/36 for the year

BL/GR: 77/150

BL-opoly: 10

1. Deep Deception by Cathy Pegau (BL-opoly) - 3.5 stars

2. Forbidden (Old West #1) by Beverly Jenkins (BL-opoly) - 4.5 stars

3. Killer in High Heels (High Heels #2) by Gemma Halliday (BL-opoly) - 2.5 stars

4. A Charming Crime (Magical Cures #1) by Tonya Kappes (BL-opoly) - 2 stars

5. A Wedding in Springtime (Marriage Mart #1) by Amanda Forester (Pop Sugar prompt - 1 of 4 seasons in title) (BL-opoly) - 3.5 stars

6. The Dateless Wonder by Anjali Mya Chadha - 3 stars

7. Shimmy for Me: A California Belly Dance Novella by DeAnna Cameron - 1.5 stars

8. Learning to Swim (Troy Chance #1) by Sara L. Henry (BL-opoly) - 2 stars

9. Selkie Heart by Sam Asher - 1 star

10. Trouble in Tinseltown (Summer Flings #1) and Misbehaving in Miami (Summer Flings #2) by Aimee Duffy - 1 star

11. London: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd (Library Love challenge) (Pop Sugar prompt - book with 800+ pages) - 5 stars

12. Nothing But Trouble (PJ Sugar #1) by Susan May Warren (Library Love challenge) - 3.5 stars

13. A Christmas Hope (Of Love and War #1.5) by Stacy Henrie (BL-opoly) - 4 stars

14. After the Storm (Kate Burkholder #7) by Linda Castillo (BL-opoly) - 3.5 stars

15. Her Last Breath (Kate Burkholder #5) by Linda Castillo (BL-opoly) - 3 stars

16. Vision Volume 1: Little Worse Than a Man by Tom King (Pop Sugar prompt - Re-read a shelf keeper) - 4 stars

17. Vision Volume 2: Little Better Than a Beast by Tom King (BL-opoly) (Pop Sugar prompt - non human perspective) - 4 stars

Highlight of the book is the fact when I sat down to fully invest in reading this book, I got it done in a day. So the book was completely read and I get full value for BL-opoly for my investment.

Lowlights (how many there were!):

1. Literary fiction version of a "romance" - yea, there is no HEA or even HFN. And so many problems within the "romance" between Philippe and Troy that was just borderline toxic relationship status.

2. Mystery is in the vein of literary/women's fiction, so there is not really a focus on actually solving the mystery until the last 50 pages. And the cops (Ottawa Police, Montreal Police, Lake Placid, NY Police, Burlington, VT Police) were given the stupid Keystone Kops treatment.

3. The MC, Troy Chance, is a SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE of a character. She is not like other women or into girly things/interests! My goodness, her smugness was aggravating to read. She was outfoxed by the killer until the very end and she was such a dim bulb. And every man she met was attracted to her and she had to fend off the hordes with a stick.

4. Weird conversational structures - French, then the translated English, then a random French sentence followed by more English.

There is a sequel, but I am not reading it. Be forewarned: the author comments on low rating reviews on GR and tries to explain away reviewers' issues with the book.

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Read for BL-opoly

Pages: 296 Value: $3.00

April 27th and 29th:

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins ($3)

A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester ($4)

Killer in High Heels by Gemma Halliday ($3)

A Charming Crime by Tonya Kappes ($2)

Deep Deception by Cathy Pegau ($3)

Bank: $45.00

May 13th Roll: 7 (2+5) - New Orleans Square 21 (Read a book set on an island or that has an ocean on the cover). I choose Learning to Swim by Sara L. Henry; 304 pages ($4.00).