The Running Bibliophile

As a teenager, I discovered the "Changes Romance" books series that targeted teens and always had a life lesson. None of the books in this series have nothing to do with the others, and each book in the series has a different author. Unfortunately, I never could find all the books in the series when I was a teen, so now as an adult, I've been tracking down the books I never read. Thank goodness for ThriftBooks.com! Runaway (A Changes Romance, #4)  by Marilyn Kaye was one of those books. I loved the life lessons taught in Runaway , and my favorite life lesson was that you can always go home again. It also teaches teens that being an adult isn't as glamorous as it seems. I've read many of Marilyn Kaye's books, but this was one of my least favorites that she wrote. I just didn't quite connect with it like some of her other works. By all means, it isn't poorly written. It's actually very well written. One of the major themes throughout the b...

Still Me (Me Before You, #3) by Jojo Moyes is the third and final installment in the Me Before You Trilogy . We catch up with Louisa Clark arriving for her new career as a personal assistant to Agnes Gopnik in New York, New York. Living in the servant quarters and having to quickly adapt to this strange, new life of high society, Louisa finds herself desperately missing her boyfriend Sam and her family back in England. When Louisa meets Joshua Ryan at one of the high society events, her life is turned upside down. What can I say about Still Me (Me Before You, #3) ? Jojo Moyes is an amazing writer, and I absolutely was sucked back into Louisa Clark's story. I am glad I had a three day weekend to be able to finish this memorizing novel and am a bit sad that the author mentioned at the very end that she likely won't write any more stories about this character. This makes me sad, but I am guessing the author may be feeling a little burnout with this series. That or she rea...

The Book Club Murders (Oakwood Mystery, #1) by Leslie Nagel is a book that I downloaded to my Nook tablet quite some time ago, and I just now got around to reading it. I didn't realize that it was the first book in a series when I bought. However, I am glad that it is part of a series because it was really well written for a cozy mystery, and I definitely want to read the next book. Oakwood, Ohio resident Charley Carpenter belongs to a book club with some of the wealthiest women in the city. They've dubbed themselves "The Agathas" after Agatha Christie as their book club focuses on reading mystery novels and trying to solve the mystery within the book before the killer is revealed to them. When several people are found dead, the circumstances can all be tied back to books that "The Agathas" have read that fall. The police pull in Charley to help determine which woman in the book club is committing these murders. Let me begin by saying that I...

While scrolling through my Instagram feed, I came across a post from OnTheBookList that featured the novel The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson. Having been a former beauty pageant contestant and beauty queen, the name of the book intrigued me. I immediately looked at the synopsis on Goodreads.com and decided that I had to buy and read this particular book. The Accidental Beauty Queen is a romantic comedy about identical twins Charlotte and Ginny Gorman. Charlotte decides to fly to Orlando, Florida a few days early to visit Harry Potter World while her sister Ginny is competing in the Miss American Treasure pageant. However, in less than 24 hours of being in Orlando, Charlotte has to rush Ginny to the hospital when she has an allergic reaction to something that makes her face swell up and a rash break out. Not able to compete in the pageant until her face clears up, Ginny convinces Charlotte to pose as her in the pageant. If you'll be going on vacation soon, t...

Words cannot begin to describe how excited I was when the novel Time's Convert (All Souls Universe, #1) by Deborah Harkness came out in bookstores, and I pre-ordered the newest edition to the book series from Barnes and Noble. I prepared for the new release by rereading the original trilogy to refresh my memory of what happened. The original All Souls Trilogy includes A Discovery of Witches , Shadow of Night , and The Book of Life . However, when Time's Convert arrived in my mailbox, I was in a bit of a reading slump, and it took me all this time to actually read it. Boy, am I mad at myself for not reading it right after I finished rereading The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3) . At first, I did have a little trouble getting into Time's Convert because I felt like I knew the least about Phoebe, Marcus' mate. Once the other character's story lines were interwoven into the book, I really was able to get into the book, and I even began to like learning...

  When my mom raved about the first book in the Dorothy Must Die Series by Danielle Paige, aptly named Dorothy Must Die , I was definitely interested in reading the series. At the time, I had a lot of books on my to be read pile, so I put off reading it. A few months ago, the site BookBub.com sent me an email with books that were on sale. Lo and behold, Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die Series, #1) by Danielle Paige was one of the ebooks on sale, so I decided to purchase the book. I finally decided to read it, and I was not enthralled with it at all. I'm not sure what I expected from Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die Series, #1) other than I knew it would be a retelling of sorts of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Let me begin by saying that I'm not offended by foul language in the least, but seeing as this book series is targeted towards teens, I was caught off guard by the amount of curse words. Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . I know teenagers tend to curse a lo...

When Back Bay Bank in Keyhole Bay, Florida makes a risky loan to a local husand and wife, and it goes belly up, the corporate bank sends in senior auditor Bridget McKenna to investigate the shady dealings the local branch is involved in. When Bridget turns up dead, Glory Martine knows something is fishy about her death. The Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery series is one of my new favorite cozy mystery book series. Although the plot lines are very typical, the way the series is written sucks you in and makes you fall in love with the characters. The third installment, Murder Sends A Postcard , by Christy Fifield is no different from its predecessors. I absolutely love all the characters and feel like I'm right there with Glory as she goes through her day. It's as if I'm part of the book too. One thing that I thought was dead on in the description in Murder Sends A Postcard (A Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery, #3)  was how distrustful most everyone was of the character...

One particular weekend night, I was watching television, and a commercial came on advertising Mr. Clean: Clean Freak Deep Cleaning Mist. In the ad, it mentioned that it would take off grime and dirt after spraying it on the surface and wiping it off with a simple swipe. It went on to mention that it could be used in the bathroom, and I thought, "I really need to try this product on my bathtub." Excited, I couldn't wait to buy it and looked for it at the grocery store the next day while I was getting my weekly groceries. I wasn't expecting to actually find it in stores yet because it usually takes the stores in my area a few weeks to get products in stock after I see it advertised on television. Much to my surprise and delight, my local Kroger Grocery Store actually had the Mr. Clean: Clean Freak Deep Cleaning Mist in stock and in no less than two scents. I grabbed the Gain Scent bottle and stuck it in my grocery cart. Eventually, I decided to use it to cle...