What I've Read in 2018

A new year, a new goal. In order to concentrate on writing more, I've lowered my goal to 50 books read in 2018.

Here's what I read in 2018:

January:
1. "Illumination" by Susannah Sandlin (2017). 356 pages. Finished 1/16/18. Paranormal romance. Penton Legacy #5. Nik and Shay's story. This is the final book in the Penton Legacy series. A nice ending, but I'm a little sad there won't be any more. I came to really enjoy this series and 5 books just seems too short!
2. "Crimson Death" by Laurell K. Hamilton (2016). 710 pages. Finished 1/29/18. Urban fantasy. Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #25. The usual rambling and overly long descriptions, but a bit too much repetition for my taste. Could have been cut considerably.

February:
3. "Blood Fury" by J.R. Ward (2018). 411 pages. Finished 2/6/18. Paranormal romance. Black Dagger Legacy #3. Peyton & Nova's story and Saxton & Ruhn's story. Two romances in one book! I was in heaven.
4. "Into the Black Nowhere" by Meg Gardiner (2018). 352 pages. Finished 2/14/18. Suspense/thriller. UNSUB series #2. Okay, when's #3 coming out? I'm ready.
5. "Poisonous" by Allison Brennan (2016). 420 pages. Finished 2/20/18. Suspense/thriller. Maxine Revere series #3. Wow. Hard to put down. I really love this series.
6. "Two to Die For" by Allison Brennan (2017). 218 pages. Finished 2/28/18. Suspense/thriller. Lucy Kincaid #12.5 & Maxine Revere #3.5 novellas. Two very good stories in series I still love to read.

March:
7. "Shattered" by Allison Brennan (2017). 390 pages. Finished 3/3/18. Suspense. Maxine Revere series #4. Crossover with Lucy Kincaid series and I loved it!
8. "Breaking Point" by Allison Brennan (2018). 419 pages. Finished 3/5/18. Suspense. Lucy Kincaid series #13. Just breezed through this unputdownable book. Loved getting to see more of JT too.
9. "Wicked Kiss" by Rebecca Zanetti (2017). 261 pages. Finished 3/10/18. Paranormal romance. Realm Enforcers #4. Adam and Victoria's story. Fast-paced and lots of action. Loved it!
10. "Wicked Bite" by Rebecca Zanetti (2017). 267 pages. Finished 3/14/18. Paranormal romance. Realm Enforces #5. Bear and Nessa's story. I love Bear. Nice wrap-up to the series.
11. "Lethal Lies" by Rebecca Zanetti (2017). 380 pages. Finished 3/19/18. Romantic suspense. Blood Brothers #2. Heath and Anya's story. Ready for the last book in this trilogy. Great series!
12. "Twisted Truths" by Rebecca Zanetti (2017). 382 pages. Finished 3/23/18. Romantic suspense. Blood Brothers #3. Denver and Noni's story. Great end to a trilogy (and for the Sin Brothers series, too).

April:
13. "Sleeping Beauties" by Stephen King and Owen King (2017). 700 pages. Finished 4/2/18. Horror. A world without men vs. a world without women. Very interesting.
14. "The Silent Corner" by Dean Koontz (2017). 434 pages. Finished 4/8/18. Suspense. Jane Hawk series #1. A horrific story of biochemisty being used for evil. Look forward to reading what else is going to happen.
15. "Twice Bitten" by Lynsay Sands (2018). 373 pages. Finished 4/17/18. Paranormal romance. Argeneau Vampire series #27. Elspeth and Wyatt's story. This series is still very much enjoyable.
16. "Dearest Ivie" by J.R. Ward (2018). 136 pages. Finished 4/22/18. Paranormal romance. Black Dagger Brotherhood #15.5 (novella). Ivie and Silas's story. Made me cry, but made me happy, too.
17. "The Thief" by J.R. Ward (2018). 454 pages. Finished 4/25/18. Paranormal romance. Back Dagger Brotherhood #16. Sola and Assail's story. Doc Jane and Vishous', too. Man, I just love this series.

May:
18. "Claimed in Shadows" by Lara Adrian (2018). 272 pages. Finished 5/6/18. Paranormal romance. Midnight Breed #15. Aric and Kaya's story. Some twists and turns. One I expected, the other I did not. Enjoyable, but a little slower than usual.
19. "The Red Lily" by Juliette Cross (2017). 248 pages. Finished 5/22/18. Paranormal romance. Vampire Blood #2. Nikolai and Sienna's story. A take on Red Riding Hood. Very good series.

June:
20. "The White Lily" by Juliette Cross (2017). 271 pages. Finished 6/11/18. Paranormal romance. Vampire Blood #3. Friedrich and Brennalyn's story. A take on Snow White. Really enjoying this series.
21. "Tokyo Stars" by Gage Lively (2018). 200 pages. Finished 6/18/18. Contemporary M/M romance. One hot book. Easily got caught up in the story and enjoyed every bit of it.
22. "The Emerald Lily" by Juliette Cross (2018). 275 pages. Finished 6/23/18. Paranormal romance. Vampire Blood #4. Mikhail and Mina's story. A take on Sleeping Beauty and the end of this series. A nice ending, too.

July:
23. "Scoring With the Wrong Twin" by Naima Simone (2018). 179 pages. Finished 7/6/18. Contemporary romance. WAGS #1. Zephirin and Sophia's story. Hot book! Emotionally satisfying. Yeah, brought tears to my eyes at the end. Happy tears.
24. "Perish the Day" by John Farrow (2017). 295 pages. Finished 7/13/18. Mystery (although labeled a thriller). The Storm Murders Trilogy #3. Interesting mystery, but I won't bother looking for the first two to read (I was hoping for more thriller stuff). Luckily, I didn't need to read them first to enjoy this one.
25. "Sex, Lies, and Online Dating" by Rachel Gibson  (2006). 352 pages. Finished 7/18/18. Contemporary romance. Writer Friends Series #1. Lucy and Quinn's story. A little dated, but an enjoyable read. Loved the hint of danger!
26. "Her Darkest Nightmare" by Brenda Novak (2016). 407 pages. Finished 7/23/18. Romantic suspense. The Evelyn Talbot Chronicles #1. Definite page-turner.

August:
27. "Craving Justice" by Fiona Archer (2016). 261 pages. Finished 8/5/18. Romantic suspense (very sexy). Sons of Sydney, Book 1. Seth and Harper's story. Light on the suspense. Heavy on the sex. Enjoyable read, though, and I may get the others in the series. Sexy Aussies!
28. "So I Married a Sorcerer" by Kerrelyn Sparks (2017). 469 pages. Finished 8/11/18. Romantic fantasy. The Embraced, Book 2. Rupert and Brigitta's story. Fun read. Definitely getting the next book in the series.
29. "The MEG" by Steve Alten (2018). 279 pages. Finished 8/16/18. Horror. The Meg Series, Book 1. Ended on a semi cliff-hanger (grrr), but an enjoyable read, as long as you don't take it too seriously. Looking forward to watching the movie, now.
30. "The Bear Who Loved Me" by Kathy Lyons (2016). 276 pages. Finished 8/19/18. Paranormal romance. Grizzlies Gone Wild, Book 1. Carl and Becca's story. Lots of paranormal and romance goodness. I will be reading the rest of this series for sure!
31. "Black Diamond" by Susannah Sandlin (2016). 255 pages. Finished 8/23/18. Romantic suspense. Wilds of the Bayou #2. Cole and Jena's story. Light on the romance, heavy on the suspense. Bit of gore, too. All in all, very enjoyable. Look forward to #3.
32. "Marriage Not Included" by Lynn Cahoon (2013). 199 pages. Finished 8/29/18. Contemporary romance. Typical contemporary fare. Enjoyable read.

September:
33. "Firewall" by Sonya Clark (2014). 230 pages. Finished 9/3/18. Paranormal romance. Magic Born #3. Dale and Tuyet's story. Nice end to the trilogy. Lots of tension, action, and romance. I enjoyed this one a lot.
34. "Don't Tell" by Karen Rose (2003). 482 pages. Finished 9/11/18. Romantic suspense. Romantic Suspense #1/Chicago #1. Max and Caroline's story. What a page turner! Hated putting the book down.
35. "Have You Seen Her?" by Karen Rose (2004). 499 pages. Finished 9/16/18. Romantic suspense. Romantic Suspense #2. Steven and Jenna's story. Another book that was hard to put down. Love it!
36. "I'm Watching You" by Karen Rose (2004). 474 pages. Finished 9/20/18. Romantic suspense. Romantic Suspense #3/Chicago #2. Abe and Kristen's story. Another great story. I'm really loving this series.
37. "The Wedding From Hell Part I by J.R. Ward (2018). 57 pages. Finished 9/21/18. Contemporary romance. Firefighters #0.5. Nice prequel to get me interested in the story, but it's way too short!!
38. "The Wedding From Hell Part II by J.R. Ward (2018). 36 pages. Finished 9/21/18. Contemporary romance. Firefighters #0.5. Continuation of Part I and even shorter! Arrrgh!!
39. "Her Vampire's Promise" by Jordan K. Rose (2014). 81 pages. Finished 9/22/18. Paranormal romance. Reade and Lawrie's story. Utterly disappointed. Expected a book and got barely a novella. Wanted a romance and could barely get connected with the characters.
40. "Huntress for Hire" by Terry Spear (2010). 237 pages. Finished 9/25/18. Paranormal romance. Heart of the Huntress #4. Adonis and Rachael's story. Didn't realize it was book 4 until after I read it. I may check out the others. It was an enjoyable read.
41. "Accidentally in Love with the Pilot" by Teri Anne Stanley (2018). 186 pages. Finished 9/26/18. Contemporary romance. Ben and Megan's story. Very cute and humorous.

October:
42. "A Caribbean Spell" by Maureen O. Betita (2013). 230 pages. Finished 10/5/18. Fantasy adventure. Forever a Pirate #1. I liked the characters, but a lot of stuff happens and not all of it made sense to me. Then again, it is the beginning of a series.
43. "Take the Bait" by Cindy Dees (2013). 70 pages. Finished 10/6/18. Contemporary romance. Much too short. But I liked the story and the characters even if the events happened too quickly for my taste.
44. "Playing the Game" by M.Q. Barber (2013). 211 pages. Finished 10/9/18. Erotica. Neighborly Affection #1. This is a re-read for me (3rd or 4th time). Still love the book!
45. "The Demon Always Wins" by Jeanne Oates Estridge (2018). 309 pages. Finished 10/15/18. Paranormal romance. Touched by a Demon #1. Belial and Dara's story. Very enjoyable. Look forward to the next book in the series.
46. "Consumed" by J.R. Ward (2018). 408 pages. Finished 10/25/18. Romantic suspense. Firefighters #1. Not sure how this series is being written (same characters throughout or new ones in each book?), but I'm looking forward to the next one. This was great!

November:
47. "Vampires Like it Hot" by Lynsay Sands (2018). 372 pages. Finished 11/2/18. Paranormal romance. Argeneau Series #28. Raffaele and Jess's story. Loved the twist. Series still going strong!
48. "The Outsider" by Stephen King (2018). 560 pages. Finished 11/9/18. Horror/Suspense. It was nice seeing Holly (from Bill Hodges series) again. Entertaining read.
49. "Hidden" by Rebecca Zanetti (2018). 348 pages. Finished 11/20/18. Romantic suspense. Deep Ops #1. Malcolm and Pippa's story. Nothing paranormal here and still very enjoyable. Good suspense, too.
50. "Elevation" by Stephen King (2018). 146 pages. Finished 11/24/18. Paranormal. Interesting story and a quick read. Hard to determine genre (definitely not horror), so settled on paranormal since situations are not realistic.

December:
51. "Too Far Gone" by Allison Brennan (2018). 473 pages. Finished 12/1/18. Suspense. Lucy Kincaid #14. Love this family, these characters. Always a joy to return to. I love the suspense, too.
52. "Restore Me" by Tehereh Mafi (2018). 435 pages. Finished 12/6/18. YA dystopian. Shatter Me #4. Story was okay until the ending. Then it became utterly disappointing. That's because it DIDN'T END! I'm pissed.
53. "Eight Simple rules for Dating a Dragon" by Kerrelyn Sparks (2018). 429 pages. Finished 12/12/18. Fantasy romance. The Embraced #3. Silas and Gwennore's story. I laughed at many scenes in this book. So much fun to read!
54. "The Whispering Room" by Dean Koontz (2017). 492 pages. Finished 12/17/18. Suspense thriller. Jane Hawk #2. Hard book to put down. Many questions remain, though, but no cliff-hanger ending.
55. "The Crooked Staircase" by Dean Koontz (2018). 462 pages. Finished 12/20/18. Suspense thriller. Jane Hawk #3. Oh man. I ripped through this book to reach an ending that left me hanging! I want to read the next one so bad (and I have it) but the 5th and final isn't out until May. Ugh!!
56. "Waking the Dead" by Heather Graham (2014). 360 pages. Finished 12/23/18. Paranormal mystery romance. Cafferty & Quinn #2. Very nice mystery with lots of creepy stuff.
57. "The Dead Play On" by Heather Graham (2015). 363 pages. Finished 12/27/18. Mystery romance. Cafferty & Quinn #3. Nice mystery but I kind of figured out who done it early on.

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