We LOVE Books! Week 2

Happy Book Talk Tuesday! Thank you to Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump's Class for hosting!! Have you already started your list of all the fabulous books being shared through Mrs. Jump's Class linky? I have...

Last week I shared with you the book that started my reading addiction {here}. If mystery is your thing and you have not read Mary Higgins Clark, finish reading this post and then head straight to your local library, book store, or follow this {link}to Amazon and start!

After posting last week, my OCD kicked in and I decided I wanted needed to give myself more of a "template" to follow for selecting books to share - it was just way too hard trying to decide.  So here we go:

 (And since I am now addicted to PicMonkey - I just HAD to make labels! Cute little frog from Lettering Delights!)

This past school year my kids and I have fallen in love with a little blue cat named Pete! On the first day of school, Pete rocked in his school shoes all through our school. Although we never caught up with him, we sure met a lot of new friends and found a lot of new places! Pete was a very real part of our class. Every time a new book or video came out we could not wait to see the adventures that cool cat would have! On the last day of school Pete taught us that we can change our mood just by looking on the bright side of things.

Over the past two weeks I have worked my way through an amazing series by Jinx Schwartz thanks to BookBub!

(**Warning - "Squirl" moment**)

Have you ever heard of BookBub? Are you an avid reader on a digital device? You NEED to check them out.  BookBub is a free service that has changed my world! After filling out a short reading profile I began receiving daily emails alerting me to great book deals. The prices ranged from FREE to about $3. You can pick genre, retailer, and how often you want to receive emails. 

I found the first three of these books through BookBub unknowingly downloading all 3 over the past few weeks. 

When I printed out the list of book on my Kindle to help with this post I had just finished the first book and realized I already owned #2 and #3. These books are hilarious! I might be a little bias considering the main character, Hetta, is a feisty red head! I highly recommend these books to anyone looking for a feisty, funny, adventurous, murder mystery. 

Best part - the Kindle editions are only $2.99 & $3.99. There is also a combo pack for the first 4 for $8.99.

{Below is the description of each book from Amazon. Click the pictures to if you would like to purchase from Amazon.}

 

                           HETTA COFFEY IS A SASSY TEXAN WITH A SNAZZY YACHT, AND SHE'S NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!

Just Add Water, winner of the National EPPIE Award for BEST MYSTERY.

Hetta Coffey is a globe-trotting civil engineer with a swath of failed multi-national affairs in her jet stream.

Plying the San Francisco waterfront, trolling for triceps, her attention is snagged by a parade of passing yachts—especially their predominantly male skippers—and experiences a champagne-induced epiphany: If she had a boat, she could get a man.

In spite of a spectacular ignorance of all things nautical, Hetta buys her dream boat, but a shadowy stalker, an inconvenient body, and Hetta’s own self-destructive foibles imperil her goal. Hetta Coffey brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “sink or swim!”

Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she's not afraid to use it!

 A globe-trotting engineer with attitude, a penchant for trouble, and a yacht, Hetta is back, and this time she's steering us into hot Mexican waters. Miffed that vacation plans with her chronically absent boyfriend, Jenks Jenkins, have gone awry, she accepts a job in Baja. So what, if she and her friend Jan are spectacularly unqualified to take her yacht on a thousand-mile cruise in the eastern Pacific Ocean during hurricane season?

 Hiring a handsome, if somewhat fishy captain for the trip might keep them off the rocks, but probably won't do the same for her future with Jenks. Meanwhile, a little eye candy on board can't be all bad.

 Hetta's fierce independence impels her to tackle a very profitable (if environmentally and politically incorrect) project south of the border. True to form, her irreverent nature and disregard for danger soon swamps her in a sea of mayhem, illegal aliens, a pesky whale, and a menacing Mexican machinator.

Set sail for Baja Mexico's Magdalena Bay as Hetta Coffey leads us once more into a morass of intrigue that will keep you laughing, breathless, and wanting more.

 Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she's not afraid to use it!

A globe-trotting engineer with adventure in her soul, Hetta is determined to solidify her relationship with her long-distance boyfriend, Jenks Jenkins. What better place for a romantic interlude than aboard her yacht in Mexico's hauntingly beautiful and solitary Sea of Cortez?

But where Hetta goes, trouble follows, and chaos is sure to ensue. After a run-in with a couple of sea serpents that threaten to rock the boat, she nevertheless decides to take on a project in the Mexican port city of Guaymas. After all, Jenks is headed back to Kuwait, so why not cash in on the best of both worlds by picking up a few pesos while living aboard her boat in Mexico?

Once again Hetta's indomitable spirit, stubborn independence and penchant for deceit will keep the reader in stitches as she launches herself and her best friend, Jan, into a sea of trouble. A pesky parrot, a drunken aunt, and a shadowy figure who is handsome in a "criminal sort of way" lead to murder, mayhem, kidnapping, and run-ins with several federal agencies on both sides of the border.

Hetta Coffey is a woman with a yacht, and she's not afraid to use it!

As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant of oddball (read: shady) projects, she has a way of attracting trouble.

With her floating home drydocked for repairs in Mexico, Hetta needs a place to live and a job to pay for boat repairs. Landing a project at a mining operation not far from her boat, Hetta finds herself on the tumultuous Arizona/Mexico border, where all hell is breaking loose even before she gets there.

 As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant for oddball—read: shady—projects, Hetta Coffey has a history of inviting trouble. But now that she's been hired for a legitimate mining project in Mexico's Baja, it looks like smooth sailing ahead...until she discovers that people and pesos are disappearing faster than you can say, "This job is the pits!" And Hetta Coffey as sleuth? Goodness knows she's nosy enough, but her detective skills leave a lot to be desired. Luckily for her she gets help from her best friend, Jan, and a mysterious Velveeta thief.

Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she's not afraid to use it!

 As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant for oddball—read: shady—projects, Hetta Coffey has a history of inviting trouble. But now that she's been hired for a legitimate mining project in Mexico's Baja, it looks like smooth sailing ahead...until she discovers that people and pesos are disappearing faster than you can say, "This job is the pits!" And Hetta Coffey as sleuth? Goodness knows she's nosy enough, but her detective skills leave a lot to be desired. Luckily for her she gets help from her best friend, Jan, and a mysterious Velveeta thief.

This week: stepping out of my self-created "box" and falling in love with more than one genre!

When I was in collage, my "Teaching Elementary Reading" professor shared with us those most magical things called Scholastic Book Orders. She said the best way to start a class library was to start early and don't you know I jumped on the chance to GROW my library. Let's face it, I had been hoarding books for years and this was just another good excuse to get more - "the teacher told me too"!

As we all sat around class each week checking out all the fabulous books we could pick from, one character kept popping up, some kid named Harry Potter. None of us had heard of this character - we were "sophisticated 19 year old collage students". Why would we be reading children's chapter books? We were focusing on picture books to teach reading. But each time we got a book order form, there was that Harry Potter character again. I did a pretty good job ignoring his existence until I heard they were making a movie and it was predicted to be pretty good. I NEVER watch a movie based on a book without first reading the book. I also stopped reading "silly" scifi and fantasy books when I was a "child". I liked my books more based in reality because that is what "adults" read - right? But now I had a problem, the movie did sound really good but I could not see it unless I read the book - my own rule - but I didn't read those silly children's books anymore - my self-created box. I decided my desire to see this movie that was going to be so fantastic because that "silly children's book" was so amazing, won out. With only a week before the movie was to be released, I BORROWED (I was not investing my hard earned collage student money) the book and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in one sitting. Yes my friends I am now a Potter Head! I was addicted!!!! I have since read (own in hard back) all the books, watched (own) all of the movies, and played (own) all the board games and Lego Harry Potter Xbox games!

(click pic to purchase)

I tease people and say Harry Potter was my "gateway book". I am now a full fledge scifi and fantasy geek! That one book opened my mind to a whole new world in literature and film.  Thanks to J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter I have also read (and loved) these books as well:

Interested in purchasing any of these series? Click on the pictures to take you to Amazon!

  

What are you reading or have read that you would recommend? Leave a comment below and then link up with Mrs. Jump's Class!