2022 Reading Challenges I Have Joined

Hello and welcome

So how many of you do reading challenges. I have done the 2021 reading Challenge using https://www.goodreads.com  which I have completed my 2021 challenge, but I want to challenge myself a little more, I know that reading is to be fun and enjoyable, which I love and enjoy.  But I am going to make it a little harder for myself.  I follow several blogs and came across this new blog and seen this post and thought it was interesting.  I have attached the link for this blog http://socratesbookreviews.blogspot.com/ 

This challenge  is hosted by Lori at Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Book Reviews, Book Tours, Book Recommendations & Giveaways too!   Here is a little about how the challenge works The challenge runs from January 1, 2022, and ends on December 31, 2022. 

Choose the level at which you would like to participate: 

Levels 

Peckish – 1 – 25 

Cozy Mysteries Famished – 26 – 51 

Cozy Mysteries Yearning – 51 – 75 

Cozy Mysteries Starving – 76 – 100 

Cozy Mysteries Ravenous – 101 – 125 

Cozy Mysteries Voracious – 126 – 150

Cozy Mysteries Overindulged – 151 – 200 

Cozy Mysteries Pigged Out – 201 or more Cozy Mysteries 

You can always go up a level but you can’t go down.

I’m once again going for Peckish, 1-25 books. 

I am going to challenge myself to two of their challenges beside Goodreads challenge, which by the way I can’t wait for 2022’s challenge.  

2022 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge Sign Up Here

And now for my new challenges:

I have chosen the Peckish Level 1 – 25

Audiobook Challenge 2022

And I have been debating on the Audio 2022 challenge but I am going to give it a shot, I am not a person who likes to listen to someone reading to me, but maybe I just haven’t found a great audio book. I will give this a try.  This challenge is hosted by Caffeinated Review and that’s what I’m Talking about. 

The challenge detail runs January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022.  You can join at anytime.  The goal is find a new love for audios or to out do yourself by listening to more audios in 2022 than you did in 2021.  Books must be audio format (CD, MPS, etc) Any genres count. 

Have you done any of these challenges or have plans to?  If so I will check it out. I welcome your thoughts/comments, and as always- Thanks for Reading One Girl and a Book

Top Five Tuesday, December 28, 2021 New (to me) Authors in 2021

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but now hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan reads.com.  To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. 

I actually read 6 authors that were new to me this year.  I found that all six of these new authors were hard to rate which one I liked the best, so without further ado…

#6 Caro Ramsay – Absolution

It’s been twenty years since Police Detective Alan McAlpine has set foot in Patrickhill Station-and more than twenty years since he fell forever in love with the mute, faceless woman he called Anna as she lay dying in Glasgow’s Western Infirmary. Daily, he’d watched over her, and they had begun to communicate with each other, she by moving her wounded fingers. Her fingers could not tell the sad, unseasoned police cadet her name, however, or name for him the father of her newborn baby girl or identify the assailants who had flung the acid in her once incomparably beautiful face. Or tell him how she’d smuggled a cache of uncut diamonds into Scotland.

Now McAlpine is back in Patrickhill, where he’s been summoned to head up the investigation of a disturbing murder case. Two women-their arms outstretched, their legs together and feet crossed at the ankle-have already died at the hands of a man the press has tagged the Crucifixion Killer. More gruesomely, the third victim will also have been violently disfigured when her body turns up in Whistler’s Lane, coincidentally (perhaps) the scene of an equally brutal murder four years earlier.

The face of another woman, though-a strikingly beautiful young woman, blonde-has taken hold of McAlpine’s consciousness, and soon the consequences of a case cold for two decades are commanding-and dangerously thwarting-the course of his team’s current, already desperate investigation.

As crimes in the present intersect with iniquities committed in the past, the mystery in this steely, piercing, psychological thriller is as gripping as its twists are surprising. And absolution proves to be extreme.

 You can purchase it HERE

#5  Kiersten Modglin – Our Little Secret

Bad things don’t happen in Cason Glen.
The locals make sure of it.

So, when the residents of the town’s most exclusive subdivision discover one of their own is missing, it sends a wave of panic and discord throughout the neighborhood.
They are supposed to be safe.
But they quickly realize not everything is as it once seemed in their idyllic world.
Slowly, the cracks have begun to show, revealing the dark and devious truth behind their home, their neighbors, and the lengths some people will go to protect their secrets.

Someone’s missing.
Someone’s dead.
Everyone’s lying.

In a town full of masterfully woven webs, these six friends are about to watch their world unravel. And, if they’re not careful, one of them might be the next to disappear…

When everyone you know is a liar, how do you decide whom to trust

You can purchase it HERE

#4 Dan Padavona – Her Last Breath

He’s hunting a psychopath. And now the killer wants him dead.

After he’s shot in the line of duty, Detective Thomas Shepherd returns to Wolf Lake to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Living beside the water, he finds peace…until the body of a missing woman washes up on his shore and the town blames a teenage boy with a history of violence.

Is a killer stalking the sleepy resort village?

Thomas isn’t convinced the teenager committed murder. Challenging a village that wants justice at any cost, he pursues the real killer as evidence mounts against the teenager. If he fails, an innocent boy will go to prison.

Can Thomas clear the boy’s name before he becomes the killer’s next victim?

You can purchase it HERE

#3 Charlie Gallagher – He Will Find You

MEET DETECTIVE MADDIE IVES IN THIS NEW SERIES THAT WILL HAVE YOU GRIPPED FROM THE EXPLOSIVE START TO ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING TWISTS THIS YEAR.

Early Sunday morning, a rainy city centre. A ten-year-old-boy steps out in front of traffic. He is dazed, confused and barefoot. He is covered in blood. It’s not his.

Detective Maddie Ives is called out and finds the boy backed up against a shop front. He can’t or won’t speak. His face is a mask of shock and his whole body is tense. He’s ready to run again. He can’t tell her why.

WHO SCARED THIS BOY OUT OF HIS WITS?

Then a man is found brutally murdered, dragged to death. And Maddie and Detective Harry Blaker are determined to find out who is pulling the strings.

IF THEY DON’T STOP HIM, HE WILL FIND MORE VICTIMS. AND THE EVIL WILL COME CLOSE TO HOME.

HE WILL FIND YOU: The new heart-pounding thriller from Charlie Gallagher. Maddie Ives faces her most dangerous adversary. 

You can purchase it HERE

#2 Dan Alatorre  – Tiffany Lynn is Missing

A young Florida woman goes missing; everybody believes she is dead. They even have a body at the morgue that her mother identified as her.

But the mother keeps getting letters from the daughter saying “Don’t worry, and don’t look for me.” They are in the deceased girl’s handwriting and there’s even a DNA match – but the body at the morgue is definitely her.

With their missing persons case resolved and the corpse showing no sign of foul play, police close the investigation – so the brash young investigative TV reporter Jessica Eve Tims-Thacker aka “Jett” is retained to find out why the strange letters keep coming.

Is it part of a kidnapping plot gone wrong, a cruel joke by an anonymous prankster, an extortion scheme to drive the mother insane – or something much more sinister?

You can purchase it HERE

#1 Rob Kaufman – One Last Lie

“Rob Kaufman’s cutting-edge tale is reminiscent of Sandra Brown at her best, a suburban shocker on par with Lisa Gardner and Harlan Coben.”
~Jon Land, USA Today Best Selling Author of Black Scorpion

“One Last Lie in a word is awesome, an incredible psychological thriller that has readers hanging on the edge during the explosive and thrilling final pages.”
~Examiner.com

She’s demonic and evil, a wicked she-devil you’ll love to hate in this riveting psychological thriller that reviewers say is “gripping”, “heart wrenching” and “holding my breath suspenseful”.
Angela is beautiful and charismatic on the outside. But on the inside, a demon rages, determined to get anyone and anything she wants. And now with her biological clock ticking, she seduces her old friend Philip, and his partner Jonathan, into having a child with her through artificial insemination.
From the moment the parenting agreement is signed, Angela’s mask of deceit slips away and she leads the fathers-to-be on a relentless, agonizing journey filled with lies, anguish and finally tragedy that forever changes the lives of everyone involved.
Five star reviewers rave that One Last Lie is a gripping thriller of fiction, a novel of pure suspense from which they are unable to pull themselves away. Like Annie Wilkes from Misery and Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction, Angela drags innocent lives into her web of insanity – a place from which readers have confessed is hard to escape, even weeks after turning the final page.

You can purchase it HERE

 

Keto McDonald’s Shamrock Shake Dupe

Hello and welcome so if you have been reading my blog you all know that I follow Low Carb Love™ Blog for a while now.  She had inspired me to start my Low Carb / Keto diet once again.  So in searching for something sweet I came across this recipe and who doesn’t like McDonald’s Shamrock Share, I know for one I can’t wait for them to have this, although this year my McDonald’s did not have it.  But now that I have this recipe, I can make it dupe of it.  And I must say I loved it and will be making it again.  If you haven’t check out Mayra blog I have included the link to it @Low.carb.love.  I have also found her on Instagram see link here Mayra Wendolyne (@low.carb.love) • Instagram photos and videos

further ado……

Servings: 2

Mason Jar Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tablespoons sweetener

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Add ingredients to a mason jar and secure lid tightly.
  2. Shake jar vigorously for about 5 minutes until liquid doubles in size.
  3. Place in the freezer for about 3-4 hours until frozen.

Dairy Free Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup Vanilla Soymilk, Almondmilk, Coconut milk, or Cashew milk
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoons sweetener
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 seal-able gallon bag
  • 2 seal-able sandwich bags
  • 4 cups of ice
  • 1/3 cup ice-cream salt or kosher salt
  • A large glass

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Place one of the sandwich bags in the glass and fold the top over the edge of the glass.
  2. Add the milk, coconut milk, sweetener, vanilla, in the smaller bag. Mix Well.
  3. Remove as much of the air as possible and seal the bag.
  4. Place the bag of the ice-cream mixture inside the other sandwich bag. Remove as much of the air as possible and seal that bag.
  5. Place the ice and rock salt inside the gallon bag. 
  6. Shake the bag for about 10 minutes or until the ice-cream mixture has solidified.
  7. You can eat the ice-cream directly from the bag. It will be more like soft-serve ice-cream. 
  8. Or you can place the ice-cream in the freezer for 30 minutes – 2 hours and allow it to firm up even more and scoop it.

HomemadeWhipped Cream

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • ¼ cup of powdered sweetener 
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Place bowl in fridge for 30 minutes. 
  2. Add in all ingredients into a mixer and mix until stiff.
  3. And enjoy.

Shamrock Shake

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 ½ cup of ice cream
  • ½ cup of almond milk 
  • ⅛ teaspoon of mint extract
  • Homemade whipped cream 
  • Green food coloring 

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Make homemade ice cream.
  2. Make whipped cream.
  3. Add everything to a blender top with whipped cream and enjoy!

NUTRITION:

Nutrition for entire large shake:

  • 12g Net Carbs
  • 0g Fiber
  • 12g Total Carbs
  • 0g Protein
  • 60g Fat
  • 599 Calories

Note: Recipe and scans shared in the context of review; all rights remain with the original copyright holder.

My Favorite reads of 2021

Hello and welcome to my corner.  Can you believe that there are three days until Christmas?  And soon it will be the end of the year.  I hope that you all have had a great 2021. 

Today I picked my TOP 3 reads of this year. I didn’t have a chance to blog every book I read, and I only blog about books I enjoy, so I chose these titles from my posts this calendar year.

3. One Last Lie by Rob Kaufman – I was searching for some new authors and came across this author. I decided to download it from Kindle Unlimited and could not put it down.  Great Book!!

2. Speak No Evil by Sally Rigby – I have read all of Sally’s books and can’t  wait to start reading her next books that is due out in March of 2022 .  Love her books and how the characters seamed to fit in the story line.

and finally

1.  Web Of Lies by Sally Rigby –Yes you have guessed it, my number one book for the year is another one by Sally Rigby.  I found this book fascinating and loved it, so I give it my #1 for the year!

Of course I read LOTS of good books this year, but these three will be ones I’m recommending for a long time!

Happy Reading!!

Weekend Cooking

Hello and welcome

Another great recipe from the Low Carb Love, that I have tried last weekend, it was awesome.  I have included her website  

 https://lowcarblove.com.  If you are watching you carbs check out her site, she has some wonderful recipes. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 jalapeño chopped
  • 8 cups Kettle and Fire chicken broth (discount code: lowcarblove)
  • 1 canned diced tomatoes 
  • 2 cups rotisserie chicken
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Salt/pepper 
  • Alamadre low carb tortillas (discount code: lowcarblove)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Start off by sautéing the onion, garlic, and jalapeños with the oil on medium high heat. 
  2. Add the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, lime juice, chicken, cumin, salt/pepper and stir! 
  3. Let it simmer for 15-20 minutes in low heat. 
  4. While the soup is simmering, cut the low carb tortillas intro strips and fry them in avocado oil till they are golden brown and crispy!
  5. Top it off with some cilantro and avocado for those health fats and enjoy!

Note: Recipe and scans shared in the context of review; all rights remain with the original copyright holder.

5 GREAT NEW JANUARY 2022 BOOK RELEASES

Hello and welcome back. I hope that everyone is ready for the Holidays. As for me I am not as work has kept me so busy that I haven’t even decorated and we are less than a week from Christmas.  With that being said I haven’t had much time to even update my blog.  I am hope that next year will be better for my updating it.  I have found some great new releases for January 2022 and there are a lot of new ones coming out.  I am sharing with you what I hope to get in the new year.

Thriller Book Releases for January 2022

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

Genre: Gothic Thriller

Plot: Six Twenty-somethings on a journey to a beautiful and desolate island. When one goes missing and another is dead, the rest of the group wonders what other dark secrets are hidden away.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Tiffany Brooks

Genre: YA Thriller

Plot: Riley is dropped onto a deserted island with 19 other teens in search for a millions dollar treasure rumored to be on the island. Six people have dies in the past, who will be number 7?

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Genre: Thriller

Plot: Chloe is a psychologist who is preparing for her wedding when girls from her town start to go missing. Chloe starts to see parallels to twenty years ago when six girls went missing and her father has confessed to the crimes.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner

Genre: Thriller

Plot: Frankie Elkin, a missing person expert is sent to look for a young man who disappeared without a trace. Soon, her own survival is threatened.

The Last house on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

Genre: Mystery/ Fiction

Plot: Two women, a generation apart, find themselves unexpectedly bound together from the tragedy of an unsolved, mystery.

December 2021

Hello and welcome to December!  Can you believe that the year is almost over, wow where did the year go?  I follow this blog and seen that it had some great new releases for December, so I thought I would share some of the ones that I want to get. 

You can follow the blog https://cozy-mystery.com I have included the link to the site.

The following Mystery Books will be released in December 2021:

When Camryn Paine’s student assistant asks for her help, Camryn finds it hard to say no. The Gleason family, alumni of the music conservatory where Camryn works, hired a company to assist with a move across town. Now the company, along with a truck full of their possessions has vanished.

The family is desperate to find their belongings, especially a violin that goes back multiple generations. The request strikes a sentimental chord with Camryn.

Camryn attempts to use her refined audio abilities to pinpoint anyone who may be trying to pass the violin off as their own—and she suspects it’s someone at the music conservatory.

But the guilty party is determined to keep Camryn silent—permanently, if necessary.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ River Heights (December 21, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 21, 2021
  • You can Purchase it HERE

Dark Night marks the third book in the gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series from Paige Shelton, in which Benedict, Alaska is met with some unexpected visitors…and then disappearances.

Winter is falling in the remote town of Benedict, Alaska, and with the cold comes a mysterious guest. The dreaded “census man,” seemingly innocuous, is an unwelcome presence to those members of this secretive community who would prefer to keep their business to themselves. Meanwhile, thriller writer Beth Rivers has received her own unexpected company: her mother. The last Beth heard, Mill Rivers had gone underground in the lower forty-eight, in search of Beth’s kidnapper, and Beth can’t help but be a little alarmed at her appearance: If Mill was able to track down her daughter, who knows who else might be able to?

Beth doesn’t have time to ponder this for long, after a battered woman stumbles into the town bar one night, and her husband is found dead the next morning. Suspicions immediately turn to the census man, but when he, too, goes missing, everyone in Benedict—including the police chief—is suspected, and Beth and Mill must work to uncover the truth.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (December 7, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2021
  • You can Purchase it HERE

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in this exciting new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Laura Bradford.

Emma Westlake has always wanted to be in business for herself. As a kid, she had her own successful lemonade stand and dog-walking business. And when she entered adulthood, Emma sunk all her cash into her dream job of travel planning. But as her customers became more and more internet savvy, the need for her services declined. At a loss for what to do next, she turns to an elderly friend who suggests she try to get paid for doing something she’s really good at–being a paid companion. Emma thinks it’s a crazy idea until requests start pouring in. Big Max from down the block wants her to act as his wingman at the local senior center’s upcoming dance, nurse practitioner Stephanie needs a workout partner, and writer Brian Hill asks Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic night.

Brian will be reading from his latest work and wants to know someone will clap for him when he’s done. When Emma balks at the notion that people wouldn’t, he tells her the room will be filled with people he’s invited–most of whom will likely want him dead by the time he’s done reading. Assuming he’s joking, she laughs. But when Brian steps up to the mic and clears his throat to speak, he promptly drops dead. Emma is one of the last people to see him alive, and so she becomes an immediate suspect. Now she’ll have to cozy up to a killer to save her skin and her new business.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (December 7, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2021
  • You can purchase it HERE

Thanks for Reading One Girl and a Book