Brunna's Book Club -- Tell No Lies & Keep No Secrets

Have you ever read one of those books that is so good, you just can't set it down?

I just did!

So I get a free book from the Kindle Lending Library every month. This month, I got Tell No Lies by Julie Compton

And it was so so so so good! It had everything I could ever want for: fiery romance, self-doubt, being torn between decisions, politics, lawyers, courtrooms, crimes, drama, rumors, lies, falling in love with your best friend, dealing with family issues, news exaggerating everything, and more. It was wonderful and I couldn't stop reading this legal thriller.

It's about this awesome, idealistic, believes the world is a good place prosecutor Jack Hilliard. After his boss and friend, the DA, resigns, Jack is the ideal man for the job. He also has a superb marriage with his amazing wife Claire, and has two sons, Jamie and Michael. He also has a super hot best friend, Jenny Dodson, who he just might have a thing for. He ends up falling in love with his best friend and is faced with some serious temptations and problems. Eventually, Jenny gets charged with murdering one of her clients (she's also a lawyer, but at a private firm instead) and ends up facing a super crazy trial.

It was such a good novel, that when I finished reading it and the Kindle offered to sell me the sequel, I hit buy without even checking the price.

Keep No Secrets might have had more drama and suspense than Tell No Lies had. It's four years later, Jenny has been nowhere to be seen since the end of the last book and Jack has managed to rebuild his marriage and career. Then one night he catches his son, Michael, and his son's girlfriend, Celeste, who looks so very much like the lovely Jennifer Dodson, messing around, drunk. He takes the girl home, and later on the week, finds out that she has pressed legal charges against him for raping her. Jack's life gets flipped upside down once again as he ends up on the opposite side of the law yet again and Jenny finds her way back into town, asking for his help.

So so so so good!!!! I definitely recommend it!

Also, as a P.S. I have decided that I'm going to start a sort of blog book club. So every now and then, I haven't decided how often yet, I will post a book or author that I like with a review and recommend it to you guys. Consider these two your first Brunna's Book Club novels!

Happy reading!

A Bookworm's Dream Come True

I just discovered a beautiful function my Kindle provides.

I can borrow books from my local library! For free!!!

I am beyond excited!!! I've already spent way too much money on books for my Kindle in the past month, and I was scared that I wouldn't be able to keep up with this extravagant reading lifestyle of mine, even buying books under $3.99. I just read at too fast a pace too often!

Anyways, my library let's me borrow 5 books at a time, so I'm going to have a blast with that.

Here are the books I borrowed:

Friendship Bread by Darien Gee. I totally judge books by their covers, and this one just had a cute girly book cover, and I like girly books. Sure enough, when I read the blurb, the book is apparently a wonderful girly, women friendship story. It's also about paying it forward with this Amish bread called friendship bread. I'm sure it'll be a wonderfully corny story. I'll give you my review of it after I read it though.

Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden. "Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit." That's the first paragraph of the blurb. They had me at 'in love' and 'brutally murdered.' Need I say more?

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder. This one I think is a part of a series, so I'm leaving this one for last, because the last book I picked out that had more than one book to the story ended up with me buying the second book without even checking how much it cost. That's how good the story was. Anyways, if I'm going to get hooked on this one too, I intend on having all my other books out of the way. And this one sounds like it's going to be a great hook. The blurb makes it sound like a futuristic, almost Hunger Games dash Uglies style story. I'm very excited to start on this one. I like dystopian sci-fis a little too much.

Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. This book had a review that described it as a psychological suspense tale. Yes please! The blurb talks about discovering past crimes and mystery and I love a good thriller.

A girly feel good read, a mystery in old Mississippi, a dystopian sci-fi, and a thriller. I read all kinds of book, from all kinds of genres, and I'm sure that'll come out a lot more as I keep sharing my reads on my blog.

As I'm sure you noticed, I said I can borrow five books, but only have four. That's because I accidentally borrowed Gone Girl as an audiobook, and now I can't figure out how to return it. So if anyone knows how I can return an audiobook, please let me know. In the meantime, I suppose I'll just stick to borrowing four at a time. Sigh.

Anyways, stay tuned for my reviews of these four books and the others I've been reading!

Bookworm

I'm a total bookworm, and I'm proud of it!

I absolutely love books. They're my best friends.

Reading to me is just like being there, living the characters' lives and going through every emotion side by side with the characters. I probably get too emotionally attached to most of my characters.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to read for pleasure as much these past couple of years because I've become increasingly busier and having less and less time to spend on leisure (Especially with all the Facebook-ing, Tweeting, and Pinterest-ing I do). But now that I have a Kindle, I have the perfect excuse to read anywhere and everywhere. No big books to lug around. No need to go to a bookstore or library for a book. No bookmarks to lose my place with. Just a tiny, skinny, little Kindle that fits so nicely in my purse that I can whip out and read at any old time. It's really convenient.

So in the less than three weeks that I've had my Kindle, I've devoured books like crazy, and that's just in my free time between working, spending time with Luis and my friends, going to parties, and travelling to Florida. So here are the 4 books I've read:

Crazy Little Thing by Tracy Brogan was the first book I read, and that was through Kindle's Lending Library. It was actually a really, really good book! I enjoyed it. It's about this lady, Sadie, who has just gotten a divorce from her cheating husband. She takes her kids to go spend the summer with her eccentric aunt Dodie and her cousins. Of course, her ex-husband causes trouble and there are lovely men for her to meet and fall in love with and everyone lives happily ever after in the end. It's an extremely good novel and I was totally hooked.

Then I bought The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri for my day at the beach. I almost finished it at the beach, but didn't finish until later on during the bus ride home. I know it's a popular book that lots of people have read, but I've only watched the movie before. I did study Jhumpa Lahiri in school this past fall semester, and loved the short stories we read by her, and I didn't remember the movie that well, so I went ahead and bought the book. It was totally worth it, and I really enjoyed it. So so so good! I usually hate books without happy endings, and this one definitely falls into my idea of a no happy ending novel. I actually don't like the ending at all to be honest, because he still ends up wife-less, but the book is very realistic and that's kudos to the author right there. I definitely recommend it if you haven't yet, even if you've watched the movie!

No and Me by Delphine de Vigan was probably my least favorite of the four. Here's another no happy ending book, but not only did it not have a happy ending, but the ending left too many questions unanswered for my taste. This novel is about a young, but very precocious girl who befriends an older girl who lives on the streets. Lou, the 13 year old girl in high school, tries her best to help No, her 18 year old homeless best friend, rehabilitate and be a normal girl again. It's quite the interesting story, and it was still pretty good even though I hated the ending with a passion.

Then there's The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders. I just finished this one last night, and it was so good that I tried reading some while hanging out with Luis. I read in the car while he was driving places and even woke up early so I could read before he woke up. I finally finished it after work last night. After close, I sat in my car for a good 15 minutes to end it. It was so good! The ending was completely unrealistic in my point of view, but it's nice to imagine that such beautiful happily ever afters can exist. I truly loved this story.

I also have this month's Lending Library book waiting to be read, so I can't wait to start that one soon!

Any recommendations for good books I should read??

Back On The Road

I'm heading back to Florida tonight!

It's only for two days this time though, not even really. I'm leaving tonight, getting there tomorrow morning, and leaving Thursday night to be back by Friday. Not even one full day back home for me *tear*

I normally wouldn't go back so soon after having been there. I mean, how much can I miss in a week? That's not even enough time for me to readjust to Atlanta life. But my aunt is visiting from Brasil this week! She's arriving there tonight and staying for a week. I would stay for the whole time, but I already took too many days off from work with my birthday and Mother's Day, and unfortunately, that means not having enough money to break even this month. I can do two more days off though. I can't wait to see my aunt!!

Not to mention that the trip tonight is going to be great!

How on earth could an almost 9 hour bus trip be great you say?

Well, because I have people in my life who love me and I now have this beauty!

Yes, it is a Kindle! Remember how I just said I wanted one just barely a week ago?? Well, my mommy loves me, and she bought me one. I feel so spoiled and adored!!! And since she's an Amazon Prime member, I get to download books for free from their lending library! I just downloaded my first book this morning, and I intend on having it read by the time I arrive home tomorrow morning. (No, the book I downloaded is not the one showing up on the screensaver. That's just an ad)

And speaking of my wish list, I also got two more beauties from my list. These are courtesy of my loving God-sister.

Isn't this so cute??? You can't really tell from this picture, but on the upper right corner there's a butterfly. I love butterflies! And there's also a little bow on the side of the bottom. Super cute!!! I'm in love with this bikini! So now you know what I'll be wearing every time I go in the water this summer.

This one is equally as cute. The only problem with it is that it's strapless, and strapless things and I have issues often. The picture definitely doesn't do it justice, because to put it on I have to twist the top, and I couldn't get it to stay for the picture. Beyond cute though. Perfect for a day when I just want to sunbathe and look cute.

I feel so spoiled by the fact that I've been showered with these lovely gifts!

People do love me (:

Je veux. Eu Quero. I Want

The list of things I want is ridiculous.

I have a wish list a mile long.

Here's just some of the wants I really want right now, that I have been working on for the past week:

• A Kindle (I want to read)
• A Windows 8x HTC phone (It came out two weeks after I upgraded to my iPhone, and now I really want one..)
• White pants (The look is in and adorable, and I don't have a pair!)
• A new bikini (I haven't bought a new one in at least 3 years)
• Make that a maillot ^^
• A snuggie (Don't judge)
• A makeup bag (I still use my pencil pouch from middle school to store my on-the-go makeup... I am way overdue an update)
• Another shoe rack (I have one, but I have WAY more shoes than I have shoe rack space)
• A kitchen (I'm tired of frozen foods and Chick-fil-A... I need to move out into a house/apartment with a kitchen so I can feed myself!)
• Cooking supplies (Along with that kitchen I'm going to need pots, pans, cooking devices like Crock pots and rice steamers, measuring cups, and food)
• Cooking skills (Let's ignore the fact that I almost burned my dorm room down by trying to warm up a cookie...)
• Waist belts! (I finally bought one black one, but now I need them in every color to make me happy)
• More peplum! (I have a newly acquired obsession with peplum and two skirts is not enough!)
• More skirts! (Same as above, except 5 skirts total is not enough!)
• The entirety of the Kate Spade store (This requires no explanation)
• A month long, all expenses paid trip to France (S'il vous plait!)
• A pair each of Louboutins, Manolos, and Jimmy Choos (A girl can dream can't she??)
• A watch! (Why is it so hard to find a cute and affordable feminine watch??)

Maybe I should have posted this BEFORE my birthday... Oh well... Maybe I'll post another one before Christmas!