karenjo46

happyfriday

Happy Friday Loves!!! I’m extremely happy it’s finally the weekend and I can just relax and de-stress. I’ve been seriously counting down the days and hours for Friday to come. Anyway, I wanted to do a little blogging/reading update. So far, I’ve finished reading 3 books – well 2 ½ since I actually started reading one of them October 2017 but let’s not get too technical here. I finished reading Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy, Pumpkin Spice Secrets by Hillary Homzie, and Love Between Enemies. I’m pretty proud of myself since I read them in 5 days. Oh and they’re all from Netgalley which means that I was able to bring up my feedback ratio. I’m now at 48% and hoping to be over 50% by the end of next week.

I’m still struggling just a tad bit with keeping up with my blogging post, but I think I’m making some progress. I’ve been using this super cute planner I received from my December Owlcrate and it’s been helping me a lot. I’ve been brainstorming whenever I can and that brings me to some changes I would like to do. In an effort to be more organized, I decided to follow this weekly blogging schedule beginning January 14. Most of them are memes and if you’re stuck on what to write about, I definitely think you should participate in some of them.

Sunday

Standalone Sundays – a weekly feature created by Megan at Bookslayer Reads which aims to showcase standalone books which you loved or would recommend.

Monday

Goodreads Monday – a weekly meme hosted by Lauren at Lauren’s Page Turners. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off. For this meme, I’ll be focusing on a random book that I don’t own on my Goodreads “want-to-read” page.

Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – this was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and will be moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 16, 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday – is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. A similar meme, Can’t-Wait Wednesday, is hosted by Tressa over at Wishful Endings. If you’d like to participate in either one, don’t forget to link back to these lovely ladies and add your links in their posts.
WWW Wednesdays – is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words – Just answer three questions What did you recently finished reading, What are you currently reading, and What do you plan on reading next.

Thursday

TBR Thursdays – I’ve done this feature a few times last year and would like to continue with it. I’ll be choosing books, ebooks, or ARCs in my neverending TBR and do a little spotlight feature. At the end of each year, I’ll do an update with all the books I’ve chosen for this and see if I actually read any of them. Last year, of the 11 TBR Thursdays post, I only read 4.

Friday

First Lines Fridays – a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by WANDERING WORDS. Pick a book from your shelf and open to the first page, copy the first few lines but don’t give anything away, then reveal the book.
Favorite Quotes Friday – I’ll be retiring my Friday Faves segment and replacing with this one. Basically, I’ll choose quotes that I love from one of my favorite books. One book every week with 2-3 quotes.

Saturday

Swoony Saturdates – I came up with this while thinking about all the swoony book boyfriends I’ve collected over the years. So, for this feature, I’ll be choosing one book boyfriend and explain some reasons why he’s utterly and undeniably swoonworthy. While I do want to host this here, my schedule changes every so often that I feel like I would not be able to keep up. If you do want to participate, feel free to do so. Just link back to me and leave your links in the comments of my weekly posts so I can see them. And it’s definitely not limited to just book boyfriends… you can totally pick book girlfriends too!

Hopefully I can follow through with this schedule and not fall behind. I still have my other blogging ideas and tours, and reviews, and tags, and some other fun stuff… And even if I do fall behind and miss a few (which I know will definitely happen), this schedule definitely helps me plan ahead.

How do you plan and keep up with your blogging? Any other tips and ideas you’d like to share?

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies!

sincerelykarenjo2

PrettyDeadGirlsTour

Hi Lovelies! Welcome to my first Blog Tour of 2018. This stop is for the Pretty Dead Girls Tour hosted by Chapter by Chapter. I really enjoyed this YA murder mystery and definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of thrillers. Don’t forget to stay until the end to join an awesome giveaway!

4 ★ – ENTERTAINING AND ADDICTIVE

PUBLISHED BY ENTANGLED TEEN JANUARY 2, 2018

GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, MYSTERY, THRILLER

HARDCOVER 300 PAGES

Add on Goodreads

Entangled Media: Website | Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook

Synopsis

Beautiful. Perfect. Dead.

In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.

The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she’s next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—and to a boy from her physics class. The one she’s never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.

There’s something he isn’t telling her. But there’s something she’s not telling him, either.

Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

Review

Another terrific book from Entangled Teen! With great writing and a fascinating storyline, Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy had me hooked from the very first page. It’s entertaining, addictive, and just so much fun.

This book completely intrigued me the entire time. The plot was fast-paced, suspenseful, and utterly thrilling that I actually finished reading in less than 12 hours. With catty popular girls, gruesome deaths, and a budding romance between two unlikely characters, there was definitely enough drama that had me turning the pages. I LOVED the mystery aspect and while Murphy certainly kept me guessing until the end, I did have my theories and 2 suspects in mind. There was a part that made me think it was a certain character. Just something about the scene gave me the feeling and I’ll have you know… I was correct! I loved playing detective and had such a blast solving the mystery. Although if I’m going to be honest, I never could do this in real life. I’d be too anxious, scared, nervous, and just a total mess.I do have to mention that the ending felt just a tad bit rushed. Don’t get me wrong, it was still awesome, but I felt like there could have been more.

The characters, while infuriating and not very likable, were developed and written very well. They were fantastic in their own ways and acted their part quite convincingly. However, I have to admit that I had a difficult time relating with any of them – even Penelope. Their personalities were just strong and so intimidating that I could not see myself being friends with them. (I’m an introvert and very shy so I would not do well in their group). Nevertheless, that didn’t stop me from rooting for Penelope and the rest of her friends to have some kind happy ending.

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Oh and can I just say that Cass’s grandmother was just precious!!! She’s super adorable, genuine, and so sweet. Yup she’s definitely my favorite character!

The romance, while interesting, was kind of weird and I still don’t really know how I feel about it. I’m a romance junkie so to feel this way about a love story — specially one of my favorite tropes — is really throwing me off. I just felt that the relationship between Cass and Penelope was a bit forced at times and just so awkward. I think the story would have been just as good without their romance. BUT… there were a few moments between Cass and Penelope that made me swoon. My favorite scene involved a closet, some music, and one steamy spine-tingling kiss that I wished would have happened to me when I was a teen (minus the uncomfortable situation which you’ll find out once you read this book). Maybe if some of their interactions played out differently, their pairing would have been more believable.

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Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy is a fun thriller that’s perfect for anyone looking for a quick and exciting read. There’s plenty of drama and action, suspense to keep you on edge, and murder mysteries to solve. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and appreciated that Murphy addressed and showed the scary and devastating effects of bullying.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is a traditionally published author with Bantam/Random House and Harper Collins/Avon, as well as an independently published author. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance. She is also USA Today bestselling romance author Karen Erickson. She is a wife and a mother of three who lives with her family in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere, along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through many angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.

Follow and Connect with Monica Murphy

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram • Pinterest • Snapchat • Goodreads

Tour Schedule

Giveaway Details – Win a signed copy of Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy

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Thanks for stopping by and reading my review. Hope you lovelies get to meet these Pretty Dead Girls and have fun solving the mystery. Don’t forget to leave your comments down below!

Sincerely Karen Jo