Categories
Book Club

#iwsgbookclub June 2022 Poll & What I #read in May

Please join the IWSG Book Club today on Goodreads for a short general poll. Aside from spotlighting two IWSG member books each month, we also want to engage in bookish whimsy and encourage others to have a healthy reading lifestyle. You don’t have to be reading or have read the 2 current featured books to be able to participate in this poll, so please, join in the festivities. Click the image below to see our fun poll. This month the topic is about writing in series or standalone.

June ’22 General Poll

In May 2022, I read 4 titles, sticking to my two IWSG Book Club reads, my Read With Fey selection, adding a Read Local Show title, and a re-read. Check it out.

2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge
Toi has
read 2 books toward
her goal of
60 books.
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Below you’ll find my star ratings and review blurbs for each title I completed in the indicated month. If you have not signed up for my newsletter, please consider doing so. That’s where I post an overview of what I’ve been reading, watching, and writing quarterly, as well as talk about my love of reading while offering tips for having a healthy reading lifestyle. You can also click the Goodreads links to see the thorough reviews. At the bottom of this post, you’ll also be able to watch a video of my monthly reviews, if that’s more your style.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Any amount I make goes towards my dream to host a book fair in Hampton Roads (Coastal), VA. Please see my About page for more details. Thank you for your support.

4.0 – Fun genre mash-up.

Review

Amazon

5.0 – Excellent Resource

Review

Amazon, ebook only

Bookshop

5.0 – Sweet collection.

Review

Amazon, print only

Bookshop

4.0 – Nostalgic adventure

Review

Amazon

Bookshop

******
4.0 – Paranormal saga.

Review

Amazon

You can watch my May Goodreads challenge update here. Click below to watch my May book review video, if that’s more your speed.

Here’s the latest on my YouTube series, Read Local Show (Hampton Roads, VA, USA) and Read All Over Show (global).

If you’re interested in being featured: check out the Read Local/All Over Sign-up form here.

So, did you read any good books in May or did you try either of the IWSG Book Club Books?

What did you think of the ones I read? Any recommendations?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords #blacklivesmatter

Categories
Promotion

Book Blast: Death of a Sculptor in Hue, Shape and Color #mystery

Color-coded love stories and revealing female anatomies lead to the murder of world-renowned sculptor, Bruce Jones.

In life, the artist loved women, almost as much as women loved him. Adored for his art and colorful personality, Bruce is mourned by the world at large. The tale is launched with the multifaceted perspectives of four ex-wives, the current wife, and his new love interest and their children.

Mary, Bruce’s wealthy first love, is always in perfect pink; the color of love. Mother of Clair the famous actress and Aaron the corporate lawyer.

Leslie The Second’s color is yellow for her sunny nature as much as for her fears and insecurities. Her only son Bobby is vulnerable and lost. Mourning his father’s death, he finds himself.

Petra The Third, is outstanding in orange, representing not only her native Holland but also her love of the fruit. Cherished her freedom and had no children of her own.

Toni The Fourth is a vibrant passionate Italian red and part of the eventual glue that creates and solidifies this dysfunctional Jones family. Her teenage daughters Tina and Isa are as different as night and day.

Brooke The Fifth a gold-digger. Green, her color, reflects the color of money and envy. Her young son’s Kyle and Caleb are too young to understand why their world has been turned upside-down.

Mara, as blue as the ocean was the last woman to steal Bruce’s heart. Mother to newborn Baby Peter is the unexpected gift and surprise.

Bruce Jones’ eight children speak out, too. They are as distinctive as the women he loved, their mothers.

Loose ends are tied up by the insights of Sylvia, Aaron’s wife and a trusted keeper of secrets; Scott, the private investigator and family friend; Nona, the quintessential grandmother everyone loves but to whom few are truly related; and Detective Jim Miller who will not rest until he discovers Bruce Jones’ murderer.

Buy on Amazon  | Free on Kindle Unlimited

See my 4-star review of this book on Goodreads.com

M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Vergara Egan. Catalina is originally from Mexico City, Mexico. Catalina has lived in various countries and is fluent in four languages; Spanish, English, French and Swedish.

Her first book The Bridge of Deaths revolves around her maternal grandfather’s death in 1939. A true-life pre-WWII event. It has over 200 footnotes with the resources of her extensive search through Archival materials as well as the use of psychometry and past life regressions. It is more fact than fiction.

The revised edition of The Bridge of Deaths: A Love Story And A Mystery, focuses on the storyline as opposed to fact, but all footnotes and facts are available through the website for any curious minds. www.thebridgeofdeaths.com

Defined by Others taps into the dark quirky side found even in the best of people. With the 2012 American elections as a backdrop and the fearless reassurance that the world might end on December 12, 2012, as predicted by the Mayan Calendar.

Death of a Sculptor; in Hue, Shape, and Color is a novella written in sixteen different voices. It is a murder mystery. She is currently working on a sequel; Bruce (title subject to change).

M.C.V. Egan lives and works in South Florida. She is married and has a teenage son. You can find M.C.V. Egan everywhere online.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books Fun Hops

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse #Review: My Father Didn’t Kill Himself #YA #book

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you’ve finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same. In this way, we’ll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers. Please join us below.

So, the end of April came way faster than I was prepared for. Today, I’m prepping for the RavenCon and am feeling a bit jittery. I feel bad about not putting forth my best effort with this review so let me be clear now, this is not the full and complete review. I will be more thorough at a later time and post my complete review on Goodreads and Amazon (if they let me). Since I’m pretty much a member of the author’s, Russell Nohelty, unofficial fan club, I get a lot of his content in bulk and at discounted prices. I support almost all his Kickstarters and thus, that’s how I acquire his content whether digital or print. In any case, I’ll provide a brief review of this ebook below.

Title: My Father Didn’t Kill Himself
Author: Russell Nohelty
Genre: YA, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 305
Reading Level: Adult
Content: R (adult content and situations, mature themes, drug and alcohol use, language, sexuality)

So first, I have issues reading YA in general so that’s not a reflection of the author’s ability to tell a story. I had trouble relating to teens with I was one, so reading about them is always a little difficult for me. With that said, this is a very hard book to read. Some of the subject matter is just painful, in an emotional way, but it’s good. Sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to really experience something that sticks with you. Overall, this is a good book I’d recommend to a select few I feel would really connect with it and benefit from it.

I give this book a 4.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link: Amazon

Please stop by and see what others have read 😀

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords