#ShallowReaderBingo May 2017

It's time, once again, for ShallowReader Bingo!  I had the best reading month I've had in a long while (5 books!), but dagnabit this was a hard bingo card!  In order to make Bingo I had to get pretty darn creative.

The Bingo Row:

Touch vs. Sight: I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen. I'm well aware this suspense novel doesn't come out until August.  However I scored an early copy thanks to NetGalley, and since it's my favorite suspense series at the moment, I couldn't be expected to wait to read it.  The story opens with homicide cop, Jane Rizzoli, entering a new crime scene.  The victim had her eyeballs removed postmortem and the killer left said eyeballs in the victim's open palm.

A Walk in the Park: The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner.  Most of the story takes place in Provincetown, Massachusetts and the characters seem to walk everywhere.

Abstinence: The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince by Mayte Garcia.  Garcia met Prince when she was 16 years old.  They didn't enter into a romantic (or sexual) relationship until she was over 18 and even then, she was still a virgin.

Oooh! That Would Be Grand!: Blood Oath by Melissa Lenhardt.  This historical fiction series is set in the post-Civil War American West, making it grand in scope and epic all the way around.

Bloom: The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner.  A new romance blooms for one of the characters over the course of the story.

Other Squares:

Epic Wardrobe Disaster, May, Do the Shake: The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince by Mayte Garcia.  A May/December romance, Garcia is a belly dancer, and while on tour with Prince she performed in one of her handmade belly dancing costumes that requires special hand cleaning.  Needless to say it was ripe by the end of the tour.

Deja Vu: The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner.  A long married couple on the brink of divorce finds their way back to each other.

Love Triangle: I Know A Secret by Tess Gerritsen.  Jane Rizzoli's mother was left by her husband when he had an affair.  She moved on with another man.  But when her husband came crawling back, she took him back.  She's now regretting that decision.

Close But Not Cigar, Lashings: Blood Oath by Melissa Lenhardt.  Every time the characters think they're safe, the rug gets pulled out from under them.  Lashing because the series has been pretty violent.

Suck It!: The Gangster's Kiss by Ginger Ring.  My TBR Challenge read for the month and not very good.

#ShallowReader Bingo for April 2017

April was a Lost Month for me.  Between work and visiting family I only finished three books (and the last one was completed on April 30 - that's the kind of month it was).  So it's rather amazing I was able to complete two full BINGO rows.  Also, because I made BINGO last month, Vassiliki let me suggest another square - and for the curious "Hollywood" was my suggestion.

Squares: Sweet City Woman, Sleepless Nights, Wild Ride, Drinks O' Clock, No Questions Asked, West Side, Hollywood and Party.  What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin is a suspense novel set in southern California about a woman who spent 30+ years in prison for murdering a famed Hollywood director.  She falls under suspicion again when her father-in-law, a legendary Hollywood actor is found shot dead in his home - killed in the same manner as his BFF, the director the heroine was convicted of killing when she was just 17-years-old.  Lots of secrets, lies, and shady shenanigans in this one and it was nominated for the Edgar for Best Novel.

Squares: Exploring, Now, Morass.  My TBR Challenge read, The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers. There's an exploring theme to the romance, it's a contemporary and I found the whole thing rather sluggish.  The writing didn't work for me.  At all.  And the more I think about The Big Secret the angrier I get.

Squares: Chasing the Light, The Perfect Kiss.  The Lighthouse Keeper by Cynthia Ellingsen. When her life implodes in Boston the heroine impulsively bids on (and wins!) a lighthouse in northern Michigan.  It's there that she meets the hero, who, when he kisses her, sets off all sorts of sparks her former fiance' failed to ignite.

#ShallowReader Bingo for March 2017

It took some creative mental gymnastics on my part, but I made BINGO again this month as part of Shallowreader's Romancelandia Bingo Challenge.  Also, because I made BINGO last month, Vassiliki was kind enough to let me name my own square!  Because I know you're all curious (ha ha!) - Father Figure was my contribution to the March sheet.

The BINGO row:

The Black Moment = Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh.  The conflict in this story involves a Big Secret and by the time it comes tumbling out, the hero and heroine are in love and enjoying a blissful married existence.  Needless to say, it makes for a very emotional "black moment."

Love thy Neighbor = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? by Sarah Morgan.  The setting is a tiny Scottish island, where basically everybody is your darn neighbor!

Buff = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? again. And this is buff as in "polish."  The hero lives in a lighthouse that he restored to be his home.  That's a lot of polishing!

Hero/ine = Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women by Marianne Monson.  The 12 biographies featured women who were the heroes (and heroines!) of their own stories.  But for an added twist, one of the biographies was Charley Parkhurst, a woman who lived as a man and became a legendary stagecoach driver.

Patience = Scandal Takes the Stage and Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh.  Scandal because it was an exercise in patience for me to finish it.  Temptation because I had to patiently wait for the author to reveal how a blue-blooded virginal heroine could possibly have enough worldly knowledge to secretly be a famed erotica writer.

Miscellaneous Squares:

Father Figure and An Ill Wind = Temptations of a Wallflower by Eva Leigh.  "Father" applies to the vicar hero and the fact that his father is a sanctimonious windbag.  An Ill Wind applies to the Sword of Damocles Big Secret conflict that provides a sense of foreboding throughout the story.

Redundant and Dancing = Scandal Takes the Stage by Eva Leigh.  The story felt redundant because of a lack of what I felt was compelling conflict (or really, any conflict).  Dancing because there's a scene where the hero and heroine dance.

Independence = Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women by Marianne Monson.  Pretty self-explanatory. 

Comfort = Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc? by Sarah Morgan was a TBR Challenge read for March and the theme was "comfort read."

Terribly Sad! = The Gunslinger's Bride by Cheryl St. John.  I have loved many of St. John's books so it seemed a sure thing to pick up this book for the TBR Challenge comfort read theme.  Um, not so much.  I DNF'ed this one at chapter six and it made me terribly sad!

#ShallowReader Bingo for February 2017

So this is exciting!  For the first time ever I'm participating in Shallowreader Bingo!  This is the brain child of Australian blogger (and librarian!) Vassiliki and I believe 2016 was the first year.  I had great fun following all the participants, but given my shoddy reading mojo last year I didn't feel comfortable participating.  Vassiliki has tweaked a few things for 2017 that actually make it a bit easier for me - so I'm going to do my best to actually play along this year.

I made BINGO in the far left column and circled some other squares that I wanted to talk about.

The BINGO squares:

Sweet Nectar of Glory: I'll Be Damned by Eric Braeden.  Glory in this case applies to glory on the athletic field.  Braeden won the German National Team Track & Field Championship in 1958 (discus, shot-put and javelin) and the 1973 National Challenge Cup when he played for the Maccabi Los Angeles Soccer Club.

Black: Falling for Her Fake Fiance by Sarah M. Anderson.  Fallen on financial hard times after the family brewery is sold off and her previous business ventures fail, the heroine has sold off most of her designer duds - except for a few dresses.  Good thing too since she works to befuddle the hero by wearing them.  There's a green one, a red one and of course, a little black one.

Suck It!: Deception Island by Brynn Kelly.  So rage inducing I DNF'ed it.  Self-explanatory.

23: Oh boy, another DNF - this one Playing Dirty by HelenKay Dimon which I stopped reading on February 23.

New To Me: Tempted by Her Italian Surgeon by Louisa George.  A new-to-me author and this month's TBR Challenge book.

Other squares:

Beauty, Bad Hair Day and Pure: Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare.  A Beauty and the Beast trope (beauty), and a heroine with unruly hair (bad hair day) who has never been kissed (pure).

Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot: Falling for Her Fake Fiance by Sarah M. Anderson. It's a Harlequin Desire, but still!  Darn near singed my fingertips off (not that I'm complaining!)

Self: Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino.  A heroine who has spent her whole life avoiding dealing with the baggage and fallout from her crappy childhood.  A heroine's journey to finding herself and letting go of the past, while still embracing aspects of it (namely, the hero).

Adonis: Tempted by Her Italian Surgeon by Louisa George.  The plot kicks into gear when a picture of the hero's delicious backside sets social media ablaze.

Loving: Falling for Her Fake Fiance by Sarah M. Anderson.  Both hero and heroine aren't big believers in love and, naturally, end up falling in love with each other.  Because, you know, romance novel.

Seriously, can you believe I wasn't able to fill in the Yeeha Cowboy! square?  That's just shameful for me.

ETA: I just realized that my completed row was all under "B."  So probably technically not a BINGO.  But whatever.  I got a row complete.  I'm calling it good 🙌