52 books

Last year there were a lot of reading challenges about. These were all based on different things such as different themes or writers etc. As interesting as these were I tend to read based on my mood at that given moment so didn't want to join anything too restrictive so decided to just do my own challenge which is just to read 52 books in a year :) I will keep track of the books I read then review my progress at the end of each month.
This month I've managed:

Synopsis:

For over a decade, Jenna Metcalf obsesses on her vanished mom Alice. Jenna searches online, rereads journals of the scientist who studied grief among elephants. Two unlikely allies are Serenity Jones, psychic for missing people who doubts her gift, and Virgil Stanhope, jaded PI who originally investigated cases of Alice and her colleague. Hard questions and answers.

I loved this, I'm a huge fan of her books anyway but can usually predict the ending. This time however I didn't see it coming at all. It took a little while to get into as there were a lot of people and it jumps back and forth from the past and present but once you know who is who its pretty easy to follow. I won't post any spoilers but it was certainly worth a read :)

Synopsis:

When a teenage girl goes missing her mother discovers she doesn't know her daughter as well as she thought in Jane Shemilt's haunting debut novel, Daughter.

THE NIGHT OF THE DISAPPEARANCE

She used to tell me everything.

They have a picture. It'll help.

But it doesn't show the way her hair shines so brightly it looks like sheets of gold.

She has a tiny mole, just beneath her left eyebrow.

She smells very faintly of lemons.

She bites her nails.

She never cries.

She loves autumn, I wanted to tell them. She collects leaves, like a child does. She is just a child.

FIND HER.

ONE YEAR LATER

Naomi is still missing. Jenny is a mother on the brink of obsession. The Malcolm family is in pieces.

Is finding the truth about Naomi the only way to put them back together?

Or is the truth the thing that will finally tear them apart?

I had read really good reviews of this so was looking forward to it, however I was really dissapointed :( It was another book which jumped back and forth a lot but it did it so quick I was just getting into a bit when it jumped back. I'm also not a fan of books which don't 'end' iykwim. Cliffhangers are fine as long as theres a sequel. At the end of this book however I felt I had more questions than answers. 

Synopsis:

What is Arcadium? Florence knows but she’s not telling anyone, and it could just be the key to the survival of the human race. 

Sixteen-year-old Florence West must journey across a disease ravaged Melbourne with her nine-year-old sister Liss, and she’ll do anything to survive. Mostly that means staying clear of all people, the healthy ones on the run and the infected ones hungry for human flesh. But when she meets a man that speaks no English and a defiant set of brothers, Florence will be forced to question her ways. Because there’s only so far you can go alone, right? 

Arcadium is a heart-stopping journey of hope across a ravaged urban land where survival always comes at a heavy price.

Quite often I'll go through the Kindle free book list and download anything that sounds interesting. Sometimes it's rubbish, and sometimes I find a gem I wouldn't otherwise have read. This book is a gem. Interesting, fast paced and would make a great movie. 

Funnily enough it starts half way through the story with a virus already destroyed most of the country, and ends without answering a lot about why and what happened. Usually this annoys me but while I would love to know more and would def read a sequel, it stands well alone.  

Synopsis

North Carolina, 1960. Newlywed Jane Forrester, fresh out of university, is seeking what most other women have shunned: a career.

But life as a social worker is far from what she expected. Out amongst the rural Tobacco fields of Grace County, Jane encounters a world of extreme poverty that is far removed from the middle-class life she has grown up with.

But worse is still to come. Working with the Hart family and their fifteen-year-old daughter Ivy, it’s not long before Jane uncovers a shocking secret, and is thrust into a moral dilemma that puts her career on the line, threatens to dissolve her marriage, and ultimately, determines the fate of Ivy and her family forever.

Soon Jane is forced to take drastic action, and before long, there is no turning back.

Another author I'm a fan of :) While I wouldn't say this was her best book, it was still an ok read. The ending felt a little rushed and there is a HUGE time gap where there could have been a lot more done but it wasn't dreadful. Not amazing either lol.

So good start so far! :)