I read another four books this month, making my total for the year at eight.
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (4/5 stars) - Yes, as unbelievable as it sounds, I had never read The Hunger Games. It was a lot of fun to get the "rest of the story" that wasn't in the movie which I have seen several times.
2. The Fisherman's Daughter by Melinda Sue Sanchez (3/5 stars) - I was hoping for a great historical romance with a focus on the historical part. Instead a got a lot of romance which really isn't my thing.
3. Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills (4/5 stars) - I would have given this YA contemporary 5/5 stars if the language wasn't so inappropriate. I loved the story though.
4. Grievous Sins by Faye Kellerman (3/5 stars) - It's been a long time since I read the first books in the series, and I was really loving forward to continuing it. However, this isn't the best one of the series, and I even found it a little boring.
So I had hoped to participate in the Thrillerathon, but February was just crazy busy, and even though I had started two different thrillers, I was unable to finish either one during the week of the Thrillerathon, but that's OK. Now I can get ready for March Mystery Madness!
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Contemporary-a-thon Wrap-Up and OwlCrate-a-thon update
Contemporary-a-thon ended today, and I only read one book. The only good news for this is that with one book I completed 5 challenges. The book also counts for OwlCrate-a-thon too!
I finished Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills in two days which for me is pretty good. I really enjoyed the book and gave it 4/5 stars. Really, the only reason I didn't get it 5/5 stars was because of the language. I subscribe to OwlCrate and read YA books in order to recommend them to my students and to include them in my library, and I'm not sure I'll be able give this book to a students because of the language which is very disappointing since it's such a great book.
For Contemporary-a-thon, Foolish Hearts fulfilled these challenges:
1. New acquired - I received it in the Dec. OwlCrate box
2. Pink on the Cover - It was the exclusive OwlCrate book cover which including pink
3. Most Hyped - This book was all over Booktube at the end of 2017
4. Diverse - The "it" couple that broke up at the beginning of this book was actually a lesbian couple
5. Recommended - Since OwlCrate sent it out, I considered it recommended
I did start Before She Ignites for OwlCrate-a-thon as my second book, but I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it before the readathon is over. It's really not the kind of book I read, but I'm trying.
Next up is Thriller-a-thon which started yesterday. Since Thriller/Mystery is my favorite genre, I have to participate in it. I started Grievous Sin by Faye Kellerman today and have read about 50 pages. I used to read the Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series by her years ago, and this is the next book in the series where I left off. I also plan on continuing Pretty Girls Dancing on my Kindle.
It's going to be another busy week for me, but hopefully I can get at least one of these books read.
I finished Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills in two days which for me is pretty good. I really enjoyed the book and gave it 4/5 stars. Really, the only reason I didn't get it 5/5 stars was because of the language. I subscribe to OwlCrate and read YA books in order to recommend them to my students and to include them in my library, and I'm not sure I'll be able give this book to a students because of the language which is very disappointing since it's such a great book.
For Contemporary-a-thon, Foolish Hearts fulfilled these challenges:
1. New acquired - I received it in the Dec. OwlCrate box
2. Pink on the Cover - It was the exclusive OwlCrate book cover which including pink
3. Most Hyped - This book was all over Booktube at the end of 2017
4. Diverse - The "it" couple that broke up at the beginning of this book was actually a lesbian couple
5. Recommended - Since OwlCrate sent it out, I considered it recommended
I did start Before She Ignites for OwlCrate-a-thon as my second book, but I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it before the readathon is over. It's really not the kind of book I read, but I'm trying.
Next up is Thriller-a-thon which started yesterday. Since Thriller/Mystery is my favorite genre, I have to participate in it. I started Grievous Sin by Faye Kellerman today and have read about 50 pages. I used to read the Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series by her years ago, and this is the next book in the series where I left off. I also plan on continuing Pretty Girls Dancing on my Kindle.
It's going to be another busy week for me, but hopefully I can get at least one of these books read.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
OwlCrate Readathon
I'm going to try and participate in a couple of readathons this month, and the first one is OwlCrate's Readathon that started today, February 10 and runs until the 24th. I've been a subscriber to the OwlCrate boxes since July, and I really enjoy them. I use my goodies as prizes for my students for reading each week. So far it's really been a good incentive. Here are the challenges and the books I intend to read for them:
Challenge #1 - Read two books
Challenge #2 - Read two different challenges
Challenge #3 - Read my oldest OwlCrate book
My oldest OwlCrate book is Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows. I will also be using this book for the other two challenges. It's genre is fantasy, so the other book I'm going to read is Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills which is a contemporary book.
I started Before She Ignites today and read the first 100 pages. I don't know how much I will get read tomorrow because I'll be going to see the Broadway tour of School of Rock with my mom and my daughter. I'm going to start reading Foolish Hearts on Monday because I'm using it for the Contemporaryathon and will post my TBR for it later in the week.
Challenge #1 - Read two books
Challenge #2 - Read two different challenges
Challenge #3 - Read my oldest OwlCrate book
My oldest OwlCrate book is Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows. I will also be using this book for the other two challenges. It's genre is fantasy, so the other book I'm going to read is Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills which is a contemporary book.
I started Before She Ignites today and read the first 100 pages. I don't know how much I will get read tomorrow because I'll be going to see the Broadway tour of School of Rock with my mom and my daughter. I'm going to start reading Foolish Hearts on Monday because I'm using it for the Contemporaryathon and will post my TBR for it later in the week.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
January Wrap-Up
I'm so proud of my January reading. I read four books, which for me, is very good. My goal was to read two books a month, so it was a great start to actually double it. So here is a quick wrap-up. I've joined several challenges on Goodreads, so I'm also going to list what challenges I used the book for.
Six of Crows by Leah Bardugo (4.5 stars) - I wasn't sure if I would like this book or not when I started it, but since everyone I watch on Booktube seemed to love it, I thought I would give it a try. Plus, several items I've received in my OwlCrate boxes referenced this book, and it's gorgeous with the black pages. I LOVED it and was so surprised. I immediately gave it to a student as a prize because I wanted someone else to love it too. I loved that every chapter was from a different character's POV, as well as, the characters themselves. Anyway, I used this book for the following challenges: White book cover for the Color Challenge, Fantasy for Genre Bingo, Gem's Task for the Member's Task, A book involving a heist for the Popsugar Challenges. All those challenges are for the 2018 Reading Challenge group. I'm also participating in the Seasonal Reading Challenge group and used this book for challenge 5.3
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones (5 stars) - Again, I wasn't sure about this book before I started it. I received it in an OwlCrate box. I can't believe how much I loved this book. I even cried at the end which I was definitely not expecting. This is exactly the reason I joined OwlCrate, to get me to try books out of my comfort zone. For challenges: Red book cover - Color Challenge, Paranormal Romance - Genre Bingo, April's task - Member's Task, and boarding school for Places and Spaces (another challenge from the 2018 Reading Challenge group. For the Seasonal Reading Challenge group, I used it for challenge 30.8.
Drowning is Inevitable by Shalanda Stanley (3.75 stars) - This is a YA contemporary which is one of my favorite genres, but I didn't like it as much as the two fantasy books that I read this month which isn't one of my top genres. I had a hard time with how the parents were portrayed in this book. They were all awful, and as a parent of a teenager and a high school teacher, I really don't like books that do that. I couldn't use this book for as many challenges just Adriana's task - Member task, a book about death or grief - Popsugar, a river for Places and Spaces, and I used it for the second half of 30.8 for the Seasonal Reading Challenge.
The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack (3.5 stars) - My final read was also my most disappointing. It was my only adult novel, and it had mystery elements which is my favorite genre. However, it just fell a little short. I loved the idea that this painter gets his inspiration from dreams of the past. That being said, I felt that it took it too far. Maybe it's my Southern Baptist upbringing, but I just couldn't get into it once it took the main characters to the time were Egyptian Gods ruled the earth. I also felt like the author just ended it without wrapping up everything. For challenges I used it for: Yellow - Color Challenge, Science Fiction - Genre Bingo, Claire's task - Members task, Time travel - Popsugar, studio apartment - Places and Spaces, and 20.1 for the Seasonal Reading.
That's it! I hope this trend of good books and twice my goal continues!
Six of Crows by Leah Bardugo (4.5 stars) - I wasn't sure if I would like this book or not when I started it, but since everyone I watch on Booktube seemed to love it, I thought I would give it a try. Plus, several items I've received in my OwlCrate boxes referenced this book, and it's gorgeous with the black pages. I LOVED it and was so surprised. I immediately gave it to a student as a prize because I wanted someone else to love it too. I loved that every chapter was from a different character's POV, as well as, the characters themselves. Anyway, I used this book for the following challenges: White book cover for the Color Challenge, Fantasy for Genre Bingo, Gem's Task for the Member's Task, A book involving a heist for the Popsugar Challenges. All those challenges are for the 2018 Reading Challenge group. I'm also participating in the Seasonal Reading Challenge group and used this book for challenge 5.3
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones (5 stars) - Again, I wasn't sure about this book before I started it. I received it in an OwlCrate box. I can't believe how much I loved this book. I even cried at the end which I was definitely not expecting. This is exactly the reason I joined OwlCrate, to get me to try books out of my comfort zone. For challenges: Red book cover - Color Challenge, Paranormal Romance - Genre Bingo, April's task - Member's Task, and boarding school for Places and Spaces (another challenge from the 2018 Reading Challenge group. For the Seasonal Reading Challenge group, I used it for challenge 30.8.
Drowning is Inevitable by Shalanda Stanley (3.75 stars) - This is a YA contemporary which is one of my favorite genres, but I didn't like it as much as the two fantasy books that I read this month which isn't one of my top genres. I had a hard time with how the parents were portrayed in this book. They were all awful, and as a parent of a teenager and a high school teacher, I really don't like books that do that. I couldn't use this book for as many challenges just Adriana's task - Member task, a book about death or grief - Popsugar, a river for Places and Spaces, and I used it for the second half of 30.8 for the Seasonal Reading Challenge.
The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack (3.5 stars) - My final read was also my most disappointing. It was my only adult novel, and it had mystery elements which is my favorite genre. However, it just fell a little short. I loved the idea that this painter gets his inspiration from dreams of the past. That being said, I felt that it took it too far. Maybe it's my Southern Baptist upbringing, but I just couldn't get into it once it took the main characters to the time were Egyptian Gods ruled the earth. I also felt like the author just ended it without wrapping up everything. For challenges I used it for: Yellow - Color Challenge, Science Fiction - Genre Bingo, Claire's task - Members task, Time travel - Popsugar, studio apartment - Places and Spaces, and 20.1 for the Seasonal Reading.
That's it! I hope this trend of good books and twice my goal continues!
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