Showing posts with label Melissa Jagears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melissa Jagears. Show all posts

Thursday, September 3, 2015

What I Read - August 2015


Hey there!

Neither one of us believes it! I read 12 books this month! Yes I did. It helped (a lot) that I participated in the #7in7Readathon challenge last month. That meant I read 3 books right off the bat. That's pretty good. I don't normally read a book every 2 and a half days. Normally I ilk out a book every 4 or 5 days, so 6 or 7 books is more like my monthly listing.

But, I have to admit that I've been reading a lot more than normal. My free time has shifted and I like it. I have more time to read and I have quite a few books that I really want to read.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebooks of these books)

So, the first 3 books were read during my reading challenge. I read Love by the Letter by Melissa Jagears (4 stars), Embattled Hearts by J.M. Madden (4 stars), and Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston (5 stars). These were three books that I really enjoyed reading. They were love stories and who can resist a love story. This girl can't. If you are looking for love stories, these are the ones to go for (if you want sizzlin' hot, try Embattled Hearts).
 
Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebook of this book)
I finished a book club read, Through the Storm by Vanessa Miller. I gave it 3 stars. It was a tough read to chew through. It was a religious book but that wasn't a problem for me. I had a problem because there were waaaay too many main characters and they flip flop between current day and the past. If I wasn't reading this for book club I would have put it down.



My next read was A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (my review here). Ahhhhhhh! I gave this one 4.5 stars. This was a great novel. I can't believe I'm so late in the game reading this. It's made the rounds around BookTube and I enjoyed devouring it. I am planning to read more by Sarah J. Maas but my TBR pile is ridiculous so I may wait a minute before reading my next book by her.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins only got 2 stars from me. The premise itself was good but the actual telling of the story didn't keep me entertained. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened. Many people recommend the 2nd book in the series, Miss Mayhem, but I have no plans to pick it up.
 
Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)
I love Sherrilyn Kenyon so when I saw Cloak and Silence (5 stars) in the library, I snatched it up. It was fantastic just like the rest of her books. This is book 7 in The League series and I am kinda certain that I haven't read the rest of the series in order (or at all). That was ok. I was still able to follow this one just fine.
 
Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (4 stars) was the fantastic book that everyone said it was. I enjoyed the characters and the story was well fleshed out. The beginning was the tiniest bit slow but even as I read it, I understood why she had to explain everything and I made sure to read every word. Once everything is explained, the book takes off. I'm ready for the next book, Clockwork Prince.



Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks (4 stars) was awesome. It typical Maya Banks love story (but tamed the tiniest bit). The story is great, the love scenes are hot and you finish reading the book with a smile on your face. This is the second story in the Montgomerys and Armstrongs. Thanks Maya! Now I have to order book one (and book three)!
 
Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)
I've never read a graphic novel before. Ms. Marvel, Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Aphona (2 stars) was my first. I'm not sure that I'll try another one anytime soon. It's a comic book (don't get mad at me!). It was tough for me to follow and I didn't like the reading process. Maybe my head just didn't like following the format of a comic book. Maybe I would have liked it better if it was in a novella format -- maybe. We meet the main character and I feel that we aren't introduced to her properly before we are thrown into her story. I wasn't a fan.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebook of this book, borrowed from the Library)
Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1) (4 stars) by Gena Showalter was a good book! When I started reading it, I thought that maybe it would be too slow but towards the middle of the book it picked up the pace. The story was a good one and the fleshing out of the characters was really good. I have to say I was wondering how in the hell high schoolers found themselves in this situation but that aside, it kept my attention. I am not going to run and get the second book but in a month or two (or three) I might pick it up (Through the Zombie Glass #2 Or Cole...Meet Ali #1.5).



And I finished my month with The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen  (4.5 stars). Yaaaaas! I really enjoyed it. Can I tell you that Erika (may I call you Erika? May I be so informal because you and I are very good friends now!) writes a fantastic story? She fleshed the HELL out of this story. She didn't have story lines that were predictable. As a matter of fact, when I thought I knew something, the rug was ripped out from under me and I was left lying on the floor asking what happened. I enjoyed this crazy big book. I have every plan to purchase the next book. Yes, PURCHASE! I don't pay full price for many books but this one I most certainly will. You need to pick this one up.

That's what I read in August. I don't plan on reading quite that much in September but, I might. I do have some smaller books on my TBR shelf and I plan on adding them to the mix.


And, this is a "What I Read" and what I thought about it, not a book review. I don't currently have reviews on all of the books mentioned above and don't plan on writing one on all of them. I am in different stages of writing reviews for 3 of them so stay tuned for that. I'll add links when I write the review.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

#7in7Readathon challenge


Hey there!

So let's just jump into this and talk about the #7in7Readathon challenge. It began 7/27/15 and ends 8/2/15. The 7in7 challenge is a BookTube challenge that several ladies put together. The premise is that you are to read 7 books from your TBR bookshelf in 7 days. I'm not 100% in the know about all of the details of the challenge so unfortunately I can't tell you who began the challenge and why. What I can tell you is that it is a great opportunity for me to read some of my TBRs that I have on the shelf.

Let me back up folks. Some of you have come "a visiting" from my Make It Up As You Go blog. You may not know all of the bookie jargon (I don't know either, so fake it 'till you make it). A TBR is a book that is "To Be Read". I have attended so many book conferences and I've gotten so many free books from Amazon and BookBub, I don't know what to do with myself! This is a good opportunity to at least get 7 of those bad boys knocked down.

A friend of mine asked how in the world I was going to read 7 books. Well, I'm not picking Gone With The Wind or Roots as my books for the challenge. No, I picked smaller books that I felt comfortable with. The challenge was to read 7 "somethings". They could be novellas or anime or whatever. I picked a mix of books. I might not get 7 but I'll certainly finish 5.

And I got off to a funny start. I had picked 7 books, took one to read on my train ride to work and realized I had already read that book! That could have been a disaster. That was 30 minutes of precious time lost! I didn't fret though. I'm a true book nerd! I had about 5 unread books at my desk! #BookNerdProblems

So, what am I reading for this challenge? Well my list consists of the following...

1. Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. Maxwell
2. Georgia Sweethearts by Missy Tippens
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Cereus: The Building by Sean Michael, Julia Talbot and Ba Tortuga
5. Stop Dragon My Heart Around by Michelle M. Pillows and Many M. Roth
6. Embattled Hearts by J.M. Madden
7. Love By The Letter by Melissa Jagears

4 of the books came from book conferences that I attended (Rules of Entanglement, Georgia Sweethearts, Cereus: The Building and Stop Dragon My Heart Around). Side note, if you go to a book conference, be prepared to ship books home. I stuffed 17 books in my carry on and shipped 44 books home. I only paid for about 5 of them! Score!

2 of them are kindle books (the X2! sticker at the boom of the book pile). I got them for free from Amazon. If you aren't subscribed to BookBub or All Romance or any number of free book lists, you are missing out. You don't have to have an e-book reader. You can use your laptop or desktop. That's a post for another day.

The final book is one or two that my brother lent me (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone). No, I haven't read this book. No, I haven't seen any of the movies. Yes, this is the British version because in my head, I am British (really I'm just an anglophile with issues). I MUST finish this one.

I am going to give it a good try. I think I can do it. These books are thinner reads or "quick reads" as I like to call them. I take the train to work so that's an hour a day. I'll cut back on my YouTube videos (arggggg) so that's several hours (what, 3?). And, I plan on two leisurely afternoons of reading this weekend. I feel very confident that this can happen.

What do you think?


Think about some of the books that you have that you need to read. What's on your shelf that just needs to come off? Plan your own readathon and get it done!