Category Archives: #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge

2015 Recap and 2016 Goals

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, 2016, ARC August, Book Clubs, Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge 2016, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, For the love of books, Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Challenge, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges, TBR Pile Reading Challenge (Roof Beam Reader), Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

New Year 2015

When I set my goals for 2015 at the beginning of the year, I knew I had a lot to accomplish but I thought that the extra motivation would help me stay focused. My goals overall were more about trying new things and being more open to different types of books. And I can honestly say that I’ve read some books in 2015 that I would not have picked up on my own volition and I think I am a better reader for it. I just had no idea that becoming a book blogger was going to end up as a part-time job for me. I am so grateful to all of the authors and publishers and other media outlets that have allowed my blog to grow this past year and allowed me to grow as a reader.

So to recap how I did for my 2015 goals, I didn’t complete all of them but I think I did a fairly good job and I accomplished some extra things that a) distracted me and b) I never even knew existed. One lesson learned this year is that NetGalley approves most, if not all, of your review requests, so don’t request like 15 that are all being published in the same month (August & September were BIG NetGalley months for me, ha!). Another thing I learned this year is that if you have a blog where you review books, eventually authors and publishers will start contacting you asking you to review something for them. I was very honored to review a number of books for authors and publishers this past year and it was a great learning experience for me. Not only that but I read a lot of books I might not have heard of otherwise and I would have missed out on some great reads! So anyways, my original post about my 2015 goals you can find here. Below I’ll talk about how I did!

1. Read at least 20 different types of the books on the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist – This one I did manage to finish! I read over 20 of the checklist items, you can browse through the ones I used to check off on this list here.

2. Post at least 2 non-book review related posts per month – I think I did pretty darn good on this one, though I have to admit I was better about coming up with ideas at the beginning of the year. Some of my favorite posts from this goal include my post about Gretna Green, post on my annual Reading Retreat, and my Author Interview with Andrea Lochen who is such a sweetheart!! I did end up skipping multiple months on this goal because I just ran out of time but I’m glad I tried writing about different topics and expanding my knowledge on certain areas.

3. Participate in one book reading challenge (on an external site) per quarter – Did this one too! For Q1 I did the Bookish Bingo challenge, Q2 I participated in #ReadingMyLibrary, Q3 I participated in ARC August challenge, and Q4 I am currently doing the Bookish Bingo holiday edition!

4. Post at least two posts per month concerning various book memes – Oh gosh I only missed one on this!!! Ugh if I knew it would end up this way I would’ve just done that one so I could check this one off. Anyways the one I missed was my second October post, monkeys! As you can probably tell by my posts I tend to favor the Top Ten Tuesday posts, followed closely by Friday Finds and Waiting on Wednesday ends in third. If anyone has suggestions for fun book memes that they participate in I am open to new ones!

5. Read at least 5 books from Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime – I don’t think I ended up doing this at all, which is unfortunate but I have a lifetime (ha) still to read them so I’m sure it will happen someday!

6. Participate in Roof Beam Reader’s 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge – I ended up only reading 7 of the 12 in my pile for this challenge, but I am still really glad I participated since I read some books that I had on my book shelf for quite a while! You can see the books I read for this challenge here.

So overall I think I ended up accomplishing A LOT this year, though the things I accomplished didn’t end up all being things I had planned at the beginning of the year as my goals. I had no idea that I would get so involved in NetGalley and also in author/publisher requests, and while they definitely side-tracked me from my original goals, I think that I grew a lot as a reader and a blogger because of these events. Another thing that came into my life this year that I’m really enjoying is joining a book club! I’ve found some great reads so far through my library’s fiction book club and I’m looking forward to the books we’re reading in 2016! You can see the books we read this past year for the book club here.

I ended up reading 125 books during 2015, which was an increase over my last year’s number. And I hadn’t really set a number goal for 2015 since i didn’t think I could read more than I did last year but I ended up doing just that. I’ve summarized the number of books I read per month for not only 2015 but also 2014 & 2013, below is a depiction of the data:

Per month chart for end of year post

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And so on we move to 2016!! Very excited to embrace the coming New Year and continue on my reading journey. I’m going to be trying to consolidate some of my 2016 goals so that I’m more able to achieve them while also tying in requests from authors/publishers and my NetGalley reads. I am also hoping to expand my reach in 2016 in terms of Advanced Reader Copies and hopefully establish a couple contacts/relationships with some of the publishers that I like. Below is a summarized listing of what my goals are for 2016:

  1. PopSugar 2016 Reading Challenge – Read at least 20 books off this checklist. I really enjoyed doing this checklist for 2015 so I decided to participate again for 2016
  2. Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 – I heard a lot about this checklist this past year at the Book Riot Live conference and online and I’m excited to try this checklist this year!
  3. Penguin Random House Challenge Your Shelf: Books A-Z Challenge – This was technically a 2015 challenge but I liked the list so much that I’m going to use it for 2016 just for my own purposes. I’m going to try and read at least 10 books off this list.
  4. Participate in one shorter reading challenge per quarter. And since I’m a planner by nature I’ve already picked out which ones I plan to participate in:
    1. Quarter 1 – I’m currently participating in Bookish Bingo: Holiday edition which runs through end of February 2016 so this one will be my Quarter 1 reading challenge
    2. Quarter 2 – I’ve been wanting to participate in a Bout of Books challenge for a while now but the timing never lined up for me in 2015 so I am planning on definitely participating in the one in May 2016.
    3. Quarter 3 – I really liked participating in the ARC August challenge this past August and I am sure I will have a bunch of ARC’s on my schedule at that point so I am planning to participate again this year.
    4. Quarter 4 – I found this listing of the 24 Best Books About Witches to Get You in the Halloween Spirit and I noticed a lot of the books on the list were already in my TBR list so for Sept/Oct I am gong to work my way through this listing (this will be my own reading challenge hosted by my site).
  5. Other general goals that are less defined but are just overall goals I’d like to work on:
    1. Establishing contacts/relationships with publishers
    2. Continue to review ARC’s from authors
    3. Try doing some shorter reviews on books that I don’t necessarily have as much to say on. I’ve been having trouble keeping up with all the reviews I have to do and I’m hoping to write some shorter reviews this year for the books I’m just reading on my own
    4. Try to wrap up some of the series that I’m in the middle of, I feel like there are just so many and I lose track of the characters. I know its unreasonable but I almost wish authors would release a full series at the same time and be like “ok that’s it I’m not doing anymore.” I’ll start reading a series because the “finale” is out and then there’s somehow another sequel released and while excited it is also incredibly frustrating.

SO! That is everything. Gosh that was a lot of typing but that is my 2015 wrap up and my 2016 beginning. I will also be posting my WordPress summary in a separate post as well. And for anyone interested here is a link to my Goodreads summary for the year. I hope everyone had a successful 2015 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #4 April 25th / Wrap Up

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

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Gosh, this week was just busy. I’m posting this a little late (its pretty much Sunday) but today was a little crazy. I figured after tax season was over I would just read for all of my free time but I forgot that I would have to add chores back into my schedule and also that it would take me double the amount of time to get home now that I’m back in rush hour traffic. Even with all my obstacles, over this past week I was able to read four books for the reading challenge: Fangirl, My Sunshine Away, The Liar, and Boy Meets Girl. The first two books I got from the Simsbury Public Library, The Liar I got from the Plainville Public Library, and Boy Meets Girl I got from the Terryville Public Library.

As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, you get an entry into the challenge giveaway for reading one book as part of the challenge but you get an additional entry for reading 5 additional books (up to two additional entries so 10 extra books). I already have the initial entry book and the next 5 books for an entry. Since I have one more extra entry I can use, my next 5 additional books were last week’s Cat Out of Hell and this week’s Fangirl, My Sunshine Away, The Liar, and Boy Meets Girl. Since I’ve read all the available books for this challenge, this post will also serve as my wrap up. I had a lot of fun participating in this challenge this month, I am a big fan of libraries so it was a great challenge for me! I am looking forward to reading some of the books on my TBR shelf that I bought though. Between the Bingo challenge I did from January to March and then this challenge this month, I have been busy in the challenge department and I still have other goals for the year that I want to work on!

rmlc-komika

So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: How often do you visit your library?

The answer is, quite frankly, not as often as I’d like. I try to go to at least one library a week, even if it isn’t my home library. During tax season this doesn’t ever work out for me because I’m always working during the hours that most libraries are open. Luckily for me, I end up having to travel all over the state for work, so I’m able to stop at a good variety of libraries. I have found this to be a really great way to keep finding new books. Libraries all have different collections so having access to more than one collection really gives you a great ability to find most anything you’d like to read.

While it is always nice to visit different libraries, visiting my home library turns into an event for me and I try to get there at least once or twice a month. Its important for me to check in with my “home base” not only to visit with my friends who work at the library but also to get caught up on any events going on at my home library that I might be interested in. Also most libraries are good at assessing the likes and dislikes of their patrons and buying books that they know their patrons will take out and read. Luckily for me, that usually means I have an interest in a lot of the books at my home library!

 So what about you all? How often do you get to your library? Do you wish you could go more?

2015 Book #37 – Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

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Title: Boy Meets Girl
Author: Meg Cabot
Date finished: 4/25/15
Genre: Chick-lit / Women’s fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Publication Date: January 2004
Pages in book: 383
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Meet Kate Mackenzie. She:

  • works for the T.O.D. (short for Tyrannical Office Despot, also known as Amy Jenkins,Director of the Human Resources Division at the New York Journal)
  • is sleeping on the couch because her boyfriend of ten years refuses to commit
  • can’t find an affordable studio apartment anywhere in New York City
  • thinks things can’t get any worse.

They can. Because:

  • the T.O.D. is making her fire the most popular employee in the paper’s senior staff dining room
  • that employee is now suing Kate for wrongful termination, and
  • now Kate has to give a deposition in front of Mitch Hertzog, the scion of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest law families,who embraces everything Kate most despises … but also happens to have a nice smile and a killer bod.

The last thing anybody — least of all Kate Mackenzie — expects to finding a legal arbitration is love. But that’s the kind of thing that can happen when … Boy Meets Girl.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Terryville Public Library. This book was a re-read for me, I have read all of Meg Cabot’s adult books before and have loved them all. This book is a perfect, light-hearted, entertaining read. Kate is a bleeding heart character. Her and Mitch actually turn out to be a great match since he worked as a public defender and understands the bleeding heart mentality. Mitch’s family is just hilarious too. I couldn’t stand Stuart and I couldn’t even believe he could have some of those thoughts as a sane human being.
All the characters in this book (even the villainous-like ones) are entertaining I think. I love that this novel is in the epistolary form because you get to hear pieces from almost every character’s point of view and I find that makes the story better in many ways. Overall this is a sweet story and a light, fun read.

The bottom line: This was a re-read for me. I would definitely recommend.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2015 Book #36 – The Liar by Nora Roberts

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Reading Challenges, Romantic suspense by

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Title: The Liar
Author: Nora Roberts
Date finished: 4/24/15
Genre: Romantic suspense
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: April 14, 2015
Pages in book: 501
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions …
The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.
Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning …

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Plainville Public Library, luckily for me there it was sitting right on the shelf on its release date! I’m a fan of Nora Roberts and this book in particular sounded interesting to me. Right from the beginning this book drew me in. I have to admit I was a little daunted at first based on the length (hardcover book with 500 pages!!) but it went surprisingly fast. I found the story to be well-paced for the most part. There are obviously going to be a few dry parts in a 500 page book, I’m not sure how anyone can avoid that, but the story line was interesting and the characters kept me engaged throughout.
I have to say I just fell so much in love with Griff’s character. He was just so amazingly sweet and generous and loving. He was obviously smitten with Shelby’s little girl, four-year old Callie. And I thought it was so great that Shelby had such a supportive family to fall back on. Her story really is just astounding, and heart-wrenchingly sad that she lived for five years with someone who made her feel so worthless and unwanted. That’s an awful feeling and to be constantly made to feel that by someone you love, I can understand how she lost some of her spirit. It was wonderful to see her regain that spirit and grow throughout the novel though.
One of the things that I have to be honest I didn’t love about this book was the amount of characters we’re introduced to through the course of the story. Gosh it was just too much for me, I could barely keep them all straight. And some of them had the same names like little three year-old Jackson and Shelby’s grandfather Jack, and Shelby’s father Clay and her brother Clayton. It was just hard to keep track of sometimes. It was also hard to keep track of who was talking, there was a LOT of conversation going back and forth in most of the book, sometimes for long rambles and at a couple points I had to go back through because I was like, wait who said that?

The bottom line: Was good and surprisingly well-paced for such a long book. Favorite part of the story was Griff I think. Would recommend.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2015 Book #35 – My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges by

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Title: My Sunshine Away
Author: M.O.Walsh
Date finished: 4/22/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Pages in book: 303
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

It was the summer everything changed.…
My Sunshine Away unfolds in a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom. But in the summer of 1989, when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—experiences a horrible crime late one evening near her home, it becomes apparent that this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia has a dark side, too.
In My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh brilliantly juxtaposes the enchantment of a charmed childhood with the gripping story of a violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love. Acutely wise and deeply honest, it is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.

My rating: 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the#ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Simsbury Public Library. I’ve seen this book in a number of recent book review publications and it was listed as #11 on Amazon’s Best Books of February 2015 listing. Going into this book, I knew that it was not going to be a happy-go-lucky book. This was an odd book for me. From the beginning of the novel, you can feel the narrator’s guilt. It is confusing at first trying to discover whether the narrator was the actual criminal in the act that would forever alter Lindy Simpson. After learning of the narrator’s character through the story though, it is hard to imagine him capable of rape. The book alternates between memories from before and after Lindy’s rape, centering around our narrator’s experiences with his family and with Lindy herself.
There were a lot of profound thoughts that this adult narrator looking back on his teenager self is realizing or just now articulating. His description with his mother and father, who are divorced, as well as how he deals with his sister’s death, are thought-provoking. His description of realizing that weakness lives in both his parents is something every child realizes as they grow and have to realize that a weakness lies within all of us. One of the thoughts from the book that really stuck with me is when the author states that he finds it amazing how little information children have to work with on a daily basis, or something to that effect. It really is entirely true. Children have to operate on a daily basis with less information that adults because the adults in their life are (hopefully) trying to shield them from the harsh realities of the world.
The whole story is told in the first person through the view of our narrator and I found it really amazing that looking through the narrator’s eyes as a teenager, I could connect so well and see the hormonal ups and downs and emotional rollercoaster that the narrator was just trying to survive during this awful period of time in Lindy’s life.
I thought this was overall a very interesting book. It deals with some very heavy issues though so I would say that readers definitely need to have the mental maturity to handle those issues that are introduced in the story.

The bottom line: A little dark but I think contains some very important thoughts, I would recommend with a precaution. You read about the aftermath of how a neighborhood deals with a girl’s rape. It is harsh. Just be prepared. Not for kids.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2015 Book #34 – Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Reading Challenges, Young Adult by

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Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Date finished: 4/20/15
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Pages in book: 433
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

In Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life–and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the#ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Simsbury Public Library. I saw this book awhile ago, can’t remember where, but it looked good so I added it to my TBR list. I saw it at the library and decided to pick it up. I’ve never read anything by this author before, but I have heard a lot of good things.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I loved almost all the characters in this story. All of them evolved so much through the book I felt like I was growing and changing with them. Cather is such a great character and I really connected with her on her anxiety issues since I suffer from similar issues a lot of the time. I couldn’t necessarily connect with her on her shyness with boys but overall she was just such an easy character to connect with. And oh my gosh, Levi. If I could pick any of the characters I’ve read about that I would want for a boyfriend, it would be Levi. He is just amazingly sweet and so happy its disgusting and awesome at the same time.
One of the characters I really just didn’t like in the book (mostly because I think I wasn’t supposed to) was the mom, Laura. She was so disinterested in her own daughters and she leaves them when they’re 8 and never contacts them again. But she goes on to get remarried and she has step-kids and that’s ok? And what the hell is with the thing that when she ended up with twins instead of one baby, she didn’t even pick a second name she just split up the one name she had already picked out (Cather + Wren = Catherine). I mean it ended up being cute names for the girls but the mom was just being lazy and it just makes me dislike her more.
There was a good amount of teen angst in this book which is why I stopped reading young adult books a few years ago, it just became too frustrating. This book was not overwhelmingly teen angst though and the story line I still found to be solid and interesting. I couldn’t put this book down yesterday, I was up reading til I finished it at 1am. Great story, great characters, great feels. I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future.

The bottom line: Great book, lots of feels. Sweet characters. I would definitely recommend.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

#ReadingMyLibrary challenge – Library Scavenger Hunt!

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

rmlc-komika

So! As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary challenge, the hosts came up with the brilliant idea to organize a library scavenger hunt! I completed the scavenger hunt at the Terryville Public Library today with my mom. So here are the guidelines for the library scavenger hunt. If you want to participate in the giveaway, please find at least TEN (10) of the following things in your library. If you are unable to find ten of these things, leave a note in your post explaining that. This scavenger hunt was great fun! I used to work at the Terryville Library so it was a little easier for me since I already knew where most things were and from shelving books for 5 years I could think of a few different books to meet the requirements needed. Everyone should try this, it is a great way to get to know your library better!

Make a post on your blog (or Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc) with pictures of the following things:

  • Your library
  • Library Card
  • Old School Card Catalog (we know that not all libraries have one of these, so take a picture of the catalog on a computer instead!)
  • Your Librarian / Circulation Clerk (ask nicely and I’m sure they’ll let you!)
  • Date Stamper
  • Bookmark
  • An audio book
  • A DVD
  • Withdrawn or discarded book (can be controversial, but a part of a book’s life at a library.  Most end up for sale)
  • Fun library furniture
  • Your favorite library book (could be broken down into F, NF, YA, JF/MG, E, etc)
  • A large print book
  • Your library’s event calendar
  • Flyer for an upcoming event
  • A fun display
  • A book from the 800 non-fiction section (a book categorized in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System)
  • A set of encyclopedias
  • Newspaper/Magazine
  • A graphic novel
  • Fun round (take a picture with all these books together – make sure you take the stack up to the circ desk when you’re done so they can in-house the books!):
  • Find a book with a girl in a dress on the cover
  • Find a book that’s green
  • Find a book with an author who has the same initials as you
  • Find a book with a number in the title
  • Find a cookbook
  • Find a picture book
  • Find a book with a picture of someplace you would like to visit
  • Find a book with more than eight (8) words in the title
  • Find a book with a one (1) word title
  • Find a book about libraries or with the word library in the title
  • Find a book with a duck on the cover

Here is a gallery with all the items from the list I found in my library!

2015 Book #33 – Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges by

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Title: Cat Out of Hell
Author: Lynne Truss
Date finished: 4/18/15
Genre: Fiction – Not really sure what genre
Publisher: Melville House
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Pages in book: 162
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

For people who both love and hate cats comes the tale of Alec Charlesworth, a librarian who finds himself suddenly alone: he’s lost his job, his beloved wife has just died. Overcome by grief, he searches for clues about her disappearance in a file of interviews between a man called “Wiggy” and a cat, Roger. Who speaks to him.
It takes a while for Alec to realize he’s not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking to Wiggy . . . and that much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they’re smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What’s more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does – Roger’s older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he’s seen it all.
And he’s got a tale to tell, a tale of shocking local history and dark forces that may link not only the death of Alec’s wife, but also several other local deaths. But will the cat help Alec, or is he one of the dark forces?

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5
My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Simsbury Public Library. I saw this book in a recent BookPage publication I think and a couple other places so when I saw it at the library I thought I would give it a try. To be honest I thought this book was going to be a funny book. It wasn’t especially. Looking back I think there were some parts that were either funny or were supposed to be funny. Overall I found the book to be scary though. Like horror movie scary. Cats that can talk and can kill you just by hissing at you? If that’s not the stuff of horror movies then I don’t know what is.
That being said, the story line was very interesting. The book was only about 160 pages so it was short and well-paced. The story was fairly easy to follow. A lot of people died though. And I am a pretty big fan of cats so the idea of murderous talking cats was more than somewhat unpleasant to me. The story line had a good flow though from one section to the next and I honestly just loved the Sherlock Holmes and other literary and cultural references. Very good book.

The bottom line: Not what I expected but I have to say it was interesting. A bit like a horror movie. But sometimes kind of funny.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #3 April 18th

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

Patch-Management-Updates

Thank goodness tax season is over! Now that I’m not going to be working quite as much, I’m hoping to get some work done on my house and also get some more reading done! Over this past week I was able to read three books for the reading challenge: Every Boy’s Got One, The Magician’s Lie, and I just finished Cat Out of Hell this morning (book review to be posted later today). The first two books I got from the Terryville Public Library and the Cat book I got from the Simsbury Public Library.
As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, you get an entry into the challenge giveaway for reading one book as part of the challenge but you get an additional entry for reading 5 additional books (up to two additional entries so 10 extra books). Since Vintner’s Daughter was my book 1 for this challenge, that’s my one book for the first part of the challenge. My next 5 additional books were last week’s Cure for the Common Breakup, You’re So Fine, and Find Me and this week’s Every Boy’s Got One and The Magician’s Lie. I’m hoping to get through another 5 books in the next 12 days so that I can get that second additional entry into the giveaway!

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So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: Why you love libraries or why you love being a librarian. I worked at the library in my town all through high school and when I was home on breaks from college. I’ve always loved books and reading, ever since I was little. Late in middle school though I really started to get addicted to reading. When it came time for me to find a job in high school, I could think of no place I’d rather work then a library. Luckily for me, the library was within walking distance of my high school. I begged and pleaded with the library director until they gave me a job. I was a big talker (loud too) early in high school so I think they were nervous about giving me a job at first. I have to be honest, I was a pretty rambunctious kid and I think working at the library is really what settled me. I relished the quiet and peace of the library and realized how much I loved and needed those periods of silence through the day.

Another reason I loved working at the library is that I’m absolutely addicted to books. I can’t walk into a book store or a library without buying/checking out a new book, even though I already have a stack of 50 books to read at home and I know that I absolutely do not need another book. And the thing that really fed the addiction is that working at the library I could check the same books out over and over again if I didn’t have time to read them. I think I had one book checked out for almost a year. So really the library was just about the perfect place for me.

Over the years I have learned that I love not only working at my home library but also just going to any library and browsing the books there gives me immense pleasure. I have about a million (might be a small exaggeration) books on my TBR list and coming across one or two of them at different libraries and checking them out to read is a great feeling. Each new book is a new adventure for me and I’m able to travel to so many places through reading. Libraries provide me with that. What could one possibly not love about a place like that?

2015 Book #32 – The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction, Magical realism, Reading Challenges by

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Title: The Magician’s Lie
Author: Greer Macallister
Date finished: 4/17/15
Genre: Fiction – Mystery / Historical / Magical
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 13, 2015
Pages in book: 312
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden’s husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear.
But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless-and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding. Over the course of one eerie night, Virgil must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free… and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors.

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5
My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Terryville Library. I saw this book in a recent BookPage publication I think and a couple other places so when I saw it at the library I thought I would give it a try. From the beginning, this was a really interesting story. The murder is introduced early on in the book and then we learn through the rest of the story how this young woman’s life has gotten to where she is now, in police custody.
The Amazing Arden has had what many would consider a very difficult life. Her story is heart-wrenching and enthralling at the same time. That she has survived so much is truly astounding. There were a couple of drier parts to the story that were a little more difficult to get through but overall I really liked the book. The only thing I still wondered about after it ended was what happened to Ada’s mom? I can’t help but worry that Ray found a way to somehow punish Victor and the mom for Ada’s disappearance.
Ray’s character was just so creepy. The whole time I was reading this book, I found myself looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following me. Ray is just such a scary person and the whole book just felt so real to me that I felt like I was living the scary parts sometimes.

The bottom line: Really interesting! Pretty dark but I found it riveting. I would recommend it.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page