Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 1

KcxHEGZSo! This read-a-thon started out slightly slow for me yesterday. I did met my goal of reading 2 hours but I only ended up reading 85 pages. Today so far is going a little better but that is information for tomorrow’s update! So my Monday’s progress is below:

Updates

Monday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 209
Total number of pages I’ve read: 209
Books read: Finished Never Trust a Pirate (see my review on the book here) and started The Perfect Stranger
Challenges: I did the introduce yourself in six words challenge for Monday, posted it on Twitter here

Stay tuned for continued progress made in tomorrow’s post on my Tuesday update!!

2017 Book #42 – Never Trust a Pirate by Valerie Bowman

51HzyMz0VaL._SY346_Title: Never Trust a Pirate
Author: Valerie Bowman
Date finished: 5/8/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Pages in book: 321
Stand alone or series: #7 in the Playful Brides series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

The rules of engagement were never so scandalous. . .
A rumored pirate and the scurrilous black sheep of his well-to- do family, Cade Cavendish relishes his world of rebellion, deception, and seduction. Nothing and no one can hold him to be the duty-bound, honorable man he is expected to be. But when an unexpected run-in at his twin brother’s estate with a ravishing, raven-haired maid leads her to believe he’s actually a viscount, Cade’s renegade life is thrown wildly off-kilter. And even though a case of mistaken identity can be quickly set to rights, matters of the heart are quite different…
Miss Danielle LaCrosse is startled to learn that the handsome gentleman who radiates sin and has the devil in his eyes is not her employer the Viscount, but rather his infamous brother. A former heiress, orphaned and left penniless, Danielle has more than a few secrets of her own. Cade may be skilled at coaxing even the most hidden desires out of Danielle but can he earn her trust—and win her heart—as they embark on an adventure to confront a dangerous enemy from both of their pasts . . . and uncover the identity of the so-called Black Fox along the way?

My rating:  3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I also participated in the Blog Tour for this book, you can see the post here.  This book tells the story of Danielle LaCrosse, a lady spy assigned to watch over Cade Cavendish, brother to Rafe from a previous book. Danielle is a pirate but is adaptable and therefore takes a post as a lady’s maid to Cade’s sister-in-law, Daphne. Cade is a bit of a mystery and Danielle doesn’t learn much from watching him other than he’s a first class rake. Danielle is on a mission to avenge her murdered father, and so when her boss informs her that the man she’s been hunting is within her reach, she leaves her post thinking never to see Cade again. Little does she know that fate, and her boss, have more in store for her.
Overall I liked this book. It was an easy and quick read with adventure and romance all in one. I liked how mysterious Cade stayed through the first half of the book, the reader really starts to wonder if he’s up to no good. I also liked how the setting changed halfway through the story, I think that added a great hook mid way through the book when it might have gotten dry otherwise. The supporting characters, including Mary and the housekeeper among others, are all really entertaining and I loved the little make-shift family that Danielle had made for herself within the household. The book had a great dramatic ending, I liked the pace of the story and I was interested throughout. I would recommend this one!

The bottom line: I liked this book, it was a sweet story and a quick, light read. I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

Bout of Books 19 – Sign Up Post

Bout of Books

Last year I participated in a reading challenge called Bout of Books, and I had a great time participating so I thought I would do it again this year.

For those of you who don’t really know much about Bout of Books (including me), it is basically a week-long, no pressure read-a-thon that has been going strong since 2011! Here is a description directly from the Bout of Books blog:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

The Bout of Books Read-a-Thon was created by Amanda @ On a Book Bender on a complete whim in August 2011*. It took on a life of its own and was such a hit that Amanda decided to do it again and turn it into a somewhat regular occurrence.

  • Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, usually from 12:01am on a Monday through 11:59pm on a Sunday in whatever time zone you are in.
  • It is low pressure, meaning participants are only asked to push themselves to read more than they normally would during any given week. There is no competition between readers.
  • How much time a reader wants, and can commit, to read, tweet, or network with fellow bloggers is left to individual preference. All challenges and giveaways are optional.
  • Networking with fellow bloggers is actively encouraged, though never required.
  • Use Twitter to post updates throughout the read-a-thon. Everyone will be tweeting with the #boutofbooks hashtag.

Since I’m so behind in my reading schedule, this will be a great week to devote to reading and catch up! This is, unfortunately, looking to be a busy week for me work wise and we also have a number of family plans next weekend, so I won’t be able to devote as much time to reading as I would like to. But let’s hope to get a lot accomplished.

Time Devoted to Reading

I plan to read at least 2 hours each day during the week, with additional hours on the day or two I am home during the week. Also the Saturday and Sunday during Bout of Books I have other plans during much of both days but I hope to read for at least 2-3 hours those days as well.

My Goals

My goals for this read-a-thon are that I’d like to participate in as much as I can: the daily posts plus reading every day.

Books to Read

 

Hopefully I’m actually able to get through all of those, if so I could at least catch up with one week of books which would be great. I have a long list of backlog books that I have to catch up with still from 2016 and the first four months of 2017, but hopefully those will happen over the rest of the year. I’m really looking forward to this week-long reading challenge devoted to reading though! If you do want to join make sure to add yourself to the page’s Sign Up Post by Tuesday, May 9th at 11:59pm! Happy reading!