Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 3

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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Well Day 3 was a pretty busy workday for me so I didn’t get much reading done. I was in a training all day and then I had to catch up on work after it so I only managed to read about 1.5 hours probably. I did finish a book and start another though! So my Wednesday’s progress is below:

Updates

Wednesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 90
Total number of pages I’ve read: 550
Books read today: I finished The Perfect Stranger (LOVED IT – you can see my review here) and started The Simplicity of Cider (it’s really good so far!)
Challenges: I did the shelfie challenge for Wednesday, you can see my Twitter post here

I have a pretty busy workday again today but then I’m off tomorrow! Looking forward to sleeping in and then reading all morning!

10May2017

Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 2

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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Well Day 2 went better than Day 1. I still had to work but I ended up reading for 3-4 hours (mostly thanks to a devoted reading break after the dentist but before Lions). So my Tuesday’s progress is below:

Updates

Tuesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 251
Total number of pages I’ve read: 460
Books read today: Continued reading The Perfect Stranger (IT IS SO GOOD)
Challenges: I did the Not a Font challenge for Tuesday, I posted it on Twitter here

I’m hoping to make good progress through the rest of today. Today is a busy workday for me but I spent some time reading before work and will also read before bed. I’m looking forward to a day off on Friday! Happy reading to you all!

10May2017

2017 Book #43 – The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

Posted in 2017, Book reviews, Bout of Books 19, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Suspense, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: The Perfect Stranger
Author: Megan Miranda
Date finished: 5/10/17
Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: April 11, 2017
Pages in book: 353
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
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:

Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.
Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.
Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

My rating: 4.75 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. This book tells the story of Leah Stevens, a journalist who has recently relocated from Boston to rural western Pennsylvania to escape the mess she’s made of her life. Starting over with a teaching position, she hopes to leave her failure behind her. Leah moves in with a friend that she’s recently reconnected with, Emmy. She and Emmy lived together for a few months right after Leah graduated from college, when she became a new person and began to form the structure of her adult life. After not seeing Emmy for eight years, she suddenly reappears just when Leah seemingly needs her most. But then a dead body is found by the lake and this small rural town in western Pennsylvania starts to feel a little less safe. And as the bodies, and the secrets, start piling up, with Emmy missing and Leah left to connect the dots, the truth unravels and Leah learns that the danger really is everywhere.
AHH Overall, my gosh, I loved this book. I was addicted, on the edge of my seat, didn’t want to put it down. I found myself continually looking around trying to “find the danger” when I wasn’t reading. Leah as a character was great. She’s on the edge of losing it and she gets so deep into this that the reader even starts to question if Emmy is real or not. I loved the mind-games that this book plays with the reader, the danger really is everywhere and Leah is in much more trouble than she could have ever imagined. The way that the author presents the different relationships within this book I found to be really interesting too. Leah realizes later on in the book and its true but relationships are all about perspective. Your specific perspective of that person and what they present to your relationship could only be one facet of them as a person and of their lives, which I found to be a thought-provoking aspect to this story. This was a great and interesting book with great plot twists and a constant threat of danger. This is going to be a must read for this summer, I would definitely recommend!

The bottom line: I loved this book, I was on the edge of my seat and I just loved the twists and turns in the plot. This one is a must read for the summer, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

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

10May2017

Bout of Books 19 Update – Day 1

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

KcxHEGZ So! 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!!

9May2017

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

Posted in 2017, Book reviews, Bout of Books 19, Historical Romance, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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

7May2017

Bout of Books 19 – Sign Up Post

Posted in 2017, Bout of Books 19, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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

Finish Never Trust a Pirate by Valerie Bowman
Read Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams
Read The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda
Read Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler
Read The Simplicity of Cider by Amy E. Reichert

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!

2Jan2017

2016 Recap and 2017 Goals

Posted in For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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I can’t believe that 2016 is already over! This year flew by and I was able to get so much accomplished while also having lots of fun. When I set my goals for this year I wanted to get in a better variety of books. I was able to accomplish some goals but not as many as I had planned. I find it hard sometimes to do the reading challenges that I’d like to do. I sign up for too many reviews between all the ARC sites and email requests, and I end up barely being able to keep up with that review schedule. It doesn’t end up leaving much room for reading specific books to fit requirements of a reading challenge. I couldn’t even really keep up all year, I have about 30 books from summer-ish that I still have to read for NetGalley. I ended up kind of giving up on some goals that I had set for 2016 in order to keep up with my reading schedule and also to keep my sanity!

So! To recap on the goals I had set for 2016:

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 – I ended up completing this one, you can browse through the ones I used to check off the list here.
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! – I was able to check off 8 out of the 24 boxes, not as much as I would have liked but you can see the books I used for this checklist here.
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. – Unfortunately I didn’t get to read any of the books on this list, maybe some other year!
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 – Seems like a running theme but I didn’t do well with this reading challenge this past winter, I didn’t even get a real bingo. I did the best I could though, and you can see my bingo square and the books I read here.
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. – I did participate in a Bout of Books this past May and it was great fun! This one worked really well for me since I just had to read as much as possible. You can see my posts from this challenge here.
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. – This one also went fairly well for me, I had some time off in August and I was able to devote a good amount of time to reading. You can see which ARCs I was able to read and review during this challenge here.
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). – I didn’t end up having time to do this, maybe some other year.
Other general goals that are less defined but are just overall goals I’d like to work on:
1. Establishing contacts/relationships with publishers – I think I made some good progress on doing this, I have been participating more in Blog Tours through the books I request on NetGalley and I have made a couple contacts through these requests. Definitely lots more room to grow here though!
2. Continue to review ARC’s from authors – Check, did it. Lots. Almost every book I read this year was an ARC or author request.
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 – I maybe did a couple but I could definitely do more of these shorter reviews next year.
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. – I probably didn’t do these well, I read mostly ARC’s so unless I got an ARC for a book in my series then it probably didn’t get read.

So overall I set a TON of goals and accomplished a few and passed on a few. I definitely read A LOT. I read some books that I never would have picked out on my own, and some of these I really loved too. I made connections with some wonderful authors, I’d consider some of them friends at this point even. I also continued participating in a local book club this year, that also has introduced me to books I might not have read otherwise. You can see the books we read for book club this year here. And there were also a couple books I read for an online book club this year, you can see those here. I also started doing Monthly Status Update posts on my reading progress throughout the year.

I ended up reading 122 books in 2016, below is a chart showing # of books read per month for this year and also the last 3 years. I peaked this year in May, I think I burned myself out a little. I slowed down during the summer as life got in the way.

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And now onto 2017!! I am excited to see what the next year will bring. For my goals for 2017, my main focus will be on trying to finish all the ARC’s that I wasn’t able to read during 2016. Other than that I hope to do a couple reading challenges again that I enjoy and continue to work on my relationships.

Finish any ARC’s from 2016 that I missed from NetGalley.
Participate in 2 reading challenges:
1. Bout of Books 19 in May 2017
2. ARC August in August 2017
Other general goals:
1. Writing shorter reviews
2. Continuing to establish relationships

Short and simple! That’s pretty much my plan in essence this year, to keep it simple and just accomplish as much as I can. And that’s it! Hopefully 2017 is a productive and happy year for me and for all of you as well! Happy new year to everyone!!

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4Nov2016

2016 Monthly Status Update: October

Posted in 2016, Blog tour, Book reviews, Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge 2016, For the love of books, Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Challenge, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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A few days late but I’m catching up on my blogging! I meant to post this a few days ago but my work schedule has been just insane this week. October was a busy month for me between work and all the reading I’ve been getting done. Also went to Pennsylvania for the weekend. Lots going on in the next month as well, going to Florida next weekend and then Thanksgiving is just around the bend. But I am getting a good amount of reading done and reading some great things!

Monthly Stats:
# books read this month: 10
# pages read this month: 3,305
# books read year-to-date: 102
# pages read year-to-date: 31,138

Favorite Books I Read:

Wow October was a great month for reading. This was such a hard choice for me to pick my favorites, I read so many good books.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – 4.25 stars
The Boy Is Back by Meg Cabot – 4.5 stars
Faithful by Alice Hoffman – 4.5 stars

Books I Didn’t Particularly Enjoy:

I had a great month and really didn’t dislike anything I read, which is great!

Status of 2016 Reading Challenges:

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2016 Checklist – 20/20 books read
Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge – 8/24 books read
Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Reading Challenge – 0/26 books read

November TBR list:

-Melody’s Key by Dallas Coryell
-The Legendary Lord by Valerie Bowman
-When a Laird Finds a Lass by Lecia Cornwall
-Picture Perfect Wedding by Lynnette Austin
-The Amateurs by Sara Shepard
-Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
-The Danger of Desire by Sabrina Jeffries
-Duke of Pleasure by Elizabeth Hoyt
-Mistletoe, Mischief and the Marquis by Amelia Grey

There are a lot of books on my backlog too so I’m hoping to have some time to dig into some of those but we will see how the month goes. Happy reading everyone!

25Oct2016

2016 Book #101 – Christmas Joy by Nancy Naigle

Posted in 2016, Blog tour, Book reviews, Contemporary romance, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Christmas Joy
Author: Nancy Naigle
Date finished: 10/24/16
Genre: Contemporary romance, holiday
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Pages in book: 352
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
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:

Joy Holbrook might be all work and no play, but that changes when her Aunt Ruby takes a fall that lands her in a rehabilitation center before the holidays. Joy takes a leave of absence from her job as a market researcher to run the family farm, even though the timing may hinder her chance at garnering the promotion of her dreams.
Ben Andrews isn’t your average accountant. He also happens to be the handiest man in Crystal Falls. He’s helped his elderly neighbor, Ruby Johnson, decorate for the annual Christmas Home Tour―and win―the last several years. He’s not about to let some drop-in niece break their winning streak.
Ruby seems overly concerned about Joy being able to handle Molly. Under the impression she’s referring Molly the bunny that is one of the menagerie of animals, Joy’s not worried at all until the next morning when a little girl named Molly shows up. For the sake of her aunt, Joy is forced to partner with Ben while Ruby is on the mend to help with preparation for the Christmas tour and, in the process finds her career-focused heart dreaming of a family.
Will the magic of Christmas help her to open her heart and find her everlasting joy?

My rating: 3.25 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. This book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a book with a protagonist who has your occupation” square, since the male lead in the story is an accountant just like me! This book is about Joy Holbrook, a woman with an exciting career in marketing with a firm in D.C. She is up for a promotion and has been working extremely hard towards this goal. When she gets a call about her Aunt Ruby being in the hospital, she drops everything and drives the 5 hours home to Crystal Falls to make sure she’s ok. While her aunt is in a rehab center for her broken ankle, Joy (eventually) accepts the help of Ben Andrews in getting Ruby’s house set up for a big Christmas event taking place in a few week’s time. Joy was able to get some time off work to take care of things in Crystal Falls, and between getting the house ready, taking care of Ruby’s vast variety of animals (its pretty much a literal zoo there on the farm) and watching after Molly (a young girl Ruby helps to take care of) Joy’s days are jam-packed and surprisingly joyful. Joy finds herself happier than she can remember being in some time, which makes her begin to wonder if she could leave the life of the city behind and be happy in this small town?
Overall I liked this book. The description of the festival and of the community that made up the small town of Crystal Falls was heart-warming and really helped to get me into the holiday spirit. It was a little cheesier than I usually go for but cheesy is sometimes exactly what you’re looking for! I thought this was very similar to how I feel while I’m watching one of those Hallmark Christmas movies, and I honestly hope it gets picked up as one because I would love to see it! This was definitely a light read and some of the conversations seemed a bit forced but it was a sweet read that is sure to get you dreaming of a white Christmas. And the lessons that the reader can take away from the book are ones that are most important this time of year: to work a little less, spend more time with family, and to appreciate the moments we’re given with our loved ones.

The bottom line: I thought this was a good read, definitely a little cheesy but also heart-warming and cheerful. This is a great one to get you into the Christmas spirit!

Link to author website

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

2Oct2016

2016 Monthly Status Update: September

Posted in 2016, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

I can’t believe how fast September flew by. September is a big month for me since both my Mom’s and my birthdays are in the middle of the month. This past month we also went to Block Island, 2 weddings, and 2 birthday parties. Lots of events this month meant unfortunately less time for reading. Work is also starting to pick up for me so I will be reading even less in the next couple months but I’m hoping to keep active with my overwhelming reading schedule!