Category Archives: Reading Challenges

2016 Book #7 – Down the Wormhole by Ana Franco

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Reading Challenges, Young Adult by

51goyFUe8+L._SX357_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Down the Wormhole
Author: Ana Franco
Date finished: 1/24/16
Genre: YA, mythology
Publisher: Appears to be self-published
Publication Date: September 21, 2015
Pages in book: 171
Stand alone or series: #1 in Wormhole series
Where I got the book from: Author/publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher 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:

Jane “Kitty” Doe isn’t sure when her life started being so weird for the simple fact that she can’t recall much of her early life. She knows she’s an orphan and that her former tutor was obsessed with cats – hence her name – but can’t honestly fathom when having a Greek sorceress wanting her to be pregnant became part of that life.
Oh, and did she mention that the man said sorceress wanted to be the father of her child was one who, within months of his life, usurped Loki’s place as a Prince? She must have forgotten to mention that he also has fabulous legs. And a stupidly charming face. And that he actually wants to have a child with her?
Oh, right – that’s because he was under the effects of a love potion, courtesy of the witch that now stalks Kitty.
Ah, and then there’s another thing: inside her bathroom is a statue of Aphrodite, gift from her new roommate, Medusa.

My rating: 2.75 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 will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Start a New Series” square, since this book is the first in a series. This book is (mostly) about a girl named Kitty, who finds herself involved in the politics and old grudges of the Norse gods and goddesses, specifically Amerigin, Anubis, Medusa, Aphrodite, Eris and Set. Eris has some kind of master plan to gain revenge against Amerigin and it means that he must lose the thing he holds most dear. Which seems to be Kitty. So anyways, all of them except for Eris and Set end up at the same orphanage (somehow) and also somehow the guys didn’t even know the girls in their orphanage were goddesses. When Eris attacks though they band together to protect Kitty, who they believe to be an innocent but who is surprisingly unperturbed by the fact she has goddesses for roommates.
Overall I liked the story line of this book, it kept me interested and I stayed engaged in the story. However, there were A LOT of grammatical errors in this book (mostly verb tenses). After reading a little online, it seems that this book was the author’s first ever book in English which explained the poor grammar. Luckily I also read online that this book is currently being revised/rewritten with the help of an editor which I think will greatly improve it. This book I thought had a lot of potential story line-wise but needed a lot of help with grammar and pacing. For those who are seriously bothered by grammatical issues I would wait until the revised version comes out and hopefully that issue will have been dealt with. I have to say though I ended up getting invested in the story line and I am interested to see what happens next. Though the characters are slightly frustrating, the plot line (for me) was almost enough to overcome the issues present in this book.

The bottom line: While I thought this book had a lot of potential in the story line, the wealth of grammatical errors would deter some readers. If you think you can move past those though, the story line is fairly interesting and keeps you hooked. A little all over the place but its a shorter novel anyway so it fits the length of the book I think.

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

Link to author’s website

2016 Book #6 – The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by

413Jo9GzA2LTitle: The Swans of Fifth Avenue
Author: Melanie Benjamin
Date finished: 1/23/16
Genre: Fiction, biographical fiction
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 26, 2016
Pages in book: 368
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:

Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste, especially among her friends—the alluring socialite Swans Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman—a woman desperately longing for true love and connection.
Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into the enviable lives of Manhattan’s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe’s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls “True Heart,” Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller—even when the stories aren’t his to tell.
Truman’s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and White Ball. But all too soon, he’ll ignite a literary scandal whose repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America’s most sumptuous eras.

My rating:  4.5 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 that is published in 2016” square, since this book will be published this coming Tuesday. I had heard a lot about this book over the last couple months so when I saw it on NetGalley I requested it right away. This book is about a set of socialites from New York City and their friendship with author Truman Capote from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. What I thought was really interesting about this book was that it was based on the lives and known facts about real people, with some embellishing thrown in there to connect all the dots. All the people mentioned in the book though are real people, you can read about their lives and their actual friendship with Truman Capote and many of the characters have actual biographies you can read.
Overall I very much liked this book. The characters were all interesting and the story line was just scandalous. There was so much juicy gossip within the book it was hard to put it down. Also I thought the story of Truman and Babe’s friendship was truly touching and heart breaking in the end. This book gives the reader a window into the lives of the elite of the social world of New York City during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Where everything is glamour and glitz and the best that money can buy. And while it is nice to be able to do whatever you want when you have all the money in the world, according to this story it comes with a price. Cheating, lies, deceit. All are very prevalent in this story, to the point where the reader starts to pity these swans for the things they’ve all wanted in life but can never seem to have – love, happiness, a sense of belonging, people you can count on. The details of these socialite’s lives are spread through the pages of this book, and while the reader may feel sadness for these characters who can never seem to find love, the story is still entirely entrancing in its scandal and glamour.

The bottom line: I would definitely definitely recommend this book. I was riveted throughout the story, the whole thing was simply scandalous! Great story and especially interesting that its based around so many facts and actual history.

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #5 – Return of the Witch by Paula Brackston

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Historical fiction, Reading Challenges by

81J7cls7VfLTitle: The Return of the Witch
Author: Paula Brackston
Date finished: 1/16/16
Genre: Historical, fiction, time travel
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Pages in book: 339
Stand alone or series: Sequel to The Witch’s Daughter
Where I got the book from: BookBrowse NOTE: I received this book for free from BookBrowse 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:

Paula Brackston’s debut novel, The Witch’s Daughter, was the little book that could–with a captivating story, remarkable heroine, and eye-catching package, it has now netted over 200,000 copies in all formats. Now Paula returns with its sequel The Return of the Witch, another bewitching tale of love and magic, featuring her signature blend of gorgeous writing, a fabulous and intriguing historical backdrop, and a headstrong and relatable heroine readers will cheer for.
After five years in the Summerlands, Gideon has gained his freedom. Elizabeth knows he will go straight for Tegan, and that she must protect the girl she had come to regard as her own daughter. In the time since she the dramatic night in Batchcombe woods, Tegan has traveled the world learning from all manner of witches, and she is no longer the awkward teenager and novice spellcaster she once was. However, her skills are no match for Gideon’s dark, vengeful power, and he succeeds in capturing her. Will Elizabeth be able to find her? Will they be able to defeat their nemesis once and for all?
In a breathless journey that takes them through history to the 17th and 19th centuries, witch pursues warlock. Three people steeped in magic weave a new story, but not all will survive until the end.

My rating: 4.5 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. Also, this book will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Time Travel” square, since much of this book deals with traveling through time. This book picks up 5 years after the end of the previous book, “The Witch’s Daughter.” I didn’t know that this book was a sequel until I started reading it so I hadn’t read the first book ahead of time. While I didn’t find that this hindered me in any way, I think that some of the back story items discussed in this book would have made more sense to me if I had read the first book before hand. I still greatly enjoyed this book though.
From what I was able to gather, Gideon was defeated at the end of the first book and banished to a prison in some kind of witch heaven. In the beginning of this book, Gideon escapes his prison and returns to Earth. Elizabeth follows him, thinking that the first thing he’ll do is go after her young student Tegan not only for Tegan’s part in Gideon’s incarceration but also as a means of getting revenge on Elizabeth. While she is correct on Gideon’s direction, she has no idea that his plans for Tegan involve something far worse than merely revenge. After Gideon manages to capture Tegan, Elizabeth follows them through time to try and retrieve Tegan back from Gideon’s dark forces.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! I have to be honest I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much since the last book I read by Brackston (The Midnight Witch) I did not really enjoy so much because it was very confusing for me. This book was much easier to follow with the story line and it was a great story/plot. I do wish that I had read the previous book to have a better understanding of some of the back story but it was easy enough to figure out the gist of what had happened for the most part. And this book was just so interesting, it was one adventure after another. We learn about Tegan’s journey through the world in search of learning different types of magic and each stop ends up being more fantastical than the last.

 

The bottom line: I thought this was a great book! I would probably recommend reading the first book, well first (which I am planning to read soon) but if you don’t have time this book can technically be read as a book on its own. Was a great adventure! I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #4 – Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

Posted in 2015, Book Clubs, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Historical fiction, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

61YzHNAgO-LTitle: Mirror Mirror
Author: Gregory Maguire
Date finished: 1/11/16
Genre: Fiction, Fairy tale retelling, historical fiction
Publisher: ReganBooks
Publication Date: September 28, 2004
Pages in book: 280
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale: Mirror Mirror. Setting his story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy—and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen—Maguire and Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.

My rating:  3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (January). Also, this book will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Retelling” square, since this was a retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. I have been wanting to try reading something by Gregory Maguire for a while now since he has some popular books out and also because I loved loved loved Wicked the Musical (is based on his book Wicked). So I was pretty excited when this one was picked for book club. And while I’m still looking forward to reading the Wicked series, this retelling of Snow White just didn’t hit the spot for me.
This books tells the story of Bianca de Nevada, who lives at her home of Montefiore with her father Don Vicente. Vicente is sent on what is basically a wild goose chase by Cesare Borgia (real person) and Cesare’s sister, Lucrezia, promises to look after young Bianca. Bianca is only seven years old when her father leaves on his quest. Much of the political text of this book is based on what actually happened, which adds an interesting twist to the classic fairy tale.
Overall I feel weird about this book. It was really interesting and I liked pieces of it but it was a pretty dark story, more like Grimm’s fairy tales than the ones I’m used to. Also there was a lot of weird sexual stuff going on, lots of incest. Its hard for me to say that I liked or didn’t like this one, really it was interesting but it made me feel weird and also sad is the summation of how I felt about the book.

The bottom line: If you’re into dark fairy tales then you’d probably enjoy this. It was a little too freaky for my tastes but I have to admit it was a creative and interesting retelling of Snow White’s story. Seemed less like a fairy tale and more just like a regular fantasy novel.

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #3 – The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Reading Challenges by

51JtJTnelULTitle: The Things We Keep
Author: Sally Hepworth
Date finished: 1/9/16
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: January 19, 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:

Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there’s just one another resident her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life at Rosalind House. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke.
When Eve Bennett is suddenly thrust into the role of single mother she finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna’s and Luke’s families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them.

My rating:  4.25 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 “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “White cover” square, since this book has a white cover (duh). This book tells the story of Anna Forster, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s at only thirty-eight years old. While this would upset anyone, Anna is determined to live her life as best she can for the time she has left. After she almost ends up hurting someone important to her though, she decides that it might be best to go live in an assisted-living facility so that there will be less of a risk that she forgets something and burns down the house.Through research she ends up at one of the only other assisted living facilities that has another person like her, a man with early-onset Alzheimers, Luke.
It is at Rosalind House that Anna finds happiness with Luke. The book alternates between the period when their relationship is developing (as far back as fourteen months ago) and present day, when a woman named Eve Bennett comes to Rosalind House as the new chef. Eve has come upon some tough times herself recently, and she really needs this job to take care of herself and her seven year old daughter, Clementine. Anna’s and Eve’s stories intertwine and they both end up helping the other in unexpected ways.
Overall I really very much enjoyed this book. It was moving and had both light and heavy pieces to it. I thought there were some really interesting thoughts woven into the book on love. Is love really only based in memories? If you lose your memories are you also unable to love? Even if you don’t remember your nephew when he’s standing right in front of you I’d hope there is some piece of you that remembers that you love him. As Eve said in the book, that maybe “love is more like a river – it wants to flow, and if one path is blocked off it simply finds another.” What a tough concept though, that if you were to lose your memories you might also lose the love you have for your family. Anyways I liked all the characters in this book and that the focus of the book was Alzheimer’s, which up until now I hadn’t read much about. I would definitely recommend that people read this book, I thought it was great.

The bottom line: I would definitely definitely recommend this book. I thought it was an immensely touching story and gave a true look into the mind of someone living with Alzheimer’s. Plus it was a fairly quick read!

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #2 – Too Close to Home by Susan Lewis

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Thriller, Women's fiction by

518p6FZfawLTitle: Too Close to Home
Author: Susan Lewis
Date finished: 1/5/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller, women’s fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: December 15, 2015
Pages in book: 512
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:

Jenna Moore finally feels that she and her family are exactly where they should be. Leaving busy London behind, they’ve moved to the beautiful, serene Welsh coast. There Jenna, her husband, Jack, and the couple’s four children have found a little slice of heaven. In the house of their dreams, Jenna and Jack are ramping up for the launch of their new publishing business, and the kids are happier than they’ve ever been, wandering the wild, grassy moors that meet white sand beaches and wide ocean.

But a fissure cracks open. The once open and honest Jack suddenly seems to be keeping secrets, spinning intricate lies. And fifteen-year-old Paige has become withdrawn, isolating herself from her family and her new friends. Frightened of the darkness enveloping her family, Jenna struggles to hold her loved ones together. But a cruel disturbance has insinuated itself into her home, threatening to take away everything she holds dear.

My rating:  4.25 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 “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “2015 Release You Missed” square, since I was supposed to read this book for its 2015 release on NetGalley and fell a little behind therefore I missed it. This book tells the story of Jenna Moore, her husband Jack, and her four children (from oldest to youngest) Paige, Josh, Wills and Flora (twins). Paige is fifteen now and even though they just moved from London to Wales, she is making lots of new friends at her new school and she is thriving in her new school environment. She is working on a film project for school with the help of her step-father Jack and she was also given a lead role in an upcoming school play.
Jenna is happy with her family’s move and is looking forward to the business she is building with her husband. Though Jenna has already published a couple novels, she is currently experiencing some writer’s block and has fallen behind with her agent on her deadline for her next book. Other than that though things seem to be going along well. And then all of a sudden things start falling apart. Jenna starts noticing that her husband Jack is disappearing a lot. And his stories about where he’s been aren’t really adding up. Jenna starts to suspect that something awful may be brewing, but she isn’t prepared when Jack finally decides to reveal the truth. Also Paige has been distant, withdrawn, and downright mean lately to her family and Jenna can’t figure out why (though to be fair she doesn’t try overly hard to figure it out). What Jenna doesn’t realize is that Paige is dealing with her own demons, ones that she really needs help with but has no idea who or how to ask. And if Jenna isn’t careful, she may lose her firstborn to these events.
It is hard for me to say that overall I liked this book but I did. Obviously no one likes the story matter of this book, these are tough items to deal with. Divorce and bullying can make anyone’s stomach turn but even though these are hard topics to read about, they are so important. This book had an extremely important message about bullying and the trauma it can cause. The raw emotion in this book was just astounding to me, as a reader I was filled with tension and anxiety and apprehension for most of the book. I was on the edge of my seat with my stomach in flutters getting ready for the next fight. If you as a reader connect emotionally with the story then this may be a tough one because you will feel pain and desperation and frustration like you’ve never felt before in a book. I didn’t like this book because there was a happy ending, I liked this book so much because it was powerful. It had a powerful message that it delivered with powerful emotions through well developed characters. I think this is a book that everyone should read, if only to see the pain that bullying can cause.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book, it was riveting and heart-breaking and tension filled. Just be forewarned that if you are a reader who gets emotionally involved in the stories, this one may be a tough one to get through. Definitely recommend it though! Powerful stuff.

Link to author website

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

2016 Book #1 – Captain Rum by John Perrier

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by

51nHVnqrh3LTitle: Captain Rum
Author: John Perrier
Date finished: 1/2/16
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: JP Publishing Australia
Publication Date: February 26, 2015
Pages in book: 352
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Author/publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher 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:

When an Oxford Professor stumbles upon an old naval Captain’s log, he unwittingly discovers what many scholars now agree is one of the greatest maritime adventures in history.
In 1821, Captain Fintan McAdam set sail from London, solo, in search of adventure. During his journey, he discovered incredible new worlds and interacted with their amazing inhabitants. They forced him to confront his enemies within, learning much about himself.
Captain Rum, as told in McAdam’s own words through his journal, is a tale of discovery, despair and delight. It will keep you enthralled through many a stormy night.

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 is about Captain Fintan McAdam, the son of a ship-maker who has recently purchased his own vessel in the hopes of escaping England. McAdam has been on the run for a few years now, after his escape from prison in London. He tries to spend only as much time as necessary in London before casting off, but he still ends up escaping the police only in the nick of time. While McAdam was using his vessel to permanently escape the police, he was also trying to escape the memories of his past. He lost his wife in a tragic accident and the images of that day still haunt him daily. McAdam hopes that some time alone at sea will take him away from all the triggering events for these awful visions.
While at sea McAdam has multiple points where he barely survives. He lives through a typhoon, a severely damaged ship, near starvation, and an encounter with a primitive tribe on some remote island. Through most of the story McAdam is aided by his bird friend, Bubo, who he discovers floating on debris after the typhoon and nurtures back to health.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was very different and had a lot of interesting points to it, including McAdam’s experiences on both Bird Rock and Boot Island and his experience with training Bubo, who turned out to be a very intelligent bird. I found myself reminded at certain points of a recent read for me, The Island of Dr. Moreau, only because the reader sometimes wonders if the fantastical happenings are real or just the figment of a hysterical sailor’s imagination from being lost at sea. There is where the similarity ends though since I didn’t find Captain Rum to be at all dark or sinister. The story was charming and while there were a couple of slow points for me the story was engaging and kept my interest throughout. I was especially interested in Bubo the bird, I found it fascinating that a bird could be so well trained. While this bok isn’t one that I would normally have picked up on my own, it would definitely appeal more to readers who enjoy maritime novels, especially historical ones.

The bottom line: I thought this book was very interesting! While this wasn’t something I normally would have picked up on my own, this was a really interesting story and I would recommend it, especially to those who enjoy historical maritime novels.

 

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

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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2015 Book #125 – Before the Claiming by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Posted in 2015, Beautiful Creatures, Book reviews, Book series, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges, Young Adult by

51hfe2A1SHL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Before The Claiming
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Date finished: 12/31/15
Genre: Young adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Pages in book: 44
Stand alone or series: Novella in Beautiful Creatures series
Where I got the book from: Amazon purchase

Blurb from the cover:

While looking through her grandmother Emmaline’s keepsakes, Lena Duchannes comes across a little blue book with a big history–a book that changed Macon Ravenwood’s life and saved Lena’s.
When Lena was a baby, Seer and gifted card reader Amma Treaudeau saw a terrifying future in the cards that sent her to Emmaline’s door. When a powerful Dark Caster sets fire to Lena’s house with baby Lena and her father trapped inside, Amma, Emmaline, and Macon vow to protect the child. Lena’s grandmother and her Uncle Macon whisk Lena away, protecting her and moving her to a new place at the first sign of trouble. But a Caster can only hide for so long, and Macon must rely on the teachings in an ancient book to control his Dark nature. Ultimately, it will be his job to protect Lena–and keep her from surrendering to a Dark fate.
My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5
My review: This book will count towards my “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Fantasy” square, since this book/novella is based around a plot line with a lot of magic.
Overall this was a good story, it was interesting to hear some of the back story for Lena and how her father died. If you’ve read the Beautiful Creatures series I would definitely check this one out.
The bottom line: I would recommend this book if you’ve read and enjoyed the Beautiful Creatures series, it was a good addition to the series and was nice to visit with some of my favorite characters!
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2015 Book #124 – The Restaurant Critic’s Wife by Elizabeth LaBan

Posted in 2015, Book reviews, Bookish Bingo Holiday 2015, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

51ZVq3pdcrLTitle: The Restaurant Critic’s Wife
Author: Elizabeth LaBan
Date finished: 12/27/15
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Pages in book: 313
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:

Lila Soto has a master’s degree that’s gathering dust, a work-obsessed husband, two kids, and lots of questions about how exactly she ended up here.
In their new city of Philadelphia, Lila’s husband, Sam, takes his job as a restaurant critic a little too seriously. To protect his professional credibility, he’s determined to remain anonymous. Soon his preoccupation with anonymity takes over their lives as he tries to limit the family’s contact with anyone who might have ties to the foodie world. Meanwhile, Lila craves adult conversation and some relief from the constraints of her homemaker role. With her patience wearing thin, she begins to question everything: her decision to get pregnant again, her break from her career, her marriage—even if leaving her ex-boyfriend was the right thing to do. As Sam becomes more and more fixated on keeping his identity secret, Lila begins to wonder if her own identity has completely disappeared—and what it will take to get it back.

My rating: 3.5 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 “Holiday 2015 Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Free Space” square. This book tells the story of Lila Soto, who recently moved with her husband and young daughter to Philadelphia where Lila’s husband, Sam, has a job as a restaurant critic of a local newspaper. Sam had been temporarily writing as the restaurant critic in New Orleans and was able to find a permanent position in Philadelphia. He is so paranoid about keeping his identity a secret though that he doesn’t want Lila to make any friends or have a job or pretty much be seen in public at all. And when he thinks the restaurant owners start recognizing him, he begins to wear disguises when he’s going out. And while Sam is dealing with all of his paranoia issues, Lila has a new baby boy and is struggling with how to care for two young children.
So this book follows Lila’s story over the course of just about a year. During that time she has many ups and downs. Lila had been a very career-driven and successful woman before her move to Philadelphia, after which she and Sam decided that she would stay home with the kids for a while so that Sam could focus on his job. Lila ends up having more trouble with this than she thought she would though, and misses being in the work force.
Overall I liked this book. To be honest I had a lot of issues with Sam’s character. He was so unbelievably frustrating because he was constantly telling Lila that she couldn’t have any friends that are in any way involved in the restaurant industry. And she can’t work. And she has to take care of two small children with basically no help because even the babysitter will figure out who he is. About halfway through the book I just wanted to scream because Lila says repeatedly that she wants to go back to work and Sam just kept saying that they would talk about when the right time might be for that to happen but it wasn’t now and she couldn’t be interviewed at all for any reason and she couldn’t do FREAKING ANYTHING!!!! What does he want her to do just hide in the house for the next 30 years? He didn’t even want her to make friends with her neighbors. I wanted to punch him in the face, he kept talking about how she was making it impossible for him to do his job but why is his job the only one that is important? Why is his job more important than hers? Anyways, other than that one sticking point for me this was a good book. I think that mothers especially will connect with Lila’s character as most will probably identify with the struggle LaBan describes in many scenes where Lila is alone taking care of her two small children. Good book and I would recommend giving it a try!

The bottom line: I would recommend this book, it was a good story and kept me interested. I had some trouble with the husband’s character but not everyone may have my same issues. I would recommend giving it a try!

Link to author website

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