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

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

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!

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?

21Apr2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Authors

Posted in Book memes, For the love of books, Top Ten Tuesday by rebeccabook17

Top Ten Tuesday is a book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday there is a different bookish topic and bloggers are asked to post their own top ten list based on the topic. This week is a listing of the Top Ten All Time Favorite Authors. My favorite authors can fluctuate every so often but below I’ve put together a listing of my 5 all-time favorite authors , 3 authors that I’ve discovered in the last year or so that I’m in love with, and 2 authors of which I read their debut novels and absolutely loved them.

All-time favorite authors:

1. Linda Howard – I’ve loved most of her novels, especially Mr. Perfect and Now You See Her
2. Kristan Higgins – Just love entirely. There are no other words.
3. Meg Cabot – I love her adult series, they’re funny and witty and sweet
4. MaryJanice Davidson – Every book I’ve read of hers is funny. Every one.

Recently added favorite authors:

5. Emily Giffin – Loved her Something Borrowed and Something Blue
6. Eloisa James – LOVE the Fairy Tale series
7. Sandra Brown – I always end up on the edge of my seat with her books

Favorite Debut authors I read in the last year and LOVED:

8. Susan Rieger – Last year I read The Divorce Papers and I devoured it, it was amazing!
9. Cynthia Swanson – Read The Bookseller and loved it
10. Kristen Harnisch – Recently read The Vintner’s Daughter and it was great!

So! That’s my list! What about you all, who are your favorite authors?

29Mar2015

Top 5 books I’m Looking Forward to Reading on the Beach

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

With summer just around the bend, I am using all my powers of positive thinking to get through the last of the cold days of winter and looking forward to the warmth of spring and summer. And so to prepare for the wonderful upcoming summer, I’ve been considering which books I’d take with me if I were to be laying on a warm beach tomorrow. The following list is the five books I currently would like most to be reading on a beach right now.

1. Desperately Ever After by Laura Kenyon

This book is basically a “where are they now” story about our favorite fairy tale princesses. We catch up with Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Penelopea years after they’ve supposedly obtained their “happily ever afters.” I think this would be a fun book to read on the beach, it sounds funny and I love the fairy tale princesses.

2. The Marriage Season by Linda Lael Miller

This book is the third in the Brides of Bliss County series by this author. We will read the story of the third in a group of three girlfriends who is going to fall in love with the third in a group of guy friends. I really mostly want to read this story to find out what the other two charms on the charm bracelet are. Silly I know but it still bothers me that we never found out what the charm for the woman in the last book was. Also I think this will be a light, cheerful read which can sometimes make a really good beach read.

3. The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase

This is a debut novel by Chase. The author is said to have a writing style similar to that of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin, both of which I very much enjoy. I think this would be a good one to read on the beach since it sounds really interesting to me and if her writing style really is similar to those two authors I have a feeling this book is going to just suck me right into the story.

4. This One Is Mine by Maria Semple

I read another book by Maria Semple earlier this year and just loved it. It dragged me into the story and didn’t release me. I devoured it in a day. I’m hoping that I love this book just as much. And if it devours me just as quickly, it could make a great beach read.

5. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

This book sounds pretty scary to me so I think reading it in the sunlight surrounded by a ton of people is the best way to go. Girls going missing and sisters torn apart, and I guess an unexpected twist that you’ll never see coming.

So those are the five books that I am most looking forward to reading on the beach this summer. What about you? What books are you looking forward to diving into on the beach?

28Mar2015

Gretna Green

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

Unfortunately, this was supposed to have posted on St. Patrick’s Day but was mistakenly saved as a draft instead of posting. Definitely a user error! Hopefully all you readers will keep in mind that this was posted with Ireland in mind on St. Patrick’s Day. Happy reading!

If you read historical romance novels, odds are you have read one from the Georgian or Regency era. And odds are there’s been some mention of Gretna Green. But for those of you who aren’t aware (and in connection-ish with today’s holiday, St Patrick’s Day!) Gretna Green is part of Dumfries and is a town just over the border of Scotland traveling from England. It is on what was a main coaching route from England to Scotland and is located at the junction of five old coaching roads, the junction being known as “Headless Cross.” And because of its location, Gretna Green became well known for runaway marriages. This tradition began about halfway through the 18th century when Lord Hardwiske’s Marriage Act was signed into law in England. Under this Act, no minor (under the age of 21) was allowed to get married without parental consent. However, in Scotland, boys were able to marry by age 14 and girls able to marry at age 12 with or without the consent of their parents.

This difference in laws created a large influx of young men and women who would flock to Scotland to get married against their parents wishes. And given Gretna Green’s convenient location (right over the border and on the main route from London to Scotland in the 1750’s) many couples would immediately stop here to get hitched as soon as possible. And luckily, in Scotland it was easy to find someone to marry you since, as long as your had two witnesses, almost anyone really could perform a “handfasting” ceremony or a “marriage by declaration.” Since the blacksmith shop was a central hub of towns at this time, most of these runaway marriages were performed over the blacksmith’s anvil, and blacksmiths in Gretna Green became known as “anvil priests.” As noted from the Gretna Green Wedding website “the hammering of the anvil soon became a notorious sound; romantically it is said that like the meals he forged, the Blacksmith would join couples together in the heat of the moment but bind them for eternity.”

To this day, people still flock to Gretna Green to get married, I’m sure some find the concept and tradition romantic (I do). It is mentioned in a lot of books and was even mentioned on the well-known TV Show Downtown Abbey. Even further, Gretna Green marriages have come to represent a general term for marriages that are entered into in a different location than where they live so that they can avoid certain laws or restrictions imposed on them in their home town/country. These “runaway marriage” locations in the United States have included at certain points Elkton, Maryland, Reno, and Las Vegas.

If you’d like further information on getting married at Gretna Green, there is a website you can visit here.

28Feb2015

The Book Blogging Community

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

I just started blogging during the last year and I really feel that in the past year a whole new world has been opened up to me. The Book Blogging community is astoundingly vast. There are so many people who want to share their opinions on the books they read and to connect with other people who like those books as well. When my husband first suggested to me last year that I should start a blog about my reading, I thought to myself “no one cares what I think about the books I read.” But I’ve found that there is a large not only community but also an audience for book bloggers. People actually are interested in your thoughts about the books you’re reading, especially other book bloggers! The social aspect of book blogging is a great way to get the word out about your blog and increase your followers. Its also a great way to find new interesting books to read!

One of the things I recently discovered is the world of book memes. Book memes are a great way to become more involved in the book blogger community. A meme is usually where you take a picture and add words to them to make the picture more comical (examples can be found here) but a book meme, specifically for blog posts, is a posting with a certain topic that ties in with the day of the week. Usually one site will “host” the book meme and then everyone who posts on that topic can put a link on the host site’s page. This makes it easy to connect with other bloggers posting on the same topic and see how their ideas compare to yours. And the good news is that there are just tons of them. A few examples of book memes that I know of are Friday Finds, Waiting on Wednesday, and Top Ten Tuesday. These are just the few that I have participated in, but you can find a more extensive listing here.

Another interesting aspect of book blogging is reading challenges. The whole idea for my blog started because my mom and I decided we were each going to set goals for ourselves for the year (in 2014), me with my reading and her with quilting. Suffice it to say, I love challenging myself to read more books each year and to read a variety. Due to that, I have been very excited by the great number of reading challenges that are incorporated into the book blogging world. And its also fun to create your own reading challenges. Last year I “hosted” a Spooky Series Reading Challenge for October, and though I was the only one to participate, I still had a great time. This year I’ve joined into a few reading challenges from other blogs, including the TBR Pile Reading Challenge at the Roof Beam Reader site covering all of 2015 and Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for 2015. And a really awesome one I found in January is the Bookish Bingo from the Great Imaginations blog. You get a bingo square with different kinds of books in all the spots. Its really interesting and due to my LENGTHY to be read listing, I am usually able to find books to fit the categories from ones I have been wanting to read but never got around to. Plus I’m discovering a few new books that I never knew about! And that’s just a handful of reading challenges you can find on the web, here’s a listing of a few more.

I recently learned that there are a lot of great resources for book bloggers. There are directories and how-to’s and checklists and pretty much anything and everything a beginning book blogger could ask for. One of these sites is bookblogging.net, which I know will be a site that I am definitely going to use in the future. There are over 1,000 book blogs listed on this site, and the site has a directory for current reading challenges, book memes, blogs, giveaways, and events. Another site is bookbloggerlist.com which looks like a great site for finding other blogs to connect with. I liked that you could pick your blog to be listed under multiple categories on this site as well. I read a decent (though I could be better) variety of books and I don’t like to have my blog required to be pegged down to one category. And the last one I wanted to mention is the Book Blogger Directory Blog which also looks like it will be a great tool in discovering new blogs to connect with.

So overall I think you can tell that I’m really happy to be part of the book blogging community. I’ve learned a lot in the past year and I look forward to growing my blog in the future. Thanks to my loyal followers!

23Feb2015

Be Proud of What You Read

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

My love of reading really took shape when I discovered romance novels. My whole life I liked books and reading but my passion really began to form when I was in high school and read my first romance novel. I just absolutely loved the happy ending. And all through the next four years of high school when I was that awkward teenager who couldn’t seem to figure out who she was, I was able to take comfort in the knowledge that each and every romance novel I picked up, the heroine would be beautiful and there would be a man who loves her more than anything else in the world and they would be happy together.

And all through high school and in college, I met many people who would snicker when I told them I liked to read romance novels. I was told on various occasions that I was reading “trash” or “smut.” And I will admit, I was embarrassed. Because I was treated in a way that made me believe I should be embarrassed for the books I liked to read. And in all honesty, I liked romance novels that had a lot of emotional tension in them, not necessarily a lot of sex. In fact, one of my absolute favorite romance novelists is Kristan Higgins and her books take more of a “fade to black” approach in which the hero and heroine start getting down to business and then it pretty much moves on to the next scene. I would try to defend myself, saying that romance novels aren’t “porn” or “smut,” that they’re like romance comedies where there is a sex scene or two but its mostly about the feelings and the love story. I would still get the wary looks and the continued snickers so I would just drop the topic and talk about something else.

But really, what reason did I have to be embarrassed? I loved reading. And I loved reading more than romance novels, but even now romance novels tend to be my genre of choice in most cases. I love being able to escape to Victorian England or to another planet even and fall in love time and again. Romance novels are what introduced me to my love of reading, and I have no reason to be embarrassed. Who cares if there’s a half naked man on the cover? Does that really make you an inferior person for wanting to read it? No, it doesn’t. Does it make you less smart than people who read classics or what is known as “great literature”? Hell no. Whether you love graphic novels, romance novels, young adult novels or non-fiction, you have no reason to be embarrassed. Scream you’re love of reading from the rooftops.

Over the last few months I’ve read a lot of articles from various sources about not being embarrassed about the books you like to read. If you’re interested, below are a few of articles that I enjoyed.

Why Smart Women Read Romance Novels by Anne Browning Walker

No, Adults Should NOT be embarrassed to read Young Adult books by Heather Hogan

Stop Apologizing For What You Like to Read by Brenna Clarke Gray

27Jan2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Would Want to Read in a Book Club

Posted in Book memes, For the love of books, Top Ten Tuesday by rebeccabook17

Top Ten Tuesday is a book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday there’s a different bookish topic and bloggers are asked to post their own top ten list based on the topic. This week is a listing of the Top Ten Books you would pick for your book club to read if you were lucky enough to be in a book club (unfortunately I am not so lucky due to a combo of lack of time and resources). So I put my thinking cap on and thought that if I were in a book club, what books would I like to discuss with my fellow club attendees.

1. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

I am currently in love with Giffin’s books after reading her Something Borrowed and Something Blue recently. Her books are intense and thought provoking and I think that they would make for a great discussion.

2. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

This book has been on my to read list since before it came out in 2014. I think the subject of addiction in this book would make for a great discussion starter.

3. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This was a highly praised book in 2014. I read many good reviews on it and I am honestly fascinated by the topic. A pandemic causes chaos to erupt and a new world forms amongst those who survive. Sounds freaking awesome.

4. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

A young woman without any prospects is asked to marry a wealthy family’s dead son, well actually to marry his ghost. I think this would be a great book to discuss since its subject is so unique and unusual.

5. Redeployment by Phil Klay

My husband and I met when he was in the Marines. I waited (not at all patiently I might add, though I wish I could say differently) while he went to Afghanistan on deployment. I think that I have to read this book. I think it might give me a better glimpse into the complicated world he lived at that time. I also think it would be a great eye-opener for book club readers.

6. It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell

Many women in this day and age have weight issues and body image issues. The media blasts us with images of “beautiful” women, all of whom are a size 0. This just isn’t realistic. This memoir is all about learning to love who you are and learning to love your body. I think this would be essential for a women’s book club and a great discussion piece for book clubs that can be candid with one another.

7. The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

This book brings up a big discussion point: mental disorders. In this novel, a woman with bipolar disorder was the last person to see one of her friend’s alive and suspects she might actually be the killer.

8. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

I know this is going to sound like a poor reason to have this on the list, but I heard this turned out to be a great movie. I think it would be an interesting book to read and discuss in a book group.

9. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I almost can’t believe it myself, but I’ve never read this book or the rest of the series. Astonishing, I know, considering how popular the book series was and even how much I have loved the movies so far. For those reasons, I’d love to read this book and discuss people’s thoughts on it.

10. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

This is a classic that I have always wanted to read but never found quite the right motivation to actually pick it up.

So that’s my list! Anyone else see books on my list they’d like to read? Maybe we could start our own book club 🙂 Let me know what you’d put on your lists!

23Jan2015

Friday Finds (Jan 23)

Posted in Book memes, For the love of books, Friday Finds by rebeccabook17

FRIDAY FINDS is hosted by Should Be Reading and showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list. Whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

My finds this week include an upcoming YA release, a gothic mystery / romance and of course a romance:

1. The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

First of all, sick cover. The cover alone would probably make me want to pick up this book. Plus the synopsis of the story sounds really interesting as well. And finally, it is described as being a cross between The Selection (which is very high on my TBR list, I’ve been dying to read this series for awhile) and Graceling (which I hadn’t heard of before but sounds really interesting).

2. Miramont’s Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

Said to be reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this book is described as a dark and thrilling ghost story. I discovered it in an email that Amazon sent me with a listing of popular romance novels, so I’m not sure exactly where the romance will be in this ghost story but I guess we’ll find out! Some of the reader comments look a little dark (and slightly unnerving) so I have to say I don’t think this book will be good for the faint-hearted. I thought it looked interesting though!

3. You’re So Fine by Kieran Kramer

I heard a lot of good things about Kieran Kramer’s March 2014 release Sweet Talk Me. Though I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, it is also on my TBR list. You’re So Fine also looks like a sweet story and a fun read. Might save this one for a beach read for this summer since the cover is.. well a beach 🙂

So those are my finds this week! Please feel free to share your finds or leave a link to your own “Friday Finds” blog posting below! Happy Friday!

2Jan2015

2014 Recap and 2015 Goals

Posted in For the love of books, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, TBR Pile Reading Challenge (Roof Beam Reader) by rebeccabook17

Looking back on 2014, I feel I’ve accomplished and grown a lot in my book travels. I started out this year blog-less and having no idea how much I would love blogging and how much I would become involved in it. Blogging, and even specifically book blogging, is this whole other world that you can become immersed in. There is such an audience out there for book bloggers, it is just astounding. And while there are many things I’d like to improve about my blog in the coming year, I think that this past year has been very successful. I held my first reading challenge on my blog, and though I was the only one who participated, it was still very fun.

With regards to my 2014 reading goals, I accomplished many of them but not all. One of my goals had been to read Pride and Prejudice, it is one of my absolute favorite movies and I started it years ago and just never finished it. Unfortunately, I did not read it again this year so I will most likely be rolling that goal over to next year. I also had a goal to read at least 2 books that were made into movies that I like. I read one (Beautiful Creatures) but did not read a second. I actually ended up reading the whole series and it was very interesting. My goal for 2014 was to read sixty books and I far surpassed that during the year. I slowed down in my reading towards the end of the year due to having to work a lot of overtime and therefore not having a lot of extra time for reading but I read over 100 books for the year so I am still quite pleased with my accomplishment.

It’s very hard to decide what my favorite book of 2014 was. Fortunately, I was able to narrow it down to 4 favorites out of the 100+ I read this year. I loved Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger because it was very interesting and different. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was a fan-favorite this year and became a fantastic movie. Glass Kitchen by Linda Lee Francis was beautiful and touching and magical. And finally, In Your Dreams by Kristan Higgins was just as wonderful as I expected it to be. Higgins never lets me down, I devour her books as soon as they’re released.

My 2015 goals will not include a specific number goal for the year. I don’t think I will be able to hit the 100 book mark again between having a house now and acquiring 3 pets at the end of 2014 and also dealing with my job, I’m lucky if I can find 20 minutes to read each day. Nor do I want to read books just to get the numbers in and to get up to my number goal. This year I want to focus more on expanding my horizons and reading different types of books that maybe I’ve never read before. I’m also creating goals this year that are more blog-related than reading-related. The following will be my goals for 2015:

1. Read at least 20 different types of the books on the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist
2. Post at least 2 non-book review related posts per month
3. Participate in one book reading challenge (on an external site) per quarter
4. Post at least two posts per month concerning various book memes
5. Read at least 5 books from Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
6. Participate in Roof Beam Reader’s 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

My books for this reading challenge are all books that I currently have on my TBR shelf and that either I own or someone has loaned to me and I few thrown in that I will get from the library. My goals will be:
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Girls of a Tender Age by Mary-Ann Throne Smith
3. Lightning by Dean Koontz
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
6. Lethal by Sandra Brown
7. Running for Women by Kara Goucher
8. I Adored a Lord by Katharine Ashe
9. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
10. The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott
11. The Cage by Meghan Shepherd
12. Cemetery Girl by David Bell

I am looking forward to what 2015 will bring! Happy Reading everyone!

21Oct2014

Gone Girl Movie!!

Posted in Books made into movies, For the love of books by rebeccabook17

So last week I went to see the Gone Girl movie that came out based on the book and I have to say, it was SUCH a great movie! Movies many time will miss parts of a book that readers find essential, mostly because it is just impossible to include everything from an almost 400 page book into a movie that’s approximately 2 hours. Luckily the magic movie makers for this film only left out really 2 non-essential plot items (the Desi’s mother gets involved at the end and that Tanner Bolt’s wife gets involved in prepping Nick for the interview) that I’m pretty sure they skipped only to avoid introducing more characters into an already full screenplay.

Other than that the movie followed the book almost to a T. I loved it. The whole movie I was sitting there thinking, this is exactly like the book, its just so perfect. And I have to say, I don’t think they could’ve picked a better actor for the role of Nick. Ben Affleck was just superb in the role of an arrogant and slightly creepy jerk. Really all the casting was so well done, Amy’s role was perfect and Margo’s was very good and Desi’s role was well cast too. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a more well-suited cast.

Anyone who read this book and at least somewhat liked it, I would definitely recommend seeing the movie! Just a warning though a few of the scenes are pretty graphic (sex and violence). Nothing too crazy, though I have to say the scene towards the end involves a lot of blood so if you’re squeamish I would close your eyes for that one. I thought it was a great movie though and a pretty much perfect adaptation of the book.

Link to trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi78622489/imdb/embed?autoplay=false&width=480

Link to my review for the Gone Girl book: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/2014-book-78/

Link to Gone Girl movie IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267998/