Book Riot Quarterly Box

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

So I discovered the coolest thing back in March when I saw on Facebook that one of the pages I follow, Book Riot, does a quarterly shipment of books and book-related items. I’ve heard about a variety of companies that have started doing quarterly shipments, you pay a set fee each quarter and in the mail you get a box of fun surprises. The shipment is technically run through Quarterly Co and they have such a great variety of quarterly shipments you can choose from, like one from Pharrell Williams and gaming, fitness, cooking, hair care, and art. I decided to sign up for the Book Riot Quarterly Shipment to try it at least once and see if I liked it. I am trying to expand my horizons with reading and I thought this would be a fun way to find new books I might like. Each shipment is set to a “theme” and most shipments have 2 books and some extra items, plus there are some lottery items that a certain percentage of all the shipments get as well. So last Friday my shipment came and I was absolutely pumped! I had been looking forward to this since I signed up for the shipments in March and I was not disappointed!

Isn’t it beautiful!? So the theme for this shipment was technology, the internet, and the future of reading. The shipment comes with a pamphlet describing each item that is included and how it fits with the theme.

So now I will talk about each item that I got in my shipment. I’ll start with the book-related items and then talk about the books last.

1. A Grid-It Organizer

This is a handy item for storing all your gadgets. Its got like elastic straps that you can use to hold down the gadgets on this board thing. Could come in handy.

2. Pop Chart Lab Literary Genres Map

I’ve seen this online before and it is so awesome. Its a map of all the different genres of fiction. I can’t wait to hang this one up in my library (once my library is done being constructed).

3. The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon

This book sounds super interesting. Its about a time in the future when all print materials are pretty much extinct but one group of people are working to finish the North American Dictionary of the English Language when the editor-in-chief goes missing. I’m excited to give this one a try. This book also came with a bonus item from the author, a special coda that was written exclusively for Book Riot Quarterly subscribers. The events from this occur after the book.

4. Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson

Many people think that technology is making the general population less capable than generations of the past because they end up relying on technology for so many of their tasks through the day. Some have even argues that the over-reliance on technology in the younger generation has made them “dumb.” This book sets out to argue against this idea and prove that technology is improving civilization as a whole. This book also came with a bonus item from the author, an essay for Book Riot Quarterly subscribers about reading War and Peace on his iPhone.

5. Lottery item! Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

The lottery items are for lucky randomly selected subscribers (less than 5% of total subscribers). Woo hoo I was one of the lucky ones! This book isn’t even supposed to be released until September so this was a big score! The book is about Leningrad in September 1941 and the true story of a composer that wrote a symphony that would rally the city together.

So that was my shipment. I have to say I was extremely please and I can’t wait for the next shipment to come in September! For anyone who’d like to sign up the receive their own shipment, you can do so here. Book Riot also just came out with a YA Quarterly subscription if you prefer YA books. Details on that subscription can be found here.

26Apr2015

#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?

18Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #3 April 18th

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

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

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

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

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

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

21Jan2015

2015 Book #5 – Something Borrowed

Posted in Book reviews, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, Fiction, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Something Borrowed
Author: Emily Giffin
Date finished: 1/20/15
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: June 1, 2004
Pages in book: 322
Stand alone or series: Stand alone kind of but there is a related sequel, Something Blue

Blurb from the cover:

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy’s fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

My rating: 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Pink Cover” square. I have had this book on my to read list for quite some time and I saw the movie adaptation a month or two ago (even though it came out in 2011) and loved the movie. I haven’t ever read anything by Emily Giffin but her books always have looked good to me and almost all her books are on my to read list. And just as a side note I think they did a great job with the movie adaptation, the cast they selected to play the characters in the book was superb and though they skipped some details and swirled some others around, the emotions portrayed in the book came through loud and clear.
I loved this book, I just couldn’t put it down. Even having already seen the movie and knowing what was going to happen, I was drawn into the emotions of the book. It was fascinating to me to read a book where the heroine was someone I normally would’ve classified as the villain. Rachel has sex with her best friend’s fiance. A girl that she has known and thought of like a sister since she was a child and she betrays her in the most awful way. And yet somehow I find myself rooting for her, hoping that everything works out for her in the end. I can feel her pain in hurting her best friend but also her fear of losing the one thing that has ever mattered to her and the one man she’s ever truly loved. I love that this story contains a romance that isn’t cut and dried because that’s life. Life isn’t neat and tidy where everyone lives happily ever after. Real life and even real love is heartache and sadness and sacrifice. I can not say enough good things about this book, I just loved it.

The bottom line: I would definitely recommend this book! I loved it! The movie is good too!

Author website: http://www.emilygiffin.com/
Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Something-Borrowed-Emily-Giffin/dp/031232118X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-3&qid=1421811075

18Jan2015

2015 Book #4 – Trust No One by Jayne Ann Krentz

Posted in Book reviews, Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, Reading Challenges, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Title: Trust No One
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Date finished: 1/18/15
Genre: Romantic suspense
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Pages in book: 327
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Working for a guru of positive thinking couldn’t be a better experience for Grace Elland. Used to bouncing from job to job, she’s finally found stability and success with the Witherspoon Way. Her marketing and social media skills have made Sprague Witherspoon the top motivational speaker in the Pacific Northwest.
Then Grace finds Sprague murdered. A vodka bottle on his nightstand is a terrifying reminder of the horrors of her past, a message to Grace that can be no coincidence.
When Grace retreats to her childhood home, Cloud Lake, to regroup, she suffers through sleepless nights and nightmares. She turns to breathing exercises, mantras, and meds to quell her fears. She tries to put everything she’s learned about positive thinking into practice – a process that is seriously challenged on a blind date. “Awkward” doesn’t begin to describe her evening with venture capitalist Julius Arkwright. She has nothing in common with a man who lives to make money, by any means necessary.
But the intense ex-Marine has skills that Grace can use – to figure out her future. Living by a simple set of rules – Trust no one and Everyone has a hidden agenda – Julius is the perfect man to help Grace, when it becomes clear that she is being stalked.
And as Witherspoon’s financial empire continues to crumble around them, taking a deadly toll, Julius will walk Grace step by step into her past to uncover a devious plan meant to destroy not only Grace, but everyone around her as well….

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “Bookish Bingo” reading challenge, marking off the “Free Space” square. I am a big fan of Jayne Ann Krentz (as well as her other pen names) and I really have been looking forward to this new release. I really enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t want to put it down. I did find the plot to be a tiny bit predictable, but there were some surprises thrown in there. At no point was I really thrown for a loop though. My rating would’ve been closer to a 5 if I had in fact been thrown for a loop.
Other than a slight lack of surprise, the book was quite good. I liked Grace’s character alot, she was strong-willed but also honest and genuinely cared about those around her, even the not so good guys. Julius was a pillar that Grace could lean on when she needed him most, and best of all he was smart. Some romance novels, the hero ends up being a glorified body-guard but Julius was such a successful and brilliant businessman and his company helped the police figure out the embezzlement of Sprague’s revenues. Julius was the strong, silent type and even when Grace protested he still was there to support her.

The bottom line: I would recommend this book!

Author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/
Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Trust-One-Jayne-Ann-Krentz/dp/0399165134/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1421602723&sr=8-1

11Jan2015

Finding new books to read

Posted in For the love of books by rebeccabook17

I posted last year about a variety of different book recommendation sites that can be used to find a good book to read next. Other than these sites though, a source that I use constantly for finding new books to read is Bookpage.com. This can be a great source of finding new books in all genres, and even for learning more about authors. I get the print edition of their regular newsletter from my local library (which can be viewed online), but they also have newsletters that you can sign up to receive periodically on certain genres, including a romance newsletter beginning in February, “Smitten.” Readers can also sign up to receive a daily newsletter featuring a different book every day. I think the good thing about the Book of the Day newsletter is that it features a great variety of books. I’ve seen everything from romance to non-fiction to cookbooks to biographies to fiction featured on there. This is a great way to read about books that might be out of your comfort zone and maybe expand your reading horizons. Other newsletters include a top 10 (top ten books of the month), a children’s newsletter, and a YA newsletter.

And if you like romance novels, another great source for new books I highly recommend the Heroes and Heartbreakers website and newsletter. This is a great site to find new romance novels to read. I especially like their “new release shopping list” that they put together. This listing shows different romance genres that have releases during the current month (shown by week). I have found a lot of new books through their newsletter. They also publish great articles and posts about different topics, including first looks at upcoming releases. Check out this article featuring a first look into Erin Knightley’s newest histroical romance release, The Earl I Adored.

So what about all of you? Where do you all find your next great read?

11Jan2015

Bookish Bingo reading challenge – January through March 2015

Posted in Bookish Bingo: Jan-March 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

I have singed up to participate in the Bookish Bingo reading challenge! This challenge is hosted by the Great Imaginations blog and will run from January through the end of March (of 2015). I got the idea to join this reading challenge through Hit or Miss Books. This is such a creative idea, combining reading with a game! I am very excited to do this reading challenge, especially since it helps me to meet one of my goals for 2015 (one reading challenge per quarter)!

So here is the bingo card:

This is my first time attempting the Bookish Bingo (per review of the website that hosts it there seems to be quite a following for previous Bingo challenges!) and I am excited to see what kinds of different reads will help me get to a BINGO! The host site has some great recommendations for each of the categories if any of my readers are also interested in participating!

Happy reading everyone!

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!

4Nov2014

Spooky Series Reading Challenge – Wrap-up

Posted in Reading Challenges, Spooky series reading challenge by rebeccabook17

So! As you guys can see, I wasn’t able to read all of the books in the Undead series like I had planned. I did get through a good chunk though, I read 8 in the series and 2 connected novellas. I just finished the ninth yesterday and I plan to finish the rest of the series this month even though my spooky series reading challenge has ended. So if you were just dying to see what happens, stay tuned! We will get to the end. And even though I’m pretty sure no one else participated in my Spooky Series Reading Challenge (besides my mom :-)) I still had fun doing it! And maybe someday I’ll have reading challenges with lots of other people involved! Thanks everyone for reading! Hope you all enjoyed Halloween!