December 15, 2014

The Outlander Series 2015 Reading Challenge Details & Sign Up


Why am I hosting this challenge?
A while ago I read the first book in this series and never got around to reading the rest. Then I watched the television show this past year and realized that I wanted to read this series now more than ever. Therefore, I decided to challenge myself to finally read all eight Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon, and I didn't want to do it alone. I really couldn't find any other challenges out there this specific so I decided to create one. (I know this is kind of like a read-a-long but these books are so big I feel like it is more of a challenge.) **This is my first time hosting a challenge so hang in there.

Who can join?
Anyone and everyone is welcome to join the challenge. It doesn't matter if you have read the books before and just want to re-read them or if this is your first time digging in.

How long does this challenge last?
The challenge runs from Feb. 1, 2015 to Sept. 30, 2015.Why those months? Those months seem to be the least hectic for everyone. Also, I wanted to aim for reading a book a month.

The Reading Schedule (The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon in Order)
February - Outlander
March - Dragonfly in Ember
April - Voyager
May - Drums of Autumn
June -The Fiery Cross
July - A Breathe of Snow and Ashes
August - An Echo in the Bone
September - Written in My Own Hearts Blood
** If you get behind or ahead in the reading schedule that is totally fine. The goal is just to read all eight books by the end of September.
Bonus Reads
The Exile - A Graphic Novel
Lord John Grey Series
- Lord John and the Private Matter
- Lord John and the Hand of Devils
- Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
- Scottish Prisoner

Will there be a giveaway?
If at least 10 lovely people sign up for this challenge I will host a giveaway at the end as a reward for all of those who participated, whether you read one or all eight books. There will be a chance for extra entries if you read any of the bonus books on this list.

How do you keep track and share what you have read?
Head on over to the review link up post (COMING SOON!) to share your reviews on the books! If you don't have a blog you can always just post a link to your review on goodreads or simply share in the comments what book you finished reading and what you thought.

How do you join?
Sign up below with the linky anytime! All you have to do is share the link to the blog post, twitter, goodreads shelf, or whatever way you want, stating that you are going to participate in the challenge. Please link back to this page so others can join the challenge as well and see what it is all about. Feel free to use the challenge banner below in your post.

Sign Up Here!!!

Do you have any more questions?
Ask away in the comments below!
31 comments
December 8, 2014

Holiday Review: My True Love Gave to Me

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by: Various Authors (Oct. 2014)
320 pages
Genre: Holiday/Romance/Cheer
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Source: The library.
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
Goodreads Summary: If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

My Review

If you are in the mood for a holiday read I suggest you give My True Love Gave to Me a chance. It contains 12 charming stories written by some of everyone's favorite young adult authors. It was too difficult to summarize the book as a whole so I'm going to break it down into 12 very tiny reviews. Here is the list of the stories and their authors along with each story’s individual star rating.

Midnights by: Rainbow Rowell – Full of Rowell adorableness, this story is all about love on New Year’s Eve. (5 stars)
The Lady and The Fox by: Kelly Link – This is a mysterious folklore type story full of snow and Christmas. (3 stars)
Angels In The Snow by: Matt De La Pena – I deem this to be the one that left me the most unsatisfied. (4 stars)
Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by: Jenny Han – I want more! This story was cute, funny, and unique. (4 stars)
It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by: Stephanie Perkins – This was all smiles. I loved the characters. Perkins didn’t disappoint. (5 stars)
Your Temporary Santa by: David Levithan – A much deeper/emotional read, but still funny. (4 stars)
Krampuslauf by: Holly Black – Almost a little too weird for me, but it was still good. (3 stars)
What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?by: Gayle Forman – Downright heartwarming and fun. (5 stars)
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by: Myra McEntire – This was a very basic and typical holiday story. (3 stars)
Welcome to Christmas, CA by: Kiersten White – This could be a Hallmark Christmas movie and I would love it. This embodies Christmas Spirit, just look at the title! (4 stars)
Star of Bethlehem by: Ally Carter – I give this one points for being different, but take away points for being a tiny bit boring. (4 stars)
The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by: Laini Taylor – This was a good way to end the book, full of hope and uniqueness. (5 stars)

The Bottom Line: This is a wonderful read that will get you in the holiday spirit. I'm not a big reader of short stories, but I had no issue enjoying these.

8 comments
December 7, 2014

The Bookish Report

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness.Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

News

The Book Shimmy Awards has announced its winners! Goodreads also announced the final winners of the Goodreads Choice Awards!
Need help finding the perfect book for your sister, friend, mom, significant other, neighbor or anyone else on your gift buying list? The Penguin Hotline can help you with that.
James Patterson created a petition for President Obama as part of the #SaveOurBooks campaign. It's a really cool idea!
Who hasn't damaged a paperback book before? When I was a kid I was guilty of a lot of these and wish I would have had this helpful list.

Fellow Book Blogger Posts

The Novel Hermit - Holiday Gifts for Typography Lovers- I want them all.
The Book Addict's Guide - Holiday Gift Guide for Book Addicts- Again, I want them all.
The Perpetual Page Turner.- 5th Annual End of Year Book Survey 2014- I figured you may want to know about this. I usually participate, but I have a little something different in the works this year.
Reviews from a Bookworm - Paperback vs. Hardback- Both.
The Quiet Concert - What Are Your Book Preferences?- Love this topic. I am in the take off the book jacket club.
Caffenated Book Reviewer - 21 Gadgets and Apps for Book Lovers - I gotta try these!

True & Funny Photo

2 comments
December 5, 2014

Review: Pretending Hearts by: Heather Topham Wood

Pretending Hearts (Falling for Autumn #2) by: Heather Topham Wood (Nov. 2014)
218 e-book pages
Genre: Romance/New Adult
Source: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Heather!
Purchase: Amazon| Barnes and Noble
Goodreads Summary: Delia Bridges is done living in the shadows cast by her ex-convict father and her football star brother. Attending Cook University will finally give her the chance to be her own person and hopefully find love at the same time. When she meets Wyatt Johnston, she knows immediately he’s the one.

Wyatt fulfills all of Delia’s requirements for the perfect man: he’s rich, handsome, and a talented forward for Cook’s soccer team. However, Wyatt turns out not to be the man she thought. When he dumps her and simultaneously ruins her reputation, she has to start over once again.

Levi Caldwell has every quality Delia doesn’t want in a boyfriend. He has no money, works for the maintenance staff at Cook, and has no problem sharing his judgmental opinions about how Delia is living her life. Despite her growing attraction for the tattooed drummer, Delia tries to avoid Levi. But when a new crisis threatens to destroy all she has rebuilt, she finds Levi is the only person she can trust.

***Standalone New Adult Romance-Ages 17+ Due to Strong Language and Sexual Situations***

My Review

Pretending Hearts is the first novel I’ve read by Wood that wasn’t part of her Second Sight series. I don't know why I waited so long to read more of her books. Pretending Hearts turned out to be precisely what I needed to read while I was stuck inside on a cold winter day.While reading Pretending Hearts I could see that Wood has grown as an author since her first books, thus making me only that much more excited to read all of her books at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I do want to state that I did not read the first book, Falling for Autumn, before reading this one. This didn’t affect me at all since Pretending Hearts can be read as a stand-alone novel. With that being said, I do plan on going back and reading the first one because I enjoyed this book a great deal and want to read Blake and Autumn’s story for myself.

Pretending Hearts read like a real life college story, and I liked that. I felt like I was back at college. It’s always nice to reminisce now and again.

Delia, the main character, may not begin as my favorite character, but she warmed up to me. She is a little frustrating at first and kind of childish, but she does have some nice character development so I didn’t have to worry about those unlikable qualities the whole time I was reading. As for Delia's first love interest, I didn’t like Wyatt at all. I knew right away he was going to be bad news, and this kept me from becoming invested in the book until a handful of chapters later when we meet Levi. I did LOVE Levi right away. He is a genuine nice guy (also very attractive and a drummer) and I really think Delia deserves him. Not to mention that since she makes Levi happy as well I feel like the relationship is well rounded, if that makes sense. I liked their chemistry and would even read another book just about them. Not only do they have their cute moments, but they have their steamy moments as well.

Although this book had a more depressing plot line full of adult responsibilities and harsh gossip among other things, there were still some light-hearted moments that made me laugh. One more thing that I also think it is important to tell you about this book is that there was the perfect amount of drama. A lot of times new adult romances have way too much drama in them, but I don’t think that line was crossed in this instance.

Pretending Hearts is a quick and enjoyable read. It is a semi-typical new adult novel, but with a romance I actually cared about and a good group of minor characters I thought it was very good.


2 comments
December 3, 2014

Library Loot #28

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire fromThe Captive Readerand Linda fromSilly Little Mischiefthat encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

** I didn't get any books from the library last month! What a shame. NaNoWriMo took over my life. BUT I recently grabbed a few books after one of my shifts and I'm glad I did.

My Library Loot

1. I now have all three of these books from the library and I'm ready to read them!

 2. One more holiday read for when the mood hits me.

 3. I'm willing to give this stand-alone novel a chance.

 4. & 5. My (non-holiday) adult picks this trip.

 6. I can never say no to a book with a MC who has memory loss.
12 comments
December 2, 2014

TTT #29 - Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.

I may have went a little crazy with this week's topic. Here are my top ten 15 books I'm looking forward to in 2015. It's going to be a good bookish year.
What books are you looking forward to in 2015? Tell me in the comments below!
31 comments
December 1, 2014

Two Random Very Mini Reviews: Poison Study & The Collector

Poison Study by: Maria V. Snyder (2007)
412 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Mira
Source: The Library
Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
Goodreads Summary: Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

 My Very Mini Review: I liked it. I liked it a lot. Yelena's story captured me from the beginning, but my favorite person was the very complex, very skilled, Valek. Both of these characters are worth meeting. This is a well written fantasy novel, it may not be as good as Throne of Glass, but it was good. It had its unique moments and I do plan on reading the next book.

The Collector by: Victoria Scott (Dante Walker #1) (2013)
352 pages
Genre: Romance/Supernatural/New Adult
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: The Library
Goodreads Summary: He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

 My Very Mini Review: The way Dante talks, his word choices, just wasn't my thing. It did grow on me a tiny bit, but for some reason it made it hard for me to take him seriously. I did find the book quirky and it had its moments. I just felt very hot and then cold toward the whole book. It just wasn't for me, but I can see why many others enjoy Dante and Charlie's story. I don't think I will be reading any more of these books, but I will continue to love and read Scott's Fire & Flood series.
10 comments
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