The Sunday Post #39 (Reading in the New Year)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme"

Good morning!  It's that first Sunday post of the year which is always fun to write (when I'm still working hard on holding myself accountable).  I feel like it was a pretty solid week for me.  I went back to work after ten glorious days off.  It was hard to go back but the shortened week and no overtime needed made it much easier.  This week though I jump back in full force with business required overtime and a full week.  It's going to be busy to say the least!  I ran twice last week which I was pretty happy about.  I have a personal goal to lose weight and get healthier in 2018 which I really need to make happen.  Although I was hoping to run at least three times per week, I did get off the couch and actually run so I'm counting it as a win.  I'm planning on a run sometime this afternoon which will get this week started off right as well!

I also had a solid start to my reading in 2018.  I finished two books this week - go me!  My Goodread's goal for 2018 is to finish 75 books.  I really struggled with my reading numbers last year so I'm hoping to do so much better in the new year.  I'm participating in a month long read-a-thon and on top of that tomorrow begins the Bout of Books read-a-thon.  I feel like these will really motivate me to read more and stay off my phone less!  2018 is going to be an amazing year of reading!  The books that I finished reading last week were:

Swerve by Vicki Pettersson was my first read of 2018.  It was a review copy off of my shelves that has been sitting there for a ridiculous length of time.  This book was intense!  Like, this book is going to give me nightmares and I'm setting it down for now intense.  It was a dark and haunting read - and I'm really glad that I finally took the time to read it!  It doesn't look like this author has written any other thrillers since then which is a shame but I will be checking her other books out!  Review to come soon.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs was the absolute perfect choice to pick after finishing such a dark and twisted thriller!  I adore the Mercy Thompson series so much and this book was another great addition to that series.  It was also pulled off of my own shelves so bonus!  I gobbled this one up and cannot wait to continue on with the next book sometime soon!  I will be sharing my thoughts on this one soon as well.

I'm now currently reading the following:

A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis is my first 2018 read on my kindle and a review copy.  I'm only about 10% into this one so far but I'm already hooked.  I'm hoping to spend sometime this afternoon curled up with this book.  I don't have a print read going yet as I can't seem to decide on which one to choose.  I also need to figure out my first nonfiction read for the new year.  So many choices though....it makes it so hard to settle on one!

New additions:

Both of these are thanks to NetGalley.  I'm really, really trying my hardest to not request so many books from there but we will see how long that lasts.  I obviously couldn't resist these two though - LOL!

Plans for today include laundry first and foremost.  My youngest has two basketball games this afternoon so we will be leaving my warm house for those (always fun to watch!).  I need to fit a run in for sure.  Other than all of that, I just hope to relax and work on writing up some reviews.  I already have the above two books that need reviews plus some remaining reviews from 2017 reads.  I'm going to be a busy girl!  In between all of that, I will be curling up with my book as much as possible!  I'm off to get my day started.

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!

Bout of Books #20 (Count Me In!)

 

" The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 21st and runs through Sunday, August 27th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 20 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

It has been too long since I participated in a week long read-a-thon.....or really any read-a-thon to be honest!  My year of reading has been pretty dismal although this past month it has picked up a bit.  I'm hoping to finish both of my current reads during this week.  We've got a pretty busy schedule going all week long so two finished books will count as success and any more will just be bonus reads.  Here is what I'm currently reading:

Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander begins a new series by one of my favorite cozy mystery authors.  I'm really enjoying it so far!  The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is my current print read and I actually haven't quite started it yet.  I first heard of this one on the Read or Dead podcast (a new favorite of mine), and I instantly requested it from the library.  A movie is coming out based off of this book so I'm even more excited to read it first!

Two extras if I make it through the above are:

Here is to hoping for a very successful read-a-thon!  Happy Reading!

Reading Events (Or Winter Reading Fun)

In the spirit of signing up for just about every reading challenge out there, I also found a couple of reading events that I couldn't resist.  I'm sure this doesn't surprise most of you.  What's one more right?  I'm going to use both of these to really get my reading off to a great start in 2015.  That's the plan at least!

The Winter COYER challenge is here (and actually has already started) but since it is three months long I'm joining in.  I have plenty of books stocked up on ipad and now kindle to keep me plenty busy.  Plus this will also help me knock out some of those NetGalley copies that keep piling up.  My favorite part is coming up with a list of possibilities for this so here are just a few of the books that I want to finish for this challenge.

 

 

 

If I manage to finish more that would be amazing but I'm hoping to read at least eight books from my e-reader for this challenge.  I will keep you updated on my progress as I go along. There are read-a-thons and lots of other fun stuff planned so if you want to sign up go here.

Bout of Books is back!  My first read-a-thon of the new year and I'm super pumped for it.  I always look forward to these read-a-thons as they are fun AND such a great way to start off the new year.  Here is the official blurb from the Bout of Books blog:

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

My goals for this read-a-thon are going to be very simple.  Read and comment.  That's it!  I'm not setting an amount of books or anything.  I just want to focus this week on reading and commenting on other reader's blogs.  It will be great and hopefully lots of fun!  I'm planning on reading this book and after that I will follow my mood:

I am really looking forward to finishing some great books and meeting some new bloggy friends thanks to these two events.  Are any of you participating in one/both of these?  Or do you have other big reading plans in the works?  Do share!

COYER Summer Vacation Reading Challenge

 

Hosted by Fantasy is More Fun and Because Reading is Better Than Real Life, this is a reading challenge that I can't help but participate in because who doesn't love summer reading?  I sure do!  This one sounds super fun as they are hosting multiple read-a-thons among other fun challenges.  I'm looking forward to meeting some new to me bloggers from this as well.

 Here are the official rules:

 "1. You must create a sign-up post anytime between now and August 15th -on blog, goodreads, fb, google+, etc. Yes, that means you can sign up
until August 15th! But don’t wait, you’ll miss most of the fun!

2. You must link the sign-up post below (don’t link to your blog, link to the sign-up post).

3. You must post your review books somewhere & link the reviews to the review linky to be eligible for one of the grand prize giveaways.

4. Have Fun!

Normally you’re only allowed to read eBooks that were less than $5 for COYER, but since this is Summer Vacation you can read whatever you want!"

I decided to make a list of possibilities as my goals post (basically because I love making lists).  I probably won't stick to it too closely but it will be fun to try.  Here are just some of the books that I am hoping to read this summer:

Books I bought for my ipad (and still haven't read): 

 

Review copies from NetGalley or Edelweiss:

Library Books:

 

Review Copies (that I need to get off of my shelves):

 

Books off of my own shelves:

 

Other random books that I want to read:

 

I will be amazed if I get through half of these but you never know with all of the read-a-thons that they have planned.  It will be fun to try, and it will FINALLY get some of these books read/off of my shelves.  Good stuff! 

Bout of Books Read-a-thon

I'm back!  It is going to take me a bit before everything gets back to normal but it is SO good to be home!  Vacation was wonderful (of course) and I will share more about it later.  But it was so busy that I honestly didn't read more then a couple of pages here and there.  I'm not worried about that as I got in plenty of quality time with my family.  This week though as things get back to normal I would like to dive back into my books a bit.  What better way then participate in a week long read-a-thon???  The Bout of Books read-a-thon is a week long affair that challenges participants to just read more.  I can definitely do that!  Here is the official blurb from the hosts:

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

My goals for the week are to finish both books that I'm currently reading which are

All Day and a Night is my current print read and I've barely dug into it yet.  I've enjoyed both of the other books by this author that I have read so I'm looking forward to it.  Dirty Magic is getting good but I just keep shoving it aside to read other books since I'm reading it on my ipad. (Such a bad habit of mine) I WILL finish this one this week!

Other goals for the week are to write up two of my outstanding book reviews since I'm falling behind at a rapid rate.  And I would like to visit at least two other participants each day of the read-a-thon.  Any additional books or reviews that I complete will be a bonus and help me catch up when it comes to staying ahead of my Goodreads goal.

Here is to hoping that I get lots of reading accomplished this week!  Are you participating in the Bout of Books read-a-thon?  And if you are, what are you planning on reading?

Fall Fun and Reading Plans

Fall is officially here and all of the fun that goes along with it.  It has been a great weekend so far albeit quite busy as usual!  We spent the better part of yesterday at a fundraiser softball tournament for two different families that we are friends with in memory of a very special little boy.  It turned a bit rainy at the end but it was great to spend the day with friends in support of a very good cause.  Today is football Sunday as usual which means for me lots of laundry, some blogging, and most definitely a bit of cleaning.  Before I get started on my kitchen floor though, I thought I should get my butt in gear and post about a few upcoming blogging events that I'm planning on participating in.

First up is the FrightFall Read-a-Thon that officially starts up tomorrow (and for me unofficially begins later today hopefully).  I already shared with you my recent ENORMOUS book haul which gives me a perfect excuse to sign up for this and get some books read!  I'm still reading the same books that I was last week so these two are my reading goals for this challenge.  And as they could be considered spooky reads they will fit in perfectly with this challenge.  I'm planning on reading both of these:

Any other books that I can read will certainly be great but I really, really want to finish both of these up!  I'm also signing up for my 1st ever Pin It and Do It Challenge!

I've always wanted to try and participate in one of these challenges hosted by the lovely Trish but haven't yet!  I'm starting small and signing up for the Timid Pinner level but I have high hopes for getting lots of pins accomplished.  The cooler weather always makes me want to bake (I should say attempt to bake) so I'm hoping to try a few pins that involve baking.  This is going to be lots of fun!

Whew!  I'm going to be one busy girl in the upcoming weeks.  I'm off to get some of my laundry done but I hope that you all have a wonderful week filled with lots of good books.

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!

Friday Fun (Read-alongs and Such)

 

This sounds like the perfect way to start off March!   I need an excuse to pull off some of those unread books from my shelves so I'm joining in on the fun.  Plus, I'm thinking that I should use this as an excuse for a month long read-a-thon!  I always read more when I participate in those AND it would make a nice dent in some of my piles.  I'm thinking that this would also be a way to catch up on a series or two.  It looks like library books are included which makes me very happy :)  

I'm also officially signing up for the Outlander read-along.  I've never read Outlander (I know) but I've heard some amazing things!  If all works out well (since I'm writing this on Sunday) I should have already picked up my copy from the library.  I'm ready to dive in especially since I told myself I would read some chunkier books in 2013 and that hasn't happened yet.  Plus, the #nakedjamie hashtag has me quite intrigued!

I'm hoping that both of these events will make March a GREAT month of reading for me!  It should make March a fun month of reading at least.  There is also a read-along of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones being hosted at We Be Reading.  I recently bought a copy of this one for my reader so I would like to try and fit this book in as well!  Fun times :)

Tell me, are there any other read-alongs/read-a-thons that I NEED to join in on????