As part of Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal’s read-a-thon, Bout of Books 11.0, I’m to include my goals regarding what I want to accomplish in this glorious bout of reading, including the time I’ll set aside for reading and what I hope to have read by the end of Sunday, the 24th.
Time Devoted to Reading
I read every day — it keeps me sane. At worst, I read all day. Hmmm, did I say worst? I meant, BEST! YEAH for reading!! At worst, I might get a bit of reading in when I first wake up — breakfast in bed! — and when I go to bed at night. And during the night if I can’t sleep. It’s always handy to have my Kindle at hand when I’m on the move so I can read on-the-go and not get bored waiting in line or in someone’s office. Reading also makes for a lovely break from thinking my way through a review. I know, doesn’t seem to make sense, but it does for me!
My Goals
I do have a few catch-up goals, including catching up with the library books that are coming due as well as a pile of review requests from authors and publicists, then there are the ARCs I’m reading from publishers, and newly released books in series I’m following, and books recommended by friends on Goodreads. As for books I’m editing for clients? Nope. I don’t review client books.
Yes, I do get to feeling guilty about reading so much, so my “payment” for all that reading is to write a book review on it. So, my challenge to myself is to write book reviews on each book I read which I then post to my own blog, Goodreads, Amazon, and guest reviews at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! three times a week. So for this Bout of Books, my real challenge is to keep up with the reviews on each book I read with none waiting for its turn on Monday, the August 25th. Eeek, what have I done…!
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George Hagen’s Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle is an ARC from Schwartz & Wade and sounds like a fun middle-grade adventure. Yep, it’s fantasy land for me again. Yeahh! |
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Jill Shalvis’ It’s in His Kiss is another ARC, this one from Grand Central Publishing and part of Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor romance series. This one is #10 in the chronology. |
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Steve LeBel’s Bernie and the Putty in his Universe Builders series and it sounds hysterically funny — all about a Geek God. I do adore mythology, and I’m grateful for LeBel’s patience in waiting for this review! |
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T.S. Krupa’s Safe & Sound is a sad romance of loss and learning. There’s something very attractive about this, and I don’t mean just the beach house! This story was provided to me by the author. |
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Shana Festa’s Induction is the first in her Time of Death zombie horror series and was provided to me by the author. |
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Jennifer L. Holmes’ The Fourteenth Goldfish and another ARC. This one is from Random House Books for Young Readers — thanks very much — and is more of a science fiction tale, so this will be a treat. |
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Courtney Mann’s I am Having So Much Fun Here Without You slides back into romance, a reverse sort of romance for a French artist who screwed up. It sounds very interesting. |
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Philippa Carr’s The Changeling is #15 in her Daughters of England historical romance series, which was recommended to me. |
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Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch should leaven out all the sugar. I read somewhere that this is considered one of his best, and since I’m curious as a cat… |
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Thaddeus Russell’s A Renegade History of the US intrigued me after I read a review and this statement caught my attention: “Rather than crediting the standard textbook icons, Russell demonstrates that it was those on the fringes of society whose subversive lifestyles helped legitimize the taboo and made America the land of the free.” How could I resist? |
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Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child’s Relic combines a murder mystery and archeology in this first installment in their Pendergast series, and I’ve been meaning to dive into Preston/Child’s works for a while now. |
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Åsa Larsson’s Blood Spilt is the second in her Rebecka Martinsson mystery series set in Sweden, and I am absolutely adoring her work! |
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Lee Child’s Personal is the 19th in his Jack Reacher series which I also adore. I mean, how can you not love someone like Reacher and his sense of justice?! And I’m most grateful to the Bantam Press for providing this ARC! |
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A.J. Betts’ Zac & Mia is another ARC — thank you to Text Publishing — which feels as though it may be similar to John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, and I’m looking forward to reading this. |
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R.C. Lewis’ Stitching Snow is an ARC from Disney-Hyperion. A fantasy for young adults that seems to combine fairy tales and science fiction. Be still my heart! |
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Taylor Anderson’s Deadly Shores is the 9th, the 9th!!, in his Destroyermen series — fantasy science fiction military — and I both dread and can’t wait to pick this one up. I love the twist and the tension Anderson has put on this series, but I do dread finding more favorite characters die…wahhh… |
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Erin McCarthy’s Shatter comes courtesy of an ARC from InterMix as the fourth installment of McCarthy’s True Believers series, a romance for New Adults. I’ve been very impressed with this series so far and look forward to reading this one! |
Hmmm, wish me luck!
