This is another one hosted over at Should be Reading
Another short one this week because it has been busy but I am looking forward to reading these books from this Author.
This is another one hosted over at Should be Reading
Another short one this week because it has been busy but I am looking forward to reading these books from this Author.
This one is Hosted at the Booking through Thursday Blog.
Although–it’s always good to look back so you know where you’ve been, so the first question for the year is an oldie but a goodie:
“What were your favorite books last year?”
A good one and one that I avoided in all my wrap up posts because there were a lot that I liked. So here we go I can no longer avoid it, lol.
Lover Enshrined by J.R Ward
Circus of the Damned by Laurell K Hamilton
Pasha my Story by Pasha Kovalev
Lily of the Nile and Song of the Niles by Stephanie Dray
Seduced into becoming host to an ancient goddess, will Del survive the attentions of the god of lust?
Del is taking erotic dance classes at the Companion Centre when she locks eyes with a huge, burly alien with a vivid green gaze. He has come to secure a Companion to act as a permanent host to a goddess, but when he hears Del’s bright laughter, he changes his target from Companion to dancer.
Kurat has been raised as host to two gods. Changes in his body have made it difficult for him to take a casual lover, only a mate will do. With Del’s bright soul welcoming his, he knows the moment he meets her that she will be the one the goddesses will accept.
With the god of lust and the god of war agreeing to his choice, Kurat’s entire being is in agreement. The dancer will be theirs.
First book of the year for me and this one was just alright, I almost put it down from boredom in the first pages but it managed to keep my attention for a fair amount of time. I admit I have not read the first book in the series, and that may have something to do with it. So the first thing I would say that Dancer is not a stand alone at all.
I am personally used to my Sci-fi not having casual references and wording that fit into a modern or earth society and this one did so that set me off it a little bit and just kind of made me lose the feel for it. Other than that the flow was pretty decent and the writing itself was enjoyable enough. As someone who dances I did like the different descriptions of dances and some of the way to explain why Del chose such a broad course load, but we did not stay with that to long once Kurat entered the picture.
Overall this was an okay one for me, not fantastic but not terrible, I think if you have read the first book in the series you will be a bit more attached then I was to the world and what is going on with it.
My Gemstone Rating:
This is another one hosted over at Should be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What are you reading next?
A Very Happy New Year to everyone I hope it is going to be a great one for everyone’s reading.
What did I just finish reading?
Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke, are living happily in Manhattan’s West Village, and her new next-door neighbor is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking of marriage (or diamonds) or anything . . . Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky’s head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown. While Luke’s high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels?
What am I currently reading?
Seduced into becoming host to an ancient goddess, will Del survive the attentions of the god of lust?
Del is taking erotic dance classes at the Companion Centre when she locks eyes with a huge, burly alien with a vivid green gaze. He has come to secure a Companion to act as a permanent host to a goddess, but when he hears Del’s bright laughter, he changes his target from Companion to dancer.
Kurat has been raised as host to two gods. Changes in his body have made it difficult for him to take a casual lover, only a mate will do. With Del’s bright soul welcoming his, he knows the moment he meets her that she will be the one the goddesses will accept.
With the god of lust and the god of war agreeing to his choice, Kurat’s entire being is in agreement. The dancer will be theirs.
Book two of the Éire’s Viking Trilogy.
Beginning ten years after the end of Éire’s Captive Moon, this is the story of how Agnarr Halvardson returns to Éire with the intention of settling there, marrying, and siring sons.
It is also the story of Aislinn, who was a child in Ragor when the Northmen raided eleven summers prior but is now a working physician in her own right. She spent a year in Bangor Monastery and became a Christian before Cowan and Charis returned to take the children to Cowan’s village in the kingdom of Dál Fiatach and returns there a decade later to finish learning all she can from the monks about their healing practices.
When Cowan brings her a patient, injured and temporarily unable to speak, she can’t help but find the strong, tall man attractive, even if such feelings unsettle her.
Although sparks fly immediately, Agnarr’s idea of wedding Aislinn—the physician who heals him when he is injured—is hampered by many factors, including language and cultural differences. There is also the matter that he is the man who kidnapped and enslaved Charis years before.
Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke, are living happily in Manhattan’s West Village, and her new next-door neighbor is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking of marriage (or diamonds) or anything . . . Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky’s head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown. While Luke’s high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels
This is my last read for 2013 and it was not a bad one, not a fantastic one but not a bad one. Once again we jump into the world of Becky Bloomwood and personally sometimes I wonder how smart the people around her really are to not notice some of the stuff that is going on with her and everything else, or if maybe Becky really just is THAT good at keeping things hidden. At any rate it was a fun and light hearted read as you would expect it to be with Becky and Luke going to get married, but Becky having to choose between two weddings and typical Becky fashion she can’t until it’s to late.
This is not an earth shattering book but it is not meant to be so it is supposed to be fun and light and fast to read I found that it was all of those things for me. I am glad that Luke finally seemed to learn the truth about his Mom and that Becky did in the end (which took a long time) seem to grow up a little bit. I do think she will of course get herself into a similar situation again (like she does) but I was glad to see her get some maturity in this one. In the end she did make everyone happy and I liked that.
My Gemstone Rating:
So here is my final wrap up for the 2013 challenges, and how they shook out. Overall I have no complaints because I completed all of my challenges. Including reading a total of 109 books this year. Not a bad year at all if you ask me. Bring on 2014!
Challenge complete
Category 2: Angels and Demons I have selected to read at least 3 Angel & Demon books in 2013
1.Covet by J.R. Ward
2.Blood Flows Deep in the Empire by N. Isabelle Blanco
3.Aura by Rebecca Lynn Talley
4.Girls and Monsters by Anne Michaud
5.Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Category 3: Fae and Magic At Least 3 of these as well
1.Witches of East End by Melissa De la Cruz
2.Spellbinding by Maya Gold
3.Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
4.The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison
5.Faerie Wars (The Faerie Wars Chronicles #1) by Herbie Brennan
6.The Goddess Chronicle (Canongate Myths #13)
7.Winter Solstice Winter by E.J Squires
8.Serpent’s Kiss (The Beauchamp Family, #2) by Melissa de la Cruz
9.Winds of Salem (The Beauchamp Family #3) by Melissa de la Cruz
Challenge Complete
Challenge complete
Challenge Completed
1. Covet by J.R. Ward
2. The Season by Sarah MacLean
3. Burned by P.C & Kristin Cast
4. Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen
5. Witches of East End by Melissa De la Cruz
6. A Secret love by Stephanie Laurens
7. The Family that couldn’t sleep by DT Max
8. Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley
9. Figures in Silk by Vanora Bennett
10. Alice Hartley’s Happiness by Philippa Gregory
11.Emperor The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden
12.The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall
13.Revenge of the Rose by Nicole Galland
14.Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
15.Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper
16.Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson
17.The Secret Bride (In The Court of Henry VIII #1) by Diane Haeger
18.The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
19.The View from Garden City by Carolyn Baugh
20.The Lost Letters Of Aquitaine (Alais Capet #1) by Judith Koll Healey
21. Shopaholic Ties the Knot (Shopaholic #3) by Sophie Kinsella
22. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
23. Bloody Valentine (Blue Bloods #5.5) by Melissa de la Cruz
24. Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods #5) by Melissa de la Cruz
25. Awakened (House of Night #8) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
26. Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood #6) by J.R. Ward
27. A Lady of Secret Devotion (Ladies of Liberty #3) by Tracie Peterson
28. Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister by Gregory Maguire
29. The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory
30. Scandalous Lord, Rebellious Miss by Deb Marlowe
Musing Monday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
Do you feel the urge to gear up and have a clean slate for the new year reading? I finished my last book on the 28th and have not picked one up to start yet and I won’t until New Years because I feel like I should start the new year fresh and not “in the middle of” a book. An odd habit maybe but it is one that I have kept with for several years now. I may have even done it before I started blogging but I didn’t notice it until I was actively keeping tabs on my reading.
Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. There is something to delight every reader in this box set – paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary. Many of the Indelibles have given you access to both the first and second books in their series – you’ll be reading well into the New Year!
The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn
Escaping an experimental prison, Thalia tries to hide her past and her gifts, from her friends. But her past isn’t always easy to escape, especially when it hunts you down.
Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads * Website
Tremble (Celestra Series) by Addison Moore
Sixteen year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.
Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads
Venus wakes to find herself no longer on her home planet of Kelari, but on Earth with a week to get back or she’ll die.
Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads * Wattpad
Dragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore
Gossip Girl meets VC Andrews in this contemporary family saga. Love, lies, and betrayal become the new normal when Anna enters the world of Jack and Lucy Kyser.
Amazon * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Pinterest
Open Minds and Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn
When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.
Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads
When Grace’s forest ranger dad disappears on patrol, she fights town authorities, tribal officials, & nature to prove he’s alive. Torn between a new hot boy and cute ex, she heads into the wilderness to find her dad. Soon, she is caught in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder.
Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads
How to Date an Alien and How to Break Up With an Alien by Magan Vernon
Alex Bianchi takes an internship at an alien operations center to pad her college applications but doesn’t plan on falling in love with one of its residents. But as Alex’s senior year progresses, everything changes and she can’t figure out if it is interstellar or if it is just time to break up with an alien.
Twitter * Facebook * Website * Goodreads
Flutter of Luv by L.M. Preston
Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy, is happy to be her best friend’s shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces, and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star Running Back on her school’s football team, and changes her world and her view of herself forever.
Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads
It takes more than a school trip to change Christy’s life. It takes murder.
Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads
Clockwise and ClockwiseR by Elle Strauss
A follow up to Clockwise, Casey and Nate travel back in time and race against the clock to rescue Casey’s rebellious brother Tim from frontline battle in America’s civil war.
Website * Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads
Glimpse (Zellie Wells #1) and Glimmer (Zellie Wells #2) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
While working together to figure out what their shared vision means, Zellie discovers that Benjamin is a worthy friend and mentor. If only he could keep his hands off of her – if only she wanted him to…
Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads
A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling
After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must decide how far she’ll go to protect the ones she loves.
Grasping At Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper
An eternal soul mate, a supernatural family who has known her for centuries, and lifetimes of erased memories: this is Maryah Woodsen’s life. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Goodreads
Lacrimosa by Christine Fonseca
In the world of angels and demons, one thing is clear – some sacrifices should never be made. Even for love.
Twitter * Facebook * Blog * Google + * Goodreads * Pinterest
The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle
The town of Spruce Knoll hides many secrets—and many dangers, among them are that the untimely death of Eren’s parents was no accident and that she is far more than she realizes.
Blog * Twitter * Facebook * Wattpad * Goodreads
Giveaway Details
$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 1/11/14
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
The last Sunday of 2013 and what a year it has been. Sadly I am still very sick and just ready for the whole of it to be over with. I am probably one of the worst sick people there is because I hate being sick and I keep pushing myself to try to get more stuff done around the house instead of resting. That said yesterday and today thus far I have behaved myself. I even got another book finished for the year, which I did not think I would do. Bringing my total to where I think it will stay for 2013 at 109. That is a pretty big amount for me especially since I started my goal for the year at 50 or 60 and had to up it twice and even surpassed that.
This is the first time I have taken on challenges and completed every single one and I am really rather proud of that. I will be doing a wrap up post before Jan 1st with all the titles and challenges that I finished and of course I am also now looking for what challenges I am going to do for 2014. I am likely going to do a TBR and Historical one again but from there I am not sure what else I will do. We will see! Happy end of 2013 everyone.
It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our noses is what we see last.
William Barrett
The grand essentials of life are something to do, something to love, something to hope for.
Thomas Chalmers
The great blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing we search for, without finding it.
Seneca
(7 B.C. – 65 A.D.)
Govern thy life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and read the other.
Thomas Fuller
Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We must be willing to relinquish the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
Life, in all ranks and situations, is an outward occupation, an actual and active work.
W. Humboldt
Everything that happens to us leaves some trace behind; everything contributes imperceptibly to make us what we are.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Unrest of spirit is a mark of life; one problem after another presents itself and in the solving of them we can find our greatest pleasure.
Kal Menninger
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
Nelson Henderson
Change is not merely necessary to life, it is life.
Alvin Toffler
Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.
Hypocrites
After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Italian Proverb
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
La Bruyere
There is only one thing that remains to us, that cannot be taken away: to act with courage and dignity and to stick to the ideals that have given meaning to life.
Jawaharlal Nehru
We become happier, much happier, when we realize life is an opportunity rather than an obligation.
Mary Augustine
Life is like a library owned by the author.
In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
We make our fortunes, and we call them fate.
Earl of Beaconsfield
Life is a child playing around your feet, a tool you hold firmly in your grip, a bench you sit down upon in the evening, in your garden.
Jean Anouilh
The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
Elbert Hubbard
Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.
Herman Melville
That state of life is most happy where superfluities are not required and necessities are not wanting.
Plutarch
Clever people master life; the wise illuminate it and create fresh difficulties.
Emil Nolde
The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it.
Plutarch
Life is a rich strain of music, suggesting a realm too fair to be.
George William Curtis
I made my life my monument.
Ben Johnson
The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague.
Who shall say where one ends,
and the other begins?
Edgar Alan Poe
Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.
Rose Kennedy
One way to get the most out of life is
to look upon it as an adventure.
William Feather
Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel mine and coming out with empty hands.
Japanese Proverb
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are no classes in life for beginners: right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.
Rainer Maria Rilke
To live is like to love–all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
Samuel Butler
One life – a little gleam of time between two eternities.
Thomas Carlyle
Life is a pure flame,
and we live by an invisible sun within us.
Sir Thomas Brown
As I grow to understand life less and less,
I learn to love it more and more.
Jules Renard