ICYMI Sunday 12 – The one that’s on the final day of Bout of Books 10!

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) Sunday is a new meme that I am planning to feature on the blog every week. It is based on the Sunday Post  which is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, which was in turn inspired in part by the In My Mailbox meme. Basically, it allows me to let you know what went on the blog this week and anything interesting that is going on. It will also allow me to showcase any books I receive like the Showcase Sunday which is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits, and Tea.

So this week I am (hopefully) on time with posting this. I’m writing it Saturday night anyway, so hopefully it will post itself. I’m crossing my fingers that it does anyway.

This week has been jam-packed full of Bout of Books 10, and to be honest I am VERY pleased with my progress. I’ve also managed to not stress myself about it this time around, which yay! 😀 Cannot believe that today is the final day, but hopefully it will be a good one.

Hope you’ve all had a good week.

On the blog the last couple of weeks:

What else is going on?

  • If you use BookLikes please be aware that the site will be down for a couple of hours on Thursday May 22nd AND some of the BookLikes team will be attending BEA. For more info on both the downtime and the BEA attendance click here.
  • The Second Summer Ninja Book Swap is officially open! Sign-ups are open until Sunday May 25th, and all packages must be sent by Monday June 30th. If you’re interested in taking part you can sign-up here.
  • Neil Gaiman and Georgina Chapman are developing a storytelling project that aims to highlight the Syrian refugee crisis. For more information click here.
  • Julie Kagawa is giving away a signed UK copy of THE FOREVER SONG here.
  • Waterstones Piccadilly is holding ‘An evening with Judy Blume’ in June 3rd at 6.30pm. You can buy tickets here (tickets are £5 or £3 with a Waterstones card).
  • The Guardian’s Children’s Books has a list of what they consider to be the best LGBT books for children, teenagers and YA here.

I haven’t got a lot of news this week, mainly because I have been taking part in Bout of Books. If you think I’ve missed anything important please let me know in the comments.

No books for me this week.

I would love to hear what you’ve been up to this week and what books, if any, you’ve got so please leave me a link in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by :D

Bout of Books – An Off Day (Day 6)

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Day 6.

Today I did not read anything or do anything bout of books related (apart from write this). And you know what? I’m kinda okay with that. I mean, I would have liked to have read 100 pages today, but I’m not disappointed that I didn’t. I just wasn’t in the mood. The sun was out and I wanted to watch one of the T20 games on Sky – I saw Essex beat Middlesex by 8 wickets. It may not have been a good day reading wise, but I did have a brilliant day overall. I hope you had a good sixth day too.

Tomorrow, the final day, I want to read 200 pages. Will I? I’m not too sure, but it will be fun finding out 🙂

 

Books Read Today: 0
Pages Read Today: 0
Books Completed: 2 – DANCE OF SHADOWS, EVERNEATH
Total Pages: 711

Bout of Books – Starting the Final Straight (Day 5)

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Day 5.

Today procrastination was very much my king.

With just pages left until the end of EVERNEATH I found it very hard to motivate myself to start. For a while I crawled along a page at a time, having to stop and walk away at the end of them. Then I had to take a break from reading altogether for several hours, and when I got back I finally forced myself to read without stopping. I’m glad I did, as I really enjoyed the last little bit of EVERNEATH – there will be a review for it up at some point in the future.

I think I am going to leave it here for today’s bout of books, and start a fresh tomorrow.

Books Read Today: 1
Pages Read Today: 43
Books Completed: 2 – DANCE OF SHADOWS, EVERNEATH
Total Pages: 711

Bout of Books – THE Mid-Way Point (Day 4)

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Day 4.

Today the procrastination hit… No, that’s not exactly fair. I had some stuff to do in “real life” and that cut down on my reading time today. It’s nobody’s fault, but I knew it was coming so I should have planned for it. I didn’t quite manage my goal, I was one page shy but I’m not disappointed as I’m 200+ pages ahead of my goal for the whole of bout of books. I think tomorrow’s going to be difficult as I’m going to be finishing EVERNEATH and starting a new book. But I could be wrong.

Books Read Today: 1
Pages Read Today: 99
Books Completed: 1 – DANCE OF SHADOWS
Total Pages: 668

Bout of Books – Almost Mid-Way

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Day 3.

So I managed to double my reading goal again 🙂 I decided to pick up my copy of EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton as the second book to read this challenge, and so far I’m gald that I did so. It was a bit daunting actually starting it, but once I got going the pages just flew by. I’m hoping for the same tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Books Read Today: 1
Pages Read Today: 223
Books Completed: 1 – DANCE OF SHADOWS
Total Pages: 569

Review: Kinked by Thea Harrison

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Kinked by Thea Harrison, UK cover.

Title: Kinked (The Elder Races, 6)
Author: Thea Harrison
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Piatkus (5th November 2013)
Blurb:

Two opponents must confront the cause of their obsessive fury in the latest novel of the Elder Races . . .

As a harpy, Sentinel Aryal is accustomed to dealing with hate, but Sentinel Quentin Caeravorn manages to inspire in her a burning unlike anything she’s ever known. Aryal believes the new sentinel to be a criminal, and vows to take him out as soon as the opportunity arises. But the harpy’s incessant wrath has pushed Quentin to the limit, and forces him to make a deadly vow of his own.

To put an end to the conflict, Dragos, Lord of the Wyr, sends them on a reconnaissance mission to the Elven land of Numenlaur. Forced to work together, Aryal and Quentin’s antagonism escalates. Each fight draws forth more passion – culminating in an explosively sexual confrontation. But when their mission reveals real danger, Aryal and Quentin must resolve their differences in ways beyond the physical, before the entire Wyr is threatened . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

KINKED is the sixth book in Thea Harrison’s spectacular THE ELDER RACES series. Set not long after the previous book in the series LORD’S FALL (review), KINKED tells the story of Aryal (no last name) and Quentin Caeravorn two of Dragos’s Sentinels. Their dislike of one another and the ensuing fights force Dragos to send them on a mission to the Elven land of Numenlaur to sort out their differences once and for all. Like the previous books in the series KINKED is very definitely a book which is aimed at an adult audience.

Continue reading →

Bout of Books – Continuing the Momentum (Day 2)

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Day 2.

After the success of yesterday, it wasn’t as difficult to pick up DANCE OF SHADOWS and dive straight back in. In fact, I managed to find the time to complete it and write a review for it (which won’t be going up for a while, sorry). I’m very happy. This is the first book I have managed to finish reading since the end of April, which while it doesn’t seem that long ago also means I’m not getting through my TBR pile. I am VERY pleased with today’s reading progress. Hopefully this will continue on into tomorrow 🙂

Books Read Today: 1
Pages Read Today: 242
Books Completed: 1 – DANCE OF SHADOWS
Total Pages: 346

Bout of Books – Crossing the Start Line (Day 1)

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Day 1.

They say that starting a task is the most daunting part. And it’s scarily true. Beginning is, for me at least, always the hardest part. Staring at the blank box as I write a blog post or review, and trying to fill it with text that is coherent and (hopefully) gets my point across. I have that trouble with books too. Even ones I am dying to get into. I always end up procrastinating before I force myself to begin. I mean, what if they don’t live up to my expectations? What if I don’t like them?!

Starting this Bout of Books was no different. It took me most of the day to get around to picking up DANCE OF SHADOWS, and I’d already read the first chapter. All that worry, and tension was for nothing though as once I started the pages just flew by and I reached my allotted goal in an hour rather than the two I had set aside. That was the only thing I achieved today, really. I had intended to join the Twitter Chat but I forgot it was my turn to do dinner tonight, so I couldn’t make it.

All in all, I think day one went surprisingly well. Fingers crossed this will continue into day two, hopefully minus the procrastination but I’m not holding my breath!

Books Read Today: 1
Pages Read Today: 104

ICYMI Sunday 11

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) Sunday is a new meme that I am planning to feature on the blog every week. It is based on the Sunday Post  which is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, which was in turn inspired in part by the In My Mailbox meme. Basically, it allows me to let you know what went on the blog this week and anything interesting that is going on. It will also allow me to showcase any books I receive like the Showcase Sunday which is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits, and Tea.

Running late getting this up seems to be becoming a habit on my part. Whoops.

Had a great Bank Holiday Monday this week; more time spent with my wonderful parents. Apart from that this week has been very quite, although I have been lacking in any motivation. Hopefully taking part in Bout of Books 10 next week will change that (more on that later)

On the blog the last couple of weeks:

What else is going on?

  • Steve Berman has an article on SALON titled ‘The slow, tragic death of the LGBT publishing industry’ which you can read here. In his article he discusses the closure of Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia, which is “the oldest and possibly largest LGBT bookstore” in the US.
  • Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker talks about ‘The strange triumph of “The Little Prince”’ here.
  • The Guardian has a poll asking ‘How do you organise your home library?’ in response to a survey by Lovereading which found that “39% of British readers organise their shelves completely randomly”. You can find the full article and take part in the poll (there’s just 1 day left) here.
  • BuzzFeed has done a list of ’12 Literary Spots in London That Every Book Lover Needs To Visit’ which you can find here. Personally, I think they’ve missed a good one – the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens.
  • The Spring edition of the Subterranean Press Magazine is out, and you can find it here. It includes a story by Kelley Armstrong.
  • Bout of Books 10 starts on Monday! If you haven’t already, you can still sign-up here OR if you just want more info you can find the official blog here.
  • According to The Guardian, ‘Superheroes conquer the literary novel’ – you can read the article here.
  • The winners of the 2013 Agatha Awards, as well as a list of nominees can be found here.
  • On Cosmopolitan‘s website John Green asks ‘Can You Get Too Old For YA Novels?’ – you can read the article here.
  • If you’re not lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of Julie Kagawa’s new novel TALON you can check out the cool inside here.
  • Amazon and Hachette’s dispute over retail terms has gone public – you can find out more here.

Some interesting articles this week. Personally, I think the SALON article is a bit premature – I hadn’t actually heard of Giovanni’s Room until I came across the article. The article about how home libraries are organised was an interesting one – I order mine alphabetically by author, so I can find books easily. The literary spots in London list was an interesting one, but I was a little sad to see no Peter Pan statue.

No books for me this week.

I would love to hear what you’ve been up to this week and what books, if any, you’ve got so please leave me a link in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by :D

Bout of Books 10 – My Goals and Updates

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This is my third time participating in Bout of Books, and I’m really excited to get started. I’m hoping the discipline it takes to do Bout of Books will somehow transfer over and mean I get back into a reading schedule for the blog. This is probably a long shot…but you’ve got to hope.

Because I seem to be in a bit of a fluttery mood, my goals for Bout of Books aren’t going to be particularly concrete – it would be nice to say “I WILL read ONE book a day”, but frankly I can’t see it happening and that would just de-motivate me. Not a good idea.

If you are thinking about taking part (there’s still time to sign-up) then click on the image above to find out more.

So without further ado, here are my goals for Bout of Books 10.

Time Devoted To Reading… I’m going to try to devote at least 2 hours a day to reading. Hopefully more than 2 hours, but I don’t think 2 hours is an unreasonable expectation on my part.

My Goals for Bout of Books 10:

  1. Read at least 100 pages a day.
  2. Finish reading DANCE OF SHADOWS by Yelena Black.
  3. Read at least one other book.
  4. Take part in a Twitter chat.
  5. Participate in a Challenge.

Books I want to Read:

  • DANCE OF SHADOWS by Yelena Black

Links to Goal Updates:

Good luck and happy reading to everyone else entering!