Bout of Books 6.0 Reading Challenge

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 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th 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 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books 6.0 team
 

I will update this soon with a list of books that I plan on reading!

2013 Telling Tales Challenge

I thought this looked like a fun challenge. It is hosted by Bex at An Armchair by the Sea. The goal is to read books that are related to fairytales and mythology and rereads count. You can also use these books in other challenges. For more information or to sign up, click here. I am trying for Troll Under the Bridge Level, which is 5 books.
My books for this challenge:
1. Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn

Books to be added later!

2013 Fairy Tales Retold Reading Challenge

I just signed up for the 2013 Fairy Tales Retold Challenge hosted by Debz Bookshelf! My goal is to conquer the Lady in Waiting level and read 5 books.Here are some of the books I'm planning on reading:
1. Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn

If you want to join me on my quest, you can learn more at http://debzbookshelf.blogspot.com/p/fairy-tales-retold-challenge.html

Books will be listed soon!

2012 Fall into Reading Challenge

I barely finished this challenge in time! I am glad I did, because these were some of my favorite series books this year. Legend was amazing and Rick Riordan remains one of my favorite authors. I am enjoying the Books of Beginning series and anxiously awaiting book 3. Even though I barely finished Beautiful Darkness before the end of the challenge, it was another great read. My original post can be found here. Thank you Katrina at Callapidder Days for hosting!

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

This will definitely have spoilers for Beautiful Creatures, the first book in the Caster Chronicles.

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Lena and Ethan barely survived Sarafina’s attack and Ethan only survived because of the Book of the Moons. Lena exchanged the life of her Uncle Macon for Ethan’s life and even though she did not know the consequences, she is filled with remorse. As Lena withdrawals from the world and Ethan, she grows closer to her Dark Caster cousin Ridley and the mysterious John Breed, who has the powers of an Incubus without the limitations. Ethan fears he is losing Lena and has no memory of her sacrifice and the two begin to drift, just as Ethan grows closer to Keeper in Training Liz, who is beautiful and mortal. When Lena breaks off their relationship and runs away, Ethan knows he has the save her and learns that he may actually be made for the job. Ethan, Liz, and Link scramble to save Lena, but could they be too late? The Seventeenth Moon is coming and Lena may be more Dark than Light.

I love the way the authors present the setting. Their descriptions of Gatlin and South Carolina are great and their use of the Tunnels to travel to Georgia also make me want to visit Savannah. The secondary characters are some of my favorites, particularly the characters of Amma, Link, Macon, and Ridley. I loved the flashbacks to Macon's past. I also think the relationship between Ethan and Lena is very realistic and the fact that both realize it is not going to be bubble gum and roses the whole time makes it believable. I can't wait to begin the third book, Beautiful Chaos.

Favorite Character: My favorite new character would be Liz. Liz is funny, compassionate, and English.  I almost wish Ethan would choose her over Lena, almost. I love that Ethan and Lena fight so hard to be together, but that they are willing to sacrifice their relationship if it is what they think is best for the other. I love Amma and Macon too, even though we don't see much of Macon in this book, except mainly through the flashbacks. I think Link is my favorite in this book though. He is hilarious and loyal both to Ethan and Ridley.

Favorite Quote: "We don't get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it." I think we often want to change the truth and that it is hard to accept when we can't do this, so I think this is a great quote for life in general.

I love the gothic feel of this series and the great characters. Definitely a 5 cups of cocoa book and series!

2013 Dusty Bookshelf Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Jessica at  Books A True Story. The goal is to read books that have been sitting on your shelves for a long time or ones on your to be read list that you may or may not own. I finished three books for this challenge last year for the Pixie Dust level. This year I am going to try for the Dusty Bunny level of 5 to 10 books. For more information about this challenge, click on the image at the top or this link http://www.booksatruestory.com/2012/12/05/2013-dusty-bookshelf-sign-ups/.

I will post updates here and on the 2013 challenges page.

2013 Sequel Challenge

I am already participating in Jessi's Paranormal Challenge, but I thought the Sequel Challenge would be a helpful way to finally finish some series! You have from January 1 to December 31, 2013 to complete the challenge and any book after book 1 counts toward the challenge, including novellas after book 1. I really need to finish Insurgent by Veronica Roth( I loved Divergent!) and the books in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I am sure before the year is out I will have started and stopped many other series as well. I will update this post when I decide on more titles to add to the list. For more information about this challenge click on the image at the top or on Sequel Challenge.