Wicked Valentine's Read-A-Thon Update: Day 2 and 3

Since I was exhausted from the SR conference, I read only one page Friday night and that was in Shatterglass. I did the Dating Game mini-challenge which was alot of fun. Saturday I spent the day in Louisville taking a friend out to eat and shopping for her birthday. I then stopped in Mount Washington for another friend's youngest daughter's birthday. She just turned one and she is a miracle baby. My friend spent the last 7 weeks of her pregnancy in the hospital and her little girl was born at 27 weeks. She is in awesome shape though and they no longer measure her progress verses a baby born at 42 weeks. She is a completely normal and healthy one year old! I did manage to read 28 pages in Iron Daughter and I am getting close to finishing it. I also did the Clue to My Heart mini-challenge which was a very fun crossword puzzle hosted by Kathy @I Write, I Read, I Review. Hope you are having a great read-a-thon!

The Dating Game: Bittersweet Enchantment

Today's mini-challenge is hosted by Bittersweet Enchantment and can be found at this link. The idea is to choose two characters from two different books and tell where they would go on a date. Ok, I can't think of anything really good, but I would choose Meghan Chase from the Iron Fey series and Simon Lewis from the Mortal Instruments series. I think they could talk about how weird it is to be not completely human and how stuck up Shadowhunters/Fey can be at times. I think a good date for them would be to go to a beach, so Simon can enjoy being the only Daylighter and Meghan can enjoy being out of the icy Winter Court. (I have only read part of the second book in the Iron Fey series, so far). Thanks to Beckie for hosting!

Lighthouse photo Microsoft

Wicked Valentine's Read-A-Thon-Day 1

 

I spent all day Thursday and most of today at Cave City for a Summer Reading Conference. I came away with some great program ideas and a better understanding of incorporating teens into Summer Reading, so that was awesome. However I only read 5 pages in Shatterglass yesterday. After the conference we were given a free historic tour of Mammoth Cave, which was 2 hours and 2 miles long. I love caves and Mammoth Cave in particular. This is my at least third time taking the historic tour, but I was around 11 or 12 the last time I took the tour and that was about 20 years ago. I forgot how challenging the tour actually is, but it was worth it! However, I will probably not read all that much tonight, because I am exhausted. I am hoping to do today's challenge by Bittersweet Enchantment if I can think of a good couple.

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

I am not going to do a full review on this one, but just a few thoughts. I usually pick up a book by Alice Hoffman when I hit a reading slump. Her words are beautiful and she is a wonderful storyteller. Red Garden is a collection of short stories that revolve around the town of Blackwell and trace the descendants of the town from Hallie Brady the founder until "present" day. The last story does not have a date in it, so I assume it is meant to be present day. You meet a variety of characters, get attached to each one, and then move on to the next one. Bears also play a role in many of the stories and the friendship between the founder and a bear cub is of particular importance. Some of the stories are sweet and some are bittersweet. Violence occurs in many of the stories, but the characters stay strong and learn from their mistakes. Still, beautiful is the only word I can think of to describe her stories. I have not read a book of hers that I did not like. Her young adult books are just as good as her adult and vice versa. Definitely 5 cups of cocoa and probably more than that really.

Favorite Quote: "She wondered if dreamers knew they were in a dream while it was happening, or if they had no idea that everything around them was purely imagined until the dream was gone."

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

This is the second book in the Hush, Hush series. I am counting this toward the Paranormal Reading Challenge and the Sequel Challenge. This will have spoilers for the first book in the series, Hush Hush.


Since Patch saved her life, Patch is now Nora's guardian angel. Nora thinks this is great, until Patch tells her the archangels are watching them and that he could be in trouble and possibly end up in hell, because of their relationship. Nora wants to protect Patch and when she feels he is too close to her mortal enemy, Marcie Millar, she breaks up with him. As Marcie and Patch seem to get closer, an old acquaintance comes back into Nora's life. Scott Parnall and his mother move back into town, and Nora's mom and Scott's mom try at first to get the two together. Scott has some dark secret in his past, a secret his mother and him try to hide. Nora doesn't really like Scott, but she wants to make Patch jealous, so she uses him, while also trying to learn Patch's secret. In the meantime, Nora's best friend Vee begins dating Patch's best friend Rixon, making things awkward for Nora. While trying to figure out Scott's mystery, a source tells Nora who killed her father, a mysterious person called the Black Hand. While Nora tries to discover his identity, she realizes she may be in mortal danger. Since she is fighting with Patch, Nora wonders who will protect her and who the real threat is. Her father's killer may be someone close to her, possibly even a loved one.

I almost gave up on this book again. For the first third of the book, Nora sulks about her relationship with Patch or she obsesses about mean girl Marcie. However the mystery plot of Scott's past and Nora's dad's killer kept my attention up until the cliffhanger end of the book, so I am glad I stuck with it. I don't really like the relationship between Nora and Patch and at times their personalities, but I do like Fitzpatrick's writing style and descriptive language. I am intrigued by the mysteries in the book and will probably read the third book.

Favorite Character: Probably Vee. Vee is funny, flirtatious, and challenges Nora. While she dislikes Nora's boyfriend and lets her know it, she is loyal to Nora and sticks by her no matter what. Vee is also blunt and self-confident, despite being overweight, which is nice to see in a female character.

Favorite Quote: "The only thing a boyfriend was good for was a shattered heart."

I did get a bit annoyed with Patch and Nora at times, but I enjoyed trying to figure out who the bad guys were, so I think this is a 3 cups of cocoa book for me.

Wicked Valentine's Read-A-Thon

The Wicked Valentine's Read-A-Thon is hosted by April @ My Shelf Confessions and takes place from February 7 through the 14th. You try to read as much as possible and it is a low maintenance, stressfree, read-a-thon. There are also some reading challenges and giveaways. You can sign up at this link.  I will be at a workshop on February 7th and most of the day on February 8th, but I hope to be able to start reading on the 8th. I will be reading from Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa, Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter, Mind Games by Kiersten White, and Shatterglass by Tamora Pierce.

February Random Read

This is a meme hosted by Sarah at imlovingbooks.com. You can choose to use Goodreads or create your own list or use your bookshelves. The idea is to use random.org and type in the number of books on your list. Whatever number you receive is your random read for the month. I have decided at least for the first few months to use the books on my Kindle as my list. I buy or get free far too many books on my Kindle and then never read them! I have 230 books on my Kindle now and my random number was 135, which is The Maelstrom by Henry Neff. This is book 4 in the Tapestry series.



Random House

Usually I receive the books in this series as an audio review for SLJ, but that did not happen this time. This is another one of those series books I have wanted to read for awhile now, but just couldn't find the time. Max and his friends battle demons to try to save their academy, but the costs have become almost too high for them. The books have become darker and darker with each installment. Neff does a great job fleshing out the secondary characters in this series. I can't wait to get started on this one.