Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon: Day 1 update

Well I did do the Title Scramble and Jigsaw Puzzle Challenges, both hosted by My Shelf Confessions. However I only read 6 pages in Prodigy. A busy day of work combined with a cold and sunburn took its toll on my reading. Hopefully Saturday is a better day!

Library Books Read-a-thon

This is hosted by Rachael at Rachael Turns Pages. The goal is to read books you have checked out from the library. This Read-A-Thon will start at midnight on June 21 and will go until midnight of the 28th. You can sign up at this link. Obviously working in a library means I have too many books checked out. I also check out books from the county library where I live. This means I have lots of books from both libraries, so this read-a-thon will be really helpful. I will post a reading list a little closer to time. Thanks to Rachael for hosting!

Wicked Wildfire Read-a-thon

Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon is hosted by April @ My Shelf Confessions. You try to read as much as possible to get through your TBR pile. There are also fun mini-challenges and they also have a Twitter Party. I am way behind on my reading! I am also participating in the Novella Read Week part of the time, so a few of my choices will be novellas. My list of books/novellas to read from are Prodigy by Marie Lu, Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross, If I Should Die by Amy Plum, Achieving Apollo by Rachel Leslie, The Prince by Kiera Cass, My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent, and One Day More by Aprilynne Pike. I hope to finish at least one book and one novella.
Thanks to My Shelf Confessions for hosting! You can sign up at this link.

Novella Reading Week

This challenge is hosted by Mindy of Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Rachel at Fiktshun. The goal is to read novellas and post reviews of them. I definitely have a few novellas I bought or borrowed from the library that I need to read. I finished Die for Her last month and I hope to have a short review of it. This month I would like to read The Prince by Kiera Cass, One Day More by Aprilynne Pike, Before Legend by Marie Lu, My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent, and What Happened in Peru by Cassandra Clare and friends. Hopefully I can finish a couple of them and review them in the Novella Reading Week.

Onyx by Jennifer Armentrout

Onyx is the second book in the Lux series, so this will have spoilers for the first book in the series Obsidian. This was my Aliens read for the Paranormal Reading Challenge and a book for the Sequels Challenge.


Katy can't help but feel drawn to Daemon, especially after he heals her and saves her life. She believes any attraction that he feels for her or that she might feel for him is because of the healing. She fights her feelings toward him, but as strange things happen to her, she cannot ignore the Luxen and any gifts she may have. While having these conflicting emotions, a newcomer to town is thrown in the mix. Blake moves to West Virginia and Katy likes him, especially when he appreciates her blog and wants to hang out with her. Blake also confirms her fear that she is forever changed by the healing and he holds the key to helping her. The DOD will do anything to find humans changed by the Luxen and Katy and Daemon will do anything to hide their connection. When someone from Daemon's past resurfaces and a major betrayal takes place it could tear Daemon and Katy apart and possibly cost them their lives.

I actually liked this one better than the first book in the series. I read some reviews where people thought Katy was whiner in this one, but I thought she seemed a little more mature, albeit freaked out and commenting on Daemon's hotness a little too much. I thought the suspense and twists were well done and the ending leaves you really wanting to read the third book.

Favorite Character: Dee. Even though we see less of Dee in this book, I still like her character best. She is loyal to her brother, but also protective of Katy. She also has some humorous parts in the story.
I hate what happens to her in the book, but I think she will be resilient.

Favorite Quote: "'You always blush when you lie.' 'I don't know why people keep saying that. My cheeks are not human lie detectors."
"Always those three words." That is from one of the better parts of the book.

Katy does talk a bit much about Daemon's hotness, but other than that I liked the story and plot. I will definitely pick up Opal soon. 3.5 cups of cocoa.

June 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 now have 290 books on my Kindle, which means I added twenty-three books last month! I am terrible! I also did not finish Prodigy. I received it as an eARC and on every "page" letters were scrambled. so I could not read it. I have a library copy of the book and will try to finish it this month. My first random number was a book that does not release for awhile, so I would not be able to post a review this month. My second random number was 24 and the book is Achieving Apollo by Rachael Leslie. I went to college with the author and bought this over a year ago, so I am glad it is this month's pick!

Bert is a rock star who finds out he is Apollo. I love mythology twists, so I have high hopes for this book!

Clean Sweep ARC challenge wrap-up

I finished 4 eARCS: Towering by Alex Flinn, Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike, School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins, and Wild Song by Jane Eagland. All four have been reviewed and I sent the publishers feedback. I also complete a few mini-challenges and found more books I would like to read by looking at other bloggers' reviews. This was a really fun challenge. Thanks to Kimba from Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Kimberly from The Windy Pages for hosting!