High Summer Read-a-thon Mid-week Check In

I had a really good reading day on Monday and actually finished My Soul to Take! I liked it and hope to review it very soon. Tuesday I read more from Earthbound, which I am really enjoying. I am not for sure what Tavia is yet, but I am very intrigued. I loved Aprilynne Pike's Wings series and liked Life After Theft, but I think Earthbound is going to be my favorite of hers. Wednesday I read just a little more of Earthbound, I visited with my grandparents after work, and really did not read much after I came home. I also participated in School Library Journal's SummerTeen online conference and had so much fun! I think I was able to get like 20 egalleys, because you know I really really needed them! We got to chat with Jennifer Lynn Barnes about her new book and listening to panels presented by authors. I also listened to Tamora Pierce's Keynote speech, which was amazing! I just started her books last year and I am almost done with the Circle series. I love her writing and world building and am so excited that she is writing Battle Magic, which is part of the Circle books. It is sort of a flashback book. Thursday I forgot to take a book with me to work, so I went off list and read part of Hero by Althea Kontis, an egalley I put on my phone from the SummerTeen event. It is good so far. I loved Enchanted, so I have high expectations for Hero. I went out to dinner with friends and it was really late when they left, so no more reading last night. I hope to read more today after work. Hope everyone else is having a good reading week!

ARC August challenge and goals

This month long challenge is hosted by Octavia at Read.Sleep.Repeat. The goal is to read some of your review books and ARCs that have been piling up. I have requested quite a few ARCs lately, so I definitely need to do this challenge. I am going to aim for finishing three ARCs.

On the list:
Love Disguised by Lisa Klein
The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White
Risked by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Island of Fire by Lisa McMann
Charming by Elliot James
Across a Star Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
Venom by Fiona Paul
Hero by Althea Kontis

I may add more, but for now I will try to stick to this group.

High Summer Read-a-thon Starting Line/Goals

Updates:
Day 1
Pages/Percent read: My Soul to Take- 116 pages and finished!, Earthbound-2%
Books finished: 1-My Soul to Take

Day 2
Pages/Percent read: Earthbound-17%

Day 3
Pages/Percent read: Earthbound-2%

Day 4
Pages/Percent read: Hero- 10 pages (I went off list, because I left my books at home.)

Day 5
Pages/Percent read: Earthbound -1%

Day 6
Pages/Percent read: Hero-10 pages, Son of Sobek- 20 pages and finished, Dark Discovery of Jack Dandy- 44 pages and finished, Earthbound- 14%

Day 7
Pages/Percent read: Earthbound-10%

The read-a-thon will start on Monday, 7/22 at 12:00am CST and finish on Sunday, 7/28 at 11:59pm CST and is hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict and Castle Macabre. Click here for the signup link. I am hoping to read 300 pages for this read-a-thon and to finish a book and novella.
My reading list:
Books
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent-finished
Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike-currently reading
The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
Defy the Dark edited by Saundra Mitchell
Weather Witch by Shannon Delaney

Novellas
The Dark Discovery of Jack Dandy by Kady Cross-finished
Son of Sobek by Rick Riordan-finished
Shadows by Jennifer Armentrout

Beat the Heat Readathon sign up and goals

This read-a-thon is hosted by Jessi at Auntie Spinelli Reads and Reanna at Phantasmic Reads. The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from July 29th through August 11th. You set your goal and you can read as much or as little as you want. The goal is just to read. There will be mini-challenges and a grand prize. You can have a separate goals post or just use your sign up post. You can sign up at either hosts' site.

My goal will be to read 500 pages, since this is a two week read-a-thon and hopefully finish at least one book. I will be posting a reading list soon!

Hot Summer Reads Read-a-thon Wrap-up

I had fun with this read-a-thon and since I was off from work for a few days, I exceeded my goal! I read 767 pages and finished and reviewed 3 books (Opal, The Astronaut Wives Club, and Monstrous Beauty) and I also finished a novella (The Prince by Cass). I did most of the mini-challenges and commented on a few blogs and found a few new blogs to follow. Thanks to Jen and Patrick for hosting!

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

This was my Random Read for July and had been on my Kindle for over a year. I received this as a review copy from Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in exchange for an honest review.

Hester loves history and loves working at Plimoth Plantation. History for her is the exchange of stories as a way to connect with the past and little does Hester know, but her past is about to catch up with her. Hester's mother died in childbirth, as did her grandmother, so Hester swears off love and sex to protect herself and the ones she loves, including boy-next-door Peter. After a chance encounter with a boy on the beach, Hester begins to delve into her past in hopes to stop the curse plaguing her family. While Hester in the present day is coping with her problems, the story flashes back to Ezra and Syrenka, a pair of star-crossed lovers, one human and one mermaid. As both stories climax, it will be up to Hester to combine the past and present and choose the most difficult choice of all.

There was so much in this story; it had mermaids, ghosts, a family curse, an undying love, and history. At times it seemed a bit busy, but it all came together in the end. There is one rape scene in the book and quite a bit of language, but upper high school could handle it. Fama's writing is beautiful and she has some great word choices for her descriptions. It was definitely not a fluff read, because the language is a bit complex at times. The book was full of great suspense, a fair amount of history and information, and twists and turns that finally lead to a dramatic end. Hester is filled with determination and spunk and that helps her to survive. I wish she was just a little nicer to Peter, but in the end things will probably work out.

Favorite Character: There were very few innocent characters in the story, but that really made things interesting. When bad events happened there were really no true villains or heroes. Hester was probably my favorite, mainly because she loves history too. I think she matured in the end and hopefully will come to deserve Peter's love.

Favorite Quote: "It made her think about how recording information, ideas, and stories can collapse the time and space between the writer and the reader. It was one of the reasons she was drawn to history in school: there was such romance in listening to voices of the past." That is the reason I love history and studied history too, because of all the stories.

Wow, this was a deep book with lots of interesting plot points. The power of love and what love truly means was probably the best theme. 5 cups of cocoa!

Stacking the Shelves #3

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and is a meme for sharing books you've purchased, borrowed, or been sent for review. They can be physical or e-format. I went just a little overboard this week.

Bought

Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares ( I had already read this, but I wanted it to finish the set.)





Diversion Books

Kindle Books



Harlequin Teen



Harper Teen



Entangled



HarperTeen

Library

Defy the Dark edited by Saundra Mitchell
Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance
Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
Gina, Jamie, Father Bear by George Ella Lyon

Review
I was approved for one book on Netgalley. Thanks to Amulet Books and Netgalley!
Constable and Toop by Gareth P. Jones


Amulet Books

On Edelweiss I was approved for a couple of books. Thanks to HarperTeen, Balzer + Bray, and Katherine Tegen and Edelweiss for the review copies!

HarperTeen

Katherine Tegen

Balzer + Bray