My January TBR: And the Winner is...

This is hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading. Thank you to everyone who voted! I had 9 votes this time and over half of them went to this book:

HarperTeen

This will also help fulfill a couple of the year long challenges I signed up for, so I hope to start reading it tomorrow. I love Flinn's twists, so I am eager to start it!

Bout of Books Day 6 Update and Comfy Reading Spot Challenge

Day 6 is here! I hope to get some reading accomplished and participate in the Twitter chat today. I was able to do both! The chat was fun as always and I met a lot of great people. So far I have read 48 pages and I finished Alanna. Two books down this week! Hopefully I can read a bit of The Girls from Ames for book club. I was able to read 20 pages in The Girls from Ames, so that is a start!


Today's Challenge is hosted by Stephanie at Once Upon a Chapter.

The Comfy Reading Spot Challenge
Stephanie wants us to show her our favorite comfy reading spots. I chose my favorite meditation chair with the throw pillows that I usually end up in the floor by the time I finish reading and praying.

Thanks to Stephanie for hosting! I am loving everyone's spots.

Bout of Books Day 5 Update

Day 5 was all about reading. I did socialize a bit, but my day was absorbed with work until the evening. We went out to a local TexMex place to eat dinner and then I was finally able to read a bit more of Alanna. I read 82 pages and have less than 50 pages to go! I really wanted to do Kristin's Scavenger Hunt and my grand plan was to take pictures at my work library, but was so overwhelmed by work that I forgot! I did not eat lunch until after 2 that time and was talking on the phone with work calls while I ate. It was a great challenge and I loved all the pictures I saw. Hopefully Day 6 can be a Bout of Books day!

Bout of Books Day 4 Update and Villain Mashup

Day 4 Update: Well, I work a 10 hour day today, so we shall see what I accomplish outside of work. I read absolutely nothing, but I am having a blast socializing! I commented on another 7 blogs and several tweets. I always forget to count the tweets. I also enjoyed Cynthia's minichallenge!

The Villain Mashup is hosted by Cynthia at Bingeing on Books

Villain Mashup:

Random House

Scholastic

I would go for a mental battle for my two villains. I would pair Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter against Jannoula from Shadow Scale. Jannoula is a ityasaari, a half-dragon\half-human, and we know how Umbridge feels about "half breeds." I would mainly like to see Jannoula take Umbridge out. Jannoula would have her mind controlling abilities and Umbridge would have her stubborn prejudices that Jannoula would have to work hard to overcome. I believe Jannoula would win, but it would be a long mental battle!

Thanks to Cynthia for hosting!

2016 Challenges Signups 4 of 4

I am going to post my 2016 challenge signups in four separate posts, so that they link to the signup pages on each individual blog better. I will update my progress on the 2016 Challenges page on my blog. Thanks to all these great hosts for putting together these challenges!

 
This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats and Melissa at Winter Grrl Reads and you can sign up at this link. I almost met this challenge last year, so I am going to go with Newbie Level again and hope I can reach past the 10 points. I have several series I need to finish and a few I want to start, so hopefully I can do this.



This is hosted by Adriana at She's Got Books on Her Mind and you can sign up at this link. I almost complete her Reading Road Trip Challenge last year and this one looks like fun. It is reading books with royalty in them and I am going to try for Baroness Level of 4 to 6 books. I know I want to read a few fairy tales and she has some neat discussions planned.



This is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date and you can sign up at this link. I was looking for a good book bingo type challenge and this one looks like fun.



This is hosted by Lynn at Smoke and Mirrors and Bex at An Armchair by the Sea and you can sign up at this link. I started rereading the Little House books and stopped at Little House on the Prairie. I really want to reread these, so this read-along is perfect.

2016 Challenges Signups 3 of 4

I am going to post my 2016 challenge signups in four separate posts, so that they link to the signup pages on each individual blog better. I will update my progress on the 2016 Challenges page on my blog. Thanks to all these great hosts for putting together these challenges!




This is hosted by Sandy at Somewhere Only We Know and Holly at Words Fueled by Love and you can sign up at this link. This is one of the few challenges I completed last year and I really need to complete more series. I am aiming for Level 1 and I hope to finish at least 4 series again this year!





This is hosted by Stephanie at In Wonderland and Katrina at Bookish Things and More and you can sign up at this link. I definitely want to read more steampunk this year and I am going to aim for Shipmate, which is 1 to 5 books. I also want to read the Parasol Protectorate, so I may join in that readalong in February!



This is hosted by Jackie at Literary Escapism and you can sign up at this link. I don't think I can reach 100 authors, but 15 new authors seems reasonable.

2016 Challenges Signups 2 of 4

I am going to post my 2016 challenge signups in four separate posts, so that they link to the signup pages on each individual blog better. I will update my progress on the 2016 Challenges page on my blog. Thanks to all these great hosts for putting together these challenges!



This is hosted by Jen at The Introverted Reader and you can signup at this link. This is a new challenge for me and I am going to try for Dilettante level. I need to read more nonfiction and we only have a couple of nonfiction books for book club this year, so I hope this reading challenge will help me to read more nonfiction books.



This is hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block and you can sign up at this link. This is my third time participating and I love this challenge. It allows me to reread my favorites and to compete in a challenge, so what's not to love! I am going to aim for Feeling Nostalgic which is 8 books, but I hope to read 10 again this year.



This is hosted by Mel @ Daily Prophecy and you can sign up at this link. I have missed my goal the past two years, but with Mel expanding the rules a bit, I am going to challenge myself to the same book level with the new name of Goose Girl! I hope to read at least the 5, but really hope to read 7 retellings this year!