3rd Annual Love for Books Readathon Progress Update

This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and you can sign up at this link.

Monday:
I read about 78 pages in Light on Snow by Anita Shreve. It is heartbreaking so far with the discovery of an abandoned baby and a father and his 12 year old daughter recovering still from previous losses.

Tuesday:
I read 20 pages in The Little House on the Prairie. This was a busy work day and I could barely keep my eyes open to read tonight. 

Wednesday:
 I read 107 pages in Light on Snow.

Thursday-Sunday:
I was not feeling well, but managed to finish Light on Snow during those days and read about 200 pages in Little House on the Prairie, so not bad overall. 

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

This book fits the Flights of Fantasy challenge, Newbery Challenge, Royal Challenge, Full House for Color Word in the Title, and Reading Bingo as Read a Book with a Cat.

Greenwillow Books

Harry Crewe must adapt to the very different climate of the desert. She and the other Homelanders are trying to live beside the Hillfolk and Northerners without really having to deal with them. Harry is an orphan taken in by Sir Charles and Lady Amelia who have no children and are friends with her brother. Sir Charles does not understand the Hillfolk and their ways and relies on Colonel Jack Dedham for help and when Corlath, King of Damar or most of it, comes asking for help against the demon Northerners, both sides misunderstand. Corlath, who has the Gift, storms out in anger stares hard at Harry and can't forget her. His gift drives him to kidnap her and train her to be the next Aerin, a legendary figure who fought dragons and carried a blue sword. Corlath sees Harry's gift and wants to use it to stop the Northerners. Harry gradually learns why she has been kidnapped and becomes friends with Mathin, one of the King's Riders, her horse Sungold and a hunting cat Narknon who give her the confidence to take up the blue sword. Harry's Gift leads her to believe she can stop the Northerners and their king from taking over Damar and the Homeland, but at what cost?

Robin McKinley's well-crafted descriptions bring to life Damar and its people. I had a bit of a problem with the kidnapping, but I did like how Harry is treated as a strong female and that admiration is usually the tone that even the men adopted toward her. She doesn't complete just trust the Hillfolk, but she does feel drawn to the land and then wants to help the people. I love also the description of the animals and can see why everyone would want a Hill horse and their own hunting cat. I read The Hero and the Crown a long time ago, but don't remember much about it, but I think that it is fine to read either The Blue Sword or the Hero and the Crown first, even though this one was written first, but the other is first in the chronology. I love that Harry is a strong female lead and I know the book gets complaints because the romance is not really developed, but to me it seems realistic and that magic can draw the characters together fits the story. I love McKinley's books and this is a 5 cups of cocoa read for me! It was a well deserved Newbery Honor. I am rereading The Hero and the Crown now and will compare the two a bit more when I finish it.

Brief Thoughts on The Shack by William Young

This was a book club pick and I would classify it as an inspirational fiction.

Windblown Media

I am going to do just a few brief thoughts on this one. The plot is that Mack has lost his daughter to a serial killer and they found her bloody dress in a rundown shack. About a year later, he gets a note from "Papa" to come to the shack. Papa is his wife's name for God and Mack decides to go there to see who the note is really from and experiences something he never dreamed of, a few days with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Parts of this were really interesting and I liked that the key is forgiveness, even when it seems impossible. I liked that the author attempted to have diversity in his depictions of the Trinity, but I felt at times he was not being true to the experiences of the culture of the races he picked. I did not like how he implied that churches were not good, because they only condemn and don't really "follow God's will". That is not my experience at all at church, so this just did not work for me. Overall it is not one I would read again and I would have a hard time recommending it to others. I thought it would be good for grieving families, but even then I think it could turn them away from others and God instead of providing the peace the book was meant to inspire. I did not understand the meaning of the ending until we discussed it at book club, so I did think this was supposed to be a "true" account, which was confusing, and only when they told me that a particular accident in the book determined Mack's experiences did it make sense to me. 2.5 cups of cocoa for me, mainly because I liked the discussion of forgiveness.

My February TBR List

This is hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading. Each month you pick three books on your TBR list and people vote on the one you should read that month. I am picking three books off of my Kindle that will qualify with the COYER challenge.


First Choice:

Little, Brown Books

I received this on Edelweiss and have really wanted to start this series for awhile. I am doing a Steampunk Challenge, so this would qualify for that one as well. This is about an unruly girl who is going to a "finishing" school, but not the type she thinks.

Second Choice:

HarperTeen

 I love Kiersten White's books and this is another one I received on Edelweiss. It is described as a "Downton Abbey meets Shadowhunters" book and I enjoy both of those.


Third Choice:

Disney Hyperion

Another Edelweiss book and a YA sci-fi. I actually read the first one in Kaufman's Illuminae Files series and enjoyed it and then remembered I had the first one from her other series on my Kindle. This is about the crash of a luxury spaceliner and the conspiracy behind it and the romance between the two survivors.

Help me choose my next TBR read! You do not have to participate in this meme to vote. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

3rd Annual Love for Books Readathon Signup

This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and you can sign up at this link. I was looking for a readathon to signup for in February and actually participated in this one last year too! It is a low stress readathon, where you can read what you want. Jessi will have a small giveaway at the end and there may be some challenges hosted by other bloggers.

My reading list so far:
This Time Together by Carol Burnett (Book Club)
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (Book Club)
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Soulless by Gail Carringer

Thanks to Jessi for hosting! 

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge: January Update

 
The 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge is hosted by Laura @ Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @ Because Reading and you can sign up at this link. For this challenge you must have 2 of 3 main goals, Blogging, Reading, and/or Personal and then subcategories for these goals.

My goals:

Reading Goals

1. Read at least 6 Classics. This was a goal I barely completed last year, but something I want to continue doing. So far I haven't started this goal yet, but it is still early. I am thinking Frankenstein will be my first read for this.
2. Read at least 70 books this year. I did not do this as a goal for the Bookish Resolution last year, but I did have it as a goal. I just missed it by 8 books, so I want to challenge myself on it this time. I have finished 8 books so far, so not bad!
3. Finish at least 4 series. I did well with this last year, but I have several more series that I did not finish. Another goal I haven't started yet, but hope to soon.

Blogging Goals

4. Blog at least 10 times a month. I met this goal for 7 out of 12 months, so I want to try this one again. I blogged 35 times in January!! This is three times my usual amount, but I did participate in two three read-a-thons, so that really helped.
5. Complete at least half of the challenges I sign up for this year. I came very close to completing this goal, but not quite. I will be signing up for challenges soon. So far I have started 8 challenges out of 16, so not a bad start. I may have a reading challenge addiction. :)
6. Be more active commenting on blogs and on Twitter. By more active, I mean getting on Twitter and commenting on blogs at least once a week. I did really well with this. I have been checking Twitter at least once a day and at least commenting on tweets. I have commented on a few blogs each week, but want to work a bit more on the blogging comments part.
7. Review at least half of the books I read. I basically just stopped writing reviews at the end of the year and I would like to do better with this in 2016. So far I have reviewed 6 out of 8 books and hope to write another review soon, so this is off to a great start!

Personal Goals

8. Lose at least 20 pounds. We are going to try Biggest Loser at work and our theme this year is Libraries Transform, which is ALA's theme. I gained back most of what I lost last year, so I would love to lose that weight again and maintain the weight loss. Hahaha! I will be working on this heavily during Lent.
9. Eat and drink healthier. I would like to eat at least a vegetable or fruit a day. I eat horribly and am not in good shape. I would also like to cut down on coffee and sodas, because that is all I have been drinking lately. I have managed to eat at least a veggie or a fruit a day, but not much more than that. I did better on sodas, until the end of this month and I am very slowly cutting down on coffee.
10. Exercise more. I would love to exercise at least a few times a month and possibly up this to a few times a week as I get in a bit better shape. I don't want to push things too fast, so for the first month or so, I would like to exercise at least 3 times a month. I barely managed to squeeze in exercise, so I really need to work on this next month.

My reading and blogging goals went well, but my personal goals not so much. I hope to work harder on them in February and get a bit healthier! 

Mirrored by Alex Flinn

This was my TBR read for January and also a COYER read. It is also my first read for the Retelling Challenge. It also works for Reading Bingo as a book with a one word title and for Full House as Published 2015. I received this as an e-galley on Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Harper Teen

This is a twist on the story of Snow White and does feature an appearance from Kendra! Violet has always wished she was beautiful and has always been jealous of Jennifer and her group of hot, mean girls. When Jennifer takes away Greg, Violet's only friend and crush, Violet feels like she is left with nothing. However, unbeknownst to Violet, she is a witch. When she is attacked by two boys, Violet calls birds to save her and she meets Kendra. Kendra teaches her to use her powers and tries to be Violet's friend. Violet, however, wants revenge and to be beautiful. She uses her powers to become the fairest of them all, but she can't steal Greg from Jennifer. After Jennifer is cruel to Violet, Violet makes a dog attack her and scar her, but still Greg loves her. Fast forward, Greg and Jennifer are married with a beautiful girl, Celine. Jennifer fears animals and with good reason. Jennifer is attacked all the time and one of these attacks in a zoo proves fatal. Violet then swoops in on Greg and Celine is left with a beautiful, wicked stepmother. Celine does everything to downplay her beauty and to stay out of Violet's way. Having only one friend, Laurel, Celine does what she can to stay away from home and both girls bond over their crush on rock star, Jonah Prince. Celine even gets the leading role in a play to spend more time away from home and meets Goose, who is only 4'5", but doesn't let his size dictate his life. Celine likes Goose, but can't tell his intentions. While struggling with all this, tragedy strikes, and Violet wants Celine dead. Celine must depend on Goose and Kendra to help her survive and when all else fails, she must depend on true love.

I love Flinn's twists on fairy tales. Beastly is still my favorite, but this one had some interesting ideas. We get to see inside the "evil queen's" head, when we hear Violet's story. I really did not feel sympathy for her or Jennifer or Greg, but it was nice to see the motive. Then we get to see into "Snow White's" head. Celine does provoke sympathy and has the sweet, innocent quality that Snow White from Disney had. I also liked seeing into Goose's head. Using someone who has dwarfism was definitely a twist, but I worried that it would be too much. Flinn does and doesn't make it an issue for Goose. She does by showing he suffered bullying, just like Violet and Celine, but that he conquers this by using humor. She shows how the humor hurts him at the same time. I also like that she shows he can be the "hero," jumping over balconies, conquering fears, and that he can be a love interest. I was worried about it, but I think she did a great job. Overall, Kendra is still my favorite character and I felt so bad for her throughout this book. She tries so hard to do right, but there is always something she is unable to prevent, showing that magic, while powerful, is limited. If you want an enchanting tale with multiple points of view and a love that will have you cheering, then read this book! 4 cups of cocoa.