Reading Assignment Challenge First Quarter Check In

This is hosted by Berls at Fantasy is more fun and Michelle at Because Reading and you can sign up at this link. There are so many books I need to finish and then just ignore, so I am hoping to do this challenge to finally finish a few of these books. I am going with Reading Level 1: 12 books total, one a month.

So far I am making an A! I finished
1. Alanna by Tamora Pierce for January
2. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie for February
3. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell for March 

I have also managed to review all 3 books, which is a bigger feat for me than actually reading them. This is a fun challenge and is really helping me to finish those books that have been on my TBR for awhile. Thanks to Berls and Michelle for hosting! Hope everyone else is doing well with the challenge!

Story Sprites Challenge Round 4 signup

The Story Sprites challenge is hosted by Great Imaginations and here is a link to the signup. The goal is to complete a path by July 1st. You pick a color and complete those squares. You can do more than one path if you want. I am having a hard time choosing which path to take! I think I am going to try for yellow or purple, but I may try for more than one color if I get on a reading kick. Thanks to the bloggers at Great Imaginations for hosting!

Story Sprites Round 3 Wrapup

I was able to finish the pink path this time, instead of the purple I planned on completing, but I am happy with that!

For Book with Gay/Lesbian Romance, I read Carry On, which was really good. My review can be found here.

For Clairvoyance/Sixth Sense, I read Perception, which was a good ending to the series. I really enjoy Harrington's mysteries. My review can be found here.

For Characters with Code Name, I read Only the Good Spy Young, featuring Cammie "the Chameleon" Morgan. I love the Gallagher Girls series and how they are all strong girls! My review can be found here.

For Scandinavian-born character: I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I sort of liked it, but it was really dark. My review can be found here.

Thanks to Great Imaginations for hosting and I will be signing up for Round 4 really soon!

April My 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 took a break in March, since I knew I would not have as much time to read in March. This month I am picking books in a series. I keep meaning to finish series and then stop either before the series ends or I read the first book and just keep meaning to pick up the second or third book and then I don't.

First Choice:

Simon Pulse

I really liked Alanna and would love to jump back in her world, especially after the ending of the first book. Alanna is pretending to be a boy, so that she can become a knight.

Second Choice:

HarperCollins

I love Sophie and Agatha and how Agatha is a great friend. This world is full of Evers and Nevers and how the world of happily ever after is changing.

Third Choice:

Hyperion

I love the Gallagher Girls series and finally jumped back into the series last month. I would love to see what is in store for Cammie and her friends.

Please vote for your favorite and you can vote even if you are not taking part in the meme. Thank you and thanks to Michelle for hosting!

Perception by Kim Harrington

I read this book for the Story Sprites pink path, Clairvoyance/Six Sense, and it completed the path for me! It also fits Reading Bingo for Book You Own and Full House challenge for By an Author You Wish was know better.

Scholastic Point

Perception is the sequel to Clarity and picks up shortly after those events. Clare Fern, known for her psychic abilities, thinks the school year will be a little less exciting than her summer. After successfully tracking down a murderer, Clare is now super popular at school and surrounded by fake friends. Her ex Justin, who saved her life, wants to get back together and Clare has mixed feelings for him, because she has not forgotten his betrayal with her enemy Tiffany. To complicate matters, Gabriel, the sheriff's son, is definitely interested in being more than friends, feelings which she reciprocates. What Clare hopes to have most is a true friend and she seems to find that in Mallory, a quiet girl who finally opens up to Clare, but when Mallory's ex-best friend turns up dead and Clare begins to receive scary secret admirer notes, one of her top suspects is Mallory. To complicate matters, Perry, Clare's brother, is acting strange and being contacted by a spirit possibly connected to the killer, and her mother is panicked over Clare's classmate's death, leaving her without her usually support. Can Clare solve the case, before she becomes the victim?

I love Kim Harrington's mysteries and I hate that I waited so long to finish this one. Her two books about Clare are quick, suspenseful reads and The Dead and the Buried is good too. These work perfectly for middle school all the way to young adult readers. I enjoy how she ties up the loose ends and Clare's romantic interests. I wish there were more books in the series, but the ending was nicely done. I like how Harrington weaves in the supernatural elements, but still has a good mystery plot and that the two themes would work separately, that they are both strongly developed. There is also some great points about friendship made in the book and about relationships. A quick, satisfying read, 4 cups of cocoa for sure!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I read this one for my March reading assignment challenge and for the pink path, Book with Gay/Lesbian Romance, on the Story Sprites challenge. It works for the Flights of Fantasy challenge. It also fits Book with Star-Crossed Lovers for Reading Bingo and You Didn't Want to Put it Down for the Full House challenge.

St. Martin's

Simon Snow is the "Chosen One," the one who has to defeat the Insidious Humdrum or all magic will be destroyed and for Baz, Simon is his annoying roommate, who he is hopelessly in love with. Simon depends on Penelope, his best friend, who is talented magically and brillant to boot, and his girlfriend, Agatha. For Simon though, things are not what they seem and his life is way more complicated than he realizes. He broods over Baz, his vampire roommate who is constantly making his life miserable, but could there be more to Baz than he realizes. The course of love is never smooth and for the characters in Carry On, it definitely is a roller coaster, but if Simon can survive the Humdrum, a happy ending may be in store.

I love Rainbow Rowell's writing and the plot was great. It reads like well done fan fiction and I thought I would be confused with this being pulled from ideas in Fangirl and being a faux final book in a series, when in reality it is a standalone, but I wasn't. The love scenes between the main characters were sweet and fairly innocent and were some of the better parts of the novel. I wish that Lucy's tale would have been know a bit more to the main characters and that there was one more scene with Ebb and Nico, but otherwise it wrapped up nicely. The only problem I had with the book was that it was a bit harsh on religion. Of course that I had to keep turning the audio down because of the F word, it was very British in those two respects. I actually got used to the language, but it was funny when I would stop for roadwork and the construction workers would look surprised and give me funny looks when the F word was said at probably a too loud volume. Aside from the anti-religious remarks, the book was well done. I think it will appeal more to older young adults, like 20 and 30 year olds, particularly Harry Potter fans. It definitely plays on Harry Potter and some items were directly copied from it, but I really enjoyed that aspect and since this was a twist on fan fiction, those touches worked really well. I still like Fangirl best of all, but she will have a hard time topping that one for me. I still think about Cath and Levi and I think about how happy they would be to read this book! Overall a 4 cups of cocoa read and hopefully I will get to finish other Rainbow Rowell books this year.

ReReadathon Wrapup

I meant to do another update, but was so busy at work that I completely forgot. I was able to read a few more chapters in HP and the Deathly Hallows, including Kreacher's story and stop where Harry yells at Lupin. I am getting into this one more than in the past and am going to try to finish it by May. For some reason I really drag my heels rereading it. So total I was able to read The Bad Beginning and about 4 chapters of HP, so not too bad for a busy 10 days! Thanks to Bex for hosting this!