Tackle Your TBR Read-A-Thon Wrap Up

I knew I was being ambitious when I chose the books I wanted to read during the Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon challenge ...

I've finished exactly two books. But I'm also halfway through another, I just started another, AND I discovered that one is going to be one of my rare DNF (did not finish) books. So I guess that's a win, right?

One thing this read-a-thon helped me do was focus my reading. I've been kind of all over the map with my reading lately, picking up whatever strikes my fancy. While that's fun, it also puts me in a bind when I have a review due date coming up, and I've been reading everything except that book! During the read-a-thon, I only read books from the list, so that helped me finish things in a timely manner. I'm disappointed that I didn't get farther through my list, but I'm happy that I read what I did!

So, here's my progress (clicking on the book title will take you to the Amazon page, which is an affiliate link, and clicking on the rating will take you to my review):

Books I Finished

All of You by Sarah Monzon. In this dual timeline story, I strongly connected with the contemporary story and basically sped-read through the WWII story. Overall, I did enjoy the book, and I'll be looking for more from Monzon. (3-1/2 stars)

Many Sparrows by Lori Benton. Oh my goodness! This book just gets better the more I think about it. It's set just prior to the Revolutionary War, which is not generally a time period I enjoy reading about, but wow. Soooooo good! I realize all I've done here is gush, so if you'd like to actually know what the book is about, go check out my review 😉 (4-1/2 stars)

Books I'm Still Reading

All This Time by Melissa Tagg. According to my Kindle, I'm 53% of the way through this book. I'm hesitating to read more because, well, I just don't want the Walker series to end!

Justice Buried by Patricia Bradley. I've only read 21 pages so far, but I really enjoyed Justice Delayed (the first book in this series), so I'm looking forward to reading more.

Book I Will Not Finish

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I've heard great things about Rowell's writing for a long time, but I'm thinking Fangirl wasn't the right book to start with. While I do appreciate the setting (the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska), I'm not enjoying the characters, the blatant rip-off of the Harry Potter series (and normally I'm all for adaptations of other works), or the content of the fan fiction written by the main character. While I still want to try Rowell's Attachments and Eleanor & Park, I've decided that Fangirl just isn't for me.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

"Many Sparrows" by Lori Benton

Revolutionary War-era historical fiction isn't usually what I'd choose (I tend to stay firmly in contemporary land with occasional forays into the World War II era), but I'd heard so many wonderful things about Lori Benton's writing from bloggers and authors I respect that I decided to try out Many Sparrows.

I wasn't disappointed.

"All of You" by Sarah Monzon

Besides the cover (which I love), what drew me to All of You is the dual timeline—it's set both in the present and during World War II. While I vastly prefer contemporary novels, my favorite historicals are set during the World War II era, so I figured that All of You would be a win-win for me.

Review Wrap-Up #3: September 15, 2017

Welcome to Review Wrap-Up #3! Over the past month, I reviewed nine books, and I enjoyed most of them! I also read a disproportionate amount of YA fiction—sometimes I do that; I get "stuck" in a genre and read whatever I can get my hands on.

"Adorkable" by Cookie O'Gorman

In my apparent recent quest to read all the YA things, I stumbled across Cookie O'Gorman's Adorkable. I got this one with another awesome Amazon benefit—the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. This allows you to check out one book per month off of a select list (which I think is just about anything available in Kindle Unlimited, but I could be wrong there). There's a much larger selection here than in Prime Reading, but you're limited to one a month. (This is a total bummer right now, as I would be reading O'Gorman's next book, Ninja Girl, at this moment if I could.)

Another Reading Challenge: Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon

Over the last few weeks, I've been choosing my books on a whim, reading literally whatever I felt like reading. Meanwhile, my TBR pile has continued increasing! So the Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon challenge is coming at the perfect time. Hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, this read-a-thon is for all readers—you don't need a blog to participate!

"Dating on the Dork Side" by Charity Tahmaseb & Darcy Vance

Did you know that if you're an Amazon Prime member, you have access to Prime Reading? I haven't used it much, though I do always have the allotted 10 titles checked out ... I just generally return something I haven't yet read when I want to check out another title. (You can learn more about Prime Reading here.)

Anyway, after I finished reading Tell Me Three Things, I knew I wanted to follow it up with another YA novel, so I went looking through my Kindle library, and I came across Dating on the Dork Side, which I borrowed through Prime Reading on a whim several weeks ago.

"A Twist of Faith" by Pepper Basham

If you—like me—enjoy modern adaptations of classics, then you'll want to check out A Twist of Faith, a modern-day retelling of Pygmalion.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Were a Chore to Read

As a book blogger, I sometimes choose poorly (though I've gotten much more selective and better at picking books to review), yet I always finish the book because I agreed to read and review it. Sometimes, I end up really liking the book ... and other times, it's a struggle the whole.way.through. If I'm reading a book I haven't accepted for review, if I don't like it, I quit reading—sometimes immediately, and other times after struggling for a while.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is all about those books that we struggle with. I'm going to split my list of Books That Were a Chore to Read into several sections: books I ended up liking, books that were OK, books that I struggled to finish, and books I gave up on. Because why make it simple, right?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (9-4-17)

After a long hiatus, I'm back! It's been a busy month, for sure, in which I didn't do much reading or blogging. (Only eight posts in the whole month of August!) If you want to see some of what I read in the intervening time, check out my Review Wrap-Up #2. I'm going to try to do those posts once a month ... we'll see how long I stick with it.

One of the reasons I haven't been reading and blogging as much, besides the start of school, is the Cubs. Yes, I'm still on the Cubs train. I finally broke down and purchased a subscription to the radio broadcasts of the games (which is much more affordable than purchasing the video feed) because I was getting tired of only being able to follow games through the app on my phone. The Cubs' playoff chances are looking good (they currently lead the NL Central by 3.5 games and are in good position for a wildcard if it comes to that), but I'm thinking they'd be lucky to get past the Nationals in the division series, and it would take something akin to a miracle to beat the Dodgers in the NLCS.

"Tell Me Three Things" by Julie Buxbaum

What is it about YA? I am well, well past the target demographic for YA novels, but I still love them. It's interesting, though—while I love reading about teenagers falling in love, it really bugs me when adult romances feature women in their early 20's. I'm not exactly sure why that is ...

Anyway, I picked up Tell Me Three Things on the recommendation of Modern Mrs. Darcy, but, as I'm wont to do, I never read it. Then yesterday I saw that one of my blogger friends had featured it on Instagram, and I'm between books right now, so I thought, "Why not?" I started reading this afternoon, and I basically didn't stop until I'd finished.

"The Two of Us" by Victoria Bylin

Last year, I read and really enjoyed Victoria Bylin's Someone Like You. When I saw her next book, The Two of Us, up for review, I knew I wanted to read it ... and that cover didn't hurt!