Goodreads Challenge Mid Year Update

Goodreads Challenge:

So I started out with a goal of 52 books this year but by the end of February I had already read 40 or so, as a result I upped my goal to 100. Now it is the end of June, and only half way through the year and I have already read 100 books! So I have upped my Challenge to 130 books!!

Granted many of my books are children's books but I have promised you a new bedtime story every Friday Night so that means at least 53 of my books this year will be children's books. 

So wow! I have managed to complete this Challenge and extend it! I am so proud of myself for completing two challenges so far this year and for reading so much even with such a busy schedule.

 

1. The Nose Book

2. Royal Flush

3. Dark Rider

4. The Poky Little Puppy

5. Baby Farm Animals

6. The Art of the Personal Letter

7. The Plain Janes

8. Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You

9. I Love you Through and Through

10. Snuggle Puppy

11. Little Grunt and the Big Egg

12. You Are My Wish Come True

13. I'll See You in the Morning 

14. Hot or Cold

15. Fractured Moon

16. Club Shadowlands

17. Taking Charge

18. Dark Citadel

19. I Love You More

20. How to Train your Dragon

21. Breaking Free

22. Lean on Me

23. Just a Little Crush

24. Make Me, Sir

25. To Command and Collar

26. Dare to Love

27. A Walk To Remember

28. Candy Store

29. Easy

30. The Marriage Bargain

31. Almost a Bride

32. The Marriage Trap

33. The Marriage Mistake

34. Cowboys, Babies & Shotgun Vows

35. The Other Guy

36. For Darkness Shows the Stars

37. Little Blue Truck Leads the Way

38. Ten Apples Up On Top

39. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

40. Teeny Tiny Monster

41. Dancing with the Duke

42. Just a Little Critter Collection

43. When First They Met

44. Bear Necessities

45. Grimm Fairy Tales Vol.1

46. Cynful

47. Armadillo Rodeo

48. Bunny Loves to Read

49. Hiccupotamus

50. Hush Little Baby
51. Slow Snail
52. Baby Touch and Feel Easter Bunny
53. Where is Love Biscuit?
54. Stealing Parker
55. Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville
56. Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site
57. Last Regress
58. I am a Dump Truck
59. Goodnight, Thumper
60. Life of Pi
61. Eyes Like Stars
62. Two Lovely Relationships between Three Souls (no review)
63. Northlanders Vol. 1: Sven the Returned
64. Twelve Months
65. Luminaire
66. Mommy Hugs
67. Pajama Time
68. Wintergirls
69. And the Soft Wind Blows
70. Chasing Dragons
71. Power Study
72. Justice
73. The Study Series Bundle
74. Sleepy Kittens
75. Wild Hearts
76. Ice Study
77. Daddy Kisses
78. Meeow and the Big Box
79. Finding Time
80. Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
81. Foodie Babies Wear Bibs
82.  My Turtle and Me
83. Daddy Cuddles
84. Under Her Skin
85. Mommy Loves
86. October Night
87. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
88. Shiver
89. Lip Service
90. Heads
91. Tails
92.Straight from the Hip
93. Hot on Her Heels
94. Prince of Cats
95. It's Time to Sleep, My Love
96. My Truck is Stuck
97. The Summer I Became a Nerd
98. This is Who I Am
99. Saturday with Daddy
100. Stork

 

 

Lets Get Personal: New Girly Obsession

So all growing up I was a serious tom boy.  I was out in the dirt and mud, rode horses, camped, fished, watched football, etc. you get the drift. 

 

Let me see if I can find some senior pictures to prove it.

 

 

 

Anyway I moved from a tiny town in Wyoming to Rhode Island and it may seem like a big city but let me tell you I still found all the barns to work at, get dirty and be tom boyish. 

 

But since I had Munchkin I have developed the oddest girly obsession. I am painting my nails! Now I use to paint or get them done once in a while for weddings and big events and such but now they are painted all the time!  Last week alone I did my nails on three different nights! It is actually fun to do while having a glass of wine and listening to an audio book (because lets face it I can't just sit there listening, I need to do something).

 

Now I still am horrible at painting my nails, I really can't use my left hand at all (except for playing instruments and typing, it is really quite baffling).  So I have found a few fun things to do instead.

 

I have been using the Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips, which I wish they came in solid or more subtle prints because while I am turning a little girly most are way too loud for me. So I am pretty much sticking to the French twist tips.

 

 

These things are so simple and I can't screw them up! 

 

So yea that is my new guilty girly obsession.  Do any of you ladies do your nails often? Do you do any crazy things (like I have seen some awesome galaxy details on pinterest)?

 

Bedtime Story: Daddy Kisses

Synopsis: "What could be sweeter than adorable baby animals snuggling with their daddies? This simple board book with warm illustrations feature a variety of animals and celebrate the affection between fathers and children. Cuddles and kisses will surely abound when reading this aloud!"

My Review: I adore this book, the illustrations are cute but the best part is the kissing. Daddy animals kiss their babies on various body parts like head, neck, paws, etc. Its fun to plant a kiss on the same body part of your little one as your read the page. Munchkin giggles away as we read this book.

 

My Rating: Another very cute book and very fun to act out while reading.  I give it a rating of Four Paws!

 

 

Good Night! Sweet Dreams!

From the Review Pile #8

 

 

 

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

 

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Synopsis: "Artist Adele Proust is over her ex, activist Jack Thomas — or so she thinks. At a 3-chord punk bar, Adele drinks to forget him, but when shouts of “Fire!” send the nightclub into chaos, she stumbles over a slashed-up corpse. The details of that murder scene are etched into her memory before she’s yanked away as the nightclub burns. Any clues to the slasher’s identity burn in the club, until Adele brings them back in a revealingly distorted painting. Her signature technique brings out a pivotal clue that was missed by the police: a paper currency strap. The FBI thinks Jack may be behind the murder and they want Adele to spy on her friends, but she refuses … until someone starts killing them off.

Sure, the FBI can protect her, but they want something too. That victim was one of their agents and the murder suspects include Jack Thomas and her best friend, Marvin. Without explaining much, the FBI asks Adele to spy on her friends, for her country.

Adele refuses until someone starts killing her friends. Now she’ll use the the FBI, the clues–and even her friends–to save them."

 

2013 Mental Illness Advocacy Challenge Mid Year Update

 

 

So here is my half way there update for this challenge.  You can find my original sign up post Here.

 

I am planning to read 4 books in this challenge and was hoping to be farther along than this but some progress is better than nothing.

 

So far I have read Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.  It wasn't quite what I expected and maybe that is why I have been putting off reading more for this challenge.  But I will delay no longer! I will be starting Soft Spots this week.

 

I think it will be rather appropriate to remember the continued sacrifices soldiers make while we celebrate 4th of July.



Audio Review of Stork by Wendy Delsol

Synopsis: "Moving from LA to nowhere Minnesota, sixteen-year-old Katla Leblanc expected the local fashion scene to be frozen in time. What she didn't expect was induction into the Icelandic Stork Society, an ancient order of women charged with a unique mystical duty. Not only is Katla the youngest member, but Hulda, the society's omen-guided leader, immediately bestows the coveted Second Chair on her ? a decision that ruffles a few feathers. As if that weren't enough, Katla also has to deal with her parents? divorce and the social aftermath of a bad date with popular but creepy Wade. Katla, however, isn't one to sit on her designer-jean-clad behind, and soon she's assigned the fashion column for the school paper and making new friends. Things would be looking up if it weren't for editor in chief Jack. Even though they argue every time they meet, Katla is inexplicably drawn to him. Juggling her home life, school, and Stork duties, will Katla be able to unravel the mystery surrounding Jack? More importantly, will she find a dress in time for Homecoming? Folktales collide with reality in Wendy Delsol's debut novel, in which one girl finds herself tail-feathers deep in small-town life."

My Review: Well this one had some ups and downs. The original concept of the book was absolutely brilliant, I just wish that Delsol would have stuck with the Stork concept instead of throwing a bunch of other ideas in too. The result was just a mash-up of too many ideas without enough meat to sink into. I did like Katla's voice, she was a really unique character and kept you in the teen mode. As for Jack, he is too perfect. I want to know where all these deeply romantic and commitment supportive teen guys are, cause they sure as heck weren't around when I was in high school! For me personal Hulda made the story! She is awesome! So the characters really saved this book for me. I realize that this is the first in the series but I still think that when given the idea right from the get go of the Storks, that idea should be fully developed in that story instead of being pushed to the side for other plot lines.  Oh and I wanted to mention that the narrator Julia Whelan was brilliant! She did a fantastic job with the voices and really bringing the story alive.

 

My Rating: Yup the great characters and the narration of this audio really kept it alive for me. I really wish we could have spent more time with the title subject of storks.  That said it was still a middle of the road Two Paw and a Stump Wag rating for me.

2013 Series Challenge Mid Year Update

 It is time to start updating on my Challenges since we are already about half way through 2013! Holy Cow! Can you believe that?!

 

So today I want to update you on my 2013 Series Challenge, because well, I am COMPLETE!!

 

 

 

The Series Challenge is being hosted at Salacious Reads and you can find my original sign up post HERE.

 

I had planned on reading a few certain series and my goal was to finish 3 of them.  Well I kind of surprised myself by finishing a couple series without even noticing.

 

Series #1: Masters of the Shadowlands by Cherise Sinclair (all After Dark)

Club Shadowlands

Dark Citadel

Breaking Free

Lean on Me

Make Me, Sir

 To Command and Collar

 

As I post this I just noticed that she had a 7th book in the series published at the end of last month. No worries I will download it ASAP and read it too!

 

Series #2: Study Series by Maria V. Snyder

Poison Study

Assassin Study

Magic Study

Fire Study

Power Study

Ice Study

 

Series #3: Lone Star Sisters Series by Susan Mallery

Wild Hearts

Under Her Skin

Lip Service

Straight from the Hip

Hot on her Heels

 

 

Would you look at that! I can't believe I finally managed to get a Challenge completed! Just because I managed to get 3 series read doesn't mean I plan to quit either, I still hope to at least read the Lords of Deliverance series as a bonus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Monday Reading List

Its Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Shelia at Book Journey. Share what books you have finished in the last week, are currently reading and what might be coming up next!

Reviews Posted Last Week:

Links will take you to my review

 

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Lip Service by Susan Mallery
Hot on her Heels by Susan Mallery
Mommy Loves (Bedtime Story)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Graphic Novel)


Books Finished Last Week:
Reviews will be posted at a later date

This is Who I Am
Prince of Cats
 

Currently Reading:

Blood in the Valley by JK Hogan - Kindle - 5%
Stork by Wendy Delsol - Audio CD - on Disc 6
The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller - Kindle - 16%


 Books to be Read Soon:

 

Heat Wave by Richard Castle (Audio Challenge)
Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle (Mental Illness Advocacy Challenge)
Ugly Beautiful by Seanpaul Thomas (Requested Review)
Yellow Socks and Blood Spots by Bailey J. Thompson

 



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So another busy week around here, I am beginning to hate summers! I love the sunshine and warm weather but I don't get to enjoy it for all the running around to events every weekend. We have something booked every weekend all the way through October, including 8 (yes you heard right Eight) weddings! It doesn't leave much time for reading, but at least I have gotten into a routine with Munchkin, I read while he takes his afternoon nap (usually about an hour and half) and then after he goes to bed I listen to one CD of an audio book while doing laundry or dishes or paperwork. So I have been managing to squeeze in about 2 to 3 hours of reading each day.  With that said, I should probably spend more time cleaning the house, especially since Munchkin has figured out how to scoot to his toy box and throw toys everywhere!

 

Hope you all have a great week!