A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon January 21-27, 2013

It's time for the Winter's Respite Read-a-thon, taking place over at Seasons of Reading! Come on and join us! Work on the TBR pile and get ahead!

Goals:

I would like to try and finish the two books I've started:






If I manage that, then I'll probably start another book for my Seriously Series Challenge:






That should be plenty to keep me busy for the week, as I'm also working on:





But I'm taking my time with those and will come nowhere close to finishing them!


Updates:

Title	Start	21-Jan	22-Jan	23-Jan	24-Jan	25-Jan	26-Jan	27-Jan	Total
Ench.	75	98	132	146	192	-	-	308 Finished!	233
AKATD	28	48	-	63	71	84	-	135	107
KC	58	73	-	-	-	-	-	-	15
ABoSaA	5:34	6:47	8:49	1:35  pt 2	3:20	3:51	-	4:09	7:24
Tithe	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Final: 355 pages = about 50 pages per day, and 7:24 hours = 1:03 listening per day.

Giveaway (International): Graveminder by Melissa Marr

From Goodreads: Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville. While growing up, Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual at every funeral: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words, "Sleep well, and stay where I put you." Now Maylene is gone and Bek must return to the hometown—and the man—she abandoned a decade ago, only to discover that Maylene's death was not natural . . . and there was good reason for her odd traditions. In Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected—and beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. From this dark place the deceased will return if their graves are not properly minded. And only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.

I am already a fan of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, so I was excited to try Graveminder, something completely different. I was drawn in from the beginning, listening on audio, and found myself doing a few extra chores so I didn't have to stop! The story is dark, and enthralling, set in a small town with some very big secrets. Being the Graveminder is a huge responsibility, keeping the dead at rest. I really liked Mr. D and his underworld, and the whole idea of the Graveminder and Undertaker partnership was interesting and eerie.

I listed this as one of my favorite reads/listens in 2012, and I would love to share it with you, so I'm offering up one copy, either the US Kindle version or a physical copy from the Book Depository as long as they will ship to where you live. I'm also interested to know what your favorite reads of 2012 were. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bout of Books 6.0 January 7-13

It's time for Bout of Books 6.0!  Get a jump start on your reading this year! You can sign up HERE.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 6.0 team


Goals

• Devote one additional uninterrupted hour per day to reading/listening (that's harder than it sounds, and usually I'm my own interruption!)
• Finish up the books I'm in the middle of.
• Start another Seriously Series Challenge book. 
• Added later - 700 pages total.

Books to finish up

 

Paperback Starting page: 126 Status: Finished!

Kindle Starting position: 84 Status: In Progress

Audio Starting time: 5:06 Status: Finished!

Books/Short Stories Started

Trade PB Starting page: 1/252 Status: Finished!

Nice Girls Don’t Sign a Lease Without a Wedding Ring blog post/short story Pages: 9 Status: Finished!

Short story Pages: 17 Status: Finished!

Short Story Pages: 10 Status: Finished!

Updates

1/7 - Day 1
Time Listened: 1:23 (6:29)
Pages Read: DM(18), TTB(146) = 164

1/8 - Day 2
Time Listened: :49 (7:18)
Pages Read: DM(40), TTB(106) = 146
Finished Tempting the Beast by Lora Leigh

1/9 - Day 3
Time Listened: 2:20 (part 2 1:49)
Pages Read: 136
Finished Dead Matter by Anton Strout

Page 48 Challenge

"What can I do?" I asked. "It's not like the Order has put me through any kind of psychology boot camp." -- pg. 48 - Dead Matter by Anton Strout

My Continuation:

     My partner stared out at the scene before us in bemusement.  "Freud would have a hey day with this. I  really hope the Order has a good mental health clause in their insurance plan, you're going to need it after you clean this up!"  He contemplated the tableau awhile longer then said, "Well, good luck mate, ring me if you need a drink, you know... after..."

1/10 - Day 4
Time Listened: 1:41 (part 2 3:30)
Pages Read: NG (9), KU (17), Reb (41) = 67
Finished 2 short stories

1/11 - Day 5
Time Listened: 2:06 (part 2 5:36)
Pages Read: ATM (10), Reb (29) = 39
Finished A Test of Mettle short story

1/12 - Day 6
Time Listened: 2:13 (part 2 7:49)
Pages Read: Reb(24) = 24
Finished the Orchid Affair on audio

1/13 - Day 7
Pages Read: Reb(98) = 98

Total Time Listened: 10:32
Total Pages Read: 674
Books Finished: 3
Short Stories Finished: 3

Closing Remarks:  I didn't quite hit my amended goal of 700 pages, but I'm still really happy with what I managed, especially the 10 hours of listening time!  As usual this was a great time and I can't wait until the next one!

2012 Wrap Up

Favorite Reads in 2012

Out of the 100 books I read this year, these are the ones that really stand out in my mind when I look back over the list. To me it is interesting that 6 of them were audiobooks, so apparently I just REALLY like being read to! Two of these were read by the same narrator, Wil Wheaton, so I must really like his style!

All of these are either stand alones, or beginnings of a series. I did continue reading in some favorite series this year but decided to focus on beginnings or singles, instead of the middle of something I've been working on for awhile.

If I've reviewed it, I've provided a link to that, otherwise, it will be to the Goodreads page.

Review	Review	Review	Review
Goodreads	Goodreads	Goodreads	Review

Challenges Basically I didn't succeed at any of the challenges I did except for Speculative Romance, which I then tried to go on to the next level and didn't make it.  So we're not going to spend a lot of time on that, except to say that this year, I've picked one challenge, and that in itself was a challenge! They all sound so fun it's hard to resist, but I'm doing the lowest level of the Seriously Series Challenge, and that is all! Check out the links below to join up! To see what I've chosen for it, I've set up a page here for tracking. Sign up at  Reading the Paranormal or On a Book Bender it's all part of the same challenge.

Happy New Year everyone! May 2013 be filled with peace and good books!