Bout of Books 7.0 Goals and Updates

Goals:

Read, whatever I'm in the mood for, and try to relax.  It's okay to change my mind and read something completely different. :)  For now these are my plan, but we'll see how it goes!

Audiobook - finished	Paperback	Graphic Novel - finished	Kindle Novella - finished

Added After Start:

Audiobook - finished

Updates:

Monday 5/13
Finished: Never to Sleep - 56 pages
Made Progress On: The Android's Dream - 4:55, 47% done
Comments: Wow Sophie, I didn't you know you had it in you!  Also, John Scalzi has a strangely twisted imagination, and Wil Wheaton gets him! :D

Tuesday 5/14
Finished: nothing today
Made Progress On: The Android's Dream - 9:00 85% done, started Dead Waters and The Exile.
Comments: Scalzi is also a legal babble genius, and Wheaton can actually read that entertainingly, at least I think so!

Wednesday 5/15
Finished: The Android's Dream 10:34:22
Made Progress On: Started The Faceless Ones 2:03, Dead Waters 51 pages
Comments: How can you not love a sarcastic skeleton detective? But I need to find the rest of the series!  I seem to be spending more time listening than reading, but it's still a good time!

Thursday 5/16
Finished: nothing today
Made Progress On: The Faceless Ones 3:57, Dead Waters 98 pages, The Exile 3/4 finished
Comments: Feeling really good about my progress during this Bout of Books!

Friday 5/17
Finished: The Exile - Graphic Novel 224 pages
Made Progress On: The Faceless Ones 6:22, Dead Waters156 pages
Comments: In the home stretch!

Saturday 5/18
Finished: nothing today
Made Progress On: Dead Waters179 pages
Comments: Not much reading time today.

Sunday 5/19
Finished: The Faceless Ones 7:48:08
Made Progress On: Dead Waters 190 pages
Comments: Apparently I don't read much on the weekends!


 Running Totals
Time Listened: 18:22:30
Pages Read: 470 pages

Final comments:  So I didn't get too many real pages read, but over 18 hours of listening?!  I remember when I would take a month or so to listen to 1 audiobook!  I may catch up to my Audible account yet!  Thanks again to Amanda and Kelly for being such fantastic hostesses!  Can't wait for the next Bout-of-Books!

Random Reads: Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles

From Goodreads: Little girls are vanishing from Deadwood, South Dakota. Fearing her daughter might be next, single mom, Violet Parker, is desperate to find the monster behind the abductions. With her savings dwindling and just three weeks left to sell her first house or lose her Realtor job, Violet is ecstatic when a handsome jeweler hires her to sell his century-old, Victorian masterpiece, until she sees the dilapidated dwelling. Now, if she could just convince her only buyer to stop rejecting vintage homes as if they're haunted. Short on time and long on worry, she refuses to give up her dream of a fresh start in Deadwood. But with a malicious coworker trying to get her fired, a secret admirer sending her creepy messages, and a sexy stranger hiding skeletons in his closet, will Violet end up as one of Deadwood's dearly departed?

Nearly Departed in Deadwood is currently $.99 for Kindle at Amazon. I picked it up because I had gotten Optical Delusions in Deadwood and Dead Case in Deadwood as freebies (they are now at $2.99 and $3.99 respectively) but wanted to start at the beginning and didn't feel like $.99 was too much of a gamble, so that's why I'm including it in my "Random Reads" category. I read it recently because I'm hoping to visit this area during the summer and thought it would be fun to read a story set there.

I thought this was great! The characters are colorful and sometimes quirky, the story is interesting and keeps you guessing because all the suspects are behaving strangely, so I just couldn't decide for awhile who the baddie really was. There's a little bit of paranormal that figures into the climax, with a couple of hints at it before then. I expect we will be getting a little more of that as the series goes on, judging from what is revealed about one of the characters, but I don't want to give anything away. The covers are fun, I love the crossed out letters that change the title just a bit. I feel like this was a fantastic find that I made through the top 100 freebies on Amazon and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!

Check out Ann Charles Website for more information!

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

From Goodreads: Kendall loves her life in small town Cryer's Cross, Montana, but she also longs for something more. She knows the chances of going to school in New York are small, but she's not the type to give up easily. Even though it will mean leaving Nico, the world's sweetest boyfriend, behind. But when Cryer's Cross is rocked by unspeakable tragedy, Kendall shoves her dreams aside and focuses on just one goal: help find her missing friends. Even if it means spending time with the one boy she shouldn't get close to... the one boy who makes her question everything she feels for Nico. Determined to help and to stay true to the boy she's always loved, Kendall keeps up the search--and stumbles upon some frightening local history. She knows she can't stop digging, but Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried....

Lisa McMann has become my go to author for a Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-thon read. I had saved this one for the next Dewey's just this past April, and I wasn't disappointed. The print style and large spacing makes it easy to read, but the stories are far from simple, and they are enthralling, which is what makes them perfect for a read-a-thon. This story is so much more than the basic blurb above. Kendall's life is complicated by having OCD. She needs to have things just so, or be able to complete certain tasks in a certain way or she doesn't feel right. I disagree with the last statement of the blurb above because it makes it sound like the townspeople are working together to hide something, and I didn't really get that impression at all. There is an element of paranormal, and McMann is really good at striking that just right note of creepy and suspense that keeps you turning pages until you find out what's going on. The Dream Catcher trilogy, Wake, Fade and Gone were my first reads of this author, and still my favorite, but Cryer's Cross was a good stand alone that I highly recommend.

I've just picked up the Unwanteds, which is a little heftier than the others of hers I have read, but looks to be more in the fantasy genre. I absolutely love the cover of it!




Check out Lisa McMann's website for more information. I think the Visions trilogy and Dead to You both sound great!

The Next Always by Nora Roberts

From Goodreads: The historic hotel in Boonsboro has endured war and peace, changing hands, even rumored hauntings. Now it’s getting a major facelift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. Beckett is the architect of the family, and his social life consists mostly of talking shop over pizza and beer. But there’s another project he’s got his eye on: the girl he’s been waiting to kiss since he was fifteen. After losing her husband and returning to her hometown, Clare Brewster soon settles into her life as the mother of three young sons while running the town’s bookstore. Busy, with little time for romance, Clare is drawn across the street by Beckett’s transformation of the old inn, wanting to take a closer look . . . at the building and the man behind it. With the grand opening inching closer, Beckett’s happy to give Clare a private tour - one room at a time. It’s no first date, but these stolen moments are the beginning of something new - and open the door to the extraordinary adventure of what comes next . . .

This is my first Nora Roberts book, I know, hard to believe. It's possible I'm the last person on Earth that hasn't read one, and I guess I can't really say it's truly my first since I have listened to the first In Death book written under J. D. Robb. It is my first of her contemporary romance novels though. I loved it, pure and simple. It was just what I needed when I needed it, a sweet, fairly light palette-cleansing romance, after the intensity of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, with just a smidge of paranormal. The characters are easy to love and identify with and I loved the interactions between them all, especially Beckett and Clare's three boys. Man Night cracked me up. There is also some suspense to offset the sweetness of the romance, and the paranormal touch, while not central, is important. I definitely look forward to the rest of the trilogy and seeing Beckett's gruff brother Ryder fall in love!

Being one of the most prolific writers ever it seems, I'm sure you all would be able to find Nora, but just in case, here's her website. ;)

Almost time for Bout of Books 7.0!

Need to work on that TBR pile?  Here's just the thing, Bout of Books 7.0!

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, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th 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 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Come on and join us!  You know you want to... ;)