SIGN UP--2016 Blogger Shame Review Challenge

Hey guys! Another sign up! This is for the 2016 Blogger Shame challenge we're co-hosting. Hope you'll join in!

If you've been blogging for a while chances are you have a few (or more than a few lol) review books that have slipped through the cracks. Eeps! The Blogger Shame Review Challenge--cohosted by herding cats & burning soup and Addicted to Happily Ever After-- is all about dusting off all of those forgotten review books and making them happen!

Blog Ahead Mini is a Go!!! My goals!

Woots!! Aaaaannnd it's time for Blog Ahead! The mini version!

The goal is to get ahead and create a buffer of schedule posts.

Two weeks...14 extra scheduled posts.

Full Deets HERE

BLOGGER SIGN UP-- BLOG AHEAD (mini) May 1-14

Blog Ahead is back! This time for a mini 2 week version to help get everyone ready for Summer vacation! Getting ahead with blog posts is something I think is so important. It can really lighten the stress of blogging and is great for allowing down days if you just can't get by the blog but still want things to go live

To create a 2 week blogging buffer by increasing your total number of scheduled blog posts by 14. 

2015 Challenge Tally

I'm participating in 5 reading challenges in 2015. 

My goals and updates for each will be kept up on this page :)

Write On Review-a-Thon 6/27- 6/28

The Write On review-a-thon is a monthly event created and hosted by Brianna at The Book Vixen. It’s 2 days dedicated to getting reviews done, whether you have one review to write or 30+. This edition of the review-a-thon takes place all day Friday, June 27th and Saturday, June 28th. Let’s get those reviews done!

Oh I am totally joining in on this one! I've been working hard this past 7 months to clean up my drafted reviews. It got SO bad. I'd rough draft then forget em. Got up to 110 drafted reviews. *flails*

Then last Nov I did a bloggy version of NaNoWriMo with a goal of 60 scheduled posts by the end of the month. And it got me motivated. I've gotten my drafts down to just...25! And some of those are new ones that aren't up for review posting quite yet. Not. Bad!

Any who. Hoping this will get me over my blogger girl block and get some of these marked off my list. So as of today these are the reviews still waiting. Most have some type of review written up. They just aren't postable at all yet. Hopefully that's okay :)

So for this Write On Review-a-thon I'm going to work on these books...

2014 Challenges Tally

Just a maintenence post :) I'm doing 4 reading challenges. 2 hosted by herding cats and two by fellow bloggers. Yall feel free to click the links and find out more about each!

 This'll be the post I use to keep track through the year...

Yup. Historical Romance Challenge. Hosted by herding cats! Woot! Sign Up HERE.

the USA Reading Challenge Link Up!

I thought this would be a fun little challenge. There are no time limits. Take 6 months, take a year. 

You can start any time as of this post! Whatever works for you. Go for it!

This one is really simple.

The goal is to read a book that takes place, at least in part, in each of the 50 states. 

{Each book can only count for one state.}

2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Woot so it's almost that time of the year again!  Last year was my first year blogging and I signed up, kinda randomly, for an event called Blogging from A to Z. Thought it would be fun and not all that hard. ::snort:: Whew it really was a challenge! Basically the month of April you and a couple thousand other bloggers blog the alphabet. Starting on the first Monday with the letter A and going every day but Sunday until the end of the month and the letter Z.  You can blog about...anything really. With a theme or without. I had a blast with it last year and decided to join in again this year. It really puts your blogging skills to the test! Not sure what I'll actually do but thought I'd share in case any of yall want to join in too!

To Sign Up go HERE

If you're interested here was my list from 2012. Some of them are kinda entertaining I think ;)

There's some man candy, some real candy, some cupcake cursing and embarrassing turtle penis stories....

My Familiar Stranger (Black Swan #1) by Victoria Danann

Minutes ahead of inevitable assassination, Elora Laiken is forcibly transported to an alternate dimension similar, but not identical, to her own. She is stranded. Alone. Far from home. A stranger in a "strangish" land. 

Of course a girl could suffer worse problems than having gorgeous suitors. Perhaps more importantly, in the midst of an epidemic of vampire related abductions, can she stay alive long enough to choose between an honor debt, true love, or the breathlessness of single-minded passion? 

Type: Paranormal Romance, Elves, Vampires, Berserkers, alternate universe
Heat: 2.5-3
Rating: 3

Alright so I was really digging this one until the heroine picked the wrong hero. That landed My Familiar Stranger firmly in the eh category for me and made for one pretty grumbly cat herder.

Game for Love (Bad Boys of Football #3) by Bella Andre

In a relationship built on lies...the only truth is their feelings for each other.

To fulfill his grandmother's dying wish, linebacker Cole Taylor must find and marry a good girl. First grade teacher Anna Davis fits the bill perfectly. Their deal is simple: If she'll be his temporary wife, he'll give her more pleasure than she ever imagined was possible. 

Only, love is the ultimate game-changer.


Type: Contemporary Romance, Sports
Heat: 4 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5


I'm really not sure how this one ended up on my Nook but I'm glad it did! Andre's writing has a great flow and is really so captivating. One of my favorite storylines is the "fake mates/couple" that end up falling for each other. For some reason I just love that one and, turned out, I really loved Cole and Anna as well. The innocent school teacher taking a stand and the playboy footballer fulfilling his gram's dying wish to see him happily married by doing something crazy...like getting married mere hours after meeting...

Now, talk about a hot steamy read! I don't think anyone has ever had quite so much sex in the history of sex as Anna and Cole. Holy cow. These two went at it like bunnies. Now, the sex scenes were very well written. They're hot and steamy, emotionally charged and down right sexy but geezaloo there's an abundance of them in this 180 page story. I'm surprised either of them could actually walk after we hit about the halfway mark.

TBR Pile Knockout (2) + Seduction of the Billionaire Playboy Actor by Marquita Valentine

TBR Pile Knockout is a weekly meme hosted by Ana of Beach Bum Reads and Anna of Herding Cats & Burning Soup. This meme was created to tackle our HUGE and STILL GROWING TBR piles. 

We'll be posting EVERY Monday for the rest of the year. Our goal is to make a rather nice dent in our TBR piles. So, aside from our other lovely reads, we will be making sure ONE book out of our TBR pile will be read :) 

Want to join in? Check out the rules:

Sports Romance Challenge Link Up

Woohoo!!! It's time for the Challenge! 

Ladies this is where you'll link up your January reads. 

For each challenge book you read and review this month come back here and link it up in the linky list below. If you have any trouble leave me a comment or email me. I can go in and edit the links submitted so no worries!

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Oooo and I've got a sports romance freebie for yall!! I'll try to post them as I find them on our Facebook page for yall. If you find any let me know and I'll share those as well.

This one is by VK Sykes (Vanessa Kelly with her husband)...

Amazon   B&N   Smashwords

Happy Reading Ladies! Can't wait to see what yall are reading for the challenge :) Feel free to leave comments and chat about what you're reading, ask others for suggestions, etc. We want yall to have fun and enjoy the challenge so have at it :)

Want to know more about the Challenge?? 

TBR Pile KnockOut (1)

Hi ladies and gents! We're doing something new in 2013 with one of our favorite bloggers! 

We hope yall will join in with us! Check it out below. And no worries, you don't have to be a blogger to participate!!

~~*~~*~~

TBR Pile Knockout is a weekly meme hosted by Ana of Beach Bum Reads and Anna of Herding Cats & Burning Soup. This meme was created to tackle our HUGE and STILL GROWING TBR piles. 

We will be posting EVERY Monday for the rest of the year. Our goal is to make a rather nice dent in our TBR piles. So, aside from our other lovely reads, we will be making sure ONE book out of our TBR pile will be read :) 

Want to join in? Check out the rules:

2013 "Sports" Romance Reading Challenge SIGN UP!!

Alright dearlings. I'm going to host my first Reading Challenge!! 

We're gonna keep this pretty simple... 

~Read books with a hero/heroine that's into sports

~Review the book (on a blog or Goodreads)

~Link those reviews into our linky list each month

~and WIN prizes!!

    

Broken (Women of the Otherworld #6) by Kelley Armstrong

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough-only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers-unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for-which, for some unknown reason, is Elena.

Type: Urban Fantasy, 1st person (Werewolves/Vampires/Zombies)
Heat: 2 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5

Okay, I'll admit this one sounded a little cheesy to me when I picked it up. I mean, Victorian era zombies rampaging Canadian streets? Elena knocked up and on the hunt for 'Jack the Ripper'? Really, now? But in the end I really liked Broken. It turned out to be a fun filled romp and a highly enjoyable read.

3 days...22 1/2 hours reading...

I didn't do too bad with this. 

The goal was to read 24 total hours in 3 days. 

I ended up making it to 22 1/2 hours before I finally caved in and went to bed :) Soooo close!

 Danielle and Ava over at Romance Book Junkies did a great job hosting the read-a-thon and I had a blast with it! 

I knocked these four off the TBR pile!

   

And started working on...

 

Have you ever joined in on a read-a-thon? 
How'd ya do?

Romance Book Junkies Read-a-thon! Sept 27-29!

Alright! We just joined in on our first Read-A-Thon! So excited :) 

It's being hosted by Danielle over at Romance Book Junkies. 

It's her first time hosting and she's set up a great couple of days with contests and all kinds of goodies!

The big goal is to read for 24 total hours from September 27th to 29th! Love it! 

Interested in joining up? Hope over to their site and find out how!

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So. My schedule. ::snort:: I'm not even gonna pretend like I have a plan. <g>

Haunted (Women of the Otherworld #5) by Kelley Armstrong

Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy.

But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel. . . .


Type: Urban Fantasy, Demons, Ghosts, 1st Person
Heat: 1 out of 5
Rating: 5 out of 5

Whew. Now that was an amazing read. Haunted was by far my favorite book in the Women of the Otherworld series. Helluva shock since I really wasn't all that taken with Eve in previous books. But man did she turn out to be a huge surprise and an incredible heroine. I really enjoyed all of the different aspects of the book from the characters and their personal journeys to Eve's hunting down the Nix, an ancient evil that's escaped hell, which was just fascinating. Haunted wasn't the steamiest of reads but damn if it wasn't completely satisfying.

WOTO Mini Challenge #6

For those that don't know I'm doing a Women of the Otherworld reading challenge that's hosted by Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf. Each month we read a book from Kelley Armstrong's series and do different little challenges like this one. If yall want to join in head over and sign up. There's still quite a few months to go and great prizes too!

For this mini-challenge you must...

Go to the last page you've read and create phrases with the last word of each line. You can use punctuations that follow the words you use. YOU MUST USE ALL THE WORDS AND THEY MUST BE IN ORDER. Don't worry if the phrases make no sense at all, I just thought it would be fun to see what we come up with!

Don't forget to include the page number, as well as the book cover and synopsis! 

Eve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy.

But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel. . . .

I'm a touch behind still so reading on Haunted. Page 153. I think I did this right :)

Agnes but repeated...yes! Strength from overflowing. It rolled up Agnes' merciful body. Whispered aloud. "Attention! Vagrants! Family of...Is this? Was?... Blast!" Black knew. Returned Kingsbury skin. The they. Of they to.

Kinda worked, right? I'm liking it :) If any of yall want to play along with what you're reading leave a little comment with what ya came up with. It's kinda fun to see what you can do with it!

Industrial Magic (Women of the Otherworld #4) by Kelley Armstrong + giveaway

"In the aftermath of her mother's murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty-something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention.

Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld's most influential Cabals—a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn't blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural-born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it's a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance."

Type: Urban Fantasy, Witches
Heat: 1 out of 4
Rating: 3 out of 5

Industrial Magic had so many good things going for it. Armstrong created a richly intriguing world filed with action, danger, and an interesting mystery that will keep you guessing on the who and whys of it all. I loved that this time we got to delve into the oh-so-twisted family life of Lucas and were given a horrifying glimpse into the different Cabals (think sorcerer mob families) as Paige and Lucas help his semi-estranged father investigate attacks against Cabal teenagers. The Cabals were both fascinating and frustrating all at the same time. Filled with men who have terrifying powers, few morals and are more inclined to bicker like teenagers than work together to stop the senseless and brutal attack against their children. It really was an interesting storyline.