Musing Monday's - Book Blogs

Musing Monday's is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. This week’s musing, courtesy of http://readbookswritepoetry.blogspot.in, asks:
What attracts you to a book blog? What puts you off in a book blog? Do you share personal stuff on your book blog?

I like book blogs that are informative without being preachy.  I also tend to like the ones that are not cluttered, while still being nice to look at.  As for my own blog - I share a bit of personal stuff, like my writing aspirations or struggles.  If I share something personal, it's often rather general.  THis is just me being very protective of my family.

Vacation Reading

I have vacation on my mind and thankfully, on my family horizon.  Naturally, as a bonafide bookworm, I MUST have books to read while on vacation.  As a very happy Nook owner, I no longer have to lug books around with me on vacation.  Believe me, this is a really good thing.

What I'm wondering is - do you have certain criteria for your vacation reading? I do.  My criteria is that my reading be really good (hopefully anyway) and engaging (again hopefully).  It has to be something I want to come back to read while still being something that I can be interrupted from and not forget the overall plot.  In other words, wonderful but not mentally taxing.  I find that a good romance or mystery usually fall into this category.

Book Review - Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl

I LOVE discovering wonderful authors that are new to me! I finished Victoria Dahl's Good Girls Don't earlier today and I am still smiling over how much I liked this book.  In fact, I;'ve already gotten the second and third books in this family trilogy.

Good Girls Don't is the love story between Tessa Donovan and Luke Asher.  Tessa and her two brothers, Jamie and Eric, run a family brewery together.  When the brewery is broken into, Tessa meets, and is immediately attracted to Luke.  He happens to be one of the detectives in charge of their break-in.  He's also an old college party buddy of her brother Jamie's.

Both Tessa and Luke have serious abandonment issues but for radically different reasons.  Due to said issues, both are quite afraid to leave and practically unable to trust.  This doesn't stop the immediate attraction they both feel for one another, though.  They begin what they both assume will be casual dating and quite a bit of lust.  And almost immediately, these two stubborn and scared people begin to fall for one another.

Tessa and Luke's story is sweet, sexy and at times sad.  I completely fell for these characters and Tessa's brothers, too.  If you want wonderful story telling with heart and spice - pick up this book by Victoria Dahl.   Oh, and I've already begun Jamie's story, Bad Boys Do. 

When in a book rut --

-- do some crafting! It worked wonders for me and I am thankfully out of my rut.  I am really enjoying Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl.

Teaser Tuesday's - Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl

 

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is from Victoria Dahl's Good Girls Don't:

She couldn't help but stare.  The police lights were so at odds with the birdsong and pale sunlight of the early-morning hour.

Reading Challenges

As you can see based on my pages at the top of my blog, I am participating in three reading challenges during 2012.  At least, I'm supposed to be participating.  The truth is, I'm not doing very well with the challenges this year.  I am some degree of behind on each one.  I'm not one hundred percent certain as to why this is the case.  I have done reading challenges quite successfully in past years. 

I am hoping/planning to catch up and complete the challenges for 2012.  However, I am wondering if perhaps this is a sign that I should forego the challenges in 2013.  Perhaps it'll be a year of reading simply for the pleasure of reading and not for the partial need to fulfill a challenge.  I suppose I'll decide definitively as this year draws to an end.

How about you? Do you participate in reading challenges? If so, how ar eyou doing with yours?

NaBloPoMo - August 2012

I am going to participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) during August.  I have been in a blogging/writing/ reading rut and I am hoping thaqt by committing to this challenge - I will get out of my rut.  I have done this challenge a couple of times before and have happily been successful with it.

The theme for August is Sweet.  I can either use the prompts provided or blog about my own topics.  I'm certain that I will do a combination of the two.  If this sounds like something you'd enjoy - click the image above and join in the fun.

Teaser Tuesday's - Shadow of Night (again)

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is once again from Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.  I like this book a lot but I just didn't have much time to read this past week.  I am so wanting to know what's going to happen in this book, though! This week, I will be squeezing time from somewhere in order to finish this extremely well written book.  And now, the teaser:

It turned out that the challenge lay not in knowing what to do but in actually doing it.  After working for years to become an expert, I was a student once again.

Musing Monday's - Magazines

Musing Monday's is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. This week’s musing asks:

Do you read magazines? If so, which ones? If not, why not?

I go through phases with magazines.  I can go a long time without reading or buying one and then I buy several.  I like artistic (crocheting, sewing, scrapbooking) magazines and health/weight loss magazine like Shape the best. 

My kids, especially my oldest, have discovered a love for magazines, too.  In fact, i just bought one for each child and one for myself yesterday at barnes and Noble.

Teaser Tuesday's - Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser.

My teaser this week is from Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness:

After journeying so far into Matthew's past, my body felt as though it might come apart with a puff of wind.  I hadn't felt anything like it after our brief timewalking sessions at my aunts' house.

Teaser Tuesday's - The Stand by Stephen King

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Nook page 44 of Stephen King's The Stand:

"But they looked scared.  I never seen doctors look scared like that.  I didn't much care for it."

Teaser Tuesday's - The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from page 84 of Kate Alcott's The Dressmaker:

"Maybe you'll tell me the story behind it next time."

"Story?"

"There's always a story."

Teaser Tuesday's - Overseas by Beatriz Williams

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from page 156 of Overseas by Beatriz Williams:

"So let's just leave love out of it for now, okay? Because I'm already hooked.  You don't need to go setting me up for complete and total heartbreak."

Musing Monday's - Book Length

Musing Monday's is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. This week’s musing asks:


What is the longest book you have ever read? How long did it take you to read it?

I'm not entirely positive about this answer.  I'm going to guess the later books in the Harry Potter series, though.  I remember the seventh book being near 800 pages and I think the sixth was just over 700.  I read these books within a few days of their original release dates (and a couple of times since) - so, fairly quickly.

Teaser Tuesday's - Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from page 203 of Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos: 


"Will you promise not to make fun of me?"
"Can't do it," said Will
Pen sighed.
"How about if I promise not to make fun of you immediately."