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."

Book Review - Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn is the story of Thomas Cavendish, the Duke of Wyndham and Lady Amelia Willoughby. Thomas and Amelia have been engaged for nearly all of their lives. As children their eventual marriage was arranged by their parents and neither had a say in the matter.
Amelia is growing weary - and irritated, truth be told - with the Duke’s seeming refusal to set a date for their wedding. Sure, he knows exactly who she is and that they are to be wed but he treats Amelia as a duty and nothing more. He certainly doesn’t act as if he truly means to get to know her and this is quite unacceptable to Amelia. She decided that she is done responding with gentility to the pitifully small amount of attention he pays her - in the name of duty only, of course.
Thomas, although tired of his constant duty and lack of privacy as the Duke of Wyndham, is quite irritated when he is shunned at the local dance hall - by his fiancée, of all people. Intent on giving Lady Amelia a piece of his mind and a lesson on her duties as the future Duchess, he finally sees her for the woman she has become and his interest is captured.
Naturally, their courtship is far from smooth. Just as Thomas realizes he is quite attracted to his future wife, and as Amelia decides not to appear so docile; they learn that they may not be allowed to wed at all. It is brought to light that Thomas may not be the true heir of Wyndham. Now that Amelia and Thomas are discovering - and even accepting - their feelings for one another - will they hold firm in the face of scandal and perhaps a loss of every thing they had thought was rightfully theirs?

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume is Julia Quinn’s follow up novel to The Lost Duke of Wyndham. It is immediately apparent that Ms. Quinn is following the same time line in this story as she did the previous. While at first I thought I would like that - I didn’t. It grew a bit annoying reading scene after scene that I’d already read in the first book. And while Amelia and Thomas’ relationship does develop in this book - I felt Amelia deserved better. It seemed to me that Thomas only wanted once he thought he was ‘entitled’ to her. As much as I love and adore Julia Quinn’s writing (and am in fact about to read her latest novel) this was not one of my favorites.

Teaser Tuesday's - The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

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 10 of Graham Moore's The Sherlockian:

Arthur laid the facts of the crime before his readers clearly, calmly and efficiently.  No important detail was left out, and - yes, here was the mark of the true craftsman - not too many unimportant details were left in.

Musing Monday's - Dictionary

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

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

It honestly depends on how in to the book I am.  If it's a grippig book or section of the book - probably not.  If the word appears at a place in the book where I don't mind stopping then I'll look the word up.  Fortunately though, I can usually figure out the meaning of the word based on the context of the storyline at the given moment.

Wordless Wednesday - Beach Joy