Time for the Wrap Up!! #TackleTBR Readathon

Can you believe it? We have arrived at the last day of the read-a-thon!!! 

This is your last day to read, so let's all try to finish strong! Laura @ and I want to thank you for joining us during these past two weeks. We think it has been a fabulous time! As a group (all 92 of us), we have gotten a ton of reading done!

I will be posting my final update tomorrow. You can link your final update to this post or to that one, whichever you prefer.

Many of the giveaways are still open, so go ahead and enter any that you are interested in. Here is a look back at all the hosted challenges, posts, and giveaways for this read-a-thon:

9/9 (Challenge): Michelle @ Snarky Mom – Scavenger Hunt and giveaway

9/10 (Author Post): Shawn Martin – Shadowflesh post and giveaway. Interview on Colorimetry.

9/11 (Challenge): Joana @ Joana In The Sky With Books – Book Covers Challenge & giveaway

9/12 (Author Post): Jordan McCollum – (I, Spy) Cover Reveal, also on Colorimetry. 

9/13 (Challenge): Caroline @ Book Cracker Caroline – Survey Challenge and giveaway

9/14 (Author Post): Kaitlin Bevis – Persephone post and giveaway. Interview on Colorimetry.

9/16 (Author Post): MJ Braden – Smoke, Wings & Stone post and giveaway. Highlight on Colorimetry.

9/17 (Challenge): Olivia @  – Treasure Hunt

9/18 (Author Post): Kim Foster – A Beautiful Heist post and giveaway. Spotlight on Colorimetry.

9/19 (Challenge): Jen @ YA Romantics – Book Photo Challenge and giveaway

9/20 (Author Post): Karen and Rachel – Legend Unleased post and giveaway. Interview on Colorimetry.

Here are the finale giveaways if you haven't had a chance to enter them. Winners will be drawn Sunday night. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Give yourself a pat on the back for making it to the end! Happy reading, everyone!

Note from Laura:

I want to add a big POOOOF of confetti full of THANK YOU!!! to Tressa for organizing such a GREAT readathon!!!  I have really enjoyed participating in the fun. The challenges are so creative and the giveaways are soooo great!! Plus... I LOVE adding to my TBR even as I am reading thru it!  :-D   Thank you, Tressa!!  You totally rock!!

I'm heading into a crazy week of awesomeness... what with the tour for Hero launching tomorrow! and Anne Elisabeth's new novella's blitz!!!  :-D

So let me add my reading wrap up real quick... 

I read Enchanted by Alethea Kontis... and then Hero. It's rough "working" for the tours, but *sigh* I am up to the challenge. ;-)  All I can say is that I'm glad I agreed to do a tour for Alethea BEFORE I became awe-struck over her writing. So eloquent. So quotable!!  Plus... all those fairy tales crammed in there?!  Hilarious. Creative. FUN!!  Yep. I've had a good time reading.

I also started WARP, progressed on the audio of The Two Towers... read bits of future tour books... Oh, Resiliant!  I read that, too. Then I added a bunch of books to my TBR:

 - These Broken Stars
 - Charmed
 - Cold Blooded
 - The Iron Traitor
 - Rags & Bones
 - Wisdom For Everyday Living
 - Legend Unleashed
 - Fang Chronicles: Amy's Story
 - The Reluctant Bachelorette
 - Letting Go

*cough* I think I'm missing a few, too. Obviously I have a problem. I can only read a couple books a week, at the most, right now and yet, I'm acquiring them at 4x that speed. What's a reader to do, hey? I love books!!!  And I'll be signing up for the next Tackle Your TBR readathon next year, Tressa, ya better believe it!!  :-D

Best & Worst of 2012, Welcoming 2013 - Let's talk BOOKS!!

Welcome 2013... there is so much to talk about with a New Year and so many great books coming out (welcome to The Essence!!) I've been emailing back -n- forth with Vale, discussing 2012 & 2013, and I thought it would be way-cool to open the conversation up to everyone. So... get some coffee (or hot chocolate? tea?) & pull up a chair!!  Jump on in!!

So... let's chat. K?


Wait... first... I don't want to bleep out our discussion... there's a bit of language. It's an emotional chat.

Really, what? jajaja, why, I'd love to have a chitchat!! *cracks knuckles* Name the place (which, I guess, would be the internet) & the time & lets do it!! Jajaja, Hmm, yeah, lets celebrate New Year dying about what we expect from, for, 2013 & say good bye to ALL we read this year, since the world didn't end & all. 

jajajaja  Ok, starting NOW... posting Thursday!  :-D

I have been thinking a LOT about all the great books I love in 2012, my favorites. But I haven't really thought of any other categories beyond "favs" and you have all these other things....

"talking about New Year, in this time of reviewing the year that's about to end, have you decided which are the best, worst, prettiest, etc. books of the year? & what are you looking forward the most about 2013?" 

Lol. Yea!!  What about favorite books we didn't get to? 'Cause I really wanted to read Throne of Glass, but didn't get to it. I have no order, here... but I am kicking myself that I didn't get all of these:

1 - The Throne of Glass

2 - Shadow and Bone

3 - The Crown of Embers

My favorites in 2012 were....

1 - Grave Mercy. This is the only book I read twice and I about died when the author emailed me back. I'm still fainted over it.

2 - The Emperor's Conspiracy. I love thieves. I just do. Best surprise of the year.

3 - Shatter Me. Wow!!

4 - Every Other Day. Jennifer Lynn Barnes jumped up to Must-Read-All-Her-Books!!

5 - Insurgent. I still haven't read the final chapter. I just don't want it to end.

6 - Degrees of Wrong. Yea. *nods enthusiastically*

I'm forgetting some, aren't I?  This is my problem with lists. I can't remember everything all at once.

Yes! You're so forgetting Vampire Academy... in my opinion. (What? I read them like 2 years ago, so are in my list of All Time favs).

Oooh yeaaaaaa.... weird. BLOODLINES was totally awesome!!! I haven't posted all my reviews of the Vampire Academy series, yet... [How will I know how many books I read on Goodreads?! I was trying to keep track for once!!!]

Okay; FAVORITE Book of 2012. The ONE that ABSOLUTELY takes the prize is: 

The Lost Girl!! 

It is incredibly & totally beautiful. It broke me & remade me many times. MANY times, along the book. And it's a total shame that its a stand alone, since I loved Eva & EVERYONE else so, so much. The characters in this book are so freaking real... *breath* Sorry, but, hey, it was the 2012 Favorite, after all. It deserves all the ramble. 

Er... favorites? (No particular order, okay?)

1. The Immortal Rules. First thing I read by Julie Kawaga,  loved it. went straight for all other book she's ever written, I regret nothing. 

2. Days of Blood & Starlight. Oh, please, give me a sec... * sniffs* Depressing, but beautiful. & hopeful, yes, that. 

3. Throne of Glass. A chick that kills (& happens to be the best on it?) What else would you, mortals, ask for? 

4. Cinder. I can't believe I had doubts moon-sized about this one. Love, love, love. Is February already?

5. The Golden Lily. Daaamn, I read it in 2 days. Enough said.

How 'bout books ON our shelves that we didn't get to?!

1. Divergent. Whoops, yeah, I know. Don't hurt me please!! I've had it since January... whoops. 

2. The Name of the Wind. Er...  I wonder, will I read it this year? I want to, trust me. 

3. Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. I had been waiting to get this one, got it, & I think I freaked out too badly to read it. Damn it. 

I bought Daughter of Smoke and Bone for my birthday last year and it's STILL sitting on my shelf UNREAD. What the heck?! Next to it are Under the Never Sky & Hallowed. *shakes head* That's bad & you should feel bad. 

What?!  You're going to give me a bad time about that with Divergent & The Name of the Wind still waiting to be read?!  Shall we get out our eReaders?! I've seen Sweet Evil on a few end-of-the-year-awesome-lists. Why didn't I get to that one?! Why isn't there more time to read?!?!

I tell you, whoops. 

What was your worst?  Do you dare share your worst?!?!

Ugh, the worst category rests on a book I read a couple of years ago (ejem, about angels & a twisted sense of God & religion? Awful book. If you know which I'm talking about, take this space to bang your head against the table (...)) so my bar as a little high as bad books go & I try to about them if I feel like I may not... like it. So, not a bad book as much as disappointment. 

*ouch!* Lol. 

Da prize goes to... 

1. Defiance. Really, not for a sec I thought this would turn out as... it did. Very frustrating, the plot & the MC. In a normal circumstance, this prize would be for Tiger's Destiny, but since part of me expected Kelsey to go full Drama Queen, Defiance's disappointment is huger. 

Hm... I guess... I didn't finish Starters. It just bugged me. And Exogene was tooooo gross and unlogical. But I didn't finish 'em, so I don't think they count as "worst". 

What about book or series you can't believe you waited THIS long to read?

1. The Iron Fey. Whooooah! Why I didn't read them before? Because I'm THAT damn stubborn, that's why. But now that I've read them, well, I can die peacefully (the world didn't end, so I can keep reading whatever Kagawa writes. Hell, yes.) 

Lol. Yea, I'm glad we're still alive to READ!!

I'm so glad I read The Iron Fey series this year. I'm addicted to Kagawa's writing, now.  I want to read Armentrout's books - all of 'em. Yesterday. And Richelle Mead's, too. I can't believe I didn't read the Vampire Academy series before now. Of all her books so far, though, I absolutely LOVED Bloodlines. Just talking about it makes me want to drop everything and read The Golden Lily NOW!!

Well, what can I say, I'm rather obsessed with her books.  

But you know... I have to read Dark Triumph for the first book in 2013. :-D  What is going to be your first book of the New Year?!

Hmm, IDK. I'm deciding between Beautiful Redemption & Reached, but I just realized both are the final book in a series. Isn't that... contradictory? being New year & all? 

Lol. YES!!  Wasn't there another category we were talking about?

Ooooh, I remembered!!! Well, duh, books you are tapping your fingernails over the clock, for? 

Me? Okay, I feel like February is already around the corner, so maybe I shouldn't mention Scarlet, The Indigo Spell or Unravel Me. So, I am literally DYING for: Clockwork Princess!! O.O  I'm THIS sure it will break my heart & that I may even cry at some point, & I expect it to do so. Anything less would make me feel betrayed, specially after all those hints on City of Lost Souls about Tessa & Will's fate. (WILL is the deal, yes? Even it they end up not being together.) 

So... March? It seems too far away. 

You? 

Bah... that's another series I seriously NEED TO READ.

What am I anxious to read next? Hm..........


I agree with you on Scarlet, The Indigo Spell & Unravel Me, definitely. Also... Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I'm hoping is psychologically thrilling. Dark Triumph by Robin Lafevers, of course. I'm biting my nails to dive into it. Robin McKinley has a book, Shadows, coming out this year, but I don't know when. Honestly? There's so many books I want to read, I'm a happy dragon with my hoard. If I didn't get any new ones, I'd be happy all of 2013 with what I have. But... I can never have enough.

How many books do you want to read in 2013?

To be continued......

First Monday in July - Welcome!

June is crazy for me, so I welcome July with open arms!!  It's the first Monday, and I say "Hi, July!!" *waves*

What did I read in June?

Um....

I read Half-Blood & Scarlet. I want to cry over all the reading that might have happened that didn't, but that is how June goes for me every year. I get buried in birthday parties and end-of-school events.  This year we added Armchair BEA & a Road Trip.... plus moving my husband's shop & planning how to re-arrange the house.

Ugh.

That's what I'm working on, now, moving & cleaning. This past weekend, I moved ALL OF MY BOOKS, well... almost all my books. I'm really happy about this bookshelf line-up under a big picture window... and I claimed a tall shelf almost exclusively for my current fav's and Burgandy Ice fun.

Oooh.... wanna see a picture?  Trinity posed for me. Lol.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey.

I've been reading The Iron Daughter this week. I finally got a little book light so I can read at weird hours in weird light. It doesn't work as well as my Nook, of course, but that's a high standard to compare a lowly book light to, even if the clip says "Montana" on it.

You know what's totally WEIRD, though?  Have you read any of the Iron Fey books?  *ahem*

This book light has the bright LED light and this bendy wire so I can adjust it.... and it gives me the serious CREEPS being attached to this book.  I look at my book light and I see this:

"I caught glimpses of things moving along the walls, flashes of blue light, like erratic fireflies. A moment later, I realized they were gremlins - hundreds, if not thousands of them - scuttling over the factory like ants. The blue lights were the glow of their fangs, hissing, shrieking and baring teeth at each other. A chill ran through me, and I shivered." Pg. 314 The Iron Daughter

*shiver* I've never named any of my doodads before, but it's time to come up with a creepy iron fey gremlin name for my book light!!  :-D


Memorable Monday is hosted by Escape in a Book.

So, I know what you're thinking... how could a "Reader" not even finish three books in an entire month?!
I'll ask a question back... where did June go?  Tell me that!!!  What a weasley month to go scrambling out of my reading reach by cramming itself full of life. I am innocent, I tell ya!!

And, I did critique a smidge and write a chapter or two. (Barely)

Bother.

There's no excuse.  I maintained my Reader Status by carrying lots of books everywhere and being absent-minded so people had to ask me questions twice before I heard them.

I'm just happy that it's July and the month is loaded with reading possibilities.  I've already started Degrees of Wrong on my Nook so I can leave the gremlin-thingy alone for awhile, although I have The Iron Queen sittin' here watching me with glowing blue eyes.

Hey... what should I name my light?  

You got a good creepy-crawly name idea?

January Wrap Up

January... one month of 2012 is complete...

Picture found on Pinterest - you totally have to see my new obsession!!

I have a moment to look back at one great month just in time to look forward to another.

Resolutions... I made too many of 'em.  

Despite that, I am still on the Gung-Ho Diet. I enjoy announcing it publicly because I am not telling ANYONE in my real-world acquaintance.  (Heck, my real world is just a fantasy, anyway, this is where I LIVE!!  jajaja  *ahem* Just joking, Mom.)  I've lost, like, 18 lbs, or something on this crazy hcg thing. I'm starting to see cupcakes and chocolate out of the corners of my eyes, but I'm chalking that up as Valentine's Vibes.

I read some books, too...

I did not re-read anything in January. That's actually good... it means my tbr pile is fun and interesting and not driving me batty.  :-)

How to Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe was January's book o' the month and if you hop over to Calico Reaction, you'll find a review that's very different from mine... and a GREAT discussion on how genre's are getting all mixed up instead of staying in their respective boxes, WHICH I TOTALLY LOVE!!!!  (I do so hate boxes.)

Here's my very first cheat!!  :-D  How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was nominated for three different awards!!  ("Nominated" - does that count?!?! Not really........ *sigh* I'll find a second category for this great book, don't worry.)

Um.... I didn't get to any classics. (See "re-reads")

Buahahahaha!!!  I read The Goddess Test & Goddess Interrupted (which review is going up tomorrow!!) That's TWO mythology books!!  YESSSS!!!

Um... nope. But that's 'cause I'm saving 'em up for February, so no worries.

The Priest and the Peaches was a debut author book AND my first author interview, which was really super fun.

1. The Girl of Fire & Thorns by Rae Carson
2.  Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
3. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
4. Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter (review tomorrow)
5. Only the Mountains Do Not Move by Jan Reynolds
6. Above World by Jenn Reese (Review next Monday)

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe fits nicely under Time Travel.  How convenient!!

1. Only the Mountains Do Not Move by Jan Reynolds
2. Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter  (Yes, I know my review should already be up!! No, I don't know why it isn't!!!)

So... what's that?  7 books?  That can't be all.....


I also read Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala - and she just announced today that the TRAILER for the book will be unveiled next week and there are MORE prizes to be won (which I have every intention of jumping ALL OVER!!)  Woohoo!!  You can catch it all HERE on Colorimetry, too!!  :-D  Woop!!




I read wonderful little Glitches - pre-Cinder - it's just a wee pre-book, but it can count since I "read" a picture book!!  :-D



I still haven't finished Midnight in Austenland. I committed to posting my review of The Rebel Wife along with the Author Interview on Friday, so I thought I better read it.  And besides, Midnight in Austenland is so delicious, it is standing up just fine to minor pauses...

Midnight in Austenland (NOW AVAILABLE!!) 

Pg 130

"It's a universal truth that nothing spoils a postlunch game of croquet like suspecting the other players of murder."