Day: January 13, 2014

Bout of Books

Bout of Books Wrap-Up

Tara

Well… Bout of Books is over! Whew. Let’s just briefly recap what my original goals were:

  • Read at least 100 pages each day.
    • Load my recently acquired e-galleys onto my Nook and start at least one of them.
    • Make some more progress on my current read, a 750+ page chunkster! (I’m on page 335)
  • Participate in at least 1 challenge.
  • Visit at least 5 new blogs each day. And comment :)

So … how did I do?

Ummm…

  • I didn’t make it to 100 pages each day … although I did on two days!
  • I did load, start and finish one of the above mentioned e-galleys.
  • I read 223 pages in the chunkster that I’m *still* reading.
  • I participated in Doing Dewey‘s challenge, introducing people to my favorite genre.
  • And I visited lots of new-to-me blogs, but only left comments on 8 of them.

Here’s my final totals:

  • Time spent reading: 7 hours 36 minutes
  • Pages read: 467
  • Books finished: 1

I’m very pleased with how things with for me this time around. I had participated in Bout of Books once before a while back, but stumbled along the way and never even came close to finishing. However, this time around I was very pleased with my progress. I could have done a lot better had I not had two work days from hell … you know those days that you just want to come home, crawl into bed and go to sleep. And that’s exactly what I did! But really, I have a 19 month old son who keeps me on my toes constantly. I worked two days. And I didn’t officially sign up until Tuesday. … I consider this week a success! 🙂

Not sure I will participate in the May Bout of Books simply because that week is our 7 year wedding anniversary, two weeks before Garrett’s 2nd birthday and one week before my  best friend’s bachelorette party. I will have a lot on my plate that week, so we shall see, but I’m seriously considering it.

Mailbox Monday, Meme

Mailbox Monday, January 13, 2014

Tara

Mailbox Monday has returned home to Mailbox Monday’s site this year.

A good week this week as far as new books. Two physical ones came in through Paperbackswap and 3 e-books for review (I’m really excited about these!)

The physical books:

Club Dead We Need to Talk About Kevin

And the e-books:

Critical Damage

Liz Goldman, wife of San Francisco mayor Richard Goldman, wants former cop and recovering junky Mark Mallen to find her missing eighteen-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, Mallen’s blood brother Gato is searching for his sister, Lupe, a call girl. When Gato and Mallen’s search leads them to a pimp in hiding, Teddy Mac, they realize they have stumbled onto something big.

Digging into the seedy hiding places of San Francisco’s lowliest criminals, Mallen and Gato begin to suspect the worst as friends of the missing girls start showing up dead. Leaning hard on Teddy Mac’s family, Mallen and Gato stumble upon a videotape that shows some very bad things—things that could take down a powerful man and most of San Francisco with him.

Precious Thing

I know her inside out.  I know what she’s thinking, I know what she wants. So I can’t give up on her, she knows I never will.

Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last forever.

They met in high school when Rachel was the shy, awkward new girl and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Instantly, they fell under one another’s spell and nothing would be the same again. Now in their late twenties Rachel has the television career, the apartment and the boyfriend, while Clara’s life is spiraling further out of control. Yet despite everything, they remain inextricably bound. Then Rachel’s news editor assigns her to cover a police press conference, and she is shocked when she arrives to learn that the subject is Clara, reported missing. Is it abduction, suicide or something else altogether?

Imagine discovering something about your oldest friend that forces you to question everything you’ve shared together. The truth is always there.  But only if you choose to see it…

Little Girl LostDuring a winter blizzard a small girl is found wandering half-naked at the edge of an ancient woodland. Her hands are covered in blood, but it is not her own. Unwilling or unable to speak, the only person she seems to trust is the young officer who rescued her, DS Lucy Black.

DS Black is baffled to find herself suddenly transferred from a high-profile case involving the kidnapping of a prominent businessman’s teenage daughter, to the newly formed Public Protection Unit. Meanwhile, she has her own problems—caring for her Alzheimer’s-stricken father; and avoiding conflict with her surly Assistant Chief Constable – who also happens to be her mother. As she struggles to identify the unclaimed child, Lucy begins to realize that this case and the kidnapping may be linked by events that occurred during the blackest days of the country’s recent history, events that also defined her own childhood.