2010 - Favorite books

I wanted to create a favorites list for 2010.  I thought it would be fun to look back over the titles of all the books I had read this year and see which ones still stood out for me.  Before doing so, I already knew of a couple that would make the list because they are ones I still think about months after having finished them.
I hope you enjoy this list and if you haven't read the books already, maybe they can go on your wish list for 2011.

These books are in no particular order and I found that they tended to be favorites for several different reasons.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows
I still can't say enough about this book.  Not only was the audio book fantastic, but the WWII story was something different, the setting was different from those I have read in the past. I liked this one so much, I'm  going to be looking for a good (used) copy at a used book fair so I can own it.

The Things They Carried by Tim O' Brien
Very thought provoking stories pertaining to the Vietnam War.  This is one of those books that sticks with you long after you finish it and put it back on the shelf.

Saving CeeCee Honeycut by Beth Hoffman
Yet another fantastic audio book.  I'm also going to be looking for a print copy of this one to buy.   You can't help but love the setting, love CeeCee, and love the Southern women who take her under their wings.

Sprinkle With Murder by Jenn McKinley
I read a lot of mysteries, a lot of series, yet rarely ever put them on my favorite list.  I think this one deserves a place though because it was such a fun mystery, I still rave about it.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
This was another WWII story that took place somewhere different from the normal stories.  It prompted me to do some research and that alone would make it a good book, it doesn't hurt that the story was interesting to.  Also, I would be leaving something out if I didn't mention that this one was a great audio book too.

Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann
This one makes the list because it's a Vietnam story that still makes me think, 5 months after I read it.  Hard to read at times, but worth it.

The Lottery by Patricia Wood
Yet another audio book. I'm seeing a trend here.  This one makes the cut because it was one of the best feel good books I've read in a long time.


I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr.  While I have a least favorite book in the series (so far) and a favorite (so far), I couldn't put just one book on a favorites list.  This series prompted me to write a post about how emotional it is for me and how it makes me cry and smile.  The Virgin River series is by far my favorite series this year.

I think an honorable mention needs to go to some other series too:
The Maxwell/King series by David Baldacci was a surprise. I had never read anything by this author, for some reason didn't really want to, yet I buddy read the first one with some friends.  We all ended up loving it and reading more in the series.

The Civil War trilogy by Heather Graham also came as a surprise.  I've only read the first one, but have a feeling I'll enjoy the other two just as much.  This is a romance book, historical romance to be specific, and the first romance book that I would consider romance (it dawned on me after I read this one that the Virgin River series is considered romance even though I never thought of it that way). I wouldn't say I'm a romance reader, so it comes as a surprise to realize just how much I liked this one.

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Braggs has continued to be one of my favorite urban fantasy series, with the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost following close behind.


It was fun looking back at my 2010 reads and I can't wait to see what I end up reading in 2011.

2010 - A (Reading) Year in Review

This was an interesting year for me, reading wise.  I had hoped to read a lot more than I did, yet at 110 books read in 2010 I have nothing to complain about.  I'm not totally sure what kept me from reading as much, was it working on home renovations, was it spending more time running on the weekends, was it not going on vacation like I have in years past (I'm usually able to read a lot on vacations),  was it something else I haven't thought of?  Honestly, it's probably a combination of all of this.

Here are some stats for the year:
Total books read: 111
Pages read: 26,466
New Authors: 48
Mystery: 49
Non-Fiction: 2
Fiction: 45
Young Adult: 15
Audio: 29
DNF: 2

A major surprise for this year was the number of audio books I read.  At 29 audio books, that's 15 more than the year before. I seemed to embrace audio books this year.  I know that mostly it's because I had a long compute, something that hasn't been there in years past.  When you drive about 50 miles every day to work (well..5 days a week anyway) you can really get in some time listening to audio books.  However I also found that I loved the audio books.  The few times when I finished an audio book and didn't have another one at home waiting for me, I found that I listened to music but wasn't satisfied with it, I craved an audio book.   I'm really looking forward to listening to more in 2011.


I also participated in 19 reading challenges in 2010.  I must be crazy.  The cool thing is that I was able to complete 16 of them.    I knew I took on a lot and was nuts attempting that many challenges, but pleasantly surprised when I realized just how well I did.   I was close to finishing two of the challenges as well, only a total of 3 books away from having them completed.  The one I wasn't close to finishing was the Pages Read.  I was 4,534 pages away from that one.

One surprise this year is that I tended to read a lot more of the books I already owned instead of buying a ton.  I still like to buy books, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy owning them.  I also like knowing I'm supporting the author's by doing so.   However, I found that the majority of the ones I did buy, was done at 2 of the large used book fairs we have in St. Louis every year.  I went a little crazy but boy did I get some good books.      For 2011, I plan to read more of the books I already own.  It feels good to read them.  However, I already have a list of books I want to read next year that I don't own, so I'll be buying more, possibly more than I did this year.      One change for next year is that I'm going to keep track of how many books I read that I own as of 1/1/2011 and how many I read that I purchase.  I'm only doing this because I'm interested to see what the numbers will end up being.   Those books that won't be included are ones I receive for review.

I hope you all had a great reading year in 2010 and let's hope 2011 is even better!

December 2010 Reads

Total Books Read: 11

New authors: 4
Mystery: 4
Fiction: 7
Non-fiction: 0
Young adult: 0
Pages: 2,610
Audio: 3

Sketch Me if You Can by Sharon Pape
A Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig
Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham
Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
A Magical Christmas by Heather Graham
If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell
An Amish Christmas by Cynthia Keller
The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Challenges
I completed the Holiday Reading Challenge and the 100+ Reading Challenge this month.

Holiday Reading Challenge - completed

I completed the Holiday Reading Challenge 2010, without even realizing it. haha!   My goal had been to read 5 books and I thought I had only read 3, but when I was going through the books I read this month I realized I did actually read 5. I love when I complete a challenge without even realizing it.

I read the following books for this challenge:
Promise Me by Richard Paule Evans
A Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere
A Magical Christmas by Heather Graham
An Amish Christmas by Cynthia Keller
The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig



You can see how others did by visiting the wrap-up post at All About {n}.

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

#3 Outlander series
Copyright: 2007 (audio version)
Publisher: Recorder Books (audio version)
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 36 disks - audio
Author's Website  (But I wouldn't waste your time visiting it, to sum it up: it sucks, the only book info is on the latest, there isn't even a list of the books in the series)
My rating: 4.5/5


Simple Description taken from Amazon: (I am NOT an affiliate)
Diana Gabaldon's magnificent historical saga, begun with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, continues with this New York Times best seller. Set in the intriguing Scotland of 200 years ago, the third installment in the romantic adventures of Jamie and Claire is as compelling as the first. Now that Claire knows Jamie survived the slaughter at Culloden, she is faced with the most difficult decision of her life. She aches to travel back through time again to find the love of her life, but, in order to do that, she must leave their daughter behind. It has been 20 years since she and Jamie were forced to separate. Can she risk everything, maybe even her life, on a gamble that their love has withstood the long, rigorous test of time?

I copied that description from Amazon because I honestly didn't want to give you too much info regarding this book.  I thought that description does a pretty good job of setting up the story for you.

The thing is, if you have not read this series yet you really do need to start with Outlander or you are going to miss so much and it's not going to make much sense.   If you have already started this series and liked it, chances are you either already know what happens or you don't want to to know since you haven't read the book yet.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
I loved Outlander, couldn't listen to it fast enough.  I was bored to tears with the first half of Dragonfly in Amber and almost gave up on it, but once I was half-way through it I ended up liking it enough to plan on listening to the third book, Voyager.

Voyager, I'm very happy to report, kept me as interested as Outlander did.  I felt that the story moved fairly well. Sometimes I felt like it could move faster and that the author was just meandering, yet at the same time I was enjoying the story so it didn't actually bother me.  I'm definitely happy that I decided to continue with the series even though Dragonfly in Amber was a bit of a disappointment.  I loved listening to more about Jamie and Claire.  Those two sure know how to get into trouble!  It seems like just when you think they are out of trouble and can get into some kind of peaceful routine, bam!, something else happens that threatens their lives and has them running from (or to) something else.  

I'm planning to continue with this story and will probably request the audio version of book 4 from the library in a couple of months.

Two funny things I thought I would mention.  First, at one point while listening to the audio version of this book I updated my facebook status with "What IS it about Jamie Fraser that has women AND men lusting after him?"  I'm happy to report that several friends knew exactly who I was talking about.  I liked that one friend who didn't realize I read this series commented "I didn't know you read Outlander!".  I found it funny that even though I didn't mention Claire's name, several knew exactly who (and what) I was talking about.
Second, at some point while listening to this book I started to contemplate on how we live such different lives than those 200 years ago.  Mostly, I contemplated exactly what Jamie would think of the fact that I get up and run 4 miles several days a week before heading to work and on the weekends I run up to 10 miles.  How crazy he must think I (and other runners) are.  Why would be willingly do this?  My how times have changed.

This checked audio book out from my local library.  I thought it sucked that I could only have it for 2 weeks, yet the audio book was 36 disks long. No way I could get through that in two weeks.  The librarian who checked me out kindly told me I could keep it an additional 6 days without getting fined.  In order to help finish this book as soon as I could so the fines wouldn't be huge, I started to bring the disks into work with me and would listen to them in the morning.  I have, what I refer to as my mourning routine, that I do every day.  Since I do it so often, I found that I was able to listen to the audio book and pay attention to it, while still doing my work.   This worked out great!  I actually loved listening to it while doing my work and now that I'm finished with it, I find that I miss listening to an audio book in the morning.  I might start doing this with most of my audio books now.   I also listened to it while working on some crafts and found that I loved this as well, a lot more than watching tv or a movie.

Davina Porter is the narrator for this audio book. She narrated the first two in the series as well and I sure hope she narrators all of them.  She does an excellent job bringing the characters to live and changing her voice.  I highly recommend these books on audio.

The House on Tradd Street by Karen White

#1 Tradd Street
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Harley House Books
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 329
Challenges: TBR
Author's Website 
My rating: 3.5/5

The House on Tradd  Street is about how Melanie Middleton finally comes to terms with the fact that she can see ghosts and that even though she says she doesn't like historic homes, she really does.  The story starts off with Melanie meeting Nevil Vanderhorst.  Vanderhorst is the last in the Vanderhorst family.  Melanie believes he wants to sell her house but Nevil doesn't want to.  He wants to meet Melanie and figure out if she is a worthy candidate.  He believes she is, when she admits that she can see his Mom's ghost and hear the swing in the garden.    Within days after meeting Nevil, Melanie finds out that he has passed away and she has inherited his house.  There are a couple of stipulations though, she must live in the house for a year before she can sell it and she must start renovations to it since it's falling apart.  Luckily he also left her all his money.

Soon after she inherits the house, which she only agrees to so she can sell if after 1 year, she meets two interesting men. The first is Jack Trenholm.  He tells her that he wants to right a story about the disappearance of Nevil's Mother when he was eight.  The story has always seemed fishy and he believes he can figure out what happened to her if he has access to the house.  Melanie agrees to let him do his research if he also helps with the renovation.   The second is Marc Lango.  Marc's ancestor is rumored to have ran away with Nevil's Mom and Marc is interested in purchasing the home.  When he can't, he pursue's Melanie under the pretense of searching for a historical home to invest in.

Soon strange things are happening to the house.  While Louisa and Nevil Vanderhorst are attached to the property and show themselves to Melanie, there is also an evil spirit lurking in the upstairs bedroom.  This spirit seems to want to do harm to Melanie.

Melanie refuses to admit to anybody that she can see spirits, even though strange things are happening to the house.  She has been able to see spirits since she was a child but due to a bad experience she denies it.

It also seems that Jack and Marc both have ulterior motives when it comes to the house and Melanie.  Are they interested in her, the house, or the diamonds that the Vanderhorst family is rumored to have from the Civil War era and that might be hidden in the house.

When the book first starts Melanie isn't a very likeable character.  Or at least that's how it was for me.  I actually had a hard time getting into this book because of her.  She seems very cold.  Sure, we learn that she had a rough childhood and that can explain some of it, but still..she was a bit too cold for me. This made me to first be a bit disappointed in the book because I had heard such great things about it and had been looking forward to reading it almost all year (saved it because I had plans to buddy read it with some friends this month).  I also couldn't understand why she had such a hatred for the historic homes and why she couldn't appreciate the house she inherited.

I was intrigued about the ghosts and the mystery of what happened to Louisa Vanderhorst from the beginning though.  This is what kept me reading the book, and I'm really glad that I did.   Melanie finally grew on me and I ended up liking her.  The ghosts and the mystery surrounding the diamonds and Louisa was fun/interesting.  I have to admit that I did figure out  many of the clues and had guessed as to what happened with Louisa, but the story was still good.

I like how the book ended, I ended up liking Melanie too.   There is 2nd in this series and I'm actually looking forward to it.  Overall I do recommend this book, the mystery was enough to keep me interested and the main character did grow on me.

One last note..I also think the writing itself kinda held me back from liking this book more.  Several times I had to re-read sentences to try and make sense of it.  This is a major pet peeve of mine and disappointed me.  However, like I said, I'm still planning on reading the 2nd in the series.  I'm too intrigued by the ghost aspect and what the mystery might be (I haven't read a summary on the book nor do I plan to).


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

100+ Reading Challenge 2010 - complete

I have officially read more than 100 books for the year 2010!  Woohoo!  I'm really excited about this because in recent years I haven't been reading as much as I used to.  In fact, the first year I started to keep track of reading statistics was 2007 and I read 130 books.  Wow!  That just amazes me now.    In fact, I'm currently working on my excel document where I keep track of the statistics by year, and I'll be posting a comparison soon, just because I think it's pretty interesting to see how my reading has changed or not changed.

The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig

series info - see review
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 352
Challenges: Holiday Reading Challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Description taken from the author's website:

Arabella Dempsey’s dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls’ school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies…

Reginald “Turnip” Fitzhugh—often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation—has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble.  When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, “Meet me at Farley Castle”, the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens’ modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate 12-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? And is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella and Turnip’s hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
This is the latest book (#7) that was published for the series, however the time line of this novel actually falls in line with #5 which is The Temptation of the Night Jasmine.  You'll remember, perhaps, that I listened to the audio of that book earlier this month.  I was a bit worried about reading this one before I had a chance to read #6, The Betrayal of the Blood Lilly, however I needn't worry.  I was worried because in most of the books there is some store that takes place in present day by a lady researching these characters. I was worried that this book would have some of that story and therefore I would learn something that I didn't want to know since I was reading out of order.  I am happy to report that this book has none of the present day story in it, so it's safe to read before or after The Temptation of the Night Jasmine.

What is a rather happy coincident is that this book starts in time before that of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine but ends at the beginning of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine.  Ok..let's see if I can make this less confusing.  This book ends with the characters celebrating the 12 days of Christmas at one of the estates owned by the Duke of Dovedale.  The Temptation of the Night Jasmine starts at the beginning of the 12 days of celebration at the estate owned by the Duke of Dovedale.  So the stories do over lap a bit.  However, this book is told my secondary characters and so you get a different take on the happenings of that celebration.  It actually made it a lot of fun to read since I was familiar with what happened already but got to see it from different perspectives.  I would imagine you could read this book either before or after The Temptation of the Night Jasmine.

If you have read this series you know that Turnip does show up in previous books although never as the main character.  He finally gets his chance to shine.  Turnip is a fun character, goofy, but fun.  I liked having him as one of the main characters.  I liked Arabella a lot too.

Now this book is linked to Jane Austin and I was a bit worried about that since I've never read anything by Jane Austin and I'm not on the "Jane Austin is awesome" bandwagon yet.  I was worried that there would be things in the story that would cause me to be confused about what was going on.  Again, I worried over nothing.  I'm sure there probably were things I missed but, as far as I know, they weren't major to the story and it was never obvious that I was missing something.    I'm guessing that those of you who have read the Jane Austin books and know The Watsons would probably enjoy that aspect of it, but for me it didn't make a difference.

I'm a huge fan of the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig and this book was no exception.  I thought it was a lot of fun, very much in character for the series.  I did find it fun to read one of the books again since I've been in the habit of listening to the audio versions (even though I own the books).  It was funny to see all the names in print and find that in my head I read it with an accent and mimicked the original audio narrator a bit.
If you are a fan of the series, I think you'll enjoy this one.  If you haven't read the series yet but like historical fiction, I do recommend picking up the first in the series, The Secret of the Pink Carnation.  In fact, if I'm not mistaken you can read the first chapter or at least an excerpt for most of the books on the author's website.



Thanks to the publisher for providing this book for review.

Chick Lit Challenge 2010 - fail

I had planned, or challenged myself, to read 8 books for the Chick Lit Challenge.  I read 6.  However, one thing I've realized is that I'm not a huge fan of chick lit anymore. I used to love it, now I don't seem to like it that much.  It appears, the reason I haven't been reading a lot of chick lit the last couple of years is because my reading habits have changed.  And I'm ok with that.   In fact, knowing this, I plan to weed out some of my books and get rid of some chick lit that I don't think I'll ever get to.     I'm not saying I won't read chick lit anymore, I know I will, but I think I'll be more selective in what I do read.

TBR Challenge 2010 - fail

I signed up for the TBR challenge for 2010 in hopes that I would read 24 books, the 12 on my main list and the 12 on my alternate list.  As of today, I have only read 10 books total.  I don't see myself being able to read 2 more off of this list by the end of the month (although I do plan to read 1) so I'm going to go ahead and create the wrap up post.

While the challenge itself was a fail for me, reading from my TBR stacks wasn't a fail this year.  In fact, I read more of the books I already own this year than I have in several years passed.  It's just that they weren't on the TBR list so I couldn't count them.   I truly believe that part of this is because of all the challenges I committed to in 2010.  When I signed up for the challenges I looked over the books I already owned (I have them all in an access database) and created most of the lists from books I already owned.  So while I have to say that I failed at the TBR challenge, I'm not upset about it because I know I did read a lot of books off my TBR stacks.

Happy Holidays!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I meant to post something on Friday showing you how my house is decorated for the holidays but I ran out of time.  I had to finish making some gifts for my Mom and Grandparents (Scrapbook calendar for 2011), I made icing for homemade cinnamon rolls that my Mom was making, I made 4 cherry strudels (that's how much the recipe makes! ), banana bread, and yellow cake with homemade chocolate cream cheese icing.  Oh man..that was a busy baking day.

Since I skipped showing you how the house was decorated, I'm going to share a couple photo's from yesterday instead.   We had my side of the family over for brunch and then Husband's parents came over for dinner later.  The pictures are from earlier in the day with my side.  It's a bunch of fun with all the kids and Husband had the idea of making sure all the workout equipment was picked up off the floor in the basement so the kids could run around down there.  He even brought out a couple of big boxes from the unfinished area for them to play with, because we all know kids love to play with boxes.  What we hadn't realized was how much the kids would enjoy playing with the dog kennel.

This is a picture of my family.   In the back: My paternal Grandma and Grandpa, Husband, middle sister's husband, Mom's husband, oldest sister's husband.  Front row: Middle sister (with baby in belly!), her son, my Mom, oldest sister's middle son, Me!, oldest sister's oldest son, Oldest sister holding her youngest son.

Myla enjoying one of the chews she got for Christmas

Myself with two of the nephews

Three of the nephews playing with the boxes and dog kennel.  They thought it would be fun to crawl through the box into the dog kennel. lol!  Unfortunately, you can't really see one of the nephews.

Off The Shelve Challege

In years past I have participated in the TBR challenge and I never read as many of the books on my list as I would like.  I always attempt 24 - all books from the main list and the alternate list.   This year I have decided to participate in the Off The Shelf! challenge instead of the TBR challenge.  Mostly, because while I didn't complete the TBR challenge this year, I did however read a lot of books that I already owned. 

The Off The Shelf! challenge is being hosted by Bookish Ardour.  

Here's the info: 

The challenge begins on the 1st of January and ends on the 31st of December 2011 

Note: This challenge is to read those books you own copies of, but have never got around to reading. If you don't have many that you own, but have a massive TBR shelf you're welcome to read those ones as long as you don't add new ones. You don't need to actually get rid of your books after you've read them, this is just to read them.

How To Participate

1. Decide which challenge level you'll be doing (further below) - do not include books that you buy from the start of this challenge.
2. Grab the code for the badge down below and post it on a side bar or in a signature (if you want to participate, but aren't blogging, on a social network or forum - Submission For Non Bloggers).
3. Create your own post to let all your readers know you’re taking part in the challenge and at what level (if you're really proficient you can list your books!). Make sure to link back to this page with either one of the buttons or a text link..
4. Use the link form below to enter into the challenge by sharing your challenge post url and your name (either your name, blog name, or both).Please don't use the comment form to participate, only to comment on the challenge or something else..
5. Submit your reviews (if you choose to review them, but that is optional) on the review page.
6. When you’ve completed you’re challenge let us know on the completion post. If you're using a tag or category I recommend sharing the link back to that so everyone can find them

Challenge Levels

1. Tempted–  Choose 5 books to read
2. Trying – Choose 15 books to read
3. Making A Dint – Choose 30 books to read
4. On A Roll – Choose 50 books to read
5. Flying Off – Choose 75 books to read

For extra hard challenges

1. Hoarder – Choose 76-125 books to read
2. Buried – Choose 126-200 books to read

I'm going to be signing up for the Making a Dent challenge - with 30 books from my TBR stack.  I'm going to make sure they are books that I own as of December 31st, 2010.  I'm going to refrain from listing any books here..because that would just be silly and very very time consuming since, well, I don't need to mention the huge number of books I own that are unread. 

2011 YA Reading Challenge

I've participated in the YA reading challenge for several years now. This year it's being hosted by Jamie at For the Love of YA.  

Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.  Create a post about the challenge and link your challenge post up in the linky below.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. 

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels. 

--The "Fun Size" YA Reading Challenge – Read 20 Young Adult novels.

--The Jumbo Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 40 Young Adult novels.

--The Mega size YA Reading Challenge – Read 50+ Young Adult novels.

3. Audio, eBooks, paper, re-reads all count. 

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. The Challenge starts on January 1, 2011 and goes until December 31, 2011.






I'm going to plan on reading at least 20 YA books in 2011, so I'm signing up for the Fun Size level.  I hadn't planned on making a list, however, there are a lot of YA's I plan to read next year so I'm going to list those.  In fact, I was planning to only read 15 for this challenge but upon looking over the books I'm already planning to read for other challenges, I realized I had over 15 YA's on the list already.

1. Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

2. Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

3. Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

4. Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

7. The Naming by Alison Croggon

8. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Mar

9. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

11. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

12. Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer

13. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

14. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

15. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

16. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

An Amish Christmas by Cynthia Keller

Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Ballantine
Genre: fiction
Pages: 256
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
Meg Hobart believes she has everything she would need in life until her husband informs her that he is without a job and lost all their money.  Now they must move out of their insanely huge home, give back their pricey cars and most of their possessions, and move to another state to live with Meg's parents.  Meg doesn't get along with her parents, but they own their own company and have agreed to let her husband work there and the family live with them until they can get back on their feet.

Plans change, however, when the Hobarts wreck their car and are stranded in Amish country in Pennsylvania. Luckily the family who found them have opened up their home to the Hobarts.  When they find out it will be a couple of weeks before the car can be fixed, the Amish family gladly offers the Hobarts a chance to stay with them for that time.  While the Hobarts feel they are taking advantage of the family, they also know they can't afford a hotel room for 2 weeks.

While it's a shaky start, things slowly improve.  The two oldest Hobart children are very spoiled and learning to live without all their stuff and without electricity is a bit too much for them.  They are crank and moody.  It doesn't help that their parents either fight or don't talk to each other.  The only one who seems to really enjoy himself at first is the youngest Hobart child.  Slowly, as the Hobart family is drawn into the Amish life and they help out, they start to grow and improve.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
I thought this was a good Christmas read.  The story is typical..a family at each other's throats who have something bad happen to them, who then learn that family and the simple things in life are what's most important.   I liked the Amish aspect of this one though. I liked the Amish aspect of it. Sometimes I think it's good to read about families who live a simpler life, who don't have all the convenience we do and actually enjoy it.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Buy One Book and Read It 2011

How could I possibly pass up this one again?  I do believe she's pointing a finger at me with level 2.  Ok, I think she's pointing a finger at a lot of us. lol!

My Friend Amy is hosting this challenge again and here are the rules:

Start Date: January 1st, 2011
End Date: December 31st, 2011 

There are two levels to this challenge:
1) Buy One Book and Read It. 
This level is good for people who don't read often but think that would like to read more. It's also good for people who don't buy books. If you don't read much or don't buy many books, this is your level.
2) Level Two--Buy one book and read it every month
You don't have to buy a book in January and read it in January, but you must buy 12 books that you also go on to read during the year. This level is ideal for book bloggers notorious for the buying part, but not so much the reading part.

Rules
1) The book you read must be for pleasure. It cannot be a book you are reading to your children, for work, for research. This is all about fun.
2) The book(s) can be print or electronic. Unless you are unable to read print, audiobooks don't count towards this challenge.
3) Make sure to add your links to the Mister Linky that will go up by January 1st.

Crusin' Through the Cozies Challenge

While I do host the Cozy Mystery Challenge annually from April - September, that doesn't mean I can't sign up for another cozy challenge does it?  This challenge goes all year round, so it is a bit different after-all.  


Yvonne from Socrate's Book Reviews is hosting the Crusin' Through the Cozies Challenge and here are the details:


1. Choose the level you wish to participate:

Level 1 - Snoop - Read 1-6 books
Level 2 - Investigator - Reading 7-12 books
Level 3 - Super Sleuth - Read 13 or more books

2.  You don't have to choose your books in advance. If you do, you can change your list at any time during the year. Books can overlap with other challenges.

3. Books can be in any format - paper, audio, ebooks...it all counts!

4. You don't have to post a review, but I'm sure others would love to know about the books you are reading and may even want to add it to their reading lists.

Have fun!




This is another one that I'm not going to list books ahead of time.  The reason for this is simple, I have a ton of cozies I want to read and several that I plan to use for other challenges.  Therefore I have a feeling that even if I did create a list of books to read I would end up reading others first and complete the challenge sooner.  In fact, I'm going all out and considering myself a Super Sleuth with plans to read 13 or more.  That means I'll keep the challenge open till December 2011 even if I do hit 13 cozies before then.   The fun will be to see how many I actually do read in one year.

If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell

#1 Haunted Home Renovation
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Obsidian
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 316
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5


This is the first in a new series by Juliet Blackwell.  I was anxious to try this one because 1)I have enjoyed both of the books published so far in her witchcraft series and 2)this one deals with the paranormal as well.

This series takes place in and around San Francisco.  Mel is divorced and living with her Dad while she controls the family business.  This was supposed to be temporary, she was just stepping in after her Mom passed away and her Father let the business slide.  However two years later Mel finds herself still running the business. She would like to escape to Paris to  live in solitude, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen for awhile.

Turner Construction remodels or renovates old homes, historic homes.  They try to merge modern convenience with the original look of the homes.    One of Mel's friends, Matt, is trying to flip a historical home and has asked her for help.  She stopped in the morning after he hosts a demolition party to find him passed out on the couch.  Upon further investigation they find his partner, Kenneth, upstairs.  Kenneth is missing a hand and has been shot in the belly with a nail gun.  Kenneth dies at the hospital but re-appears for Mel.  Uh-oh...as if things for Mel couldn't get any worse, she is now seeing ghosts.

Mel doesn't believe Matt killed Kenneth, although the police do.  Some things just don't add up.  Especially after she finds a diary and a map to a gem field in the walls of the house.     Graham, a blast from the Mel's past, shows up to investigate what happened at the construction site and he doesn't think things are as they seem either.

I thought this was a great start to a new series by this author.  I really enjoyed Mel and several of the other characters too.   Mel seems to have been through a lot so far, and while she can't exactly do what she wants, she does enjoy running the construction business and renovating these old homes.   While she does snoop into Kenneth's death, she still gets other stuff done, things that need to be done. For me, I think that makes the story just a bit more real (even though I know it's fiction..but you know what I mean). She's still continuing with everyday life, she isn't JUST investigating.

As you all well know, I do love some paranormal in my books. This one fits the bill since Mel see's Kevin and realizes that she can detect ghosts.  It's fun to see how Kevin's ghost and the others play out in this story.

I highly recommend this book and I have high hopes that this will be a great series.




 Thanks to Penguin for providing this book for review.

2011 Audio Book Challenge

I have really enjoyed listening to audio books this year and enjoyed participating in the Audio Book challenge, so I'm going to jump on board and sign up for the challenge for 2011.


Teresa's Reading Corner is hosting the challenge this year.


Here's the info:
The 2011 Audio Book Challenge will run from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.


I'm going to go ahead and continue with the same levels that were previously established:


Curious: 3 Audio Books
Fascinated: 6 Audio Books
Addicted: 12 Audio Books
Obsessed: 20 Audio Books


Choose your level of participation and add your name. Over the course of the year I'm going to try to put together some fun things. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.


I'm going to go for Obsessed because as long as nothing with my driving habits change, I should be able to hit that number.


I won't list the audio books ahead of time because I, myself, rarely know what audio books I'm going to listen to until I'm almost finished with the current one and have to request more from the library.  Then I go on a hunt as to what books I need to read for challenges that I could listen to audio for, what books are on my wish list that I don't own, what books are in my TBR stack that I keep putting off, etc. 

Hometown Challenge

I actually just recently realized that I never posted what books I was hoping to read for one of my own challenges!  Silly me.

While this challenge started Sept. 1st,  2010, it doesn't end until August 31st, 2011.  I haven't begun to read anything for this one yet, good thing I still have plenty of time.

The hometown challenge has it's own dedicated blog and you can find all the info there.

Here are the books I hope to read:

A Rip in Heaven: A memoir of murder & it’s aftermath by Jeanine Cummins (NF)

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell-Slan

Lemp: The Haunting History by Stephen P. Walker (NF)

High Heels are Murder by Elaine Viets

A Magical Christmas by Heather Graham

Copyright Date: 1997
Publisher: Topaz
Genre: fiction
Pages: 330
Challenges:
Author's Website
My rating: 5/5


Simple Description:
This story alternates between the Radcliffe family in present day (well..present day for when the book was written) and the Wainscott family in 1862 that is torn apart by the Civil War.

It's Christmas Eve in 1862 and Mr. Wainscott is a confederate officer who is about to be hanged.  As if that wasn't bad enough, he's being held prisoner at his own home, Oak River Plantation.  When his wife finds out she sets out to try and save her husband.

Julie and Jon Radcliff's marriage might be over.  Jon had an affair several years ago and Julie is having trouble forgiving him.  They have three kids and while they don't want their kids being effected by what is going on, they are.  Jon loves his wife and doesn't want a divorce.  He suggests they go to Oak River Plantation for Christmas and try to enjoy being a family.

Julie isn't sure why she agrees to the trip but she does.  It seems things aren't going to get any better.  How can they when she isn't sure how to connect with her husband anymore and everyone seems to constantly be bickering.

There seems to be something different about the Inn and the family who runs it.  You never see them together but they talk about each other with love.  They all seem to look forward to Christmas Eve and a big party.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I loved this book.  I thought this was an excellent Christmas novel.  The Radcliff's have so many problems.  They need this vacation.  They need time away from the stress of every day life.   You can piece together what is going on with the family who runs the Inn and how they fit in with the family from 1862, but that's ok, it doesn't ruin the story and I'm sure you are supposed to figure it out anyway.   You can't help but want the Radcliff family to work things out too.  They all seem a bit lost but you know if they could just talk and not get upset with each other they would be ok.

I highly recommend this book.  It's an excellent novel for the Holiday season, especially if you like a little bit of magic in a Holiday novel.   In fact, I finished it Saturday morning and brought it with me to my Mom's party so she could borrow it.  I stopped by her house tonight to pick up some oreo balls (yummm) and she gave it back to me.  She already read it and she loved it too.

(I'm probably also not doing the book justice with this review, I've been suffering from a cold for over a week.)

I wasn't able to find this book new at any of the local stores or online.  I ordered a used copy.  While it might be hard to find a copy, unless you just order it used online, I think it's worth the effort.



This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge 2011

Book Chick City is once again hosting the Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge for 2011.  I'm excited about this challenge too!  I participated in this one in 2010 and had fun trying to pick some non-cozies to read for it. haha! 

Timeline: 01 Jan 2010 - 31 Dec 2010

Rules: To read TWELVE (12) thrillers in 2010

Details:

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• If you decide to participate in this challenge please use the links I have set up below with the buttons to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to this post and join in the fun.

• If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others, please make sure you add a link back to this post so others can join in.
• You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.
• You can find link to specific month to link your reviews HERE and be entered into the monthly prize draw. Non-bloggers welcome.

I'm not creating a list for this challenge ahead of time.  Mostly because I love to read mysteries anyway, so I'm sure I'll be reading enough to complete this challenge.  

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

#1 Diesel and Tucker
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: mystery
Pages: audio
Author's Website
My rating: 1/5
Simple Description:
It's a normal day for Lizzy, until a strange guy shows up at her work and burns her skin with his finger.  Then another guy shows up to protect her and because he needs her help.  It appears that Lizzy is an unmentionable and has the power to find things, magical things.   Diesel, who has shown up in the Stephanie Plum series, shows up because he needs her help to find some objects and he needs to protect her from Wolf.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I could give a better description, but I don't think it's worth it.  I recently decided that I was done with the Stephanie Plum series by this author because they are just too much alike, it's the same thing in every book. It's not worth my time or money.

However I was a sucker and decided to give this one a try. I knew it dealt with Diesel and that he was in the Plum series, but since it was a new series I just expected more, something different. I was disappointed.  This was basically a Plum novel, but insert the name Lizzy instead of Stephanie. It was the same, down to the eye rolls and the black Porsche's.  Lizzy is basically Stephanie except for the fact that Lizzy can cook.

This book was ok, I suppose. I won't be reading or listening to any more of them.   If you are fed-up and done with the Stephanie Plum series, then I recommend leaving this one alone too.  If you still enjoy the Stephanie Plum novels, then chances are you would like this one too.

The audio version of this book was ok.  I mean, actually, I guess I have to say it was good.  The thing is, the narrator is the same, Lorelei King, as with the Stephanie Plum novels. So not only is the main character supposed to be new and different but is written just like Stephanie, the narrator is the same so it sounds like "Stephanie" as well.  I would have preferred a different narrator for this series so that the new characters don't sound the same as the known Plum characters.

This audio book was rented from my local library.

New Author Challenge 2011

Jackie from Literary Escapism is once again hosting the New Author Challenge.  I actually did this challenge in 2009 and loved it, then decided not to do it in 2010 because I wanted to read books I already owned..which meant a lot of series.  That didn't work out as well as I would like and I still ended up reading a lot of new authors.  So, I figured, why not.  Why not do this challenge again in 2011.  It should be fun and I look forward to read a ton of new authors!

Here are the guidelines:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels.  Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from anthologies.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors.  It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  For me, I’m trying another 50 new authors.  If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop.  Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky.  We all want to know about your new experience.
4. After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to Mr. Linky.  Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome

I won't be listing books that I plan to read for this challenge, however I know that I have several knew authors already on my lists for other challenges so I'm looking forward to being able to kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. 

War Through the Generations Challenge 2011- Civil War

Anna and Serena let readers choose the topic this year and I'm happy to report that the Civil War won.  I'm happy because I've had some Civil War books I've been wanting to read but have been putting off in hopes we would get to this war soon for this challenge. haha!

The War Through the Generations Challenge has quickly become one of my absolutely favorite challenges to participate in throughout the year.  History was something I wasn't always interested in while I was in school but have since become a lover of.  Why war seems to be a favorite topic of mine is beyond me, but it is.  This challenge gives me the opportunity to actually read about wars American's have fought in and learn something.  Even if it is a fiction book, you can still learn about the war.

Here are the rules:

This year you have options when reading your fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, etc. with the U.S. Civil War as the primary or secondary theme.

Books can take place before, during, or after the war.  Books from other challenges count so long as they meet the above criteria.

Dip: Read 3-5 books in any genre with the U.S. Civil War as a primary or secondary theme.

Wade: Read 6-10 books in any genre with the U.S. Civil War as a primary or secondary theme.

Swim: Read 11 or more books in any genre with the U.S. Civil War as a primary or secondary theme.

Additionally, we’ve decided that since there are so many great movies out there about U.S. Civil War, that you can substitute or add a movie or two to your list this year and have it count toward your totals.  We nabbed this idea from a few challenges in 2009, particularly The Everything Austen Challenge at Stephanies’s Written Word.

**Note**

*Participants anywhere in the world are eligible for most prizes in the post-challenge drawing!**

*Prize drawings will be for participants finishing the minimum 3-5 books.

*Participants can always read more than their initial goals, and even if you sign up for 11+, but read just 3-5, you officially completed the challenge and are eligible for prizes.

You can decide which books you’d like to read right away, or you can choose them during the course of the challenge.  Check out theRecommended Reading: U.S. Civil War (page is coming soon) page for suggestions.

***Attention Participants***

We wanted to try something a little different this year, and we thought that it would be fun to do a group review here on War Through the Generations midway through the challenge.  Book to be determined in the coming months.

How to sign up:

Leave a comment on this page with your reading goal.  Please spread the word about the challenge on your blogs.  Feel free to do a sign up post and leave a link to your post here.

Everyone who signs up will be listed on the U.S. Civil War Challenge Participants page.

Sign ups will be ongoing.

**Once you’ve signed up, please visit the Buttons page to snag some for your blog for use in your sign up post and book reviews! (New U.S. Civil War Challenge buttons forthcoming)**

In the past I have stuck with only reading 5 books.   This time around I'm going for 6-10 (Mostly because I can watch movies and this gives me a good excuse to re-watch some good films, Glory anyone?)   I'm also excited that they will be doing another read-a-long.  I loved reading Paco's Story with a group and getting different thoughts and feedback, really made me appreciate the novel more and get more out of the story.

Here's a tentative list of books I'll be reading for this challenge.  These are ones that I already own.  I don't own any others (that I can remember anyway), so I'll have to add titles as I read reviews or come across them.  Of course, I'll be watching some movies too.  I would like to add at least one non-fiction book to the list either, hoping they get some good suggestions on the challenge blog.  Or..better yet..what do you recommend?

One Wore Gray by Heather Graham

And One Road West by Heather Graham

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

The Widow's War by Mary Mackey

A Voice From the Border by Pamela Smith Hill

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles