Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon Wrap Up (#WWReadathon)

So the readathon has now come to a close *sniff* and I had a lot of fun. I managed to enter most of the challenges and take part in the first twitter party and most importantly I got quite a bit of reading done!

All in all I read 4 full books and 2 partials (one I finished at the start and one I started at the end) for a total of 1623 pages :)

#WWReadathon - Beach Soiree

Time for another Read-a-Thon challenge! This one is hosted by Kriss @ The Cabin Goddess Reviews and she wants us to describe our ideal beach party including:

* Your perfect beach (from a book, or a place or a cover)
* Your perfect date (provide a link to cover or book)
* in your preferred swimwear (description, or link to image or cover)
* With your first choice of books to read (title with link to book or to cover)

The beach:

 

This gorgeous beach right here is in Bora Bora (a teeny island in French Polynesia) where I would love to go. The beautiful sandy beach, the crystal clear water...and the perfectly placed hammock so I can get stuck into my book with that view whenever I glance up. Paradise!

The date:

The ideal date has gotta be Wren Tigarian from Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is the one that really got me hooked on the series. Wren is an amazing guy. He does the sweetest most romantic things, he is incredibly brave and strong, he is absolutely gorgeous AND he has a pet monkey! So very awesome :)

The swimwear:

I'm not exactly the biggest fan of swimwear, so I'm gonna go for a simple yet stylish maxi dress. Perfect for strolling about the beach, and easy enough to lift up to allow mucho paddling time.

As for Wren? Well he can wear (or not) whatever he wants...as long as it isn't too distracting from my book!

First choice of books to read:

As amazing as Wren is and as gorgeous as that view is, at some point all I'm gonna wanna do is curl up in that hammock with my book. And as I shall be reading on a beach, what better choice than a book set on one? I've wanted to read Ocean of Secrets since it was released in the US (as Sea Change) so I'm psyched for the UK edition out in a couple of weeks.

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Want to enter the challenge too? Click here for the original post :)

Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon - Thursday (#WWReadathon)

My Day

Today was pretty easy as I was at home pretty much all day but I kept getting distracted with blog stuff and knitting stuff so I barely got any reading done. It's just been a kinda weird off day but on the plus side I may have figured out how to rescue a game I thought I'd lost :)

The Books

So I totally finished this one last night. I was just going to read for a little bit before I went to sleep, but then I got so sucked in to what was going on I ended up finishing the whole thing. Seriously awesomely epic!





I also started reading The Espressologist today and I'm not to sure what I think. I love the plot and the idea behind matching people by their favourite drinks, but I'm over halfway through and know barely anything about the main character :(



Challenges

All challenges run for 24 hours this round which is great for me as the times are always in EST, and that's about 5 hours behind me so the new time span gives me a lot of flexibility. Today's challenges were:

There are two challenges up today: Cover Lover from Marie @ Ramblings of a Daydreamer and Wicked Title Trouble from Melissa @ Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf. I completed the Cover Lover which was super fun and I'm having a ponder over my Wicked Title Trouble entry :)

Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon - Wednesday (#WWReadathon)

My Day

Having taken part in the last two read-a-thons I thought it would be kinda fun to keep track of what I've been up to during the day. That way I can see what I'm reading along with what was going on, which I'd otherwise forget.

I spent most of this morning in a hospital waiting room which gave me some handy reading time. My Mum is undergoing treatment for lymphoedema which means going to the hospital on alternate days for a few weeks for massage and compression bandaging. This meant I had some time to kill so after tracking down the coffee (which required many many directions after repeatedly getting lost) I hung out and got some reading done.

After getting back this afternoon, I just chilled out with my book and entered the challenges as they came up. Basically a pretty awesome start!

The Books

I got started this morning on page 202 and amazed myself by being done by lunchtime! I discovered reading this series in public is a bad idea as random fits of giggles get you some seriously weird looks. But what are you supposed to do when faced with lines like:

"I'm as nervous as a nun at a porn convention."

All in all this was awesome and the ending was just jaw-dropping.




After the OMG! ending to the last book I was really happy I'd waited till this one was released before reading it. I'm about 290-something pages into this at the moment and it's looking to be an epic end to an awesome series. I'm loving every page and I can't wait to see what happens next and how everything ends up. Plus lots of Giguhl!




Challenges

All challenges run for 24 hours this round which is great for me as the times are always in EST, and that's about 5 hours behind me so the new time span gives me a lot of flexibility. Today's challenges were:

Something Wicked This Way Comes hosted by Rebecca @ Kindle Fever

In this awesome challenge Rebecca asked what we'd save if a wildfire was about to hit our house. My entry is here.

Not entered? Click here until 8am EST (1pm BST) Thursday.


Slake Your Thirst hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Kimba hosted a recipe book challenge asking for our favourite drink recipes along with our most anticipated summer reads. My not even slightly summery entry is here.

Not entered? Click here until 4pm EST (9pm BST) Thursday.

#WWReadathon - Slake Your Thirst

Time for the second challenge of the Read-a-Thon! This one is hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer and she is collecting recipes!

Share your favorite drink recipe and the cover of your favorite/most anticipated summer read!

Have fun with this, include pictures, the recipe (so we can all try it) and tell us about your book choice. Have you read it? Are you anxiously awaiting its release this summer? Why? 

My favourite drink recipe is about as non-summery as you can get. I'm not the biggest fan of summer and I tend to pretty much just drink water or iced coffee from coffee shops. So I'm sharing my favourite cinnamon hot chocolate recipe which I absolutely adore.

The yummy picture however is borrowed from Nassau Happening as this stuff never lasts long enough for a pic in my house lol :)

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Chocolate Oat Milk, to fill your favourite mug

Cinnamon stick

Whipped cream (optional)

Powdered cinnamon (optional)

Place the chocolate oat milk in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick and heat slowly. Don't let it boil - it goes really gross! As soon as it gets nice and hot (I check with my finger) take it off the heat, ditch the cinnamon stick and pour into your favourite mug. Serve with whipped cream and/or sprinkle over some powdered cinnamon to taste.

My summer reading pick: 13 by Kelley Armstrong

This is the last book in Kelley Armstrong's outstanding Otherworld series, aka those books that got me addicted to urban fantasy. I've loved the series since it's beginning (with Bitten) and am kinda sad that it's coming to an end. That said I know it's going to go out with a bang and I can't wait to see what happens. It comes out on July 24 in the UK and I'm planning to read/reread the whole series to celebrate.


Here's the blurb (very vague/minor spoilers follow for books 1-12):

War is coming to the Otherworld. A sinister cult known as The Supernatural Liberation Movement is hell-bent on exposing the truth about supernaturals to the rest of the world. Their violent, ruthless plan has put everyone at risk: from werewolves to vampires, from witches to half-demons.

Savannah Levine - fiery and unpredictable - stands at the heart of the maelstrom. There is a new, dark magic inside her, granting her the power to summon spells of terrifying strength. But whether this magic is a gift or a curse, no one knows.

On the eve of battle, all the major players must come together in a last, desperate fight for survival - Elena and Clay; Adam and Savannah; Paige and Lucas; Jeremy and Jaime; Hope, Eve and more... They are fighting for lives. They are fighting for their loved ones.

They are fighting for the Otherworld.

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If you'd like to take part, check out Kimba's original post here.

#WWReadathon - Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Time for the first challenge of the Read-a-Thon! This one is hosted by Rebecca @ Kindle Fever and she asks:

“A wildfire is quickly coming your way! What thing/s do you grab when you only have a few minutes to make it out?”

(I’ve saved any people or pets in there already!)

As I'm the kind of person likely to get distracted grabbing things and end up flambed, I'm going to limit myself to three things:

1. The picture frame my sister made me after my neice was born. It has a birth announcement, a photo and even one of her hospital bands. It's super important to me (cause I was there and got to hold her first!!!) and I'd be crushed if I lost it, to the point where I'd take this over everything else.

2. My phone, not because I'd be lost without it but because it has all my photos on it. Most are backed up in various places, but not all.

3. However many of my "special" books I can carry - the ones I adore (my collectors edition of The Little White Horse), the ones my Mum worked crazy hard to find (my Aussie editions from the Tomorrow series) and my signed copies.

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Want to enter the challenge too? Click here for the original post :)

Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon (#WWReadathon)

The Wicked Wildfire Read-a-Thon starts tomorrow and I can't wait. I've previously participated in the Wonderfully Wicked and Wicked Winter Read-a-Thons and had a huge amount of fun. There are always the coolest challenges and it's amazing how much reading can get done with a little motivation.

I'm really hoping to quite a bit of reading done and the new five day span is awesome as I know I have a couple of wicked busy days coming up (if you'll excuse the pun lol). That said, I probably won't be reviewing my reads as I go for two reasons - firstly review time means non-reading time, and secondly I'm going to be in a bunch of good-for-reading-bad-for-reviewing places.

All in all I'm super excited and can't wait to get stuck in. The official start time is 12:01 EST tonight which is about 5 am here in London so I'll be starting as soon as I wake up. I'll probably be starting at some point in Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells, depending on how much I read before I fall asleep tonight lol :)


If you'd like to join in (and I really recommend it!) check out the sign-up details here.