Bout of Books: Sunday & Wrap Up (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

Sunday was pretty awesome. My eyes were still a little sore so I ended up trying to pace my reading out as much as possible, mostly so I didn't end up in the same situation with Under the Never Sky as I did with Last Sacrifice. No photo sadly as I totally forgot to take one :(

The Books

Today I read Under the Never Sky. I'd heard some awesome things about it, particularly this week from the other Bout of Books participants on twitter and honestly now I'm finished I'm not hugely sure what I think. I liked the characters and the world, and I thought Perry and Aria were sweet together. The story didn't quite suck me in like I expected though, and there was a lack of background information about the Unity which was missing (although it is included in Through the Ever Night and I'm not sure how it would have fit in here and avoided info-dumping). Chances are when I write my review it's going to come out as a low five/high four but I need to mull it over a bit more before then.

The Wrap Up

 

I've had an awesome time this week with the read-a-thon! All in all I read 7 full books with a total of 3032 pages which is insane. I also took part in two twitter chats and eight challenges, not to mention meeting loads of incredibly new peeps on twitter :)

Bout of Books: Saturday (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I didn't do an update yesterday as I strained my eyes and ended up not being able to read or really use my computer all day :( More annoyingly this happened 54 pages into Last Sacrifice so it was more than a little frustrating to know what the start was and then have to stop right in the middle of the action!

I felt a bit better today so I was able to get some reading done but I'm still trying to take things easy so as not to make my eyes worse. I loved taking part in the twitter chat and really enjoyed chatting with everyone. I also indulged in a massive mug of chai while reading this morning.

The Books

Yay!!! I finally managed to finish Last Sacrifice! Okay, so three days is not that to class as finally but I really didn't want to stop reading so to me it felt like forever. I really enjoyed this and it does manage to tie-up the series really well, although there are some storylines left unfinished which I'm hoping will be concluded in the Bloodlines series. As much as I loved this, I can't wait to get started on that as soon as I can (especially as The Indigo Spell is out in a few weeks).

 
Now I'm looking forward to starting Under the Never Sky. I've heard awesome things about it, especially from my fellow Bout of Book-sers so I'm really excited to get started. The only reason I put off getting a copy before now is that the original UK cover is horrendous (you can see it here). The new covers are much better and I can't wait to get reading :)



Total books read: Most of one
Total pages read: 530

The Challenges

The Name Your Book Crack challenge is hosted by Amy @ Bookgoonie and you can still enter by clicking here. Amy's challenge is to and identify your deepest, darkest addictions. What is your Book Crack? What can you NOT SAY NO to? What bookish things make you blissful?

My book crack has to be multi-buy offers! I totally suck at being able to walk away from an offer, especially when it comes to books. Sadly most seem to be 3 for 2 lately which aren't as great a saving (especially as one store always used to do Buy One Get One Free every February). However in the UK there is a store called The Works who always have books at really reduced prices. Their standard offer is 3 for £5 (which is awesome when books generally retail between £6 and £8 each) and occasionally they even have 2 for £3! It is very difficult for me to go in and not buy anything lol :)


The Bookish Dress Up challenge is hosted by Celine @ Nyx Book Reviews and you can still enter by clicking here. Celine's challenge is "You know when in a book an author painstakingly describes what a character is wearing? Not only is this usually quite annoying, it gets even worse if the character’s fashion sense makes you want to smack your head against your wall. What if you could dictate what the character was wearing? What would you put on them – something ridiculous, or something that would make them look wonderful?"

I really struggled with this challenge, but there is one thing that stands out to me from the Vampire Academy series - Dimitri's duster! At first it didn't bother me, although it seriously reminded me of Spike but by book 6 I'd had enough. There is a line in Last Sacrifice that says:

"There was a look of woe on his face that was almost comical. Raids, bullets, criminals...no problem. A missing duster? Crisis."

I mean really, your a bad-ass guardian and you wear a duster? How impractical is that? All I want to do is take his duster and replace it with a nice leather jacket, kind of like these ones modelled by the Salvatore brothers:

Is it too much to ask that the hunky Russian isn't basing his look on a 90s vampire? (That said, Spike = *swoon*).

Bout of Books: Thursday (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

Today was pretty good. I'd set the day aside to just read and it meant I was able to read a lot...right up till the point where my eyes got strained. On the plus side I had a great day reading, but the down side is that reading is out of the question from now until tomorrow at the earliest :( At least I had really nice pasta for dinner and with another three full days of the readathon I'm sure I'll be able to read more.

The Books

I managed to finish Blood Promise which was good but I'm still not sure what I think overall. It was a bit weird as Rose and Lissa were separated for most of the book so there were two different plots running side by side. Either way I enjoyed reading it and barely paused before picking up the next.

Spirit Bound was definitely one where you had to know the backstory for the characters. The story went a bunch of places I wasn't expecting and I was blown away by the ending. This does have some great Adrian moments though and he's fast shaping up to be a favourite character of mine.

After that ending (seriously omg!) I leapt straight into Last Sacrifice and I'm incredibly peeved about not being able to read further. I desperately want to know what is going to happen for all of the characters :( The first 54 pages are really good though.



Books read today: 1 and a bit over a half ish

Pages read today: 825

The Challenges

There are two challenges today! The first is the Vampires in Popular Fiction challenges hosted by Rachel @ The One with Rachel's Book and you can still enter here. Rachel's challenge is to name your two favourite fictional vampires (one guy, one girl) with the books/series they are from and explain why they have that special place in your heart.

My favourite male vampire has to be Eric Northman from the Sookie Stackhouse series. Even back when I first read Dead Until Dark (waaaaay back in 2006 - my receipt is in the book lol) I preferred Eric to Bill. As the series has grown, he still holds a place in my heart as one of the hunkiest most awesome male vampires of all time and his sweetness in Dead to the World is still one of my favourite book moments ever. Plus have you seen True Blood? *swoon*

My female vampire has to be Ivy Tamwood from the Rachel Morgan series. I'm actually hoping to reread and catch up on the series soon as I've missed the characters and the world. A big part of that is Ivy. She isn't perfect, but if you are her friend she'll have your back until the end of time whether she thinks you are right or not and doesn't expect anything in return. Ivy is seriously kick-ass and she is fighting hard against the horrors of her past to become her own person.

The second challenge today is the Book Spine poem hosted by Cait @ Escape through the Pages which you can still enter here. Cait's challenge is to create a poem using the titles of the books you have on hand. Extra words are permitted, but only as many as you have books (so 8 books gives a maximum of 8 words).

Here's my poem:

The Treachery of Beautiful Things

who Breathe Bitter Blood

in the Shadows on the Moon.

Bout of Books: Wednesday (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

My day has been absolutely manic. My sister brought my niece and nephew round for a visit which is always fun but really hard work. My niece is 2 and my nephew is 5.5 weeks and as much as I adore them, they are really hard work to hang out with. I have no idea where my niece gets all her energy but it is really hard to keep up with her. Anyone who has kids has my respect.

It basically meant that while I had fun playing and drawing with my niece and snuggling my nephew, I didn't really get much reading done apart from what I managed before they arrived and this evening. It also means no photos :(

The Books 

I managed to finish Shadow Kiss just before the munchkin invasion this morning. It was a really great read and I couldn't believe that end! I mean wow. But onto less spoilery things - I loved getting to learn more about what being shadow kissed means to Rose as well as seeing Lissa and Adrian working together to understand their magic. Plus obviously the more Adrian the better - he is awesome!

As soon as the munchkins had gone home, I jumped straight into Blood Promise which is shaping up to be pretty different to the previous three books. Rose has travelled off by herself so there's a distance between her and Lissa, leading essentially to dual storylines - one following Rose on her quest and one following Lissa at school. So far it's interesting but I prefer Rose and Lissa together rather than apart. 

Books read today: 2/3 of one and just over half of another

Pages read today: 650 <--- waaaaaay more than I expected! :)

Goal Addition

When I set my Bout of Books goals, I took a very relaxed view and only listed four books (the first four of the Vampire Academy). I've been more able to read than I expected and really enjoyed the books so I'm now extending my goal by another four books! After hearing even more great things about Under the Never Sky during the twitter chat I can't wait to get started...as soon as I'm done with the Vampire Academy books because I NEED to know what's going to happen in the end!

The Challenges

Today's Page 48 challenge is hosted by Hanna @ Booking in Heels and you can still enter by clicking here. Hanna's challenge is to take the first complete sentence from page 48 (or 48% on an e-reader) of your current read, and then continue it on with four new sentences. Ignore the plot and what you know of the book and anything goes :)

Here's my slightly entirely random take on Blood Promise:

With little conversation, she and Christian escorted Avery to guest housing and promptly left. After all, how could they be expected to babysit a psychopathic child on the day they were supposed to be getting married. It's hard enough fighting a war against killer robots, but all they wanted was one day for themselves. You wouldn't think the front line would be the best location for a romance to grow and yet that is where their bond first formed. And now in less than an hour they would be officially married!

Bout of Books: Tuesday (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I didn't get as much reading done today as I'd have liked as I got caught up trying to clear my email inbox which took a lot longer than I expected. I did eventually get to curl up with my book and a very large mug of chai this afternoon. Still I'd have been much happier had I got more reading done, but it's only day two so I'm not stressing too much.

The Books

I managed to finish Frostbite today and I absolutely loved it. The strigoi are a more immediate threat and it's great to see Rose becoming more adult. She came across as a little bitchy at times in the first so I loved watching her grow, and her interactions with her Mum explained a lot about why she is the way she is. I also adore Lissa and Christian - sooooo sweet, and new guy Adrian is awesome!

As soon as I finished I jumped straight into Shadow Kiss. So far it's shaping up to be a great read. Rose is having some creepy issues, including seeing ghosts, and Adrian is still around campus (yay!). I'm really looking forward to seeing what's up with her (maybe something with the bond?) and how she does on the field training.



Books read today: Two-thirds of one, and a little of another.
Pages read today: 299

The Challenges

There are two challenges today :) The Guess the Cover challenge is hosted by Mandi @ Never Too Fond of Books which I've entered by email (click here to join in), and the Cover Love challenge is hosted by Tobe @ Ms. Bluff's Book.

I love looking at book covers and have talked about them a lot on the blog. Picking an overall favourite though - really hard! So I took the easy route and went with my favourite cover of the books I've seen recently.

I first saw Mystic City as part of Top Ten of 2012 when people were talking about their favourite covers. It was so gorgeous I decided to find out more and ended up treating myself to a copy with my Christmas money and it arrived this morning. I love the city in the background and the simple underwater feel to the girl. It's just beautiful :)



A funny cover was easier to pick. I don't own too many books with funny covers, but Curses! is hilarious as is the book itself. I really like how it shows Cinderella run over by her own carriage...as well as the bluebird that lured her to her death :)




You can enter this challenge by clicking here.

Bout of Books: Monday (#boutofbooks)

I'm aiming to post an update each day throughout the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon because I find them fun to look back over once it's all finished. I'll be including an update on my day (sometimes just about reading, other times about why I've not been reading), along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I was up late last night so managed to squeeze in a little reading between midnight and falling asleep, but this morning I had to run errands which meant I didn't get to sit down with a book until gone 2 pm.

Once I got the opportunity I curled up with some Cherry & Cinnamon tea in my favourite mug, some snacks and my book and I've barely moved since. I've had an awesome afternoon reading and I even managed to join in the Twitter party this evening. The only reason I'm not reading some more now is so I can watch Revenge which has just returned to the UK with season 2 :)

 

My copies of Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night also arrived today so I'm hoping to read them as soon as I can! I've heard awesome things about them and only put off buying them this long as the original UK cover for UtNS was pretty dire. The new ones are a vast improvement!
 

The Books

My first read-a-thon book was Vampire Academy which was a re-read for me. I first read it a few years ago and enjoyed it enough to collect the other books, but never continued on. I really enjoyed it, although the flashbacks did interrupt the story for me a bit. It was just standard first-book-in-a-series-itis though and I loved the characters (especially Dimitri *swoon*).


I've jumped straight into Frostbite and I'm loving it so far. The flashbacks are gone so the story is progressing much more smoothly. I'm about a third or so in and I can't wait to continue. The wintery setting is awesome (I'm definitely a winter girl) and I'm desperate to know why the Strigoi are getting closer, and what is going to happen with Rose's love life. Hold out for the forbidden Dimitri or try dating the super cute Mason?


Books read today: One and a third (ish)
Pages read today: 445

The Challenges

Today's Scientific Discovery challenge is hosted by Racquel and Sharon @ The Book Barbies and you can still enter by clicking here. Their challenge is: "You have made a scientific discovery (who knew you were so good at science?!) on how to bring fictional characters to life. The problem? The method still isn't *perfect,* so you can only bring two people to life, and they must return to the land of fiction in 30 days. Who will you choose as your bestie and your love interest for that one splendid month? (Feel free to add pictures if you like, but they are not required.)"

Best friend: For a best friend I'd have to pick Evie from Paranormalcy. She is really fun and has awesome taste. Evie owns a pink taser, has unique fashion taste and is incredibly snarky. She's exactly the kind of girl I'd pick as a best friend as her whole normal girl in an abnormal world would lead to a ton of fun conversations...while shopping of course :)


Love interest: This is so hard! There are so many awesome guys in books that it took me ages to narrow it down to just one. In the end I had to go with Vincent Argeneau from A Bite to Remember. Vincent is gorgeous, funny and sweet and I've loved him since his first appeareance in the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter series. He'd do anything for the people he cares about and is an all-around great guy :)

Bout of Books: Goals (#boutofbooks)

The Bout of Books Read-a-Thon is about to get started and I've finally decided what my goals for this week will be. First of all I'll be updating each day as I like looking back over my updates at the end of the read-a-thon and seeing what I've done.

Beyond that I'm hoping to dedicate 2 hours each day this week to reading. I was going to state a number of days, but given the changeable nature of my ME I feel committing to a smaller consistent level will be easier to achieve.

I'm keeping my booklist pretty small to start with so I don't overwhelm myself, and I can always add books to my goals in my daily updates. I definitely want to read more Vampire Academy books (I read and loved the first ages ago) so I'm starting with books 1-4 :)

 

I'm also hoping to take part in the twitter chats on Monday (1pm CST/7pm GMT) and Saturday (10am CST/1pm GMT), although not the chat on Wednesday as that works out as the early hours of Thursday for me. I'm also hoping to take part in as many challenges as possible, as well as visit as many other blogs as I can and leave comments :)

Bout of Books 6.0 Sign Up! (#boutofbooks)

 

Bout of Books is a read-a-thon that is hosted by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. I've been aware of it for a while but always managed to miss the date. The official blurb is:

 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books 6.0 team

I'm really looking forward to taking part and I'd like to thank Pragya @ The Reviewing Shelf for signing up and showing me that this read-a-thon exists! If you'd like to sign up as well, click here.