Random Read-a-Thon Starting Line (#WWReadathon)

My blog has been abadoned for a while. I've been in a bit of a blogging slump and I have a scary review backlog, although I do have lots of posts started. Add to that health issues and me being distracted by craft projects and you can basically see the tumbleweeds dancing across the screen. So when I checked my email yesterday and saw a heads up about a mini read-a-thon I thought that would be a great way to spend the weekend.

I'm going to try and keep this low stress as I'm not feeling so great, so my goals are:

• Finish Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh which I'm a grand total of one chapter into.
• Write 3 reviews, including the one for Renegade which has been sitting partially written for forever.
• Try and stop by the twitter party tomorrow.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Wrap Up (#WWReadathon)

I've had a great time this week with the read-a-thon! All in all I read 3 full books with a total of 1328 pages which is pretty good. I also took part in some of the challenges, but I sadly missed both twitter chats :(

The books I read were:

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Tuesday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I'm beginning to think this read-a-thon is cursed. I had set aside most of today and tomorrow to curl up and read but when I went to wash my hair this morning, I found that the electricians have somehow broken the shower casing leaving a big hole right into the electrics. So now today was spent rearranging things and tomorrow is going to be spent getting workmen to fix the mess they've made :(

The Books

I finished reading The Golden Lily and I absolutely loved it! The forbidden romance between Sydney and Adrian pulling her away from the Alchemists. Her struggle between following their rules and being with her friends is heartwrenching, and I love the depth and development of the magic storylines. I definitely prefer Bloodlines to Vampire Academy, and I'm so happy Eddie's story is being continued (hopefully to a happy ending!).

As soon as I finished, I jumped straight into The Indigo Spell. Man am I glad I had this on hand! I've barely stopped reading since I picked it up, and I think I'm setting a record for the number of evil glares at anything that dare disturb me :o Either way I'm only stopping now so I can update here and then I'm straight back into it. I need to know how this all ends up!!! This has all the feels so I have a sinking feeling I'm going to be desperate for book 4 as soon as I close the cover.

Total pages read: 596

The Challenges

Today's challenge is hosted by Alicia @ Book a World and all you need to do to take part is figure out which 2013 YA releases are shown in the snippets and then enter by email. The challenge is open to 9am tomorrow, and you can see the images here.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Monday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I swear it feels like I'm not getting any reading done during this read-a-thon! We had electricians in this morning to do a safety check which meant lots of making coffee, showing them plug sockets and trying not to go insane from the beeping of the testing machines. I also had to pop to the doctors and it snowed! Only a centimetre or so but enough to look pretty this morning...and then be slushy this afternoon when I was walking about.

The Books

I made the decision after posting yesterday to restart The Golden Lily. I'd read the first three chapters before, but I wanted to start over and read from the beginning in case I'd forgotten anything. I'm loving it! Adrian Ivashkov is easily one of my favourite book characters of all time, and I definitely prefer Sydney to Rose which means I'm enjoying this series more than Vampire Academy.

There are starting to be hints of romance between Sydney and Adrian which is awesome and Adrian's snark and sarcasm to Agent Boring Borscht is hilarious :)

Total pages read: 112

The Challenges

Today's challenge is hosted by Pabkins @ My Shelf Confessions and the rules are pretty simple - the challenge is open to all Wicked Valentine's participants and all you have to do is flip to a random page in your current read. Then read four dice and add the numbers together to give your line/sentence number, and just make that line romantic in some way (using at least 50% from the line). You can still enter here.

The official challenge description is:

My challenge for you today should you choose to bandy words with me: Compile some Lines of Love to woo us, Or perhaps fill us with sadness, make our hearts bleed perhaps? Or nay give us a laugh that only comedic love can.

My current read is The Golden Lily and I rolled a total of 8 and randomly opened the book to page 63 which makes my sentence: "We had no right to manipulate the world like that; it was a hundred times worse than what Sonya had done to the red lily on the street."


My entry is (with quoted words in italics):

We had no right to avoid our feelings as we did, it was a hundred times worse than any punishment on the street: I love you, my beautiful red lily, my world.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Sunday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I've been feeling really tired today after yesterday so I've been trying to take it easy, but also helping get the house ready for the electrician who is coming out for a safety check tomorrow. He needs to get at the plug sockets, although some of ours are inaccessible because they're behind really heavy furniture.

 

I also wrote an article for the TM society's newsletter on life as a carer and they're thinking of running it on the front page! I did manage to get some reading done, and I've only really been pausing to answer the reading group questions as I've gotten to each stopping point.

The Books

I've finally finished Deja Dead. All in all, this was an interesting read. The forensic details are fascinating while the the mystery is clever and kept me glued to the page. The storyline is packed with twists and turns and it builds up to an action packed conclusion.

It did take me a while to get into though, as I was a bit thrown by how different this was to Bones but I soon grew to like it. I don't read much crime either so that probably contributed to my struggle to get into it. Once I did though I actually resented having to stop to take part in my book group discussion!

Now I've diving straight back into The Golden Lily as I managed to snag a copy of The Indigo Spell when I was in the city yesterday as Waterstones had it on the shelf! It's not even supposed to be out yet so I snatched up a copy straight away and resisted the urge to happy dance.

I only stopped reading because losing my grandfather triggered a reading rut but now I'm excited and ready to jump straight back in, mostly because of Adrian :)

Total pages read: 277

The Challenges

Today's challenge is hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, who has invited us to a ball! Her challenge is:

The Ball begins at 7 o'clock sharp and we promise wicked food and entertainment!

For this challenge and to receive your ticket using book covers show us your dress for the ball, your date and how you will arrive.

Here's my dress, date and transport:

For the ball I will be wearing the gorgeous white dress from Rapture and I'll be accompanied by Wren Tigarian. He's a total sweetheart and is drop dead gorgeous to boot. We'll be arriving in a midnight blue 1971 Mustang :)

This challenge runs till 9am Monday and is open to all Wicked Valentine's participants and you can enter here.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Saturday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I had to go into the city today so I took a quick walk through Chinatown as a lot of the performers were practicing for the Chinese New Year celebrations tomorrow. It also gave me a chance to pick up a few oriental snacks for while reading :)

Unfortunately I get really travel sick so I got barely any reading time at all - even reading at the station was out because it was raining! I'm hoping to get much more reading done tomorrow though.

The Books

I'm still reading Deja Dead and I'm a little further in. I've been kind of lacking in reading time over the last couple of days which means I'm having to put the book down a lot :(

The storyline has deepened more and I'm really intrigued to see what happens next. Tempe's quest for answers about the murders and her friend is now putting her in danger, and the case is becoming more complex.

Total pages read: 67

The Challenges

Today's reading challenge is an awesome crossword hosted by Kathy @ I Read, I Write, I Review and you can still enter here :) It's an email entry so no more here but I have entered and it was a ton of fun!

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Friday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I've had a not hugely restful day as my sister stopped by after her mother and baby group with my niece and nephew. I'm entirely biased but I think they are the cutest kids on the planet. My niece got me to sit down before putting on her pretend glasses and reading my book to me (well, the two year old translation of my book at least lol). My nephew is 10 weeks old today and has the cutest little smile with dimples.

 

When they left I realised that a) I'm going out tomorrow and b) there's barely any music on my new MP3 which would be waaaay easier if I had any music on my laptop :( So now I'm ripping CDs and trying to remember where on earth I put some.

The Books

I'm still reading Deja Dead and I'm enjoying it more as I go. I'm getting used to the writing style and I'm finding the forensics fascinating. There's also more tension coming into the storyline which is awesome and making the book hard to put down. There's even been some action :)

I've kinda come to the conclusion that the books are very different to the show (Bones), although a friend told me today that show Tempe is supposed to be the younger book Tempe. Either way I'm thinking of them as two separate entities which means I'm not ending up confused about the differences.

Total pages read: 23

The Challenges

Today's challenge is hosted by Beckie @ Bittersweet Enchantment, and you can still enter here. Beckie's challenge is:

This challenge is called The Dating Game. The idea is to choose two different book characters to go on a date. Although each character must be from two totally different books or series. Example: Edward Cullen (Twilight series) and Kaylee Cavanaugh (Soul Screamers series). Once you know who you are going to choose then your next step is to tell me where they will being going on the date. Your welcome to post a image of a certain place as well. Example:

Next, I need to know what they will be doing on their date and why you think both characters would make a great couple. You are welcome to use pictures if you'd like.
Once you are completely finished you may either leave a comment below or make a blog post. Whichever works for you but be sure to leave a link to where I can find your entry.

My answer is to send Jace Wayland from the Mortal Instruments series on a date with Eve Rosser. I think they'd make a great couple because they are both really snarky and sarcastic so sparks would definitely fly. For their date I'd send them to San Francisco because the diversity of the city means that Jace's tattoos and Eve's goth style will immediately fit in.

Their date would be a session fencing. It definitely should have been covered by Jace's Shadowhunter training but Eve's fencing hobby has left her with some serious skills which would leave them evenly matched, allowing them to see how much they have in common and form a bond through their shared skills. After they could tour the city, each picking out landmarks to visit to show each other their differences and sample the culture.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon: Thursday (#WWReadathon)

Whenever I do a read-a-thon, I like to post daily updates which end up forming a kind of journal for that time. I'm keeping this tradition with the Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon. Each update will include something about my day and what I've been up to along with my thoughts on the books I've been reading and any challenge entries.

My Day

I've not read that much today as my ME has flared up and I'm feeling exhausted all the time. Add that to accompanying my Mum to her hospital appointment and I'm totally wiped. I did manage to get a little reading done though, and I'm hoping to get some rest tomorrow as I know I have to go out on Saturday.

The Books

Although I said in my goals post I was 2 chapters into The Golden Lily, I decided to start fresh with Deja Dead. I was supposed to start this on the 2nd for a buddy read so I decided to bump it up and get reading.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I think so far. I'm a big fan of Bones and the book is very different (Tempe stays, everyone else is gone). It's different, and it turns out watching the forensic scenes is a lot less gross than reading them. At this point I'm around 1/3 in so this could be because I've not read in a while, or that I've been reading a lot of YA, or even that I don't read much crime. Either way I'm going to keep reading before I form an opinion.

Total pages read: 142

The Challenges

April @ My Shelf Confessions is hosting the Love 'Ship Challenge today and you can still take part here. The challenge is:

Your mission should you choose to accept it is to pick an established relationship (get it, “‘ship” LOL) from any book or series and then tell me what sort of cruise they would go on – we all know there are SO many themed cruise ships, and you can make up a theme too! Where would the travel destination stops be? What fun things would they do together during the week? And best of all, explain why you chose what you chose! Essentially you are their cruise ship travel agent trying to give them the trip of a lifetime that they’ll love! OH and what’s the cruise ship named?

I'm going to steal Sam and Grace from Shiver and send them on a cruise around French Polynesia on the SS Paradiso. The cruise will tour the gorgeous, warm islands providing ample opportunities for some alone time in some of the most beautiful natural hideaways on earth. Stopping at Tahiti, Bora Bora and the Tuamoto Islands there are romantic beaches galore and a host hidden islands to explore. The lovebirds can enjoy hiking up volcanoes, scuba diving and even hunting for elusive black pearls.

For a couple torn apart by seasonal changes, the crystal clear waters and outstanding scenery will give Sam and Grace some time away from the stress of their pasts to enjoy some time as a couple while the perma-summer setting will keep those worries far away.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-Thon: Goals (#WWReadathon)

The Wicked Valentines Read-a-Thon has just started and I've finally decided what my goals for this week will be. I just recently lost my grandfather and as a result I haven't been reading or blogging, and I've been pretty much avoiding the internet. I'm looking forward to getting back into reading and blogging, so my goals are pretty much just to read as and when I can taking whatever breaks I need.

I'm keeping my goals pretty small to ease myself back into reading. I've been 2 chapters in to The Golden Lily for over a week so that is first on my goals list, and Deja Dead is for a buddy read that started on the 2nd. I've also been super excited to read The Archived :)


I'm also hoping to take part in the twitter chat on Saturday (4-6pm EST/9-11pm GMT), although not the Tuesday chat as that works out as the early hours of Wednesday for me. I'm hoping to take part in as many challenges as possible and chat with other bloggers wherever I can. I'll also be doing my usual daily updates :)

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.