#RockMyTBR 2017 April Recap

#RockMyTBR (link) is a reading challenge hosted by Sarah K., The YA Book Traveler. Basically, the challenge is to read books that you already own that were published before the beginning of the year. I love this challenge. Even though I didn’t complete it last year, it was still fun to participate in and see what others were reading. Here’s my intro post for this year.

So how did I do in the month of April?

Altogether I read four books in April, and NONE of them were for #RockMyTBR.

Really, I thought I read more than that :-\

And really, I need to get hoppin’!

Are you participating in this or any other reading challenges? How are you doing?

❤ Julia

#RockMyTBR 2017 March Recap

#RockMyTBR (link) is a reading challenge hosted by Sarah K., The YA Book Traveler. Basically, the challenge is to read books that you already own that were published before the beginning of the year. I love this challenge. Even though I didn’t complete it last year, it was still fun to participate in and see what others were reading. Here’s my intro post for this year.

So how did I do in the month of March?

Review – Second Position by Katherine Locke

I won an ebook copy of Second Position in the beginning of 2016. I can’t believe it took me so long to get to it. But I’m glad I finally did.

Second Position is part of my 2017 #RockMyTBR challenge.

#RockMyTBR 2017 February Recap

#RockMyTBR (link) is a reading challenge hosted by Sarah K., The YA Book Traveler. Basically, the challenge is to read books that you already own that were published before the beginning of the year. I love this challenge. Even though I didn’t complete it last year, it was still fun to participate in and see what others were reading. Here’s my intro post for this year.

So how did I do in the month of February?

#RockMyTBR 2017 January Recap

#RockMyTBR (link) is a reading challenge hosted by Sarah K., The YA Book Traveler. Basically, the challenge is to read books that you already own that were published before the beginning of the year. I love this challenge. Even though I didn’t complete it last year, it was still fun to participate in and see what others were reading. Here’s my intro post for this year.

So how did I do in the month of January?

Well, I started out with a BANG! let me tell you…but none of the four books I read in January were for this challenge. I got caught up in trying to read books for YAKFest (and then I was too sick to read), so looks like I’ll just have to try harder!

Are you participating in this or any other reading challenges? How are you doing?

#RockMyTBR 2016 Wrap-up

This year I participated in the #RockMyTBR reading challenge. I also plan on participating in 2017. Here’s a wrap-up of my challenge.

Basically, I chose 12 books already on my kindle that I thought I’d enjoy reading. That’s only one a month…

My Introduction and Reading List

But then I only read 4 of the 12 on my challenge. Oops!

Books read (4/12)

The Long Way Home by Regina West

The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald

Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles

Relentless by Karen Lynch

I hope next year’s challenge will be better. I actually have 15 books on the 2017 challenge, but I made sure to find books that were really, REALLY on my list. Hopefully I’ll do better this time around.

Did you participate in any 2016 reading challenges? How did you do? Are you doing any in 2017?

 

 

 

#RockMyTBR 2017 Intro Post

It’s that time again! Y’all know I’ve had fun with the RockMyTBR challenge this year, even though I didn’t complete it and most likely won’t given the rest of the year is pretty busy. I’m going to try again!

Basically, this challenge is to read books that you already own. Check out Sarah’s post for the details.

In 2017, I have 15 books that I definitely want to read for this challenge, but my per-month minimum is 1, with a few extra thrown in somewhere. Here’s a Goodreads list with my books on it. Books are listed in no particular order.

1. THE SNOW GLOBE by Jenna Nelson
2. SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi
3. SNOW LIKE ASHES by Sara Raasch
4. SECOND POSITION by Katherine Locke
5. THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson
6. MAGIC PRICE by C.L. Schneider
7. THORN by Intisar Khanani
8. HELLO? by Liza M. Weimer
9. THE OUTWORLDER by S.K. Valenzuela
10. CRACKED by Eliza Crewe
11. SPELLS AND SORCERY by S. Usher Evans
12. STARSHINE by G.S. Jennsen
13. PAST LIFE STRIFE by Christina McMullen
14. SUGAR by Dierdre Riordian Hall
15. 122 RULES by Deek Rhew

I’m so excited for this challenge! Let me know if any of these books are on your list and you’d like to buddy read. 🙂

#RockMyTBR – November Recap

The #RockMyTBR Reading Challenge is hosted by Sarah K, The YA Book Traveler. Click here for more info.

[My #RockMyTBR list]

I’ve made a little progress this month. For the #RockMyTBR challenge I’ve read:

Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles [Review]

Relentless by Karen Lynch [Review]

I may not make it through all twelve on my list, but I’m 1/3 of the way through it now.

Have you been participating in the #RockMyTBR or other reading challenges? How are you doing so far?

Review – Relentless by Karen Lynch

 

I read Relentless as part of the #RockMyTBR challenge. I purchased Relentless as a result of Indiemas, hosted by the lovely S. Usher Evans.

Wow. Ok. I have been binge-reading romance lately and totally needed a break from it. Considering how far behind I am on the #RockMyTBR challenge, I chose something from there.

Sara Grey’s world shattered ten years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now at seventeen, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara’s own very powerful gift. In her quest for answers about her father’s death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara’s world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it’s the last thing she wants. Sara’s life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her. (Goodreads)

 

I give Relentless 5 out of 5 stars!

Hmm, now what can I say without giving too much away?

I really liked Sara. She put a lot of effort into keeping her friends and family safe from her secrets. She was dealing with A LOT of stuff in this book, and although she felt overwhelmed, she wasn’t the whiny, helpless little girl that a lot of protagonists are (although she was very fortunate to have the help that she did in some very critical situations). She continued to go about things in her own way and try to solve her problems–she wasn’t waiting for a hero.

I liked the abundance of creatures in the book and how they blended into the modern world.

I did think there was an over-abundance of beautiful/handsome characters in the book, but hey, that’s alright with me! *wipes up drool*

Overall I found this book to be a fun, entertaining read and I look forward to continuing the series!

 

Review – Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles

I read this book as part of the #RockMyTBR challenge.

I enjoyed reading Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t have its problems, though.

Stupid Girl, to me, really showed what holding in a secret and not communicating about it can do to a person. It also shows how easily life can sway people from their plans and how easily focus can be destroyed. I really liked that Olivia came from a family that was close-knit, and the things that affected them affected her as well.

Despite the problems I highlight below, I enjoyed watching the relationship between Brax and Olivia.

I think it’s only human to hope for the best in people, but I also think it lends itself to problematic relationships, especially in literature. Here is this character with obvious anger and jealousy issues, but it never gives Olivia pause, because she just knows she’s safe with Brax, despite his constant fighting and bowing up at other males. I feel like this trope sets an unhealthy ideal for relationships. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy reading them, but as time goes by, I find myself noticing such things more often and they give me pause.

I really try not to allow basic typos/punctuation errors sway my reviews unless they are super-present. Aside from some terrible comma usage, I didn’t notice an abundance of these, but I really felt like the story could have used some more content editing/revising/something. Sometimes I felt like I was seeing a scene for a second time. Other times there were inconsistencies when moving from one scene to another. And sometimes the pace was really slow/repetitive. Also, while a majority of the story is told from Olivia’s POV, there are a few places where it is switched to Brax’s. Because these were so few and far between, they were rather jarring. I’d have preferred to not have them at all, or to have more of them more consistently.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 stars.