RAT: Heading Into Hour Five!

Still being distracted by the squirrels and Facebooking about squirrel drama...  But also by challenges.  Not much reading got done these last two hours.

Title of book(s) read since last update:  Food Network magazine
Number of books read since you started:  part of one book; part of one magazine.
Pages read since last update:  25 (see above re: distractions)
Running total of pages read since you started:  107
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  120 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started:  240 minutes  (well, not all of it reading, obvs)
Mini-challenges completed:  Opening meme; Traveler's Log; Readathon Memories
Other participants you’ve visited:  None, yet.
What I've eaten/drunk:  Coffee; two Eggos with margarine

Going to eat lunch now and try to ignore the stupid squirrels. And Facebook.  Facebook is the biggest time suck!

RAT Hour Two

Coming down to the end of Hour Two and I've been a bit distracted.  We currently have a squirrel in our wall and it is driving me NUTS (no pun intended).  Plus Facebook and other stuff.  But I finished a book I'd started pre-Read-a-thon and have now begun some magazine reading!  Hubby is in the bedroom reading comics, while I lounge out on the couch.

Title of book(s) read since last update:  Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones; Food Network magazine
Number of books read since you started:  part of one book; part of one magazine.
Pages read since last update:  82 (see above re: distractions)
Running total of pages read since you started:  82
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  120 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started:  120 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:  Opening meme; Traveler's Log
Other participants you’ve visited:  None, yet.
What I've eaten/drunk:  Coffee; two Eggos with margarine.

I'd like to focus more on reading for the next two hours, instead of being distracted by stupid squirrels and whatnot.  Back to it!

Read-a-Thon: Hour Zero

Well, it's been a while since my last RAT.  My birthday weekend complicated things in April, and I can't remember if I participated last October or not.  I think I read, but didn't blog?  Anyway, trying to get back on the blogging wagon...

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?  Overcast South Florida

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  Finishing my current read, Drowned Ammet.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  Mmm, the leftover half a meatball sub I have for lunch.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I'm a busy lady these days, so I haven't blogged since last summer.  Still reading, slowly, but not at the rate I would like to be.  Oh!  And I just joined my first book club yesterday!!!  Our first meeting is in November!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  I wasn't a part of the LAST Read-a-Thon, but I have participated in almost all the other ones.  I'll mostly be using my tried and true methods of slowly consuming one book at a time, though.

Happy reading!

Review: Show Me the Way by Jennifer Lauck

Wow.  It's been like four months since I posted anything here.  Well, I'm not dead, but life seems to be getting in my way more than normal.  I'm still working hard at my Jamberry business, which takes up a lot of my spare time, so I am not reading as much as I used to, and I'm certainly not blogging much at all, or even reading others' blogs.  I do miss it, but I love my newest job, too, so I tend to do the thing that brings in money.

I read Jennifer Lauck's Blackbird last year, and then the sequel, Still Waters, and now this third in the series of memoirs.  I finished this back in February, so I have no idea if I can recall enough of the book to do a really solid review, but I'll try.  This installment covers Lauck's experiences in motherhood.  It was both funny and sad, like all of her work.  It was good.  I can't really think of much else to say about it, since I don't remember much.  I remember that I liked it, though.

Four out of five Whatevers.  Recommended for those who have read the rest of the series, for anyone struggling through parenthood, or those who just enjoy memoirs in general.

2016-4

Review: Downside Girls by Jaine Fenn

This Kindle book was a review copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers.  I'm glad I received it.  I finished this book a month ago, but I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to review it.  It was short, only four short stories that take place in the world Jaine Fenn created for her longer novels.  It's a world in which some folks live on the Topside, where gravity is normal and life is much like it is for us today.  Then, there are the Downsiders, those who live...underneath.  Where, if you fall, you fall into nothingness, so there are nets to catch those who can't hold on.  The two worlds don't often mix, and those on the Topside view Downsiders quite negatively.  Then, there is a third category of people, the Angels.  They impose the will of the people, taking out those in the public eye that have broken the public trust.

These four stories tell of four women who live in this world.  There isn't much to say about plotting.  It is there, and the situations these women find themselves in are interesting, but these are short stories, so plot is only a snippet.  Setting is the main character here, and Fenn does an excellent job drawing one in to this world she has created.  Such a good job, in fact, that I now want to check out one of her regular length novels.

Five out of five Whatevers.  It kept me coming back, took almost no time to read, and has inspired me to look for more from Fenn.

2016-3

Review: Breaking the Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford

So, THIS, I believe, is actually the final installment (so far) in the Emma Harte series.  I thought the last one was, but not so.  This book follows M, an unknown young woman (although the reader does suspect she is somehow related to the Harte family, as this is in the series) as she begins her pursuit of a modeling career in the US.  You know that she has left home and family behind, but not why.  It is clear that she is running from something.

I didn't love this one as much as I have others in the series.  It takes a while for the reader to warm up to it, as M is basically a stranger to us for the first half to two-thirds of the novel.  Eventually, her real identity is revealed and the book takes on the more familiar trappings of a typical Barbara Taylor Bradford book, bringing in the other characters we've come to know over the course of the series.

One thing I didn't like about this entry in the series is that things seem to happen way too fast to M.  She meets Larry Vaughan and falls instantly in love with hime.  She becomes a modeling superstar almost overnight.  It's not realistic.  And it's not something I remember from the other books.  Maybe I am forgetting some of that, and maybe it was more glaring in this novel because the beginning of the book was a "mystery" as far as M's true identity was concerned.  Like, maybe when the insta-love and insta-fame happens to a Harte, it's less glaring?  Because the Hartes are clearly the cream of the crop, so it's kind of expected that they will continue to be blessed in every way...

Three out of five Whatevers for this one.  I only really got into it about halfway through, when M's real identity was revealed.  Definitely should be read by completists, intent on finishing the series, but don't read it as a stand-alone, for sure.  The original is still the best...A Woman of Substance is unequalled in the rest of the series.

2016-2

So, we just found out this week that the company I just joined, Jamberry, is expanding into the UK!  I'm really excited.  I'd love to break into this market.  If anyone reading is from the UK and interested in a direct sales business that is really rewarding, come visit my Facebook page, https://facebook.com/alexisvelozijc, to learn more about Jamberry.  Better yet, send me a message and we'll chat, I'll send you a sample, and walk you through the company.  You could get in at the beginning of a business that is really going to explode in the UK!  Okay, I'll cool it for now.  I don't want my blog to turn into a giant Jamberry marketing tool.  I just love what I'm doing right now and am very excited about it.

Review: Fountain of Dreams by Josie Litton

I had gotten the second book in this trilogy from my mother-in-law and accidentally read it first.  Once I realized there were more books, I ordered a copy of this one, the first in the trilogy.  I can't remember if I Mooched it or if I bought it from Amazon or Powell's. I started it mid-January and finished it just six days later.  These little romances are quick reads!

The book follows the love affair of Princess Amelia Darcourt of Akora and Niels Wolfson.  At the beginning of the novel, Princess Amelia is kidnapped from the bedroom of her family's London residence, while they are in town on diplomatic business.  She manages to escape from the kidnappers and is rescued by Niels Wolfson while walking down the wet, dark road back to town.

The two fall in love, but they are from two different worlds.  She is Akoran.  He is American.  She is a royal.  He is a woodsman turned diplomat.  They don't believe they can make a life together, as their differences are too great.  It is pretty cheesy, standard romance novel fare.  But it was interesting, not too intellectually taxing, fast-paced...I don't mind this kind of book every once in a while.  A good romp that I can fly through in preparation for something heavier, more serious, or just lengthier.

Overall, I'd give it four out of five Whatevers for holding my attention.  It was enjoyable, light, good for lovers of general romance novels.  A tiny bit of sex, a good royal-and-commoner storyline, and a strong heroine especially recommend this one.  It's not necessary to read these in order, as they are all just loosely tied in together, based around the imaginary land of Akora.  Some characters from the second book did make an appearance in this one, but it really didn't make any difference in the storyline of the second book that I hadn't read this one first.

2016-1

In other news, I've started a new side business as a Jamberry consultant (see alexisveloz.jamberry.com or facebook.com/alexisvelozIJC for more info), which I am LOVING.  It is a really fun way to make money offering a product I love to other women!  It is taking up a lot of my free time, but it is worth it.  Jamberry, in case you've never heard of it, offers vinyl nail wraps, lacquers, gel polish, and other nail care products.  It's an amazing company and a great way to make a little extra money.

I have continued my streak of reading at least a little bit every day since the first of the year.  I've been managing an hour most days, more or less, but there hasn't been a day where I haven't read anything.  I've finished three books since the beginning of the year (which for me was really mid-January, as I was catching up on my magazine reading before then), so it's really been helping me pump up my number of books read for the year.  I just want to do better than last year's 14, but if I could read 50 this year, that would be amazing!