Happy New Year!!!

Well, 2013 is over, and 2014 has been rung in.  It was a rough reading year for me last year - only 11 books read in the whole year.  I attribute this to being extremely busy (moving homes and working a lot more than I have previously) and to reading more magazines.  I currently subscribe to three that I read regularly, and they take away from my novel reading time.  However, I am thankful that I had any reading time at all, and I did get to read some really great stuff during 2013.  At least, having read only 11 books last year, there is a good chance I'll beat my total in 2014.  Well...except that my first book of the year is Les Miserables, clocking in at over 1400 pages.  Oh well.  Quality, not quantity, shall be my motto this reading year!

Review: The Accidental Bride by Jane Feather

I bought this book from Amazon, for my Kindle, after discovering that my mother-in-law had given me the third in the trilogy...I can't read them out of order!

It took me awhile to get through this one, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the book, or how much I enjoyed it.  It was a busy October for me, involving a lot of activities that took me away from home.  That's not really conducive to me finishing books...I finally finished it today, once I had a little down time.

Phoebe, to whom we were introduced in The Hostage Bride, is an aspiring poetess and playwright.  She is only interested in her writing, until she falls for Cato, Marquis of Granville.  Cato's last wife, Phoebe's sister, has passed away, leaving no heir to the Granville estate.  Phoebe's father promises her to Cato, but Phoebe would rather craft her poetry...and then...she finds herself suddenly and thoroughly in love with Cato.  Who hardly notices she's alive.  Over the course of the book, Phoebe tries many ways to insinuate herself into Cato's good graces, from purchasing herself some, ahem, interesting apparel to scheming with Cato's putative heir, Brian Morse.  Will Cato notice Phoebe and learn to treat her as an equal?  Or will Phoebe drive Cato away with her feeble attempts to gain his approval?

I enjoyed this book.  It was a pretty solid little romance.  Not high literature, but well worth my time.  I am looking forward to the third in the trilogy.  Some editing errors made the read a bit difficult in places...there would be huge chunks of the book that looked to have been dropped into a paragraph where they didn't belong.  Despite that, however, I give it four out of five Whatevers.  A nice, easy read.

2013-11

Review: Beekeeping for Beginners by Laurie R. King

I read this short story last weekend, during the Read-a-Thon.  I bought it on Amazon for my Kindle, since it was like 99 cents or something.  And I love the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series.  I just realized that I only have one published book left to read before I reach the end of the series, and it just depresses me.  Anyway, the story was from Holmes' perspective, detailing his first meeting with Mary Russell and how he came to mentor her.  It was a nice diversion from the regular series, which usually features Russell's point of view; Holmes was at the forefront in this one.  I'd give it four out of five Whatevers and recommend it for anyone who likes the series.  I'm not counting it as a book, since it was so short.

RAT: Final

Aaaand, then I fell asleep.

 Title of book(s) read since last update: All You magazine; Beekeeping for Beginners; The Accidental Bride
Number of books read since you started: one magazine, one short story, part of one book
Pages read since last update: 153 (of course, these are estimated Kindle pages, which are shorter than regular book pages)
Running total of pages read since you started: 642
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  90 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 540 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:  None
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: everything bagel and light cream cheese; gummi bears; Taco Bell tacos and nachos; water; more gummi bears; more water; Lay's Dill Pickle chips; more gummi bears; fruit slices; pizza; chocolate chip cookie pie thingie from Papa John's (OMG, it's worth the hype!); Diet Mt. Dew

This Read-a-Thon was less than successful for me, due to my level of distraction and my late start.  But the good thing about the Read-a-Thon is that there is always another one in six months!  See you in April!

ETA:  Despite feeling like a RAT loser this time around, I won a prize!  Yay!

RAT: Hour Fifteen

Now I'm into the swing of things!


 Title of book(s) read since last update: All You magazine; Beekeeping for Beginners; The Accidental Bride
Number of books read since you started: one magazine, one short story, part of one book
Pages read since last update: 172 (of course, these are estimated Kindle pages, which are shorter than regular book pages)
Running total of pages read since you started: 489
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  120 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 450 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:  None
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: everything bagel and light cream cheese; gummi bears; Taco Bell tacos and nachos; water; more gummi bears; more water; Lay's Dill Pickle chips; more gummi bears; fruit slices; pizza; chocolate chip cookie pie thingie from Papa John's (OMG, it's worth the hype!); Diet Mt. Dew

RAT: Hour Thirteen

Got a lot of reading done in this round!  And I'm ready for more.  I brought out the caffeine, though, as I'm feeling a post-pizza weariness come over me...


 Title of book(s) read since last update: All You magazine; Beekeeping for Beginners; The Accidental Bride
Number of books read since you started: one magazine, one short story, part of one book
Pages read since last update: 163
Running total of pages read since you started: 317
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  150 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 330 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:  None
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: everything bagel and light cream cheese; gummi bears; Taco Bell tacos and nachos; water; more gummi bears; more water; Lay's Dill Pickle chips; more gummi bears; fruit slices; pizza; chocolate chip cookie pie thingie from Papa John's (OMG, it's worth the hype!); Diet Mt. Dew

RAT: Hour Eleven

Still being very much distracted by the new phone.  Well, I knew this would be a weak Read-a-thon for me, but as long as I'm kind of reading, that counts, right?

Title of book(s) read since last update: All You magazine; Beekeeping for Beginners
Number of books read since you started: one magazine, part of a short story
Pages read since last update: 44
Running total of pages read since you started: 154
Amount of time spent reading since last update:  60 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 180 minutes
Mini-challenges completed:  None
Other participants you’ve visited: None
What I've eaten/drunk: everything bagel and light cream cheese; gummi bears; Taco Bell tacos and nachos; water; more gummi bears; more water; Lay's Dill Pickle chips; more gummi bears; fruit slices

Pizza is on its way - dinner time!  YUM!