Every once and a while I start thinking I should read more substantial books.  The problem is that I don't have much time to read and when I do it is usually rushed or I am tired.  Thus, trying to remember where I left off and what was going on is hard.  Maybe I should just except the fact that I am not much of a book scholar.  I like light, happy, fun, and romantic with plenty of vampires and blood!  I might be tackling Wuthering Heights soon though.  I agreed to read it a long with my daughter, who has to read it for Sophomore, English Honors.

Reading and Pain

Okay, I have not posted since school started back after Christmas break.  I was just too busy to deal with it.  Now, however, I have been off work for a month.  I have not been able to stand with out severe, shooting pain.  So my life was limited to my chair and my bed.  It really makes one realize what a blessing good health is when you suddenly can't do anything without pain. 

So, with all that time just sitting, guess what I have been doing.  No not watching TV, I go for days without even turning the thing on.  Yes, reading!  Before this happened, I had read 22 books from Jan. 1st to April 10th.  Since April 10th, I have read 21 books!  They have mostly been light, fluff books and YA books.  When you are in constant pain, it is hard to concentrate on some complicated novel.  Plus there is the depressing factor.  Harlequin Nocturne and YA books don't usually have depressing endings, which I usually am not big on, but really can't tolerate when things aren't going great for me. 

So here is what I have been reading:



Holly Black's Modern Tales of Faerie 1 and 2.  These are really good, but kind of dark for young girls?  Out of what I have read so far this past month, these are my favorites.  I have the last one, which I plan of reading soon.

Other titles are:
I have read 4 of the paranormal genre of the 2014 Abraham Lincoln books
6 Harlequin Nocturne titles (some of these are just so-so and some are pretty good.  But really, if it has vampires, werewolves, etc. how bad could it be?)
Soul Seekers 1 and 2 by Alyson Noel
hush, hush and crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

and 3 adult titles:
Angelopolis, Angelology #2 (didn't like it)
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (good, but depressing, plus no magic.)
Dead Ever After, Sookie Stackhouse #13 by Charlene Harris (good, but the series seemed to just peter out and really who couldn't predict the outcome?  No surprise there for me!)

I am, finally, feeling somewhat better.  Maybe I should break out the adult novels again? 

The totally by accident, Heather Brewer, New Year's read.

I noticed a strange thing when I started my new reading journal.  I started my 2013 reading list with the same series I started my 2012 reading list-The Slayer Chronicles by Heather Brewer.  The first book on my 2012 list was First Kill, the first book in The Slayer Chronicles Series.  The first book on my 2013 reading list was Second Chance, the second book in the Slayer Chronicles Series.  Weird or What?  It was totally by coincidence.

This is a young adult series, but I like Heather Brewer.  The series is good.  I will keep reading them.  Maybe I can continue the tradition for 2014!

2013 Reading Journal

I read a lot, not as much as I'd like, but still a lot and a good deal of those are books that are part of a series.    So, I have kept a reading journal for several years now.  Over the years, the journal got messy and I thought as I am starting my new list of books I have read in 2013, that the old  journal needs to go.  It was time for a new journal.  I found one in the clearance section of Office Depot with nice thick pages that will last.  I spend several hours listing all my favorite authors and the book series that I am reading.  Right now, it is 41 different series (and all but 2 are of the paranormal genre)!  I am so happy.  I love having a nice neat, new reading journal.

2012 Reading Year in Review

This year, I have only managed to read 81 books.  Way off my pace of 140 books last year!  Although, I wasn't working last year until September.  There was a time where I was even too busy and stressed to write down my books in my reading journal, so that number might be a few low, but it's pretty close.  Here are some highlights:

The only "regular fiction" I read was:

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Be Different, Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian by John Elder Robinson
The Beach House by Jane Green
Beaded Hope by Cathy Liggett

All but two of these were my book club's picks.  I can only attend my book club in the summer due to my job now, but I try to read along with them at home.  I enjoyed all of them, but my favorite was Unbroken.  It's quite a story; all the more interesting because it's all true!

Here are some of the series I read a lot of this year:

Betsey Taylor Vampire queen by Mary Janice Davidson, I really enjoyed the first few books, but then the jokes seemed to get old and there didn't seem to be enough meat to the books.  I stopped reading at book # 8.  I might pick-up more later.

Laurell K. Hamilton.  I finished up reading all the available Anita Blake books and started reading the Meridith Gentry series.  I don't like Meridith as well as Anita, but then again I like Shifters and Vampires better than the Fey anyway!

I'm still reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series and I have started reading the Dream Hunter books also.  I don't get the Dream Hunter books.  I still don't really understand what I dream hunter is and there are a lot of characters and stories to keep track of, but she is still worth reading.  I am on book 16.  I read Acheron in November, it's got to be my favorite so far!

My favorite by far is J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood Series.  I devoured all 11 books!  The men are totally hot, completely cool, and utterly heroic!  I LOVE them!  I have started reading her Fallen Angels series since I have to wait until March to get the next Black Dagger book (and I must say I can't wait to read it!)  The Fallen Angels are really good, but not quite up to the most excellent level of the Black Dagger Brotherhood!

I have read the first two books in Larissa Ione's Dominica series and so far I am really enjoying them!.  I am excited to read the next Black Dagger Brotherhood book, the next Sookie Stackhouse book, and the next The Hollows book.  I am sooo looking forward to all the excellent spring reading!

Merry Christmas

I have not been posting because I have been busy working.  I work as a teacher's aide for my county's special educations cooperative and I love it, but it keeps me very busy.  After work, almost every night, I have to run the kids around then help the youngest with his homework (a long nightly struggle).  I don't mind.  I consider helping my children the most important thing in my life right now.  Sometimes other things have to take a back seat.

I have been reading, but I haven't been very good about keeping up with my writing journal.  Here are some highlights:

My latest discovery/favorite--J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood.  This series has everything and I mean everything I have ever wanted in a book--romance, hot, but tough heroes, steamy sex scenes, paranormal, lots of on going story lines, and a large cast of characters that we continually follow through the books!  I can't get enough!

I did not read a Christmas novel this year.  I have been unhappy in the past with these.  It seems like the story line always overshadows the Christmas part and the story lines are usually not what I would normally want to read.

What I've Been Reading

Okay, I haven't put out any book reviews lately.  It doesn't mean I'm not reading, it just means that I haven't felt like reviewing any books.  I often think that there are plently of reviews out there.  Why should I rehash the same old again?  If I do write a review, I try to keep it short and sweet.  I really hate the reviews that go on and on and on about every detail of the plot.  If we cared that much, we would just start reading the book.  So, here is what I have been reading in the last month:

Paranormal:

Deep Kiss of Winter, Kresley Cole & Gena Showalter, Okay
Spellbound, Hex Hall #3, Rachel Hawkins, Okay
Undead & Unwelcome, Betsy Taylor Vampire Queen # 8, Mary Janice Davidson, Okay
Devil May Cry, Dark-Hunter #13, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Good
Once Burned, Jeaniene Frost, Okay
Vacation with a Vampire, Harlequin Nocturne, June '12, Not Great
Lover Awakened, Black Dagger Brotherhood #3, J.R. Ward, Heaven
Kiss of the Dead, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #21, Laurell K. Hamilton, Heaven
Sentinels:  Tiger Bround, Harlequin Nocturne, Aug. '12, Doranna Durgin, Not Great
Lover Revealed, Black Dagger Brotherhood #4, J.R.Ward, Heaven
A Kiss of Shadows, Merry Gentry #1, Laurell K. Hamilton, Heaven


Erotic Romance:

50 Shades Darker, E.L. James, Okay


Literary Fiction:

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffennegger, Great

My Raiting Scale:  Bad, Not Great, Okay, Great, Heaven