Bookish Bingo: Summer Edition Wrap-Up

I joined the Summer Edition Bookish Bingo hosted by Great Imaginations. It started July 1st and ran for three months.

I hoped to do the whole card, and I had the last 2 books I needed, but I got burned out on my crazy month of reading in August (57 books!) so I didn't get to either of them as I wasn't especially interested in either. Still, 23 of 25 is pretty darn good, and all but 3 of them were done in the first month! :) Not too shabby!! :)

Here is what I did with my Bingo (linked books below are linked to the reviews I did). You can also see my GoodReads Summer Bingo Shelf to see more brief reviews of each. How did you do? Leave me a comment, I wanna come see!! :)

I'm joining in on the Holiday Edition that starts tomorrow. I'm more worried about that card, a lot that I don't normally read. Hopefully it'll be a chance to read new to me stuff! :) Here's my Sign Up Post.

I still can't comment on WordPress blogs, but it's being investigated.

Number of Bingos:
9


Nil by Lynne Matson (set on an island)
Completed 7/1
4 of 5 stars

Innocent Prey (Brown & De Luca 03) by Maggie Shayne (dog companion)
Completed 7/2
5 of 5 stars

Obsession (Faces of Evil 01) by Debra Webb (a thriller)
Completed 7/4
4 of 5 stars

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (a middle grade book)
Completed 7/5
3 of 5 stars

Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard (set in Europe ~ Denmark)
Completed 7/9
3.5 of 5 stars

Not Your Damn Submissive (Denial 01) by Amy Valenti (summer release ~ May 2014)
Completed 7/10
2 of 5 stars

Invisible by James Patterson (Road Trip ~ killer travels country)
Completed 7/10
4 of 5 stars

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff (Sky on Cover)
Completed 7/11
2 of 5 stars

Power Play (FBI 18) by Catherine Coulter (Blue Cover)
Completed 7/12
4 of 5 stars

Nothing to Lose (Grey Justice 01) by Christy Reece (Free)
Completed 7/14
4 of 5 stars

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta (A Stand Alone)
Completed 7/15
4 of 5 stars

Impulse (Faces of Evil 02) by Debra Webb (Pink Cover)
Completed 7/15
3 of 5 stars

Close your Eyes (Kendra Michaels 01) by Iris Johansen (MC is a music therapist)
Completed 7/17
5 of 5 stars

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts (Set during Summer)
Completed 7/18
3 of 5 stars

Do or Die by Suzanne Brockman (MCs brother ~ still a MC ~ is Gay)
Completed 7/18
3 of 5 stars

Behind the Lies by Robin Perini (Strong Sibling Relationships ~ 6 brothers)
Completed 7/20
3 of 5 stars

Sight Unseen (Kendra Michaels 02) by Iris Johansen (Starts with "S")
Completed 7/20
5 of 5 stars

Against the Wild (Brodies of Alaska 01) by Kat Martin (Water ~ Lake ~ on Cover)
Completed 7/24
4 of 5 stars

The Immortal Circus: Act Three by A.R. Kahler (Series Finale)
Completed 7/22
2 of 5 stars

Born of Illusion (Born of 01) by Teri Brown (Magical Realism)
Completed 7/28
2 of 5 stars

Arctic Fire by Stephen Frey (Set on a Boat)
Completed 8/6
2 of 5 stars

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant (Asian MC)
Completed 8/30
2 of 5 stars

Unhinged (Splintered 02) by A.G. Howard (Retelling)
Completed 9/9
3 of 5 stars

I cannot COMMENT on WordPress Blogs!!

Totally off topic, but wanted to bring it to my readers' attention.

As of about 6 weeks ago, I stopped being able to post comments on WordPress blogs. I thought it was CommentLuv, which I am unable to comment on, but I realized today (after trying to comment somewhere that wasn't ComLuv) that it is WordPress blogs that I am unable to comment on.

I went to support and there's a non solved open case of the same thing posted a week ago. I'm going to have to see if I can sign up just to get some answers on this. There was an issue 4 years ago of the same exact thing, and they were able to get help from some customer service that is no longer in use. I don't know what, if anything, I can do to get that fixed. I'm gonna see if I can comment on the thread where the guy is having the same issue.

In the meantime, I visit a lot of blogs, and I've been unable to comment. It really really sucks. So if you have WordPress, and you comment here, I'll comment back here and I will visit your site, I just can't comment there. :(

Anyone have this issue (for those who don't have WordPress I assume)? Were you able to get it resolved?

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? ~ Hosted by BookJourney


Since all of my challenges have ended, I've been slow going on reading. I definitely burned myself out in August, and September has been MUCH slower for me. I've been playing some Resident Evil 4 (best RE game ever!), working on swaps, and just taking it easy from books. It took me a week to finish a book I liked, that's crazy for me!!

So, I haven't finished much this week, but that's alright. :) I'm taking it easy until Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. No challenges, Read-a-Thons, ect..... until then!

Currently Reading

Kindle, Kindle & Audio


What I completed since last Monday ~





Reviews ~
ARC Review ~ Time's Edge by Rysa Walker ~ 4.5 stars!
Sept Poll Review ~ The Aftermath by Jen Alexander ~ DNF!


Read anything good lately?

Bookish Bingo: Holiday Edition

My WordPress Commenting issue appears to have been fixed. YAY!!

The Summer Edition of Bookish Bingo is wrapping up (see how I did, on Tuesday when I post my Summer Bingo Update). The Holiday Edition is up, and it looks more challenging for me, so it might be a harder one to do, but I'm up for it. Are you joining in? The Holiday Edition Bingo hosted by Great Imaginations and will begin October 1st. Sign ups are up until Oct 15th, if you'd like to join in.

Here's the holiday card. I'm worried about 8 of these. I don't read a lot of the different things mentioned in this one, so my card won't be as full as my Summer, or I'll be pushing myself a lot! We'll see what happens!! :D



Let me know if you are joining in, and I'll follow your progress! :)

To Be Read List ~ Sept Review ~ DNF :(

The To Be Read Meme is hosted by Because Reading is Better Than Real Life. Click for more info!


At the beginning of September, I posted 3 books I was interested in reading, for you all to pick ONE for me to read and review. The Aftermath by Jen Alexander was the overwhelming winner. I was excited to read it, it seemed right up my ally. I normally absolutely love anything that has to do with video games / virtual reality.

Unfortunately, it was a DNF at 20%. I'm sorry that I couldn't finish it for you all.

Unlike a lot of other readers it seems, I can not, and will not, stick with a book if I don't like it. Life is too short. I'd rather waste an hour on it and move on, if I don't like it, than suffer through it any longer. I knew right away I wouldn't like this book, but I kept going back to it, trying more, because of this review, but I ended up not being able to do it.

The thing is, I'm unsure WHY I didn't like it. In the blurb for the book, it mentions that Claudia finds out she's a pawn in a game. I figured it would be something like Eve Silver's Rush (great series) where she finds out she's being used for some bigger plot or plan than she knew was going on. It does say she's being controlled by someone else, but I took it to mean something different than what it is, I guess, I'm not sure. What I didn't expect is that, while there's more going on than that, it reads like she's a character in a game, coming to life. All that kept running through my head was Mario and Luigi coming to life inside Mario Party and trying to get out. That's the image that I got. Through skimming through the end and some other stuff, it's definitely more than that, there was something else going on, but that's how it felt to me, and it was really REALLY weird. I just couldn't stick with it. It seemed very juvenile in writing and story, but not in a good way, just like not written well.

I'm not sure. I gave it a chance, though I knew right away I wouldn't like it. I kept going back to it, reading a page or two at a time, but ended up saying forget it. Perhaps it's a book others would like, I know people said they were interested in it, it just wasn't for me. I didn't enjoy it at all, and when I looked at the last pages (something I never do, but did because of this) I don't know what happened, but the ending seemed really lame. I actually said "really?" out loud and deleted it off my Kindle.

I didn't mark this book as read, or rate it on GoodReads since I didn't finish it. It'd been a 1 star if I could have marked it (I wish they had DNF options). I'm sorry that I sucked on this first To Be Read List Poll & Review. Next time, I'll make sure to give you options for books I KNOW I'll like, instead of trying something new. Thank you to everyone who voted!

ARC Review ~ Time's Edge by Rysa Walker

Finished ~ Time's Edge (Timebound 02) by Rysa Walker
Completed 9/19
4.5 of 5 stars
452 pages
Expected Publication ~ Oct 21

I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

Time's Edge is the 2nd book in Rysa's Timebound series. The hard part about this review will be balancing telling you how awesome this book is, without giving anything away.

To read this, you must first read Timebound, without doing so, you'd be hopelessly lost. In Timebound, we meet Kate who is a teenage time traveler. There is something in Kate's genes that allow her to see, and be able to use, the Chronos key, which allows time travel to and from any place and time with a stable point, a point which doesn't change through the years, such as a famous building or monument. In Timebound, Kate finds out about this side of her, which she didn't know, and she's tasked by her grandmother to try to find out who is messing around with the time line, changing the past and the future.

Time's Edge begins where Timebound left off. She knows, for the most part, who is behind the changes and why to a certain degree, and she's still off doing what they think is best to help prevent more changes to the timeline. At the same time, she's a typical girl who has school and two boys competing for her attention. One, she doesn't remember from the prior timeline and one that doesn't remember her from the prior timeline, so this is a really neat aspect of it all, as she's trying to figure out who she really cares for, all while trying to stop a madman from wiping out half of the world's population.

Time's Edge is FANTASTIC. It's such an enjoyable and engaging book. It is absolutely NOT a stand alone, the first book must be read. The middle novella COULD be skipped, but it definitely enhances the story as you get more of a background on "other" Kate.

I recommend this series for any fans of mystery, suspense, romantic suspense, sci-fi and time traveling books. I do, however, recommend you are able to wrap your head around time travel at least a little bit. This time travel, at it's core, causes a "Branching Universe" paradox. Think of Back to the Future. Anything that Kate, or anyone else does, in the past could, and has, changes everything about the future. If that's something that could confuse you, you probably don't want to read this book. If you can put your head around those kind of paradoxes, go for it, because this series is AMAZINGLY good!!

Let me give you an example of what I mean, based on a scene from the book. I'm here at my house, and I want some ice cream. I know there's some ice cream in the freezer because I just bought some the day before, so I go out to get it. I look in the freezer and it's not there. I look in the trash and an empty container is there, someone has already eaten it. So, I go back in time, until right after I bought it, since I know it's there. I come back to present time and have the ice cream with me and start eating it. My husband, who was the one who ate it a few hours ago, walks into the room. He sees me eating the ice cream. He now has TWO conflicting memories, one in which he ate the ice cream, and one in which he couldn't have eaten the ice cream because it was already gone.

If that confuses you, don't try the books. If you followed that, and you want more, read the Timebound series, now!!! I can't WAIT for the 3rd one and the 2nd one isn't even out yet!!

Setting = A+
Plot = A+
Conflict = A
Characters = A+
Theme = A

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What are you Reading? ~ Hosted by BookJourney


This week was the final week of the 2 week long Tackle Your TBR Read-a-Thon. It was a slower week for me, but I still got some good reads in. I completed all my goals and then some. Here's my Tackle Your TBR RaT Wrap-Up if you are interested in seeing it.

Currently Reading

Kindle & Audio


What I completed since last Monday ~




Plus, the following comics / digital chapters:



Reviews ~
On her Father's Grave by Kendra Elliot

What have you been reading lately? Anything REALLY great?

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

Another Read-a-Thon completed. It was a fun one, though I took it easy with this one. With my last Bout of Books I completed 20 books in a week. This time I finished 19 in 2 weeks. It was fun but nice not to push so hard. :) Didn't want to get burned out again.

Here's what I did for my time ~



With Tackle Your TBR RaT, I ended with these stats ~

• I completed 6 Challenges
• I read for 53 Hours
• I completed 19 books
• I completed 22 comics (19 Arkham Chapters + 2 Warehouse 13 + 1 RE)
• I read 3,898 pages (not including comics)
• Books read were: 5 novels, 6 novellas & 5 short stories on my Kindle Fire
• I listened to 3 novels audiobooks

The Goals:

• Read at least 13 books ~ Completed 19 books
• Read at least the next 6 digital chapters of Arkham Unhinged ~ Completed 19 + 3 others
• Read at least 6 books of the ones I pick out, if not all ~ Completed 6 + 1 DNF
• Visit no less than 10 blogs a day, commenting on most ~ Visited ones listed daily
• Do all the challenges I can ~ Did all the challenges but 1, no giveaways only
• Have Fun!

When I was trying to come up with something to do for this RaT to figure out what I was going to read, I decided to do a spell-it-out of "Tackle Your TBR" (using titles or authors only) with at least 6 of the following books. I'm not a planner, at all, so if I actually read 6, I was going to be shocked and pleased with that!! I ended up starting SEVEN of the ones I picked out, but one ended up a DNF. So I did read and complete 6! Then I used other books to spell out "Tackle Your TBR RaT"! :) Plus, I had a few left over as well. Here are the books I initially picked out that I hoped to choose 6 from ~

The Possible Books:

Spell-it-out Completed:

T ~ Touch of Fever ~ ★★★★
A ~ Aftermath, The ~ DNF
C ~ Cassandra Clare ~ The Iron Trail ~ ★★★
K ~ Kendra Elliot ~ On her Father's Grave (My Review) ~ ★★★★
L ~ Lucky Day ~ ★★★
E ~ Envy ~ ★★★★

Y ~ Yard, The ~ ★★★
O ~ Olsen, Gregg ~ Betrayal ~ ★★★
U ~ Unhinged ~ ★★★
R ~ Rowling, JK ~ Fantastic Beasts ~ ★★★

T ~ Tales of Beedle Bard ~ ★★★
B ~ Broken Dolls ~ ★★★
R ~ Rowling, JK ~ Quidditch through the Ages ~ ★★★

R ~ Ruse ~ ★★
A ~ AJax Penumbra 1969 ~ ★★★
T ~ Time's Echo ~ (Review to come) ~ ★★★★★

Extras ~ Career Day ★★, Neutral Mask ★★★, Blood Boy ★★ & Long Gone ★★★

The Completed Books:

The Completed Comics / Digital Chapters:

Books started, not Finished:

The Progress:

Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 13 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 12 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 11 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 10 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 9 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 8 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Mid-Point Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 6 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 5 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 4 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 3 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 2 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Day 1 Update
Tackle Your TBR RaT ~ Sign Up & Goals