2015 Challenges ~ February Update

2015 Challenges

Yearly Challenges

I haven't joined most regular year long challenges, as none of them really hold any appeal for me. I read a ton, and some have you not reading much the whole year. My main two year long challenges are just about how much I've read during the year. Both my 2015 Reading Challenge at GoodReads, and the You Read How Many Books? challenge, I have set my goal to read 200 books this year.

This is down from last years overall total because of my gaming PC and playing video games. :) It's been great fun, though it's cut down on my reading, I've been enjoying playing so many new games.

In January I read 31 books, and for February my book count was just at 14! Low for me. My book count for the year is at 45. You can see the books I read over in my February Reading Log.

2015 Reading Challenge

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My only other official (done by a blog elsewhere) year long challenges is the Audiobook Challenge. I've set my goal at the highest level they had ~ Marathoner 50+ ~ and in February, I completed 6 audiobooks, for a total of 22 audiobooks books on the year. As of when I'm writing this, I don't yet have a separate listing of just my audiobooks, something I'll need to do. You can, however, see my GoodReads Audiobooks Read in 2015 shelf on which they are all listed.

I did, however, come up with my own challenge! After I came across the Epic Reads list of 365 Days of YA, I decided to work my way through ALL the books listed and pick out books that I definitely want to read and books that I might read. I had read a handful of the books (21) prior to this year and I started my challenge mid January.

I went through each quarter of the year, as they have it broken down at Epic Reads and I picked out the books that I want to read (40) and the books that I might read (30) for a total of 70 books I have/had some interest in.

In February, I completed 4 books and had 2 DNF. You can see each of my quarters listed below, along with the books I want to read, might read, and have already read. In the link with the set up of the challenge, I requested suggestions on my list, if it be something in my might list that I should read, or something in my want to read that shouldn't be. Let me know!

• My 365 Days of YA Challenge
• Winter
Completed
• The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall ~ 1/19 - 3.5/5
• City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster ~ 1/29 - 3/5
• Pivot Point by Kasie West ~ 2/21 - 5/5
DNF
• Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis ~ DNF @ 25%
• Spring
Completed
• Reboot by Amy Tintera ~ 1/17 - 4/5
• Tandem by Anna Jarzab ~ 2/5 - 5/5
DNF
• Interworld by Neil Gaiman ~ DNF @ 45%
• Summer
Completed
• Don't Turn Around ~ 1/17 - 4/5
• Fairest ~ 2/15 - 3 stars
DNF
• They All Fall Down by Roxanne St Claire ~ DNF @ 7%
• Autumn
Completed
• Rebel by Amy Tintera ~ 1/17 - 3.5/5
• Split Second by Kasie West ~ 2/28 - 5/5

Quarterly Challenges

I enjoy the Quarterly Challenges more, because at least the one I have been doing so far, has me reading more. The main one (so far) I am doing is the Book Bingo from Great Imaginations. The first Bingo Card of the year was the New Years Edition, and runs the first Quarter of the year. I'm almost done with my card. I have finished 20 books. I'm still working on one that I listed and I probably will get to at least 2 more. We'll see how I end up! :)

How have YOUR 2015 Challenges been going so far? Anyone signed up for anything GOOD (many books) that I might like?!

TBR List ~ Feb Review ~ Pivot Point

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


At the beginning of February, I posted 3 books I was interested in reading, for you all to pick ONE for me to read and review.

The book chosen for me was ~

Thank you all for picking Pivot Point out for me, I loved it!

Pivot Point is about Addison who has the ability to search the future. When given two choices, Addison can look into the future of each way and see what the outcome will be. In this case, she looks to see if it would be better to stay with her mother, or move away with her father. She "lives" in her searches for 6 weeks, but it actually only takes 5 minutes of her time.

It was a really great book. I loved it. I love time traveling type books, and this one was a really neat aspect of it. Each chapter went back and forth between the world she grew in in, the world with people who have abilities, and the world she doesn't know, the world of the normals.

The story really grabbed me from the beginning. I liked Addison and her ability. I found it weird that she didn't question if she was in a search until almost the end, but it made it all suspenseful with what was going on. It definitely grabbed my attention and I went through it really quickly.

The negatives for me were Laila and Drew. I didn't like either one from the start. I wavered a little bit on Drew, but I definitely didn't like Laila at all. She reminded me of former "friends" that I have had that seem like friends but really are only in the relationship for themselves, not for the both of them. She really grated me the wrong way and because of that I was disappointed when I went into Split Second right away, that the author changed the book from the back and forth of Addie's ability to the back and forth between Addie and Laila. I don't like it nearly as much, and I actually haven't finished it (I'm only 20% into it) because I really hate every other chapter. I'm hoping it'll pick back up for me, but so far, I'm reading other things because it just hasn't kept my attention like Pivot Point did.

UPDATE on Split Second ~ I ended up deciding to finish it up today and I LOVED it. It took me until about 30% to really get into it and it took longer than that for Laila to grow on me some, but I ended up loving it. 5 stars for them both!!

I loved Pivot Point, I think it was fantastic. If you haven't read it yet, and like paranormal type abilities or time traveling type stuff, definitely give it a try. I didn't like Laila, but she didn't ruin the story for me, so the first book is worth the read! Thanks for recommending it to me, y'all!! :)


Thanks to everyone who voted for books in February TBR List Poll. Come back next week to vote for books for March! See ya next week!)

Blog Awards

I've recently (and not so recently) been given a few blog awards by some fellow bloggers. I'm sorry that I've been so lacking in posting about those and I thought that I would get on top of that and post them all here together. I don't know that I will have enough people to tag to move the awards on, as the very people who sent them my way are the ones I would award, but I'll try. :)

Get ready to learn much more about ME, than you've ever wanted to know. :) Perhaps the first fact about me should have been, I can't write just one line or sentence. Hopefully you've realized by now that I am LOOOOOOONG winded, so if you don't wanna read a novel about me, you might wanna move right along!! :/

If I've nominated you, & you just want to see that, please go all the way to the bottom!

First up was ~

from Elle over at Erratic Project Junkie. Elle awarded me this back in July. YIKES. I'm so sorry Elle, and thank you sooooo much for this award. :) I do appreciate it that you took the time to point out my blog.

Rules

• Thank and link the amazing person who nominated you.
• List the rules and display the award.
• Share seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
• Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

1 ~ Karsyn isn't my "real" (legal) name, but I plan on changing it legally when we are able. Still working on a middle name for myself. :) Other than it starting with a J, I'm stuck (I have certain reasons for renaming myself and what I choose).

2 ~ My Hubby (Jesse) and I met when we were juniors in high school and were best friends. We got "back" together 7 years after we had last saw each other, 11 years after we first met! Mar 1 will be our 8th wedding anniversary and we celebrated our 10th Anniversary (of being back together) in October.

3 ~ Despite Mar 1st being our 8th anniversary, we actually don't celebrate our wedding anniversary, because it doesn't mean anything to us. It was a date we pulled outta thin air, as it was the date that the guy who married us was available. Our anniversary will usually come and go without us even realizing it. We celebrate our "together" anniversary as our big anniversary, because we felt married from that first week.

4 ~ I love Vegas. My ex took me there for the first time in '96. We went 5 more times after that over the course of 7 years. I then took my Hubby 8 years ago for our honeymoon. I love it there, and miss it tons. It changes constantly and it's changed so much since then. :( If I could move anywhere in the USA, I'd move to Vegas. I miss it and wish I could go back!

5 ~ I've been to WDW more times than I can count. When a survey taker (at the front of the parks) asked how many times I've been there, I gave the highest number they could enter ~ 999. :) I had annual passes from '90 - '96, worked there '96, was the wife of an employee (which got me in anytime) '97 - '03 and worked for a special events group from '00 - '06 in which we went to the parks once a week to 5 or 6 times a week. I don't miss FL, but I do miss the theme parks, a lot. Also worked for Sea World & Islands of Adventure.

6 ~ I'm a huge theme park, amusement park and roller coaster fan. My ex took me on a lot of trips and we mainly went to amusement parks. I've visited 20 or so theme parks up and down the east coast, plus a few in CA. Asking me my top 5 favorite coasters is harder than choosing my top 5 favorite books, though like with books, my #1 is set in stone (Desperado in Primm, NV).

7 ~ We haven't had a car since '09. In central FL, it was no big deal, we had a great bus system which, once I got used to, I rather enjoyed, because I could read the whole time. It took an hour (at least) to go 7 miles to my work. But since we moved to NC, being without a car is pretty horrible. My hubby walks a mile to work every day (though His co-workers are great about giving Him a ride when it's bad weather ~ like 5 inches of snow on the ground right now) and I've only left this tiny little town once in the past 2.5 years. I haven't been to a Walmart in almost 3 years!



Next up was ~

This was from Casey over at Story Notions and was just in January, so I am not too late on this one. Thanks so much Casey! :)

Rules

• 1. Thank the blogger that nominated you, and link back to their site.
• 2. Post the award's logo onto your blog.
• 3. Answer the 10 questions you've been asked.
• 4. Nominate 10 other bloggers and ask them 10 questions.

1. What are you currently reading?

• Usually I have 2 books going on, one Kindle and one audiobook. Right now I have 3, with 3 more I REALLY REALLY wanna get to. My current audiobook is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, my two kindle books are Split Second and (oddly enough) Rook by Jeremy Robinson.

2. What book do you remember first reading for fun and enjoying? Or what book really got you into reading (for the first time, or again)?

• I think I'll be asked this again, but for me it's my Trixie Belden series. She was like Nancy Drew only younger and more real. I loved her and wanted to be her!

3. Whose your favorite author? That you'd want to be best friends with?

• I recently ditched my former favorite author (goodbye Maya Banks, you disappointed me one too many times) and I really haven't come up with a replacement. I guess by sheer number of books I've read (nearing 100) I'd have to go with Nora Roberts. As for one I'd want to be best friends with ~ Matthew Reilly.

4. What's your favorite on going TV show?

• NCIS

5. Favorite book of last month?

• The Inventor's Secret by Chad Morris

6. Are you a tea drinker? A coffee drinker? Or both/neither?

• If you are talking hot tea, neither. I can't stand the smell of coffee, nor the sip I once had. Won't touch the stuff. Hot tea doesn't appeal to me at all either. I do drink Sweet (and I mean sweeeeet) iced tea. Mainly, I'm a Mt Dew person!

7. Do you need anything special to read? (Certain spot, drink, snack, noise level)

• Nope. Just a book! Usually my Kindle Fire

8. If you could be transported into any magical world... which one would you not want to end up in?

• Um..... not too sure. Lord of the Rings, I guess. Not into the whole swords thing.

9. And which one would you want to end up in?

• The Night Circus!! I want to live in The Night Circus, and work there, and be a Reveur during my time off. :)

10. What's your favorite book cover you've seen of a 2015 release?



Then this week, I received two!

was from Shaina over at Shaina Reads. I adore Shaina! Her and I couldn't be more different but she's super sweet! Go check her out! Thanks for the award Shaina!

Rules

• Award to bloggers with less than 200 followers
• Ask 11 new questions to ask those I nominate

1. What is the first book you can vividly remember reading?

• My Trixie Belden series. There are 39 books in the series and I have loved them through adulthood. About 10 or so years ago I filled out my collection and finally had every book, but I gave them to a "friend" to hold on to when I moved and she got rid of them. :( I have about 13 again, I hope to get them all again one day.

2. If you only had time to read one more book in your life, would you want it to be an old favorite or a new one? Why?

• Definitely a new ones. Books I've read are already with me, I'd want to read something new and exciting. Same reason I don't re-read much, just a few favorites (HP & The Night Circus).

3. How do you feel about footnotes in books?

• I don't think I've read enough books with them to have an opinion. I can only think of one ~ Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell ~ and they didn't bother me because I listened to the narration. Didn't like the book, but it wasn't because of footnotes.

4. Say someone offered to write you an awesome non-fiction book of your choosing. What would the topic be?

• The story of my life. I know, sounds horribly boring, but it's actually not, and I actually wish I had help writing it, because I'd like to write it. I couldn't make up that shit! Sometimes real life really is stranger than fiction. :(

5. Besides reading, what's your favorite/most time-consuming hobby?

• Video Games!! :) Specifically PC games now that I build my very own gaming PC. I'm eager to get to some games today, but I really needed to get this done. Right now I'm hooked on Cities XXL. I also spend a lot of time on letters to my pen pals, but that's mainly because of how much I write. As you can see, I write, a LOT, and to my pals my letters are 10-15+ pages TYPED, usually in small font. So it takes days to respond to a letter, and I only write 3 pals now!

6. Which book was most uncomfortable for you to read? Did you finish it?

• I'd have to say The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton. That book is the only book (in recent memory) that made me cry. I swore I wouldn't (because I hate books that make me cry), I don't read them usually, but this one did. It was FANTASTIC though. It was hard to read because it dealt more with the pain side of BDSM, which I'm not at all into, but all the other stuff ~ heartbreaking! It was hard to read, but I did finish it and I loved it.

7. Can you read in a language besides English? If not, which language would you pick?

• Nope, and I wouldn't want to.

8. Is there a genre you've changed your mind about? (Disliking to liking, or vice versa.)

• Not a particular genre, more of a willingness to read any book, no matter what the genre, if it sounds good enough to me. I didn't use to do that, and I've definitely got out of my "comfort zone" and read more books, as long as they sound good to me.

9. Do you give or take more book recommendations?

• I definitely give out more. Only 2 people ~ my Hubby and one good friend ~ can successfully recommend books to me. I'm super picky, though I read a lot more than I use to, I'm still particular on what I wanna read and so far they are the only two that can regularly pick something I would like.

10. In the vein of #8, have you ever changed your mind about a specific book?

• I'm not really sure. I guess not?

11. Do you use your public library? Why or why not?

• Nope, not anymore. I did in FL, we were about a mile away from a pretty big one and I didn't have my Kindle at the time, so we were always there and it was a pain in the ass to cart around big heavy books on my commute to work (which included biking part way) but it was better than not having books. Now, where we live, the library is TINY and they don't get much, so I'll go in for sales occasionally, but that's about it.

was from Lori over at Palmer's Page Turners. Thank you so much Lori! Let's see if I can come up with 10 more facts about me. :)

Rules

• 1. Nominate 10-15 other bloggers relatively new to blogging
• 2. Let the bloggers know that you've nominated them.
• 3. Share 10 random facts about yourself.
• 4. Thank the blogger who nominated you either by leaving a comment or following them and link back to their blog.
• 5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

1 ~ (inspired by one of Lori's facts) I was born left handed but my father forced me to become right handed. I blame that on my SERIOUSLY horrendous handwriting. :( It's so bad. I do most things right handed, BUT I play pool and I play guitar (Guitar Hero, my fingers weren't strong enough when I tried to learn real guitar) left handed!

2 ~ Speaking of instruments, I was forced to take piano lessons for years and I hated it (hated dance/jazz/tap I was forced to take too) but I wish I could play now. The only lessons I took as a child that I wasn't forced into (and thereby loved) were voice lessons. I love to sing and can sing on key, but unfortunately do NOT have a pretty voice. :(

3 ~ Despite not having a pretty voice, I thought I did as a kid/teen, and sang a lot in church. A particularly vivid memory is of me singing with my then boyfriend (my first love) who winked at me during, of which pissed my then best friend (my now Hubby) off. He still likes to complain about that. :) We sang "Another Time, Another Place" by Sandi Patti. LOL!

4 ~ Despite (or probably because of) a very very strict religious upbringing, some of my own doing, some more forced onto me, I am now an atheist. I spent many many years considering myself agnostic, rather than atheist, until I read Penn Jillette's book God, No! ~ which helped me realize I am actually atheist.

5 ~ Back to voices. I LOVE LOVE (times a million) what I consider a pretty singing voice. My top two Celebrity Crushes are both known for their voices ~ Skylar Astin plays Jesse on Pitch Perfect & Avi Kaplan is bassist for Pentatonix. 2 of the other 3 sing and 3 of my top female crushes sing as well! My first love (who I mentioned in 3) could sing, such a pretty country voice. My first hubby was a music minister and still is recording these days (did a soundtrack to some low budget film) and my ex thought he couldn't sing but sounded just like Darius Rucker. My Hubby? Can't hold a tune. He's soooooooo tone deaf it's not even funny. That's how I know it's true love, I love Him so much, despite His inability to sing! :)

6 ~ I just deleted my former numbers 6-8. My facts got even more long winded and way too depressing for my likes, so I said forget it, and I'm going to try to come up with more chipper facts!

7 ~ Better topics.... I love sports. I'm not one of those chicks who SAY they love sports to impress a guy or something. UGH. I actually know my sports, know the rules, know the players. I'm a Steelers fan for life, having been born and raised just an hour north of Pittsburgh. It's the only part of my childhood I've willingly held on to (I've challenged everything else). Despite being a Pirates fan for my childhood, I didn't watch baseball for years, so when I started watching it again my Hubby and I became Rays fans. They've disappointed us though, with what they've done this past year. When we moved to NC in 2012, we started watching the Nationals and they are our #1 baseball team now.

8 ~ In my life, I've owned 4 dogs. Inky was my childhood pup, he was a Schnoodle (yup, really). Kodiak was my dog I had with my ex. He was part chow, part akita. He was "stolen" from our yard (long story I don't believe). Next Jesse and I had Talladega, a boxer mix before we had to find him a home when things got rough for us in 2008. Now we have Naminé, a black pit bull.

9 ~ I've had more cats, but getting them to stay is another story. Vegas was my first kitty who died. :( Then I replaced her with Luxor and Sahara (both Vegas hotels), with them, later on, came Casino. They all became outdoor cats in FL. Up here we took in a stray cat who was pregnant, but couldn't afford to keep her and her kitties. She was Axel (named after a Kingdom Hearts character, like Naminé, as were all her babies) and her kittens (in two batches) were Roxas, Saix & Xion then Xemnas & Xigbar. We found homes for all except Saix, who we wanted to keep but she wanted outside and followed Jesse to work part way one day and never returned. :( Now we have Z, which is short for Zexion (formerly Zoey) who is a cat of the friend who helped us move here. We were cat sitting, but it seems to have become permanent. We make sure she doesn't go near the doors, though she wants out BAD!

10 ~ I think I've bored anyone who tried to start to read this to tears. I bet only about 10 people will click on this and once they see how long it is, I bet maybe 2 read it all?! LOL. That's my fault for waiting to do these and putting them all together. I'm not really good about talking about myself. I CAN, easily, but I don't like it. :/ I know, with this, you'd never believe it!! :)

Nominations Time

So, though I follow like 250 blogs on Bloglovin', I really am not close with all that many, to the point where I feel like I can nominate them for something. So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to nominate the bloggers that I can think of, and you can choose any and all the nominations you'd like to take and move on. I think you all (that I've listed and many more that I haven't) are great bloggers with great blogs, but I've been at this for hours, so if I specifically picked a blog for an award, I'd be here forever!

So, I nominate these fine blogs for all of the awards above. Take them if you'd like, and move them along, if you want to. If not, that's ok too. Just know that I love your blog and thought you deserved these awards!!

• Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie
• Casey @ Story Notions
• Shaina @ Shaina Reads
• Lori @ Palmer's Page Turners
• Michelle @ Because Reading
• Kym @ My Book Nook
• Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!
• Lola @ Lola's Reviews
• Jeann @ Happy Indulgence
• Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages
• Berls @ Fantasy is more Fun
• Jenni @ Jenni Elyse
• Brandie @ Brandie is a Book Junkie ~ how could I forget my fellow Steeler fan?!

And 11 questions for you to answer, should you choose one of the answer blogs ~

1 ~ Do you find it hard or easy to name your top 5 or 10 favorite books?
2 ~ Do you have a go to genre for when you are figuring out what to read next?
3 ~ Do you ever purge your TBR? Do you have a system for it?
4 ~ How many books are on your TBR?
5 ~ Favorite book you've read so far in 2015 (doesn't have to be a 2015 release)?
6 ~ 2015 release you are looking forward to most?
7 ~ Book you recommend the most to others?
8 ~ Do you find it hard or easy to read when other people are around?
9 ~ What's one thing you could change about one of your favorite books?
10 ~ What would your dream library / reading nook be like? Details!
11 ~ How many books (real paper books, not ereaders) can you see from where you are right now?



If you made it this far, THANK YOU, you brave and masochist person! LOL!! You deserve a cookie, or 5. Go have some!! :)
You go have cookies, I'm going to go play video games!

Getting to Know You ~ Favorite Games

Getting To Know You is hosted by Jenni Elyse.


Sorry I missed last weeks posting of favorite candies. It's not that I don't like candy / chocolate (I do, I really do), it was that I was wrapped up in what ended up being THIS weeks topic ~ GAMES ~ specifically for me, video games. If you come here often enough, you know by now that last week I built my own gaming PC ~ Widget ~ and he's been amazing.

Needless to say, I spent pretty much all waking hours playing games, until Saturday when my controller stopped working!! We have a regular 360 controller that doesn't work with the PC (too old) and a knock off brand that did, until it started walking all our characters on their own. Both controllers are about 7+ years old, so I really can't complain, but I am miffed about not being able to play some of my more complex games. I'm playing some simpler ones, that I can use a mouse and keyboard with, but I wanna play my good games with a controller. :( Needless to say, I'm waiting on my new red Afterglow to show up and it's taking forever!! :/

So, here I am for today's topic, favorite games, and I'm mainly a video gamer. I haven't played any other kind of game, unless you count Poker, in years. I play the occasional android game on my Fire (WordChums) but that's about it.

My favorite games ~


1 ~ Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 - my all time FAVORITE games. I've never owned handheld devices, so I've never played the games in between. I hope to sometime when the remixes go down in price on the PS3 and KH3 will be the ONLY reason we will someday (far far down the road) buy a PS4. I love everything Disney (former employee) and Kingdom Hearts grabbed my heart from the start. It's wonderful!!

2 ~ Portal 1 & 2 - I LOVE puzzle adventure games and the Portal games are my favorites. I love to think during my gaming and these games were so much fun, so inventive. I really hope they put out more!

3 ~ Roller Coaster Tycoon - I've been playing RCT for YEARS. Being a theme park and amusement park lover and a roller coaster fan, I've loved this series since it came out. I love working the campaigns, but I also enjoy sandbox mode. The new one, RCT World, comes out sometime this year and I want it now!! :D

4 ~ Resident Evil 4 - I'm not a horror fan but crazy enough, I LOVE the Resident Evil series. I've been playing these since they came out on Gamecube. I loved the puzzle aspects of the first game (why I tried them) and though the puzzles became less and less, I still stuck with, and enjoyed, the series. 4 is the best, by far, and I've played it multiple times.

5 ~ Batman Arkham Collection - We started playing the Batman games when they started coming out, and they are fantastic. City has been my favorite so far (my hubby prefers Asylum) but the upcoming Arkham Knight (June Release) is going to be amazing. I can't wait for it!! :)


What are your favorite games? Are you a board gamer, or a video gamer, like me?

2015 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon

The 2015 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon is hosted by Alexa Loves Books. A little about the event from Alexa ~

Book Blogger Love-a-Thon:

The Book Blogger Love-a-Thon is an event dedicated to spreading the love for blogs + bloggers! It’s time dedicated to exploring the blogging community, leaving a comment or two, meeting new friends and fostering positivity among the bloggers of the community. The event includes an introduction post, mini challenges, Twitter chats and a giveaway! The full schedule will be sent to the participants after they sign up.

It seems like half of my Bloglovin's feeds were of this 2 day event, so I thought I would join in. If you haven't joined in, I hope to see you do so. If you have and you are new to KaKiJoKoJa, WELCOME!! I hope you'll enjoy it here. :) Let me tell you about myself, I look forward to learning all about you all.

The Questionnaire

What’s your name?

• Karsyn or since I use the username "ImzadiRose" almost everywhere online, I'm also called Rose.

Where in the world are you blogging from?

• A small mountain top town in northwest North Carolina

How did you get into blogging in the first place?

• I actually only started my blog as a place to post my monthly reading logs for swaps at Swap-Bot and it grew some from there. Now I enjoy joining in events like this, read-a-thons and meeting other bloggers.

How did you come up with your blog name?

• There's a very personal story behind my blog name that I don't just share with anyone. Only one person has ever (in the almost year history of my blog) asked about the uniqueness of my blog name and I've only shared it with one other. Suffice to say, it's very personal to me, though on the surface, I'm sure it doesn't seem like it.

What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?

• It's definitely a variety. My blog is a varied as my own book reading habits. The last 3 books I reviewed were an action/adventure, a sci-fi dystopia YA and a reality survival type tv show book. I definitely read and review a variety of things, there's no one thing that I lean towards anymore. If I HAD to pick (and I don't want to) my fall back genre would probably still be Mystery / Suspense.

What other types of posts do you do on your blog, apart from reviews?

• Like my variety of books, my blog is a variety of many things. Most recently I talked about my journey of building my own gaming PC! I've also reviewed video games and plan on doing more. On a book side, I join in each month with the TBR List Poll and when the topic interests me I will join in on some Top 10 Tuesdays and Life of a Blogger. I've recently joined in the smaller Getting to Know You meme. I join in whatever read-a-thons are going on and events like this that look fun to me. :)

Best blogging experience so far?

• Meeting other bloggers. I'm definitely into it all for the interaction and I really enjoy the bloggers that I communicate with on a regular basis. Nothing that I've done on my own really stands out because I'm just a baby blogger and make my own way in the blogging world.

Favorite thing about the blogging community?

• Ditto the above. I enjoy finding those few bloggers out there who like many of the same books that I do, or the bloggers that I have COMPLETELY different tastes in books than they do, but we are still able to enjoy talking to each other.

Name the 5 books you’re most excited for this 2015!

What’s an underrated book or series that you think everyone should read?

• That's a hard one because I read soooooooooo many different books than what most bloggers (who I follow anyways) are reading. I could list a ton and keep going on and on. I guess I'll go with my favorite series (so far) of 2015. It was a new find for me, and a middle grade book, but such a GREAT story with amazing characters. I really really enjoyed it and I look forward to the next one coming out on Mar 3rd!

Which book boy or girl would be your book BFF?

• Bailey from The Night Circus, Widget & Poppet too! :)

Apart from reading, what are your other hobbies or interests?

• VIDEO GAMES!! I'm missing my games right now. LOL! (Hubby is finally taking a turn in playing something.) As I mentioned above, I recently built myself a gaming PC and I absolutely LOVE it. IF you'd like to take a look at the process ~
• Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 1
• Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 2 ~ Waiting is Torture
• Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 3 ~ Almost Complete
• Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 4 ~ Build Complete
Beyond gaming, I enjoy writing long letters (10+ typed pages) to my pen pals, and swapping on Swap-Bot.

Apart from book shopping, what else do you like shopping for?

• I'm not a girlie girl and definitely do NOT like shopping, never have. I enjoy it occasionally when I can get something I've really been wanting, like my gaming PC but over all, you wouldn't see me shopping in general. Hate it.

At a party, the DJ suddenly changes the song – and it’s your song. What song would be playing?

• No particular song, just anything by my favorite group ~ PENTATONIX

Pick out either a book you want turned into a film/TV show, or a film/TV show you want turned into a book.

• The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, of course!! :)  Both my blog, and my computer (named after a character in The Night Circus) are themed in the black & white, with red colors from the book. 

Book Review ~ Kingdom of Darkness by Andy McDermott

Finished ~ Kingdom of Darkness (Wilde & Chase 10) by Andy McDermott
Completed 02/15/15
4 of 5 stars
528 page Kindle book


I received this book from the publisher for my honest review.

This book is the 10th in the series about archeologist Nina Wilde and her bodyguard turned boyfriend/husband Eddie Chase. I had read one book from this series years ago and decided to go through the whole series. #10 was just released in August.

Previous to this one, I had listened to all the books on audio and one of my favorite unknown narrators did some of the books ~ Gildart Jackson. I love his narration and I enjoyed him for the books of this series that he did, I just wish he had done them all!

To read Kingdom of Darkness, you don't HAVE to read the first 9 books. It could stand on it's own, but there would be a lot that your missing on how Nina got to where she was at that point, her relationship with Eddie and much more. Plus, you'd miss all the awesome one liners Eddie makes throughout the series, he cracks me up. To give you a little bit of non spoiler-ly background, Nina is an archeologist who ends up finding amazing finds that they once thought were things of legends, such as finding Atlantis or the Tomb of Hercules (in the first two books). The books are very realistic in nature, nothing over the top or out there, but just one or two aspects of each book are something we only know of as myth, but they find some sort of truth in it.

What you won't find in these books are a bunch of people standing around talking about their feelings (sorry ladies). There is a lot of character development and you really get to know the characters, even beyond the main few, it's just not all mushy. This book is all about the action, and lots and lots of action. This book is made for guys, and the few women like me (where are you?!?) who crave action. If you'd rather read about gun fights than shopping, or crazy action and out there antics over talking about feelings and emotions than this series is for you!! And ladies, if it's not your thing, perhaps a good book to get your hubbies into?!

In Kingdom of Darkness, Nina and Eddie are traveling around the world, on a break from their stressful job, when they are approached by a young man who is gunned down before he can give them much detail. Of course, Nina is ready to jump right in and do whatever is necessary to find another amazing place, in this case a fountain of youth, of sorts. Eddie, on the other hand, isn't too keen with her heading off, especially when they find out they are up against Nazi's. Not wannabes, but actual real life Nazi's who should be in their 80s but look in their 40s.

What follows in Kingdom of Darkness is typical Chase & Wilde. Non-stop action, a lot of bad guys, tons of explosions and firepower. Nina is a little bitchy in this one, but I looked past that, and it didn't last long (thankfully). Eddie, my favorite character of the series, is his usual crazy self.

I highly recommend this series for fans of action and adventure. If you are looking for Indiana Jones or Lara Croft with a bit more fire power, than this series is for you!


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

Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 4 ~ Build Complete!!

A few months back (November-ish, I think it was) I started kicking around the idea of building my own PC. What was once just a brief thought, turned into an obsession, and now, a reality!! I officially have a Gaming PC and it is GLORIOUS!!

A few days ago, I started out with a bunch of parts. Not pictured below (because I didn't think to take a photo before I put it together) is the HDD, memory and LED light strip.



With some time and not much effort (it really was pretty easy, seeing into the thing was the hardest part) I now have a beautiful Black/Red gaming PC. Come meet ~

Widget

Widget is named after the character in
"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Front & Side ~

Inside prior to GPU, lights & cable management

Inside with everything done!



I can't believe it's here and it's finally done and it's working like a DREAM!! The first night, I tried to play some Dead Rising 3 on just the integrated graphics card and it said NOPE!! It tried, but boy was it bad. I was able to play some Portal 2 though, so that was good. Then I got my Graphics Card in the next day and Dead Rising was AMAZING. It was crazy to see the difference from just the day before.

I love my gaming PC. Now, I think it's time for me to go kill some more zombies! :)

Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 3 ~ Almost Complete!

My gaming PC is up and running and ALMOST complete. It is still missing the graphics card, which should arrive today, but considering we got a few inches of snow dumped on us, I'm not holding out too much hope for it. We'll see.

Yesterday morning I managed to stay pretty calm, despite being super excited about getting everything started. Around noon, I gathered everything I would need for the build ~ all my parts, a screwdriver, a light ~ and got it all together on the table I was going to use. A little before 2, I started tinkering, just a bit. I got the hard drive in, I got all the other packages open or near open. I was basically just wasting time til the CPU arrived, which my UPS guy is pretty consistent, and it got here just after 2.

I was so excited I didn't even take any photos. :/ I'll take at least one of the case for tomorrow's post. So, the processor arrived and I got to work. It was pretty easy, in general. I had a hard time seeing anything. I needed one of those bendy flashlights, and instead I had a small table lamp that I kept moving around and holding the best I could to see. I got everything going, and...... nothing happened. :( Surprisingly, I didn't panic!! I just went back over it all and I hadn't pushed in the main power connector enough. Whew. So, I got it pushed in (it took some effort) got it all ready, booted it up and...... it came right on!! :)

I didn't spend money on a DVD drive, since they are pretty much obsolete now, so I first had to install the network adapter driver so I could go online. Once I got that going, then it was off to MSI to get all the main drivers and start getting what I wanted on there. It took a LONG time and I'm still not completely done with everything yet, I'm sure I'll be remembering things as time goes on, but it's running. WooHoo!!

I tried playing 2 games, on the integrated graphics. Dead Rising 3 was unplayable. Wow, it was so bad, BUT it played Portal 2 great, so that was nice. I played a little of that on Steam. Hopefully when/if my graphics card arrives today, I'll be able to get back to some DeadRising 3.

So glad to have my build almost done, AND have it working. It's my first attempt at building my own PC and I can't believe I did it!! I'm super excited. :)

Name Clue #3 ~ last clue! I know, no one but my friend Shaina is even guessing, but I'll post this one last clue. As Shaina guessed, the name IS from "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. It's my favorite book and I knew I'd want my name, for my PC, to come from it. So here's the clue ~ the PC build name is a character name from the book, but it is also used in certain computer terminology, so that's one of the reasons it makes it the PERFECT name for my build!! :)

Come back tomorrow for news about the completed build, and hopefully some photos, even if it's not everything. :)

Journey of a Gaming PC ~ Part 4 ~ Build Complete!

Love of Books Read-a-Thon ~ Wrap-Up

The 2nd Annual Love for Books Read-a-Thon is being hosted by Novel Heartbeat.

My read-a-thon week went about as weak as I expected. I DID meet my goals, but barely, and that was with me starting a day early because I didn't see when she had changed the dates until after I had read some on Sunday. So, 6 books in 8 days may seem like a lot to many, but for me, it's pretty low. I was definitely distracted by my GAMING PC build, which I'll be starting TODAY when my CPU arrives.

Anyways, I did still manage to meet all my goals, so YAY for that, and I enjoyed most of the books. Here's how I did ~

GOALS

My Love for Books Read-a-Thon Goals

Time devoted to Reading 

• Daily as much as possible

GOAL

• Complete at least SIX (6) books ~ Completed
• Read at least 2 NetGalley or Author Requested books ~ Completed
• True Calling ~ Review Here ~ 5 stars
• Kingdom of Darkness ~ Review to Come ~ 4 stars
• Read at least 1 book from a series I'm more than 3 behind on ~ Completed
• Threshold ~ 3.5 stars
• Read at least 1 book from my 365 Days of YA lists ~ Completed
• Fairest ~ 3 stars
• Complete at least FIVE (5) comics ~ Completed

Completed Books:


Completed Comics: