Review: Dancers After Dark by Jordan Matter

The Book:

The Blurb:

A photography collection of nude dancers at night from the bestselling photographer of Dancers Among Us - a celebration of the human form and the fearlessness of the human spirt.

The Review:

Completed Apr 15, 2016
256 pages

Received from NetGalley for my honest review

Despite not really being into art, and knowing nothing about Dance, I really wanted this book and was so glad when I received it that I sat down and went through all of it in one sitting. I LOVED this photography book a ton, it was very beautifully done.

I don't know anything about dance, so I can't tell you anything about the dance poses. I wanted this photography book because I love artistic nudes, and this book didn't disappoint. I am an amateur photographer, so I do know some about composition and every photo had it in spades. Of course I love the photo for the nudes, they were tasteful and wonderfully done and the composition of the photos were just amazing. There was this one shot where lights on a street were lined up perfectly with the moon. Just beautiful.

I loved at the end that the photographer took the time to explain some shots. The whole book was done in the dark and without permissions. It was created over a 2 year time period and all around the world. It was great to hear the stories of how some of the shots came to be or what happened with them. The book starts out with a photo of Alan Cumming, so I was glad to learn how and why that came to be.

It was neat too because most of the photos he talked about were ones that I had taken a little while to linger on. There was just some thing about those ones that made me stop and really study it and some of them I got the behind the scenes on, it was neat. It was funny that one of them really made me stop and look and I didn't know why. It wasn't one of my favorites, it was good but didn't really stand out compared to others, but for some reason I lingered on it and took my time looking it over. In the blurb at the end the photographer explains that the dancer had just gotten engaged before that shot. So neat!

Great photo book. Beautiful in every way. I really loved it!

The Rating:

LOVED it, a fantastic book! (4.5 stars)

Book Review: Known by Kendra Elliot

The Book:

The Blurb:

After a brutal snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains, Chris Jacobs discovers two things he never expected to see: the charred shell of a cabin, and Gianna Trask and her sixteen-year-old daughter huddled in an SUV, having barely escaped from their burning vacation rental.

Still scarred from a childhood ordeal, Chris knows there’s something sinister about the scene—it’s the stench of burned flesh.

Forced to wait out the blizzard in their rescuer’s retreat, medical examiner Gianna Trask wonders if her hidden past has finally caught up with her. When a body is found in the destroyed cabin’s ashes and a forest ranger is brutally murdered, both Gianna and Chris must confront their secrets if they want to escape the violent threat lurking outside.

The Review:

Completed Apr 21, 2016
348 page Kindle ebook

Received from NetGalley for my honest review

In the 5th installment of the Bone Secrets series, we revisit Chris, who we met in the book "Buried", book 3 of the series. Chris is looking forward to some quiet time when he smells smoke and goes to investigate. He finds Gianna and her daughter huddled in their truck while they cabin they were staying in goes up in flames.

Chris was a good character in Buried and continues to be a good character in this story. He's still got his demons and is a recluse so it's nice to see him having to interact with others and you see how he could be hand he not been so damaged.

Gianna is a pretty good character. While her daughter is perhaps a typical teen, and therefore hard to really like, Gianna is doing what she can and staying strong in the face of everything. She's a character you can't help but root for as things keep piling onto her.

It story was engaging and kept me interested. It kept me guessing and I was actually a little surprised by some things. I like it when books are able to surprise me, it's not all that often. The romance wasn't central to the story and instead of a typical "insta-love" it was almost slow growing and tentative, which was a nice change of pace. It was still fast, in terms of the story, but it seemed slower as they talked and were shy around each other for a little while. It was nice.

I highly recommend the Bone Secrets series to any romantic suspense fans, I basically just recommend Kendra Elliot. She's an enjoyable author and I've enjoyed most of what I have read by her. The books could be read as a stand-alone, but definitely would be better enjoyed as a series. Check them out! :)

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

The Rating:

Really Liked it, a really good book! (3.5 stars)

Dewey's 24hr Read-a-Thon ~ Wrap-up

Another Dewey's is coming to a close and another year I made the full 24 hours. With stopping the newest book I just started a little bit ago at 7:30, my total reading time was about 21.5 hours. It was a good day/night filled with mostly good books.

Let's wrap it up, so I can go to sleep! :)


End of Event Meme:

Which hour was most daunting for you?
Oddly enough, Midnight for about 30 minutes. I think it was just because my eyes hurt a lot. I had an audio on and closed my eyes off and on for a half hour and got my 2nd wind. Starting to feel it now. I went through all the audiobooks I had for the night and my eyes hurt too much to keep up with the newest book I was reading.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Depends on the reader, definitely lots of action, something to keep the plot moving along is what I like best. Cute YA or MG books are good, if you like that sort of thing.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Same suggestion as last year ~ new Opening/Mid/Ending Questions! It'd be nice to change it up!


What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Don't know, I kept to myself and Reading. Wasn't impressed with the challenges, again.

How many books did you read?
Completed 10, started another. 4 books were novels, 1 book was a novella and 5 books were short stories.

What were the names of the books you read?
see below

Which book did you enjoy most?
The Obsession by Nora Roberts

Which did you enjoy least?
Jacob by Kris Michaels

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Wasn't one this time.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Will Read again next time. The social aspect hasn't been there for me for the last few Dewey's. I'm just not into Twitter and apparently that's the only place anything happens. I'm fine with making it all about books for me, it's a fun change from the norm of my everyday reading. I always enjoy read-a-thons, I just gotta keep it about the books. :)

Updates!!

Audio listening time/pages: 10.5 hours / 890
Kindle reading time / pages: 11 hours / 1000
Total number of books I've read: 10
Total Pages Read: 1890
Total Time Read: 21.5 hours
Today's Completed Books:

Kindle

Audio

Started, but did not finish:

(Completed 25%)

Dewey's 24hr Read-a-Thon ~ Mid Event Survey

How is everyone doing half way through? What books have you enjoyed so far? Anyone going the distance with me? Have you done the full 24 hours before?



Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?
Currently I am reading Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan, but I think when I go back to reading in a few minutes, I'm going to switch over to audio for a while and give my eyes a break. I'll be starting with the short stories of the Chronicles of St Mary series.

2. How many books have you read so far?
Completed 2, almost half way through a 3rd. Have read 729 pages in approx 10.5 hours.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
The short stories of the Chronicles of St Mary's.


4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Just one. Our one dog has turned into a demon dog when my Hubby is here and gets super aggressive with our other dog. They both only listen to me, so I had to get them calmed down before I could get back to reading. Wasn't enjoyable, as I'd rather been reading, but couldn't be helped. Luckily they listen to me and settled down pretty quickly.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
Nothing. Same old stuff I'm used to. Focusing on reading again this time around.

Dewey's 24hr Read-a-Thon ~ Kickoff

It's DEWEY time!!

As per my usual, I woke up WAY too early. I just can't sleep well when I'm excited about something. So I've been awake since 5:20am. YAWN! But that means I'm ready to go. My Hubby just needs to get back with the breakfast of read-a-thons (aka Dunkin Donuts) and I'll be all set!! :) Who is around doing Dewey's with me?!

Let's get going with the Intro Challenge ~


1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I am in Sparta, North Carolina. May will be 4 years that we've been in the state.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Long time readers of my blog know I'm I'm not a pre-planner. I am a Fly-By-er. I don't plan, at all. That being said, I DO have a rather extensive TBR pile that's on my radar for today. The books in my TBR are either on the short side, as I like to change it up during Dewey's or will help me with the RPG Game at Nothing But Reading Challenges, a GoodReads group that I am a mod of. Yes, you read that correctly, it's a Role-Playing Game done with books and it is AWESOME!! All books read today will help me in some way or another for my game there. Specifically though, I'm most looking forward to the short stories from the Chronicles of St. Mary's series. If you are a Time Travel fan and have not read this series you MUST!! It's FANTASTIC!! My favorite time travel series of all time now!! (Sorry, Chronos Files, but you are still great too!)

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Is this a trick question?! ALL of them!! I'm definitely a junk food person. I don't agree with a lot of peoples assessments of not doing ALL junk and doing something healthy. Nope. If you are used to all junk, all junk definitely doesn't bother you. No healthy crap here. :) My Hubby is going out for Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, bringing me glazed donuts and Grape (I call them Grape Ape) Kickstarts. Yum! Snacks for the day include ~ Peach Rings, Smores Goldfish, Oreos and whatever Hubby gets me from His donut run. Bagel Bites for lunch, Chicken Ranch Salad probably for dinner. :) And of course, lots and lots of Mountain Dew & Kickstarts! :)

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
HI! I'm Karsyn, in my late 30s, deeply in love with and married to my high school best friend. I LOVE to read, obviously, and am blessed with a ton of time to read. In a typical month I will read 15-20 books, often more, and when there's something going on, like Dewey's, I read a ton more! Beyond my books, I'm a gamer, and I built my own Gaming PC last year which I named Widget (after The Night Circus character). Widget is GREAT and we've had so much fun playing games on him!! I'm a fairly new mod to the previously mentioned Nothing But Reading Challenges group at GoodReads and I am always there doing new things, including a Relay Sprint being held for the 24 hours of Dewey's today.

5) If you participated in the last RaT, what’s 1 thing you’ll do different today?
Same stuff as last time, a variety of books I've been looking forward to, and short audiobooks, rather than when I tried a long one my first time around. Not smart! :) This time I decided not to cheer, I just wasn't up for it, so I'm going to focus on reading and only post occasionally. I'm a new post each time person. I definitely don't like doing one long post. This, and NBRC, will be the only places that I will post. I am NOT NOT NOT a Twitter person, I hate even writing the name. I know I miss out on a lot of interaction (which used to be my favorite part) because of it, but it's just not for me. Maybe you can tell, I'm a tad bit too long winded for the likes of that place!! :)

Potential TBR

(As always, linked to GoodReads)


Kindle Books


Audio Books



THANKS for visiting! Leave me a link, and I'll come check out your kick-off post