Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

I am definitely participating in Dewey's 24 hr Read-a-Thon. This will be my 2nd one, I had so much fun with my 1st.

With my last one, I made the mistake of trying to finish up a VERY long audiobook, but I wanted to get through it. 9 of the hours I spent reading was the audiobook, so that was a bit waste of my time!

Overall, I still didn't do bad though. Here's my final stats for that one ~

• Read ~ 20 hours total (8-11am, 12-2:30pm, 4pm-2:30am, 3:00am-7am)
• Completed ~ 5 books
• Total pages read ~ 1083 pages (178 of that was listening to audio for 9 hours)
• Blogging Breaks ~ 4 hours total (11am-12pm, 2:30-4pm, 2:30am-3am, 7am-?)

The Goals

If you've been around my blog before, then there's one thing you know for certain about me, I do NOT plan. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants type person. Planning means disaster for that thing I've planned for, it just doesn't work, for reading or other things!

So, I have no books set aside. I was hoping there would be something good I've been waiting on coming out, but no such luck. I have a shelf at GoodReads of 60 or so books that I have my eye on, but that's about it. Though I MAY read whatever book wins my TBR October Poll ~ a place where my readers can vote on a book for me to read this month. If you haven't voted yet, go vote now!! Voting ends on the 11th. Beyond maybe reading that, nothing is on my radar, I have no clue what I will read. I have no specific goals except to read at least 2000 pages. I don't know if I plan to do this with a bunch of books, or a few longer ones, it depends on what grabs my attention at the time! :)



If you are joining, leave me a link and I'll come follow you! I am especially interested in readers who will be going the full 24 hours. I stayed up the 24 hours last time and it was so much fun, but a lot of people started (understandably) disappearing during the later hours. Looking for those who are gonna stick around to cheer on!! I follow blogs via Bloglovin', as it's an easy place for me to keep everything together. I don't Twit or Tumble or any other social media like that, sorry! (Yes, I spelled them wrong on purpose, I hate those words.)

Tackle Your TBR ~ Day 13 Updates

Day 13 ~ the final day! How did you all do? As well as you hoped?

My time was great, I didn't push it this time, as I have done in past RaT. I just took it easy and did what I wanted, and it was great.

For today, I plan to at least finish up my audiobook, of which I have just under an hour and a half left on. My hubby is home today and we may walk around town for the festival going on here, so I might not get much more than that done, but I plan on that at least. We'll see! :)

The Challenge:

The Dream Character Challenge is hosted by Wishful Endings.

I'm not big into celebrities, at all! I don't follow celebrity news or gossip, I don't really care about what person is doing what, or whom. I definitely haven't sat around and thought up dream casts for books, not even my favorite book The Night Circus, because I don't know who I would want and I haven't given it any thought. That being said, I can pick this one easy enough for me, because I'm just going with who I think is hot. :)

I pick older Bailey from The Night Circus. We meet him when he's just a kid and we watch him grow up a little. I think he's awesome, and I LOVE his character. He's just a kid who knows what he wants from life, but has his family pulling him in different directions. Instead of doing what is right for the family, he does what is right for HIM and does what is in his heart! Love it!! For a little older Bailey (after the book ends), I would definitely choose Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect, Ground Floor), because he's BEAUTIFUL!!! :) That, and he sings like an angel, but mainly, he's beautiful. :)

The Progress:

Saturday

Night Time Audio listening time/pages:
Day Time Audio listening time/pages: 1 hr 30 min / 117 pages (Yard)
Kindle reading time / pages: 1 hr 30 min / 98 pages (Long Gone)
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total number of books I've read: 19
Current Book:
Pages Read Today: 215 pages
Total Pages Read: 3,898 pages
Time Read Today: 3 hr
Total Time Read: 53 hrs
Challenges Participated in today: Dream Character Challenge
Today's Completed Books:

Today's Completed Comics / digital chapters of Arkham Unhinged:

Tackle Your TBR ~ Day 12 Updates

Day 12 has arrived! Thursday was a slow day for me, and I'm really not sure why. I think I was just super tired from my day out with my friend, moving her stuff. I was kind of lazy. Last night I got an ARC I'm SUPER excited about, so I started that, and will finish that today, we'll see what else. :) I've done about what I expected for the week. I ended up starting, and finishing 6 books I hoped to do, plus I had one DNF. Sadly, it was the book chosen for me for my Poll, I just could NOT get into it, I tried 4 different times. I'm not sure what it was that I didn't like. I'm so picky when it comes to books. Are you all like me, if you hate something you will NOT finish it? Or, are you all like my good friend Kym at My Book Nook where you'll finish something no matter how much she hates it? I don't get those of you who have to finish a book, like her. It makes me miserable. If I don't like a book, I move on. Life is too short for crappy (to me) books!

Anyways, as for today, so far no challenge is listed. :( We'll see if one is, and if it's a challenge or a giveaway. I prefer the challenges and the ones we have had so far have been fun. Time for me to get to my books.

The Progress:

Friday

Night Time Audio listening time/pages: 3 hr 30 min / 250 pages (Yard)
Day Time Audio listening time/pages:
Kindle reading time / pages: 5 hr / 402 pages (Time's Edge)
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 17
Current Book:
Pages Read Today: 652 pages
Total Pages Read: 3,683 pages
Time Read Today: 8 hr 30 min
Total Time Read: 50 hrs
Challenges Participated in today: none listed
Today's Completed Books:

Today's Completed Comics / digital chapters of Arkham Unhinged:


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

Book Review ~ On Her Father's Grave by Kendra Elliot

Finished ~ One Her Father's Grave by Kendra Elliot
Completed 9/17
4 of 5 stars
unknown page count, Novella length

I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

On Her Father's Grave is the first book in the new "Rouge River" series by authors Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh, a series of novellas set in small town Solitude, Oregon.

Stevie has returned to her hometown after leaving LA after some rough times in her life. She joins the local police department and gets called in the night before she's to start work, when a local teen is found dead.

While I'm not usually a big novella fan, I've read everything Kendra has put out (except for one short story) and I love her books. I liked the look of this series, small town people and Kendra writing every other book. I really enjoyed this book and it did what good novellas do, it made me want more. The only negative about this novella, was that it was a novella! :)

Stevie comes back, having left her job at the stressful LAPD, she is ready for small town life. She's a likable character who is confidant and strong, with moments of vulnerability. Her family lost their father suddenly and they've all banded together. I liked Stevie and the people around her in her small town. The storyline was quick moving, the characters were likable. I am most definitely looking forward to reading more about the people in Solitude!


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

Tackle Your TBR ~ Day 11 Update

Day 11 is here, and the end is near! How has everyone done with this challenge? Make a dent in your TBR, or like me, had you just added more books to your TBR than you read? I was going through my GoodReads recommendations again and ended up adding 37 more books to my TBR. It's a growing list I'll never finish!

If you came by yesterday, you know that I was SUPER excited to be getting out of my house!! What many people take for granted (getting in a car and going somewhere) is something I haven't done for over 2 years. So when my friend asked for my help to move her stuff to storage, I jumped at the chance. I was out of the house for almost 10 hours, I saw a new part of the state I haven't been able to explore yet (we moved here just over 2 years ago), drove a convertible, and I got to eat Wendy's (which I haven't had in almost 3 years!). So yeah, I was super excited to go, and had a good time. Best of all? I got a small bookcase out of the deal!!! No more ghetto USPS box DIY bookshelves!! :)

And I did get to read a little, while waiting for her to pick up the moving truck and getting a storage unit and after I got home, I ended up finishing a novella I started, so YAY for a great day all around!

The Challenge:

Today is a Color Challenge from Wishful Endings. You may be able to tell from my blog, I have a thing for Black & White covers with a splash of Red (that stems from my love for The Night Circus) but since this called for one color, I chose one favorite stand alone color ~ Purple.

The Progress:

Thursday

Night Time Audio listening time/pages:
Day Time Audio listening time/pages:
Kindle reading time / pages: 1 hr / 75 (Festive in Death, Times Edge)
Number of books I've read today:
Total number of books I've read: 16
Current Book: Time's Edge
Pages Read Today: 75
Total Pages Read: 3,031 pages
Time Read Today: 1 hr
Total Time Read: 41 hr 30 min
Challenges Participated in today: Color Challenge
Today's Completed Books:
Today's Completed Comics / digital chapters of Arkham Unhinged:


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

Tackle Your TBR ~ Day 10 Updates

Today is Day 10, but forget about that (or I will anyways). I get to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE today!!! Most of you probably don't understand how HUGE that is, and I'm super super excited. Up until 2 years ago, I lived in Central Florida. After some hard times, we didn't have a car anymore, but there it didn't matter. We were on a really good bus line and after a while got used to the bus system and even enjoyed it a bit (reading while spending an hour to go to work, which was only 7 miles away, ok!). We were miserable there though, and got the chance to move to NC with a friend over 2 years ago. It's been great, we love our little town but there's NOTHING here. We have a Hardee's, Burger King, Subway and a Food Lion. Nothing else! The closest Wal-Mart is 30 miles away. But, we don't have a car still, so I've been stuck in this town for over 2 years now, never going further away from my house than a mile and a half, walking everywhere. I have been a bit stir crazy. The friend that we moved up here with has moved around a few times since then and asked if I wanted to go out of town with her today, and I jumped at the chance. I'm SUPER excited, even if she will be here at 6am. YAWN. AND I can NOT sleep when I know I'm going to do something, so I'm sleepy, but I get to get outta my house and do something!!

You might be able to tell I'm really really excited. LOL!! Noe challenges for today, so I don't have to worry about squeezing that in. I read an hour before I tried to get some sleep, but otherwise I probably won't sleep til tonight. Hope you all have a great day as well!! :)

The Progress:

Wednesday

Night Time Audio listening time/pages: 1 hr / 65 pages (Yard)
Day Time Audio listening time/pages:
Kindle reading time / pages: 2 hr / 140 pages (Father's Grave, Aftermath)
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 16
Current Book:
Pages Read Today: 205 pages
Total Pages Read: 2,956 pages
Time Read Today: 3 hr
Total Time Read: 40 hr 30 min
Challenges Participated in today: none listed
Today's Completed Books:

Today's Completed Comics / digital chapters of Arkham Unhinged:


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

Read Play Blog #3 ~ Preferred Gaming Platform

Read Play Blog is a meme about video games and books, posted every 16th of the month. Bloggers are encouraged to answer a discussion question, and recommend a video game that is similar to a book they liked. Hosted by Happy Indulgence Books & Read Me Away.

Info:

What is Read Play Blog?
A monthly meme about video games and books!

How does Read Play Blog work?
Every month, we’ll ask you a discussion question about your VG interests and recommend a game based on a book we liked. We’ll have a linky, and you can make your own post answering the question and recommendation, and link up!

When does the post go up?
On the 16th of every month to pay homage to retro 16 bit games.

Who can participate in Read Play Blog?
Anyone who likes video games! No matter the genre or age, whether you like action/shoot-em-ups or story-driven RPGs or point-and-click games, or if you’re a new gamer or a seasoned one, you’re very welcome to participate!

What is your preferred gaming platform?

While I'm partial to ANY kind of gaming system, our wallet is not, especially now. I suppose the system that we've played the most, in recent years, is the Playstation ~ 2 & 3.

I've been a gamer since I was a child. I, sadly haven't kept any of my old systems, they were lost in a bunch of moves. I also was a Nintendo girl, for the most part, from NEW to N64 to GameCube. We do have a Wii now, but have very few games for it. They are so pricey to get good Mario games and my hubby doesn't like them as much as I do, so we try to get games we both like, or get cheaper games for just each of us and the Wii games never go down in price.

We also have a Xbox360, on which we still play a few games, but for the most part, everything we want to play comes out on Playstation with some being Playstation exclusive, like the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

We only got our PS3 a year ago, when the bundled GTAV was released with a system. We're definitely behind the times, but it works for us. We do want a PS4, but probably won't get it until next year. We're hoping for yet another bundled system with either KH3 or Arkham Knight, both of which we REALLY REALLY want!!

Currently Playing

Right now, I'm actually not playing anything! I haven't played a game in weeks, probably months. I've been all about the books, 'bout the books, 'bout the books. :) I did a 7 week long Read-a-Thon, and after that I thought I'd play some games but I couldn't get into any. Then, I only took 9 days off of reading before I was right back into another Read-a-Thon ending on Saturday. I'm hoping, when I get back to playing, to re-play Resident Evil 4. I've been in the mood for it for a while. :)

Top 10 Authors I've read just 1 book of, but want to read more!

Top 10 Authors I've read 1 book of, and want to read more

You find a book that you are in LOVE with, and it's the only one that author has written so far, or you haven't read anything else, YET. That's what this Top 10 Tuesday is about.
Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.


So far, in reading over some TTT today, I haven't seen my number one author listed ~

Erin Morgenstern

I fell in LOVE with The Night Circus when it came out and sadly Erin hasn't written another book. She has said that she wouldn't write more on The Night Circus, so perhaps she would write something that I might not like, but I'd try it no matter what. The Night Circus was a beautifully written book which has taken up much space in my heart. I adore it and I wish Erin would write something more.

Ernest Cline

Another book I loved when it was released was Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. It was a fantastic read, and I loved it. I've been anxiously waiting for his next book, which was due out this summer, but now says next summer. It definitely sounds different, but I'm looking forward to reading Armada.

Aaron Patterson

Sweet Dreams (my review) is a book unlike any other that I have read. It warns you in the blurb that the book defies genre. At first, it doesn't seem so, but 60% in it completely changes. I still don't know what really went on with it, but it was fantastic. Eager to read the next book, though I haven't gotten to it yet.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I read, and loved The Naturals. It wasn't the only book Barnes has written, but the only one that was of interest to me. It was a really enjoyable book, and I really look forward to the next one, when it is released.

Cat Patrick

I've only read Forgotten (my review) by Cat Patrick but really enjoyed it. It was different and a great read. I plan on reading The Originals next.

L.R. Nicolello

I received this book from NetGalley (my review) and REALLY enjoyed it. Though there was a plot aspect that I thought was really really lame, overall I loved the characters and the story. I'd definitely read more if this becomes a series. It's the only book this author has written.

Jon Osborne

On a quest to find more books / authors like Chris Carter and his Robert Hunter series, I read Kill Me Once by Jon Osborne. While definitely not as good as the Carter series, I really enjoyed this book. I've been wanting to read the 2nd one in the series, Game of Chance, for a while now, but don't have it yet.

James Carol

Another serial killer series, this book took me a really long time to get into it, so it was only ok at first, but the end (last 30%) got really entertaining. It's the first book I've read by this author and I look forward to trying the next one, Watch Me.

Kailin Gow

In the time after reading The Night Circus, I was wanting to read more circus books and I came across Circus Summer. The supposedly 1st book in a series, I loved it. Gow has a ton of other series but not of them appeal to me. I loved Circus Summer tho, a deadly circus, and I hope that there will be follow up books at some point. Having been published in 2012, I wonder if the series has been abandoned. :(

Lynn Matson

I loved Nil. Though I've seen it described as Survivor meets Lost, and didn't see it that way (besides yes, set on an island and yes, weird things happening) I thought it was a great storyline with great characters. The ending was a little too rushed for me, but other than that, I loved it!! Now, I see there's a 2nd one coming out, which I didn't even known until I did this, so YAY!!