2013 Challenges

These are the challenges I will take part in 2013.

Workaday Read's 2013 E-Book Challenge

Challenge Guidelines:

This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013.
Anyone can join, you don’t need to be a blogger. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to sign-up in the comments. You can post reviews to any book site (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc).
Any genre or length of book counts, as long as it is in ebook format.
You can plan your books in advance or as you read them.
When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the E-Book Reading Challenge.
You can move up levels, but no moving down.
Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2013, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
Levels:

Floppy disk – 5 ebooks
CD – 10 ebooks
DVD – 25 ebooks
Memory stick – 50 ebooks
Hard drive – 75 ebooks
Server – 100 ebooks
Human brain – 150 ebooks

This year I will go for the CD Level (10 e-books) again.

The Book Vixen's Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge

Reading Challenge Details:

Runs January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 (books read prior to 1/1/2013 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
The goal is to read at least 10 contemporary romance novels.

The Book Vixen's 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

Reading Challenge Details:

Runs January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 (books read prior to 1/1/2013 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2013 than you did in 2012. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. You can move up a level as often as you’d like but no moving down.
Books can be any format (bound, ebook, audio).
Novellas that are at least 100 pages in length, as well as full-length novels, will count for this reading challenge.
Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
Grab the reading challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads or LibraryThing.


Levels:

Getting my heart rate up – Read 1–5 more books
Out of breath – Read 6–10 more books
Breaking a sweat – Read 11–15 more books
I’m on fire! – Read 16+ more books

The 2012 Outdo Yourself Challenge will end up being a fail for me, so this year I will aim to read 62 books, which will be 3 more books than I read this year.

2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Challenge Guidelines:
This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 - Dec 31, 2013.
Anyone can enter! You don't have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you've read! (On your blog, Amazon or Goodreads/Shelfari!)
Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2012 and earlier! NO 2013 ARCs and 2013 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge. (If you don't have a blog, post about it on Facebook or Tweet!)
You can move up levels, but no moving down.
Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2013, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
On the 20th of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will have it's unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e. the entire month)
If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;)
December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway - a box of books.
You don't have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in giveaways!
Levels:
(how many books you're planning to read for this challenge in 2013)

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

I would like to go for the "A Firm Handshake" Level and read between 1 and 10 books. Here are some of the books I plan to read from my Goodreads TBR pile:
1. Anna and the French Kiss- Stephanie Perkins
2. I Heart New York-Lindsey Kelk
3. Falling into Grace-Michelle Stimpson
4. Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn

Book Dragon's Lair's Library Reading Challenge

Requirements:
choose a level - you may move up as needed, just not down.
check books out of the library
books may overlap with other challenges
any format allowed (print, ebook, audio)
reviews are not necessary but a list of books read is.
a blog is not necessary, just comment that you want to join in

Levels:
board book - 3
picture book - 6
early reader - 9
chapter book - 12
middle grades - 18
Young adult - 24
adult - 36
just insert IV - 50

I loved participating in this challenge last year, mostly since it was the only challenge I actually succeeded in. This year I will go for the Adult level and challenge myself to read 36 books or more from the library.

Update

Sorry, did not mean to complete abandon this blog, it's just that school's been crazy so far. I hope to get things going again at the start of the year. Here are the books I've read and enjoyed over the past few weeks:
Fly on the Wall-Trista Russell (a high school senior and a teacher engage in a torrid affair...LOVED it)- 5 stars
Celebrity in Death- JD Robb (while making a movie based on one of Eve's cases, one of the main actresses is murdered...LOVED it ) 5 stars
The Next Best Thing- Deidre Berry (cute story, liked the main character) - 4 stars
Keeping Misery Company- Michelle Larks 5 stars
Naked Love-Darnella Ford 5 stars
Platinum-Aliya S. King 4 stars
What She Left Behind- Tracy Bilen (young adult novel about a girl's mother who goes missing. Interesting story, although I didn't really like how it ended) 4 stars
The Other Side of Goodness- Vanessa Davis Griggs 4 stars
Not Quite What It Seems- Mari Walker 4 stars
Naughty and Nice- Eric Jerome Dickey 4 stars

Review-A Good Excuse to be Bad

A Good Excuse to Be Bad by Miranda Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I saw this on the library shelf, I was excited to read it because the description sounded interesting:
"Smart, gorgeous, and too tough for her own good, bail recovery agent and single mom Evangeline Crawford moved to the burbs for a quiet life. Fortunately, it's not turning out that way...

Angel has to admit she's feeling restless. The only excitement in her new life is her schoolgirl crush on the town's new pastor, Justus-too-Hot-to-be-Holy Morgan. But a fateful encounter and a job gone wrong at Club Night Candy in underground Atlanta is about to change all that... Soon, Angel's trying to save her divazilla twin sister from her big mouth and a scandalous murder charge, and probing a church cover-up--with none other than Justus by her side. But Angel has one more pressing concern: will Bella be ready for kindergarten? Only time will tell for this bad girl gone good whose days are once again far from boring--and hopefully far from numbered..."

Unfortunately, that description was the best thing about the book. It was a struggle to finish, as the story line was boring and repetitive and none of the characters were particularly interesting. It did pick up at the end, which bumped my rating up to a 3, but not much else was good about this.

View all my reviews
Source: Library Challenges: Outdo Yourself Challenge, Support Your Local Library, 2012 Mystery and Suspense Challenge

Review-Another Man Will

Another Man Will by Daaimah S. Poole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Daaimah S. Poole's books are very hit or miss for me, but this one was a definite hit!

We have three sisters--Crystal, Yvette, and Dana, who are all looking for the same thing--a good man.

Crystal hopes she's finally found one in the guy who's had a crush on her since childhood. Dana crosses the color lines and ends up falling in love. And Yvette bounces back from her loser ex-husband by hooking up with a sexy older man.

I thought this was a really cute story that kept me interested from start to finish. All three characters were very likable and relatable and I enjoyed reading each of their stories. I definitely recommend this funny and engaging tale.

View all my reviews
Source: Library
Challenges: Support Your Local Library, Outdo Yourself Challenge

Review-Got a Right to be Wrong

Got a Right to Be Wrong by K.L. Brady
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading "The Bum Magnet" and couldn't wait to pick this one up and see what was next for crazy Charisse.

At the end of "The Bum Magnet" it seemed as though Charisse's long string of bums had finally come to an end. She met and fell in love with Kevin, and now they are one week from their wedding day. However, Charisse then finds out something about Kevin that makes her wonder if he is just another bum to add to her collection. Along with dealing with that, she also has her crazy family members in town for the wedding, as well as her best friend Lamar who is looking to replace Kevin as soon as he can.

This was a fantastic follow up to "The Bum Magnet." K.L. Brady does a fantastic job of making all these characters come alive and is able to keep what could have been a typical "baby mama drama" novel into an exciting page-turner. I couldn't wait to see what Charisse would do next.

I look forward to reading more of K.L. Brady's books.

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Source: Purchased

Challenges: Outdo Yourself Challenge, 2012 E-Book Challenge

Fall Into Reading 2012

Callapidder Days is hosting the Fall Into Reading Challenge. I had a lot of fun doing it last year, so I'm excited to get through some of the books on my TBR pile by participating again this year.

Here's a list of the guidelines:

*Make a list of books you want to read (or finish reading) this fall. Your list can be as long or as short as you’d like.
*Write a blog post containing your list and submit it to this post using the Mr. Linky below.
*Get reading! The challenge goes from today, September 22nd, through December 21st.
*Check out other participants’ lists and add to your own to-read-someday pile, if you wish!
*Write a post about your challenge experience in December, telling us all about whether you reached your goals and how Fall Into Reading went for you. But remember: this is a low-pressure challenge that should be fun.

Here are the books I'd like to read during this challenge:

1. Got a Right to be Wrong-K.L. Brady (reading now)
2. Delusion in Death-J.D. Robb
3. Destiny's Divas-Victoria Christopher Murray
4. The Secret She Kept-Reshonda Tate Billingsley
5. Falling into Grace-Michelle Stimpson
6. Scandals-Sasha Campbell
7. Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn
8. One False Move-Harlan Coben
9. Yesterday's Lies-Terri D.
10. The Someday List-Stacy Hawkins Adams

I hope to read more than this, but this is a start.

Review Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So a few weeks ago I finally finished the books that had been all the rage with women this summer: the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I started the first one while on vacation, so I was able to fly through it pretty quickly, but it took me awhile to get through the other two, mostly because of being back to work.

First of all, I must admit, I was a tad disappointed while reading the first book. I thought the book would be basically all BDSM porn, I didn't know there would be an actual love storyline involved. At times, the book just read like a glorified Harlequin romance novel. But once I got past that, it was a little easier to get into the story. I did like the characters of Anastasia and Christian. I liked how Ana was not afraid to stand up to Christian at all, no matter how much she loved him, and how she stood by her beliefs. Likewise, I also liked how she did open herself up to some of his "Red Room" fantasies.

The second book I liked the least in this series, this one seemed to really drag by and nothing really interesting happens. The third book was my favorite of the three (although I grew tired of all the mushiness at the beginning with the constant "I love you Mr. Grey" and "I love you more Mrs. Grey.") This one had a lot more action and conflicts and I loved the way it ended. I also enjoyed reading their first meeting from Christian's point of view. While I wouldn't have liked the whole book from his POV, it would've been interesting to read more of his thoughts.

All in all, I give the series as a whole about 3 and half stars. Not a classic by any means, but an enjoyable, hot little read.



View all my reviews
Source: Purchased
Challenges: Outdo Yourself Challenge, 2012 E-Book Challenge