Friday Reads January 27, 2017

Just finished...

Currently listening to...

Currently reading...

Reading next...

I have no immediate plans for what to read next. I hadn't planned on listening to another in Death book again, but it's what looked good. I guess I'm too excited for the next book Echoes in Death which comes out February 7, and I've already pre-ordered.

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Winter 2017 Quests

Making goals for myself wasn't really working. With all goals you get something for achieving the goal, but I've been in a somewhat gaming mood lately. So instead of making some goals, I thought I'd make a few quests - goals with rewards - and see if I can actually not embarrass myself this round.

Post 1 blog & 1 vlog a week for 10 weeks = website & blog upgrade 

What this means is, if I can post one blog and one vlog each week for 10 weeks, I get to get the website I've been thinking about, and this would include upgrading this blog. Why am I not just getting the website and upgrading the blog? Because I need to prove to myself I can do this each and every week and not cheat myself or you. I also don't want to pay for a domain name if I'm not going to keep it going. I need to concur that voice in my head saying "don't bother it will never work." 

Post 10 book reviews = new tablet I've been looking at getting a new tablet for a while now, and thought it would make a great reward for one of my quests. Why? Because my current tablet is so old, it seems to have trouble supporting the Kindle app as it keeps crashing. This makes it difficult to read. Once I have it open and get into the book it's usually fine. But getting it open and getting in a book is the hard part. I need a new tablet so that it won't take me 20 minutes before I can start reading. Before you go suggesting I leave it open once I get in a book, that doesn't work either. When I return to the tablet, which I've also left on in sleep mode, the app will still crash. 

I do also have a stipulation on this quest. There are a few times where I love a book so much, I want to post a review on both my YouTube channel, and here on the blog. If I do this, the review will still only count as one review.

Write 20 pages = new phone

I want to write more. Sometimes I find it hard to keep myself awake to write those scenes playing in my head to paper and actually finish a story for once. I'm just hoping my phone can last so I can write 20 pages. Just in the last few days, it's been having trouble charging. I will use the charger and I'll get a message to use the charger that came with the phone...I am using the charger that came with the phone.

Read 10 books I own = subscription box

I had trouble coming up with this quest. Not the reward, but a realistic quest. I want to try to focus on reading the books I already own. I keep borrowing from the library, or getting a new audible book because I listen to books while at work or taking care of housework, and don't read the ebooks or physical books I already own. Realistically though, there are books I will not be able to keep myself from getting when they are released and likely reading or listening to them right away. One of these books would be Echoes in Death by J D Robb, which I already pre-ordered from audible. So, allowing myself those books that I will not be able to stay away from, for the books to count for this quest they must be books purchased or received as a gift in 2016 or before. 

Write 40 pages = 2 items from Amazon wish list

I'm not sure I'll get there, but to keep myself writing once I hit those 20 pages, this quest will keep me striving to continue writing.

Let's see how many of these goals I can complete before April. I imagine some of these will be recurring quests, but the rewards may change. Obviously I'm not going to be buying a new phone every few months, or getting multiple tablets. These also aren't set in stone as being the only quests I will take on, I may add more as I discover new quests to take on.

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Bout of Books Wrap Up

Never having been in a reading slump before...I didn't realize how much I would crave the books that got me into being an avid reader so much. I tried to read books on my TBR, or that I was already working on reading...but that didn't really happen.

I did get further in Sword Art Online Fairy Dance by Reki Kawahara. I'm now on page 153, and have less than 50 pages to go before I finish. I'm actually finding having watched the anime before reading to be a detriment, because I already know what happens. There are more details in the book, but not enough to keep me motivated to read.

I started and finished the audiobook of Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb, better known as Nora Roberts. (In case you don't follow me, or aren't familiar with the in Death series, J. D. Robb is the pen name Nora Roberts started writing these mystery novels under.) The plot takes Strangers on a Train to the next level; a serial killer level. And there isn't a dull moment with Eve Dallas on the case, and her sometimes basic view of the world. I often wonder why some of her thoughts, I've never realized or thought of before.

I started, but did not finish before the end of the readathon, the audiobook Innocent in Death by J. D. Robb aka Nora Roberts. This book was the book I read now several years ago, and turned me into an avid reader, and LOVER of this series. The killer was just so unexpected, but then Dallas figures it out before everyone else...and I want to say more but would possibly spoil it for some so I'm going to stop that train of thought here. Not only is the main story line awesome, but the side story keeps you guessing what the woman from Roarke's past is going to do next. A woman from Roarke's past, a woman he's loved before, comes back and starts making plays to get in to Roarke's life and cause trouble with his marriage to Eve. And the end to that part of the story...is a part of the book I will sometimes go back and listen to just to hear the scene again. It's that good!

Those were the books I read, tried to read, or started reading during the Bout of Books readathon. What did you read last week?

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New Winter Releases 2017

There are a few books I'm looking forward to. I was going to cover for the entire 2017 but I noticed most are being released in the start of the year. So I decided to do a new releases post for each quarter. Here are the new releases I'm looking forward to that come out in January, February, and March of 2017.

 Release Date: January 10, 2017

In Frostblood by Elly Blake, it is bad to be warm blooded so to speak. Ruby is the main character, and she is a Fireblood. She hides her powers until one day she is found out, and her mother is killed. She then teams up with rebel Frostbloods to overthrow the king.

 Release Date: February 7, 2017

Born of Vengeance is the next book in the League series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Each year I look forward to the next book in the series. Each book follows one character and tells a little about them, how they meet their soul mate, and all while moving the main story line forward. This next novel will follow Bastien Cabarro, who we first met in Dancer's story Born of Fury.

 Release Date: February 7, 2017

The in Death series by J D Robb is another auto-buy for me. Echoes in Death is the next full novel in the in Death series. For those who love mystery or crime novels, you've probably picked up that "the spouse did it". This is not the case in this story when one spouse lies dead in his town home, and the other somehow managed to get away and stumbles across the road and in front of our favorite Lieutenant of the NYPSD, Eve Dallas, and her husband while they are driving home. The living spouse can only describe the person behind the carnage as "the devil". 

 Release Date: January 17, 2017

Heartstone by Elle Katharine White is described as Pride and Prejudice in a a fantasy world, which was enough to catch my interest and make this a read I am looking forward to in 2017.

 Release Date: January 24, 2017

The Sword of Truth series may be at an end, but Nicci a beloved character from the series is now branching off on her own journey in Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind. After seeing a few episodes of The Seeker on television a several years ago, I decided to try the books that sparked the series. I fell in love with the books, and seriously fell out of love with the television series. (The television series only lasted 2 seasons.) Each time I finished a book, I needed to go to the bookstore immediately and get the next book in the series. Part of the appeal of the series was the love readers developed for the main characters Richard and Kahlan. This novel will focus on one of their close enemies turned friend, and I'm interested to see if this will hold the same awe over me.

There are other books I look forward to in 2017, but they are either coming later in the year, or would fall below these 5 in my list. It will also be interesting to see which ones I purchase, as I'm going to try the challenge to read 5 before buying 1 in an attempt to cut down on the books I own and are unread.

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Bout of Books 18 Readathon

I've decided at the last second (because I just found it), to participate in the Bout of Books 18, from January 2 to the 8th. My TBR will be decided as I get through the books as I'm still coming off a slump and still getting back in to reading. I also don't want to give myself a list of books and feel pressured to read most of them if not all of them especially since work is going to be busy now that it is a new year. Monthly, quarterly, and annual reports to run. This means I will likely be spending some extra time on my daytime job.

Since I will likely be spending extra time on my daytime job, I doubt I will participate in all the daily challenges, but look forward to trying at least 2 of them.

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You can find me on Twitter, Goodreads, YouTube, and Facebook.