Ivory by Steve Merrifield

Martin Roberts has made a successful career from painting, but is finding that his creativity is slipping away - stifled by his family life. That is until he is responsible for running a teenage girl down in his car. Miraculously the girl survives, but stranger than her lack of injuries is her striking physical appearance; stark white hair and skin, and jet black eyes. Being mute her condition and background remains a mystery, but when a black blind man arrives to collect her from the hospital Martin learns that she is a prostitute and that he is her pimp. It should have been the last Martin saw of Ivory, but he finds that he is haunted by her look, she has stoked the embers of his creativity and he realizes he must paint her. He seeks her out in London's streets of vice, 
facing dangers of this world and another, pursuing an obsession that he learns has led to the deaths of countless others before him. From Goodreads



To me this was an extremely slow moving book, bordering on the boring. A man is obsessed by a woman that is clearly not human. And it goes on and on promising some horror behind it all, just enough to keep me going expecting the horror to start. At the end there is bit of horror but too little, too late for me.

This book qualifies for: 
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
Why Buy the Cow? Reading challenge 2012 ( this book was free on Smashword the 9th of April 2012),
2012 Where are you reading Challenge,
Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon 

Turner by Karl Drinkwater

An isolated Welsh island seems the ideal place for four unconnected individuals to seek refuge from their own demons and to escape from the rat race. However, on Ynys Diawl they face a night of horror and madness. If they don't work together none of them will see the light of day.  
Phil Rickman, on BBC Radio Wales' Phil The Shelf literary programme, likened it to "The Wicker Man in Wales". The writer Bec Zugor summed it up as: "This will do, for visiting remote islands, what Jaws did for swimming in the sea."
Turner is a tense rural thriller which follows a single night in the lives of a small group of people trying to survive an apparent outbreak of insanity on a remote island which has a history of disappearances. From Goodreads. 
                     





I enjoyed this book even though to say enjoyed is probably the wrong word. It is a splatter horror book and it is not the splatter part I liked. No, it was more the thought of the evil mind that had made the things that happened on this island possible. And at some point in the book we are told about this persons ancestors and it is chilling to realise that the things that are happening are the product of centuries of madmen. The book made me dislike the islanders but at the end I felt a lot  more sorry for them than anything else. I like the end of the book but won't say why as that might give it away.

This book qualifies for: 
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
Why Buy the Cow? Reading challenge 2012 ( this book was free on Smashword the 9th of April 2012),
2012 Where are you reading Challenge,
Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon 

Indigo by Ophelia Keys

Have you ever passed someone on the street, met someone at a party, who just gave you the creeps for no reason? Granted, some of them are just creepy people. But you should be aware that some of them aren’t people at all. This is the first in a paranormal fiction series set in Melbourne, Australia. From Smashwords

Again an okay book that was interesting enough to keep me going and was scary in places. Spirits that can just remove you from this reality and can touch you. I would have liked to know more about the background of the main characters but maybe that will come in one of the books that is obviously coming at some point. I might look for more from this author at a later date.

This book qualifies for: 
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
Why Buy the Cow? Reading challenge 2012 ( this book was free on Smashword the 9th of April 2012),
2012 Where are you reading Challenge,
Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon  

The Howling by Gary Brandner

When middle-class Karyn Beatty is attacked and raped in her Los Angeles home, she suffers a miscarriage and a nervous breakdown. She and her husband, Roy, leave the city and go to stay in the secluded Californian mountain village of Drago whilst Karyn recuperates. Although the town offers Karyn a quiet lifestyle and the locals are friendly, Karyn is disturbed when she continues to hear a strange howling sound at night coming from the woods outside their new home. This puts further strain on her marriage as Roy believes she is becoming more and more unstable, but Karyn is adamant that there is something in the woods. As tension between the couple mounts, Roy begins an affair with one of the local women, a shopkeeper named Marcia Lura. However, on his way home, Roy is attacked in the woods by a large black wolf. From Goodreads

This book wasn't as scary as I had been led to believe. I did like it but there were only a few surprises in the book and I only found it scary just in the beginning and right at the end. I will not rush out to get the next 2 books in the series.

This book qualifies for:
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012,
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge,
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
2012 Where are you reading Challenge,
Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon

Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp

Your life is no longer recognizable, every detail corrupted by unknown forces. The harder you struggle, the more you suffer. Your words mean nothing, your actions backfire, and one by one everybody you know is sucked down with you.
You are:
1) Nick
2) cursed
3) afraid all the time
That's because: a) someone or b) something is after you with a vengeance. Even with the help of other cursed people, you don't stand a chance because you're all, you know, cursed. That means you and everyone you know will:
1) suffer
2) die
3) amuse your tormentor
That is, unless you figure out how to manipulate the person behind this and turn their power against them. Check your list a second time because they're probably on it. The only thing left to do is scratch them off. From Goodreads.

I chose this book because it was a Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Novel (2009) and it sounded interesting.
It was interesting but I didn't find it scary. Yes, it is very scary to Nick and his friend Cecily who are cursed in different ways. It seems like small curses but at the same time it is devastating curses as it completely disrupts their daily life. There is also a lot of humour in the book and I really like the end.
Definitely a book to read but I don't think it is going to give me a nightmare. I will edit this post tomorrow if I have a nightmare.

This book qualifies for:
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012,
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge,
2012 Ebook Challenge,  
Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon

Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon Start

It is time to start the Spring Into Horror Read-a-Thon.

t's coming...to shake up your peaceful spring. ;O)  Yup, it's the Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon, April 23 at 12:00am CST to April 29 at 11:59pm CST (adjust times according to your time zone). Now don't let the word 'horror' scare you away from this read-a-thon.  You do have to read at least one scary book during the duration of the read-a-thon.  That book can be horror, paranormal, thriller, mystery, etc. The rest of the read-a-thon, you can read whatever you want.  More horror/scary stuff or just your regular reading repertoire.  As always, this is a week long read-a-thon, but you can join in and read whenever it's convenient for you.  It's all about being laid back and getting some reading done...with a little bit of scary thrown in.

I'm going to try to read only horror this week. I do read a lot of paranormal and most of that is just not scary for me.

So my goal for this week is to read 6 books and I want at least 4 of them to be "real" horror as I don't usually read that.

I have made a list of books that people have listed under horror - it is as usual a long list so I will in no way get through them but it gives me the possibility to choose.

1. Cursed by Jeremy Shipp

2. Horns by Joe Hill

3. The Howling by gary Brandner

4. The Devil's Due by TJ Vargo

5. Indigo by Ophelia Keys

6. Turner by Karl Drinkwater

7. The Sacrifice by Janice Daugharty

8. Ivory by Steve Merrifield

9. Shadow of The Past by Thacher Cleveland

10. In the Midnight of His Heart by Al Bruno III

11. Catharsis by Jonathan Face

HERE will be all the posts for this Read-a-Thon

Right I am ready to start reading. 

Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley

Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon! In the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond, Confectioner Chloe dispenses inspirational sweet treats containing a prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to forecast - perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar! But when a new Vicar arrives in the village, the rumour mill goes into overdrive. Not only is Raffy Sinclair the charismatic ex-front man of rock band 'Mortal Ruin', he's also the Chloe's first love and the man who broke her heart. Try as she might, Chloe can't ignore this blast from her past. Could now be the time for her to make a wish - and dare to believe it can come true? From Goodreads

It was cosy and sweet like all of Trisha Ashley's books that I have read and is again about getting a long lost love who turns up again. It was okay and there was as usual not any real surprises in the book, I liked the pagan input in it but it just wasn't as good as some of the others I have read. Then again that might be my fault as this was my last read of Dewey's Read-a-Thon which of course means I was rather tired during some of this read!

This book qualifies for:
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012,
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge,
2012 Ebook Challenge,  
Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2012

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

"Harry Dresden's faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago s only professional wizard." "But in all Harry's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: Professional wizard Harry Dresden is approached by the Winter Queen of Faerie to find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man. Soon, Harry finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. From Goodreads

The fourth book in The Dresden Files. I am still enjoying them and I like that  Harry Dresden is not your typical hero. Basically he wouldn't get far without his friends. And in this book his enemy might not be his worst enemy! I am going to keep reading this series.

This book qualifies for:
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012,
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge,
2012 Ebook Challenge,  
2012 Where are you reading Challeng,
2012 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2012

Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.
But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.
So much for normal. From Goodreads.

I was looking forward to this book after having just finished Paranormalcy. It did not disappoint. It was fast paced and had a lot of different things going on. Evie wasn't as confident as in the first book but she was also trying to be a normal teenager which of course she is not.  Jack who works for the IPCA is interesting but I saw his intentions well before they were reviled and think that both Rachel and Evie should have seen the problem with him before they did.
I am looking forward to read the third and last book in this series.

This book qualifies for: 
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 

2012 Where are you reading Challeng,

Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2012

The Tar-aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster

Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings--two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers--a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest...most of the time. In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn't really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn't quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place... from Goodreads
 






This is the first book written in the Pip & Flinx Adventures but I am glad I read For Love of Mother - Not first as that is the background story about Flinx and Pip. I enjoyed this book about them and their adventure away from Moth and the sudden growth of Flinx's powers. I am looking forward to the next books in the series that I already have.

100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2012

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Finished

Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2012 has finished.

Did I reach my goals? Yes I did.

Goal 1: Last the entire 24 hours. I did that, I had a tough time around hour 20 but got over it and lasted till the finish line.

Goal 2: Read 3-4 books. I also did exactly that. I read 3 3/4 books, I am on 78% of my forth book and I intend to finish it later today after a wee sleep.
My books:

1. The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster 166 pages.
2. Supernaturally by Kiersten White 357 pages
3. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher 388 pages
4. Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley 390 pages

I read the top 4 books of my list which I am quite happy about and I took part in 2 mini-challenges.

I am already looking forward to October.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon End of event meme

Dewey's Read-a-Thon End of event meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour 20 was a fight to get through but I managed.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Well, Supernaturally by Kiersten White and Summer Knight by Jim Butcher had me forgetting time so they would be a good choice.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Maybe a few more cheerleaders for the second half of the event.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I only took part in 2 mini-challenges but I felt it worked better than last year.
5. How many books did you read? 3 3/4
6. What were the names of the books you read? The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster, Supernaturally by Kiersten White, Summer Knight by Jim Butcher and Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Supernaturally and Summer Knight.
8. Which did you enjoy least? Chocolate Wishes but that could be because I have been reading it through the last tough hours.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/A
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I hope I can take part again in October and it will be as a reader again.

2 hours to go. I'm not sure it will be enough time to finish my 4th book but I will do my best. I must admit I am looking forward to a wee snooze later. But I definitely will keep going as breakfast has given me a bit of energy.

It is now 8am, I am being blinded as all the clouds have disappeared and the sun is just coming over the mountain behind my house.  It is going to be a lovely day.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 21

My walk was literally just 5 minutes. -10 degree C and a bit of wind-chill is sure to wake you up. But it was lovely to see the sun on the mountains in the background. I am not sure I will see much of the sun today as it is still overcast but I can hope.

I am back into my reading even though it is still a bit hard going.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 20

I'm getting tired, so I will have to do something. I think I will go for at short walk, 5 minutes out in -10 degree C might wake me up.

3am and it is still light

Yes it is now 3am and it is still light outside. My picture is actually looking darker than I think it is. The only reason it is darker than it should be is that it is so cloudy but I can still see Herbert Island which I couldn't when the Read-a-Thon started. Time for a wee snack and then of course more reading.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 17

Hour 17 and I have finished my 3rd book Summer Knight by Jim Butcher. It is now time to change genre so I will read Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley. I am surprisingly good at following my list this time which I really like. Right, back to reading

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Hour 13 - halfway through

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
    I'm doing fine, not sleepy or anything and quite caught up in my books.
2) What have you finished reading?
     I have finished reading The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster and Supernaturally by Kiersten White
3) What is your favorite read so far?
     That was Supernaturally by Kiersten White
4) What about your favorite snacks?
     I am enjoying the Easter eggs my mother-in-law sent me - and no even though she sent them well before Easter I only just got them last week else they wouldn't have lasted till now.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
    I have seen some interesting ones.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 11

 Well, I haven't been writing a lot but it means I have been reading. I have in fact just finished my second book Supernaturally by Kiersten White (357 pages) and taken part in my second mini-challenge. As it is now 7pm with me I will make dinner and start my third book: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher.

The weather is clearing, I can actually see the sun a bit behind the clouds and Herbert Island has emerge from the mist. I don't think it is going to get dark at all so I have no reason to go to bed, just lots of reason to keep reading.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon - First book finished

I have now finished the first book of the Read-a-Thon, The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster. And I am going to start Supernaturally by Kiersten White next.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 5 book sentence challenge

Hour 5 mini-challenge hosted by On the Wings of Books. Book sentence. It said a minimum of 3 books but no maximum so I used 6 books.

Once upon a time in the North two old women haunted the perfect storm, powering up the wee free  men.


I have reached 75% of  The Tar-Aiym Krang and hope to finish it shortly after my lunch break.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon hour 3

Dwey's Read-a-Thon hour 3

I decided to start with The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster as it is only 166 pages. I have at this point read 42%. As just about all my books are read on Kindle my progress is always in %. I love my Kindle as it has given me access to so many books and at a much cheaper rate and instant delivery than if I had to buy them in paperback and shipped here. There are no book-store in my village and the nearest town is quite a flight away.

Dewey'a Read-a-Thon Introductory Questionnaire

Dewey'a Read-a-Thon Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
     I will be reading from the town of Qaanaaq in Greenland, nearly as close to the North Pole as you can get

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
     I think that must be Supernaturally by Kiersten White and Summer Knight by Jim Butcher

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
     The ice cream I bought

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
     I am a stay at home wife who loves to read, play and host boardgames on the net and just enjoy life
 
 5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
     I don't think I will do anything different this time. The big difference is the time of year though, as I think I have 24 hours light now which I didn't in October

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Start

It is 10am - my local time. It is time to start Dewey's Read-a-Thon for April 2012. When I took part in October 2011, I only found out a couple of days before so while I really wanted to read all the time I did have some prearranged appointments.
This time I have made sure to keep the entire 24 hours free for reading.

I have made a list of books for reading in the 24 hours. My goal of this Read-a-Thon is to last the whole 24 hours and hopefully read 3 or 4 books depending on the page numbers.

The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster. 166 pages
I read the first book in the Pip and Flinx adventure in February, this could be a good time to continue this series.

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher. 388 pages.
This is the fourth book in The Dresden Files and I enjoy reading about Harry Dresden Private detective/wizard-for-hire who gets into all kinds of trouble.

Supernaturally by Kiersten White. 357 pages
Yes I just finished the first book of the Paranormalcy Trilogy yesterday and I am looking forward to the second book.

Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley. 390 pages.
Trisha Ashley is an easy comfortably read and I know I need something like that as well and I will most likely also need a break from the paranormal.

The Wonderkind by Fun London. 25 pages

I won this book in November 2011 in a author interview and book giveaway from I am A Reader, Not A Write. I guess it is about time I read it.

The God King by James A. West. 347 pages.

This is in my TBR pile. I might have a look at it.

The Wandering Valkyr by Dan Wright. ? pages. 290kb.

Another book I have won. This one I won in A winter's Respite Read-a-Thon hosted by Michelle over at thetruebookaddict.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Love Stories. 305 pages

This one because I miss my husband who can't take part in this Read-a-Thon with me as he is not home at the moment. I look forward to him coming back next week.

Yes, I know I have put 8 books on my list again and I will never get through them all in 24 hours. It is mostly because I like to have a lot to chose from depending on my mood through the 24 hours. And then again, last time I ended up reading something completely different of the list of somebody else so I just see how it goes.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours, but still. Normal.
Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. 
So Much for normal. From Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this book. I like books with lots of different kinds of paranormals and the ones where the "good" might not be as good as you think they are. This has got both. It is also fun. The heroine has to figure out who or what she herself is when she suddenly finds out she is not actually human as she thought she was. I enjoyed this so much that I have actually just bought the sequel to read for Dewey's Read-a-Thon tomorrow.

This book qualifies for: 
100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge (number 83)

Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus- hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace . . . Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction. Hotwired to the leading edges of art and technology, Neuromancer ranks with 1984 and Brave New World as one of the century's most potent visions of the future. From Goodreads





I liked this book but I won't say I enjoyed it that much. It was hard going in places with the language it was written in. Sometimes very difficult to understand and I had to reread some paragraphs in order for them to make sense. But I found it a very interesting story, artificial intelligence (AI) and man against another AI and I might at some point read the rest of this Sprawl Trilogy.

100 books in a year Reading Challenge 2012, 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge, 
2012 Sci-Fi Challenge

Google Friend Connect (GFC)

This it what should be on my blog. But when Google discontinued it or retired it on March 1, 2012 for all non-blogger users it also disappeared from my blog even though it should not have done. I can on my dashboard see how many followers I have but I can't see who they are and I am wondering if others can see this widget on my blogpage even though I can't as I have gotten 1 new follower this last week. Yes I know, I only have a few followers but I am happy to have them and sad that I no longer can see who they are.

Well I don't feel there is any help to find from Google with this problem as I have searched the net and all I have found is a lot of other people with the same problem but no answers to the problem.

To replace the faulty GFC follower thing I have chosen to join a lot of other people with the Linky Followers  gadget. I hope that will be easier than GFC and not give me as many problems as GFC did.

That's Another Story: The Autobiography by Julie Walters

Julie Walters has been delighting audiences on screen and on stage for more than 25 years, and has been described as Britain's most popular actress and comedienne. Now she tells us her own story, in her own words. She was born in 1950s Birmingham, daughter of an austere Irish Catholic mother, and was sent to school in a convent. She wanted to be an actress from a young age, but to appease her mother she first went into nursing—that didn't last for long, and she soon joined Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. West End success followed, and she quickly replicated her success on film, earning an Academy Award nomination for her role in Educating Rita. Julie's collaborations with her close friend Victoria Wood have given audiences many unforgettable characters,
and she's recently charmed a new generation of fans playing Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter films, alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, co-starring with Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls, and co-starring in Billy Elliot. A natural writer with an instinctive sense of timing, Julie's memoirs are warm, moving, painfully felt, fiercely intelligent—and totally entertaining. From Goodreads
 
This is an okay book and I did chuckle a few times and enjoyed some of it. But it was not for me. Let me be sure to point out that it is probably me that is the problem here and not the book, I am sure it is an excellent autobiography but it is not a genre I am interested in. It just made me realise that I really don't care what celebrities, actors and other known people have done / are doing with their lives.

I read this book as part of the Scavenger Hunt 2012 Challenge and it is the only reason I chose an autobiography. That is another problem as the person who put up this challenge actually hasn't opened it up or posted in any way since December 2011. Apart from this I still find it a interesting challenge so whether it is a active challenge or not I am going to keep reading the books for the challenge.

This book qualifies for: 
Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, 
2012 Ebook Challenge,
Scavenger Hunt 2012,
2012 Where are you reading Challenge

2 short stories

Restoration of Faith by Jim Butcher:

This is a short story of approximately 24 pages that takes place before the first book Storm Front while he is still working for another PI. I read it after Storm Front. It is about finding a runaway girl, being accused of kidnapping instead and Harry meets the police officer Karrin Murphy for the first time.
It is a nice short story to introduce Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy and it was not a problem to read it after Storm Front. This short story is free to read on Jim Butcher's webpage. But it is also part of the book Side Jobs.

The New World by Patrick Ness:
In this dramatic prequel to the award-winning Chaos Walking Trilogy, author Patrick Ness gives us a short story of Viola's journey to the New World. From Goodreads. Again only 24 pages.
Again, even though this is a prequel to The Knife of never Letting Go, I read it after and that was fine. I liked that I got to know Viola in the book of Knife of Never Letting Go and then found out the story about how she got there.

Both short stories were very good but as they were only 24 pages each I of course don't count them as books. But they are good for learning more about the characters in the two series.