2014 Full House Reading Challenge - Finished

2014 Full House Reading Challenge hosted by Kathryn @ Book Date.

I have now completed this challenge and it has been a challenge but a good one. According to the rule I could make one exchange so I read a book of my choice instead of Theme you think is important
If this challenge is back next year I hope to take part again.

Challenge Guidelines:

• Challenge will run from Jan 1st to December 31st 2014
• Write and publish a post stating your intention to participate. In the post please include the Challenge graphic and a link back to this post. Then link your intention post at the bottom of this post.  Make sure it is the actual post and not just a generic link to your blog.
• Entries will be accepted up until the end of November 2014.
• Add your reviews here. At the end of every two months there will be a U.S. $10 prize with a book of your choice from the Book Depository or Amazon voucher, (International) for the entries. There will be a new list then for every two months until the end of November.

                           Link your reviews here

• Each review can only be linked up once in the year.
• Books may cross over from other challenges that you are doing. 
• On the 22nd of November a post will go up to link a summary post for the challenge for those who have completed a full house. This will close on the 31st of December and a winner will be chosen using random.org for a U.S. $50 prize which again can be used at the Book Depository or go as an Amazon voucher.

                            Link Full House post here

• If someone completes a full house and would like to complete another, that is fine too, and would mean two entries at the end of the year.

The Challenge:

• Complete the card below.  You can do it in any order you wish.  You are allowed "one free exchange", if there is something on the square you really dislike you may change it to something of your choice. Once you have played this free card that is it. Mention the exchange in the final summary post. 

Full House Reading Challenge Card

List of books:

• An Unlikely Witch by Debora Geary (published 2013)
• A little Christmas Magic by Sylvie Kurtz (free on Amazon.co.uk 9th of January 2013)
• Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson (Paranormal)
• Whitstable by Stephen Volk (Author new to me)
• Himmelbegravelsen (Sky Burial) by Xinran (from the local library) 
• John Macnab by John Buchan (different country to mine)
• Saltwater Witch by Chris Howard (published before 2013)
• The Rising by Kelley Armstrong  (book from a series)
• The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison (more than 400 pages)
• Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (historical fiction)
• Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer (less than 200 pages)
• Speechless by Hannah Harrington (contemporary)
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion  (review made me read it - did not agree)
• Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs (suspense/crime) 
• Night Broken by Patricia Briggs (published 2014) 
• White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison (best so far in 2014) 
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (reread)
• It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot (Non-Fiction) 
• Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (Book with animal in it)
• Skin Game by Jim Butcher (From wishlist) 
• Drifting Home by Pierre Berton (place I would like to visit - and did visit this summer)
• The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems by Robert Service (Love the cover)
• The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison (Theme you think is important ➜ Exchange) 
• Every Woman For Herself by Trisha Ashley (free choice) 
• The Snowman Maker by Barbara Briggs Ward (won at High Summer RaT)

The Snowman Maker by Barbara Briggs Ward

Over the years Ben and Ellie never had a problem communicating. So when Ben seems distant, Ellie's confused. Her instinct tells her it has something to do with the contents of an old cardboard box his father insisted Ben take before he passed away. With the children grown, Ben's evasiveness adds to Ellie wishing the holidays were over.
But it's Christmas-the season of hope and love rekindled-especially when going back to a wondrous place on a winter's night in the old sleigh decorated in pine boughs and silver bells-the very sleigh that carried a little boy and that cardboard box on a Christmas Eve journey so long ago. From Goodreads.

This was okay. It is a feel good Christmas story. It is heart-warming and about the importance of family. My only problem was that the ending was too sweet for me, there were just too many extraordinary happy endings. I don't need bad endings but maybe some of the endings could have been normal instead of extraordinary, that would have felt better.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Read-A-Thon

Every Woman For Herself by Trisha Ashley

Every Woman for Herself is a hilarious account of divorce and dating from Sunday Times besteller Trisha Ashley. Perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Carole Matthews.
When Charlie’s husband Matt tells her that he wants a divorce she has to start from scratch. Suddenly single, broke and approaching 40 she is forced to return to her childhood home in the Yorkshire moors. 
Living with her father and eccentric siblings could be considered a challenge but soon Charlie finds her new life somewhat refreshing. Now that she’s single she’s got no need to dye her roots nor to be the perfect wife and she can return to her first love- painting.
But just as she begins to feel settled, handsome, bad-tempered actor Mace North moves in down the road and starts mixing things up for Charlie in more ways than one …From Goodreads.





I really like Trisha Ashley's books. They are contemporary romances but with a whole lot of interesting side characters. In this one it is the elderly brother and sister in particular who have always been helping around the house that are interesting. It is of course pretty predictable but it is also very cosy.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Build a House
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (E-polarbear)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison

Supernatural superhero Rachel Morgan must counter a strange magic that could spell civil war for the Hollows in this sexy and bewitching urban fantasy adventure in acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's Hollows series.
Witch and daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan has managed to save the demonic ever-after from shrinking, but at a high cost. Now, strange magic is attacking Cincinnati and the Hollows, causing spells to backfire or go horribly wrong, and the truce between the races, between Inderlander and human, is shattering. Rachel must stop this dark necromancy before the undead vampire masters who keep the rest of the undead under control are lost and all-out supernatural war breaks out.
Rachel knows the only weapon to ensure peace: ancient elven wild magic, which carries its own perils. And no one knows better than Rachel that no good deed goes unpunished . . . From Goodreads.

I really like this series by Kim Harrison a lot. In this book Rachel of course has to save the world again, mostly the undead vampires. Take on an entity and also figure out her feelings for Trent. I am a bit sad that it sounds like the next book is going to be the last at the same time I think it is the right time.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (U-quail)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems by Robert Service

Assigned by his employers at the Canadian Bank of Commerce to the Yukon Territory in 1904, Robert Service became renowned as the poet who chronicled the Klondike gold rush. Service's memorable tales in verse relate the adventures of One-Eyed Mike, Blasphemous Bill, Dangerous Dan McGrew, and other colorful characters.
In this omnibus volume is included the verse of Robert Service from the beginning of his remarkable career up to 1940. From Goodreads.

I am still not fond of poetry to say the least. For me the only reason to read poetry is because I need it for a reading challenge.
That said, it of course makes poetry more interesting when it is read in the place it is about.
While reading this book I was sitting at the shore of Lake LeBarge in Canada. This meant I actually really liked the first part of this book that was about that particular area. I found the rest of the poems rather dark and not as interesting as most of them were about death.
It gets 3 Polar Bears because of the Yukon and Lake LeBarge poems.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014

Drifting Home by Pierre Berton

In the 1970s, Pierre Berton and his family recreated the trip down the Yukon made by his father, Francis George Berton, in 1898. This compelling story of the later journey is a valentine from son to father, a magical tale of a family adrift, and a poetic exploration of the region’s rich history. In experiencing this great wilderness, Berton and his family discover their deep connection to nature — and each other. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting story about a family trip down the Yukon river. It describes how it looked in the 1970s when this trip takes place but also about the thriving place it was in 1898 when Pierre Berton's father made the trip for the gold rush.
I am looking forward to see some of the places described in this book.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (D-leopard)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day….
Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.
He doesn’t know the half of it….
Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.
It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world—which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.
Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess—assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance…. From Goodreads.

I have been waiting for this book and it did not disappoint. It is quite difficult for Harry being the winter knight as it often works against his own ethics and now he also has a psychic parasite in his head that will kill him. 
Mab, the winter Queen, threatens him to work for a fallen angel to pay of a debt she owns him.
I like that Karrin, Michael and Butters are back, all with quite important roles to play. 

This is a fabulous series that I recommend to anyone who likes fantasy or paranormal books.  

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge 
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon 

It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot

How on earth did James Herriot come to be sitting on a high Yorkshire moor, smelling vaguely of cows? James isn't sure, but he knows that he loves it. This second hilarious volume of memoirs contains more tales of James' unpredictable boss Siegfried Farnon, his charming student brother Tristan, animal mayhem galore and his first encounters with a beautiful girl called Helen. 'He can tell a good story against himself, and his pleasure in the beauty of the countryside in which he works is infectious' - "Daily Telegraph". 'Full of warmth, wisdom and wit' - "The Field". 'It is a pleasure to be in James Herriot's company' - "Observer". From Goodreads.

This is a very humorous book. I remember watching All Creatures Great and Small - the TV-series adapted from the books James Herriot ( pen name for James Alfred Wight).
It was very clearly not an easy job but the stories he tells make it seem worth all the trouble.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and might read more in this series at a later date.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Read Scotland 2014
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Build a House
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (I-quail)
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaing guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in). From Goodreads.

I liked this book although I have read it before, many years ago. I enjoyed Bill Bryson's talk of buying the gear as I know it can be quite scary to buy new gear. Though his stories about the people he met on the trail were humorous they were also a bit belittling and I don't remember him approving of anybody he met, even though he himself was very ill prepared for hiking the trail.
Still I am impressed by how much both he and Stephen Katz managed to hike.
What I especially liked was the description of the areas he walked through. I could almost close my eyes and see it.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014 
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (B-umbrellabird)
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

Confusion reigns for characters and readers in the complicated seventh urban fantasy outing (after 2008's The Outlaw Demon Wails) for witch detective Rachel Morgan. Rachel's reputation is in tatters—to save humanity, she used powers that are considered evil—and she's still devastated by the mysterious death of her boyfriend six months earlier. Her attempts to solve his murder bleed into a case involving an emotion-sucking banshee, and soon Rachel has to bring in her PI partners—Ivy, a bisexual vampire, and Jenks, a pixie in existential crisis—along with empathic psychiatrist Ford and the banshee victim's father, Federal Inderland Bureau captain Edden. Harrison's unique vampire mythology unduly complicates world-building, and newcomers will be desperate for a glossary, but the nearly nonstop action nicely plays off the poignancy of Rachel's difficult life. From Goodreads.




This series just keeps getting better. Rachel and her life is as complicated as can be and she has to fight both enemies and so-called friends this time around. I am now glad I read the short story "Dirty Magic" in Hotter than Hell as the story about the banshee now makes sense. It is also a very good idea to read the short story "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" from Holidays are Hell as that helps clarify another major theme in this book.
Of course Rachel finds herself in love again in this book.
I have the next two books in the series on loan from the library ready to read.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (best so far 2014)
Color Coded Reading Challenge 2014
Vampire Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: 2014 Chubby Chunkster
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
Paranormal Addicts & Newbies - Paranormal Creatures Seasonal Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-narwhal)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.
Soon, her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.
Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart. From Goodreads.



It was good to be back with Mercy and the werewolves. Christy, Adam's ex-wife is back and a huge problem for Mercy as she is good at manipulating people. They also have to fight an unknown supernatural and Mercy's "dad" turns up which always makes things more complicated. This is book 8 in the series and I hope Patricia Briggs will keep going.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (published 2014)
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014 (published 2014)
Shifter Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Pass The Parcel Team Challenge
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (#8)
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers (Adam)
Paranormal Addicts & Newbies - Paranormal Creatures Seasonal Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (P-impala)
CCC-Read your age (2014)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge (Washington)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs

Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Breman, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should lie in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate. The puzzle surrounding Sister Elisabeth's life and death provides a welcome contrast to discoveries at a burning chalet, where scorched and twisted bodies await Tempe's professional expertise. Who were these people? What brought them to this gruesome fate? Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, with whom Tempe has a combustive history, joins her in the arson investigation. From the fire scene they are drawn into the worlds of an enigmatic and controversial professor, a mysterious commune, and a primate colony on a Carolina island. From Goodreads.



I keep having to tell myself that the TV-series Bones is only loosely based on this book series. The Dr. Temperance Brennan is a very different woman than on TV. She is an ex-alcoholic, mother and quite emotional. I still enjoyed the book and I am definitely going to continue reading this series.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (mystery)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (crime)
Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (#2)
Crazy Challenge Connection - Dr. Seuss
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (K-kestrel)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Book Buffs’ Battleship
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #3

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges. From Goodreads.

I decided to read this as I have seen a lot of good reviews about it indicating that it should be very humorous. Though there are funny bits in-between, it is not hilarious. A complicated romance with an odd couple.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Quick fix Challenge (298 pages)
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (humour)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (reviews persuaded me to read)
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge (298 pages)
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (Chaitra's bookshelf - she is a pig)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (D-dragonfly)
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can’t keep a secret
Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.
Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.
But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself. From Goodreads.

Chelsea has always been the one to gossip and tell everybody's secrets. She shares a discovery with a group of people and somebody is nearly killed. This was an interesting book. The main character goes from very dislikeable to likeable and there is a serious issue in it too.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Quick fix Challenge (288 pages)
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (contemporary)
Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014 (contemporary)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (contemporary)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 28th of July 2013)
2014 Women Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (Joanne's♥ bookshelf - she is a tiger)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Ten Book Author Train Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (H-hawk)
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2

Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer

Abby, 13, is looking forward to watching the moon turn purple, unaware that bacteria from a passing comet will soon kill off older teens and adults. She must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her--adolescence. From Goodreads.

Another free book that was way better than expected. The scary part of this book is the description of how they survive. The group the book follows on Castine Island is a good group. Most of the group want to work together to help each other, but that is not the case on the mainland where it is survival of the fittest or in other words the worst. 

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Quick fix Challenge (188 pages)
Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014 (lives by a body of water)
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (dystopian)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (less than 200 pages)
Color Coded Reading Challenge 2014
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 10th of September 2013)
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Pass The Parcel Team Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
CCC Winter Seasonal Spell Challenge 2013-2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (S-jellyfish)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge (Maine)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

It began with A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot. Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers... Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew once more in this stunning, richly imagined, epic tale. From Goodreads.

This book has been on my TBR pile for more than 1½ year. I bought it as soon as it was published on Kindle in July 2012 but then never got round to reading it.
I enjoyed it and it was interesting being back in 1590 Europe. It just wasn't as good as the first book. I am however looking forward to the final book coming in July.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (historical fiction)
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (historical fiction)
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge (award winning)
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge (Night)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought on Amazon.co.uk 10th of July 2012)
Vampire Challenge 2014
2014 Women Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (D)
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: 2014 Chubby Chunkster (592 pages)
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (Shan's bookshelf - she is a goat)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge (Europe)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (D-badger)
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan, sexy witch, independent bounty hunter, prowls the downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night. She can handle leather-clad vamps and a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is an ancient, implacable evil that threatens her very soul. From Goodreads.

Another series where I really liked the first book but just never got back to the series. I am glad I am back. Things just don't get easier for Rachel in this and a lot of things actually go badly. I read this book in a day starting at 3 in the afternoon and with a few breaks thrown in finished at 6.30 the next morning which for me makes it a very good read.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (more than 400 pages)
Vampire Challenge 2014
2014 Women Challenge
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (G)
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: 2014 Chubby Chunkster (453 pages)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Ten Book Author Train Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (G-badger)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge (cincinnati - Ohio)

The Rising by Kelley Armstrong

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it's not like they can just go to the authorities for help.
All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.
But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.
Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy. From Goodreads.


This is one of those books where I know I am going to like it as I have like the first two books in the series and the author is one of my favourite authors. I bought it in April 2013 and have had it down on lists for reading events several times but I just haven't gotten around to reading it!
Finally I have read it and just before starting I was nervous that since it is about 1½ years since I read the second, would I be able to remember the plot and characters? No problem at all.
I think Kelley Armstrong has written a brilliant end to this trilogy and knowing the Otherworld, where this is set, this was probably the best ending to expect.
Paranormal is my favourite genre and Kelley Armstrong is to me one of the best authors in this genre.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014 (Main character shift into a cougar)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (book fra a series)
2014 What An Animal Reading Challenge VII (Main character shift into a cougar)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought on Amazon.co.uk 20th of April 2013)
Shifter Challenge 2014
2014 Women Challenge
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (R)
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-badger)

Saltwater Witch by Chris Howard

Kassandra comes from the sea, but she has no memory of saltwater, seagulls, or an incoming tide. She's never seen an ocean, never heard the thunder of surf. She's an exile, betrayed by her own family, sent as far from the sea as they could arrange--somewhere in the middle of Nebraska.
Everything changes the day she drowns in Red Bear Lake, and discovers she can't really drown. Not in the way everyone else can. Then a two-thousand year old king wakes inside her head and turns out to be a prodigy with mathematics. Kassandra cries for the first time in her life, and learns that her tears are doorways for calling things from the sea. With clues from summoned sea-demons and the voices in her head, Kassandra sets out to find out what the hell is going on...and discovers she's a prisoner, trapped between a murderous grandfather who controls an army of the drowned dead, river witches who spy on her through the plumbing, and Ms. Matrothy, the Girl's Department Director, who's been trying to kill her since she was four. From Goodreads.

This was more interesting than I expected. Kassandra is very far away from the sea and scared of the water. After nearly drowning or not as it turned out, a lot starts to happen. I like Kassandra and there are a few twists in the story that I didn't expect. A high Polar Bear 3 and I might read the continuation of this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014 (main character younger than 18)
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (published before 2013)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought on Amazon.co.uk 2nd of May 2012)
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (S)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (K)
CCC-Read your age (published 2005)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge (Nebraska)

John Macnab by John Buchan

In 1925, John Buchan published his second most famous novel, John Macnab; three high-flying men—a barrister, a cabinet minister and a banker—are suffering from boredom. They concoct a plan to cure it. They inform three Scottish estates that they will poach from each two stags and a salmon in a given time. They sign collectively as 'John McNab' and await the responses. This novel is a light interlude within the Leithen Stories series—an evocative look at the hunting, shooting and fishing lifestyle in Highland Scotland. From Goodreads.

I have lived in the Highlands of Scotland and I enjoyed reading about the area, the forest and especially the river. This is a fun light read, I like the young Fish Benjie.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Scotland 2014
2014 Quick fix Challenge
Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014 (different country to mine)
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (classic)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (different country to mine)
2014 What An Animal Reading Challenge VII (poaching)
What’s In A Name 2014 (first name)
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (J-jellyfish)
Bout of Books 9.0