Beat the Heat Readathon Finished

Beat the Heat Readathon hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads & Phantasmic Reads

My goal for these 3 weeks of Beat the Heat Readathon came to 11 books and I reached that goal. I have had days of no reading at all but luckily also a couple of days crammed with reading.

My list of book:

1. Frey by Melissa Wright 
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
3. Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
4. Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina
5. Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva 
6. Eternal Vows by Chrissy Peebles 
7. Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson 
8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
9. The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa 
10. Fins by Ashley L. Knight  
11. I Bring the Fire: Part I Wolves by C. Gockel

I have enjoyed this Readathon. Thank you Auntie Spinelli Reads & Phantasmic Reads  for hosting this challenge, I hope you will do it again some time.

THIS is all my posts and books for the challenge. 

I Bring the Fire: Part I Wolves by C. Gockel

When Loki awakes on Asgard in prison, strangely without a hangover, he has no idea what he's done wrong--this time, anyway. But he does know that Thor is lying to him, and Odin is up to something wicked.
Meanwhile on Earth, Amy Lewis just wants to get home in time for dinner, but she's on a collision course with chaos, and an old evil is awakening that threatens all the Nine Realms. If Loki remembers exactly what Odin is hiding and manages not to be too distracted by Earthly gadgets, Amy’s boobs, or three day benders, he might be sly enough to stop it – and extract some vengeance at the same time.
This first volume of "I Bring the Fire" is for anyone who suspects chaos and mischief makers might have their own redeeming qualities, and anyone who just wants a good fantasy romp through modern Earth, ancient Asgard, and beyond! From Goodreads.


Norse mythology mixed with modern day. Amy is saved by Loki who then in return needs help from her to find out where his ex-wife and sons are. I really like Amy's Grandmother who of course just accepts the things that are happening.
My biggest problem with this book was the abrupt ending, there is no doubt I will read the next book in this series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Mythology Challenge
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 14th of August 2013)

Fins by Ashley L. Knight

Morgan James is visiting sunny Florida for two weeks before the school year begins. Right from the start, she realizes there's something strangely odd about the opulent world in which her mother and her new husband live and suddenly she is swept into another world - a world she could never have dreamed of. Follow Morgan's unbelievable journey in this magical tale of people who are something other than what they seem - OR, are they really people at all? From Goodreads.

Morgan is not who she thinks she is. Going on holiday to her mom she finds out she is half mermaid. She also meets the boy she has been dreaming about for years. It is about eternal love, jealousy and wanting power.
As part of one of my challenges this is the third mermaid book I am reading this month and again I have already bought the second book in this series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (mermaid)
NBRC Stuck in a Rut

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.
Unless he can earn a soul.
To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.
Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.
With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.
To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.
And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice. From Goodreads.

I have really enjoyed this series of The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa. This book, which seems to be the last of series, is about Ash and his quest to become human so he can join Meghan at the iron court.
As far as I can see, this is currently the last book in this series but it seems there is another series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten which is set in the same world starting with a book about Meghan's younger brother. I will continue with that series at some point.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (fey)
2013 Sequel Reading Challenge
Ten Book Author Train Challenge

Beat the Heat Readathon Update 2

Beat the Heat Readathon hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads & Phantasmic Reads

This Read-a-Thon was meant to finish today but the hosts have decided to extend it by a week.

My goal for this Read-a-Thon was to read 7 books. Although I have not stuck to my list of books, I managed to finish 8 books.

1. Frey by Melissa Wright 
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
3. Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
4. Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina
5. Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva 
6. Eternal Vows by Chrissy Peebles 
7. Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson 
8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

My goal for this extra week of the Read-a-Thon will be 3 books which will be a total of 11 books.

Monday 12/8:
Books Finished Today: The Iron Knight by by Julie Kagawa
Total # of Books Finished: 9

Tuesday 13/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 9

Wednesday 14/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel + Fins by Ashley L. Knight
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 9

Thursday 15/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Books Finished Today: Fins by Ashley L. Knight + I Bring the Fire: Part I Wolves by C. Gockel
Total # of Books Finished: 11

Friday 16/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 11

Saturday 17/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 11

Sunday 18/8:
Currently Reading: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 11

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

 
When Ravi Kapoor, an over-worked London doctor, is driven beyond endurance by his obnoxious father-in-law, he asks his wife: 'Can't we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.' His prayer seems to have been answered when his entrepreneurial cousin, Sonny, sets up a retirement home, recreating a lost corner of England in a converted guesthouse in Bangalore. Travel and set-up are inexpensive, staff willing and plentiful - and the British pensioners can enjoy the hot weather and take mango juice with their gin.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a brilliant comedy of manners, mixing acute observation with a deeper message about how different cultures cope in the modern world. From Goodreads.




I saw this film just over a year ago and thought I would read (listen to) the book. As with a lot of other books that have been turned into film, this book was nothing like the film.
The film is about a small group of elderly people coming to the Marigold Hotel for their retirement. In the book the hotel is full and it is just as much about their families and what brings them out to India. I enjoyed both the book and the film.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Audio Book Challenge

Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson

Marina is a privileged girl who’s had an unusual upbringing. Traveling the world with her scientist father, doted on by her wealthy and glamorous neighbor Evie, Marina’s life seems perfect.
Everything changes in the summer of her sixteenth year when she is sent to live with her Aunt Abby and Cousin Cruz in the lovely seaside town of Aptos, California.
Only a few weeks after arriving, sixteen year-old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can manage to survive some increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might be able to unlock the mystery of her past and appease the mysterious forces that want something from her...
And maybe even find true love along the way. From Goodreads.




Another mermaid story. This wasn't as good as the last one, I liked the intelligent mermaids in the other one more compared to the childlike, as in behaviour, mermaids in this one. I am not in any hurry to read the next book but I still might do it at a later date.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2

Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (mermaid)
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 15th of July 2013)

Beat the Heat Readathon Update

Beat the Heat Readathon hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads & Phantasmic Reads

I have been quite busy this last week but I have still been reading.

Monday 29/7:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 246
Currently Reading:
Books Finished Today: Frey by Melissa Wright
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Tuesday 30/7:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 246
Currently Reading: Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Wednesday 31/7:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 288
Currently Reading: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Thursday 1/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 312
Currently Reading: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Friday 2/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 312
Currently Reading: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1
 
Saturday 3/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 497
Currently Reading: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy 
Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Sunday 4/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT:532
Currently Reading: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Listening to Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 1

Monday 5/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT:  921
Currently Reading: Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva + Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach 
Books Finished Today:Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson + Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs + Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina
Total # of Books Finished: 4

Tuesday 6/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 1148
Currently Reading: Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Books Finished Today: Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva
Total # of Books Finished: 5

Wednesday 7/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 1428
Currently Reading: Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Books Finished Today: Eternal Vows by Chrissy Peebles
Total # of Books Finished: 6

Thursday 8/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 1549
Currently Reading: Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson + Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Books Finished Today:  0
Total # of Books Finished: 6

Friday 9/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 1549
Currently Reading: Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson + Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Books Finished Today: 0
Total # of Books Finished: 6

 Saturday 10/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT:1831
Currently Reading: Listening to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Books Finished Today: Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson
Total # of Books Finished: 7

Sunday 11/8:
# of Pages Read for RaT: 2003
Currently Reading:
Books Finished Today: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach
Total # of Books Finished: 8

Eternal Vows by Chrissy Peebles

Never marry a stranger... even if he is a drop-dead gorgeous immortal king.
Never pretend to be a princess.
And most importantly... never slip on an ancient wedding ring you know nothing about.
Sarah Larker returns to a cave where her sister disappeared ten years earlier. She walks through a portal and is mistaken for a runaway princess on the run by a dangerous immortal king in medieval times. Her plan is bold as well as daring-become this princess, wed the king, and slip on an ancient wedding ring that will unlock the portal back home. Then find her sister and run as fast as she can out of Dodge. But taking on the identity of Princess Gloria comes along with dangerous consequences; and slipping on the ruby ring comes with an even higher price. From Goodreads.




This was interesting, the existence of a parallel universe just on the other side of a portal. Just walk through from our side to the other but to get back you need a key, the ring. This story had potential but didn't quite live up to it. This book was free but I am not hurrying out to buy the next book.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (immortality / shapeshifters)
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 7th of June 2013)

Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva

Deep under Arctic waters lies an ice kingdom carved into a glacier. Those who dwell within it possess magnificent biological secrets. Due to the dangers of impending war, the Princess of Adlivun is forced to flee her undersea utopia and regroup with her sisters in Alaska.
Captain Trevain Murphy is a successful king crab fisherman who has spent his life building his empire above the sea, and knows nothing of the empire beneath it. When he meets a mysterious woman in a strip club, he extends kindness towards her, unaware of her unique genetics and royal lineage.
Trevain's attraction to the enigmatic Aazuria Vellamo will involve him in dangerous designs that will forever change his life, and his perspective on himself and his world. He embarks on perilous journeys in which he will need to release all of his insecurities and inhibitions in order to survive. From Goodreads




A different take on mermaids, no fishtail and able to live on land. This book is about war, love and also betrayal. I like the story about Captain Trevain Murphy. This was a free book but I have already bought the second book in the series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2

Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (mermaid)
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 15th of July 2013)

Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina

An air voyage to remember turns into a disaster no one may survive.
With her orphaned charges, Lady Claire Trevelyan joins the Earl of Dunsmuir’s family on an airship voyage to the Americas. If she can stay out of Lord James Selwyn’s way until her eighteenth birthday, she will be of age and cannot be forced into marriage. What she doesn’t know is that Lord James is in the Americas, too, with Andrew Malvern closing in on him—and the wonderful device he stole. But when a storm cripples the airship and air pirates swoop in like carrion birds, Claire and the children must live by their wits to make their way across a harsh landscape. Will Andrew ever see her again and right the wrong he believes he has done? Will Lord James succeed in his monumental thievery? And how exactly does Rosie the chicken evade the soup pot?
Tighten your goggles, pull on your gloves, and prepare yourself for stratagems and strangeness in the third book in the series, Magnificent Devices!  From Goodreads.


I am really enjoying this Steampunk series by Shelley Adina. Claire is a strong heroine but she still needs all the help she can get from both old and new friends. I really like the Mopsies - read the book to find out who they are :-)

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Sequel Reading Challenge
Get Steampunk’d 2013

Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

It's June in Montreal, and Dr. Temperance Brennan, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend in beautiful Quebec City. First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. The remains are probably old and only of archeological interest, but Tempe must make sure they're not a case for the police.
One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. Something about the crime scene is familiar to Tempe: the stashing of the body parts; the meticulous dismemberment. As a pattern continues to emerge, Tempe calls upon all her forensic skills, including bone, tooth/dental, and bitemark analysis and x-ray microflourescence to convince the police that the cases are related and to try to stop the killer before he strikes again.
Told with lacerating authenticity and passion, Déjà Dead is both poignant and terrifying as it hurtles toward its breathtaking conclusion and instantly catapults Kathy Reich into the top ranks of crime authors. From Goodreads.

This is the book on which the TV-series "Bones" has been based. Very loosely based. As far as I can see it is only the name and the profession of Temperance Brennan that has been used, the characters are extremely different.
I really like Bones and it took me some time to get use to this completely other character. It was a good crime book though and I will most likely pick up the next book in the series. I think one of my problems with this book was that I was listening to it on audible and I am not used to that.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Audio Book Challenge

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

"One day in 1993, high up in the world's most inhospitable mountains, Greg Mortenson wandered lost and alone, broken in body and spirit, after a failed attempt to climb K2, the world's deadliest peak.
When the people of an impoverished village in Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya took him in and nursed him back to health, Mortenson made an impulsive promise: He would return one day and build them a school.
Although he was a homeless "climbing bum" living out of his aging Buick in Berkeley, California, Mortenson sold what few possessions he had to launch one of the most remarkable humanitarian campaigns of our time."
"Three Cups of Tea" traces Mortenson's decade-long odyssey to build schools, especially for girls, throughout the region that gave birth to the Taliban and sanctuary to Al Qaeda.
While he wages war with the root causes of terrorism - poverty and ignorance - by providing both girls and boys with a balanced, nonextremist education. Mortenson must survive a kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, death threats from Americans who consider him a traitor, and wrenching separations from his family."
Today, as the director of the Central Asia Institute, Mortenson has built fifty-five schools serving Pakistan and Afghanistan's poorest communities. And as this real-life Indiana Jones from Montana crisscrosses the Himalaya and the Hindu Kush fighting to keep these schools functioning, he provides not only hope to tens of thousands of children, but living proof that one passionately dedicated person truly can change the world. From Goodreads.

This book describes a very good cause, providing for schools in quite poor areas facing huge challenges. I am supportive of the cause but wary of a book that is purely praising the author himself.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge

Frey by Melissa Wright

Unaware she's been bound from using magic, Frey leads a small, miserable life in the village where she's sent after the death of her mother. But a tiny spark starts a fury of changes and she finds hersef running from everything she's ever known.
Hunted by council for practicing dark magic, she is certain she's been wrongfully accused. She flees, and is forced to rely on strangers for protection. But the farther she strays from home, the more her magic and forgotten memories return and she begins to suspect all is not as it seems. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book. Not knowing her magic has been bound Frey thinks she has no magic and living in a elf village where everybody uses magic is miserable. As the book moves along Frey learns more and more about her background and it is not happy reading. I have already bought the next book in this series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Beat the Heat Readathon 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (elves, magic)
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 7th of July 2012)

Beat the Heat Readathon Sign Up

Beat the Heat Readathon hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads & Phantasmic Reads.

Ze Rules!

• The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from July 29th through August 11th. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for two weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal!
• There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end!
• Sign up at Auntie Spinelli Reads or Phantasmic Reads. You may join whenever you like, but to be eligible for our grand prize giveaway, you must sign up by August 5th.
• To join, all you have to do is make a sign-up post – even if it’s just a “Let’s do this!” thing - and add your post URL to the linky below! You can put your goals and progress (will be required for the final giveaway) in your sign-up post, or you can make it separate. Totally up to you! Feel free to copy and paste this handy little list for your post. We don’t mind. :)
• In order to enter for the grand prize, you must have a post to keep track of your progress so we can see that you participated.

I am quite busy at the moment so I will set myself a low goal of reading 7 books during this Readathon.

My list of books:

1. Frey by Melissa Wright (started today)
2. The weird Stone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
4. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
5. Riversong by Tess Thompson
6. Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina
7. Drowning Mermaids by Nadia Scrieva
8. Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter
9. The Cypher by Julian Rosado-Machain

As usual when I make a list for a Readathon it is only a maybe list. I might read something not on the list instead.