2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge - Finished

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge hosted by Bookish.

My goal for this challenge was to read level A Friendly Hug: 11-20 books and if I reached this level early in the year I would move up a level.

I have reached my goal of 20 books and have completed the challenge. I will not move up a level and continue as the host of the challenge actually hasn't posted anything about this challenge since March.

My list of books is at the bottom of this post.

All posts for this challenge are HERE.

Welcome to 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge!

We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us.. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up..

Join us on a quest to dust off your TBR Pile and read all the books you've been telling yourself you'll read next time you'll get a chance.. This is your chance! And we've got PRIZES!!! :D

Challenge Guidelines:

1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2014 - Dec 31, 2014. 
2. Anyone can enter! You don't have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you've read! (On your blog, Amazon, Random Buzzers or Goodreads/Shelfari!)
3. Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Short stories and novellas are OK, too! Only books released in 2013 and earlier! NO  2014 ARCs and 2014 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2013 TBRPILE Reading Challenge. (If you don't have a blog, post about it on Facebook or Tweet!) 
6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2014, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
8. On the 20th of each month we will post a wrap-up post, here, on BOOKISH. Every wrap-up will have it's unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e. the entire month)
9. If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;) 
10. December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a GRAND PRIZE giveaway.  
11. You don't have to follow Bookish Blog to join the challenge, but you do have to follow us to be entered in giveaways!

Levels: 
(how many books you're planning to read for this challenge in 2014)

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children

What's New: 

1. 2014's edition of the TBR Pile Reading Challenge will be hosted EXCLUSIVELY on Bookish. Co-hosting with other awesome bloggers was fun, but due to too many hiccups along the way, our Bookish Team has decided to take over to ensure that everything goes smoothly this time. 
2. For your convenience and to ensure you won't miss any important posts / wrap-ups / updates / contests, we have created a mailing list! We invite you to sign up to receive all the important news in the mail (no more searching the web for wrap-up posts and missing out on all the fun!). You can sign up here: !! JOIN 2014 TBR PILE READING CHALLENGE MAILING LIST!! !!
3. To help you tackle your TBR Piles, we will also be hosting monthly Read-A-Longs with prizes! And this time, you'll get to VOTE on the book we'll read together! Join the mailing list mentioned above to never miss out on the fun! Please note: You don't have to take part in our read-a-longs to participate in the TBR Pile challenge - or you can just take part in some of them, and skip the rest - participation is optional, tho we would certainly love to discuss the books with you! 
4. We have sponsors! Which of course means more fun prizes!! YAY!

My list of books:

1. A little Christmas Magic by Sylvie Kurtz (bought on Amazon.co.uk 9th of January 2013) 
2. Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson (bought on Amazon.co.uk 28th of August 2013) 
3. Saltwater Witch by Chris Howard (bought on Amazon.co.uk 2nd of May 2012) 
4. The Rising by Kelley Armstrong   (bought on Amazon.co.uk 20th of April 2013)
5. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (bought on Amazon.co.uk 24th of August 2013)
6. What Stays in Vegas by Beth Labonte (bought on Amazon.co.uk 15th of July 2013)
7. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (bought on Amazon.co.uk 26th of May 2012)
8. Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer (bought on Amazon.com 10th of September 2013)
9. Speechless by Hannah Harrington (bought on Amazon.co.uk 28th of July 2013)
10. Forever Fae by L.P. Dover (bought on Amazon.co.uk 4th of June 2013)
11. Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs   (bought on Amazon.co.uk 28th of July 2013)
12. The Dreaming Place by Charles De Lint (bought on Amazon.co.uk 19th of October 2013)
13. Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins (bought on Amazon.co.uk 6th of October 2012)
14. Boneland by Alan Garner (bought on Audible 28th of November 2012)
15. Pieces of Eight by Melissa Wright (bought on Amazon.co.uk 30th of July 2013)
16. The Breeders by Katie French (bought on Amazon.co.uk 31st of May 2013)
17. Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch (bought on Amazon.co.uk 21st of August 2013)
18. Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan (bought on Amazon.co.uk 14th of July 2011)
19. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot (bought on Amazon.co.uk 4th of November 2012)
20. Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (bought on Audible 13th of August 2013)

Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson

One night while the moon gleamed out of the clouds in the east, a young female otter gave birth to three cubs in a hollow oak by a woodland river. The pride of the litter was Tarka, "Little Water Wanderer," the name the ancients gave otters in Britain's long-vanished tribal past.
First published in 1927, this classic story of Tarka's life in the country of the Two Rivers has charmed generations of readers. It pictures a never-to-be-forgotten rural England and, through the character of Tarka, lets us experience nature in her infinite variety. Narrated By Michael Maloney. From Goodreads.

This is a long description of the English country side. Sometimes quite long winded. There was some interesting otter hunting sequences when Tarka was being hunted by the hounds.
The best part of this book was that I was listening to it while going for walks in the Danish countryside. I was watching birds of prey, hares and lots of different birds on these walks. I even got spooked by a pheasant that was hiding in the long grass right next to the road.
I can recommend this book to people who like very long and detailed descriptions of nature.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Audio Book Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-owl)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

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

Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan

Having returned to the real world from Tir Na Nog at the end of the last book, our hero Conor finds himself arrested for the murder of his father.
When he explains to the cops that his dad is safe and well and enjoying life as king of a land of elves, imps and banshees they understandably think he is a nutcase.
That is until he is rescued by Celtic warriors on horseback and taken back to Tir Na Nog, accidentally bringing a policeman with him.
Once safely back in The Land, Conor finds that all is not well. His father is dying, the girl he loves is betrothed to another and a rather confused American cop is wandering around causing havoc.
It falls to our young hero, and his band of friends, to find a cure for the king. On their epic journey they encounter one of the most mystical and dangerous races in The Land, the shapeshifting Pooka, and find their fates linked in ways they could never have imagined.
The Prince of Hazel and Oak is a stunning fantasy adventure that takes fans of Shadowmagic further in to the land and brings back many of the favourite characters from the first book. From Goodreads.

It took me 1½ years from buying Shadowmagic, the first book in the series, before reading it and now another 1½ years later I finally got around to reading the second book.
I really enjoyed this book. Conor has come back to the real world but it is just not the same to him any longer and after being accused of his father's murder and arrested he is saved by his mother and brought back to Tir Na Nog. This time his quest is to find a cure for his father who is dying. Conor is just a teenager and quite often behaves as such but the book is humorous with him also trying to tell jokes that nobody understands.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (P-polarbear)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch

I'm told the dead are all around us. I wouldn't know about that, I see only the violently slain. They can be victims of hit-and-run, innocents caught in a cross-fire, the murdered. They whisper to me and they never, ever, forget the face of their killer. I've learned to live with my uncanny ability, in fact I've made a career out of it.
The departed aren't the only supernaturals I see. No, they're not vampires or werewolves or fae - those things don't exist. We live side by side with what some call the Otherworldy. That's too much of a mouthful for me, I call them demons. If you saw them as I do, you'd know why.
Right now I'm trying to track down a missing six year-old boy whose mother was murdered. Or maybe she wasn't. To further complicate the case, Clarion PD gave me a partner I'd rather shoot than work with.
I can't tell them he's a demon.
They'd think I'm crazy.
I'm Tiff Banks. Welcome to my world.
WHISPERINGS. Paranormal mystery with a splash of humor and dash of romance. From Goodreads.

Again a free Kindle book that was better than expected. Tiff can see and talk to the dead, only the ones that died an violent death. She can also see "demons" or that is what she calls them, beings from another dimension. She has to help solve the case of a missing kid and she gets paired with a demon. It is despite the killing and torture also quite humorous when she discusses things with the two ghosts that live in her house.
It was close to a 4 star book but ended as a high 3 instead. I might get the next in the series, I like it when free books reel me in.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-wolf)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

The Breeders by Katie French

Sixteen-year-old Riley Meemick is one of the world's last free girls. When Riley was born, her mother escaped the Breeders, the group of doctors using cruel experiments to bolster the dwindling human race. Her parents do everything possible to keep her from their clutches-moving from one desolate farm after another to escape the Breeders' long reach. The Breeders control everything and they're hunting Riley.
When the local Sheriff abducts the adult members of her family, Riley and her brother Ethan are left to starve. Then Clay arrives, the handsome gunslinger who seems determined to help to make up for past sins. As Riley's affection for Clay grows she wonders can she trust Clay with her secret and risk her freedom? The three embark on a journey across the scarred remains of New Mexico. When Riley is forced into the Breeder's hospital, she learns the horrible fate of her mother-a fate she'll share unless she can find a way out. From Goodreads.


A dystopian world where hardly any women are born. Sixteen-year-old Riley Meemick has to pretend to be a bender, a genderless person, to avoid being caught by the Breeders. After her stepfather is killed and her mother has been sold to the Breeders, Riley with her 8 year old brother goes looking for her. She gets help from Clay who believes she is a bender.
This was a free book but it is good enough that I am considering buying the next book in the series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014 (dystopian)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (R-narwhal)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Pieces of Eight by Melissa Wright

After revealing a dark past, Frey is forced to join with a group of strangers whose pasts seem to intertwine with her own. She struggles to regain her memories, her full power, only to find there is more danger on the other side. And now, there is no turning back. From Goodreads

As it is about 9 months since I read the first book, it took me a bit of time to get all the characters sorted.
Frey was bound which meant she had no memory of her previous life or her powers. During this book she slowly regains both. It becomes obvious that her previous self was a complete different person to the one she is now and I am looking forward to see how she copes with that in the next book.
Frey and her companions have to kill the council members that bound her in order to free her memories and powers.
She has some very loyal friends. But as she now starts to remember things again, and remember her friends together with her enemies, she is unsure of their loyalty. They can't tell her too much as her brain can't cope and she keeps fainting when it gets too much.
I am glad I finally got round to reading this sequel.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (F-jellyfish)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Boneland by Alan Garner

A major novel from one of the country’s greatest writers, and the crowning achievement of an astonishing career, BONELAND is also the long-awaited conclusion to the story of Colin and Susan – a story that began over fifty years ago in THE WEIRDSTONE OF BRISINGAMEN…
Extract from book:
A woman was reading a book to a child on her knee.
“‘So the little boy went into the wood, and he met a witch. And the witch said, “You come home with me and I’ll give you a good dinner.”’ Now you wouldn’t go home with a witch, would you?”
Colin stood. “Young man. Do not go into the witch’s house. Do not. And whatever you do, do not go upstairs. You must not go upstairs. Do not go! You are not to go!”
Professor Colin Whisterfield spends his days at Jodrell Bank, using the radio telescope to look for his lost sister in the Pleiades. At night, he is on Alderley Edge, watching.
At the same time, and in another time, the Watcher cuts the rock and blows bulls on the stone with his blood, and dances, to keep the sky above the earth and the stars flying.
Colin can’t remember; and he remembers too much. Before the age of thirteen is a blank. After that he recalls everything: where he was, what he was doing, in every minute of every hour of every day. Everything he has read and seen.
And then, finally, a new force enters his life, a therapist who might be able to unlock what happened to him when he was twelve, what happened to his sister.
But Colin will have to remember quickly, to find his sister. And the Watcher will have to find the Woman. Otherwise the skies will fall, and there will be only winter, wanderers and moon… From Goodreads.

I was really disappointed in this book and wish I hadn't read it. In my opinion it belittles The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. The dark fantasy is gone and instead we have a grown up Colin that is a brilliant scientist but also a psychiatric patient. He is crazy because of what happened in the first two books which he has now kind of forgotten but not completely which is why it haunts him.
What I did enjoy was the description of  Jodrell Bank and the whispering discs as I visited there just last summer.
I can recommend reading The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath but don't read this book.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Audio Book Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins

George Gaskill, a car salesman from Indiana, goes missing from the stern deck of the Aegean Queen leaving only a pool of blood and a strange note behind. Ollie Osgood, the husband of Dotsy Lamb's best friend Lettie, is the last person to have seen him and one of three men who lost a bundle to George in a Texas Hold'em Poker game. Then the ship's photographer turns up murdered on the beautiful island of Mykonos.
Dotsy wants only to unwind and to renew her promising relationship with Marco Quattrocchi, the Carabinieri captain she met in Italy three years ago, but since Ollie is the prime suspect in George's disappearance and Marco is embroiled in the photographer's murder, she can't.
The Aegean Queen is a ship with a theme--archaeology. Dotsy strikes up a friendship with the ship's guest lecturer, famous archaeologist, Dr. Luc Girard, and introduces him to the ship's klutziest dancer, Sophie Antonakos. With the help of Lettie Osgood's amazing powers of observation, Dotsy, Sophie, and Luc discover antiquities in the ship's display cases that have been looted from museums or smuggled from their homelands.
The trails of murder and theft converge on the island of Crete where Dotsy finds herself dodging bullets from the gun of a man she doesn't even know. From Goodreads.

This was a mystery and there was quite a lot going on but it was easy to follow. I like Dotsy's friend Lettie who remembers everything she has seen. It was a cosy, easy read. This was the third book in the series and I have not read the two first ones but it wasn't a problem.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
What’s In A Name 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (L-eagle)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

The Dreaming Place by Charles De Lint

A young woman locked in rage yet seeking magic, Ash is drawn into a wondrous Otherworld of totems and dryads, living tarots and mystic charms. At the same time, Ash's cousin Nina is stalked by an Otherworld demon-a manitou who can force her mind and soul into the bodies of beasts. Ash must find the strength to overcome her own anger, learn the full power of magic, and save Nina before she becomes the manitou's weapon, turning the faerie realm into an arctic wasteland. De Lint fans will relish this urban and otherworldly fantasy, partially set in the author's trademark Newford. From Goodreads.

I like the way Charles De Lint mixes the real world and the spirit world. His characters always have some dealings with the spirit world. This is the second book in the Newford series and I have decided to read them all in order. Though I am not sure this is necessary as most of them are individual stories. 

This book qualifies for:
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Dewey's Read-a-Thon April 2014

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.
Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.
When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned. From Goodreads.

Lily a Mermaid has come to live on land with her human aunt. When she first arrives the next door neighbor Quince is okay but then he starts behaving obnoxiously and over the next 3 years she comes to hate him. Lily is infatuated with a boy she has hardly anything to do with. It was very predictable, Quince of course behaves like he does because he loves her. There were too many sea puns in the book. Though it was a cute easy read I am not sure I am going to read the next in the series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 28th of July 2013)
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Pass The Parcel Team Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (L-dragonfly)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Book Buffs’ Battleship

Forever Fae by L.P. Dover

He leans down, lips parted, and then our lips connect... We didn’t know that this one kiss has FOREVER changed the Land of the Fae.
According to the Prophecy proclaimed many years ago, Princess Calista of the Summer Court is destined to change the Land of the Fae from the evil determined to destroy it. Her powers are phenomenal, and she secretly trains for battle with her handsome warrior friend, Merrick, who unbeknownst to her protects her heart as well, in hopes of keeping it for himself. At least, until the seductive Prince Ryder attends the Guardian Ceremony and instantly sends a fire burning through her veins and a connection so deep they both discover a love above anything imaginable.
No one knows how Calista is destined to change the kingdoms, but there is one that does. He not only craves Calista’s power, but her body as well, and his goal is to steal her power, make her his Dark Queen, and take over the Land of the Fae.
Will the evil succeed in claiming Calista’s soul? Or will the two men that fight for her heart save her from despair, and help her fulfill her destiny to become what she was meant to be. From Goodreads.

This was okay but no more than that. I like to read about the Fae and usually the Summer and Winter Courts are at each others throats but not here, so there is really only one enemy. The rest is two men wanting the same girl. It was very predictable and I don't think I will continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 4th of June 2013)
What’s In A Name 2014 (A reference to time)
2014 Women Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.co.uk 4th of June 2013)
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (L)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (F-dragonfly)
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2
Dansk Readathon March 2014

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

What Stays in Vegas by Beth Labonte

Bored administrative assistant, Tessa Golden, is trapped in a life of lousy weather, irritating bosses, and mind-numbing secretarial work. Her dreams of being an artist have rapidly deteriorated into building things out of paperclips while on hold with tech support. To make matters even worse, the love of her life has gone off and married another woman.
So when Tessa is suddenly transferred to the Las Vegas branch of her company - playing wingwoman to her freshly divorced boss, juggling a client from hell, and catching the eye of one very eligible coworker - will her life finally be shaken up enough to straighten itself out? From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this more than expected and there were quite a few funny elements in it. Her best friend and love of her life, that she can't have as he is married, seems nice but turns out to be a jerk. Of course the story is predictable but that is okay.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Quick fix Challenge (194 pages)
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (chick lit)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
2014 Women Challenge
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
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (L)
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Pass The Parcel Team Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-hawk)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

London constable and apprentice Peter Grant suspects sorcery when Soho area musicians drop dead, their brain scans showing magical draining. Victim Cyrus left girlfriend Simone, who beds Peter. His dad "Lord Grant" taught him jazz, but master mage DCI Nightingale still recuperates, and a Pale Lady bites off essential bits for an animal chimera slave ring. From Goodreads.

I read the first book in this series over 6 months ago and finally got around to reading this one now. It continues where the first one stopped, meaning Peter's friend Lesley and his boss are still recuperating after their injuries. I like Urban fantasy and Ben Aaronvitch does it well. Just when you think you know the plot and answers there is a twist. I already have the next book in this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (urban fantasy)
2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 24th of August 2013)
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (P)
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge (Paranormal activity)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge (London)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (B-badger)

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)

Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson

California teen Sadie James thinks her life couldn't get any better. She has great friends, an energetic mother she adores, and the beach practically in her own backyard. But her carefree life is turned upside down when she's rescued by a mysterious and strangely familiar boy who won't even tell her his name. Each time the boy appears, Sadie's unexplainable attraction to him deepens along with her need to unravel his secrets. The boy is there to protect her, but as wonderful and exciting as it might be to have an irresistible boy with crystal green eyes protecting her every move, every minute of the day...why does Sadie need one? As Sadie finds answers, she realizes her life isn't as perfect as she thought. Not only is she caught in a world of dangerous secret agents she never knew existed, but it turns out her true identity may be the greatest secret of all. From Goodreads.




I really enjoy it when I like a free book enough to buy the next books in the series right after reading it and I have done that with this book. Sadie is a likeable teen and I am looking forward to read the next books in the series.

This book qualifies for: 
2014 Ebook challenge
Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014 (young adult)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (Paranormal)
Color Coded Reading Challenge 2014 (blue)
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge (set in USA, I live in Denmark)
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge (secret)
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought on Amazon.co.uk 28th of August 2013)
2014 Women Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.co.uk 28th of August 2013)
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (C)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
CCC Winter Seasonal Spell Challenge 2013-2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (C-coyote)
Bout of Books 9.0