Level 1+2 of the Serious Readers Challenge for 2013 Finished

Level 1 of the Serious Readers Challenge for 2013.

This challenge is for serious readers. If you can commit to read at least a hundred books, well, we'll let you play. The challenge will consist of many levels, each level will consist of 100 books. So once you complete your first hundred, you may advance to the next level - Level 2. Just create your list of books (at this level label them 1 through 100) and mark them off with a strike through them as you finish. If you find you can't finish one of the books on your list for any reason, you may replace it with another. Also, if you just want to decide what you read as you go you can do that as well. Since this challenge is for the year 2013 any books you've read this year may be included so we may have quite a few levels being utilized at one time once I get this challenge up. If you get done with one level, but I haven't created the next just let me know and I'll add the next level to our challenge. This is a free choice challenge. Read whatever you want. Hopefully, all is clear. Happy reading.

My goal for this year was to read at least 130 books. In this challenge level 1 is 100 books so I was sure I could do that.

I finished the 1st part of the challenge June 29th and moved on to level 2. 

I have read 201 books in 2013 so I also completed level 2 of this challenge.

THIS is bookshelf on Goodreads for this challenge. And THIS is the list for the level 1.
Level 2 list of books is HERE.

My posts are HERE. And the full list of all my books read in 2013 is HERE.

The Santa Shop by Tim Greaton

Skip Ralstat is a man so steeped in grief and despair that life seems no longer possible. After the death of his wife and child, Skip blames himself. He has given up his friends, his job, and even his home. Now, homeless, he survives on the mean streets of Albany. He knows it can't go on, that life must end. But will it?
Come join him on his most unusual road to redemption. The salvation of one life...lies along this road.
Let the healing from "The Santa Shop" begin. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this more than I expected. Yes it is sad but it is full of the Christmas Spirit of helping each other.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.com 8th of October 2013)
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection RaT #19

A Cowboy For Christmas by Kristen James

When her estranged brother passes, Missy is suddenly an unwanted co-owner to Ocean View Stables by Florence, Oregon. Missy wants to start over somewhere new after her old boss burned her. She's jobless and has a wrongly ruined reputation, so this works out perfectly . . . until she meets the cowboy running the place. Brent built his dream with determination and his two hands; he's responsible for everything that happens there. Secretly, he feels responsible that his former partner died. He also doesn't hide his belief that Missy won't stick around. Women tend to take off on him so why would she be any different? They both have a past that can ruin their future. Can he trust her to stay? Can she trust him with her heart? From Goodreads.

This was an okay romance. Apart from taking part around Christmas there is no Christmas theme in it.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
2013 Ebook Challenge
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 27th of December 2011)
Crazy Challenge Connection RaT #19

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven. From Goodreads

This was better than the last two Nicholas Sparks books I read, but still not as good as The Notebook. It touches the scary life in an abusive relationship and how difficult it can be to get out. I didn't find any surprises in the book, it all turned out as I expected.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
2013 Nicholas Sparks Reading Challenge
2013 Ebook Challenge
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection RaT #19

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

When her werewolf friend Derek is discovered half dead, Kate Daniels knows that she cannot rest until she neutralizes his attackers. Her hunt for the culprits ultimately leads her to the Midnight Games, an invitation-only, no-holds-barred paranormal fighting tournament. Magically appealing. From Goodreads

This Kate Daniels series just keeps getting better. I read this in one day and I am looking forward to the next one which I will read in the beginning of January. If you like books with shifters and lots of other paranormal creatures I can recommend this series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
CCC-Read your age

All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello

Santa Claus is going to have a rough season... Lauren Alexander is raising her daughter alone. Abandoned by her family for her decision to keep her daughter Kristen, she has done a pretty good job for the last six years. Or she thought she had. That's why she is crushed when little Kristen gives up her wish for a toy or goodie and instead asks Santa for a present for her mother. But delivering Daddies isn't Santa's bag.
But this Santa has a plan...
Kyle Preston knows what it is like to be abandoned too. Luckily he found the support of loving adoptive parents and has turned himself into one of the most successful Real Estate developers in town.
Building a house is easy. Building someone's trust is a whole other story. But a little Christmas magic can make all the difference in the world. From Goodreads.




An okay read but nothing special.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 27th of December 2011)
CCC-Read your age

Gears of Wonderland by Jason G. Anderson

James Riggs lives a normal life with a mind-numbing job, an overbearing boss, and a demanding fiancée. Then he witnesses the murder of his best friend. Saved from the murderer by a strange man in a white suit, James is cast down a hole and into a world he always believed was a kid’s story. Wonderland.
But things have changed since Alice’s visit. The Knave of Hearts has seized the Heart throne, conquered all of Wonderland with his steam-powered technological marvels, and rules the land with an iron fist.
Aided by the Mad Hatter's daughter, James journeys to discover why he has been brought to Wonderland and how the tattoo on his arm could be the key to Wonderland’s salvation—or its destruction. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book more than expected. The main character is not very likeable but he does improve through the book. Interesting take on Wonderland.
I might read more books by Jason Anderson at a later time.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Get Steampunk’d 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
CCC Winter Spell 2013-14
CCC-Read your age

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

The Last Unicorn is one of the true classics of fantasy, ranking with Tolkien's The Hobbit, Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy, and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Beagle writes a shimmering prose-poetry, the voice of fairy tales and childhood:
The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.
The unicorn discovers that she is the last unicorn in the world, and sets off to find the others. She meets Schmendrick the Magician--whose magic seldom works, and never as he intended--when he rescues her from Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival, where only some of the mythical beasts displayed are illusions. They are joined by Molly Grue, who believes in legends despite her experiences with a Robin Hood wannabe and his unmerry men. Ahead wait King Haggard and his Red Bull, who banished unicorns from the land. From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book, it has what every fantasy book needs: A mythical being, a quest, love and of course good wins over evil in the end. I will definitely read Coda to The Last Unicorn – a novelette, available for free on the author's website.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (unicorn)
2013 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
CCC-Read your age

Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

Once upon a time, Christmas was Kayla Green's favorite time of year. Now all the workaholic wants for Christmas is for it to be over—as fast as possible! So when duty calls her to snowy Vermont to close a deal with a new client, Kayla is grateful for an excuse to avoid the holidays for another year.
Jackson O'Neil left a thriving business behind to return home and salvage his family's resort—it's in his blood, and he can't let it fail. Now that he's got marketing whiz Kayla Green working with him to put Snow Crystal on the map, success is on the horizon. The fact they strike enough sparks off each other to power all the Christmas lights in Vermont is just an added bonus.
Kayla might be an expert at her job, but she's out of her depth with Jackson—he makes her crave the happy-ever-after she once dreamed of, and it's terrifying. As the snowflakes continue to swirl, will the woman who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas finally fall under its spell? From Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book. It is a nice Christmas romance with a happy ending. I am sure I will read more by Sarah Morgan in the future.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
NBRC Stuck in a Rut
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013

Tethers by Jack Croxall

In the wake of a cold Victorian winter, Karl Scheffer and Esther Emerson discover an anonymous journal filled with strange passages and bizarre scribblings.
The journal soon draws them into a covert and sinister conspiracy, a conspiracy centred around an otherworldly artefact with the power to change everything …
Karl and Esther have spent almost every day of their thirteen years in the quiet market town of Shraye. Stifled by their rural surroundings and frustrated by their unfulfilled ambitions, they find the allure of the journal’s mysterious pages impossible to ignore. The book seems to be beckoning them away from Shraye, away from their homes and towards the coast where an unsolved disappearance has set in motion a dark chain of events.
The voyage the teenagers soon find themselves undertaking is one of desperate importance and true peril; it will change the way they see the world, and each other, forever. From Goodreads.

This was unfortunately not as interesting as the blurb made me believe. I struggled reading it and found a lot of other things to do that was much more interesting. A few has marked this as a steampunk book but there is only one machine in this story which does not make it steampunk. I will not be reading any more in this series.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge

Wish Upon A Star by Trisha Ashley

A wonderful warm festive treat from Sunday Times bestseller Trisha Ashley.
The perfect gift isn’t always under the tree…
Single mum Cally’s life is all about her little girl Stella. She’s resigned to the fact that the only romance she’s going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn’t have time to even think about love.
But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick. Balancing her job as a recipe writer and looking after Stella is all consuming, so when Cally meets handsome baker Jago the last thing she wants to do is fall in love, especially when she’s been badly burned by a Prince Charming from her past.
Can laid-back, charming Jago unlock Cally’s frozen heart and help her find true love and magic under the mistletoe? From Goodreads



Trisha Ashley is one of my favourite chick-lit authors. This book didn't disappoint. It felt good and cosy being back in Sticklepond where  several of her previous books take place. I like this book a lot more than Good Husband Material.
One of the things I have liked since the first Trisha Ashley book I read is the interesting side characters. This time it is Miss Honey, the 102 year old that owns the place Jago wants to buy.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
A Book A Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013

Red Shift by Alan Garner

The much-loved classic, finally in ebook.
A disturbing exploration of the inevitability of life.
Under Orion’s stars, bluesilver visions torment Tom, Macey and Thomas as they struggle with age-old forces. Distanced from each other in time, and isolated from those they live among, they are yet inextricably bound together by the sacred power of the moon’s axe and each seek their own refuge at Mow Cop.
Can those they love so intensely keep them clinging to reality? Or is the future evermore destined to reflect the past? From Goodreads.

I didn't like this book and I have to admit that one of the two Polar Bears given is just because it is Alan Garner. I like his other fantasy books but this book just makes no sense to me. I am usually good at keeping tab on a lot of different characters but here they kind of just blend and sometimes I had to go back as I hadn't discovered the shift between characters. If this was the only book I had ever read by Alan Garner I would read no more. I am glad I have read The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen which I really enjoyed.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge

While Snowbound by Anna J. McIntyre

Snowbound with the famous rocker might be her best friend’s fantasy, but it isn’t Ella’s. Nor is she impressed with the fact Brady Gates was voted sexiest man of the year – twice. Ella was looking forward to the isolation of her mountain cabin and the peace and quiet she needs to finish writing her book. Rescuing the careless celebrity in the midst of a blizzard and taking him to the safety of her remote cabin was not how she intended to spend her time on the mountain.
Weary of lovestruck fans climbing into his bed uninvited and the ever present paparazzi, Brady Gates had planned to take an incognito break from his hectic life and spend several weeks alone at a remote mountain cabin.
Finding himself stranded in a blizzard doesn’t bother him half as much as the fact the one woman he wants is the one woman who is the least interested in him. From Goodreads.



This was an okay romance and I like the idea of being snowbound in a cabin.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.com 4th of November 2013)
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013

Winter Warmers by Carole Matthews

Three short stories from the wonderfully warm Carole Matthews: Winter Warmers - a gift for you.
All I Want for Christmas is You
Christmas is around the corner but Maria just can't get into the spirit - will she ever find Mr Right? But when a secret admirer starts leaving her poems and notes, it looks as though her luck is about to change . . .
Cold Turkey
Tara is in love with a man she can't have. She expected to spend Christmas with him but when the big day arrives, she finds herself alone. Sad and upset, Tara just wants to ignore the festive season - and then a chance encounter changes everything.
About Gardening
I love my husband Sam but our relationship isn't what it used to be. Can I find a way to bring us back together?
Treat yourself to this heart-warming collection - it's perfect for warming up those winter nights. From Goodreads.


I like the first story All I want for Christmas is You. It just went downhill from there and I really don't get the last one. It started and it stopped, there was no story. It didn't help that I thought it was going to be 192 pages and it turned out to be a measly 48! The best thing I can say about Winter Warmers is that it was free - still can't recommend it though.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 9th of November 2012)
Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2013

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.
Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love. From Goodreads.

Another okay romance from Nicholas Sparks. As usual it ends on a happy note but with a lot of serious grief to get there.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Nicholas Sparks Reading Challenge

Steam & Sorcery by Cindy Spencer

Sir Merrick Hadrian hunts monsters, both human and supernatural. A Knight of the Order of the Round Table, his use of magick and the technologies of steam power have made him both respected and feared. But his considerable skills are useless in the face of his greatest challenge, guardianship of five unusual children. At a loss, Merrick enlists the aid of a governess.
Miss Caroline Bristol is reluctant to work for a bachelor, but she needs a position, and these former street children touch her heart. While she tends to break any mechanical device she touches, it never occurs to her that she might be something more than human. All she knows is that Merrick is the most dangerously attractive man she's ever met—and out of reach for a mere governess.
When conspiracy threatens to blur the distinction between humans and monsters, Caroline and Merrick must join forces, and the fate of humanity hinges upon their combined skills of steam and sorcery. From Goodreads.


This was okay but I am not sure I will read any more in this series. It also seems that the series continues with different main characters and has people from this book just as side characters. The children in this story are very likeable.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (vampires and others)
Get Steampunk’d 2013

Åndeløs by Cliff McNish

Spøgelser findes ikke.
Vil du forblive i troen?
Så hold dig langt væk fra denne bog!
Efter sin fars pludselige død, har Jack ikke bare fået astma, han har også udviklet en evne til at fornemme de døde. Hans mor er bekymret. I håb om, at lidt luftforandring vil gøre ham godt, har hun købt et gammel hus på landet.
Men allerede den første nat bliver han vækket, da en fremmeddame svæver over hans seng. Det er spøgelsesmoren, som stadig plages af sorg over sin datters død to hundrede år forinden. Fuld af medfølelse sætter Jack sig for at optrevle hendes tragiske historie - men er hun virkelig så kærlig, som hun giver sig ud for at være? Hvorfor vil hun så gerne lege hans mor? Og hvem er de fire forpinte spøgelsesbørn, der gemmer sig i kælderen? From back of book.
Jack is used to danger. His asthma has nearly killed him for more than once. But his new home has a danger he's never known before - the spirits of the dead. They can't breathe. But in Jack's house they can. Chase. Hide. Scream. Only Jack can see them. Only he can hear them. And only he can learn their secrets in time to save his mother and himself. From Goodreads.

I was surprised how much I liked this ghost story. Boy tells mum he can see ghosts, mum doesn't believe and everything goes bad from there. I kept turning the pages to see what happened next.  An easy read but it is still quite dark.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (ghosts)
2013 A-Z Reading Challenge

Buried Child by Sam Shepard

A newly revised edition of an American classic, Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize—winning Buried Child is as fierce and unforgettable as it was when it was first produced more than twenty-five years ago.
A scene of madness greets Vince and his girlfriend as they arrive at the squalid farmhouse of Vince’s hard-drinking grandparents, who seem to have no idea who he is. Nor does his father, Tilden, a hulking former All-American footballer, or his uncle, who has lost one of his legs to a chain saw. Only the memory of an unwanted child, buried in an undisclosed location, can hope to deliver this family. From Goodreads.

This is one weird and absurd play. I am not sure how much I liked it but I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next and that is what got it 3 Polar Bears instead of just 2. This play has not made me want to read more by Sam Shepard.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
A Book A Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge

Ønskebarnet by Eddie Thomas Petersen

Da Mikkel må aflyse skiferien med vennerne og i stedet rejse til Skagen for at ordne sin fasters begravelse, bliver det en konfrontation med en ukendt kultur i en januarmørk og bundfrossen provinsby, som intet har til fælles med hans forventninger til det populære turistmål.
Han føler sig både ensom og isoleret i de kolde omgivelser, indtil det langsomt begynder at gå op for ham, at problemerne ikke blot er, at han er en fremmed. Det handler også om en historie. som alle i byen tilsyneladende kender, men ikke vil fortælle. En historie, som vedrører den afdøde faster.
For hvad har den facinerende unge pige, han mødte i toget på vej herop, med fasteren at gøre? Hvorfor har Mikkel en fornemmelse af, at nogen følger efter ham. Og hvorfor bliver de lokale ved med at tale om et forsvundet maleri, som har tilhørt den afdøde? From the back of the book.




This is meant to be a psychological thriller. But to me a book about several dysfunctional families, a few deaths and a lot of crazy people does not make a thriller.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon
2013 A-Z Reading Challenge
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. There's no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues.
But that's just the beginning of the mystery. Because the more they learn about the man and the baffling circumstances of his death, the less they understand. Was it an impossible crime? Or something stranger still...?
No one but Stephen King could tell this story about the darkness at the heart of the unknown and our compulsion to investigate the unexplained. With echoes of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and the work of Graham Greene, one of the world's great storytellers presents a surprising tale that explores the nature of mystery itself... From Goodreads.





I enjoyed this more than expected, an unsolved mystery discussed years later. I really liked the twist at the end of the story. The characters of the two journalists Dave and Vince are brilliant.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge