The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty and Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects - the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time. From Goodreads.




Really good fantasy. I enjoyed this so much I bought the next two books in this series two minutes after finishing this book. As with a lot of fantasy books it is about saving the world from a greater evil, in this book it is Nicholas Flamel and the twins Sophie and Josh.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-toucan)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly roll # 21

Monopoly hosted by Crazy Challenge Connection on Goodreads.

Roll #21

COMMUNITY CHEST #3: Read any book from the CCC Bookshelf (found at the bottom of the group’s main page).

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 

The Tiger Princess by Sarah Renee

Ten years ago, a devastating fire took the lives of Queen Karenisha and King Makero, leaving a young Saderia orphaned. Nobody knows how the fire was started but it ignited quickly. Too quickly. In ten years the truth has never been discovered...
Saderia is a curious 10 year old tiger Princess who feels things deeply. Her Aunt Cia and Uncle Jash have taken over the duties of Queen and King and raising Saderia since her parents died in the fire. Her aunt and uncle don't understand Saderia, which she resents.
But Saderia starts having dreams about the past; dark, disturbing dreams. She has to know the truth. Could her parents have been murdered? Then she finds herself surrounded by more secrets when she discovers a dangerous, ancient royal secret relating to her ancestors.
At the same time, strange things start happening in the usually peaceful forest. Hard times and disappearances create fear and desperation. Out of the shadows comes a dark, mysterious lion named Dastarius to offer his services and play the hero. But his past is just as shadowed and uncertain as the King and Queen's sudden fiery death.
Saderia doesn't know who or what to trust but she is desperate to find the truth about the past. She's willing to do anything to get it. From Goodreads.

This was a cute read, very much good versus evil. The tiger princess has to show both courage and bravery and all ends well. Read this as the middle grade book it is and it is very good.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (R-raven)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison

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

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

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

Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly roll # 20

Monopoly hosted by Crazy Challenge Connection on Goodreads.

Roll #20

WATER WORKS: Read a book which takes place on/near the water OR a book with a happy ending.

The Tiger Princess by Sarah Renee

Cart Before the Horse by Bernadette Marie

Gabriel Maguire thought he'd buried his past until the night he met Holly, only to lose the woman he cared about, again.
Holly Jacobs has always put the cart before the horse. A prodigy who shot to stardom in textile design, she never knew a normal life—and there's nothing she longs for more than to be normal.
Pregnant before she even knows the name of her baby's father, Holly has put the cart miles ahead of the horse this time. But when she and Gabe meet for the second time, they decide to have their baby together. Holly finally begins to accept her unique way of doing everything backward, but Gabe's very normality drives her up the walls. Then his tragic past rears up; pain and loss threaten to destroy forever the fragile bond that has blossomed between him and Holly.
Sometimes the only way to get where you need to be is to put the cart before the horse. From Goodreads.




Cute romance, of course very predictable but also emotional with loss of loved ones.
I might read more of Bernadette Marie's books.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Build a House
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (C-toucan)
Crazy Challenge Connection Monopoly
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Prince of Thorns is the first volume in a powerful epic fantasy trilogy, original, absorbing and challenging.
Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse.
From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.
Mark Lawrence's debut novel tells a tale of blood and treachery, magic and brotherhood and paints a compelling and brutal, and sometimes beautiful, picture of an exceptional boy on his journey toward manhood and the throne. From Goodreads.

It was a violent book but not as bad as I had expected from some of the reviews I had read. Prince Jorg experiences a lot of violence when he sees his brother killed and his mother raped and killed when he was nine. At the age of 10 he goes with a group of outlaws and starts killing and raping. There is also a lot of dark magic and necromancers in the book.
It was an okay read but the fate of Prince Jorg just isn't interesting enough to make me want to read the next book in this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (L-leopard)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk

Using magic means it uses you back - and every spell exacts a price from the user. Some people, however, get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent, then Allison Beckstrom's job is to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune and the strings that come with it, but when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father's signature all over it she is thrown back into the world of his black magic. From Goodreads.

I have had this book on my TBR list for quite a while and just not gotten to it. I like the idea that it is not free to use magic but it comes at a price, headache, memory loss or other depending on what kind and level of magic used. Allie Beckstrom is a good main character and I will definitely continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Jumble Your Genres Reading Challenge 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-seal)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

After the Storm by M. Stratton

Alexia "Lexi" Hanson moved across the country to rebuild her life after the attack that almost destroyed her. She enjoys the simple things in her beach cottage. Life is finally complete.
Noah Matthews is Rock & Roll's hottest star and on top of the world. After years without a break he finds the solitude he craves at his beach house. Enjoying his early morning coffee, Noah is surprised to see his neighbor sneak into his garden and crawl around.
They never saw that fateful morning coming. Someone was watching them. Someone who thought Lexi belonged to him and would stop at nothing to have her.
Lives are changed forever when they meet amongst the blooms in his garden. Even when things seem darkest, there is always light After the Storm. From Goodreads.





I liked the slow (compared to some others) romance between Lexi and Noah. What I didn't like was the detailed description of what the rapist wanted to do with his victims.
I will not continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
What’s In A Name 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-raven)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems by Robert Service

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

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

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

Drip Drop Teardrop by Samantha Young

Avery hasn’t had it easy. 
When she was ten years old her parents died in a car crash. Now nine years later her Aunt Caroline is the only family she has left. And Caroline is dying.
So when Death comes knocking (quite literally) in the form of the damaged and dangerous, Brennus, Avery makes a deal with the reaper in order to save Caroline.
Brennus is an Ankou.
One of the many, once mortal men and women, who were given the choice to become an immortal in exchange for ferrying the dead over into their afterlife.
Nine years ago Brennus took Avery’s parents and tried to take Avery, but she fought him and won. Amazed by her strength Brennus followed Avery and has watched over her.
Now he knows Avery is the one to offer him freedom from his obligation to the dead.
And he’ll stop at nothing to have her. From Goodreads.

An okay book, but not great. Avery is dealing with Death, who is a person. This is a romance as he has loved her for years.
I have more of Samantha Young's books and I might read them.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Read Scotland 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (Y-coyote)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

High Summer Read-a-Thon July 21-27 Sign Up

High Summer Read-a-Thon hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict.

Michelle has announced the dates for the challenge and I hope to take part. I might be a day or two late but I will be there.

June 2014 Update

My reading this month has been a lot better than last month. I have read 19 books for a total of 5616 pages. I went into a reading frenzy for a week when I realized that I needed to finish quite a few books for a challenge. I managed it but only just.

All posts for June are HERE.

List of books:

1. Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan 
2. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot 
3. Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson
4. A Place Beyond The Map by Samuel Thews
5. The Way They Were by Mary Campisi 
6. I am Legend by Richard Matheson 
7. Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong
8. Skin Game by Jim Butcher
9. Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong 
10. My Sweet Valentine by Jill Sanders
11. Ever After by Kim Harrison 
12. Rise of The Seven by Melissa Wright
13. Evergreen by Brenda Pandos 
14. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 
15. Drifting Home by Pierre Berton 
16. The Keepers by Donna Augustine 
17. Angel by L.A. Weatherly 
18. The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien 
19. The Cold Moon Run by L. Filion

Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It! - Team Challenge - Finished

 

UnCover It! - Team Challenge hosted by Nothing but Reading Challenges on Goodreads.

This  challenge has now finished and my team came in on a shared second place. This was a fun challenge, thanks to Nothing but Reading Challenges on Goodreads for hosting it.

TEAM ARLECCHINO

Winners of UNCOVER IT!

Team              Points    Ranking
Arlecchino         540         1
Moretta            505      Equal 2nd
Medico della Peste 505      Equal 2nd
Volto              500         4
Pantalone          480         5
Bauta              405         6
Colombina          160         7

UNCOVER IT - A NBRC Team Challenge

Duration: Six weeks, starting May 16th - June 27th, 2014

Sign-Ups: Close May 12th, 2014. Thread is here.

As a player, you need to read at least a book a week. (Books read for this challenge need to be 160 pages or greater in length.) 

The Basics: 
• Each team is assigned a book to be “uncovered.” NOTE: You are NOT expected to read this book.
• Each week the teams ask a randomly selected team (their “opposing team”) one question OR they take a guess as to the identity of the other team’s book.
• Points are assigned each week based on choices made and books read (further explanation below).
• The “opposing team” changes each week (selected randomly).
• Winner is the team at the end of the 6 weeks that has the most points.

Books to be Uncovered.

Start of Challenge: 
• Members are assigned to teams (probably 5-7 people per team including captain).
• Mods randomly assign the “uncover” book to each team.

Weekly: 
• Mods will randomly determine for each team their “opposing team” for the week.
• Each team must select a genre they would give to the opposing team for a wrong guess (from the genre list used in Books Buffs’ Battleship*; each genre may only be used once by any team selecting throughout the challenge).
• Teams must ask a question of their opposing team for the week in a specified time period.
• NO SPOILER QUESTIONS (e.g. “Does the heroine die at the end?”). Please, no “open-ended” questions, only yes/no questions. In addition, you may NOT ask when it was BOM.
• Since all books have been past NBRC BOMs, there are discussion questions available for inspiration.

The genres are the same as used for Book Buffs’ Battleship challenge.  In order for the book to be accepted it either have to have been tagged as the genre by more than 10 on Goodreads or the moderator for the challenge has to approve it.

Week 1: No  = History ➜ I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Week 2: Yes = Fantasy ➜ I read Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch (which was banked)
Week 3: special = Young Adult  ➜ I read Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan
Week 4: Yes = Fantasy ➜ I read A Place Beyond The Map by Samuel Thews (which was banked)
Week 5: Yes =Thriller ➜ I read Wild Justice by Kelley Armstrong
Week 5: Extra ➜ I read Ever After by Kim Harrison (which was banked)
Week 6: No = Non Fiction ➜ I read Drifting Home by Pierre Berton
Week 6: Extra  ➜ I read The Keepers by Donna Augustine (for New Adult)

The Cold Moon Run by L. Filion

Olivia Preston is a smart, beautiful woman on the verge of living the life she had meticulously planned out; college, law school, working in her parents’ law firm and marrying her high school sweetheart. Shane Jaxon is her sexy, mysterious neighbor who isn't concerned with anything other than bedding women. However, once he meets Olivia, a fire is ignited within Shane and he sets out to win her heart and fulfill his destiny. But a new rivalry threatens his plans. Will Shane win her over enough to reveal his true self to her? And what will happen to her perfectly planned life if she lets him in? From Goodreads.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't very good. According to genre this was about werewolves and yes it was. They lived in tribes on reservations. Basically an adaptation of the native Americans.
I don't usually notice editing mistakes but I did in this which means there were quite a few. I am glad this was a free book.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O-fox)
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon