Friday, July 30, 2010

Book Blogger Hop & Reading Challenge Recap


Book Blogger Hop is a weekly BOOK PARTY, hosted by Crazy-For-Books, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It also gives blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!

Head on over to Crazy-For-Books to sign up and discover some new blogging friends!

It's been a few weeks since I last participated in the hop and since I've spent the last week doing some catch-up work, I'm ready to party again! This week's question:

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

JR Ward. I've become addicted to the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I've got two more to go in that series and then I'm starting her Fallen Angels series. She is one heck of a storyteller. I love the world she's created and the characters that live in it and she has a knack for writing unputdownable books!

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2010 Reading Challenge Recap

It had been a while since I'd calculated where I was on the reading challenges I signed up for this year and I was worried that I'd fallen behind. After spending a little time sorting through my reviews I'm actually quite pleased with my progress!



Read and Reviewed:


Status:  Halfway there
3 more to go and I'm reading one right now:
The Count of Monte Cristo.



Read and Reviewed:

The Tudor Rose Trilogy by Susan Wiggs
The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
The Drifter by Susan Wiggs
Outlaw by Lisa Jackson
The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy by Nora Roberts
The Chief by Monica McCarty
Dark Lover by JR Ward
The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Status:  3/4 completed
I signed up at the Addicted level, 12, so I have 3 more to go.
(I've read more romances than these but I didn't review them.)



Read and Reviewed:

The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian Wainwright
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran
The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
For a Queen's Love by Jean Plaidy

Status: Completed!
Turns out I'd only signed up as a Peasant to read 3 books!
Looks like I'm an overachiever :)



Read and Reviewed:

Midnight Fires by Nancy Means Wright
The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati
Lake in the Clouds by Sara Donati
The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme
Captivity by Deborah Noyes
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
Shadowbrook by Beverly Swerling
The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian Wainwright
The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Through A Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
Now Face To Face by Karleen Koen
Fire Along the Sky by Sara Donati
Queen of Swords by Sara Donati
Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran
For A Queen's Love by Jean Plaidy
Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt
The Wives of Henry Oades by Joanna Moran

Status:  Completed! And with 5 months left, to boot!
Of course, I will read many more historicals this year and I will post reviews of the best ones to the challenge review board, but now the pressure is off! Whew!


I'm also issuing a NEW challenge to myself:
I have way too many unread review copies from publishers sitting on my shelf. I have neglected my duty to these publishers to read and review the books they have so generously sent to me and so I am devoting the month of August to these books. I'm challenging myself to read and review SIX of them, which is actually only about half of them, but if I can knock out half of them I'll feel so much better!

13 comments:

  1. Stopping in to say Hi! I am already a follower! I love J.R. Ward! Hope you have a great weekend

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  2. Just popping in via the hop to say hi! I'm so glad to see your a JR Ward fan, she is my absolute favorite. I could read the BDB series over and over and over again (I'm a John Matthew/Zsadist fan). So glad to have found your blog, I'm a new follower!

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  3. Just to let you know I am running my first giveaway on my blog! If you wanted to read By Fire, By Water please enter the contest!!

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  4. JR Ward is an amazing author. I couldn't read her books fast enough! Have a great weekend.

    Kt
    A Book Obsession..

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  5. Yup, I love some of JR Ward's books, especially Lover Awakened, Unbound and Avenged! Just love Z!!! My favorite of all brothers. Next would be Rehv.

    Carole
    The Romance Reviews

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  6. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm a new follower as well :)
    Finally! another team gale person! There really aren't very many team gale people. I like him better for Katniss and I'll keep Peeta to myself :)

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  7. Hi there!

    I'm hopping by from the Book Hop!

    Lovely Blog you have!

    I'm a new follower!

    Happy Reading!

    -Mevurah

    http://theheartofdreams.blogspot.com

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  8. You are doing really well on your challenges! Those ARCs do really pile up don't they. I am only saying yes to those books that really, really interest me, which means that I have still said yes to 3 books in the last week. I am never going to catch up!

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  9. Hopping by to say hello! Great job on all your challenges! Good luck with your ARC challenge in August. :)

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  10. I agree that JR Ward is a great author, I love her as well!!! I love her brotherhood series!!! Glad to hear you like her as much as I do lol

    Feel free to stop by my place at Addicted To Romance

    Happy Reading!!!

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  11. Stopping in from blog hop. I am also reading Eternal Ones.

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  12. I have picked you for the versatile blogger award...http://kelseyopsahl.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-first-blogger-award.html

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  13. Just stoppping by for the hop, I really like the layout of your blog! I am a new follower :)

    Danielle @ everylastpageblogspot.com

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