Bout of Books 17 | Wrap Up

This wasn't the best week of reading for me but considering how hectic it was, I'm okay with it, I guess. I ended up finished 5 books and starting 2 others. And 2 of them I read in the last two days of the readathon when I got my reading mojo back a little, which was nice.

Part of it was all the busy but another part of it was I finished a series and just needed a little breather, I think. I mean, it was a series I was relieved to finally be done with, for more then one reason, but it as still the end of a series (goodbye, Sookie Stackhouse, but it fun. Most of the time).

Overall it was a good week and it was tons of fun to participate in the chats - I got to take part in both and I thought I was going to miss the second but ended up I didn't. And the chats are one of my favorite parts of the readathon, everyones just so damn awesome.

Anyway, let's do stats and books and then I'll give mini reviews on each (grouping the last few of the series I finished together).

Books Completed: 5
Total Pages Read: 1,472
Total Time Spent Reading: 19 hours, 21 minutes

Books Finished:
Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris
The Foxhole Courts (All for the Game #1) by Nora Sakavic
The Raven King (All for the Game #2) by Nora Sakavic

Those are the 5 books I ended up finished I also started 3 others, but only got a tiny bit into all of them so I'll talk about them at a later date. First I started the readathon off by finished the Sookie Stackhouse series. For some reason, around the end of July, I got the motivation to read over and then finish the series - rereading because I barely remembered what happened at all in the series besides random scenes (none of which were major plot points).

I'd always wanted to finish the series - I really loved reading them when I first did. And I knew I'd enjoy them less now, and I did, but they're still fun. Mostly what annoyed me the most was the glaring editing errors. For example: Sookie learning thing at the end of one book and then learning it again for the first time in the beginning of the next book. I was just like: ????. Overall, though, they're fun and I am so glad to have finally read the last two books and be done with this series. (Though the last book was kind of meh, it didn't wrap it up enough in my opinion).

The next thing I was finished was The Foxhole Court and the sequel, The Raven King, and I've got to tell you I loved them both. At the very beginning I thought of checkplease! (a webcomic you need to check out) but that is mostly light and happy. This is dark, very dark, and I just really love me some dark. There's Andrew who is a tiny psychotic puppy (okay, that might just be what I call him in my head, but I think it every time the author mentions how short he is). And our main character Neil - and the whole team in: Nicky, Aaron, Matt, Dan, Allison, Renee.

It's dark as hell - trigger warnings for violence, rape, torture, probably everything I've only read through the first two - but it's also really good? I really like all the characters and I have no idea where the series is going to go now that I'm 9% into the third, and final, book. And that's the way I like it.

Let me know how you did this Bout of Books - comment or leave me the link to your own wrap up - and also let me know if you've got thoughts on any of theses books.

Happy reading!

Book and Audiobook Review: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)

Title: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)
Author: Faith Hunter
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 5/5 stars
Page Count: 340
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2009

Plot (from goodreads):
Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps...





Review:
First we're going to talk about how I found this book and then the book and audiobook. I read probably 80-85% of this book through the audiobook, and I couldn't put it down (I ended up cleaning a shit ton purely because I wanted to keep listening to this but that's for later). It was recommended on audible and I was looking for something new to listen to - even though I should of been listening to the way too many audiobooks I own and haven't listened to.

And this had an interesting title - I knew what a skinwalker was, but not in this sense - and then I saw the main character was native american. And, this is a gap in my reading, I'm not sure I've ever read a book with a native american as the main character? I own a few but most of those heavily focus on that. With this book it's part of the story, and I suspect will with be a much bigger part in future books, but mostly it's just about her being kick ass and amazing. (Okay, there's more to it then that, but she is also kickass and amazing).

The main character, Jane Yellowrock, I'm not sure if I would love her so much if it wasn't for the audiobook narrator. Sometimes there are just audiobooks I click with and love, and I think this was one of them. She's got a great voice, and a great handle on the attitude in it that Jane has as a character. And she's definitely got attitude, and it's amazing.

I don't want to go too into the plot because it rolls slow at first - but it doesn't feel slow because new world and learning everything, and the characters are awesome - but when the plot hits, it hits. I'm trying really hard to make this a spew of love. I will say that towards the end I got a little confused with the fight scene, but that might be my normal trouble with concentrating on audiobooks. Which is why I don't do them as much as physical/ebooks, or maybe it was just a little confusing. Either way, only a little and am really damn excited to keep reading, or listening - I may of bought both physical and audio.

I've never heard a thing about this series but the first book has 22,000+ ratings on Goodreads, so I don't know if it's just me or not. (If you have/n't let me know). I highly recommend it, though - audio, if you're into that, but the words are still the same if you just read the old fashioned way.

If you've already read this book, let me know! (Especially if you've read on, I'd love to hear if you love the series). Or if you're thinking of picking it up.

Bout of Books 17 | Update Post

Day one and the post with all the things goes up - I'd forgotten I'd gotten into the one post thing, but it is kind of nice to have everything in one place. Is a little, very, long by the end of the week but I guess that's to be expected and fine.

In May, for the last Bout of Books, I had such bad eye strain that for like 85% of the week I could barely move, let alone read. I could barely function - but I was bored while laying still in the dark for hours, a person can only sleep so much, so I did audiobook it. This time - new glasses, which help, and also plain just not doing things that'll cause me eye strain so hopefully this week will be good............ *knocks on wood*

Below are my goals, loose TBR, and then where my updates at the end of every day will be (probably updated the next morning because sleep is nice). 

My Goals

• Read. Read. Read.
• Twitter chats! (possibly my favorite part of these readathons? I just love the chatting part - so much fun!)
• Comment on blogs - not just reading and lurking, leaving actually damn comments. (It isn't that hard but my anxiety makes it super hard - I don't know why! It should, at least, be easy to comment on peoples blogs I've talked to. Excuse the language, though I swear all the time in real life, but fuck anxiety).
• And, as always: have fun! Only flailing!

Books to Read (who knows what this will looks like by the end of the week - won't take any off that I put up but will definitely add some):

• Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
• Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris
• Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris
• Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Blood Cross (Jane Yellowstone #2) by Faith Hunter

• Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey
• Injection, Volume 2 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey
• Paper Girls #6 by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang

Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Pages read: 516
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours, 44 minutes
Books:
Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris (finished - 189 pages)
Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris (finished - 327 pages)

Notes:
I am going to finish the Sookie Stackhouse series tomorrow - probably. I mean I don't know what could stop me, even if I have more things to do then expected it's going to take me like max four hours. I'm so ready to be done - I'm enjoying it but it's grinding on my nerves a little, all of them are.

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 338
Total # of pages: 854
Time Spent Reading: 3 hours, 58 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hours, 42 minutes
Books:
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris (started and finished - 338 pages)

Notes:
So. Finished that series. Let's just - move on now that that's all over.

I meant to read more but I was just kind of exhausted by about eight and just didn't have the brain power, so ended up doing a few things that require less brain power. Don't know how much time I'll have to read tomorrow, but probably going to read some of the comic things I've got I want to read soon and also, hopefully, start the next novel (might already be planning to go off my TBR because nothings catching my eye, but I am damn tired).

Wednesday
Nothing read. Nothing.

Notes:
Yup. I thought this week was free but it turns out it isn't - ah, the fun. But after today I should have more time to read and such, we shall see. I really want to get into Blood Cross by Faith Hunter and have both the physical and audiobook so that might be good for today and the cleaning and such I have to do.

Hopefully your Wednesday went better - let me know how your readathon is going! (Today, tomorrow, whenever you see this. Hey there). (I didn't get enough sleep last night and am slightly loopy, so that'll be fun).

Thursday

Notes:
General business but also my friend, and neighbor, came home from Italy and she had a hell of a trip and not in a good way. So there was much catching up, and I'm fine with not reading because of that. Hopefully I can read Friday but sleeping, for some reason, has become difficult.

Friday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 46
Total # of pages: 900
Time Spent Reading: 33 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 10 hours, 15 minutes
Books:
Blood Cross (Janes Yellowrick #2) by Faith Hunter (started - 46 pages)

Notes:
I had time to read today, but I couldn't concentrate? I love this series and it's so interesting and there's also stuff happening, though not always action, which is really kind of how I like my urban fantasy. Either way, it just wasn't holding my attention, I guess I needed more time to whatever.

Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 222
Total # of pages: 1,122
Time Spent Reading: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 13 hours, 39 minutes
Books:
A Trick of Light by Lois Metzger (started - 19 pages)
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic (started - 203 pages)

Notes:
I also tried getting into another book on my kindle paperwhite - which I am still slightly obsessed with, have been since it arrived - but I didn't want to count all the beginnings of books I read. I want to eventually get to A Trick of Light, but I think I'll wait on that. (It seems to be a little experimental, also it's going to be a hard read and I thought maybe that's what I was in the mood for but maybe not that kind of hard).

The Foxhole Court is different then I expected? I've been hearing about it for a little while and I bought this first one fairly recently - purely based on the fact it was LGBTQ+ and people seemed to like it. At first, with the NCAA college sport thing - I was like: maybe it's like checkplease! hell yes (and the LGBTQ+ elements, as well). Well, it's not like my favorite webcomic in the world, not in any way but that, because it is dark as shit and I am loving it? If you've read this book, or finished the series, let me know your thoughts - planning on finishing the first one tomorrow and maybe going on to the second.

Sunday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total # of books I've read: 5
Pages read: 350
Total # of pages: 1,472
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours, 43 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 19 hours, 21 minutes
Books:
The Foxhole Courts (All for the Game #1) by Nora Sakavic (finished - 34 pages)
The Raven King (All for the Game #2) by Nora Sakavic (started and finished - 286 pages)
The Kings Men (All for the Game #3) by Nora Sakavic (started - about 30 pages)

Notes:
Alright, the end of another bout of books. It's always sad for it to be over - and I may have read a good amount but no where near to what I had wanted to read - mostly to get a bit ahead in my reading challenge which was why I was focusing on novels and didn't get to any of the single issues/comics I'd laid out.

I'm probably going to post a full wrap up tomorrow after I get some sleep, because that's always fun, but quickly: loving the All for the Game series. It's fucked up and really freaking good. I'm enjoying the beginning of the third one a little less but I think because - well, spoilers, but I'm a sucker for like ALL THE SECRETS and then them slowly being doled out in surprising or shocking ways. That's probably normal but it's also fun.

Probably still going to read a good chunk of book three tomorrow, readathon or no, because I need to know how this all ends. Need to.

Bout of Books 17 | Announcement

Another readathon, and a Bout of Books at that! (Just pretend you can see my heart eyes, I love Bout of Books probably a weird amount). This round will be running from August 22nd to August 28th - so the perfect time if you've got some books you want to get through before the end of the month. Blurb here:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 
- From the Bout of Books team

I'll post Sunday or Monday with a kick-off post with goals and a loose TBR - if you're participating let me know! I'll definitely be trying to make the rounds to see what everyones up to and hopefully actually commenting this time (commenting, the bane of my existence).

Happy reading!

BoB blog
Sign up post

(Small note, for myself and just because it's fun, this will be my 11th Bout of Books. I finally did an actual count instead of guessing. 7 - now).

July 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up

It's been a few months since I've done a monthly wrap up - I didn't do one for May or June - and I thought about doing a catch up one but decided against it. I finished a good few books in May, but only two in June, and July's been a pretty great reading month for me.

There was BookTubeAThon in July, which definitely helped with my reading - though, I didn't follow any of the challenges - and also rereading stuff. And mostly just getting myself back into the routine of it. Also - audiobooks.

I'm planning on making a whole post about why I've been so MIA, but I'm not sure if I will / if I have enough to say to make a whole post? Maybe I do, maybe it'll go up. Either way, the man thing is that my health isn't the best right now - mental and physical - and the fact that I've been exhausted for about two months now (actually, physically exhausted. Just getting waves of it) also isn't very good for, well, anything.

Books:
Shadow and Bone (Grisha Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo (4/5)
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
The Machine Stops by E.M Forester (4/5)
Grinder (Seattle Sharks #1) by Samantha Whiskey (4/5)
The Khmer Kill by Barry Eisler (3/5)
Ruin and Rising (Grisha Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
Fault Line by Barry Eisler (3.5/5)
Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Club Dead (SS #3) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1) by Faith Hunter (5/5)
Dead to the World (SS #4) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Dead as a Doornail (SS #5) by Charlaine Harris (3.5/5)

Graphic Novels/Comics:
Fruits Basket: Collectors Edition, Volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya (5/5)

First of all, about what I read this month - 13 books, 1 other. And 8 of which were audiobooks, which surprises me, and 7 of which were reread (not completely overlapping). And I spent over fifty hours reading this month, which is awesome. I'm using a time logging app, which I believe I've mentioned that before, and mostly it started with wanting to keep track of my reading. And now I'm keeping track of everything, and it's kind of awesome? And terrifying.

Now, about what I actually read: I was a little disappointed rereading The Grisha Trilogy, which I wasn't that surprised by, but it definitely hit me more how annoying Mal is, how much the darkling sucks, and how Nikolai is someone I would of accepted a political marriage with in a heartbeat (listen, I know that isn't just me).

The Sookie Stackhouse reread started accidentally. I realized I could watch (rewatch) True Blood though Prime and started doing that and then missed the books - because the show take everything to eleven it's insane. And, sure, the books are crazy but way less so, and less complicated. They're definitely in need of some major editing, though, and also just in general are a little meh but I'm having fun (and I never read the last two, so I might as well continue and maybe finally finish this series).

Then I want to just really quickly talk about the two things I really loved this months, and then I promise to stop rambling. Skinwalker wasn't really anything i expected it to be. I listened to it and mostly because Audible randomly recommended it to me and I've never read just a book with a native america MC (which isn't acceptable) and I was kind of expecting whatever urban fantasy stuff. And did not expect to completely love it. I want to write a full review, because I want everyone to read it, highly recommended.

Fruits Basket is a manga (and anime) that I've talked about before, it's what got me into both, and I will love it forever. Period. And they're rereleasing it, in the US at least, in a new edition with a whole new translation, which I like more then the original translation. It has two of the original volumes in one and the first three - so the first six - are out already. If you're new to manga, or haven't read it yet: Fruits Basket, do it.

How was your reading month? Or month in general. Feel free to let me know!