I’ve Been Reading. Have You?

The past few years I’ve been keeping a bit better track of what I’m reading and when. Primarily through the Reading Challenge on GoodReads. In previous years I’ve been truly horrible at keeping up-to-date with my records, but this year, oh, this year I’ve been marking my books as I start reading them and checking them off when I’m finished. The year started off with a bang - the books of The Atlantis Grail series by Vera Nezarian: Qualify, Compete, Win, and Survive. 

Since then, I’ve run through a few re-reads, some beloved, some simply enjoyable. For the most part though I’ve been reading new titles, both from favourite authors and new (to me) ones. 

I’ve read a lot of Nora Roberts’ backlist titles. Can I just say - I loved The MacGregors. 

I stormed through the books of the Dragon Blood series by Lindsay Buroker. I really enjoyed them, and my first foray into the steampunk genre. 

I’ve previously loved R.E. Butler’s various dragon series but decided to give Were Zoo series. To be honest, I found them highly entertaining. 

After seeing that The Cowgirl’s Secret Love (book 2, The Colemans of Heart Falls series) was scheduled to release in April, I realized I’d actually fallen behind on the Heart Falls series books. So, me being me, I started at the beginning of the Vivian Arend’s Six Pack Ranch series and read all the way through. Not only do I thoroughly enjoy the ranch romances, I’m also tickled reading about locations I’ve personally visited. 

  

Michelle M. Pillow took me diving into the depths with her Lords of the Abyss books. I haven’t read a lot of stories about mermen before. I was pleasantly surprised by the books. 

Princess and I marathoned through the Harry Potter movies, then I decided to start re-reading the books. I’m not quite marathoning through the books but I’m making my way through them all once again as the mood strikes. Currently, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of the books I’m working on. 

And then it was back to one of my personal favourite authors: Christine Feehan. She began her Shadow Riders series in 2016 with the book of the same title, Shadow Rider. Since then three more books have followed and the fifth book in the series, Shadow Flight released today. (May 5, 2020) I read through the first four books a couple weeks ago for the first time, and today I’m reading the new one. #ReleaseDayReading 

So what have you been reading? Have you discovered any new authors? What’s the best thing you’ve read so far in 2020? What’s the best thing you’ve read since (sorta) quarantine began? 

... coming soon - a complete list of the titles I’ve read in January, February, March and April 2020. 

Cover REVEAL for Discovering April

Discovering April 

by Sheena Hutchinson 

Publication date: April 27th 2015

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

April Landau thinks she has everything she’s ever wanted. Her high school sweetheart, a house she can’t afford, her bipolar tabby cat, and she’s all set to begin her Junior year of college. Just when she least expects it, her life gets thrown for a loop. When things between her and her long time boyfriend unravel, she becomes stuck in a downward spiral of emotion. Finally, opening her eyes to the fact that she may have given up more than she ever could have imagined in this relationship. She finds herself struggling to keep her head above water.
Enter April’s next door neighbor— Jared Hoffman. He’s her complete opposite. A high school drop out who was forced to take over his parent’s business after their untimely death. It’s no surprise this tragedy affected him greatly, causing him to recede almost completely from society.
But he has one secret. A secret he’s been carrying around for years.
What happens when their worlds collide? Can an old friendship be the one thing that brings these two back to life?

A new adult love story filled with drama, sex, death, and the complications of all of the above. 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25069574-discovering-april

You know you want to Pre-order: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V46MYJ4

Especially when you see this SALE ALERT:
Discovering April will be on Pre-Order sale for $0.99 until 5/1/2015!
--Starting 4/27/2015 The Seraphina Series will also be on sale until 5/1 in honor of April’s release!
Starting 5/1 Discovering April will be enrolled in Kindle Unlimited 

AUTHOR BIO:

Sheena is a born and raised New Yorker, even her writing can’t hide her hard sarcasm. She claims destiny lead her to writing again. She constantly strives to be a positive role model and write stories that empower and inspire. 

Sheena always roots for the underdog, believes in love at first sight, and that everyone should have their happily ever after. While God is currently writing her love story she continues to put all her time into her writing as she is constantly getting new inspiration.

For more on Sheena and her books visit her website www.SheenaHutchinson.com.

Author links:

http://www.sheenahutchinson.com/

https://instagram.com/Author_Shea

https://twitter.com/Sheena_Hutch

https://www.facebook.com/TheSeraphinaSeries

Cover REVEAL for Othello Station by Rachael Wade

Othello Station 

by Rachael Wade 

Publication date: June 22nd 2015

Genres: Adult, Romance

What's it's all about???

Every woman in my life is supposed to be like Othello Station – a last stop. Unless they know how to keep their distance. I’ve managed to maintain a routine, one that works for me and one I have no intention of ever changing. But this dove came along. Soft and delicate, tainting my thoughts. I can think of twenty different ways to get rid of her. I need this dove to take flight.

But she won’t fly away.

She won’t release me from her cage.

Her wings ensnare me.

And now I want to get off this train. I wish I never boarded this ride. Because I’m about to crash and take this dove with me. But sometimes you can’t stop the crash. Sometimes you just have to hang on and let the flames ignite. Let the fire burn.

Sometimes, the fire is what saves you.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25209349-othello-station

AUTHOR BIO:

Rachael Wade is the Amazon bestselling author of The Preservation Series, The Resistance Trilogy, and the upcoming sci-fi series, The Keepers Trilogy. When she’s not writing, she’s busy learning French, watching too many movies, and learning how to protect animals and the environment. Visit her at www.RachaelWade.com and www.LightsOnOutreach.com, or come chat with her on Twitter via @RachaelWade.

Author links:

http://www.rachaelwade.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4831558.Rachael_Wade

https://twitter.com/RachaelWade

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRachaelWade

#RomanceWeek15

Make sure you stop over at Goodreads this week for the Valentines event they're running... Romance Week: from February 9-13th this year it leads up to the most (commercially) romantic day of the year! But with participating authors and publishers hosting specials, Q&A sessios, special blogs and more, it's definitely worth a peek. 

And for the record: Harlequin and it's authors are the the only ones participating, I just really like this ad that I've borrowed from them. 

Happy reading and I hope you feel the love!!

New Years Resolutions as Reading Challenges

The New Year is always ripe with personal resolutions - to eat healthier, exercise more, budget better... More and more in recent years I've seen the growth (in popularity) of reading resolutions.  You've seen them; Book and/or Reading Challenges that push you to your reading limits or to extend your literal horizons.

One example is to set a reading goal for the number of books you wish to read throughout the year.  The Goodreads community has a good, simple one each year (click here to see more) and I think one of the great benefits of this challenge is that the site will offer book recommendations if you're stumped for your next read, while the community board allows you to interact with others participating in the event, garnering (or offering) encouragement when needed.

Another challenge that I stumbled on while scrolling through my Facebook feed over the holidays, this one coming from POPSUGAR, has a list of 52 challenges which push you to try new things, widen the variety of genre or subject matter that you read, and more.  I actually like this kind of challenge a bit better then the Goodreads challenge because of that push for expanding your horizons in what you read versus merely expanding the quantity of books that end up on your read list.

For myself, I'm notoriously bad at holding to any resolution I make - and am actually of the opinion that if you're only making a resolution in the first place because it's the New Year and you "have to", that chances are you won't succeed anyways.  I'm moderately better when the resolution involve my kids, reading or writing, but even then find that sometimes all you do is the best with what you've got and go from there. Circumstances and situations change too much and too frequently in my busy life for anything to be certain, and while I may have the time in January to work on resolutions, especially if they require a departure from the norm, I may not have the same availability come February.

When it comes to resolutions that show themselves in the reading (or writing) sphere of my life, I'll give myself monthly challenges or themes in my reading rather then annual goals.  One month I may resolve to read only books about vampires, while another month I choose to find and read only stories set in Scotland.  I've had myself read only novels and books by a specific author for a month, and once I challenged myself to read only books whose title included the word "Midnight."

There are literally (and yes, the pun is intended) an endless number of ways you can challenge yourself to read this year... So what will it be?