Tag: readathon

Fairytaleathon Round 3 – TBR

Published on by Lilly2 Comments

This is by far one of the best readathons out there. It has amazing hosts that offer amazing recommendations, the idea of reading a fairytale or a fairytale retelling is amazing and the challenges they offer are great. It is my second time participating and I cannot wait for it to start!

I have two goals with this event: starting a series that had been on my TBR ever since I discovered the author and also reading two of the books that have been sitting on my shelves for quite a while. Without further prolonging the moment, here are the challenges and my selection of books:

Fairy challenges

1. Thumbelina: Read a retelling under 250 pages
Here I have selected “Withering Rose” by Kaitlyn Davis. This is book 2 of the Once Upon A Curse  series and according Goodreads it has 210 pages. I am reading this one out of Scribd.

2. Gentle Giant: Read a retelling over 500 pages
“Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi is my choice. I bought this one a while ago, but never found the courage to read it. The cover scares me a little. I like big books, so the page length is not an issue. But… I don’t know. Looks scary.

3. If the shoe fits: Read any fairytale retelling from your TBR
“Gathering Frost” by Kaitlyn Davis is my choice. It is book 1 of the Once Upon a Curse series and I cannot wait to read it. This author has delivered some amazing stories and I have been trying to catch up on her books ever since I got my first taste (almost two years ago)

4. Creatures of the deep: Read a book that has sirens, mermaids or sea monsters (does not need to be a retelling)
I got the title from the recs that one of the organizers put on her blog – check her out here. I liked the cover and I cannot wait to discover the story. And the book is “To Kill a Kingdom” by Alexandra Christo.

5. Try the grey stuff (it’s delicious): Read with a yummy treat 
I am more than honored and excited to be among the ones that have received an ARC of Chasing Midnight by Kaitlyn Davis, book 3 in the Once Upon a Curse series. I am so so happy and i cannot wait to read it! It’s summer in my county, so my yummy treat will be watermelon, no doubt about it!

6. A whole new world: Read a fairytale or retelling that has a diverse main character:
“The Rose & The Dagger” by Renée Ahdieh. I have discovered this series in the previous round of the Fairytaleathon and when the ladies organizing the event offered as prize a book of my choice, I decided on book 2. Seems only fitting I read it now.

7. Rags to Riches: Read the book group “The Princess and the Fangirl” by Ahsley Poston. 
In the previous round of the Fairytaleathon I read Geekerella by the same author and loved it with all my heart. So how can I say no??

Now, I have here 7 books to read in 7 days. It is a challenge my friends :D. I have one day off from work and one weekend and a half to devour these stories. I am so happy to be able to share my experience with you guys and I hope you will join us from August 11 to August 18th. More details of the event can be found on Twitter @Fairytaleathon

Happy Reading!

Smutathon Wrap Up

Published on by Lilly1 Comment

I finally managed to post an update of my Smutathon experience and I can tell you it was great! I was in a hurry (as usual) to compile my TBR and I did my best to stick with at least four books read in a week. However, I managed to read only 3. I am not unhappy, on the contrary, I am quite proud. The three books I read were absolutely amazing and I read them in a short period of time. Moreover, I discovered an amazing author! Ok, let’s take them one by one:

  • Series read: The Legal Briefs Series by Emma Chase There are so many great things to say about Emma Chase’s writing. I devoured each one of the three books like it was candy! I cannot wait to share with you my thoughts of the books and my favorite quotes. I added on my immediate TBR (by “immediate” I mean the list of MANY books I need to read this year – which I still need to compile) another series by the same author so yey! My TBR gets bigger by the… readathon.

 

  • Challenges completed: 6, no columns or lines fully ticked off. I could have forced myself a little to finish the forth book and thus completing one line. But I wanted to savor book 3 in the Legal Briefs Series and I really took my time. Here is how my board looks like:

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  • Favorite quote: It’s from Overruled – Book 1 in The Legal Briefs Series. I almost marked this entire book. Unbelievable! The quote goes like this :

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  • Author discovered: Emma Chase. I cannot begin to tell you how great her words made me feel. It was 2 in the morning, on a weekday, and I just could not stop reading. She is one of the authors that touched my soul with her words on paper. I must catch up on her other series as soon as possible!

All in all, I loved this experience and I loved participating in a new readathon. Now I have three more reviews to prepare for you guys. Until next time, let me know what other readathons are you participating at, if you have read any books by Emma Chase or just in general, how have you been ? Happy Reading!

Fairytaleathon Wrap Up

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And it has ended 😦

I am so sad for this to finish, as I had the best time ever! It was such a great idea and there are so many things I need to be grateful for.

Let’s start with the beginning. Twitter turned out to be my best friend lately, as I’ve been more active there, I’ve interacted with fellow book bloggers and made some amazing friends. This is how I found out about this readathon. I was just coming back from a reading slump and all I wanted to do was keep on reading and not give into the lazy feeling knocking at my door.

I was a bit skeptical because I wanted to read books I was sure to enjoy and I don’t know why the idea of a retelling did not appeal to me. But, one look at my bookshelves and I felt “the calling” 🙂 I had three books just waiting to be read and this was the perfect opportunity. Ok, but the rules/challenges were mentioning 7 books to be read (because I was set on accomplish them!). So I checked the hosts’ TBRs and the recommendations on Twitter and thus my list of books was complete! Honestly, it was the most difficult list to put together because I actually searched for books and took my time finding out more titles and choosing my options.

Believe me, it was a time well spent. I even got to buy two or three (one title ended up to another and I ended up buying 6, but …that’s the life of a book lover). I posted my TBR and started reading (original link is here). Out of all the books I planned to finish, this is what I’ve managed to accomplish, with some small thoughts (full reviews will follow):

Cinderella Busted by by Petie McCarty: any Cinderella story is bound to be a great one. Who doesn’t love Cinderella? I liked the book, it had issues, but those issues will not stop me to finish the series. It was an ok start. Not great, just ok.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston : oh my God how I spent hours in a week night to finish this book. I loved it, it was fantastic! It’s not s perfect book, but it is a book that made me feel so so much! It made me feel good, it made me enjoy it!

Hunted by Meagan Spooner: beauty lies in all things, as long as we open our hearts to it. That’s all I am saying for now. Oh, gorgeous cover!!!

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: let me start by saying that I have not read Alice in Wonderland and that before posting my review for Heartless I will read Alice because it’s a must. Anyhow, I knew more or less the idea, I saw the Hallmark movie of Alice. I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to 🙂 good pick!

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Here we start with the audiobooks. I’ve realized that reading 7 books in 7 days while also reading the books lined up for the blog tours, sewing/crocheting and going to work was difficult (ok, impossible). So I used the audiobook version for three of them, which I could enjoy while doing other activities:

The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh : great book, great narration, even if I had a bit of difficulty differentiating between characters. This book made my heart race, made me cry and love the Caliph of Khorasan. It also made me buy all the books in the series. More on that will follow.

An Enchantment of Ravens by by Margaret Rogerson – loved it quite a lot, even if I ended up rereading some chapters as I was not paying attention sometimes. I listened to it at the office and.. well. You know how it is :)))

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning : this was the book pick for the readathon and it was such a great pick! I was not a fan of the Little Mermaid cartoons as a child (probably because I was too little to understand what a mermaid is) but I loved this story and I loved how the author managed to show the characters’ feelings and how she captured all the details of their emotions. It is very well written indeed! The narration was spectacular as well!

 

This readathon reminded me of the joy of reading a good book and how it’s supposed to feel. It reminded me that reading is all about emotions, all about connecting with those pure feelings inside our souls. I had fun, it was a successful readathon and I would like to thank the hosts for their efforts and the sprints they did with and for us, even if I joined in very (very) few since I am from Europe and timing was a bit of an issue 🙂 There are the hosts’ Booktube channels – follow them so we can chat about their videos some more:

Becky:  BookTube

Sam: BookTube

Jordan: BookTube

Alex: BookTube

Erica: BookTube

 

Let me know in the comments below if you have participated in this readathon or if you know any readathon happening in the coming days. I would love to participate with you guys 🙂 Until next time, thanks for visiting and read a lot!

#24in48 Wrap Up

Published on by Lilly1 Comment

Yet another readathon completed. Now I know how much I can read in a weekend! To be honest, I could have achieved the 24 hours goal but family is always first place, especially my granny’s birthday (that took away almost 4 hours of reading). Being sleep deprived because of other factors did not help much either. But all in all, I am proud of what I managed to achieve and that I ticked 3 books from my TBR.

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Oh, you don’t know what’s on my TBR for July? Well, of course you don’t know because I have not posted a TBR this month. The reason is …in some of my Twitter posts, so those of you who follow me there should know it (@lillysbooks) since I have been complaining for a while.

Ok, back to the readathon wrap up. This was my first participation and I enjoyed it very much. The best part is that the team behind 24in48 is so friendly and managed to keep us engaged. They are amazing hosts and I cannot wait to go another round. Too bad the next one is announced for January 2019. For details and a glimpse at how this round went, wither check the Twitter account (which is where I followed the action) and as well the web page.

Here is what I managed to read, reviews will follow during this week:

  1. Vesta’s Clockwork Companions by Juli D. Revezzo – check it on Goodreads
  2. The Phoenix Project (The Liberty Box #3) by C.A. Gray – check it on Goodreads and my Review is already up
  3. The Kitchens of Canton by Isham Cook – check it on Goodreads

 

 

And that’s how my reading hours happened:

 

All in all, it was a very productive weekend and a great readathon! I cannot wait for the next round. But in the meantime, there are plenty of readathons out there and the next one is soon to start! Details will follow, so stay tuned and read much!

#24in48 Readathon TBR

Published on by LillyLeave a comment

Hello my Bookish friends!

After 2 weeks of only 5 hours a night of sleep, no sewing, no crochetting and very little reading, I intend on recovering the lost time. Not my lost sleeping time, but the reading. And what better way to do that than participating in a readathon.

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#24in48 Readathon is happening this weekend!!! I am more than late on selecting my books, lucky me, I keep an agenda! 🙂 🙂 Ok, the goal of the event is to read 24 hours in 2 days (hence the 24 in 48 idea – smart, ain’t it?). There are challenges happening, prizes, friendly people, fellow readers …. and prizes. The link in hte above picture will give you a better idea of what is happening but also follow the readathon on Twitter @24in48readathon, which is where the fun happens.

So my titles for the weekend are:

These are my 6 books that I plan on reading this weekend. I do hope to read as much as possible and to finish all of them. This while being active on social media… and making time to work for my job a little. Ups, too many things to do !!

Ok, that’s it or else I’ll start panicking and we don’t want that. Let’s enjoy a weekend full of great books! If you’re participating, share with me your TBR and let’s exchange thoughts during the weekend! Happy reading! 🙂

Oh and tell me at what time is the readathon starting for you 🙂 For me, it’s tomorrow at 7 AM.

Tackle That TBR Rad-A-Thon… Wrap Up

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Three days ago we have ended the Tackle That TBR Read-A-Thon. Participating was an amazing experience. Knowing that you and a bunch of other book lovers are reading and hoping to accomplish the same goals is very exciting and gave me a feeling of belonging to this amazing community of readers.

But being involved in organizing and promoting it was even better, especially because the event was not initiated by me. Lauren from The Bookish Fairy took a chance and allowed me to help out. So I’d like to thank her (again) for this opportunity. Between us, I hope we will do it again together for the end of this year as well, and even better!

Starting the year with a read-a-thon was a terrific idea, since it gave me that impulse to read a lot. Having good books was a major help too. I pushed myself to complete all the challenges and from my TBR of 7 books , I managed to complete 5. See below the titles with links to my reviews where available, remaining ones will be posted in the following week for sure:

  1. Indiscretion (Andalucían Nights #1) by Hannah Fielding
  2. Travel as Transformation: Conquer the Limits of Culture to Discover Your Own Identity by Gregory V. Diehl
  3. Marking Madden (Hearts of Hollis: Book One) by L. Leslie & Nicole Dykes
  4. Silver Blood (Series of Blood #1) by Emma Hamm – review is in progress. I liked it also, but I didn’t understand some of the elements. So I am checking it out a little more.
  5. A Bargain in Silver (Solis Invicti #1) by Josie Jaffrey – review is in progress. I liked the book quite a lot, but it has some issues especially in regards to the main character and the plot development. I’m still deciding on a rating.

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As for the challenges, I managed to complete them all:

  • A book I really needed to read: A Bargain in Silver (Solis Invicti #1)
  • A book in a series: Silver Blood (Series of Blood #1)
  • A standalone: Travel as Transformation: Conquer the Limits of Culture to Discover Your Own Identity
  • A book that has been on my TBR for over a year: Marking Madden (Hearts of Hollis: Book One)
  • 5 books read: see the list above

Except the reading, this read-a-thon was the perfect opportunity to organize all my books and the ARCs I have received since starting my blog. So this is another accomplishment.

That’s all guys, thank you again to all those who have participated and congratulations to all the books you’ve finished.

Tackle that TBR Read-A-Thon…. TBR :)

Published on by Lilly2 Comments

Hello !!

Yes, it’s here finally! The Winter Holiday is here and with it, the Tackle That TBR Read-A-Thon. Oh, you don’t know about it yet? Well, I told you to check my Facebook page!

So this is a read-a-thon created by my friend Lauren, over at The Bookish Fairy  (Love the name, love the blog, love her reviews, so go check her out) and she invited me to tag along for the ride. We are hosting together this event from Midnight December 22nd in your time zone until 11:59 PM January 5th. I know most of us want to spend some quality time with family, but that’s why we have 2 weeks! Should give you plenty of time to read a little and cross some of the books that have dust  and cobwebs on your shelves.

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Join by following us on Twitter and as well on our Facebook event page and let’s have some fun reading J We do have challenges:

  • Read a book you really need to read, for example an ARC that you still haven’t read yet.
  • Read a book in a series.
  • Read a standalone.
  • Read a book that has been on your TBR for more than a year.
  • Read 5 books

And sprints will be held regularly.

I wanted to include here different books than the ones in my December TBR, but from that list there are 4 that I must finish. Here is what I am planning to read:

  1. Indiscretion by Hannah Fielding (Must finish this book, as I have started it more than a month ago!)
  2. A Bargain in Silver by Jossie Jaffrey (copy received from the author such long time ago and I really do love this series!)
  3. Travel as Transformation: Conquer the Limits of Culture to Discover Your Own Identity by Gregory V. Diehl (also received from the author and publisher 2 month ago)
  4. Brand Identity Breakthrough: How to Craft Your Company’s Unique Story to Make Your Products Irresistible by Gregory V. Diehl (also received from the author and publisher 2 month ago)
  5. Marking Madden by L. Leslie (on my TBR since February… yup!)
  6. Silver Blood (Series of Blood #1) by Emma Hamm (on my TBR since November, 2016 November!)
  7. Dream Me by Kathryn Berla (on my TBR since…. I forgot)

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I am so excited to read all these books! I hope to read at least 6 of them and all will help complete the challenges. I can’t wait to see your TBRs. Share them by tagging us on Twitter, or share them on our event page on Facebook J

Good luck and have fun!

Tome Topple Wrap-Up

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TomeToppleWrap

Not a success at all, but a fun experience!

 I was so ready and so excited to participate. I’d even had all the books lined up and could have completed most of the challenges (link to my TBR is here). However I didn’t even manage to finish one book! I spent the first week doing my best to finish “Stronger Within” by Coral McCallum, but I could not, so I set it aside. Then I picked up “Indiscretion” by Hannah Fielding, which is a lovely book. Or at least it is, as far as I’ve went through.

 “Stronger Within” unfortunately has made me loose some of that enthusiasm, as I could not connect with the story or with the characters at all. Please, if someone has read it, give me an impulse to go on finishing it because right now, I have nothing.

 “Indiscretion” is a completely different story. It gives such great descriptions of Spain and its culture. The emotions are there, so I am moving forward to finish it these days.

 So here are my results, which I am not proud of:

  1. Books on my TBR: 4

Completed: None (Zero, Nada, Niente!!!)

  1. Total page count in TBR: 2,062

Completed: 534 (yey, only 26%! *Rolling eyes*)

  1. Challenges that could have been completed: 3

Completed: see item 1

 On the bright side, I had so much fun interacting with the hosts and participating in the sprints. I will definitely participate again in the next rounds, hopefully with better books! Happy reading!

Tome Topple Readathon TBR

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TomeToppleTBR

Yey! It’s my first time participating in the Tome Topple Readathon and I am very very excited, especially because I’ve pushed back these books especially for this event.

For those of you who are not familiar with tome Topple, this readathon is at round 5 already and will start on November 17 at midnight in your time zone and will end on November 30. The idea is to read books that are over 500 pages that may seem scary because of their long length. It’s a good feeling knowing that somewhere in the world someone is going through (enduring) a big read.  Let’s meet the hosts:

Sam – http://youtube.com/user/thoughtsontomes

Catriona – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYOhq5F-joK8qQPekd-jU1g

Adriana – http://youtube.com/user/perpetualpages

Sarah-Jane – http://youtube.com/thebooklife

Sian – https://www.youtube.com/user/readersr…

Ish- http://youtube.com/ReadingRealm

Caz – http://youtube.com/user/littlebookowl

Joce – http://youtube.com/c/jocesquibblesreads

 

As most readathons, there are several challenges that make things interesting:

  1. Read more than 1 tome
  2. Read a graphic novel (still over 500 pages!)
  3. Read a tome that is part of a series
  4. Buddy read a tome
  5. Read an adult novel

I hope to complete challenges 1, 3 and 5. But let’s  check out my list of books and see if I have a chance:

Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series Book 1) by Coral McCallumstronger within

I have received the entire series from the author two months ago or even more. So I’m using the excuse that I was saving it for the Readathon.

Goodreads blurb:

Stronger Within is Book One of the Silver Lake series.

Lori – in recovery following a serious accident, our fragile heroine is at a crossroads in her life and has sought sanctuary at the beach.

Jake – hard working and with a heart of gold, a struggling musician who is chasing his dreams as front man of local rock band, Silver Lake.

Vulnerability meets rock in this tale of two creative souls following their own paths in life. When their paths collide neither of their lives will ever be the same again.

Stronger Within, set in the small town of Rehoboth, Delaware, is a contemporary love story telling a fast paced tale of rock music, convalescence and unexpected love. It’s a tale of friendship, family and following your heart.

Page count : 626 (as per Goodreads)

Impossible DepthsImpossible Depths by Coral McCallum

This is the second book in the Silver Lake Series. Since I’m reading book 1, I might as well go ahead with book 2.

Goodreads blurb:

After a successful tour, Jake, Lori and the rest of Silver Lake are busy making plans for the future – new arrivals, new business ventures, new music and a new tour. An unexpected turn of events throws these plans into turmoil. Life for Silver Lake will never be the same again.

Can Jake and Lori maintain their relationship, gruelling schedules and overcome tragic losses? Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to find how strong you truly are.

Friendship, love, family and music dominate this contemporary romance as the Silver Lake family rise from seemingly Impossible Depths.

Page count : 423 (as per Goodreads) – don’t judge me yet! I know, over 500. But wait a sec!

Bonded Souls by Coral McCallumBonded Souls

Book 3 in the series and that’s the last of them. So even if Book 2 doesn’t have the necessary amount of pages, I want to finish the series, since two of the books have over 500 pages. And it compensates. And any book over 400 pages is scary for me, ok? I’m a cry baby!

Goodreads blurb:

With their wedding vows still ringing in their ears, the new Mr & Mrs Power start a new year with new projects, new tours and a new arrival on their minds.  However, a chance meeting for Jake with, not one but, two of his musical idols ensures life will never be the same again. A dark twist of fate forces Jake to confront the demons of his past and takes the Silver Lake family on an emotional and intense journey.

As rock ‘n’ roll, love and family intertwine to perfection, will Silver Lake emerge unscathed? Will the bonds of friendship hold true? Will Jake and Lori remain Bonded Souls?

Page count : 508 (as per Goodreads)

IndiscretionIndiscretion (Andalucían Nights #1) by Hannah Fielding

I have received this book in paperback format form the author. I am so excited to read it! I love my Kindle app, but I’m a sucker for paperbacks and hardbacks! Hannah was kind enough to send me a copy and it’s only fair I put it for my Tome Topple TBR.

Goodreads blurb:

A young woman’s journey of discovery takes her to a world of forbidden passion, savage beauty, and revenge.

Spring, 1950. Alexandra de Falla, a half-English, half-Spanish young writer abandons her privileged but suffocating life in London and travels to Spain to be reunited with her long-estranged family.

Instead of providing the sense of belonging she yearns for, the de Fallas are driven by seething emotions, and in the grip of the wild customs and traditions of Andalucia, all of which are alien to Alexandra.

Among the strange characters and sultry heat of this country, she meets the man who awakens emotions she hardly knew existed. But their path is strewn with obstacles: dangerous rivals, unpredictable events, and inevitable indiscretions. What does Alexandra’s destiny hold for her in this flamboyant land of drama and all-consuming passions, where blood is ritually poured on to the sands of sun-drenched bullfighting arenas, mysterious gypsies are embroiled in magic and revenge, and beautiful dark-eyed dancers hide their secrets behind elegant lacy fans?

“Indiscretion” is a story of love and identity, and the clash of ideals in the pursuit of happiness. But can love survive in a world where scandal and danger are never far away?

Page count : 464 (as per Goodreads) – no!!! The book I have has 497 pages + 8 pages of prologue = 505 pages – over 500, nailed it baby!

 

I will probably start with the last book, as I have only the first one in the series, then move on to the first three. Whish me luck, because I still have to go through my normal TBR books for November.

If you want to follow the event, look it up on Twitter @tome_topple. Let me know if you are planning to participate and which books are on your list. I’ll do my best to check in and give my progress from time to time. I may be more active on social media though probably (hopefully). Have fun and read more J