Mark your calendars for January 21 and 22, 2017 for the upcoming 24 in 28 readathon!  

Here are the details from their website:

If you’re new to 24in48, this is the basic gist: beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, participants read for 24 hours out of that 48 hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, four hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six four-hour sessions with four hour breaks in between, whatever you’d like.

And that’s it. The format never changes but it’s always an adventure.

Have more questions? There’s an FAQ page for that.

Sign up on their site and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy (@24in48) and you can use the official hashtag #24in48 everywhere to keep up with your fellow readathon-ers.

Will you be joining?

Happy Reading!

Double Feature Friday: The Fall of Lisa Bellow and Impossible Fortress Book Reviews

Author: Susan Perabo
 
Summary from Goodreads:

The suspenseful, breakout novel from the critically acclaimed author of the short story collections Who I Was Supposed to Be and Why They Run the Way They Do—when a middle school girl is abducted in broad daylight, a fellow student and witness to the crime copes with the tragedy in an unforgettable way.

What happens to the girl left behind?

A masked man with a gun enters a sandwich shop in broad daylight, and Meredith Oliver suddenly finds herself ordered to the filthy floor, where she cowers face to face with her nemesis, Lisa Bellow, the most popular girl in her eighth grade class. The minutes tick inexorably by, and Meredith lurches between comforting the sobbing Lisa and imagining her own impending death. Then the man orders Lisa Bellow to stand and come with him, leaving Meredith the girl left behind.

After Lisa’s abduction, Meredith spends most days in her room. As the community stages vigils and searches, Claire, Meredith’s mother, is torn between relief that her daughter is alive, and helplessness over her inability to protect or even comfort her child. Her daughter is here, but not.

Like Everything I Never Told You and Room, The Fall of Lisa Bellow is edgy and original, a hair-raising exploration of the ripple effects of an unthinkable crime. It is a dark, beautifully rendered, and gripping novel about coping, about coming-of-age, and about forgiveness. It is also a beautiful illustration of how one family, broken by tragedy, finds healing.

Personal Review:
I didn't really know what to expect with this book. I have to be honest, I was hooked by the cover and soon the story. This book is a crime one, so if you need a thriller to start your year, this may be the book for you.

I enjoyed this book because it deals with some tough issues and the feelings that happen as a result of those situations. The book's characters feel very deeply (as they should) and I found that to be an interesting dynamic throughout.

I would recommend this book for those who enjoy Pretty Little Liars, because I think some of the themes are similar.

 Disclaimer: I was awarded this book from the publisher. Though I did not pay for the book, the opinions are strictly my own.

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 Author: Jonathan Rekulak
 
Summary from Goodreads:
 Do you remember your first love?

The Impossible Fortress begins with a magazine…The year is 1987 and Playboy has just published scandalous photographs of Vanna White, from the popular TV game show Wheel of Fortune. For three teenage boys—Billy, Alf, and Clark—who are desperately uneducated in the ways of women, the magazine is somewhat of a Holy Grail: priceless beyond measure and impossible to attain. So, they hatch a plan to steal it.

The heist will be fraught with peril: a locked building, intrepid police officers, rusty fire escapes, leaps across rooftops, electronic alarm systems, and a hyperactive Shih Tzu named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Failed attempt after failed attempt leads them to a genius master plan—they’ll swipe the security code to Zelinsky’s convenience store by seducing the owner’s daughter, Mary Zelinsky. It becomes Billy’s mission to befriend her and get the information by any means necessary. But Mary isn’t your average teenage girl. She’s a computer loving, expert coder, already strides ahead of Billy in ability, with a wry sense of humor and a hidden, big heart. But what starts as a game to win Mary’s affection leaves Billy with a gut-wrenching choice: deceive the girl who may well be his first love or break a promise to his best friends.

At its heart, The Impossible Fortress is a tender exploration of young love, true friends, and the confusing realities of male adolescence—with a dash of old school computer programming.

Personal Review:
When I saw this book was set in the 80's, that involved young love, and computer programming, I thought I would give it a shot. I am glad that I did. This book was an interesting read and I appreciated the opportunity to read it.

The best part of this book was the amount of action filled pages that the characters get themselves in. I would love to see this made into a movie because there is alot of it! I enjoyed that the characters have to make decisions about their loyalties and that everyone learns something in the end.

If you enjoy books that are a little off the beaten path, then this may be the book for you. Thank you for the opportunity.

 Disclaimer: I was awarded this book from the publisher. Though I did not pay for the book, the opinions are strictly my own.

Happy Reading!

Guest Post with Cinzia De Santis, Author of The Guide of Time

Hi Everyone!

I am excited to be here today with a guest post from Cinzia De Santis to talk about her upcoming book The guide of Time. I had a chance to ask her what inspired her to write the book  and this is what she shared with me. Happy Reading!

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What inspired me to write this book

The seeds of The Guide of Time were sown many years ago when I was studying science at university. At that time, I came to realise that great discoveries were always a combination of hard work, serendipity and inspiration. Of the three, inspiration was the one that intrigued me the most. In the history of science, there are several well-known examples of moments of inspiration —Archimedes in the bath, Newton’s apple— but there are many others less known that are equally fascinating. I spent almost three years researching the lives of some extraordinary scientists and I discovered things I didn’t know about them that made me even more curious about the topic of inspiration. Scientists often describe it as the appearance of an idea out of nowhere, a ray of light that comes to them with dramatic suddenness and often a sense of certainty. Ancient Greeks and later Romans identified the Muse as the source of inspiration for arts, but, except for Urania —the Muse of astronomy— there wasn’t a Muse of science. What if scientific discoveries were inspired too? Where did these ideas come from? What if mankind has been guided by unseen hands? And what if other forces, equally powerful, promote fanaticism and hatred? The answer to these questions is the essence of the trilogy of The Guide of Time. Some may call it a “geeky” book, and I suppose I am a geek at heart.

Information About The Book/Author

Title of book: The Guide of Time. Book I: The Journey

Genre of book: Sci-Fi/Fiction/ Romance/Fantasy/ Historical Fantasy

Author name: Cinzia De Santis

Web site

Facebook

Buy page

Blurb

Alexander von Rossen is the last in a line of the Guides of Time, an extraordinary force that has taken mankind to a higher state of knowledge. Over the centuries, by inspiring scientists to make great breakthroughs, the Guides have helped humans to transform their view of life and death. But the Guides have powerful enemies who want to keep mankind enslaved, in a permanent struggle between good and evil. Alexander faces an unexpected complication. Ariane Claret is a young woman with an extraordinary talent for music. She bursts into his life at a crucial moment and produces in him feelings he had never known before. Without realising it, she holds the secret to the victory or destruction of Alexander, the Guides and, ultimately, mankind.Book I: The Journey can be bought in Amazon

Biography

Cinzia De Santis was born in Italy, but moved to Venezuela as a baby. She studied Marine Biology and worked both in the non-profit and private sector as an environmentalist. As a teenager, Cinzia used to be an actor, performing both as an amateur and a professional and it was at that time that she started writing short stories. Cinzia moved to England in 2003 and lives in London with her husband and daughter. After a varied and exciting career, Cinzia decided to devote her time to her passions: books and travelling. The Guide of Time is her second novel in English. 

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Thanks for stopping by the blog today!  

December Rewind

Hi Everyone,

Happy December wrap up! I hope that you had a wonderful month. I am happy to report that I finished 17 books this month.

I won’t link to the reviews directly, but if you head over to the side of my blog you can sort my posts by month.

Specifically, I read:
3 Books for Review
12 Library Books
2 Book I Own

They fell into the following groupings for my Challenges:
I love Libraries-12 Books
Mt. TBR-2 Book
#RockmyTBR-2 Book
Pop Sugar-1 Book
Read Harder-1 Book

Highlights of the month included:
 -Participating in a blogger exchange and the annual #TBTB Secret Santa :)
-Diverse Bingoreadathon
-BICOthon
-Planning for 2017!
I have to say, it turned out to be another busy month! But so much fun :)   I hope that you had a successful month of reading! What’s in your que for January?

Happy Reading!

My New Years Resolution #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks and #RockMyTBR

Hi Everyone!

Today I am here to talk about my New Years Resolution. That resolution is to make some serious progress on reading the books I own. As you may have seen, I am signed up for #Oby18 and Mount TBR already, but I have also came across two other TBR challenges that need to be on my to do list. I am also proclaiming it here so that you can all help me to be accountable for following through on this! :)

The first is the #Readmyowndamnbooks challenge. This is hosted by Andi at Estella's Revenge.

The second is the #RockMyTBR Challenge. This is hosted by Sarah at the YA Book Traveler.

Both awesome challenges! I am onboard :) Let's get this reading train moving!




Happy Reading!

Rest of Top 16 in 2016

Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by today with the second half of my responses for Top 16 of 2016.

12/29 New To Me Authors
-Emery Lord
-Tara Daiman

Both awesome! I am looking forward to reading more by both of them!

12/30 Favorite Books (there are many, but here are a few!)

12/31 Books I am Looking Forward to In 2017

All in all, another great year of reading and alot to look forward to in 2017.


Happy Reading!

Dumbledore’s Army Readathon (#DAReadAThon)

Hi Everyone! Stopping by with another fun reading Challenge hosted by Read by Midnight. Here are details from her website. Full credit to her. 

 Details:

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Pottermore and J. K. Rowling, please don’t sue me.

Dumbledore’s Army once strived to keep Hogwarts a safe space for all students, despite the odds which were stacked against them. For the upcoming new year, I wanted to take a leaf from their book, and to remember to keep fighting -especially to keep the voices of everyone visible in my reading experience. Come join me and declare your allegiance for Dumbledore’s Army, we’ll take it one page at a time.

What: #DAReadAThon is a Harry Potter themed readathon, focusing on diverse (especially #ownvoices) books.

When: The readathon will begin Sunday 1st January and conclude Sunday 15th January, midnight to midnight – wherever in the world you’re based.

Who: Anyone can join, although it would be easier for you to write up your reviews and sign up posts if you had a platform such as a blog or a booktube. If you have a twitter or instagram account, please join in on the #DAReadAThon hashtag! You don’t have to be familiar with Harry Potter to join, but the prompts will make more sense to you.

How: You can sign up in this post right here, and start planning your TBR from today. Sign up will remain open for the duration of December.

The prompts of #DAReadAThon are inspired by the spells Harry and co. practised and used during their meetings in the Room of Requirements. We’ll be doing magic of our own by reading and promoting diverse titles using the incantations below. There are seven prompts, since we all know that’s the magic number. 

The Patronus charm is deeply personal and is fuelled by your love and positive experiences. For this prompt, read a diverse book highlighting a topic of personal significance to you or a loved one.

For this one, I would like to read: The Art of Being Normal.

This Disarming spell became one of Harry’s signature move. I ask you to disarm your own prejudices and step out of your comfort zone for this prompt. Go read a diverse book featuring a marginalised group you either have not read about, or don’t read enough about.

 For this one, I would like to read:The Way We Used to Be

I hope that everyone will strive to pick #OwnVoices books for these prompts anyway, but here’s a category that demands you to cast that Shield Charm and protect #OwnVoices story by reading one!

 For this one, I would like to read: To All the Boys Ive Loved Before

Feminism is important, but it means nothing if it’s not intersectional feminism. Use this Reductor Curse to smash the patriarchy and read a book, either non-fictional or fictional, that highlight feminism which is inclusive to all women.

 For this one, I would like to read: Wonder Women

Rouse yourself from that Impediment Hex and go read a diverse book that’s been languishing on your TBR for far too long. 

 For this one, I would like to read: The Walls Around Us

For this prompt, find a book that’s taken over the Internet with a Stunning Spell and causing hype everywhere – then read it.

 For this one, I would like to read: The Upside of Unrequited

Lumos will illuminate your way in the darkness. If you’re struggling to find diverse books to read, go and find one of your most trusted bloggers and ask them for a recommendation, let them light your way to the read for this prompt.

 For this one, I would like to read:Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Keeping scores is completely optional, but since you guys enjoyed doing it so much for my Pokemon Indigo League #ReadThemAllThon, I thought I would bring it back for this challenge. Instead of individual glory, you will be fighting together with your Hogwarts Houses!

• Each 10 pages you read will earn you 1 House Point.
• Each book you complete will earn you 5 House Points.
• Each book you review specifically for the #DAReadAThon will earn you 5 House Points.
• Crosspost your review to Amazon for 1 House Point. 
• Post an image of your #DAReadAThon ID on Twitter for 1 House Point, and it allows other members of your House to find you!
• Tweeting on the #DAReadAThon hashtag (with meaningful tweets about your current reads, recommendations of #OwnVoices) will earn you 1 House Point each. You can have a maximum of 20 House Points from Social Media interactions.
• Photos of your #DAReadAThon books or TBR pile will earn you 1 House Point each. This contributes towards the maximum of 20 House Points from Social Media interactions mentioned above.
• We will catalogue the points at the end via a masterpost, and find out who the Hogwarts House Champion for Diversity is!

Will you be participating?

Happy Reading!