Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by to let you know about an event that I heard about from Laurie at Palmer's Pages. This is an event being hosted by KimberlyFayeReads. The goal is to reflect on 2016 and I thought it sounded fun. The event started a couple of days ago, so let me share with you some of my updates!

12.25
Books I Wish Would Have Made It Time To Read This Year
-Emily Giffin-First Comes Love
-A Dog's Purpose
-So many others!!

12.26
Fave Book Covers

12.27
Favorite Couples
Ummmm good question? I know that alot of you are into 'shipping' people but I havent spent much time thinking about it. What are your thoughts?




12.28
Favorite Quotes

Photo Credit

I'll be back later this week for more updates!

Happy #top16of2016!

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Best Books Of 2016

Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by to link up with the Broke and Bookish crew with my 2016 Best Reads of the Year. (Yes, I know there is 11 but I couldn't pick which one to leave off...so you get an extra :) ) I am excited to share with you my list and to see what makes everyone's list! If you have not read these books, I highly recommend them :)

Here are mine:

Have you read these? What did you think?

Happy Reading!

#0by18

Hi Everyone!

Just stopping by today to tell you that I am doing some cleaning and preparing for the new year. Erin at Readingwithwrin had mentioned she wants to do the #0by18 challenge. Basically it means you read through all of the books that you own before the start of the New Year. This will be a year long 2017 challenge. When I heard that she was thinking about this, it got me wondering how many books am I actually behind.

Well here is the truth...
93 books that I own
20 that I have committed to reviews on
5 others that I have committed to but haven't gotten yet

So yeah...that's alot.*Gulp.

I have decided that this is going to be the year to make some changes. To that end, I am committing to this challenge and all of the others that say read my own books, get caught up on my TBR, etc!

Are you in? Let's make a deal to read our books instead of letting them be pretty paper weights.

Happy Reading! 

PS. That doesn't include new releases or library books that also need to get into the mix. *Sigh.

Happy Holidays!

 

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday Season!

Book Review: Jelly Beans in Life

Author: Sig Schmalhofer
 
Summary from Goodreads:




JELLY BEANS IN LIFE set in Reagan America 1987, cleverly integrates love, business, politics and gritty  determination into a smart, fun, fast pasted story that will  inspire you to discover the Jelly Beans in your life. Manor House Publishing: “This beautifully written  journey through Americana is a perfect companion whether in a lounge chair on a sunny day sipping a glass  of lemonade or curled up with a blanket sipping a cup of  coffee in front of a fireplace.”
 
EXCERPTS FROM JELLY BEANS IN LIFE
Jelly Beans in Life…on relationships “Since women
were the biggest mystery in Larry’s life, he stared at the burger
in hopes that the secret to understanding women would be
revealed somewhere between the mustard and the pickle.”
 
Jelly Beans in Life… on politics “The much
anticipated Lake Mathias Town Hall Meeting… would not only
reveal the fate of the housing moratorium in a sleepy town, but
would also measure the political clout of Susan Schafer, a tenth
grade English teacher. This…controversy could… determine
the political future of a John Lennon loving, Corvette driving
democrat married to a Jelly Bean eating republican businessman 
with a square head and a ratchet ass.”
 
Jelly Beans in Life… on coffee “Ever since she met Mary,
Susan added a splash of milk to make her smile and a sprinkle of
sugar to make her sweet. Larry had not recognized Susan’s new
sweetness, but that was understandable. He was a man.

Personal Review:
I will be honest, I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I said I would review this book. What I ended up getting was a book full of stories about all sorts of topics. This book was written in a friendly way, jammed packed with alot of little points here and there.

I think the most compelling part of the book for me was that there is alot of honesty in each story. Sometimes you read things that make you think, wow I have never thought of it like that before or that makes sense. Other times, it was harder for me to relate but it was still entertaining.

I appreciated the opportunity to read this book. Thank you.

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

Happy Reading!

Mount TBR 2017

January 2017 will kick off the fifth year for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge, hosted by My Reader's Block. I am participating again this year because I have a bunch of books that I need to catch up on!

If you are interested here are the Challenge Levels:

Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s


I will use this section to track my books:

(TBD)


More details about the challenge on the link!

Will you be participating?

Happy Reading! 

Book Review: Vent

Author: Robert K. Swisher Jr
 
Summary from Goodreads:
VENT is the first ever reader participation book. During the story about two people accidentally meeting, the reader is asked YES and NO questions that run from the pertinent to the riduculous, and includes scandilous topics mankind seems to obsess themselves with. Following the questions, there are several lined spaces for the reader to write their opinion allowing them to vent without being interrupted by someone that does not believe as they do. VENT is funny, sarcastic, political, pertinent and also exposes information the mainstream media avoids.



Personal Review:Let me just start off by saying that I have never read a book like this before. That being a book where you actually can add your own thoughts to the pages of it on lines provided. I have seen where people add their own notes to the edges, but this was different. Not different good or bad, just plain different.

I enjoyed that this book made me think. Not only about the story, but on my personal views of the world. I have learned that there are some topics that I feel more strongly then others. In those sections, I could have written much more. Others not so much. An interesting way of engaging the reader throughout. I would love to have something like this in English class in high school.

I think it would be interesting to have people complete this book once and then revisit it in another couple of years to see if their perspectives have changed. I enjoyed the book and it certainly made me think. If you are looking for a book that is off the beaten path, then this might be a good for you.

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

Happy Reading!