Blog Ahead this October. 2015 Challenge Commitment

This is a great challenge for me!  The objective is for bloggers to prepare extra scheduled posts for the upcoming holidays.  31 if  possible is the idea.  31 posts prepared between Oct 1-31, in addition to however many you had going into the month.  For me, that will be none. 

 I have fallen very far behind these past couple months in posts.  I fear what the holidays were going to look like here and was already trying to figure out a way to get caught up and ahead once again.  This challenge may be part of the solution.  Great inspiration to get them going!  

I'll post about how many posts I've prepared at the first of November.  See you then and feel free to click the button to join in yourself!

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon 2015, #TackleTBR WRAP UP

 

So even with a rought start with a nasty virus and a major house project underway, I still managed to get some good reading in!  

I finished:

 

Made Progress In:

 

Grand total Stats:

Completed:

• 4 novels
• 7 Graphic Novels/Mangas 
• 2 Childrens books

Plus progress in 3 other novels and 1 (long!) graphic novel 

Total Pages read:  2890!!!

So I even made my goal that was increased at the mid-way point.  While I wish I made more novel progress I still think I did a good job with everything else going on. 

Did you participate in this challenge?  How did you fare against your goals?

REVIEW: Demon Glass by Rachel Hawkins

 

 

Hex Hall: Demon Glass (2)

 

by Rachel Hawkins 

Genre(s): Paranormal, Young Adult

Pages: 359

Published: March 2011

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

 

Summary:   "Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (a.k.a. witches, shape-shifters, and faeries). But then she discovered the family secret, and the fact that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie's a demon, one of only two in the world-the other being her father. What's worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will either destroy her powers for good-or kill her.

But once Sophie arrives, she makes a shocking discovery. Her new housemates? They're demons too. Meaning, someone is raising demons in secret, with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Archer to do it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?"

 

 

 

 

Review:  This is the sequel to Hex Hall. In order to properly enjoy this book, I highly encourage you to read it first. This is not a trilogy to read out of order.

In some ways I enjoyed this more than the first one, and in others a bit less. To start, I liked the writing better. I didn't feel the topics and style were geared towards teens only. While a young adult book, this one did not rub me in the annoying way the first book did at times.

Stacking the Shelves 92

 

 Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, every Weekend. This is to share books I have acquired from various sources. Physical books & ebooks both are welcome. If its something being sent to me by mail, I will not mention it until I actually receive it. 

Three weeks since my last post!  Sorry.  I meant to post last weekend!  And now it is already late Friday night and I have to work this weekend so I am rushing a bit to get this up.  

The last few weeks have been hectic.  Work is undergoing major changes, we had some nasty cold virus's passing through our home, lots of bad fires in the area (makes breathing extra fun with the smoke in the air when sick) and to top it off we are trying to prep our house to paint it.  As some may have noticed, this has kept me from blogging much.  I am barely even putting effort into a readathon right now but I have been looking forward to it for a long time.  Yet, regardless of all that is happening I still manage to collect a plethora of books....

To learn more about a particular book, just click the cover for a link to Goodreads.  I will share as many as I can before I get too sleepy. I cannot believe I pushed this post so late but it has just been so much going on lately.  Please bare with me!

 

GIVEAWAY!!! Banned Books Giveaway Hop- #Win INT

 

This is Banned Book Week.  While books are being banned year round by schools, government and other organizations we like to take a bit of time out of our week to  honor and lift these books up a bit.  To celebrate our freedom to read what we want. In 2014 alone, over 300 books were reported to ALA as either banned or at least challenged by schools or libraries.  

Now books banned in one's individual house, by one's parent or guardian I can understand.  BUT only if they have either read or thoroughly understand the book.  I do not think a school, library or organization should have a say in what we choose to read.  But if a parent feels a book is unsuitable for their child I do believe in respecting that.  Yet they should know why they are saying no.  'Because I said so' doesn't cut it.  Be able to give a valid reason and hopefully better than you heard there was some minor discrepancy.  Saying "I heard this book has violence" isn't very good.  The book might have a simple punch in the nose or something.  Yet if you know of a very explicit murder/torture scene, that shows a deeper understanding of what/why you are saying no.    Does that mean the whole class cannot read a book? No.  Just the child who's parents said no.  No teacher, boss, babysitter, etc should say no for a child.  Only the parent.  Otherwise, I am completely against banning a book.  No organization should have that say.

So for this giveaway I am giving away a box package of books that have been banned.  Or 1 banned book from this site of the winner's choice will be sent via The Book Depository.   Giveaway is International. 

Top Ten Tuesday-Fall 2015 TBR

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Here are Ten  of my top books on my Fall 2015 TBR list.  

  Well, I did better on my summer list than I have in the past, but I am still way behind on my seasonal top tens. Plus I have a lot of series I am working on and review books quite a bit past due.  So this is a mostly practical list.

The goal is to read these hopefully this fall
One thing that makes this list different than many others is it is not full of new released titles or upcoming titles.  I can make a list of those too but these are books I at least try to accurately plan to read.  Many new lovely titles always crop up, pushing me from reading these but I have access to these titles here and now for sure.

 

Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon 2015, #TackleTBR-The halfway mark

 

Well we are now 50% done with this readathon.  My first week was a bit rough but I am getting  back on my feet and sticking my nose back into a few books. 

Here are the books I finished since my last update:

 

 

 

I also have made continual progress in: 

Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway 2015

 

The give away title says it all.  

Giveaway is International as long as The Book Depository can ship to you or you pick an ebook.   

Winner can pick any ONE book from below. ALL books are part of a good series, so you can pick any book with the series.  All of these I have read this year and really enjoyed.  I hope you will too!