Project Read All the Books: August Recap

Goodbye August, Hello September!

Typically, August is a month filled with down time in a library. We need it to recoup after Summer Reading. Not this year. I filled my month with lots of booking Fall programs, weeding, collection development (thank you State Aid!), and lots of general housekeeping tasks. I was definitely glad August is gone. I felt that I didn’t get as much reading done as I should have. I went out of town 2 weekends in August and read very little during the week.

That being said, according to Goodreads I read 23 books for August. 2 were picture books, 1 graphic novel, and 2 quick middle grade novels.

Obviously I knew August was going to be hectic (or I was tired of not hitting my TBR goal) because I only set my August goal at 5 books. Remember, these are books that come I actually own but haven’t read.

I barely made August’s goal…seriously, I read the 5^th book at 8:00pm on August 31^st.

What I read…

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

The Billionaire’s Obsession by J.S. Scott

Prince Charming by Julie Garwood

Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost

The Devil She Knows by Kira Sinclair

Time for a recount! It has been a few months since I have done a count of all the books. I’m bad about doing random clean outs and buying books from my Friends bookstore.

Count as of today: 100 books.

Goal for September 5 books.

Also, check out Fun-Sized Reads blog. She just started her own Project Read All the Books. Good Luck to her!

Project Read All The Books: July Recap

It’s that time again!

July was a busy reading month with me knocking out 30 books (3 were pictures books, plus 2 novellas).

From the 30 books I read in July, 7 came from my To-Be-Read (TBR) Bookcase. Remember the whole goal of this project is to cut down on the number of books that I own, but haven’t read. I have an entire bookcase dedicated to these books! And with the number of books I keep acquiring, I really need to free up this bookcase for other books.

As of June 2014, I had 124 books on my TBR bookcase.

My goal for July was 8 books.

Even though I read 30, only 7 were from the TBR bookcase. I started the 8th one last night, Magic Slays, but fell asleep. I would have finished it (and finally hit my monthly goal), but BF found an early showing of The Guardians of the Galaxy, so we rushed to see that.

Here are the 7 books for July:

Castles by Julie Garwood
Seduction of a Highland Lass by Maya Banks
No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean
A Knight in Shining Amour by Jude Deveraux
Up from the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Mistress by Tiffany Reisz
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Current Count: 117

Goal for August: 5 Books

What did you read in July?

Beach Bound Reading

Summer Reading is over at my library and I am celebrating by  packing my bag full of books and heading straight to the beach. I haven’t packed my clothes yet, but I have been plotting what I’m going to read all week. I always take more than I can actually get through, because I never know what mood I’ll be in. Here is what I have for this short weekend getaway…

• Up from the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (audio for the drive down and back)
• Nice Girls Don’t have Fangs by Molly Harper
• The Enchanted Land by Jude Deveraux
• The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz (currently reading) from the TBR shelf
• Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
• Fool me Twice by Meredith Duran
• Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews from the TBR shelf
• A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux (currently reading) from the TBR shelf

What do you like to read on your vacations? Any recommendations?

#RT14 here I come!

 

Adios, work! I'm heading to RT14! 

I have been looking forward to this for months. The Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in being held in New Orleans this year (just 5 hours from me!) and I'm going! I am not a romance writer at all, but this genre is by far my absolute favorite. I heard about this convention in November at my local RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter's annual luncheon. I thought it would be pretty cool to go. What sealed the deal? When I saw that Lisa Kleypas would be there. Done!

Kleypas is right up there with Johanna Lindsey for me. After I had my initial fangirl freak out moment I began planning. I could not afford the entire convention. It was like $600 for the whole week, plus I'm not a writer. They have an extraordinary and massive book fair (perfectly named as the Giant Book Fair) at the end. Admission included the book fair (over 600 romance authors!) plus a day filled with workshops...all hosted by bestselling authors! The whole day is called FAN-tastic Day. How could I not go!  I was able to convince my sister, who has never read a romance book, that a weekend trip to NOLA was in order. 

Sadly, my sister had to back out a few weeks ago for work related issues. My friend, fellow librarian, and romance reader extraordinaire Morgan was able to step in and attend with me. We have planned a fun filled weekend with cemetery walking tours, ghost and vampire tours, and plenty of alcohol.  

To prepare for the Giant Book Fair, I have been strategizing over who I wanted to see. With over 600 authors, you cannot go in unplanned. Out of all the authors I have narrowed it down to 18 that I want to visit at the Giant Book Fair. I have also ordered them by who I should visit first. There are some pretty big names at the book fair and I don't want to spend the whole 3 hours in lines. 

1. Lisa Kleypas

2. Charlaine Harris

3. E.L. James

4.Jeaniene Frost

5. Maya Banks

6. Jamie McGuire

7. Tamora Pierce

8. Ilona and Gordon Andrews

9. Kresley Cole

10. Shayla Black

11. Cora Carmack

12. Stephanie Perkins

13. Jackie Morse Kessler

14. Tiffany Reisz

15. Jennifer Haymore

16. Tessa Dare

17. Melody Anne

18. Maya Rodale

If you are familiar with the list you might have realized that I left off some of the big names: Eloisa James, Lauren Willig, and Sylvia Day. I will be seeing these authors at smaller  events later on during the year so I wanted to save meeting them for those events. 

I have also been stockpiling on books. I originally thought I could only take two books. I agnoized over this decision and finally decided on Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas and Colter's Woman by Maya Banks. A hard decision but these two are by far my favorites. Luckily though, my friend Morgan is an amazing librarian and did a better job at digger than I originally did. Instead of two books total, it is 2 per author. That takes it to a whole new ball game. I have been scouring amazon and my local used bookstore for weeks now. The final total is 24 books. 

• Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4) by Charlaine Harris - 2 copies - My personal copy and a copy for my BFF.
• The Duchess Hunt by Jennifer Haymore - Received this in my RWA Librarian Day Swag Bag last year and loved it!
• Magic Bites and Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #1 &2) by Ilona Andrews
• One Foot in the Grave and Grave's End (Night Huntress #2 & 3 - I already have number 1 and 7 signed) by Jeaniene Frost
• A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
• All Lined Up by Cora Carmack - They pushed up the release of the book but they were not able to get any copies to RT. Luckily, Carmack let me know and I was able to get a copy before I left.
• Submit (Surrender #2) by Melody Anne 
• Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse #1) by Jackie Morse Kessler
• Colter's Woman and Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks - I really wanted to bring Be With Me, which I have read several times, but I loved the romance in Never Seduce a Scot...I might bring Be With Me along anyways and change my mind. 
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
• The Prince and the Angel by Tiffany Reisz
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
• Seduce Me at Sunrise and Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas - It Happened One Autumn was also a contender.
• Delicious by Shayla Black
• Beka Cooper: Terrier (for Morgan) and Alanna (not pictured - picking up from BAM in a few minutes) by Tamora Pierce. I have Trickster's Choice pictured but I've decided to take Alanna instead. 
• Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. 

See you next week! 

Vacation Time - My Beach Reads

See you later cold weather! I’m trading in this dreary winter weather for sand and sun! I’m off on a well deserved vacay with BF. We will be spending one glorious week on the shores of the Grand Bahama Island. Actually, it really isn’t cold where I live, but I still need this vacation. This is the first time I will ever be using vacation time. With my first full time job, I had a to wait one year before being awarded vacation time and on my one year anniversary I put in my notice for my current job. Though I was cut a check for the vacation days, I immediately started with my current job. Well, my one year probationary period is up, so me and the BF are heading South for the Winter and my e-reader is loaded down.

Here is what I’ve selected for my beach reading:

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews 

Iced by Karen Marie Moning

Demon Hunting in Dixie by Lexi George

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon 

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig 

I doubt I will get all of these read, but I sure am going to try! Bon Voyage!