Bout of Books 9.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

What better way to start a new year than with a readathon! Slightly last minute sign up but I'm in!

Goals

• To read 5 books. (At least one 'real' book!)
• To participate in at least one mini challenge
• To comment on other blogs  

Good Luck!
Much Love!
Lettie
XXX

Bout of Books 7.0!

 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

 

Cannot believe it's Bout of Books time again! This time it falls on the week I'll be house sitting at my Grandparents= perfect reading time :)

 

Goals

• Finish up all my May review books. (I should have finished the majority by them but just in case!)
• Catch up on books I keep putting off!
• Read at least 3 'hard copies'
• Take part in a twitter talk! Fingers crossed as the timing always goes against me!
• Comment on at least 5 new blogs.

Bout of Books TBR!

The Last Hour by Charles Sheehan-Miles.

Just Remember to Breathe by Charles Sheehan-Miles.

Shallow Pond by Alissa Grosso.

The Academy: Game On by Monica Seles.

Wait for You by J. Lynn.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

The Truth About Faking by Leigh Talbert Moore.

None of The Regular Rules by Erin Downing.

Crossed by Ally Condie.

 

Are you taking part?

Much Love!

Lettie

Xxx

Weekly Round Up + Bout of Books Wrap Up!

 

Well Bout of Books was my week aside from work and soaking up quality time before my friend goes to Australia!

 

Mini Challenge!

The New Year's Resolution Challenge!

hosted by Ex Libris

Pick a book and choose one or several characters from it and make up what would be their New Year's resolutions if they made any.

 

I picked my first Bout of Books read! Going for realistic resolutions because Lucy and Jude need some!

Lucy- To look past appearances and allow explanations before judgements!

Jude- To try and see situations from Lucy's point of view and lock doors before passing out!

Both- To communicate better through phone calls, texting, email, Skye- just communicate!

I love Lucy and Jude and their story is so compelling but they don't make their lives easy!

 

Goals Met?

Aims-

To read 5 books.

See below!

To participate in at least one mini challenge

See above!

To comment on other blogs...

I was awful at this one!

What I Read!

Success! My FIRST readathon where I reached my goal!
I actually read three of the books from my goals post as well, normally books I list before a readathon get 'jinxed'!
Only downside is Through The Ever Night isn't on the list as I cannot get my hands on it! I have searched 8 bookshops- I'm determined not to buy it online as I have a voucher!

Challenge Updates
Genre Variety Challenge- 2/12
New Adult Challenge-5/20.
YA Contemporary Challenge- 1/10.
First Reads- 2/11.
Steady start- keep an eye on my Challenge page for updates!
Other News
The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski- Review and blog tour!

Coming Up!
Reviews- This week will have at least two reviews!
Through The Ever Night- I will find it and read it!

How did you do with Bout of Books?
What have you been reading?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Bout of Books 6.0

 

Details
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 6.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 6.0 team

What better way to start a new year than with a readathon!

Aim

• To read 5 books.
• To participate in at least one mini challenge
• To comment on other blogs

Potentials
Watch Me Disappear by Diane Mulligan
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Through The Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
The Perfect Game by J. Sterling
A Toast to The Good Times by Steph Campbell and Liz Reinhardt

Are you participating?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

While It Lasts by Abbi Glines

Maybe driving home after a few (or more) shots of tequila had been a bad idea, but hell, he did it all the time. The cops had to have been freaking bored to have pulled him over. He wasn’t even swerving! That’s Cage York’s story and he’s sticking to it.

Unfortunately, his baseball coach isn’t buying it. Cage has a free ride to the local junior college for baseball -- or he did, until he’d gotten a DUI. Now, Cage has to decide: does he drop out and give up his dream of getting noticed by a college in the SEC, and possibly making it into the Major Leagues -- or does he give in to his coach’s demands and spend his summer baling hay?

Eva Brooks planned out her life step by step when she was eight years old. Not once over the years had she lost sight of her goals. Josh Beasley, her next door neighbour, had been the centre of those goals. He’d been her first boyfriend at seven, her first kiss at ten, her first date at fifteen, and her first tragedy at eighteen. The moment she’d received the phone call from Josh’s mother saying he’d been killed along with four other soldiers just north of Baghdad, Eva’s carefully planned life imploded in the worst way possible.

Cage isn’t real happy with his closet-sized bedroom in the back of a foul smelling barn, or his daily interactions with cows, but he knows that if he doesn’t make his coach happy then he can kiss his scholarship goodbye. Only a sick and twisted man would decide his punishment was to be working on a farm all summer. No hot babes in bikinis waiting to meet a Southern boy to make her vacation complete. Just him and the damned cows.

Oh -- and an uptight, snarky brunette with the biggest blue eyes he’s every seen. But she doesn’t count, because as hard as he’s tried to charm her out of her panties - he’s pretty sure she’d rather see him hung from the rafters than let him get a taste of her pretty little lips.

 

Kicking off YA and NA Contemporary month with a review I purposely held back! I didn't think Abbi could top Because of Low... I was wrong! While It Lasts is such an amazing read!

 

What I loved:

• Cage- Wow! I found him funny and sweet in Low but I loved him in Lasts. He was everything he needed to be! Sweet, funny, respectful, hot, dangerous, risky and caring! I loved how he still needed Low and how they truly are family to one another.

• Eva- I felt for Eva not pity more empathy- it's horrible when death ruins your perfect life! I loved how she grew to appreciate Cage and see that even though he was so different from what she had planned with Josh he was wanted she needed now!
• Jeremy- I loved him so much he made it in to my Top Ten Minor Characters. He was so good to Eva he stayed with her and went at her pace through the grieving and moving on phases! I want to read more on him!
• Link- I really enjoy when authors link their books together seamlessly and although this is obviously a series you could read them separately so I love all the little link back details and foreshadowing that I picked up on! I think I picked up on it more in this one as I read and loved Because of Low whereas I haven't read Breathe.
• End- Loved it! It was perfect it hinted at their future but didn't answer all the questions I absolutely loved the letter 'epilogue' perfect link to the beginning and showcases how Eva had grown and changed throughout the book.

 

What I didn't love as much:

• Becca- Oh my gosh! She was so over the top with Cage and I'm guessing anyone new and hot! I didn't really feel she was a good friend to Eva more of an old friend!
• Mrs. Beasley- I understood where she was coming from but she seemed to be overly nosey and inappropriate in regards to Eva's personal life. She didn't offer an opinion more like laid down what she felt to be the law...
• Length- It was pretty long but I wanted more! More of Eva in Cage's environment and more of Eva and her dad- I would have loved to read the full interaction regarding Cage! So glad Abbi decided to write more on these two!

I don't know how Just For Now will top this one! It was hot, sweet and so easy to read! Firmly a fan of Abbi and the Sea Breeze series! I'm currently awaiting Amazon UK to let me  download Just For Now!


How much did you love While Its Lasts?
More than Because of Low?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Going Under by Georgia Cates

Jessie Boone is a self proclaimed bad boy and doesn’t march to the beat of anyone’s drum, but his own. Growing up in less than desirable circumstances has made him no stranger to the hard knock life and his determination to leave it behind is fierce. When he finds himself transferred to East Franklin High School, he sees his opportunity to use his athletic ability to snag a college football scholarship, but Forbes Henderson, the player Jessie means to replace isn’t giving up his spot willingly. In fact, Forbes is willing to go to extreme measures to retain his place as first string quarterback. When Forbes’ malicious plan to injure his replacement fails, Jessie is furious and determined to show him he messed with the wrong person; not only is he going to take the position of first string quarterback, he’s going to take his girl, too.
Claire Deveraux is perfection at it’s best. She is beautiful, intelligent and unaware she just became Jessie Boone’s conquest as revenge against her boyfriend, Forbes Henderson. Like her flawless performance as the perfect daughter and student, Claire’s production of being the perfect girlfriend has everyone fooled, except Jessie Boone, and she fears this tattooed bad boy will see her secret desire to explore his crude threats and promises to rock her perfect world. If she decides to give in to one uninhibited moment with Jessie, will she learn too late that it was all an act of vengeance or will Jessie learn the taste of first love is sweeter than that of revenge?

This was a random download from months ago that I finally read and really enjoyed!

What I loved:

• Jessie- He reminded me of Noah from Pushing The Limits , he was a supposed 'bad boy' who is actually a good guy with a bad family situation although Jessie's life had arguably been harder than Noah's. I liked how he focussed on sports as a way out of his situation. I just really loved him-  I will even forgive him being called Jessie!
• Claire's parents- Despite a major/minor blip with Claire's mum they were awesome parents! Her dad willingly overlooked Jessie's supposed bad reputation in favour of Claire's happiness. They even made a huge sacrifice for Jessie's safety. Good grounded parents- a rarity in YA fiction!
• Claire and Payton- Great best friends. I loved how no nonsense Payton was especially how forward she was with Jessie to make sure he had Claire's best interest in minds. She knew Claire so well, she clearly didn't believe her whole I'm not even in Jessie thing.
• Dale- Another good friend. I liked how he befriended Jessie irregardless of the team's opinion and looked out for him.

What I didn't love as much:

• Forbes- I am starting to dislike how many awful ex boyfriends I have to read! Forbes was really vengeful, forceful and aggressive- not a good combination! I get that being dropped from the starting line up in favour of a 'poor' guy is a little humiliating but he was prepared to seriously injure Jessie and ruin his sports career- too far! I don't even want to get into how creepy and inappropriate he was to let himself into Claire's house...
• Rita and Wayne- Two stellar examples of how to ruin and potentially ruin two lives. I can't even imagine how a Grandma could be so cold and criminal...
• Drug dealing- Never a fan obviously but seeing as it was an important condition of Jessie's living with his Grandma it didn't actively get mentioned that much. As in he didn't seem to do much of it!

I really enjoyed this it avoided being completely cliche but was suitably fluffy!

Let me know if you liked this one!
Much Love
Lettie
xxxx

Monday Round Up/Wrap Up

One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey! This week my Weekly Round Up has been hijacked (again!) as a Readathon wrap up! The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organised by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal .


Read!

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Just as good as I'd hoped!
Going Under by Georgia Cates
Great read- cover was misleading but it was so easy to read and the characters were great :)
The Boy Who Sneaks In My Bedroom Window by Kirsty Moseley.
Started strong but really weakened- not a fan! I really wanted to like it!
While It Lasts by Abbi Glines.
This one was all over my twitter so I just had to read it! Replaced Beautiful Disaster at the last minute as my favourite book of the week!

Goals Met?

Prediction= 6 Result= 4. Total Page count- 1,356

Same as last week! But this week I seemed to have an impromptu YA contemporary week which I really enjoyed! I also read more pages than last week so slight improvement.
I did have to cover two extra days at work which is why I read ebooks- easier to read during lunch and breaks!
I learnt the pitfalls of being taken in by Kindle samplers and cheap ebooks!
I really enjoyed Bout of Books- Unfortunately I missed all the Twitter chats which I was looking forward to.
I will definitely be taking part again :)

Readathon posts!
Goals Post!
Update post.

Reviews Posted!
Better blogging week!
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire- How quick was this one reviewed!
The Selection by Kiera Cass- Finally finished up this review.

Reading 

This one was just missed out on the Bout of Books! So far it's living up to my expectations!

To Be Read

 So excited for this one- hopefully it won't disappoint!

I really enjoyed the Bout of Books readathon- definitely going to be taking part in it again!

Let me know what you've been reading and loving!
Much Love!
Lettie
xxxx

Bout of Books Update!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organised by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal .

Slow start as I had a lot of work this week but I've got this weekend to make it to six! Fingers crossed!

Progress So Far!

Beautiful Disaster courtesy of NetGallery! Already reviewed here
Going Under- Loved it!!


Started

I seem to be on a YA contemporary spree atm!
So far so good :)

Let me know how you've doing with the readathon!  
Much Love!
Lettie
xxx

Bout of Books- 13th August to 19th August

Details

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organised by  Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal . It is a week long read-a-thon that begins Monday, August 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. 

Aim

I'm aiming for six again as I shouldn't be going anywhere this week!
I think this is a more realistic goal especially as I've got work until Wednesday so limited reading time.

Books

As I proved last time these lists seem to curse the books on them!

So I'll just list a couple :)

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
4. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Let me know if you're taking part and what you plan on reading!
Much Love!
Lettie
xxx

Weekly Round/Wrap Up



One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey! This week my Weekly Round Up has been hijacked as a Readathon wrap up! The Readathon was hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between!

Side Note- Bad Blogging week! I was unexpectedly needed in the country due to personal reasons. I attempted to schedule some posts- as usual it didn't work!

Read!


*Plus* The Future of Us by Kahlen Aymes!

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan.
Just as good as I'd hoped! Spark is firmly on my TBR list, hoping my local library will get a copy in!
Sam Cruz's Infallible Guide To Getting Girls by Tellulah Darling.
NetGallery request- realistic, funny and witty! Great quick read.
Because of Low by Abbi Glines.
Random Kindle book (downloaded the kindle app due to NetGallery!). Really loved it, very character driven which is always a winner when the characters are written well!
The Future of Us by Kahlen Aymes.
Free kindle download- easy enjoyable read, not my favourite of the week!

Goals Met?

Prediction= 6 Result= 4

I have to take responsibility for poor packing of reading material on my unexpected trip.
But I was already behind due to Olympic Fever!! I soaked up Team GB's massive success and the impressive London 2012 games so much I had little time for anything- whoops!
Once again the curse of the TBR list attacked!
I only manged to read one book of my list- I saved so many books  for this readathon and then got distracted.
I still enjoyed readathon and four  books isn't too bad!

Readathon posts!

Launch post complete with aims and list of books I didn't end up reading! Here
Update and challenge post here

What's next?
Book wise-

 
I'm tempted by the Bout of Books Readathon as I don't feel I really got the chance to get involved with this one- plus my TBR list has grown too much!

Reviews
I made review notes on my Readathon books so those reviews should be up soon!

Let me know what you've been reading!
Much Love
Lettie
xxx