Young Adult Reading Challenge

Well, that didn't take long. My friend DarlingDiva from the Things That Make Me Happy and apparently the new Tales of a Ravenous Reader blog that she didn't tell me she started (hrmpf!) commented on my Stats and Reading Challenge Post last night, stating that she had joined an Audio Book Challenge and a Young Adult Book Challenge. So I checked out the one she joined and decided to give it a go. The 2009 Young Adult Book Challenge is hosted by blogger J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog. I'm pretty sure all I have to do is list the 12 books I am challenging myself to read, link my post to the challenge and then check off the books as I go along. It doesn't exactly say in the rules that you have to post a review . . . but I bet I'm supposed to. I'll do my best. :)

Here is my tentative list of YA Books I'd like to read for this Challenge:

In no particular order . . .
1. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (Inkheart trilogy, Book 3)

2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

3. Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

(Gemma Doyle trilogy, Book 3)

4. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
5. Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

6. Rumors by Anna Godbersen (The Luxe, Book 2)

7. Envy by Anna Godbersen(The Luxe, Book 3)

8. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (sequel to the amazing novel The Hunger Games!)

9. Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast (House of Night, Book 1)

10. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy, Book 1)

11. The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman
12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter, Book 7)

Wish me luck!

Edited to Add:

My list is posted no longer than two hours and already I'm altering it! LOL Kati just reminded me of an upcoming YA novel that looks really good, so I'm going to add it to my YA reading queue.

13. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund.

My Personal Reading Stats for 2008 . . . . and Reading Challenges for 2009

My Reading Stats for 2008
When I looked back to reflect on the books I read last year for My Favorite Books of 2008 post, I decided to take a closer look at my personal reading stats. 

Note the following simple chart:

Number of Books Read Per Month (2008)

Month: #Books Read:
Jan. 3
Feb. 7
Mar. 10
Apr. 5
May 3
June 4
July 10
Aug. 4
Sept. 8
Oct. 4
Nov. 1
Dec. 2
TOTAL: 61

Mean: 5 Books
Median: 4 Books
Mode: 4 Books

Very interesting. This is what I discovered:

On one hand, you can look at the number of books I read each month and it looks like my reading patterns were all over the place! Reading anywhere from ONE to TEN books in one month is pretty erratic if you ask me.

However . . . if you look at the measures of central tendency, my reading patterns are practically a "normal" distribution! 

    

Um. Okay, so maybe that's not that funny, but it is kind of neat how the mean, median, and mode are so close. When those three measures of central tendency are the same, it means that I'm most likely to read four books in a month, but in any given month, I'm equally likely to read more than four books as I am likely to read less than four books. I think. And you know what that means? It means I need to read more this year. Okay, that I pulled from where the sun doesn't shine.

Anyway, I read a total of 61 books in 2008, which averages out to reading about 1.17 books a week or about 5.08 books a month. That number really isn't too bad considering that in 2006, the typical American was reading four books per year (courtesy of www.npr.org, All Things Considered.). So on average, I read more books in one month than the typical American reads in a whole year. Still, it's usually more prudent to read more books in a month than you buy. Isn't it?

Something else that I observed from my reflection on last year's reads that isn't revealed in those stats is that I actually read books from a wider variety of genres. In 2008, I actually deviated from my normal paranormal fixation and read quite a few urban fantasy novels and contemporary romances, a few historical romances, a few romantic suspense novels, a touch of straight fantasy, and I even went back to pre-romance reading days and read a handful of young adult fiction. I hope to continue this pattern this year as well. 

Reading Challenges for 2009

To encourage myself to read more in 2009, and to help whittle down my TBR pile (ha!), I joined a few Reading Challenges this year. 

In March of last year, I joined the TBR Reading Challenge hosted by Keishon at the avidbookreader.com blog. I did well the first four months, but failed to follow through the last several months. I was disappointed that I didn't keep up, and now my TBR pile is bigger than ever, so I rejoined Keishon's TBR Reading Challenge 2009 and am determined to complete it this time. To learn more about this challenge, visit Keishon at the avidbookreader.com.

I also joined the Year of the Category Reading Challenge hosted by Kmont at Lurv à la Mode. Kmont mentioned late last year that she was going to resolve to read more category romance in 2009 and I coerced pressured encouraged her to organize a Category Reading Challenge and she did!!! So of course, then I had to join. Talk about pressure. To learn more about this challenge, visit Kmont at Lurv à la Mode. 

Last, but not least, I joined a Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge hosted by Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile. I already have several contemporary romances at the top of my TBR pile that I've been itching to read, plus a few MUST BUYS for 2009 (Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas, Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins, anything by Megan Hart ... ), so I figure I may as well join Brie's challenge in order to keep my head in the game. To learn more about this challenge, visit Brie at Musings of a Bibliophile. 

I was actually contemplating organizing a Young Adult Reading Challenge, but thought it might be kind of lame if the only participants were me, Thea and DarlingDiva. LOL! 

Did you join any Reading Challenges for 2009? What are some of your reading goals for 2009?

REVIEW: Veil of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Midnight Breeds Series, Book 5

In the world of the Midnight Breeds, vampires are the descendants of an alien species that crashed on Earth thousands of years ago. These other worldly beings survived on human blood and were able to successfully mate with the select few human women of compatible DNA capable of bearing their young. These women, known as Breedmates, are rare, yet still exist today and all bear a distinguishable birthmark in the shape of a teardrop sitting above a crescent moon somewhere on their body. The first generation of young vampires fathered by the alien species born to human Breedmates are called Gen Ones and are the oldest and strongest of all vampires and highly respected and feared by all Breeds. A finite number of Gen One Breeds are still alive today, but their numbers are dwindling.

The Midnight Breed Series follows the lives of the Midnight Breed Warriors of the Order--an organization established by a Gen One who, with a select few brethren, eliminated the violent fore fathers of their species in order to protect the secrecy of their existence to protect humans who are in essence the vampires' only sustainable food source and method of breeding. The Order has also taken on the task of stopping the threat of the growing number of vampires who are going Rogue--feeding and killing humans and Breeds alike and jeopardizing the safety and security of their species. Each book in the series tells the ongoing story of the Order's fight in this Blood War and also the love story of a single Breed Warrior as he and his Breedmate find their happily ever after.

Veil of Midnight is the story of Breed Warrior Nikolai who is the weapons specialist of the Order and an unbeatable fighter. He has been dispatched by the Order to Montreal to find the reclusive Gen One named Sergie Yakut in order to warn him of a new threat against Gen One Breeds all over the world. It appears that Gen Ones are being sought out and assassinated one by one by some organized faction. A faction that the Order believes is being lead by a second generation Breed, the son of First Gen named Dragos who had hidden the sole surviving alien fore father of the Breeds for hundreds of years in a cave. To make matters worse, Dragos has released this alien forefather and has been using him to breed powerful First Gens, not unlike breeding his own unstoppable army.

For the first time ever, Nikolai is duped and captured by a fighter of comparable fighting skill who just so happens to be a human female. A human female who also bears the mark of a Breedmate. Her name is Renata and it turns out she's lives in Sergei Yakut's compound and is one of his body guards. This would seem like good news for Nikolai, but things are not exactly what one would expect. It turns out that not all First Gens agree with the Breeds' peaceful coexistence with humans, and, as evident in previous Midnight Breed novels, not all Breeds support the Order or their mission. Sergei Yakut is old school First Gen, if you will, and wants nothing to do with the Order and could care less about the assassination attempts on other First Gens around the world.

Things turn topsy-turvy rather quickly for Nikolai and although he manages to leave Yakut's compound after making some new enemies, he lands in the not so kind hands of the Montreal Enforcement Agency, an organization headed by the Montreal Darkhaven's leader who is also up to no good. The plot gets thick when Renata turns to Nikolai for help in rescuing a loved one, a child with an alarming psychic ability that she has vowed to protect. Nikolai and Renata come together to help each other reach the other's goals--rescue the child and uncover the violent truths about the Gen One assassination attempts. Of course, they fall in love along the way, although that doesn't come easy for these two warriors who fight their emotions every step of the way.

Veil of Midnight is yet another great installment in this consistently written paranormal action romance series by author Lara Adrian. The complexity of the Midnight Breed world continues to expand, yet always adheres to world rules established in preceding stories. Veil of Midnight is full of surprising plot twists and unexpected deaths that keep the story moving at an entertaining pace and with the kind of tension and exciting action sequences that readers of this series have come to love.

Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed heroes have all been strong, determined and honorable heroes who appear capable of anything except perhaps, resisting love when it finally finds them, and Nikolai is no exception. The heroines in this series are equally strong and honorable, who are very brave when it comes to working with the Order for the greater good of the Breed, and of course, falling in love with a vampire. Renata has had a difficult life and has become the strong warrior she is in Veil of Midnight in order to survive the world she was forced into at a young age. She works hard at maintaining her edge as an unbeatable fighter not because she's simply angry, out for revenge or on some mission to save the world, but because she has to if she wants to stay alive. I think the fact that she knows how dangerously powerful vampires truly are and how dangerously easy it could be for her to mess up and lose her edge, makes her a bit vulnerable which in turn makes her character that much more realistic and smart. Also, the fact that she has promised to protect an innocent child reveals a compassionate side of Renata that makes her character even more appealing. Of course, she's never too compassionate that it stops her from showing Nikolai just how dangerous she really is.

Consistent world building, great characters, a suspenseful plot and a sweet romance make Veil of Midnight one of my favorites in this series. The pacing of the story, the increasing complexity of the series arc and the developing romance between Nikolai and Renata definitely makes this novel shine.

GRADE: A-

There is a minor thread of a subplot that takes place throughout Veil of Midnight that takes place with Andreas Reichen, the Berlin DarkHaven leader who was a leading secondary character Midnight Awakening, that ended on an utterly spine chilling note. I am undoubtedly now waiting on pins and needles for the release of the next book in the Midnight Breed Series, Ashes of Midnight, scheduled for release on May 26, 2009.

Although I did not formally review preceding novels in this series, I'm including the following for comparison. Please also refer to my grading system for more explanation on my letter grading.

Kiss of Midnight B++
Kiss of Crimson B++
Midnight Awakening A
Midnight Rising B
Veil of Midnight A-

Visit Lara Adrian's website HERE.

Favorite Books of 2008

Happy New Year!

Reflecting on the books I read in 2008, I've come up with a list of my favorite novels and some honorable mentions. My three most favorite books are highlighted in BLUE.
.................................................................

Favorite Young Adult novel:
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Honorable Mention:
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (paperback released in 2008)
..................................................................

Favorite Historical Romance:
The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran

Honorable mention:
The SpyMaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne
..................................................................

Favorite Paranormal Romance:


Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

Honorable Mentions:
Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Veil of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
..................................................................

Favorite Contemporary Romance:
Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas

..................................................................

Favorite Urban Fantasy novel:
Iron Kissed* by Patricia Briggs

*This UF series also features my favorite heroine of 2008, Mercy Thompson.

Honorable Mention:
Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
..................................................................

Favorite Sci Fi Romance:
Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Honorable Mention:
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
..................................................................

Favorite short story:
"Alpha and Omega" by Patricia Briggs
On the Prowl Anthology

My Blog Anniversary!

I just realized that today is my one year blogging anniversary!!! I knew it was close, but actually had it in my head that it was on New Year's Eve. Good thing I was reviewing some old posts and noticed the correct date of my first post. 

I guess I just want to say that it's been fun blogging and getting to know readers from all over the world who share my passion for similar genres. I appreciate everyone who reads and comments on my blog. This venture wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it is if I didn't know there were people interested in what I have to say.

Cheers! :) 

Books in My Reading Queue

Here's a little run down on what I've been reading lately and the books I have sitting on my nightstand just waiting to be read. I haven't been reading nearly as much as I normally do in recent weeks, largely due to my preoccupation with all that's going on at home, but I'm hoping to write some reviews over the holiday break, and read and review a few other great selections I really want to get to.

In November, I read one and only one book the entire month and that was an ARC of Maximum Exposure by Alison Kent. Alison sent me the ARC over the summer in exchange for the promise to review it on or before release date and for the first time, I've failed my end of the author ARC bargain and for that, I apologize to Alison. I still plan on posting a review of Maximum Exposure, however, and hope to do it this coming week.

Last weekend, I finally finished reading The Windflower by Laura London for The Windflower World Tour, and will compose some final thoughts on the book very soon.


Right now I'm more than half way through reading an ARC of Veil of Midnight by Lara Adrian, the fifth book in the Midnight Breed series. It is the story of Breed Warrior Nikolai and his breedmate Renata and so far, I'm really enjoying it. The story arc is consistent with the overall series arc, and the relationship between Nikolai and Renata is developing at a realistic pace, which is so important to me. I'm also really loving Renata. All of Lara's heroines are strong characters and compliment their hero really well, but I think Renata just might be my favorite breedmate so far. She's a strong, well trained fighter and a survivor of the truest sense. But she's also compassionate and a bit vulnerable, traits that round out her character really well.


Next, I'll be reading Stranger by Megan Hart. I've had Stranger in my hands for over two months already and I'm really excited that I'll be reading it next. If you haven't yet read something by Megan Hart, I highly recommend you do, specifically a Megan Hart novel from the Harlequin Spice line. Megan is a phenomenal writer in a genre class all her own. Her Spice novels are a unique combination of romance, erotica and women's fiction all rolled up into one unforgettable package. Her characters and their stories will linger in your mind and in your heart for months after finishing one of her books. You can read my review of Tempted that I wrote back in February 2008 HERE. Also, Carolyn Jean of The Thrillionth Page recently read Dirty by Megan Hart and composed a really thoughtful and well written review that you can read HERE.

I'll then be reading and reviewing the recently released novel, What A Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty that I won from author Ann Aguirre in one of her amazing contests.

Jaci Burton has also had a novella released this week that I'd like to read (but haven't bought yet...). The story is titled Unraveled and is a follow up to her Unwrapped novella that I read a few months ago. I love Jaci's writing style and her novellas are the perfect way to spend a few hours reading a simply lovely romance.

I was also gifted copies of the first two books in The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop from my dear friend Amy C from the Romance Book Wyrm blog and hope to get to them soon as well. Amy and I have very similar tastes in fiction, including a love of straight fantasy that may or may not include any romance (gasp!), so I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this Anne Bishop series.


And last, but certainly not least in my reading queue is Desired Unchained, the second book in the Demonica series by Larissa Ione. I was incredibly lucky and won an ARC of Desire Unchained back in October during the online reader appreciation party given by all the lovely authors at the Writeminded blog. Although I did not review the first book Pleasure Unbound when I read it back in June, many of you know that I absolutely loved it and am waiting on bated breath for more in this fascinating world. Desire Unchained is Shade's story and is to be released on February 24, 2009, but hopefully I'll be reading it in another week or two. Score!

So those are the books on my current hot list and hopefully I'll be sharing my thoughts on them in the near future.

Merry Christmas!

... from my home to yours.

Meet Lulu

She's a snow-girl that my youngest daughter and I made last Friday afternoon.



I suppose it's old news by now, but the NY metro area had a little snow-rain-ice storm late last week. The roads were a slippery mess before noon on Friday and consequently, the kids were dismissed from school at 12:30 pm. And what's a snow day without a little romp in the snow, so Anna and I got busy rolling, packing and piling snow to build a snow-girl. We brought her to life with eyes, a nose, mouth, hair, buttons down her front, and even earrings! We stepped back to admire her and my daughter said, "Her name is Lulu." And that was that. :)

For my husband

Last week I made some comments in a Windflower Book Tour post here on my blog that were inappropriate, hurtful to my husband and not representative of my true feelings. The post has since been deleted and modified, but in it I wrote inappropriate comments about a construction worker within the post and in the comments. At the time, I suppose I thought it would be fun for my fellow blogging friends to have some "women's locker room" talk and giggles about the romance cliched construction worker, but am now  quite ashamed that I would ever suggest having a thing for anyone other than my husband, whom I love, respect, and cherish more than words can ever express.  

I realize that for a lot of couples, it is perfectly acceptable to 'check out' other men and women while in each other's company and to even comment freely on their sex appeal, but my husband and I are not like that. We've always strived to keep our thoughts to ourselves and our eyes on each other, not because of insecurity or untrustworthiness, but out of respect, love, caring, and exclusiveness for one another. Not only did I cross those lines with last week's blog post, but I did it publicly--both actions I deeply regret. I want to apologize to my husband in the same forum in which I violated his trust carelessly and without respect to him and our marriage. Some may think what I wrote is trivial and its ramifications insignificant, yet it is never trivial when the trust between husband and wife is jeopardized and the bond between them weakened.  

This post is dedicated to my husband . . .

The man whose thoughts of love, companionship, and affection are always for me.

The man whose eyes could take their fill elsewhere, yet only fall on me.


The man who never hesitates to do what it takes to make me happy.

The man who stops at nothing to keep me physically safe and emotionally secure.

The man who does whatever necessary to help heal my body and soul.

The man who satisfies my needs, both physically and spiritually.

The one and only man who is the hero to my very own happily ever after.

I love you.

I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.

The Windflower is now docked in . . .

New Jersey, USA.

Have you gotten wind of The Windflower World Tour Yet? It's a blogging extravaganza that was started by Ciara Stewart and Ana of The Book Smugglers. You can read the details of The Windflower World Tour at Ciara's blog HERE, but basically a single, rare copy of the 1984 romance novel, The Windflower by Laura London is being sent around the world between twenty-three blogging friends in order to acquaint romance readers with this historical romance novel that is beloved of many romance readers and considered classic old school romance that shouldn't be missed. Each blogger has two weeks to read, review or discuss the book on their blog, and post a picture of The Windflower in their town/city before shipping the book off to the next blogger. So far The Windflower has reached the following ports:

Cambridge, UK.

Ana of The Book Smugglers discusses The Tour and reviews the novel.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Carolyn Jean of The Thrillionth Page discusses the Windflower.

Alabama, USA.
Kmont of Lurv a la Mode discusses the novel and reviews it as well.

I encourage you to click on those links and read the Windflower posts by those three wonderfully insightful bloggers. Be sure to read the comments in those posts as well for some really interesting discussion. The observations and insights into this much loved classic novel by different readers is fascinating and I'm really curious to see how it is received on the remainder of the tour.

And now The Windflower has landed in my port. Well, technically it landed here almost a month ago and shamefully, I let it sit in my bunk without cracking it open for a few weeks. Out of fear of having to walk the plank on The Windflower Tour, I begged for mercy from my fellow Windflower shipmates and asked for an extension. In order to defend my reason excuse for not having started it yet, I present the following picture of The Windflower sitting on my once upon a time kitchen window sill when my kitchen was being gutted back on November 13. 

The verdict from my Windflower shipmates? I have gratefully been granted an extension. I'm so glad that I did, too, because I finally started reading it and guess what? I like it! I'm about a hundred pages in and am actually fairly captivated by the characters and plot. Yes, the language is often "flowery," and yes, the author can be overly verbose and descriptive on topics seemingly completely irrelevant to the story, and yes, the characters and plot devices seem a bit stereotypical and cliche, but really, so far . . . I find it a bit amusing, quite entertaining, and kind of sweet.

The fact that I'm entertained by the relationship between Devon the rogue pirate and Merry the young, innocent, virtuous fair maiden is a bit disconcerting. I shouldn't be enjoying Devon's aggressive, unwelcome advances toward Merry. I shouldn't be enjoying her feeble, barely successful attempts at stopping his advances. But I can't help it! I love when Merry fights Devon both verbally and physically as she struggles to escape his embrace, all the while trying to understand and control her newly blossomed sexuality. And just when I think Devon is the ultimate jerk, he says or does something that makes me think he sees something in Merry that he's never seen in another woman. She stirs something in him that no other woman ever has, making her worth all the trouble in the world to keep. Assuming she figures out she wants to keep him as well, that is.

So I continue on with The Windflower, curious to see where the goings on aboard the pirate ship, The Black Joke, takes me next . . .