2016 Reading Assignment Challenge
Fantasy is More Fun and Because Reading are once again hosting the Reading Assignment Challenge. Last year I started strong with this challenge but missed a book in March and then further messed up by inadvertently reading books before I was supposed to. However, I still enjoyed the overall premise of the challenge and am really happy that I can try again in 2016. I am also pleased that some slight rule changes are making this challenge easier by having a built in do-over every quarter for those who might not have gotten all their books read. If next year I don't get to all of my books in March, I will get a do-over starting in April rather than just throwing my hands up and basically having to bow out like this year. Hallelujah! I am so IN!! With this change, I decided to up my game and go for four books a month and am once again going with the strategy of getting caught up on some of my fave series while also starting a new series by a personal favorite and rounding it out with a couple of books that have been on my Kindle for seemingly ever. Here are my choices:
January:
Belonging - Alexa Land
Coming Home - Alexa Land
All I Believe - Alexa Land
Dark Lycan - Christine Feehan
February:
Dark Wolf - Christine Feehan
Rock Addiction - Nalini Singh
Pony - SJD Peterson
Operation Endgame - Christi Snow
March:
Dark Blood - Christine Feehan
Rock Courtship - Nalini Singh
Lord and Master - Jules Jones
A Thread of Deepest Black - Finn Marlowe
April:
Dark Ghost - Christine Feehan
Heart of Obsidian - Nalini Singh
Rock Hard - Nalini Singh
Collision Course - KA Mitchell
May:
Samurai Game - Christine Feehan
Shield of Winter - Nalini Singh
Rock Redemption - Nalini Singh
Savage Love - Sandrine Gasq-Dion
June:
Viper Game - Christine Feehan
Shards of Hope - Nalini Singh
Fit to be Tied - Mary Calmes
Locke and Key - Sandrine Gasq-Dion
July:
Leopard's Prey - Christine Feehan
Archangel's Legion's - Nalini Singh
Oracle's Moon - Thea Harrison
The Tinder Chronicles - Alexa Land
August:
Cat's Lair - Christine Feehan
Archangel's Shadows - Nalini Singh
Lord's Fall - Thea Harrison
My Fair Captain - JL Langley
September:
Wild Cat - Christine Feehan
Archangel's Enigma - Nalini Singh
Kinked - Thea Harrison
Vision in White - Nora Roberts
October:
Air Bound - Christine Feehan
Night's Honor - Thea Harrison
Bed of Roses - Nora Roberts
Regelence Rake - JL Langley
November:
Earth Bound - Christine Feehan
Midnight's Kiss - Thea Harrison
Whiskey Beach - Nora Roberts
Savor the Moment - Nora Roberts
December:
Shadow's End - Thea Harrison
The Liar - Nora Roberts
Happy Ever After - Nora Roberts
Englor Affair - JL Langley
I actually have 15 books from last year's list and am hoping for a happier ending in 2016. Looking at my choices I can't believe I am so far behind in so many series by authors that I love!! I'd say that I need to quit starting so many new series but that is VERY unlikely to happen. What I can do is focus more on catching up/keeping up with in-progress series.
Unfixable by Tessa Bailey
He's the last thing she wants...but the only thing she needs.
Willa Peet isn't interested in love. She's been there, done that, and has the shattered heart to prove it. Ready to shake the breakup, she heads to Dublin, Ireland. But there's a problem. A dark-haired, blue-eyed problem with a bad attitude that rivals her own. And he's not doling out friendly Irish welcomes.
Shane Claymore just wants to race. The death of his father forced him off the Formula One circuit, but he's only staying in Dublin long enough to sell the Claymore Inn and get things in order for his mother and younger sister. He never expected the sarcastic American girl staying at the inn to make him question everything.
But even as Willa and Shane's fiery natures draw them together, their pasts threaten to rip them apart. Can Shane give up racing to be with the woman he loves, or will Willa's quest to resurrect the tough-talking, no-shit-taking girl she used to be destroy any hope of a future together?
Wow! This story left me with no thoughts in my head beyond, "Damn!" and the insane urge to fist-pump (which I may or may not have given into, ahem). I loved how this book made me feel so many different things to such an intense degree; I laughed out loud, I cried, my stomach tied itself into knots a couple of times...this was not a passive read for me. I felt so GOOD when I finished the epilogue that I had to take a break and run some errands (which flew by as my mind was still with Willa and Shane) rather than dive right into another book which is my habit. I just wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.
Surprisingly, this is a book I almost gave up on while reading the Prologue. I didn't immediately connect with Willa as she lamented her lost relationship with Evan. I didn't really care for the poor-little-lost-girl-with-a-great-guy-trying-to be-everything-she-needs pity party. I may have thought that Evan was better off without this mess who was currently narrating the story. And then Chapter 1 came about and suddenly I started to get this Willa chick and her anger and guilt both at and on behalf of Evan and her NEED, not want, not wish, but actual NEED to be who she is without feeling that it isn't safe, or enough, or wanted. Soon after this point, Shane entered the story and I was hooked.
Shane is surly and rude and sarcastic and so stinking sexy that I defy any reader not to fall in love with him. And I loved how Willa didn't take any of his crap but she also didn't hold it against him when he continued to throw it out there. And those glimpses of him when his true self emerged, the self that wasn't weighed down with guilt, the self that was tender, protective, and funny? Like Willa, I found myself drawn to this side of Shane so much.
Willa and Shane's relationship isn't the only one to develop...watching Willa connect with Shane's sister and his mother, watching Shane's relationship with both of them metamorphose into something healthier and stronger, hearing Willa's thoughts and memories of her sister Ginger and Ginger's husband Derek, all of these relationships were beautifully developed. It was great as the reader to watch Willa realize that not only was she no longer an island unto herself, but she never really had been. She knew how to love deeply and fiercely, it was just trusting others long enough to allow herself to share that love with more than just her sister.
Shane saw everything that Willa projected and was able to bore down to the very core of who she was without allowing her to bullshit either of them...the best thing was that Willa was able to do the same with Shane. These two obviously were made for each other but the entire time they are developing their relationship, the fact that Willa is on a deadline to return to Chicago is hanging over their heads like a boulder ready to crush anything they build. This does not help with Willa's knee jerk desire to cut ties to avoid heartbreak. And there comes a point when it looks as if everything will unravel. Watching how Shane calls Willa's bluff and Willa's realization that what she has with Shane is worth fighting for is one of the best endings to a book I have ever read. And then, Tessa Bailey follows this up with the most heart-melting epilogue I have read in just about forever, leaving me breathless and wanting to begin the story all over again simply so I can have all the feelings again.
I cannot recommend this book enough and if like me, you aren't convinced during the prologue...just keep reading. I promise you will not regret it!!
I borrowed this book from my local public library.
Deal Me In: Answer the Wicked by Kim Lenox
I liked this story about Mr. Rathburn, his nurse Malise, and his only visitor in two years, St. Vinet. However, as a part of the Shadow Guard series there was a lot going on that I didn't fully grasp. This left me feeling discontent because for me the story was incomplete. It also ended with a lot unresolved that will most likely be addressed in other books.
Deal Me In: The Sin Eater's Promise by Michele Hauf
This one was a DNF.
Deal Me In: Marine Biology by Gail Carriger
I loved this one!! Alec is a werewolf who never expected to survive the bite that would change him at age 18. At age 24, he still finds himself surprised. When called home for a Pack meeting, he is surprised to meet two merpeople who need his Pack's help to find the Selkies that stole $3.2 million. Alec is attracted to Marvin which is inconvenient as he is not out to his Pack. Alec and Marvin were super cute, apparently they went to high school together and so knew of one another although they weren't close then. This allowed their quick connection in the story to feel more realistic. While short, I felt comfortable with the HFN that was achieved by the end of this one. Highly recommended!
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
When Jack meets his new foster brother, he already knows three things about him:
Joseph almost killed a teacher.
He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain.
He has a daughter. Her name is Jupiter. And he has never seen her.
What Jack doesn't know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl.
Or how urgently he, Jack, will want to help.
But the past can't be shaken off. Even as new bonds form, old wounds reopen. The search for Jupiter demands more from Jack than he can imagine.
This story. This beautiful, heart-wrenching, gorgeous, impossibly moving story. This is the kind of story that will stick with me forever; the one that I will tell others that they have to read; the one that changed me for having read it; the one that broke my heart.
Joseph. Has there been a more real person than Joseph in the books that I have read this year? Has there been someone who so solidly knew what he wanted to do, what he NEEDED to do and who relentlessly pushed himself to do it? Is there anyone who deserved all of the good things that life should have given him more than Joseph? and Jack. Jack who had his back--and whose back was most solidly had by Joseph.
I don't know how Gary D. Schmidt can write such simple, spare sentences that add up to such an emotionally charged piece but he is a master of story. I read much of the book with tears rolling down my face and at the end I felt like there was a hole, a space where something precious had been and was now gone. It was hard and painful and I am so grateful that Gary D. Schmidt wrote this story and that I got to read it. Because it was honest. It was real. It was never manipulated or contrived but it was also never easy.
I received an ARC of this book at ILA.
Deal Me In: The Majestic by Seressia Glass
DNF.
