Bout of Books Read-a-thon 6.0: My Goals!

Well, this is pretty last minute (but isn't everything?) but here we go anyway! I've signed up for the Bout of Books Read-a-thon 6.0 after seeing a post for it over on Ramblings of a Daydreamer. (Thanks, Marie!) In this post I'll be sharing my goals for the read-a-thon, the books I hope to get read and my updates. I've been down with a cold and need to take it easy anyway, so this should actually work out rather well for me.

Official Blurb: 

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

My Goals For This Week: 

1. Read at least three books. Yeah, I know it's a weak number. I know I'm listing more then that. But I've been (and still am) under the weather so I don't want to really push myself too hard. Ideally I'd like to read 5 books, but we'll see how life interferes and how I'm feeling. 

2. Visit and comment on at least 5 blogs per day. This number may seem small, but it focuses on actually commenting. The reason it's tiny is that when I comment on a blog it's to actually say something. "Nice review" or "Cool books" doesn't actually mean anything; I like to open a conversation. I'm sure I'll be reading posts from a much larger number of people, and as always this is a minimum. 

3. Take part in at least one Twitter party, and update my twitter with thoughts or quotes relating to my chosen books. (These may or may not come from GoodReads. I still haven't gotten totally use to it after almost two years. Eh.) 

4. Take part in at least three challenges. This will likely have a lot to do with what time they are on at and what they entail. Challenges are one of the things I love best about online read-a-thons. They kinda serve as a way to take a pause from the reading for a few minutes, which can be useful. 

My Reading List: 

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

From My January TBR: 

-- The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen (448 pgs.)

-- A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (298 pgs.)

-- Falling For You by Lisa Schroeder (368 pgs.)

-- Through The Ever Night by Veronica Rossi (352 pgs.)

-- Tempted By Your Touch by Jen Holling (400 pgs.)

-- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (368 pgs.) 

Bonus Books: 

-- Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally (288 pgs.)

-- The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines (288 pgs.) 

-- Thumped by Megan McCafferty (304 pgs.)

Total Pages For Everything: 3,104

What's The Difference?: 

January TBR books are things I already had planned to read this month. These are my main focus and I'd love to zip through a bunch of them. 

Bonus Books are things I've wanted to read for a while that did not make this month's TBR. But since this is a read-a-thon and my mood has to be taken into account, these seem like they should be safe to fall back on if something on the main list isn't working for me. 

Update Schedule: 

Monday's Updates:

What I'm Reading: The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen 

My Thoughts So Far: This book is awesome! I really liked the first one, but felt that there were some things about it that could have been better. The Mephisto Kiss addresses my every issue with The Mephisto Covenant. The plot, characters and overall story are just way more my thing this time around. I'm glad that I decided to keep going with this series and am dying to see how this book will end. 

Monday's Page Count: 366 pages / 448 pages

Monday's Challenge(s):

Scientific Discovery
Hosted by: The Book Barbies

Challenge Info:

You have made a scientific discovery (who knew you were so good at science?!) on how to bring fictional characters to life. The problem? The method still isn't *perfect,* so you can only bring two people to life, and they must return to the land of fiction in 30 days. Who will you choose as your bestie and your love interest for that one splendid month? (Feel free to add pictures if you like, but they are not necessary.)

My Best Friend Would Be...

...Katy from Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Why not? She's bright, she loves books, she obviously has great taste in guys (and the common sense not to just randomly go zomg and start chasing one blindly...), she is adventurous, courageous and loyal... Yet any good quality is in a proportion that is real and honest and human. I guess I'd need to hide my physical copies of Obsidian and Onyx, though, or she might really freak out and wonder what on earth had actually happened.

My Boyfriend Would Be...

...Cas from Anna Dressed In Blood. I think what I said about him in my review sums it up well:

"Cas has one of the most fun, readable and refreshing voices I've come across this year. He sounds real. Like someone I would actually want to sit down and have a conversation with. Like one of my gaming buddies, or my brothers or any of the many great guys I've known. His humor, courage insight, compassion and (yet again) realness allowed him to draw me in like a magnet. There is something extremely refreshing and honest about reading a story from Cas point of view..."

Benefits of picking Cas would likely include: (1) He probably wouldn't freak out about being pulled from a book. (With all he's seen? Yeah, right!) (2) Because of what I said in my review quote, he'd likely fit in well around here (the sense of humor, the honesty, etc. are major important.) and (3) Considering the Cas x Anna interest, Cas x someone from a 'non-book' world doesn't seem all that far fetched. *laughs* 

Did you take part in the Scientific Discovery Challenge? I'd love to see your picks, so feel free to link me! 

Tuesday's Updates:

What I'm Reading: The Mephisto Kiss (finished), The Vincent Boys (finished) 

My Thoughts So Far: The Mephisto Kiss was totally awesome and my review is already up. As for The Vincent Boys, I did ultimately enjoy it but it was a pretty emotional read for me which caused it to take longer then it should have. I hope to have my review up on Friday. 

Tuesday's Page Count: 370 pages. (367-448 of The Mephisto Kiss, and 288 for The Vincent Boys.) 

Tuesday's Challenge(s):

Cover Love
Hosted by: Ms. Buff

Challenge Info:

The goal of this challenge is to share our favorite cover(s) and / or ones we find funny.

I'm going to stick with covers I love, because covers that don't work for me tend to be quickly forgotten. I think I'll go with listing three books I haven't read yet and why their covers compel me to do so.

There is so much that I love about the cover for Meant To Be. The fact that the characters themselves look very real, and that they are dressed in this style that is semi-dressed up / semi-casual makes me think of the fact that Julia is suppose to be very put together where Jason is suppose to be fun-loving and a bit of a joker. The grass grounds them to reality, since this is a contemporary novel, while the backdrop of London, with all the prism colors that make it look more like its from an abstract painting then a real backdrop, match the whimsy of the writing found on the back cover, the idea that this is a love story and there may well be a bit of idealism and romance in here. Finish this with writing for the title that is clear and strong, yet also casual and 'real', rather then stylized or scripted, and I am truly intrigued.

The most powerful thing about the cover for The Art Of Wishing is the blending of fantasy and reality. As you start looking at the cover from the bottom, you see a girl and a boy lying together, their feet touching, and a guitar beside them. They look pretty tranquil and relaxed. But as your eyes scroll up you realize the bed is floating in the sky, full of puffy clouds and--even more interesting, and I'm dying to know if it ties to the story--divided between night and day. The faunt, which looks like it could be frosting or clouds with its thick swirling font, enhances the effect. This all ties into the way the back blurb is done--it feels like 1/2 contemporary issues, like getting into a play and absentee parents, and 1/2 paranormal--only Margo can save this genie, Oliver? Well, I'm dying to see how and to learn the mythology of this story. (Can you tell I'm big on covers and blurbs working together?) I'd never heard of this three weeks ago, but one peek at the cover and blurb have made it my most anticipated book of 2013.

It's not very often that a cover like this catches my attention, but the more I look at the cover for Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, the more I love it. The swirling font makes me think of smoke or mist, as though the actual mist on the cover has conspired to solidify and allow the letters to form. The subtle imagery behind the lettering--the girl and guy on a cliff, the texture of the water and the rocks, the fact that its all done in shades of gray--totally fit the kind of mood that the back blurb is trying to bring forth. And the fact that the word devil is done in red, drawing the eye immediately to it, is both visually striking and plays on a subconscious imagery filter that many of us have: think of how often a monster under the bed has red eyes? Red means "Stop!" when we travel a road. Dark Jedi wield red lightsabers and magic in a lot of old movies is depicted in red for villains. Red is naturally a passionate, intense and potentially aggressive color and it's played to great and sinister effect here.

So, now that I've shown you some of my favorite covers, I'd love to see yours! Link up to your post for this challenge, or link to the cover(s) you love and I'll gladly take a look. 

Wednesday's Updates:

What I'm Reading: Shadow And Bone by Leigh Bardugo.

My Thoughts So Far: I'm totally loving this book, but I just reached a part where I'm totally screaming "No!" and want to rip my own hair out. Excuse me while I take a moment to be Mordichai from Borderlands and scream "WHY?!" like he does when a party member is downed. I feel BETRAYED. Grrr!!! 

Wednesday's Page Count: 244 pages. I took too long reading The Vincent Boys yesterday and it cut into my start today. Still, having a blast with this and I did the twitter chat and visited my grandma so it's alright. :) 

Wednesday's Challenge(s): 

The Page 48 Challenge
Hosted by: Booking In Heels

Challenge Info: 

Here's how to join in:

1. Turn to page 48 of your current book, or 48% if you're using an e-reader.

2. Take the first complete sentence on that page and copy it.

3. Now you're going to continue the story! Ignoring the real plot or anything else you know about that book, add four new sentences of your very own. You can morph the plot completely, kill everybody off or go off on a huge tangent - anything goes!

I would find the link for this just as I'm starting a new book! Ah well, let's do it anyway. :) Here's the first full sentence from pg. 48 of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. What will I do with this...? *ponders*

"So you didn't see where the light was coming from?" Raevsky asked. 

I stared at him in shock, still holding the key I had stolen between my sweaty palm and my chest. A sick feeling coated my stomach as I took in his hallowed eyes and skin grayed with dirt. I tried not to gag at the sour smell of him.

"Raevsky..." I feared the word would be lodged forever in my throat, but it came out as a weak croak instead. "There is no light."

At last I had said it. But now I could not let him catch me. Not now, when he knew I knew the truth.

So I did the only thing left to do: I turned and ran.

Thursday's Updates: 

What I'm Reading: 

My Thoughts So Far: 

Thursday's Page Count: 

Thursday's Challenge(s): 

Friday's Updates: 

What I'm Reading:

My Thoughts So Far: 

Friday's Page Count: 

Friday's Challenge(s):

Saturday's Updates: 

What I'm Reading: 

My Thoughts So Far: 

Saturday's Page Count: 

Saturday's Challenge(s): 

Sunday's Updates: 

What I'm Reading: 

My Thoughts So Far: 

Sunday's Page Count: 

Sunday's Challenge(s): 

Summing It All Up: 

Number of Books Started: 

Number of Books Read: 

Number of Pages Read: 

Favorite Book Read: 

My Thoughts On Bout of Books 6.0: 

So, are you taking part in Bout of Books 6.0? Have you read (and want to recommend) any of the books on my list? Is there a book here you'd especially like to see read and reviewed? Feel free to leave a comment about this or anything else. I love talking books with fellow readers!