It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Date. Each week we post what we've finished, what we are currently reading and what we plan to read next. We then visit other blogs to see what our friends are up to.

What I Finished:

I finished this and really enjoyed how everything turned out. I think the way that Sofia's interactions with the other characters, and how they change throughout the book, is very interesting.

I received this as an ARC from the author and devoured it within 24 hours--no small feat considering I'm a slow reader and this book was 100,000 words. If you like retellings, historical romance and complex, interesting characters Beauty of the Beast is not to be missed. I would especially recommend this to fans of Beauty and the Beast or Phantom of the Opera. 

What I'm Reading:

I'm excited to be taking part in #TBRTakedown, and I have an awesome line-up of books to dive into in the days ahead. I'm equal parts excited and sad to be saying farewell to the House of Night series; I'm eager and way overdue to read Catching Jordan; I enjoyed The Summer I Became A Nerd, so Romancing The Nerd shot up my TBR pretty quick; I found out about The Fire This Time on a best non-fiction of 2016 list and have wanted to read it since; and I meant to read The Underground Railroad during #DiverseAThon but didn't get to it. 

What's Next:

These were suppose to get done this week, but the new Fire Emblem came out on mobile and I got Beauty of the Beast as an ARC, so my plans got changed. I don't think either of these lovelies are going to be hard to get through--I bought Red Queen on Audible during a sale, and Adorkable looks like the kind of book I would have felt was written for me as a teen. 

What's Been Going On?

I got my iPad Mini 4 and have been enjoying it for games, GarageBand and voice dictation. I also just ordered a case, longer charge cable, and styluses for it.

I think I'm finally to tackle the rest of chapter four in Entwined. I have the first third done, but there are sections from Lorcan and Rose's pov that need to go down on paper. 

Trolls releases this week on DVD and BluRay. I've been looking forward to seeing that for a while, so it's possible I might pick it up on Amazon, or see how much a rental via YouTube will be. 

So, how's your week been? What do you have planned? Share in the comments, or link to your post and i'll come visit you. 

If We Were Having Coffee...

Over the past few weeks, I've seen posts with this title popping up all over the blogosphere. Then I decided, "Hey, maybe I should write one for anyone who is curious what I would say." So, without any further stalling, here is what I might tell you if we were having coffee...

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

You would likely notice, right away, that I decided to get a cup of tea. I've just always preferred it. I find it soothing. According to my family, my grandfather use to put (cold) black tea in my baby bottle. No wonder I'm so damn hyper!

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you I'm having a heck of a time editing my novel, and that I know I'll need to push the release back again and I HATE that.

I'd also tell you that I can't tell whether it's that I honestly keep thinking up ways to improve the novel, or whether I'm just stalling. People I've spoken to tell me the ideas are solid, and that they will strengthen the book, but deep down inside I know there is a part of me that doesn't want to let go of this book and these characters just as much as there is part of me who is dying to find out what people will think of them.

I think my biggest concern, though, is that I know getting people to read this will be a challenge. I'm not an aggressive person, as you likely know from how much I promote what goes on here. I do need to remember that I'm writing first and foremost for me, and to prove to myself that I can do this. But it would be nice to have other people connect with this world and these characters that have eaten up three years of my life, y'know?

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd probably poke fun at the fact that my organizational skills leave MUCH to be desired. I have tons of ideas for my blog, what books I want to read, and what I'm writing. But keeping track of them? Not my forte. This leads to a funky juggling act where if I'm blogging I feel like I should be reading, if I'm reading I feel like I should be writing, and when I'm writing I feel like I'm getting "behind" on my blog. And that leads to a paralyzing melt down where I get absolutely nothing done.

I'm working at this, and I think (hope?) I'm getting better at it. I think that the biggest breakthrough for me has been acknowledging the fact that I came here to be an author. I do love books, and I do love this community, but by owning up to the fact that my writing is my top priority, I don't have the problems I stated above nearly as much as I use to.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE... 

I'd tell you that I Write, I Read, I Review is going through some really big changes. I've been thinking about what I want to have on my blog and I am working toward making sure that the content that ends up here is what I'd want to see if I was reading it. I also want to try and get my blog to be a bit more social--I want to take part in events. I want to have more discussion posts. I want to be talking about books I really love and about topics that really matter. I don't feel I did enough of that in 2013 and I want that to change.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE... 

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

These are the three books I would totally be fangirling over. The ones I would be trying to devise schemes worthy of Wile E. Coyote to get you to read too.

Shadow and Bone has fantastic world building and the Darkling.

If You Stay has one of the most honest male POVs I've ever read, a bad boy who is truly, believably bad, and allows the reader actually see him redeem himself.

And The Collector has Dante Walker, who is one of the funniest, most enjoyable narrators I've ever followed through a story. It also has some pretty awesome world building which kept my interest from start to finish.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you the three things I'm most excited about in 2014 are...

1) Releasing Sealer's Promise. Big surprise there. I've been working on the book for years. It's going to feel good getting it out there.

2) Jay coming to visit in April. Jay's visits are like vacations for me, even though he comes to my house. A visit from Jay is more important to me than most holidays.

3) Attending the next Ontario Blogger Meet Up. My parents have already said they'll take Marie and I again if there is one next year.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd talk about the books I'm most excited for next year:

Sequels:

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

Ignite Me: "I am 100% team Warner. This will probably bite me on the butt. Yet I really don't care." ;)

The One: "I really hope America and Maxon end up together, because I think Aspen is a jerk."

Into The Still Blue: "I really like Perry and Aria and I hope they get a satisfying ending."

New (To Me) Authors: 

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

Cruel Beauty: "A retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the 'beauty' has trained her whole life, plotting to assassinate him? This should be interesting."

Alienated: "Between the gorgeous cover and the alien / human love premise--complete with a potential threat that these aliens didn't come to Earth to pal around, Alienated is way up there on my must read list for 2014."

The Break Up Artist: "This looks like it could be massively funny, and I'm pretty sure our "artist" will learn something along the way. In today's world, with the internet giving us moral invisibility and the divorce rate through the ceiling, a premise like this is something I could actually buy into."

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you that I am so glad that there are people who take the time to come here and check out my blog, even though I'm not the most organized, and don't post the most often. I've made some great friends, both readers and writers, since I started I Write, I Read, I Review. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

So, now that I've said all that, it's your turn. What would you want to say if we were having coffee? I'd love to know, so feel free to leave a comment!

Stacking The Shelves / What's Up This Week?

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly event hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we share the books we bought, borrowed or received this week.

Well, this week has certainly been "unique". My parents went to Cuba, and I stayed here with my brother Shawn and his girlfriend Kate. On Wednesday night we went into Kingston for shopping and some dinner at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. While there I picked up these two lovelies at Target.

I've been a huge fan of the House of Night series for several years now, so picking up Revealed, the latest book in the series, was just a matter of time. Most of them I've just grabbed around town but for some reason the amount of YA in Napanee has been on the decline. So when I saw this I grabbed it purely for convenience.

I don't have the same history with Rainbow Rowell, but Fangirl has been on my radar for a while now. It seemed quite popular at this year's Blogger Meetup. As someone who is releasing her first novel next year, and someone who was both a wannabe author and rather awkward during college (University) I think I can relate to this one. I hope I love it as much as I *think* I will. :)

My Kindle also got some love:

So I finally started reading the Night Huntress series. I'm pretty sure the fact that there are two books here from it makes it pretty obvious I'm liking it quite a bit. It's by far one of the most action oriented series I've ever read with a female lead and romance. Most of the stuff I've read in the past that blends paranormal, action and romance tends to either have the heroine in a less active role, have less "action" in general, or have people freaking out that the heroine is being heroic. I wouldn't want ALL the books I read to be this way, but right now? It's refreshing.

As for Everneath, I was sold when I read the words "Underworld" and "bring her back as his queen". Um, yeah. I don't think any further explanation is needed for anyone who knows me. :D It also doesn't hurt that it was on for $2. Again, you guys know how much I love a sale. Anyone read this? I'd love your thoughts. :)

So, yeah. This was suppose to be the perfect week to get Sealer's Promise revised and ready for betas. And I'll be totally up front, people: that totally didn't happen. For most of my life I've been one of those people who can get into a total slump when the sun starts to hide itself for the majority of the day, and this year that crap hit me hard. I'm talking I slept for 10-14 hours a day hard. I had absolutely no drive. Zip. Zilch. Nada. And I was freakin' weepy to boot. Not fun.

Fortunately, a bit of retail therapy and drag-your-butt-outta-the-house therapy on the part of Kate and Shawn has me feeling much more normal. Aside from the two pretties above and the yummy food at 5 Guys, I also found the Skylanders bargain to top all Skylanders bargains:

This is Granite Crusher. He's a series 2 (Giants) figure that was exclusive to Target before there were target stores in Canada, and before Jay and I got into Skylanders. We figured we'd never get this figure because it sells for $45--$70 online. ...Until I found two at Target and bought them for retail price ($15). I even got the 2nd one for 5% off because there's some wear on the packaging. Like we care: these bad boys will get taken outta their packaging the next time Jay visits and I can't wait to see them light up. I hear they glow blue and they're one of the figures that actually looks different in-game.

It's also been a good week for music. I bought Lady Gaga's new album, Artpop, just before my parents left for their vacation and I'm quite impressed with it. More shocking is my reaction to the two CDs Kate bought. I really didn't have any intention of listening to "Wild Life" by Hedley--it wound up on my iPod by accident. But the Sealers have claimed a couple songs. (Might as well give it a listen--it was already there anyway.). As for "Pure Heroine" by Lorde we listened to it on the way to Kingston and I'm very eager to sit down with it and get more time with the music. My initial takeaway was extremely positive. Odds are high I'm going to start doing some album reviews on here (I love music.) and these will likely be among the first albums I talk about.

Something new is happening in the Coleman household this holiday season: we're doing Christmas "secret Santa" style. So with only Shawn, Jay, Merissa and my Grandma to shop for, I needed to find a way to fill the gap because I *love* Christmas shopping. I have found the solution in adding two bookish Secret Santa events to my holiday plans (thanks Mom for agreeing to help me mail the package for the Broke & Bookish one!). I've done RAK before and I'm excited about that too. I already have my Broke and Bookish person and I need to send in my response for the RAK Secret Santa because it's due Monday. But I wanted to be sure and list both of these events because I think they're really neat.

I Just Finished...

In Short: Loved.

Longer: Bones is hot and Bones and Cat together kick ass.

Want to know more? Check out my full review later this week.

If it tells you anything, I'm already 15% of the way through the next book.

What's Up Next...

Two words: That Ending!

A bit more: I had to jump right into the next one. And I plan to do that a lot more often. It's how I read before I started reviewing.

Thoughts so far: Where the hell is Bones?

And if I finish this...

Fangirl was the most popular pick from this week's What's Next post. (I tried Cinder, guys, and it wasn't for me. Rather annoying since I also have Scarlet.)

I wanted this book enough that I bought it in print. Lets not have it sit for a year like oh, say, Prodigy and Unravel Me. (Sorry, books! I will get to you!)

I really hope this is good. I am not in a patient and 'forgiving' mood toward books that don't grab me right now. Fortunately, I did love the sample.

I haven't been focusing well on the task of writing. Which is one of the reasons that I am focusing so much on blogging and reading. It's clear to me that my brain needs to untangle the two yarns I'm working on--editing / revising Sealer's Promise, and outlining / planning Sealed With A Kiss. (No, we're not going to talk about how I blew NaNoWriMo. I wrote 60k of my Sealer's Promise rewrite in August.)

I really, really hate to say this but I may end up having to delay the Sealer's Promise launch. Why? Because (1) It's not ready for betas yet. And (2) I'm not a soulless yeti who would try and get people to beta my work while they're trying to get ready for Christmas. They're doing *me* a favor. Meaning that as it stands SP won't be with betas until at least January (I am finally starting to get some energy back, thank goodness.) and I probably won't get it back from them until February. (If I do great, but I'm not one to expect things.) I set up the date I did to get myself to write a draft I was really freaked out about writing and that worked. But ultimately the most important thing for me, as a (future) author, is making sure that I release the absolute best book I can. I owe it to myself, my readers and my characters.

I think the time away has done some good. I understand a few things both inside this book and inside the overall Sealer Saga that I didn't a few weeks ago. While it might be frustrating now, I believe that it will pay off in the end.

So, did you get any fabulous bookish goodies this week? Did anything exciting happen? Feel free to link me to your Stacking the Shelves / In My Mailbox / Book Haul, or whatever you're calling it so I can find out. :) Have a great day!

Stacking The Shelves / What's Up This Week? (Aug. 24th)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly event hosted by Tynga's Reviews where people can share the fabulous books they've bought, borrowed or received during the week.

For Review

Won

Bought

Bought

Bought

Breaking The Reins by Julianna Haygert

Snapshots by Patricia Lynne

The School For Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

If You Leave by Courtney Cole

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins 

Hey guys! 

I know--it's been a bit of a barren wasteland here for the last couple weeks. I've been insanely busy with the Sealer's Promise rewrite, though, and anyone who's been here a while knows how bad I can be about balancing blogging and writing. 

My plate's about to get even more full. Today is the start of Early Access for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, and I'm logging on there the moment I'm done here. <3! For those who don't know, I'm a huge gamer geek. :D I don't play as much as I use to, but I've been waiting months for this and the experience I had last weekend for their open beta was totally awesome, so I'm pretty excited. Anyone want the occasional screenshot in my "What's Up" posts? :) 

Are you attending the Ontario Book Blogger Meet Up? If so, you might want to go here and get involved in the book swap going on. :) I attended last year's meet up (my recap is here) and had an absolute blast. I can't wait to go again this November! :) 

Breaking The Reins

by Julianna Haygert

Horses, mansions, tea parties, and lies are twenty-year-old Hannah Taylor’s life. To others, her family and her relationship with Eric is perfect. But she knows the truth. She lives it.

After a fire takes her grandma's life and kills her horse, Hannah's immaculate life spirals out of control. Her father disapproves of her decision to run her grandma’s ranch instead of focusing solely on learning the family business; Animal Control brings her Argus, a mistreated horse that she can't turn away even though she's not ready for another horse; and her boyfriend, Eric Bennett, a world famous polo player, becomes possessive and authoritarian. Despite her best efforts to disguise it, Hannah grows wary of him.

Then, Leonardo Fernandes struts onto the polo scene. A cocky rookie with a messy life of his own, he’s drawn to Hannah and isn’t afraid of showing it, even when Eric makes it clear she is his and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Hannah suffers for Eric’s jealousy. The abuse only gets worse when Leo steals the title of best polo player in the world from Eric.

But the title isn’t enough for Leo. He wants Hannah too, and she can’t deny her attraction to him either. Somehow, she must find a way to break free from abusive Eric before he breaks every bone in her body.

**New Adult Contemporary Romance Novel**
**Contains scenes of domestic violence**

I don't accept that many review requests, since I can't always get to them. This was a rather unique situation, though. I got contacted by Julianna after putting my name in for a twitter giveaway. I've been interested in this book for months, so I'm pretty thrilled to have it on my Kindle right now. I'm not reading quite as fast as I'd care for--which is why I'm only listing Breaking The Reins this week--but I am genuinely enjoying the book so far. :) 

Sealer's Promise Word Count Update: 45,000 words 

16 / 25 planned chapters. 

The blog is admittedly suffering, but progress on this rewrite is exceeding my wildest dreams. I started on August 3rd and have been writing four nights a week. I should be done by the middle of September by the latest, which should keep my lined up with my goals. 

I think the most shocking thing is how much the characters have grown in the jump from YA to NA, and how certain elements of the story have basically kicked it up a notch in response to this. Sealer's Promise won't be as long as my last draft (at 135,000 words) but it has a lot less fluff and a lot more meat.

Sarena has a lot more humor this go around and seems to know more what she wants, while Kesyl is doing things I could never have planned in a draft. (My drafts are like tourist guides--they'll help you find the landmarks, but they're not the same as living the experience of going somewhere.) I'm having an absolute blast writing this and am so glad I finally sat down and got to it. :) 

I'm going to be starting to look for betas in the coming weeks. If you think you'd be interested, feel free to leave your e-mail and a note that you're interested in the comments, or e-mail me. (The address is on my contact page.) 

So, did you get any awesome new goodies this week? Has anything exciting happened? Feel free to share in the comments, or link me to your STS, IMM, etc.