2013 BOOK CHALLENGE! Are you in?

[zippitydoo]

Book 13 of 30

Daddy Pact by Kristy K. James


Jess Bentley's husband is murdered on the night they return home from their honeymoon, she can't seem to find the will to go on.....until she discovers she's pregnant with his child.

Dan Mulholland made it his mission to help the widow of the man his brother murdered. Little did he know when he knocked on her door, that he would soon find himself married to her...in order to protect her unborn child from a vengeful father-in-law.

 

[wvjules]

I can't get into Killing Lincoln so I started "One Second After". I can't put it down. It's actually quite terrifying! Everyone must read this book!

One Second After

 

[WowLookAtThat]

Book #21 Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

Review: I have noticed some readers on here starting in the Green Gables so I got in the mood to crack open the series with the prequel 'Before Green Gables'. Now this is an authorized prequel to the series (for those who want to watch Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, this miniseries was NOT based on this book.)

Now, the Anne of Green Gables series is full of romance, enchantment and some humor. The books are sweet and have a beauty to them. In comparison, Before Green Gables is kind of bleak however Anne's life before arriving to Avonlea was known to be hard. This book does not shy away in telling the hardships that a child had to go through. Anne experiences the tough living with the Thomas family and knows her share of heartbreak and tragedy. It is also there that her intelligence and imagination is noted. With the Hammond family, Anne is basically used as a slave and isn't really given a chance to be a kid or even to be loved. However, the Thomas and Hammond characters are humanized and even show how their poverty and life's ordeals shaped them.

This book isn't all bleak as Anne's zeal for education and her ability to soften many hearts progresses. Before Green Gables does a sure job in showing how Anne needed to live in a place like Green Gables and to know that love and a peaceful happy future was going to happen.

Before Green Gables does also give a few brief chapters about Walter and Bertha Shirley and their happiness and love for one another. The couple did truly love on another and when Anne was born, there is a slight time of true happiness.

I think that if you are interested in the Anne series, I would give this book a chance to get some more backstory in the life of Anne Shirley. I do suggest it and even though it does run on a bit, it is worth it.

 

[Christine]

#9 - The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I really liked this book. I'd give it a 4/5.


The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

 

[portia9]

Goal #100

#37 and #38-Good Wives and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
#39 Inner Path to Happiness by Keith Williams-a short non fiction read
#40 Storm Front by Jim Butcher-first in a series and I enjoyed it

 

[portia9]

Book #21 Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

I thought she did a really good job considering how well loved and familiar the Anne books are. It's no mean feat trying to capture the feel of such a book.

 

[dismom301930]

Goal = 40

Book # 12 - The Round House by Louise Erdrich (http://www.amazon.com/The-Round-Hou...F8&qid=1363359169&sr=8-1&keywords=round+house)
I was disappointed in this one. It was a National Book Award winner and has received many excellent reviews. The overall plot was interesting, as was learning about Native American culture. I just found the story to be slow and quite boring. Additionally, I did not like the author's writing style, specifically her lack of quotation marks around dialogue.

Next Up: Insurgent by veronica Roth (http://www.amazon.com/Insurgent-Col...UTF8&qid=1363359340&sr=1-2&keywords=insurgent)
Second book in the Divergent series. Looking forward to this one!

 

[PigletsPal2]

Goal: 52 books this year.

#20 down and done.

The Darcys and the Bingleys: A Tale of Two Gentlemen's Marriage to Two Most Devoted Sisters by Marsha Altman. This is the story of the days leading up to the double marriage of Fitzwilliam Darcy to Elizabeth Bennet and Charles Bingley to Jane Bennet.

The tale goes on following the two couples for the next year or two, with heavy emphasis on their love lives, their efforts to keep Bingley's sister from making a disastrous marriage, and the development and nurturing of the friendship between Darcy, a notoriously private man, and Bingley, a gregarious good-hearted, open man.

This book is definitely written in Jane Austen's style, which I love, but I'm not sure she would have been so specific in describing the couples' love lives. It didn't bother me, but it may offend Austen purists.

All in all, it was a fun read, and I'll be on the lookout for Altman's follow-up book.

Queen Colleen

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

30 and 31
night district-
A pretty good thriller, very short with a romace

prison nation
A very good book!! 5 star! its about a world taken over by the "nation" a bunch of law officials. People are jailed for many things and one young girl turns 18 and sets off to see the truth, beyond the prision walls where she was born

 

[WowLookAtThat]

Book #22 Dreams In The Golden Country by Kathryn Lasky

Review: I had this book as a kid and I found it in an old box of books. Going down nostalgia way I started to read 'Golden Country'. I found this to be pretty good. Zipporah is a twelve year old girl arriving to America in 1903. While living in New York, Zippy notices the clash of influence of the old country and new especially within her own family. It was a quick read and I would suggest it for a kid.

 

[stacy347]

Goal 45
Book #15

I have been moving and getting settled the last 2 weeks (I forgot how exhausting it is!), so not much reading time.

I did manage to get one finished:

Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton
4/5 for my rating

I pretty much know what to expect from these now since I am several books into this series. Still, it was pretty action packed, and took some different twists. I just really like this series.

 

[3smithboys]

finished books 9 and 10, both by John Green

Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns

I enjoyed both of them - fast reads...

 

[dizluvah]

Goal: 75
It has been awhile since I posted and I'm not certain the last book I listed, so apologies if I repeat myself

book 27 was The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook - enjoyable read about neighbors becoming friends through walking together - gave it 3 stars, nothing spectacular but pleasant enough

book 28 was The Alchemyst by Michael Scott which I adored - gave it 4 starts out of 5 and looking forward to reading more of the series

book 29 was Life's a Beach by Claire Cook - just ok, gave it 2 stars

I haven't read much the last week or so but have started book 30 The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (as described by others previously in this thread)

 

[zippitydoo]

Book 14 of 30

Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

8 and 9

True friend review by good read
An adventurous ski trip, a strained friendship, and a mysterious package all lead to a deeper understanding of what makes true friends. New twists and turns abound in Christy Miller's life as she finds herself on a ski slope in the arms of a handsome ski instructor.

Starry night
Sixteen-year-old Christy Miller wants friendships she can count on. But when her ex-boyfriend, Rick, seems to be interested in her best friend Katie, Christy and Katie can no longer talk with the kind of honesty they've always shared. Meanwhile, Todd, the guy who truly holds her heart, is still surfing in Hawaii. Then an old friendship unexpectedly takes on new meaning, and Christy wonders why she never before saw Doug for the prince he is.
Review by amazon

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #16: The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott

I enjoyed this book. I cannot believe this was written by the same author that wrote the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series as this has alot of brutal murders & gore. It was fast paced & interesting.

The Hallows. Ancient artifacts imbued with a primal and deadly power. But are they protectors of this world, or the keys to its destruction? A gruesome murder in London reveals a sinister plot to uncover a two-thousand-year-old secret. For decades, the Keepers guarded these Hallows, keeping them safe and hidden and apart from each other. But now the Keepers are being brutally murdered, their prizes stolen, the ancient objects bathed in their blood. Now, only a few remain. With her dying breath, one of the Keepers convinces Sarah Miller, a practical stranger, to deliver her Hallowa broken sword with devastating powersto her American nephew, Owen. The duo quickly become suspects in a series of murders as they are chased by both the police and the sadistic Dark Man and his nubile mistress. As Sarah and Owen search for the surviving Keepers, they unravel the deadly secret the Keepers were charged to protect.

Next book: The Joy Luck Club

 

[Swimnoid]

I've been away from the DIS for awhile and need to catch up with the challenge.

Goal = 75

#29. Messenger by Lois Lowry
A continuation of the Giver Series that focuses on Matty and the Village.

I enjoyed it. Now the series is starting to come together.

#30. Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson
The latest Alex Cross novel. I like Alex and this book was good.

#31. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
I am trying to go back and read or re-read some classics. I had forgotten many of the adventures Tom had in this book. I loved it!

#32. Son by Lois Lowry.
The final book of the Giver Series. This book is in 3 parts. It starts out back in the community of Jonas before Jonas runs away. Jonas is not the focal character though. Then veers off to a new place for several years. And ends up back in the Village for a final confrontation.

It was a satisfying conclusion to the series.

 

[willowsnn3]

Goal 72
#19 A League of Dangerous Women by Mary Frances Bowley
Non Fiction

From the back cover:
"They are all around you---in your neighborhood, your church, even your own family. They are sisters and daughters and mothers. These young women may look like they have it all together, but inside they're hurting and hopeless. They are trapped by prostitution , alcohol, drugs and darkness. They are desparate."

This was kinda a hard read for me as some of the stories were pretty intense, but I do recommend it.

 

[threeboysmom]

Finished #10 of out 30 this weekend:

The Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

I love this author! Writes so richly and introduces such memorable characters to the reader. I do have to say that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Pillars of the Earth - I think that book had stronger characters, and I had a hard time with this particular time period - WWI. I liked it enough to want to read the next book in the series though, but not right away.

Next up is a short one - The Great Gatsby - have already started it, but having trouble getting into it. Hope it's just the introduction that is dragging and that it'll get better as the storyline develops.

Followed by Rush Home Road since that should be arriving at the library today or tomorrow latest.

 

[StephMK]

I didn't update after my last read but I have finished -

#13 - All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy - 4 college friends, 1 dies. 10 years later, a mystery person writes a fiction book based on the event and writes that one of them killed her. This was pretty good but not one of my favs. Parts went on too long, explaining how the characters were feeling and I thought that was unnecessary. I also thought the romance part was a little too sweet.

#14 - Gone Girl - could not put this down! Luckily, my family is out of town so I could lounge around & read non-stop w/no guilt. It was one of those books that I enjoyed reading but wanted to hurry up & finish to figure out what happened. Excellent book that I know has been reviewed several times on here.