Bout of Books 17 is Almost Here!!!

If you are new, here is a description of what Bout of Books is...

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, August 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Unfortunately, Bout of Books goes on when I am in school, so I won't be reading a ridiculous number of books, but I still plan on getting at least 2 books finished. I am feeling pretty motivated so I'm going to put 5 books on this list. Will I actually get to all of them?...probably just as soon as pigs start flying.

My Bout of Books Reading List

Unfair by Steven Harper

November Rain by Shannon A. Thompson

The Reader by Traci Chee

The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke

Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee & Susan McClelland

Let me know if you are going to participate in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon as well. I would love to hear what you plan on reading. Also, what book do you think I should read first?

Bout of Books Challenge: Character Soulmates

Hello Bout of Bookers! How's everyone's week of reading been? I hope you are all having a Happy Friday. Today I am super excited to be hosting this challenge for you guys! Everyone can participate and have fun with it.

Today I have the Character Soulmates Challenge for you. It's great because we are going to be shipping characters from different books. Have you ever thought __(person)__ from this book would be just perfect with __(person)__ from this other book? Well here is your chance to finally pair them up and watch the sparks fly.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

1.) Pick two characters from two different books who you think will be great together in a romantic relationship. These characters must have never been in the same book together or met before.

2.) Comment on this post telling me which characters you picked and what books they are each from. You can't forget to give them a cool ship name too! An example of a ship name can be "Percabeth" for Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. If you have a blog or a youtube channel, you can also just put this info in a post/video and leave a link to it in the comments.

3.) Give me a short reason as to why you paired those two as a cute couple. Convince us that it is meant to be.

4.) I will be tweeting out my favorites using the hashtags #CharaSM and #BoutofBooks, so leave your twitter name in the comments as well if you want to be mentioned if I tweet yours out.

Here's My Example

My pair is going to quite interesting

Rachel from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews & Leo Valdez from The Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan

Ship Name: Raleo (Lol I tried guys)

Reason: They both are not the most attractive people in the world, but they are very lovable. Rachel is pretty patient, so she can handle Leo's antics, but she also has a sense of humor. Leo would crack cheesy jokes all day and Rachel would laugh at them all. I guess their relationship would turn out to be kind of sad since Rachel has leukemia, so let's just pretend she doesn't for the sake of this challenge. Other than that, I believe they are perfect for each other. (I mean just imagine it for a second.)

Need help coming up with a ship name? Try this!

That's all you have to do folks, so have fun with it. Definitely read other people's answers and share your favorites. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.


And don't forget to spread the love

#CRAMATHON TBR

As you guys may or may not know, Whitney @ WhittyNovels is hosting the #cramathon readathon which will be going on from July 10th - July 13th, 2015. The main point of this readathon is basically to read the shortest, quickest books to get through on your tbr pile so you can try to get ahead (or in my case catch up) in your Goodreads reading goal. In this post, I will be showing you the books I plan on reading during the #cramathon. I will also show the challenges for this readathon and what books I plan on using to complete them. Expect a wrap-up next week to see if I completed all my challenges and goals.

The Challenges

1.) Read a children's book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (FINALLY!)

2.) Read a hardback: Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

3.) Read 2 books in one day: Hopefully!

4.) Read a graphic novel: Maus Volumes I and II by Art Spiegelman

5.) Read a book written in verse: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (Can someone tell me who is NOT reading an Ellen Hopkins book for this challenge?)

6.) Read a novella: Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hover and Life Before Legend by Marie Lu (Yep Double Wamming!)

7.) Read 5 books: (More like 7.....I mean 9)

All the Books I Want to Get to Reading

Now let's keep in mind that I have never actually been able to read 9 books in a month let alone three days so....I don't really know what's wrong with me or how I think I can really get this many books read in such a short time. At least if by some miracle I do finish all these books, I will be back on track for my Goodreads reading challenge. I guess we will just have to see in the end what I actually accomplish in my wrap up. Nevertheless I am determined! (Well, for the most part)

Bout of Books 11: My Goals

As many of you may already know, the Bout of Books Read-a-thon is back again. I posted my sign-up post on Sunday mentioning I would be posting my TBR list and goals for the read-a-thon later this week. Well here it is. I am probably trying to be a little too ambitious with my reading goals, but I guess we will just have to see how well I do. 

My Goals

• Read at least six books
• Read at least three review books
• Complete a series I have already started
• Read at least three graphic novels
• Read at least half of a classic for school
• Write reviews for every book I read

TBR List

Books For Review

 Shadow Fire (Light Chronicles #1) by Kimber Leigh Wheaton

 Darkness by Erin Eveland

Paradigm (Paradigm #1) by Ceri A. Lowe

Complete a Series

 Torn (Trylle #2) by Amanda Hocking

 Ascend (Trylle #3) by Amanda Hocking

Graphic Novels

 Amulet #1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

 Amulet #2: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

Amulet #3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi

Classic

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Extra Books to Choose From

 If I Stay by Gayle Forman

 Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan

Yes I know. I am probably not going to get to all these books, but hopefully I can complete at least half of my goals. Let me know in the comments if you are participating and what your goals are. Also tell me if there are any books on this list that your think I should read first.

Bout of Books 11 Read-a-Thon

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, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th 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 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

The Bout of Books 11 is finally almost upon us! I did not get to participate in the Bout of Books 10, but I am pumped up for the one that is coming up. Some of you might know that I participated in the Booktube-A-Thon last month and I honestly did the best I have ever done in any read-a-thon. Now I plan to try and top that and read even more before school starts. I should be posting my official TBR list some time this week. If you are not already participating I suggest you come join the fun because read-a-thons are a great way to catch up on your goodreads challenge and read some extra books before the summer is over.

Let me know if you are participating and what you are going to read!

Stacking the Shelves #3

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Hosted by: Tynga's Reviews

eBooks for Review

Mindwar by Andrew Klavan (Netgalley)

To This Day by Shane Koyczan (Netgalley)

Something Wiki by Suzanne Sutherland (Netgalley)

Song of My Life by Carolyn Brown (Netgalley)

Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin (Netgalley)

Heart of Dread: Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston (Netgalley)

Amulet #6: Escape From Lucien by Kazu Kabuishi (Netgalley)

Scar of the Bamboo Leaf by Sieni A.M.

Purchased Books

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

My Name is Mina by David Almond

Lost and Found by Andrew Clements

The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy (Bind up) by Jenny Han

The End of Education by Neil Postman (Nonfiction) 

*I kind of went on a classic rampage this month*

The Picture of Dorian and Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Emma by Jane Austen

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

These are all the books I have received in the past week. Please let me know what books you have received and what books I should read next.

Also I would like to know: What are your favorite classics?

Booktube Updates: Day 1, 2, 3, 4 (2014)

These are What I Have Finished So Far:

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Glitter & Doom by Bethany Griffin

Dance of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

What I am Currently Reading:

Beast of no Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

I actually think I have done fairly well so far in this read-a-thon. It is definitely the best I have done in any read-a-thon so far. Please feel free to comment down below your own progress in the Booktube-A-Thon and expect reviews in the next upcoming weeks of all these books I have read.

Booktube-A-Thon: Book Blogger Edition

The time has come once again for this year's Booktube-A-Thon! This year's event is going to be even bigger and better with an abundance of challenges, giveaways, reading sprints, and even exclusive Booktube-A-Thon discounts courtesy of The Book Depository. The read-a-thon will start July 14th and end on July 21st. I am so excited to actually fully participate this year and hopefully I can read as much as I have planned. For more details visit the Official Booktube-A-Thon YouTube .

The Challenges

There are seven reading challenges for participants to try and complete, so I am going to try my best to finish them all (But we all know this very well may not happen). Here is my TBR list (to be read list) based on those challenges.

1. Read a book with pictures

2. Start and finish a series

(and of course I picked a duology)

3. Read a book with red on the cover

And for this one I will double up on challenges

4. Read a book someone else picks out for you

Picked out by my sister:

5. Read a book from the genre you've read the least this year

Now this one was quite difficult to choose but I ended up picking:

6. Read a book to movie adaptation and then watch the movie for it

Again I am doubling up challenges for this one

7. Read a total of 7 books or 300 pages a day

And this part of the challenge is still TBA.....

Hopefully once I finish these 5 books I have choosen, I will be able to choose what other 2 books I will read to equal seven and include them in an update post.

I will definitely be making update posts on Thursday and Monday just so you guys can see my progress. Find me on goodreads if you want to be able to see the progress regularly. I hope you guys will participate also, and if you are participating tell me your TBR list in the comments or comment a link to your Booktube-A-Thon TBR list video or post. Also let me know what those two extra books I need to read should be. See you soon ;)

Book Blogger New Year's Challenge: {Day 12} How do I plan on getting more followers this year.

This year I plan on really trying harder to interact and relate with my audience to gain followers. I feel like the best bloggers are those who incorporate these elements of interaction and cordiality into their content and make you genuinely feel like you want to read more of what they post to support them. I would like to actually listen to all the feedback I can get from my audience and improve my blog based on what others who view it enjoy and want to see more of. So far I have been trying reply to comments more often and comment on other people's blogs and sometimes even following the blogs I find that I really like. I just want to really improve my content and be more consistent with posting. Maybe I can even try and decorate this blog more and make it a little more enjoyable to the eyes. Hopefully over the months of this year, I can eventually accumulate some more followers that enjoy and support this blog, but I am also thankful for the followers I have already.

New posts and updates coming soon! What do you plan on doing to get more followers this year? Also, I probably will not be doing tomorrow's challenge because 1) The joy of public schools has been bestowed upon me *sarcastic voice* 2) Frankly I don't actually have a legitimate blogger horror story yet, but I am looking forward to reading and commenting on other people's stories. 

Have a spectacular day!