Blogger Summer Reading Program 2016

Tomorrow kicks off the Blogger Summer Reading Program hosted by Bekka from Pretty Deadly Reviews and Whitley from Reading with a Vengeance.  You can check out their blogs for more info and there is a Twitter chat tonight at 8 pm EST (#BloggerSRP).

I blogged about my goals for this month’s challenge earlier this month along with a list on my “Summer” reads.  My goals for the first week of the program are to read:

Two Summers by Aimee Friedman (print)

AND

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (ebook)

I am reading other books as well, but these are the two I have chosen for the first of the week of the challenge.

Wish me luck! I haven’t read anything by either author so I am looking forward to them.

Anybody else doing the Blogger Summer Reading Program (you don’t have to be a blogger, by the way)?

Anybody have a summer reading list or goals?

Review: Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

Title: Vinegar Girl

Author: Anne Tyler

Format: Hardcover

Source: Blogging For Books

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"The Taming of the Shrew" is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I’ve seen several adaptations performed live and it inspired one of my favorite teen comedies, “10 Things I Hate About You.” So when I saw that Vinegar Girl was a modern retelling of this Shakespearean comedy, I knew I had to read it. And while it might not have been my favorite adaptation, this was definitely an enjoyable story full of the spirit of the play.

Vinegar Girl tells the story of Kate, a straight forward and often blunt (to the point of rudeness) preschool teacher whose eccentric father has decided that she should marry his research assistant so that the assistant can remain in the country. What follows is a humorous story as both Kate’s father and her would-be suitor try to win her over.  Complicating matters is Kate’s much younger sister, Bunny, who is attempting to spread her wings a bit and experience a little love and freedom for herself, much to her sister’s dismay.

The story is fast-paced and a quick read that I was able to finish in one day mostly because the colorful cast of characters won me over and kept me reading. I couldn’t wait to see what they’d do next and what Kate had to say.  And while I enjoyed Kate’s blunt and honest manner, it often got her into trouble with her job and family and sometimes to me just seemed plain rude and unnecessary.  Despite this, I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others who enjoy a good Shakespearean retelling or are looking for a quick read.

My Rating: 4 Stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review from Blogging for Books.

Summer Reading Challenge

Remember when you were a kid and every summer they’d give you a summer reading list that you just couldn’t wait to complete? Maybe it was just bookworm me who looked forward to that. Each summer I’d eagerly work my way through the list earning free pizzas from Pizza Hut’s Book It, tickets to Six Flags for reading 600 minutes (yeah, I read a lot more than 600 minutes…unfortunately it was one ticket per kid or I‘d be set for life), or whatever prize/reward there was at the end. Of course, I liked it better when I could pick my own books to read.

Well, I was thinking about doing a summer reading challenge this year on my own, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  I’d already completed the adult one that my local library has going (It really wasn’t much of a challenge to someone who reads all of the time.).  I then asked my nieces and nephews if they had received lists that I could look at to see what middle and high school kids were required to read these days. Maybe something there might spark my interest and give me an idea. Yeah, they looked at me like I had lost my mind.  Read…when you didn’t have to?  (You’d think they’d be used to me by now…not sure any of them have ever seen me without a book).

Anyway, I wanted to do something.  Then I came across a post on Pretty Deadly Reviews. Whitley from Reading With a Vengeance and Bekka from Pretty Deadly Reviews have teamed up to create the Blogger Summer Reading Program. And I have decided that I want to take part!

You can find more details on Bekka's blog, but you basically set your own goal and each week in July go back to the Pretty Deadly Review blog to report your progress.  And with each weekly goal you meet, you get an entry into the Blogger Summer Reading Program giveaway….oh, and you don’t have to be a blogger to join. You can find more info and sign up here.

So what are my goals? Well, I thought about this for a bit and then every time I turned on the TV yesterday they were talking about it being the first day of summer…and it hit me…I am going to complete a Summer Reading List…literally.  Confused yet?  Well, I looked at my TBR list and realized that I have a lot of books with the word “summer” in the title. Therefore, I am going to attempt to read some of those books for this "summer" reading challenge.

Each week I want to read and review one eBook and one print book that has the word “summer” in the title.  I have selected 8 books from my TBR (even though I have several more) and hope to get them all read.  I plan on reading/reviewing other books as well during this challenge, but these are my 8 for the challenge:

Print:

Two Summers by Aimee Friedman

The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Three Day Summer by Sarvenaz Tash

Five Summers by Una LaMarche

eBook:

The Dead of Summer by Heather Balog

The Big Summer by Jamie B. Laurie

Song of Summer by Laura Lee Anderson

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Well, wish me luck! I’ll be posting my progress as well my thoughts on the books as the summer progresses. Fingers crossed that I get these read!

 If you want you to join in, please check out Bekka’s post here.

Book Blitz - Two for the Show by Jonathan Stone

For mystery and thriller fans...

TWO FOR THE SHOW BY JONATHAN STONE

Chas is a detective who doesn’t stake out cheating husbands, track down missing persons, or match wits with femme fatales. Instead of pounding the pavement, he taps a computer keyboard. He can get the goods on anyone, and it’s all to make sure superstar Las Vegas mind reader Wallace the Amazing stays amazing. Thanks to Chas’s steady stream of stealthy intel, Wallace’s mental “magic” packs houses every night.

But when someone threatens to call the psychic showman’s bluff, the sweet gig takes a sour—and sinister—turn. Who’s the clean-cut couple gunning for Wallace with an arsenal of dirty tricks? Why does Wallace keep upping the ante instead of backing down? And just how much does Chas really know about his mysterious boss’s life…or his own? The tangled truth—of blackmail, kidnapping, and false identities—quickly becomes the biggest case of his strange, secret career.

--Publisher’s Weekly writes, “The surprise-filled plot shifts rapidly between illusion and reality, keeping the reader constantly—and entertainingly—off-balance.”

To learn more about the author visit www.jonathanstonebooks.com 

To buy Two for the Show click here!

Kindle eBook Deal - Hello? by Liza Wiemer

I love a good deal on eBooks and today on Amazon, they have a really good one going on for a Kindle ebook that has been on my TBR wishlist for awhile: Hello? by Liza Wiemer  
And it's only 99 cents!!!!!! You can buy one for yourself and a friend or two or three or four all for less than a cup of coffee  and probably still have money left over.

From Goodreads:

One HELLO can change a life. One HELLO can save a life.

Tricia: A girl struggling to find her way after her beloved grandma's death.

Emerson: A guy who lives his life to fulfill promises, real and hypothetical.

Angie: A girl with secrets she can only express through poetry.

Brenda: An actress and screenplay writer afraid to confront her past.

Brian: A potter who sets aside his life for Tricia, to the detriment of both.

Linked and transformed by one phone call, Hello? weaves together these five Wisconsin teens' stories into a compelling narrative of friendship and family, loss and love, heartbreak and healing, serendipity, and ultimately hope.

Told from all five viewpoints: narration (Tricia), narration (Emerson), free verse poetry (Angie), screenplay format (Brenda), narration and drawings (Brian).

If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, be sure to check it out. You can buy Amazon Kindle eBook at this amazingly low price over at Amazon, just click here to go to the site. And hurry it's only that price today!

Summer 2016 Bookish Bingo

Yesterday I posted my wrap-up post for the Spring round of Bookish Bingo and as one season ends, another begins.  It’s time for the 2016 Summer Round of Bookish Bingo hosted by Bekka and Alexia at Pretty Deadly Reviews.  Here is the lovely card they created:

And once again I decided to use my creativity (or whatever you want to call it) to make my own personal card to fill in throughout the next few months.

Everyone has their own reasons for participating in Bookish Bingo. I originally decided to attempt the Bookish Bingo challenge because I was in a reading slump. I thought it might motivate me to make a dent in my growing TBR pile and I wanted to try something different.  This round, my third, I hope to do better than in my previous two attempts. Which considering how they went, I can’t do much worse…no really...I read maybe half a book my first attempt…maybe…or maybe I just thought about reading it. Whatever the case, this round I just want to relax, read more books, and hopefully, get a BINGO or Three (it'd be my personal best).

There are some very interesting squares on this round’s card and I already have some books in mind for a couple of them. However, there are a few that I might need to do a little more searching for to find a book that not only fits, but that also interests me. I don’t want to read something that bores me just because it would let me check off the box, you know? Then it becomes almost like required reading...ugh...I had enough of that in school. I want to read books that I choose and if it fits a square, then "Yay!"

Anyway, I look forward to the challenge that this card poses and I plan to enjoy myself even if I don’t get a single BINGO. Reading is always enjoyable for me, so no problem there. Also, as in previous rounds, I will probably read books that won’t fit any square on the card and that’s okay, too. Who cares? There's no rule against it. This challenge is meant for fun, to motivate me to read more and to switch up my reading choices a bit. I don’t want to put pressure on myself to read only BINGO books over the next few months. If I start doing that, it stops being fun for me and I would hate for that to happen.

That being said, Bookish Bingo is a great, no-pressure challenge if you are looking for one for the Summer. So, why don’t you join in? You know you want to...c'mon...it's just for fun...you might discover an author, book, or genre that you might not have read otherwise...oh, and did I mention that there's a giveaway involved?
For more info and to join, check out the hosts' blog, Pretty Deadly Reviews.

Anyone else “playing” BINGO this round?  Need any recommendations?  Have any books you think I (or anyone else) should read that fits the card? 

Spring 2016 Bookish Bingo Wrap Up

Sorry for disappearing like I did…
“Hey! I'm a Blogger now. Make sure you read my blog…that...I...don’t…post…on…"
Sorry...

But things have been hectic here. If you follow me on Twitter (and I hope you do), you’ll know that my mom had surgery.  Everything went as planned and she seems to be recovering quite well, which means I have some more time to focus on the blog.

One of the things I had been meaning to post, but never got a chance to before the craziness of life interrupted, was my wrap-up post for the Pretty Deadly Review’s Spring 2016 Bookish Bingo. This was my first time really giving this my all and actually trying to get some BINGOs on the board.  I even made my own pretty little BINGO card to carry around with me using Bekka’s lovely BINGO card, scrapbook paper, and cards (this is also known as procrastination…something I mastered in college). And while I didn’t fill the board as I had hoped, I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would.

Here’s my card…and my reads for the months of March, April, and May (I read a few more books than listed, but they didn’t fit any of the squares):

Second Chance: The Princess Diaries

Under 200 Pages:  Rhythm and Clues

March, April, May Release:  Fear My Mortality

Criminals:  The Second Life of Nick Mason

Book Toward Another Challenge:  Forbidden

Green Cover:  Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth

Characters Are Not Human:  Emerge

Rec’d By More Than One Friend:  The Accident Season

Flowers on Cover:  Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine

MC Shares Your 1st Initial:  The Requiem Red

Written Under a Pen Name:  Diary of a Haunting

End of the World:  There Once Were Stars

Number in the Title:  Moldylocks and the Three Beards

Non-Fiction:  Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis

Standalone:  Lost Among the Living

So not too bad...a couple of BINGOs.  Did anyone else participate?  Is anyone attempting the Summer card?  Look for my post on that tomorrow.

Review - Long May She Wave by Kit Hinrichs

Title: Long May She Wave

Author: Kit Hinrichs

Source: Blogging For Books

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

So this is my first official review as a blogger and it's not even for a book. It's for a box of postcards inspired by a book. But it's a lovely box of postcards.

I enjoyed flipping through this collection of postcards featuring 50 different patriotic designs, each with its own character and story. There are 2 of each so you can keep one for yourself and send one to someone. Or if mailing postcards isn't your thing, you could frame them or even use them in an art project as I plan to do with a few. Plus with 4th of July coming up, the patriotic cards in this collection would make nice greetings, invitations, decorations, or even just a conversation piece on your coffee table. There are many things you can do with these beautiful cards. 

And I love that they come in their own cute, little book-shaped storage box. My only complaint is that the box doesn't stay closed when upright as in the picture, but that's just a minor thing.

Now I don't buy a lot of postcards or postcard collections, but overall, I'd say these postcards are a very nice set.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange  for a fair and honest review.

Look, Ma! I'm a Blogger Now!

Wow!  I can’t believe I am finally doing this.

Am I doing this?

Yes, I am doing this!

Why am I doing this?
(Shh!…there are people reading this. Hopefully. Don’t let your doubts show)

Oh, Hello!


Many people have asked me if I have a blog or have told me I should blog, including my friend and fellow blogger Stephanie over at Reading Is Better with Cupcakes. For months I’d been arguing with myself coming up with reasons why I should or shouldn’t start a blog when she started encouraging me to take the leap and join the blogging world. And what can I say? She’s very persistent and persuasive. I guess it was the push I needed. So now after almost a year of telling people, “Oh, I don’t have a blog. I’m just a reader,“ I can finally say, “I’m a blogger and here is a link…”  And it absolutely terrifies me!

I LOVE to write and be creative, but putting your words and opinions out there for the world to read and judge is scary.  What if I am awful at it…what if no one reads it…what if they hate it and me…what if it becomes too much work…what if I don’t like doing it …what if…what if…what if… Like the character in one of my favorite Shel Silverstein poems, I have a major case of the “whatifs.”  But I’ve decided that I can’t let that stop me from doing something that makes me happy forever. And writing and talking about books and other things that I love makes me happy (even if I stink at it. I'm still happy). That brings us here…to my very own blog (still feels weird typing and saying that).

Now, I know my blog is called Never Too Many To READ, and it will definitely focus on books with book reviews, discussions, etc., but I also have other interests, such as movies, television, and crafts, so don’t be surprised if something non-bookish pops up in a post. And if you have an idea or suggestion for a post, feel free to suggest it. I am open to ideas and just letting things happen as they happen.

Keep in mind I am a newbie who is bound to make a few mistakes, but I’m learning as I go.  I hope you’ll join me on my journey.

You can follow the blog through links in the sidebar plus you can always find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

Oh, and you may notice a few changes in the next few weeks. The blog is still a bit of a work in progress as I try to make things pretty and presentable.