It's Monday! What are you reading? #3

Here is another dose of It's Monday, what are you reading? hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey!

Well, last week's plan didn't quite go as I anticipated it to. I read Uglies and did a review on it too! I read like 75 pages of Fool Moon. I was so excited when one of the books from the library came in that it immediately jumped up to the top of my to-read list. Oops, have you ever done that before? Get so excited for a certain book to come in that you forget your plans on the other books?


So, the book I was really excited for was Starters. The cover is probably one of my favorites, it looks so cool and gives off the futuristic feel! I've already read it and finished my review of it this morning. My little cousin, Lexi, spent the night with Hailey on Saturday night. My husband and I took the girls to the park, where he studied for his internship exams and I read. Anyway, the book was alright. I think there was more the author could have done with it and a few things I didn't care for too much. Overall, I liked it and I'll read the second one.

For this week, this is what I have planned to read. I'm going to finish reading Fool Moon in the next couple of days. We are going camping this weekend and I'll have five days off starting on Friday. I'll start and hopefully finish Monsters of Men by next Monday. If for whatever reason I get through both of those books, I'm going to read Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.
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Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

My initial thoughts: 
This book was actually one that a book club on Goodreads was reading. I had immediately requested it from the library but I was number 12 on a waiting list. So, I waited not-so-patiently for this book.  Well, when I went to pick up Starters from the library, I was pleasantly surprised to find this one waiting for me! I think it'll be an interesting read and I'm not really sure what to expect from it. I think it'll be way different than anything that I've read before. I'm really hoping that I can read this this week or even next week.
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I'm also currently listening to an audiobook called Dating is Murder by Harley Jane Kozak. 

Wollie Shelley is a greeting card artist struggling to keep afloat financially and to pursue—despite a series of recent disasters—the search for the love of her life. She reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on the reality television show Biological Clock. The show’s premise: six eligible singles date each other, and the audience votes on which couple would make the best parents. Alas, Wollie isn’t having much luck finding a man she’d like to date “off the air,” much less father her child. As the biological clock ticks away, Wollie gets caught up in a much more pressing demand on her time. Her friend Annika has vanished into thin air and Wollie is convinced that she’s in grave danger. 

When Wollie reports the disappearance to the Los Angeles Police Department, however, the detective assigned to the case seems more interested in dating Wollie than in finding her friend. So Wollie springs into action—and lands right in the middle of an FBI investigation into an international drug cartel. She soon finds herself being stalked by an assortment of threatening characters, including her fellow televisioncontestants, who will stop at nothing to beat the clock. 

With Dating Is Murder, Kozak delivers another sparkling treasure, a laugh-out-loud funny, literate mystery for readers of Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton, and for Kozak’s own growing legion of fans.

My initial thoughts:
The title of the book is intriguing. I really enjoy the person reading the book. Her voice doesn't quite match what I'd imagine the character to look like, but she does the humorous parts well. I'm on disc 5 out of 10. I listen to books on my way to work. I work about 45 minutes away from where I live. I love music, but it is nice to break it up every now and then. The story is enticing and suspenseful so far. The character seems a little ditsy, so it gets frustrating at times.
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Alright, so I think that is all. Surprisingly I thought this post was going to be short...I thought wrong. So if you read through it all, good job you!  Have a great Monday! :)

It's Monday...What are you reading? Week #2

I can't believe it is already my second week of joining in Sheila @ Book Journey's What are you reading? meme!

This past week I got through my goals as I planned. I finished Water for Elephants and read Finding Summerland: The Ameryn Chronicles #1! 

I'm going to add another book to my list of books to read this upcoming week. I'm hoping to read through them, or at the very least when next Monday comes around, I'll be through most of my final book.

First on my list that has been sitting on my desk for sometime now is Jim Butcher's Fool Moon, which is the second in the Dresden Files.

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work—magical ormundane.

But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses —and the first two don't count...

My initial thoughts: I'm looking forward to reading this book. I really enjoy the way that Jim Butcher writes his books. At times I find comedic relief in his stories. I've only just started this book this morning and so far it is written the same way the first book was. I'm looking forward to seeing this story unfold.

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Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

My initial thoughts: A few of my coworkers and one of the groups I joined on Goodreads has been reading this lately. So, with all the talk of this book, I figured I've got to find out what the fuss is all about. Reading the synopsis given by the author, it definitely looks interesting. 

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"War," says the Mayor. "At last." Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await? But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge - the electrifying finale to the award-winning "Chaos Walking" trilogy, Monsters of Men is a heart-stopping novel about power, survival, and the devastating realities of war.

My initial thoughts: I've read the first two books in this trilogy and the first two were amazing. The second book definitely left off on a cliffhanger, but I didn't want to do 3 reviews in a row of the same series. How boring would that be for my readers? I imagine you'd like to see reviews on different books. Don't worry, I'll still do one on this one of course, but I just wanted to break it up with a few books in between. Anyway, I'm excited to see how the war in this book turns out. I definitely have suggested this story to multiple people.

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Nick squeezing in the picture while at the park...

It took me a little longer than I anticipated to finish up Finding Summerland, but that's more than likely because I had a pretty busy weekend. I took Friday off so I had a nice 3-day weekend! Friday, Hailey, my mom and I went to the county fair. We spent a good three or so hours there. We stopped by the library to exchange books and such. Then followed a trip to the grocery store. My husband got home around 8:15 pm and since Hailey had a wristband for the rides and we already paid for parking, us three headed back out to the fair for a little longer.

On Saturday, Nick's cousin got married so we attended the reception, but ended up leaving early because all the youngsters were coming to party. We headed to my father-in-law's house to help out cut up vegetables for Sunday's events. (We diced, sliced and peeled like mad-men!)

Sunday morning, we headed up to the hall the family rented for Nick's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary! We helped set everything up and by the time it was over we had been there over 6 hours. We stopped home and Nick and Hailey took a quick nap. Then we went up to the park to let Hailey play while Nick studied for his clinical exams and I read.

Now I'm working on laundry. I'm pretty sure almost our entire wardrobe needs to be washed. But with a weekend as busy as we had, there is no wonder on how the regular chores went untouched. Ah, now to go swap out a load in the washer...

Have a great Monday! :)

-Jenkies

It's Monday - What are you reading?

I've recently decided to join in Sheila from Book Journey's It's Monday! What are you reading? I thought it would be a good idea so you know what to expect from me this week. Also, if you have any book suggestions, I am always open for those!

Currently Reading:

An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of "Riding Lessons." "Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine (Rosie the Elephant)."Q"Parade."

I actually started this book on Friday afternoon. While it doesn't normally take me all that long to read a book of this size, I've had to work all weekend. I'm on page 196 out of 327. I plan on finishing it tonight or even tomorrow night. (If I'm feeling as ambitious as I am right now, I will tonight.)

I will provide a book review of this book once I complete it. I'm not going to lie, I have been surprisingly captivated by it. I didn't think I'd like it because in the past I haven't really cared for books that were based in different centuries. (Sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with their verbiage.) This has been a great surprise. I'm glad I listened to my mother-in-law and coworkers. :)


Tuesday/Wednesday read:
After his brothers recent disapearance Wesley Rochester wished he could just fade into obscurity. Searching for closure, he's haunted by visons. Consumed with decoding the messages, he begins turning dangerously deeper inward. Enter an intriguing, 'not quite' human stranger, who mysteriously arrives just as he feels all hope is lost. Together they begin to realize that their destinies are intricately tangled in a drama reaching far beyond the realms of the wold they know. Discovering the secrets plaguing wesley since childhood are no coincidence, and everything he believes is shattered. Captivated by her, he must decide between the life he has and the one he'd forgotten. 

'Finding Summerland' is like 'Twilight' in the sense that it is a supernatural, coming of age romance—but has a genre bending, metaphysical element and a much deeper rabbit hole. Follow the journey of two star crossed souls as they explore who they are and the ties that bind them. Enter a world intentionally forgotten. A place buried by history, where only the chosen are aware of its existence. A place covenants are made and broken, where myth leads to truth and forbidden love threatens to destroy or be destroyed, becoming just another casualty in their shadow war. 

The introductory novel in a series of five, called 'The Ameryn Chronicles'—but compelling enough to stand alone—'Finding Summerland' is sure to be savored by anyone craving to stretch the bounds of ordinary imagination, edgy enough to engage readers who enjoy unravelling a mystery, and sweet enough to grab onto the hearts of the romance lovers! Where legends breathe and dreams are alive. A 'trippy' journey to a new reality.

My initial thoughts of this book:

If this is anything like Twilight, which it is described to be, I'm going to love it. Twilight was probably one of the first books that got me reading years ago. (Side note: Although Hunger Games this year pushed me into being more frenetic.)

I've got high hopes for it since it says that it includes some of my favorite things in it. I absolutely love reading books with some sort of love interest in them. (I'm a sucker for romantic comedies.) It also includes the supernatural element as well. I like how books like this push my imagination further than I am able to. I'm looking forward to it.