Take Control of Your TBR and Author Love Challenge Sign Up

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Of course I have another month where I plan to take a break from library books and really focus on the books I own. I have so many wonderful books I would like to read, so I'm excited to get to a few of them in March. I will have my TBR list up soon. 

Along with the Take Control of Your TBR challenge I will be participating in the 24 hour readathon. This won't be anything as exciting as Dewey's readathon, but I hope that I enjoy this one and it will give me a great opportunity to really test out the new Bookout app. 

Hosted by Because Reading and Fantasy is More Fun

I have known about this challenge for several weeks now and I was having a hard time deciding if I would join. It sounds like such an excellent idea, but which author should I choose. I started going through my options and it was really hard to pick to be honest. I could Debbie Macomber, who has a million novels I haven't read, or I could pick Jodi Picoult, which I'm always saying I should read more of. I could pick Nicholas Sparks and read some of his older novels I haven't read. I'm proud to say I made my choice for this year and hopefully the challenge will return next year and I can choose a different author. For 2017 my author of the year is going to Kristen Hannah. 

I have read several novels by Kristin Hannah and I have loved every single one, but I would love to dive into more of her novels throughout 2017. 

Novels Read:

Firefly Lane

Fly Away

The Nightingale

Magic Hour

Night Road

True Colors

Winter Garden

Novels To Read:

Home Front

Angel Falls

Between Sisters

The Things We Do for Love

On Mystic Lake

Summer Island

Home Again

Distant Shores

The Glass Case

If You Believe

Waiting for the Moon

When Lightning Strikes

Once in Every Life

A Handful of Heaven

So do me a favor and push me to read some of these books this year. My goal is going to be to read 5 Kristin Hannah books this year. I might listen to a few of them as audiobooks. 

February To Be Read List Winner February 2017

My Winner for the month of February is....

The Opposite of Me won by an overwhelming number. This book was a forgotten book on my TBR list, so I'm excited to read it. 

Book Review: Intermission by Serena Chase (no spoilers)

Book: Intermission
Author: Serena Chase
Publication: November 15, 2016
Source: Netgalley
Read: February 5-11, 2017
Summary (from Goodreads):

And this kiss . . .

 This kiss is everything I’ve needed to say . . . and longed to hear.

 Sixteen-year-old Faith Prescott eagerly awaits the day she will exchange her small Iowa hometown for the bright lights of Broadway, but her success-driven parents want her to pursue a more practical career, labeling “artsy” people—including their daughter—as foolish dreamers worthy of little more than disdain.

 When Faith meets nineteen-year-old Noah Spencer she discovers someone who understands her musical theatre dreams . . . because he shares them.

Faith’s mother despises everything about Noah—his age, his upbringing . . . even his religious beliefs—and she grasps at every opportunity to belittle his plans to study theatre and pursue a stage career. When those criticisms shift further toward hostility, resulting in unjust suspicions and baseless accusations, an increasingly fearful stage is set for Faith at home, where severe restrictions and harsh penalties are put in place to remove Noah Spencer from her life.

 But Faith has never connected with anyone like she has with Noah, and no matter how tight a stranglehold her mother enforces to keep them apart, Faith will not give him up. Behind the curtain, Faith’s love for Noah continues to grow . . . as does her determination to hold on to her dreams—and him—no matter how high the cost.

*I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest revieve. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

My Thoughts:

I have to start off this review by saying I loved this book. I loved Faith and Noah and their relationship. Madeline Faith Prescott is 16 years old. She lives in the spotlight and loves acting. She can't wait to trade away her small town for her dream of a career in theathre. Her first connection with Noah begins with their shared love for acting. But it isn't too long into the book that you realize that everything is against them and their relationship. 

As the author states at the end of the end of the book she hopes that this book has moved you, but you can't ingore the more serious themes of this novel. Faith's parents rule is that they must meet any boy who their daughter is going to date. Noah isn't even given a chance. Once Faith's mother finds out that he is 19 years old. Every contact to Noah is taken away from Faith and they must make a decision that could change their entire worlds. It was really sad seeing Faith go through this harsh world with her mother. Especially when I knew the other side of Noah and I knew that the things she said about him weren't true. My heart broke for Faith. 

This book spans over 5 years and a lot changes in that time. I fell in love with Faith and Noah and I knew how I wanted the book to end, but there was a point that I thought this book was going to turn out totally different than I thought. I was kept in suspense to the very end. I think the theathre aspect was so fun and so different. I haven't read a book like this one ever. This book was amazing and I highly recommend this book. I'm so glad I read it. 

#Shelflove 2017: My TBR Pile

Hosted by Second Run Review, Chapter Break, and Bookworm Brandee. Sign Up Here. 

This year my starting number is 82 unread books on my TBR. I have read A Thousand Nights and The Infinite Moment of Us since taking this picture. 

Last year I had 57 unread books, so as you can see I did buy quite a few books this year, but I'm happy with the purchases I made. I'm hoping to just continue reading the books that I own this year and make progress in my TBR pile. 

January Wrap Up and February TBR 2017

I finished 6 books in January. I'm so proud that I finished this many books. My student teaching placement has allowed me to read 2 books at school so far. The teacher read The War that Saved my Life aloud in class, but he was going through it too slow, so I did end up finishing it as an audiobook. Then I read The Midwife's Apprentice with my reading group. I have been putting off The Infinite Moment of Us for so long and I loved it. A Thousand Wishes was okay, but will not be a favorite of this year. Then I'm continuing to catch up on the Faerie Tale series. I've only got three books to go and she is still writing, so I will not be finished just caught up. I was a little disappointed with Rapunzel, but I enjoyed The Little Mermaid. The books as always were quick reads.

I never posted a formal TBR on the blog, but I had one going in my bullet journal and I finished 4/8 books, so I did pretty good. I was a little over ambitious.

I only chose 5 books plus my TBR list winner for February. I don't know that I will complete all of these, but I will try. I'm currently reading My Name is Rapunzel and loving it so far. 

TBR List ~ Let's Vote: February 2017

Hosted by Because Reading

It is always a continual goal for me to read books on my goodreads TBR list. I started 2016 with 335 books on my TBR and I'm starting 2017 with 368 books on my TBR list. The list is endless as authors continue to write and there is a million good books out there. I used random.org to choose 3 books from my goodreads TBR list. These books are very different from each other. I'm interested to see which one you guys choose.

Endings and beginnings sit so close to each other that it’s sometimes impossible to tell which is which.

 Nothing lasts forever, and no one gets that more than Tessa. After her mother died, it’s all she can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, her happiness from slipping away. And then there’s her dad. He’s stuck in his own daze, and it’s so hard to feel like a family when their house no longer seems like a home.

 Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in a small coastal town at Tessa’s grandmother’s. Despite all the warmth and beauty there, Tessa can’t help but feel even more lost.

 Enter Henry Lark. He understands the relationships that matter. And more importantly, he understands her. A secret stands between them, but Tessa’s willing to do anything to bring them together—because Henry may just be her one chance at forever.

Twenty-nine-year-old Lindsey Rose has, for as long as she can remember, lived in the shadow of her devastatingly beautiful fraternal twin sister, Alex. Determined to get noticed, Lindsey is finally on the cusp of being named creative vice president of an elite New York advertising agency, after years of eighty-plus hour weeks, migraines, and profound loneliness. But during the course of one devastating night, Lindsey’s carefully constructed life implodes. Humiliated and desperate, she flees the glitter of Manhattan and retreats to the time warp of her parents’ Maryland home. As her sister plans her lavish wedding to her prince charming, Lindsey struggles to maintain her identity as the smart, responsible twin, while she furtively tries to put her career back together. But things get more complicated when a long held family secret is unleashed that forces both sisters to reconsider who they are and who they are meant to be.

An emotional contemporary YA novel about love, loss, and having the courage to chase the life you truly want.

 Reeling from her mother's death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave - all the things she's wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she's always been afraid to do - including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most - and you learn that you're stronger and braver than you ever imagined.