Bout of Books 6.0: Finish Line

The Goals:

• Read 300 pages each day.
• Finish 5 books
• Participate in at least 3 challenges 
• Participate in one Twitter chat -
• Visit bloggers also participating and leave lots of comment love - every day!
• Beat my last readathon accomplishments: 4 books, 1251 pages

I didn't read 300 pages a day or finish 5 books. I didn't visit as many bloggers as I wanted either. But I did have a good turn out. I read some really long books! I ended up reading 4 books for a total of 1456 pages. That's over 200 pages more than last readathon. You can read my update post: here.

The Books:


These are the books I read and finished. They were all good books in their own way.

I am pretty happy with the end results of this readathon. Even though I didn't get all my goals, I did better than last readathon. Hopefully next BOB I can do even better.

For all those interested, there is a readathon going on 7Feb - I put the button up on my left sidebar.

Design: The Fox Family.

I recently got my first request for blog design that wasn't from one of my besties. I was both thrilled and completely nervous.

Heather of The Fox Family was super easy to work with. She wanted a yellow, bright background - no pink though! I used Simply*Glamourous for the cursive, loopy font. I also used Trebuchet MS, Indy Pimp, and Sketch Block in her design :)

{click to enlarge}

Before:

After:

My Favorite Part:

I love how the Meet The Family part turned out - it definitely helps that she has 

such a photogenic family. Her two daughters are little dolls.  

Make sure you stop by and visit Heather's blog! :)

If you are interested in a design by me, please visit my design page and/or send me an email. I can do a bunch of stuff - header, social media icons, signature, buttons, and even a watermark for your pictures that matches your header! All for $20. I'm mostly using this as an outlet to prevent myself from changing my own blogs, not as a job :)

As I Wake [Review]

Stats:
224 Pages [Kindle]
Published 15 September 2011
ASIN: B005DIAVVM
Find on Goodreads


Synopsis:
What if you woke up and didn't know where you were?

What if you didn't know who you were?

And what if, when your memories started to come back--what if they didn't match the you that you're supposed to be?

Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them--and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.


My Thoughts:
The very substance of this book could make an amazing story, but the execution was poor. There were many parts that seemed out of place, unexplained, and awkward to the storyline. The characters all lacked substance. I also didn't feel any closure when I finished. I whipped through this book in no time at all, but then I was left with nothing but confusion. Did I only read half a book?


Previous Review:
Where the Truth Lies by Jessica Warman [here]


Linked up at...

Where the Truth Lies [Review]

Stats:
316 Pages [Kindle]
Published 28 September 2010
ASIN: B0040GJ5G0
Find on Goodreads

January TBR List

Books for January:

• Roseannearchy by Roseanne Barr
• Dry by Augusten Burroughs
• Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
• Crimson Frost by Jennifer Estep
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia [We Heart YA - General BOTM]
• Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor [We Heart YA - Theme BOTM]
• Plague by Michael Grant [We Heart YA - Series Read Along] 

In the We Heart YA Books! group on Goodreads, I am participating in a few reading challenges. My monthly challenges are to read 3 dystopia/apocalyptic books and to spell out NEW YEAR with titles. I will be working on a 3 month challenge to spell out NEW YORK. Lastly, I am working on an A to Z Title Challenge for the whole year.

I'm also joining in for I'm Loving Books' Random Reads again :)

Because of the holidays, I'm choosing just one (again) random book off of my massive list on Goodreads. And that book is...John Dies at the End by David Wong.

I'm participating in BOB again :) Hopefully I can pick off a bunch of my January books!