Hi everyone! I hope those of you who are unfortunate, like myself, to be caught in this polar vortex weather in the US right now are safe and warm. Down to -30 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill here in Rochester NY and wind gusts of up to 40 mph, this is insane.

Do you know what else is insane? The fact that Tomorrow is the LAST day of January!!!! How did that happen?? Seriously, how the heck is this even possible? Then I start thinking what did I accomplish this month? Was it a successful month at work? Yes! Tough and emotional, but yes successful! Did I read enough? NEVERRR!!! 😂 Ok I did a lot of reading though. So far I’ve completed 8 books, and have 3 currently in progress (on track to finish one tonight)! I’m 4 books behind schedule for my 2019 Goodreads reading challenge. I can do it!!!!

But what did you read, you ask? Here is a list of what I read this month in order of first to most recently read.

• City of Bones (Mortal Instruments Book One) by Cassandra Clare
• A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay
• Rising by Michael W. Huard **met a criteria for Read Harder BookRiot 2019 challenge, self-published
• Northwood: A Novella by Maryse Meijer
• City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments Book Two) by Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass (Mortal Instruments Book Three) by Cassandra Clare
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Currently Reading

• Marked by P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast (will be finishing final 98pgs tonight) **reread
• Eternal Youth by Alexander Williams (About 35% of the way through, could finish by tomorrow night)
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

I’ve decided to pick two favorites this month, 1) my favorite standalone book and 2) my favorite series. So first up is the standalone book. This one was hard because each standalone book I read this month was a different genre (Historical fiction, YA LGBT Humor, Thriller, Horror/Poetry) and they were all excellent. Except for Rising, I really disliked that book and mainly for the poor writing. Great concept, absolutely atrocious writing skills. Anyways, I chose A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay as my favorite Standalone read for January 2019!! I gave it 5 stars because this book kept me on edge, I never figured out the whodunnit and it now has me terrified of typewriters. 😂 Amazingly well written, and I recommend to all!

My favorite series, or the only series, I read in Jan 2018 would be the Mortal Instruments books! I had been curious to start reading the books that make up the Shadowhunters Universe, especially because I have been watching the freeform show, but also because I am a huge fan of YA fantasy and this author has gotten so much hype over the years. Just recently her books have just exploded in popularity. Totally was not disappointed! Amazing fantasy world with characters that you love and hate, are jealous of and might even wish were real because you find them attractive. 😂 Yes that’s right, Cassandra Clare has written into creation one of my top all time fictional crushes. *sigh* I cannot wait to continue this Universe with the first book in the Infernal Device series, next month.

I can’t wait to see what I read in February 2019. Stay tuned for my February 2019 TBR list, posting tomorrow!!! Please leave me a comment and share with me your favorite read for January 2019. I’d love to hear from you! 😊

Off to finish my current book. Happy Reading! 🤓

Do you ever get a craving for something to eat, just a small something though, not a big meal. Like a snack! Sometimes I just want something to munch on while I watch a movie or while I’m reading. Do you have a go to snack? Or are you like me and you put together whatever is handy?

Sometimes I like to make a bowl of sea salt and lime skinny pop, or grab a small bowl of some peanut butter m&ms. Those are my easy grab n go snacks. Sometimes I get fancy though. My first Readathon ever I made a jalapeño and raspberry preserve cheese and cracker plate. Holy Moly it was fantastic! Other times I like to slice a cucumber, add a dollop of hummus and a half of black olive.

I had Book Club this morning around brunch time, so I ate a big brunch. I knew I wouldn’t want a big dinner and then my snack craving hit. Couldn’t be more perfect! So I was rummaging around in my kitchen and I remembered I had some crackers and some fancy cheese, champagne cheddar to be exact! So, cheers to you and now I have a delicious snack to much on while I read.

My current read is called Eternal Youth by Alexander Williams. I was recommended this read by a fellow reader in one of the many Facebook groups I participate in, and I can say that it is definitely keeping me interested! I am eager to see how the stories of the girls that have been introduced so far play out and see if the mystery of the missing girls can be solved! Off to keep reading, Cheers!!

Woohoo! 3 Day weekend for me and I cannot be more excited!!! We are forecasted to get between a foot to almost two feet of snow starting in a few hours and I have a 48 hour Readathon that I am co-hosting. Best.Weekend.Everrrr 😁

My 48 Hour Readathon started at Midnight last night, and I did everything I needed to do to prepare, but failed to actually be awake for when it started. I did wake up at 1:30am and get a kick off post up though, so that’s still winning right? 😂 I was wide awake and ready to read at 5am though. I have a very ambitious TBR list, although I don’t expect to read all of the books in their entirety on it, but I do plan to finish at least four of the books. Check out what I plan to read this time. ⤵️

I have my notebook that I use for bookclub meetings and readathons and have it all set up for tracking for this Readathon. I like to track how many pages I read, not necessarily how many books, because I tend to gravitate towards lengthier books.

My books that I plan on finishing that are already started are City of Glass by Cassandra Clare and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Then I’d like to get a good chunk of House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski and Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. The books I plan to read start to finish are Beauty Queens by Libra Bray (one of my favorite YA authors of all time), Pines by Blake Crouch (the first in the wayward pines series), and Splintered by A.G. Howard which is a dark fantasy retelling of sorts of Alice in Wonderland. Like I said, ambitious TBR but I plan to truly give it my all!!!!

That being said, so as not to waste reading time I’m going to go grab a cup of freshly brewed coffee and dive back in to City of Glass!!! Updates to come 🤓 (FYI YouTube asmr ambience videos are the bomb!!!)

Happy Ready!!

I sure started off the new year with a fantastic read! Picking my first read for a new year is always a challenge. I want to make sure I pick something that I know I’ll fall head over heels with, that has strong character development and lots of action. Ok and maybe a teeny bit of romance. I also wanted to pick something that has had a lot of hype and majority high reviews. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with the first of a YA Fantasy series that triggered the author to write an entire universe around it, and that led to one of my favorite freeform tv shows!

****warning spoilers below, if you haven’t read the rest of the books or seen the show beware****

I ended up reading City of Bones : The Mortal Instruments Book One by Cassandra Clare, and I could not have picked a better read for my first read of 2019!! Some of my closest friends recommended it to me, as it’s one of their favorites. I am now hooked and plan to read every book in the Shadowhunters Universe! Well done Cassandra Clare, well done! 👏🏻 I finished the book last night and every few pages I kept hopping on Facebook trying to prolong the inevitable. Alas, I finished and I hugged the book to my chest and sighed. It’s been a while since a book gave me that kind of reaction. I am just itching to find out if Clary will save her mother, if they will recover the Mortal cup, and if Clary will fall into love with Simon it will Jace really end up being her brother! (I really want Jace and Clary to be together so I’ll really be devastated if they are in fact siblings).

Now I have an expectation that the next book I read for 2019 must be equally as good of a read. So, for my second read of 2019 I’ve picked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. We shall see how this one goes!!

Happy Reading!! 🤓

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful Holiday Season. I decided to spend mine unplugged from social media as much as possible so I could soak up quality family time. I didn’t do much reading, but I did get to hang out with my parents before they left for Florida for the Winter months, as well as play with my niece and nephew. Christmas was wonderful and full of laughs. We all gave and received some wonderful presents, but as you all know my favorite are always the books! I gifted my niece some more Magic Treehouse and Puppy Place books. She just loves them, and loves to read!! I received the Illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a tea party cookbook, and a few others. Check it out!

I can’t wait to dive into the Don Winslow series. My Brother gave me them and he knows I love action packed Mexican cartel stories!

Every year my Dad gifts us with a little money, and this year I decided to spend some of it on furniture. I know, such an adult thing to do. 😂 Well I was in desperate need of a new, sturdy bookcase. It arrived Yesterday and I set it up and then promptly spent all night staring at it because I’m so in love!!!

I decorated it with some lights and a few of my Funko Pop figurines. The gerbils might have added their touch with a few pieces of fluff from their newly cleaned cage.

While I was staring intently at my new bookcase and my lovely books, I got to thinking about what an amazing year it’s been, especially for me with my reading. I have read 100 books this year….. seriously guys, 100!!!!! It just amazes me that a mind can do all of that on top of everything else that we have to do in a normal adult life. I seriously don’t know how I went years without reading and stayed sane. So for 2019 I wanted to make more challenges for myself. I am still doing the BookRiot Read Harder Challenge, and hope to actually finish it in 2019, as a I failed to complete the 2018 challenge. I plan to set my Goodreads challenge to 150 books (no pressure there). I would also like to set a personal challenge for myself, which is to finish all of the series that I started reading in 2018. I started so many series but never finished them. A few I can recall off the Top of my head are Outlander series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, Shifting Tides series, In Death series by JD Robb, and the Graceling Realm Series by Kristin Cashore. All of those series alone would probably get me halfway through my Goodreads challenge goal for 2019. 😂🤔

Now, just because I’m setting reading goals for myself doesn’t mean I have to complete them. The one and only rule to reading, is to do it with no pressure and for pure enjoyment! If I don’t meet my goals then I don’t meet them, but at least I’ll have fun trying! Next time I’ll recap my Top 10 Favorite Reads in 2018. Until then I’m going to snuggle up and maybe finish book 101 for 2018. Happy Reading!! 🤓

Wow this year has flown by! How is it December already?!?!? We are almost to the New Year and you know what that means….. New Reads!!! I am super excited for some books that are releasing in January and February. There are some new Thrillers from authors who are new to me, and a new contemporary from Sophie Kinsella! I just love her writing style and stories! They are the perfect pick me up read! Her new book called ‘I Owe You One’, comes out on February 5th!! Coming in January we have ‘The Dreamers’ by Karen Thompson Walker which is about a strange illness in a Southern California college town that begins plaguing its citizens. People begin falling into a deep state of sleep from which they can’t be woken up but are dreaming intensely as their loved ones try to figure out how to wake them up. This mystery/sci-fi bestseller comes out on January 15th!! I’ll be hopping in line for that one at the Library!!

My most anticipated book that comes out on February 5th by an new up and coming YA author Angie Thomas, who debuted with her award winning novel ‘The Hate U Give’, is ‘On The Come Up’. I am so excited for this book I can hardly contain myself!!! Angie does such a great job of highlighting prevalent socio-economical issues in our country and I can’t wait to see what she has in store with her newest novel. Her highly anticipated next novel tells the story of Bri, a 16-year-old whose rap goes viral for the wrong reasons, leading to trouble for her family and an eviction notice. Eek!!!! I need to pre-order this one!!!

I am seriously geeking out over all these new books releasing in the next few months. I really shouldn’t get ahead of myself though, I have a pretty solid TBR for December. I’ve chosen a few shorter reads to enjoy the Christmas season and am super excited to read ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens and ‘A Christmas Story’ by Jean Shepherd. I have to watch the movies once or twice every year around this time. 😊

Atticus helped me pick my reads so that I had a good variety. Santa was totally right! Atticus has really helped me get out of my little reading slump. I am finishing up The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein today and then diving into my Christmas reads!!

Do you have a new release coming out soon that you just can’t wait for? Or how about a book you plan to read this month to finish the year strong? I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Reading!! 🤓🤓

When I woke up this morning I came out to the living room to find that Santa had sent a special friend to me! I had a cheerful little face smiling down at me from my bookcase. Atticus said that Santa knew that I was in a reading slump and that Atticus was just the elf to pull me out of it. So Atticus and I are going to try and make sure I finish off the year strong and reach my goal of 100 books.

Atticus and I are going to pick some books out tomorrow for our December TBR to ensure we end the year with a bang! I’m so glad that Santa 🎅🏼 sent me a little helper! ☺️

More to come on the final reading adventures of 2018 with the help of Atticus! I have to read 7 books to meet my goal of 100. I better make them Epic!!! Any suggestions?! 😃

Today is a very special holiday here in the United States, it’s Thanksgiving Day!! Today is a day to give thanks for friends, family, significant others, pets, good health and everything else that you treasure. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy your day and spend time with loved ones enjoying food and drink and relaxing. For those who aren’t able to be with family, I hope you’ve enjoyed a relaxing day or have at least stopped to think about all that you are thankful for. Sometimes we take even the small things for granted.

I spent my Thanksgiving Day sleeping in, then watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Dog Show. After that I lounged on my couch with Baxter and read while dinner cooked in the crockpot. I did not have time off for Thanksgiving this year, and that’s ok! I am thankful to have had Today to relax and snuggle Baxter. I also took advantage of today to clean and do a little laundry. I was able to FaceTime with my family, which my Brother so kindly showed me everything mom had made for their Thanksgiving dinner. 😂 Apparently I used to call him when he was in college and boast about the wonderful meal Mom had made. 🤭 I don’t remember doing that, but he sure does! Too funny!!

For my Thanksgiving dinner I made herbed chicken in the crockpot, steamed green beans, homemade cranberry chutney, pickled beets and maple glazed rutabaga. It was delicious!!

Dessert might possibly be a Klondike Ice Cream Bar…. shhh 😆 I would really love to have a slice of pumpkin pie, but I’ll settle for ice cream. Until then I’m going to digest and continue with rereading one of my favorite books, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I’ve started a new book, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White, but it’s slow going for me so I decided to take a break and reread a favorite. I’ll most likely try to dive back into the Frankenstein story this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you had a day full of love, happiness and grace. Happy Reading! 🤓

Hello friends and fellow readers! I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend. We had a chilly but sunny weekend here in Rochester, NY! I thought we might see snow ❄️, but I was left disappointed. Figures because I had my snow tires mounted on my car Saturday morning. If I had waited we probably would have gotten quite a bit. A local State Park about an hour from here was having blizzard like weather this weekend and the live facebook feed was beautiful! 😍

I have quite a lot going on in the book department currently. I recently finished reading Copper Chains by James Maxwell, which is the third book in the Shifting Tides series. An absolutely amazing fantasy series with characters you develop strong bonds with, and a world that you kind of wish you could live in. I can’t wait to continue reading the rest of the series! Yesterday I finished reading The Witches of New York by Ami Mckay. I did not want this book to end!!! Set in New York during the late 1800s where woman suffragists parade the streets and the occult is a trendy attraction to participate in. Seers, reading palms, communicating with spirit boards, watch out or the church might think you’re a witch! Three young women come together with their powers and overcome many obstacles in life while growing stronger together! I hope there will be a second book, but a novella just came out with a Christmas theme to it. I will be getting that from the Library hopefully! Today I started reading The Window by Amelia Brunskill, which is a YA Thriller. So far it’s pretty good and I haven’t figured out the ending yet. It’s about twin sisters, where one of them, Anna, was sneaking out of the house from her window and fell to her death. Jess goes on the hunt to figure out what secrets her twin was keeping because she is positive that Anna had been sneaking out to meet a boy and maybe something went wrong. In her search Jess starts to become more personable and makes friends and starts breaking out of her shell. Anna was always the sociable one, where Jess was always a little hostile and solitary. I can’t wait to see how it ends!

Earlier today I thought it was a brilliant idea to take all my books off my bookshelves and reorganize them. 🤦🏻‍♀️😆 Well I might have been a little over ambitious, but I still managed to semi complete my task. I have realized though that I need to read through all the books I own and weed out which ones I won’t want to keep and read again. I don’t have enough shelf space for them all! I had stacks of books all over my living room floor. 🤣🤣 Dear god I have a problem!! Yupp… that’s right… I admitted it. I have a problem, and it’s that I buy too many books. I buy them faster than I can read them and I’m proud of it! In fact I think it’s perfectly normal! (As I look at the pile of 10 library books sitting on my floor) 🤫🤓 Once I have a house I won’t have this problem because I’ll have space for another bookshelf or two. In the meantime, I’ll have to do my best to contain myself. 😬 Shhh don’t be the one to burst my bubble. 🤫 Just let me continue thinking more shelf space resolves my problem. 😆

Well my book is calling to me and I do have to go to bed in a bit, so time to get back to turning pages! Happy Reading! 🤓

October has come and gone in a flash! I can’t believe how quickly the last month flew by. I did not read all of the books I had intended to read, but the ones I read were fabulous! I read some seriously scary books, especially Norman: The Doll Who Needed to Be Locked Away by Stephen Lancaster. The ending of that book gave me nightmares and I’m not easily scared. If you like reading about seriously terrifying experiences or very haunted dolls, then this is the book for you! I also started a new fantasy series that I am obsessed with after just the first book! Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is an amazing story that shows a unique take on the angels vs demon story that is a common usage for fantasy series. The characters are quirky and unique, and the author sets the books in Prague which is interesting. I ran to the bookstore and bought the other two books in the series because I just couldn’t put the first one down.

I’ve posted pictures below showing all the books I’ve read for October 2018.

I will most likely continue reading the spooky stories through the month of November. I think Horror might be my favorite genre, or a close second to Fantasy. Either way, I’m thoroughly enjoying trying to scare myself. I will be including some other genres as well, such as Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert for one of my Facebook book groups and a reread of Twilight for one of my other Facebook book groups. With the decision to cut hours back at my part time restaurant job, I’ll have more time during my week to read!! Hooray! Now, it’s time for a book review!! 😊

I just finished a book a few minutes ago called The Girl In The Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn. It’s a Young Adult Ghost Story and it was not what I expected. It was a cute ghost story, if that’s possible, with an interesting twist. I enjoyed this quick read and it was a refreshing change from the heavy horror I had been reading.

The story is about a family who moves around all over the country for the dad’s job, which is restoring old houses. They arrive at their new house, Oak Hill, which is this old stone mansion built in the 1700s and is in complete disrepair. The father was hired by a new community development to restore the mansion to become a bed and breakfast and they get to move into the new addition built at the back of the house for them while restorations are happening. The daughter named Jules gets a very weird feeling when they arrive, and thinks she’s sees someone at the third floor window. After their arrival she keeps seeing things but her parents don’t believe her. Jules worries about not making a friend to believe her and help her through her fears of living in a haunted house, until she meets Maisie one day at the library. Together she and Maisie get to the bottom of the haunted past of Oak Hill and the Bennett family, the last known owners for the old mansion. Do you have the gumption to read to the end and figure out the ghost story for your own? I dare you to try! You’ll be surprised. 🤫🙂

Now I’m off to continue the story of The Witches of New York by Ami McKay. I left off at a great spot and am dying to find out what happens next!! Happy Reading! 🤓