Reading Rush 2020 TBR

It is that time of year again for The Reading Rush.  You can check out The Reading Rush's website or channel for all of the details.  This year's challenge run's from July 20-26th.  There are always 7 challenge prompts, and you can do the challenge however you like.  All types of media count, so ebooks, audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, or whatever you consider reading fits.  You can read 7 things or you can double up on things so you fill all 7 prompts.  You can also deviate from your TBR and no

Check out their website for forums, merchandise, badges, and all the information you need for the challenge.  It is a fun challenge and a mid-year push to read some things already on my TBR.  While this is mainly a vlog based challenge I like to participate in the TBR and wrap up portions as well as the instagram challenges.  There is no pressure to participate, and the forums are a fun way to participate with other book lovers.

This year's group read is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.  I've already read it, and highly recommend the audiobook.  If you want to know what I thought you can see my review here.

Like last year I am planning read 7 things in 7 days.  I purchased Amazon's Forward Collection, which consists of 6 individual sci-fi books by authors I already really enjoy.  Several of them fit prompts this year and since they are all under 100 pages they are perfect for a read-a-thon.  I could probably read the whole collection if I wanted.  I've been rediscovering my love of sci-fi over the last few months and this is the perfect time to read these.

The challenges and what I plan to read:  

1. Read a book with a cover that matches the colour of your birth stone.
1. Randomize by Andy Weir
2. My birthstone is amethyst, and the cover of this one looks purple on my kindle.
2. Read a book that starts with the word “The”.
1. The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang
2. I read the first book last year and really loved it.  It has a diverse cast of characters and a really interesting fantasy storyline.  I'll likely be going with the audiobook of this one because it is only a few hours and I can listen to it while I'm at work and doing other stuff.
3. Read a book that inspired by a movie you’ve already seen.
1. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang which inspired Arrival
2. I've been meaning to read the short story after watching the movie.  I plan on reading the entire collection of short stories.
4. Read the first book you touch.
1. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this yet.  I have another prompt on my Popsugar list that is basically the same challenge.  I've got a ton of books on my physical bookshelves that I can use, but they are all pretty long.  Since most of my other books are short this gives me a little more room for a longer book.  I'll probably post the something on instagram closer to the challenge on what I picked.
5. Read a book completely outside of your house. 
1. Emergency Skin by NK Jemison
2. This is around 30 pages so it shouldn't be a problem for me to read it outside of my house.  I have a really nice front porch and backyard  that will work nicely if I can't get away from home because of coronavirus.
6. Read a book in a genre that you’ve always wanted to read more of. 
1. I have a read harder challenge to read a play so this kills 2 prompts with one "book".  Plays are something I never read and this one has won a ton of awards.
2. How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
7. Read a book that takes place on a different continent than where you live.
1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  
2. I've had the audiobook of this for quite a while now, and this is a great time to read this classic.

Stay Home Reading Rush Wrap Up

What is your Reading Rush TBR and did I read it? 

So the big question of every readathon is did your read what was on your TBR?  The answer is kind of.  I finished 2 books and most of the 3rd.  I had every intention of participating in the instagram challenges but I never did.  I'm not very good at this whole social media thing.

Reading Challenges Read a book with a house on the cover.  

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I didn't finish this.  I'm about 60% done with it currently.  I thought it would be a really quick read, but it isn't as fast paced as I thought it would be.  The lead up to why the house is so creepy takes quite a while and it is so far more character driven than anything.  I'm hoping the rest is a bit more paranormal as nothing has really happened yet.

I did do all of my reading on my couch up to this point though.



Read a book set somewhere you wish you could go. 

Read a book that will make you smile.
Read a book in the same room the whole time. 

Batter of Wits by Karla Sorensen - This comes out on the 21st.

You can check out my review here.

This was really cute and it did make me smile.  Everytime Tucker and Grace were out hiking I wanted to be out with them.  It has been overcast, chilly, and windy lately so I appreciated being able to escape to the beauty of the Tennessee wilderness with them.  I still want to go to Donner Bakery.

I read all of this in one spot on my couch

And because I always have an audiobook going, I was also able to finish the League of Gallize Shifters Box Set One by Dianna Love this weekend.  This is the first 2 books in the series.

I believe the ebook box set is free for the remainder of April.

You can check out my review here.

Stay Home Readathon and Tag

The Reading Rush does a big readathon in July, but since we are all stuck at home the ladies that run it decided to host a mini readathon to encourage people to read and stay home.  Like the regular week long event there will be instagram challenges and badges.  I'm reading anyway, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.   The #stayhomereadingrush is running from April 16th-19th.

The Reading Rush Stay At Home Announcement Video or you can check out their website: https://thereadingrush.com/

Stay Home Reading Tag Questions:

How is your reading going while staying home?  I'm still reading, but I'm less focused.  I am reading less than I was with our hectic schedule when school and activities were going on.  Seems like it would be the other way around, but I'm working from home full time and my house is crazy loud all the time.  It's hard to find a quiet place to read and focus right now.

Where have you been reading at home? Usually on the couch, but because someone is always on the xbox, my focus isn't the best.  I can't focus when I read in bed, I usually fall asleep.  I have been listening to alot of audiobooks, thankfully can usually listen and work at the same time.

Best book you’ve read during isolation?

The Treble with Men by Piper Sheldon - This is kind of a Phantom of the Opera retelling.  It features an angry Maestro and a cello player who hasn't realized her full potential.  I really loved it.

What’s your favourite feel good book?  I'm not a big re-reader, so I'd say I typically turn to romantic comedies when I need a feel good book.  Penny Reid is a go to for me when I need a pick me up or I'm in a slump.

Book you wish you could buy or borrow from the library?  I don't really feel like this is an issue for me.  I shop online for books often and I've been borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from the library for ages so I don't feel like this is an issue for me.  I may or may not have made 2 large Book Outlet purchases during their recent sale.

Author you want to shout out during this time?  Colleen Hoover put up a bunch of her books for free at the beginning of the isolation period and she's been posting a lot of funny stuff on instagram.  Also all of the authors/staff over at Smartypants Romance.  I've been lucky enough to review for the spring launch and the books are awesome.  The authors and the PR staff are amazing.  They have all been posting great stuff, checking in, and if they can putting their books on sale/free for their readers.

What is your Reading Rush TBR? 

Since the readathon is only 4 days I'm planning to double up on the prompts.  

Reading Challenges Read a book with a house on the cover.  

Read a book in the same room the whole time. 

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - I've wanted to read this forever.  It just happened to be on sale today, so I was finally able to grab it for my kindle.  I love scary stories and this has both a house on the cover and it is supposedly less than 200 pages.  Should be easy to finish in a few hours and in one place.  It is also touted to be one of the best scary stories ever written.  I'm looking forward to it.  I also have Hell House, but it's a lot longer.  I'll probably save that for Halloween time.

Read a book set somewhere you wish you could go. 

Read a book that will make you smile.

Batter of Wits by Karla Sorensen - This comes out on the 21st, but I have an ARC so I was going to be reading this week anyway.  If I could go to Green Valley and the Donner Bakery or Daisy's Nut House, I would.  I also know that all of these books are smile inducing.  Almost all of them are rom-coms and end with a happily ever after.  I really liked Karla's previous book in the series so I know this one will be great too.

Reading Rush Wrap Up

I can't believe The Reading Rush is over!  The week went by so quickly!  I didn't think I'd be so successful with getting through so many books this week.  I'm really happy I participated this year and I'm very impressed that I completed all of the challenges.  In addition to the original 7 challenges, I also read over 1000 pages (1507 to be exact)

• Read a book with purple on the cover
• a. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
• This was a really fun middle grade, spooky story.  I love Arden's writing and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
• Read a book in the same spot the entire time
• a. Skyward, vol 2: Here There be Dragonflies by Joe Henderson
• This is the 2nd bind up of a graphic novel series about earth in a low gravity environment and the fallout in a world with little to no gravity.  The main character is on a dangerous mission to fix the world and turn gravity back on.  I really enjoy the art in this series and I'm looking forward to the next bindup.
• Read a book you meant to read last year
• Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney
• This has been on my shelf for 2 years and I kept meaning to get to it.  I'm glad I finally read and reviewed it, but I really did not enjoy it.  It has a ton of potential but lacked development.
• This is also a debut novel.
• Read an author’s first book
• The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
• I didn't read this one, I read Alice in Wonderland instead.
• The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• I read that this was Carroll's first novel.  I'm not 100% sure if that is true, if not could count this as my 5+ word book and swap Black Dawn and Race Bailey and still meet all the challenges.  Not much needs to be said about the story.
• Read a book with a non-human main character
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• I didn't realize this was a collection of stories, but I really enjoyed it.  Almost all of the character are animals.  I didn't love all of the stories, but I enjoyed most of them.  Rikki Tikki Tavi was one of my favorite movies that we watched in elementary school in library class, and I've only ever watched the Disney movie version of The Jungle Book.  I will say Mowgli and Baloo's tale stays fairly to Kipling's original, minus the singing of course.  I also really enjoyed The White Seal.  I highly recommend the audio narrated by Gildart Jackson.
• Pick a book that has five or more words in the title
• The Magic of Race Bailey by Eric Hobbs
• This is a fun YA story about a teen who lives in the shadow of his famous magician father.  After a tragic incident Race finds out his father was actually a secret agent in a magical society.  Hijinx ensues.  
• This could have also fit the meant to read last year challenge.  I've had this one for quite a while as well.
• Read and watch a book to movie adaptation
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• This was one of my favorite movies alone with The Secret Garden when I was a girl.  Who doesn't make believe they are a princess when they are a little girl.  I realized I had never read the books last year when I read The Secret Garden.  This is a rags to riches tale that is truly heartwarming and was my 5 star read.  This was just so nostalgic for me and I really enjoyed the story.
• I did watch the movie, and while I know there are many adaptations out there mine did a decent job staying true to the book. There some major changes made, but it didn't take away from the heart of the story and I enjoyed it.  
• Bonus Challenge: Read 7 books!
• I can't believe I read 7 books.  To be fair I did listen to 2 of them on audio, but to keep with the spirit of reading I have ebooks for both of them and I read along with them and did end up finishing both of them via ebook.

Netgalley Reviewathon TBR

Photo Credit: Netgalley

I've been reviewing books from Netgalley for about 2 years.  This year they are holding a reviewathon from July 22nd through August 30th to encourage reviewers to clean up their TBR and increase their reviewer stats.  The higher your feedback ratio and the  more reviews you leave, the more likely you are to be approved for future requests.  Who doesn't want to read books early and promote their favorite authors?

My feedback ratio is pretty good, it hovers between 75 and 80%, but that doesn't mean I get approved for everything I request.  I have plenty of books on my backlog that I need to clear out.  Several of these were already published when I downloaded them for review, and I kept putting them off.  I still plan on reading and reviewing them.  This reviewathon is the perfect opportunity to clean up my TBR shelf and post all of my outstanding reviews.

Check out the Netgalley IG for the weekly challenges.

Here are the books on my shelf currently in no particular order.  I plan on reading quite a few of these for current and upcoming reading challenges.  I've already started Small Spaces for The Reading Rush and hope to get to Black Dawn by the end of week 1 of the reviewathon.

1. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
2. Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney
3. A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart
4. The Broken Destiny by Carlyle Labushagne
5. Last Night by Karen Ellis
6. Extinction of All Children by L.J. Epps
7. Journey To Territory M by L.J. Epps
8. Journey To Territory U by L.J. Epps
9. An Act of Faith by C.A. Oliver
10. The Furies by Katie Lowe
11. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

All the lovely covers of the books I need to read

Review: The Magic of Race Bailey by Eric Hobbs

The Magic of Race Bailey by Eric Hobbs
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a fun read. It follows Horatio "Race" Bailey Jr, son of a famous magician after his father's untimely death after one of his magic tricks is tampered with during a show. When Race's home is ransacked by strange men looking for a trinket his dad gave him only a few days earlier, Race isn't sure what to do. He and his best friends Penny and Max find themselves pulled into a secret government agency for magical arts, but he isn't sure who he can trust. Race and Penny come to find out that they hold an ancient artifact that might let them speak to the dead, or it might bring on the zombie apocalypse.

Race soon realizes that the people he thought he could trust are actually not trustworthy at all. Race soon finds himself in a magical battle and he must rely on all of those magic tricks he thought he hated to survive.

This was a quick, fast paced read. This is a standalone but is definitely open for more magical adventures as Race has taken up his father's mantle as magician and secret agent with Penny and Max by his side.   I've read several of Hobbs books and they are all whimsical and fun.  I look forward to reading more of his stuff in the future. 

I was provided an advanced copy of this by the author for an honest review, but I purchased the final copy from Amazon when it was free.  I've had this on my to review list forever.  I put this on my Reading Rush TBR for this week and I'm glad I did. 

View all my reviews