2012 E-Book Reading Challenge

From January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012


Here are the rules:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.  Create a post about the challenge and link your challenge post up in the linky below.

--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini E-Book Challenge – Read 5 E-Books.

--The "Fun Size" E-Book Challenge – Read 10 E-Books.

--The Jumbo Size E-Book Challenge – Read 20 E-Books.

--The Mega Size E-Book Reading Challenge - Read 25+ E-Books.

3. No Audio or Print books.

4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

5. The Challenge starts on January 1, 2012 and goes until December 31, 2012.

2012 Reading Challenges

Good Morning all!

We (Jamie and Bumps) are in the process of putting together our 2012 reading challenges.  You will see several challenges that Jamie has hosted in the past and maybe some new ones too.  We've already posted the sign up for the 2012 YA Reading Challenge and will be working on more throughout the week.

I, Jamie, want to thank my blogging partner for being so organized and already has all the review posts scheduled for the YA challenge.  I wish I was that organized!

2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Run's January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012.

The Rules:

• Anyone can join.
• You don't need a blog to participate.
• Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post on Jamie's blog.
• Audio, eBooks, paper, re-reads all count.
• No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.

There are four levels:

1. The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.
2. The "Fun Size" YA Reading Challenge – Read 20 Young Adult novels.
3. The Jumbo Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 40 Young Adult novels.
4. The Mega size YA Reading Challenge – Read 50+ Young Adult novels.

Money Saving ~ The Great Cell Phone Debate

Today I am able to upgrade/downgrade/change my cell phone plan.  I've been a US Cellular customer for about 6 years now and for the past year I have had a Blackberry and the EXTREMELY expensive data plan that comes along with Blackberry ownership.  Now I'm thinking that I may go to a pre-paid plan that gives me 450 minutes (I'm more of a texter than a talker), unlimited texting and 2MB of "Data" included in the plan.  This plan also includes several other features like:

~ Voice Mail
~ Call Waiting
~ Caller ID
~ Three-way calling

All that for a grand total of $40 a month before taxes and other fee's.  Or I can go to the next package bigger which is basically the same package just 2GB of "Data" for $60 a month.

If for some reason I am NOT able to go to the pre-paid plan I have decided that I'm going to go the route of the Single Line Essential plan.  Which includes 1000 minutes, unlimited texting and the same "other" features that are listed above with the addition of overage protection.  This plan is $69.99 a month and so far I've been being charged close to $10 in addition fees since joining the Belief Project which I'm not exactly happy about.

If I go the pre-paid route...Either plan plan really, I'll be paying less than I currently am or was paying (before I got the Crackberry and joined the Belief Project) by anywhere from $20-$30.  Basically, I'm hoping that I don't get talked out of going the pre-paid route.  I think in the long run it just might be better for me overall.

Book Review ~ Savor the Danger by Lori Foster

Title:  Savor the Danger
Author: Lori Foster
Series: Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Source: Received from in exchange for an honest review


Rating: 5/5


Synopsis:

She may be aloof, and more pretty than gorgeous, but Alani Rivers is the kind of woman a hot-blooded mercenary can't forget, no matter how hard he tries. So when Jackson Savor wakes up next to the naked, sleeping beauty—with no memory of what happened— he knows he's been drugged…even if Alani doesn't.

After she was kidnapped, Alani vowed never to trust another man again. Still, something about this strong, sexy hero with the tender touch makes her want to believe him. As Jackson hunts down a mysterious intruder, he swears he'll move heaven and earth to keep Alani safe. But what really happened that night? And will the truth bring them closer than they ever thought possible—or put Alani squarely in harm's way again?

Review:

Good Lord Almighty!  I'm thinking I need to send some fan girl mail to the author and ask her how she comes up with "walking sex on a stick?"  I LOVED this book.  It was one of those that I picked up started reading and could NOT put back down!

Jackson Savor has always had a thing for Trace River's little sister Alani. But being the good southern gentleman that he is he is being extremely respectful of Alani's recent trauma.  Things go a little awry when Jackson wakes up in bed bare-beam-buck-naked with Alani AND has absolutely no memory as to the how's or why's or "what exactly happened"'s. A little further along you find out that Jackson had been drugged and as an added bonus someone is now out to try and kill him.  Jackson and Alani are now working together to figure out who has it out for our hero Jackson.

I want to know where I can get a Jackson!  I loved that he was sarcastic, fun and a pretty laid back guy in Trace of Fever.  So naturally I could hardly wait to get my hands on his book.  In addition to the qualities that he brought to the plate in Trace of Fever, in his own book he brings passionate, protective, sexy as hell and of course the all important alpha characteristic to the plate.  OMG, his southern drawl and cowboy hat caused some major flustering here!  You learn a lot about Jackson in this book...Like for example: that his world pretty much revolves around Alani (that's the impression that I got anyway) and he's all in a fluster about his feelings for not only her but her kidnapping, plus he's trying to figure out the female mind which adds for some pretty funny moments in the book.


Alani is probably my favorite heroine in the series.  She's really smart, quite and pretty innocent to the ways of the world but when it comes to things that are the most important in life she has absolutely NO trouble taking a stand and saying HELL NO!  I loved watching her grow through out the course of the book and I loved watching how Jackson dealt with that growth.  I just loved that there was so much more to him than just the mercenary layer.  The chemistry between Alani and Jackson is white hot and when they do make it between the sheets it's not only hot but it spontaneously combusts!

Favorite Quote:"We have to figure this out, Jackson, so leash the lust.”
His chin went up as he stared down at her. “Woman, you ask the impossible.”
“Do it anyway!"

Book Review ~ Mercy Kill by Lori Armstrong

Title: Mercy Kill
Author: Lori Armstrong
Series: Mercy Gunderson Mystery #2
Publication Date: January 11th 2011
Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

Former Black Ops army sniper Mercy Gunderson isn’t adjusting well to the laid-back rhythm of civilian life on her family’s ranch in South Dakota. To fill her time, Mercy accepts a temporary bartending gig at a local watering hole. Yet her attempts to settle in back home are tested when Titan Oil, a Canadian company proposing to run an underground pipeline through Eagle River County, sends Jason Hawley, Mercy’s former army buddy, to the area to convince ranchers to get behind the project.
 
While local business owners support the pipeline, Hawley’s presence riles the landowners, and Mercy is torn. After ugly threats and multiple altercations escalate tensions in the county, Mercy discovers Hawley’s brutally mutilated body in the bar parking lot. When it appears Sheriff Dawson cares more about campaigning for reelection than investigating the case, Mercy vows to find Jason Hawley’s killer—even if she has to run against Dawson for sheriff to ensure justice is served.

But Mercy soon learns her former military pal had plenty of secrets. Her search for the truth brings unwanted exposure to the county’s dark side and risks deadly repercussions for the entire community.

Review:

I put in a request for this book a LONG time ago through my library and I squealed and jumped and down like a little girl when it finally arrived for me to check out. Just like No Mercy this book was fan-freaking-tastic!

Now that Mercy is out of the Army, she is trying to ease back into civilian life on her families South Dakota ranch, which is NOT going well at all.  To stay busy and sober at least some of the time, she takes a job at a local bar, but her life is turned ass over head when her friend and former Army buddy Jason Hawley comes to town.  See Jason works for Titan Oil, who is a huge Canadian Oil Company), and he is there to try and convince the citizens of Eagle River County that the proposed pipeline that Titan Oil wants to run through their community and ranches is a good thing.  The citizen's aren't buying it.  The citizen's want nothing at all to do with Titan Oil OR Jason Hawley.

Thing's get even worse when Mercy finds Jason's brutally murdered body outside the bar that she works at.  From Mercy's point of view no seems all that interested in finding the person who killed Jason and that includes the sheriff.  That's when Mercy makes it her personal mission to find Jason's killer.  But the deeper Mercy gets into finding Jason's killer, the more dark secrets she uncovers about her little South Dakota town.

As with Mercy Kill, Armstrong paints an extremely descriptive picture that you feel like you are actually there with Mercy.  Right there in Eagle River.  Such vivid pictures.  I thought that the story was a fast paced, intense roller coaster of a ride.  One that I just could not put down.  I really enjoyed that Mercy as well as the other characters in this book were written in a way that made them seem just as hard and borderline unforgiving as the landscape they inhabit.

Discussion Post ~ Authors behaving badly

Originally posted on Jamie's Bookshelf on February 11.


NOTE: I will be adding my extremely personal thoughts on this at the end of this post. It does seem that all hell has broken loose in the book blogging community again.  Not good peeps! I've been going through my google reader and I've been reading all these horror stories about all the hell that's being unleashed on us "unprofessional reviewers*" (AKA Book Bloggers).  The post that I just linked to is written by an author who had a couple of bad reviews of posted about her book and had the nerve to "call out" two book blogs (Book Binge and Chick Lit Plus).  On top of that the author (Sylvia Massara) had this to say about book bloggers: "Oftentimes, the people who set up these kinds of blogs have never written a thing in their lives, except maybe a grocery list. Most are avid readers who think they are qualified to review someone else’s work. So it’s very sad when they go about damaging the image of upcoming small press and indie authors with the rubbish they write." I think that this post was EXTREMELY unprofessional and I think that the two blogs that were called out in this post responded in a professional manner and put the facts out there for their readers to see and read.  If you want to check out their responses Book Binge had this to say and Chick Lit Plus had this to say. Ah, and then we get to the good stuff....How In My Mailbox** is to quote the unnamed author “those "in my mailbox" posts represent everything that's wrong with the whole scene. It's all about status and swag.”  Then there's the whole book bloggers don't sell books/shouldn't be given ARC's/and how we're only in it for the free books.  Seriously, I have some pretty serious thoughts on all of this.....which your about to read. 

MY THOUGHTS:

 I saw all these posts and I was deeply troubled by all of this.  For a while now I've been struggling with my book blogging (if you hadn't noticed from my lack of posting).  I feel that it has turned into a job and I already have one of those.  I know that this is mostly my fault and I asked for it when I decided to start 2 additional book blogs.  But getting back on point...All of this negativity has really troubled me. I just don't understand how an author could go so far as to attack a blogger on a VERY public form of media known as the INTERNET!  That is completely classless and trashy on their part.  Sure we as book bloggers don't always write glowing reviews of everything that we read.  It happens.  Life isn't all sunshine and happiness.  Put on your big girl/boy under ware and get over it. JMHO. I don't know about anyone else out there but I think that In My Mailbox is a pretty AWESOME meme.  I don't always get to participate but even if I don't I always find more books to add to my wish list when I go through my google reader.  Honestly, I look forward to In My Mailbox...even if I don't get to participate.  It makes me happy to see all those bloggers out there gushing with happiness over the books they got in the mail, from the library or just went out and bought.  FOR KRISTI~ Party on Kristi!  I think it is very unfair to say that book bloggers don't sell books.  I think that there are enough of us out there that anyone who comes across some one's review either intentionally or accidentally that we might influence a book buyers decision.  I know that before I started book blogging I came across some review blogs for a couple of books that I was considering buying and reading the reviews helped me to make my decision.  For another blogger's opinion on book bloggers and their impact click here OR to read an author's take on book blogger's check out this post.  I was extremely offended when I found that many people believe that we book bloggers are only in it for the free books and ARC's.  I don't know about anyone else but I spend more money and time buying books or checking them out of the library or swapping them on Paperbackswap.com than I spend trying to coherse a book out of an author.  Actually, I've NEVER approached an author about getting a copy of their book and I am only occasionally contacted with review requests.  Maybe there are bloggers out there who are fishing for "free books."  I am NOT one of them. So I am going to conclude this post before I turn it into a full length novel.  Though I do have 1 message for all the haters out there.....Hell Hath No Fury Like Book Blogger's Scorned.  *Found in a post posted by Jeremy West of Novel Thoughts**Found in a post posted by Kristi of The Story Siren