Winner!

I have a winner everyone! 

Congratulations to Angel for winning the Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop

She will receive a copy of the Happy Wives Club.  A great read! 

Sunday Delight: We are Back!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

We are back!  I am so happy to tell you we (my computer) and I are back to blogging.  Last week, my computer's motherboard fired and died.  Sigh!  It was awful!!!!  I was whining and so upset because I had to make the discussion between getting this one fixed or getting a new laptop.  ARGH!  That is hard because I am a MAC girl through and through.  So the cost of fixing the motherboard at $400.00 looked a lot better than the $2,000 I would have to pay to get a used MAC Book Pro.  I bit the bullet and here we are back in the saddle.  Wheeww!  Going a week without my laptop is a mess.  Never again!   I hope!  

Now I have like 20 reviews to do and a million post to get caught up on.  

Here and Now

Time: 11:00 am
Drinking: Cold OJ

Eating: Making fried chicken, yams with green beans for dinner

 Listening To: My Praise and Worship playlist
Watching: I saw "The Equalizer" last night.  It was really violent with a good storyline. Of course it was Keith's movie pick.  LOL!

Stuck in Good Book Giveaway Hop

Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Stuck in Books

For this giveaway hop I thought I would give you something I read and loved!  I received a copy of this book from BEA14 and started reading it the same day I got it in my hot little hands.

Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage by Dawn Weaver

Sunday Delight: Goals, Resolutions and Updates

Happy Sunday Everyone!
Today I have been checking up on my resolutions, reading challenges and goals.  And 2014 is not going to be a huge success as far goal accomplishments go.  I have not come close to getting my blogging resolutions completed at all.  Wayyyy back in December/January I posted a small list of things I wanted to do this year.  Here is the list.  (Original post here)
Blogging Goals
1.  Giveaway 50 books
I think I will hit this one.  I have to do a count.
2.  Post at least 350 blog post
Uhmmmmm.....
3.  Complete all my reading challenges
Maybe two or three of them will not be completed by December.
4.  Knock off at least 12 books from my TBR pile that is here in the house.
That would be one of the three.
5.  Buy only 12 books (Book Club Book of the Month books)
YES!!!!  Doing good on this one.
Blogging Resolutions
1.  Figure out and fix my Feedly button.
I have no idea why and how it is not working. 
Thank you Christine at Buckling Bookshelves!!
2.  Remove old and update buttons on the top of blog.
I need to do this soon.  BLOGGIESTA maybe!
3.  Comment on more blogs.
Still need to do this.
 4.  Clean up my Feedly reader and RSS reader.
This will be a forever project.  I did a little here and there this year.
5.  Work on more personal and non book post.
Uhhmmmm....oooopppssss!!!!!
6.  Start reviews much sooner than I am now.
Sometimes I do.  But not like I wanted to.

So there you have it.   Work to do for sure.  I have a personal list that's going to be rewritten soon.

Here and Now

Time: 7:55 am
Drinking: Hot White Tea with Honey

Eating: Nothing
Listening To: Zero 7 Radio on Pandora
Watching: I saw "THE GIVER" last night.  It was really good.  Now I need to read the book. 

What I Am Reading...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Book Spine Poetry from Bout of Books 11

Back in August I was honored to host a book spine poetry mini challenge for Bout of Books 11.0.  I was shocked and overwhelmed at the number of people who participated in the mini-challenge.  There were short poems and crazy long poems.  Poems that made you laugh and a few head scratches.  But overall it was AMAZING!  

Here are just a few from the 120 poems entered.  I just selected a few random ones.  Click the image to visit the blogger/poet.

Quicky Review #23: Girl with Glasses and I Love You Too

Welcome back to another Quicky Review everyone.

A lot of the time I like to read short stories, prequels and free audiobooks that are short and sweet.  But why do a full review on a book that is say...80 pages long.  So I do Quicky Reviews for the shorties and children books as well.  Basically, the short stories get short reviews.

Here are just a few sentences on one children's book and one short audiobook.

There are other Quicky Reviews for you to check out too and don't worry there will be more to come. I like short stories because most of them are FREE and I can get in and out of one in no time.

Previous Quicky Review

Quicky Review #20: How to Be Beyonce? The Nerd's Guide to Being Confident and Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Quicky Review #21: Go the F**k to Sleep & Seriously, Just Go to Sleep 

Quicky Review #22: The Initiate, The Son and The Traitor

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books pt. 8

 

Inspired by POC Reading Challenge

All of the participates of the Diversity on the Self 2014 Reading Challenge (aka D.O.T.S.) have been keeping up and reading a wide variety of books as well as doing an amazing job of reading, reviewing, and linking up books by People of Color.  

You can see the books and review link ups by clicking one of the links in the side bar menu.

  Every month I post 12 more books in various genres and release dates that are...what I like to call "Diversity Approved Books"to promote books to you and the D.O.T.S. participants.  All of these books are by a person of color OR have a main character of color.  

Sometimes these books don't get the love they should and hearing about them is so very rare.

Here are some links from the previous Approved Books list

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 1

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 2

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 3 

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 4 
Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 5 
Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 6 

 Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 7

By the way, it's not to late to sign up.  Click the reading challenge button and link up your sign up post.  Non bloggers are welcomed too.

Review: The Magician's Assistant

The Magician's Assistant Author: Ann Patchett  Genre: Contemporary Fiction   Publisher:  Harcourt Release Date: October 15, 1997 Hardcover:  368 pages Source: Purchased years ago from Bookstar

Sunday Delight: Terrariums

Happy Sunday Everyone!  How was your week?  Do anything crazy fun and exciting?  I have had a busy Saturday.  Breakfast with friends and my honey.  Book club meeting.  Honey's sisters birthday party all in the same day.  Lord I need a day off from my weekend.
My newest interest and hobby is taking my Sundays now.  Guess what it is?  See the header of this post.  Yes!  Making Terrariums.  I have found that I am hooked on them.  I have made one and I am working on my second one now.

And look what I found growing in the middle of it.  Poisonous yellow mushrooms.  I have to say that I am thrilled something is growing and not dying in the vase.  LOL!  I have killed a many plants in my day.  More terrarium pictures to come.  Promise.

Here and Now

Time: 7:55 am
Drinking: Green Tea and Honey

Eating: Nothing
Listening To: METAtropis Audiobook 
Watching:  Nothing

What I Am Listening To...

METAtropolis

Review: Me Before You

Me Before You Author: Jojo Moyes Genre: Fiction Publisher: Penguin Audio Release Date: December 31, 2012 Audiobook: 14 hours and 40 minutes Narrators:  Susan Lyons (Narrator), Anna Bentink (Narrator), Steven Crossley (Narrator), Alex Tregear (Narrator), Andrew Wincott (Narrator), Owen Lindsay (Narrator) Source: Purchased from Audible.com

Winners!

It has been awhile since I did a winners post.  I seem to pick the winners and then mail off the books to them without the public announcement.  Well, I am going to try and get back to the old way of doing this.  I have had a few giveaways going since my last "winner's post".  There was a July giveaway and three (yes! 3) in August.  So without further adieu here are the winners.

September 2014 Reading Queue

 Reading Queue is a meme hosted by Book Tasty and Books: A True Story.  Click the covers to read more about the books I list below.
 Here we are in September.  Man that was quick.

As I said last month, I am saying again this month.  I didn't get to read as much as I wanted to this month.  I did knock one book off my DNF list.  YEAH.  Now I have 5 more to go.  But the focus of this month will be getting a book or two off of my TBR pile.  That reading challenge is not going well.

What is the reading queue all about?

Reading Queue is a monthly meme where you share what books you plan to read for the month. You can hop to other blogs and see what others are reading and maybe find someone reading the same thing as you! Or you can ask for people to vote on what you should read next if you can’t decide.

So here is what I have lined up for the month of September.

Book Club Pick for September

Diversity on the Shelf 2014: September Review Link-Up

Inspired by POC Reading Challenge

Back to School Time! For some a great time of the year but for some the end of fun time.
Welcome back to Diversity on the Shelf 2014 Reading Challenge. This is the September review link up.
Every month I post a linky for you to add your reviews towards this challenge. Please have a direct link to the book you are reviewing to the linky. No links to blog home pages please. If you don't have a blog, please link to your Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, LibraryThing or other account where you are reviewing the books for this challenge.
Books that qualify for this challenge are by people of color or with a main character of color. All shades and races of color are welcomed and encouraged here.
If you still need more clarification on what a person of color is Click Here.
If you haven't signed up for the challenge yet, don't fret you still have time. Just sign up here!
If you need a few suggestions on what to read for this challenge check out the list of links to blogs, book list and more. Links here or the side bar menu.

~ Last Month Stats ~

as of today 20 books reviewed.
First Review from Alison from An Uncalibrated Centrifuge
(The first book on the linky was not linked to a review.)