Write On Review-A-Thon #13: Wrap Up

Hosted by The Book Vixen

 I did it!
I have rocked another challenge.
Now let's dance!!

Here is what I completed.

My 1st March Madness

Hosted by Cedar Station

Ok this is crazy but check this out.  You know how there are 24 Hour Read-a-thon and Weekly Read-a-thons like Bout of Books, now there is a month long read-a-thon called March Madness 2015.  Yes!  Reading a much as you can for one solid month.  

Yes! I am going to try it and hopefully March will be a month of reading as much as I can.  So here is the game plan.

Goals

Read everyday from 3/1 to 3/31

What I Am Reading...

Your Blues Ain't Like Mine

Book Blogger Hop: Blog Headers

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Happy TGIF Everyone! 

Big plans for the weekends?

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

February 27th - March 5th - Do you like blog headers that are bookish or blog headers that are simply attractive? (submitted by Elizabeth)

Write On Review-A-Thon #13

Hosted by The Book Vixen

The Write On review-a-thon is a monthly event created and hosted by Brianna at The Book Vixen. It’s 2 days dedicated to getting reviews done, whether you have one review to write or 30+. This edition of the review-a-thon takes place all day Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th. Let’s get those reviews done!

Review-a-Thon Details:

Reviews can be of the written variety or in video format.

This event is not limited to book reviews. If you write/vlog reviews for movies, super cool gadgets, or anything else, you are welcome to participate.

To participate, create a post on your blog with a list of reviews you need to complete. Don’t forget to grab the official blurb (above) and event button (grab code below). If you don’t have a blog, you can announce your intent to participate via social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.) with a link back to this sign up post so others can join in as well.

Add the DIRECT LINK to your sign up post to the linky found at the end of this post. The sign up linky will be open until 11:55 pm PDT on February 27th.

On February 27th, get working on those reviews!

There will be a wrap-up post linky here on The Book Vixen on March 1st.

Favorite POC Books from 2014

I have been thinking of a way to promote diversity on my blog more. Since it is one of my 2015 New Years Resolutions. So I thought I would first start with taking a topic each month and promoting a book or books that are writing by POC authors or about a POC character.

The best way to start off the month would be to talk about my favorite POC books that I read last year. This post should have went up last month but better late than never.

Here are my favorite POC books from 2014.

Oh! Wait! Please feel free to do this post on your blogs as well and leave a link in the comment section below so I can come by and visit. I would love to see what POC books you loved.

This is not in an particular order and you can hoover over the books to get more information about them. 

Favorite POC Books from 2014

February 2015 Winners

It's winner time!  

Winner!  Winner!  

Yes I had one giveaway this month and now is the time to announce the winner.

First let me first say, thank you so much everyone for stopping by My Little Pocketbooks, commenting and entering the giveaway.

Now on to the winner.

Waiting on Wednesday: A Darker Shade of Magic

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that I am eagerly anticipating.

I'm back again with another WoW post.  I don't do this post often but when I do you know I am really excited about a book.  

This week's "can't wait to read" selection is...

Cover Characteristics - Science

Hosted by Sugar and Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

I'm back with another cover love post.  Today we are going to show off pretty book covers with the theme of science on them.  And you know me...I will make this a diverse list of books (as much as I can).  Click on the book titles below to go to their Amazon page.

Science 

1.  The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination 

2.  Mortal Fear by Robin Cook

3.  Beaker's Dozen by Nancy Kress

4.  The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby

Review: March

March Book One Author: Congressman John Lewis Genre: Non-Fiction Graphic Novel Publisher:  Top Shelf Productions Release Date: August 13, 2013 E-book: 120 pages Source: Free from E-library

Sunday Delight: Moving Ahead

Happy Sunday Everyone!

How was your week?  Did you get a few/a lot of things done? Get any reading done?

This week was really productive for me.  I have been focusing on getting a few post pre-scheduled and I am aiming to have the rest of this month done today.  I want to start on March on Monday.  My goal is to always have 15-20 post scheduled. So when one gets published then I have to add one more to the stack.   Right now I am nowhere near that number yet.  I did notice that I have a few post I can't do until a day or two before.  Like this one because they are based off of my week and the things that I am actually doing.  So these post don't count.  I am going to have them drafted up at least. 
Other cool news
I hosted my first video chat with an author.  Yes!  Ms. V.E. Schwab author of the book Vicious chatted with the book club ladies on Saturday and it was soo much fun.   We talked about Vicious and her new book A Darker Shade of Magic.  I love finding out the thoughts behind the books.

Well here is my week in bookish stuff

Here and Now

Time: 9:51 am

Drinking: Green tea with lemon and honey

Eating: Nothing

 Listening To: Brand New Heavies Radio on Pandora

Watching: Nothing

Book Blogger Organization Challenge: February

Hosted by The Book Addict's Guide

This is the second month of Book Blogger Organization Challenge and it feels like a focused and organized Bloggiesta only at your own pace.  I think the next Bloggiesta will be much easier and focused now that I have so many things done.  Love it!

Blog Maintenance

1.  Update Sidebar Widgets Done!

2.  Update Footer Widgets Done!

Book Blogger Hop: Blog Dislikes

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Happy Friday!  Hope you got a bunch of reading done this week.

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

February 20th - 26th - Is there anything that makes you not return to a blog or not want to look at it even for the first time? (submitted by Elizabeth)

Something Old, Something New #1

Around December I thought I would try to do a new feature here at My Little Pocketbooks.  Honestly, I needed something to do for Thursdays.  As you have seen before I have posted memes and other let's chit chat post on Thursdays.  But I want to do something a bit different today.  

Today I am going to feature just two things.  One will be something old/older/oldest and something new/newer/newest.  It might be a book, a purse, or just something I wanted to share with you.  Anything old and anything new counts.  I just made those rules up.  LOL!

Something Old

Valentine's Day was 5 days ago so I count this as old news.  

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  My honey surprised me (kinda he told me a week ago) with a trip to Laguna Beach for the weekend.  We stayed at this great hotel right on the beach.  And yes I took pictures for you.  The weather was perfect!  Of course I took a book with me and read on the baloney over looking the beach.  That was the purpose of the trip, right?  LOL! We had a great time and of course there were flowers and dinner involved.

Cover Characteristics - Houses

Hosted by Sugar and Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

I miss doing this weekly post so I thought I would jump back on it again.  Today we are going to show off pretty book covers with houses on them.  And you know me...I will make this a diverse list of books (as much as I can).  Click on the book titles below to go to their Amazon page.

House

1.  The Good House by Tananarive Due

2.  The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

3.  The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

4.  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

10 Book Related Problems

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Today I thought it would be fun to jump on the Broke and the Bookish meme Top Ten Tuesday and tell you all about my Top 10 Book Related Problems.  If you are a reader then I think you can related to these issues as well.  Because I know I am not alone in this.  But before I begin, a big thank you the host for giving me this opportunity to get these issues out in a positive therapeutic manner.  :) Now on to the the issues with the help of sista girl Nene Leakes.  I picked her because there are a TON! of gifs with her in them.  A TON!  Oh one more thing... these are in no particular order.
Now let's hit it.

1.  Too Many Books

There are just so many books out there.  Every single day of the year there are a ton of new books being published.  And let's not even count the books that were published before I even started reading (I was around 4), before I was born and before that.  It's shocking and overwhelming to think how many books are just out there in the world that I have not read yet. 

 Yes!  This is a book related problem.  How am I suppose to read them all.  We are talking about millions and millions of books.  It's just shocks me to even think about the number of books in the world.

Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

 

The Time Traveler's Wife Author: Audrey Niffenegger Genre: Fiction Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Release Date: May 8, 2006 Audiobook: 17 hours and 43 minutes Narrator:  Fred Berman and  Phoebe Strole Source: Purchased from Audible.com

2nd Annual Love for Books Read-A-Thon: Update #3

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat

As you may have heard I joined the 2nd Annual Love for Books Read-a-thon.  Well here are my stats as of end of day today.

Day One

Monday 2/9

Books completed: Nothing yet

Pages read:  177 to 221 in The Aloha Quilt

36 mins of The Book of Life

Day Two

Tuesday 2/10

Books completed: Nothing yet

Pages read: 221 to 255 in The Aloha Quilt

23 mins of The Book of Life

Sunday Delight: Getting It Done with a Cold

Happy Sunday Everyone!
Yep!  I have a cold.  But I am trying to get my weekly to do list done regardless.  This week I have been cleaning out my closet and that is a big task in itself.  I have so many clothes that don't fit that I just need to let go of and so many purses I just don't like or need any more.  Yes!  I will host a giveaway for them.  LOL!  Actually, just one of them.  So far the top shelf is done, clean and organized.  The bottom area is now clean and on it's way to being organized.  The coats and dresses are sorted and hung up in color order and now I have pants, tops and skirts to do.  Whew!  When did I get all this stuff.
So let's talk about my week in reading and other bookish things going on this week.

Here and Now

Time: 8:15 am

Drinking: Protein Shake with blueberries and peaches

Eating: Nothing

 Listening To: The silence of the morning.

Watching: Nothing

Happy Valentine's Day

Book Blogger: Blog Stalking

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Happy TGIF Everyone!  I hope you have a great Valentine's Day weekend planned.  My honey has planned for us to spend the weekend at the beach in a hotel (I hope).  LOL!

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

February 13th - 19th - Is there anything that makes you keep returning to certain blogs? (submitted by Elizabeth)

2nd Annual Love for Books Read-A-Thon: Update #2

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat

As you may have heard I joined the 2nd Annual Love for Books Read-a-thon.  Well here are my stats as of end of day today.

Day One

Monday 2/9

Books completed: Nothing yet

Pages read:  177 to 221 in The Aloha Quilt

36 mins of The Book of Life

Day Two

Tuesday 2/10

Books completed: Nothing yet

Pages read: 221 to 255 in The Aloha Quilt

23 mins of The Book of Life

Quicky Review #27: The Shadowed Road

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 is just a few sentences on one children's comic book from this month.

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 #24: Philolzophy and Batman: The Court of Owls
Quicky Review #25: Lost and Found in Cedar Cove and I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas

Quicky Review #26: The Snow Queen

Waiting on Wednesday: March Book Two

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that I am eagerly anticipating.

I'm back again with another WoW post.  I don't do this post often but when I do you know I am really excited about a book.  This time I picked a book that just released and I am just waiting on my library to get it in.   

This week's "can't wait to read" selection is...

2nd Annual Love for Books Read-A-Thon: Update #1

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat

 

As you may have heard I joined the 2nd Annual Love for Books Read-a-thon.  Well here are my stats as of end of day #2.

Day One

Monday 2/9

Books completed: Nothing yet

Pages read:  177 to 221 in The Aloha Quilt

36 mins of The Book of Life

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Blogging Shortcuts

Hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings

 

I thought I would try a new meme here at My Little Pocketbooks. So I went over to Girlxoxo Mater List of Meme and picked this one for today. It's called Tell me Something Tuesday and you can find it over at Rainy Day Ramblings. 

Every Tuesday there is a new topic to talk about for the following Tuesday.

This Tuesday's Topic is

What are some simple shortcuts you have learned to make blog posting faster? 

2nd Annual Love for Books Read-A-Thon: Sign Up

Hosted by Novel Heartbeat

Yeah!  A read-a-thon that fits perfectly into my schedule.  I love doing read-a-thons because they really motivate me to get a few dusty books off of my nightstand.  

Starting today and ending on Sunday, Novel Heartbeat is hosting this read-a-thon and a giveaway as well to help get us me motivated to get some reading goals started.  You can join in anytime during the read-a-thon and "books do not have to be of the romance genre. You can read anything you like!"

For this read-a-thon I will post a new post to let you know where I stand.  But for now here are the books I would LOVE to finish.

Goal

Participate in mini challenge

Complete 3 books and start a new one

Review: Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2)

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) Author: Deborah Harkness Genre: Fantasy Publisher: Penguin Audio Release Date: July 10, 2012 Audiobook: 24 hours and 30 minutes Narrator: Jennifer Ikeda Source: Purchased from Audible.com

Sunday Delight: Hitting Reset

Happy Sunday Everyone!

How was your first full week of February?  Still keeping up on your resolutions and goals for 2015?  This is the time to read them and give yourself a boost to keep them and to do them.  Myself included.  I totally fell off the workout resolution for the past two weeks so this week is all about hitting the reset button and getting back into the gym.  #NoMatterWhat

And this week I am planning on doing a few more hours of reading a day.  My goal is to get more than my usual four books completed this month.  To bad it's a short month.  LOL!  I have two book that I want to complete and I will find something off my book shelf to read next.  Of course as I was typing that I stopped to look over the shelves to see what it might be.  Hmm?  More than likely it will be a POC book, that is not part of a series.  Something collecting dust?  Yep!  Hmmm?

Wait?!  Let's talk about last week first.  Here are my book stats for the week.

Here and Now

Time:   12:37pm (Saturday)

Drinking:  Tea with Lemon and Honey (of course)

Eating: Nothing yet

 Listening To: Joss Stone Radio on Pandora

Watching: My honey and I went to a concert of a band I introduced him to last year.  The concert tickets were his Christmas gift from me to him.  Yes!  He was surprised.  Here is some footage from my iphone.  Ladies and gentleman here is...LETTUCE!

What I Am Listening To...

The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3)

Book Blogger Hop: Blog Post Peeves

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

It's Friday!!!  I am sooo happy!!  Yipppie! 

 

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

February 6th - 12th - Is there anything that turns you off when you are reading a blog post? For example: two posts in one post such as answers to two memes. (submitted by Elizabeth)

February 2015 Reading Queue

 Reading Queue is a meme hosted by Book Tasty and Books: A True Story.
Welcome to the Reading Queue.  My goal of being a bit more focused is working and I see it paying off.  My big overall goal regarding focus was to finish a few series I have not completed yet.  As of today I have finished one series and I am going to finish the last book in another one this month.  So by the end of February I will have two done.  Ok there is one book I am reading now and it's a book one but I think I will knock out that series by the end of the month too.  Hopefully!!  Also in celebration of Black History Month I am selecting a book about Black History.  The book club book of the month is also based on Black History Month theme.
Staying focused!! 

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 February. (Click the covers to go to the books Amazon page.)

Book Club Book of the Month

What I Am Reading...

March: Book 1

Romance is in the Air Giveaway Hop

Romance is in the Air Giveaway Hop
hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer
Featuring Young Adult & Clean Adult Romance
February 4th to 14th

Love is in the air and between the pages.  It's time for another giveaway.  This time it's all about love.  *sigh*  

What can you win?

January 2015 Giveaway Winners

It's that time to announce the winners for all the January giveaways that I held here at My Little Pocketbooks.  Thank you to all the peeps who stopped by, followed, tweeted and commented. Thank you all!!!

Now onto the lucky winners.

Review: Skin Deep (Legion #2)

Legions: Skin Deep (Book #2) Author: Brandon Sanderson  Genre: Sci-Fi/ Crime Publisher: Audible Studios Release Date: November 24, 2014 Audiobook: 4 hours and 23 minutes Narrator: Oliver Wyman Source: Free from Audible in exchange for an honest review

Happy 113th Birthday Langston Hughes

Today Google Doodle reminds of the work Harlem Renaissance Poet Langston Hughes left us.  Click the image below to go to the Google video.

If you are not familiar with the work of Langston Hughes check out these books below.

Happy Birthday Langston Hughes!

Sunday Delight: High #Fiverr

Happy Sunday Funday everyone!

This week was a big off for me.  My biggest stress was trying to get Mocha Girls Read website up and running again.  Let me tell you this amazing tale real quick.  For weeks the site was a total complete mess.  The image library was missing. Widgets were not working.  The format of the About page was for mobile devises not the website.  NOTHING! was working and I was a bit stressed.  Long story short I asked my cousin to ask the IT person at her job.  He was not sure what was going on.  Then I remembered Dionne of D'Lashes told me about this site Fiverr for looking for post contributors.

   I looked on the site and there was a Wordpress section.  I found the highest recommended person and with the experience I was looking for.  I contacted Takrim at 7am and by 10am everything was up and running perfectly.  OH MY GOD!  Fiverr and Takrim saved my life!  Now if I can get Fiverr to fix my weight like that.  LOL!  

So now that I am happy with the book club site, I'm back to this one.  Trying to play catch up now.  So I have lots to tell you below. 

Here and Now

Time: 4:07 pm  

Drinking: Macha Maker Tea with Lemon and Honey

Eating: Egg Salad Sandwich on a Croissant

 Listening To: Brand New Heavies Radio on Pandora

Watching: Going to the movies with my honey tonight.  Not sure what I'm going to see.  Feeling like I want to stay in and rent one on Apple TV instead.

  Fitness Goal

Starting Weight: 211lbs (12/8/14)

Current Weight: I will weight in next Sunday

Days Worked Out: 1