Review Copy Clean-up 4.0

Yay, yay, yay! Vicky and Celine are hosting Review Copy Clean-up again during the month of February! This is a GREAT challenge and really motivates me to get some of those review books read! Sign up here if you want to join in the fun!

My goals for the month?

Read 15 review books

Write 10 past-due reviews (Gulp! Most of these are from books I requested from Net Galley, so it will be nice to get these taken care of!)

I'm hoping to read some (if not all!) of these books ...

Friend Me
Shadows of the Past
Smitten Book Club
Once Upon a Winter's Heart
Distortion
The Dream Dress
The Paris Connection
Wrongly Accused
The Husband Campaign
Kisses from Katie
Big Sky Bachelor
Betrayal
A Talent for Trouble
Heart of Lies
With Autumn's Return
Princess Ever After

(Yes, I listed 16 books. I know.)
Hopefully, I'm going to read a mix of books that have been lingering in my piles for a while, ones for tours/reviews this month, and maybe even a few to help me get ahead for next month!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

"It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what we're reading and our goals for the week.



And ... since this month is Review Copy Cleanup, I'm also going to let this be my weekly update as well. I read 3 review books this week, so my total so far is 8! Just 2 more to meet my goal of 10 for the month.

What I Read Last Week ...

I'm so happy with the books I read this week. They were all SO good! I'm not sure how to pick a favorite between these three, but they are all worth your time!

What I'm Reading Now ...

What I Hope to Read This Week ...

This is the last week of Review Copy Cleanup, so I'm hoping to read both of these to finish the challenge strong!

That's what I'm hoping to read this week. What are you reading?

Review Copy Cleanup Challenge - February 2013

It's time for another month of Review Copy Cleanup! I've got a huge stack of review books—both for the next few weeks/months and to catch up on. Hopefully, I'll get ahead a little now and then can start catching up. Maybe?!?! (You can get more info or sign up here.)

My Goal:

I hope to read at least 10 of the books listed here. More would be great, but 10 will probably be pushing it. Especially, since I haven't read much over the past few days. Gotta get moving!

 

I'll be posting updates via Twitter (@iblog4books) using the tag #RCCleanup. Happy Reading!

Review Copy Cleanup Wrap-up

The Review Copy Cleanup was an AWESOME challenge, and I'm so glad I decided to join in the fun! It's easy to get to those review books that have hard and fast deadlines, but sometimes my get-to-it-when-you-can stack gets out of control. My goal was to read 15 review books, and I finished the last one on August 31—just in the nick of time. :)

Love Finds You in Mackinac Island by Melanie Dobson
Lethal Legacy by Irene Hannon
Tidewater Inn by Colleen Coble
The Scent of Rain by Kristin Billerbeck
Starring Me by Krista Mcgee
Coming Home by Karen Kingsbury

 A Texan's Honor by Shelley Gray

Always the Designer, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker 

Firestorm by Lisa Tawn Bergren

With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin

Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin

 Total Home Makeover by Renee Metzler
Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney

Proof by Jordyn Redwood

Love's Reckoning by Laura Frantz

Reading so many books in one month made it a little tricky to stay on top of the reviews, BUT I somehow managed to write reviews for all FIFTEEN. (If the title isn't linked, I'll be posting the review within the next few weeks.)

I also had a few reviews that I needed to finish up and post (or update), and I wrote all EIGHT that I hoped to! Yay! I'm telling you, I was behind!

 

 After All by Deborah Raney

Cherry Blossom Capers by Gina Conroy, Frances Devine, Cara Putman, Lynette Sowell

Not in the Heart by Chris Fabry

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen
False Pretenses by Kathy Herman
Dangerous Mercy by Kathy Herman

Bombus the Bumblebee by Elsie Larson

The Priest with the Dirty Clothes by R.C. Sproul, Jr.

So . . . I'd say this challenge went pretty well! Can't wait until next time!

Bout of Books Wrap-up & Review Copy Cleanup Update

Bout of Books 5.0 Wrap-up

Well, my first ever read-a-thon—Bout of Books 5.0—is over, and I loved it! It was a ton of fun to set a couple of goals, work really hard to meet them, and have a shorter timeframe than I normally work off of. :)

I ended up being busier than I expected last week—what with small group, celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary, spending part of the weekend with the in-laws, and church on Sunday—but I still fared better than anticipated.

My goals last week were to read 1500 pages and to get halfway through my current non-fiction read (Total Home Makeover). I read a total of 1548 pages. YAY! I didn't think I was going to get halfway through Total Home Makeover, but I read quite a bit from it last night and just barely reached the halfway point. I will definitely be finished in time to post a review on Friday for the blog tour—which was really what I was working toward. :)

In case you missed out on the daily updates, here's a quick summary.

 

 

I started and finished . . .
- Coming Home by Karen Kingsbury (304 pages)
- A Texan's Honor by Shelley Gray (336 pages)
- Always the Designer, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker (320 pages)
- Firestorm by Lisa Tawn Bergren (352 pages)

I finally finished . . .
- Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck (100 pages)

I started and am still reading . . .
- With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin (70 pages)
- Total Home Makeover by Renee Metzler (116 pages)

In addition to all the reading (!!!), I also participated in several of the mini-challenges (which were quite fun!) and took time on Saturday to visit several other participants' blogs to cheer them on in the final stretch. All around, a great experience, and I plan to participate in another read-a-thon in the future!

Reading Copy Cleanup

In addition to the read-a-thon last week, I'm still making progress on the Reading Copy Cleanup. Since the beginning of August, I've read NINE review books with another THREE in progress, so I'm hopeful that I'll read all 15 books that I hoped to read this month. We'll see how much I'm able to read this week and over the weekend. :)