Information for the "Bout of Books" Read-a-Thon

Although, I'm not able to sign up for the Bout of Books 25th read-a-thon, which starts Monday, May 13th and goes until Sunday, May 19th. There is still time to sign up it you're interesting in participating.

For more information, go to the Bout of Books official site.

Bout of Books 8.0 Wrap Up

Time Devoted to Reading:

Like with the last read-a-thon, I didn't devote any specific time to reading. I just read whenever I could throughout the day and it worked out pretty well. I think if I tried to force myself I probably would decide not to read. It's easier for me not to schedule reading time.

Goals:

My goals this time were to read eight books and to visit a few more blogs. I did visit a few blogs but I probably should have left more comments. Those comment sections can be a bit tricky at times. I did pretty good with the books despite a few being bad reads.


Books:

The books I chose were:

- James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing (James Potter book #1) by G. Norman Lippert

- Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery (Nancy Drew #3) by Carolyn Keene

- To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil book #1) by H.P. Mallory

- History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Volume #10 by Syun Matsuena

- Kieli Volume #2 by Yukako Kabei

- Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts

- D is for Drama by Jo Whittemore

- Wonder Woman: Sword of the Dragon written by Laurie Sutton with artwork by Dan Schoening


Despite running into a few bad reads, I still enjoyed challenging myself with the read-a-thon. It's fun. I haven't decided if I will sign up for the next one but I probably will.

Bout of Books, Day 7 Review: Wonder Woman: Sword of the Dragon

Book: Wonder Woman: Sword of the Dragon written by Laurie Sutton with artwork by Dan Schoening

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

I think these books are a great way to introduce superheroes to children because you get a fast paced, exciting and easy to follow story with colorful artwork.

In this story, Wonder Woman had no choice but to retrieve the magical star sword of Merlin for the evil Morgaine Le Fey who was holding tourist for hostage. Wonder Woman found herself going from one adventure to the next as she tried to find the sword.

This was a thrilling little short five chapter story that was quite fun to read even though I'm not a little kid.

Bout of Books, Day 7 Book: Wonder Woman: Sword of the Dragon

After a week of reading, I wanted the last book for the Bout of Books read-a-thon to be a fast and fun read. And why not make it a Wonder Woman story.

Book: Wonder Woman: Sword of the Dragon written by Laurie Sutton with artwork by Dan Schoening

Description:

While flying the Invisible Jet, Wonder Woman spots a message in the clouds, demanding that she head to the ancient monument of Stonehenge. When she arrives, the Amazon Princess finds dozens of tourists held hostage by Morgaine Le Fey. The evil sorceress threatens to harm them all, if Wonder Woman doesn't steal the all-powerful Star Sword of Merlin. Believing she has no choice, Wonder Woman agrees, but the task will not be easy. She must convince a guardian dragon that the sword will soon fall into the wrong hands if it is not in her own.

Bout of Books, Day 6 Review: D is for Drama

Book: D is for Drama by Jo Whittemore

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This was so funny. Everything that could happen did happen with the play Sunny was trying to put together.

The story was about 8th grader Sunny Kim who was tired of getting minor roles and bit parts decided to stage her own play. At first it was going to be a one woman show but it quickly turned into a full cast after all the other outcast students wanted to be a part of her play. Sunny decided to go with the play Wicked, a play that embraces differences.

Sunny's production had a few problems with getting her show together some caused by her former friend now rival Ilana who is the star of the school's main play, a reimaged Mary Poppins titled Mary Pop Ins.

There were some tough moments when Sunny had to deal with feeling different and being teased with an insensitive joke. But I thought Sunny handled those situations as best she could. There was also a little romance developing for Sunny and her best friend Chase. You could tell they liked each other as more than just friends but wasn't sure how the other would response. So it was nice when they went on their first date.

I like this story because it seemed like real junior high students with all the drama and arguing. I can't count how many times I laughed while reading this book. This book might be geared towards a younger reader but I wouldn't mind reading another one. It was nice reading a really funny book.

Bout of Books, Day 6 Book: D is for Drama

I selected this because I wanted something different from all the other books I read during the read-a-thon. It seems like it will be a fun read.

Book: D is for Drama by Jo Whittemore

Description:

A lead role means lots of drama in this sparkling story of one tween’s efforts to shine in the spotlight.

Sunny Kim is done with one-line roles at Carnegie Arts Academy—she’s ready for the lead. But even after a summer of studying with an acting coach, Sunny doesn’t snag the role of Mary Poppins in her school’s upcoming production.

Unfortunately, her entire family mistakenly thinks otherwise, including her former-actress mother.

Desperate for a solution, Sunny convinces her theater adviser to let her produce a one-woman show. But when the rest of her friends find out—the friends that never seem to make the playbill either—they all want to join in. Before long, Sunny is knee-deep in curtains, catfights, and chorus lines as her one-woman work turns into a staging of the hit musical Wicked. And when a terrible misunderstanding pits the entire cast against Sunny, can the show—and Sunny’s future acting career—be saved in time for opening night?

Bout of Books, Day 5 Review: Opposites Attract

Book: Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts

Rating: 1 star

Review:

After reading this, the two main characters Ty Starbuck and Asher Wolfe remind me of the main characters from the other Nora Roberts book I read. It felt like déjà vu with the female character being cold, aloof, independent yet quick to be subservient while the male character was emotionally aggressive, domineering, pushy and possessive.

Character similarities aside, this story was not as good as the other. Opposites Attract dragged on for nearly the entire book. The author did a pretty good job detailing the tennis matches but lost steam when the story focused on the main characters.

This book was very tedious especially with all the inner monologues of the characters. Asher acted like this confident woman but constantly kept being pushed around by both her former then new boyfriend Ty and her vindictive ex-husband Eric. Her ex-husband was holding her secret over her, a secret that she had been keeping from Ty that could change their renewed romance.

This was really slow and disappointing, neither the characters nor the story was very likeable. I didn't understand why Asher hid her secret or why she had left Ty years ago if she was so in love all because of what someone else said to her. And I got tired of Ty's overly possessive angry routine. Asher's passive aggressive routine wasn't much better. Ty's annoying meddling sister Jess, felt like a plot device, which unfortunately did nothing to enhance this poorly written and struggling story.

Overall, this story felt unfinished and the ending seemed last minute.

Bout of Books, Day 5 Book: Opposites Attract

I borrowed this book from my mother. This will be the second Nora Roberts' book I'll have read. Well, the premise seems interesting.

Book: Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts

Description:

Asher Wolfe and Ty Starbuck were tennis superstars - Ty all fire and flash, Asher the ice princess with devastating control. Three years ago, the combination had resulted in a passionate affair. But misunderstandings had catapulted Asher into an unhappy marriage with another man. Now the ice princess was back on the circuit, determined to win. But her concentration was threatened, as Ty's dark eyes dared her to become the fiery woman he had once loved.

Bout of Books, Day 4 Review: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Vol. 10 and Kieli Vol. 2

Book: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Volume #10 by Syun Matsuena (chapters #81 - 89)

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This was another great volume in the story of Kenichi Shirahama on his journey to being the greatest disciple ever. In this fast paced volume, Kenichi was racing off to save his younger sister who was kidnapped by Ragnarok as well trying to fight off the members of the teen gang.

Each book keeps getting better and better. As always it had a perfect blend of drama, action and humor.

This was a great read, I'm looking forward to reading the next volume.

Book: Kieli Volume #2 by Yukako Kabei (chapters #4 -7)

Rating: 4 1/2

Review:

This was the second and last volume of the series. I thought this was a wonderful ending to the series. Kieli, Harvey and Corporal continue their trip to the grave of the soldiers so Corporal's spirit can rest but along the way they have to deal with the church soldiers and with someone from Harvey's past out to stop him.

There was also more information given about Harvey's past as well as a good amount of action in this story.

This is the end of this manga series but I found out there is a book series. I think I would like to read that especially if it's a continuation from the manga.

Bout of Books, Day 4 Books: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Vol. 10 and Kieli Vol. 2

Well, I'm going to try to read these two books today. I'm a little disappointed that two of the books that I have read so far for the Bout of Books read-a-thon have been really bad. I wonder if any of the other readers are having a similar problem? Anyway, here are my two day 4 picks:

 

Book: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Volume #10 by Syun Matsuena

Description:

Kenichi Shirahama continues his training at Ryōzanpaku. Volume 10 features chapters 81 - 89.

Book: Kieli Volume #2 by Yukako Kabei

Description:

As the holidays wind down, Kieli continues her "research trip" with her companions - Harvey, a near-immortal soldier known as an Undying, and the Corporal, a soldier's spirit possessing an old radio. Their fates irrevocably intertwined by a bloody war waged eighty years ago, Harvey has promised to help the Corporal pass on by returning him to his final resting place...even with Kieli tagging along. But when saying their last good-byes to the Corporal goes awry, and they are attacked by Church soldiers after Undying hearts, Harvey is convinced that it would be best for Kieli to go home. But is it really Kieli that needs saving...or is Harvey sacrificing his last hope for salvation?

Bout of Books, Day 3 Review: To Kill A Warlock

Book: To Kill A Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil book #1) by H.P. Mallory

Rating: 1 star (Did Not Finish)

Review:

I have come to the conclusion that H.P. Mallory's books are not for me. I found this book to be underwhelming and not very cohesive. This is my second attempt at reading one of the author's books and yet again I could not bring myself to finish it.

The story was lacking a sense of mystery and discovery. It also seemed to focus more on the pretty/handsome human like creatures finding each other attractive instead of creating drama and suspense. That's the thing, every human like creature was sexy and hot, only the ogres, hobgoblins, etc. were described as ugly. I wish the mystery was more developed, because it was there but it was missing a sense of urgency to find out who was behind it. It also felt formulaic and uncreative at times.

In other words I was bored.

The story focused on Dulcie O'Neil, a fairy who works as a Regulator for the Association of Netherworld Creatures (A.N.C.). Her job is basically policing other creatures and making sure they're not up to any good. 

The mystery centered on the death of Fabian, a warlock, who earlier in the story had cast a spell on Dulcie, who had been checking out the warlock's store to see if he was involved with selling illegal potions. While she was in the store, she had spotted a handsome stranger leaving her distracted which is how she got a spell placed on her. However, the following day, Dulcie along with her boss, Quillan and her Regulator partner Trey, found Fabian dead (rather torn to pieces) in his store.

Since she was the last person to see Fabian alive, Dulcie was regarded as a suspect. However, as she was trying to investigate the murder she met the mysterious stranger from the store. Supposedly, the stranger, Knight (yes, that's his name) was from the main headquarters of the A.N.C. but only wanted to work with her and she wasn't allowed to tell her boss or anyone really about him or what they find about the case.

What dragged the story down was the romance or the lackluster attempt at it, it was as if the author tossed it in there just so it could be included. There was no real connection or chemistry between Dulcie and her many love interests. The other issue was the writing it felt very juvenile, I have read young adult books more well written than this.

I also didn't find any of the characters interesting. Dulcie was this vapid, boring, mean-spirited character who is supposed to be good at her job but seems more like an amateur instead of this amazing Regulator, that she's always being described as. For a main character she's completely useless. While, Knight is the clichéd good looking mysterious bad boy character. There were other characters but none of them were able to capture my attention.

This is a fast paced book but I couldn't connect with it.  I wish the story was engaging enough to hold my attention because I like the premise but it just didn't deliver.

I keep running into these Did Not Finish books. I hope the rest of the read-a-thon books I selected are much better.

Bout of Books, Day 3 Book: To Kill a Warlock

I had read a book in another series by H.P. Mallory which I didn't like. But I thought I would give another book by the author another try.

Book: To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil book #1) by H.P. Mallory

Description:

The murder of a dark arts warlock. A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose. A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate. Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.

Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world. When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.

Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie. Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full. As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.

Bout of Books, Day 2 Review: Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery

Book: Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery (Nancy Drew book #3) by Carolyn Keene

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

My second day book was so much better. It will filled with action, adventure, drama, suspense and had a good mystery.

The book started out with Nancy and her friend Helen caught in a dangerous storm out on the lake, and with some help from another girl they were rescued. The girl, Laura ended up needing Nancy's expert help with concerns about her new guardians. After meeting Laura's guardians, Nancy instantly became suspicious. Aside from trying to help her new friend, Nancy also assisted her father with a bank embezzlement case.

I love reading these stories because Nancy will stop at nothing until she figures out what's going on. Despite the times the book was written in, Nancy wasn't treated like a helpless girl, she was someone that crooks feared especially once she got on their trail.

Something that surprised me about this book, was that Nancy's two best friends cousins George and Bess as well as her boyfriend Ned were not mention or featured in the story.

I enjoyed reading this, it was a fun read.

Bout of Books, Day 2: Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery

After yesterdays disappointing book, I'm looking forward to reading Nancy Drew.

Book: Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery (Nancy Drew #3) by Carolyn Keene

Description:

Nancy believes her friend's guardians are trying to steal her inheritance. As she investigates, she has a perilous experience near the deserted bungalow.

Bout of Books, Day 1 Book Review: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

Book: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing (James Potter book #1) by G. Norman Lippert

Rating: 1 star (Did Not Finish)

Review:

My first book for the read-a-thon turned out to be Did Not Finish. Sorry if this is a bit long but this was rather disappointing. I didn't expect this to be like Harry Potter but I was hoping it would be better than this. In fact I thought the beginning was enjoyable however it turned into another slow moving boring story.

I stopped reading after chapter 11, I could no longer read anymore. Like I mentioned earlier, the story started out good but began to drag by chapter 6. It started to feel so mind-numbingly drab and boring that I was having a hard time trying to stay with it. Despite the publicity and good ratings this book has received it's nothing more than glamourized fan fiction. This just fell short to capture the world that J.K. Rowling created and a lot of it wasn't canon to the original series. I quickly started to lose interest.

The plot of the story focused on a group of students (mainly Slytherins) at Hogwarts who were hatching a plot to bring back Merlin who in this story is not quite the nice wizard of lore but who is malicious and wants there to be a war on the muggles. The group is called the Progressive Element lead by Tabitha Corsica (who I wouldn't be surprised turned out to be a distant relative of the Malfoys or Voldemort with the way she was written) were using propaganda and rumors to further their cause to seek the "truth" behind what happened with Voldemort. They believed that the winners of The Great Battle had changed the history to make it seem as though Voldemort was the villain when he was only trying to seek change among the wizarding world. As interesting as that might have been, the plot however was underdeveloped and at times haphazard. And not to mention didn't really make much sense.

I don't want to forget that there was also some kind of American magical school that had sent representatives to Hogwarts, including three professors who taught at the school. One was even Benjamin Franklin. Yes, the Benjamin Franklin (or Franklyn as he chose to spell it) who despite his age is not immortal just lived a long life through other means. The other two professors according to Franklin may or may not be apart of the plot to bring back Merlin. But I found I didn't care.

There were things I did like such as the way Harry Potter and Neville Longbottoms were portrayed. I think they were quite well written. I thought James Potter was okay but it would have been nice if the author had given the character a personality. He was nearly forgettable. Unlike the character Zane (one of James' friends), who was memorable but only as the proverbial stupid, uncouth, slightly arrogant American. While James' other friend Ralph just seemed to go along with the crowd until he figured out how to stand up for himself. I also enjoyed the appearance of Severus Snape (well at least to the point where I read). But I didn't enjoy how Headmistress McGonagall was written. She didn't seem to be authoritative or being able to control what was going on at the school.

There were also things that just didn't make any sense or I didn't like such as:

- First years sharing dorm rooms and attending classes with other school years.

- Muggle technology working at Hogwarts as well as some how a muggle was able to get into the school and roam the school grounds unaware.

- First years being able to try out for Quidditch without having taken their first flying lesson.

- Hagrid in disbelief over magical creatures existing. I found that hard to believe that Hagrid wouldn't be the first to believe as well as know whether Naiads and Dryads existed.

- The story was just too Americanized and didn't have a English feel to it. The British characters spoke in American English instead of the United Kingdom version. I also didn't understand how Zane who was American but his parents were in London due to his father's job was accepted to Hogwarts despite with intentions of only attending for one year.

- There was a scene in chapter 6 that didn't sit well with me, it came across as thinly veiled racism. The only character of color the American teacher Madame Delacroix who is called a voodoo queen and several other unkind descriptions throughout, which is strange since J.K. Rowling showed how diverse the students and faculty were at Hogwarts. However this wasn't the case at all in this story. The scene that annoyed me the most was when James after taking his father's invisibility cloak, over hears a conversation between his father and Ben Franklin as they were discussing who may be part of the Progressive Element and Ben suggested that Delacroix and another teacher who is the professor for Technomancy may be involved.

Now this was James' thought: "He hadn’t been surprised that Madame Delacroix might be involved in such a plot." Why? There had been no evidence shown of her doing anything evil, so I don't understand why James would automatically believe she was evil.  However, he had a hard time believing that the white male Technomancy professor was involved because James had started to like the professor.

- Another thing that bothered me was the female characters were minimized or were only portrayed as one-dimensional. Even Tabitha Corisca, who was mainly just a plot device.

Overall, there was too much going on in this story, it was too long and boring and lacked the heart of what made the Harry Potter series such a wonderful read. I tried to like this book but it was far from entertaining. The only thing this resulted in doing is making me want to re-read the original Harry Potter series.

Bout of Books, Day 1 Book: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

I've heard about this book for awhile and as a Harry Potter fan I figured I would give it read. Hopefully, this will be a good read for day one of the read-a-thon.

Book: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing (James Potter book #1) by G. Norman Lippert

Description:

Based upon the characters and worlds of J. K. Rowling, this book tells the story of Harry Potter's son James, and his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

My Bout of Books 8.0 Reading Goals

Here are my goals for the read-a-thon:

Goals:

I plan to read 8 books, even thought I'm still in the process of trying to figure out which ones I want to read. Last time I read 7 so I want to see if I can read just one more book this time. Yeah, it's a bit ambitious but it can't hurt to try.

I'm also going to try to go to more book blogs to see how other readers are doing. I tried to do this last time but only managed to visit about two or three.


Reading Time:

Like last time I don't plan on scheduling time to read. I will just read whenever I can. It's a no pressure read-a-ton, which I love.

I just Signed up for the Bout of Books 8.0 read-a-thon

This will be my second time signing up for the Bout of Books read-a-thon. I haven't picked out what books I plan to read. The read-a-thon starts Monday, August 19th goes until Sunday, August 25th.

For more information or how to sign up read this:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books Wrap Up

Time Devoted to Reading:

I didn't devote any specific time to reading, I just read whenever I could throughout the day. I found it easier not to have an allotted time or set schedule. I just spent my extra time reading some good books. Without the pressure, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to complete a book in a day.

Goals:

My goal was to read seven books and I am happy to say I reached my goal.


Books:

The books I chose were:

- A Will and A Way by Nora Roberts

- Case Closed volume #3 by Gosho Aoyama

- Vanity, Vengeance and a Weekend in Vegas (A Sophie Katz Murder Mystery #6) by Kyra Davis

- Peace, Love and Cupcakes (The Cupcake Club #1) by Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk

- The Huntress: Darknight Daughter written by Paul Levitz and illustrations by Joe Staton

- Please Don't Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr with illustrations by Martha Blanchard

- Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday (Junie B. Jones #6) written by Barbara Park with illustrations by Denise Brukus


What I loved about the Bout of Books read-a-thon was the chance to challenge myself and to meet other readers on Twitter. In fact I enjoyed this so much, I decided to continue with a challenge of my own. Yesterday I started reading "The Two Towers" by J.R.R. Tolkien for the Book Girl read-a-thon. I checked out six books from the library and I plan to read each in three weeks. Hopefully, I'll have as much fun with this one as I did with Bout of Books.

I plan on signing up for the next Bout of Books read-a-thon in August.

Book Review: Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday

Book: Junie B. Jones and the Meanie Jim's Birthday (Junie B. Jones book #6) by Barbara Park

Rating: 4 stars

My Review:

This little girl is forever getting into trouble but this time it's mostly due to the fact that she didn't get invited to her classmate's birthday party on Saturday.

I believe this is the first time Junie B. has had to deal with her feelings being hurt in such a way. She didn't want to be left out especially since her whole class would be attending Jim's party. She didn't know how to deal with it so she was acting out including telling her parents she was going to move (her version of running away).

The situation was resolved with help from the Principal, which had Jim inviting Junie B. to his party. However, once she got the invite, Junie B. no longer wanted to go. She wanted to spend her Saturday doing what she wanted to do but she was afraid of being the only one from her class not going to the party. I like how her parents talked to her about making a decision instead of just forcing her to just go to the party.

These books are really funny but they also teach kids but in a subtle way on how to deal with their problems.

This is the last book for the Bout of Books read-a-thon and I'm glad I chose something light and easy to end with.