Happy Monday!
Although it’s quite gloomy here right now we’re all still happy, right? Right? Ok, I know, I’m not believing it either! lol
So let’s see, what happened this week? Not a lot. My oldest daughter’s 1st quarter ended. From the time of her progress report she actually brought 2 of her grades up, thank the good Lord, but one dropped. How the hell do you get a D in Industrial Crafts? lol She never had any homework, since it was a stained glass class, so she had no work that she couldn’t turn in. haha! Oh well. At least she didn’t get an F! (yes, I’m thankful for small favors)
I also “helped” (aka doing most of the work) my oldest clean her room out. Her closet has shelving on the left side of it and her idea of cleaning her room is making sure the floor is clear which in turn means stuffing all the shit on the shelves in her closet. She really is a horrible pack rat and I’m hoping that she breaks that habit before she gets too much older…our house just isn’t big enough! lol Anyway, we filled an entire waste barrel full of crap/trash that she didn’t need anymore and made a huge donation to the recycle bin as well. We gathered about 8 plastic grocery bags of books that she had outgrown and/or had read a million times and didn’t want to read anymore. Those will go to an organization in town called Project Share the Grace that takes the books to the various food pantries around town and they give the books to the underprivileged children who don’t have many books. All in all it was pretty productive. I, however, feel like I’ve run a marathon from all the bending, up and downs on the step stool and so on. I’ve decided cleaning is for the young. lol
First up was Mad About The Duke by Elizabeth Boyle. My first read by this author and I really liked the book. It was sweet and fun and romantic and I very much enjoyed the book…did I already say that? Well I did! A widow is looking for a new husband and “hires” a solicitor to help – only the solicitor is really a Duke. They fall in love practically at first sight but she needs to marry a Duke in order to save her sister from their step-father so she can’t let herself act on her feelings and he’s in severe denial about love. Just a good book. 4.25 out of 5
Next was a book for The Book Binge called Taming the Wolf by Lydia Dare. I read the first 3 books in this series about the Westfield Brothers. This story veers off to other characters now and the hero in this book was a feral werewolf in the previous book. I didn’t like Dash all that much in the last book but in his own story I liked him much better and the book was quite good. 4 out of 5
My next read was another book for The Book Binge called The Small Print by Barbara Elsborg. A paranormal romance about a vampire, a were-vamp and their mate who they’re not sure is dead or alive since they, and other paranormal being are the only ones that can see her. Fun book. You can read my review here if you’re interested. 4.5 out of 5
My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was I’m In No Mood For Love by Rachel Gibson. The story had Clare finding her fiance getting ridden like a bronco by the Sears repairman in her closet when she comes home unexpectedly. She decides to drink her sorrows away and ends up the next morning in a hotel room with her childhood “frienenemy”, Sebastian. They have a strange relationship but end up in a sex only relationship. Only Clare finds herself falling in love with Sebastian and that’s not something he wants any part of. The book was pretty simple and predictable but I have to say that I really liked it. It was cute and funny and just a light entertaining read. 4 out of 5
My next read was Ten Ways To Be Adored When Landing A Lord by Sarah MacLean. I’ll be reviewing this one on Wednesday so check back. 🙂 I know, I’m such a tease. lol
Last on the list was Sin Undone by Larissa Ione. This is the fifth and final book in the Demonica series. Sin is a Seminus demon – the only female Seminus demon that exists as far as anyone knows. She’s sister to the Sem brothers that run Underground General (UG). Sin is also an assassin and due to events in the previous book she is now the Master assassin. She has also started an epidemic that is killing off Warg’s (werewolves). She hangs with Con, a half-vamp, half-were to try and find a way to cure the Warg’s but he’s got ulterior motives. That doesn’t stop the two from falling for each other though. This was a really good story. I liked Sin a lot despite the fact that she was the most unlikely heroine for a book. I loved seeing all of the Sem brothers again and hearing about their mates and offspring as well. A good wrap up to the series. 4.25 out of 5
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!
I really want to read the new Sarah MacLean!!
And you know that I get the whole grade thing. Ugh.
We'll be doing our deep clean of the house in the next few weeks. I feel like someone from that show "Hoarders". Must. Dump. All. My. Stuff.
My daughter is a pack rat too, LOL! It drives me crazy!!!
I am looking forward to your review of the McLean. I read her first book a month or so ago and enjoyed it. I am looking forward to more by this new author.
I gave up on the Demonica series after the second book. I have the third in the TBR and I need to be in the mood to read it. I seem to have burned out on paranormals.
Well, at least the overall grade progression was positive?!
So behind on Larissa Ione's series…
Lori – Dude – what is it with the grades? lol
I feel like I need to dump everything at times – especially when going through old papers but it gets to be overwhelming!
Jill – Oh good, a sympathizer! lol Why do they do it? She keeps everything and it's crazy. I made her become ruthless this weekend and her room looks so much better!
I really liked Nine Rules as well!
I've really liked the Demonica series. I really liked book 3.
Chris – The grade progression was definitely more positive overall. 🙂
Those thorough cleaning jobs are definitely exhausting. I feel your pain! 🙂
You had a great reading week by the look of your ratings. 🙂
I just started the Demonica series and I like her writing style. Enough to make me already curious about her next series: Lords of Deliverance. 🙂
Lily – It's VERY exhausting…but very satisfying.
Janna – It was a pretty good week, although when I was done I felt like I hadn't read that much – go figure. 🙂
In book 5 of the Demonica series you meet character from the LoD series. I started reading the blurb about the first book but was super tired and couldn't get into it. I'll have to go back when I'm wide awake and see what it has to offer. 🙂
YAH for overall grade progression, although shame about the Industrial Crafts grade. And all the best for quarter two!
Nice reading week 🙂 I have the first three Demonica books but haven't read them as yet.
I'm a pack rat too and I've been putting off clearing my closet for years ^_^; Now, I'm really, really afraid LOL.
I'm glad you enjoyed Mad About The Duke. I just finished it yesterday. It was pretty good, better than her last few releases, but I wished the ending would have been a bit more developed.
Orannia – Yes, that industrial crafts grade went down but she raised 3 grades so she just needs to keep raising them and she'll be great! lol
I really liked the first 3 Demonica books – hopefully you'll like them too.
Nath – I try to go through MY closet at least once a year but yeah, my kids'? Not so much. lol Just so much more stuff! Kids have a lot of STUFF. lol
As I said this was my first read of any of Boyle's books but I really liked it. It definitely have the punch in the end but I found it very satisfying. 🙂