Bookopoly Review

I guess this is coming a little late, but in all honesty, I forgot about the Bookopoly Contest because it got to a point that I realized that I wouldn't be able to finish the contest. I had just ended up reading too many long books, ha ha.

But, man, I read so many good books. I may not have reviewed them all, but they were good. They made me experience so many emotions and they inspired me to write (even though I don't have much to show for that at the moment).

A lot of things have happened in my life over the summer—I finished the practicum I needed to do in order to graduate from college (I'm still chasing after my teacher in order to go over what I did for the practicum because he's so busy—he's a photographer for Franklin Graham so he's always following him overseas—and he can't talk to me when he's busy); I have been job hunting but haven't heard anything back from any of the places I sent my resume to; I've grown addicted to Lord of the Rings Online, which is kinda dangerous; I went to the church camp out at the end of August; and I got into cross stitching again. When I talk about it, it makes my summer seem kinda lazy :P

But that didn't stop me from reading up to ten books! That's a record for me, I think. Tallying up what I read, it seems that I read 2 historical novels (1 being historical romance), 2 science fiction novels (1 being a graphic novel), 5 fantasy novels (1 being a historical fantasy), and 1 collection of one-page comics.

Some of the books I ended up reading this summer were books I never realized I would ever read. Or bring myself to read. But the point of the bookopoly was to go and read books you wouldn't normally read in order to accomplish all the categories of the contest.

Total Books Read for Contest: 10

A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter
When Katherine "Kit" FitzGilbert turned her back on London society more than a decade ago, she determined never to set foot in a ballroom again. But when business takes her to London and she's forced to run for her life, she stumbles upon not only a glamorous ballroom but also Graham, Lord Wharton. What should have been a chance encounter becomes more as Graham embarks on a search for his friend's missing sister and is convinced Kit knows more about the girl than she's telling.

After meeting Graham, Kit finds herself wishing things could have been different for the first time in her life, but what she wants can't matter. Long ago, she dedicated herself to helping women escape the same scorn that drove her from London and raising the innocent children caught in the crossfire. And as much as she desperately wishes to tell Graham everything, revealing the truth isn't worth putting him and everyone she loves in danger.


The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil ruined the world. In peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knows little of such troubles. But the supposedly dead Warlock Lord is plotting to destroy everything in his wake. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea, last of the bloodline, rests the hope of all the races.






Quietus by Tristan Palmgren
Niccolucio, a young Florentine Carthusian monk, leads a devout life until the Black Death kills all of his brothers, leaving him alone and filled with doubt. Habidah, an anthropologist from another universe racked by plague, is overwhelmed by the suffering. Unable to maintain her observer neutrality, she saves Niccolucio from the brink of death.

Habidah discovers that neither her home's plague nor her assignment on Niccolucio's world are as she's been led to believe. Suddenly, the pair are drawn into a worlds-spanning conspiracy to topple an empire larger than the human imagination can contain.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

A Wrinkle in Time: the Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle, adapted by Hope Larson
Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murry, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract — a wrinkle that transports one across space and time — to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murry is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murry but the safety of the whole universe.

Mandie and the Medicine Man by Lois Gladys Leppard
A Cherokee superstition seems to have come back to haunt Mandie and her friends. The gold they discovered has been donated to build a new hospital, but something or someone is tearing down the walls as fast as they can be built. The guard posted to watch the site is knocked out, tied up and blindfolded.

Will Mandie be able to find her friend Joe? Will Mandie and Sallie be rescued from their kidnappers? Will Mandie learn her lesson about jumping to conclusions?

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. But when Laia's brother is arrest for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire's greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school's finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen
With characteristic wit and charm, Sarah Andersen's third collection of comics and illustrated personal essays offers a survival guide for frantic modern life: from the importance of avoiding morning people, to internet troll defense 101, to the not-so-life-changing futility of tidying up. But when all else fails and the world around you is collapsing, make a hot chocolate, count the days until Halloween, and snuggle up next to your furry beacon of hope.






The experience of devouring book after book this summer was envigorating, and I look forward to doing it again! ^^

A Defense of Honor: a book review

A Defense of Honor. Kristi Ann Hunter. 2018. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 352. [Source: Netgalley/Bethany House Publishers Review Program]

§§§

When Katherine "Kit" FitzGilbert turned her back on London society more than a decade ago, she determined never to set foot in a ballroom again. But when business takes her to London and she's forced to run for her life, she stumbles upon not only a glamorous ballroom but also Graham, Lord Wharton. What should have been a chance encounter becomes much more as Graham embarks on a search for his friend's missing sister and is convinced Kit knows more about the girl than she's telling.

After meeting Graham, Kit finds herself wishing things could have been different for the first time in her life, but what she wants can't matter. Long ago, she dedicated herself to helping women escape the same scorn that drove her from London and raising the innocent children caught in the crossfire. And as much as she desperately wishes to tell Graham everything, revealing the truth isn't worth putting him and everyone she loves in danger.

§§§

Rating: I'm gonna have to give it a 5/5

When I saw this pop up in my email in May, it was the most interesting of the stories that Bethany House Publishers offered to me for that month. I don't think I was that enthused when I chose it, because I didn't feel that I was being given much of a variety to choose from.

All I can say is that I'm so, so glad that I chose this one.

The story begins with handsome Graham at a ball in a lavish ballroom, talking to a couple of "friends" who only seemed interested in gossiping. Then—there! He spots it—something interesting! A flash of green fabric—a hand snaking out between the plants to snag a treat from a passing platter—he gets up to follow, thankful to separate himself from those two.

He finds her in the garden—and thus begins one of the most interesting chapters of his life.

This has to be one of the most original ideas I've come across. When I think about history, about the Regency era, I never thought about what happened to the illegitimate children or the women who were intentionally ruined by greedy men who were only after the biggest dowry available.

The fact that the main character was working to protect those children made me really excited because there's so much that could go wrong when she's going out there and getting those irresponsible men to pay for their mistakes.

I don't think I've ever felt such rage about the unfairness of something since I watched the episode of Blue Bloods where a young man came and punched a pregnant woman in the face, knocking her out so she landed on her front and crushed her baby. I wasn't as violently angry about the injustice as I was then, but it was close.

The book made me think a lot about how tough women have had it for centuries. Yes, there have been powerful queens, women leaders, etc., but when it comes down to it, women have always been the more vulnerable of the two sexes. Kit knew this, but she was able to take advantage of what had happened to her and her friend and do something good, even though it ended up morphing into something not good (i.e. blackmail) until a new face came along and helped her right her ways.

I'm honestly excited for Haven Manor - 2 to come out next year. And once its out I'm definitely going to start collecting the Haven Manor book as paperbacks.

My Library's Adult Summer Reading Challenge

I know that I said that I was going to continue talking about my internship, but I decided to, instead, write about the reading challenge my local library is hosting.

So, yeah, it's an interesting thing, a Monopoly-ish knock-off. But it's cute, and it's another excuse to let me read this summer. Both me and my mom are participating, since the prize for participating—if our names are picked out of the draw—is an iPad mini. I'm so hoping one of us wins, since then Mom could use the iPad mini to read books on the Kindle app.

My mom has become addicted to those Love Inspired/Harlequin novellas, but she can't afford to pay $4.99 a pop right now.

I'm so thrilled that she has found something she likes to do now that I'm out of the house for most of the day every day!

So the rules for this challenge are:

1. Complete each square and return to the library before 8pm on Friday, September 21st, 2018.
2. For each book you read, record the title and author. No duplication of titles; only one square per book.
3. Books must be read between June 21st and September 21st, 2018.

So the books I have to read are ones with:

• A colour in the title
• A book you can finish in a day
• An author you've (I've) never heard of
• A Graphic Novel
• A book published in 2018
• Read a biography/true story
• A book that everyone's read but you (me)
• Read a book that makes you (me) laugh
• Borrow an ebook from the library
• Read a book outside your (my) usual genre
• Read a book set in a country you (I) have never visited
• Read the first book in a series
• Listen to an audiobook/eAudiobook
• Read a book that was turned into a movie
• Read a library staff recommendation
• Read a book written by a Canadian author

I've already got a few books lined up. The one I've got for the 'Library Staff Recommendation' is The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. And I could probably use The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for the 'Book Turned into a Movie' one. Once I've thought about it, I'll probably have more. Like Quietus by Tristan Palmgren for 'Book Published in 2018'.

I'm so excited. This challenge could help towards my Century of Books book challenge that I've been doing since January. I love reading, and I'm glad to have another excuse to read all the time (or when I can, lol).

2017: A Year's Books in Review & Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's guys! I'm finding it extremely hard to believe that it's already 2018!

Where did the time go? It feels like 2017 just started. It reminds me how I'm going to be graduating in April.

I celebrated New Years by watching the festivities on and off on Fox TV since the channel actually shows important and interesting things instead of the inappropriate like on CNN (though we only checked long enough to see what they were saying before we would switch back to Netflix so we could continue watching BBC's The Musketeers, lol. I don't live close enough to anywhere to go watch fireworks in person.

As for New Year's Resolutions... well... I haven't thought of any. Other than how many books I might read.

I guess, if I had to make some resolutions, I'd say I'd... well, I'll try to get more exercise by playing some Kinect games on my brother's Xbox 360 since I'm bringing it down to college with me. I'll also try to get at least two short stories published this year, maybe get a novel written that I might be able to publish at Angry Robot when they open their doors to all manuscripts again.

I'm excited for this new year. It's a clean slate. I hope this coming year will be safer for everyone.

Another thing I wanted to go over in this post was the books I read last year. I certainly didn't read as many as I wanted, clocking in at 8 when I was aiming for 10. Unfortunately, the 9th book I had decided to read was a mass market paperback with around 650 pages.

According to Goodreads, I read a total of 2,662 pages over the 8 books. My shortest book was The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards at 256 pages. The longest book I read was Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland at 544 pages long.

The books I read this year, in order, were:
Fractured by Rae Elliott
Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
True to You by Becky Wade
The Life and Diary of David Brainerd by David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards

This coming year I hope I will be able to read 10 books. At least ten books. Though, it all depends on how long my practicum is going to be and where I will get it. My practicum was going to take place in Tibet, but due to health issues, I will have to do it in Canada. Somewhere. I'm thinking 100 Huntley Street since 1) They have an intern program that's more than running around and getting people coffee, and 2) my Grandma knows almost all the up and ups that run 100 Huntley Street. So getting an internship and doing my practicum there is highly likely.

I'm really excited about this coming year. How is my life going to change? How will my grades turn out to be? Where will I be living in six months?

I hope your year will turn out to fantastic. I have a question, though: how did you celebrate your New Years?

Updates | Bookstagram | FYI

Hey guys! I pause in my NaNoWriMo writing in order to come and tell you of a few updates in my life.

I get that I've been rather quiet on here. There haven't been any new book reviews, but there's been a THM recipe (which is totally easy to make and anyone can enjoy it)! I've been a bit busy with writing, and I've been in a bit of reading slump (Not by Sight drove me insane, I find the main woman character rather unlikable), but my latest book haul has come in.

I had to race a severe thunderstorm in order to get them from the mail box!

(haha... eh -_-)

I learned something today: you can ask Indigo - Canada's biggest bookstore - to swap a book you've just got in the mail for another if you were sent a damaged copy. Out of the books I got, The Tropic of Serpents: a Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (the sequel to A Natural History of Dragons) was damaged with the cover being scratched up by extensive handling, and the cover was bent in a place. So, with my mom's advice, I called up customer service, and the nice lady on the other side of the line helped me swap it for a pristine copy of the book, and emailed me a tag for the parcel I'm going to send the copy I have now back.

So - when you run into the problem of your book arriving damaged, call, ask for a pristine replacement, ask for a return label, and say that you will return it. I don't know if it works with other book-store chains, but it should. It would be horrible if it didn't.

My book haul consists of five books - which I bought in order to take advantage of Chapters/Indigo's unplug for the summer promotion, which would net me 4,500 points ($10 worth) on top of however many I got for the books through the normal channel (which is awesome since I'm going back to college this fall). I've provided the covers, because they're all beautiful.

I didn't include The Tropic of Serpents since the copy I have is not the copy I'm keeping.

It's kind of funny that three of the books I ordered were blue, and two had green (because the dragon on the cover of Tropic of Serpents is green. I honestly can't wait to crack into these books. I think I'm going to start with True to You, since I had begun reading it when Bethany House Publishers wanted me to review it - but I ran out of time. I think I'm going to review it anyway, because I was so into it.

Another piece of news: I've finally got a Bookstagram (an Instagram focused on reading and books) up and running! My username is 'space.locomotive' - couldn't think of an interesting or witty book-themed one, so I went with the layman's term of a vehicle in my current writing project. 'Space locomotive' is another name for 'star train'.

I'm so looking forward to posting pictures of books! I've only posted one picture so far - of my TBR pile. But I hope to get a picture of my bookshelf and my newest book haul in the coming week - or maybe in the next couple of days.

Of course, my bookstagram won't only be for the books I review or take pictures of (I'll likely post a picture of the book I've just read and provide a link in the post to the review here), it'll also host pictures and updates of the stories I hope will one day publish. They'll be simpler echoes of what I post here n_n

Today was a good day, and it wasn't dampened by the thunderstorm we had this afternoon!

Though having to lower my wordcount goal for Camp NaNoWriMo another 10k was a bit of a bummer. I was hoping to have Murder of Whimsey relatively finished by the end of this month.

10 Random Books to Tell you About me

I found this on the blog Stuck in a Book, and thought I should give it a try. So with a mug of coffee, and a break in the time I've put aside to clean my room, I'm going to use a random number generator to pick out the ten books randomly, since I don't trust my hands, lol.

I might have cheated with the number generator, and I took books from my bookshelf and my Kindle. and I chose only the ones I've read in order for more authentic responses. I also listed them in alphabetical order in order to sate my perfectionist side, which will definitely rear its ugly head once this is posted due to the errors I won't notice until then.

Cinder by Merissa Meyer

I've reviewed this book, and I found it extremely gripping despite the fact that there were a few things I didn't like. I loved the futuristic, cyber-punk take on the Cinderella story, despite the fact it didn't turn out like the fairy tale and that Cinder's story is far from over (there's three other main stories that come after this). I got this book after seeing it floating around the bookworm world, and decided to give it a shot. I bought it at a Chapters in Edmonton over a year ago. I love the simplicity of the cover, despite the fact Cinder didn't wear red glass high heels to the ball, and she ended up losing a cyborg foot instead if a shoe. haha

Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland

This was a treasure. When I think of a good book along the lines of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Dreamlander pops to mind. Makes me wonder if I should change my penname from 'Mikaela A. Ingram' to 'M. A. Ingram' – because most of my favourite fantasy books are written by those who have more than one initial in their penname X3 I super enjoyed this book because, despite the length of it, it kept me hooked and the pace was lively. The thing I loved most about it was that the man on the cover, the main character, reminds me of Canadian actor Yannick Bisson, and so I imagined him as such throughout the entirety of the book (as he looked in Sue Thomas F.B.Eye). I'm such a nerd. And it only took me a weekend to finish it, despite the fact that it was over 400 pages long! I got it after I found out about K.M. Weiland and started following her writing advice.

Fractured by Rae Elliott

This was another good book I found through my search for writing advice. Up to the point in which I found this novel, I had wondered if someone out there had mashed science fiction and fantasy into a science fantasy that involved an android somehow. I'm so glad I was able to support an indie writer while also finding such a gem.

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen

I got this book from Bethany House Publishers' review program a few years ago, back when I still ran my old blog "Pen to Paper". I believe this was the book that ended that review period, because I couldn't get into it when I got it. This last year, I fell into it and was unable to put it down until it was finished. It was so good! I guess I really like reading books where the main character has to stay hidden and experiences nail-biting instances almost constantly. This was so good! She was in love with the lord of the manor, but she couldn't let him know it was her!

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

This book let itself be known when I was in my Sherlock Holmes phase, and was sitting on "Sherlock's Shelf" section of Chapters when it was around. This was the book that introduced me to Hercule Poirot, and I found myself gripped by the happenings in the story – couldn't figure out who the killer was until the end! Through this book I would eventually come across series 7 – 12 on Netflix of Agatha Christie's Poirot, which I enjoy watching every time I have the chance to watch. I love this Mr. Poirot.

A Natural History of Dragons, a Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

Such a treat, this one is. This was the first book I've found where a fantasy takes place in a Victorian setting, and not a medieval one (there ought to more, I think). I heard about this book from the bookworm's grapevine as well, and I think I finished it in, like, in a day. When I should have been writing my C.S. Lewis paper at college. This one's a fantasy in the fact that there are dragons, and I absolutely love dragons. I look forward to collecting the rest of the series once I have the money.

The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen

I got this one because I want to, one day, own all of Julie Klassen's novels. She's such a talented writer, and every one of her books sucks me back to the regency era. This one, though, didn't really engage me like I hoped, and seemed to stretch on longer than it should have. The atmosphere was interesting, but there was just too much going on. I'm attempting to read her The Dancing Master, but I'm having trouble, and I could only chalk it up to the fact that I'm not interesting in going to the regency era right now.

The Transformers: All Hail Optimus

Yes, I'm a nerd. A Transformers nerd. With the current storyline going on, with Optimus Prime (the mech on the cover), I was curious to see what was going on when it was said that this volume would cover events in which Optimus would try to annex Earth into the Cybertronian Empire. Poor guy, Optimus is only trying to annex Earth in order to keep it safe from the rest of the galaxy!

I got this when my uncle gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. So I can say that my uncle bought this for me :3

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Volume 4

Yeah, I'm not going to post the cover here. It's not like it depicts anything overly bad, it just has a bit of violence. So I'm going to spare anyone who's a little sensitive to that, and not post it here. Yeah, having Overlord's fist sticking out through Ultra Magnus' chest is a little violent (out of all covers of the issues contained inside it, they had to pick that one).

I bought this one back in January, but didn't receive it until I got home from college since Indigo deemed it necessary to send me Volume 5 before Volume 4, haha. I haven't really cracked it open yet since I care about most of the characters in the story, and I know they're going to get hurt (I've read a couple of the issues in it). Haha, get over yourself, Mikaela.

Two Renegade Realms by Donita K. Paul

This book left me with so many questions when I finished it. And what's frustrating was that its sequel, the final instalment of the Realm Walkers Trilogy, was slated to be released back in January-February of 2016, but then Donita K. Paul fell ill and Zondervan dropped her. Now we don't know when it'll come out.

I found this book and the first of it's trilogy in an Indigo of all places, which I found rather odd since it contains Christian themes and is written by a Christian authoress. I laugh, since Indigo seemingly doesn't know!



These are the ten books I shared so you guys could learn a bit more about me. This was fun :3

If you'd like to do this for yourself, click on the Stuck in a Book link I've provided at the top of the post.

Thunderstorms

Today is the second day in a row, and the second time this season, that I have listened to the rumblings of distant thunder - a sound I've missed over this last winter. There's something about the sound of electricity hotter than the surface of the sun while it's ripping the sky apart that I find so fascinating.

When there's a thunderclap, I listen as it echos on forever. There's something comforting to me about listening of the acoustics of the sky as if it were a massive instrument...

These thunderstorms remind me of the project I've been working on for the last couple of months. It also reminds me of my love to listen to rain as I read a good book. It has been raining a lot here, and I'm grateful since Fort McMurray wasn't all that far from where I live. With the rain we've been having, we're just a tiny bit less like a tinderbox. I hope.

I currently have three novels on the go, but I've stopped to focus on only one since it's the one Bethany House Publishers sent me to review. It's titled From This Moment, and it's by Elizabeth Camden. I am absolutely in love with it. It's a Victorian mystery, and boy, it feels like a mystery. I believe that you guys - if you like mysteries - will absolutely devour it like I am.

The other two novels, the ones on hold, are The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and Star Trek: From History's Shadow by Dayton Ward. I'm enjoying them both, and I look forward to getting back to them once I'm done the review novel.

The project I'm working on is a collection of poems about spring, titled Blue Jays & Rainy Days. I was inspired to write it after seeing two Blue Jays in one day not long after the snow disappeared and buds began to appear on the trees. It's spring themed, and I hope to have it published through Pronoun before I head off to college in August.

I find myself enjoying writing poems a lot more than I did when I was younger. I guess, back then, I just didn't see the point of criptic messages strung out in the form of a poem.

But I love writing them now - and the haiku of all forms is my favourite! I just hope I'm structuring them the right way... lol.

Everything's Okay at 20k

Once again I found myself lowering my total NaNoWriMo word-count. It has come to rest for the rest of the month at 20 000 words, because my month has been too busy for my original word counts of 25k and 30k.

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't going to make it to 30k. But I understand also that my family needs me and my brain can't stay focused enough to go the whole way. I'm a slow writer, and sometimes pressure doesn't work.

I'm going to skip Camp NaNo in July so that I can focus on other things. I need to get ready for college, and that means saving any money I can. I also need to focus on losing weight so that I can enter in to college without having to worry about how I look all that hard - and by then I should have THM down pat.

Writing may slow so that I can find time to read (I need to finish The Reluctant Duchess before May 1st so that I may review it and send the review off to Bethany House Publishers). I have so many novels in my To Be Read pile that it's ridiculous! And I didn't a request a novel for review in May because none of the novels they presented to me were of any interest to me. So May is open for whatever novel I choose to read.

I need to finish reading the last book in The Dragons of Starlight novel series by Brian Davis so I can move on. I have several ebooks I would like to crack open, such as The Secret of Pembrooke Park or The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen, or A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan, or Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

I should also crack open The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, or Murder on the Orient Express so I can review another classic for the Back to the Classics 2016 Reading Challenge I'm in.

There's so much I want to do, but so little time, lol!

Well, I better get back to writing. I've got laundry to fold and change over as well.

P.S. Maybe I should devote time to learning German and French on top of all this...