My January Living by the List Challange

Sooo, in my "Anything goes" shelfari group we have decided that we are going to do a monthly challange called Living by the List challange. The basis of the challange is that we pick 8 books and 3 alternatives to read from the 1st of the month till the first of next month. Now I usually read way more then 8 books in a month so more then likely but I will read my 8 books plus my 3 alternatives. This is my list of books for January 2009...Maybe just maybe I might be able to get through some of these books on my TBR but I doubt it since I usually add about 20 a week LOL.

1. From Dead to Worse --Charlaine Harris

2. Suicide Notes--Michael Thomas Ford

3. Vampire Seduction--Raven Hart

4. Plum Lucky--Janet Evanovich

5. Ink Heart --Cornelia Funke

6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

7. Plum Spooky--Janet Evanovich

8. Witchling--Yasmine Galenorn

Alternatives

1. Halfway to the Grave--Jeanine Frost

2. Demon in my View--Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

3. Confessions of a Shopaholic-- Sophie Kinsella

I Won, I Won!!!!

I won the autographed copy of Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart!!! I just wanted to thank Evie from http://averageme-bookandmoviereviews.blogspot.com/ for hosting and blogging about the interview with the author and Raven aka Susan Goggins for giving me an autographed copy of her book and sending along a Christmas card with it. It was a super wonderful gift to receive and will treasure it greatly!

I have to admit I haven't read the book yet but I am very much looking foward to reading them. I have to wait until this weekend to start them though because they are on my 2009 TBR and the first books for my Living for the list Challange! Speaking of the Living for the list challange. I would like to invite all of my friends to join me in this creative adventure!! I plan on making a list on 8 books with 3 alternatives to be read every month from the 1st of the month till the 1st of the next month! A message board that I belong to on shelfari did it for Thanksgiving to Christmas and it went over very well so we decided to make it a permanate fixture to our board! I will post a list for my Jan list as soon as I have decided what it is going to be. I have a few that I know I am going to do first!I have had a busy month this month but some how I have managed to read 14 books. I recently finished Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. I really didn't think that I would like this book because it is about a girl who gets into a car accident and gets amnesia. But just for 3 years of her life. Which happens to be the three years that she managed to go big time in her career, get married, move to a posh flat, and completely change her appearance. Sounded kind of cheesey if you asked me but guess what... I loved it...It was very well written and funny and romantic all in the same time!

I have also continued on my quest of finishing the Sookie Stackhouse series.

I just finished book 7 All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris. I love this series and it really sucks that I have started on the last one that has been published so far! Sookie gets so far into the vampire life that she is never going to be able to get herself out! But one good thing....They are indebted to her for quit sometime!!

So far in Book 8 From Dead to Worse all I want to know is WHERE IS QUINN!!!

Win a copy of Vampire Seduction by Raven Hart

On my friend Evie's Blog: http://randomminutiae.blogspot.com/ you can enter to win a signed copy of The Vampires Seduction by Raven Hart. She also has a great interview with the author. Go check it out!

was born to the name of Rachel Weatere in the year 1684, more than three hundred years ago.The one who changed me named me Risika, and Risika I became, though I never asked what it meant. I continue to call myself Risika, even though I was transformed into what I am against my will.By day, Risika sleeps in a shaded room in Concord, Massachusetts. By night, she hunts the streets of New York City. She is used to being alone.But now someone is following Risika. Someone has left her a black rose, the same sort of rose that sealed her fate three hundred years ago.Three hundred years ago Risika had a family — a brother and a sister who loved her. Three hundred years ago she was human.Now she is a vampire, a powerful one. And her past has come back to torment her.This atmospheric, haunting tale marks the stunning debut of a promising young novelist.

That's the excerpt from the book...These are my opinions on the book. The story line is great the writing style however leaves something to be desired. All I can say is you can very much tell that this book was written by a 13 year old. The written style is very punchy with short sentences and little detail. She gets down and dirty and right to the point. Although I'm not a fan of the writing style I am a fan of the story line and will finish the rest of the series.

Right now I am reading Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris. This is the 5th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series and so far it's very good. I have managed to make a short list of the books that I want to read for 2009 and so far I have set my goal at 80 books. I have read 56 books for 2008 and didn't actually start reading until June. So I think I can make 80 in 2009.

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Stay safe!!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Yeah, yeah, I know I know, I have been reading a lot lately...It's cold outside what can I say. My latest finish was City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. This book was amazing and as much as you are going to be astonished at hearing me say this, but I liked it better then twilight. Wayyyy more action!!!

This book is about a everyday regular girl named Clary Fray, who decided one day to go to a club with her best friend where she never thought she would witness a murder. Something strange happened though the murdered disappeared in front of her eyes and Clary was introduced to a world full of demons, downworlders and shadowhunters. The shadowhunters are demon killers, the angels so to speak, or are they really.

This first book in the Mortal Instruments Series was a great start I am so excited to begin reading City of Ashes. It could only prove to be a great second book in the series. And great news. The third book in the trilogy will be released in March of 2009. Can't wait to read what else Cassandra Clare has planned for Clary, Simon and the other downworlders and shadowhunters.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series--In between the numbers

So I absolutley love Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum series but I have just discovered the in-between the numbers novellas. They are spectacularly funny and witty and you get to meet a new sexy leading male character in these books who isn't in the regular series books. Let me introduce you to Diesel. I fineeeeeee upstanding something or another. We haven't quite figured out if Diesel is even a real human yet.

In Plum Lovin, Diesel showed up just in time to ruin (so she thinks) Stephanie's plans for a uneventful Valentine's Day. All she needed to do was to get her only outstanding bond jumper into custody and everything was all kosher. I mean how hard could it be to capture "relationship expert" Annie Hart and get her body ticket. Diesel, who hunts "unnaturals" who have went off from the deap end and started getting noticed by the general public. The "unnatural" that Diesel is hunting just so happens to have a vendetta against Annie, so Diesel has her in protective custody and until Stephanie finishs her "relationship tasks" Annie won't turn herself over to her when Diesel is dont protecting her. So Stephanie goes about fixing all the screw ups in 4 peoples lives which leads to some funny stuff. You must pick up the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and get some good laughs.

In Visions of Sugar Plums is where you first meet the infamous Diesel, when he is dropped into Stephanie's kitchen out of the clear blue sky. Diesel is just a little strange and can unlock doors just by touching them. In this Novella Diesel and Stephanie happen to be hunting the same "unnatural." Diesel to keep him safe and Stephanie to take him to jail for jumping bond. But Mr. Sandy Claws...That's S-A-N-D-Y won't have any of either of them. He has to finish his "job" before Christmas Eve and can't take time out of his busy schedule to go to jail for a crime that he HAD to commit and Diesel...Why would an "unnatural" who is proud and old need the help of someone else to keep him safe from another "unnatural." Turns out that Diesel is certainly a lot of help to Sandy and to Stephanie and maybe he teaches her a little about Christmas spirit to boot.

Plum Lucky is my next book up. That is after I finish City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. According to the Book jacket it is about Grandma Mazur coming into some money and oh but oh what is she going to do with it. And who to my wondering eyes should appear, none other then the naturally dynamic Diesel. Wonder what he is up to in this book.

I am also very excited to announce that on January 6th another Janet Evanovich between the numbers novella will be released. Here is the excerpt on Plum Spooky!!!!PLUM SPOOKY
Turn on all the lights and check under your bed. Things are about to get spooky in Trenton, New Jersey.
According to legend, the Jersey Devil prowls the Pine Barrens and soars above the treetops in the dark of night. As eerie as this might seem, there are things in the Barrens that are even more frightening and dangerous. And there are monkeys. Lots of monkeys.
Wulf Grimoire is a world wanderer and an opportunist who can kill without remorse and disappear like smoke. He's chosen Martin Munch, boy genius, as his new business partner, and he's chosen the Barrens as his new playground
Munch received his doctorate degree in quantum physics when he was twenty-two. He's now twenty-four, and while his brain is large, his body hasn't made it out of the boys' department at Macy's. Anyone who says good things come in small packages hasn't met Munch. Wulf Grimoire is looking for world domination. Martin Munch would be happy if he could just get a woman naked and tied to a tree.
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has Munch on her most-wanted list for failure to appear in court. Plum is the all-American girl stuck in an uncomfortable job, succeeding on luck and tenacity. Usually she gets her man. This time she gets a monkey. She also gets a big guy named Diesel.
Diesel pops in and out of Plum's life like birthday cake - delicious to look at and taste, not especially healthy as a steady diet, gone by the end of the week if not sooner. He's an uber bounty hunter with special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. He's after Grimoire, and now he's also after Munch. And if truth were told, he wouldn't mind setting Stephanie Plum in his crosshairs.
Diesel and Plum hunt down Munch and Grimoire, following them into the Barrens, surviving cranberry bogs, the Jersey Devil, a hair-raising experience, sand in their underwear, and, of course . . . monkeys.

I hope that I can implore everyone to pick up a Janet Evanovich book and read a excellent quick read!!!

The Secret Life of Bees--Sue Monk Kidd

A story set in the 1960's during the civil right movement that occured and was very violent in the southern states. A white girl named Lilly was raised by her emotionally and sometimes physically violent father, T. Ray and her black caretaker, Rosaleen. Rosaleen, while on her way to register to vote, ran into some very racist characters. Instead of just walking away, Rosaleen being the strong willed woman that she is decided to dump snuff (rub) spit on the white men's shoes. She was beaten and arrested and then beaten some more. Rosaleen ended up in the hospital where Lilly broke her out and they both ran away to Tiburon SC.

While in Tiburon, Lilly and Rosaleen met August, June and May and found out more about herself and her mother then she may have bargained for. August teaches Lilly how to care for bees and parts of life she would have never learned from T. Ray.

I loved this book and now that I have read it I am really looking forward to seeing the movie.