Weekly Recap: 5/24 - 5/30

HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG Well, this week has been a mess, hasn't it? Every time it seems like 2020 can't possibly get worse, it goes and proves us wrong. I'm unable to attend protests at the moment, but there are other ways to help. If you have the means, you can donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, the Minnesota ACLU, or to the George Floyd Memorial Fund. You can also sign the Justice for George Floyd Petition on Change.org. My good news this week is that Kovu is doing quite a bit better. His sprained ankle is mostly healed and he's almost up to 10 pounds! Unfortunately, the pneumonia is back. It's always something....

DNF Review: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Title: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)  Author: Sarah J. Maas Publication Date: March 3, 2020Publisher: BloomsburyPages: 816Add to Goodreads Bound by blood. Tempted by desire. Unleashed by destiny. Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths. Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow....

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Guess the Cover

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Welcome to the final challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is all bout gorgeous retellings covers. There are six small glimpses of book covers below and all you have to do is guess the book from the sneak peek. Once again, you should be able to find them on retellings lists on Goodreads if you're stumped. There are covers from Beauty and the Beast retellings, The Little Mermaid retellings, Princess and the Pea retellings, and more. You'll get points whether you only solve a few or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers! Good luck and happy reading! ...

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Retellings Crossword

Happy Monday, everyone! Welcome to the second challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is a crossword puzzle. There are ten words and each one is the title of a popular retelling. Each clue describes a book title and if you get stuck it might help to take a look at some retellings lists on Goodreads. You'll get points whether you only solve a few words or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers! Good luck and happy reading! ...

Weekly Recap: 5/10 - 5/16

HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG Hi everyone! Look at me doing two recaps in two weeks! What even is life?? Things have SO thankfully been a bit more calm around our house this week. Unfortunately Kovu now has a sprained ankle and is sick of his prescription food, but is otherwise doing well. He's still gaining weight and has spurts of crazy energy every now and then. We did find out that CVS pharmacy filled his prescription with a formulation that included xylitol, which is VERY toxic to dogs. Kovu had been very lethargic for a few days and I only happened to dig through the paperwork for the inactive ingredients after we were told to...

Book Review: The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

Title: The Midnight Lie (The Midnight Lie #1) Author: Marie Rutkoski Publication Date: March 3, 2020 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pages: 358Add to Goodreads Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences. Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest. But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away who whispers rumors that the High Caste...

Retellings Read-a-Thon: Fairy tale scramble

Happy Friday, everyone! Welcome to the first challenge of the read-a-thon! This challenge is a word scramble. There are ten words and each one is the name of a fairy tale character. Not all of them are immediately recognizable Disney names, but they are all from fairytales you probably know! You just might have to dig a little deeper to solve them all! You'll get points whether you only solve a few words or all of them! Fill out this form to send your answers! Good luck and happy reading! ...

The Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon Begins!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today is the first day of the Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon! Grab your closest retelling and settle in for a week of fairy tales, myths, and historical characters! While the retellings you choose to read this week are totally up to you, it's recommended that you choose books that are already on your shelves, e-readers, or in your audiobook libraries since access to books is fairly limited at the moment. In case you've forgotten, here are the details: This read-a-thon will take place from Wednesday, May 13th at 12am (your time zone) through May 20th at 11:59pm. The goal of this read-a-thon is to read as many...

Top Ten Tuesday #278: Books I DNFd

Today's Topic:  The Last Ten Books I Abandoned Happy Tuesday! It's no secret that I have no issues whatsoever with dropping a book I'm not enjoying. Whether it's because I'm bored out of my mind, the story isn't going anywhere, or the characters are just too stupid, I have a tendency to give up and move on when I just can't keep reading. Here are the ten most recent books I've DNFd!  The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford Universal Harvester by John Darnielle After by Anna Todd The Last...

Weekly (Monthly) Recap: 4/1 - 5/9

HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG Hi everyone! It's been quite awhile since I've been around to do one of these. As you may know if you follow me on Twitter, things went absolutely off the rails after my last recap post. On April 6th my dog had surgery to repair a liver shunt, which took me away during his recover. Then, twelve days later, he began to have a new, scarier issue that landed him in the hospital for most of the next two weeks. Two specialists and way too much money later, we've found out that he has a GI disease but that it can be managed with diet, antibiotics, and probiotics. Things were really scary for awhile, but he's...

Retellings Challenge Read-a-Thon

Happy Saturday, bookworms! Yes, I'm still alive. Things have been all over the place, but more on that in tomorrow's recap. Today I want to share that this month I will be hosting a retellings read-a-thon as part of the 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge! If you haven't already signed up for the challenge, you can do that HERE! And don't forget to join the Goodreads group to take part in the discussions that are sure to take place. DETAILS This read-a-thon will take place from Wednesday, May 13th at 12am (your time zone) through May 20th at 11:59pm. The goal of this read-a-thon is to read as many retellings as you can during the weeklong...