Time for a Series in a Month!

 In keeping with my renewed effort to read and write, I'm participating in Because Reading's  Series in a Month (#SIAM) challenge. This time around Michelle and Berls are offering a twist. You can read the Night Rebel series as the #SIAM and participate in Anne of Books are my Heart's Realdalong of the Night Huntress World at the same time. 

I do love a two-for so, I'm in for the #SIAM read of the Night Rebel books!

Here are the books:

*Shades of Wicked (to be reviewed Jan 9)

*Wicked Bite (to be reviewed Jan 23) 

*Wicked All Night (to be reviewed Jan 30) 

And speaking of series, I recently finished reading most of the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher.  Here is a quick review. Overall if you like Fantasy of any sort, you should do yourself a favor and start this series. The book  I just finished is called Skin Game and it is book number fifteen. 

As I have mentioned before, I prefer the books that are set in Chicago and involved humans over when the book is basically all Fae. This book was a 5-star book for me because it was basically a heist story, which was a fun departure and humans were central to the story -- esp. Murphy and Micheal. I would have liked more Molly. Now I only have two books left to read and I don't even know if they have a finality to them as I

think Jim Buther is still writing Harry's tale. 

#COYER 10 Year Annivesary Challege

 

I can't believe 2013 is 10 years ago but here we are. I found the COYER challenge a couple of years ago. I love the idea of working  on reading books  already own, but I'm not the best at keeping up with posting on the challenge. I appreciate that the COYER Community is pretty forgiving when it comes to consistency.  

My goal this year is to set aside the time to follow through with the challenge. I'm glad for the first season/semester of 2023 we can count any book format because I really want to read some of the physical books on my shelf that are currently collecting dust.

I am also going to take part in a challenge within the challenge for Janaury-- Can you read a series in a month. I am going to make a separate post about that next!

You can find out more about COYER and join me by clicking this sentence. 

How about you? Do you participate in any reading  challenges? 

#CozyMysteryBookClub I'm Going To Be On The Live Stream!

 A bit of a bucket list item, though, I'm not keen on the whole bucket list item, so I'm going to say that getting to be a co-host on the Cozy Mystery Book Club live stream tomorrow is the fulfillment of a New Years Resolution/Goal :-) That's much better right?

 

 Join us!  We will be talking about Color Me Murder by Krista Davis.  It is the first novel in the Pen & Ink Mystery series and the added bonus is that if you buy the book you can color the cover.  Our amateur sleuth Florrie Fox draws coloring books, with a concentration on coloring books for adults and she is the manager of the Color Me Read bookstore in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D.C. 

This area is also where Krista Davis's Diva series takes place and in both series, the descriptions make me want to book an AirBnB and stay in a historical home in Georgetown. For now, I'll live vicariously through these books. I borrowed my book from the local library, so no cover coloring for me. 

The book takes some interesting twists and turns, but my favorite part of the book might just be the three recipes in the back of the book. There is a recipe for Raspberry Quick Bread with Vanilla Glaze that seems pretty simple to make and I am sure delicious to eat.  I just need 2 pints of fresh raspberries!  You can find the recipe in the back of the book if you purchase or borrow it, and it is also available at the great website Mystery Lovers' Kitchen the website is run by a collective of cozy mystery authors who post recipes from their books. A great resource for foodies who love cozies! 

Welcome New Year! Be Better Than the Last Two PLEASE!

I have decided that approaching the new year with cautious optimism is my only choice. 

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."- Anne Bradstreet from Meditations Divine and Moral.

Looking at the world through my cautiously optimistic lens, I am planning to find the beauty in the cold of winter, keep all my fingers and toes crossed for health for myself and my family, and that maybe just maybe we can manage the pandemic and soon than later live music will return. 

I'll also be hoping that we'll be able to see my parents, that the kids will have those social interactions that make school fun, and that I'll run the Chicago Marathon in October. 

The new year is here, and the days are getting longer!

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Today's book review: 

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first book in what is--thankfully-- a long series! Nalini Singh creates a world where Archangels are at the top of the pyramid followed by 'regular angels' then vampires, then humans. Humans who want immortality can petition to be 'made' Angels into vampires. It's interesting how Nalina Singh takes angels and makes them into a mafia.

Elena is a vampire hunter, she doesn't kill them Buffy style, she's more like a skip tracer. New Vampires are indentured for a hundred years to their makers and some of them try to run in. Elena is born with hunting skills and she is the best hunter around. Just this plotline and Nalini Singh mix of modern life and myths in the world-building was enough for me to devour this book, but then you add in the archangel Raphael, Elena's past, the Cadre of Ten and now we have the beginning of an epic tale with just the right amount of romance.

If you like reading Ilona Andrews & Patricia Briggs, you'll love this series

View all my reviews

Turns out I've had a NetGalley Account Since 2013!

 NetGalley is a website that gets books into the hands of reviewers who then spread the word on Goodreads, Amazon, and social media.  Apparently way back when in 2013, I set up an account and then never did anything with it.  

All that has changed now! I've got my profile completed, my Goodreads account, and this blog connected to it and I'm reading the first book I requested. I'm planning to see if I can finish the book and get my first review up before the calendar turns to the New Year. We will see.  I'm looking forward to sharing the book with you as so far it's a very solid read. 

The Christmas decorations are still up, and at my coffee station, I have some new, and new to me winter mugs. I asked my family for winter mugs so I could decorate my coffee station for Wintertime. When it comes to gifts, I'm always happy with a secondhand item especially when it comes to books or music. 

As this most unusual year winds down, I am looking forward to reading and reviewing more books, finishing my rough draft of my Cozy Mystery, and trying lots of new recipes. I am hoping for great health for me and mine and to run the Chicago Marathon in October of 2021. I  am dreaming that we will have the pandemic under control and that we will be able to travel and see family. I am optimistic that the kids will attend school in person. 

I'm planning on saying goodbye to 2020 with the Hubs and the Kids and a nice batch of appetizers and maybe even a mocktail! 

Do You Listen To Books? Try the Audiobook Challenge 2021!

 Two weeks until the New Year. Are you planning to set goals? do resolutions? start a new eating plan?  

As a fan of planning in general, even though during the last two years most of my goals and plans have taken GIGANTIC detours, I'm still making plans and setting goals.  What can I say setting goals and making a plan to work on those goals makes me happy. 

If you are like me and you enjoy goals and plans to do things or try new things, you should consider joining me for the Audio Challenge by Caffeinated Reader & That's What I'm Talking About.   It's just for fun, and you might learn some new things or at least will have some adventures between your ears. 

Right now I'm listening to an audiobook I borrowed from my library on the Libby App. Yes that is right you can borrow books and listen to them on your phone. How cool is that? 

Right now I'm halfway through Booked For Death by Victoria Gilbert. 

I don't know how it will go, but my plan is to listen to a book a week. How about you? Do you listen to audiobooks?  If not, give it a try! 

How Are You Doing On Your 2020 Goals?

Did you make some goals or resolutions for this year?  It's a new decade! Exciting times and also loads of doom to focus on globally. Any who...

I am trying to keep my goals simple and specific.  One goal I have for this year is to do or try two new experiences each month.

To that end, The Man and I went to the Conservation Expo at our local high school earlier this month.  There I picked up lots of information from various groups with activities we can try this year. I'll be following up on some of the opportunities to check out wild spaces near us to visit or volunteer when the weather slides out of winter and spring begins.  :-)

For my second new experience this month, I'm really pushing myself out my comfort zone. I'm making calls for a candidate running for my congressional district.  I did postcards and now I'm going to actually speak on the phone. That's big. I don't like using my phone to speak to people, I highly prefer texting.

I should just start each phone call by saying, "Look I am actually calling you and I highly dislike making phone calls, so this shows you how much I believe in Marie Newman for District IL-03."

Our primary day is St. Patrick's Day and this is Chicagoland, so everyone needs all the reminders to go to the polls--esp. before commencing with the green beer drinking!

There you have it, my second new thing for 2020, phone calls for candidates! On the plus side, I can make the calls from home and it also helps me with my full year goal to be involved with  local government.

Anyone else out there have goals to try new things in 2020?

Noom was the best app I ever bought

If you listen to podcasts or watch TV you've probably seen ads for the app Noom. Last year their ad campaign was basically, Noom is not your mom's Weight Watchers.  I have news for you Noom, my mom never did Weight Watchers, but I  did after Anna was born and it worked short term. 

By March of 2019, I was ready to make a change in my diet but I wasn't sure which way to go.  I knew that in the past a diet that makes some foods forbidden never worked  out for me past the first two weeks of food restriction. I knew a keto diet, which seems to have been very popular with people on my social media, wasn't going to work for me. I also didn't want to do Weight Watchers again because in my experience I was good at cheating the system. This was obviously stupid and hurt no one but me, but that's the reality of it.

I did some research, read some reviews and completed Noom's online evaluation. Noom gave me a price for 4 months of their program and I decided the price was decent, but I wanted to line up my two week free trial with my paycheck. So I waited another week and then I joined.   Because I am someone who likes to get my money's worth from goods and services I purchase, I followed every step of the program. I weighed myself daily, I logged all my food, I read all the articles, and followed all the instructions therein.

And it worked. I lost 43 pounds over five months and I have kept it off for five months. Theses days I am in the healthy BMI range. 

But wait there is more to the story!

You have to consider that I started Noom in March and then in May I found out I had cancer. Now I had a serious reason to continue Noom or a great excuse to throw in the the towel. I decided to stick with Noom and now my goal was not about feeling better about wearing a swim suit. Now I needed to get down to healthy BMI before starting chemo.  According to the research I read, a healthy weight and regular exercise and the best things you can do to avoid cancer. Among the stress of shitty diagnosis and a major surgery, I reached my goal, and again I was at a turning point.

 Food and chemo don't really mix.  Either your taste buds have gone on strike or you a flirting with vomiting.  Eat healthy? exercise?  Ha!  A great time to give up on using Noom- or a really good time to use Noom as a major tool in my arsenal to slay chemo.  I chose to slay. :-)

 I completed chemotherapy without gaining weight and I exercised,either walking, running or riding a stationery bike,  almost every single day ( I skipped about 7 days over five months). The gentle nagging of my notifications and the curriculum  Noom provided was a life saver for me in 2019.

I didn't know what I was in for last year, and I am very glad I had Noom to help me get through some very turbulent times.

Want to check out Noom?  This is my referral link.