Dominika's Reading Challenge

Everything seems new and fresh to me today - a new week, a new year, a new Kindle and a new challenge! This time it's "a book that came out the year you were born" - it was very difficult to find out when all of my TBR books were published. Plus, I needed something short and easy, because I am going to be very busy this week. So - I just looked at the Harlequin list of books and randomly chose one from the right year. And it's: The Promise of Happiness by Betty Neels I know nothing about neither the author, nor the book and I can only hope it's going to be interesting. Fingers crossed!

I'm quite disappointed! I managed to read only five Christmas stories (and one of them wasn't even a Christmas story in the end), because my Kindle got broken on Tuesday and I can't read on a phone. Anyway, here they are: Decker and Joy by Elle Rush It was not a Christmas story at all! It took place in November, but how was I to know? The company was called North Pole, and its CEO was Nick Klaus, plus they produce toys - and there are Christmas ornaments on the cover! Not only wasn't it about Christmas, but also it wasn't too interesting - a bit insipid, I'd say. The Grinch of Starlight Bend by Jennifer Probst Very moving and sweet, but much too short. Anyway, I quite enjoyed it. Santa Baby, I Want A Bad Boy For Christmas by Justine Elvira It was not a real story, just a sex scene pretending to be a story.  The Christmas Project by Maxine Morrey I truly enjoyed this book, it was great! Funny, moving, I liked both Kate and Michael

I'm going to cheat a bit this week - the choice of the book was not a random draw, but - you know, it's Christmas! I think it's the best time to read all those mushy, sweet Christmas romances. So I decided to spend this week reading only these books - I wonder, how many I'll manage to read before I get sick of them.  I prepared a collection of thirty books to choose from - I don't think I'll manage more than five, but it's better to be ready. I hope it will be a pleasurable experience!  Merry Christmas, everyone!

I managed to read this series, but, let's be honest - it was a struggle. It only shows, that it's really not worth keeping some books just because we feel sentimental about them. The series is about a 13-year-old girl, Minako, who finds out that she has magical powers and is supposed to fight against the evil. The girl is full of energy, a bit crazy and really exuberant. I found her character believable, I know some teenagers like her - thay are extremely tiring to work with, but you can't help liking them. She was actually the only thing I enjoyed in this series. I hated all of her enemies - a bunch of childlish, whiny creatures. Her adventures were quite boring and repetitive and I really had to make myself read it. I didn't like Minako's helper, Artemis - tedious and boring.  Generally - I definitely didn't enjoy this reading experience and I'm not going to read graphic novels in the future. Codename: Sailor V left my home for good - which is

A new week, a new problem! This time I got "a graphic novel" and I don't read graphic novels at all. For a moment I thought about reading an illustrated book, but I decided it would be cheating. I have only one manga series on my bookshelf - I haven't read it for fifteen years, but I kept it, because it has sentimental value for me; and the series is: Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi I'm a bit scared of reading it. A ten-year-old me enjoyed a bit different books than now me, but - we'll see. Maybe I'll love it? Or maybe I'll decide it's time to get rid of this series and make some room on my shelf? Let's read!

OK, so it's official now: I definitely have a serious problem with Blandings series. I know it's very popular, many people love it - I don't. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book - it was crazy and funny, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I should.  The book is quite complicated, like all Wodehouse's books, but generally there is this young couple, Ashe and Joan, who have no money. They find out, that an American millionaire is willing to pay a thousand pounds for stealing a scarab from Blandings and they both decide to do it.  The first half was so long and slow, that I really had to make myself read it. It gets better later - the ending was fast and fun, but reading the first half was a chore for me.  I was not a great fan of neither Ashe nor Joan and I was not interested in their romance at all. Aline, Joan's friend, was insipid, and George was so patronising and full of himself, that it was painful to read. I really liked Freddie - he was

Time for a new challenge!  This week I drew "a book turned into a TV show" and I had a serious problem with this one - because I don't watch TV. I had to use the Internet to find out which books from my TBR pile had their own show and I found two.  The final choice for this week is: Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse. I love P.G. Wodehouse, but, for whatever reason, I was never a huge fan of his Blandings series - that's why it was on my TBR list, I definitely need to re-read it. So I'm really happy I'm going to read this book now!

I'm so happy, that I decided to start with this book, because it was just great! I simply flew through it, although it was not a short book - 496 pages. I love Anne Bishop's writing style, so I knew I was going to enjoy the language of the book, I just wasn't sure if I would like the plot. And I did! It was a great story. Meg is hiding from the people trying to hunt her and she hides among the Others. The Others usually don't like humans, but they discover, that Meg is unique - a blood prophet, who can see the future - and they decide to keep her. I especially liked, that the Others were so not human. Usually a werewolf or a vampire is just a man who has some special abilities - well, the Others were not human at all and we kept getting really bloody and horrible moments, like eating a living person or burning somebody's hands. I don't like horrors, but Anne Bishop can write so well, that I enjoyed this book despite those moments. Meg was so sweet a

It's Monday and it's time to begin my new Reading Challenge! :)  The first task is to read some book with a color in the title. I found 17 books with red, blue, green, white and black in the title in my TBR (to be read) pile and I drew randomly. The choice is: Written in Red by Anne Bishop !  I'm very excited about it, because she wrote The Black Jewels series, I love it and I hope I'll like this new series, too - on the other hand, I quite hated her Tir Alainn series, so I'm scared :) Actually, that's the reason why this book spent five years on my TBR pile :) It's high time to read it. Well, time to start. Wish me luck! :)

December just began, so it may seem a bit strange that I started thinking about my 2019 Reading Challenge, but - I'm bored :) My 2018 Challenge was to read 365 books, and I fulfilled it in November. I decided it's time to do something new - and it's my challenge, so I'm the one who decides :) So, what are the rules? I made a list of 52 suggestions what to read next. Every week on Monday I'm going to choose one book using this list and on Sunday I'm going to write if I managed to read it and what I thought about it. I think it's going to be fun :)