What We Read in October: Our Spooky TBRs

H A P P Y   H A L L O W E E N ! ! !

Did you read any good, scary books this October? We set ourselves some goals, while also providing some recommendations, and this post is where we see how we did all month. You can see how much progress we made on our Spooky TBRs below, as well as check out our reviews for the ones we did get to. =)

April's Spooky TBR

April's Progress:

3 / 9

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (Review)

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Mulberry

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Review)

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

The Bargaining by Carly Anne West

The Fall by Bethany Griffin (Review)

So there you have it. A total fail. I had high hopes, but I didn't do nearly as good with this list as I did with my summer list. I blame the new job for everything! lol. I'm happy with the three I did finish though. If you could see how behind I am on reading, you'd be proud of me too! :)

Jen's Spooky TBR

Jen's Progress:

9 / 15

Chaos by Sarah Fine (review)

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (review)

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan (review)

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

In the After Light by Alexandra Bracken

Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake

Lailah by Nikki Kelly (review)

Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini (review)

Creed by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie

Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (review soon)

Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick (review)

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios (review soon)

The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas (review)

I knew I wouldn't be able to get to all of these, especially In the After Light which only just released this week. But I think I did pretty okay, all things considered. I was looking at my Fall TBR, and I think I have a real shot at finishing all of those books before the end of November. And I did read/listen to one ghost story that wasn't on my list, but it was a total waste of my time. Oh, well...

What spooky books did you read this month? Also, we were thinking of doing something similar for Christmas...have any recs for us? I can only think of a few Christmas-themed books, and at least one of those would be a re-read for me. :D

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Labels: halloween, holidays, reading challenges, spooky reads, TBR pile, what we read

The End of Summer TBR Wrap-up

Can you believe summer is over already? Neither can we! We read some great books -- and some not-so-great books -- and now it's time to check our progress and see how many of the books we actually read on our Summer TBR Lists. If you'll remember, we set two lists of ten for ourselves: one with summer-themed stories and one with new releases and/or review titles on it. (This challenge is originally based off of our Summer Reads & Recs post, the What We Would Put in Our Summer Beach Bag TTT post, and the What's on Our Summer TBR TTT post.) We did surprisingly well and even managed to review most of them! Shocker, I know.

So, here's Jen's Summer Fun TBR and what she managed to get read over the last few months:


The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han - only the first book but I do plan on finishing the series
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick (review)
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (review)
Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn (review)
A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger
Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols
From What I Remember by Stacey Kramer & Valerie Thomas (review)
In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (review)
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

Seven out of ten -- technically 12 with that Summer trilogy in there, but who's counting -- ain't bad, right? I'll have to save those that I didn't get to for next summer...or for when the weather finally turns colder and I need something to remind me of summer. =)

And here's April's Summer-y TBR and what she accomplished:

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (Review)
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (Review)
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Review)
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick - I'm sad I didn't get to this one.
Stray by Elissa Susssman - I was silly to think I'd get to this one. It doesn't come out till October.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Review)
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis (Review)
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (Review)
Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid  (Review)
Nantucket Red by Leila Howland (Review)

Heck Freaking Yes!!! Not bad I say! Not bad. I wish I could have finished them all but this summer was crazy busy. I'm surprised I was able to finish as many as I did.

The following are the books that Jen wanted to read this summer that don't necessarily have a summer-y theme...new releases, review copies, etc.:

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (review very soon, plus a stop on the blog tour!)
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (review)
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (review)
Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater (review)
Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios
Where the Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton (review)
Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Wild by Alex Mallory (review)
The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Over half! And I've got two of these on my TBR for the VERY near future. After reviews started rolling in for Trial by Fire and The Jewel, I decided not to devote time to them, but April seems to have enjoyed The Jewel -- which we were supposed to buddy-read together, oops! -- so I may add that one back in...or see if my library gets it on audio. :D

Here are the books April challenged herself to finish reading over the summer:


Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt  (Review)
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson  (Review)
Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore - DNF
The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett  (Review)
One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington (Review)
Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid (Review)
Some Boys by Patty Blount (Review)
Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo - DNF
How to Fall by Jane Casey -DNF
The Jewel by Amy Ewing  (Review)

Well if you can over look the fact that I have 3 DNF's, I did them all! I tried, but those books just weren't working for me. And technically Lets Get Lost was a DNF, but I read enough of it that I had something to say. :)


Did you challenge yourself to finish any certain books this summer? We'd love to hear how much you accomplished toward your goal! And check back next month because we'll be challenging ourselves to read some spooky reads just in time for Halloween!

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Labels: 2014, discussion, funfunfun, reading challenges, summer, TBR pile

Happy 4th of July + Our Summer TBR Piles Revisited

Happy 4th of July!!!

We hope you're spending the day with family and friends, celebrating the independence of this great nation. Or, ya know, at least eatin' some BBQ, knockin' a cold one back, and watchin' the kids play in the sprinklers. That's what we'll be doing, after all. :D

Jen: I know me and Katie will be! And we'll also be blowing some stuff up once it gets dark. Thank goodness for living in the country! =) Here's a pic of Katie modeling her new swimsuit and of her showing off the fish she caught in the pond behind our house:

April: We will be heading to my SIL's house for the 4th. She hosts the family get together, because in my community fireworks are forbidden! Seriously, 500 dollar fine if you're caught. I envy Jen's country living. I guess it's for the best since it's so wooded up where I'm at. In the theme of fish... Aubrey went fishing with daddy today and caught her first one. She's way to girly to hold it up like Katie though. lol. This is the closest she would let the fish get to her so I'm told.

Okay, now down to business. We're actually going to hold ourselves accountable for what we put on our Summer TBRs because we challenged ourselves to quite a bit, so we're going to use today's post to kind of monitor our progress. This challenge is based off of our Summer Reads & Recs post, the What We Would Put in Our Summer Beach Bag TTT post, and the What's on Our Summer TBR TTT post.

Here's Jen's Summer Fun TBR and what she's read so far:


The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
*Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn - Just started the audio! :D
A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger
Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols
From What I Remember by Stacey Kramer & Valerie Thomas - DNF'd halfway through :(
In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker

I'm not off to a bad start. Gotta pick up the pace, though, because that first one is actually three books!

And here's April's Summer-y TBR:

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - oh my gosh, so much love. reviewing soon.
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Stray by Elissa Susssman
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson - Just started the Audio and it's super cute so far!
Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid - This one is coming up soon in my list. Pretty excited.
Nantucket Red by Leila Howland

Not bad I must say! Not sure if I'll get to all of them but I'm going to try! Thank goodness for Audio books, otherwise I'd only have two books scratched off so far.

The following are the books that Jen wanted to read this summer that don't necessarily have a summer-y theme...new releases, review copies, etc.:

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
*Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas - Just started this one, had to re-read the previous books first!
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - hasn't released yet, but I did read the chapter sample and it was sooooooo adorable!
Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater - I'll be reviewing this next week!
Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios
Where the Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton - Uh oh, this releases VERY soon. :(
Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Wild by Alex Mallory - Just reviewed this on Wednesday.
The Jewel by Amy Ewing - buddy reading this one with April later this summer

Okay, so I'm not doing so hot on this list. But I'm working on it. :) It's really hard to prioritize reads because on one hand, I feel the urge to stick to my "schedule" but on the other...I just want to read what I want to read in that moment. *le sigh*

Here are the books April challenged herself to finish reading over the summer:


Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt  - Read this one last week, still need to review
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson  - Just finished this. OMG, so freaking good!
Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore - starting this one over the weekend.
The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett
One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington
Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Some Boys by Patty Blount
Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo
How to Fall by Jane Casey
The Jewel by Amy Ewing - I cannot wait to read this with Jen. <3

Like Jen, I'm not doing as hot with this list. But I think that is because all of these are for review, and my other summer picks have just been ones I want to read, so audio has been an option. Not on this list though, it's all galleys. I'm making my way through it though. I think I'll get at least most of them scratched off before the summer ends.


What books are on your Summer TBR pile? Did you challenge yourself to finish any certain books this summer? We'd love to hear how your progress is going!

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Labels: holidays, reading challenges, summer, TBR pile