Saturday, April 25, 2015

Dewey's April 2015 Readathon Complete Post: All the Happenings from This Wonderful Day



Opening Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

I am reading from North Carolina in the awesome USA!


2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?


All of them of course!


3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?


Reese's Pieces


4) Tell us a little something about yourself!


I am a biology graduate student that blogs about books in her free time. I am also a Christian, so I read a lot of christian fiction. I also love reading clean YA, children's novels, fantasy, and clean adult romance novels.


5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?


I enjoyed the readathon so much last year that I think I'll do exactly the same: have fun :)


Hour 2 Mini Challenge: Classic Words of Wisdom


This hour's mini challenge is hosted by A Literary Odyssey and the challenge can be found here. Here is a quote about this hours challenge:
 So, for this challenge, you need to create a post highlighting your favorite "Classic Words of Wisdom" and then explain their meaning to you.
For this challenge, I thought of one of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis. Here is one of my favorite quotes by him:
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. 
Hour 3 Mini Challenge: 4 Seasons 4 Books

The hour 3 mini challenge is hosted by Bart's Bookshelf and the challenge can be found here. In this challenge, you have to represent the four seasons with four books. Here is my entry:
A photo posted by Jessica Bradley (@blog_gal) on
Hour 7 Mini-Challenge

This challenge can be found here. For this challenge, I had to find 3 book covers: one with a tree, one with snow, and one with a weapon. Here is what I found:

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now?

I am currently in the middle of three books:

  • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
  • Son by Lois Lowry

2. How many books have you read so far?

I have read

  • Spiderwick Chronicles 1 and 2 (Children's Fiction)
  • The Care and Feeding of Sprites (Part of Spiderwick Chronicles)
  • Amulet, Vol. 1 (Graphic Novel)
  • Fairy Tales (Graphic Novel)
So I have read 5 books all together.


3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

I am really looking forward to Son by Lois Lowry.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Yes, I have been taking breaks and spending time with my husband. It is a great time to rest the eyes and I enjoyed it.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

I am surprised by how much people are talking on Twitter. It is the best part of the readathon!



Ongoing Reading Progress



  • Completed The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide (Book 1, 107 pages)
  • Completed Amulet, Vol. 1 (185 pages)
  • Completed The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone (Book 2, 108 pages)
  • Completed The Care and Feeding of Sprites from the Spiderwick Chronicles (35 pages)
  • Completed Fairy Tales, Vol. 4 (174 pages)
  • Completed The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (141 pages)
  • Read 42 pages of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neal Gaiman
  • Read 47 pages of Son by Lois Lowry

Friday, April 24, 2015

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon (Saturday, April 25): Reading Goals and TBR Grab Pile

Button made by: http://www.truebookaddict.com/
Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is coming up very soon! Woohoo! You can sign up for the readathon here. Did you miss my announcement of participation in the readathon, my updated book recommendations for readathons or my post about my overall goals for this readathon?

Today, I am going to talk about my reading goals for this readathon and show you my TBR grab pile. Here are my reading goals:
  • Out of these 21 hours that I was awake, I read actively for 8.5 hours. For this readathon, I hope to read actively for at least 10 hours.
  • Read 1000 pages. In the october readathon, I read 859 pages (including graphic novels and childrens chapter books). My average reading pace overall was 1.68 pages/minute. By this rate and the additional hours that I plan to read, I should be able to reach this goal.
  • Last readathon, I finished 2 adult novellas, 1 graphic novel, and 3 children's novels, for a total of 6 books. This readathon, I hope to finish 7 books.
Now for my TBR grab pile. These are the books that I plan on choosing from during the readathon.  I may grab some other books, but these are the ones that I am particularly interested in at the moment. There are too many in my grab pile to discuss here, so I have created a shelf on Goodreads that can be found here.

Are you signed up for Dewey's 24H Readathon? If not, you can sign up here. Do you want to be a cheerleader? You can learn more about being a cheerleader and how to sign up here. Do you want to host a mini-challenge? You can sign up for hosting a mini-challenge here.

If you are signed up for the read-a-thon, what are your goals?  I would love to hear about your read-a-thon progress during and after the read-a-thon! Comment below or tweet me at @blog_gal.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon (April 18, 2015): Overall Goals

Button made by: http://www.truebookaddict.com/


Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is coming up very soon and there is still time to sign up! You can sign up for the readathon here. Did you miss my announcement of participation in the readathon or my updated book recommendations for readathons?

Today, I am going to talk about my overall goals for the readathon. 

  • For the last Dewey's readathon in October, I had a goal of participating in all 24 hours of the readathon. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap during the readathon.  For this readathon, I hope to participate in all 24 hours. 
  • I want to cheer as much as possible :)
  • Tweet (@blog_gal) updates about my reading progress as much as possible.
  • Write a wrap-up post the day after the readathon.
  • Track progress on a spreadsheet similar to the one that can be found here.
Are you signed up for Dewey's 24H Readathon? If not, you can sign up here. Do you want to be a cheerleader? You can learn more about being a cheerleader and how to sign up here. Do you want to host a mini-challenge? You can sign up for hosting a mini-challenge here.

If you are signed up for the read-a-thon, what are your goals?  I would love to hear about your read-a-thon progress during and after the read-a-thon! Comment below or tweet me at @blog_gal.

Monday, April 20, 2015

FREE BOOK: Fields of Elysium

Fields of Elysium
by A.B. Whelan
Best seller in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy
4.3 stars on 86 reviews
Price: $0.00 Save $14.35

Award-Winning Author


CAN LOVE MEND A HEART FULL OF HATE?
Small town girl, Molly Bennett, moves to Los Angeles where she becomes an outsider while attending Beverly Hills High School. It seems life cannot be any more dreadful.
Then one day after school, something magical happens. On a secluded hike in the Hollywood Hills, Molly chases her disobedient mutt and only friend into a hidden cavern. She stumbles upon a strange glimmering gateway that transports her to Arkana, a planet that is the cradle of an advanced human race. There, teenagers navigate amazing flying vehicles, compete in perilous games for glory, and possess supernatural powers.
While Molly tries to wrap her mind around this unbelievable discovery, she meets the alluring and mysterious Victor Sorren. He is a Sentinel Apprentice, whose hatred toward people from Earth is beyond understanding. Yet every time Victor unpredictably saves Molly’s life, his heart draws closer to hers, no matter how much he tries to fight against it. It further complicates things that their growing friendship is strictly forbidden. Earth people are prohibited in Arkana, yet Molly continues to cross through the portal to Arkana to see Victor.
Torn between their double lives, they go down a dangerous path, from where there is no return and multiple endings.
Would you fight to be with the one you truly love? What cost would you be willing to sacrifice for that love?
Fields of Elysium Dream Cast
Fields of Elysium Book Trailer
Fields of Elysium Playlist on YouTube
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After reading this story you will find your heart racing whenever you enter a cave.