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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

MBS 2018 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge

http://bookishthingsandmore.com/2017/12/2018-netgalley-edelweiss-reading-challenge-sign.html

Welcome to the fifth annual Netgalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge!
This Challenge is hosted by Bookish Things & More where the sign up and rules can be found

Levels:
Bronze – 10 Books
Silver – 25 Books
Gold – 50 Books
Platinum – 75 Books
Diamond – 100 Books

I just made my goal of Gold in 2017 with 51 NetGalley books read and reviewed. I think I can accomplish the Gold level again this year with my reading plan.
I will try to post the monthly book list and progress here this year. Reviews will be linked as completed.

JANUARY:
1. What if God Wrote Your To-Do List? by Jay Payleitner.

MBS Audiobook Challenge 2018

2018 Audiobook Challenge

The Audiobook Challenge is back for 2018!

Join Hot Listens and Caffeinated Reviewer for the 6th year of audiobook fun.
Click on either site for the sign up, rules and resources for audiobooks.

I love listening to Audiobooks. Here are some of the times I listen: while doing chores (laundry, gardening, housework, etc), while walking, while putting on make-up and getting dressed, while driving, when going to sleep.

THE LEVELS:
Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
Stenographer (can listen while multi-tasking) 10-15
Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+

I completed 79 Audiobooks in 2017 so I will stick with MARATHONER Status again this year.
Since I keep a WORD docx with the list, I should be able to add the books here monthly to keep track of my progress.
Reviews will be linked as completed.

JANUARY 2018
1. Year One by Nora Roberts.


Monday, January 1, 2018

MBS First Book of the Year 2018

I am glad that Sheila (at Book Journey) is hosting this for the fifth year. 
Hop over to her blog to see the many choices of First Books that bloggers have picked.

It has been my practice to pick a book relating to my faith beliefs. This is one I picked up at NetGalley a week or so ago and thought it would be good to start the year off.




What If God Wrote Your To-Do List?:
52 Ways to Make the Most of Every Day
by Jay Payleitner 

What is God Asking You "To-Do" Today?

When you talk to God about His plans for you, do you tend to focus on the far-off future? Big-picture thinking is great, but don't miss out on what the Lord has in store for you today.

These 52 easy tasks will help you embrace opportunities to grow closer to God, reach out to others, and take better care of yourself. This is a to-do list for your soul.

Read a Psalm, talk to a neighbor, or right a wrong. These are just a few examples of the simple activities that will enrich your everyday life.

God is calling you to make the most of each day and live life to the fullest!



(I realized I forgot to include my picture in my own blog post :-). Here it is:)

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Sunday Post December 31, 2017/It's Monday! What are You Reading? Plus Mailbox Monday January 1, 2018


I am linking with Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading now at The Book Date.

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I have relaxed some this week - as much as a grandmother can with twin 16 month old grandchildren and a 5 year old granddaughter.
We have huddled inside a lot since the weather is running from 5° to 14° and we are surely not used to the cold!
I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!

I enjoyed all of my listening and reading last week. I finished two Audibles, one print and one  ebook. I posted four (NetGalley) reviews, four Goodread reviews (children's books) and the usual memes.

I visited only 15 blogs early in the week.
No Shout Out this week as I was still focused on getting through the week and the visits.
Thank you to all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts:
  • eNG- Book Review: Coiled by H. L. Burke; Adaptations, Fairy Tale, Retellings; my rating 4.75.
  • Print- Goodreads Book Review: Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins; Animals, Children, Learning; my rating 5.0.
  • eTBR- Goodreads Book Review: Bear Learns to Share by Lily Lexington; Animals, Children, Learning; my rating 4.0.

Finished Reading:
1. Print (Publisher)


Into the Guns (America Rising)
by William C. Dietz

This was entertaining.
I will start book two when I return home.
I received this from the publisher to read before book three which I have at NetGalley.
Click on book title for full description.



2. Audible/MP3 (TBR)


Cast in Shadow
Chronicles of Elantra, Book 1
By: Michelle Sagara
Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
I liked this in the end.
I picked this from my Audible TBR Shelf.
Click on book title for full description.



3. Audible/MP3 (TBR)
When a Child Is Born cover art


When a Child Is Born
A Chronicles of St. Mary's Short Story
By: Jodi Taylor
Narrated by: Zara Ramm
Series: The Chronicles of St Mary's, Book 2.5
I had time to squeeze in one last Audible TBR
and this series is quick, fun listening.
Publisher's Summary
The time-travel series that everyone's talking about.... Jodi Taylor's The Chronicles of St. Mary's is back with a short story.
It's Christmas Day 1066, and a team from St Mary's is going to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror. Or so they think.... However, history seems to have different plans for them, and when Max finds herself delivering a child in a peasant's hut, she can't help wondering what history is up to.
Jodi Taylor is and always has been a history nut. Her disinclination to get out of bed for anything after 1485 can only be overcome by massive amounts of chocolate and sometimes, if it's raining, not even then.She wanted to write a book about time travel that was a little different and, not having a clue how difficult this would make her book to classify, went ahead and slung in elements of history, adventure, comedy, romance, tragedy, and anything else she could think of. Her advice to booksellers is to buy huge numbers of her books and just put one on every shelf.
©2013 Jodi Taylor (P)2015 Audible, Ltd



4. eBook/Kindle (TBR)



Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles Book 1)
by Marissa Meyer
This was in my Kindle library since 2014 and I decided this was a good time to read it.
I really liked it and picked up book two with my December Audible Credits.
The #1 New York Times Bestselling Series!
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.




Currently Reading:
1. eBook/Kindle (NGTBR)
This will be revealed on my post January 1, 2018!



2. Audible/MP3 (TBR)



Year One
By: Nora Roberts
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Duration: 12 hrs and 20 mins
This seemed a good choice to start a new year since "it began on New Year's Eve."
Publisher's Summary
A stunning new novel from the number-one New York Times best-selling author - an epic of hope and horror, chaos and magic, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives...
It began on New Year's Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed - and more than half of the world's population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river - or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
©2017 Nora Roberts (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, Inc.



3. eBook/Kindle (NG)


Precisely at Midnight (Kinsman Book 2)
by Joyce and Alexandra Swann
Isn't this cover beautiful?
This is one of my NetGalley/Alphabet/
TBR titles for 2018.
When Carol Pensworth accepts her invitation to begin a new life, her first assignment is to redeem victims of human trafficking. But Carol quickly learns that with Kinsman, one invitation always leads to another, and then another, and then another....
You are invited...to experience the hope of redemption and the power of second chances in a holiday story that celebrates the value of every life.



December 31, 2017 - I finished for 2017 and am ready to start a new year of reading in the One Year Bible. I have been reading along with my husband and others from our church. I hope to take more time this year, staying on the day and listening to the companion commentary online.


I completed 4 books and posted only 4 reviews (plus some children book reviews at Goodreads). I still have 10 reviews to finish for the end of this year.  Maybe I'll have some time this week to double up reviews. 
I am a little more up-to-date linking my reviews at Goodreads, Amazon and Audible.
My NetGalley shelf is at 20 with six older 2017 and 14 picked up the past month. I still have one committed author title in queue and many through InstaFreebie.


We're working on two more fiction books soon to add to eTreasure's NetGalley page.


Welcome to Mailbox Monday.

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) and after a tour of hosts has returned to its permanent home at Mailbox Monday. Thanks to the ladies sharing hosting duties: Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and (yours truly). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
I bought one Audible daily deal and selected two December credit titles.
I didn't purchase any Kindle titles this week.
As usual, I picked up more free kindle titles as usual. (Note these are in my Amazon library, NOT on my Kindle until I download and transfer them.)
Are your mailbox and TBR piles blooming?

Review Titles
I picked this up at NetGalley to include as "Z" in my 2018 Alphabet Challenge.


Zen Pencils--Inspirational Quotes for Kids
by Gavin Aung Than




Won
NONE

Purchased
I picked up 3 new Audible titles:
12/27 Daily Deal $3.95
Mean Streak cover artMean Streak
By: Sandra Brown

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
Release date: 08-19-14


12/31/2017 December Credits:
Scarlet
By: Marissa Meyer
Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Duration: 11 hrs and 19 mins



Year One
By: Nora Roberts
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Duration: 12 hrs and 20 mins



Free
I added some of last week's free Kindle titles to get 72 free Kindle titles to my library this week! Titles found linked through Bookbub, Bookfun, Ereader News Today, Free Par-tay, Ignite Your Book, Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink or Kindle ebooks.

Sunday Words of Encouragement December 31, 2017

We braved the 7° weather this morning to attend Church locally with our son’s family.
The worship songs were good and we enjoyed sharing in communion to anticipate the New Year.

The Pastor shared a message on Abundant Generosity: being selfless (Galatians 2:20), not tight handed (2 Corinthians 8:2-3), believing in God’s blessings (Matthew 21:22) and believing that He provides more than enough (Ephesians 3:20-21). We should also be thanking God even before we receive the blessings. Mark 11:24.

I was listening through my New Year’s Songs in my song list when
my son suggested this one by Five Iron Frenzy:
Verses for Today:
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Lord - I seek Your Will as I set out on a New Year by Your Grace!


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