Reading Progress

Monday:

Finished The Bootlegger's Daughter by Lauri Robinson

Continued to read Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin

Tuesday:

Finished Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin

Started The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin - 10% read

Wednesday:

Continued with The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin (40% read) - so far, it is a much better story than Butterfly Swords

Challenges Completed

Monday:

Describe yourself in six words - I posted via Twitter https://twitter.com/tea_rain_book/status/899554770326892544

Tuesday:

Skipped

Wednesday:

Rainbow spine pic posted to IG https://www.instagram.com/p/BXm9lPTBN_U/?taken-by=tearainbook

Comments

Reading progress going okay. Challenges are okay. Can't do the Twitter chats due to time zones (2am is either for sleeping or reading). Getting more reading done than I thought I would with the few PTO events I have to prep and go to.

*sigh* I should have DNF at 30%, but I already DNF'd two other books on my COYER reading list and didn't want to start a trend.

Norma Rose Nightingale was an unlikeable heroine - cold, unforgiving, mean. She wasn't that great of a business woman, even though the reader is told over and over again how the resort turned in massive profits due to her work. She was a caricature of the "hard dame" type of woman of the Jazz Age. Although she was smart and had opinions about Prohibition failing which turned true, she was pretty dumb when it came to people. Tyler Bradshaw wasn't much better - he had a single mission that gave him all the motivation for everything he did. Both had tragic back stories that rang false (Norma Rose doesn't want to nurse anyone if they are sick because she had to take care of her dead mother and brother during the Spanish flu outbreak; Tyler had his family massacred by the mobster he is searching for at the resort).

The plotline and scenes were really disjointed; the author seemed not to understand the balance of suspense and romance. Plot threads were brought up and drop with frequency. The whole point of the plot was for Tyler to bring Ray Bodine to justice....and the reader got one paragraph about how Tyler took him done after the fact. This was the major plot line, the whole reason for Tyler to be there at the resort in the first place, and it was resolved away from the resort and with no details. The ending was very abrupt and unsatisfying.

The calendar might say it is still summer, but the English weather is definitely mid-October like. This upcoming week is the last COYER read-a-thon for summer and Bout of Books cycle 20. So my plan this weekend is to get two print books done before putting aside the rest until the read-a-thon is over or I run out of e-books. In non-reading plans, this weekend will be back to school shopping and going through the kids closets so I can donate/hand me down clothes and know what they need. Ten days to first day of school!

Here's my list for the weekend/week ahead:

1. Emma and the Outlaw (Orphan Train #2) by Linda Lael Miller - 41% read

    I'm in a puzzle with this book; on one hand, I am not feeling the MCs and on the other hand, I am sort of interested in the plotline. The heroine is playing a dangerous game with both the hero and the villain, but she is decent otherwise. The hero is a former Confederate soldier (why am I reading this right now??), hoping for the South to rise again and who does not understand, nor respect, the heroine's boundaries (oh hi early 90s historical romance *waves hand*). I won't be reading the other two books in the series.

2. Secret Agent Under Fire by Geri Krotow - 15% read

    I would have gotten this book done already if it weren't for the bitchy heroine. Again, pacing issues.

3. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin - 12% read

    I started this book in mid-July. The slowest pace of a book. Something please happen soon! This book is the first in the series, so I am forcing myself to finish it so I can understand what is going on in the later books. I could really use a dose of Li Bai Shen right about now.

4. The Bootlegger's Daughter by Lauri Robinson - 12% read

    I started this book in mid-July, after Butterfly Swords lulled me to sleep. I am not feeling either hero, the heroine, or the plot. I'll give it to 30%; if it doesn't move the plot or the characters get better, it is going into the DNF pile.

5. The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin

6. The Sword Dancer by Jeannie Lin

7. A Dance with Danger by Jeannie Lin

COYER continues and I'm doing the 24in48 read-a-thon this month. RB Bingo squares being filled by COYER books and library finds. Pop Sugar is on hold until the autumn, when I can give it the attention it deserves. COYER read-a-thon this month is physical books only, so I have some COYER reading list books on reserve for that.

1. Rock Courtship: A Rock Kiss Novella by Nalini Singh (COYER) (RB Bingo) (Library Love Challenge)- reading this one for the "heroine is taller than the hero" square. Not really feeling Singh's writing TBH, but it is only a novella and I have read much worse in the rock star niche.

2. The Rake's Redemption by Regina Scott (COYER) (RB Bingo) (Library Love Challenge) - reading this one for the "rake/rogue in the title" square....funny, read a lot of rakes/rogues in my historical reading, yet very few have those words in the title.

3. Licensed for Trouble (PJ Sugar #3) by Susan May Warren (COYER) (Library Love Challenge) - whenever the person who currently has it borrowed from OverDrive returns it, I am next in line for it. This is the last book in the series. Hurry up fellow library patron!!!

4. A Dance with Danger by Jeannie Lin (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - time to work on completing the Tang Dynasty series. I have four books left to read.

5. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - another Tang Dynasty book.

6. The Doctor's Undoing by Allie Pleiter (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - sequel to Homefront Hero, which I loved. I'm so glad I picked up Ida's story as well during the sale. WWI era romance set in South Carolina.

7. The Bootlegger's Daughter by Lauri Robinson (COYER) (possible RB Bingo)

 - not a war time romance HUZZAH! Love in the time of speakeasies!

8. The Soldier's Dark Secrets by Marguerite Kaye (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - back to Regency and the war with Napoleon. But I love the author's writing, so it should be a stand out.

I decided to do another massive Harlequin binge and extend it to December 20th. This way I have more time dedicated to the binge and I won't burn out on holiday reads before the holidays start. I probably won't get to any more non-fiction books for the rest of the year.

I have a lot on my master list (spreadsheets FTW) but these are the ten I definitely want to read and get off my NOOK:

1. Hearts in Flight by Patty Smith Hall

2. Hearts in Hiding by Patty Smith Hall

3. Hearts Rekindled by Patty Smith Hall

4. A Rose for Major Flint by Louise Allen

5. A Mistress for Major Bartlett by Annie Burrows

6. A Lady for Lord Randall by Sarah Mallory

7. Big Girls Don't Cry by Brenda Novak (currently reading and it is serious WTF crazy sauce)

8. Whispered Promises by Nora Roberts

9. Dangerous Allies by Renee Ryan

10. The Bootlegger's Daughter by Lauri Robinson