TBD Bingo - January 2019

I play monthly Bingo in The Book Democracy on Facebook and that helps motivate me. It makes me step out of my comfort zone and challenges me. I love it.

Here is January's card:

I was determined to have a Bingo Blackout this month. To be honest, this is my goal every month. I am a bit competitive and I love a challenge. I researched books that would fit perfectly with the prompts. I am allowed two "Double Dips" but I still needed to come up with twenty three books. It was a challenge but after many revisions, I found books for each prompt and completed the card on January 20th. 

The End Of The Affair	Graham Green	Book that is older than you & Audiobook (DD)
I Believe In A Thing Called Love	Maurene Goo	Any Book/FREE SPACE
The One	Kiera Cass	Strong Female Lead & Read a Book in One Day (DD)
On What Grounds	Cleo Coyle	Beverage on the cover
Fairest of All	Serena Valentino	Villain Main Character
A Little Side of Geek	Maguerite Labbe	LGBTQIA Main Character
Weregirl	C.D. Bell	Shape shifting character
The Blue Witch	Alane Adams	Book with magic
Becoming	Michelle Obama	Book you meant to read in 2018
Side Effects May Vary	Julie Murphy	Debut novel
I'd Rather Be Reading	Anne Bogel	Nonfiction
Alex & Eliza	Melissa De La Cruz	Silhouette on cover
Axios: A Spartan Tale	Jaclyn Osborn	Set in NONFICTION ancient culture
My Plain Jane	Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows	Multiple POV
City of Bones	Cassandra Clare	Artist Main Character
City of Ashes	Cassandra Clare	Yearly TBR Challenge
The Haunting of Hill House	Shirley Jackson	Intimidating book
The List	Siobhan Vivian	Issue Facing Society Today (Bullying)
Into The Wild	Jon Krakauer	Based on a true story
The Library Book	Susan Orlean	Celebrity Book Club Pick
On Writing	Stephen King	Book that should be taught in school
My Most Excellent Year	Steve Kluger	“Year” in title
The Similars	Rebecca Hanover	Science Fiction

InkedBookDragon

Monthly Wrap-Up : January 2019 (Better Late Than Never)

Hello again.

January was a good month for me in terms of reading. In December, I set my goodreads yearly challenge for 2019 to 200 books. It is optimistic but I feel that I can definitely shoot for it. Some years, that number is obtainable. Other years, I am lucky to read 100 books. I am attacking the challenge with a combination of physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. We shall see if I meet my goal.

January's Total Books Read: 36

Books Read:

The End Of The Affair	Graham Green
I Believe In A Thing Called Love	Maurene Goo
The One	Kiera Cass
On What Grounds	Cleo Coyle
Fairest of All	Serena Valentino
A Little Side of Geek	Maguerite Labbe
Weregirl	C.D. Bell
The Blue Witch	Alane Adams
Becoming	Michelle Obama
Side Effects May Vary	Julie Murphy
Identity Theft	Rachel Rosenthal
The Third Man	Mani Sherian
Black Sheep	Rory Scholl
Two Henrys	Kevin Allison
I'd Rather Be Reading	Anne Bogel
Sh*t My Dad Says	Justin Halpern
Alex & Eliza	Melissa De La Cruz
Axios: A Spartan Tale	Jaclyn Osborn
My Plain Jane	Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
City of Bones	Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes	Cassandra Clare
The Haunting of Hill House	Shirley Jackson
The List	Siobhan Vivian
Into The Wild	Jon Krakauer
Batman: Year Two	Mike W. Karr
The Library Book	Susan Orlean
On Writing	Stephen King
My Most Excellent Year	Steve Kluger
City of Glass	Cassandra Clare
The Similars	Rebecca Hanover
The Heir	Kiera Cass
The Crown	Kiera Cass
Happily Ever After	Kiera Cass
Clockwork Angel	Cassandra Clare
Slayer	Kiersten White
The Egg and Other Stories	Andy Weir

It truly was a great month!

InkedBookDragon

"A Change Would Do You Good"

Hello Everyone!

I believe that Sheryl Crow said it best when she sang that "A Change Would Do You Good.". We tend to fear change. It is frightening and unpredictable. No one likes it. We must embrace change. No matter how hard it may be.

This is the second time that I have decided to institute changes to the blog. Some of the changes that I mentioned before (see "Changes Ahead..." 11/28/17) were put into place. Some of them have yet to be started but I hope to bring them in soon.

Changes that are already in place:

• Author Spotlights
• Series Spotlights
• Blog Tours
• Email Subscription (just added)

Changes that have yet to be set in place:

• Giveaways
• Video Reviews

I would still like to apply all of the above changes to the blog in addition to these:

• Current Reads
• TBR Lists
• Reading Challenges
• Monthly Wrap-ups

Excited about the new changes that are coming. Thank you for reading. Be sure to sign up for the new email subscription. It is a great feature and I am very happy about being able to add it to the blog. 

InkedBookDragon

*A Change Would Do You Good [Recorded by Sheryl Crow]. Sheryl Crow. Hollywood, CA: A&M.

Community

Hello Readers!

It has been one of those weeks. Utter chaos every time I attempted to work on stuff. There has not been enough coffee to handle this week. Friday! Finally!

I have been thinking a lot about the concept of communities. Random, I know. I have been thinking about how communities can be amazing support systems but they can also aid in ruin. I have been seeing this a lot recently. Communities can lift you up but can also pile on and make it where you can’t stand. The literary community is no different.

For the most part, I have seen some amazing things in the literary community. Authors and readers banding together to help each other. Authors want to get their work out there. Readers help them do that with reviews. Readers want to take part in the adventures within the pages. They want to feel.  Both benefit from the exchange. After all, can one truly be an author without readers? People bond over books. TBR lists grow. Friendships are made. It is wonderful to see and take part in.

There are many positives to being a part of the literary community. There are also negatives. A person puts their writing out there and it can be stolen. This has always happened but now it is much easier. People can hide behind their screens  and troll authors. They say all the things that they would never say in real life. An exchange can take place and the world will know about it within just a matter of minutes. This can make or break a career.

Some things I have learned while being immersed in the literary community:

Every one has a story. It may be their personal story and never be put to words for others to read but it is there. Take the time to listen. You never know what you may encounter.

It takes a lot of guts to put your work out there. Your writing is your baby and it can cause great anxiety to share it with the world. To all of those that have, I commend you. To all of those that have yet to take that leap, you got this. One day, you will find your voice.

Be honest when reviewing. Do not rate based on friendships or bonds. Rate based on what you read. You don’t need to be cruel to be kind in this case but you do need to be honest.

Keep in mind that not every story is for you. Some books may be for the person next to you or the person on the other side of the world. Do not try to force anyone to love what you do. With that said, do not ridicule someone for their reading choices.

The list could go on and on...

If you take anything from this, let it be that being a part of the literary community can be a wonderful thing. It really depends on what you bring to it.


InkedBookDragon


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Dread Nation

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Published by Blazer + Bray

Published on April 3, 2018

Genre(s): Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Young Adult

Page Count: 464

Source: Purchased

Format: Hardcover

📘📘📘📘📘

Book Description:

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.

In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.

But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose.

But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies.

And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.


Hello Readers.

I had heard about this book long before I read it. I was hesitant because I was not sure how a book of this nature would work. Zombies and the Civil War? What?! Inserting zombies into any real life situation has the potential to just fall apart. I definitely was not sure how one would insert zombies into one of the most intense and important periods in America's history. The room for error was great.
I started this book with some apprehension. Would the author pull it off?

Wow! She did! Beautifully melding the elements together, the author made the story come alive. (Yes, pun intended.) Strong characters. I found myself truly hating some of them and wishing them harm. Other characters warmed my heart and I wanted nothing more than for them to succeed. So many components that could have caused the story to fall apart but they were brought together in such a way that I was blown away.

I am rating this book Five Blue Books because it was such an incredible read. I cannot wait for the sequel! It cannot come out soon enough!  Highly recommend!


InkedBookDragon

Author Spotlight: Ana Calin

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ANA CALIN

"Born in vampire land Romania and living in romantic Germany, Ana Calin writes paranormal romance with vampires, shifters and other mysterious creatures who stalk their love interests from behind mirrors, or using other paranormal powers. Dark, intense, these love stories are not for the faint of heart.

Influences: I.T. Lucas, Bella Forrest, Christine Feehan."


Published Works:
Christmas Stories
The Blacksmith
Hyperion
The Revenge of Audrey Jones
The Executioner: Part One (A Superpowers Romance, #1)
The Executioner: Part Two (A Superpowers Romance, #2)
The Soul Trapper (A Superpowers Romance, #3)
The Devil's Elixir (A Superpowers Romance, #4)
Prince of Midnight (Dracula's Bloodline, #1)
Prince of Obsession (Dracula's Bloodline, #2)
Prince of Blood (Dracula's Bloodline, #3)

https://ana-calin.com/
Amazon

Ana Calin writes in such a way that the reader is transported into her stories, feeling as though they are a part of them. This is a sign of a fantastic storyteller. I have not read her entire body of work at this time but intend to correct this soon.  I look forward to seeing what she does in the future. She is definitely an author to watch.

**Bio above is from her Amazon Page and is not my personal words.