Hour 19 Mini Challenge: Picture Break

For this challenge The Bookish Diaries wants photos of the books I've read, the books I have left, the food I'm eating, and the place I've been reading in.

Books I've Read:

Books left (that's my Nook on top):

Where I'm reading - the couch now instead of the bed so my husband can get some sleep:

The snacks I started with that are now gone:

Hour 18 Mini Challenge: Cover Me

From Stacy's Books, this challenge involves choosing your favorites from the 2013 books Stacy has selected across 9 categories.  She also encourages everyone to pick their own that may not be on her list.  Here are mine:

Category 1: Best Tile
From her list: The Blue Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee by Carolyn Brown
My "independent" choice: Ettiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Category 2: Best Dressed
From her list: The Elite by Kiera Cass
My "independent" choice: One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

Category 3: Cutest Couple
From her list: Star Crossed by Jennifer Echols
My "independent" choice: None - I don't have a better one than that for 2013

Category 4: Most Delicious Cover
From her list: Bake it Like You Mean It by Gesine Bullock-Prado
My "independent" choice: Her choices really are the best although The Paleo Slow Cooker cover is starting to look pretty darn good, but that may be because I'm entering that tired = hungry stage.

Category 5: Cutest Animal
From her list: A Little Book of Sloth by Kay Cooke
My "independent" choice: Naw, I can't top that one - it's sooo cuuuute!

Category 6: Cutest Kid
From her list: I'll Take What She Has by Samantha Wilde
My "independent" choice: Although I do love the little feet on Child of Mine by Judy Walters, the Wilde's cover baby grin is fantastic.

Category 7: Best to Avoid in a Dark Alley
From her list: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers - she looks like a woman with a grudge and a knife - way scarier than a guy on a horse with sword
My "independent" choice: Lover At Last by J.R. Ward

Category 8: Best Tatto
From her list: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
My "independent" choice: Falling Blind by Shannon K. Butcher

Category 9: Best Cover
From her list: The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio
My "independent" choice: The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

Hour 17 Mini Challenge: Six Word Celebration

From Esetella's Revenge: Your challenge is to creative a six-word celebration of Dewey's Read-a-Thon. 


Hmmm, six words.  I hope I'm doing this right.  Here: Tea, Snacks, and Stacks of Books.

I'm getting sooo sleepy - good thing I saved my favorite author for the midnight hours.

Hour 16 Mini Challenge: Turn the Page

From Reflections of a Book-A-Holic, turn to page 32 of the book you are currently reading and fill in the blank with the most entertaining phrase to complete the following sentence:
"I would rather read than ______ and day!"

My sentence from Fool for Love by Eloisa James:
"I would rather read than see him play off the airs and graces of their neighbors any day!"  Sorry, it either that or "die in childbirth".  Yay, historical fiction! :-)

Hour 14 Mini Challenge: The Casting Couch

This mini challenge is brought to you by My Little Pocketbooks.  Basically, you assign a real life actor to play the role of a character in the book you're reading.

Book I'm Currently Reading: Fool for Love by Eloisa James (and it's great - I love Eloisa's writing!)
Character name and description: Simon Darby is the famously/notoriously well-dressed heir to a title and a fortune unless his sister-in-law is pregnant with a boy. He's also the sole guardian of his two very young half-sisters with troubling behaviour issues since his father and step-mother's death.  He needs a wife with a fortune and mothering inclinations fast.
Actor: Richard Armitage

Why: Because after North & South you know he can pull off an exquisitely dressed gentleman of the 1800's while coming across more fierce and determined than dandy-ish.

Hour 13 Mini Challenge: Cooking the Books

This challenge is from Azuki's Book Cafe - thanks, Azuki!  I'm supposed to take a popular book title and twist it into a cookbook them with a revised title and introduction.  While it's really difficult to be creative at this point in the challenge (oh gosh, what am I going to be like at 3 AM??), here's mine:

Hard-To-Miss Fowl (original title: Artemis Fowl): Follow along with Ireland's famous 12-year-old genius chef as he explores the ins and outs of cooking chicken and not-chicken as he finally shares his secret "Fairy Dust" spice blend.

Okay, I tried.

Hour 12: Mid-Event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
My eyes aren't tired but I am getting sleepy.

2) What have you finished reading?
Special A, vol. 12 by Maki Minami

Sweet Deception by Heather Snow
Wild Ones, vol. 3 by Kiyo Fujiwara
Wild Ones, vol. 4 by Kiyo Fujiwara


3) What is your favorite read so far?
Sweet Deception by Heather Snow - it was also the longest so far.

4) What about your favorite snacks?
Waffle fries my husband brought me from Chick-Fil-A & the hummus he made me (not together though)

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
I've posted links to everyone hosting a mini-challenge, but I've also glanced over the following:
Sherry Ann's Book Blog
Fighting Dreamer
When Books Attack

Hour 11 Mini Challenge: Picture It!

I promise didn't skip Hour 10 - it was a quiz on Bart's Bookshelf and the answers had to be turned in on the site vs. your blog.

So for Picture It!, hosted by The Book Monsters, I've got a picture of the book I'm currently reading and where I'm reading it:

Seen in this picture:
Fool for Love by Eloisa James
Reading journal
Reading pillows
Read-A-Thon Flipping Huge Big Gulp
Nook
Stuffed animal from my son to keep me company

And yes, I made the bed before I took the picture. :-)

Hour 9 Mini Challenge: Clear the Cobwebs Yoga

Thank you Elizabeth-Michelle, that was exactly what I needed!  No books for this - she let me made me do yoga.  And I did all of the poses listed in a row.  The part where you go between the cat and cow poses felt like it did the most for my muscles, although I was very glad my boys had left the house for it.  The most dangerous one for me was the Legs-to-the-Wall pose - I almost fell asleep it felt so good!  My yoga break was about 15 minutes long.

Hour 8 Mini Challenge: Book Sentence Challenge

A joint challenge by Midnight Book Girl and The Fake Steph, for this one I had to create a complete sentence using book titles, then post a picture of it.  And this was way harder than the book title poetry challenge!

My sentence:

If you can't see the picture, the sentence is "Darkness unleashed the dangerous lord to die for your wicked ways in the woods."  Thank you Linda Howard for starting a title with a preposition!