Book reviews of mysteries, historical fiction and graphic novels with a smattering of non-fiction books.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Top Ten Book Covers 2021
Monday, December 20, 2021
Top Ten Books of 2021
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
2022 Library Love Reading Challenge
The sixth annual Library Love Challenge hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart is back.
Rules:
The Challenge runs from January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. You can join anytime. The sign-up will remain open until Dec. 31st, 2022.
The goal is to find your love of your local library and to read at least twelve (12) books from the library, but you can read more. While twelve is the minimum; there is no maximum limit. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you.
Any format will work for this challenge (prints, ebooks, or audios); as long as you checked it out from the library, it counts.
Books can be any genre (fiction, nonfiction, romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, etc.). Crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed, including re-reads. The goal is to support your local library and save money.
You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc. As an added bonus: We’re offering up FOUR GIVEAWAYS plus a few surprise giveaways throughout the year (2022) with this Challenge. The main giveaways will be posted for (Jan., Feb., & March), (April, May, & June), (July, Aug., & Sept.), & last (Oct., Nov., & Dec.). A linky will go up on both Angel’s Guilty Pleasures and Books of My Heart; where you can leave your links for the reviews on your library books you have read. So make sure to stop by to enter. More details in the giveaway section below.
Optional Reviews: Write a review to enter the giveaway – 2 sentences or an essay, whatever works for you, but there is a minimum of 2 sentences. Not sure what to write? How about something like, “The plot was a delight, but the characters didn’t capture me.” “I enjoyed the story and really liked the characters.” Please use #LibraryLoveChallenge when sharing your reviews, library pictures, etc…
Levels:
- Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books
- Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books (my personal challenge)
- Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
- Library Addict: Read 48 books
- Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books
If you are interested, there is a Goodreads Group for the Library Love Challenge, where we talk, share, and discuss the books we snagged/read during the 2022 Library Love Challenge – Click Here
2022 What's In A Name Reading Challenge
1) The challenge runs from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. You can sign up any time, but only count books that you read between those dates.
2) Read a book in any format (hard copy, ebook, audio) with a title that fits into each category.
3) Don’t use the same book for more than one category.
4) Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
5) You can choose your books as you go or make a list ahead of time.
6) Sign up with a link to your WIAN challenge page/post, not your main blog URL.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
2022 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge
It’s back for another year!! This challenge is focused on finally finishing those series that you’ve started but not yet completed. It was previously hosted by Bea’s Book Nook, but Celebrity Readers has been hosting it since 2018. I am proudly rejoining this challenge in 2022 at the B List Series Finisher Level which requires that I read books from 5 to 8 series. Some of the series that I read that I expect to see new books published for in 2022 include the Somershill Manor medieval mystery series by S. D. Sykes, the wine country cozy mystery series by Ellen Crosby, Anna Castle's Francis Bacon Mysteries, Sujata Massey's Perveen Mistry series, Alison Stuart's Harriet Gordon historical mystery series and Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse mystery series. Alka Joshi's Jaipur trilogy will conclude next year too. In addition, I need to work on completing Nathan Dylan Goodwin's Morton Farrier Geneological Mystery series which is set in England, Susan Finley's Tangled Roots historical geneology series, and Janet Macleod Trotter's India Tea series.
guidelines:
- The challenge will run from January 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2022. Books must be read during this time frame to count. Sign up is open from now until December 1st, 2022, so you may join even just for the last month of the year.
- Series can be already completed as well as still ongoing. For ongoing series, the goal is to catch up to the most recent book published by the end of 2022.
- We don’t care if you have only 1 book or 10 books to read in order to finish your series, as long as you’ve started the series before 2022 (ie read at least one book in the series), it counts. Re-reads are not required.
- Any format and length of book counts – print, ebook, audio, ARC, etc.
- Series can be any length (even if it’s just a Duet).
- Crossovers from other challenges are totally acceptable!
- Reviews are not required, but highly encouraged.
new this year:
A side Finishing the Anthology challenge has been added to the challenge this year! For this side challenge, you must have read at least one story in the anthology prior to 2022, and then obviously finish it this year (I don’t care if you DNF a story, as long as you give them all a try). There are a few “read an anthology in a year” type challenges, but what the host was really looking for, and thus far hadn’t found, was one where you’d already started the anthology and just want to get it off your TBR once and for all.
how to play:
- Declare your intentions to participate in this challenge somewhere on the internet!! You do not need to be a blogger to participate, there are many ways to declare. You could write a blog post, create a reading challenge page, create a Goodreads shelf containing series you hope to finish, post about it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Some things you could include (but that aren’t required):
- A link to the challenge page so that others may find us and join the fun as well (feel free to download the button at the top to use in your posts).
- A list of series you hope to read for this challenge. You could even get fancy and list the length of the series, or the books you’ve already read, etc.
- The level you are aiming for.
- This year only one link up will be posted for the whole year. This is where you can add links to your reviews or any wrap-up/overview posts you wish to share.
- Go forth and READ!! And have fun!!
- Use the hashtag #FinishingTheSeries2022 on any social media to keep up with other participants!
the levels:
Participants are offerred 3 different “Celebrity” levels of achievement for this reading challenge:
C-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 1-4 SERIES.
B-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 5-8 SERIES.
A-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 9+ SERIES.
Wrap-Up of the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Brigid of Kildare
In Fifth Century Ireland: Brigid is Ireland's first and only female priest and bishop. Followers flock to her Kildare abbey and scriptorium. Hearing accounts of Brigid's power, the Church deems her a threat and sends Decius, a Roman priest and scribe, on a secret mission to collect proof of Brigid's heresy. As Delcius records the unorthodox practices of Brigid and her abbey, he becomes intrigued by her. When Brigid assigns Delcius a holy task - to create the most important and sacred manuscript ever made - he finds himself at odds with his original mission and faces theist difficult decision of his life.In the modern day: Alexandra Patterson, an appraiser of medieval relics, has been summoned to Kildare to examine a reliquary box believed to belong to St. Brigid. Hidden within the sacred box is the most beautiful illuminated manuscript Alex has ever seen. Even more extraordinary is the contents of the manuscript's vellum pages, which may have dire repercussions for the Catholic Church and could very well rewrite the origins of Christianity.
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
The Samurai's Daughter
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
2022 Chunkster Reading Challenge
1. The challenge runs the calendar year from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.
2. Books must be 450 pages or more to be considered a chunkster.
3. Any book qualifies for the challenge. It can be an adult book or young adult book.
4. The books can be hard copy, e-books, or an audio book.
5. Rereads are welcome as are crossovers with other challenges.
6. A blog is NOT required to participate.
7. There is no set number of books to read.
Monday, December 6, 2021
Wrap-Up of the 2021 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
Sunday, December 5, 2021
2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created where you can add the links for the books you have read. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:
Everyone can participate! If you don't have a blog you can post a link to your review if it's posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish. Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)
During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:
20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books - this is my challenge level
Prehistoric - 50+ books
To join the challenge you only need to make a post about it, add your link in Mr. Linky in the challenge post. You can also
use the challenge hashtag #histficreadingchallenge and join in on the Facebook page.
2022 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge
The Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge is one of my favorite challenges. However, I am reducing my challenge level to the Inspector Level where I will read 26-35 books. In 2021 I signed up at the Special Agent Level where 36-55 books are required to be read. I read over 150 books this year and want to reduce my reading in 2022. I am hoping to be able to work on more art projects in my leisure time.
Challenge Rules:
- You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.
- You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.)
- Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge.
- Books need to at least 100 pages long. Please no short stories.
- Crossovers with other challenges are fine.
- The Challenge will run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends March 15th)
The challenge facebook group is still up and running. Here’s the group’s link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/. It’s a closed group. There will be a monthly link-up so we can see what everyone’s reading – and probably add some to our own tbr lists. At the halfway mark and at the end there will be a giveaway for those participating.
Please continue to use the hashtag #CloakDaggerChal.
Levels:
5-15 books – Amateur sleuth
16-25 books – Detective
26-35 books – Inspector - This is my challenge level
36 – 55 – Special agent
56+ books – Sherlock Holmes