Bout of Books 5.0 Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 5.0 has ended. What a sad, sad day this is. The question now is: Did I accomplish what I set out to do? I'd say, yes! Which makes this Bout of Books a roaring success in my book!

Let's recap, shall we?
Time Devoted to Reading
I committed to the entire week. I'm also in the middle of Camp NaNo fun with Amanda, so one of the things I was trying to work on was balancing reading time with writing time. Since we're still ahead of where we need to be to hit our month end goal for NaNo AND I read what I wanted to read, I'd have to say that I found that balance.

My Goals
I had planned on reading a minimum of 10 books. I managed that. I wanted the books to be divided (for the most part) between my All Series, All Summer books and my review requests. Since I read 5 books from each of those lists, I can say with pride: Achievement Unlocked!

Books Read

• All Series, All Summer reads:
• The Mark of the Vampire Queen (Vampire Queen #2) by Joey Hill - read 08/17
• Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) by Melissa Marr - read 08/18
• Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed #3) by Lara Adrian - read 08/13
• Midnight Rising (Midnight Breed #4) by Lara Adrian - read 08/14
• Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires #2) by Chloe Neill - read 08/16

• Review requests:
• Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1) by Maya Banks - read 08/18
• The Lost Prince (Iron Fey: The Call of the Forgotten #1) by Julie Kagawa - read 08/15
• Under the Desert Moon by Emma Meade - read 08/19
• The Franklin Incident: A Philly-Punk Story by Raymond M. Rose - read 08/13
• Touched by Death by Dale Mayer - read 08/13
  

• Bonus books:
• The Summons: A Goblin King Prequel (Shadowlands #0.5) by Shona Husk - read 8/16
• Death's Avatar (The Descent #0.5) by S.M. Reine - read 08/14
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - read 08/19

Books I didn't get to

• Review requests:
• Captivated (Affliction #1) by Deb Apodaca
•  The Void by Brett J. Talley

• Bonus books:
• Red Handed (Young Adult Alien Huntress #1) by Gena Showalter
• Colters' Promise (Colters' Legacy #4) by Maya Banks

Updates
8/13
Number of books I’ve read today: 3
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books read: Touched by Death, The Franklin Incident, Midnight Awakening
Today #insixwords: More books, I say! MOAR BOOKS!
Things I learned on Twitter: Spammers like to spam. I educated @thegramsreview on why I LOATHE garlic (I can smell it constantly thanks to my disturbingly close proximity to Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World). #boutofbooks trended during our Twitter chat which was AMAZING! I haven't spoken to @Rehvenge_BDB since last Tuesday, which was (not so coincidentally) First Tuesday. I HATE First Tuesday, btw. Absolutely hate it. I had a discussion about who's the hammer, what's the nail and how hard things can get pounded with @IsaBookSoulmate and @BookBender. I haven't seen my beloved and very lickable Twitter Man in quite some time.
Final Tally: Lots of dead bodies, an undead killing machine, and a prickly, hard-headed vampire who has all the right moves.

8/14
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Total number of books I’ve read: 5
Books read: Midnight Rising, Death's Avatar
Today #insixwords: @Rehvenge_BDB knows how to distract me!
Things I learned on Twitter: My beloved @Rehvenge_BDB was around and about today. It's possible we're doing some role-playing. I have my sexy nurse outfit on just in case. @KeithMelton99 and I are planning our EPIC 6 hour "Mary Poppins meets the Lonely Chimney Sweep" musical. You should hear me belt out "Spoonful of Sugar". It'll bring tears to your eyes. Or maybe not. I was drooled on by my cat. TWICE! Both the Twitter website and Tweetdeck decided to stop showing me #boutofbooks updates during my evening manning session. It was kind of annoying and I gave up trying to finagle it after a while. So I went back to reading. Hmmph! That'll show you, Twitter! And finally, @BookBender BLEW MY MIND with her creative Anti-Spammers hashtags. I was laughing my ass off. Not literally. But I was laughing REALLY hard! Also, Amanda and I might have talked about talking to ourselves on Twitter. Hey. These things happen!
Final Tally: One scarred vampire with a death wish and a demon fighter who takes on a goddess.

8/15
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 6
Books read: The Lost Prince
Today #insixwords: Twitter jail sucks big donkey balls.
Things I learned on Twitter: I hosted the Twitter chat today. That was fun. And exhausting. But mostly fun. Well, until my internet pooped out with 10 minutes remaining. Fortunately, @BookBender stepped in and promptly got herself jailed. Once the chat was done, *I* ended up jailed. Then Amanda and I spent a while talking to one another on the @boutofbooks account. Which was kinda hilarious. That might have been the vodka talking, though. The funny things is that we were TRYING to jail @boutofbooks and the darn thing wouldn't do it. WHAT'S THAT ABOUT, TWITTER?!?!
Final Tally: One boy with a chip on his shoulder battling a whole mess of fey.

8/16
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Total number of books I’ve read: 8
Books read: The Summons, Friday Night Bites
Today #insixwords: Hot, sticky, aggravating. Not much else.
Things I learned on Twitter: I wasn't on Twitter much today. I blame the start of the new school year and getting my kidling off to school. Huh. In semi-related news, I'm THISCLOSE to hitting 40K tweets. Look impressed. It will happen. Either tonight (because Tumblr wants me to use it and use it hard) or early tomorrow. Seriously. THISCLOSE.
Final Tally: A cursed man with a kingdom in the Shadowlands and one powerful baby vampire with a kick ass sword.

8/17
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 9
Books read: The Mark of the Vampire Queen
Today #insixwords: Those vamps know how to party!
Things I learned on Twitter: I had a rough morning when my internet went out on me and left me completely cut off from the world. It was awful. However, I got it all fixed up (new modem, now the internet SINGS for me) and ended up flirting with @Rehvenge_BDB during storytime. I just can't pass up an opportunity to flirt with my mohawked, amethyst eyed hunk of vampire.
Final Tally: An alpha vampire and her equally alpha servant spending time doing naughty, naughty things.

8/18
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Total number of books I’ve read: 11
Books read: Never Seduce a Scot, Darkest Mercy
Today #insixwords:Apparently, moody Kelly likes to write.
Things I learned on Twitter: I wasn't really on Twitter that much today. I... don't know why. I was in a *mood* this morning, though, and I churned out 2K+ words on The Camp NaNo project that Amanda and I are working on. This excites me!
Final Tally: A Highland laird and the lady who melts his heart and an epic ending to a fantastic series.

8/19
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Total number of books I’ve read: 13
Books read: Under the Desert Moon, The Graveyard Book
Today #insixwords: Understated, quiet, windy. Not much read.
Things I learned on Twitter: I had another Twitter-less day. This isn't actually uncommon with me as we reach the end of this read-a-thon. I get burnt out and tend to go into solitary hermit mode.
Final Tally: One reckless vampire with a crush on a high school girl and an orphaned boy raised by ghosts.

Final Thoughts: My absolute favorite book this time around was Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks. I finished it and immediately wanted to read it again. Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr had probably the most satisfying ending to a series that I can remember reading in a long time. Absolutely fabulous way to conclude things. The Summons by Shona Husk made me want to go off list and immerse myself in the Shadowlands world. I managed to restrain myself but it was a close call.

All in all, I had a fun, fun time and I got to chat with oodles of book lovers. I appreciate all of your support and hope to see you again for Bout of Books 6.0! Thank you for making this a fabulous read-a-thon!