End of Summer Bash Reminder! (with End of Summer Push Review)

 

End of Summer Bash!

In a few short days the third annual "End of Summer Bash" will be here! I'll be hosting five wonderful authors, and the interviews will be summer and fall-themed in order to celebrate the change of seasons. There will be music, sneak peeks, insights into characters, and giveaways! I'm really excited to get this party started!!

I do hope you'll plan to attend! The bash starts on September 3rd, with winners announced on September 8th. =)

P.S. I'm not offering extra entries this year (just one entry per person, per giveaway - keeping it simple!), but if you wanted to take the button in the sidebar and help spread the word about the bash, that would be awesome! Thank you!

End of Summer Push - Review

Remember that list of 11 books I wanted to get through for the End of Summer Push? Well, I read and reviewed 7 of them! I'm pleased to have caught up on a lot of books that I'd put off too long. Here are the books on the list that I read (with links to the reviews):

• High Desert Haven by Lynnette Bonner (for the author)
• Prophet by R.J. Larson (for CFBA)
• The Dunn Deal by Catherine Leggitt (for Ellechor Publishing House)
• My Prince Will Come by Sheri Rose Shepherd (for Waterbrook Multnomah)
• The Dawn of a Dream by Ann Shorey (for the author)
• Angel of the Cove by Sandra Robbins (for the author and Harvest House)
• The Face of Heaven by Murray Pura (for CFBA)

I also read several books for fun (I know, right??), including Entwined by Heather Dixon, which ended up being an absolute favorite of mine!! Amazing book!!

On top of that, I reviewed Over the Edge by Mary Connealy (which I read earlier, but need to review), I read With Every Letter for an upcoming blog tour, and I read and blogged about three Narnia books! Here are those post links (from "The Borrowed Book" blog) if you're interested (they include writing tips for my fellow writers):

• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Last Battle

So, this was a pretty productive reading month! ;) I didn't actually end up watching any Christy episodes...but I did watch some other movies, so it's all good! Plus, I got to go to Disneyland with my family, which was a really big treat!!

Hope you all had a great August, no matter what you read or did - and I'll hope you'll come celebrate with me next week! Oh, and be on the lookout for a couple more reviews at least one review this weekend. =)

End of Summer Push

Have you seen the "Currently on My Desk" feature in the sidebar (courtesy of Goodreads)? There are some books that have been in that section for a long, long time. I really need some motivation to get some reading done - and not just any reading, but reading that I ought to have finished a long, long time ago.

Hence, the "End of Summer Push." It's a reading challenge for me, along with anyone else who might be in the same boat. I noticed there's something kind of like this already going on, called the Review Copy Cleanup. So if you think that might be for you, it sounds like a good idea! The host is planning on having some readathons and Twitter parties to keep everyone going.

As for me, I'm kind of doing my own thing. I have certain books I want to read this month to "catch up" on the reviews I own some authors/publishers. To motivate myself, I've decided that every time I finish one of those books (and write the corresponding review) I will allow myself to watch an episode of one of my favorite T.V. shows, Christy, which I own on DVD. And since I've seen the episodes multiple times, I give myself permission to work on some cross-stitching while I watch, if I'm feeling up to it. ;)

Here's my list of books that I want to read/finish reading and review this month:

• My Prince Will Come (devotional)
• Prophet (fantasy)
• The Dawn of a Dream (historical romance)
• The Dunn Deal (mystery)
• Harvest of Rubies (biblical fiction)
• Through Rushing Waters (e-book; historical)
• High Desert Haven (e-book; historical romance)
• The Face of Heaven (historical Amish) 
• Angel of the Cove (historical romance)
• Keowee Valley (secular historical romance; September review)
• A Bride's Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee (historical romance)

The last three aren't super pressing, but it would be nice to get them done, too! Oh, and there are a couple of books I already finished, but reviews are forthcoming!

I could probably do all this without blogging about it, but I thought this would help keep me accountable. It might also help explain the large amount of reviews (hopefully!) that will be posted this month. And after the "End of Summer Push" (which will last through the month of August), I'm looking forward to celebrating with you and some dear author friends during the "End of Summer Bash" the first week of September! Fun author interviews and giveaways - it should be a good time! (Feel free to grab the button in the sidebar if you want to help spread the word!)

Also during this month (I guess I tend to dream big...), I'm hoping to read some C.S. Lewis books and post about them for my "Where the Past Meets the Present" feature over on The Borrowed Book blog. (Thank you to Bluerose for some of my reading material!) So head on over there Mondays to see what I'm up to in that reading department. ;)

My brain feels like it's been running a mile a minute with ideas for blogging and starting a business and reading and more... Hope you can make sense out of my recent blog posts! And be on the lookout for more blog posts (including book reviews!) to come soon!