Start the New Year with Hope: Dancing & Life

 

A new year brings hope! See how you can experience joy and gratitude in the coming year. 

In times of crisis it is hard to be hopeful.. But it’s not impossible—and may be the key to mentally surviving a crisis like this. 

Despite the burdens of the recent past you can look to the future with the likelihood of positive change. 

You can turn turmoil and crisis into opportunity. 

Discover your primary inner strength that will bring you through the problems that life gives you? 

I know that my mental health has been worse than normal (which is saying something!) during these past few months and I'm looking forward to taking on this challenge. I'll be doing updates to this post to let you know how it's going, so be sure to check back!

UPDATE:

January 14, 2021 

Now here’s how you can turn a crisis into opportunity!

You can take control despite the uncertainty around us.

I hope you can feel my passion in this post. Don’t let a crisis deter you from what you love.

Sometimes taking back control of your life starts with rediscovering what makes you tick, or learning to take care of yourself, or making time for the people and things that you love.

I love this. Many successes are born out of uncertainty.

While the world has thrown a lot at us, there are ways in which you can take control. It’s important for you to see how you can grow. What’s holding you back? Let me know in the comments!

 

UPDATE:

January 19, 2021

Get rid of what doesn’t bring you joy! Be like Marie Kondo! When you decide to let go of what didn't work in 2020, you'll open up to new possibilities in 2021.

In life there can be great injustice, but if you learn to let go of that pain and what didn't work for you, you can create new possibilities in 2021.

We all need to learn to let go and go on.

Healing is essential to our continuing happiness. Even after a terrible year, it’s important to learn to move on and take care of yourself.

When you take care of yourself, you can get closer to keeping your intentions. If you don’t heal, how can you grow?

How are you helping the people around you heal?

Let me know in the comments!

UPDATE:

January 22, 2021

It’s so great that you know that self-care is essential to a happy life. I’m delighted you’re taking care of yourself this year.

Now that's what I call following your bliss.

We all need to do what we can to make sure we’re at our best.

It’s wonderful that you’re taking steps to keep on track the year! Congratulations! Getting past limiting beliefs is so important to moving forward!

When you don’t hold back, you can really take advantage of what the world has to offer. How are you making sure you break through limiting beliefs this year? Let me know in the comments!

 

UPDATE:

January 25, 2021

Write down an outcome — such as what you hope to achieve at the end of this 30-day program.

It’s so great that you have set your goal for how you want to change this year, and you’re figuring out a plan for getting there and staying on course..

That’s really setting your intention for the year!

How did you feel about this?

Has anything been keeping you from reaching your goals? What are you doing to stay on course? Let me know in the comments!

 

Join the Challenge NOW! 

 

 

 

*I partnered with Dancing & Life and Blog Meets Brand to bring you this blog post and challenge. 

 

 

ARC August!

The awesome Octavia behind the book blog Read. Sleep. Repeat. has come up with a fun challenge to help us tackle our ARC pile! Thus, ARC August was made! I don't know about the rest of you, but my review pile is WAY out of control!! What better way to read some fabulous review books while having fun and meeting other bloggers? This is the third read-a-thon/challenge that I'm participating in within the next month! Obviously, my review pile is ginormously huge and I really want (and need!) to get some serious reading done!

Want to join in on the fun? It's easy to sign up! The rules are simple: 1. Make a blog post stating that you will be participating in ARC August. 2. Add your post to the linky located on the site HERE. 3. Read as many ARCs during the month of August as you want! As a super awesome bonus, Octavia will be giving away a $20 gift card to the favorite book dealer of your choice - one lucky participant will be chosen at the end of the month to win the prize!

As for my goals for this challenge/read-a-thon, it is super simple: I plan on reading AS MANY ARCs AS POSSIBLE during the month of August. I have an obscene amount of them steadily piling up, so I really don't know which books I'll pick to read. To me, it's more quantity than genre - I SERIOUSLY need to tame the review pile! When I post a review that was an ARC in August, I'll include the graphic at the bottom of the post, so you know that it was a part of the challenge. That is, if I remember to! 

So what are you waiting for? Head on over and sign up! I hope to see you there! :)

If you are going to participate in ARC August, leave me a comment or a link to your goals post!

 

Review Copy Cleanup 3.0 - February 2013

Since the only books I have been reading and will be reading in the foreseeable future are review copies, I decided to sign up for the Review Copy Cleanup for February! It's being hosted by Vicki @ Books, Biscuits, and Tea and Celine @ Nyx Book Reviews. Sign ups are still open until February 15th, so hurry and join in! Here are the guidelines taken from Vicki's sign up post:

Guidelines:

• Review Copy Cleanup 3.0 runs from 1 to 28 February
• It starts and ends at midnight in your local timezone to avoid confusion
• To sign up, just fill in the linky below. Link to your sign up post directly, please! The linky is the same for both our blogs, so you only have to sign up once.
• The Linky will close on the 15th, so make you sign up before then.
• When you post your sign up post on your blog, either include the challenge button with your post or link it back to this article so that people know where to sign up. Thanks! (:
• Every book you received for review counts towards the challenge, both e-books and hard copies (even audio books for review if you have those), including all genres and lengths.
• Feel free to use the #RCCleanup hashtag on Twitter for your RCC related tweets or join the Twitter party at http://tweetchat.com/room/RCCleanup and meet lots of awesome bloggers (:
• At the end of every week we will post our personal updates, and we’ll include a linky for you to add yours!

I don't really have any goals for this review pile cleanup challenge - and it's actually the first challenge I've done! I'm pretty excited and I hope that it will motivate me to get through more books than I normally would!

Here are some of the books I've already finished so far this month:

And here's a sample of some books I'll be reading for blog tours & (hopefully!) for fun:

Yeah, it looks way ambitious! But the sad thing is that I have even more review titles that release in February alone. I have a definite review pile problem!!

Go sign up now and link me up!!

Bout of Books: Day 6 Challenge

Day 6 Challenge: Virtual Travels

Hosted by Ex Libris

My Book Choice:

 

At these locations:

 

and

 Why?  Basically the entire story of Ten takes place on an isolated island off of Washington in the USA. There is a huge white mansion on the island where all the characters stay at for the weekend, all during a raging storm.

Bout of Books: Day 5 Challenges

 

Day 5 Challenges:

 Book Spine Haiku

Hosted by Book Goonie 

 

Rapture, Never Tell

Miss Me When I'm Gone

Sharp, Until I Die

Most Looking Forward To

Hosted By Pages of Forbidden Love 

Challenge Questions:

1~ What book are you most looking forward to based on summary alone? Feel free to show off the summary!

2~ What book are you most looking forward to based on cover art alone? Feel free to show off the beautiful cover art! 

My Answers:

1. Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Summary:

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record.  The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one.  Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders?  Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets.  She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

2.  Splintered by A.G. Howard

Bout of Books: Day 4 Challenges & Updates

 

Day 3 Update:

I didn't get as much reading done as I'd hoped yesterday due to family issues. I did read Moon's Kiss by Kimberly K. Comeau for a blog tour. Today I'm planning on reading two books - both for blog tours. My goals are going pretty well, except for the part about getting to read some books that I want to read instead of have to read. Oh well.

Challenges:

A Book For Every Season

Hosted by Reading in Winter 

Name the perfect book for each season of the year! The book can either have the name of the season in the title, or — and this is the preferred way! — the book can take place in that specific season.

Feel free to jazz it up however you like, by including pictures of the book to go with the name. The entry form will have space for you to submit your entry on the form, or via a link to your blog.

My Books:

Spring - Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas

Summer - The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Fall - The Little Woods by McCormick Templeman

Winter -  The Shining by Steven King

Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon: Paranormal Summer Challenge

  

Welcome to Day #8 of the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon! I hope everyone's goals are going well and you're having fun! Today I am hosting a challenge and giveaway for the read-a-thon. My challenge is:

Paranormal Summer Challenge

Here's the basic idea for the challenge: For one summer night, you have the opportunity to be any paranormal creature that you want. Leave me a comment with what creature you would be and what you would want to do - or leave me a link to your post answering this challenge. Be as creative/funny/original as you want!

Now, for the giveaway to accompany my challenge! I'm giving away (1) ebook copy of Dollhouse by Anya Allyn. I recently read and reviewed this book - I LOVED it! I'm hoping to share the love with someone else now! You must be a RAT participant to enter the giveaway. Enter in the Rafflecopter!

Book Description:

For fifteen year old Cassie Claiborne, there's only one good thing about moving from steamy Miami to the wild inland forests of Australia--the even wilder Ethan McAllister. But Ethan already has a girlfriend--Aisha Damaj--the girl with a hundred different moods a minute.

When Aisha goes missing on a hiking trip in the local mountains--presumed dead--the whole town points a finger at Ethan. Cassie defends Ethan fiercely. She's just about the only friend he has left.

Is Cassie letting her feelings for Ethan cloud her judgment? Or does something dark lurk out there in the forests?

There's only one way to find out--go back to the forests.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon: Days 3 & 4 Updates & Challenges

Cover Love Challenge

Hosted by Emily @ Falling for YA

My Cover Love:

 

To see my updates and how I'm doing on my goals, check out my original starting line/goals/TBR post. 

I just want to note that I'm doing a great job with my goals for this read-a-thon. I've read 1-2 books per day every day so far. Granted, they were all for blog tours and nothing I've been dying to read, but I'm proud of myself anyways.

Let me know how your goals are going! Leave a comment or a link!

Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon: Day 2 & Challenges

I actually got a ton of reading done on Day #2 - I read 2 books. One was for a tour and the other was for the publisher to be done on a release day. So, not my top picks, but they needed read all the same. I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done again today (Day #3).

Challenge: HOTTER than Summer BOYS

Hosted by Trini @ A Book Lovers Review

Rules:

So here is how you can win one of the ARCs Above.

I need for you to create a small but fun post with a

1. list characters (as many as you want) that you thing are HOTTER than Summer  

2. Add the book title or book cover
3. Put your rating

4. Link up your review (Amazon, blog, Goodreads, etc.)

5. explain why you picked him or her.

My List:

Will

 

Rating:

 

My Review 

 Sexy, Hot Tattoos, Sweet, Dedicated to Family

Duval 

 

Rating:

 My Review 

Handsome, Strong, Loyal, Protecting 

How are everyone else's goals coming? Leave me a comment or link! 

 

Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon: Starting Line, Goals, and Day 1 Challenges

Welcome to Day #1 of the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon! This will be my main page for the read-a-thon, where I will be updating my stats as I go. If you haven't signed up yet, head on over to Some Like It Paranormal - there's still time!

My Goals & TBR:

I have a TON of books that need read and reviewed, so my only goal is to read as many as possible. I have a lot to read/review for book tours, so that's where my focus will be. I'm hoping to squeeze in a review book that I want to read for fun too. I'm pretty sure that's just wishful thinking though. Anyways, here are some of the books I'll be reading & attempting to read for this read-a-thon:

Progress:

Day 1:

Pages Read: 309

Books Read: 1 - Wake by Amanda Hocking

Total Pages Read: 309

Total Books Read: 1

Day 2:

Pages Read: 633

Books Read: 2: The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields; The Color of Snow by Brenda Stanley

Total Pages Read: 942

Total Books Read: 3

Day 3:

Pages Read: 195

Books Read: 1: Promises by Amber Garr

Total Pages Read: 1137

Total Books Read: 4

Day 4:

Pages Read: 632

Books Read: 2: Ember by Carol Oates and Fire on the Island by J.K. Hogan

Total Pages Read: 1769

Total Books Read: 6

Day 5:

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 Wicked Summer Cover Challenge

Hosted by Jessica @ Wickedly Bookish

 For this challenge, it's a scavenger hunt to find the following items on book covers that you and/or other RAT participants are reading! Here's the list:

Sun

A teeny bikni

Beach umbrella

Sandcastle

Oceanscape or a beach scene

Sunflower

An American flag (4th of July)

Lemonade/Iced Tea

Sunset

Sailboat

Camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, etc.)

Sunglasses

Swimming Pool

Sun bather

Picnic