Monthly Reading Wrap Up -- August 2017

First of all, I had intended to have this as a scheduled post because I wasn't sure if I'd have time to get it posted in a timely manner after August was over. Or... well, in a timely manner for me. Truthfully, if I really wanted to, I could just push it off until after Labor Day weekend and no one would really be concerned anyway.

Meanwhile, my plans for the weekend, reading-wise, can be found at this update post here.

Other news about the weekend will be forthcoming.

I'm hoping to be able to check into Booklikes randomly to see how the beginning of Halloween Bingo is going, how everyone's reading is going, and which squares are being called.

In other reading news, I managed to reach my goal for one other reading challenge, this month--the Mount TBR reading challenge, in which I proposed to read 36 books from my 'already owned' TBR shelves. This challenge will only count books that I owned prior to 2017, so I'm making headway on this challenge; so, yay!

Meanwhile, I also completed my goal for the Author Love challenge, where I proposed to finish reading at least seven books by an author I happen to love--my pick was Jill Shalvis, and I've already gone one more book beyond my goal of seven.

All sorts of accomplishments in August!

August Reads

Books Dropped/Put On Hold

Colder Than Ice by Maggie Shayne -- Undecided for Hold or Drop

Currently Reading

August Reading Stats

Total works read: 20

8 print/e-book novels
4 novellas (one was an audio book)
1 short story
6 audio books (one was a novella)
1 anthology

Average rating: 3.20 Stars

Highest Rated: 4 books // 4.0 Stars
- (1) Loose Ends by Tara Janzen
- (2) Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
- (3) In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz
- (4) Quicksilver by Amanda Quick
Lowest Rated: 2 books // 2.0 Stars
- (1) One Night with her Boss by Noelle Adams
- (2) The Lady Most Likely... by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway

Series I started reading:

Mordecai Young by Maggie Shayne
Maiden Lane by Elizabeth Hoyt
Lady Most... by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Connie Brockway

Series I completed:

Steele Street by Tara Janzen

Series I have made progress on:

Lucky Harbor by Jill Shalvis
One Night novellas by Noelle Adams
Heartbreaker Bay by Jill Shalvis
Arcane Society / Harmony by Jayne Ann Krentz / Amanda Quick / Jayne Castle
X-Ops by Paige Tyler
Hostile Operations Team by Lynn Raye Harris

Favorite reads: Really, I don't feel like a whole lot of books read in August stood out too much, but my highest ratings went to Loose Ends, Wicked Intentions, In Too Deep, and Quicksilver, as we can see above. Wicked Intentions stood out as very well written and extremely enjoyable and entertaining as an audio book. In Too Deep and Quicksilver were just typical Jayne Ann Krentz goodness. Loose Ends was an exciting conclusion to a long series.

Disappointing reads: My biggest disappointment was probably Maggie Shayne's Thicker Than Water, if only because I was hoping for something similar to her Brown and de Luca series, but didn't quite get it. I had been hoping to breeze through the Mordecai Young trilogy, but kind of lost any interest in continuing. I suppose I could always come back to it later.

Reviews & Notable Posts

Reviews Written

Memes

Coming Up In September

Tentative TBR

Other Stuff

With Halloween Bingo starting up this month, I'm not entirely certain which books will be read in September and which books will be read in October. I'm half decided that I wanted to just try follow the Bingo calls every other day and start reading my books in that order. And if a square is called that I don't have, I can either try to finish up my reads, or read something not part of Halloween Bingo, or read ahead and try to have some books read for certain spaces while I wait for a square to be called.

Or something.

But having some library books that need to be returned in a timely manner... well that threw a kink in my initial plans. Instead, I think I need to just get read the library books first.

Meanwhile, the books I've presented for my tentative September TBR are certainly books that I DO plan on reading for September. The Thin Man will be for a group read at Booklikes, for Halloween Bingo, and we will start reading on September 15th. Her Fierce Warrior is another book in Paige Tyler's X-Ops series I want to get to, and also a book on my COYER list that I'd like to have read before the end of COYER rolls around, if possible.

I have The Camelot Caper as a library e-book borrow that need to be read so I can return it and not have to sit wait through another round of holds before I get to check it out again.

Then there's The Decagon House Murders of which I'm itching to start reading, if only because I've got myself hyped up to experience it.

September will hopefully be another great reading month, as well as blogging month.