It’s time again for the Blog Ahead Challenge from herding cats & burning soup and Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Yep, and it starts today.  I have a particular plan for this October Blog Ahead event.  I am a huge Christmas story junkie.  Yes, I will read the side of a Christmas Card box, so I think I qualify as officially addicted.  🙂

Because I have so many favorites that I re-read during the days from Thanksgiving onward I decided to use the Blog Ahead challenge to get some of those posts and reviews ready now.  That leaves more time to find new to me stories or new releases.  Wicked mind here, folks.  😉

I also do a Halloween Romance category during October with a Halloween-ish story review daily.  Since I love paranormal and read it all year long, for this one I try to simply find some fun and quirky Halloween styled stories to give myself and hopefully you a chuckle.  So, I’m hoping to get at least a week of those done to give me some space without feeling rushed.

So, with my October Blog Ahead 2015 plan in place — I wish you fun and success.  And if you have no clue what I’m talking about then visit the linked sites in the first line of this post to join in.

Okay, off to get some work done.  Have Fun with it.

I know, it’s not even Halloween or Thanksgiving yet — but, I’ve got lots of wonderful Christmas novels to be reviewed that start coming out later this month so I need to start getting my Christmas spirit on.

This is how I start my Christmas, musically.  I toss on the CD and let the music blast – Trans Siberian Orchestra.  If you’ve never had the amazing experience of watching their Christmas concert live, then I can highly recommend it to any music lover.  The show is a shower of sounds, sights, special effects and amazing artists.  If you ever get the chance, go.  I know I’m going back this year, can’t wait.

Here is how I kick off my Christmas Season… enjoy.

September 11, 2001.  A day when the world we knew… changed forever.

Did I know anyone in the Towers?  Yes.  Perhaps more than I am aware of since at that time much of my non-working hours were in the gaming world.  There were many people who simply never logged into games after September 11, 2001.  So, those… I can only assume.

But it doesn’t really matter if I personally knew anyone directly involved or not.  It was a normal, everyday kind of day – no one knew when they woke up that morning that by nightfall everything they understood would be in chaos.

Everyone has their memories and thoughts about September 11, 2001.

Today, to acknowledge that day when so many innocent lives were lost so senselessly I will remember in my own way.

Instead of images of airplanes crashing into towers or building crumbling or firemen holding lifeless children I am sharing the official video of the haunting song that became associated with that day.

And I remember and honor in my own heart.

For some odd reason I missed the launch of Carole Mortimer’s sexier series ALPHAs.  Being a reader of Ms Mortimer’s works for many years now – I honestly don’t know how that happened.  I suspect just too many great books undiscovered as yet.

So, today I went and picked up the first one, Christma Alpha, and figured I’d get it read and on the schedule for the Christmas Season reviews. Then I looked at the second story, okay 1-Click, then the third story another 1-Click… and you get the idea.  By the time I was done I’d bought the entire series and will pick up the next release as well.

And I’m glad I did.  I didn’t plan on it all at once, but I knew I’d end up reading and reviewing the whole series and just went with the trust that I have in the author when I bought every one before even reading the first story.

That is a classic example of a reader who believes in an author’s works from past experiences to know that sight unseen the stories are going to be enjoyable… because I trust what I’ve read in the past.  Blind trust?  Maybe.  But some writers deserve that kind of trust.

And now… I’m not sure I can wait to start reading.  *sheepish grin*  If I know me, I’ll probably just start diving right in to this particular pile of books that won’t have time to get dusty on my TBR Tower of Books.

Of course, like every reader I have favorite authors works on release.  But I rarely buy an entire series in one shot.  No regrets,   I’ll be posting reviews on this series soon.

1. Christmas Alpha
2. Dark Alpha
3. Shadow Alpha
4. Midnight Alpha
5. Renegade Alpha
6. (and to come) Warrior Alpha

Have you bought an entire series, sight unseen?  I can’t be the only one out here.  *grin*

When I began to really work on Keeper Bookshelf again, full time in January of 2015  I really wanted to get involved with the book review community.  They are an amazing group of people with fun ideas and such useful information.

Around that time the “Challenges” for 2015 were coming out – and I went hog-wild crazy.  Every single one looked like so much fun.

Unfortunately, I was unable to keep up-to-date on listing them either here or at the Challenge websites/blogs.  I am embarrassed by that.  I know I bit off much more than I could chew.

My sincere apologies to any Challenge that I dropped out of before the end of this year.  It wasn’t your idea, it was my inability to make a routine and stick with it.  I failed, you didn’t.

There are a couple that I will take a weekend and get all caught up on.  Then I’ll put those Challenges pages back up on Keeper Bookshelf.  But with the review schedule I have now plus real life – there is no way to realistically get caught up on fifteen Challenges.  So, I’ll pick a couple and be content.

Will I enter into this area again?  Of course!  They are well run, fun and a great way to not only meet other readers, but to add to my To Be Read Toppling Mountain of Books.  I will simply be more realistic, pick the ones that I know I can keep up with and be diligent about it.

It was a good experience that I look forward to being part of again.  Just… not this year.  Nine months of catching up are beyond my ability right now.

~~sad panda face~~

I am going to have a mini-rant here because… well because I can, it’s my blog.  A lot of the reviews I’m seeing in some of the main review dropping sites (yes, I drop my reviews in them too) have been driving me a bit batty lately.  So, I’m going to let a few questions for ya out of my bat-crazy mind – just for shits and giggles..

For starters… Did you just read the same book I did?  ‘Cos what you just wrote in that review is absolutely nothing like the book I just put down.  Okay, maybe we liked it in different degrees – but, really?  That’s what you got outta that one??

Oh, and then there is the… the main characters should have done “this” because what they did do was so “stupid” and why in the world didn’t they see “that” coming a mile away.  They shoulda, coulda, woulda been said acted differently.  Ummm, Honeybun it wasn’t your story to write you cannot tell the characters what to do – it’s not your story to tell.  Diss on what you read okay, maybe but you cannot tell an author how or what to write… it ain’t your show baby.

If a reviewer wants to pick apart the editing or a few typos that got missed – that’s one thing.  But an author’s job is to write what is in their heart, their brain and for some, what their publishing house thinks will sell in today’s market.  Look, I am not gonna tell Nora Roberts to change the way she writes.  No way, no how am I even going to suggest to a best selling, top of the line writer how her characters are misbehaving according to my own personal likes and dislikes.  (and let’s be clear here, they are not misbehaving – I adore Ms. Roberts and her work and would not change a thing – just sayin’)

I don’t understand when it became my job to re-write a novel to my own personal storylines and plots.  My job (hobby) as I see it is to tell other readers who may or may not wander into my blog what I thought of the story.  Was it entertaining – did it hold my attention – would I hand it over to my best friend saying you gotta read this.  That’s what I see my job as.  I’m a reader who enjoys sharing my thoughts about a book with other like minded people.  I am not a critic.  And God knows I am not a writer, I cannot do what these amazing people do.  So why is it my “job” to tear apart the world they created and make it my own.  It’s not.

I know that my blog and reviews are seen as soft.  I write mostly 5 or 4 starred reviews, occasionally a 3 star.. once a 1 star when I was totally frustrated.  But in truth, if I don’t like where a book is going – I put it aside and forget about it.  Time is too precious to waste on something that I do not want to read… or tell my friends about.  The argument is that maybe someone might like what I hate.. okay, I see the point.  But it’s not my way.  And bottom line is – my blog, my way.

I just don’t see the point of tearing apart and rewriting a book within a review to make it what you wanted it to be.  If that’s what you want to read then go out and write a book just like that.  Honestly, no shit nastiness here… honestly, go write it.

Okay, end of rant.  Start with the hate – I can take it.

I am completely addicted to series.  Romance.  Paranormal.  Mystery.  You name the series, I’ve probably read at least one book from it.  Trouble is – I’m not getting the entire story that way.   And by reading a book here and another one a few months later… I’m missing the connection.  I expect that with established series that I follow – but with newly discovered ones or those that I ask to review through NetGalley… I’m missing a lot on those ones.

So.  I’m taking a different approach to new to me or older series.  I’m going to read and review those series until I’m caught up to date on them.

It’s probably not going to be as easy as it sounds.  Finding, then being able to afford to purchase a complete series might not always be immediately possible.  But, I believe this is worth a shot.  I read a lot and I’m a fast reader.  The trick, as I see it, will be the ability to have an entire series available to me at once.  But those are details I’ll work out over time.

I will most likely set up an additional Series Page – one that shows the entirety of a series that I’ve reviewed here at Keeper Bookshelf.  It would be a help to those folks who wander around to see what I think of some complete series – as well as a guide for myself in keeping up to date on future stories in those series.

I will be doing this here – and I’ve already started over on my paranormal romance book review blog Haunted Bookshelf.  It’s an ongoing project, but one that I plan to enjoy.  I hope it’s of help or interest to you as well.

There is an absolutely fantastic event going on, right now.  Read-A-Romance month is a celebration of romance – romance writers – romance readers.  And that’s us, right?

August 2015 Author Calendar  <– That link is where you need to begin if you have never heard of or read about the Read-A Romance Month event.  There you will see more than 93 reason why you need to be checking this site daily.

Authors that you may know and love, as well as new to you authors give their thoughts on what romance and writing romances means to them.  The peek into the minds and thoughts of some of my favorite romance writers has given me goose bumps this morning… and I’m not done.  There is so much more to go back and read that it might take me a few days to get caught up on this year’s and the previous year’s essays and posts.  And that’s okay – because  I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to pass the time than to learn from the best in the business.  (Okay maybe I could but I’m trying to keep this post PG people  🙂  )

If you’re a Twitter user, just use the hashtag #RARM to keep track of what people are talking about.  Or the Home page of Read-A-Romance Month — The Joy of Romance is another great place to get started.

We all love romance.  Most of us read romance daily or weekly – so don’t you want to know more about the authors that let us live in their worlds for a brief time.  Learn a bit more about what their personal thoughts and dreams about romance are as well?  Yeah, me too.  So if you are a romance reader please give yourself the gift of visiting this event and simply enjoy yourself.  And spread the word if (when) you like what you’ve discovered there.

May all your romance dreams come true…

Lately when I browse through Amazon or even my local Wal-Mart on the look out for new and interesting books – I could swear I’m seeing double or even triple.

I’m seeing books with the same cover.  And to be frank – I don’t like it.

Book covers are often a way that I identify whether I’ve read a book before or not… OR… I know a book is coming out, have a picture of the cover in my mind and in a hurry pick up a book… the wrong book.  Yeah, I know my bad.

I freely admit that I love book covers, they are a special kind of art and as such I often will pick up a book purely because the cover draws me in.  So when I see that same cover on more than one book it’s not only confusing – it’s also annoying to me.

Okay, I’m not trying to be rude here – I suppose there could be a hundred and one reasons for using the same cover for totally different books.  I simply don’t understand why.

To me as a reader, the cover is part of the book’s story.  I might visualize the characters based on the cover photo, or even a location that is unique to one story because it fits the story perfectly.  There is an emotional attachment to book covers for me – and I know I’m not alone in this.

How about you?

The last week or so I’m finding myself picking up older novels to read.  Not even necessarily for review (but I end up reviewing them anyway) – just I seem to be drawn to novels that I missed over the recent past.  Some are authors that I’m catching up on their back lists.  Others are series that I want to get caught up in so I can continue with the current stories and not be lost.

I have to admit that my Kindle Unlimited subscription is really getting a workout lately – and I suppose the more novels I borrow and read, the better the monthly deal is, cost wise.

I have several newer releases on my Kindle and the physical bookshelf that I should be reading and reviewing — I’m simply drawn backward in time at the moment.  I’m sure it will even itself out soon, it always does.  And I can’t complain because I’m reading some amazing stories.

Wondering if I’m alone out here in my trip back in novel time.  Anyone else get caught up in reading the “should have read this years ago” syndrome too?

June 14th is National Bourbon Day.  Yeah, it’s true… this amazing booze has it’s own personal day of celebration.

I don’t know why – but for me when I think of bourbon I think of steamy Southern nights – a mystery – or simply sitting on the deck enjoying the sunset.

There’s no bad reason to love bourbon – after all there’s a very famous street named after it.  *wink*

Remember, enjoy National Bourbon Day – and always drink responsibly.

Cheers!