BethysBookBlog

Warning: mature content. Those under 18 need to discontinue reading. Lol. I can't believe I titled this post the way I did. I'm just coming right out there and telling you what it's going to be about. This post is about Erotica and Me. Men aren't ashamed they watch porn. Women need to stop being ashamed for reading erotica. I used to read a LOT of erotica in college. I had a long distance boyfriend and the libido of a college kid. Me and erotica were friends. We still are friends. And I don't feel bad. My husband is great. He's great in bed. Sorry mom and dad and other people who don't need to know that. You can stop reading now. Anyways: Erotica and I are still friends. Why? Because there is nothing wrong with reading erotica. If you see someone reading a dirty book on a plane or on a train: high five the hell out of them. They are comfortable enough with themselves to be seen in public holding a book that says words like : Dick, cock, cunt, pussy, a...

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate Christmas! There are a lot of classics I haven't read. There is a lot of Shakespeare, poetry, Plato, etc etc that I haven't read. That list of the top 100 books of our century...I've only read 37 of them. And I don't feel guilty at ALL. Not even a little bit. I want you to stop feeling guilty for all the books you haven't read. If you're anything like me your TBR pile is long enough, without adding the guilt of the "classics" or even the top 100 books of this year to your TBR. I don't feel bad about books I haven't read. My family is full of avid readers and what I like best about them, is that they don't care if it's a classic or not. My family reads for pleasure and/or to learn. We don't read because we "should". That's a terrible reason to read and frankly why I think so many people say they don't like to read.  You get to read for pleasure all the way up unt...

So I've already told you my top 3 books of 2018, but how about the books that were on my favorite of the year list? These are in no particular order 1. Tempests and Slaughter 2. Obsidio 3. Mirage 4. Tribe of Mentors 5. Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy 6.Cross Breed 7.The City Baker's Guide to Country Living 8. Find the Good 9.Dearest Ivie 10.Blood Fury 11. I'd Rather Be Reading 12. This Kiss Quotient Did any of these make your top of the year list?

I can't help myself when there is a sale on Ebooks. Ugh. Last Sunday Kindle had a sale on SciFi books and I totally took advantage of it. I ended up with 8 ebooks, which realistically is not bad. Here's what I got. - The Spaceship Next Door -The Oyster Thief -Light Mage -Leia: Princess of Alderaan -The Rook -The Sisters of the Winter Wood -Autonomous -The Poppy War I'm pretty excited about these. I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to reading them yet, but excited to have them on my TBR.

There is a great post on Goodreads right now about the Goodreads Team's Top 3 Reads of the Year. I love posts like that because they are so personal. Everyone loves different things for different reasons. Some of the top books are books that were written decades ago, but are new to the reader. I love those. My Top 3 Books of the Year are: -Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Mass -Only Human by Sylvain Nuevel -The Loose Ends list by Carrie Firestone What are your top 3 reads of the year? What makes you choose a book as one of your top 3 reads of the year? For me: 1. Made me think 2. Made me feel 3. Put me in the character's shoes 4. Taught/ reminded me of a valuable lesson

Yup, that didn't work AT ALL. Damn sales get me every time. So far I've acquired: 5 cookbooks 6 audiobooks( 1 credit, 5 sale books) 11 ebooks What have you bought this month?

The Audiobooks I Back to Over and Over I have 348 Audiobook titles, 323 are from Audible.  That's a lot of listening time. Mind you I've been accumulating them since 2012, so roughly 43 per year. Some of them I still haven't listened to because I have 348 audiobooks. Why haven't I listened to some of them? A. I bought it but am not currently in the mood for it. B. I am already listening to 2-3 audiobooks at any given time. C. I am re-listening to a favorite. You know how a certain book is comforting and you re-read it over and over again because it brings you a certain feeling? Audiobooks are that way too. Here are some of the audiobooks I go back to over and over. 1. The Themis Files Trilogy Why? Full cast audio. Amazing story. 2. The Bridal Quartet Why? The themes of female friendship, entrepreneurship, and love are so strong in this series. And I've been obsessed with weddings since I was a little girl. 3. The Royal W...

Review: You're Never Weird on the Internet(Almost) Author: Felicia Day Type: Audio Narrator: Felicia Day This is hands down one of the best titles I've listened to all year. It is going to be one of the titles I'm constantly recommending to people. I loved getting a behind the curtain look at Felicia Day's life. She's fascinating in so many more ways than I initially thought. She's funny and sharp and utterly self-deprecating. I'm pretty sure people who saw me laughing hysterically at the airport thought I'd lost my mind. Not only is this book smart and funny, it tells a tale of hard work paying off and that the struggle with how to fit into this crazy world is constant. Oh, and the author reads it which is a total win in my book. It's always better to hear someone read their own auto-biographical book. Get this book. That is all.

So, the goal this month is to buy 0 books. That's not including the subscription box I get or my audible subscription.  I acquired 79 books last month, so I think I'm set for a while.  I also don't have much room left on my shelves and still have 2 boxes of books to get onto said shelves. Those kindle sales kill me. It's so hard for me to turn down a kindle book that's under $5 and has been on my TBR or I've heard is good.  It's the holidays and I know there are going to be tons of sales, so I'm going to do my best to not even look at them. That way I won't be tempted. Have you had a successful no buy month? Any tips/ tricks? What's worked for you?

Happy Monday dear reader,. My favorite memoirs are those that are about food or travel. That's my jam right there. Below you will find my favorite memoir. If you love food, travel, comedy, looking inside the life of a writer, or just dream of going to Paris...this memoir is for you. 1. Paris in Love by Eloisa James. This is my favorite by far.  It's about a year Eloisa and her family (husband and 2 kids) spend in Paris on sabbatical. There is so much to love about this memoir. It's rich, funny, and has a travelogue feel to it. Even though Paris is my LEAST favorite city I've traveled to, I now want to go back just to see the Christmas markets, shop, and eat.  I've gotten something different from this each time I've listened to it. It's read by Eloisa and that makes for the best audio copies of memoirs. It feels more authentic.  Go buy this right now. Add it to your ever growing TBR. You won't be disappointed. 

Yesterday was the first day of December but, oh well. You, dear reader, will be just fine waiting until- well whenever you read this- to know what's on my TBR for December. I'm hoping to read at least 3 books this month. I barely managed it last month. This month the goal is to read: - Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Mass -the remainder of Rice, Noodle, Fish -listen to the remainder of My Oxford Year. Anything else is a bonus. Happy December dear reader. May your days be filled with light, love, and happiness.

I did some DAMAGE this month....and looking back on it I'm laughing a little to myself. I got a book outlet haul, plus a few books from favorite authors, and then a ton of ebooks and audible titles on sale. Here's what I got: Physical books : 20 A Madness So Discreet A Reunion of Ghosts A Thousand Pieces of You Always Pack a Party Dress Bullet It! Cooking as Fast as I Can Dirty Daddy Fuds Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge Meet me in Atlantis Rome in Love Shades of Darkness Smart People Should Build Things Spectacular Hair The Confectioner's Tale The Girlboss Workbook Footsteps The Star Touched Queen The Way We Ate Leopords Run Ebooks : Fiction:7 The Dinner List- Library copy Artemis: Already own audible copy By a Charm and a Curse A Touch of Gold SeaFire The Girl Who Drank The Moon Hiddensee Cookbooks:14 Back Pocket Pasta Joy The Baker: Over Easy Japanese Soul Cooking Fress Ottolenghi GunPowder: Explosive Flavors from Modern In...

How is it the end of the month already? I feel like I was just writing out my TBR list for the month and now we are here. Although I haven't been reading what I planned to read this month...it's not so bad. I'm very into non-fiction right now. I just finished: - The Hybrid Author Mindset -You're Never Weird on the Internet(Almost) I am currently reading: Rice, Noodle, Fish- Deep Travels Through Japan and I'm hooked. It is a beautiful book. If you love food/ travel: pick this one up. I have the Spanish followup to it and it's been on my TBR for a long time. If there is 1 thing you need to know about me...I love FOOD. Like LOVE food. I never really had a crush on food until I met Pinterest. And then I met my husband. And now I'm obsessed. We travel to eat, not to visit historic place, but to eat. I love it. Anywho...what is your favorite non-fiction book?

Hello Reader Folks! So, we are almost to the middle of November and I haven't finished a single book. Not one. I'm about halfway through Mirage and gave up on #NaNoWriMo due to work priorities being too steep to continue. Maybe I'll try again in a month with less work on the table. Maybe June? Work has been INSANE. And to top that off I'm feeling a little inadequate in comparison to the tons of bookstagram folks who are blowing through books every few days. Now that I'm home from my work trip I just want to spend time with my family doing nothing before we head out on our next adventure at Thanksgiving.  I think I set my own expectations too high for this month and for my participation in the bookstagram community. I really love the bookstagram community. I've gotten tons of great recommendations, found out about books I never would have considered previously, and been supported in my love of reading. I think I need to set my expectations for the rest of t...

Holy Moly it's November already! Here's what I've got going on! Physical Book: - Kingdom of Ash(Sarah J Mass) 966 pages - Leapord's Run(Christine Feehan)432 pages Audiobooks: -The Employee Millionaire- 11.75 hours -New Millennium Beginner Spanish- 5 hours -Shadow of the Night(All souls Trilogy book 2)- 24.5 hours -Strange the Dreamer - 13 hours remaining I'll be going back and forth between the physical and audio copies of Kingdom of Ash. I'm taking e-books off the table entirely this month. I spend so much time staring at a computer screen, I think my eyes need a break. I leave for a work trip Sunday afternoon and return home Friday night. It's going to be a long week- but hopefully there will be some room for reading in there. I think my TBR and TBL(listened to) are pretty ambitious this month. The audio version of Kingdom of Ash is 34 hours long. So a 34 hour book plus 2 more in physical copies and 54 hours of audio. Ok, looking at th...

Thanks to bookstagram and Goodreads I'm always adding new things to my TBR and through my library my holds list. It's great. I always have something to read. The problem is...when they all become available at the SAME TIME. Last week the following e-books became available for me - Sea Witch -The Surface Breaks -The Lanterns Ember -Catwoman Soulstealer And this week the following books became available for me -Mirage -I'll be there for you: the one about Friends So add those 6 books onto my already ambitious TBR. I feel slightly overwhelmed. All of them I want to read. It's not about NOT wanting to read them. But it's a lot of reading y'all. So i'm not entirely sure how I'm going to balance all of that this month, but here's to giving it a shot. Does this happen to you too?

It has been a long month so far everyone. I'm not sure how October has been for you, but for me it's gone by much too fast. I want to self-publish my book this month, but to be honest I'm not sure that is realistic anymore. Maybe it will be if there is enough good football on this weekend to keep my husband entertained. Anyhow...work has been crazy and my hours have been completely unpredictable. I had a whole TBR for this month and...I've gotten through Binti. That's it. It's less than 200 pages. Non TBR reads: Leapords Fury by Christine Feehan- finished in 2 days- reread 5 stars Alone in the Kitchen with An Eggplant: Various authors- 4 stars I've read lots of cooking books this month. I feel the need to feel cozy. We've had 75 degree days, snow days, and weird fall days that remind me of living in Ohio(like today). I've also been re-reading the Shifters series by Christine Feehan prior to the release of the next book in the series the first...

I finished Crossbreed by Lora Leigh in a day. Actually in 4.5 hours. I loved it. I loved every second of it.  If you are a fan of the Breeds series by Lora Leigh you won't be disappointed by this one. We get to see Cassie all grown up and the story from the first books come full circle. As a reader that is immensely satisfying. If you want to read it sans spoilers: do not go further. Spoilers ahead: I loved that we finally have a female alpha- not a female who becomes alpha once she's mated to one, but one who is alpha and primal in her own right. THANK GOODNESS. Lora Leigh has always had strong female characters, but as women we don't need a man to be strong in our own right. I love that we finally have a female who is primal in her own right. Let's talk for a second about one of the deeper themes of this book: Prejudice. We all deal with prejudice in our lives as some point. This book shows the multiple ways that people deal with prejudice and the consequenc...

If you follow me on bookstagram you probably already know I LOVE audiobooks. Let me repeat in case you haven't heard it,  I LOVE AUDIOBOOKS. I have 287 audiobooks on my Audible app and have 30+ more on my laptop. The crazy part is I've listened to more than 200 of those. That's not counting what I check out from the library. Some people like to turn the pages of a book, they love the smell and the feel of a book.- Me too. Some people love to be able to carry around a ton of books on various mobile devices.- Me too And then there are the people like me who love to listen to books. My love of listening to books started early in life. My parents read to us every night- even as we got old enough to read to ourselves. It was a ritual. Especially when my grandmother who I called Nyen-Nyeh sent us our first Harry Potter book. We had book one a full year before the craze hit the US. My dad would read us a few chapters every night. He read to us through book 3 and then we st...

Let's talk TBR lists: My TBR list from last month was one of those where I mood read a lot, luckily I had options so for the most part I got to read what was part of my TBR. -Circe(on TBR) -Crossbreed(on TBR) -Genius: The Con(on TBR) -China Rich Girlfriend(on TBR) -Spinning Silver(not on TBR) -Leopards Blood(not on TBR) Let's talk about this month: As many of you know I am HUGE Sarah J Mass fan, however Kingdom of Ash is NOT on my TBR for the month. To be honest it's too big to try and tackle. I'm traveling a lot in November and plan to tackle it then. I pre-ordered it MONTHS ago and when it comes to the house it will go in my work trip suitcase to stay there until I travel for work.  That way I have a treat to read when I'm away from home. Another issue I deal with is I'm a huge mood reader. I would rather re-read something I loved when I'm in the mood rather than tackle a new book on my TBR if that's how I'm feeling. Do you feel this...

In Oct 2018, I'm challenging myself to the following: 2 instagram challenges: #bookstagramreadsoctober and #allthebooksoct18 as well as writing 3 blog posts a week: they will be published Tuesday/Thursday/Friday. During this time we have the start of our new grant year, an anniversary trip to Breckenridge, a two day non-profit conference, a trip out east for my cousins wedding, and Halloween.  Oh and I'm publishing my first book: Your 20's Aren't That Fun. It's going to be a busy month.

This month I tried to buy as few books as possible since I was participating in Read What You Own September. The only books I bought this month were cookbooks: Ebooks: The New Camp Cookbook: Linda Ly Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating:Ari Weinzweig A Seat at the Table: Brent Ridge and John Kilmer-Purcell Bring it!: Ali Rosen Cooks Illustrated Holiday Entertaining: Many Authors Smoke and Pickles: Edward Lee Physical Book: Cravings 2: Chrissy Teigan(apparently it's not TEE-gan it's TIE-gan)

So far it hasn't been a crazy month for reading/listening to books like last month because of all the reviewing and editing for my first book and a successful fundraising event at the nonprofit I work for. Here's what I've finished: Physical books: - Spinning Silver - Circe Audible books: -China Rich Girlfriend -Mediterranean Cruise with The Cruise Addict's Wife Ebooks: -Genius: The Con -The Year of Yesh: Mutts

Tamora Pierce is my favorite author. I own every single book she's published. Her books helped me being a very cute girl ,with a boys haircut ,who was an athlete that buried herself in books. By the time I was 9 I had a black belt in karate and I idolized Alanna the Lioness. She was my hero. I've read the Song of the Lioness series at least 20x and each time I find something new in the series I didn't see before. Her series have helped me cope with bullies, know what strong, healthy relationships look like, have compassion and empathy for others, and develop my passion for giving back to my community. I can't put into words all the lessons her books have reinforced for me. They are the first series I recommend to young women. It's the first set of books I pick up at my parents house when I get there. They were always more than books to me. I have a lot of authors I would like to meet, but none have impacted me in the way Tamora Pierce's books have and t...

It's been over a week since I posted here. Why? Because I'm actively editing and reviewing my first(technically second) book that is to be released on Oct. 31.  It's a challenging process and I'm looking forward to sending out some ARC's the first week of October. If you want one, let me know! So if my posts are kind of sporadic until then, that's why. You can find out more about me on my bookish IG  @bethybook and keep up with me there and on @spbeth.

I love to pick up books based on their cover, but I don't buy them for the covers. I am meticulous about reading the summary before buying a book. Apparently this is weird. I think buying a book without reading the summary is weird. How do you know if you'll ever read it if you don't know anything about the story? I guess some people can fly by the seat of their pants that way...but this lady can't. It's just not in my wheelhouse.  Some of my favorite covers are: 

It is Read a Book Day today! Any day that tells you to read a book is a good day.  Sadly, reading a whole book will NOT be on my agenda today. I have back to back meetings at work until 5 pm. I may be able to finish the audio of China Rich Girlfriend if I can squeeze in the remaining hour or so on the way to and from work.  May your Read a Book Day be filled with new faces, exciting places, and fantastic plot lines!

As part of #bookstagramreadsseptember today was red and orange books. I love orange. It's my favorite color. I realized I don't own any orange books. The orange books I currently have in my stack belong to the library. The following is what color psychology.org has to say about Orange: I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it does hint to me that more authors should have an orange cover for their book. I think my books will have orange covers. 

I feel like favorite authors is a rough subject for a lot of bookstagramers. Why? Because it is deeply personal. We all have our favorites and sometimes people don't mesh simply for whom they love.  It honestly makes me laugh. We are all adults and yet like a bunch of school kids- we pick our favorites and shun people who don't like what we like.  The same is true among the audiobook community for favorite narrators.  Here are my favorite authors: Tamora Pierce Sarah J Mass J.R.Ward  Christine Feehan  Lora Leigh  Sylvain Neuvel  Meg Cabot  Roshani Chokshi  Amie Kaufman   Jay Kristoff Here are my favorite narrators: Eloisa James Tamora Pierce Julia Whelan Arielle DeLisle Trini Alvarado Bernadette Dunn Angela Dawe Chip and JoAnna Gaines Lynn Chen Do you have strong opinions love/hate on any of these? Also: did you reach your reading goals for the weekend? I did not. And it's ok...

So I'm giving myself a challenge this month: Read what you already have, already pre-ordered, or are expecting from the library. This is going to be hard. Depending on what cookbooks become on sale, I might have to break that. But it will be worth it for a number of reasons:  a. I need a new bookshelf because I now have so many physical books b. Each book I don't buy I'm tallying up the cost and putting that amount towards our downpayment. We're ready to get out of a townhome and have our own place. c.Visiting libraries make me happy. My closest to home library is really small, but it has a fabulous selection of books. We have 14 libraries in our library district and they are each unique in their own way. I'd like to visit each of them by the end of this year. Anywho- On my physical TBR list this month are: On my E-book TBR this month are: On my audio TBLT(to be listened to) this month are: I...

Let me start off by saying this...I don't often read thrillers.  Why? I have an overactive imagination and a third degree black belt. I'm not the kind of person who needs to feel freaked out or that something is watching me. Also, why I don't do haunted houses.  A Simple Favor is one of those books that you can't put down once you pick it up. It sucks you in and you just have to know how the story ends. I'm normally a pretty vocal reader- I'll laugh out loud at things that are funny, but I said a LOT of bad words while reading this book. There were so many WTF?! moments. I started reading it last night and had to put it down for the night and read something lighthearted(thanks Mutts comics) before bed. I picked it up again this morning, read for 2 hours before work, and finished it on my lunch break.  Wow. The story loops and pulls and wraps you in it so tightly that you won't know who the bad guy really is or if the whole story is just a delusi...

If you haven't already been introduced to The Themis Files you are missing out! This is my favorite science fiction series hands down.    The Themis Files consists of  Book 1: Sleeping Giants Book 2: Waking Gods Book 3: Only Human I must warn you, once you start this series- it will be hard for you to put down.  The premise of the series is that a young girl falls into a giant metal hand in her childhood and becomes connected to the US Government Project aimed at figuring out what it is and where it came from as an adult.  And that's all I'm going to tell you other than- if this series isn't in your #TBR you are out of your mind.  I really recommend the audio versions of this series: it's full cast audio and the narrators are AMAZING. What's a series you recommend to EVERYONE?

This book wrecked me. I read the first third of this book and had to stop, journal, sleep, and come back to it days later. Why? Because it feels authentic. It does what a book is supposed to do. It makes you laugh and cry and shake your fist at the world. It's easy to connect to these characters because they feel like people you already know and love. I finished the remainder of the book on Monday night and had to stop at least 10 times to cry. The ending is worth it. Connect to the story. Really engage with the characters. The investment you put into this book will all be worth it. At the end, I experienced catharsis and now I feel scrubbed clean. Death is a hard subject to tackle. Death with dignity even more so. As I said before, this book wrecked me, but it was so very worth it. Good for fans of: world travel, romance, YA, cruising

Hello Readers,    I'm Bethany.  This is my book blog and here's the story behind it: My grandmother(whom I called Nyen-Nyeh) called me Bethy my whole life. My grandmother instilled in my dad a love of reading which he passed on to me and my brother. My grandmother's love of reading introduced her to Harry Potter before Harry Potter was cool, which led her to gift it to my dad, who read it to us. My grandmother was a driving force of a woman. She was tenacious and loving and snarky and smart as a whip. She took over her husband's position on the school board after he passed and her service meant so much to the community they named a reading day after her. So, this blog will be knows as BethysBookBlog from here on out in her honor. Some quick facts about me: I'm 28, married, with one bulldog(Gus), and live in Colorado Springs, CO.  I've loved books, libraries, and bookstores since I was little.  My classmates thought I would become a librarian.  I...