I Wrote How Many Book Reviews?

I thought I should do a final post for 2014 of how many books I actually read, how many of those resulted in book reviews I posted, and anything else I may have thrown in.

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I could really tell from my blog activity what months were the most busy for me. Or should I say, what months I was working on the toughest MBA college classes.

I did a whole lot of nothing in the summer months when it came to posting book reviews. I was really busy from September to December, and although I have every good intention of reading at least 3 more books when I finish the one I am currently on, I thought this would be a good time to do this post.

As a side note, I am off work until January 5th, and am kid free until January 4th. Which means I have a whole lot of reading-in-bed-writing-reviews-playing-with-the-cat-nap-time planned πŸ™‚

For the year as a whole, I posted to date, 67 book reviews.

Of those 67 reviews, 18 were of books I had previously read, so for 2014 I read 49 new books. Not too shabby for being a single Mom of a whole lot of girls, working 50+ hours a week, and going to college for my MBA. The 18 on books I previously read were a combination of Halloween features, Christmas features, and books that I had read in the past that had a great impact on me.

The Cricket on the Hearth

June was the only month I did not post any book reviews, and October was my busiest month, with 12 book reviews posted. I have to add that for December I am currently at 7, and do plan on at least 5 more before the New Year, but certainly do not expect it to exceed October.

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Some notables for 2014 for me:

I made the very tough decision to begin working on my MBA. After working non-stop for 2 years straight to get my BBA, I did take the entire year of 2013 off, as I promised my girls, and did not start college again until January 4th, 2014.

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After many months of contemplating, searching, and debating, I became the very proud owner of Beeblebrox Bare Bottom Benjamin Blu, or Benny to me! He is a Hairless Sphynx cat and I am not ashamed to say that little ball of wrinkled-velvety-soft skin has changed my life! I like to tease my 4 girls about their “little brother’, but believe you me, that little guy has gotten me through a lot of weekends when I was wide awake all night long from being a 3rd shift worker and having the weekend off.

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I made the decision to leave my Supervision position with my company and go back to a Materials Coordinator position that I had previously worked in for almost 5 years. I have worked for my company for over 18 years, and am so thankful to have such a wonderful employer.

I joined the Editorial Freelancers Association, and am currently working on getting myself set to begin editing and proofreading books for new and current authors. I have a love for books and the English language that I would probably have a very difficult time putting into words in order to get anyone to understand. (Now that is ironic, right?)

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I would personally like to thank each and every single one of you for liking, following, or just commenting on a random blog post. I could not begin to tell you the excitement I have when I see that someone liked a post I made, and even better yet, left a comment, or followed my blog!

I will be setting some goals for myself for 2015, and there will be more to come on that!

It’s Time To Stop Stalling…

…and start reading!

That sounds odd, especially coming from me. I usually never stall when I know I have some reading to do. I think it is more the fact that I also know I need to finish my laundry, get gifts wrapped, and other chores that I do not have the motivation to do.

So when I know I have these chores waiting to be done, I always feel that I have got to do them all before I can sit down, relax, and read a story.

Luckily, I have been asked to complete a book review on a story that I have not quiteΒ finished yet. So from where I am sitting, it looks like the most important thing I need to do today is finish that book, and get the review wrote.

That makes perfect sense to me πŸ™‚

Wishing you a Sunday full of Blessings and great stories!

The Best Christmas Gift For the Man In Your Life!

Unless if he doesn’t like books, that is. This came across my Facebook wall, and I cannot believe such a thing exists!

Due Date Neck Tie

Unfortunately, I did not see anything here for women, per-se, but these neckties are pretty amazing.

You can find their website here: http://cyberoptix.com/products/printedneckties/duedatecard.php

5.5 Hours Left To Enter to Win Two $25.00 Amazon Gift Cards!

I will announce the winner tomorrow as well as contact via email! Click here and follow the instructions to get entered:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0dcc89d93/

Amazon $25.00 Gift Card

This Is It! My Last Give-Away!

I am again giving away two $25.00 Amazon gift cards. This one is ending sooner, since we are getting close to Christmas. This one ends on 12-9-2014 at Midnight. It’s simple, if you do not follow this blog, follow it. If you follow it, just enter. Leave a comment on this post of what you would use the cards for, and you can enter!

Amazon $25.00 Gift Card

I have said it many times, but I will say it for the last time; I have had a very wonderful, Blessed year. So I want to share. I am giving one winner two $25.00 cards so they can use them both, share one, or gift them both. No one will ever change my mind that it is truly better to give than to receive!

My autographed book giveaway was a dud, so I am holding my other autographed books until I can add something extra with them!

Best of luck; follow, leave a comment, and I will post the results ASAP!

This give-away will be going live at midnight! If you have any issues with Rafflecopter, contact me directly at: angi.gibbs@yahoo.com with the subject Amazon Gift Cards!

As I Finish Up Your Stories…

…I would like to ask that if I had indeed contacted you about reading, reviewing, proofreading, and/or editing your story, and you have not heard from me, to please send me a personal email.

Those whom I am about to review are Marilyn Cohen de Villiers, “A Beautiful Family”, Kate O’Hara, “Aphrodite on the Half Shell”, the 2nd book of “The Universe of God 2: the Chronicles of Jesus”, (twestephens please email me, I am lacking contact information). Also Adan Ramie’s, “Darkness Undone”.

Mary Ellen Deleon, please send me the date of your blog post on the 3 chapters you asked me to read, I can have that done as soon as I hear from you.

CB, I left a reply on my post, please contact me via my email so I know if there are certain ones of your short stories you would like me to look at, and I need your contact information as well.

I also am in the process of reviewing 2nd stories for Caryl McAdoo and Tony Smith.

If I have not mentioned you and had contacted you previously, Please send me an email. I likely just overlooked it, as I know there are books I purchased and are on my nook that I did not list here. Some books I found from reading through your blogs, and you did not necessarily ask for a review; I just found the premise of your story interesting, and wanted to read it!

I also received a couple emails from persons unknown to me, and unless if you put “Book Edit or Review” somewhere in the subject line, I would not have opened it. I do still have them in my inbox, but please send me another email so I know you are someone who has seen my blog post and not a random email virus waiting to infect my laptop!

Thanks so much, I look forward to hearing from you, and Happy Reading!

angi.gibbs@yahoo.com

There’s Nothing Like A Day of Illness…

…to make a person appreciate how wonderful it is to feel, well, wonderful! My first official day of my 9 days off for Thanksgiving break, yesterday, consisted of me vomiting, dry-heaving, sweating, shaking, cold-sweats, and a headache from Hades that I could not take anything for, because it would not stay down anyhow.

So I did not get any of my reading or reviews done, at least not like I had thought I would. I never left the vicinity of my bedroom-bathroom until about 6pm, and managed to eat some jello! Which lead to taking some ibuprofen, and a cup of Thera-flu. I feel spectacular today, and am taking advantage of it. So I was up at 6am making cupcakes, cleaned the house, and got groceries at 8am before the stores got crazy busy. It is a trip to Allendale to visit my oldest, and then off to the movies with my youngest two to watch Mockingjay. My 16 year old is having a whirlwind visiting spree with her Father and extended family.

I have 8 more days off, and besides helping my homeschooler, I have a whole lot of books to get read, and I have every intention of getting it done πŸ™‚

Wishing you a warm, healthy, Blessed Sunday full of comfort and a good book to read!

More reviews coming soon, and my next giveaway will begin, tomorrow! Stay tuned πŸ™‚

The Mystery of Orcival – Emile Gaboriau

What a great book, by an author I have never heard of. Emile Gaboriau lived and died in the 19th century, and writes in the style that you would liken to Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved Sherlock Holmes.

Orcival Cover Image

Monsieur Lecoq is a detective of rare form, the kind whom not the tiniest fact can slip past. He lives in France, and the crime thtat took place at Orcival is complicated, full of twists and turns, and certainly a great read, if you are into those kinds of stories.

I would not say it was an easy read by any means, but I did enjoy the story, and am glad that I read it. Detective Lecoq does much more than assist the local police as they try to figure out a baffling crime of murder, mystery, and deceit. They know that one murder has taken place. But there may be as many as three, since key players are missing, presumed dead, and Detective Lecoq is not buying it.

This is a story where you will need to adjust your “reading” for the nuances of stories written in the 19th century, where instead of “Monsieur”, you will see M. I have another of Emile Gaboriau’s Lecoq stories to read, but that will not be happening anytime before Christmas.

Do you enjoy these types of stories, written “way-back-when”?