Bout of Books Progress Day 7 / Final Wrap-Up Post

My very first Bout of Books has come to an end! This was really the ideal way to kick off the year. Of the 38 digital ARCs I had on my to-read shelf at the start of the week, I read 30, and I've already started getting the reviews scheduled. It will be nice to get back to a point where I'm reviewing the books before they come out instead of months later. I haven't been able to do that since Little Miss Muffet came along two years ago!

Here are the titles I finished on Day 7:

• Cody Harmon, King of Pets by Claudia Mills
• New Friends by Michelle Misra
• Mission Mumbai by Mahtab Narsimhan
• This is All Your Fault, Cassie Parker by Terra Elan McVoy
• Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan 

I'm already looking forward to participating in the next read-a-thon, coming in May 2016. See the other books I read this time around in my previous progress posts.

Bout of Books Progress Day 6

Only two books to report for Day 6. I finished The Forget-Me-Not Summer by Leila Howland and The BFF Bucket List by Dee Romito. Hoping to get a few more in before today is over!

Bout of Books Progress Day 5

I got up early yesterday morning and knocked out one book - Nine, Ten by Nora Raleigh Baskin - in just over an hour. I originally intended to read more, and I did read nearly half of The Forget-Me-Not-Summer by Leila Howland, but then I realized I just really needed a break from reading and wound up taking notes for reviews instead. 

It seems unlikely that I will finish the rest of my ARC backlog between today and tomorrow, but I hope to finish strong with at least two or three books to report for each day. 

Bout of Books Progress Day 4

Day 4 was practically a read-a-thon unto itself! I read twice as many books as the day before. Here are the 8 titles that I finished yesterday:

• The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers
• Slacker by Gordon Korman
• The Last Boy at St. Edith's by Lee Gjertsen Malone
• The Spelling Bee Scuffle by Lindsey Eyre 
• Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat by Gary Paulsen 
• Cody and the Mysteries of the Universe by Tricia Springstubb
• Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Paths and Portals by Gene Luen Yang

I was really hoping to clear my entire backlog of ARCs this week, but I'm running out of steam. I also haven't written reviews for any of these books, and writing all of them seems like a daunting task already. I may need to take tonight's reading time and devote it to reviews instead, just so I don't fall too far behind and forget everything I've read. But I hope to have at least a couple of books read to report tomorrow! 

Bout of Books Progress Day 3

My reading slowed way down on Day 3. I only got through four of the seven books I had planned to read. The titles I finished are:

• Jasper John Dooley: Public Library Enemy #1 by Caroline Adderson
• Weekends with Max and his Dad by Linda Urban
• Just Like Me by Nancy J. Cavanaugh
• Allie, First At Last by Angela Cervantes

I also made progress on two others: The Last Boy at St. Edith's by Lee Gjertsen Malone and The Girl in the Well Is Me by Karen Rivers, which I will finish today.

And I did the author rainbow challenge on Twitter.

Bout of Books Progress Day 2

On the second day of the Bout of Books read-a-thon, I finished five books. Three were middle grade novels:

• How to Break a Heart by Kiera Stewart
• Ava XOX by Carol Weston
• The Pages Between Us by Robin Mellom and Lindsey Leavitt

And two were easy readers: 

• Lily's New Home by Paula Yoo
• Want to Play? by Paula Yoo 

(These almost don't count, they're so short, but I needed to get them read, so this seemed like as good a time as any.) 

I didn't do the challenge.

Hoping to do much more reading today! Still hoping to clear out Adobe Digital Editions by the end of the week. 

Bout of Books Progress Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of the Bout of Books read-a-thon. Considering that Monday is my busiest day - I'm home with the kids all day, and then I teach CCD at night - I'm really impressed that I read six books. Here's what I finished:

• Me and Miranda Mullaly by Jake Gerhart
• Stella and the Night Sprites #1: Knit-Knotters by Sam Hay
• Sofia Martinez: My Vida Loca by Jacqueline Jules
• Shelter Pet Squad #3: Paloma by Cynthia Lord
• The Babysitting Chronicles: Kaitlyn and the Competition by D.L. Green
• The Only Girl in School by Natalie Standiford

I also read some of How to Break a Heart by Kiera Stewart, which I have on the Kindle app on my phone, but it's been very slow-going and I keep taking breaks from it. I've been reading it on and off all morning today, so hopefully I'll be able to list it as finished in tomorrow's update.

Yesterday, I also completed the challenge for day one, which was to introduce myself in six words. I did that on Twitter.

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon, January 2016

When Little Miss Muffet was born two years ago, I fell behind on my reading. With a second little one in the house now, I still haven't caught up. I know that I tend to read more when I have a challenge to which I must be accountable, so I was hoping to find a read-a-thon or other event to help me kick off my reading for 2016. A quick Google search led me to exactly what I was looking for: The Bout of Books! Here is a description from the official website: 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Consider this post my official announcement of participation. I am not setting any official goals for myself, since I know my life will be as unpredictable next week as it is during any other, but my hope is to read through as many of the ARCs that I have requested from NetGalley and Edelweiss as possible in the week of the Bout. Getting that backlog taken care of, and getting back to the point where I'm actually reviewing advance copies in advance of the books' publication dates would be really helpful. We'll see how it goes! Check here and on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts the week of January 4th to see my progress.