January Balancing the Books

Inspired by Fantasy Is More Fun and The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided to start tracking my book expenses this year. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books, whether for myself or as gifts, and another $10 per month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books from my personal shelves, borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track review and library books here as books acquired.

January Challenge Wrap Up

I was ambitious this year. I'm hosting 4 challenges, participating in additional 4 year-long challenges, and will do various short-term challenges throughout the year. Let's see how I did and you can share your accomplishments in the comments.

January Link Up for I Love Libraries Reading Challenge

Link up all your January library book reviews below. Links can go to your blog, goodreads, or Amazon. I'll try to remember to post the review link up on the first of each month. Feel free to poke me if I forget. :)

The Quarterly Book Report

 

Inspired by posts I spotted on Twitter, I thought it might be fun to share what our favorite reads were for the first quarter of 2015. If it goes well, I may do it every quarter. Jax and I will share our five favorite books that we read between January 1st and March 31st of this year (Steph was going to join us but ran out of time).

January Challenge Wrap Up

Wrap Up

This year I signed up for fewer year long challenges and I'll do more short-term challenges. This month, January, I have COYER, which started in December and goes until March 6th.

This month is the Winning at Reading Challenge; come join us, there's still time!

Grab a drink, get comfy, and get ready! 

January's Balancing the Books with Bea

Inspired by Fantasy Is More Fun and The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided to start tracking my book expenses this year. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $10 real money each month to spend on books, whether for myself, as gifts, or blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. I am counting money spent to ship giveaways and Paperbackswap.com books. Books from my personal shelves, borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases.

January Challenge Wrap Up

The first wrap up post of the year and boy do I have a lot to recap. I went a bit nuts this year with challenges; I hope I can accomplish them all. The only one I'm not tracking is my goodreads reading challenge; all the rest I'll include in my monthly wrap up post. Grab a drink, get comfy, and get ready! 

Reading BINGO Challenge

I haven't hit Bingo yet but I'm filling up the squares so maybe next month I'll get the first one.

A Book with a Blue Cover - Heart of Briar by Laura Anne Gilman
The Second Book in a Series - Playing with Fire by J.J. Cook
A Book with Non-human Characters - The Grendel Affair by Lisa Shearin
A Book with a Female Author - Seal the Deal by JoAnne Kenrick
A Book Set on a Different Continent - The Last Savanna by Mike Bond 
A Book with a Mystery - Fallen Women by Sandra Dallas  

TOTAL: 6

Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge - Goal: 1-5

1) Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
2) What's A Witch To Do? By Jennifer Harlow

January Kindle Fire HDX Giveaway

   Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)   This is a joint AUTHOR & BLOGGER GIVEAWAY EVENT! Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7".
 

Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop

Welcome! It may be freezing winter here but I'm doing a bit of cleaning and giving away some books from my shelves.  Right before Christmas I donated a bunch of books to a local shelter but I still have a few gathering dust. There are two books, going to one winner. US only, sorry. This is a blog hop so at the end of the post you'll find a linky list of other particicipating blogs. There's a range of books being given away so be sure to visit some of the other blogs.

The Books ~

Click on the image to go to the book's goodreads page.

January's Reading Challenges Wrap Up

I'll put up a wrap up post every month (or in this case, early the next month :D) for all of my 2013 reading challenges. Some books, I posted reviews on the blog, some are on goodreads, there may be one or two without reviews.

Book Chick City's 100 Books in 2013

For this challenge, I am not counting any children's books, unless it's YA, nor am I counting books that I edit. I am also doing goodreads' reading challenge and I'm counting everything for that one, but not tracking here on the blog. :D

1) Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford
2) Anything for You by Jessica Scott
3) Pandora's Temple by Jon Land
4) Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur
5) Serpent Queen by J.A. Campbell
6) How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox
7) Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz
8) Killer Librarian by Mary Lou Kirwin
9) Forbidden by Kelley Armstrong (no review yet, link is just to Goodreads page)

Total to date: 9

Cruisin' Through the Cozies Reading Challenge 2013 - Goal 13 or more

1)  Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford
2) Killer Librarian by Mary Lou Kirwin

Total to date: 2

2013 Ebook Challenge - Goal 25

1) How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox
2)  Serpent Queen by J.A. Campbell
3)  Pandora's Temple by Jon Land
4)  Anything for You by Jessica Scott
5) Time to Get Ready, Bunny! by Brenda Ponnay
6) Splat! Splat! Rata-tat-tat! ABC Book: Learning ABCs & Sounds Using Onomatopoeia by Lynn R. Davis


 Total to date: 6