Happy New Year!

Claude and I wish all of you who celebrate the Gregorian new year, a year filled with peace, happiness, good health, and dreams that come true.

I don't usually make resolutions and I'm not big on goals either but a Tweet got me thinking about bookish goals and I made some. I declared them on Twitter and I'll declare them here too, with some revisions..

Bookish Personal Goals:

1. Get caught up on several series. I'm 2/3 of the way through 3 different ones. My library and KU are supplementing the titles I don't already own. When I finish those, there are several more I want to work on.

2. Read more from my personal collection, especially the non-fiction.

Bookish Blog Goals:

1. Get blogging again on a regular schedule, even if it's just once a week.

2. Review more backlist titles, more from my personal collection, and fewer review books.

I'm not giving up review books but want to take fewer so I can focus on the above goals. I want the review books I take to be less of,  "Oh, that looks good" and more "I NEED THAT!" That should help with the weird mindset I get sometimes of not wanting to write reviews. The less I feel obligated to write, the more I will actually write. Or so I'm hoping. :)

Have you made any goals or resolutions? If so, what are they?

Brenda Jackson's Finding Home Again - Excerpt & Giveaway!

Today we're part of the blog tour for Brenda Jackson’s Finding Home Again! Check it out, read the excerpt, and be sure to grab your copy today!

Cat Thursday - Peek A Boo!

 Welcome to the weekly meme hosted by The True Book Addict that celebrates cats; their foibles and humorousness and the joy they bring. You can join in by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you made or came across, cat art or share with us pics of your own felines, then post your link up at The True Book Addict.

Review, Excerpt & Giveaways: Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine

Series: The Great Library #5
Read As a Stand Alone: No
Publisher: Berkley Books
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 3rd, 2019
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository  | Google Books | iBooks* | Kobo | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

With the future of the Great Library in doubt, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone must decide if it's worth saving in this thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

The corrupt leadership of the Great Library has fallen. But with the Archivist plotting his return to power, and the Library under siege from outside empires and kingdoms, its future is uncertain. Jess Brightwell and his friends must come together as never before, to forge a new future for the Great Library . . . or see everything it stood for crumble.

Bea Reviews Ice Cold Heart by P.J. Tracy

Series: Monkeewrench #10
Can it be read as a stand alone? Yes, though there may be some confusion.
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 10th, 2019
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository  | Google Books | iBooks* | Kobo | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth join Grace MacBride and Monkeewrench to uncover a dark and ugly conspiracy that reaches deep into the safety of homes in this latest electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author P. J. Tracy.

It's a bitter winter in Minnesota--too cold to kill. There hasn't been a murder for a month, but the lull quickly comes to an end for Detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth, when they're called to the gruesome homicide of Kelly Ramage. Found in a friend's vacant house, this was no random attack, and clues reveal that she was living a very dangerous secret life.

Magozzi and Gino trace her steps back to an art gallery where she was last seen alive. The gallery seems like a dead end, but the art is disturbing and exploitative. It may very well be inspiring a sadistic killer, because in this instance, art doesn't imitate life, it imitates death.

Tipped off about a year-old murder that is a mirror-image of Kelly's crime scene, Gino and Magozzi enlist the aid of Grace MacBride and her eccentric, tech genius partners in Monkeewrench Software to help them decipher the digital trail that might connect the cases.

As coincidences emerge, Magozzi, Gino, and the team have to work around the clock at breakneck pace to unravel a series of clues that form the framework of a larger, more sweeping, and insidious conspiracy than any of them could have imagined. Is Kelly the last person to die or just the most recent? And is there any way to stop it?

August Balancing the Books

Inspired by the now defunct Fantasy Is More Fun and by The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog, I decided a few years ago to track my book expenses. I'll do a wrap up post at the end of each month.

I've given myself $40 real money each month to spend on books for myself, $40 for professional books - classroom use, teaching, and editing, $30 a month for books that are gifts, and $10 a month for blog giveaways. "Real money" being cash from my bank account as opposed to gift cards and store credits. Books that I borrowed from the library or a friend, and books received for review do not count against my purchases though I'll track them here as books acquired. Personal funds not spent will be added to the next month and any overages will be deducted from the next month; gift and blog cash however will reset each month.

Bea Reviews The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo and Illustrated by Mike Deas

Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers
Source: the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 6th, 2019
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository*  | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A school playground can be a solitary place for a kid without playmates; in one survey, 80 percent of 8- to 10-year-old respondents described being lonely at some point during a school day.

Patty Brozo’s cast of kids brings a playground to raucous life, and Mike Deas’s illustrations invest their games with imaginary planes to fly, dragons to tame, and elephants to ride. And these kids match their imaginations with empathy, identifying and swooping up the lonely among them.

Buddy benches are appearing in schoolyards around the country. Introduced from Germany in 2014, the concept is simple: When a child sits on the bench, it’s a signal to other kids to ask him or her to play.

Book Beginnings and Friday 56 - The Bear's Chosen Mate by Vivian Arend

I'm participating in two Friday book memes, Book Beginnings On Fridays, hosted by Rose City Reader, and The Friday 56, hosted by Freda's Voice.

I'll be starting this book tonight or tomorrow, with a review hopefully next week.