This post has been a long time coming...

Wow...it's already halfway through March. I honestly don't feel that I will make 75 books this year. I have been struggling to find a book that will both keep my attention as well as entertain me.

I find myself picking up a book, reading the first 50-100 pages, and losing interest, completely. I think I need something new to re-energize my love of reading. I have been searching both the bookstores and the ebook stores for something fresh and have come up with nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I have read a few books!

I've read The Well by A.J. Whitten. This book was good, but did not have the energy or pull their other book The Cellar had.

I have also read Under my Skin by Judith Graves. This is the story of Eryn a high school student whose parents have gone missing, and she is forced to move to the town of Redgrave where she is forced between keeping a very important secret or the lives of her friends. Now this may sound a little empty, but when you throw in a bit of teen angst, some romance, and a whole wack of paranormal goodness (vampires, werewolves and fairies Oh my!) This book turns into a great read! I can't wait for the second one in the trilogy!

The most recent book I read this year was The 13th by John Everson. This is the story of Castle House, an old hotel that was witness to an occult rituals many years ago. The hotel was shut down, and is now the brunt of ghost stories, and scary campfire tales. But lights are on in the Castle House once again, it seems someone has taken the building under their wing, so to say and has reopened it again. The new owners are there for The 13th....

I'm not totally sure how I feel about The 13th...it was a good gore fest, with some scenes that made even I, raise an eyebrow. The premise was interesting, but the book got very repetitive, and I found myself wanting to put it down and find something else to read.

I am now onto a book called Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast. It's a YA novel, based on the life of Zoey a young girl whose life has been changed completely, and not by her choice.

Hopefully this one can keep me entertained. :)

End of the Year, and a couple more books I finished before the end!

Wow, I am so behind in these blog posts. It's been such a busy time, with Christmas and New Years (and 4 kids, let's not forget that!). Things are finally starting to wind down, and get somewhat settled in the zombie crypt that I call my home.

Now I need to let you know about the last two books I finished before the end of the year! The first was Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore­.

I have walked by Christophers books many, many times and thought, " those look interesting" as I am always drawn to vampire fiction, movies anything at all (heck I still get all excited when the movie "Fright Night" comes on), but I passed them over and over for something else. Man..was I a dumbass.

The story centres around Jody, a young woman who one day after being "mugged" wakes up under a dumpster to find her world has changed. Her hand (the one that was sticking out from the bottom of the dumpster) has been charged by something, and strangely it doesn't really hurt and also seems to be healing?! Jody comes to realize she is a vampire, and knows she has to find someone-a human-to help her with daily tasks that need to be done during the day.

Enter C. Thomas Flood (Tommy to his friends) a night manager at the local Safeway, who enjoys frozen turkey bowling from time to time with his co-workers. Tommy is swept away by Jody when she walks into his life one night. The two team up for a hilarious romp of sex, a murder mystery, and them trying to keep Jody's "true self" a secret.

I loved this book, it was a different take on the whole genre that is "the vampire" It was refreshing to read a vampire story with out the whole dark, moody type of setting to it. I found myself laughing out loud and smiling with some of the situations Jody and Tommy were in. This was a great book and I recommend no do what I did and pass these by over and over again. Like I said, I`m a dumbass.

The other book I finished was "The Spark" by Chris Downie. This book is the basis of the sparkpeople.com program for losing weight. For any of you out there looking to lose 10, 20 or 100 pounds I would definitely recommend picking up this book. Chris has an amazing way of explaining weight loss and the mistakes people make when trying to lose weight. This book enlightened me, made me open my eyes to what was really happening with my weight and how to conquer it!

So here is the end of mine and Dawns yearly challenge. The goal was 100 books, which I didn't quite get to, but damnit, I am totally proud of myself for what I did read. It has been a LONG time since I was able to really enjoy books, and concentrate of my love of reading (again, I have 4 kids, two of which are teenagers..run and hide now!) So yes I may not have made it to the 100 books, but I have no regrets at all.

Dawn has posed another challenge! Read 75 books, and watch 26 movies. I'm up to the challenge yet again!

Oh and by the way! Dawn and I are blogging about our weight loss journey at fitnessquest2011.blogspot.com (as soon as I get caught up with everything I WILL be blogging). Our goal is to lose 50 pounds this year (each of us, not together). We are hoping to share and inspire some of you!

Come and join us!

Till next time everyone! Hope you all have a great New Year!