Reading Challenges - Bout of Books 14 and Beat the Heat Readathon

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So, as I mentioned in this post, I haven't been reading anywhere near enough books lately. I make the excuse that I'm busy but by doing these reading challenges I hope that I will have to make time to read. This makes reading sound like a chore, which it certainly isn't in my eyes, but sometimes I get lazy and need a little motivation to read something other than Take a Break magazine (my guilty pleasure). I'll post my goals for each challenge closer to the time but here are the basic rules and details on how you can sign up.

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, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd 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 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

• The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 24th at 12:00 AM to September 6th at 11:59 PM. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for three weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal!
• There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end!
• Sign up here at Novel Heartbeat or over at Phantasmic Reads. You may join whenever you like, but to be eligible for our grand prize giveaway, you must sign up by August 28th.
• To join, all you have to do is make a sign-up post – even if it’s just a “Let’s do this!” thing – and add your post URL to the linky below! You can put your goals and progress (will be required for the final giveaway) in your sign-up post, or you can make it separate. Totally up to you! (You are welcome to use the template we provide in the kick-off post as well.)
• In order to enter for the grand prize, you must have a post to keep track of your progress so we can see that you participated.
• Follow along on Twitter and share your progress with the hashtag #BtHReadathon!

Let me know if you're participating in either of these challenges, I'd love to see your goals and progress!

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Review - Coming Home For Christmas by Jenny Hale

Well, Christmas has been and gone for another year. I had a really wonderful day and I hope you all did too.

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Coming Home For Christmas

by Jenny Hale

Publication Date - 1st October 2013

Publisher - Bookouture

Amazon description :- Christmas is a time for family... isn't it?

Allie Richfield loves Christmas, so when she lands a job as House Manager for the amazing Ashford Estate—which includes organizing the Marley family festivities—she is in her element. With a budget bigger than her life savings and a team of staff, how hard can it be?

As one-by-one she meets the Marleys, she’s about to find out...

Allie’s new boss, Robert, might be gorgeous, but he’s also colder than the snow outside and refuses to come home for Christmas. Robert’s playboy brother, Kip, flirts with her relentlessly; and his sister, Sloane, arrives home with baggage—both the divorce-kind and the Louis Vuitton kind. Their ninety-two year old grandmother, Pippa, spends her day grumbling at them all from her mobility scooter.

With Robert intending to sell Ashford, it’s the Marley’s last chance to create some happy memories in their family home—and Allie is determined to make it happen... even if it takes a little Christmas magic! With the festive spirit in full swing, she might even discover a little happiness of her own...

Yet another Christmassy book which I've read this year! It was an easy read, chick-lit with a bit of Christmas thrown in. Because of the location, a massive house owned by someone with lots of money, I thought that this would have such a Christmassy feel but to be honest it didn't really do it for me. The storyline was pretty non-existent and it was so predictable. I knew what was going to happen almost as soon as I started reading.

I didn't feel like Allie's feelings were explored very much, apart from when she was fawning about over men. She was apparently close with her mother and sister but when she couldn't spend Christmas day with them it was barely mentioned that she'd missed them or wanted to spend the day with them.

It also really annoyed me when her previous job as a nanny was put down. I have often found that a nanny is viewed as a glorified babysitter. Allie is described as just being a nanny to get some money, to fill a job gap. I have never met a nanny like that. To work so closely with children you have to love it and love them, and it's not just sitting around playing with kids all day. It's a hard job, physically, emotionally and mentally. Many people don't have enough respect for what nannies do and books which portray nannies like this really annoy me because it gives people the wrong idea about a really wonderful, much needed job.

It was okay, the main positive in my book was that it was Christmas themed but other than that I didn't feel like it had much going for it.Two stars (2*)

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Review - Calling Mrs Christmas by Carole Matthews

Calling Mrs Christmas

by Carole Matthews

Publication Date - 24th October 2013

Publisher - Sphere

Amazon Description - Cassie Smith has been out of work for a while but she has an idea. Drawing on her love of Christmas, she begins charging for small things: wrapping presents; writing cards; tree-decorating. She's soon in huge demand and Cassie's business, Calling Mrs Christmas, is born.

Carter Randall wants to make Christmas special for his children, so he enlists Cassie's help, and his lavish requests start taking up all her time. Thank goodness she can rely on her loving partner Jim to handle the rest of her clients.

When millionaire Carter asks Cassie to join his family on a trip to Lapland, she knows she shouldn't go . . . Suddenly Cassie finds herself facing a heart-breaking choice that could change her entire life.

Join Cassie as she takes you on a romantic and emotional rollercoaster ride in Calling Mrs Christmas.

For me, Christmas films just don't cut it. Of course, I have a few favourite festive movies I like to watch with my family. Oliver! is an absolute must in the run up to Christmas. But they aren't what I rely on to get me into the Christmas spirit. Christmassy books are what I love, the things which make me feel the most festive and excited. As soon as December the first comes around (I make myself wait until this date, it's very difficult) I buy about five books with the world 'Christmas' somewhere on the cover and get lost in a soppy, sickly, snow-covered world.

One of the first books I read this December was Calling Mrs Christmas. I must say that I wasn't expecting much from this book. I thought that it would be a quick, easy read, girl with horrible boyfriend, meets rich, lovely man, they fall in love and that's the end of that. No other stories in the background, not too much concentration needed. I was completely wrong. I won't give too much of the plot away but the ending was really not what I had predicted.

I really enjoyed this book. Cassie is a strong, likeable main character and I was willing her to do well for herself throughout the book. Jim was a kind, supportive partner and I thought it was nice that he was given a small story line of his own with the boys in the young offenders unit. It gave the story a bit more depth and threw an extra few weepy moments in too. That can never be a bad thing can it? I found Carter Randall to be quite pushy and annoying. He was a sweet and attentive father but the way he wouldn't take no for an answer really got on my nerves at times.

This book really was Christmas through and through. The trip to Lapland was written so beautifully that I really felt I was sleeping in the Ice Hotel and cuddling Huskies myself! It seemed like an amazing trip of a lifetime yet it stayed believable, the description of the scenery and Cassie's surroundings were in-depth enough so that I could totally imagine where she was but not to the extent that I was bored.

There were quite a few bits which made me cry, not a difficult task, and there were plenty of sweet moments but they didn't seem saccharine. I think this will definitely be going into the archive of Christmas books which I read every December. Four stars (4*).

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