Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon Introduction & Teaser Tidbits

Today is the first day of the Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon and I'm so excited to be participating!  This should be fun week, so get ready to come along for the ride!

Today's post is just supposed to share an introduction and to present our goals.  I have to admit that I'm not a great goal-setter, but I'm going to do my best!

1. Who are you?  My name is Nicole and I am a homeschooling mom to three crazy kiddos who keep me very busy.  Still, I have to have a creative outlet, right?  That's where book blogging comes in.  I actually have two blogs, this one and Best Kids' Reads, where I blog about all the fantabulous books that I read with my kids (mostly middle grade, but some younger kids' books too).  I am a relatively new blogger - I've only been doing it since mid-February or so, but I'm loving it!
2. Where do you blog from?  I am in the Chicago suburbs.  There's lots to do around here and the crazy, constantly changing weather keeps us on our toes!
3. Why did you start blogging?  Well, I love to read and I was already posting reviews on Goodreads anyway, so I figured why not put them into a blog?  I had no idea at the time what I was getting myself into!  I thought that I would just post some of my reviews on a blog and maybe some of my Facebook friends would read it - I had no idea that there was this awesome, extensive blogging community that I was about to become a part of.  I love it!!
4. What is your favorite genre?  Well, if you read my blog it become obvious that I'm a big fan of the paranormal/fantasy genre.  I actually started out reading fantasy back when I was a kid (and then as a teenager) before paranormal and urban fantasy were really a "thing."  Now, I tend to read a lot of YA paranormal romances and dystopian novels, but I like to throw other things in to mix it up a bit.  And, of course, I also read middle grade novels with my kids (lots of fantasy there as well).  If you friend me on Goodreads, you'll see that I read a wide variety of books (but I don't necessarily review them all on my blog).  Now that I'm blogging, I don't have as much time to read outside of my typical genre, but I'm trying to change that!

Goals for the Read-a-thon

My main goal for the read-a-thon is to participate in all the challenges.  This is what makes it fun!  Of course, I'm going to be reading books too, but I'd be doing that anyway!  (I'm also working on editing a book, so I need to do that too - oh, and pay attention to my kids).  Here are a few books I'm hoping to get through this week (click on the pics to see them on Goodreads):

      

Teaser Tidbits

I'm currently reading Branded by Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki and I'm really enjoying it (my review will be posted on the 13th).  Here's my teaser (I'm cheating and using three sentences):  

"I'm not always a jerk, you know. All I'm trying to do is what's best for you, and even though you don't see it now, one day you will," he says. "Besides, this could be the last week we're alive and I thought you should read it before we go into battle."