Spring Reading Thing 2012 Wrap-Up

Whew! I did it! I actually devoted time to reading this Spring. I posted 4 books that I hoped to read during the challenge, yet I only read one of them. Surprisingly enough, that one book completely broke down my wall. As I previously said, Two Kisses for Maddy had been on my shelf since my husband died. I just couldn't bring myself to open it. I didn't want to read about pain that would ultimately bring my pain to the surface. Instead, it was very healing to read Matt's story, because it was a love story to his beautiful wife, taken from him all too soon.

I went looking for a quick read one day when I noticed that Claudia Gray had released another Evernight book, Balthazar. I wasn't aware of this and instantly purchased it on my nook and dove right in. After that, my original goals fell away, and I just read whatever jumped out at me.

My friends and facebook were all abuzz about The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I was in the salon getting my nails done, when fellow book lover, the owner's sister, asked me if I had read them. I said I hadn't but heard about them. I hadn't given it another thought until another post on facebook mentioned Christian Grey. I downloaded book 1 and began reading it on May 26th. Good grief, it was hard to put down that night, not going to bed until 1 a.m. I finished book 1 and went straight to download book 2, and read well into the night again the second night. Needless to say, I finished book 3 on Memorial Day, May 28. All 3 books, and it was BLISSFUL! I was unsure what to expect with the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, but I fell in love instantly. The erotic tale of Christian and Ana was delightfully sinful. Granted, much like Stephenie Meyer with Twilight, E.L. James used the same descriptive words, and it drove me crazy! Once I got around her less than extensive vocabulary, I adored the story unfolding before my eyes, just as much as I did when I read the Twilight Saga. I was shocked, to say the least, when I found that the stories were originally written for a Twilight fiction site, but made perfect sense to me. I enjoyed these ones so much, that upon going back and telling my book lover friend to read them, I reread them the following week, while she dived in and had a great time teasing each other on facebook about becoming Greysessed and posting pics of who we thought would make the perfect Christian Grey in the movie.

I thought I had done a decent job, I read over my quota for Spring, plugged in my links on this post, and called it done. Ha! A week later I received an email from Barnes & Noble, if you liked the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, check out Bared to You. I downloaded and finished it the next day.

I kept seeing another book recommendation hitting my inbox, B&N, amazon, when I logged in, Beautiful Disaster. I headed over to goodreads to check it out, and was surprised by the reviews. I downloaded, and as you guessed it, read it in a day. Another book I couldn't bring myself to put down. On the same list I found Beautiful Disaster, I found Thoughtless and Effortless, and picked them up too. I love finding cheap reads for my nook.

I think what took me by surprise was the Thoughtless series (and I can't wait to see what adventure book 3 holds in store for Kellan and Kiera). I completely misjudged the book by it's cover, and found myself laughing, angry, gasping, covering my mouth, as well as bawling my eyes out. You know it's a good book when all your emotions are brought to the surface. Guess what? Effortless was all that and more. The sequel was far more enticing than the original. I have never read a sequel to a book that I adored more than the first one, and yet, Effortless was just that. I became completely engrossed and adored S.C. Stephens writing. A complete and utter surprise, and hands down my favorite read during this challenge.

Thank you Katrina for hosting another great Spring Reading Thing! I'm looking forward to catching up on some much needed sleep, now that I'm not completely captivated by these books. I'll see you in the Fall. :)

Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin

Balthazar: An Evernight Novel by Claudia Gray

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

A Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens

Effortless by S.C. Stephens