Happy New Year, #RAK peeps! I hope you all had a lovely January, filled with books, books..what was that other things…books! It’s been cold and on-and-off snowy here, pretty perfect reading weather for me, since I’ve finally been able to drag out my comfy blanket. On the negative side, my cat thinks it’s her blanket and we’re fighting over it this year. I don’t know who it is that’s spoiled her.

It was a very nice #RAK month for me, as I was able to give and very lucky to receive.

I received:

The Unidentified Redhead by Alice Clayton from Heather at Book Stacks on Deck
Silken Rapture by Beth Kery from Emma D. in New Zealand
VAIN by Fisher Amelie from Memrie at Dark Angel Reader

I sent:

The Lifeboat: A Novel by Charlotte Rogan to Heather at Book Stacks on Deck
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor to Loretta at Between the Pages Reviews
Grave Intentions by Laura Sjoberg to Emma D. in New Zealand

Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs to Memri at Dark Angel Reader
Tainted Blood by Joanne Martin Sowles to Memri at Dark Angel Reader

Sign-ups for February’s #RAK will be opening up either today or tomorrow over at Book Soulmates!

Alright bibliophiles, for those of you that celebrate the holiday season that involves handing out gifts, how many of you have books, books and more books on your list? And have you all been good and followed your budget all year or do you think Santa’s going to be checking those credit card receipts and dumping a lump of coal in your book bag or ereader? I think I may be in trouble so I guess I’ll do what I do every year and buy my own gifts to myself.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful #RAK time too this season and not forgetting to pass along just a tiny bit of something. I wasn’t as generous as I wanted to be but I’m going to try to be better this month. I loved what I received and I hope my recipients felt the same!

I received:

Roots of Insight (The Dusk Gate Chronicles #2) by Breeana Puttroff from Temara at Sexy Book Nerds

The loveliest, most thoughtful bookmark from Isabelle (miki) at Lecture toute une Aventure (A Reading Adventure). Miki asked me about my favorite colors, what sorts of things I liked and picked the exact flowers on the bottom of the bookmark for me. She sent a sweet letter that make me sniffle some good tears – I truly will treasure this bookmark and always remember the friend who made it for me.

I Sent:

After all of that, I sent poor miki a book! I hope she loves it though.

I thought it had to be kismet that Temara had My Favorite Mistake on her wishlist on the same day that I bought it, so I couldn’t resist sending it to her!

So that was my month. I hope everyone else had a wonderful #RAK month and if it wasn’t full of books and new friends, I hope December will bring some for you. Sign ups are at Book Soulmates either today or tomorrow.

Finally we’re having wonderfully cool weather and it’s time to break out my favorite reading-time snuggle blanket. A perfect day is definitely curling up in my comfy chair with a cup of chai tea, my fuzzy blanket and a great book. (note to self: turn the phone off, lock the doors, put the cat in the bathroom with a big dish of food)

My TBR pile is at the tipping point thanks to the embarrassment of ARC riches I received last month and one absolutely wonderful RAK for a series I’ve been anxious to start from a new book friend, Kayla from Bibliophilia, Please.

Kayla sent me Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout:

Kayla was having a strictly pay-it-forward month, so to Stephanie at Cover2Cover, I sent Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter:

I hope everyone else had a lovely RAK month. Sign-ups for November are at Book Soulmates!

September was crazy for book releases, reviews and tours! Unfortunately, October may be busy enough to leave me in a drooling mess. The upside will be the wonderful weather, no bugs (happy dance) and all of the candy I can pretend to buy for giving out at Halloween that I’ll eat myself.

It was my birthday this month and it rocked! I recieved some lovely #RAKs from some book friends and family – I’m pretty sure I’m in book nirvana this month.

I received this month:

This Dark Endeavor  by Kenneth Oppel from Angela S.
The Unloved  by Jennifer Snyder from Corina at Pink Fluffy Hearts: Diary of a Coffee Addict
Riveted  by Meljean Brook from our head RAK cheerleader, fellow September birthday baby and booky friend Lethea B.
Taking Chances  by Molly McAdams from Adam at Roof Beam Reader
Eve of Samhain,  Pleasures Untold  and Faythe Reclaimed,  all by Lisa Sanchez, all from Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile

I sent this month:

In Honor  by Jessi Kirby to Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile
Rift  to Angela S.
Defiance  by C.J. Redwine to Corina at Pink Fluffy Hearts: Diary of a Coffee Addict
A Witch Before Dying  by Heather Blake to Lethea (go Libras!)

Thank you Angela, Corina, Lethea, Adam and Andrea for your generosity this month! I loved all of the books and they helped make September a terrific birthday month for me.

Don’t forget everyone, October sign-up is usually up sometime in the afternoon at Book Soulmates on Monday the 1st.

After a busy, busy July, August was blissfully quiet around here. Our weather went from sweltering and melting to the occasional broiling and we got some much-needed rain. I flamed out on #RAK giving in July, I’m sad to say, so I had to take a little breather and not do as much as I wanted. I just exchanged one this month, but it was with someone I hadn’t met before, so yay for new book friends!

Jenn at Waiting on Sunday to Drown sent me:

Frost by Kate Avery Ellison

I sent Jenn:

The First Time, an anthology edited by Jessica Verday and Rhonda Stapleton

Sign-ups for September #RAK open tomorrow at Book Soulmates so if you participate, don’t forget! If you haven’t participated before, it’s super easy to sign up and the more the merrier – there’s just a little Google Docs form to put your information into, then you’ll find a spreadsheet with a list of all of the other people who are in #RAK that month. Then spread the book love.

I hope everyone’s having a great summer so far! I can hardly believe it’s almost back-to-school time, it’s strange to go into the stores and see all of the stuff. It probably makes me a horrible person to confess this, but it’s nice to be able to run errands during the day and not risk getting mowed down by speeding high school kids. No, not while crossing the street in my orthopedic shoes, thankyouverymuch.

It was the month of birthdays for #RAK for me. I tried to hit as many as I could and since I had no idea how many other people were too, I chickened out a couple of times with gift certificates.

This month I sent:

Endurance by Jack Kilborn to Mary at Sweeping Me
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage to Kara L.

Thumped by Megan McCafferty to Lilly at Lilly Road (Happy Birthday!)
The Sweet, Terrible Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan to Brianne at Memories Overtaking Me (Happy Birthday!)

To Andrea at The Busy Bibliophile, a gift certificate to Amazon (Happy Birthday!)
To Christine at Your Penguin Suit is Very Cute, a gift certificate to Amazon (Happy Birthday!)

This month I received:

Between the Lines by Tammara Webber from Mary at Sweeping Me
The Girl Below by Bianca Zander from Kara L.

I hope everyone had a great July filled with awesome books – there were some drool-worthy new releases that I *cough* indulged in myself. Don’t forget, new #RAK sign-up is tomorrow at Book Soulmates!