Kindle Unlimited ... Again (& Again!)

I did a post back in Spring of 2016 about my 30-day Trial of Kindle Unlimited. I really liked the program, but couldn't justify the $10 a month, not when I had so many books available at my local library and in my Kindle cloud.

As 2019 started up ... I noticed a deal: three months of Kindle Unlimited for just $1. So I signed up. I wrapped up some of my library loans, and then suspended any remaining holds, and started on a Kindle Unlimited journey again. During my first trial three years ago, I discovered the KU books with audio options. As audio books are so expensive, I planned to partake of as many audio editions as I could (at this same time I added an earbud to replace my big, bulky headphones, which added many hours of audio opportunity while cleaning, gardening, laundry and driving kids around).  If you glance at my monthly book lists from last year, Kindle Unlimited Audio dominated those three months. When my time was up, I canceled, and went back to borrowing books from my local library. 

I must admit... Kindle Unlimited had spoiled me. Unlike the library, I never had to wait for the next book. I could always download it immediately. I also adored the option of having the Kindle copy along with the audible. Often I'd use the "whispersync" function to switch between the audio and actual reading when I had some down time. Sometimes I'd stop the audio to quickly highlight or make a note in the Kindle copy.  But, I'm cheap ... the library is fine.

Then, there was another Amazon Kindle deal. Two months for $1. I did it again. Another two months. A bunch of KU books. Then canceled before being charged the full price and back to the library.  Then ... a two months FREE for Prime members as part of Prime Day. I got the deal, and KU again. Then went back to my library. Then ... there was ANOTHER deal and I got KU for the rest of the year. So ... almost a full year of Kindle Unlimited, for about $5 (if I'm remembering correctly).

 

Now with Kindle Unlimited, you are not BUYING the books, you are borrowing them. It's more like a library loan, except unlike the library, any KU book is available at any time. As in my original post, it isn't really "unlimited" ... You can only have 10 books out at a time.  Not all the books Amazon carries are included and not all KU books have audio.  But if you are an avid reader - it might be worth the regular price of $10 a month, especially for audiobooks. 

In 2019 ... I was able to listen to around 135 audiobooks from Kindle Unlimited. I also grabbed a few books that only had a Kindle copy available and read them (the entire "Gateway" series by E.E. Holmes is available on Unlimited. No audio included for free, but this was one worth it to me to read. I'd been looking forward to the final two books which came out in 2019).  This past year, I also started to request audiobooks through AudioBookBoom (where authors/narrators/publishers will offer free audiobooks in exchange for a review). A majority of these audiobooks had the Kindle copy available on KU, and I'd always borrow them while I listened, often referring to the text copy to make notes or reread sections. 

When you go to the Kindle Unlimited page, there are several targeted lists ... New and Noteable, Literature and Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, etc. One of the options is E-books with Audible. These include both the kindle copy and the audio. The audio can be accessed through the Kindle copy (you can actually follow along, the highlighted text following the narration visually), or through the Audible app.

As you are browsing books in the main menu - you can easily see if a book is included in Kindle Unlimited, and if the audio is included or not. Books are marked with the "kindleunlimited" logo and the headphones image. The "buy" button will say "Read for Free" or "Read and Listen for Free"...

There are the books where just the Kindle copy is included in KU, those where both the Kindle and the audio are included ... and then there's one other thing that's good to know. Many KU books say "Read for Free" indicating they are part of Kindle Unlimited, but then underneath you see a reduced price purchase option (as above, "add Audible" for just $1.99). Borrowing the Kindle copy counts as a "purchase" and you can buy audiobook for the reduced price while you have the Kindle copy borrowed. The purchased audiobook is yours to keep, accessible in Audible after you return the Kindle copy and/or cancel your KU subscription. I picked up several discounted audiobooks this way.

I ran into one small snafuu with Kindle Unlimited audio. I've been snagging free Kindle downloads for years. Following Pixal of Ink and Book Bub, so I have a huge collection of digital books in my Kindle Cloud. When I wanted to borrow the audiobook from KU, and I had purchased the Kindle copy, I had a lot of trouble accessing the audio. My Kindle app would bring up my cloud copy, which apparently was different than the KU copy with audio attached. I couldn't seem to "borrow" the KU copy, because records showed I already owned the book. I finally figured out that I had to use my Kindle Device ... go into the KindleUnlimited menu, which would bring up the KindleUnlimited copy, and I could borrow it from there. I never figured a work around from the Kindle app or Amazon website. 

So - I think there is a target audience for Kindle Unlimited. For some people, it IS absolutely worth the $10 a month subscription price. For others, not so much. It really depends on what you read and how much you read.  If you are looking for specific books, KU may not make you happy. If you just want to read and are happy just trying out things that look interesting ... you may find a ton of wonderful books you may not have encountered otherwise. 

Just like Netflix - the content of KU is constantly changing. 

Things that are available at one point, may be phased out. 

New books are always being added. 

Some of the KindleUnlimited I really liked?

Kindle and Audio Included

•  In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
• The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
  
• West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
  
• James Maxwell - two quartets/epic fantasy
• Jeff Wheeler Fantasy book series 
• Servants of Fate by Sarah Fine 
• The Hundredth Queen series by Emily R King 
• Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days Book 1) Kindle Edition by Susan Ee  
• The Butterfly Garden (The Collector #1) by Dot Hutchison
• The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (The Road to Nowhere #1) by Meg Elison
• Deviants (Dust Chronicles, #1) by  Maureen McGowan
• The Rule of One (The Rule of One, #1)  by Ashley Saunders
• CyberStorm by Matthew Mather 
• Smoke & Summons (Numina #1) by Charlie N.Holmberg
• The Upside of Falling Down by  Rebekah Crane
• Dead Spots (Scarlett Bernard #1) by Melissa F. Olsen
• The Music of the Deep by  Elizabeth Hall 
• Obscura by Joe Hart
• What the Wind Knows  by Amy Harmon   
• The First Girl Child  by Amy Harmon
• The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
• The Wake Up  by Catherine Ryan Hyde  (several other books also) 
  
• Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
  

  
  

   
  

Kindle Copy Only

• Gateway series by E.E. Holmes (Audible available for $7.49 each) 
• The City series by Sarah Lyons Flemming (Audible available for $1.99 each)
• The Legacy series by Melissa Delport (Audible available for $7.49 each)

January 2020

January ... there was actually a LOT going on this month. #1 son bought a house. #3 son bought a car. #2 son broke his foot. Again. Three of the boys moved to bigger beds with that change there was a little additional room rearranging. #4 son has been workout out with Ring Fit. A lot! We finally got Disney+ so #3 could watch "The Mandelorian" and I got caught up on the Marvel movies I'd missed. I even went to a movie in the theaters ... twice! (I didn't go at all in 2019, just once in 2018). I ate popcorn and treats at those movies, and although I meant to get back to tracking my intake ... it didn't take. Exercise was okay - weight was pretty stagnant.

NUMBERS: Starting weight was 187.7. Ending weight was 186.4. High was 190.20. Low was 184.8 and the average was 187.41. My burn average was 2604. Step average was 17,717 with 513,799 total steps for the month. Cardio minutes 3037/3304. 

EXERCISE: Only got my hour of elliptical in 8 days this month. I was on the elliptical for 30min or so 13 other days. I did better with my treadmill time. 22 days with at two miles each, and two days with a double dose. For Zumba, I went to 21 classes. I did double duty on one Tuesday, helping teach a Relief Society class.  Two sessions with weights, for a total of 90 minutes.   OTHER ACTIVITIES: A bunch of basketball with #5. Two movies. Quite a bit of family time with a gathering on New Years Day, visiting my folks and helping #1 move into his new house. Still had some time at the dentist, and I had to hit the optometrist too. At the bank getting #3 his loan. Getting #5 a haircut. School appointment with #5 and teaching #3 how to drive a stick shift ;)

I went back to watching movies in the home gym ...  got in an even dozen. Started off with a couple on Amazon Prime, then switched to Disney+ (we are only keeping it for a month). In between movies, I watched the 3rd season of The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel.

My Movies - January 2020

  

My Books - January 2020

Movie Monday - Many Marvel

I haven't been much of a movie gal these last few years. At least, not in theaters. I prefer to wait until they are on DVD or streaming, and watch while working out in my home gym. I'd gotten a bit behind on my Marvel movies. I like them, but I'm not an avid fan like some of the family.  I'm not sure if I saw ANY of these in the theater. I saw some down in the gym, a couple were "date" night movies with Hubs with his homemade popcorn (I remember he fell asleep twice during Dr. Strange and I finally had to finish up that one on my own).  

Personal favorites ... the Iron Man trilogy (the first one was my favorite), and the two Ant-Man movies were fun. I enjoyed the recent Spiderman and Black Panther. I didn't care for the second Guardians or Thor Ragnarok. I thought they were super silly, but my boys loved that Thor.

I didn't jump on the Disney+ bandwagon as many were anxious to do - but after a few months, my son wanted to see The Mandelorian, so I said we'd do a month so he could watch that ... and I figured I'd catch-up on all the Marvel movies I'd missed. I looked up the chart, and I'd actually seen more than I thought. I had six to see, four were the BIG ones (with all the characters).

So I started my Marvel make-up session ...

I liked them all. I hadn't been able to avoid spoilers entirely. I knew Tony didn't make it out of Endgame. I was interested enough to get back down to the gym for a few more workouts than I might have gotten in each day otherwise.  Now I'm in the know. I had a chat with #3 son (as he's the one who knows the most Marvel) about a few things (so how did that time warp work, who was the kid at Stark's funeral, "love you 3000" ...)

While I had Disney+, I figured I'd give the Marvel series Runaways a try.

It caught my interest at the start, but then turned overly silly pretty quick. I went ahead and finished the first season, but I don't think I'll be watching any more. 

I feel pretty caught up at the moment! I know there are new movies ... Spiderman Far From Home, and others (Black Widow) not even released yet. But at least I know what happened in Endgame, so I'm not completely out of the loop.   Now ... to get caught up on Star Wars, because yes, I'm behind there too.

JenB's Books in 2019

 I love the Good Reads end of year summary. I almost DOUBLED the amount of books this year. Two reasons. The addition of earbuds (I was listening to audio with my big Bose headphones, but with earbuds, I was listening whenever possible. Driving, cleaning, shopping, mowing the lawn ... I'd roll out of bed and stick one in and be listening while I weighed myself, got dressed and made the bed). The other was Kindle Unlimited. There was a deal at the start of the year; 3 months for $1. I pretty much stuck with just the KU titles that had audio included. Unlike regular Audible or library loans though, they had both, so there were times I would switch from listening to reading, then back again. I canceled KU after those three months, but then there was another promotion, $2 for two months. So I did that. Then there was a "three month free for Prime members" so of course I did that. Then there was another deal ... so while never paying the full $10 a month price, I pretty much had Kindle Unlimited all year. I still had some holds at my library, and my wishlist there is getting longer and longer.

Here's a peek at my ratings. I had quite a few FIVE star reads this year. Many I'll think back on fondly. Several series really deserve their own blog post (I did post about the 1000th Floor, Evermen and Shifting Tides, The Conqueror's Saga and a few more). Lots of four star, three star. Several two star, a couple one star and a couple I didn't finish (and didn't feel I should rate officially).

In addition to Kindle Unlimited and my library, I started reviewing books for Audiobook Boom. Authors, publishers and narrators will offer their books free in exchange for an honest review, similar to Netgalley (which I had done in the past, but I love getting audio for free!) And honestly - if you look at the number of Audio vs Read books for me ... I sometimes feel guilty devoting too much time to "just" reading, whereas with audio, I'm multi-tasking (listening while  driving, watching basketball games live or video highlights, doing laundry, gardening, cleaning, mowing the lawn ...). But even with books I've marked as audio, I often read a good portion if I also had access to the text. Sometimes, when I just preferred to read (before bed), or when I got a distracted during my listening (it happens!) and needed to re-read to review before continuing on. So ... there was more READING than it might appear ;)

So here's a look back at the month to month books for 2019. It's interesting to look back here at the end of the year. To look at some and remember almost everything about the book, to seeing some covers and not really having any recollection to what that one was about (I can always go back to GoodReads to check out my rating and review if I need a refresher). 

20 books in January

17 books in February

17 books in March

15 books in  April

16 books in May

18 books in June

19 books in July

15 books in August

18 books in September

14 books in October

 17 books in November

23 books in December

My Movies in 2019

Well ... I didn't go see a movie in a theater this year. I'm a homebody who prefers Hub's popcorn and being able to turn on the captions and pause for a potty break. Or ... I'll watch while working out, which is where I watched pretty much all of these. Some old, some new. Some blockbusters, some straight to streaming. Some good, some ... not so good. 42 movies ... plus 13 Christmas Shows in December.

It's interesting to look back on these movies, months after viewing most of them, and thinking about what sticks in my memory about them.  A few were re-watches ... About Time, Chef, Sixth Sense and Invictus. All the rest were new, to me anyway. Mean Girls is 15 years old, but is talked about and referenced so often I figured I should catch up and know what everyone is talking about. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was released in 2008 and I'd heard of it, but hadn't seen it or read the book. I HAD read the books for Ready Player One, Wonder, The Darkest Minds, Annihiliation and Everyday. Then I watched the "bookclub" movies Book Club and The Jane Austen Book Club.  

I'm still behind on the Marvel movies, but wanted to watch the Ant Man sequel, as I'd enjoyed the first one. A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody created quite the buzz, and I thought they were good. I watched A Quiet Place (no sound) and BirdBox (no sight) the same week.  Several "based on true stories" ... some better than others. The Rock ... Rampage and Skyscraper, ummmm ... Musical Mama Mia and Pitch Perfect sequels and Disney related Saving Mr. Banks and Christopher Robin (really liked them both). The Mule ... oh  my heavens, this older Clint Eastwood character was MY DAD! Not the bad stuff (women/drug running) but the clothes, the way he spoke and moved, his mannerisms. It was uncanny!

We still had HBO for most of the year (we dropped DirectTV in the fall, and with it went our HBO). That was where I watched the most recently released Blockbusters. We have Netflix and Prime, so still access to quite a few movies, especially as I haven't been seeing any in theaters, I have quite the backlog! I think we'll finally go ahead and join the Disney+ people so my Star Wars son can catch "The Mandalorian" and I'll try to catch what movies they offer while we have it. 

Here's to entertainment while exercising!

2019 ... Year In Review

... all my monthly collages in one. You can see the official Fitbit Intake/Burn graph ended in July. I went ahead and made my own in Excel for September/October, and then gave up on including that graphic ... which also included some stopping of counting calories all together. About that same time I gave up my weekly blog updates/number crunch/reviews and just went to a look at the whole month.

 ... and this was my Instagram Top 9

I don't particularly want to go over the annual numbers ... not a good year. Last year at this time, I had an uber up on the scale. I managed to dip down a little in the summer. But I fell in the fall. Back to the highest weight I've been outside of pregnancy.

 

 Weight started at 173.6. Ended at 188.5. High was 190.8. Low was 164.3. 

Here's the Stats. I gave up calorie counting at the end of the year.

Any correlation to the numbers on the scale jumping up? Coincidence? ;)

Here's a look at LifeCycle ... the  MORE section is showcased below (I wish we had the option to just include it! If you look back at 2017 it was ALL on the same one. I realize people who have more going on might not make it fit, but I'd like the option).  It's interesting to compare it from year to year. Zumba was my top activity ... dancing beat driving! More basketball this year than last, which surprised me. A little less time with family. Lawn mowing was exactly the same! Time at the dentist was almost identical to last year, time at the doctor's doubled (and unfortunately, I'm betting we beat it this coming year). More time on school stuff, and that doesn't even reflect the real story.

Added racquet sports ... that was either tennis, badminton or pickleball. Hope to have more of that next year. A bit of bowling. Looking at last year I didn't see bowling there. Less beach time. I only went once with the family. A bit more time on food runs, picking up pizza or Popeyes. Some snow shoveling. Auto stuff. Hubs and I went to see a monarch release, I wasn't sure how to categorize that! And of course, my ONE RUN of the year. A few minutes slower than last year.

One last look at 2019

(I made this collage for the family blog)

December 2019

End of the Month. End of the Year. End of the Decade.

These last few months have been rough. My weight is up. Eating is up ... although that's a guess, as I've pretty much given up tracking it. Exercise is down. I haven't been hopping here on the blog with weekly updates. I have still managed to journal and get my monthly updates done.  Here's December.

NUMBERS: Weight started at 183.6. Ended at 188.5. High was 190.8 with low 179.4. Average weight 184.6. That's pretty much my all time high, excluding pregnancies. Step average this month was 14,498 with 309.66 logged miles. Average burn 2448. No average intake or deficit/overage due to lack of tracking. 2177/2415 cardio minutes, and a whopping 10min with weights. And I was still a little sore the next day. 

EXERCISE: Only achieved my hour of elliptical four days this month. Got in partial workouts (20-50min) eight other days. Did better on the treadmill ... 22 days of two-mile treadmill walks, and one day I did a full hour (3.5miles). 15 Zumba classes. I got on the bike once! Just once for weights too.  OTHER ACTIVITIES: Of course with the Christmas season, there were some family activities on both sides. The usual grocery shopping, and some basketball games. Dental visits for me, and checkups for the two youngest boys. More medical/mental. Not really "duck duty" or yardwork, but cleaning out the shed and getting all the yard/duck stuff away. 

I watched a bunch of movies this month -
the 13 days of Christmas movies!

Christmas Movies

I've seen "A Christmas Story" and "Elf" and the other well known Christmas standards. I've never really gotten into the Hallmark movies, or even the Netflix specials though.  This year, I really needed something to try and get me into the spirit of the season, and the TV series I was watching while working out wasn't really motivating me anyway. So I switched to Christmas movies. All watched while working out.  I haven't been spending as much time in the gym, so starting and finishing a movie in a day was a bit of a challenge, even with the majority of these being around 90min in length. If I didn't make it, I'd just finish the movie the next day. As I write my little reviews and thoughts about the shows I watched ... I'll just say this upfront (as it really applies to ALL of them). Pretty predictable and formulaic.  I've seen a lot of jokes about "Hallmark" Christmas movies, and while none of the ones I watched were actual Hallmark movies, many of the memes are spot on ;)

• Holiday in the Wild. 2019 (IMDB 6.1): A brand new Netflix original this year. Who doesn't love Rob Lowe. This didn't feel as much like a Christmas movie, as a movie that happened to take place during December. Still ... being the Scrooge I am, I often struggle watching "Christmas" stuff if it isn't the holiday season. This was cute, I liked it. 
• The Knight Before Christmas. 2019. (IMDB 5.5): Another new Netflix one. While it was cute, it was a bit silly. One I was glad I was working out with, not "just" watching (which I would have considered a waste of time). 
• The Christmas Chronicles. 2018 (IMDB 7.1): One of the Netflix movies from last year. This had some rave reviews ... while I liked it fine, it felt very childish. I guess this the only one I watched that wasn't a romance. 
• The Christmas Prince. 2017 (IMDB 5.7): This one is a couple years old, has a couple sequels, and seems to have its own little cult following. I figured I had better put it on the list just to see what the buzz was about. The main gal here will always be "Zombie"girl to me (iZombie) though. 
• The Christmas Prince; The Royal Wedding. 2018 (IMDB 5.2): I only thought the first movie was okay. This one was pushing the silliness factor for me. 
• The Christmas Prince; The Royal Baby. 2019 (IMDB 5.2): Honestly, I had to take a break between the last one and this one ... but came back and figured I'd finish the series. Too over the top for me. 
• A Cinderella Story; Christmas Wish. 2019 (IMDB 5.2): So I liked this one ;)  I liked the music in it and Shazammed several of the songs. I was not familiar with the lead actors, although I know they are known for their Disney/Marvel roles. The "Cinderella" update was silly but fun. 
• Christmas in the Heartland. 2017 (IMDB 6.0): Oy ... had to push to finish this one. I actually liked the two girls, and Bo Derek was lovely (if unlikable), but many of the other characters/actors? So bad. The storyline was pretty bad too. I watched this on Netflix, but saw it was on Amazon too. 
• Snowed Inn Christmas. 2017 (IMDB 7.3): This is what I think of when "Hallmark Movie" is mentioned (even though this isn't "Hallmark"). Boy/Girl, conflict, of course they fall in love. I recognized the leading lady from One Tree Hill (not that I watched that series, but my son did and I couldn't help but see some of it) and the main man sure reminded me of the "This is Us" Manny guy. 
• Christmas Pen Pals. 2018 (IMDB 7.0): Another "by the book" Christmas romance. Cute little April Kepner from Grey's Anatomy. I liked it. 
• Falling For Christmas. 2016 (IMDB 6.1): I had a little trouble even finding this one on IMDB, I guess there was a title change. It's still listed as "Snowcapped Christmas" there. Back in the day, I really liked "The Cutting Edge" movie, and this had touches of that.  And it had "Blair" from Facts of Life! I liked it. 
• A Gift Wrapped Christmas. 2015. (IMDB 7.2): This one was my favorite. The main gal was so cute and bubbly. I couldn't help but smile, she just radiated Christmas. I did NOT care for the main guy at the start. Not an active dislike, just an "ehh ... I know they are going to end up together and she's too cute for him" but by the end he had won me over too. Even the little boy was cute (I really struggled with the kid actors in some of these, sorry to say but they weren't very good).  This movie actually made me hit the gym again because I wanted to see what was going to happen ...
• All I Want For Christmas. 2013 (IMDB 5.3): And I should have stopped with the last movie, on a high note. This one ... I struggled to stay interested. No motivation to continue on, I even ended up pushing it a couple days and finally finishing after Christmas. Just "roll your eyes" silly. Bad acting. Bad storyline. Blah and bah humbug. 

I did sneak in a few non-Christmas movies (before I made the full "Christmas" commitment and found that even without the Hallmark channel, I had oodles to choose from), so for the "month" between Thanksgiving (because NO Christmas movies before Thanksgiving!) and Christmas, 13 Holiday movies, almost 1550 minutes of walking (or ellipticaling or I even hit the stationary bike a couple of times) while watching wasn't too bad. Maybe I'll try it again next year ...

November 2019

I'm late getting this up. No real incentive to showcase my pitiful performance for the month. In addition to the leftover Halloween candy, there was Thanksgiving, two birthdays, and some baking. Hubs headed to Hawaii and #1 and wife were Mexico bound. There was basketball, snow, tooth trouble and a car accident. 

NUMBERS:  Starting weight 180.6. Ending weight 183.6. High was 184.8 and low was 179.9. Average 182.03.  No average intake, as I wasn't good at tracking it this month. I started to, then gave up. Burn average 2473. Step average 15530. Tracked miles 139.42. Cardio minutes 2349/2649. 

EXERCISE:  Only four days with a full hour of elliptical. A dozen other days where I got at least one elliptical workout in though. 16 days with treadmill time, one day with double duty. 18 Zumba classes. Two times picking up rackets ... tennis while the weather held, then pickleball. I even hit the bike once! No weight workouts though.   

Winter Watching 5x

 

I get a lot of watching in during winter. I'm not an outdoor exerciser anyway, so the change in weather doesn't affect my routine much. But ... if I'm feeling cold, or know I have to go out into the cold (mommy uber) it's a little extra incentive to hit the gym for a quick warmup workout. Here's a few of the series that kept me entertained while in the gym as 2019 wrapped up.

• Dark: I loved this, and watched all three seasons. I can't do dubbing, so I left the audio in the original German and put on subtitles. Timetravel is always mindbending, and this was crazy! I was very impressed with the casting of the individuals at different ages, some were SO spot on! It was confusing and complex, and I appreciated when they'd do little portions where they showed the people side-by-side. This was deserving of it's (M/mature) rating with language and sexuality.
• Reign: This one has been going on for a while with me. I watched the first season and then finished the second one ... but I don't know that I'll continue. It's a little over the top. I struggled a bit with Megan Follows as an evil character! She'll always be Anne to me. This ended up being my "weight workout" show ... something I didn't really need to pay close attention to or keep my eyes on it all the time (as with weights, I can't always keep my eyes on the TV). 
• The Widow: This was an Amazon original (all the others are Netflix) and I thought it was pretty good. Lots of action. It kept my interest enough.
• Unbelievable: I'd heard a bit of buzz and figured I'd give this show a try. It was challenging, not knowing who or what to believe. 
• Raising Dion: I generally love supernatural shows ... this one did NOT work for me. The acting and the story were eye-rolling. I really like to at least finish a season for closure, but I gave up on this one. On my DNF list.