Blue Duck Book Reviews

A wonderful prize to be had by 1 lucky winner!

2011-09-26T20:40:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Wiley (from Authors on the Web) I will be able to host a very special giveaway. As many of you may know Melissa De La Cruz has published a new Blue Bloods book: Lost In Time. I will be hosting a giveaway where ONE lucky winner will win a SIGNED copy of the book! That's right - A SIGNED COPY OF THE BOOK! All entries will be put into a random generator (so as to be fair.) The competition will begin soon so keep your eyes peeled!

So, if you want to be entered just give me your name and email address in the comments section below - if selected I will email you (you will have 48 hours to respond before another name is chosen) and I will send it off to Wiley and then you will get the book!

Dead to the World

2011-08-17T11:01:00.003-04:00

Sookie has made a promise to herself; she will no longer get beaten up. It has been a rough year for her. She was greatly injured in Dallas and again when she was trying to rescue Bill. She will not be the Supernaturals' bunching bag anymore.

After a late shift she heads on home, and on the way home she sees a strange sight. When she gets closer she notices that Eric is running in the middle of the cold night only wearing pants. She stops to ask him what he is doing and his reaction is quite curious. Instead of his usual 'charm' with her - he extends his fangs and hisses at her. Startled, Sookie asks Eric what is going on, and his reply is even more confusing. He does not know who she is. Worried that something is wrong with Eric she convinces him to get into her car and then drives back home.

When she gets home she calls Pam and tells her that she has Eric. Pam's directions to Sookie are simple: stay there and don't let Eric out of the house. Starting to worry even more, Sookie does as she is told. When Pam arrives Sookie gets let in on what is going on. Witches have cast a spell on Eric and erased his memory. There are no ordinary witches though; some are weres and they all feed on Vampire blood. What's worse is they're trying to take over the Sherveport area and will stop at nothing to make sure they win. Sookie has to try and help Eric while keeping her New Year's resolution. Can she? To complicate things even more - Jason has gone missing.

I like how the series is progressing. We are getting to know more characters like Pam and Eric. I am really starting to enjoy Pam's character - she is almost like the dry British humor. One cannot forget Eric though either. Last night while thinking over this book I couldn't help but think the Eric/Sookie action reminded me too much of Anita/Jean-Claude. On one of the covers someone praised Ms. Harris for her ability to add the Anita Blake quality but make it her own. I don't know if this is exactly true. I have been watching TrueBlood on HBO and I find it very irritating. The actress who plays Sookie reminds me of nails on a chalk board. What do you guys think?

Dead to the World by by Charlaine Harris (New York: Ace Books, 2004.)

Club Dead

2011-08-07T08:59:00.002-04:00

Sookie's boyfriend Bill, or Vampire Bill to the locals of Bon Temps, has been glued to the computer for weeks. Every time Sookie tries to glean information from him, she gets no where. One day Bill tells Sookie that if, for whatever reason, he does not return from his 'trip' that she is to swear allegiance to Eric and hand over the files he is keeping at her house. Sookie agrees.

One night after work, Sookie talks to Pam, Chow, and Eric - and they all have bad news about Bill. He is missing. They question Sookie relentlessly about his project and if she knew anything about it, for there is going to be hell to pay if they cannot recover Bill or his project. She says she does not know a thing, when she in fact does. Eric sets up a way she can go into Mississippi and recuse Bill.

She meets Alcide, her way into Mississippi and Club Dead. Club Dead is what the Shifters and Weres call the club owned by the Vampires. While at Club Dead they run into more trouble and invite the attention of the King of Mississippi - Russell. Sookie needed Russell's attention, because she believes he is the one holding Bill captive. But where? Is he even still alive?

I really enjoyed this book. Even though the last book was featured in Dallas, I felt that this book had better feel to it. This might have occurred because of the introduction of Alcide, which I secretly hope he and Sookie will get together. I must admit that when I first started reading this series, and she had to chose between Sam and Bill, I voted for Bill. But now, I don't think they would be a good fit. At times, this book feels very similar to the Anita Blake series (Eric reminds me a lot of Jean-Claude). I also enjoyed the development of Sookie; she is becoming more independent and smarter. I must admit, I love reading the Souther dialect - it makes me homesick sometimes.

One final note: I have often seen the advertisements for TRUEBLOOD and I have been curious to watch at least one show, but I do not own a television (shocking, is it not?) and I do not subscribe to Netflix. With that being said, I have seen who they chose to be Sookie and I do not like her for that part - nor Bill. From the glimpse I've seen of Bill on TRUEBLOOD he does not fit the persona I would have chosen. I've heard TRUEBLOOD is really good - is that so? For those of you who watch it - do you like it? What aspects of the show do you like? Does it follow the book series closely?

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (New York: Ace Books, 2003.)

Living Dead In Dallas

2011-08-02T14:53:00.003-04:00

Sookie and Bill the vampire have been an item for awhile now. Per their request, they will be left alone if they help our Eric every now and again. Eric is the boss for the local Vampire group. Sookie agrees to it even though she does not agree.

One her way to work one morning, she notices that Andy's car door is ajar, and trying to be a helpful citizen she decides to close the door. At first it won't close and when she tries again she sees the issue. Someone has left a dead body in the back of Andy's car. She immediately parks her car and calls the cops. The car was left in Sam's parking lot and Andy is a cop - things don't look too well.

Sookie has to figure out who killed her good friend Lafayette but before she can accomplish this task she has to help the Vampires of Dallas - it is Eric's request (more like command.)

The Vampires of Dallas want Sookie's help because one of their own has been missing for a couple of days. They want to find their missing friend quietly - if other vampires are aware that Stan cannot keep track of his own things might get messy.

Sookie agrees to help Stan on the condition that all humans (regardless of being guilty or innocent) must be let go - Stan unwillingly agrees to the terms. Sookie uncovers a deeper plot - someone has bugged the inside of Stan's headquarters and Sookie believes that the missing vampire was taken by the Fellowship of the Sun. Sookie agrees to go undercover with Hugo to try and uncover what happened in the church. Things don't go according to plan and what Sookie uncovers is shocking.

I have seen many of the adds on HBO featuring TrueBlood. I am not certain I want to watch that show - I never have enjoyed movies or shows made from books. It had been awhile since I had read one of the Sookie novels. This book was fun to read and nothing really stood out at me. Sookie's character is agreeable, and I find Bill to be interesting. I once rooted for Bill and Sookie but I might be changing my mind to Sookie and Sam. What do you guys think? Sookie and Bill or Sookie and Sam?

The Stupidest Angel

2011-06-01T20:03:00.003-04:00

(Blog note: My cover was cream colored but I really enjoyed the red boldness of this cover so I chose it instead.)

I am very glad that I gave Christopher Moore another chance. If you recall from an earlier post - I was not a huge fan of A Dirty Job.

This book focuses on the little town of Pine Cove during the time around Christmas. As we all know, the time period around Christmas can be very hectic - even more so the week prior to the big day. The book zooms in on certain key people like Lena (the ex-wife of Dale), Dale (a sordid person), Theo (the town constable), Maggie (Theo's wife and ex-B movie star), and Tucker (Lena's love interest).

When Raziel, the angel sent to deliver Christmas' miracle message, arrives to Earth he shakes things up. First of all - he doesn't blend in to the surrounding town. He is tall, blonde, blue eyed, and wearing a BLACK trench coat asking for a little boy. Not the kind of behavior that instills trust and faith in people. Meanwhile, Lena and Dale are fighting and while Lena is digging up a pine tree on Dale's property. Dale goes to attack Lena and in self-defense she kills him - accidentally of course. Two people witness this: a little boy and Tucker. Tucker helps Lena cover up the murder while the little boy goes home - to scared to tell anyone he just saw Santa Clause bite the bullet of death. When Raziel asks the child what his Christmas wish is - the little boy wishes for Santa not to be dead. What Raziel does, is raise ALL of the town's dead - making it a Christmas no one would forget. The town now has to fight off a horde of zombies that want to eat brains and then shop at Ikea (I loved that part!)

It was such a wonderfully funny book. I loved all the characters, especially how they interacted with one another. The end of the book had an enjoyable twist.

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore, (New York: HarperCollins, 2004.)

War

2011-06-01T19:32:00.003-04:00

I had to read this book for my American Ways of War class. It was a phenomenal book, that really allowed the reader to understand the view points of the men in the 2nd Platoon of the U.S. Army. Mr. Junger lived with them in the Korengal Valley - Afghanistan's deadliest location. The book does not deal with the 'politics' of war - simply the human nature of it; the fear, the love, and the psychology of war.

The thing that shocked me most, the lack of thought as to why they were fighting this war. They only cared for their brothers. If you spend all your days with a select few men, it is certainly understandable why you would only care for their safety. But wouldn't you be a bit curious as to why they are dying in the war?

I became really attached to the men in the platoon, and felt as if they were my friends too. I became emotional when Restrepo, the medic, was killed in action, and felt that I had just lost him as well.

The book really helped me understand how the men work - and I was allowed to see a glimpse into the much hidden world of a location acting outside the scrutinizing eye of the Top Brass. It gave me hope when the certain elder tribesmen of Afghanistan and certain men of the American military were working together to solve the many issues facing both factions.

My favorite part in the book was when both the American military and the Taliban fighters acknowledge each-other's fighting ability.

Eventually the base was destroyed and the American military pulled out of the location allowing it to fall back into Afghanistan's control.

I strongly recommend that everyone reads this book. It is a fascinating glimpse into a world that is kept from public eye. There are no politics in this book - it is simply a book about WAR and the effects it has on the people with in it.

A Dirty Job

2011-05-21T20:49:00.003-04:00

I had wanted to read Christopher Moore for a very long time, I just never had the time (I am finally done with this semester!!) I also, bought the Nook and wanted to add books to is - so why not do this one? I liked the cover and thought it would be amusing to read. Well, I was not that big of a fan when it came to his writing style (I am currently reading The Stupidest Angel and finding it hilarious!) OMFG! I just looked online and they're making a movie out of it? Hollywood - WHY CAN'T YOU BE ORIGINAL AND LEAVE THE BOOKS ALONE! (Ok, sorry about that!)

Charlie Asher is your average Beta male, not too hot and not too cold. He has the love of his life Rachel who is a beautiful, smart woman. A woman, many would say, was out of Charlie's league. They are about to expect their first child, and both could not be more happy. Well, Charlie is starting to get a bit unhinged. He is starting to see glowing red objects where ever he goes. He doesn't know what to make of them, nor if he is the only one who can see them. When he tried to warn someone that their umbrella was glowing red, the man was instantly killed by a bus! And when Charlie tried to explain to people what had just happened - it was like he was invisible!

When their child is born, both parents are excited (as every parent is). Suddenly, Charlie notices a dark figure in the room with him while Rachel sleeps. What is this man doing in his room? Charlie races to get the nurse but when he returns the man is gone, and Rachel will not awaken. She is dead. Charlie becomes heart-stricken and it is only with his sister's help that he begins to live again.

His life however, takes a turn for the weird. People start to die around Charlie, and that is after their names appear in a note pad by his bedside. Furthermore, he hears voices. These voices do not reside in his head, but in the sewers below the road. They call to him, and they call him "Fresh Meat". What's even stranger is a big, black, raven follows him. What does this mean? Why are they following Charlie? Is he the new Death?

Although I found his writing style to be a bit off (for me) I did enjoy this book. At one point I was in my bedroom with my dog sleeping beside me, when he got to to edge of the bed and started to do a deep growl - the kind that warns intruders to leave. It scared me because I was at the point in the book, where the Sewer voices could only be seen by dogs! Silly I know, but I could not help by be a bit scared. I enjoyed the relationship between Minty Fresh and Charlie. It was a wonderfully funny book and I cannot wait to read many more of his books.

Mocking Jay

2011-05-21T20:25:00.002-04:00

Katniss has survived the arena once again, but what about Peeta? Is he alive? What is President Snow doing to him? All these thoughts keep floating around her head. She is alive though, and must repeat that. She is in the elusive District 13, alive. Is it a fate worse than death?

Katniss must adjust to thin new life style. District 13 is completely underground and they support themselves. For a long time, District 13 was a legend, and now it is true and Katniss has been chosen to represent them as the Mocking Jay. Can she?

She ignores the rules and lives as she chooses. Until one day, she understands her role, and if she is personally going to kill the President than she has to allow the leader of District 13 see that she is healthy enough to go into war. But that will be a challenge in itself, for once again Katniss is playing the role of a puppet - a role she swore she would never agree to.

I will not lie, I was very disappointed with the ending of this book; it seemed rushed. After all she had been through, that was the ending? Disappointing. With that being said, I found the events to be surprising and then expected. I wish she would have done a fourth book. This book felt too much like the 7th Harry Potter book in the way it ended for me.

Once Upon A Time Challenge...

2011-03-28T16:12:00.002-04:00

I love challenges, and I never complete them which is always a disappointment. So, I'd like to complete this one.

The artwork is just amazing and breathtaking and kinda looks like where I live: DARK, COLD, and SNOWY. I picked this one because the poop of red made me feel a bit warmer.

This contest is being hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings. This is his site, and this is the site for the challenge.

I'm going to do "Challenge the Second" which entails:

"Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology. This proves to be one of the more difficult quests each year merely because of the need to classify each read and determine which books fit into which category. I am not a stickler, fear not, but I am endlessly fascinated watching how folks work to find books for each category."

For mythology I'm going to read Metamorphoses by Ovid - which I should have read last semester. :P I haven't decided what my others will be.

Demonglass

2011-03-28T15:38:00.004-04:00

Sometimes when I get a book, I like to think about the title and how it fits with the story. A few times, while reading a book, I'll have the "AH so that's how the title works with the book" moment.

There are other time were I like to understand how the cover of the book works with the story of the book. This was one of those cases. Before I started reading the book, I studied the cover. Liker her first book Hex Hall, the cover features image standing in front of a body of water with another image pointing back. The second image happened to be her wearing a wedding dress. "What", I wondered, "could possible happen in this story!?"

Now if you haven' read the first book, please do so, and secondly - don't read the remainder of this post. I might let something slip and I'd hate to ruin the book for you.

Last year at Hex Hall was a hectic one with Sophie trying to solve a mystery and also save her friend for ruin. Now summer is upon them, and for the first time in YEARS Sophie's dad wants to spend time with her. She agrees to go to London if Jenna tags along. If you recall, Sophie wants to go through the removal because she saw how terrible demons can be and doesn't want to take the risk of one day going mental (I heard Ron Weasly's voice when I wrote that!)

Her dad though, wants her to first get to know her demon side before she completely removes it. And besides, what could possibly go wrong on a trip where you spend the WHOLE time in London! I'm jealous that they could!!!

All that glitters is not gold, and with in days of landing things begin to take a turn for the worst. First the two demons that they meet have been getting them into trouble, and they don't even know who created them. That is not good, because that means that someone is rising demons - which will make The Eye want to destroy them forever.

That's not all. Before they left for London, Sophie found out that she is betrothed to Cal! How can she possibly marry Cal if she still as feelings for Archer - well does she still love Archer? Or like him? Maybe tolerate Archer? She doesn't know what she's going to do. But one things for sure, she has to help her father solve the mystery and save all of Prodigum.

This book was awesome. There were parts were I just could not stand to wait till I got to the bottom of the page to find out what happened. I did not want to put the book down to walk the dog or do my homework. Who wants to do homework when you have an amazing book just waiting in your backpack?

I also enjoyed the character development of Sophie. She was more mature and patient, you could tell she had grown. ALSO she had amazing references that made her more personal.

Books in this series:

1) Hex Hall

2) Demonglass

*This book was sent to me by Authors on the Web so that I could review it.

Undead and Unemployed

2011-03-18T20:13:00.004-04:00

This is my very first book which I read on the nook and I really enjoyed it! I found reading on the Nook to be very enjoyable and easy when I was trying to put my son down for bed. I only needed one hand to hold the Nook and flip the pages.

We first met Betsy in Undead and Unwed where her life had just completely changed. Or is that "unlife"? Now it's 3 months later and she starting to get everything back on track.....sort of. She still has to deal with Sincalir and that whole 'Queen of the Dead' thing, not to mention she now has to find a job.

She doesn't want to live off of her best friend, Jessica's money. So what job will allow her to work nights? She finally finds her dream job working in the Macy's shoe department. That does sound like an amazing job, although I'd probably get fired quickly for all the shoes I'd try on.

Life seems to be going pretty well for her until she finds out her little house had a termite infestation. And there there's the problem that people are now trying to kill vampires and are now after her. So between dodging bullets she has to fix the termite problem, solve who's trying to kill her and why, solve the mystery of the little girl (where is her mother), and avoid Sinclair. Easy right?

I loved how sassy Betsy was and how she always had a comment to make about someone. Plus she reads J.D. Robb too! I wouldn't mind if she were my friend. But I wonder how she'll feel, when 780 years from now, Mark and Jessica are dead. Will she bring them over? I guess I must continue to read!!

Books in this series:

1) Undead and Unwed

2) Undead and Unemployed

3) Undead and Unappreciated

4) Undead and Unreturnable

5) Undead and Unpopular

6) Undead and Uneasy

7) Undead and Unworthy

8) Undead and Unwelcome

9) Undead and Unfinished

Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson. Penguin Group, 2004.

Format: eBook from Barnes and Noble.

2011-03-13T21:35:00.001-04:00

I have many fun reviews coming up! AND I just bought an NookCOLOR! :)

Stay tuned.... reviews are soon!

Welcome Ms. Cruz!

2011-01-26T07:23:00.004-05:00

*The photo was borrowed for her own website and is copyright of Denise Bovee*

Ms. Cruz has been kind enough to answer some of my questions as well as write a little guest post!! Thank you so much Ms. Cruz!

Her own website is here.

My questions for her are in GREEN.

1) Why focus on these three people?

I wanted to tell the stories that mattered a lot, but also could stand alone. I was curious about how Oliver would get over Schuyler, and I had the idea from a long time ago that a new girl cures him, and allows him to experience love again, but it's more of a... I don't want to use the term "rebound" but I guess I just did! You know when you have a long dramatic love affair that ends badly, how a short fun one kind of "cures" you of the old one? And you don't end up with that "rebound" person but you're kind of grateful to have had that experience - it gets you back on your feet. And Oliver really needed Freya's magic.

I'd planned to include Allegra's story in Misguided Angel but the book already had too many plots and I feared it would get lost. This is just the first part of the story, there is more of her and Ben (who is Stephen Chase, by the way, readers of Keys to the Repository know that Stephen is his first name and Bendix is his second) in Lost in Time (book six). It was fun to see Allegra as a young teenager, I like her spirit a lot. She's very different from Schuyler. I was the shy daughter of two very popular, very outgoing, social people, and it always fascinated me how my parents, when they were my age, probably would not have been my friend ;). You know, how does that happen? So I'd always wanted to write about Schuyler's parents, these two kind of ideal high school types, who created a daughter who was a wallflower.

Schuyler and Jack's story is the main focus of the Blue Bloods series, and if they're going to get bonded, everyone's going to be invited to witness it! It was terrifically fun to write, and I love weddings. Especially ones with a lot of action and heartache in them.

2) Why did she decide to start the book with Oliver?

It was a fun way to begin - with a heartbreak and healing. Also we don't see that much of Oliver's POV in Misguided Angel, so it was fun to see it here.

3) Why did she have Allegra fall in love with a Red Blood (over numerous times) if she knew it was wrong?

I don't think authors "make" their characters do anything. There is a lot in Charles and Allegra's past that led to the end of their bond. I'm just starting to reveal what happened. I've known from the beginning why she did it and readers will find out in the next couple of books as the story becomes clearer.

Below is her guest post!

I like a love story as much as anyone, but Blue Bloods while it has several great love stories, doesn't really focus on it, more like the terrible things that happen when love goes wrong (ie Charles and Allegra--what did they do in the past?). So I thought it would be fun to concentrate on the romantic part of the stories for once and focus on three characters and their tumultuous love lives. It was a nice treat for me to write, since Oliver's story really has no bearing on the overall series plotline, but it's nice to see him happy, Allegra, it was great to finally see her in her youth, and of course, Sky and Jack, because, who doesn't love a wedding? I get a lot of fans saying waiting a year between books is torture, so I thought it would be a nice treat to have something right after finishing Misguided Angel.

I would like to thank Mr. Wiley from Authors on the Web and Ms. Melissa De La Cruz for this wonderful oportunity. I hope everyone gets a chance to check out Bloody Valentine, it is a wonderful book.

Blood Valentine

2011-01-15T23:27:00.004-05:00

The Ancient Greeks feared love because they knew how powerful it was. It was and is a force that cannot be stopped. As one famous saying goes, the heart wants what the heart wants.

Bloody Valentine opens with our friend Oliver, fresh in the grasps of the ugly side of love; the love that is painful and deadly. Every waking second stings with the love that is lost, gone forever. Every scent, sight, sound reminds him of the one that is no longer there. He enters the local pub Holiday to ease his aching heart. He has become a regular there, a place where underage drinking is allowed. He tries to lessen the painful memories of Schuyler by knocking back shot after shot. He then forms an idea in his head - one that might help erase her completely from his memory. As he is leaving for the night the bartender gives him on quick warning, "Whatever you are about to do, please don't. Because it's not going to help." (Cruz p 10)

Next we meet up with Allegra Van Allen years before she is in a coma. She is a young teenager in 1985 and fully of life and happiness. She goes to Endicott and is on the field hockey team. While at the hospital recovering from a nasty hit to the head (one that would've injured any Red Blood) she becomes friendly with Bendix Chase the hottie of the school. Once Allegra and Bendix (who shared the same room in the hospital) are back in school they become closer than ever, much to the ire of Charles Van Allen (who remember is really Michelle). She has a dream that spooks her to the core - if she stays on the path that she in on only destruction will occur.

Finally we see Schuyler. She is looking for the prefect bonding dress, in Florence. It hasn't been easy because the Venerators are always hot on their heels. After trying on dress after dress she almost gives up hope, but a small little fabric store saves her from loosing completely. She finds her dream fabric, a silk blue hue, and goes home and begins to fix her dress. Suddenly she is under attack from a Venerator. He tells her that she must place a cursed ring on Jack or lose her best friend Oliver. She must chose between Jack's love or the love she has for Oliver.

Bloody Valentine is a companion novella to her Blue Blood series and I LOVE IT! Of course, I love all of her Blue Blood book. I do not know how I will be able to wait till October to read her sixth Blue Bloods book, Lost In Time.

My favorite section in this book dealt with Allegra. I really enjoyed getting some of Allegra's history: who she was before she became the living dead. It was really fun to see how more human she was, and less angelic/Queen and saviour. She really struggled with teenage wants/needs vs what she knew she had to do. I know I've been there. I also enjoyed how Melissa introduced a new character (which will be in a completely different series!) in such a way that leaves the reader begging for more.

*This book was given to me by Hyperion.

Special Offer

2011-01-04T17:59:00.003-05:00

David Vann author of the new book Caribou Island (coming out VERY soon) is giving away a FREE e-novella thanks to HarperCollins Publishers!

There are some links right below!! I highly recommend you check them out!!

Some quick information about his e-novella Sukkwan Island,

David Vann is on The Daily Beat's "Most Anticipated Books of 2011"!
It won France's most prestigious Prix Medicis award for best foregin novel
Was once published in the US as part of the Legend of a Suicide Collection

This is the link for the Amazon Kindle.

This is the link for Sony e-reader.

This is the link for Kobo e books.

Both the Kinddle and the iBook (Apple's iTunes) will have this book soon.

Take A Chance Challenge #3

2010-12-28T20:58:00.005-05:00

Last year, I signed up for the Take A Chance Challenge among other challenges that I thought I'd complete. I was so excited with the thought of competiting with my fellow book bloggers while reading many books. It was a win win in my book. But life, who does not care for my wishes, decided to make it busy; new baby, school, moving, etc. So, I have decided that this will be MY ONLY competition this year. I have always wanted to play and it looks so fun!

If you too would like to enter, this is the place to see! Jenners is an amazing person and her blog is a wonderful place to lose track of time! (So being the extreme lazy person that I am, I am coping her rules and pasting them here.) I highly recommend you join! It's a perfect challenge for the New Year!

Several of you asked if I’d be hosting the Take A Chance Challenge again. At first, I wasn’t sure, but once I started thinking about it, I got all excited. So here are the details for the 2011 version of the challenge.

Basic Information

The concept of the challenge is to take chances with your reading by finding books to read in unusual or random ways. I’ve listed 10 different ways to find books below. Feel free to complete at many as you want. However, anyone completing all 10 challenges by December 31, 2011 will be entered in a prize drawing to win a book of their choice from Amazon.

The challenge will run from January 1, 2011 until December 31, 2011.

Crossover books from other challenges is fine. You can read books in any format.

On January 1, 2011, I will post pages for each of the 10 challenges so you can link up your completed posts.

The 2011 Challenges

1: Staff Member’s Choice: Go to a bookstore or library that has a “Staff Picks” section. Read one of the picks from that section.

2: Loved One’s Choice: Ask a loved one to pick a book for you to read. (If you can convince them to buy it for you, that is even better!)

3: Blogger’s Choice: Find a “Best Books Read” post from a favorite blogger. Read a book from their list.

4: Critic’s Choice: Find a “Best of the Year” list from a magazine, newspaper or professional critic. Read a book from their Top 10 list.

5: Blurb Book: Find a book that has a blurb on it from another author. Read a book by the author that wrote the blurb.

6: Book Seer Pick: Go to The Book Seer and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.

7: What Should I Read Next Pick : Go to What Should I Read Next and follow the instructions there. Read a book from the list it generates for you.

8: Which Book Pick: Go to Which Book and use the software to generate a list of books. Read a book from that list.

9: LibraryThing Pick: Go to LibraryThing’s Zeitgeist page. Look at the lists for 25 Most Reviewed Books or Top Books and pick a book you’ve never read. Read the book. (Yes … you can click on MORE if you have to.)

10: Pick A Method: Pick a method for finding a book from the choices listed below (used in previous versions of the challenge).

Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)
Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2010 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.

Good Luck!!

The Time Traveler's Wife

2010-12-23T10:21:00.005-05:00

Imagine that you could go back in time. See events replay themselves out, and you could get different viewing perspectives each time you went back. The catch is - you cannot chose when and where you go back, and you cannot stop it.

Henry DeTamble has that problem. He is a time traveler. Although his past and future are intertwined, crossed, and tangled it is not always clear where he is going, and where he has been.

He meets his future wife, Clare Abishire, when she is six in 1977. When they first meet, he is 36, and has already known Clare in the future - is already married to her. The friendship they forge will last years and Henry weaves in and out of it.

Clare though, must struggle to live a life where Henry pops in and out of it. She has to deal with peer pressure in high school - the controversy that surrounds her - is she gay? Straight? Where are her boyfriends, or girlfriends?

These two must endure both the test of time and love. Is their love strong enough to withstand those tests?

This book is amazing! We often wish we could be time travelers, but we never stop and think of the consequences. We never stop and think how horrific it could be! Henry must relive some horrible events in his past, and he cannot escape them! Imagine reliving an embarrassing moment, that you can never let fade away in the past. I enjoyed being a part of their love story! It made me think of my own relationship to my husband, and how much I cherish every second with him - how I hate when he's away and cannot wait to see him again. It is hard for me to imagine my husband popping in and out of my past and future, never knowing when he will be gone, and for how long.

I have one small issue with the book. When Ms. Niffenegger would have two dates, like November 23 1988, and July 12, 2000 she would not separate them. Hm. I'm trying to think of a better example because obviously when Henry time travels backwards the music and cloths would change. There were some dates that would run together and I wouldn't necessarily be able to tell present from past.

Never Slow Dance with A Zombie

2010-12-17T21:08:00.003-05:00

Last year, October 2009, E. Van Lowe and Ms. Princess of A Park-Avenue Princess were holding a Twitter competition to see who could coin a nice catch phrase with the title of Mr. Lowe's book. Mr. Lowe's name has been hyperlinked to the page on his blog where he mentions the first winner, ME! :)

I was so happy when I won! I now can say, I'm happy I got a chance to read his book! IT WAS FANTASTIC!

Margot Jean Johnson made a pledge that she would change her life. She would become popular and have a hot, popular boyfriend. Her best friend Sybil is going to help Margot attain that goal.

Friends though, don't always see eye to eye. On the night of the big carnival Margot and Sybil get into a big fight. They don't go to the carnival, instead assume the other is having fun at said carnival.

When the girls arrive the next day something seems strange. The students have a green tinge to their skin, and the most popular girl at school - well she looks like she has seen better days. All the students have turned into flesh eating zombies! Trying not to become among the living dead, they head over to the principal's office (since he clearly is among the living). The principal asks for a huge favor. Could they possibly NOT tell anyone about the student zombie population, and act as if nothing has happened. Class would continue like normal.

At first the girls enjoy their new status: popular AND alive! Soon though they begin to tire, and think about trying to help the student body. Will they give up their newfound popularity though?

I absolutely LOVED this book! I was laughing all the time, and I think I got strange stares from my fellow peers as I rode the campus connector to my classes. I enjoyed the descriptions of the type of zombie you could become (according to which clique you were in when you were alive.) At one point Margot thinks "Uh-uh! No way! I do not want to become a Goth-although black is slimming." (Lowe 63)

This story was peppered with snarky remarks like that all through out the story. It did have a serious side. Margot has the tough question (we all face) Is it really worth it - to be Queen Bee of high school?

If you want a funny, sweet, mysterious coming-of-age book then I suggest this one!!

Never Slow Dance with A Zombie by E. Van Lowe. New York: A Tom Doherty Associates Book, 2009.

Red Ted and the Lost Things

2010-12-17T20:53:00.006-05:00

I first saw this book on the Graphic Classroom's site. I knew instantly that I would have to get my hands on this book.

It was such a cute little story, with beautifully done pictures!

One day Ted (the little bear) has been left behind by his owner. A police man puts Ted away with all the other lost items. Ted asks Mr. Crocodile where he is, and is told that is in the place for Lost Things. Ted though, is determined to find his owner agin and devises a plan. Of course Mr. Crocodile does not want to be left behind, so he joins Ted. On their journey, they befriend a cat who helps them located Ted's home.

I hope everyone gets a chance to read this to their young ones! It is such a cute story, and I wish I had a crocodile toy that looked exactly like the one in the story.

My son, who is almost 6 months would look at this book and listen as I read it to him. From what I gather he enjoyed it very much! Of course this book is for older children, the Graphic Classroom says between the ages of

"Rating: Emergent reader and older

Publisher’s Rating: Preschool and older" (Chris Wilson)

Red Ted and the Lost Things by Michael Rosen. Illustrated by Joel Stewart. Candlewick Press, 2009.

The Strangers Outside

2010-12-17T11:27:00.004-05:00

Thank you so much to Vanessa Morgan for allowing me to read her short story The Strangers Outside!!

Can I just say that it was a wonderful thriller? Late last night when I was reading it, I totally began to get scared that I had to finish it this morning - and even in the bright hours of the day I was still scared.

It begins with two sisters, Jennifer and Louise, who are on their way to the beach resort. The resort is comprised of "independent structures connected to a large

parking lot by meandering pathways that shone white in the waning darkness. ‘Military

bunkers’ their grandmother used to call these brown houses with low flat ceilings. Even the

long, narrow gardens looked exactly alike." (Morgan p.9)

The girls begin to dance in excitement when suddenly Louise stops. There are strange men looking their way. Fear begins to make itself known, and Louise and Jennifer quickly go into the cottage. The strange men do not leave, and it is starting to get dark. When Jennifer goes to wash her face, a small problem arises - there is not any water! Louise quickly dashes out to the shed to turn on the water and has the prickly feeling of fear again. When she looks out into the falling darkness again she sees those strangers.

She runs back inside and tells Jennifer to hurry up. The strangers are getting closer to the house and Louise has no idea why. Suddenly they are knocking on her front door and peering in through the back sliding glass door. Louise has to decided then and there what to do. Does she fight or let herself be taken by these strangers from outside.

Even now, after reading the story, I cannot get the chill out of my spine!! When Ms. Morgan described their faces as being "lagers than they should be"(Morgan p.11) I could not help but picture these huge eyeless, noseless, mouthless blobs for faces. When they were at Louise's back door and the eyes started popping up I could not help but imagine them as RED CREEPY eyes! I'm glad it's still the day time!

I thoroughly enjoyed how she made the details vague enough to let your own imagination take over! I was slightly disappointed at the end. I got so caught up in the drama and suspense of the strangers and why there were there that the ending seemed to come too rapidly. It is probably my own taste. The story was wonderfully suspenseful and totally chilling!

Demon Possessed

2010-11-19T21:53:00.004-05:00

NO! NO! NO! AND NO!!! WHY!

Ok. I absolutely HATE when I read a book out of series - the very first book I read and it's the WRONG NUMBER! UGH!

With that being said, I wasn't overly confused about the plot - which is either good or bad.

So, for those of you having read the books in order I'm sure the plot will make more sense to you than it did to me.

Megan Chase is a psychiatrist and is currently not happy with the meeting she's in. She is meeting with an FBI agent named Elizabeth Reid. Elizabeth is trying to get Megan to acknowledge, that Megan's boyfriend Greyson Dante (who also happens to be a head honcho in the Demon world) will be participating in a local meeting of all Demon Leaders (think The God Father). Megan pretends like she knows nothing.

Later that week Megan and her hot (he's a fire Demon) boyfriend Dante arrive at the hotel and buckle in for the extremely long week. It's all politics and schmoozing as each leader of the Demon branch try to vie for power. Everything seems to be going well until Agent Reid shows up and someone attacks Megan. Oh and she learns some bad news pertaining to her boyfriend. Can Megan cope with it all while saving herself and Agent Reid?

Hmm. As far as books go this one wasn't that interesting. I was so irritated by the constant use of similes that I wanted to burn the book, or throw it out the window! The ratio of similes to dialogue was 23094:2! It went something like this: Megan "I like cookies." Text "Megan liked cookies like a fat person loves cake. That is to say she loved them so much as if she couldn't live without them like a flower can't live without the sun. " (Gag!)

Irritating there right? Now IMAGINE 3/4 OF THE BOOK LIKE THAT! On top of that, I found Megan to be so whinny and WEAK! And I later found out she was like 5'9" and 104 lbs. Not that's to say there is a connection. BUT COME ON! I cannot stand weak women characters that are protagonist! I hate being type casted as a woman that can't do work because I have two X chromosomes and I need a big burly man to stack wood, or open the door for me. Thank you for the help but I can also do it. But Megan but all the hard work of feminist back like 499 years! (Ok, not that bad.)

She couldn't get over the fact that Greyson lied to her about some b.s. relating to demon politics. SO WHAT. Talk about it like two grown adults and then either repair the relationship or move on! She reminded me of Bella Swan in Twilight which irritated me more because I found Bella to be vexing too.

I finished this book a week ago, and apparently I'm still upset by it. I'm actually glad I didn't read the other two books because I doubt I'd get that far in the series. The book finally got good in the last 50 pages which is sad because the book is 321 pages and which isn't saying much.

I'm curious to hear what others think of this book. Did you like it? If so what aspects? What did you think of the simile problem? Did it bother you? Did you notice?

Books in this series:

1) Personal Demons

2) Demon Inside

3) Demon Possessed

Demon Possessed by Stacia Kane. Pocket Books: New York (2010).

Dead Until Dark

2010-11-07T07:35:00.003-05:00

FINALLY!!! I have been reading numerous books for school (Roman poets, Greek poets, books on WWI, WWII, Russian books, books on the Haitian Revolution - can you tell I'm going to major in history?) Well I finally got to read a book that wasn't mandatory! And I'm pretty proud of myself. I read the book in about 3 days! So without further ado here is the report!

Sookie Stackhouse lives in Bon Temps, La. She works as a waitress at the local bar. Everyone knows that she has a 'disability' and for the most part they treat her well. Obviously they think she's crazy. Vampires have just now become more main stream, and people are beginning to believe that the reason vampires are the way they are is because of a virus.

One night, while Sookie is working a man catches her attention. Pale with dark hair and eyes she is drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Soon they found out that the new stranger in town is Bill Compton a vampire returning to his old family estate. The town is enthralled to have a vampire amongst them. However, Bills arrival also marks the arrival of strange happenings.

Soon the town of Bon Temps has other worries on their minds. At least two of the women have been killed. They were known 'fang bangers' so Bill might have done a way with them. But they also were known 'associates' of Sookie's brother Jason. By 'associates' I mean 'bed associates'. What's worse is that Sookie might be next. Her grandmother was killed, along with her cat Tina. The police are looking real hard into Jason's files, but he couldn't of killed his grandmother? Sookie has to solve the mystery fast before her time is up and her number is picked.

This is probably a bad thing, but when I first read Sookie, I instantly thought of SNookie from Jersey Shore. I know, I know Jersey Shore is a corrosive show - but also a very funny one. Watching egotistical people act as if they weren't!

I really enjoyed the characters in the book. It's always fun (for me) to read about vampires when their description is the same but different. Like Bill, he was described as pale (duh) but there were no mentions of his powers (like descriptions of Jean-Paul in one of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels.) Furthermore Sookie wasn't a skinny little twig. She had some meat on her bones which was nice.

In closing - I didn't know that the True Blood series was based off this book series. I don't watch the show (I don't have a TV in my house). Although I'm not all together surprised seeing how now-a-days more and more TV shows and movies are based off of books. I'm not too happy with that.

Books in this series:

1. Dead Until Dark

2. Living Dead in Dallas

3. Club Dead

4. Dead to the World

5. Dead As a Doornail

6. Definitely Dead

7. Altogether Dead

8. From Dead to Worse

9. Dead And Gone

10. Dead In The Family

Napoleon: A life

2010-09-14T16:49:00.003-04:00

I tried to find a photo of the book were it didn't have this irritating "look inside" but alas I could not.

I had to read this book for my class on the "history of Modern War and Society". Right away I loved the book. One of my favorite lines in the book is "more books and been written about Napoleon than anyone else - except for Christ". What is it that fascinates us about this little guy?

I enjoyed the books smooth transitions and wonderful information. I didn't feel like I had to labour to read it (as I did while reading Cheese and Worms)

Napoleon a Life by Paul Johnson

The Cheese and the Worms

2010-09-14T16:39:00.004-04:00

This will be a quick post about the book (I have to go read the Iliad - which I should've finished Monday -oops).

The Cheese and the worms is written about a 15th Century miller in Italy during the time of the Inquisition. His name was Menocchio (well, nickname rather) and he was known for his radical thoughts and ideas. His fellow peers didn't hate him, but they also didn't agree with his brash outspoken ideas. When Menocchio is called to trial the inquisitors can't help but marvel at this man and his crazy ideas! The Virgin Mary isn't a virgin because she had a child? Say What???

The point of the book was to see how popular peasant thought intermixed with the religious beliefs and teachings of that time.

I would have to say the only negative thing about this book was his writing style. I hated it. It was too confusing for me - at one point it was in Menocchio's POV and then suddenly it was the inquisitors or suddenly Ginzburg was trying to relay information. I didn't like the flow at all.

Poor Menocchio, to be born at the wrong time with such radical ideas.

The Cheese and the Worms by Carlo Ginzburg

Update.

2010-08-24T12:11:00.000-04:00

Hi guys!! My posts (for awhile) will be a bit sporadic. I recently had a little boy so sleep has been on the back burner, even reading too. I'll slowly be reading - although I'm trying to quickly read Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side before it's due on Monday - we shall see. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

This is my son :)

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

2010-07-28T19:29:00.003-04:00

Jessica is on her way to school one day when she sees a strange person, in dark clothes. This person doesn't belong and is starting to give her the creeps. As she gets on the bus she swears he is calling out to her "Antanasia". How could he know that name? No one knows that name . . .well no one in America. Jessica is adopted, and Antanasia is her old name that only her parents knew back in Romania.

As her first day ends, her mother picks her up from school and she mentions the fact that a strange man has been following her. On their way home - she sees the strange man and points it out to her mother. Her mother gets out of the car and Jessica is nervous. What is her mother doing - this guy could kill her! But instead her mother talks to this strange man and even shakes his hand. When she gets back in the car she says this strange man will be coming over for dinner later.

During dinner that night Jessica learns that this strange man is two things: 1) a vampier and 2) her future husband. Before her parents died they promised her to him. Great, now she has to deal with her senior year of high school and somehow telling him that she does NOT want to marry him!

I really enjoyed reading this book. Jessica the main character was an actually REAL girl who was NOT a size 2! I was actually shocked to read that she was a size 10. Lucias (her betrothed) kept telling her through out the book that being a size 10 was beautiful and that being skinny was not. Wonderful!! I'm tired of constantly seeing super skinny people and being told that's what beauty is. It took me years to appreciate my body - even though I'm not a size 2 (I'm quite bigger and that's ok :). I also enjoyed Lucias who was a clever, funny young man who wasn't emo. What is it in teen books with the heartthrob being emo? I don't care for it.

Twenties Girl

2010-06-22T22:44:00.003-04:00

Lara Lington's great aunt-Sadie has just passed away at the young age of 105 years. However, no one seems to care. In fact the only people that show up to great aunt-Sadie's funeral are Lara, her mother and father and sister Tonya and her father's brother Bill, his wife, and spoiled daughter. What's even more pitiful is the room. There are no flowers, not pictures of Sadie, and horrible muzak is being pipped throughout the speakers.

Lara feels even more guilty when the vicar comes and asks for some information on Said so that she can put it in her speech - and not one family member can give any information. No one knew her or went to see her. As the vicar begins her speech, a shrill voice cries out asking where her necklace is. Lara looks around - where is this voice coming from? Again she hears it and suddenly she sees the person belonging to the voice. A young lady in a flapper dress. The young lady notices Lara looking at her and demands to know where her necklace is. Lara replies she doesn't know - and suddenly her family looks at her startled. Who is she talking to? Suddenly it dawns on Lara - she can only see this person. Is she going mad? The ghost, who now makes it known that she is Sadie Lancaster (Lara's dead great-aunt) demands that the necklace be found and the funeral stopped. She won't stop bugging Lara until she gets her wish. Lara stops the funeral by saying she believes great-aunt Sadie was murdered. Suddenly Lara finds herself agreeing to help her great-aunt's ghost hunt down a missing necklace. Is she on a wild goose chase?

I must admit that when I read the inside flap of the book I thought the story would turn about differently. Like she'd find the necklace and be transported back into the 1920's and that sort of thing. I'm glad I was wrong. The 1920's has always been on of my favorite eras (the clothes alone!) and I was glad that I was able to read a book that blended the culture of the '20s with that of the '09s (as in 2009). Sadie is such a spunky woman, and you have no problem imagining her in the '20s in a smoke filled club dancing the Charleston. At time Lara seemed a bit dim witted (especially when it came her to her ex-boyfriend) and I was glad Sadie was there to tell it to her like it was. It was such a cute book to read. I was greatly pleased by it - the little twist and turns in the plot kept me wondering (and it wasn't an agonizing wait for the answers either).

After reading this book I want to go out to a cute vintage clothes shop and purchase some flapper dresses of my own (I've always loved vintage clothing '40s in particular). And why not? Although I don't think I'll be cutting my hair into a short bob or marceling it any time soon.

Nightlight: A Parody

2010-06-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

When I first came across this book I was excited, I was also in Barnes and Noble which might've added to my excitement. I quickly picked up this book and read the back and knew instantly I wanted to read this book. I was about to purchase it when I looked at the price: $13.95 for a 154 page book. Uh, no thanks. So I sadly put it back on the shelf and decided to put it on hold at my library.

Finally it arrived and with in the first sentence I was laughing hysterically: "The hot Phoenix sun glared down on the car windowsill where my bare, pallid arm dangled shamelessly" (page 3).

It opens very similar to the Twilight book, which this book obviously parodies. Since it obviously parodies Twilight there isn't a reason for me to state what happens in the book except that towards the end there is a twist that was not in Twilight. The two main character are Belle Goose and Edwart Mullen. In this book however, Edwart isn't a cool and dangerous as he is in Twilight. In fact Edwart Mullen is more of a wet blanket. Belle Goose is still a ditz and well oblivious to everything around her, much like she is in Twilight.

I'm going to share with you ONE of my favorite passages (there were too many to re-write and well let's face it - I'd probably retype the whole book).

"I felt overwhelmed and confused by the results: "Nosferatu", "The Buffy Summers Workout", "Kristen Sterart's Onset Romance", "Midnight Sun Leaked", "Robert Pattinson Excellent Blues Singer".

Weird. What did any of this have to do with vampires?"

(page 44)

Such a fun quick read to pass the time between books! For those of you who love Twilight you might not like it quite so much. I loved it - since I'm not a huge fan of Twilight anyway.

Catching Fire

2010-06-19T09:04:00.002-04:00

The time following the previous Hunger Games has kept both Katniss and Peeta very busy. Finally after months of 'preforming' Katniss sneaks down to her old home and slips into the woods where she meets up with Gale. They hunt in the woods but there is now an odd tension in the air that surrounds them. When Katniss finally got a chance to be alone with Gale he kissed her, and she doesn't know how to interpret her feelings.

The Capitol, and everyone else for that matter, thinks that Gale is her cousin - so how can she possibly have a romantic future with him? This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games - which is marked by the Quarter Quell. Each quell has a certain theme (shall we say) to it. For example, one year had twice as many tributes. Before the announcement of the Quarter Quell theme President Snow goes and visits Katniss and the message he delivers to her does not bode well. Districts have started to uprise and it's her fault, now to save all those she loves she must impress upon people her undying and true love to Peeta - failure of this would mean the deaths of many. When the theme for the Quarter Quell is announced people are shocked: the victors from the previous games are to be picked - which means that Katniss is going in for sure, but who will go with her - Haymitch or Peeta?

I love this series and am so glad I came across it! Poor Katniss. There are moments in the story where I hate her, and then there are moments when I feel so sad for her. Her life is not easy. She lost her father, had to take care of her mother and protect her sister, has to sneak to get food for her family - and now be more of a puppet for the Capitol. Yet, she can be so narrow minded of other people's thoughts and feelings - like Peeta. She'll have a feeling about him and then instantly switch it to the complete opposite because she thinks he's 'faking'. Why doesn't she just go and ask him? Or for once try and figure out her feelings??

I used to see the Team Katniss or Team Peeta buttons and think - how can they choose? After finishing reading the first book I still didn't know how they could choose. But now I know my decision. I'm for Team Peeta. He never waivers. I like many of you, am eagerly awaiting the third book, Mocking Jay.

Books in this series:

1) Hunger Games

2) Catching Fire

3) Mocking Jay (8.24.10)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. New York 2009

The Magician's Nephew

2010-06-13T15:12:00.005-04:00

I had first read this book way back when, but never finished it. I only got to about the second chapter and didn't think it was that interesting. How wrong I was! This is the first book (as I'm sure many of you know) in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

There once was a young boy named Digory who lived with his crazy uncle Andrew, his Aunt Letty, and his sick mother. Next door to Digory lived a young girl named Polly. One day these two happen to meet, and became fast friends. They both loved adventure and decided to explore the attics - for Polly had discovered a secret door. One day they decided to walk the length of all the homes via the attic walk-way. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for Uncle Andrew, they miscalculated the distance and instead of ending up in the abandon house they end up in Uncle Andrew's room.

Upon seeing the children in his room he quickly locks them in and tells them about his magical rings. He tells Polly to put one on (which she does) and Polly instantly disappears. Digory demands that Uncle Andrew bring her back, but alas he can't. For she only has a yellow ring and needs a green ring to return to this world. Digory seeing what Uncle Andrew had planned all along agrees to save Polly, but tells his uncle how much of a coward he is. When Digory slips on the ring he is transported to a world that is very quiet and filled with many ponds. There he comes across a girl. She looks like him, and he vaguely remembers knowing someone who looked like her. After a while they regain their memory of who they are and Digory gives her the green ring. First though, they want to do some exploring. After marking the pond that takes them home, they decide to jump into a pond that takes them to another world. What they find there isn't very comforting.

After watching the movie The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe I knew of Narnia, plus my mother who used to read it constantly when she was younger had often mentioned it to me - so I was familiar with the plot: a lion named Aslan who represents God, and an evil witch that represents well evil and the battle it out for the land called Narnia and somehow 3 kids are mixed in to the plot. Well I didn't know how it started (the forming of Narnia) or how it all tied together (the wardrobe) and now I do! Towards the end of the book the lightbulb went on and I had that "OH! NOW I GET IT" moment. What a delightful book.

Books in this series:

1. The Magician's Nephew

2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

3. The Horse and His Boy

4. Prince Caspian

5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

6. The Silver Chair

7. The Last Battle

Watchmen

2010-06-10T18:08:00.002-04:00

I heard about this graphic novel when the movie was just about to come out. I refuse to see any movie unless I have read the book, and even then I am very reluctant to see a movie based upon a book.

With that being said, now that I've read the novel I want to see the movie (which I heard followed the novel very closely).

This graphic novel is set in the 1980's during the cold war. Talk about another World War is one of the frequent topics as well as the deaths of some forgotten masked avengers.

The story opens with a death of a man. The two cops assigned to this case are trying to figure out the obvious: who did it, and why? After they've left a figure moves into the space. His name is Rorscharch and he knew the victim. The victim's name was the Comedian, and he was once part of a group of crime fighters, outlawed with the passing of the Keene Law in 1977. Who would want to kill the Comedian? Is his killing related to the book that Hollis Mason wrote? As the story continues we meet of fellow 'super heros' that have retired like: Nite Owl, Veidt, Jon (who's like superman but not exactly human) and Laurie. Rorscharch believes that someone is trying to wipe out the old super heros - but who and why?

This is my first adult graphic novel (Babymouse and Lunch Lady aside). I found the story line very intriguing and also very slow to get through. I don't know why it took me so long to read this book. I didn't enjoy having to read another comic inside this comic. I read about the first section of it (it dealt with a man stranded on an island back in the 1800's) and I tried to find a connection to the main story but couldn't - so I stopped reading it whenever it appeared. The characters were very interesting and it was enjoyable getting to know them. Often you would read their backstory once you got to know them. I felt sorry for Rorscharach, and Jon (the superman-like one) just annoyed me with his aloofness, although he can't help that. I wonder how the movie will pan out? Who did they get to play those characters?

Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta

2010-06-07T21:49:00.005-04:00

Another day and another crime to solve!

Everyone is excited at Thompson Brook School because the author of the Flippy Bunny Books is going to make an appearance. When he arrives he is led to the gym where he'll be doing his presentations. After his presentation he signs a few books, but refuses to sign Hector's because it's ripped. After school Terrence is led by the rest of the Breakfast Club to the soccer tryouts the only problem is the coach hasn't shown up.

The following morning the gang is speaking about the mysterious disappearance of coach - for he never showed up to soccer tryouts. The Lunch Lady grabs Betty and they go into their secret boiler room to find out what's happened to the coach. After their research the Lunch Lady notices that the author forgot his lucky pen and decides to go and return it. When she arrives at his mansion she hands the pen to the butler and returns back to the boiler room where Betty is fast at work doing more research on the author. What they find out is that every time the author makes a guest appearance at a school the gym teacher goes missing. Is it a coincidence or is the author behind the missing coaches?

I still like the last book were the Lunch Lady had to battle the league of evil librarians. In this book the Lunch Lady and Betty take more of a back seat as the breakfast club does more of the crime fighting. I did laugh when the author refused to signed ripped books and then told the lunch ladies he only eats gourmet food.

Graphic Novels in this series:

1. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

2. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

3. Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta

4. Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown (Recently Out: May 11, 2010)

5. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit (Spring 2011)

6. Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Frenzy (Spring 2011)

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

2010-06-07T20:32:00.002-04:00

Our crime fighting Lunch Lady is back and this time she going to battle evil librarians!

The day begins as days normally do, but this time there is excitement in the air. The annual Book Fair is about to begin!! All the kids and teachers cannot wait for it to begin! The librarian though is less that excited and snaps at the Breakfast Bunch and the Lunch Lady and her friend Betty to leave immediately because the library is closed.

On the way home, Hector notices he dropped his keys in the library so they all head back to retrieve them. The following day the book fair begins and everyone is happy to look around. After school the Breakfast Bunch decide to do a bit of spying on their own and what they see is something most librarians don't want you to see . . . THEIR EVIL PLANNING SESSION!!!!

Mrs. Page with the help of Edna Bibliosa (her assistant), Vivian Bookwormer, and Jane Shelver begin to formulate a plan that will destroy the new video game system and end with world domination. When the kids go to the lunch ladies the following day to tell them about what they saw the lunch ladies dismiss their silly antics. After all, how can librarians possibly be evil!? The breakfast brunch decide to take matters into their own hands . . . can they stop those librarians in time?

I loved it!! I know some fellow librarians and have a hard time viewing them as evil schemers which made it even more fun to read. I kept picturing them as the evil librarians in the book. One of my favorite parts was when the high school librarian preferred to be called a "media specialist" (about page 22). I also enjoyed how well (or rather not-so-well) the Lunch Lady went undercover. I also enjoyed the evil librarians evil weapons - characters from books that attacked - like the 3 little pigs.

Graphic Novels in this series:

1. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

2. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

3. Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta

4. Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown (Recently Out: May 11, 2010)

5. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit (Spring 2011)

6. Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Frenzy (Spring 2011)

Envy

2010-06-07T16:01:00.004-04:00

This is the third book in the Luxe series (reviews for both one and two).

In my previous reviewed posts I had mentioned that I was going to write what was on the inside flap and just give you my thoughts - well I felt like that was cheating and I am no longer going to do that.

When we last left our little group of blue bloods, Penelope and Lina - now called Carolina - were starting to get what they wanted. Their means may have been devious and cruel but at least they were getting results. Meanwhile our two favorite heroines were not fairing so well. Elizabeth was now, once again back in New York and Diana so hopelessly in love.

Elizabeth - She is now forced to resume her old role in society, even though she no longer cares for the life. She is the shell of her former self. While on a trip down to Florida with her sister, Penelope, Henry, Teddy, and Carolina she can't help but feel a little happy. One night on the dance floor Teddy once again proposes to her. Can she accept his proposal of love when she herself feels dead to the world?

Diana - Hopelessly in love with Henry (who may or may not still have feelings for her) and trying her best to push him out of her mind. After Penelope married Henry Diana realizes her chances with him are no longer. With her sister not feeling well she must put herself out there to represent the Holland family name. It's a hard thing to do when she keeps running into Henry. Does he still have feelings for her though?

Penelope - Spoiled, rotten, little thing she is. Now that she has successful married the wealthiest bachelor in all of New York what more can she do? Oh, that is except still try to ruin both Elizabeth and Diana Holland's lives. Penelope wants it all and to be the center of attention at all times, and she's finding it hard to do when society is still in love with perfect little Diana. Even her own husband can't keep his eyes off of Diana. Well, our Penelope won't take that, so now she must find a way to ruin her former "best" friend and her sister. But how to do it?

Carolina - Once again she finds herself in a world she had thought not possible. Dresses are made just for her, not those ugly off the rack dresses. She has found an old buck to support her lifestyle and she has a new crush a certain Leland. Yes, things could not be going better for the former lady's maid - and she is even going on an outing! She's going to Florida with Penelope, the Holland girls, Henry, Teddy Cutting, and even her crush! She's finally made it. Or has she? When telegram arrives to her in Florida that her friend Mr. Longhorn dies suddenly Carolina is at a loss of what to do. Who will now pay for her life? How will she be able to keep up her charade of being a wealthy girl from out West?

I feel a little betrayed by this third book. The ending was such in the second book, that I felt the third book would go a different way. Perhaps the fourth book will draw it all together in a nice, neat little package? Compared to the drama of the first two books, this one was on the quieter side - more back room dealings then public attempts.

I really do wish someone would stick it to Penelope! She's so spoiled - even her brother who is older than her - follows her commands like a trained dog. Just once I wish that the story would have her exposed. Would I feel sorry for her? Probably.

I did enjoy reading the book and imagining the fashion back then! I would have loved to dressed like that back in the day (forgoing the stupid corset). What life must've been like back then - if you were of the blue blood standing. It's always fun (for me) to read books set in a different time. I love getting glimpses of what it was once like or maybe.

Books in this series:

1. The Luxe

2. Rumors

3. Envy

4. Splendor

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

2010-06-04T22:42:00.003-04:00

I first saw this book series advertised on a poster inside a school cafeteria (I was subbing at the time) and instantly I knew I had to read them! Finally, I have.

From the inside flap (I DID NOT WRITE THIS!):

"Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady.

What does she do when she isn't dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home?

Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn't only serve sloppy joes - she serves justice! And she has her eye on a very suspicious substitute teacher who just doesn't seem right . . .

Whatever danger lies ahead, it's no match for LUNCH LADY! Or for the kids who are on to her!"

My thoughts:

What a delightful quick read! You begin the Lunch Lady story with her capturing two bad guys before beginning her day at work. Before lunch is to be served, she and her partner in crime solving head down to the Lunch Lady Bat Cave where her friend shows her a new gadget. This made me think of James Bond whenever he'd go see his friend and get new tech gadgets. However, Lunch Lady's friend looks more like Penny from James Bond.

I love how all of her gadgets are food related - "spatu-copter", "cannoli-oculars", she even has fish stick nunchuks! How cool would it be to have a lunch lady that fought crime and worked at your school?

Graphic Novels in this series:

1. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

2. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

3. Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta

4. Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown (Recently Out: May 11, 2010)

5. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit (Spring 2011)

6. Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Frenzy (Spring 2011)

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

2010-06-04T21:37:00.006-04:00

I'm going to be doing my reviews a bit differently from here on out. Instead of trying to summarize what I've just read, I'm going to copy the inside flap and then give you my thoughts on the book. I've always felt that the inside flap does a wonderful job of summarizing the book for us, plus it's the part we all read to see if we want the book. Since I do not know who writes the inside flap bio, and therefore cannot give them just credit, I will just quote the author - even though they probably did not write it.

From the inside flap (AGAIN I DID NOT WRITE THIS!!):

"Big mouth. Big heart. Big wedding. Big problem.

It's the wedding of the century! Things are looking up at last for Lizzie Nichols. She has a career she loves in the field of her choice (wedding gown restoration), and the love of her life, Jean-Luc, has finally proposed. Life's become a dizzying whirl of wedding gown fittings - not necessarily her own - as Lizzie prepares for her dream wedding at her fiancé's chateau in the south of France.

But the dream soon becomes a nightmare as the best man - whom Lizzie might once have accidentally slept with . . . no, really, just slept - announces his total lack of support for the couple, a sentiment the maid of honor happens to second; Lizzie's Midwestern family can't understand why she doesn't want to have her wedding in the family backyard; her future, oh-so-proper French in-laws seem to be slowly trying to lure the groom away from medical school and back into investment banking; and Lizzie finder herself wondering if her Prince Charming really is as charming as she once believed.

Is Lizzie really ready to embrace her new role as wife and mistress of Chateau Mirac? Or is she destined to fall into another man's arms . . . and into the trap of becoming a Bad Girl instead?"

My thoughts:

I have read the first two books so I was eager to read the third and final book. The inside flap (which you have just read above) re-kindled my curiosity about the story. Would Lizzie end up with Luke? Would she finally start her own business? What of Chaz and Sheri? However after reading the book I feel mildly pleased. The inside flap hints about Luke's family trying to lure him away, but it didn't really feel like that. I thought there was going to be some major fighting between Lizzie and Luke's family however they weren't really mentioned (except for his uncle).

Granted - this book is supposed to be a light summer read - but I was hoping for a bit more. There were times when I wanted to slap Lizzie. I felt like her self realization moments were the same thing. Like she kept saying "and my hair was brown, not blonde, which I had always wanted" over and over and over again - and each time she is shocked at her conclusion - when she had just reached the very same conclusion not 5 pages ago. I wish Meg Cabot would've done a fourth Queen of Babble book - like her ever after, children or no children, how she deals with being a wife and running a business or not. Perhaps I could email her and suggest it? (Silly me, to think a famous writer would read an email from moi!)

All in all this book was a nice light read, perfect for the beach or as an "in-between" book (as in-between heavy reading [for school, work, whatever]) so I'd give it a B for whatever it's worth.

Books in this series :

1) Queen of Babble

2) Queen of Babble: In The Big City

3) Queen of Babble: Gets Hitched

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2010-06-01T17:15:00.003-04:00

Harry is now entering his sixth year at Hogwarts. He received a letter from Dumbledore telling Harry that he himself would arrive to pick up Harry from the Dursley's house. Dumbledore arrives at the house to the shock of the Dursleys. Before Dumbledore takes Harry to the Burrow he first takes Harry to visit an old friend. When they arrive at the house it looks as though the Death Eaters have already been through. Chairs have been upturned, pillows slashed, and what appears to be blood on the walls.

Dumbledore isn't fooled though - and quickly picks out his old friend Horace Slughorn. He finally, with the help of Harry, convinces Horace to come back to Hogwarts and teach. Security has been increased around Harry every since the ministry acknowledges the return of Voldemort. While at the Burrow, Harry runs into an old friend Fluer who, he finds out, is engaged to Bill - much to Mrs. Weasley's displeasure.

When everyone arrives back to Hogwarts, things appear to be the same. During their first night back though, they learn that Snape has finally gotten his dream job - teaching the Defense Against Dark Arts post while Professor Slughorn will be the new potions teacher. Harry, who thought he wouldn't be able to take potions borrows an old potions book that was once owned by a person going by the name of Half-Blood Prince. The book owned by the Half-Blood Prince has markings that help Harry with potions and soon Professor Slughorn believes that Harry is a pro at potions.

Harry though begins to suspect that Draco is a new Death Eater, and that Professor Snape is helping him. No one will listen to his crazy ideas, especially since Dumbledore believes Snape to be on the side of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore has also started to teach Harry on his own about Voldemort's past. But Harry can't let the feeling go that Draco and Snape are not up to any good. Will Harry be able to change Dumbledore's mind?

I think I liked this book even less than the previous five. For one thing, I didn't like how Harry (SPOILER) became quickly infatuated with Ginny - it was literally over night. His every thought was of her or Draco. It got a bit irritating to read "and the monster reared it's head in the delightful news and began to purr with happiness" or whatever feeling it was experiencing. It was like a splash of cold water on the face - abrupt and unpleasant.

Furthermore, what is it with her and (spoiler) killing off the characters? Dumbledore - Really? I'm trying to think about it from her point of view, as a writer trying to make the plot more interesting. It still would have been interesting but oh well. I vaguely remember the 7th book and the part I do remember I did not like. Harry still irritated me a bit in this book, although not as much as the previous book.

Books in this series:

1) Sorcerer's Stone

2) Chamber of Secrets

3) Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Goblet of Fire

5) Order of the Phoenix

6) Half-Blood Prince

7) Deathly Hallows

Rumors

2010-05-28T22:01:00.006-04:00

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”

- Sir Walter Scott

Our favorite cast from New York circa 1899 is back - and this time the tangled web of lies has grown. As you may recall from the first book (SPOILER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ LUXE) Elizabeth Holland faked her own death and went out west to be with Will, her true love.

Diana has now been placed in the social spotlight and is her family's only hope to stay afloat in the dog eat dog world of high society. However, Diana was never as polished as her sister Elizabeth was, and so finds the role she now must play rather irritating. Her role becomes harder when Henry Schoonmaker, Elizabeth's former fiance, can't take his eyes off her and declares his true feelings for her and she him. However, society won't accept them as a match because of the situation relating to Elizabeth.

Penelope Hayes, never one to be out-shined, is glad that her 'friend' Elizabeth has left the social scene. With Elizabeth gone, Penelope can now focus of Henry and make sure that he notices her - and that society will notice how they make a wonderful pair. Also, the disappearance of Elizabeth, allows Penelope to become the Queen of Society - a title that was once Elizabeth's. However, when her attempts to catch Henry's eyes goes unnoticed she begins to get agitated. Nothing will stand in her way - well except for Diana Holland who seems to have Henry's undivided attention.

Lina the Holland's former maid has made quite the splash in society. After selling some juicy gossip about the Holland's to Penelope for a price of $500 Lina can now afford to live in some style. She checks herself into the Netherland hotel and begins to formulate a plan that will allow her to be seen as belonging to the rank of the social elite women. Her luck quickly runs out though when the money she was using to buy her way into the society is stolen. She has no hope now of becoming polished and chasing after William. Her luck turns though, when she befriends Tristen - a con artist like herself. When Lina learns of more juicy gossip she decide to go to Penelope again. This time Lina is out for blood, she's quickly learning the rules of the social charades.

Hmm, I'm trying to gather my thoughts on this book. The ending is still with me and I can't give it away and I fear that if I write about my feelings on the subject I will have given the ending away. Can I just say that if FRUSTRATED ME! Does that give it away? I don't think so. I can see how it leads to the third book, but WHY? WHY? WHY? Ok. That's off my chest.

This book is still set in 1899, and I assume the third will be set in 1900 since the second book concludes in the last hours of 1899. I would have loved to have lived back then - but only as the wealthy. The clothes they all wore! To think today if we were to dress like that it would only be to go out somewhere nice - a ball, an opera, the Grammies. They however, dressed like that all the time. I might've liked being in those dresses at first but then I would've missed being in shorts or pants.

I loved the character development. Elizabeth was the focus in the first book, but in the second you see more of Lina and Diana. Oh Lina, Lina, Lina. Tisk tisk. It was fun getting to know them more. Penelope is still the trickster amongst them all - I hate her so.

I early am awaiting the 3rd book.

Books in this series:

1. The Luxe

2. Rumors

3. Envy

4. Splendor

Thirst No. 1

2010-05-27T18:48:00.006-04:00

Thirst No. 1 is compiled from three stories: Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice.

In the Last Vampire:

Alisa Perne has been called into the P.I.'s office, for reasons unknown to her. She is amused but cautious. While meeting with the P.I. she notices a few things. He is carrying a gun and treating her with caution - but why? To the outside world she looks like a harmless teen, so why would the P.I. need to be cautious?

Unfortunately for our P.I. he is very cocky and decides to show Alisa just how much she knows about her. He asks her how old she is, which you never do to a vampire (they don't like that) and he asks her about her money. She's very wealthy for her age and yet she has no parents. How did she get so rich. Did she steal the money? Invest the money? Win the lotto? Alisa already doesn't like the guy but asks why he has taken an interest in her and that's when he tells her that he was hired by a mystery man to look for her and dig up some information. Sadly our P.I. friend does not survive the meeting. However, Alisa is uneasy. Who is looking for her? She decides she'll the P.I.'s son to answer that question so she goes undercover at the local high school and begins her plan.

What she discovers is not good; her old friend Yaksha is out to get her and he was the one who created her 5,000 years ago. Their meeting will not be good.

Both Black Blood and Red Dice continue Alisa's story.

I really enjoyed this book. When I first started reading it I thought I was going to hate it, and did not look forward to reading the 500+ pages of it. I found her to be very cold and arrogant - although now I stand corrected. Alisa (whose real name is Sita) is full of compassion and intelligence. Although she believes that Krishna no longer lover her, she still prays to him. She is constantly struggling with morale issues - like near the end where she must chose between killing a few to save humanity or not killing at all (not a spoiler). I also like how religion was woven throughout the story.

Books in this series:

Thirst No. 1 (Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice)

Thirst No. 2 (Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever)

Thirst No. 3 (The Eternal Dawn)

Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You

2010-05-24T07:50:00.005-04:00

As I was browsing the YA section in my library I came across this book, and I'm sad to say I judged a book by its title. I do not know if it's as bad as judging a book by its cover but there, my confession is out. I've always had a secret dream to be a ballerina and this book let me live vicariously through the main character Kayla.

Kayla attends Florida Arts High School (which everyone calls Farts) with her older sister Paterson. She attends the school for their dance section while Paterson attends the school for their art section. Kayla has been a ballet dancer for all her life and loves every moment of it, even when Melissa (who's like Malfoy in HP) continues to irritate Kayla. Kayla is entering her junior year at Farts and it really excited. She spent her summer in NYC perfecting her technique at a wonderful ballet school and can't wait to put her new technique to use and win the coveted role of Cinderella in the ballet production of Cinderella.

When auditions come, she preforms wonderfully. The next day when the roles have been cast everyone is crowding around to see who's gotten which position. Lourdes, one of Kayla's friends has received the role of Cinderella (and although Kayla really wanted that part she's glad it went to Lourdes). Although Kayla is bummed she still can get a decent part by playing one of the seasons - but no. Her role is playing that of one of the ugly step-sisters! Even though she landed the understudy role of Cinderella, her true role is that of an ugly step-sister. Later that day Kayla's dance instructor calls her into her office to explain the decisioning. Timm (with two ems) whose company is producing the play, decided not to cast Kayla as Cinderella because she is rather 'well endowed' and does not have the 'typical' female ballerina body. He does recognizer her talent, but her lady friends are just too much.

The next day a pair of red pointe shows with a note "dancing in red shoes will kill you" appear in the dance studio. Rumors start to swirl about who and why they were placed there. Of course Melissa takes this opportune moment to cast suspicion towards Kayla. The question though remains who put them there and is it a legitimate threat? Will someone actually die if they were red pointe shoes while preforming Cinderella?

This was such a quick and light read. The message of the book was very easy to grasp without having to dig for it: girls should not have to conform to the "norm" just to 'fit in'. Kayla with her rather large chest would have had to had breast reduction surgery if she wanted to continue in the main areas of ballet; she doesn't have the typical body of a female ballerina - which I assume is tiny everywhere. In the book Paterson, Gray, and Kayla were talking about fairy tales and the implications the message has for young women. In the olden days (before Disney changed them) the tales were more like the true Brothers Grimm tales - there was not happily every after for the women.

Hearts at Stake

2010-05-22T14:17:00.004-04:00

This book was recommended to me by Lady Storm and her blog is right here! and her review of the book is right here. Thank you for the recommendation!

Solange and Lucy (who's real name is Lucky) have been best friends from the time they were born. In fact, they are like sisters - so much so that Solange's seven brothers treat Lucy like she is their sister. The only problem they face right now is how to keep Solange safe. You see, she's a rare thing. Vampires are turned, not made - except for the Drake bloodline and Solange is the first female about to be vampire to come along in ages. What makes it hard to protect her is the fact that her pheromones are driving every male vampire in the world mad, and it's not like she wants the attention.

That's not the only problem though. Lady Natasha, a delusional female vampire who believes herself to be Queen of all Vampires, is threatened by Solange because of a prophecy that said a female vampire born and not made would rule all vampires. Of course power hungry Lady Natasha won't just hand over her crown. One night while the girls are enjoying their last bit of summer before school begins, Solange feels the presence of her 'admirers' and tells Lucy. The 'admirers' are not looking to be gentlemanly in their courting process. Luckily, Nick (Solange's brother) is there to save them. The tension increases though when her courters attack her home, even a human who works for an agency determined to wipe out vampires is now in on the hunt. A bounty has been put upon Solange's head increasing her danger. An interesting twist occurs when the human sent to kill her starts to see that she really isn't completely a monster, but will that save her and her family from the impending doom?

Lady Storm is quite right - this book was a light read (only 248 pages) and it wasn't boring. At first I was a bit confused in the beginning of the book, I had to get used to the switching of POVs (from Lucy to Solange back to Lucy etc.) I did feel at the beginning that it would be another sappy romance story and I was pleased that it was not. That's not to say there wasn't any romance, because there was but it was in a tolerable amount (thank goodness!)

I enjoyed Lucy who seemed to be an really interesting character. Rebellious but not quite that rebellious. Her parents seemed to be of the New Age persuasion only allowing Lucy to eat tofu and calm her chi, which constantly made Lucy irritated. I would be too if I could only eat tofu and not have soda in the house ;) I also enjoyed the many plot twists towards the end of the book - just when you think you've figured it out BAM! You've been thrown a curve ball.

I early await the second book in this series.

Books in this series:

1) Hearts at Stake

2) Blood Feud (June 2010)

Are you there Vodka? It's Me Chelsea

2010-05-21T21:05:00.004-04:00

According to her back inside flap, this book is "memoir and humor" but what I didn't get is the memoir part of it. There were times when I could clearly see it being a memoir type of book; she mentions being a young girl in school and being made fun of - and how she used to tell lies to become popular. But there are other parts that make me question if it's 100% a memoir - like her picking a fight with 3 Latina teenagers. That I had a hard time seeing as being real.

I don't know how her chapters worked - they didn't seem to be that cohesive in telling a story about Chelsea's life. More often than not they seemed to be by themselves with Chelsea being the only thing to tie them together.

There were some humorous parts - like the part where she mentioned that there was a little person, who was a big fan and Chelsea (who loves little people) wanted to taker her under her wings and take care of her.

I don't know how I feel about this book - it's like a sweet and sour feeling. I do want to read her other books, my friends have recommended them to me, so I hope I will like them a bit more thn this book.

Other books by Chelsea Handler:

1) My Horizontal Life: A collection of One-Night Stands

2) Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea

3) Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (newly released March 9, 2010)

Official Book Club Selection: A memoir according to Kathy Griffin

2010-05-21T19:29:00.003-04:00

This is my second memoir, and I liked it. I found it funny and entertaining from the beginning till the end. However, I had just finished Chelsea Handler's book and although it says "memoir/drama" I didn't find it funny nor believable but I'll get to her book on another post.

Kathy Griffin shares insights into her life hat might not have been seen on My Life on the D-List her Bravo TV show. She tells you about growing and only eating, sleeping, and dreaming of becoming a star. How she had to pay her 'dues' for longer than anyone else.

What I liked most about this book is that she wasn't scared to let you see into her life: from her divorce from her husband Matt, her child molesting brother Kenny, to winning her Emmys. She shares every part of her life with you.

I enjoyed that. Hollywood and everyone that seems to work in its sphere of influence, is so obsessed with portraying everything as flawless. Women have to be a size 0 and not show their age, houses have to be big and lavish. Kathy though, is the voice in Hollywood to point out how crazy they (celebrities, agents, produces/writers etc) are! She pokes fun at herself and at others. She never once pretended to be anything other than who she is and I love that.

She is an extremely hard worker, who never stops and is smart with her money. I only barely knew her from seeing commercials from My Life on the D-List and know I have a better understanding of who she is.

3,4,5 Reading Challenge - Complete!!

2010-05-10T16:38:00.003-04:00

I have just completed my first 2010 Challenge! Whoop! Being extremely lazy (I apologize) I am linking to my original post which contains my list of books, and the links to their posts. Has anyone else finished this challenge?

My Original Post.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

2010-05-10T15:58:00.003-04:00

Ever since the return of Lord Voldemort, Harry has been avidly listening and watching the muggle news. Surely they would report something. . . anything really. Nothing though, besides the hot weather has been reported. Harry's constant obsession with the news is driving his uncle mad. After getting caught Harry decides to take a stroll, and walk off his anger.

His friends have been completely useless in their correspondence. No matter how many times Harry demands answers, the replies are always vague. On the way home Harry catches up with Dudley and decides to start a fight with him. He pulls out his wand and begins to taunt Dudley when suddenly it gets very cold and very dark. Harry starts to feel his happiness ebb away and can't believe Dementors would be lose in his neck of the woods. Suddenly Dudley starts to run for it, and unfortunately runs into one of the Dementors (well he can't see it being a muggle and all.)

Harry fights off both Dementors and takes Dudley back to the house. When he arrives his uncle and aunt are ready to kick him out. Not only is he now expelled from school, but the ministry is going to come and take away his wand. Just as Harry is about to leave a Howler arrives for Aunt Petunia and reminds her of the pack she made. She then tells Vernon that Harry will have to stay. Eventually Harry finds himself back with his old gang and in a rather gloomy house. The house, which once belonged to Sirius' mother is now the location for an order called: The Order of The Phoenix (which was once active the first time Lord Voldemort came to power).

The kids being "too young" cannot participate in any of the activities so must go about cleaning the house, but that doesn't stop George and Fred from trying to ease drop. As summer draws to a close, Harry finds himself wishing he could stay with Sirius. When Harry returns to school he is surrounded by the whispers of fellow students. For months the newspaper has been slandering both Harry and Dumbledore, telling the public at large that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is not back and that those two are full of it.

Harry's scar begins to hurt again. Surely Voldemort can't be near - they're at Hogwarts which is heavily protected. Why then does his scar hurt? On top of that, he keeps having the same dream over and over: he's running towards a black door trying to reach what's beyond the door. When he tells his friends about the dreams they draw the conclusion that he's inside Voldemort's head and that he must start to practice Occlumency if he has any hope of stopping his scare from hurting.

But it's easier said than done. With all the drama and pressure unfolding around Harry, he can't help but get swept up. Suddenly he dreams that Voldemort is torturing Sirius and Harry has to go and recuse him.

One of my least favorite books. Ever. For one, Harry irritated me on almost every single page. All of the sudden his reduced to a whinny, complaining, little pratt? But in the other 4 books he showed maturity beyond his years?! Secondly(spoiler ahead hi-light to view), WHY DID SHE HAVE TO KILL MY ONLY FAVORITE CHARACTER SIRIUS BLACK?!?!??! Thirdly, Umbridge. Ugh. I would've hated to have had a teacher like her. Although she did add comedic relief sometimes. But Harry was the most irritating thing I had to endure while I read that book. I couldn't stand how he reverted to being 3 years old. He was constantly bitting off Ron and Hermonie's head, being a selfish idiot, and kept playing the world's smallest violin for himself. NOT once did he think about anyone besides himself.

I took solace in the fact that she introduced Tonks and Luna Lovegood.

Books in this series:

1) Sorcerer's Stone

2) Chamber of Secrets

3) Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Goblet of Fire

5) Order of the Phoenix

6) Half-Blood Prince

7) Deathly Hallows

Kitty and Dead Man's Hand

2010-04-26T22:59:00.005-04:00

The only problem facing Kitty is how to tell her mother that she does not want a fancy wedding. No frilly dresses, no expensive photographers, no bridesmaids . . . you get the point. One night while talking to Ben Kitty gets the idea to go to Vegas. It's the quick wedding capitol of the world. But how to tell her mother? Well just inviter her along for the ride. She'll understand right?

Kitty tells her boss that she's getting married in Vegas and he comes up with the bright idea for her to have a live show in Vegas. Finally she'd have a TV show on her own terms and it won't be broadcasting her shapeshifting. With a sort-of wedding to plan and a TV show to plan Kitty's Vegas trip is looking pretty busy.

When they arrive at the hotel a problem already arises. The hotel they are staying in is also hosting a gun show and you can bet the people that are attending the show also hunt Kitty's kind. To make matters worse Ben's former friends have spotted him and don't necessarily like the fact that he's associating himself with the enemy or Kitty.

Everything is going well: Kitty's show went off without a hitch and Ben's even won at a poker game. Her parents have arrived but are doing their own thing until the "wedding" - it's easy street until the wedding. Well almost. Ben tells Kitty the night before their wedding that he's gotten into to a bigger poker game and it's at the same time as their wedding. Kitty and Ben decide to push it back. As the time draws near for the wedding Kitty get a call . . . Ben's gone missing and she knows it's not because he has cold feet. Now instead of getting married she has to find her fiance. But who kidnaped him?

This was a nice break from her power struggle books. It was fun to see Kitty doing more "human" activities :)

My only problem was trying to guess how the title of the book correlated to the plot of the story.

Books in this series :

1) Kitty and the Midnight Hour

2) Kitty Goes to Washington

3) Kitty Takes A Holiday

4) Kitty And the Silver Bullet

5) Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand

6) Kitty Raises Hell

Hunger Games

2010-04-26T21:57:00.003-04:00

If I were in the 60's and I saw the Beatles I would squeal just as loud. I, however, contained my excitement in the library when I got this book. After reading many wonderful things about this book I knew I just had to get my hot little hands upon this book. They do say 'all good things come to those who wait' and by golly I waited, and waited, and waited! AND FINALLY I read the book in a day. Well, more like devoured it really.

The book is set into a bleak future (but with the way the world politics are . . . it seems more and more likely) were the US has been obliterated and only the Capitol survives with 12 districts. Every time I read the word Capitol I couldn't help but think of D.C. although I'm not sure that's what she meant. Each year 1 boy and 1 girl from each district are selected and must fight to the death, think gladiator but less Roman and less glorious, in a specified arena. Our main girl Katniss lives in District 12, which is known for mining. Each district contributes to the capitol in some form.

When the day of the reaping is upon them, Katniss, her mother, and her sister who's only 12 and now old enough for the ceremonies head to the town center were they are divided by age and gender. The name for the girl is chosen and it's Katniss' sister. She can't let that happen so she volunteers herself - something unheard of; for once your name is called you ner return unless you outwit and outlast the other 25 tributes. The boy from her district that is chosen is named Peeta, who once helped Katniss many years ago - she doubts though that he remembers.

Each tribute gets a mentor, someone who has survived the Hunger Games, and District 12's mentor is a drunk named Haymitch who doesn't seem to care if he's sober or not. However Peeta and Katniss soon sober the poor fool up and they begin to form a plan of attack along with the Capitol's representative Effie. The goal is to show to the pubic how much in love they are, and present themselves to the other tributes as a team (something that isn't usually done).

When the day of the Hunger Games arrive everyone is nervous. Will this be their last meal? Will they be the lucky one to return? Can they survive? The gong chimes and the games have begun. Quickly Katniss tries to grab what little supplies she can before she finds herself a target. She quickly darts into the woods and runs for safety. Even though they presented themselves as a unit, Katniss is going to fight alone - but she wishes Peeta luck. Relying on her hunting skills she must now fight her way towards freedom. It's not east since the Capitol is always watching and when things get boring . . . they add twists and turns to keep the tributes on their feet.

The first thing that came to my mind while and after reading this is I know for a fact that I would certainly not survive. I would be the first one dead. Secondly - how much that government reeked of poison. They had morally suppressed their citizens and made sure to wipe the rebellion out of them. Although after studying history and reading about revolts, it could be possible but unlikely (the districts don't communicate amongst themselves and they're constantly malnourished and poor). I've seen people chose either "team Peeta" or "team Katniss" and I don't know which side I'd chose. Although I do feel sorry for Peeta at the end. The book was worth the wait and I totally recommend it to anyone. I cannot wait for the 2nd book! I have to go put it on hold now!

Books in this series:

1) Hunger Games

2) Catching Fire

3) Mocking Jay (8.24.10)

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. New York 2008

Recommendations Please

2010-04-18T21:55:00.002-04:00

So I have about a month left of classes and to celebrate I want to read all those books that I never could during the past 4 months. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations. I read practically every genre except non-fiction and those bodice ripping books that you find in the local grocery store.

I'm looking to branch out, so if anyone knows of any good comic books, or other types of genre I'd love to hear about it! I also have to catch up on my competitions! I'm almost done with my Harry Potter competition - and the remaining books are sitting on my dresser ever so patient for me to read them.

I will say though, since I've been in school I've read some very interesting books/plays. They include

1) The End Game by Samuel Beckett

2) The Languages of Pao (my favorite to date) by Jack Vance

3) The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

4) Thoughts by Blaise Pascal (for history)

Just to name a few. I'm excited though to pick up some books to read just for fun!! Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you guys have! :)

Hex Hall Giveaway!

2010-04-03T12:03:00.005-04:00

My first giveaway :) Nicole and Disney-Hyperion are allowing me to give away 1 Hex Hall t-shirt! This is what they look like:

<- This is the front

So since this is my 1st giveaway, and I don't have any rules I'll do it this way. The 1st person to comment that they want the shirt gets it! That simple :) But don't be fooled, as I host more giveaways the rules will be come so complicated that even I won't know them ;)

this is the back ->

Hex Hall

2010-04-03T11:16:00.006-04:00

I am very honored to review this new YA book by Rachel Hawkins! The book has just been published in March!

Sophie Mercer has moved around quite a bit. No, her mother isn't running from a crazed killer or anything like that. The reason they keep moving is Sophie; she's a witch, and still coming into her powers. Her mother can't help her since she's just a human herself and Sophie's father isn't in the picture, accept for the occasional phone calls and emails.

On the night of her school's prom, Sophie hears one of her fellow classmates crying in the girls bathroom and decides to help. When she discovers the root of the problem (the girl has NO date) Sophie decides to help by casting just a tiny spell to summon the boy. Well the spell wasn't so tiny - in fact it was rather big. The spell she put upon him made his so love strong that he crashed his car into the gymnasium and hunted the girl down. In all the commotion the girl points to Sophie and screams that Sophie is a witch. Great. Her cover is blown and now she has to move to a new state and new school.

So Sophie now finds herself standing on the campus of Hecate Hall, a school for those children with magical abilities that find themselves unable to control their magic. Great, juvie for the bad magic kids. She was sentenced there by her father who wrote to her saying (not a direct quote) "sorry kiddo, but your 'get out of jail free' cards have all been used up". The only problem with Hex Hall is you don't get out until your 18. So if you go in at 12 you won't leave until your the big 1-8. Sophie will have to stay there for 2 years.

Sophie though has no idea what drama is lurking behind the doors. Just last year one of the Hex Hall students died mysteriously in the student bathrooms, and not to mention the major drama going on between Elodie and her gang and Jenna the only vampire on campus. Elodie and her gang keep blaming Jenna for the students death, even though she was cleared. After Sophie's first day on campus she's already developed a MAJOR crush on Asher (the campus hottie who's also the dark and mysterious and taken one), vexed Elodie and her gang off by not joining their coven, and has become best friends with Jenna, who no one likes. It looks like it's going to be an interesting two years.

As if that wasn't bad enough, attacks start happening on the students again and everyone is blaming Jenna. She just keeps being in the wrong place and the wrong time. But Sophie knows Jenna is innocent . . . right?

I loved the beginning of this book! I felt so bad for Sophie! She was just trying to help out that girl and was it really her fault that the spell went completely wrong? Well maybe. There were only a few things that bugged me about the book. The first was I hated how quickly she fell for Archer. One the first day she meets him and says (not a direct quote) "I will NOT fall for him" and I thought, finally - a book were the main character doesn't fall head over heals within the first seconds of meeting the boy. Wrong. Within that night she's telling Jenna how deeply in love she is with him. Another thing I found odd was when Sophie was meeting with a ghost to learn more magic control, the ghost said she put a spell on the whole school so they'd all stay asleep even yelling at the top of her lungs to prove her point. Well later in the story Elodie catches Sophie escaping while the spell is active - but it doesn't explain how Elodie wasn't effected by the spell this time (even though she was in the past).

This book was funny. My favorite character has to be Jenna! For being a vampire she was so full of life, but I don't think I'd be able to deal with all the pink - it'd be a tad too much for me (Jenna decorated her side of the room in every shade imaginable of pink). And I love how she had a little stuffed lion named Bram :) It was so cute (and secretly I kinda want a stuffed lion named Bram too).

Rachel Hawkins has been so kind as to stop by Blue Duck! Thank you!! Here is her guest post:

"Confession time: I suck at coming up with titles for my books. If you looked at my computer right now, you'd find projects called things like, "That Book Where The Stuff Happens With The Sister," or "Big Fantasy Novel," or "That Crazy Sci-Fi Book That Is Like Fringe But Not." Obviously, this is sad-sauce as titles are really important! The story behind HEX HALL's title is kind of complicated and fraught with angst (on my part.) I originally called the book TOO NEAR THE GLASS, which is a line from the poem that prefaces the book. This title is... well, let's just say a little too literary and serious for a book that has so many chapters about witches making out. So my agent and I decided to change it! We went with DEMONGLASS, (the title the book sold under), and at first, I LOVED THAT! I mean, come on! DEMONGLASS! That's like the most awesome word ever! I imagined a cover with a girl holding a giant black sword. And then my editor said, "Yeah... this is a funny book with witches making out." And I was all, "But people die!" To which she replied, "Right, but it's funny BEFORE they die." So DEMONGLASS was out, and something cuter and lighter was needed. This is when I turned to EXTREMELY EXTENSIVE RESEARCH *cough* Wikipedia *cough* I came across Hecate in my research. Not only was she the Greek goddess of witchcraft, but she was also the Greek goddess of the crossroads. I thought that was a fun thing to play with in a book about teenagers who are very much at the crossroads! So the school, originally called Prentiss Academy, became Hecate Hall. And because Hecate is hard to pronounce (my agent, editor, and I ALL have different ways of saying it), we decided that the kids at the school would have a nickname for it- Hex Hall.

Thank you again Rachel for stopping by! And I hope you guys pick up this book. It is a wonderful story about a girl trying to fit in, solve a mystery, and NOT fall for the hot stud warlock. :)

* This book was sent to me via the publishers @ Disney-Hyperion

Skin Trade

2010-03-27T09:31:00.003-04:00

Finally! I have waited patiently to get my hands on this book :)

There is a human head on Anita's desk and it's real. She has yet to start her day by seeing her customers and now, with what little time she has, she has to think about the human head so nicely packed upon her desk. She knows that Vittorio sent it. Vittorio is a powerful master vampire (although he belongs to no city and is a serial killer) that had recently been responsible for the death of some local cop in St. Louis. She decides to call Las Vegas and tell them what she's just received from their little town.

However, it's worse. Vittorio had recently killed some of the Vegas cops as well as their local executioner (who's head is now on Anita's desk) and left her a nice message in their blood. The Vegas cops want to know why Vittorio is so interested in Anita. When she arrives in Vegas her reputation has proceeded her and not in a good way. Since she and Jean-Claude have decided to go public with the fact that she is his boyfriend her standing at work among the cops, SWAT, and fellow marshals has plummeted. Instead of someone deserving of respect with the highest kill count in the nation she is nothing but a harlot in almost every law enforcer's eyes. Not very nice, and Anita doesn't want to waste time with a pissing contest to win these boys over. Time is a ticking.

The good news is Edward (Ted), Olaf (Otto) and Bernardo will be joining her along for this mission - even though she'd rather not be anywhere near Olaf. When she meets the SWAT team she sees how impressive they really are; they've been doing their homework. Sgt. Rocco is a powerful physic just like Anita but just a different flavor.

Soon everyone begins to question the local weretigers, because one of the bodies was attacked by a were-animal but then they're also trying to find the missing link. Some of the bodies weren't killed by human of shifters. But what could have possibly killed those humans with so many sharp blades?

I am very disappointed in this book. She spent 486 pages with the action of the case and then in the last 10 pages it's solved. The ending was really anti-climatic! She's going up against one of the most powerful vampires (starting to rival Mother of Darkness) and wins?! Really? In 10 pages? UGH! I am just so bummed too about how the events played out in the final part of the book.

While reading this I could also tell that both she and Anita are starting to tire of this series. She often makes references, in Anita's voice, about how tried she is. That is to say, how tired Anita is of her job - and how her job is starting to interfere too much with her other life and vice versa. Is that a foreshadow perhaps of the end of the series? I would hope not because I very much love all the characters and love reading about them but there's only so many stories to write until they all begin to take on the same plot w/just some minor twists - and that means they've become dull.

All in all I'm not over the moon about this book. There have been some books in the past that she's written in the Anita Blake series that afterwards I was sad that it was over; it was like drinking you favorite beverage - although it's now gone it was delicious while the time lasted and left you happy. This book though, left me with a sour taste because it wasn't that good. Hopefully we will have some more books to come before she decides to pull the plug. In all fairness she has been writing Anita's story for some time.

1) Guilty Pleasures
2) The Laughing Corpse
3) Circus of the Dammed
4) Lunatic Cafe
5) Bloody Bones
6) The Killing Dance
7) Burnet Offerings
8) Blue Moon
9) Obsidain Butterfly
10) Narcissus in Chains
11) Cerulean Sins
12) Incubus Dreams
13) Micah
14) Danse Macabre
15) The Harlequin
16) Blood Noir
17) Skin Trade (Coming our June 2, 2009!!!!)

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton. New York 2009

Teaser Tuesday

2010-03-23T16:00:00.003-04:00

Hosted by Should Be Reading

Anyone can play along!

Just do the following :

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from anywhere on that page.

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (be sure that what you share doesn't give to much away, you don't want to ruin the book for others.)

5. Share the title & author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR.

My tease:

"You mean you could lose control of the ardeur?" Bernardo asked.

"Yes," I said, and let the first hint of anger into that word.

One More Bite

2010-03-23T15:00:00.005-04:00

Jaz Parks is back and ready to deal with the aftermath of killing Edward "Raptor" Samos. Now that he is dead there is a vacuum and the balance of 3 rival groups needs to be kept. The only problem is this time she has to protect one of his puppets to keep the peace and balance. Her mission takes her, Vayl, and Cole to the misty shores of Scotland were she is to protect a Coven leader from Bea who is a very powerful killing machine. However, before Jaz can so much as blink she finds that her father is along for the ride - something she did not agree too.

When the gang lands in Scotland they review their plan. A big ghost convention is meeting in the area and their cover is that they are all ghost hunters and are ready to market. As Jaz is talking to her dad they notice what they believe is a person and try to swerve around him, and when they look back to make sure he isn't hit - he's gone. When they arrive at the B&B they ask if anyone has noticed a ghost and the owner of the B&B tries to change the subject. Interesting . . .

Things start to get more exotice for our Jaz. For one thing she keeps seeing Edward's face on passerbys and can't figure out why. He is dead . . .isn't he? Another reason is her father has started to become haunted and he won't tell Jaz all of the reasons behind the haunts. Also to make matters worse Brude, an old Welsh King, wants Jaz for his own personal hell army and isn't willing to let her go - but hopefully Jaz's spirit guide Raoul will help. Maybe.

This mission felt a bit quieter than most; it didn't have guns blazing and huge fights in many of her previous missions. This books also focuses more on Jaz and Vayl's increasing interactions and relationship tensions. I do like how Albert had more of a role in this book - and for once we got to peek inside the relationship that he and Jaz have.

This book was recommended to me by Darla D!

Books in this series:

1) Once Bitten Twice Shy

2) Another One Bites the Dust

3) Biting The Bullet

4) Bitten To Death

5) One More Bite

6) Bite Marks

Getting Enough

2010-03-17T20:39:00.002-04:00

Vera has had enough of her husband's cheating. She can't take it anymore. After years of putting up with his immoral behavior she decides to confront him. And how does she do this? At 3 a.m. with the lights blaring and shoving a pearl necklace in his face, a pearl necklace destined for one of his ladies. At first Sindey outright denies it, but then angered by his wife's words he shoots back that it's her fault. Her fault because she was too cold towards him. Her fault because she refused to come down from the morale high ground that she had made a house upon. Sindey is not the only one to blame. Vera would go out of her way to distance herself from him, from making rude remakes about him constantly, and hating the very air he breathes.

One night Sindey tells Vera to go ahead and cheat on him since he knows she has someone in mind. Vera finally decides to. What has she got to lose? She has much to lose, in fact. As she begins her affair with Boris (her niece's husband) she begins to realize that Sidney isn't that bad after all and she begins to look at her life in a different light. As she begins to changer her ways word gets out that she's having an affair and people can't wait to show her how two faced she is.

Can Sidney and her reconcile even in the face of a scandal?

This book was very interesting. At first Vera annoyed me immensely. How many times was she going to call someone a whore, and how many times was she going to call Sindey a cheater and keep hurling it in his face. I can't blame the guy; being married to someone who wouldn't even want to touch you? When Vera finally 'grows up' she sees herself in a new light as well as her husband. After that I grew to understand her a little bit more and grew to like her.

The story revolved around sex and how it affected relationships. There were some parts of the book were I was shocked (Vera and her brother had feelings for each-other that were 'abnormal' in our society's eyes), how often the word "whore" was used and there were other parts that made me stop and think: like the problem between Sidney and Vera. It was caused out of sexual frustration from both sides. Vera for not allowing herself sexual freedom and Sindey because Vera would often withhold. As Vera says, sex isn't all in a relationship - there has to be emotional growth too.

Soulless

2010-03-12T20:55:00.004-05:00

This book was recommended to me by Darla D! Her review of this book is right here!

Britain during the time of Queen Victoria, oh how I would have loved to have been there! Ms. Alexia Tarabotti is something of an unusual person; she has no soul. This would concern most people but Ms. Tarabotti takes it in stride. She is also a spinster, which doesn't bother her the least. Her mother on the other hand is less than thrilled to have a spinster for a daughter who is also Italian. One evening Ms. Tarabotti, hungry and miffed that she cannot eat (even though promised there would be food at the party) goes to sit down and snack on some food but is attacked by a vampire!

She is shocked for naturally vampires do not do such a thing! This is a proper British society after all. As the vampire goes to bite her she places her hand upon him nullifying his vampire-ness, a trait which is only allowed to the preternatural (a term referring to her kind). After trying to dissuade the vampire who won't take the hint, Alexia mistakenly kills him. Just as the vampire dies Lord Maccon walks into the study and finds the messy situation. The vampire though is not from the local hive (as no hive would allow a half starved crazy vampire with no etiquette training to be about London). Lord Maccon, leader of BUR or Bureau of Unnatural Registry begins an investigation. The investigation begins to uncover some very unpleasant news that will drag Alexia into the supernatural world.

I just love this book! From the mannerisms of Ms. Tarabotti (she's not the typical Victorian lady - she has a mind and speaks out) to her interactions with Lord Maccon (again, not a feeble woman but one to be reckoned with) to the way that Victorian England is cast into a sci-fi world with floating dirigibles, werewolves and vampires (of high class and breeding no doubt!) this book just has it all and told so wonderfully. I must say that I had a lovely surprise when a certain character that I had written off as lame came back to be a key player. How delightful! My favorite character though had to be Mr. Akeldama! He was such a fun character to get to know and I quite liked his 'loud' style.

Books in this series:

The Parasol Protectorate Series

1) Soulless

2) Changeless (May 2010)

EXCITING NEWS!

2010-02-09T16:45:00.002-05:00

Hey guys!!! I'll be hosting a prize giveaway (an awesome shirt!!) for the book Hex Hall that comes out in March 2nd. Also the author will be stopping by my little blog to say hello. I'll have the review and the interview up soon :) It's an wonderful YA book that has mystery written all over it :)

A little note

2010-01-28T14:41:00.002-05:00

So I've just started my classes again (yeah!) and have been reading about statistics for the past 2 hours (boo!) But this post is to inform you that I have some books that I must read for class and I thought I'd post my opinions here - even though the professor might be looking for another interpretation of the book ;)

I'm almost done reading Hex Hall (review won't be up till later - it's going to be part of a blog tour) and it's a really good book. I'm moving so all my books are at my new apartment so I might have a book around and I hope it's not a text book!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!! :)

Hush Hush

2010-01-24T14:36:00.003-05:00

Nora Grey is a bright sophomore who aspires to attend one of the big ivy league colleges. She walks into her biology class one day and is shocked to see two barbie dolls taped to the chalk board with "Welcome to Human Reproduction" written beneath them. She sits next to her best friend Vee, waiting to begin the semester. When the bell rings her teacher Coach walks in and tells the whole class he'll be switching it up a bit by making everyone have new lab partners. Vee is forced to move to another seat, and the person taking up Vee's old seat has danger written all over him.

The assignment Coach gives the new partners is to find out as much information as they can about their new lab partners - and yes he will check for authenticity. Nora introduces herself and waits for him to begin asking her questions. Patch however isn't a "follow the rules" kinda guy and decides to just write down all the information he knows about her. When Nora asks what he's doing he starts listing all the details about her, and all the information he's sharing is spot on. But how does he know all about her when they just met?

That's not the only thing troubling Nora. She can't stop thinking about him, and now it seems like where ever she turns Patch is right there. Half of her screams to stay away from him but the other half can't seem to stay away. Odd and scary things start to happen to Nora after becoming Patch's lab partner. One night while trying to fall asleep she is awoken by a strange sound and when she looks into her window she see a face looking back in, and her bedroom is on the second floor. She can't shake the feeling that she's being followed and watched, and it doesn't help that every time she turns around she sees a dark figure quickly disappearing. These strange occurrences are some how connected to Patch and she's having a hard time deciding if Patch is safe or dangerous.

I liked this book a lot, well generally I like all the books I read. When you first start reading this book you get a sense that Patch is dangerous but more of a 'bad boy' dangerous and you can understand why Nora is attracted and repulsed by him at the same time. He keeps telling her he has a dark past and again we along with Nora assume he was a teenage delinquent and now he's trying to reform. As the book continues more characters are added into the pot and we see how Patch/Nora react to them. Vee is the catalyst causing all the drama and friction between Nora and the new guy Elliot. I loved the foreshadows and twists and turns that were put into this story to make it fun and interesting to read.

Books in this series:

1) Hush Hush

2) Crescendo (Fall 2010)

Beautiful Creatures Contest!

2010-01-18T18:49:00.003-05:00

Blog with a Bite (hosted by ParaJunkee, Tina, and Emily) IS hosting a wonderful giveaway. They are giving away 3 copies of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl! Here are the rules for the contest . . .

Rules & Regulations:

Must be 13 or older
Must be US or Canadian resident (Mailing address)
Please no PO Boxes
You must be a follower of Blog with Bite
Contest Ends January 22nd Midnight CST

If you want to enter then by all means . . .Enter the contest here!!!!

It's Monday and What Are You Reading?

2010-01-18T12:27:00.003-05:00

If you want to join w/other book bloggers about what your reading monday J. Kaye has a whole post for it!

Books Completed Last Week:

1. How to Ditch Your Fairy which I didn't quite enjoy.

Books I Gave Up

0. I almost gave up on the Ditch the fairy book.

Books I'm Currently Reading

Hush Hush!! I just started and I'm super excited :)

Books Up to Bat . . .

Geektastic

Never Slow Dance With a Zombie

And other's I can't remember (sry!)

Need by Carrie Jones

2010-01-18T10:46:00.002-05:00

Everyone has a fear, even if they don't want to admit it. I have a fear of spiders - I hate them and I think it's because of their eight little beady eyes staring back at me. They creep me out and every time I see one I jump and run screaming from the room. I then convince someone to 1)not kill it and 2) to peacefully remove it from the room and throw it outside.

Zara knows all about fears; she can list them alphabetically and even tell you what they mean. Since the death of her step-father Zara obviously hasn't been the same. Her mother is worried about her and decides to send Zara to her grandmother's (the mother of her step-father) house in Maine. Maine couldn't be any different that Charleston. Where Charleston is warm and populated Main is cold and desolate. Since leaving Charleston Zara has been seeing a strange man where ever she goes.

On her first day of school she runs into Nick Colt a hot cross-country runner and Ian or Mr. Class President. Instantly those two boys are vying for her attention but there is something not quite right about Ian but Zara can't put her finger on it. She quickly befriends Issie and Devyn and it doesn't bother her one bit that Nick hangs around them. One day at lunch she notices the same man standing outside the cafeteria pointing at her. Issie and Devyn see him too and they decide to do some research. The only explanation that makes sense is that the person stalking Zara is a pixie - but come on, everyone knows pixies don't exist. Another strange thing is happening in the town, boys have started to disappear. When Zara, Devyn, and Issie do some more research on pixies and discover that when the pixie king becomes weak boys start to disappear. But Zara is having a hard time believing in pixies, I mean come on . . . they can't exist. When another boy disappears Zara and her friends decide to uncover the mystery.

This is a wonderful book! The first thing I think when reviewing the main character is she is a self-less young teenage girl. Zara is deeply involved in the group Amnesty International constantly writing letter to free political prisoners around the world. As you first start reading this book there is no feel of fantasy of sci-fi it's just a real girl with real problems and trying to deal with the death of her father. As the book continues you slowly slip into the fantasy world where pixies and weres (were animals) exist. I think this is a wonderful book and I can't wait to read the 2nd book!

Books in this series:

1) Need

2) Captive (Hardcover release 1/5/2010)

How To Ditch Your Fairy

2010-01-14T08:24:00.006-05:00

Fourteen year old Charlie lives in a town were mostly everyone has a fairy whether they believe in them or not. Her friend Rochelle has a clothes-shopping fairy which means that Rochelle will always find the most beautiful clothing at a wonderful prince. For example, Rochelle goes shopping and she finds this wonderful Chanel dress for $20(!) which would of course never happen in the real world. Charlie doesn't have a doos (awesome) fairy like Rochelle.

Charlie has a parking fairy which means she always gets the best parking spots no matter what day or what the event is for. All her friends and family love the fact that Charlie has a parking fairy - she does not. One particular person, "Danders Anders" hunts Charlie down just to lock her in his car so he can get the best parking spots. Charlie wants to get rid of her fairy no matter the cost. After hearing that she has to deny the fairy what it provides in-order get rid of the fairy she devises a plan. So she walks for 2 months before Dander Anders kidnaps her and locks her in his car insuring that he gets the best parking spots thus making her fairy gain back it's strength and stay.

That's the last straw for Charlie. Her enemy Fiorenze who has a "every-boy-likes-you fairy" comes up to Charlie and asks if she would switch fairy's with Charlie. Charlie's shocked! How could Fiorenze not want that fairy? Every boy will like you! Charlie agrees to switch her fairy with Fio. But there is a belief in Charlie's town that there is a reason you get a fairy and if you mess with the fairy there will be consequences. On her journey to lose her fairy Charlie starts to get into a lot of trouble.

I'm trying to think of a grown up reasoning of why I hate this book so much. Well not "hate'' but extremely dislike it. When I found this book at Barnes and Nobel 2 weeks ago I was excited, it looked like it would be a really good funny book to read. It turned out to be a rather dull not so funny book. There were words in the book like "doos" (awesome), "torpid" (boring), and "doxy" (terrible) that I had a hard time incorporating w/the story. Every time I came across those words it would jar me from the reading. I also found the pace of the book to go very slowly which didn't add to my already lowering opinion of the book. About 3/4 of the way the book started to pick up for me and I found it a bit more enjoyable to read. The author of this book wrote Liar but I don't know if I'll read it. I just feel let down by this book - it looked interesting and I thought it would be really funny but it just turned out to be a "blah" book.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

2010-01-07T22:28:00.006-05:00

Many of us will come across some books that will touch us to the core, help us to open our eyes, and give us a powerful message. Hopefully the powerful message stays with you, and helps you to see something you wouldn't normally view - or change the way you acted towards a certain situation. This books has done that for me.

The book opens with a young male, 9 years of age in Berlin during World War II. He walks into his room and sees the family maid Maria packing all his things - even his top secret things. When he asks the maid what she is doing, he is told to speak to his mother who informs him that his father has been promoted and they are all moving to "Out-With". Throughout the book the child refers to Auschwitz as "Out-With" because he cannot understand the word (you know how children are when they are learning new words, they mispronounce them.)

This young man is the only one to notice the people behind the fence, and question why they are there. When he asks his father who those people are his father replies that they aren't people at all. Bruno (the child) doesn't understand what his father means - for they are people - they have 2 legs, 2 arms, a head, walk like humans - how can they not be? One day Bruno decides that he will explore this strange place were people are separated by this huge fence and all wear gray striped pajamas. While exploring Bruno meets another young boy named Shmuel who is the exact same age, and after talking to Shmuel for a bit they both discover that they are in fact born on the same day - April 15, 1934. Soon Bruno and Shmuel form a strong relationship and talk to each other throughout the year. One day Bruno's mother wants to move her kids back to Berlin, telling her husband the Commandant that this is no place for children. Bruno goes to Shmuel with the sad news, and they both decide that for their last meeting Bruno should join Shmuel on the other side of the fence.

There are few of us in the world today who deny the existence of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a very sensitive subject and like the author said ..."after all, only the victims and survivors can truly comprehend the awfulness of that time and place; the rest of us live on the other side of the fence . . . trying in our own clumsy ways to make sense of it all." John Boyne did a wonderful job of viewing the Holocaust through the eyes of 9 year old. Bruno and his grandmother were the only two to see the horror of war time Germany and questioning it's 'policies'. What matters the most is Bruno got that everyone is the same - age, race, sex, religious and political backgrounds don't matter. We all are the same, individual in our own way - yes, but the same. We are all human.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

2010-01-06T09:37:00.004-05:00

Before the remaining three books came out, this book by far was the most action packed. Just like the maze at the end of the book, each turn held a surprise.

This summer break will be quite different for our Harry Potter. His friend Ron has invited him to the Quidditch World Cup, something that doesn't happen all the time. The only problem is to get the Dursley's permission. Well, Mr. Weasley doesn't care to have their permission so he arrives one day to pick Harry up, except his means of transportation are not what the Duresley's would've excepted.

When everyone is at the Quidditch World Cup they are blown away by all the wizards showing off. Half the camp site is maroon (for Bulgaria) while the other half is green (for Ireland). After the Irish win the cup everyone goes back to their camp sites to wind-down, but then screams start to pierce the night. Mr. Weasley has everyone run to the safety of the woods while he, with the help of the other wizards, try to subdue the rebels.

Hermonie, Ron, and Harry get separated from Ginny, George, and Fred. While Harry, Ron, and Hermonie are in deep woods a sign is placed in the air that causes more panic - the sign of Lord Voldermort.

The night before the kids leave for Hogwarts they learn that something very special will be taking place that year, but neither Mr. Weasley or anyone else will hint to what it is. While at the Welcoming Feast, Dumbledor tells that students that they will be hosting the Tri Wizard Tournament, which hasn't been hosted for many years. The tournament will begin on October 31st and anyone under the age of 17 will not be allowed to compete. When the day finally arrives the 2 visiting school arrive as well, Drumstrang and Beauxbatons. There is a wonderful feast that night with dishes from each of the visiting schools as well as the normal Hogwarts food. The next day the champions are selected - 1 from each school. When Dumbledor picks the 3 champions everyone is excited for the games to commence - until Harry's name is picked. But Harry couldn't have put is name in the running nor bewitched the cup to select his name, or could he?

Not a bad book as books go, quite better than HP and the Chamber of Secrets - but I did find the beginning of the book rather drawn out (and if I recall correctly I feel the same way for wither book 6 or 7). I do like how we got to learn about from wizards of other places, well I shouldn't say 'learn' because we didn't learn that much, but we did get to see some aspects - like their food or climate (based on how they dressed). I think my favorite part in the whole story would have to been Harry and Ron trying to find dates in time for the Yull Ball and then one acquiring them, not knowing what to do and just being extremely awkward.

Books in this series:

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

451 Challenge

2010-01-03T15:17:00.004-05:00

This challenge is being hosted by Elizabeth who created the 451 Challenge blog. Again, do to my extreme laziness I copied and pasted all important information.

Here is how it will work: between January 1, 2010 and November 30, 2010, participants are challenged to read books on the 451 master list. There will be several levels of participation:

Spark - read 1-2 books from the master list
Ember - read 3-4 books from the master list
Flame - read 5-6 books from the master list
Blaze - read 7 or more books from the master list

I will attempt the BLAZE level - let's hope I don't get burned ;)

451 MASTER LIST

1984 - George Orwell
A Bend in the River - V.S. Naipaul
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
A Confederacy of Dunces - John O'Toole
A Solitary Blue - Cynthia Voigt
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Ashes in the Wind - Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
Blake's Poetry & Designs - William Blake
Blindness - Jose Saramago
Call It Sleep - Henry Roth
Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Centennial - James Michener
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Collected Poems - Robert Frost
Collected Poems - William Butler Yeats
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Cry, The Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Demonology - Rick Moody
Devil in the White City - Erik Larsen
Diaries of Anais Nin - Anais Nin
Different Seasons - Stephen King
Dr. Seuss's ABC - Dr. Seuss
Dr. Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise - Ruth Reichel
Geek Love - Katherine Dunne
Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
I Am America and So Can You! - Stephen Colbert
I Am David - Ann Holm
In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice
Islandia - Austin Tappan Wright
Izzy Willy Nilly - Cynthia Voigt
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
Julius Ceasar - William Shakespeare
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
Legends of Pensam - Mamang Dai
Les Miserable - Victor Hugo
Little Boy Lost - Marghanita Laski
Little Women - Louise May Alcott
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Long Day's Journey Into Night - Eugene O'Neill
Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Mary Poppins - P.L. Travers
Maus - Art Spiegelman
Maus II - Art Spiegelman
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
Middlemarch - George Eliot
My Invented Country - Isabel Allende
Night - Elie Wiesel
Night at the Circus - Angela Carter
Nursery Rhymes - Mother Goose
Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis
Paco's Story - Larry Heinemann
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Parthian Stations - John Ash
Peace Like a River - Leif Enger
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Piercing the Darkness - Frank Peretti
Pitch Dark - Renata Adler
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Quarantine - Jim Crace
Rabbit is Rich - John Updike
Rasero - Francisco Rebolledo
River's End - Nora Roberts
Roots - Alex Haley
Sam Bangs and Moonshine - Evaline Ness
Sea Glass - Anita Shreve
Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 - Nathaniel Philbrick
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Silence - Shusaku Endo
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
South Riding - Winifred Holtby
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Karen Russell
Summer of my German Soldier - Bette Green
Ten Tales Tall and True - Alasdair Gray
Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights
The Autograph Man - Zadie Smith
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
The Beginning and the End - Naguib Mahfouz
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Barbara Robinson
The Blindfold - Siri Hustvedt
The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Complete Works of Shakespeare - William Shakespeare
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court - Peter Irons
The Double Helix - James D. Watson
The Dragonridgers of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
The Family from One End Street - Eve Garnett
The Far Pavilions - M.M. Kaye
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
The Golems of Gotham - Thane Rosenbaum
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein
The Hours - Michael Cunningham
The Iliad - Homer
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
The Joy of Cooking - Rombauer, Becker, and Becker
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
The Love of a Good Woman - Alice Munro
The Magic of Ordinary Days - Ann Howard Creel
The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
The Ring and the Book - Robert Browning
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend
The Shadow of the WInd - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
The Sleep Book - Dr. Seuss
The Stand - Stephen King
The Story Girl - L.M. Montgomery
The Story of a Mariage - Andrew Sean Greer
The Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffinegger
The Way of Herbs - Michael Tierra
The Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
This Present Darkness - Frank Peretti
Time and Again - Jack Finney
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
We the Living - Ayn Rand
We Were the Mulvaneys - Joyce Carol Oates
Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein
Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
Women in the Wall - Julia O'Faolian
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

We Didn't Start the Fire - Challenge

2010-01-03T14:58:00.002-05:00

So, I saw this challenge upon a blog that I had never been before and it caught my eye. Many of us have heard the famous song "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel, it is this song that Sarah of Behold, the thing that reads a lot to create this challenge.

There are 3 categories that are then broken down into levels. *Copying and Pasting commence!*

Here are the levels:

FICTION

Bronze Fiction: Read 5 books specifically mentioned in the song or a book by an author specifically mentioned. Or, read a work of fiction about something else mentioned in the song.
Silver Fiction: Read 8 books within the same criteria mentioned above.
Gold Fiction: Read 10 books within the same criteria mentioned above.

NONFICTION

Bronze Nonfiction: Read 5 nonfiction books about any topic in the song.
Silver Nonfiction: Read 8 nonfiction books about any topic in the song.
Gold Nonfiction: Read 10 nonfiction books about any topic in the song.

COMBO

Bronze Combo: Read any combination of 5 fiction or nonfiction books related to the song.
Silver Combo: Read any combination of 8 fiction or nonfiction books related to the song.
Gold Combo: Read any combination of 10 fiction or nonfiction books related to the song.

I have decided to do GOLD COMBO! I need to read more non-fiction books and I think doing the combo will make it more fun! To sign up for this challenge here is the link.

Take A Chance Challenge

2010-01-01T19:18:00.003-05:00

Ah. New Year, new blog layout/color scheme (which I'm still working on), and a new challenge for me. I saw this challenge last year but I didn't think I could enter - or it was over by the time I found it. I was sad because it looked like a REALLY fun challenge, and lo and behold I came across it again - and right at the starting point! :)

It is called the Take A Chance Challenge hosted by Jenners of Find Your Next Book Here.

I am copying and pasting the rules and guide lines here (I'm so lazy sometimes. . .)

"Basic Information

The challenge will run from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2010.

Here are the participation levels. Feel free to do whatever level you want. You can also switch up or down midway through the challenge.

A Small Gamble: Complete any 3 of the 12 challenges described below.
A Moderate Gamble: Complete any 6 of the 12 challenges described below.
Gambling It All: Complete all 12 of the challenges described below.

Each challenge you complete and link up in the correct Mr. Linky spots (which will be posted on January 1, 2010) will earn you entries into a prize drawing at the end of the challenge. Some of the challenges are harder and will earn you more entries. If you complete all 12 challenges, you will earn 5 extra entries into the drawing.

The prize is a book of the winner's choice from Amazon (worth $25 or less).

Crossover books from other challenges is fine.

So here are the 12 challenges for you to pick from. The "easier" challenges are listed first, followed by the harder challenges that are worth more entries into the prize drawing.

The 12 Challenges

Challenge 1: Read Your Doppelganger (worth 1 entry)
Find an author who has either the same initials, the same first name, the same last name, or the exact same name as you. Read a book by this author and write a post about it. (If you try to keep your identity anonymous on your blog, you don't have to reveal what part of the author's name is the same as your name.)

Example: If your name is Susan Kasischke, you might read a book by Stephen King (same initials), Susan Donovan (same first name), Laura Kasischke (same last name) or Susan Kasischke (same exact name).

Challenge 2: Blogroll Roulette (worth 1 entry)
Find a blogroll at either your book blog or a book blog you like that has at least 15 book blogs on it. Go toRandom.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1 for the min. and 15 for the max. and then hit generate. Then find the blog that is that number on the blogroll you selected. (For example, if you get 10 at Random.org, then count down the list of blogs until you get to the tenth one). Go to that blog and pick a book to read from the books that they have reviewed on their blog. Read it and write a post about it. Be sure to link to the blog post you picked the book from!

Challenge 3: 100 Best Book (worth 1 entry)
Choose one of the lists below and go to the link provided. Choose a book to read from the list that you haven't read before. Read the book and write about it.

Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
100 Best Romance Novels of the 20th Century
100 Best Mystery Novels
100 Best Non-Fiction Books (pick from either Board List or Reader List)
2009 Best Books for Young Adults

Challenge 4: Prize Winner Book (worth 1 entry)
Pick one of the major literary awards from the list below. Click on the link for the award you picked. You will find a brief description of the award and links to past winners. Pick one of the past winners, read the book and write about it.

Booker Prize

Caldecott Medal

National Book Award

National Book Critics Circle Award

Newbery Medal

Nobel Prize for Literature

PEN/Faulkner Award

Pulitzer Prize

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

EMMA Awards

Challenge 5: Title Word Count (worth 1 entry)
Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the numbers 1 for the min. and 5 for the max. and then hit generate. Find a book to read that has that number of words in the title. Read the book and write about it.

Example: If you get 1 for your number, read a book that has a one word title. If you get 2, read a book that has a two word title and so on and so forth.

Challenge 6: Genre Switch-Up (worth 1 entry)
Go to this list of book genres and pick a genre that you have NEVER read before. Find a book from that genre, read it, and write about it. Note: If you seriously cannot find a genre that you have never read, then pick the genre that is as far away from what you normally read.

Challenge 7: Break A Prejudice (worth 1 entry)
We all have reading prejudices--authors we don't like, genres we don't like, or even publishers we don't like. For this challenge, think of a reading prejudice you have and then find a book that is an example of this type of book. Read the book and then write about the reading prejudice you had BEFORE you read the book and how reading the book either changed your prejudice or reinforced it.

Examples: I always say I can't stand James Patterson; therefore, I might read a James Patterson book for this challenge. Or, if you sneer at "chick lit" books, you might read a "chick lit" book. Or, if you think books published by Harlequin are pure drivel, you might read a book published by Harlequin. If you turn up your nose at the Twilight books, then you might read one of the Twilight books.

Challenge 8: Real and Inspired (worth 2 entries)
Many authors or books inspire others to pay homage to them by writing another book inspired by the original work. For this challenge, read both an original work and a book inspired by that original work. Write about both books in one post. Note: This might require some research on your part and requires reading two books so it worth 2 entries.

Examples: Christopher Moore's Fool is based on Shakespeare's play King Lear so I plan on reading both King Lear and Fool. Another example is Jane Austen, who inspired the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. For this challenge, you might read bothPride and Prejudice and the zombie version. (There are tons of other Austen-inspired books out there too.) Another idea would be a graphic novel version of a "standard" novel. The only real requirement is that the "inspired by" book must clearly state what original work inspired it.

Challenge 9: Same Word, Different Book (worth 2 entries)
Find two books that have the same word in the title. Read both books and write about them. (Worth 2 entries because you have to read two books).

Example: If you pick the word "Love," you could read any two books that both have Love in the title. To help you find books that have the same word, you could go to Amazon.com, type a word into the Search box and see what books come up with that word.

Challenge 10: Become A Character (worth 2 entries)
For this challenge, you can read any book you want. However, you have to write about the book as one of the characters from the book. The character can comment on his/her treatment by the author, other characters, the "untold story," what happened next, and so forth. You could even have two characters interviewing each other! Your imagination is the only limit. Because of the difficulty level of this challenge, it is worth two entries.

Challenge 11: All in the Family (worth 2 entries)
The writing gene often runs in the family. For this challenge, you need to find two authors from the same family (either by blood or by marriage) and read a book by each of the authors and then write about both books. Because of the research involved and having to read two books, this challenge is worth two entries.

Examples: The Bronte sisters; Stephen King and his wife Tabitha OR his son Joe Hill; Jonathan Kellerman (husband) and Faye Kellerman (wife); Michael Chabon (husband) and Ayelet Waldman (wife); Joan Didion (wife) and John Gregory Dunne (husband); Mary Higgins Clark (mother) and Carol Higgins Clark (daughter)

Challenge 12: Author Anthology Pick (worth 2 entries)
Find an anthology of your choice. Read at least 5 entries in the anthology. Of the 5 entries you've read, pick your favorite one and then find a book by that writer and read it. (If your first choice doesn't have a book, then pick your next favorite until you find a writer that has a book.) Write about the anthology, your favorite pick from the anthology, and the book you read by your favorite pick. Because of having to obtain and read two books, this challenge is worth two entries. Thanks to J.T. Oldfieldat Bibliofreak who partially inspired this challenge.

Example: If you choose a poetry anthology, you would at least 5 different poems, pick your favorite, and then seek out a book of poetry by that poet. If you read a short story anthology, you would read at least 5 different short stories, pick your favorite, and then seek out either a novel or another book of short stories by that writer.

I'm dying to hear what you think about these challenges! I think they might be even harder than the previous challenge, but I'm really excited about the possibilities. I hope you are excited too. If you do a post about the challenge to announce your participation and help me promote it, you can gain an extra entry into the drawing. Simply link up that post in Mr. Linky below.

And remember, I'll be posting the places to link up your challenge entries on January 1, 2010 so look for them! Happy Reading and thanks for participating!"

If you want to enter please don't hesitate and hop on over HERE!!!

I will do all 12 Challenges because they all sound fascinating and I wouldn't be able not too! I know some of them will be hard for me - but that's what makes it exciting! Right? And I guess frustrating too. I forgot what else I was going to write. Well Good Luck to everyone!!

Happy New Years :)

2009-12-31T15:58:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years! I'll be seeing you guys in 2010! Ha. I honestly can't believe that it's going to be 2010. I remember when 2000 was such a big deal! Wow - time flies by.

Cheers everyone :)

First Ever - It's Monday What are you Reading

2009-12-28T08:34:00.003-05:00

Going off of what I saw on J. Kaye's Monday Post I will structure mine the same.

The book I finished last week was the third Harry Potter book. I seem to be the little engine that could when it comes to reading books - just 1 book at a time and slowly. I want to be able to read more books in a week so perhaps I'll make that a goal for myself.

The book I'm currently reading is the 4th Harry Potter book. I hope to get it done by next week.

I did not give up upon any books ( I have in the past though).

Books Up to bat . . .

Never Slow Dance With a Zombie
HP #5
Hush Hush

(and with my aforementioned goal I hope to knock out at least 1 book while still reading HP #4)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

2009-12-26T08:21:00.008-05:00

This is my favorite Harry Potter book!!! I absolutely love the story line, and I always instantly fall in love with Sirius and Buckbeak.

Harry's second summer break from Hogwarts is a bit better from the last. He doesn't have a house elf trying to "help" him, his owl has some freedom, and he took some of his school supplies up to his room while the others weren't looking. One day he receives a letter from school which has his supplies for the new school year and a permission slip to be signed by the parent/guardian. The permission slip would allow Harry to visit a wizarding village - and Uncle Vernon won't be of use unless. . .

Aunt Marge (Vernon's sister) is coming to visit them. Harry makes a deal with Uncle Vernon - he'll behave if Vernon signs the slip. Everything was going well until the last night when Aunt Marge over stepped the line by calling Harry's parents "good for nothings". Harry gets so infuriated that he unwittingly starts to blow Aunt Marge up. In a split second decision he grabs all his school supplies and leaves the house. He's running away, and doesn't care if he gets expelled from Hogwarts - anything was better than being stuck in that house.

Harry is picked up by the Knight Bus and asked to be taken to Diagon Alley. When Harry arrives at Diagon Alley he runs into Fudge, who is the last person he wants to see. But instead of being expelled from school Harry is shocked when Fudge tells Harry to rent a room and wait till the school year begins. Harry later catches up with his friends and they enjoy the last days of summer.

The school year begins and Harry is glad to be back, well not entirely. Siruis Black has escaped from prison and everyone thinks he's after Harry. This means that the teachers follow Harry's every move, and soul sucking dementors. As the school year progresses sightings of Siruis Black don't occur until one day when their painting has been torn to shred and the painting says it was Siruis. Harry wants to find Siruis and get revenge for the death of his parents.

I loved this book. I liked how it wasn't like the other two - in which Harry once again become the hero. In this story Harry wasn't the bright start doing what we expected - him to save the day. The one thing I keeping asking myself is why was Voldermort so hot to get them? It said in the third book that Voldermort was always 1 step behind them but what was the Potter family to him? I always hated how J.K. killed Siruis off.

Books in this series:

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

12 Blogs of Christmas Day 8

2009-12-20T17:02:00.003-05:00

Day 8 of the 12 days of Christmas is being held by Cindy of Princess Bookie! Hurry up and sign up to win amazing books! :) (Hyperlinked to general blog)

~~Day 1~~ ~~Neverending Shelf~~
~~Day 2~~ ~~Literary Escapism~~

Day 3 Library Lizard Lounge

Day 4 Bites

Day 5 Ellz Readz

Day 6 The Page Flipper

Day 7 Luxury Reading

Day 8 Princess Bookie

Day 9 Shooting Stars Mag

Day 10 Book Rat

Day 11 The Shady Glade

Day 12 vv32Reads

Good luck to everyone :)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2009-12-20T16:16:00.004-05:00

Harry's summer has passed rather slowly and dully. He hasn't gotten any letter's from his best friends Ron or Hermonie - so what gives? What makes matters worse is ever since he came home his Uncle Vernon locked all his school materials underneath the stairs and locked his owl in her cage.

His summer gets worse the night that his uncle has a very important dinner party. A house elf named Dobby, with only the best intentions, ties to warn Harry not to go back to school - the only problem is Dobby goes about it the wrong way. When the Dursley's learn that Harry can't use magic outside of school they lock him up in his bedroom.

Finally his best friend Ron comes to his aide - and help Harry escape the evil clutch of the Dursley's. When it's time for everyone to go back to school the arrive at the train station - everyone makes it pass the barrier but Ron and Harry. They miss the train and they've started to draw the attention of the muggles - so they decided to take Ron's father's magic car to Hogwarts (bad idea boys.)

The adventure is fun until the car dies and they crash land into a walloping tree. To make matters worse they get caught by Snape - who hates them - and are told they are skating on thin ice and if 1 more toe get out of line then they will be expelled. The days pass on a little better until the 3 of them are caught standing near the "dead" body of Mrs. Norris. They were just at the wrong spot at the wrong time. On the wall someone wrote "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware" and when everyone sees it - chaos ensues. Attacks keep happening and with no solution insight. Whispers around school begin to grow as everyone suspects that Harry is the Heir causing all the attacks - but he's not and is going to prove it - even if it means expulsion.

I have to say, this is my least favorite book out of the whole series. It took me awhile to get into it. I just didn't like it - and I'm trying to think of why, because their are obviously reasons and I'm not a 3yr saying "because". Dobby irritated me, and I think it was the whole plot of this book - but I can see how it's leading up to the last book. Although Glidory Lockheart was funny, everyone hated him but he was too thick to see it!

Books in this series:

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2009-12-14T18:45:00.006-05:00

HOLLY SMOKES BATMAN! When I googeled the title of this book google mostly brought up pictures from the movie, and Daniel Radcliff was like 5! Ok, not that young but still. Man I remember when the 1st movie game out, and my dad pulled my sister and I out of school so we could see it. That was a magical day for me - not because of HP but because I got to spend time with my dad and he made it so magical.

Back to the review of this book.

Harry Potter doesn't know what's so special about him. In fact all he knows is that his life is miserable. His Aunt Petunia is nosey and loud, his Uncle Vernon is fat and vicious, and his cousin Dudley is spoiled rotten and vicious like his father. He has no friends at school because everyone fears Dudley and as far as comfy beds go Harry has a lumpy one under the stairs. He doesn't know what happened to his parents, except for they died in a car crash.

Odd things keep happening to Harry, he doesn't know why, and when they do his aunt and uncle become furious at him. The months following up to his 11th birthday begin to act strange - to say the least. People walk around in funny costumes, and owls are everywhere during daylight hours! Letters addressed to Harry start to arrive at the Dursley's house - and Uncle Vernon tries to stop Harry from reading them. Eventually Harry receives his letter and learns he is a wizard.

The wizarding world is strange for Harry but he adjusts quickly even making new friends and enemies. His school year begins to get adventurous when he believes on of the school's own professors is after a mysterious package that Albus Dumbledore does not want found. It's up to Harry, Ron, and Hermoine to stop the professor from getting that package!

Reading this book brought be back to the 6th grade when I first started reading the books. I can't believe how long it's been! I remember fighting with my sister over who would get to read the newest book first and waiting with strained patience when I didn't win and had to wait for her to finish. My only complaint for the WHOLE series was how it ended. It felt like a cop out! She should've at least done 1 more book this time being the gangs time in college and fighting a rouge group of Voldermort supporters or something. Eh. All in all though it was a great book :)

Books in this series:

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows