Top Ten Tuesday: Words/Topics to make me Pick up a Book

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic:

Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Pick Up A Book

 

1.  Apothecary/Poisons/Potions

2. Boarding School

3. Female Assassins

4. Vampires

5. Road trip

6. Summer/Beach House

7. Christmas/Snow

8. Depression/Anxiety/Self-Harm//Mental Health Problems/Overweight characters

9. Castles

10. Magic/Witches/Wizards

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER Colleen Hoover Giveaway!

If you haven't read any of Colleen Hoover's books, you are seriously missing out! They are amazing!! You should follow her on facebook/blog because she is always doing giveaways and posting info about her new books!

WELL she's doing ANOTHER giveaway and it's NOT to be missed! Copies of Slammed, Point of Retreat AND Hopeless!!

Her newest book This Girl comes out tomorrow!! WOOT! I can't wait to read it because I LOVED Slammed and Point of Retreat!

Click THIS LINK to visit her website for more info.

AND do yourself a favor and pick up her books :)

Read-a-Thon!! WOOT. Final Update!

Final Update for 24 hour read-a-thon

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
-11pm - 8 am..haha.
 
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
-I would DEFINITELY recommend The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It's action-packed FOR SURE and perfect for a read-a-thon.
 
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
-nah
 
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
-Well I didn't participate in any of the challenges or anything, but from what I read on the website and stuff it all looked very fun!
 
5. How many books did you read?
-I read 2 full books and finished a book I had started before the read-a-thon.
 
6. What were the names of the books you read?
-My Life Next Door (Huntley Fitzpatrick)
-The Boyfriend List (e.Lockhart)
-The Maze Runner (James Dashner)
 
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
-I loved My Life Next Door and also The Maze Runner was excellent!
 
8. Which did you enjoy least?
-The Boyfriend List was a little too young for me. It wasn't terrible, but I would have liked it more if I was about 15 years younger.
 
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
-I didn't do much cheering this year.
 
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
-VERY likely! And next time I would hopefully have Twitter and be able to talk to people, and do more challenges and stop by more blogs because this time I was basically by myself.

Final Tallies:
Total books Read:  3
Total Pages Read: 774
Total Time Read: 10.1 hours OR 605 minutes

 

UPDATE #1:

Hour 1: 10 am -11 am
Reading: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Pages read: 47
Total minutes spent reading: 40
Total pages read: 47
Total books read: 0
Sustenance: cheerios, milk and banana

Hour 2: 11 am - 12 pm
Reading: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Pages read: 66 
Total minutes read:  140
Total pages read: 117
Total books read: 0

Update # 2:

Hour 3: 12pm - 1pm
Reading: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Pages read: 57
Total pages read: 171
Total minutes read: 180
-I finished up My Life Next Door! SO GOOD. I loved it!

Hour 4: 1pm - 2pm
Currently Reading: The Boyfriend List by e. lockhart
Pages read: 68
Total pages read: 239
Total minutes read: 220
Books finished:
1. My Life Next Door (Huntley Fitzpatrick)
Sustenance: Salad and water.  I know I KNOW not very sustaining!

Hour 5: 2pm-3pm
Currently Reading: The Boyfriend List by e.lockhart
Pages read: 85
Total pages read: 323
Total minutes read: 280
Books finished:
1. My Life Next Door (Huntley Fitzpatrick)

Update #3:

Hour 6 3 pm- 4 pm
Currently Reading: The Boyfriend List by e.Lockhart - FINISHED
Pages read: 74
Total pages read: 397
Total minutes read: 320
Books finished:
1. My Life Next Door (Huntley Fitzpatrick)
2. The Boyfriend List (e.Lockhart)

Hour 7   4pm - 5 pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner (James Dashner)
Pages read: 35
Total pages read: 432
Total minutes read: 350
Books finished: 2
-Starting to get  bit sleepy, eyes getting a little drroopy so I think I need an hour or 2 break from the reading. Maybe some dinner and TV.   My goal by the end of the read-a-thon is to have finished The Maze Runner (374 pages) and have finished one other book. That would be great!

Update #4

Hour 8: 5pm-6pm  BREAK TIME!

Hour 9: 6pm-7 pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 44
Total Pages Read:  476
Total minutes read: 380
Books finished: 2

Hour 10: 7pm-8pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 32
Total Pages Read: 508
Total minutes read: 405
Books finished: 2

Update # 5

Hour 11: 8pm-9pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 71
Total Pages Read: 579
Total minutes Read: 465
Books finished: 2

Hour 12: 9pm-10pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 63
Total pages read: 642
Total minutes read: 505
Books finished: 2

Hour 13: 10pm-11pm
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 48
Total pages read: 690
Total minutes read: 545
Books finished: 2

-SO. I would have been finished with The Maze Runner by now if I had been reading for the whole hour. But with each hour, I'm only actually reading about 30-40 minutes at a time. Other time is being spent eating, facebooking, updating, etc.  I have less then 100 pages left of my current read and could easily bust out the remaining pages in another hour. BUT when I get really tired, I just can't keep reading. SO I'm gonna take a nap break. I'll set my alarm for a couple hours and it's a toss up if I'll actually get up at that point to read or just press the snooze button :)
I have to say, I have read far more in one day then I EVER have in the past. WOOT.

Here's a mid-way questionnaire:

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?
-I am MOST DEF sleepy. I am not a morning person, nor am I a night owl. At least not when it comes to reading. Eyes? Drooptastic.

2) What have you finished reading?
-I finished reading My Life Next Door and The Boyfriend List

3) What is your favorite read so far?
-My Life Next Door!

4) What about your favorite snacks?
-I haven't eaten anything worth mentioning snack-wise. Instead I'll list some snacks I WISH I had to eat: pizza, chocolate-mint milkshake, brownie sundae, CHOCOLATE, ice cream, mac & cheese (YES, I consider this a snack!), chips and buffalo chicken dip (if I still ate meat..haha.). Maybe some Chinese food... oh boy. Time for bed.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the read-a-thon?
-I've only visited 2 blogs during this a-thon and I am followers of both. I've been too focused on reading so I haven't been visiting or doing any of the mini-challenges. Maybe next time I'll be more into that.

UPDATE #6

Hour 14-22: 11pm-8 am
-SLEEP. haha. I tried getting up a couple times to read but my eyeballs were just not having it! I'm in the home stretch now, Have about an hour and a half left of the read-a-thon. Gonna crank out the rest of The Maze Runner!   I'll do a final update post after.

Update #7

Hour 23: 8am-9am
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner
Pages Read: 27
Total pages read: 717
Total minutes read: 565
Books finished: 2

Hour 24: 9am-10am
Currently Reading: The Maze Runner - FINISHED
Pages Read: 50
Total pages read: 774
Total minutes read: 605
Books Finished:
1. My Life Next Door (Huntley Fitzpatrick)
2. The Boyfriend List (e. Lockhart)
3. The Maze Runner (James Dashner)

 

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This is the very first time for me participating in a read-a-thon. I have the weekend free, so why not?
If you're not familiar with Dewey's read-a-thon you can find more information HERE.

I am NOT an early riser so I missed the start, but I'm ready now! I will just be updating this page with my progress along the way!

Introductory questions:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
-Virginia, U.S.A.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
-I guess I need to actually make a stack....

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
-I didn't plan and buy any snacks for the read-a-thon....but I DO have an old chocolate bar and a jar of peanut butter. Yes?

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
-I eat peanut butter Every.Single.Day.  I'm thinking about starting a booktube channel.  I became a vegetarian 4 weeks ago.  I'm getting kinda tired of book series.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
-This is my first time! So I guess I'm just looking forward to getting a lot read. I, unfortunately, do not have Twitter. But I will be hopping around people's blogs.


Here's my stack of read-a-thon possibilities. Of course, I expect to only get through a couple, but who doesn't like lots of choices?!

I'm currently reading and need to finish:

 

Other options (with the exception of 1, these are all books that I've owned for more then a year):

Top Ten Tuesday: Disappointments!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic:

Top Ten Books I Thought I'd Like MORE Than I Did

....meaning they all sucked the life out of me and NOT in a good way.

 

1.

I almost DNF this book so. many. times. It's a shame because the story line was unique. Unfortunately, it was a failure of execution and I found the characters to be boring and unlikeable. GREAT cover though.

 

2.

AHHH! This book make me want to commit literary homicide. I already gave the book away because I hated it so much. I wrote a ranting review HERE, if you feel so inclined.  JUST NO.

 

3.

Another Greek mythology re-telling gone WRONG. I was beginning to lose hope at this point.

 

4.

I was soo hyped to read this book, but it fell apart with lack of detail and failure of the plot to go anywhere interesting. I did post a review HERE.

 

5.

Try not to throw things at me. This book was SOOO hyped up. I picked it up partly because of that (I was seeing it on EVERYONE's FAVORITE lists) and partly because I love cyborgs and I love the cover and it sounded amazing. ....    chirpchirp..  I was disappointed with the characters. I think that was my biggest problem. The story itself was interesting, but I wanted more from the characters. MOREMORE.

 

6.

Another hyped up book I thought I was going to love. I was totally into it for the first couple chapters. Then no. Just no.  I read half-way through and then gave up. My biggest problem with THIS book was the writing. My UNofficial thoughts can be found HERE.

 

7.

I'm so frustrated with this series. This was a case of a love triangle done wrong. The romance (and main character) severely put me off and it sucked because I loved the dragon lore. I barely escaped with my life. BOO on YOU.

 

8.

I was super excited when I got approved for the netgalley copy of this book.  A new creature called a Nightmare! YES! While that part of the book was unique and interesting, the actual story was NOT and it was predictable and blah. Sadsies.

 

 

That's all of those that I can think of at the moment. SO, in order to make my list complete, the last 2 are going to be:

Top Two Books I thought I'd like Less then I did

....MEANING I expected to LIKE them, but ended up LOVING them. I love being impressed.

 

1. (9.)

I just posted my REVIEW recently and let's just say I loved this unique angel/demon book and have already pre-ordered the next book in the series!

 

2. (10.)

I picked this book up on a whim at a book fair last year.  This book exceeded my expectations! Magic, vampires, voodoo, curses, New Orleans, gods, goddesses, surprises, twists, turns, excitement.

Already ordered the next book in the series!

 

Tis the end of my list.

Agree? Disagree?

Make a list of your own? I needs your link.

:)

 

Bloglovin

I've hopped on the Bloglovin bandwagon!

Here's My Link to follow, if you want :)

My Thoughts: Sweet Evil (Wendy Higgins)

Goodreads Link/Blurb:

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?


Cover: Thumbs DOWN
Published: May 1st, 2012
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Purchased

Okay. WOW. I literally JUST read the last word of this book. Color me impressed!
When I started reading, I thought to myself, this is pretty good. Not bad. Angels and Demons. Good writing. Good characters. Enjoyable. It wasn't until about half-way through that things took a turn for the amazing and I couldn't put the book down! The action, the heat, the suspense, the everything! YES!  SO GOOD.

The basics of this story aren't that original. Bad boy and good girl meet.  From different sides of the tracks but drawn together. Fighting against the demands of others and the demons within themselves.  Heat, passion, yes, no, YES.  I could see some ties/similarities to some other stories as far as the type of characters.

But the similarities quickly ended and the story took on a path all it's own. I found the angel/demon lore interesting and unique. You have the Dukes, who represent 12 different sins (gluttony, pride, murder, greed, lust, etc.) and work under Lucifer. Their children, the Nephilium, are half demon half human products of their fallen angel fathers.  The offspring are forced to do the work of their fathers and unleash their sins on humans, trying to basically rid the world of all that is good.  If the Nephilium refuse to do their father's work, they are killed and sent to hell.  I really enjoyed all the religious elements that were infused into this story. I marked several passages that I could relate to real life and connected me to the story.
I ended up LOVING the characters. Even the evil ones.

I don't want to reveal too much about the characters, so I'll just say there's more to Anna then meets the eye and Kaiden is more complex then he appears. The romance between Anna and Kaiden worked VERY well. Hot. Yeah. Definitely hot. OH THE ANGST.  It was a bit of a quickie love, but Kaiden IS the son of the Duke of Lust after all!

This isn't a pretty, happy ending type of book. And that makes it GREAT. I was literally 10 pages from the end and I had NO IDEA what was going to happen and was on the edge of my seat with anticipation and excitement!  As soon as I finish typing this, I will be pre-ordering the next book in this series.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Angel books because I feel like they are very similar. But this one is different and wonderfully written.  Very much recommended.

Bottom Line: Gripping, hot, dark, and sweetly evil! 5/5

Giant Book Haul: Green Valley Book Fair Edition

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.


I have blogged about the Green Valley Book Fair in the past. It's this awesome book fair held in Mt. Crawford, Virginia 6 times a year for 2 weeks at a time. It's hosted in a 3 room giant warehouse where they sell thousands of books of ALL genres for CHEAP. I'm talking most books are like 2-6 dollars depending on if it's a hardback or paperback.  I think they buy them from like overstock.  Their young adult section in particular is FANTASTIC.  I usually go once or twice a year.  It's very  much worth it if you plan to buy more then a couple books. It's a 2 hour drive from where I live, but SO WORTH IT. This time, they actually had some newer titles stocked, which were a little more expensive, but still way cheaper then you could ever buy in a store or online. They don't sell freshly published books but they do have major titles, such as Mortal Instruments, John Green, Sarah Dessen, etc. EVERY GENRE. Children's books, fiction, nonfiction, classics, manga, self-help, audiobooks, cookbooks, and on and on and on.  

I went the weekend of St. Patrick's Day and ended up buying 18 books for myself (which is much better then the 50 I bought when I went for a visit last year). I made sure to control myself this time around. Yes, 18 books is controlling myself.

If I  had paid retail value for all the books I bought, it would have cost me $279.80. 
With the sale, I paid only $109.00 for all 18 books!!  WHAT A SAVINGS! haha.

NOW. ONTO THE HAUL!

My haul boxed up.

2 copies of The Book of Awesome (Nel Pasricha)

The Reptile Room, or Murder! (Lemony Snicket)

Virals (Kathy Reichs)

Hush, Hush (Becca Fitzpatrick)

Ten Miles Past Normal (Frances O'Roark Dowell)

Don't Turn Around (Michelle Gagnon)

A Temptation of Angels (Michelle Zink)

Girl of Nightmares (Kendare Blake)

A Midsummer's Nightmare (Kody Keplinger)

Endlessly (Kiersten White)

Cryer's Cross (Lisa McMann)

For Darkness Shows the Stars (Diane Peterfreund)

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls (Claire Legrand)

A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness)

The Poison Diaries

Audiobook of Dragon's Oath, A House of Night Novella.  I know. I know. This series. I just can't help myself..

DUDES! You never know what you  might find at a book fair. I was casually just flipping through this graphic-like book and BAM! HOLLY BLACK'S SIGNATURE. This is the third book and I have no idea what it's even about, and I didn't like Holly Black's White Cat series, but I bought it anyways because it's signed. What the f is wrong with me. Now I have to find the first 2... :)

AND that's it for me!

If you've read any of these books, I'd love to know your thoughts, good OR bad!
If you have a haul, I NEEDS to see it, so link up in the comments :)

Thanks for visiting!

Neil Gaiman and Sarah Dessen Signing!!! EEEEP.

It's official. I'm going to a Neil Gaiman signing!! I'm so stoked! I never would have even known about the signing if not for my book buddy Jessica (who I went to Yallfest with last year). In case you're interested, the signing is in Washington D.C on June 21st.  Click here for the site link. Neil Gaiman is a master of words. His stories all have some kind of creepy, weird, unusual feel to them.  (Let's face it, Neil looks a little creepy himself).  I've read several of his works, but my favorite by far is The Graveyard Book. One of my all-time favorites actually. For this particular signing, he is promoting his new book The Ocean at the End of the Lane. You do have to purchase a ticket for this one, which includes a copy of the book, and this event will most likely get sold out. THIS very well may be Neil's LAST signing in the U.S. for a veryvery long time from what I've been told, so it should NOT BE MISSED.



ALSO. on June 4th Sarah Dessen will be in D.C. for a signing as well to promote her new book The Moon and More!! It sucks that it's on a Tuesday because D.C. isn't super close to where I live, but it's definitely do-able. AND seeing as Sarah Dessen is one of my all-time favorite contemporary authors, I can't NOT go. This one does not require a ticket from what I've seen. You can find the info for this signing on the same site as the link above.



It's happening, it's happening!! 
 Basically I'm friggin stoked. I've never been to a signing like this before. WOOT.