August in Retrograde

Time for my August Recap.

August was hard. I'll have a later personal post touching on this fact.
The good news is, it's over and I'm looking forward to Fall and the possibilities it brings.

After being away from my blog for quite a while, I'm back in the action.
I'm slowly getting this blog in to tip top shape. After 2 years I finally figured out how to add tabs to the top, and actually put stuff on the page it links to. (Thanks to my brother the computer whiz)
I eventually want to make a more attractive layout to fit my blog title and learn how to add other cool stuff. All in good time. Right now my focus is posting more and writing good reviews on every book I read.


August Blog recap:
Total posts: 8
Total books read: 4
Favorite read of the month: Feed (Mira Grant)
Least Favorite read of the month: Abandon (Meg Cabot)
Total books reviewed: 2
New Followers: 0 (I mean i wouldn't follow someones blog either who doesn't post consistently, but hoping I can change this!)



I'm looking forward to reading lots more books (hopefully ones I already own), although there are books coming out this fall that I can't NOT buy. I'm looking at YOU Days of Blood and Starlight and The Lost Prince !!

Top Ten Tuesday (#7)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.

As a lover of lists, I could not resist.

Topic: This is my Confessioooonnnn (Bookish, that is):

1. Book lending. I will let friends borrow my books, but it comes with a list of rules. I'm not letting you borrow it for a year. Either read it or give it back. I realize not everyone reads fast, but if it's been 2 weeks, I will start asking you every other day how the book is going until you either finish it or get irritated with me and return it. It's always in the back of my mind who I've loaned books to.  And you best give it back to me in the condition it started in.

2. Dog ear my book pages and I'll hurt you.

3. So there was this book I thought I was really going to like and went ahead and bought it. Well it was a thin book, I read it in a day, I could barely finish it. I just didn't like it. I was sad that I had paid money for it. So...I returned it to the book store. I was all paranoid they were going to somehow see it in my eyes that I read the book and call the popo.

4. I can only read one book at a time. I will get confused. I want to immerse myself completely in one story and finish it before moving on to another one.

5. Sometimes I just sit and stare at my books. I have a very small bookshelf, so they are all just kinda crammed in together. In my head I'm constantly categorizing them in to groups.

6. I have to really dislike a book not to finish it.

7.  I'm constantly buying notebooks and making book lists. Books to read, series to read, coming soon books, books I've read but need to buy to have for my collection, books to look into, books I own, etc, etc.  There's something so satisfying about being able to cross something off a list. Ahhhh.

8. All my books in series need to match, as far as hardback vs paperback and if they don't it kinda stresses me out. Case in point, I've read and own all the Black Dagger Brotherhood books up until the most recent one that came out back in March. I am waiting until October to read/buy it when it comes out in paperback. And it's killing me!

9. I can't stop buying books. I will buy 3 or 10 that I really want to read. Then I'll somehow go to the bookstore again and repeat. and repeat. I can't help it!  So basically I'll never catch up.

10. I cannot read if I'm the least bit sleepy. I just can't. I'm not one of those people who can stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning reading. Even if it's Harry freakin Potter, if the eyelids are drooping the least bit, it's all over.

A Quick Bookish Survey

The Broke and the Bookish is doing a quick little survey. I'm down with surveys and polls, so why the heck not.


1. The Book I'm Currently Reading:  Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I was initially drawn to this book because of DRAGONS. I'm only about 2 chapters in but I'm hooked already and I think the writing is going to be magical and amazing.

2. The Last Book I Finished:   Deadline by Mira Grant. I posted my review yesterday. Second book in the Newsflesh Trilogy. I dug it.

3. The Next Book I Want To Read: Well I have a giant stack to get to, but the next one on my list has to be Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. This book sounds monsterifically awesome.



4.The Last Book I Bought: Well I never end up buying just one book..it's usually 3 or more at a time. But I think Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares was in my last haul. It's the last book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which I remember loving but it's been quite a while since I read them. I sneak peaked the first chapter and I think it's going to be quite enjoyable. However I am completely against the cover, different then all the others. Boo to the hoo.

5. The Last Book I Was Given: Hmmm..I don't get given a lot of books very often. The last book I borrowed from a work friend was the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E.L. James. They are what they are and I quite enjoyed what they are. Christian Grey. Yes.

My Thoughts: Deadline (Mira Grant)

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.
(Goodreads Summary)

Deadline is book#2 in the Newsflesh Trilogy.
This review will contain SPOILERS from Feed only.


Ok. Wow. So. (That's how the end of Deadline left me)

So Feed basically leaves us with the knowledge that the CDC is corrupted. You don't know who you can trust. You learn that there is a lot more going on with the Kellis-Amberlee virus than once thought. The public has been lied to. Shaun and his friends have been lied to. Buffy and Georgia are dead. Deadline immediately picks up where Feed left off.

There were a couple times in Deadline that I felt bogged down with scientific fact talk. While interesting it, at times, crossed over in to eye glazing territory. Things however quickly picked up. Deadline contains a lot of action, but it's a different kind then most readers will be expecting. It's not all apocalyptic face ripping and innard eating violence on every page. Deadline is more about a ragtag group of bloggers searching for answers and trying not to get murdered in the process. The zombies really aren't their biggest concern. That doesn't mean it's not edge-of-your-seat what's going to happen next suspense at times.

To be honest, I was a little worried going in to book 2. Georgia was my favorite character and with her being all dead now I was a little wary about Shaun taking up the slack. Luckily Georgia is still around seeing as Shaun has gone a little crazy and hears Georgia's voice in his head. And can sometimes see her. And feel her. He deserves to indulge in a little crazy, he did have to see his sister get infected and then shoot her in the head after all. So that means Georgia is still very much present in Deadline, through both the crazy talk in Shaun's head and through old blog entries. But Shaun holds his own as a character and I grew to like him quite a bit. As well as Becks, who kinda steps in as a brave, hardcore female character but also has a soft side.

One part of these books I really think adds a lot are the blog entries, both published and unpublished, that the author includes at the beginning and/or end of each chapter from Shaun, Georgia or one of the other members of their group. They give a lot of insight into the characters and how they are feeling about their friends, family, the world as a whole, and themselves.

Things happen toward the end of this book that I absolutely did NOT see coming and have a LOT of unanswered questions about. As soon as I read the last line, I literally put the book down and said out loud, "What the fuck?!?". There's no way I can NOT read the third and final book, Blackout.

Favorite Quotes:
" That was the sort of grief I can handle. Sadly enough, it's the kind I've been on the inside of, because even saying good-bye isn't enough. There's always one more thing you should have had the time to say, or do, or ask. There's always going to be that one missing piece."

"I think that if anything destroys the human race at this point, it's going to be the human race itself."

"I guess in the end, it doesn't matter what we wanted. What matters is what we chose to do with the things we had."

"The truth may, given the opportunity, set us free."

"Sometimes people make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes are the sort that don't allow for second chances."


Bottom Line: Basically it's simple, if you liked Feed, you should read Deadline. I don't think you'll be disappointed.   4/5

Ink Scratchers

Everyone should totally head on over to Ink Scratchers blog to enter for an amazing giveaway...some of the book choices if you win are freakin saaawweeeet!  I'm looking at YOU The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa!! I just entered...here's hopin!

Waiting on Wednesday (#3)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine.

It's all about highlighting the book(s) we can't wait to be released!!

Okay, here's one book I'm looking forward to reading:


(Summary from Amazon)

When Barry Fairweather dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?


THE WHY:  Okay. So. I plan on buying and devouring (hopefully smoothly with no feeling of indigestion) this book for one reason and one reason only. The amazing, talented, magical genius that is J.K. Rowling. It's no small secret that my favorite series in the history of forever is Harry Potter. This is J.K.'s first novel for adults. I guess I'm an adult.. sometimes. I don't like the cover or  the title and if this book was written by anyone else I would pass it right by after reading the summary. BUT it's J.K. FREAKING ROWLING. And I optimistically believe she will not let me down. Even though this book doesn't contain quidditch, butterbeer or house elves (that we know of...). LET ME AT IT!

To be released September 27th!!

In My MailBox (#14)

In My Mailbox is hosted over at The Story Siren

Man, it's been a WHILE since my last in my mailbox post. Not because I haven't bought any books, but because I haven't had time to post them.

 All the books I'm about to list have been purchased in the last month, possibly two.

Shadow and Bone

    Wanderlove

     Insurgent

       Bitterblue

     The Vampire Chronicles

The Element Encyclopedia of Vampires (I only bought this because it was on bargain clearance)

The Lord of the Rings

   Dreamland

    The Goddess Test

   Goddess Interrupted

The Vicious Deep

  Forgive My Fins

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Water Wars

Lost Voices

Seraphina

Eragon

The Books Thief (Read this one and LOVED it, 5/5)

Between Shades of Gray (Also read this one, pretty good, 3/5)

Deadline (I also bought Feed but let a friend borrow it. You can read my review of Feed that I posted about a week ago, 4/5. I'm almost done with Deadline and loving it)

Sisterhood Everlasting (final book in the Sisterhood of Travelling Pants series which I love)

On a non-bookish note I bought the first season of Happy Endings, such a cute, quirky, hilarious show.

Oh, I almost forgot. I purchased a couple books on my Kindle that were 3.99 and less (except for the H.P. Mallory one). I couldn't NOT buy them.

My new e-books are as follows:

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul by Leanna Rene Hieber

Hearts at Stake:A Drake Chronicles Novel by Alyxandra Harvey

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

Witchful Thinking:A Jolie Wilkins Novel by H.P. Mallory

Well I think that's it for now. I made a vow not to buy anymore books until I get through at least half of the ones I already own. (Unless of course it's one of the new books that is coming out soon that is on my must-have list....)

Blog hiatus

Well it seems I've had an unintentional hiatus from my blog, no posts since March, other then my review a couple days ago.
I had a reading lull and would come home from work too exhausted to do anything but fall into bed. I definitely didn't have enough energy to keep up with my blog.
I'm trying to get back into it now, I've missed posting and reviewing the books I've read for my own records.

I've been under a lot of stress recently and there was some illness in my family. I tend to deal with these things in one of two ways, eating or shopping. I went to the bookstore like 6 times in the course of 2 weeks. I have a TON of new books I'm stoked to read.  Slowly weeding my way through them. I don't know about other readers but sometimes I have the hardest time deciding what to read next. I have a lot of books that are the second or third in a series and feel like I need to go back and read the first one, but that's more time away from reading all my new books. EEEEk.

I'm reading Deadline by Mira Grant right now, the second book in the Newsflesh Trilogy. I definitely recommend this series to people who are a fan of zombies. These books give a more realistic feel to the whole zombie phenomenon.  Note to self...find my zombie survival guide and study up on what NOT to do...

My Thoughts: FEED (Mira Grant)

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them. (Goodreads blurb)

My Thoughts:
As far as zombie books go, this one was pretty excellent.

Let me start by saying every zombie book I have read so far and tv/movie I've watched depicts the new zombiefied worlds as desolate, isolated and just plain lonely.  In Feed, humanity has found a way to survive, pretty well actually. Sure, there are hazard zones and no access areas, pretty much everyone carries firearms, and you have to have blood tests everywhere you go as well as succumb to strict isolation/sterilization protocols.  BUT because of all these things, society as a whole is still functioning.  There are still laws to be followed and, heck in this book there's a presidential race going on.  All of these things together gave this book a realistic feel and gives a good creep-out factor that something like this could possibly be waiting for us in the future. 

In this world, the only reliable news source you can depend on is that from bloggers. I especially liked that premise. It was through a blog that the public first learned about Kellis-Amberlee virus (Zombie virus) which was caused by a mutation of the two cures discovered for cancer and the common cold. So basically you're stoked because you can't die a slow and agonizing death from the big C. But now, you are constantly on the look-out to make sure you don't get infected or eaten by the big Z.

Feed focuses on one particular group of bloggers who makes it their job to make sure the public gets the unfiltered facts, even if it costs them their lives. Most of the characters were easy to relate to and could be anyone. I especially found Georgia's idiosyncrocies to be quite relatable. Even though this book is almost 600 pages, I had no trouble getting through it. It was very interesting and different from other books I've read.

The end of this book was both expected and unexpected. I didn't like it. But it's an author's job to write things that the reader won't necessarily like in order to keep things moving and set up following books. I'm well on my way into Deadline, book #2 in the trilogy.

Favorite Quotes:
“Every life has a watershed moment, an instant when you realize you're about to make a choice that will define everything else you ever do, and that if you choose wrong, there may not be that many things left to choose. Sometimes the wrong choice is the only one that lets you face the end with dignity, grace, and the awareness that you're doing the right thing.
I'm not sure we can recognize those moments until they've passed us.” 

“…but at the end of the day, there’s got to be somebody you’re doing it for. Just one person you’re thinking of every time you make a decision, every time you tell the truth, or tell a lie, or anything.
I’ve got mine. Do you?”

Bottom Line:  If you're tired of all the same old apocalyptic zombie crap and want a some-what more realistic take on a zombie outbreak, I would totally recommend this book. 4/5