tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70540849064884745582024-03-18T03:35:13.426-04:00All About {n}ramblings . musings . jibberish . inspirations . daydreams . books . lifeNelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.comBlogger1349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-34317793181663665242013-12-10T10:42:00.001-05:002013-12-10T10:42:22.425-05:00The Selection by Kiera Cass<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoX9ogUz5FHz7TCXUg1UPTGC9SH-sJI10MAjA7Zsy3rgPq8qZjTJtKFDzvwZruGj6yTRv1JeYC6zAsuL0kCL3SIu1FU9z6C9aczp1Z-EAIssbnRGpyf6vGKrXZTGkHiq7sW8zmO0d66tM/s1600/The+Selection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoX9ogUz5FHz7TCXUg1UPTGC9SH-sJI10MAjA7Zsy3rgPq8qZjTJtKFDzvwZruGj6yTRv1JeYC6zAsuL0kCL3SIu1FU9z6C9aczp1Z-EAIssbnRGpyf6vGKrXZTGkHiq7sW8zmO0d66tM/s320/The+Selection.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="211" /></a>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062059939/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img">The Selection</a></div>
Author: Kiera Cass<br />
Pages: 327<br />
Genre: YA / Distopian <br />
Source: Amazon Vine Program<br />
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America Singer leaves her home behind to compete against 35 other girls for none other than winning the heart of her country’s prince. While this book is somehow compared to The Hunger Games, all I kept thinking about was The Bachelor. Full of makeovers, interviews, dates with the Prince, and the inevitable girls being voted off, all while the Prince of Iléa. narrows down his selection to the one girl who will be his future wife and Queen of Iléa.</div>
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I loved the dystopian aspects of the novel (don’t I always?) - the story opens with some insight into America and her family, which was vital in order to understand the caste system in this future world. Families are labeled by caste depending on their career and income while all future family members continue to be labeled with the same caste (career, income, etc.). Neat concept if you ask me. While I was interested in the dystopian-ness of the story, I was not too thrilled with the story overall. I would also like to note, that I did not base my review on any of the author’s antics or mean-spirited commentary with a fellow reviewer(s).</div>
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America Singer (ugh – that name! – and she does sing, just in case you were wondering) was an unremarkable heroine. While likeable and very talented (not only did she sing, but she also knew various languages and played several instruments), there was really nothing about her that stood out. I originally looked forward to the competition between the selected girls (because yes, I am a fan of The Bachelor/Bachelorette) – but there was no cattiness or raunchy behavior. Instead I found the girls to be dull. I was thinking maybe The Hunger Games comparison came from the girls duking it out on random competitions (think Survivor) where the last man (or in this case woman) standing was the winner – but that wasn’t the case either. </div>
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I found the writing was juvenile at times. I would have liked to understand more of the political background and less of the characters and their personal lives, but it seems the author and I were not on the same page. I also thought it was wordy – in fact, too wordy at times.</div>
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Fans of reality television and dystopians (those with a lighter edge to them) may enjoy this one. Sadly, I was not a fan and do not plan on continuing with this series.<br />
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Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-16150028718612169072013-01-09T14:22:00.000-05:002013-01-09T14:30:34.506-05:002012 Reading List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://data.whicdn.com/images/48636265/603087_437986202935242_271052260_n_large.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="320" src="http://data.whicdn.com/images/48636265/603087_437986202935242_271052260_n_large.png" width="251" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[via </span><a href="http://www.weheartit.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">WeHeartIt</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">]</span></div>
<br />
1- Deadly Game - Christine Feehan <strong>(completed 1/03/12)</strong><br />
2- Preadatory Game - Christine Feehan<strong> (completed 1/04/12)</strong><br />
3- Murder Game - Christine Feehan <strong>(completed 1/07/12)</strong><br />
4- <a href="http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/01/unleashed-by-nancy-holder-debbie-viguie.html">Unleashed </a> -Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie <strong>(completed 1/09/12)</strong><br />
5- Street Game - Christine Feehan <strong>(completed 1/11/12)</strong><br />
6- Ruthless Game - Christine Feehan<strong> (completed 1/11/12)</strong><br />
7- Lothaire - Kresley Cole <strong>(completed 1/12/12)</strong><br />
8- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/01/fault-in-our-stars-by-john-green.html">The Fault in Our Stars</a> - John Green<strong> (completed 1/15/12)</strong><br />
9- Tales of Terror From the Tunnel's Mouth - Chris Priestley <strong>(completed 1/17/12)</strong><br />
10- Lover Mine - J. R. Ward <strong>(completed 1/19/12)</strong><br />
11- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/statistical-probability-of-love-at.html">The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight</a> - Jenifer E. Smith<strong> (completed 1/22/12)</strong><br />
12- Lover Unleashed - J. R. Ward<strong> (completed 1/22/12)</strong><br />
13- Monster High: The Ghoul Next Door - Lisi Harrison<strong> (completed 1/24/12)</strong><br />
14- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/goddess-interrupted-by-aimee-carter.html">Goddess Interrupted</a> - Aimee Carter <strong>(completed 1/25/12)</strong><br />
15-<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/ripple-by-mandy-hubbard.html"> Ripple</a> - Mandy Hubbard<strong> (completed 1/25/12)</strong><br />
16- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/secrets-of-accidental-duchess-once-upon.html">Secrets of an Accidental Duchess</a> - Jennifer Haymore <strong>(completed 1/27/12)</strong><br />
17- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/rogue-by-any-other-name-by-sarah.html">A Rogue by Any Other Name</a> - Sarah MacLean <strong>(completed 1/29/12)</strong><br />
18- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/dead-to-you-by-lisa-mcmann.html">Dead to You</a> - Lisa McMann <strong>(completed 1/31/12)</strong><br />
19- Once Upon a Wicked Night - Jennifer Haymore <strong>(completed 2/03/12)</strong><br />
20- The Flight of Gemma Hardy - Margot Livesey<strong> (completed 2/05/12)</strong><br />
21- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/03/dearly-departed-by-lia-habel.html">Dearly, Departed</a> - Lia Habel<strong> (completed 2/06/12)</strong><br />
22- Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box - Mira Grant <strong>(completed 2/06/12)</strong><br />
23- Dreamless - Josephine Angelini<strong> (completed 2/07/12)</strong><br />
24- Deadline - Mira Grant <strong>(completed 2/09/12)</strong><br />
25- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/tempest-by-julie-cross.html">Tempest</a> - Julie Cross <strong>(completed 2/15/12)</strong><br />
26- On the Day I Died - Candace Fleming <strong>(completed 2/16/12)</strong><br />
27- <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/between-duke-and-deep-blue-sea-by.html">Between the Duke and the Deep Blue Sea</a> - Sophia Nash <strong>(completed 2/16/12)</strong><br />
28- Bennett & Camilia - Nora Roberts <strong>(completed 2/19/12)</strong><br />
29- The Gilly Salt Sisters - Tiffany Baker <strong>(completed 2/22/12)</strong><br />
30- The Husband Hunt - Lynsay Sands <strong>(completed 3/03/12)</strong><br />
31- The Darkest Seduction - Gena Showalter <strong>(completed 3/05/12)</strong><br />
32- When a Scot Loves a Lady - Katharine Ashe <strong>(completed 3/07/12)</strong><br />
33- Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James <strong>(completed 3/10/12)</strong><br />
34- Fifty Shades Darker - E.L. James <strong>(completed 3/12/12)</strong><br />
35- Fifty Shades Freed - E.L. James <strong>(completed 3/14/12)</strong><br />
36- Firelight - Kristen Callihan<strong> (completed 3/19/12)</strong><br />
37- Ember - Kristen Callihan <strong>(completed 3/19/12)</strong><br />
38- The Immortal Rules -Julie Kagawa <strong>(completed 3/21/12)</strong><br />
39- The Book of Lost Fragrances - M.J. Rose <strong>(completed 3/22/12)</strong><br />
40- How to Be a Proper Lady - Katharine Ashe <strong>(completed 3/24/12)</strong><br />
41- A Night Like This - Julia Quinn <strong>(completed 3/27/12)</strong><br />
42- The Duke's Perfect Wife - Jennifer Ashley <strong>(completed 4/04/12)</strong><br />
43- A Beautiful Evil - Kelly Keaton <strong>(completed 4/09/12)</strong><br />
44- Fated - Alyson Noel <strong>(completed 4/13/12)</strong><br />
45- The Girl With the Clockwork Collar - Kady Cross<strong> (completed 4/19/12)</strong><br />
46- Until I Die - Amy Plum<strong> (completed 4/26/12)</strong><br />
47- My Wicked Gladiators - Lauren Hawkeye<strong> (completed 4/27/12)</strong><br />
48- Countdown - Mira Grant <strong>(completed 4/27/12)</strong><br />
49- Return of the Viscount - Gayle Callen <strong>(completed 5/02/12)</strong><br />
50- The Bride Wore Pearls - Liz Carlyle <strong>(completed 5/04/12)</strong><br />
51- The Warrior Laird - Margo Maguire<strong> (completed 5/10/12)</strong><br />
52- Loving on Borrowed Time - Olivia Cunning (completed 5/15/12)<br />
53- Twice Upon a Time - Olivia Cunning <strong>(completed 5/17/12)</strong><br />
54- The Pirate Next Door - Jennifer Ashley<strong> (completed 5/23/12) </strong><br />
55- Beautiful Disaster - Jamie Maguire <strong>(completed 5/25/12)</strong><br />
56- Blackout - Mira Grant <strong>(completed 6/04/12)</strong><br />
57- Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione<strong> (completed 6/06/12)</strong> 58- Immortal Rider - Larissa Ione <strong>(completed 6/08/12)</strong><br />
59- Lethal Rider - Larissa Ione<strong> (completed 6/10/12)</strong><br />
60- Heat Rises - Alice Gaines<strong> (completed 6/11/12)</strong><br />
61- Pleasures of a Tempted Lady - Jennifer Haymore <strong>(completed 6/12/12)</strong><br />
62- Lessons From a Scandalous Bride - Sophie Jordan <strong>(completed 6/13/12)</strong><br />
63- Brief Encounter - Alice Gaines<strong> (completed 6/13/12)</strong><br />
64- Storm Bound - Alice Gaines<strong> (completed 6/14/12)</strong><br />
65- First Comes Love - Katie Kacvinsky <strong>(completed 6/17/12)</strong><br />
66- The Marriage Bargain - Jennifer Probst <strong>(completed 6/18/12)</strong><br />
67- Bared to You - Sylvia Day <strong>(completed 6/19/12)</strong><br />
68- How a Lady Weds a Rogue - Katharine Ashe <strong>(completed 6/21/12)</strong><br />
69- Weekends Required - Sydney Landon <strong>(completed 6/21/12)</strong><br />
70- Not Planning on You - Sydney Landon<strong> (completed 6/21/12)</strong><br />
71- Vacation With a Vampire - Michele Hauf; Kendra Leigh Castle and Lisa Childs<strong> (completed 6/25/12)</strong><br />
72- Moonglow - Kristin Callihan<strong> (completed 6/26/12)</strong>73- Wicked Nights - Gena Showalter <strong>(completed 6/28/12)</strong><br />
74- Samurai Game - Christine Feehan<strong> (completed 7/04/12)</strong><br />
75- Try Me - Olivia Cunning <strong>(completed 7/05/12)</strong><br />
76- Past Midnight - Jasmine Haynes<strong> (completed 7/07/12)</strong><br />
77- What Happens After Dark - Jasmine Haynes<strong> (completed 7/08/12)</strong><br />
78- The Principal's Office - Jasmine Haynes <strong>(completed 7/09/12)</strong><br />
79- Rock Me - Cherri Lynn <strong>(completed 7/10/12)</strong><br />
80- Unleashed - Cherri Lynn<strong> (completed 7/11/12)</strong><br />
81- Royal Bridesmaids - Stephanie Laurens; Gaelen Foley and Loretta Chase<strong> (completed 7/12/12)</strong><br />
82- Thoughtless - S.C. Stephens <strong>(completed 7/15/12)</strong><br />
83- Effortless - S.C. Stephens <strong>(completed 7/16/12)</strong><br />
84- By His Desire - Kate Grey<strong> (completed 7/17/12)</strong><br />
85- Hearts in Darkness - Laura Kaye <strong>(completed 7/18/12)</strong><br />
86- Weekend Agreement - Barbara Wallace <strong>(completed 7/19/12)</strong><br />
87- The Future of Our Past - Kahlen Aymes <strong>(completed 7/20/12)</strong><br />
88- Gabriel's Inferno - Sylvain Reynard <strong>(completed 7/23/12)</strong><br />
89- On the Island - Tracey Garvis Graves <strong>(completed 7/24/12)</strong><br />
90- Mating Season - Alice Gaines<strong> (completed 7/25/12)</strong><br />
91- Gabriel's Rapture - Sylvain Reynard <strong>(completed 7/26/12)</strong><br />
92- Try Me - Diane Alberts <strong>(completed 7/27/12)</strong><br />
93- Take This Regret - A. L. Jackson<strong> (completed 7/30/12)</strong><br />
94- Seven Years to Sin - Sylvia Day<strong> (completed 8/01/12)</strong><br />
95- The Stranger I Married - Sylvia Day<strong> (completed 8/03/12)</strong><br />
96- Pride & Pleasure - Sylvia Day <strong>(completed 8/06/12)</strong><br />
97- Risking it All - Jennifer Schmidt<strong> (completed 8/6/12)</strong><br />
98- Heart of Danger - Lisa Marie Rice <strong>(completed 8/10/12)</strong><br />
99- He's the One - Jack Beckenham <strong>(completed 8/13/12)</strong><br />
100- Ask For It - Sylvia Day <strong>(completed 8/16/12)</strong><br />
101- The Rise of Nine - Pittacus Lore <strong>(completed 8/22/12)</strong><br />
102- Don't Forget to Remember Me - Kahlen Aymes<strong> (completed 8/23/12)</strong><br />
103- Double Time - Olivia Cunning<strong> (completed 8/24/12)</strong><br />
104- Seducing Cinderella - Gina L. Maxwell<strong> (completed 8/30/12)</strong><br />
105- Every Day - David Levithan <strong>(completed 9/06/12)</strong><br />
106- Tell Me You Want Me - Amelia James<strong> (completed 9/08/12)</strong><br />
107- The Time Keeper - Mitch Albom <strong>(completed 9/12/12)</strong><br />
108- Forbidden - Jacquelyn Frank<strong> (completed 9/18/12)</strong><br />
109- Hot & Haunted - Megan Hart; Lauren Hawkeye and Saranna DeWylde<strong> (completed 9/19/12)</strong><br />
110- Tempt Me - Olivia Cunning <strong>(completed 9/20/12)</strong><br />
111- Rogue Rider - Larissa Ione <strong>(completed 9/26/12)</strong><br />
112- Honor Student - Teresa Mummert<strong> (completed 9/28/12)</strong><br />
113- Love Unscripted - Tina Reber <strong>(completed 10/01/12)</strong><br />
114- Love Unrehearsed - Tina Reber <strong>(completed 10/02/12)</strong><br />
115- Reflected in You - Sylvia Day <strong>(completed 10/04/12)</strong><br />
116- On Dublin Street - Samantha Young<strong> (completed 10/06/12)</strong><br />
117- Dark Storm - Christine Feehan <strong>(completed 10/08/12)</strong><br />
118- Slammed - Colleen Hoover<strong> (completed 10/09/12)</strong><br />
119- Point of Retreat - Colleen Hoover <strong>(completed 10/10/12)</strong><br />
120- The Marriage Trap - Jennifer Probst<strong> (completed 10/11/12)</strong><br />
121- Bound to You - Bethany Kane <strong>(completed 10/14/12)</strong><br />
122- Improper Relations - Juliana Ross <strong>(completed 10/15/12)</strong><br />
123- Love's Rhythm - Lexxie Couper <strong>(completed 10/17/12)</strong><br />
124- Broken Hart - Ella Fox<strong> (completed 10/17/12)</strong><br />
125- Unravel Me - Kendall Ryan <strong>(completed 10/18/12)</strong><br />
126- Blindsided - Sayer Adams<strong> (completed 10/19/12)</strong><br />
127- Tangled Web - Jade C. Jamison <strong>(completed 10/23/12)</strong><br />
128- Love Left Behind - S. H. Kolee <strong>(completed 10/23/12)</strong><br />
129- Wrong Bed, Right Guy - Katee Robert <strong>(completed 10/25/12)</strong><br />
130- Honor Thy Teacher - Teresa Mummert <strong>(completed 10/25/12)</strong><br />
131- The Marriage Mistake - Jennifer Probst<strong> (completed 10/27/12)</strong><br />
132- Release Me - J. Kenner<strong> (completed 10/30/12)</strong><br />
133- Shattered Hart - Ella Fox<strong> (completed 11/01/12)</strong><br />
134- Tempting the Best Man - Jennifer L. Armentrout<strong> (completed 11/03/12)</strong><br />
135- Hot Ink - Ranae Rose<strong> (completd 11/03/12)</strong><br />
136- Fade Into You - Kate Dawes <strong>(completed 11/03/12)</strong><br />
137- Fade Into Me - Kate Dawes <strong>(completed 11/04/12)</strong><br />
138- Fade Into Always - Kate Dawes <strong>(completed 11/04/12)</strong><br />
139- Tempting the Player - Jennifer L. Armentrout<strong> (completed 11/05/12)</strong><br />
140- Leave Me Breathless - Cherrie Lynn <strong>(completed 11/07/12)</strong><br />
141- Take Me - Olivia Cunning <strong>(completed 11/08/12)</strong><br />
142- Playing for Keeps - R. L. Mathewson <strong>(completed 11/09/12)</strong><br />
143- Madversary - Jade C. Jamison<strong> (completed 11/10/12)</strong><br />
144- Naked - Raine Miller <strong>(completed 11/11/12)</strong><br />
145- All In - Raine Miller<strong> (completed 11/12/12)</strong><br />
146- Devoured - Emily Snow <strong>(completed 11/15/12)</strong><br />
147- Come Away With Me - Kristen Proby <strong>(completed 11/16/12)</strong><br />
148- Perfection - R. L. Mathewson <strong>(completed 11/17/12)</strong><br />
149- Her Forbidden Hero - Laura Kaye <strong>(completed 11/19/12)</strong><br />
150- The Proposition - Katie Ashley<strong> (completed 11/20/12)</strong><br />
151- The Edge of Never - J. A. Redmerski <strong>(completed 11/21/12)</strong><br />
152- Checkmate - R. L. Mathewson <strong>(completed 11/24/12)</strong><br />
153- Rock the Heart - Michelle A. Valentine<strong> (completed 11/27/12)</strong><br />
154- This Beautiful Thing - Amanda Heath<strong> (completed 11/28/12)</strong><br />
155- Exposed to You - Beth Kery <strong>(completed 11/28/12)</strong><br />
156- In Flight - R. K. Lilley <strong>(completed 12/01/12)</strong><br />
157- Mile High - R. K. Lilley<strong> (completed 12/01/12)</strong><br />
158- After the Music - Christine Feehan <strong>(completed 12/03/12)</strong><br />
159- This Man - Jodi Ellen Malpas<strong> (completed 12/06/12)</strong><br />
160- Letting Go - Jennifer Foor <strong>(completed 12/10/12)</strong><br />
161- Losing It - Cora Carmack <strong>(completed 12/12/12)</strong><br />
162- Loving Hart - Ella Fox <strong>(completed 12/17/12)</strong><br />
163- Under the Mistletoe Wih Me -Kristen Proby <strong>(completed 12/18/12)</strong><br />
164- Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn <strong>(completed 12/19/12</strong>)<br />
165- Tidal - Emily Snow <strong>(completed 12/24/12)</strong><br />
166- Wallbanger - Alice Clayton<strong> (completed 12/27/12)</strong><br />
167- Holiday Hoax - Jennifer Probst <strong>(completed 12/27/12)</strong><br />
168- A Very Naughty Xmas - Stephanie Julian; Olivia Cunning; Raven Morris; Cherrie Lynn and Cari Quinn <strong>(completed 12/29/12)</strong><br />
169- Someone to Love - Addison Moore<strong> (completed 12/31/12)</strong><br />
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<strong>Books read this year: 169</strong> <br />
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<strong># of pages read this year: 49,288</strong></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/search/label/2011%20Reading%20List">2011 reading list</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-reading-list.html">2010 reading list </a></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/search/label/2009%20Reading%20List">2009 reading list</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/search/label/2008%20Reading%20List">2008 reading list</a></div>
</div>
Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-57230802274019320882012-03-26T09:30:00.001-04:002012-03-26T10:37:01.152-04:00Manic Monday Recaps (Week 3/26/12)<div style="text-align: justify;">Happy Monday friends! I hope you all the weekend. Mine was a very productive one. I got a lot of spring cleaning done and the husband who's been out of town for 10 days gets back today. I'm so excited!</div><br />
<strong>Here's what I plan on reading this week: </strong><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7qxzu5ZXWjb6ivfbCb_68z4REL0R2kKS-5AJ1TUkYvODODz-0_-b_XhP5PThQ72khatr1S_ve8EnSNQ3cOABbX55o2AfPx9a_smOFYT5_MS9sJmPoI51_fxWNkhAfpw74gb8tnSv1YY/s1600/A+Night+Like+This.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7qxzu5ZXWjb6ivfbCb_68z4REL0R2kKS-5AJ1TUkYvODODz-0_-b_XhP5PThQ72khatr1S_ve8EnSNQ3cOABbX55o2AfPx9a_smOFYT5_MS9sJmPoI51_fxWNkhAfpw74gb8tnSv1YY/s320/A+Night+Like+This.jpg" width="212" /></a><a ?="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyeZSIhU5mAxVtpv9M6u0HTQ5l6ZdJLgHr9BYYa_iyPkh044UA3zOldPfSG09oxyDQRhJeNQUGRLHYc9BT1mNdMvg8RAY4VWklsl-sd5qc_qq23PcZXzF0GsfOOootJ_kgUKatf3WGF4o/s1600/How+to+be+a+proper+lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img ?="" aea="true" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyeZSIhU5mAxVtpv9M6u0HTQ5l6ZdJLgHr9BYYa_iyPkh044UA3zOldPfSG09oxyDQRhJeNQUGRLHYc9BT1mNdMvg8RAY4VWklsl-sd5qc_qq23PcZXzF0GsfOOootJ_kgUKatf3WGF4o/s1600/How+to+be+a+proper+lady.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoX9ogUz5FHz7TCXUg1UPTGC9SH-sJI10MAjA7Zsy3rgPq8qZjTJtKFDzvwZruGj6yTRv1JeYC6zAsuL0kCL3SIu1FU9z6C9aczp1Z-EAIssbnRGpyf6vGKrXZTGkHiq7sW8zmO0d66tM/s1600/The+Selection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoX9ogUz5FHz7TCXUg1UPTGC9SH-sJI10MAjA7Zsy3rgPq8qZjTJtKFDzvwZruGj6yTRv1JeYC6zAsuL0kCL3SIu1FU9z6C9aczp1Z-EAIssbnRGpyf6vGKrXZTGkHiq7sW8zmO0d66tM/s320/The+Selection.jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEVrGsRn7KBda-QFZAYFsxovTk77Mecqk-Gs7hqYQyoC62owDmi6fdtQ88X0rdbIHSQvSkjhoLU8_Vt6qTbYkIPb4-ArjnZrK7-lGLSmqHBKm5rIfj0xEi89lKEA_lFjrAONwHEjKQW4/s1600/Fated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEVrGsRn7KBda-QFZAYFsxovTk77Mecqk-Gs7hqYQyoC62owDmi6fdtQ88X0rdbIHSQvSkjhoLU8_Vt6qTbYkIPb4-ArjnZrK7-lGLSmqHBKm5rIfj0xEi89lKEA_lFjrAONwHEjKQW4/s320/Fated.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Here's what I read last week:</strong></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">- The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa</div>- Firelight by Kristen Callihan<br />
- Ember by Kristen Callihan<br />
- The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose<br />
<br />
<strong>I reviewed the following: </strong><br />
- The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/03/betrayal-of-natalie-hargrove-by-lauren.html">review</a>]<br />
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/03/help-by-kathryn-stockett.html">review</a>]<br />
<br />
Have a great week friends. Happy Reading!Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com330tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-43426874896296146132012-03-23T12:44:00.000-04:002012-03-23T12:44:58.158-04:00The Help by Kathryn Stockett<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSvO-lZmyZV1G1RGTbnikUvFj__EklLfTAfFSaUoqmcQG-LLjgVuWRJuSSvMkJ03KXclgjdWtrmC1fAgPHR138hZrl4V86kSdn0lNhiw9-RBJEyAfWbJQK77ehJcPtSyjzB4sf5ovdC8/s1600/The+Help.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSvO-lZmyZV1G1RGTbnikUvFj__EklLfTAfFSaUoqmcQG-LLjgVuWRJuSSvMkJ03KXclgjdWtrmC1fAgPHR138hZrl4V86kSdn0lNhiw9-RBJEyAfWbJQK77ehJcPtSyjzB4sf5ovdC8/s320/The+Help.jpg" width="210" /></a>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Help-Deluxe-Edition-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399157913/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332111285&sr=1-1">The Help</a><br />
Author: Kathryn Stockett<br />
Pages: 522<br />
Genre: Fiction<br />
Source: Purchased<br />
<span id="freeText13829020997084627070"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.<br />
<br />
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.<br />
<br />
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.<br />
<br />
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.<br />
<br />
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.<br />
<br />
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</div></blockquote></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>I will not sit here and write another summary of this story since I'm sure that those of you who have not read the book have seen the movie... although I do recommend you still read the book. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>As fascinated as I found the stories of Aibileen, Minny, Skeeter, Hilly, Celia, and Elizabeth to be, I still, somehow found The Help to be rather long. Don't take me wrong, I was engrossed, fascinated, disgusted, moved and, on more than one occasion, found myself with tears in my eyes, but I still found it to be so long. What would normally take me a day or two to read took me almost three weeks. This doesn't necessarily mean that I wasn't (remember all of the wonderful praises I mentioned above) into it, I just think that the serious subject matter was one that I had to read in short increments at a time. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>I found The Help to be both funny and serious. I did laugh and cry. Ms. Stockett did a wonderful job of making me go through a slew of emotions while reading her story... and isn't that what immersing yourself in a book is all about? All in all, although I felt it to be long, I still do not regret spending my time reading it. It's a lovely story... one that should be told. It's uplifting, hopeful and effective.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><strong>My Rating:</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fk0AhObEKDUorp5ksk2g61rdlylqT2q-ZMrXDmoWkTEu-91ibE-XYnCe1JeoLIClT_vk0q4Y5J3RgKjGkrsK9DHCc1eWoxlG5d4D8cXMcpIlld0IkoqFD18uoESM6-EF2zhuXGlU-YY/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fk0AhObEKDUorp5ksk2g61rdlylqT2q-ZMrXDmoWkTEu-91ibE-XYnCe1JeoLIClT_vk0q4Y5J3RgKjGkrsK9DHCc1eWoxlG5d4D8cXMcpIlld0IkoqFD18uoESM6-EF2zhuXGlU-YY/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-58219631913193016012012-03-20T09:12:00.007-04:002012-03-20T09:20:05.996-04:00The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxo7vIehC9wOQV2F9pwFJwwnQtfG6xKvnpfefVoffv8IX3_-Zb5lTvoMi4td4OZZzpEFPbXjxVLoNCymKJ9PhZOU_4qRRq0n9GxfoYvnL9qrLYadOuR9eP_aCMt0_ohLj0j-XuQ2KU0g0/s1600/The+Betrayal+of+Natalie+Hargrove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxo7vIehC9wOQV2F9pwFJwwnQtfG6xKvnpfefVoffv8IX3_-Zb5lTvoMi4td4OZZzpEFPbXjxVLoNCymKJ9PhZOU_4qRRq0n9GxfoYvnL9qrLYadOuR9eP_aCMt0_ohLj0j-XuQ2KU0g0/s320/The+Betrayal+of+Natalie+Hargrove.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Natalie-Hargrove-Lauren-Kate/dp/1595145176/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332107624&sr=1-1">The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Author: Lauren Kate</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Pages: 235</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Genre: YA/ Teen</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Source: Purchased</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">Natalie Hargrove would kill to be her high school's Palmetto Princess. But her boyfriend Mike King doesn't share her dream and risks losing the honor of Palmetto Prince to Natalie's nemesis, Justin Balmer. So she convinces Mike to play a prank on Justin--one that goes terribly wrong. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove is a retelling of MacBeth. Natalie is obsessed with becoming the next Palmetto Princess. She is part of the popular/mean girl clique in her school. She has the perfect style, friends and dreamy boyfriend and becoming Palmetto Princess is just the next thing for her to conquer - and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.</span>.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Quite frankly, I read ithis book in a couple of hours flat. I'm not sure what it was since this book is dark, none of the characters were likeable. And by unlikeable I mean they were just "mean" people. They all did bad things to their friends, to each other... Yet somehow I was compelled by Natalie's story. Maybe it was that I had an inkling of hope that she would somehow make it out a better person in the end. Ladies and gentlemen, I reference you back to the first line in this review... obviously it never ends well in Shakespeare's tragedies, as we all know.</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">This is Ms. Kate's debut novel which was recently re-released with a new cover - which by the way is much nicer than its predecessor. Her writing style is simple, yet succint. I liked that. I also really liked that, although at first glance, the surface seemed to just be another "mean girls" tale, instead it ended up being a dark and rich story that will prove that actions, even the most insignificant ones, do have consequences.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">In conclusion, I found The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove to be a very engaging read. </span></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><strong>My Rating:</strong></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-24026371656637115132012-03-19T09:06:00.000-04:002012-03-19T09:06:54.827-04:00Manic Monday Recaps [Week 3/19/12]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6t68KaHdCWrTwL2TpGaZREXTXDiZ0LKK5HI4_-aa4Qqbbf88OOwXX-mJO-sxuUdSOcIoMrsbCGJ0dBqlFkunafpzouU9yspPPzzHo-65o13CMh0-mNn6KQVh9AjKSnGZKReHe-l4crk/s1600/books5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6t68KaHdCWrTwL2TpGaZREXTXDiZ0LKK5HI4_-aa4Qqbbf88OOwXX-mJO-sxuUdSOcIoMrsbCGJ0dBqlFkunafpzouU9yspPPzzHo-65o13CMh0-mNn6KQVh9AjKSnGZKReHe-l4crk/s400/books5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> [via <a href="http://www.wehearit.com/">WeHeartIt</a>]</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Well hello there! It's was almost 2 weeks since my last post and so much has happened since then. But I must confess, I have several things to blame for my non-existent blog posts: Work (it just got real busy there for a while); Pinterest (because I'm OCD about it and can't stop pinning everything, as some of you may already know); and Christian Grey (ahem). That's right for the past couple of days all I've done on my spare time - is read, dream and think of Christian Grey. Yes, I know he's a fictional character... but a girl can dream, right?! Luckily, my husband is not the jealous type. For those of you who don't know who Christian Grey is, please let me <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10818853-fifty-shades-of-grey">introduce you to him</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">About a week ago, I had the opportunity to meet several authors that were down in Miami for the Dark Days tour. My friends, and I (and the hubby, who's my official photographer) all went down and had a ball learning more about Lauren Oliver, Claudia Gray and Dan Wells. Here are some pics from that night:</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LiCzo5vPuvDEHsw7MK8pDU50GRf_eENv65KNptgw5D_QF86zoc6GGl1uRgGGsx7ilxEk5sipGcNpU0Sm2xv2TiX_Sh7wgLJM_NJ7GRFOgHV5i-4WIa0ufGwAK8bb9QKqfJsODqb7XMU/s1600/Dec.+2011+-+Mar.+2012+171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LiCzo5vPuvDEHsw7MK8pDU50GRf_eENv65KNptgw5D_QF86zoc6GGl1uRgGGsx7ilxEk5sipGcNpU0Sm2xv2TiX_Sh7wgLJM_NJ7GRFOgHV5i-4WIa0ufGwAK8bb9QKqfJsODqb7XMU/s320/Dec.+2011+-+Mar.+2012+171.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>Here's what I plan on reading this week:</strong></span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0oiIOTlzZT3cq9JBEKH7a4IAtuaBzxWBji61lXpuWyMnr06cl4O2ESTkTNLIHesCLQ1VGji3mSXTnJy39f_L2RULEY5IwVLgxR9Q1UUB3k12O1vMMC7A_bXQZeYgMXXKbS6F-AvHnmE/s1600/Spell+Bound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0oiIOTlzZT3cq9JBEKH7a4IAtuaBzxWBji61lXpuWyMnr06cl4O2ESTkTNLIHesCLQ1VGji3mSXTnJy39f_L2RULEY5IwVLgxR9Q1UUB3k12O1vMMC7A_bXQZeYgMXXKbS6F-AvHnmE/s200/Spell+Bound.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhin1VaV6gb5WC-IeMARw0mUc9eJvAwi_qDKIaMdmX6TfJ8fKmF7IQ20vXMFmbkuWTOA8I-HC_W3iPHOZQ4gnulgvn9JKRkZkSoDMGQpoc_s9pLZhzJp8KqNdNUgfOyBJfC4Q4dzUy6_kU/s1600/The+Book+of+Lost+Fragrances.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhin1VaV6gb5WC-IeMARw0mUc9eJvAwi_qDKIaMdmX6TfJ8fKmF7IQ20vXMFmbkuWTOA8I-HC_W3iPHOZQ4gnulgvn9JKRkZkSoDMGQpoc_s9pLZhzJp8KqNdNUgfOyBJfC4Q4dzUy6_kU/s200/The+Book+of+Lost+Fragrances.jpg" width="132" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PcvfjmiL2Af7JScUz1JWN34gTma2UCngRSw0tKEmCHR06SGsOh2gnsILd64asp5wnAYa7tvvDtfxiOYZy7abBFAg9vHP0bIwPZlSHlRCgtGjT2eowfREFo6WkK58LShLJwWTKNUPoxc/s1600/The+Immortal+Rules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PcvfjmiL2Af7JScUz1JWN34gTma2UCngRSw0tKEmCHR06SGsOh2gnsILd64asp5wnAYa7tvvDtfxiOYZy7abBFAg9vHP0bIwPZlSHlRCgtGjT2eowfREFo6WkK58LShLJwWTKNUPoxc/s200/The+Immortal+Rules.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's what I read over the past two weeks:</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; text-align: left;">H</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; text-align: justify;">ave a great week friends. Happy Reading!</span></span> </span></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-24945960321191359442012-03-18T10:01:00.000-04:002012-03-18T10:01:25.177-04:00So Many Books, So Little Time [22]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/?action=view&current=solittletime-large.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/solittletime-large.png" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Here are some of the books that I discovered throughout the week scheduled for release that I cannot wait to get my hands on. I will pay, beg and possibly steal (mwahahaha), just to get a chance at reading one of them.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVhsBLWRvLaLNC8qNqZ7L0WLd-LSNAehHZl0-LAIrhDD4Z-D8BHccwAUtT17BTAIQMMwXTqMWLMjAiabrz1jEgRcYSc6kKg6M9R-sxfzU6dtEA08f6qDjXq5PzUzhRFggq1Pt3O3GWnU/s1600/The+List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVhsBLWRvLaLNC8qNqZ7L0WLd-LSNAehHZl0-LAIrhDD4Z-D8BHccwAUtT17BTAIQMMwXTqMWLMjAiabrz1jEgRcYSc6kKg6M9R-sxfzU6dtEA08f6qDjXq5PzUzhRFggq1Pt3O3GWnU/s320/The+List.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>The List </b><br />
by Siobhan Vivian<br />
Releases on 4/01/12<br />
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<span id="freeText6047465572869169465"><b>An intense look at the rules of high school attraction—and the price that’s paid for them.</b> <br />
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It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn’t matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up. <br />
<br />
This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, “pretty” and “ugly.” And it’s also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.</span></blockquote></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5y6MGKkEQaAn4kJMoqgxr_7tjFusslAq4QhuSWf-dxJ9Ujki5hLSpxT3YimZ5hwyt0rwzeTeg8e_y66hwE1kq45-H-NfBV_rGX81iCx6BF9HicAxt2aCoQgV7bUqinNSkJFeoFVYPSDI/s1600/Take+a+Bow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5y6MGKkEQaAn4kJMoqgxr_7tjFusslAq4QhuSWf-dxJ9Ujki5hLSpxT3YimZ5hwyt0rwzeTeg8e_y66hwE1kq45-H-NfBV_rGX81iCx6BF9HicAxt2aCoQgV7bUqinNSkJFeoFVYPSDI/s320/Take+a+Bow.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span id="freeText6047465572869169465">Take a Bow</span></b><br />
<span id="freeText6047465572869169465">by Elizabeth Eulberg</span><br />
<span id="freeText6047465572869169465">Releases on 4/01/12</span><br />
<span id="freeText6047465572869169465"><br />
</span><br />
From the fantastic author of The Lonely Hearts Club and Prom & Prejudice comes a story of all the drama and comedy of four friends who grow into themselves at a performing arts high school.<br />
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Emme, Sophie, Ethan, and Carter are seniors at a performing arts school, getting ready for their Senior Showcase recital, where the pressure is on to appeal to colleges, dance academies, and professionals in show business. For Sophie, a singer, it's been great to be friends with Emme, who composes songs for her, and to date Carter, soap opera heartthrob who gets plenty of press coverage. Emme and Ethan have been in a band together through all four years of school, but wonder if they could be more than just friends and bandmates. Carter has been acting since he was a baby, and isn't sure how to admit that he'd rather paint than perform. The Senior Showcase is going to make or break each of the four, in a funny, touching, spectacular finale that only Elizabeth Eulberg could perform.</blockquote></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfGizXX8sDaJAoTiAP8eCHAIHeN84M8nB_pkdY9UjtKYjZv2q6udCziazHktOVhIUlMxBXM59FFO0FVNg1gIyz4FsxNKmmwlbgEvqQeB_3i2jXJfuRwf78xccOfoPbMYU3RN2_D_R9qo/s1600/The+Wicked+and+the+Just.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfGizXX8sDaJAoTiAP8eCHAIHeN84M8nB_pkdY9UjtKYjZv2q6udCziazHktOVhIUlMxBXM59FFO0FVNg1gIyz4FsxNKmmwlbgEvqQeB_3i2jXJfuRwf78xccOfoPbMYU3RN2_D_R9qo/s320/The+Wicked+and+the+Just.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>The Wicked and the Just</b><br />
by J. Anderson Coats<br />
Releases on 4/17/12<br />
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<span id="freeText12434019667135994609">Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house. <br />
<br />
Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl. <br />
<br />
While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.</span></blockquote></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpQYPStHdedFgTglxvKavjFnEM_Wo5nbkgHi6U6xIq6IpDMrKo2PhDAItFRWfJCP-TmfoFz20yJ-WYB9sMm6_v36xKu0jj8GcDS4VZm40DTDDRiqRzMcDMK8RIWliR2qDcAuFSzFsZ9k/s1600/Fated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpQYPStHdedFgTglxvKavjFnEM_Wo5nbkgHi6U6xIq6IpDMrKo2PhDAItFRWfJCP-TmfoFz20yJ-WYB9sMm6_v36xKu0jj8GcDS4VZm40DTDDRiqRzMcDMK8RIWliR2qDcAuFSzFsZ9k/s320/Fated.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span id="freeText12434019667135994609"><b>Fated</b></span><br />
<span id="freeText12434019667135994609">by Alyson Noel</span><br />
<span id="freeText12434019667135994609">Releases on 5/22/12 </span><br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText13518521054876947364"><strong>The first book in a magnificent new series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël.</strong> <br />
<br />
Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met. <br />
<br />
There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she’s encountered before...but only in her dreams. And she’ll get to know her grandmother—a woman who recognizes Daire’s bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. Her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers—but it’s an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace’s brother is an evil shape-shifter who’s out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she’s meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she’s destined to destroy.</span></div></blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9j0kcBXFRg71imUEBDxZ_u5s8F1bOn0zA52zfnWEwyiSgWIwSL_EbZ8aH37dbvMGM4HHmQe3QEw6pfBbbnksCR6Nn7mg7eNrRKP5tccGXP07TKcy9wnwxf4ls9jJCv2rNhlnGBwlbTI/s1600/Blackout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9j0kcBXFRg71imUEBDxZ_u5s8F1bOn0zA52zfnWEwyiSgWIwSL_EbZ8aH37dbvMGM4HHmQe3QEw6pfBbbnksCR6Nn7mg7eNrRKP5tccGXP07TKcy9wnwxf4ls9jJCv2rNhlnGBwlbTI/s320/Blackout.jpg" width="192" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span id="freeText13518521054876947364">Blackout</span></b><br />
<span id="freeText13518521054876947364">by Mira Grant</span><br />
<span id="freeText13518521054876947364">Releases on 6/01/12 </span><br />
<span id="freeText13518521054876947364"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="freeText9002400382580400655">Rise up while you can. -Georgia Mason<br />
<br />
The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.<br />
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The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.<br />
<br />
Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:<br />
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Things can always get worse.<br />
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<em>Blackout</em> is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated <em>Feed</em> and the sequel, <em>Deadline</em>.</span></blockquote></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEVJuNa1sA-Cfmxgcvkqk8nbGw0I2UJJVpKVnLpfDBTMr-1Aycp9mtjHvYINF6c_ooSgw49CXb9ByMrCBOzRFpYtz2wUiYbfxqTe1XZMlSh-mDlufz-SKldNfUQIX29053X9UTLKMHmo/s1600/Arise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEVJuNa1sA-Cfmxgcvkqk8nbGw0I2UJJVpKVnLpfDBTMr-1Aycp9mtjHvYINF6c_ooSgw49CXb9ByMrCBOzRFpYtz2wUiYbfxqTe1XZMlSh-mDlufz-SKldNfUQIX29053X9UTLKMHmo/s320/Arise.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span id="freeText9002400382580400655"><b>Arise</b></span><br />
<span id="freeText9002400382580400655">by Tara Hudson </span><br />
<span id="freeText9002400382580400655">Releases on 6/05/12</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9295398386359151501">Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life...a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her.</span></div></blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZD_HrEP2aD6nAaXgm-lk02xVYjUx2GSPxM8JoEbL3GxXuG6SEsvUXJGrXQfaGJ1D4EKYjngFlbTom3pRZldqESOt2nprBfqVx3F2ADcwe1E6qEPIqSZ1ApggPwyPmZoTYP2EFzbN_Z0/s1600/Wicked+Nights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZD_HrEP2aD6nAaXgm-lk02xVYjUx2GSPxM8JoEbL3GxXuG6SEsvUXJGrXQfaGJ1D4EKYjngFlbTom3pRZldqESOt2nprBfqVx3F2ADcwe1E6qEPIqSZ1ApggPwyPmZoTYP2EFzbN_Z0/s320/Wicked+Nights.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span id="freeText9295398386359151501"><b>Wicked Nights</b></span><br />
<span id="freeText9295398386359151501">by Gena Showalter</span><br />
<span id="freeText9295398386359151501">Releases on 6/26/12</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText10504270010693252966">From the<em> New York Times </em>bestselling author who brought you the Lords of the Underworld comes a dark, seductive new series featuring angels poised on the brink of destruction.... Leader of the most powerful army in the heavens, Zacharel has been deemed nearly too dangerous, too ruthless-and if he isn't careful, he'll lose his wings. But this warrior with a heart of ice will not be deterred from his missions, at any cost...until a vulnerable human tempts him with a carnal pleasure he's never known before. Accused of a crime she did not commit, Annabelle Miller has spent four years in an institution for the criminally insane. Demons track her every move, and their king will stop at nothing to have her. Zacharel is her only hope for survival, but is the brutal angel with a touch as hot as hell her salvation-or her ultimate damnation?</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText10504270010693252966"></span>These are just some of the one's that I'm looking forward to. Which books are you dying to get your hands on?<span id="freeText10504270010693252966"> </span></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-72805171517220787192012-03-17T10:57:00.000-04:002012-03-17T10:57:26.633-04:00GIVEAWAY: Julie Kagawa's The Immortal Rules<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PcvfjmiL2Af7JScUz1JWN34gTma2UCngRSw0tKEmCHR06SGsOh2gnsILd64asp5wnAYa7tvvDtfxiOYZy7abBFAg9vHP0bIwPZlSHlRCgtGjT2eowfREFo6WkK58LShLJwWTKNUPoxc/s1600/The+Immortal+Rules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PcvfjmiL2Af7JScUz1JWN34gTma2UCngRSw0tKEmCHR06SGsOh2gnsILd64asp5wnAYa7tvvDtfxiOYZy7abBFAg9vHP0bIwPZlSHlRCgtGjT2eowfREFo6WkK58LShLJwWTKNUPoxc/s400/The+Immortal+Rules.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9712718057646341752"><i>In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.</i>Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of <i>them.</i> The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9712718057646341752"> </span><span id="freeText9712718057646341752"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9712718057646341752"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">GIVEAWAY</span>:</span> I have <b>1</b> hardcover copy up for grabs. </div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">As always, leave a comment for one entry. Make sure to leave an e-mail address, especially if you are leaving a comment under Anonymous.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Rules:</b></span> This contest is open to U.S. & Canada residents only. International followers feel free to enter giveaway as long as you have someone in the U.S. or Canada willing to accept the book for you. Winners will be drawn Friday, <span style="font-weight: bold;">April 6.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">A Q&A with</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">New York Times Best Selling Author Julie Kagawa</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">After writing the Iron Fey series for so many years, how difficult was it to immerse yourself in a futuristic world filled with vampires, rabids and an enslaved human race?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">It was...very different. I think the hardest thing for me was the fact that this story does take place in the real world -- a futuristic, vampire-infested world, but the real world nonetheless. Things had to make sense, for example: how far can a large group walk in a single day if there were no roads, they were going through thick woods, and there were children in the group? I had to have logical reasons for everything; I couldn't just make something work "because of faery magic," lol.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just like Meghan Chase in the Iron Fey series, the main character in The Immortal Rules, Allison Sekemoto, is a “take charge and kick butt” kind of girl. Is this intentional? What woman – real or fictional, alive or deceased – do you look up to or admire?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Yes, Allison comes from a very different world than Meghan Chase. Meghan's upbringing was pretty normal; Allison grew up among vampires and monsters, where every day was a fight to live, so she couldn't afford to be weak. While Meghan had to learn to "take charge and kick butt," Allison's first impulse is stab first, talk</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">later.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">As for female role models, the first that comes to mind--when it comes to kicking vampire butt, anyway -- is Buffy Summers. Thank you, Joss Whedon, for making me love feisty, snarky, heroines who can dust all sorts of nasties but who also look good in a cheerleading outfit. ;)</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><b>You mention in your acknowledgements in The Immortal Rules that at the beginning of your writing career you promised yourself you wouldn’t write a vampire book. What changed your mind?</b></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Well, there were already so many really good books about our favorite bloodsuckers, so many stories and ideas, I thought I didn't have anything new to add to the masses. I was actually toying with a post-apocalyptic YA novel when my agent mentioned I might want to try writing a vampire series. I wasn't intrigued</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">with the idea at first, but then I thought about combining vampires with the post-apocalyptic novel and then rest sort of fell into place. Allison claims she hates vampires and believes they are monsters yet when</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">faced with a choice of die or become one, she becomes a vampire. Would you have made that same decision?</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Me personally? No. I'm like Zeke in the belief that there is something better waiting for me beyond this life, and I just have to do my best until it’s time for me to go. Besides, I love pizza and Mountain Dew too much to give it up. <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you think the most complex character is in The Immortal Rules?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Probably Kanin, Allie's sire. He's a vampire who has made his peace about being a monster, yet chooses to live by his own set of moral rules. He warns Allison about getting too close to humans, yet he does not kill unless he absolutely has to. He is tormented about something in his past that he refuses to share with anyone.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">He is certainly the most mysterious of all the characters, if not the most complex.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How many books will be in the Blood of Eden series? When will the next book be coming out?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">At the moment, there are three books planned, with the second coming out sometime next spring, after the release of the new Iron Fey series this fall.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Before you starting writing full time you were a professional dog trainer. Do the professions share any similarities?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Lol, well you have to think on your feet a lot. And some of the small dogs could be compared to tiny snapping goblins, but writing requires less dodging skills, though perhaps the same amount of creativity and problem solving.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">When starting a new series, like Blood of Eden, do you have the entire series mapped out in detail or do you let the story develop book by book?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">I have a high point that I write toward in each story; I know this and this has</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">to happen, but getting from point A to point B usually develops as I go along.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And for the speed round:</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">What book have you read and re-read, and read yet again?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Any of the Harry Potter books.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Favorite song to play when writing a fight scene?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">My "favorites" change daily. Right now its "Awake and Alive" by Skillet.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Working a kiosk in the mall during Christmas. It sold glass figurines, and the maneuvering space around the hundreds of very breakable merchandise was quite small. I was like a bull in a china shop.</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">One thing most people don’t know about you – and would never guess!</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">I used to play the flute when I was a kid. I was really good at it too, but my instructor stopped teaching to have a family, and I never went back to it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">If you've gotten this far, then you're in for a special treat. Note that you can get extra entries for:</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">* Liking Julie on Facebook:<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie-Kagawa-author/252661891438654" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.<wbr></wbr>com/pages/Julie-Kagawa-author/<wbr></wbr>252661891438654</a></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">* Following Julie on Twitter: @Jkagawa<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/Jkagawa" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://<b>twitt<wbr></wbr>er</b>.com/J<b>kagawa</b></a><cite><b> </b></cite></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">* Following Julie on her blog:<br />
<a href="http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://juliekagawa.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com/</a></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">* Following Harlequin Teen on Facebook:<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/HarlequinTEEN" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.<wbr></wbr>com/HarlequinTEEN</a></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">* Following Harlequin on Twitter:<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">@<a href="http://twitter.com/HARLEQUINTEEN" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" title="targettwitter_links"><span style="text-decoration: none;">HARLEQUINTEEN</span></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/harlequinteen" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http:/<wbr></wbr>/twitter.com/harlequinteen</a></span></b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-76675934361028513342012-03-17T09:00:00.001-04:002012-03-17T10:55:52.092-04:00A big kiss from me to you because today, everyone's Irish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYD_7yoT5KyzVKrSwddRpzYztqS42OLW4sKe0_ZCGddB_8gihN6-97gE84DuUEalQlKhNCOStOqG6wtINw34yiLVXZocYPwJ84Zlu8IvLMKAPL1vXqEMZx2zr202vd2Ql_gkOC9cchJXw/s1600/St+Paddys+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYD_7yoT5KyzVKrSwddRpzYztqS42OLW4sKe0_ZCGddB_8gihN6-97gE84DuUEalQlKhNCOStOqG6wtINw34yiLVXZocYPwJ84Zlu8IvLMKAPL1vXqEMZx2zr202vd2Ql_gkOC9cchJXw/s400/St+Paddys+Day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-71506392885521288252012-03-01T10:37:00.000-05:002012-03-01T10:37:00.465-05:00Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtlbwBO9Ez-Akg_KrgmmQow7FRkJCqEe4aOb_JReQyJzQjF1vTpJ4nfQBfIcpjjl8Gco4HhBtOEb5xCTThZPxDMOHb2Zdhu9QaGyNTLgr78NhvqVrQXqYFaiPhsoV4i6HKY1wGgCR7P8/s1600/Dearly+Departed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtlbwBO9Ez-Akg_KrgmmQow7FRkJCqEe4aOb_JReQyJzQjF1vTpJ4nfQBfIcpjjl8Gco4HhBtOEb5xCTThZPxDMOHb2Zdhu9QaGyNTLgr78NhvqVrQXqYFaiPhsoV4i6HKY1wGgCR7P8/s400/Dearly+Departed.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Title: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dearly-Departed-Zombie-Lia-Habel/dp/0345523318/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330311979&sr=8-1">Dearly, Departed</a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Author: Lia Habel</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Pages: 470</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Genre: YA/ Teen</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.netgalley.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #c27ba0; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3em; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">NetGalley</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">and</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> the dead—or rather, the </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">undead</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.</span></span></div><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">In </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Dearly, Departed</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</span></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">A Steampunk - Zombie - YA novel?! Be still my heart. I was thrilled to see three genres that I enjoy all rolled up into one. Even more interesting than the genre mix, I also found it surprising that although the year is 2195, society is living in a Victorian society while using technology that we can only dream of having.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">There were many things I liked about Dearly, Departed.... the earlier paragraph for instance. I enjoyed the world building, the zombies, the characters, etc. I liked Nora and Bram - and their unique romance. You know, it is a first for me to find a girl in love with a zombie. I even enjoyed reading of the war with the Punks. But it took me almost 200 pages to actually get into the story. The first chapter was awesome but I had a hard time fully getting immersed in the story... I'm not really sure why, I just felt that I had to try to hard. I think the main problem might have been the </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">oh-so-many points-of-view. Even more disconcerting was the fact that they are told in the first person. And although the characters differ in age and sex, I still found myself wondering several times whose chapter it was that I was reading. While I do enjoy a book told using various perspectives, I found that five different narrators </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">(Bram, Nora, Pam, Wolfe, and Victor) may have been a bit much. The Wolfe and Victor chapters quite frankly felt unnecessary. I found that those story lines could have been told using other methods and cutting down on the constant character changes and possibly in my confusion. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">All in all, I found Dearly, Departed to be a good start to the series. While I didn't love it and most likely will not run out to immediately buy the next installment in the series, I will undoubtedly get around to reading it.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><b>My Rating:</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirO_ACaVE0YPVyYzoygB5N0dDj3RW1CLywgFEK-WzQCQgHvGWCQGtgik_t_oh2Ztls2I8I7Oqdp2YCrzMH4T9HorM01y-Hxo0uK83wSuEOFw5tlnJGoUBYI7JVYTAP893qIeohPP0EE90/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirO_ACaVE0YPVyYzoygB5N0dDj3RW1CLywgFEK-WzQCQgHvGWCQGtgik_t_oh2Ztls2I8I7Oqdp2YCrzMH4T9HorM01y-Hxo0uK83wSuEOFw5tlnJGoUBYI7JVYTAP893qIeohPP0EE90/s1600/3.jpg" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-44736298651870373262012-02-29T09:45:00.003-05:002012-02-29T10:35:31.936-05:00Between the Duke and the Deep Blue Sea by Sophia Nash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfOSxLp_VMlImW5hyfsQNDpg4-dXU_0DU_L2L758XO6bvwEfC2sIxZfRpfIhtR999KSon0yWipkOVVN-DJf5eNmD-IaDiI5fXNdnP6Rpzqo-RLdJoA_YXprBEz4aWcYbDUo2-xz2rL8/s1600/Between+the+Duke+and+the+Deep+Blue+Sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfOSxLp_VMlImW5hyfsQNDpg4-dXU_0DU_L2L758XO6bvwEfC2sIxZfRpfIhtR999KSon0yWipkOVVN-DJf5eNmD-IaDiI5fXNdnP6Rpzqo-RLdJoA_YXprBEz4aWcYbDUo2-xz2rL8/s400/Between+the+Duke+and+the+Deep+Blue+Sea.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Between-Duke-Deep-Royal-Entourage/dp/0062022326/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330306200&sr=1-1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Between the Duke and the Deep Blue Sea</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Author: Sophia Nash</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Pages: 384</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Genre: Historical Romance</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Source: Am</span>azon Vine Program</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Six Regency heroes--One royal hangover.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">An infamous night has been lost to memory. The scandalous Dukes of the Royal Entourage must make amends. The first step is a heroic rescue.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">One of England's most disreputable peers, Alexander Barclay, Duke of Kress, has stumbled upon a perfect opportunity for redemption. Having been exiled to Cornwall by the Prince Regent himself, Barclay discovers lovely Roxanne Vanderhaven clinging to the edge of a cliff, stranded there by her murderous blackguard of a husband . . . just waiting to be rescued.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Back on solid ground, Roxanne is desperate for a new life-- once she's retaliated for her husband's despicable actions. Surprisingly, she finds herself drawn to her unlikely champion, certainly the last man in England she could count on. Yet, the infamous Duke of Kress isn't quite the scoundrel he seems . . . [via </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GoodReads</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">]</span></div></blockquote></div><div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Alexander Barclay, the ninth Duke of Kress, has no recollection of what went on last night. After waking up with a splitting headache and coming to the conclusion that all the other Dukes </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #181818;">he partied with the night before </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">are in the same predicament that he is, he knows that nothing good must have happened the night before. When their night of debauchery is described in full detail in the paper, he comes to learn that not only has he lost his fortune in a bet that he doesn't even remember, but he has made Prinny very upset.</span></span></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: interit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now banished to the country, Prinny has ordered that Alex get two things accomplished, first restore his ancestral home/castle back to its former glory and secondly, that he find himself a bride. No easy feat since, firstly, he's broke and, secondly, he has no interest in settling down. </span></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was so fun!! Very refreshing and entertaining - full of moments that caused me to laugh out of loud... which is no easy task. I found Alex, Roxanne, Alex's great-aunt and all the other Dukes to be an uproariously funny bunch. The situations were fun, the characters were quirky and the dialogue was delightful. Ms. Nash's start to her "Royal Entourage" series is a hit. I've read that the movie "The Hangover" was an inspiration for this series and I can definitely appreciate a story line like that. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for the remaining Dukes. Sheer pleasure to read!</span></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: center;"><b>My Rating:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fk0AhObEKDUorp5ksk2g61rdlylqT2q-ZMrXDmoWkTEu-91ibE-XYnCe1JeoLIClT_vk0q4Y5J3RgKjGkrsK9DHCc1eWoxlG5d4D8cXMcpIlld0IkoqFD18uoESM6-EF2zhuXGlU-YY/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fk0AhObEKDUorp5ksk2g61rdlylqT2q-ZMrXDmoWkTEu-91ibE-XYnCe1JeoLIClT_vk0q4Y5J3RgKjGkrsK9DHCc1eWoxlG5d4D8cXMcpIlld0IkoqFD18uoESM6-EF2zhuXGlU-YY/s1600/4.jpg" /></a></div></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-862712687452753052012-02-28T09:14:00.000-05:002012-02-28T09:14:32.218-05:00Bookcase of the Week - Starring... Emilie of Emilie's Book World<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/?action=view&current=bkcaseoftheweek-large.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/bkcaseoftheweek-large.png" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">On this week's <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/search/label/Bookcase%20of%20the%20Week"><span style="color: #c27ba0;">Bookcase of the Week</span></a> it is with great pleasure that I bring you Emilie of <a href="http://www.emiliebookworld.com/">Emilie's Book World</a>'s book shelves. I recently discovered Emilie's blog and since her reading tastes are very similar to mine, I've found myself coming by on a regular basis to read her honest reviews. Emilie was one of the first to respond when I first sent the call out for Bookcase of the Week participants. Here's what she sent us:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I’m still in university, and so my space for bookshelves is quite limited. I live in a house with two roommates and I got lucky and ended up with the biggest room, so I have a relatively big bookshelf all things considered. Most of the books I have here are books I’ve bought or received in the last three years, and I have at least as many back at my parents’ house as I do here. It’s kind of crazy. But here is my bookshelf as a whole:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_86XJ7ETJj6JXhHT2im4U3tOHJVHnRAPTPMeWfN2wd-fSztPfqok3JEOoTeWLg9UChebokH-oj5N19CccJELAgR8tAGdgDRMeOtvZgRwmbXzM2yX8XnhLXOkY1rL4o215JG4mBzPOIJ8/s1600/viewer1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_86XJ7ETJj6JXhHT2im4U3tOHJVHnRAPTPMeWfN2wd-fSztPfqok3JEOoTeWLg9UChebokH-oj5N19CccJELAgR8tAGdgDRMeOtvZgRwmbXzM2yX8XnhLXOkY1rL4o215JG4mBzPOIJ8/s400/viewer1.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">This bookshelf, like those of many other bloggers, is from IKEA and unfortunately has recently been discontinued. That means I’ll have to find other shelves in the future. What I liked most about this one is that I can arrange the shelves however I want, which makes it really easy when it comes to shelving books of different heights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I don’t have any really fancy system as to how I organize my books, I just alphabetize them by author and in order of publication for books that are by the same author. And of course I like to keep my series together and in order. While it’s nothing very fancy, I can get really annoyed when my books are out of order, for the most part it’s probably just a question of esthetics.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Most of the books I have here are in English, but I do also read in French (it’s actually my first language though I’ve been going to school in English for over 10 years). So I have some French books thrown into the mix as you can see below. The majority of my French books are actually back at my parents’ house since before moving away, I used to read more in French than in English. Interesting bit of information about French books that some of you may not know: on English books the writing on the spine goes from top to bottom, but on French books it actually goes from bottom to top. I don’t really know why but it’s something I’ve noticed over the years and can sometimes make it harder to read the titles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWh_AV5eCcg8Tjo5Nc4ATVTaO247XbYm-O1Rl_DkqZHuA3ruTNZnSr0rqhBjOfoy6UbZ1tvR3tG8WCx1MTwP7zdHbmkv97gIc3raqb5ifwZcIPwCR5Qw_G53qwq73NiMv6qFqZyQZLuQY/s1600/viewer2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWh_AV5eCcg8Tjo5Nc4ATVTaO247XbYm-O1Rl_DkqZHuA3ruTNZnSr0rqhBjOfoy6UbZ1tvR3tG8WCx1MTwP7zdHbmkv97gIc3raqb5ifwZcIPwCR5Qw_G53qwq73NiMv6qFqZyQZLuQY/s400/viewer2.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Off to the very right of my bookshelf if where I keep my books for school (on the top shelf) and where I have a shelf devoted to the books I’ve received for review that either haven’t been read yet or that I’ve read but haven’t yet shelved with the rest of my other books.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLs7r3UX2-9iqJH8eP8Z_FGdfhALZgN4CqG7Z5lX9bSNDBXTmnOsHP8PboZht3siHP9q1apHMDDfqHQ6lTGHemV8up_wM8cX67CDmn48Z-wiCQT-hoQDonWD-viAolnNhb70HgNW27k2Q/s1600/viewer3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLs7r3UX2-9iqJH8eP8Z_FGdfhALZgN4CqG7Z5lX9bSNDBXTmnOsHP8PboZht3siHP9q1apHMDDfqHQ6lTGHemV8up_wM8cX67CDmn48Z-wiCQT-hoQDonWD-viAolnNhb70HgNW27k2Q/s400/viewer3.png" width="315" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">And finally on my nightstand is where I keep the books that I am currently in the process of reading. That is when I am not carrying them around in my bag on the off chance I could sneak in a few pages between classes and work.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_p-_6XrVD4NQq-CvtIooomQSrdb9Kv0cVakxhxJBlSoEQSVWLy_RTFFQHKK8QoSyzVysT0RfK9dn55N7JvjyPjvkEu7-escUTmR-yKUe5uEXx7Hxb_2Pb18XHR3L0Ye-AeTgOmxnJbM/s1600/viewer4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_p-_6XrVD4NQq-CvtIooomQSrdb9Kv0cVakxhxJBlSoEQSVWLy_RTFFQHKK8QoSyzVysT0RfK9dn55N7JvjyPjvkEu7-escUTmR-yKUe5uEXx7Hxb_2Pb18XHR3L0Ye-AeTgOmxnJbM/s400/viewer4.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">So those are my bookshelves. I still have some space on them, but I have a feeling the few empty shelves are going to get filled up a lot quicker than I would like to think. Once those are filled up, I’m not so sure what I’m going to do. There’s only so much space in room that isn’t filled up with other furniture!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Thank you Nelly for having me here to share my bookshelves! I always love looking at how other people organize their books, so being able to also share mine is just awesome.<br />
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Thank you Emilie!! I myself am quite nosey and love seeing how everyone organizes their books. I especially like to see what they own, what their TBR piles look like, etc. Yes, I know I'm nosey, I'm honest about it. Thank you so much for playing along and sending us your pictures as well as sharing a little bit about your reading habits. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">For those of you who haven't passed on through to Emilie's yet, please visit her here (tell her I say HI!). If you'd like to participate in the Bookcase of the Week, please feel free to send me an e-mail so we can chat.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://emiliebookworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Emilie's Book World"><img alt="Image Not Found" src="http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff455/EmilieBookWorld/button4.jpg" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-40452901634051607472012-02-27T11:04:00.004-05:002012-02-29T10:30:34.636-05:00Tempest by Julie Cross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwPlACzWbDi_mePts5JyOvbt3d3JXSVZ-7Ww_B923kpgcxQG7n3hmOhBP-UCvx36f9QE3hRUSQdgkN7DCWFq71PNNRLoWlRPyc7IuHEx9rJZDUAFkMuU1uNkM03Srdda3SksNgLZyBxMQ/s1600/Tempest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwPlACzWbDi_mePts5JyOvbt3d3JXSVZ-7Ww_B923kpgcxQG7n3hmOhBP-UCvx36f9QE3hRUSQdgkN7DCWFq71PNNRLoWlRPyc7IuHEx9rJZDUAFkMuU1uNkM03Srdda3SksNgLZyBxMQ/s1600/Tempest.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tempest-Novel-Julie-Cross/dp/0312568894/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330297217&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tempest</span></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Author: Julie Cross</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Pages: 334</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Genre: YA/ Sci-Fi</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Source: Purchased</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.</span></div><div><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities. But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world. [via </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">GoodReads</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">]</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Although I had a slow start with the first chapters, I found Tempest to be quite the page-turner. I'm not sure about you, but I always tend to get slightly confused when reading a time travel story. And, thus was the case with this one... But let me assure you, I was easily able to figure it out and get my years straight. Once I had that going, it was very easy to understand and enjoy. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Ms. Cross has written an intriguing and action-filled story that kept me on the edge of my seat. When Jackson gets stuck two years in the past - leaving the present year at a moment that is crucial to his relationship with his girlfriend Holly, not only will it be hard to trust anyone in the current year, but he'll have to start from scratch befriending Holly and hoping that he can find a way to get back into her heart.</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Jackson is a very likeable and wonderful narrator. He's just as confused as you, the reader, are. He doesn't know how he time travels, much less how to maneuver around time. He doesn't know if he's a good guy or a freak of nature, whether his father is the business man he claims to be or someone with an ulterior motive, whether it's a good idea to contact Holly throughout time or just leave her be... needless to say, I found myself captivated by Jackson's dilemma. </span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Action, romance and suspense are the leading factors in this tale... and it's the first of a series. I cannot wait to see what happens next! </span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><b>My Rating:</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ1YTg7gpbQkdtGCr5L5LcZyhyBjxgmwi9ouEu4HYH-nR6jRlFYB2JVX3LDXOIJr1n9a55WoWwlIvd93yCZaQEEk8uo_bqg9mJoL6NjxtEI7N-zGLWLiBRKf01mXaIV7bmtOF_TJ328s/s400/5.jpg" width="400" /></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-58658920653093065542012-02-27T09:04:00.000-05:002012-02-27T09:04:26.047-05:00Manic Monday Recaps [Week 2/27/12]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjr4mwHFOHBiBlMhqWoBTAI5ailbsPoW6VbqbNfKxh5ZdjYt5-9UlKAe96M3LXwzHqKYbTAkydKNp9mFaVxDvQwwvPCZNTGRbiFVq_O-lQC-HShpRflJBC7kyQneO4uyVB13aATs4J3Ws/s1600/tumblr_lsemugh2du1r1e9i3o1_500_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjr4mwHFOHBiBlMhqWoBTAI5ailbsPoW6VbqbNfKxh5ZdjYt5-9UlKAe96M3LXwzHqKYbTAkydKNp9mFaVxDvQwwvPCZNTGRbiFVq_O-lQC-HShpRflJBC7kyQneO4uyVB13aATs4J3Ws/s400/tumblr_lsemugh2du1r1e9i3o1_500_large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[via <a href="http://www.weheartit.com/">WeHeartIt</a>]</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Happy Monday friends! I hope you all the weekend. I spent the days being lazy. It was the best. I read, I napped, I hung out with my family, I caught up on some of my programs... it was awesome! I need to be lazy more often.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Here's what I plan on reading this week:</strong> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSS95E_Rf4CBQjh3exxpIrAqdRLkxEjBqDOrOiGm_M1cyL8ZMpS-CcZslyeb-_sOHhkbSQCL55KkOjsRB3wzmeVBd_LHb3k3TEnPhZn1NFmWFXxEx1lD2NxC6cYnMSJlyu6jabetR2aWA/s1600/Grave+Mercy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSS95E_Rf4CBQjh3exxpIrAqdRLkxEjBqDOrOiGm_M1cyL8ZMpS-CcZslyeb-_sOHhkbSQCL55KkOjsRB3wzmeVBd_LHb3k3TEnPhZn1NFmWFXxEx1lD2NxC6cYnMSJlyu6jabetR2aWA/s320/Grave+Mercy.jpg" width="220" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9y6jGjuSzGzPGrIeaCkv3JkjGxHkOWPXrFIdzGBfvC4qIPMtUcYJuwiDa0WgpFyPVeRgrkl8bAWmN83o_bshp-ixh80vfGyPj4ekGvChj9O5IvP0BznLkHT0MSxb7KaKkAp24NpKBYHQ/s1600/The+House+of+Velvet+and+Glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9y6jGjuSzGzPGrIeaCkv3JkjGxHkOWPXrFIdzGBfvC4qIPMtUcYJuwiDa0WgpFyPVeRgrkl8bAWmN83o_bshp-ixh80vfGyPj4ekGvChj9O5IvP0BznLkHT0MSxb7KaKkAp24NpKBYHQ/s1600/The+House+of+Velvet+and+Glass.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTusb0qfLbCrEUeOukXW3mypp6EccYIT30NYKw6Kf5xL0Nq7gV9N_yfm-53aZcObjSFSQ8jY021FIXY5UtaiYs_eednM5ewgk0cT4twXHgqTvc5Vdwz9iso5ihUzE1OUhn35BpegpF7M0/s1600/Where+It+Began.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTusb0qfLbCrEUeOukXW3mypp6EccYIT30NYKw6Kf5xL0Nq7gV9N_yfm-53aZcObjSFSQ8jY021FIXY5UtaiYs_eednM5ewgk0cT4twXHgqTvc5Vdwz9iso5ihUzE1OUhn35BpegpF7M0/s320/Where+It+Began.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><b>Here's what I read last week:</b><br />
- Cordina's Royal Family: Bennett & Camilla by Nora Roberts<br />
- The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker<br />
- A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton<br />
<br />
<b>I reviewed the following: </b><br />
- Secrets of an Accidental Duchess by Jennifer Haymore [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/secrets-of-accidental-duchess-once-upon.html">review</a>]<br />
- Once Upon a Wicked Night by Jennifer Haymore [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/secrets-of-accidental-duchess-once-upon.html">review</a>]<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">H</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Century Gothic", Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">ave a great week friends. Happy Reading!</span>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-15750793929377389112012-02-24T10:42:00.000-05:002012-02-24T10:42:44.947-05:00GIVEAWAY: Cleaning House Book Giveaway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1FApPw2s8UwJvC6lbnALAgmsuqI_c8oSMaEPfPvT1F8RzaXLxH9RIFKQzyIMYABTVbQwmHKiqGSfZxz72JDd-60i6FMDO0hATrHzfNXU2JZRR3QtUr_88YYoQQS21zrIGyZIJ7gkyjU/s1600/CleaningHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1FApPw2s8UwJvC6lbnALAgmsuqI_c8oSMaEPfPvT1F8RzaXLxH9RIFKQzyIMYABTVbQwmHKiqGSfZxz72JDd-60i6FMDO0hATrHzfNXU2JZRR3QtUr_88YYoQQS21zrIGyZIJ7gkyjU/s400/CleaningHouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong>It's a giveaway yo!!</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I'm cleaning house - my bookshelves are once again overflowing and I have tons of books to giveaway. I promise that they aren't all ARC's, actually most of these guys haven't even been touched. So for those of you interested in providing a happy home for them please feel free to leave a comment below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">GIVEAWAY RULES:</span></strong> Quite frankly, there are none. Just make sure to leave a comment for your entry - specifically with an e-mail or some other method that I can communicate with the winner. If you'd like extra entries just say so in your comment (preferrably one comment) - As always, y'all get extra entries for being an uber cool follower, Twitter, sidebars, All About {n} button, Facebook, etc. Stalkers are always welcome. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>This contest is open internationally. Winner (maybe even more than one!) will be chosen on March 16.</strong></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com131tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-2861576818940072222012-02-23T10:39:00.000-05:002012-02-23T10:39:40.812-05:00Secrets of an Accidental Duchess / Once Upon a Wicked Night by Jennifer Haymore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhkLUAaBreF-ulIOPNIhFhBt-3SPqccnO4kG2eFItMjk2AhQmAmw4O-upPrg6GVB4cldSFn8r_zJY6HDVrCpDTCI6YC2fjiqJyZxgVDBXyx4GjgampZOBzXGWZBJCnPn2RfvlNe5n_dI/s1600/Secrets+of+an+Accidental+Duchess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhkLUAaBreF-ulIOPNIhFhBt-3SPqccnO4kG2eFItMjk2AhQmAmw4O-upPrg6GVB4cldSFn8r_zJY6HDVrCpDTCI6YC2fjiqJyZxgVDBXyx4GjgampZOBzXGWZBJCnPn2RfvlNe5n_dI/s320/Secrets+of+an+Accidental+Duchess.jpg" width="198" yda="true" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Accidental-Duchess-Donovan-Novel/dp/0446573159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329233874&sr=8-1">Secrets of an Accidental Duchess</a><br />
Author: Jennifer Haymore<br />
Pages: 284<br />
Genre: Historical Romance<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">With her pale hair and slim figure, Olivia Donovan looks as fragile as fine china, and has been treated as such by her sisters ever since a childhood bout with malaria. But beneath her delicate facade, Olivia guards a bold, independent spirit and the kind of passionate desires proper young ladies must never confess... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a reckless wager, and one Max couldn't resist: seduce the alluring Olivia or forfeit part of his fortune. Yet the wild, soon-to-be Duke never imagined he'd fall in love with this innocent beauty. Nor could he have guessed that a dangerously unpredictable rival would set out to destroy them both. Now, Max must beat a madman at his own twisted game-or forever lose the only woman to have ever won his heart. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Olivia Donovan has been brought up sheltered and protected by her family. While living on a small island in the West Indies she contracted Malaria as a child and has since been plagued by a recurrence of the fevers. Now at twenty-one, she knows that no man would fall for a frail woman and has therefore resigned herself to the fact that she will be the “spinster aunt”. But when Max Buchanan promises a no-strings attached romance, becoming the “disgraced spinster aunt” might not be so bad after all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As with all of Ms. Haymore’s novels (and yes, I’ve read them all) you cannot go wrong with her books. Her heroines are always brave and witty and her leading men are dark and swoon-worthy. I especially loved Olivia - she was such a carefree young woman. I liked that she didn’t overdo or dwell on things. She saw a hurdle and she pretty much just jumped over it. She was never frail or timid in my eyes (nor Max’s for that matter). Max was all that I look for in a leading man. I loved how he is portrayed as dark, big and brawny compared to the petite Olivia. But don’t let the cover or its short synopsis fool you. Aside from the sweet romance you’ll find there’s a lot going on in this novel. I could not sit still with everything that was going on – from the worry of Olivia’s illness, the wager on her seduction, several kidnappings, sultry love scenes and one of the vilest villains I’ve read in a long time. Needless to say, I devoured this one quite rapidly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all, Secrets of an Accidental Duchess is a wonderful addition to the series. I loved how we get to see more about the lives of Serena and Jonathan (Confessions of an Improper Bride) as well as foresee who the next characters in the upcoming book will be (Pleasures of a Tempted Lady – releasing August 2012). I personally cannot wait. Ms. Haymore has proven herself once again and has earned the honor of being a permanent staple in my Historical Romance shelf.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>My Rating:</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04OIc_Xzg1Tf1Exr26k0ZY3IiLkRBL8IH6b1qPuQam1j96PQ002a_Jia5M1z88PvAPQaUaMa65j2ypdqsdGopiHTXiuLv7BC5BdeVx2vo0fZma_OsFLBpwJD1xxY7ijjc4twA5ssSz_c/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04OIc_Xzg1Tf1Exr26k0ZY3IiLkRBL8IH6b1qPuQam1j96PQ002a_Jia5M1z88PvAPQaUaMa65j2ypdqsdGopiHTXiuLv7BC5BdeVx2vo0fZma_OsFLBpwJD1xxY7ijjc4twA5ssSz_c/s320/5.jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO06kL3_az2jhIeaQqgBIYOKFyzZ7o0izXnXueEJd7Ugi5sC2jyruDb1i7czN2qz8NSJ2jR2_dvlXeFvlwVPBo0jMSWzObMe3ZNChAfA4jEbmPfOEogTNbb6dIlh7CyvswFonIa_9fmk/s1600/Once+Upon+a+Wicked+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO06kL3_az2jhIeaQqgBIYOKFyzZ7o0izXnXueEJd7Ugi5sC2jyruDb1i7czN2qz8NSJ2jR2_dvlXeFvlwVPBo0jMSWzObMe3ZNChAfA4jEbmPfOEogTNbb6dIlh7CyvswFonIa_9fmk/s320/Once+Upon+a+Wicked+Night.jpg" width="197" yda="true" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Wicked-Night-ebook/dp/B006IIWO9S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329234096&sr=1-1">Once Upon a Wicked Night</a><br />
Author: Jennifer Haymore<br />
Pages: 55<br />
Genre: Historical Romance<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>All of London looks forward to the Dowager Duchess of Clayworth’s annual ball. For no matter how hard the serious society matron strives to host an elegant event, scandal always ensues… </em></div><em></em><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Seven years ago it was a young Serena Donovan and Jonathan Dane who shocked the ton when they were discovered in a most compromising position. Tonight they return for the first time as the Earl and Countess of Stratford. And while Serena hopes for a quiet evening to introduce her younger sister Olivia to society, Jonathan’s only desire is to pick up where he and Serena left off… </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Though innocent Olivia secretly longs for the kind of passion her sister shares with her husband, none of the men she’s met spark a fire inside her heart—least of all the notorious Marquis of Fenwicke. When his request for a waltz turns into something sinister, Olivia must use her wit and wiles to evade a powerful peer who vows if can’t have her, no man shall... [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</div><div></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Once Upon a Wicked Night is a short novella that takes place right after Confessions of an Improper Bride and gives you insight into the first chapters of Secrets of an Accidental Duchess. In it you first meet Olivia as she is introduced to society by her older sister and brother-in-law, the Earl and Countess of Stratford. It has been seven years since Jonathan and Serena were discovered in a compromising situation and Jonathan is convinced that they should start up right where they left off (wink-wink). Olivia on the other hand is impressed when she meets Marquis of Fenwicke, but when a waltz and an accidental moment where they are alone turns into something sinister it'll be up to her quick thinking to get herself out of a perilous situation - making an enemy in the process.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was such a quick read and fans of the series will enjoy this short glimpse into the lives of Jonathan and Serena and be enchanted by their first introduction of Olivia. Although it's not necessary to read, I do recommend it as it gives some explanation as to the first chapters of Secrets of an Accidental Duchess. Lovely and captivating and short enough that you won't want to miss it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<strong>My Rating:</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQXOkOX2RBvT-hJYfYaSRnkUt3XAvFTdycvr4kQ15cDMZAwSw0OWpv5PRtnStflwAWgVzgQU1t_VbzsAcHp_eUB_gxp4xN0yvwFBwqTZzaVw3L6sSqympDq8lZt76rB75DcBtmLPOjNc/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><em><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQXOkOX2RBvT-hJYfYaSRnkUt3XAvFTdycvr4kQ15cDMZAwSw0OWpv5PRtnStflwAWgVzgQU1t_VbzsAcHp_eUB_gxp4xN0yvwFBwqTZzaVw3L6sSqympDq8lZt76rB75DcBtmLPOjNc/s320/4.jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></em></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-28897681552377624552012-02-22T10:58:00.000-05:002012-02-22T10:58:18.237-05:00So Many Books, So Little Time [21]<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/?action=view&current=solittletime-large.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/nelycowleysanchez/solittletime-large.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are some of the books that I discovered throughout the week scheduled for release that I cannot wait to get my hands on. I will pay, beg and possibly steal (mwahahaha), just to get a chance at reading one of them.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmvykgfhNuqXShp14gJqWU8u92rQZmnZV5jg6csJ1shEb75zdqpFZpDb2LV1ClGI_oRyzjXavFjVbXrU8Jrq1wG7CPTK6xTSI07w_GUh36gLLAYEgT0ax0zDN-I5gnqR05YJ2n7vW2hE/s1600/The+Story+of+Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmvykgfhNuqXShp14gJqWU8u92rQZmnZV5jg6csJ1shEb75zdqpFZpDb2LV1ClGI_oRyzjXavFjVbXrU8Jrq1wG7CPTK6xTSI07w_GUh36gLLAYEgT0ax0zDN-I5gnqR05YJ2n7vW2hE/s1600/The+Story+of+Us.jpg" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><strong>The Story of Us</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">by Deb Caletti</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases on 4/24/12</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend—but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage: After jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. But as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse whose hippie owners have a sweet, sexy son—Ash—complications arise:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Cricket’s future stepsisters make it clear they’re not happy about the marriage. An old friend decides this is the week to declare his love for Cricket. Grandpa chooses to reveal a big secret at a family gathering. Dan’s ex-wife shows up. And even the dogs—Cricket’s old, ill Jupiter and Dan’s young, lively Cruiser—seem to be declaring war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
While Cricket fears that Dan is in danger of becoming ditched husband-to-be number three, she’s also alarmed by her own desires. Because even though her boyfriend looms large in her mind, Ash is right in front of her....</div></blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMAB6NQ8dKLfT3RBkmzANnEhJpK4ag512RIzNItM3d1u34ZZiN3lyPOvRTr9Q7Tpk9Hb9Xh4E0cYpAkci5XdErmWDYHoOUuHPBxJb6lUhmEqj3IGcMUKvID5iu_uD545TOipL1bwonF8/s1600/Sweet+Evil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMAB6NQ8dKLfT3RBkmzANnEhJpK4ag512RIzNItM3d1u34ZZiN3lyPOvRTr9Q7Tpk9Hb9Xh4E0cYpAkci5XdErmWDYHoOUuHPBxJb6lUhmEqj3IGcMUKvID5iu_uD545TOipL1bwonF8/s320/Sweet+Evil.jpg" width="212" /></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><strong>Sweet Evil </strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">by Wendy Higgins </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases 5/01/12 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil. </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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 it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A cross-country trip forces Anna to face the reality that hope and love are not options for her kind. Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHzPezcxvKDgkOwqjNpXR0iLn9_r69wiEuO6QufjSifkjxbM9rR8nViU1zWOo4Uy8bJ-HW1i3qWHNoUNu2mmlawxg17iLlSwbJY6omPDGUYGpOce6uGMsM_kSXUsvoSaOxoiZPpLDpCs/s1600/First+Comes+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEHzPezcxvKDgkOwqjNpXR0iLn9_r69wiEuO6QufjSifkjxbM9rR8nViU1zWOo4Uy8bJ-HW1i3qWHNoUNu2mmlawxg17iLlSwbJY6omPDGUYGpOce6uGMsM_kSXUsvoSaOxoiZPpLDpCs/s320/First+Comes+Love.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>First Comes Love</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">by Kate Kacvinsky</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases on 5/08/12</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like his name, Gray is dark and stormy. Dylan, a girl always searching for what's next, seemingly unable to settle down, is the exact opposite: full of light and life. On the outside, they seem like an unlikely couple. But looks can be deceiving and besides, opposites attract. What starts as friendship, turns into admiration, respect and caring, until finally these two lone souls find they are truly in love with each other. But staying in love is not as easy as falling in love. If Dylan and Gray want their love to last, they're going to have to work at it. And learn that sometimes love means having to say you're sorry.</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJaqbBfFv2q2ZeFT8rudrW7mEi1HV1rfjMsumXohq1acJCVmvSMRe4UeA4bunn8rH-4zicFxohf7jNXFOkxb-yLfXbVu9L1hLWIcDBDCnODVb8YsEG-QaSdde5uZLDjdJKR0WkbWbuhno/s1600/deadlocked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJaqbBfFv2q2ZeFT8rudrW7mEi1HV1rfjMsumXohq1acJCVmvSMRe4UeA4bunn8rH-4zicFxohf7jNXFOkxb-yLfXbVu9L1hLWIcDBDCnODVb8YsEG-QaSdde5uZLDjdJKR0WkbWbuhno/s320/deadlocked.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><strong>Deadlocked</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">by Charlaine Harris</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases on 5/17/12</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard—especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down.</div></blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcac8eo63HCseOTszDQ46BrQVCBtk_OK_pRhEMK1RVogUHMFbcTsghn7gf5jcxp-KdzUkEpNvoowIpqBRH2_kKnwUPHiKluDR3_d9IH_7u5g6ky8rQrPBVXtoX-ghH2Guni0YVAGfCRc/s1600/Of+Poseidon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcac8eo63HCseOTszDQ46BrQVCBtk_OK_pRhEMK1RVogUHMFbcTsghn7gf5jcxp-KdzUkEpNvoowIpqBRH2_kKnwUPHiKluDR3_d9IH_7u5g6ky8rQrPBVXtoX-ghH2Guni0YVAGfCRc/s320/Of+Poseidon.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Of Poseidon</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">by Anna Banks</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases on 5/22/12</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings. </div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-8cyj1QKCgSDkqHP9o-SyP9B9lEIrWowdlJqKAodHAREXCaes6eA0zoTSS48JwdFrYUpQCz9bCQGGfLLegenQbmF4j6Nb2ghHUsWmaT-xZLjls_ygrJ17L3QMnnLdXdiO4U-AjGJPgk/s1600/The+Girl+in+the+Clockwork+Collar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-8cyj1QKCgSDkqHP9o-SyP9B9lEIrWowdlJqKAodHAREXCaes6eA0zoTSS48JwdFrYUpQCz9bCQGGfLLegenQbmF4j6Nb2ghHUsWmaT-xZLjls_ygrJ17L3QMnnLdXdiO4U-AjGJPgk/s320/The+Girl+in+the+Clockwork+Collar.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Girl in the Clockwork Collar</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">by Kady Cross</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Releases on 5/22/12</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling - or dangerous. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him...for the life of the girl Jasper loves. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around Mei's neck tightens. And tightens.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">These are just some of the one's that I'm looking forward to. Which books are you dying to get your hands on?</div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-52326206047562946242012-02-21T10:52:00.000-05:002012-02-21T10:52:34.894-05:00Manic Monday Recaps... on Tuesday (Week 2/20/12)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vgYKyXRFrLG_ljS6KDGaoJ49nxwLCErmxTutjDg-dxQGxKqDhfrmDCWEO9PRT-XjxmjalHwZCLMrYAuyRD9Bpgcs2pR2CTz0ivVPXoNH2htbW1IbXW_Nc0YJW3gYvypxgvTTzJz2ZE4/s1600/03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vgYKyXRFrLG_ljS6KDGaoJ49nxwLCErmxTutjDg-dxQGxKqDhfrmDCWEO9PRT-XjxmjalHwZCLMrYAuyRD9Bpgcs2pR2CTz0ivVPXoNH2htbW1IbXW_Nc0YJW3gYvypxgvTTzJz2ZE4/s320/03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[via </span><a href="http://www.weheartit.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">WeHeartIt</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">]</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Happy Tuesday friends! I took the long weekend off and spent it at <a href="http://www.legoland.com/">Legoland</a> with the kids. We had a fabulous time. Hopefully, I'll find the time to upload some pictures to share with you all. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Here's what I plan on reading this week:</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESgNb3hnbjOlV53kcRZ-tCNMJMZVt6V03Th1cMZ10O9SMq6Ovyob1BXhNucB-oxbiivyQHvmizUXXeD1-adlgszsTSV7bRk78luOY0NAHtYJiYEah6tgMU3CBCJNjog7jqTkbzIcJ2AA/s1600/A+Beautiful+Evil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESgNb3hnbjOlV53kcRZ-tCNMJMZVt6V03Th1cMZ10O9SMq6Ovyob1BXhNucB-oxbiivyQHvmizUXXeD1-adlgszsTSV7bRk78luOY0NAHtYJiYEah6tgMU3CBCJNjog7jqTkbzIcJ2AA/s320/A+Beautiful+Evil.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uBZ5hZiIJVmPcH-hqXwDGJmaW2ZLiX3BiwScoWJpd6qrMlmVNc4j5HX9VCgk8irG6PpcfLbyriIIEEmgfrfPfTxQCBexKxKNDb7Yf4-nBRY-wrS_lxNC1tR-XjopbKVgGvrgd7Sfho8/s1600/Bennett+&+Camilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uBZ5hZiIJVmPcH-hqXwDGJmaW2ZLiX3BiwScoWJpd6qrMlmVNc4j5HX9VCgk8irG6PpcfLbyriIIEEmgfrfPfTxQCBexKxKNDb7Yf4-nBRY-wrS_lxNC1tR-XjopbKVgGvrgd7Sfho8/s320/Bennett+&+Camilla.jpg" width="210" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ps3kD2cCYjJj4fFd4-ekscW2lpPu5z2GyiIRoC3gM1lpAwUr6FGwqGF80IXC7F4uyOm4ATelTxjZb_xOeV23EwJJMMDSsZvaNcGGnQdf-S1fY2HNtkkVDHukz8eERMlKEHNGKtsj9sQ/s1600/Gilly+Salt+Sisters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ps3kD2cCYjJj4fFd4-ekscW2lpPu5z2GyiIRoC3gM1lpAwUr6FGwqGF80IXC7F4uyOm4ATelTxjZb_xOeV23EwJJMMDSsZvaNcGGnQdf-S1fY2HNtkkVDHukz8eERMlKEHNGKtsj9sQ/s320/Gilly+Salt+Sisters.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6irC8kbBL_Ora3x0MRFa80BkxRW3pLGV60Hl9V9tC2w_Ocbnx7IUurk7_ePv-vJJHUPO29TynL0ZkxtSBD9wxV9N5P5edsi5jRLwn_xRSWy410xukL-oujspKFdrRtrQZxxn4l2_20og/s1600/Fever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6irC8kbBL_Ora3x0MRFa80BkxRW3pLGV60Hl9V9tC2w_Ocbnx7IUurk7_ePv-vJJHUPO29TynL0ZkxtSBD9wxV9N5P5edsi5jRLwn_xRSWy410xukL-oujspKFdrRtrQZxxn4l2_20og/s320/Fever.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;"><strong>Here's what I read last week:</strong></div>- On the Day I Died by Candace Fleming<br />
- Between the Duke and the Deep Blue Sea by Sophia Nash <br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I reviewed the following:</span></span> <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">- Ripple by Mandy Hubbard [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/ripple-by-mandy-hubbard.html">review</a>] </div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Dead to You by Lisa McMann [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/dead-to-you-by-lisa-mcmann.html">review</a>] </div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar.html">review</a>] </div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Graveminder by Melissa Marr [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/graveminder-by-melissa-marr.html">review</a>] </div><div style="text-align: justify;">- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/discovery-of-witches-by-deborah.html">review</a>] </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Have a great week friends. Happy Reading!</div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-80079016301144578712012-02-17T08:46:00.000-05:002012-02-17T08:46:56.098-05:00A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQ-X7pSibDpcC_LjgHNAXq7IK6waXvede2tSO0N9-NBGm_c_1Ko4tEhjRPXueny1tRIIBo4jXGHBrw7zpe82sxGn32hgqbvRPpTA41jZ4EyLZKALqK_U5agWfgpJz7OA8dZdH4rNzPg4/s1600/A+Discovery+of+Witches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQ-X7pSibDpcC_LjgHNAXq7IK6waXvede2tSO0N9-NBGm_c_1Ko4tEhjRPXueny1tRIIBo4jXGHBrw7zpe82sxGn32hgqbvRPpTA41jZ4EyLZKALqK_U5agWfgpJz7OA8dZdH4rNzPg4/s320/A+Discovery+of+Witches.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Witches-Novel-Souls-Trilogy/dp/0143119680/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329100825&sr=1-1">A Discovery of Witches</a><br />
Author: Deborah Harkness<br />
Pages: 579<br />
Genre: Adult Fiction / Paranormal<br />
Source: Purchased<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span id="freeText3582664461595839787">A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. </span><br />
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Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell. </span><br />
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Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the "Twilight" series-with an extra serving of historical realism. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</span></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While studying at the Bodlein Library in Oxford, Diana Bishop calls up the manuscript Ashmole 782. Little did she know how something as simple as that would change her life. She was born a witch but she refuses to have anything to do with magic. Suddenly Diana finds herself in the sights of witches, daemons, and even vampires. Or, should I say, one swoon-worthy vampire. When she finds herself being chased and even threatened by those who believe she knows the secrets of Ashmole 782, she'll find herself even more threatened by one vampire who may want more from her than just the contents of the manuscript.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the book itself is rather long (over 500 pages), the story felt anything but that. I was intrigued by its characters, the witches, vampires, daemons, the mystery of Ashmole 782, and especially, the romance between Matthew and Diana. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a fan of paranormal romance, I think A Discovery of Witches is one of the best. Diana is a strong, independent character and you can't help but love reading about how her perfect life gets turned upside down. There was so much depth and individuality to all the characters that you meet that you instantly feel connected to many of them. In spite of the paranormal aspects, they were very believable. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While I did have some trouble half way through the story, I thought the research aspects were just a little overdone and wordy, I still found it to be <span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer142163772"><span id="freeTextContainer17881388539473655495">a beautifully written novel delving into both history and the supernatural. </span></span>I can see where some have compared it to an adult Twilight - but I also found it like Diana Gabaldon's epic <a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2009/02/outlander-by-diana-gabaldon.html">Outlander</a>. In the end, I'd say it has a lot of both of these and fans of these types of novels will devour this one. Masterfully told - I cannot wait for the next installment in the trilogy.</div><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer142163772"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer142163772"><span id="freeTextContainer17881388539473655495">My Rating:</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyRZg7CUJsnGJB0fqeRrDIMBTioUpB1oFQ7fwTq-DMLjaOCuX8K10jORBIac14XLFaai3tgUZHOORv_paW1R1G-19vjL5L2wcSijjQx5grnRRYuenrnoL5f4iSH5gp3b_ClZX1KnVSdM/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyRZg7CUJsnGJB0fqeRrDIMBTioUpB1oFQ7fwTq-DMLjaOCuX8K10jORBIac14XLFaai3tgUZHOORv_paW1R1G-19vjL5L2wcSijjQx5grnRRYuenrnoL5f4iSH5gp3b_ClZX1KnVSdM/s320/5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer142163772"><span id="freeTextContainer17881388539473655495"><br />
</span></span>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-34255814747418946132012-02-16T10:16:00.000-05:002012-02-16T10:16:23.896-05:00Graveminder by Melissa Marr<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EaQo_SK3fpMScW0BH7dWiyotC2Ru0VZ3ho2IUB0HwBvVLwVKr3QohFwS6uNcEtkMV7QdETrvF0o1vcYpPW_kXAfdAzIU7PYtSH2lzUImPmsFX4dsKV4M2a_EFX0Av-7qwgOXolfM6lM/s1600/Graveminder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EaQo_SK3fpMScW0BH7dWiyotC2Ru0VZ3ho2IUB0HwBvVLwVKr3QohFwS6uNcEtkMV7QdETrvF0o1vcYpPW_kXAfdAzIU7PYtSH2lzUImPmsFX4dsKV4M2a_EFX0Av-7qwgOXolfM6lM/s320/Graveminder.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Graveminder-Melissa-Marr/dp/0062115162/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329095871&sr=1-1">Graveminder</a><br />
Author: Melissa Marr<br />
Pages: 324<br />
Genre: Urban Fantasy<br />
Source: Purchased<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">Melissa Marr is known to young adult readers as the author of the popular faery series Wicked Lovely. Her debut leap into adult fiction lands her in the small community of Claysville, a town where the dead walk free unless their graves are not properly tended. Into this eerie maelstrom, Rebekkah Barrow descends as she returns to a place that she once believed she knew. Kelley Armstrong justly described Graveminder as "a deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined." A new genre author to watch. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</span></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555"></span><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer141588238"><span id="freeText17337115527776050612">In 1712, Abigail Barrows unknowingly opens a gateway into the land of the dead. With no other choice, she unwittingly signs a contract with Death in order to bring the deceased back to where they belong. Abigail was the first Graveminder who ensured the dead were taken care of, and if they should rise, it was her responsibility to escort them back to the land of the dead. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer141588238"><span id="freeText17337115527776050612">The Undertaker helps the Graveminder to bring the dead back while protecting her at all times. Through the years, the position of Graveminder and/or Undertaker has been passed down to someone in either the Barrows or Montgomerry families. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer141588238"><span id="freeText17337115527776050612">Due to their important positions as Graveminder and Undertaker, the townspeople of Claysville have also agreed to the contract with Death. Because of this, they have been granted longevity and near perfect health. Since the contract was agreed so many years ago, no one is quite sure what it says, but they do know that anyone who is born in Claysville can leave, but they will always return. And should they die outside the town they will rise from the dead.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer141588238"><span id="freeText17337115527776050612">Rebekkah Barrow has just become the newest Graveminder after</span></span><span id="freeText9572732603811798555"> the passing of her beloved grandmother Maylene. She has recently returned to Claysville after being away for some time and has just reunited with her long lost love, Byron Montgomerry - whom surprisingly has just acquired the position of Undertaker. When one of the dead begins to wreak havoc in the town, it will be up to them to save not only themselves, but the townspeople.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">This is Ms. Marr's attempt at adult fiction - or urban fantasy as I like to call it. I found it a little disconcerting that it is a third person narrative - and, to make it worse, there were varying points of view chapters too. Once I got over the confusion though, I did not have a hard time grasping who was who and what was what. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">For some reason, I had trouble liking most of the characters in this novel. I especially did not see eye to eye with Rebekkah - she fit in more in one of Ms. Marr's young adult novels than she did in this one. Byron was okay - yet forgettable. Although he was more likeable then Rebekkah, he was still nothing to write home about. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">I found the story very predictable. While I enjoyed the parts that took place in the land of the dead - these areas were much more vivid and the characters were superbly interesting, yet these good moments were not enough to overlook the others that weren't so good. The "rising dead" had a zombie feel to them - they rose from their graves and bit people - yet they specifically note that they are not zombies. Since I was always a step ahead of the characters and the mystery the story felt long and uninteresting. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">The best part of all, it (so far) seems to be a stand-alone. We don't get many of these lately - so that gives it extra kudos in my book. All in all, I found this one to be more on the weird side than anything else. It was okay - but not something I'd recommend (at least, not in the foreseeable future). </span></div><span id="freeText9572732603811798555"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span id="freeText9572732603811798555">My Rating:</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZssM6t8ZMrPCO83-eRzmC03dGkE0993rksO5uzSn-Ddu0c6ocgb2ppeoZqVMr2bjOM2-yoLg4BXk5-yLbIcnZattsIeb2sl0rUw9_p-krwXlYjwYOv6MbKUeu1n7mTL3NCy5L60V79eQ/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZssM6t8ZMrPCO83-eRzmC03dGkE0993rksO5uzSn-Ddu0c6ocgb2ppeoZqVMr2bjOM2-yoLg4BXk5-yLbIcnZattsIeb2sl0rUw9_p-krwXlYjwYOv6MbKUeu1n7mTL3NCy5L60V79eQ/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-38282660138794791532012-02-15T08:45:00.000-05:002012-02-15T08:45:19.462-05:00Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCckndflTlbZOCRZHnHKio-oYshhI9bMyFbAi7e3Tbp8cSoeQyUeTASWrSmPSrEudcRo9QWWSOS6wrk_12-G7tJS8NOnGN0bsPODF1-PXPT1i_v7nyMg6b2AVVqbH5PGjQu8oFeCZgmA/s1600/Miss+Peregrines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCckndflTlbZOCRZHnHKio-oYshhI9bMyFbAi7e3Tbp8cSoeQyUeTASWrSmPSrEudcRo9QWWSOS6wrk_12-G7tJS8NOnGN0bsPODF1-PXPT1i_v7nyMg6b2AVVqbH5PGjQu8oFeCZgmA/s400/Miss+Peregrines.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Peregrines-Home-Peculiar-Children/dp/1594744769/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328486433&sr=1-1">Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children</a><br />
Author: Ransom Riggs<br />
Pages: 352<br />
Genre: YA/ Fantasy<br />
Source: Purchased<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">A mysterious island.<br />
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An abandoned orphanage.<br />
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A strange collection of very curious photographs.<br />
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It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.<br />
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A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was peculiar... to say the least.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Young Jacob knows there is some truth to his grandfather's tales of growing up in an orphanage where children with certain abilities could grow up safe from harm - when on the day of his grandfather's murder Jacob sees a monster standing over his grandfather's lifeless body. Could the stories of these children with certain pecularities be real? Jacob never thought so. He was always thrilled to hear his grandfather's tales but never thought they were anything other than stories told with plenty of exageration and enough flare to peek the interest of a child. Obviously no one believes, his version of his grandfather's death but with the help of his therapist, he is able to convince his parents that a trip to the island that housed his grandfather's orphanage, the infamous Miss Peregrine and children with super powers might be the only way to preserve his sanity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jacob was a wonderful protagonist. He was such an insightful and depth-full young man. The mystery surrounding his grandfather's death, the orphanage and its inhabitants really made for a fascinating, odd, and sometimes creepy story. My only concern was that Jacob had the voice of an adult and not so much that of a teenager. I also felt that the author was a bit wordy in his descriptions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But I must confess, my favorite part of all were the creepy, vintage photographs scattered throughout the story.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvmiDwaugXQUePR4BGtsqTk024b_rKNQ_6bzp0mbqxGKhR4kOHyH3I65D8jMMGFmDJ5iRMo1viGpSdnFlr-whe1DuGY9-aM1ZrKN0CmgxAyWfaVLeQ-SvWt0INkQAy8ExfmN8Qgrx-vw/s1600/MPHFPC+f.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvmiDwaugXQUePR4BGtsqTk024b_rKNQ_6bzp0mbqxGKhR4kOHyH3I65D8jMMGFmDJ5iRMo1viGpSdnFlr-whe1DuGY9-aM1ZrKN0CmgxAyWfaVLeQ-SvWt0INkQAy8ExfmN8Qgrx-vw/s320/MPHFPC+f.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e4rbauNQQOhjdKWTwRFSBR-cbSKQh2gUXSiGAr-CykXAuh5jfZnkZqWNNL2uxaM4zk6TYu3stk6ClM_IXm09aTIAphw9UEYRpNPBfrzj3oqGQWrM6D5zEjPRkR_cpph_YeZ2NAWDphs/s1600/MPHFPC+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e4rbauNQQOhjdKWTwRFSBR-cbSKQh2gUXSiGAr-CykXAuh5jfZnkZqWNNL2uxaM4zk6TYu3stk6ClM_IXm09aTIAphw9UEYRpNPBfrzj3oqGQWrM6D5zEjPRkR_cpph_YeZ2NAWDphs/s320/MPHFPC+c.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5n9ZE-lAeAnnuDPu0OgDJmZuV-NXq1CxVd2PcPuMkJUIodywfpLkZMPx7EqtFVFvCorzpJz3aY70LQYO-FJrz4PGouo4CYXY6v1Fa4Mo2GeiSbAf-cGeY_38zK0kI6UYvk-1kQfV9j8/s1600/MPHFPC+e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5n9ZE-lAeAnnuDPu0OgDJmZuV-NXq1CxVd2PcPuMkJUIodywfpLkZMPx7EqtFVFvCorzpJz3aY70LQYO-FJrz4PGouo4CYXY6v1Fa4Mo2GeiSbAf-cGeY_38zK0kI6UYvk-1kQfV9j8/s320/MPHFPC+e.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38ay8rOHv5bBHJ8EU8EcZZZSDECR4HJ4PlVe6TZoqxcMk-OgcUH0H_dGU2KUzhc3r5fgRATouYO2DLRvKJiC3I6WnWwWFfLaPY8f76AxNgzahO7KCKBWzGQTTvSWff5v87UlPKxZgugM/s1600/MPHFPC+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38ay8rOHv5bBHJ8EU8EcZZZSDECR4HJ4PlVe6TZoqxcMk-OgcUH0H_dGU2KUzhc3r5fgRATouYO2DLRvKJiC3I6WnWwWFfLaPY8f76AxNgzahO7KCKBWzGQTTvSWff5v87UlPKxZgugM/s320/MPHFPC+b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">From what I read, these are authentic and unaltered photographs that<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer265202705"><span id="freeText13444949321911462993"> blend seamlessly with the narrative to create an exciting and refreshingly unique fantasy.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all, I was captivated by the first chapters of this story. It had a very strong start, a not-so-great middle, and then the storyline grabs hold of you and spits you out at the end looking forward to more. So beware the slow start, but try to persevere, as I promise the climax will be an explosive one. Eerily fantastic!</div> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>My Rating:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-12339853533963265182012-02-14T12:35:00.000-05:002012-02-14T12:35:54.669-05:00Dead to You by Lisa McMann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pS9upX1azfpUCD-vjYIvJNC9e1WkGVjnIXtvnv5w-fYWP7bUKitvtZ4Qnv08Kd93ssdvHfWgUl5cxGBR5IInV2YAPUEJCVPI_sfuSSxhem8TFez8oQIdaENTp3Nk7dkYiAdsEXq9vO8/s1600/Dead+to+You.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pS9upX1azfpUCD-vjYIvJNC9e1WkGVjnIXtvnv5w-fYWP7bUKitvtZ4Qnv08Kd93ssdvHfWgUl5cxGBR5IInV2YAPUEJCVPI_sfuSSxhem8TFez8oQIdaENTp3Nk7dkYiAdsEXq9vO8/s320/Dead+to+You.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-You-Lisa-McMann/dp/1442403888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329094154&sr=8-1">Dead to You</a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Stolen-Christy-Ottaviano-Books/dp/0805090053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302118788&sr=8-1"></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Author: Lisa McMann</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pages: 243</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Genre: YA/ Teen</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Amazon Vine Program<span id="freeText17666745998444847550"></span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText14581151901495534955">Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together. But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable... [via <a href="http://www,goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText14581151901495534955"></span><span id="freeText14581151901495534955">Nine years ago, seven year-old Ethan was abducted while playing in his front yard and he has finally been reunited with his family. While the family tries to make everything as "normal" as possible for Ethan, the fact that he's been gone for nine years makes it hard on everyone. Not to mention Ethan's memory loss of anything prior to his abduction doesn't really help either.</span><br />
<span id="freeText14581151901495534955"></span><br />
<span id="freeText14581151901495534955">I found it hard to really like anyone in this story. Ethan has not had an easy time growing up. He lived with his abductor for some years, and then she just ups and drops him off at a childrens' home which he eventually runs away from and ends up living in the streets. I get that life hasn't been peachy for him, but he just ends up being too rough and sarcastic for me to actually like. His parents, although they may be trying hard to have him fit in, didn't try hard enough for me and his younger brother, Blake, feels that Ethan isn't even the real Ethan but an imposter trying to impersonate him. If anything, my favorite of the characters was Ethan's six year-old sister Grace, whom he calls the "replacement child" since she was born a year after his abduction.</span><br />
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<span id="freeText14581151901495534955">The mystery of Ethan made it a quick read. The chapters flew by as the intrigue of whether or not Ethan was... well Ethan, made for a fast paced read. But the ending killed it for me. I hate shocker endings that leave you with more questions than answers and, sadly, Dead to You has one of those frustrating endings that I just could not overlook. I felt as if my book were missing a couple of chapters at the end. </span><br />
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<span id="freeText14581151901495534955">I'm not sure if Ms. McMann will be writing a sequel to Dead to You and, if she does, I can't honestly say if I'd even bother to read it. While I would like to know more about Ethan and what happens after Dead to You's shocking ending, I can't say I liked him enough to really want to know more.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeText14581151901495534955"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span id="freeText14581151901495534955">My Rating:</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Cx8u9L_E_qQMAiNSLVzfNzG9oZ9MYziXc9zDdfReSsCpDmMiymhrw9GgcWqUjh6Kc_trMPLSV2Ng7oSF4Qal661IxkBwtWEf3N7e-dUQITWwjQ92C_4JWu5gNnLgAl_lIBK-x5bJO6I/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Cx8u9L_E_qQMAiNSLVzfNzG9oZ9MYziXc9zDdfReSsCpDmMiymhrw9GgcWqUjh6Kc_trMPLSV2Ng7oSF4Qal661IxkBwtWEf3N7e-dUQITWwjQ92C_4JWu5gNnLgAl_lIBK-x5bJO6I/s1600/3.jpg" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-62132201552272355312012-02-14T08:39:00.001-05:002012-02-14T08:39:50.061-05:00Wishing you a...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2jYOvWM20-MvKovo0oq4IsF7dGbeF69F_CfIKKC_XfsUan9W6JYZ0dZVkwY-W7BgLFQe0J818ZA-fsNrP-xpXKBJu0KGIIxdF6ee5NlrEYYlua8l6u2B808ra-9sXVeyW_NWG0sJDM8/s1600/Happy+V+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2jYOvWM20-MvKovo0oq4IsF7dGbeF69F_CfIKKC_XfsUan9W6JYZ0dZVkwY-W7BgLFQe0J818ZA-fsNrP-xpXKBJu0KGIIxdF6ee5NlrEYYlua8l6u2B808ra-9sXVeyW_NWG0sJDM8/s400/Happy+V+Day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-59913632684523049962012-02-13T11:18:00.000-05:002012-02-13T11:18:37.765-05:00Ripple by Mandy Hubbard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOxAYD10xzxiPAjPSfSAa2P07gJDjWQpBMvIIu70M38uzsqV_dYPxcSv1Ff6QzkJY_FZtuqZ4RkaO5p8jN3QFIbpmPGHBSFUDqrSLcIfVenZJmLuNAtZ37wlK4N0b9g-vQBavcHp70iY/s1600/Ripple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOxAYD10xzxiPAjPSfSAa2P07gJDjWQpBMvIIu70M38uzsqV_dYPxcSv1Ff6QzkJY_FZtuqZ4RkaO5p8jN3QFIbpmPGHBSFUDqrSLcIfVenZJmLuNAtZ37wlK4N0b9g-vQBavcHp70iY/s320/Ripple.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Title: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Mandy-Hubbard/dp/1595144234/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328540876&sr=1-1">Ripple</a><br />
Author: Mandy Hubbard<br />
Pages: 260<br />
Genre: YA/ Paranormal<br />
Source: Purchased<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. The water calls to her, draws her in, forces her to sing her deadly song to unsuspecting victims. If she succumbs, she kills. If she doesn't, the pain is unbearable. To keep herself and those she cares about safe, she shuts herself off, refusing to make friends or fall in love-again. Because the last time she fell in love with a boy, he ended up dead.<br />
<br />
Then Lexi finds herself torn. Against her better judgement, she's opening up again, falling in love with someone new when she knows she shouldn't. But when she's offered the chance to finally live a normal life, she learns that the price she must pay to be free or her curse is giving him up. [via <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>]</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lexi is cursed to kill anyone near her when she's swimming in her true form as a siren. Oh yea, did you think this was a mermaid book too? Nope, and I promise you'll figure that out a few pages into the book so I'm not giving anything away. After accidentally killing her first love, Lexi refuses to swim in the ocean, instead she's exiled herself to swim every night in a tiny lake far away from home and from anyone finding her - causing their accidental murder. Not only has she exiled herself to swim so far from home but she has also alienated herself from her friends and even her grandmother. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As an outcast, she's found a daily routine - she goes to school, spends the day ignoring her old friends or being ignored or mocked by them, after school she goes home to her grandmother, then when everyone is asleep, she makes her way to her lake where she either swims the night away, or not, and instead wakes up the next morning suffering the consequences. Everything is uneventful, until the day that Cole makes ripples in her life with promises of renewed friendships and love. But how can someone cursed find happiness?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ripple was not what I expected it to be... and that's a good thing. Ms. Hubbard's tale was much darker than I thought it would be. As crazy as it may sound, Lexi was a relateable character (you know, aside from the whole siren thing). Her struggles and turmoils were believable and her need to just be normal was strongly felt. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cole comes across as a sweet young man - one, with no ulterior motive in befriending Lexi other than to be nice. I wish we would've gotten to know him a little better. He didn't feel as fleshed out as Lexi did... nor, for that matter, did any other character in the novel. I wish I would've fallen for him as I do for other characters but, nonetheless, their love story was a sweet one. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm really enjoying these different sides of paranormal - for sirens aren't part of the normal stories I tend to read about. All in all, a simple and quick read, with some suspense and a light romance.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>My Rating:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUkzIaJ-3cJQi-8JsCG4HCL2WAygcTbF5R7pa48lDgLpqg6H5r3CvWGQS4tf41ERLDkgblOtA14NFIEJO-ofIv34bkyWRsigAJoR6Ng8JKjPrfIZWe5vhBNFS58dYFqYBzdWqzazLJhEk/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7054084906488474558.post-11072294350960825972012-02-13T08:22:00.000-05:002012-02-13T08:22:37.480-05:00Manic Monday Recaps (Week 2/13/12)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EJkQwNEDD4vMkki-DZ2W0kfqjhVTC3FT7kgzLRjMxh9mnSBLUfOTScdurFA8DeX87D4OrHrvjb5gYJGr2b6QzNXkOt6bLIU_yFXBTel5leRx9z9qPvk6KQ3mfo-tRX6CSuuF7TBYcrY/s1600/CutestFood_com_tumblr_lgjfdd2jcg1qa5cmuo1_500_large1_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EJkQwNEDD4vMkki-DZ2W0kfqjhVTC3FT7kgzLRjMxh9mnSBLUfOTScdurFA8DeX87D4OrHrvjb5gYJGr2b6QzNXkOt6bLIU_yFXBTel5leRx9z9qPvk6KQ3mfo-tRX6CSuuF7TBYcrY/s320/CutestFood_com_tumblr_lgjfdd2jcg1qa5cmuo1_500_large1_large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[via <a href="http://www,weheartit.com/">WeHeartIt</a>]</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Happy Monday friends! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I sure did. Although it was super nippy this weekend here in Florida (somewhere in the 40's), we spent our Saturday night out in an open-air stadium watching Monster Jam (you know, those famous monster trucks crashing and jumping over much smaller vehicles) - with my family. Needless to say, my four year old son LOVED it! Aside from that, not much excitement on my end.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here's what I plan </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">on reading thi</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">s week:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3qgqQXboeaVMzf3mmkExLSOrgf10SRGVoHFRLONc0y10kXrj63Of1y8Sxwt6Krv6obsMehmmcUU_ZdgoMXC6AIge-6D8XRatOgSlslOVzASqOobSDoFgpz7nFxUsUDolwe2BKLNHU_0/s1600/On+the+Day+I+Died.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3qgqQXboeaVMzf3mmkExLSOrgf10SRGVoHFRLONc0y10kXrj63Of1y8Sxwt6Krv6obsMehmmcUU_ZdgoMXC6AIge-6D8XRatOgSlslOVzASqOobSDoFgpz7nFxUsUDolwe2BKLNHU_0/s320/On+the+Day+I+Died.jpg" width="210" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkdaub_P3CNJcDcPIQfuH-NEWbzdByG__85_TiZJNZeBW915gtxmhadAgfLW6zJc3TqsgnV_iq8CMOVyyjUiFieKDVHD4oF1AAU_SDfiJRdAtBZeyb-CWGc3RePG4zt1MXtzk3f7DkRw/s1600/Cinder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkdaub_P3CNJcDcPIQfuH-NEWbzdByG__85_TiZJNZeBW915gtxmhadAgfLW6zJc3TqsgnV_iq8CMOVyyjUiFieKDVHD4oF1AAU_SDfiJRdAtBZeyb-CWGc3RePG4zt1MXtzk3f7DkRw/s320/Cinder.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfOSxLp_VMlImW5hyfsQNDpg4-dXU_0DU_L2L758XO6bvwEfC2sIxZfRpfIhtR999KSon0yWipkOVVN-DJf5eNmD-IaDiI5fXNdnP6Rpzqo-RLdJoA_YXprBEz4aWcYbDUo2-xz2rL8/s1600/Between+the+Duke+and+the+Deep+Blue+Sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLfOSxLp_VMlImW5hyfsQNDpg4-dXU_0DU_L2L758XO6bvwEfC2sIxZfRpfIhtR999KSon0yWipkOVVN-DJf5eNmD-IaDiI5fXNdnP6Rpzqo-RLdJoA_YXprBEz4aWcYbDUo2-xz2rL8/s320/Between+the+Duke+and+the+Deep+Blue+Sea.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here's what I read last week:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box by Mira Grant</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Dreamless by Josephine Angelini</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Deadline by Mira Grant</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Tempest by Julie Cross<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I reviewed the following:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/rogue-by-any-other-name-by-sarah.html">review</a>] </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/goddess-interrupted-by-aimee-carter.html">review</a>]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- The Girl in the Steel Corset / The Strange Case of Finley Jayne [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/girl-in-steel-corset-strange-case-of.html">review</a>]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Fever: 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/fever-1793-by-laurie-halse-anderson.html">review</a>]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">- Dreamland by Alyson Noel [<a href="http://bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/dreamland-by-alyson-noel.html">review</a>]<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Have a great week friends. Happy Reading!</div>Nelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14571077334972520535noreply@blogger.com1