Thursday, May 31, 2012

Follow Me Friday (#35)




This is the day of the week where we get to know each other better by answering a question devised by our lovely hostesses Parajunkee & Alisoncanread. We also gain new followers by joining each other's sites via GFC, so please let me know if you're a new follower. And now for this week's question....
Q.  You are a matchmaker- your goal, hook up two characters from two of your favorite books.  Who would it be?  How do you think it will go? 
Well I looked through all my books that I've read on my goodreads list and honestly I have always loved Waldo from Where's Waldo!!  So I have decided to hook him up with Carmen Sandiego!  And then when I looked on the internet for pictures there were tons!!  So I am not the only one who has thought of this before!!  I found a lot of great pics... so just bare with me.  I posted them all!!







 What couples do you want to see together??? ?? ?

Garden Party at Book Journey

Today is the Garden Party over at the Book Journey !  I have been waiting a while for this.. we are discussing the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and there are even some giveaways!!  Head over and discuss the book with us! 


Here is the Link!



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And here is my review of The Secret Garden .

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Merging Two pics into one JPEG.. HELP me computer geeks!

Hello fellow bloggers. I have been trying to figure out how to get two pictures into one jpeg.  I see it all the time especially on tumblr but just can't seem to do it.  I have a MacBook Pro and I don't have Photoshop (too expensive).  Does anyone have any advice?  I really want to use it so when I post two book covers they line up correctly here on blogger.  Thanks for any help you can give me!


Fever by Lauren DeStephano Review

 

I finally got this book from the library.  I wanted to read it because my Young Adult Book Club picked Wither a few months ago and I am tired of not finishing series.  So I am making more of an effort to finish them.  Here is the goodreads description:



Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind. Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness. The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary. In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

I liked this book. I thought it was a good follow up to Wither. The book kept moving along nicely. New characters, new environments. I love the covers for these two books (Wither and Fever)which is what drew me to these books in the first place.  One thing I like about Fever is that it answers a lot of questions I had from Wither.  My book club discussed all the issues with Wither here if you want to read more about what other people though.  I had such issues with how Rhine talked to Linden and wouldn't tell him what's really going on and she finally does in this book.  THANK YOU!

Spoiler to come:  One thing I didn't like about this book was that we journey all the way to NY and finally get there and then at the end of the book BOOM we are back in the mansion!  WHAT!!! That made it seem like to me that whole journey in this book was a waste of time.  I also feel like I still haven't been able to really get to know Gabriel.  His character really falls flat to me.  I just don't really like him yet.  I love the housemaster though.. Vaughn.  He is a great villain! End spoilers

After reading this book I will for sure move onto book 3. I want to know what happens at the end of Rhine's journey and what happens to the world! Looks like the next book is called Sever and doesn't come out for a whole year!!  Maybe for once in my life I can get my hands on an ARC!!  I can always dream!!

Here is my review of Wither .
Here is my review of Sever.






Monday, May 28, 2012

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore Review



I have been waiting sooooo long for this book!!!  I finally got my hands on it.  Here is the goodreads description:

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.
I love revisiting the world that Cashore has created. And I really loved the little illustrations in this book. The maps... and the section pictures. This story is extremely long though. I was very surprised how long it was. There was way too much going on. Sometimes I was confused.

I know that this book is supposed to be able to be read as a stand alone but I would not recommend that.  You should for sure read the other books first.  I just feel like the reader will lose some of who's who if they skip the other two.  Also... it had been soooo long since I read Graceling and Fire that I had forgotten a lot about what happened in those books and had to wikipedia them.

This book goes in depth about figuring out Leck and what he did to his people.  But I hated how much Bitterblue was pushing everyone.  She would not let up!!  Eventually we are introduced to one of my most favorite characters Death and his cat.  I really loved him.  The covers for this series are beautiful!!  I am having trouble getting the pics next to each other.  I have been trying to find a program out there that can put several pictures into one JPEG.  Can anyone help me??









I gave the book 3 cats... would've been more but it was so long and drawn out and there was mystery after mystery.  It just got nuts!!! 
 


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Feature Bookcase (my mom's)

So I am always applying to other blogs trying to be the feature bookcase... and then never hear back so I decided to do my own!  Here is my mom's bookcase.  We have always had books in my house growing up... then when my parents bought their current house they got this fabulous bookcase built in!  I know live in another state but when I come home for a visit I know I can always find a book!!  The bottom cupboards are full of paperbacks.  The bottom bookcase that you see if in their office.  It has their record collection on the bottom!



Do you have a picture of your bookcase on your blog?  If so post the link I would love to stop by and visit.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Looking for someone to read a YA Book With?

Looking for someone to read a young adult book with and discuss??  Come on by the YA Book Club.   We are currently voting for our July book club pick so come and vote and then join along!



Friday, May 18, 2012

Follow Me Friday (#34)




This is the day of the week where we get to know each other better by answering a question devised by our lovely hostesses Parajunkee & Alisoncanread. We also gain new followers by joining each other's sites via GFC, so please let me know if you're a new follower since I automatically follow back. And now for this week's question....
  
Q. Summer Vacation is upon us. What would be the perfect vacation spot for you to catch up on your reading and relax?

A.  Wow... well for me it would be outdoors.  Like Yellowstone or fishing/camping somewhere.  In fact, I am going to Yellowstone in 2013.  Yea I know it's a long time out... but you have to make reservations a year out.  We made reservations for Yellowstone Sept 2013 last week.  The reservations for 2013 opened on May 1st and by May 9th Sept 12 2013 was already BOOKED up!!  WOW!  We got all the other dates we wanted though.  I can't wait to get up there and read some great books!! 

Now I just need some recommendations on good books that help visitors navigate the Yellowstone Park... any suggestions???  
 
 

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King-Review

 

I just love King and his series the Dark Tower so when I found out there was a new book of course I picked it up.  Also it was this month's pick for my group Stephen King Fans on goodreads. Here is the description from that site:

In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past. In his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death, Roland is sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a “skin-man” preying upon the population around Debaria. Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, the brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Only a teenager himself, Roland calms the boy and prepares him for the following day’s trials by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother often read to him at bedtime. “A person’s never too old for stories,” Roland says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, never too old. We live for them.” And indeed, the tale that Roland unfolds, the legend of Tim Stoutheart, is a timeless treasure for all ages, a story that lives for us. King began the Dark Tower series in 1974; it gained momentum in the 1980s; and he brought it to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004. The Wind Through the Keyhole is sure to fascinate avid fans of the Dark Tower epic. But this novel also stands on its own for all readers, an enchanting and haunting journey to Roland’s world and testimony to the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magic.

Well... I must say this was a good book. But it is not really about Roland and the Ka-tet that we thought we were going to read about. Which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. This is a story within a story within a story. Yeah you read that right. Roland tells a story of his youth, and then his youth self tells a story. Personally I think the book is more about Randal Flagg. For those of you who keep up with King you will know who that is since he appears in many of King's books.

To me this is not a Dark Tower book.... it is sold as one but it is a story all it's own.  Makes me wonder if perhaps there will be some sort of Dark Tower spinoff based off this other character introduced in this book named Tim?  I kinda hope so.  I really wish I liked audio books... Stephen King is the actual narrator of the audio version so I am dying to hear HIM read it!!  Here is a pic of him recording it:

I am a little disappointed this Dark Tower book wasn't illustrated.   All the other ones I bought in hardback were and this one would only be illustrated if you spent $100 some dollars on the book.   But I scoured the internet and found some of the pictures from the illustrated version and they are beautiful!








Read this book Dark Tower fans... you will not regret it!