What's Next (1)

Here's how it works (for those of you who want to participate): -Every Thursday,  select three-five books (not too many, not too little!) that you want to read but can't decide which one to read first. -Post the cover, and if you want, the synopsis or even a random line from the book, for each of your selections. -At the end of your post, ask readers to vote on which one you should read next! Even if you don't end up reading your readers' top choice, you'll know what the majority is excited for. So who's up for it? Be sure to grab a button and link up your posts. And leave me a comment telling me what you think! This is hosted by Icey Books!


OK so I am going to list the 4 books I plan on reading for the read-a-thon I am doing next week with bout of books.   I am very excited about it since it will be my first read-a-thon.  So here they are:

Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence. What happens if we change history? The author explores this question in the novel, weaving an historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting—a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

New soul Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why. No soul Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame? Heart Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all? Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life. 

For 500 years, the Cahills have been the most powerful family in the world. For 500 years, they've protected the source of their power - the 39 Clues. And for 500 years, they've kept their secrets silent. Until now. This extraordinary stand-alone novel cracks open the Cahill vault to tell the story of the most coveted piece of artwork in the world, a masterpiece that has been the target of seven separate theft attempts: Jan van Eyck’s altarpiece at Ghent. OPERATION TRINITY chronicles the first Vesper attack on the altarpiece in the 1600s, then jumps to WWII and young Grace Cahill’s desperate bid to save the masterwork from the Nazis. The final piece of the novel tells the story of Ian and Natalie Kabra’s first solo operation and features an 11th hour appearance by Grace Cahill on her final mission. History will never be the same.

So, what do you think, which one of these novels I should read next? Have you read any of these & did you enjoy it? Leave me a comment & help me decide!

Bout of Books 5.0 Goals & Updates

 

 

I am going to participate for the first time in a read-a-thon.  I really need to get caught up on some books and when I saw others participating in it I knew it was perfect for me.  If anyone has done it before and has some advice let me know!! I would love to get any tips!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 13th and runs through Sunday, August 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 5.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. -From the Bout of Books 5.0 team

Don't forget to use the #boutofbooks hashtag when updating on Twitter and follow boutofbooks.
I will be updating my progress here and on my my twitter page.

Time Devoted to Reading

I will be reading 4 hours a day/during the week/ not exactly sure how much reading I will get in on the weekend.

My Goals  

Well this is my first read-a-thon. I always see people participating in them and thought you had to read for like 24 hours and what not. And I am really not into doing that. I stop paying attention to the book if I get too tired. So I think this read-a-thon is perfect!!  I'd like to read four books.  I want to participate in everything!  The twitter chats, the blog posts, contests, everything!! 


Books to Read

 

   Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Name of book:  Operation Trinity
Total number of books I've read: 1
Number of hours read: 2 1/2 (I was a lot more busy today then I planed.  At 2 pm I went upstairs to read decided to take a nap and slept THREE hours!! What is that about???) 
What else I did:  Review for Operation Trinity, participated in the twitter chat (hope my non-book reading friends don't unfollow me on twitter because of all my posts), I thought it was pretty cool that #boutofbooks actually trended on twitter and I helped make it happen!!!,  I also am going to just update this older post instead of posting yet ANOTHER Bout of Books post.   So check for my updates here. 

Tuesday

Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 1
Number of Hours I've read:  Today I got maybe in one hour of reading.  Not my fault though.  Some friends came over who were bored and so I didn't get to read.  Maybe if they leave shortly I can read till 1 AM!!! I did get my Challenges done though and so that was fun.  I thought today's challenges were fun and engaging... and since my friends were here when I did it I made them help me with a Limerick! 


Wednesday

Number of books I've read today: 1
Total number of books I've read: 2
Books: Incarnate
Number of Hours I've Read:  Today I was a champion!  I started reading about 11 AM and read all the way till not 11:30 PM.  I took a break for lunch and dinner... and a shower so I must've read like 7 hours! THAT'S right.  I finished a whole 400 page book today.  I missed the twitter chat at 7 pm because I was reading and forgot about it!!!  I stopped by a few blogs today and left comments this morning and I completed the two challenges.  I can say for a fact today was a productive day.  But I am pooped!  Off to bed!

Thursday

Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 2
Number of Hours I've Read:  A friend came over again today since they were bored so I entertained again and didn't get to read. I did stop by a few blogs though, got the challenges done and posted my review on Incarnate.  I am trying to get a little reading done now.  So maybe half hour today of reading.  :(

Friday

Number of books I've read today: NONE
Total number of books I've read:
Number of Hours I've Read:  This was the worst day yet!  I was busy all day with chores!!  And then tonight I went out with a girl friend.  That was really fun and worth missing reading for, but otherwise it was a disappointing day as far as reading goes.  I didn't even get to do the challenges!!

Saturday

Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 2
Number of Hours I Read:  I got to do the 3 challenges for the day and I got about 2 hours reading done.  I went to the stock car races tonight so I lost a little bit of reading time there but it was a ton of fun.  Looking forward to finishing up my read-a-thon tomorrow!!!

Sunday

Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 2
Number of hours I read:  2 hours.  Well well.... this read-a-thon was soooo fun!!  I met a lot of new bloggers.... (not sure if they remember me since so many were participating).  I joined in a twitter chat, I visited a lot of blogs and commented.  I participated in all the challenges except for Thursday's.  I missed a lot of reading because of a bug-a-boo friend who was bored because college hadn't started yet.  This will NOT happen next time around. This is one of the reasons I only got 2 books read.  I even WON a book from one of the challenges... the movie challenge hosted by 
Pretty Deadly Reviews  .  Which is pretty cool because I enter a million giveaways and never win!!!  So I can't wait to get Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman.  I really did have fun and will for sure be joining next time around.  I enjoyed the community of bloggers who were apart of this!!!

Schedule

Bout of Books 5.0

Challenges/Giveaways

Monday
Literary BFFs: Auggie Talk
Passing Books: Reading in Texas and The Space Between

Tuesday
Limericks: Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
Relocate: The Grammarian's Reviews
Character Interaction: Once Upon a Time

Wednesday
Book Word Search: The Musings of ALMYBNENR
Match the Zombie Book Cover: The Busy Bibliophile

Thursday
A Book for Every Season: Reading in Winter
Candy Challenge: BookSmartie
Contemporary: Books with Cass

Friday
Book Spine Poetry: bookgoonie
Most Looking Forward To: Pages of Forbidden Love

Saturday
Music: My Not So Real Life
Page 99 Test: My Seryniti
Virtual Travels: Ex Libris

Sunday
Giveaway: Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf
Movie Cast: Pretty Deadly Reviews

Twitter Chats
(chats last approximately one hour)

TZC = Time Zone Conversion

Monday: 1pm CST (TZC)
Wednesday: 8pm CST (TZC)
Saturday: 10am CST (TZC)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness-Review

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I just finished reading a Monster Calls by Patrick Ness for my Young Adult Book Club 's  August book club pick.  Yes... I cried.  I NEVER cry while reading a book.... apparently I do now.  Here is the goodreads description: 

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming... This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

This book is great... all of you who are stopping by and actually reading this review... go read this book now!! I have never read Siobhan Dowd's novels. But after reading this book I really want to. This book is AMAZING. I hate to admit it but I actually was crying the last few pages. CRYING.
 Maybe I was all emotional because I have to admit as I have been getting older I have though about my parents getting older. Will they get sick when it's time to die or will they die in the night? How will I handle it and react? So as I was reading the last few pages I understood what Conor was feeling a little. Now that I am done reading I have to admit I grew to love all the characters in this book. It kinda made me hope that when I go through this time in my life (losing my parents) that perhaps the monster will show up for me. I think a lot of people like this books because it hits home for a lot of people about death. Most people fear losing someone... even a pet. We either can't imagine what it would be like or have been through it and appreciate how Ness has written about it. I am reading all the reviews on goodreads and love reading all the personal experiences that are included in them for this particular book. I don't see that too often but it seems to bring out a lot of human emotion.

Monster: I think the monster was some type of ancient magic. I don't think it was Conor's imagination because it was teaching him lessons that Conor couldn't learn on his own. How could Conor's mind know those stories... though I suppose he could make it up. I just like the idea maybe that it is some type of magic. The monster seems to be evil and good at the same time. I was so happy for Conor when he told his own nightmare at the end of the book. I like that the monster lead him that way. I like how the monster is mysterious. Answers in riddles so Conor has to figure things out, it brings a type of horror to the story which this group never usually reads. The illustrations of the monster are wonderful!!! This website has amazing information on them. Here is Jim Kay's website: http://www.jimkay.co.uk/Jim_Kay_Illus... for those of you reading it on an ereader like me and having a hard time seeing the illustrations go to this site! You can see them much better. What I like most about the monster is it really isn't important to the story what the monster is. Which is why the monster says he has so many names. What is important is what the monster is doing to help/hurt Conor. Which we find out later is helping him. I just love the monster!

 Bullying: I still wonder how old Conor is. I think that ignoring him at school really isn't bullying. I think it's just people think he is acting like an oddball and so they avoid him. Though it kinda reminds me of the shooting here in Colorado at Columbine High School. Those two boys were ignored too. I think as people get older this type of behavior stops. I never ignored anyone in college because they were different. Unfortunately I think this is mainly a youthful behavior. I do like stories that focus a little on bullying. I always hope some young adult will really read that book and maybe take something away from it. In this book though... it turns out that being noticed really isn't a good thing. The boys who bullied him were a little odd. I didn't get that the boy Harry noticed him after his mom was sick. At first I thought that was because there was some type of magic on Conor.. but then I realized this really isn't a fantasy novel so I was a little confused. Then he just stopped... (this is before he was beat up). He was going to just ignore Conor. I don't feel like that is something kids do. I think Conor rejects Lily because he is not only mad at her for being the reason the whole school knows but because it is also embarrassing for a girl to protect a boy at that age. I think the grown ups did what they could. If they didn't see the bullying and Conor denies it happened, there isn't much they can do.

 Adults: It seemed to me that he already had a bad relationship with his grandma and his dad so it didn't surprise me that in a time of crisis he is very mean to them. I can't imagine how Conor must've felt when basically his dad didn't want to take responsibility for him (living with him) after his mother passes. I love that the grandma was very mature and realized that they didn't have a good relationship and I even felt from her perhaps some guilt for never trying to have one before. I love Conor's mom. She was such a good mom during her sickness. Still smiled every time she saw her son. It was beautiful. I also like the school's faculty. I like that they knew his situation and really did try to help him out. They tried to talk to him and protect him the best he could. Personally I think it's best he go to the new school his grandmother wanted to put him in. Starting over sounds perfect for him to me.

 Stories: The stories were great! I really enjoyed them. Sometimes though I had a hard time figuring out the lessons he was supposed to learn until the end of the story when the monster would explain it. That line you quoted from the novel Kritika was my favorite of the novel. It is true!! We are all like that. The Prince story was hard for me though. He killed the princess in cold blood... which was hard to justify. Then the parson kinda did deserve what he got. Too many people become jealous of people and will do things to ruin them just because of envy. I do think being seen can be more lonely then being invisible. Instead of Harry being seen as the mean bully, I think Conor will be seen that way instead.

Read this book... you will not regret it!

UPDATE!!! I just received the hard copy book from the library so I could look at the illustrations better and come to find out there are soooo many more pictures then there are in the ebook. I am pretty mad about this and sad at the same time. This is terrible for people who pick up the ebook and have no idea. Especially since the pictures in this book are amazing.

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich- Review

 

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

I love the Plum series... so when Ms. Evanovich started another series I was in!!  I also love the cover you see above... if you had the book in your hands you would see that it sparkles!   Here is the goodreads description:

Whether it’s monkey business, funny business, or getting down to business, Janet Evanovich’s Lizzy and Diesel series proves that there’s no business like Wicked Business. Lizzy Tucker’s once normal life as a pastry chef in Salem, Massachusetts, turns upside down as she battles both sinister forces and an inconvenient attraction to her unnaturally talented but off-limits partner, Diesel. When Harvard University English professor and dyed-in-the-wool romantic Gilbert Reedy is mysteriously murdered and thrown off his fourth-floor balcony, Lizzy and Diesel take up his twenty-year quest for the Luxuria Stone, an ancient relic believed by some to be infused with the power of lust. Following clues contained in a cryptic nineteenth-century book of sonnets, Lizzy and Diesel tear through Boston catacombs, government buildings, and multimillion-dollar residences. On their way they’ll leave behind a trail of robbed graves, public disturbances, and general mayhem. Diesel’s black sheep cousin, Gerwulf Grimoire, also wants the Stone. His motives are far from pure, and what he plans on doing with the treasure, no one knows . . . but Lizzy Tucker fears she’s in his crosshairs. Never far and always watching, Grimoire has a growing, vested interest in the cupcake-baker-turned-finder-of-lost-things. As does another dangerous and dark opponent in the hunt—a devotee of lawlessness and chaos, known only as Anarchy. Treasures will be sought, and the power of lust will be unmistakable as Lizzy and Diesel attempt to stay ahead of Anarchy, Grimoire, and his medieval minion, Hatchet, in this ancient game of twisted riddles and high-stakes hide-and-seek.

I really didn't like the first book in this new series, Wicked Appetite.  I mean I only gave it two cats!  I hated that Carl the monkey was back from the Plum books.  I just thought that book was all over the place.  And too similar in the writing to the Plum series.  But I decided to give the second book in the series a go.  Especially since the one thing about Evanovich's writing is that her books are short and sweet, funny and always put me in a good mood.  I am actually happy after I read one.  So it came in from the library and I devoured it! 

I like how this is Evanovich's fantasy series.  I have always thought of fantasy to be like the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, type books.  But this has just enough mystery and "powers" to make it a cute little fantasy.  Reading through the reviews on goodreads I see that it is getting a lot of complaints.  I understand ... like I said the first book was awful but I bet if I read it again right now in the mood I am in I would love it!!  haha!  I love how we are finding these seven deadly sins stones and it makes me want to find out about the other 5 stones!  But I will say again that this is the same writing from Evanovich as the Plum series.  We've got the side kick - Glo (aka Lula), the boss Carla (Vinnie) the hunks Wulf and Diesel (Ranger and Morelli) Hatchet is the comedian which is similar to Grandma.

I recommend it to Plum fans... too bad though the monkey has to be in the books!

Follow Me Friday (#40)

Wow is it really my Follow Me Friday post #40!!!  Time has flown! 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.  Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?  

A.  My reading habits don't actually change but the way I feel about a book will change.  Especially if I am depressed.  Then anything good that happens in a book I will just role my eyes at.  Sad music will play in the background......

This seemed like a short answer.... :(  What about you? 

Q&A with Courtney Summers and YOU ask the questions!

The Young Adult Book Club has chosen Cracked Up to Be for our September book club pick and Courtney Summers has agreed to stop by September 15th for a question and answer session!!  We will take questions Sept 1st-14th so please stop by and give her a warm welcome.  It can be hard to get authors to stop by so I always appreciate when they take the time.  It also makes the group book club pick much more enjoyable!!

Hope to see you there!!

Underworld by Meg Cabot- Review

Underworld by Meg Cabot

Continuing my journey through the Underworld... here is the goodreads description:

Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back. Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn’t dead. Not this time. But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey. Her captor, John Hayden, claims it’s for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they’ve come back as Furies, intent on vengeance…on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves. But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there…and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies. And unless Pierce is careful, this time there’ll be no escape.

So I read this book because I am determined to start finishing series. We chose to read Awaken for my Young Adult Book Club which lead me to read this book.  I must admit that I enjoyed this book way more then first one.  But I will admit I thought this book was going to take more time with the reader getting to explore the underworld.  But again, we spend a lot of the book in present time Florida.

This book ends with a GREAT cliff hanger.  It makes me totally interested in reading book three.  I also think I enjoyed this book better then the first because the relationships are becoming much more interesting.  We are even introduced to a few new characters and villains!!  I will say though I didn't feel like the plot moved very far which is why I am only giving the book 3 stars.  Middle of the road for me.  We kinda just chase around Alex who is Pierce's cousin through the whole book.  And I mean the WHOLE book.  Not much more is revealed about John's past either.  Maybe I should start just waiting for book 3 to come out and then finish the trilogy!!


 Abandon by Meg Cabot
 Awaken by Meg Cabot