Monthly Archives: November 2014

Werewolves 101: Discussion in Wolves of Mercy Falls Read Along!

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wolves (2)

Hey Bookworms! Welcome back as you know (or at least hope you know) I am part of hosting the Wolves of Mercy Falls Read-A-Long with She Reads She Blogs and Girl in the Pages! I will post that banner at the end of my post again in case you want to join in with our reading! So as decided leading up to our reviews of the books we are planning to have discussions that relate to these books and series just to get you all talking and sharing with us. This week’s has to be my favorite topic in the history of the world which is: Your favorite representations and re-tellings of werewolves! This is one of the topics where I am in my element and super excited to talk about. Why am I so excited to talk about this subject? In case you didn’t notice my new signature in my last post as a hint. Wolves are my favorite animals and the next step in the extension of that is the werewolf! It literally hurts my heart when I was watching a tag on booktube around Halloween and people kept saying they didn’t know of a lot of werewolf books. Well guess what Bookworms this post is going to remedy that giving you 2 awesome standalones and 3 awesome series (2 young adult and 1 adult) to help fix this problem and will hopefully intrigue you to read more of the genre after you finish the read-a-long with us!

So let’s get this started with the stand alones starting with my all-time favorite book:

Blood and Chocolate

1. Blood and Chocolate By Annette Curtis Klause my favorite book ever and it was my first introduction to the werewolf genre in high school. I went in a mad search for it after I saw the movie although I like the movie and now own it the book is a million times better. I have literally read this book 16 times which is why I now own it on my nook so my hands won’t wear it down. I loved the sense of loss and the need of a pack. I love the strength Vivian finds in herself and lets be honest her overall sexiness. I love the transformations scene and the sense of getting to know her world. Needless to say it is a 5/5 stars. Where as the books we are reading in are more of a winter read this is a perfect summer read for any YA lover!

Unleashed

2. So needless to say after I found Blood and Chocolate, I needed to find more! When my teenage mind had an obsession it won’t let it go… Well let’s face it I am still like that… I was walking through the Barnes&Noble and my hands instantly gravitated towards it. This book, Unleashed ,By Kristopher Reisz. So this one is has the same sense that Blood and Chocolate does in the beginning, the feeling of being an outcast when not having pack. This book deals with hesitancy humans have in staying loyal. Since this group is not made of natural born werewolves, they are more susceptible to giving into the weaknesses of a human brain. I love this book again this book is more of a summer or right before school starts again. I gave it a 4/5 stars!

Series:

Nightshade Series

1.The Nightshade Series by Andrea Cremer! This is one of my favorite series of mine! Sadly with how much I love it I would spoil it by summarizing it… It does make you feel tons of feels, and it draws you into the action. It definitely has one of the best love triangles I’ve ever read.Yes, I do have a side, so if you read them let me know and I’ll tell you. The best thing about the love triangle it isn’t the sole purpose of the novel if anything it brings more tension to the action. The best part of these books is it does not stop with these three. I give the first three a 5/5 stars!

Andrea Cremer builds up the history with the Prequel duology:

RiftRise

  These two I give a 5/5 again because of the amazing world building that the history brings to every one of the books. The strength in her female characters are bar none!

The last part of this series shows is known as on Goodreads as it’s Legacy ( the after story):

Snakeroot

Since this one came out a little later I have yet to read it I plan to do a reread before I do though I am positive I’ll love it because of my bias. I will keep you all posted when I do read with my rating. I promise!

Dark Guardian Series

2. The Dark Guardian Series By Rachel Hawthorne! This is another summer series I found over the summer. One thing I loved about this series was the very wolfish sense of love. Meaning the characters have one love for life. No fickle teenage love. I also loved the willingness to protect their pack and do anything to keep their secret. The series for me as a whole was a 5/5

BittenStolen

3. These Next two books are part of the adult series I mentioned, but they are part of a larger series of 13 books that deal with a whole different smorgasbord of paranormal creatures! The Women of the Otherworld Series  By Kelley Armstrong

These two books Bitten and Stolen introduce the werewolf genre in a new and adult way and begin to tie many of the characters that will come within this series around the main character Elena Michaels and one very sexy male werewolf Clay Danvers! These two books are about accepting what she has become and every bit of these two novels will keep you on the edge of your seat. Kelley Armstrong’s sense of world building as well as the way she develops her characters is the best I read. I give these two books a 5/5 stars I was unable to put them down. (sadly I am only on book five working on a college student fund…) What’s even more amazing Bookworms is that this series got turned into a series and they got signed for a second season! So entice you guys to watch it and see it get bigger and keep thriving here is the trailer:

So, bookworms, I hope I enticed you to picking up at least one of these books because this side of the paranormal genre needs more love so more can be created! If you have any werewolf books you think I should read or have opinions on the ones above please comment down below! It is my favorite genre and I would love to read more, but please be courteous to other readers and no spoilers! Next week tune into to see which character of the Wolves of Mercy Falls I fan girl over most. I will leave the schedule down below for all of you who might want to still join the Read-A-Long.

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PS Hope you guys enjoy my signature and find it easier that I included the goodreads links as hyperlinks.

Publishing Info/ Youtube Info/ Banner and Signature Credit

Blood and Chocolate By Annette Curtis Klause Published By Laurel Leaf Library 7 September 1999

Unleashed By Kristopher Reisz Published By Simon Pulse 19 February 2008

Nightshade By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 19 October 2010

Wolfsbane By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 26 July 2011

Bloodrose By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 3 January 2012

Rift By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 7 August 2012

Rise By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 8 January 2013

Snakeroot By Andrea Cremer Published By Philomel 10 December 2013

Moonlight By Rachel Hawthorne Published By Harper Teen 3 March 2009

Full Moon By Rachel Hawthorne Published By Harper Teen 30 June 2009

Dark of the Moon By Rachel Hawthorne Published By Harper Collins 2009

Shadow of the Moon By Rachel Hawthorne Published By Harper Teen 23 March 2010

Bitten By Kelley Armstrong Published By Plume 29 June 2010

Stolen By Kelley Armstrong Published By Plume 29 June 2010

Youtube Video: Bitten Season 1 Promo By FantasyGate

Read-A-Long Banner Made By: Girl in the Pages

Werewolves 101 Banner and Blog Signature Made By: James Fenney

2014 Reading Goal

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Reading goal

Hey Bookworms! How have you all been lately? So I noticed a few blogs that I have been following, like Faith’s Book Nook,  have the widget up from GR about their yearly reading goal. So this post I wanted to talk about mine as well as add the widget to my own page! So in the year of 2014, (which is coming to a close all too quickly by the way…) My goal is to read 80 books! Sounds like a lot huh? Well guess what my fellow bookworms I am realizing it is especially compared to my last 3 years of setting a goal. Over the summer I hit sort of a reading slump when I went on vacation for two weeks with my boyfriend (which I enjoyed but my books felt very abandoned) Then when school started I found it difficult being in my upper division classes of my degree to have much if any time for reading… So currently as I am writing this post on November 19, 2014. I am two books behind schedule which I know doesn’t seem like a lot at the moment, but when finals come around I fear it will get worse. Ugh!!!!

I  have even been a rule breaker and cheated a bit on the rule I set for myself which was not to add class assigned readings to the books I am reading to my Goodreads list. The books that have broken the rule are the ones that have really affected me while reading. This can go one of two ways being either books I absolutely hated reading/made my stomach respond negatively, or books I really liked that I never thought I would.

The first way: The Lesser Blessed By Richard Vancamp

The Lesser Blessed

The Second: Hard Times By Charles Dickens

Hard Times

So how do I plan on reaching my goal when I have only read 68 out of 80 books so far? Well my readers I plan to set myself up with tentative TBR’s for the months of November and December! You can see the one for November on my last post!

For December though I am a bit clueless on what to read besides this book:

The Book Theif

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak! I know, I know I may be the last person in the world to read it… So here my readers, this is where I could use some recommendations pretty please… What books do you think are good for readers and what do you think I should read. I am open to suggestions as long as there are no horror or overly gory. Graphic novels are AMAZING as well, and I am open to finding new ones. I have read the Saga Series if that helps with any suggestions… Please help a fellow bookworm out by leaving a suggestion in the comments below! (Yes I finally learned to use hyperlinks =D)

PS: I wanted to say thank you to the people who have followed me, my likers, and few people who have commented! It means a lot to me! Please don’t be shy to comment more =)

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Publishing Info/ Banner and Signature info

The Lesser Blessed By Richard Van Camp Published By Douglas & McIntyre 6 April 2004

Hard Times By Charles Dickens Published By W. W. Norton & Company 19 December 2000

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak Published By Knopf Books for Young Readers 14 March 2006

Banner and Signature Made By James Fenney

 

WWW Wednesday, November TBR, & A Surprise!

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Hey bookworms welcome back to another post/Tag! I hoped you enjoyed my Top Ten Tuesday tag even though it was posted a week later than it was supposed to be… If you aren’t aware already this blog is starting out as project for my composition class at the University, once the semester is over though I plan to post 2-3 times a week, so please be patient with me! Anywho back to the tag! I will be doing the W…W…W… Wednesday tag which was started by the blog: YouShouldBeReading: http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/. So for this tag you have to answer three questions: 1.What are you Currently Reading?  2. What have you recently finished reading?  3. What do you plan on reading next?

Instead of doing the Third question, I am going to post my planned TBR for November. A TBR is not something I normally do, but I have noticed I have a lot of books on my Nook and shelves that I haven’t read yet. That AND I am really behind on my book reading goal for the year. So in the month of November despite school I want to make time to read more! Anyway onto the tag!

  1. What am I currently reading?

The CallingWolf Springs ChroniclesUntil The End   The Night Circus

Also reading Shiver picture down below!

  1. What have I recently finished Reading?

Reboot by Amy Tintera

I adored this book it was amazing and so worth the wait mini! I gave it a 5/5 stars!

The Son

I finished another series! I was a little disappointed in this last book since it was a little slow and wrapped up too quickly! I give it a 3/5 stars!

Kalona's Fall

I gave this book a 5/5 stars it was good to know more about Kalona. It also let you know more about the Goddess and Eberus. It added a whole new level of emotions and sympathy

Lies my Girlfriend Told Me

I gave this a 5/5 stars I definitely think this is one of her best books well and really does paint grief well and reiterates the fact that people can be quite different from what they seem. More importantly this book focuses on love and healing

Hold on Tight

Again another 5/5 stars a really good book, especially new adult I love how Sienna triumphed over her hardships, and I adored the Micah! This book is a great reminder that family isn’t always your blood

November TBR

  1. Incarnate By Jodi Meadows
  2. The Twistrose Key By Tone Almhjell, Ian Schoenherr
  3. If I Stay By Gayle Forman
  4. The Maze Runner By James Dashner
  5. Redeemed by PC and Kirstin Cast

So readers that is my WWW and my November TBR! What have you been reading have you read any of the books I mentioned? What were your thoughts on them? Do you have a TBR planned for November? Any must reads I should read?

Here’s The Surprise

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Mercy_Falls_covers

  Sinner cover

So here’s the surprise my title mentions the read along my last post hinted to! It will also help me with my reading goal! Two other bloggers and I are going to do a read along of Maggie Stiefvater books, The Wolves of Mercy Falls series (along with the companion novel Sinner)! I am seriously excited to be doing this with two awesome bloggers: Girl in the Pages: http://girlinthepages.com/ and She Reads She Blogs: http://shereadssheblogs.com/ ! We will be starting the overall blogs on them in December starting with Shiver (Posts will be on Girl in the Pages), then Linger (Posts will be on She Reads She Blogs), and Forever (posts will be on my blog), and lastly Sinner (posts by all of us)! That’s not all bookworms! We will do mini posts and discussions on various topics about the series leading to the posts to build the hype and get you all talking!  Now the biggest part She Reads She Blogs will be doing a give-away of a copy of Sinner! I am so excited to be a part of the book blogging community and making new friends! I am so eager to get to talk about these books! I know this series has become polarized as late, but I personally want to balance it more towards love! So bookworms look forward to our posts and discussions! We’re all up for the talk! So please don’t hold back!

So here is the schedule and Discussion Posts as well as Reviews you guys have to look forward to:

Reading Schedule:

November 15-22: Shiver

November 23-30: Linger

December 1-10: Forever

December 11-20: Sinner

Posts & Event Schedule:

November 12: Wolves of Mercy Falls Read-A-Long Announcement Post!

November 15: Why Maggie Stiefvater is an awesome author that appeals to you!

November 22: Werewolves 101: Your favorite representations and re-tellings of werewolves.

November 29: Baby It’s Cold Outside: Which Shiver character(s) warms your heart/inner fangirl.

December 6: Shiver Discussion & Review @ Girl in the Pages

December 13: Linger Discussion & Review @ She Reads She Blogs

December 20: Forever Discussion & Review @ CK’s Reading Corner

December 27: Sinner Discussion, Review, Read-A-Long Wrap Up

Giveaway

As part of the Read-A-Long we’ll be hosting a giveaway of a signed copy of Sinner that has the limited edition dust jacket illustrated by Maggie Stiefvater herself!). The winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter and is open to US-participants only. Be sure to check it out and keep updated with all three of our blogs for chances to earn entries!

I wish you all luck! Hope you liked my post bookworms and can’t wait to get talking to you all!!!!

Goodreads Links to Books I’m Currently Reading:

  1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11765920-the-calling?ac=1
  2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10890808-unleashed
  3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10339954-the-night-circus
  4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22606008-until-the-end

Goodreads Links to Recently finished

  1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13517455-reboot?ac=1
  2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13324841-son?from_search=true
  3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16136628-kalona-s-fall
  4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18607160-lies-my-girlfriend-told-me
  5. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18870150-hold-on-tight

Goodreads Links for the books in the Read-A-Long:

  1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6068551-shiver
  2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6654313-linger
  3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9409458-forever
  4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406862-sinner

Publishing Info for Covers Above:

The Calling By Kelley Armstrong Published By Harper 10 April 2012

Wolf Spring Chronicles Unleashed By Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 22 November 2011

The Night Circus By Erin Morgenstern, Jim Dale (Narrator) Published By Random House Audio 13 September 2011

Until The End By Abbi Glines Published By Simon Pulse 28 October 2014

Reboot By Amy Tintera Published By HarperTeen 7 May 2013

The Son By Lois Lowry Published By HMH Books for Young Readers 2 October 2012

Kalona’s Fall By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast Published By St Martin Press 29 July 2014

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me By Julie Anne Peters Published By Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 10 June 2014

Hold On Tight By Abbi Glines Published By Simon Pulse 3 June 2014

Shiver By: Maggie Stiefvater Published By: Scholastic Press 1 August 2009

Linger By: Maggie Stiefvater Published By: Scholastic Press 13 July 2010

Forever By: Maggie Stiefvater Published By: Scholastic Press 12 July 2011

Sinner By: Maggie Stiefvater Published By: Scholastic Press 1 July 2014

Banner Pic Created By: She Reads She Blogs

Belated Top Ten Tuesday Book Tag

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toptentuesday

Hey Bookworms! I wanted to try my hand at one of the book tags from The Broke and The Bookish: http://www.brokeandbookish.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html ! So I looked up what the one coming up for this week (the week I had to write my blog draft, Oct 28th), and it was: “Top Ten Books/Movies To Read Or Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit OR Top Ten Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween?” So my readers, here’s a truth about myself I will share, I am a total scaredy cat. So if anything were to get me into the Halloween Spirit, it’d be the Disney Halloween movies; not a slasher film or anything that is remotely terrifying! To be safe and spare you guys who adore the scary part of Halloween. I decided to go for the more creative part of this tag! I mean now that I am on the older side of growing up, it tends to be frowned upon for my age group to dress up for Halloween. Unless of course it is for going out to a party, have a child or younger sibling/niece/nephew you are taking trick or treating, or if you want to give the neighborhood kids a scare when passing out candy. Sadly my dear readers I am doing none of these partly because I lack the second option and have no money for the other two… This doesn’t mean the bookworm in me doesn’t fantasize about becoming my favorite characters and going door to door to Trick or Treat for Books! So in this post you will get to see and know my top ten choices for a costume in no particular order except in which they pop into my head!

Literary Characters for Costumes!

Peter Pan

  1. Tinkerbell from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan! I know this may seem like a cliché answer, but ever since reading the book for the first time, I am obsessed with anything Peter Pan and that includes any adaption. I love the first versions sense of attitude and the way she is willing to do anything to protect Peter!

Vampire Academy

2. Rose from the Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead! Ever since I read the books in high school, I’ve always wanted to be a Dhampmir! Rose is a total bad ass and is ready to do anything to protect her bff and okay I admit I am jealous of her hair!

Bloodlines

3. Sydney Sage from The Bloodlines Series also by Richelle Mead! Okay okay some of you might count this as cheating but the Bloodline series is a spinoff from Vampire Academy making it a series of its own. I love Sydney’s growth within these books, her tattoo, her humor, and love of caffeine plus she gets to hang out with yummy Adrian Ivashakov one of my very first book boyfriends!

The One

4. America Singer from The Selection Series by Kiera Cass! Another character that I have hair envy with, but also her dress on the last Book The One was to die for it literally made my mouth water. She won me over in the first book and it might be because of my bias that she plays my favorite instrument, but let’s just say I wouldn’t mind the Royal Treatment of getting dolled up for the night

W.I.T.C.H.

5.Will from the W.I.T.C.H graphic novel series by Elizabeth Lenhard! This is a major throwback to my childhood this being one of my very first introductions to graphic novels, but I feel nostalgic. I would pick her transformed look and totally love to get the wings to flit about!

Tiger's Quest

6.Kelsey from The Tiger’s Saga By Colleen Houck, in Book 2, Tiger’s Quest when she goes to Shangri La and gets dressed by the people. I loved the fairy-esque aspects of her outfit

Burned

7.Stevie Rae from the House of Night Series by PC and Kierstin Cast! I love her tattoos as well as her attitude she will do anything for the ones she love and is prepared to use her powers of Earth to prove it!

Wild Magic

8. Diane Sarrassi from The Immortals by Tamora Pierce! She is Wildmage who can communicate with animals even reading these books at a young age I always admired her wild hair and her preference of animals to humans.

Bitten

9.Elena Michaels from The Women of the Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstrong! She is one of my favorite werewolf characters and I werewolves are my favorite! Oh and she gets Clay Danvers as a mate! I have options with dressing up as her as well I can either go with the book Description or the show character!

A Game of Thrones

10.Last but not least Daenerys Targaryen from The Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin! This book has a soft spot for me since it was the first adult fantasy I’ve read! Again being Daenerys gives me option I can pick and choose from the show and book outfits!

Final Thoughts

So my readers those, are my picks and it really was hard to choose off the top of my head. So which characters would you like to dress up as? Let me know in the comments below and have a fun and safe Halloween!

Publishing Info

  1. Peter Pan By: M. Barrie Published By: Barnes & Noble Classics 5 October 2008
  2. Vampire Academy By Richelle Mead Published By: Razor Bill 16 August 2007
  3. Bloodlines By: Richelle Mead Published By: Razor Bill 23 August 2011
  4. The One By: Kiera Cass Published By: HarperTeen 6 May 2014
  5. The Power of Five (W.I.T.C.H., 1) By: Elizabeth Lenhard Published By: Volo 1 April 2004
  6. Tiger’s Quest By: Colleen Houck Published By: Sterling Publishing 7 June 2011
  7. Burned By: C. Cast and Kristin Cast Published By: Atom 27 April 2010
  8. Wild Magic By: Tamora Pierce Published By: Simon Pulse 1 January 2005
  9. Bitten By: Kelley Armstrong Published By: Plume 29 June 2010
  10. A Game of Thrones By: George R.R. Martin Published By: Bantam Spectra August 2005

Goodreads Links

  1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1012276.Peter_Pan
  2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/345627.Vampire_Academy
  3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8709527-bloodlines?from_search=true
  4.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18635016-the-one?from_search=true
  5. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/591402.The_Power_of_Five?ac=1
  6. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9662386-tiger-s-quest?from_search=true
  7. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6917952-burned?ac=1
  8. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13836.Wild_Magic?ac=1
  9. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7802883-bitten
  10. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13496.A_Game_of_Thrones?ac=1