Friday, January 25, 2013

It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet? [4]

"It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet?" is inspired by the #fridayreads Twitter meme, Book Journey's "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?", Should Be Reading's "WWW Wednesdays", Tynga's Reviews "Stacking the Shelves" and the various other book haul memes, and probably a few others I can't remember right now.

All covers/book title links lead to Goodreads.



I haven't read much at all, but I'm liking it so far.


This came in the mail this week, so I started it, but, like Beautiful Creatures, I'm not very far into it.


I haven't started this yet, because my cousin borrowed it, and I wanted to get through Beautiful Creatures first, so I hope to start after she finishes.


Even though I'm not very far into Beautiful Creatures I think this will be my plane-read, for when I go to New York tomorrow. And that's mostly because BC is SO BIG.


I don't even feel like I read anything. The beginning annoyed me, and the middle just kind of passed—it didn't seem like ANYTHING happened. The end was really the only good part. I could go on and on, so I'll stop now. I should have a review up on Tea for Three next week, if you want to know more of my thoughts.


After the whole Star Cursed widget thing last week, I re-read Born Wicked. It was as awesome as when I first read it, over a year ago.

(Books/Stuff that came in the mail.)
From Shalena @ Writer Quirk
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (ARC)
The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
Defiance by C.J. Redwine (signed)
Rash by Pete Hautman

From Mac Kids/Fierce Reads
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev
So Silver Bright by Lisa Mantchev

From Jessica Spotswood
Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood (signed ARC)
The Cahill Witch Chronicles bookmarks (signed)

From Barnes & Noble
Snow White, Blood Red edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader edited by Cassandra Clare
The Archived by Victoria Schwab

From Jennifer Rush
Altered by Jennifer Rush "Cas" button

From my mom
"I cannot live without books" sticker

It's like the Book Faery wanted to make up for no deliveries last week. :) Anyway, Writer Quirk had a "End of the World as We Know It" giveaway, and I was one of the winners. Every week the Fierce Reads Facebook page features a Mac Kids "Fierce" book/series and giveaway a couple copies of the selected book/series. A couple weeks ago the Theatre Illuminata series was featured, and I won one of the sets being given away. (This week The Escape from Furnace series by Alexander Gordon Smith is being given away. Enter here.) Last week I said my countdown widget for Star Cursed was chosen to be the official one, so, because I had the winning design, Jessica sent me a signed ARC of SC plus some bookmarks. The B&N books I ordered over the weekend, and they came Wednesday and Friday. Jennifer Rush had a flash trivia contest on Twitter last week because she just got Altered buttons (like the one above) in the mail. I was one of the winners, so Jenn sent me a button. My mom ordered a sticker for me last week, and it came this week.

(Books I bought.)
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I absolutely adored Anna, but read a library copy, so I decided to (finally) buy a copy for myself. I love Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and am so excited Nobody is finally out.

Mod Podge Bookshelf unveiled the cover to The Originals by Cat Patrick on Wednesday. The book sounds really good, and releases May 7 from Little, Brown BFYR.

A riveting new story from Cat Patrick, author of Forgotten and Revived.

17-year-olds Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey Best grew up as identical triplets... until they discovered a shocking family secret. They're actually closer than sisters, they're clones. Hiding from a government agency that would expose them, the Best family appears to consist of a single mother with one daughter named Elizabeth. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey take turns going to school, attending social engagements, and a group mindset has always been a de facto part of life...

Then Lizzie meets Sean Kelly, a guy who seems to see into her very soul. As their relationship develops, Lizzie realizes that she's not a carbon copy of her sisters; she's an individual with unique dreams and desires, and digging deeper into her background, Lizzie begins to dismantle the delicate balance of an unusual family that only science could have created.


EW's Shelf Life revealed the cover to Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston today. The book comes out September 17, 2013 from Putnam Juvenile, and I am beyond exited for it. I LOVE Melissa de la Cruz, and, with Blue Bloods ended, I cannot wait to read her next book. The reveal is exclusive, so you'll have to go to the link above to see it.


This Sunday (and ONLY Sunday), the 27th, Penguin is offering Anna and the French Kiss in ebook for only $2.99! As you probably noticed earlier in this post, I just bought a paperback of Anna because I loved the library copy so much, so I think you should definitely take advantage of this deal. Check out the synopsis, and some retail links below (the discount is going to be wherever ebooks are sold, though, of course, I can't link to all those places).

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend, and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's not too pleased when her father decides to send her to boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new friends, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken—and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end in the French kiss she's been waiting for?

Buy Anna and the French Kiss!


That's all, folks!
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Friday, January 18, 2013

It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet? [3]

I just started this meme thing and I'm already slacking. *sigh*

XXX

"It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet?" is inspired by the #fridayreads Twitter meme, Book Journey's "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?", Should Be Reading's "WWW Wednesdays", Tynga's Reviews "Stacking the Shelves" and the various other book haul memes, and probably a few others I can't remember right now.

All covers/book title links lead to Goodreads.



I'm not liking it as much as the first book, Crash (see Past Reads), but I AM liking it. I love that it's the second book in a contemp romance series that focuses on the same characters throughout.


I put this on hold when Crash came in the mail. I haven't gotten very far into it yet, but I like it already!


I got a review copy of The Goddess Inheritance from the author last week, so I figured it was time to start the Goddess short story collection.


I'm really excited to start this, it sounds so good! And the movie comes out in less than a month, so I need to get reading.


I'm always looking for. . .darker, I guess you could say, contemp romances, so when Crash got traditionally pubbed I ordered it right away. And I'm happy I did. While I did have a few small issues with the story, overall I loved it!


This was a bowlful of awesome. Again, while there were a few small issues I had, overall I LOVED it!
(Books/Stuff that came in the mail.)

Nothing came in the mail this week. :(

(Books I bought.)
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Prepare yourselves, this week brought a bucket and a half of book news. And I put it under a cut, because WOW this section made the post long.

Monday, January 7, 2013

2012 Challenges Wrap-Up

So if you looked at my sidebar sometime in the past year, you probably noticed my giant challenges list (as seen below).
Since it's the new year I'm going to recap all of those challenges, so here we go!

1st in a Series Challenge
I didn't find this challenge until later in the year, but I rocked it nonetheless with 38 books. The highest challenge level was 25 books, though I shot for 35, because I was at 18 in July. My top 5 favorite books from my list of 1sts are (in no particular order):
1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
2. Grave Mercy by Robin Lafevers
3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
4. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
5. Rift by Andrea Cremer

50 Book Pledge
My goal for the year was actually 100 books, but I figured this challenge would be a good way to keep track of the books I read. Picking favorites is SO HARD, because this is from ALL the books I read this year—I can't do it, I can't pick my favorites. Most of the books I read I LOVED.


A-Z Book Challenge
I knew I was going to have trouble getting X and Q, but I didn't realized how frequently titles start with V, A, B, C, S, and R. Though, I didn't really go out of my way to find books with the letters I was missing. Below is the list, so you can see what I was missing.

Now this list is much easier to pick favorites from (And, again, in no particular order).
1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
2. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
4. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
5. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Debut Author Challenge
When it was May, and I'd only read 3 debuts, I figured I wouldn't make my goal. But around August I hit a debut "boom", and just about completed my goal. Then, of course, I read 1 or 2 more to complete my goal.

My favorite debuts (as always, in no particular order):
1. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
3. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
5. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Monthly Challenges
I started this to help me stay on track for my goal of 100 books in a year, and as you've noticed, I only reached 92. For some reason, I really slowed down in the summer, and that's what hurt me.

No favorite for this one as well.


TBR Pile Reading Challenge
I really didn't do well in this challenge, there were just so many new books coming out!

My 3 favorites of the 8 I read:
1. Fallen by Lauren Kate
2. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
3. My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Blue Bloods Read-a-long Challenge
I didn't do so well with this either. I read the first 3 books in the series, but I only reviewed book 1. I also completed 1 mini-challenge.

No favorites, because it was all one series, but the Blue Bloods series *is* one of my favorite series ever!


That's all! Soon I'll have a 2013 Challenges post up with all of the challenges I'm doing, most of them different from the ones I did in 2012.
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