I hope everyone is having a super fun and safe Halloween evening!

I myself have not done that much today except for watch a Lifetime movie, Knocked UP (not a good Halloween movies, but it is one of my favorites...and it was on...I had to) & wait for my husband to get home from work. Now I am counting down til the series premiere of "The Walking Dead" and waiting for trick or treaters. Hopefully some of the kids come around or I'm stuck with a whole bowl of candy. While that would normally be awesome, I am trying to get in shape...candy doesn't help.

I have a whole slew of books to get started on this week and I'm super excited. Hopefully I don't lose too much reading time with trying to get everything ready for mine and my husbands move at the beginning of December. Reading is much more important than packing ;p

Am I right? Or am I right?

Can't wait to see what November brings for all my fellow bloggers & readers!

City of Ashes.

*I cannot review this book without there being spoilers about the first. If you have not read City of Bones and don't want to know some major stuff that happened, don't continue with this review until after you have read the first.*

  "Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father." - Goodreads

  I was planning on reading another book after I read City of Bones, but when I finished CoB I couldn't wait. So I went right into the second Mortal Instruments book. And now I have to wait til I can get to the store to buy City of Glass. Urgh. I hate waiting...especially to get books that are in series.
  The tension between everyone in this book is great.  Jace and Clary can't seem to let their feelings go, even though they were told they are supposedly "brother&sister." After Simon kisses Clary he starts referring to himself as her boyfriend, which comes off as very selfish what with everything she is trying to deal with. Especially with the huge change that Simon goes through that will complicate things between them even more if he keeps pursuing her.
  Alec is dealing with his own relationship troubles.
  Valentine is up to some tricks again. He has stolen the Soul-Sword and is planning on using it in some way to over-throw the Clave.
 Clary's mother is in a coma and nothing her or Luke do seems to help.
 After Jace has a run in with Valentine the Inquisitor is called in to test whether he is lying or not about being a spy for Valentine. But she needs the Soul-Sword to do that and she finds it very suspicious that Valentine steals it right when it is needed. She seems to really hate Jace, like she has a personal vendetta against him. Isabelle and Alec's mom doesn't believe that Jace isn't helping Valentine either. So much drama.
  I loved Jace in this book. Well, I loved him the first one, but his character development in CoA was great. Every single thing he thought he knew about himself turns out to be a lie and he's not sure how to deal with it. Even though he puts on the tough guy facade there are some scenes where he is just broken.

  I have many many doubts that Jace and Clary are actually brother and sister. Too many hints were dropped by multiple characters. Hopefully in City of Glass Clary's mom wakes up and straightens it all out for them.

  My favorite scene is when Jace is in the Silent City. The fear is intense and it's just so emotion-filled it really stays with you.
Definitely 4/5 for this book. This is a good read for the YA Fantasy lover.

A Blogoversary Giveaway.

Everyone likes parties right?
Well this is a blog-o-sphere party to celebrate Addicted 2 Novels 1st Blogoversary.
She has multiple prize packs to give away and has said more will come if she gets to 555 followers before the end. How neat, right?!
Go stop by and wish her a Happy Blogoversary!
And while you're there hit the follow button and then fill out the giveaway form :)

Happy reading & contest enterting.

City of Bones.

One of my best friends told me to read this series probably a little over a year ago and she lent me City Of Ashes to read when I was done with the first. Well, I FINALLY decided to read it and I am SO glad that I did.

Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Warlocks, Shadowhunters, and a bunch of other creatures all wrapped up in a pretty package called City of Bones.
Clary thinks that her father died before she was born, that her mother is a painter, and that her mother's best friend and the only father figure she's really ever know, Luke, is a book store owner (can he be my mom's best friend too?). But one fateful night changes everything she ever thought she knew. When she goes out with her best friend, Simon,  to the club Pandemonium she sees a girl and two boys corner another boy in a storage room, tie him up, and try to stake him, but she intervenes before it happens. While she freaks out not knowing why they are about to do that, Isabelle, Alec, and Jace (the aforementioned teens that are also Shadowhunters that cornered the other kid who turns out to actually be a demon) wonder how it is that Clary can see them. She is only a mundane (human), and mundanes don't have the Sight to see them and past glamors. But Clary does.
After this night, Clary's life is turned upside down when her mother gets kidnapped by another powerful and dark Shadowhunter, Valentine. Her life is also intertwined with Jace's in more ways then she could imagine.
She is racing to find a way to save her mom all while finding out the truth behind all the lies her mother has fed her all her life.

Now, by all means, this is not an original story. There is a pretty wicked twist towards the end that my best friend told me about when she first told me to read it...but it still took me by surprise. But other than that, nothing groundbreaking or genre defining original. I did end up totally loving Jace though. He is a really good character. And he made me laugh. A lot. He's overly confident and some of the stuff he says is just classic.
Some of the writing style was a little strange. I didn't understand why Clare chose to use some words because they just didn't seem to fit and she kind of over-used "so and so looked just as *insert some kind of emotion here* as Clary did". I swear I counted at least 5 times or more. I was always wondering why Clary never really looked the emotion she felt. She wasn't the kind of person to hide or push aside what she was feeling.

City of Bones was a fun read though and I am curious as to what happens in City of Ashes and City of Glass so I will definitely be continuing with this series.

Vampire Academy.-Banned Book-

"St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school–it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St. Vladimir's–the very place where they're most in danger. Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy's ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi–the world's fiercest and most dangerous vampires–make Lissa one of them forever."-Vampire Academy Website.


I was a little nervous to read this book because it is the first book I decided to read for my "Banned Books Year." So I didn't really know what I was in store for.  This seems to be one of the more controversial series that has been banned simply for the fact that books in the series were banned before even being available to the public. Which technically means it was banned in the future...before it was ever read or reviewed. That seems very extreme. Vampire Academy was banned for "sexual content and nudity" by a school district in Stephenville, TX. It was kept PG-13 and it is a YA book, which in my mind is rating it at least PG-13. I'm more surprised that the language was not brought up in the banning reasons. I think if they want to ban books like this because these parents don't want their kids to read it then they should ban movies with this kind of content from theatres or movie stores. They can get the books from somewhere, just like they can sneak into movies. And instead of trying to hide what is in these books, the parents should step up and actually talk about it. Tell your kids why you don't want them reading it, open up the communication, and pay attention to what they are reading in watching if you have that big of a problem with it.


Now, onto the review. First off, I want to state that I don't like the cover. It looks like Angelina Jolie and I don't like her...so I was almost turned off from this read because of that. 
I was a little bit 'meh' for the first 5-ish chapters. Richelle Mead kept soooo much stuff secret and it didn't really feel like anything in the story was unfolding. Then finally around chapter 7 or 8 it slowly started to open a little and you were let in more of what was supposed to be going on.
Rose always talks about how the biggest thing in her life is protecting Lissa...but I always got the feeling she liked doing her own thing more. She is a HUGE flirt and likes to mess around with random guys at their school. It's not until her mentor, Dimitri, points out she is being selfish in the way she acts. Then of course she gets a Dimitri crush. But the hopeless romantic in me can't wait to see what happens to Rose and Dimitri and if they ever get together or not. It is a pretty good start to the series though, so I'm looking forward to the next one to see where the story gets taken and to see what made that one get banned.

A Great and Terrible Beauty.

  Gemma Doyle, who lives in India with her mother and father, wants to live in London with her grandmother and brother. But her mother is hiding a secret from her and that secret is what is keeping her from being allowed to go to London to attend school like "a proper young lady should."
  On her 16th birthday Gemma and her mother get into an argument about this, yet again, on the way to tea at a friends house. After Gemma runs off during this argument she gets sucked into a terrible vision of her mother dying. She tries to get back to her mother as quickly as possible, only to be just in time to see her mother killed.

  She then gets her wish to go to London, and under the strict order of her grandmother, she is enrolled at Spence School for Girls, where everything is not as it seems. While there she becomes friends with her enemies, finds out about the Order, learns about her mothers past and her own future. Gemma soon finds out that along with the visions she's been having she can also open up a door to another realm that is controlled by The Order, which creates a whole new set of problems. Now with trying to keep her secret and control the magic of the realms, she find outs that Kartik, a boy from India who is part of a secret society that wants to keep members of The Order out of the realms, has followed her and is trying to help his society gain control over her. Will she and her friends make it out on top with full control of the realms? Or will the Rakashana get to her first? And will she be able to defeat what killed her mother?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 This is the second time I have read this book, and I loved it even more the second time around. I love the time period that it is set in. The Victorian Era is one of my favorites. Libba Bray's writing is really beautiful. It is first person narrative so you get a great insight of Gemma's mind. All the descriptions, from how haunting the school is, to how perfect the realms are, to how terrifying the Winterlands and its creatures are, are awesome.
Gemma and her friends Felicity, Pippa, and Ann all come off as selfish, self-centered, greedy, and conceited at times. But if you really pay attention to their characters and their lives, it really does make sense they would act like that. They are all just trying to beat what their culture has "pre-destined" them to become. They are doing everything they can with the cards they are dealt. This story holds romance, mystery, magic, tragedy, hope and friendship. Definitely a great opener to the trilogy.


"What frightens you? What makes the hair on your arms rise, your palms sweat,the breath catch in your chest like a wild caged thing? Is it the dark? A fleeting memory of a bedtime story, ghosts & goblins and witches hiding in the shadows? Is it the way the wind picks up just before a storm, the hint of wet in the air that makes you want to scurry home to the safety of the fire? Or is it something deeper, something much more frightening, a monster deep inside that you've glimpsed only in pieces, the vast unknown of your own soul where secrets gather a terrible power, the dark inside?
If you will listen, I will tell you a story-one whose ghosts cannot be banished by the comfort of a roaring fire. I will tell you the story of how we found ourselves in a realm where dreams are formed, destiny is chosen, and magic is as real as your handprint in the snow. I will tell you how we unlocked the Pandora's box of ourselves, tasted freedom, stained our souls with blood an choice, and unleashed a horror on the world that destroyed our dearest Order. These pages are a confession of all that has led to this cold, grey dawn. What will be, I cannot say.
Is you heart beating faster?
Do the clouds seem to be gathering on the horizon?
Does the skin on your neck feel stretched tight, waiting for a kiss you both fear and need?
Will you be scared?
Will you know the truth?-pg. 86-87.


You really wanna read it now, huh??

Wither-ARC giveaway!

Super easy to enter.
Take this link http://cindypon.com/2010/tgifbm-wither-arc-giveaway/.
Blog about it, Twitter about, Facebook about it. You know, the usual stuff.
Then go to the contest page and paste your links into a comment and your entered.
Easy peasy, right?
And it sounds like a really awesome book so, get on it :)

The End:

   The Halloween Read-A-Thon that was hosted by Young Adult Books Reviewed was definitely fun.
I had three books I wanted to read but only got around to one and the beginning of another.
   My husband was home this weekend and this is probably our last weekend to just take it easy before all the craziness of clearing out, packing, loading up and getting out of here starts, so we took full advantage of just hanging out. The three on my list were: Vampire Academy, City of Bones, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
   I started Vampire Academy first, on Friday, and was kind of iffy about it. I hadn't gotten around to reading too much of it though due to grocery shopping and then dinner and a movie at home.
Then Saturday, before we left in the afternoon to go to a corn maize/pumpkin patch/haunted house/haunted woods which took up most the day, I read a couple more chapters and got a little more into it.
Today, after we got home from church and had lunch and played a little Wii, I got to finish the book. And I really ended up liking it.

I should have my review of Vampire Academy up tomorrow, but I do recommend it. Just in case someone gets hasty and decides to get it and start reading before I have a chance to review it, I will clarify now. I really only recommend this one to the more mature end of YA readers. It has dark and mature content (which will be gone into more indepth in review). If you partook in the Read-A-Thon I hope you had fun reading! And if you joined in the Twitter Party be sure to check YA Books Reviewed tomorrow because Lesley will have chosen a Twitter Winner...or winners. She hinted at maybe multiple. So be sure to check it out!
Have a great week and happy reading!!

Day Two:

  I only got about 20% through "Vampire Academy" yesterday. My husband and I were pretty busy. Hopefully this morning after I fix breakfast I can get some major reading done before we get busy today, too. I don't think that I am going to be able to get all three books done this weekend. But, ya never know.

   I am liking "Vampire Academy" so far, but not as much as I thought I would. What I mostly don't like is that I am 6 chapters in and everything still seems like a big secret. I kind wish they would clue me in on some stuff now and not make every conversation between Lissa and Rose a big mystery as to what they are really talking about. But I am going to keep reading, of course. I may be judging too soon and this is the chapter where secrets are revealed ;p

  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend of reading!

Spookiest Read Mini Challenge.

  This is a hard one. I haven't really ever read anything that really came off as spooky or scary to me. Things just don't scare me easily. I'm the same way with movies. Only one has ever scared me enough to sleep with the lights on.

  So off the top of my head, the only book that I can think of that gave me the heart-pounding effect of being scared would probably be "This Present Darkness" by Frank Peretti (one of my favorite authors). As a firm believer in spiritual warfare, demons & angels, and possessions this is an intense read. He describes everything so perfectly that it really starts to feel very real, like you are there and experiencing everything first hand.
It was "spooky" enough to make me jump quite a few times.

Don't Forget! Halloween Read-A-Thon.

Tonight at midnight is the start of YA Books Reviewed Halloween Read-A-Thon.

So go sign up. There will be mini-challenges, a Twitter party (that I can actually attend and participate in now that I have a Twitter), and lots of giveaways. It lasts, as the button says, the 15th-17th which is Friday-Sunday. The Twitter party is Saturday, 9pm EST...which is 8pm for me...which means I would be able to participate if I was going to be home. But my husband and I have plans to go to Nashville with some friends for the evening and I don't want to be rude and be Tweeting all through dinner, so I may be able to only check in once or twice during that time.

Make sure your books are "Halloweenish", as in zombies, immortals, vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, urban legends...anything horror or supernatural/paranormal.

I am planning on reading:

Those are the three I would like to take out. 2 of them are on the banned/challenged book lists so I'll get 2 birds with 1 stone. If I get those three done I'll probably just try to finish reading "Under The Dome" by Stephen King.

Hope you join! It should be lots of fun :D

Happy Reading!

Decisions, decisions.

  I worked on my banned book list last night for a few hours before bed. It is taking a lot longer to make a list then I thought it would. There are sooo many lists of banned and challenged books to choose from. And not all the lists have the reasons for the book being banned or challenged so then I have to go and look that up too. Because I want the reasons before I read the book. But it is coming together. And I am quite happy with my list, so far.

  Also, I am trying to decide on a couple blog meme's to be a part of. There are just so many. Waiting on Wednesday, Teaser Tuesdays, In My Mailbox...and so on. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can go and look at all the ones I am considering and decide on a couple to do since they seem fun.

Here's a fun fact for you:

"The First Circle" by Aleksandr Sohlzhenitsyn was banned in Russia for a negative portrayal of Joseph Stalin.
There is a positive way to view him?

Hollowland.

Wow. This was quiet the surprise of a book. I have yet to read Switched, but I love Amanda Hocking's "My Blood Approves" series so I figured I would give this one a shot. It definitely did not disappoint. 

I read the entire thing yesterday for the Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon and it was the perfect choice. It kept my interest the entire time.

Remy is a 19 year old girl living in a world that has been infested with zombies. When the quarantine that her and her little brother are at gets taken over by the zombies, she runs for her life. On her way out one the soldiers who is her friend tells her that her brother has been transported to another quarantine states away. So she decides to go after him. On the way she and her friend Harlow, a 13 year old girl from the quarantine, meet two guys named Blue and Lazlo who end up going with them, she finds a lioness that saves her life more than once, they almost get trapped in a religious cult, and of course, run in tons of zombies. 

The action is non-stop. It starts on the first page and really doesn't let up at all, but not to the point where you get burnt out on it.

And FINALLY we have a female lead that can do things for herself! Remy is strong and courageous and does things her way to survive. There is some romance, but it's not like all the other romances in supernatural stories where the girl ends up not being able to do anything alone. It was SO refreshing.

There is a lot less language in this book than in Amanda's other books, which I view as nice. But there are still the occasional swear word. There is also a small scene of intimacy between two of the characters (which two I won't say). And of course, it being a book about zombies...there is violence. Duh.

With Halloween right around the corner this is a great read for this month. So grab your Kindle, get on Amazon, click on the buy button and read it!

Definitely 4.5/5

Now they're popping up everywhere!

As mentioned before. I did not find out about yesterdays read-a-thon til the day before. I had never even heard of read-a-thons. And even though I only read 1 1/2 books it was still loads of fun. I think I read for about 14 hours? Somewhere around there...kind of. It was not a straight 14 hours, stuff kept happening. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, my mom called. Even though we only planned to be on the phone for her 20 min drive home from where she was...we ended up talking for almost 2 hours. So I guess it was actually less than 14 hours. BUT, anyways.
Where I was originally going with this was I was quite surprised since I had never head of "'thons" before to find yet another one going on next weekend. It is hosted by Young Adult Books Reviewed and it is in honor of Halloween coming up.
                                               
It's pretty much right up my alley since the main focus is to read supernatural stories. You know, vampires, werewolves, fairies, shapeshifters, zombies, that sort of things. I have plenty of those stories. And I have almost a week to decide which books I want to take out.

It is my husbands weekend off though. Yesterday I was kind of lucky since he had to work, but we don't really have anything planned for next weekend other than he wants to go fishing, I think, and church. But we'll see. It's nice since it's an all weekend thing so I won't be stressing trying to find a whole block time to read. I can just do it when I can do it. Should be fun.
Join me :)

Update Three:

I finally finished Hollowland. It was such a good read. I will post my review tomorrow, because now I am getting sleepy.
About a month ago I started re-reading A Great and Terrible Beauty. Just reading bits and pieces in my spare time or in between books so I decided to finish that tonight. And I am very close to being done with that and then I am going to finish either Vampire Academy (to get a head start on my "Year of Banned Books"), Pride and Prejudice, or Stephen King's Under the Dome. I'm only a bit into each...but I cannot decide which one to go with.

So as of right now, I am at 1 1/2 books read. I wanted to do more, but I ended up having stuff to do today that cut into my reading time (such is life). But I am glad I got that much done since I have been in kind of a reading slump. I have so many books on my shelves and on my Kindle it gets hard to pick from all of them, and then I just don't...so the read-a-thon really helped me just sit down, pick a book, and read it. And I loved reading all the other blogs. I wish I could have gotten around to more, but then I wouldn't have gotten any reading done today.

Hopefully I will be able to update one more time before I crash, but in case I don't get around to it, thank you cheerleaders for coming around and being encouraging. It was so nice to see those comments. And thank you to all the bloggers who have held the super fun challenges. This has been so much fun and I cannot wait til next time :)

Title Word Scramble:

1.yfferil enal
Firefly Lane

2.aste fo eend
East of Eden
3. retwa orf pntshleea
Water for Elephants
4.ot lkli a ckomgnrbdii
To Kill A Mockingbird

5. het gtaer ysbtag
 The Great Gatsby
6. yrhra tetrpo dna eth lyhdtea wollsah
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
7. ht e rat fo nrgcai ni eht nair
The Art of Racing in the Rain
8.eth mite reslveart efwi
The Time Traveler's Wife
9. eht rlig ithw eht gnodar ooattt
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
10.ydira fo a mypiw idk
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
11.a kwrlnei ni emit
A Wrinkle in Time
12. het rpoal sxprese
The Polar Express

13.vole dewlak ni
Love Walked In
14.reehw eth dwli hingts rea
Where the Wild Things Are
15.eht ginnhsi
The Shining
16.dnohogigt oonm
Goodnight Moon
17. vwtienrie hwti a pvmarie
Interview with a Vampire
18. eht cretse file fo eesb
The Secret Life of Bees
19. eht raesch
The Search
20. het pelh
The Help

Half way already?!

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now? Still working on Hollowland by Amanda Hocking.

2. How many books have you read so far? Almost one. Hopefully in the last half I can knock out one or two more.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I really don't know. I had only just found out about the read-a-thon last night so I didn't really have time to compose a list. But I just received "Dear John" in the mail from my mom a couple hours ago, so maybe I'll take that one out.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Yes, I was saving today to clean the apartment after having my in-laws over last weekend/part of the week. So last night after finding out about this I was cleaning and doing laundry and cooking like a crazy person so that I didn't have to do it all today.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Yes, but really the only one I can think of was having to finish cooking and packing up my husband's dinner for him to take to work tonight. So I just did it as fast as I could.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Probably how many people are actually involved. It's so awesome to see such a diverse group of people reading so many different books. I have to tear myself away from their blogs to finish my reading.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Well, this is only my first one and I was a pretty late entry so I'm not really sure. The only thing I noticed that could be changed to be more helpful is updating some of the stuff on the main page. I just kept seeing a bunch of 2009 dates so I had a little bit of a hard time finding where all the current stuff was.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? As a reader, I will hopefully have a better reading plan in place. One that allows changes more easily than the one I had this time did. And I will probably sign up to be a Cheerleader for a little bit next time too. Seems really fun :)

9. Are you getting tired yet? Not so much right now. But then again I did sleep from hour 2-6 so I don't really have a reason to be tired.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? I tend to have a short attention span for pleasurable things (ie-reading, watching movies, etc.) when there is housework I know needs to get done. So instead of taking only a couple long breaks, I've been taking many shorter breaks. Taking just enough time to throw a load in the washer. Clean up the kitchen from cooking dinner. Vacuuming, things like that. It helps with not getting tired out too.

Update Two:

I've been reading sporadically all day, so my best guess for total reading time would be about 5 1/2 hours. 7 if you include reading other peoples blogs.

I keep forcing myself to slow down on this book because I am loving it so much. I tend to jump over paragraphs when I start reading fast so then I miss stuff. But man, Amanda Hocking really did a great job on this book. The action started on the first page. No joke. And it's kept the same action-y pace the entire time, which keeps making my brain want to go faster, but I don't want to miss anything in this book.

I had a cup of hot coffee earlier, but today got a little hot (which was weird since we've been really cool lately) so hot wasn't doing it. So I iced it down and added some flavored creamer. Then much to my delight I found a box of Hot Tamales that my mother-in-law left when they came to visit last weekend. Hot Tamales and zombie stories just go realllly well together. Other than that I haven't really eaten anything. But I do have snacks planned for later when the munchies really hit, which I know they will.

Hope everyone is meeting there goals or are at least close to them, and of course, having tons of fun. I know I am :D
Now off to finally finish book 1.
Happy Reading!

First update:

So I haven't been doing as good as I thought I would have at this point, but I blame the Army for that. They threw off my schedule that I had planned when they called my husband back in about an hour after he got home. That made everything get pushed back. I tried to read while he was gone since I had almost an hour before he came home, but I fell asleep.
Since my original plan got messed up I decided to change it. We aren't going anywhere tomorrow so I changed my start time to about 7 this morning (right when my time zone was supposed to start anyway) and I will just read later into the night.
Well, I am only about halfway through my first book (see? not so good) and I don't have to move from this spot until 4 when I have to finish making dinner for my husband so I am going to get cracking. I will have this book done before then!

And so it begins.

I am almost finished with the laundry. I have my husbands dinner all ready to go when he leaves for work tonight. Coffee is set for when he comes home in a few hours. The bed has fresh sheets on it. And my Kindle is charged and ready to go.
I already know I am not going to be able to go all 24-hours. As stated in my previous blog, I promised my husband I would watch Iron Man 2 with him when he gets home from work this morning...at 5:30 a.m. That's -2 hours right there. And I've already been up since 8am yesterday morning (it is now 12:05am my time) so I'm tired already...even though I chugged a Red Bull about 2 hours ago...it did not wake me up. So I think for now I will read for about an hour maybe an hour and a half so I can get up for the day when E gets home at 5:30. I figure I should be able to get at least 18-19 hours in. Which for my first read-a-thon I think is pretty good.

Okay, okay, I need to stop wasting time here with ramblings and go read. I will hopefully update before I go to sleep later :)

First read of the 'thon: Hollowland, by Amanda Hocking.

24 Hour Read-A-Thon!

So I know I am really realllllly realllllly late at finding out about this, but it sounds way too cool to pass up! Since I just heard about this from Sparkling Reviews I'm not really sure what I am going to read. But I have shelves full and tons of books on my Kindle to pick from. I just started reading Amanda Hocking's new book "Hollowland" last night and I'm only about 2% in on my Kindle so I'll start off with that. And when I get done with it I will let you know what I decide to start next.

You should do it with me though. I think it's going to be tons of fun :D! So head over to the website http://24hourreadathon.com/ and sign up. I'm off to go make dinner for tomorrow night so I don't have to do it tomorrow. And make coffee....lots of coffee.
I think I am going to start at midnight (central), stay up for a few hours then sleep for a few hours until my husband gets home from work (which is when he wants me to watch Iron Man 2 with him) then after that, get to reading again. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Happy Reading!!

Torment.

Wow...I really am not sure what to say about this one. It was really good. I've read a few other reviews on it to see what other people thought and I don't know if I payed attention more or what, because everyone else says not a whole lot was explained in this one, but I got a lot of information out of it.

Now, I cannot go on into a more in-depth review without some possible spoilers of the first one so if you haven't read that one, don't read this review.

Daniel has taken Luce from Sword & Cross and placed her in a Nephilim (part angel part human) school. Because the Nephilim's powers cover her soul up so that pretty much everything that is after her cannot find her. Daniel is even more secretive in this one than the first so they end up fighting a lot. He thinks he is protecting her by keeping her in the dark, she feels like he is treating her like a child by making her stay at this school. I like Luce in this book. She starts thinking for herself. Starts questioning everything that everyone has been telling her has to happen or that she is destined for. How does she know she is actually destined for it? She learns to control the shadows while she makes some new friends. None of which would ever be able to replace Penn for her or myself, but they are good friends to have. And Daniel better watch out, because he gets a little competition when Miles steps up. Will Luce choose Daniel, who he says she is supposed to be with? Or break free and create her own new destiny with Miles by her side?

Cam is back in this one, as well. He and Daniel have called a truce which lasts for 18 days. Which is the duration of the book. I thoroughly enjoy Cam. I think I like Daniel best with Luce, but I would not mind Cam stealing her away. He's just a badass demon...angel...guy.

We're still waiting to find out who Luce is and how her and Daniel could tip the scale of angels and demons. And I would like to know what it was about Luce that originally drew Daniel to her enough to, well you know, fall.

I really would like to know how Lauren Kate expects me to wait until next summer to read Passion.

Come on Summer 2011!

Banned Books Year.

Originally I planned to read the top 100 banned books in the next year. But with my husband and I moving to a new duty station in 2 months, him possibly getting deployed early next year, which would mean me moving back home with my family while he is gone and probably getting a job and starting back at school while his is gone....there is just too much on my plate to make that kind of commitment. So after we move and get settled in in Colorado I will start trying to read at least one banned book a week. If I cannot keep up with one a week (since I will still be reading all my other books) I will do no less than 2 a month.

I will start reading them January 1st 2011-December 31st 2011. If it ends up being superbly enjoyable and don't want to stop I'll keep doing it after the end date. But for now, I'll just stick to a year. Right now I am reading lists and lists of banned/challenged books and making my own list of which ones to read and why they were banned so when I am done reading them I can blog about it here and tell you what I think.

I am very much against censorship on books. To me, it is a cop out of for parents to be less involved in their kids lives. They shouldn't ban books. They should know what their kids are reading. I would even go as far to say that they should read the books before their kid.

Maybe if some came up with a good reason for wanting to ban a book from a school or library I would think about being okay with it. But when people are removing books like "Anne Frank" from shelves for the reason of it being too depressing...that makes me lose hope in people. Yeah, it is depressing. It took place during the Holocaust! I don't think there is a way you can write about Jews being tortured and killed or hiding for their lives for years and make it sound all happy go-lucky. That was life back then....okay okay, tangent over.

But seriously, this is happening. And it needs to stop. Censorship is not a good thing, especially in this area. So next "Banned Book Year" update I should have a list of what I have decided to read and the reasons why the books were banned or challenged. If packing and moving isn't too overwhelming I might start a month or so early so that I can get some more books in.

I would also love to hear from you. If you decide to do something like this with me, or just read one or two. Tell me what you think. Do you agree with the banning? Did you enjoy the book? Would it have been something you would have picked up to read just to read it? Let me know. This is gonna be fun :)

Kindle Giveaway. & Box O' Books giveaway.

I feel like I have been away for FOREVER. My in-laws came to visit my husband and I for a long weekend so I was very busy getting our home ready for when they came and then even busier when they got here.

But I am back and with lots to blog about. So let's start the new posts off with a bang. How about the Kindle Giveaway Sparkling Reviews is hosting? Yep, that's a good start. Head on over to that blog and become a follower. Once the blog reaches 500 followers one lucky follower will win a Kindle.

If the blog reaches 1000 followers there will be a $150.00 giftcard to The Book Depository given away to another lucky follower.

You can enter once daily so what are you waiting for? Get over there, click the follow button and enter. Then spread the word!

Also, another giveaway I just found on her blog is the "Box O' Books Giveaway." The goal for that one was to get to 220 followers and a box of books would be given away to a lucky follower. Now there are over 300 so the amount of followers has been met but there is still time to enter because the contest does not end until October 14th. So enter that one too, after you become a follower because she has really good taste in books so I am sure the book will be filled with awesome books!