Bout of Books Goals

This is the post that I will be doing my general updating on.
all other updates will get their own posts.

MY GOALS

• Read 10 books
• Participate in at least 2 challenges
• Participate on Twitter
• Visit at least 10 new blogs

BOOKS TO READ

• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
• Soul Screamers vol.1 by Rachel Vincent
• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendra Blake
• Rampant by Diana Peterfruend
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• Velveteen by Daniel Marks
• Vanish by Sophie Jordan

UPDATES

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 0
Books: Working on Soul Screamers vol. 1.
Today started off pretty well. I jumped right into reading Soul Screamers vol. 1 and I really like it so far.
I visited a couple of blogs and found some that I really like :) Now to just comment on them all.

Tuesday

Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 0
Books: Still working on Soul Screamers vol. 1.

Today would have been a much more productive reading day, but instead of working an 8 hour shift like I was supposed to I kept picking up peoples hours and ended up working 17. So I came home and passed out after reading like 2 pages. Hopefully Wednesday will be a better reading day.

Wednesday

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Total number of books I've read:
Books:

Thursday

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Friday

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Saturday

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Sunday

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"template provided by Bout of Books"

Bout of Books Read-A-Thon

It's no secret that I have been slacking in the reading department (I'm actually about 30 books behind in my reading challenge for this year....oops). So when I saw a fellow blogger post about this read-a-thon I knew it would be the perfect thing to help me get back on track.

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

Bout of Books info:

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, run from 12:01am on Monday, August 13th through 11:59pm Sunday, August 19th in whatever time zone you are in.

Bout of Books is low pressure, meaning participants are only asked to push themselves to read more than they normally would during any given week. There is no competition between readers.

How much time a reader wants, and can commit, to read, tweet, or network with fellow bloggers is left to individual preference. All challenges and giveaways are optional.

Networking with fellow bloggers is actively encouraged, though never required. Co-hosts are there to facilitate blog hopping and interaction between participants.

Use Twitter to post updates throughout the read-a-thon. Everyone will be tweeting with the #boutofbooks hashtag.

My pile of books for the read-a-thon contains the following:

(I can't get the picture to rotate for the life of me...so it's staying like that...)

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Soul Screamers vol.1 by Rachel Vincent

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendra Blake

Rampant by Diana Peterfruend

Then next weekend when I head down to the coast for the weekend with my dad I will be taking my Kindle with me, so the books I will be reading from that will be:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Velveteen by Daniel Marks

and 

Vanish by Sophie Jordan

So there it is! 10 books! Whoa, it'll be a miracle if I get through all of them, but I've got a pretty slow week this week so there is a chance :)

There is still time to sign up and participate. The read-a-thon starts tonight at midnight in whatever time zone you are in. If you would like to check it out, click HERE. Hope to see you there!

I swear, this time it's true.

At the end of May I posted that I was going to be back in full blogging swing by the middle of June...and obviously that did not happen. Mostly because I was getting settled in at my new job, and because I needed a break. There has been a lot going on and I was stressing about getting books read and reviews written. It wasn't pretty. So I stepped back, read for fun, didn't worry about reviews and all that. And now I think I am finally ready to start blogging again. I'm finally back to having somewhat of a consistent schedule so it should be easier now to find time to blog.
I have a whole list of posts I've been working on and can't wait to write up.
Thanks for sticking around even though I haven't posted in a while.
Y'all are the best :D

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

"Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look. 

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. 

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the           shadows of his own nightmares. 

                                                         His life depends on it." -GoodReads.

Hardcover, 543 pages

Published August 31st 2010 by Atheneum

Source: Bought

Not too long ago I noticed that I was falling behind in my reading goal for the year. So I started browsing my bookshelves for a couple shorter books that would just be quick reads to help get me caught. Somehow I ended up reading Nevermore, which is 543 pages...not exactly what I had in mind, but once I started reading it I couldn't hardly put it down.

Normally you would say that is a good thing, right? This time I'm really not so sure. No, I couldn't put the book down, but for some reason it doesn't feel like that much happened in all of those pages.

It took a while for Isobel's life to be introduced, then she starts hanging out with Varen to complete a school project, which at first she does not want to do at all but then starts craving being around him. He is a little off kilter and doesn't really talk...at all. Which got a bit annoying to read. It seemed like every time Isobel said something to him he took way too long to answer or just ignored her. 

I understand being goth and doing your own thing, and not wanting to hang out with the prissy cheerleader, but manners are manners and he really needed to get some. I'm sure that is how Isobel felt, but she ended up finding it intriguing...I just wanted to smack him.

After they got paired up in class, their English teacher tells them that their projects are due in a month all and all I could think was "Oh no...Not insta-love!" And with the way that Isobel went from being terrified of Varen and loathing being around him, to not being able to sleep or do anything without thinking about him, and sneaking around to see him...all of that taking place in about a week, I'd say I was right.

I did enjoy the play on Poe poems and stories, though. It was neat seeing how Kelly Creagh merged the worlds and brought Poe characters to life. A little more depth and detail for that part of her story would have been very welcome, but maybe there is more of that in the second book, Enshadowed (do not read the synopsis for Enshadowed if you have read Nevermore. There are spoilers).

While there were some things that rubbed me the wrong way in this book, overall it was a good story and really a quick read. I am looking forward to reading the second and third books to see how it ends. Because with an ending like this one that Nevermore has, you will most certainly be longing for the next one to see what happens.

June is "Favorite Gentlemen" Month.

Reading has been slow going lately. I just cannot seem to get into any book and I have started falling seriously behind in my reading goal for the year. And I just don't see that changing much in June since I will be going back to work in the next week or so and participating in Camp NaNoWriMo starting Friday. Busy is what I will be.
So I started thinking what I could do to get myself back in the reading game so that I don't fall even farther behind in my goal. That's when it hit me. Why not revisit some of my favorite literary gentlemen to rekindle my love for the written word? I always say that I am going to re-read certain books, but never do. So in June, instead of trying to force myself to read a new book I'm going to go back to some that I already know I love. My favorite books span over many genres so I narrowed it down to "favorite guy" books....that and I need some romance in my life.

My June reading list consists of:

• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Dimitri Belikov)
• The Fault in our Stars by John Green (Augustus Waters)
• Blood Fever by Karen Marie Moning (Jericho Barrons) (also, not YA)
• Divergent by Veronica Roth (Four) I may also end up reading the sequel, Insurgent, right after.
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer I haven't read this book in years. I want to see if now I am Team Edward or Team Jacob.
• My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking (Peter)
• The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (Conrad)
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (Ettiene St. Clair)

So there's my list with just some of my favorite literary guys. I'll also throw a couple review books in there, but this list is what I will be focusing on.

Hopefully one of these books will get me back on the reading horse. And instead of doing a review for each of them, since I have reviewed most of them already, I'll write up a post about why the book's leading man is one of my favorites.

Is there any certain book(s) that you go back to when you need to rekindle the passion between you and reading? Or do you just push forward until you find a new book that does it for you?

Interview with Teresa Lo, Author of Hell's Game

"On Halloween night in Deer Creek, Kansas, Jake Victor, Ashley and Ashton Gemini, and Kristin Grace convince Ronnie Smalls to meet them at the town cemetery, which local folklore has always rumored to be the Gateway to Hell. Their intention was only to scare him, but soon the wicked prank becomes actual horror as the group learns the Gateway is all too real. After demons snatch Ronnie and drag him to Hell, the terrified foursome vow to keep what they had seen a secret.

Two years later, the group receives a mysterious letter, an invite to play a high-stakes game in Hell. If they win, they release Ronnie’s soul as well as their own from eternal damnation. If they lose, they are stuck in Hell forever. Choosing to play, they face nightmare after nightmare as each level escalates in intensity and forces them to face the seven deadly sins.

Inspired by the legends of the Gateway to Hell in Stull, Kansas, Hell’s Game explores the cruelty that teenagers can inflict upon each other as well as the horrors that exist amongst mankind. It is a dark, action-packed young adult novel that will both scare its readers and make them question the true meaning of evil"-Goodreads.

Tell us five things about yourself that most people might not know.

TL:

1. I grew up in Coffeyville, Kansas.
2. Last year, I adopted a cat named Paige, and I renamed her Paige Turner because I’m a bookworm!
3. When I was in middle school, I owned and read the entire Goosebumps series from R.L. Stine.
4. The book The Shrine at Altamira by John L’Herueux inspired me to write fiction.
5. I was the president of the pre-law fraternity in college, but I never ended up attending law school. I went to film school instead!

FBL: Your cat's name is the coolest ever. Just sayin'.

What audience would enjoy reading Hell’s Game?

TL: Hell’s Game follows a group of popular teenagers who are forced to play a high-stakes game in Hell after they play a mean prank on the school nerd. As the group moves from level to level in the game, the settings intensify, and each level is a manifestation of one of the seven deadly sins. I hope that Hell’s Game can be enjoyed by lovers of horror and by a broader audience. If YA readers enjoy the writing of L.J. Smith or Suzanne Collins, they most likely will enjoy Hell’s Game.

FBL: I love new takes on the seven deadly sins! This book sounds right up my alley.

What influences your story lines and settings?
The Midwest greatly influences my stories and settings. I like to write about real people and examine their psychology. When I write horror, I try to avoid cheap thrills, but instead, I think about what I’m the most afraid of, and I try to bring that out through characters that a lot of people have met in their lives.

FBL: That sounds like such a great way to write a horror story and actually make it scary. 

What are your favorite horror movies?

My favorite horror film is Frailty, starring Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. It’s very creepy, and the audience has no idea where the story will go. I like horror that genuinely surprises, and Frailty has one of the best twist endings I have ever seen. I also like Rosemary’s Baby, Silence of the Lambs, and The Craft.

FBL: Frailty blew my mind the first time I saw it. The ending completely took me by surprise.

What is the main message that you’d like your readers to take away from Hell’s Game?

Every character in Hell’s Game is affected by some form of evil, whether it’s harm inflicted by another person or harm inflicted by a supernatural force, and those evil acts create a negative ripple effect in everyone’s lives. The main message I wanted to share was that those who see or know of evil acts and do nothing are just as guilty as those who committed the crime. Hell’s Game is very much a morality tale that I hope will influence its readers into doing the right thing.

FBL: Thank you so much for the interview, Teresa! I cannot wait to dig into Hell's Game! I'm always looking for a good horror novel and yours sounds perfect.


You can check out Teresa's website and Goodreads page for more information on Hell's Game. And then head over to Amazon to purchase it for your Kindle.

Teresa Lo’s website: www.tloclub.com

Hell’s Game on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hells-Game-ebook/dp/B007S3HYTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333928392&sr=8-1

Hell’s Game on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13584901-hell-s-game

Check it out: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

"Ever since Kait Swanney could remember, the old crones of the village have been warning her to stay away from the selkies. They claim that like sirens of old, the seal men creep from the inky waters, shed their skins, and entice women to their deaths beneath the North Sea. But avoiding an encounter becomes impossible when Kait is spotted at the water’s edge, moments after the murder of a half-selkie infant. 


Unexpectedly, Kait is awoken by a beautiful, selkie man seeking revenge. After she declares her innocence, the intruder darts into the night, but not before inadvertently bewitching her with an overpowering lure. 

Kait obsesses over a reunion deep beneath the bay and risks her own life to be reunited with her selkie. But when she lands the dangerous lover, the chaos that follows leaves Kait little time to wonder—is it love setting her on fire or has she simply been lured?"-Goodreads.

Released December 16th 2011 as an ebook by Sweet River Romance. Soon to be released as a paperback. 260 pages.

I for one cannot wait to read this book! I grew up hearing stories of selkies so I was incredibly excited when Krista emailed me about her book. You should also check it out and let me know what you think!