Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Musing Monday (4)


Musing Mondays are hosted by Should Be Reading.

This Week's Question:

Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?
Or do you collect anything?

My Answer:

I have a ridiculous amount of hobbies, actually. So many hobbies that I often wish I didn't have to work or go to school or do any adult stuff so that I could sit and indulge in my hobbies all day long!
Some of them include: Sewing, drawing, photography, painting. I also play acoustic guitar, piano, and sing. I love crafts and anything DIY. (Especially making beauty product stuff. YES.)

...I also play Lord of the Rings Online... GEEKY, I know, right?




Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (3)




the Crown of Embers (Girl of Fire and Thorns #2)

by Rae Carson

"...And you will kiss me again. That and more. Count on it."
His mouth slams closed, and his eyes flare like a starving man's.
I whirl and stride away.







Anyone can play along!
Just do the following:
~ Grab your current read.
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
~Be careful not to include spoilers!!
~ Share the Title & Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!


Teaser Tuesday: In which I post two sentences from a random page of the book I am currently reading.
Hosted by: Should Be Reading

Monday, September 17, 2012

Giveaway!

While you're waiting for my 30 followers giveaway or my participating giveaway in the YA Mythology blog hop (More info on the widget found on the top right bar of this page.) you seriously need to enter this HUGE and fabulous giveaway!



55 books! Here are just a few of the many she's giving away! 
and there are TONS of ways to get multiple entries!

Go Check it out! You can bet that I'll be entering!

Review: Untraceable



I know what you're all thinking... 'Emily posted a review?! What?! She actually posts those?' I know they take me forever... I'm going to start forcing myself to write them right after I finish a book so I don't put it off... anyways, here you gooo!


Untraceable

by S.R. Johannes

Four and a half Stars.

I downloaded this book on a whim when I was browsing free ebooks on amazon. Basically I loved the pretty cover and was also intrigued by the synopsis.

Usually the quality of obscure free books on amazon isn't the best, but I'm pleased to report that I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

First of all, I totally connected with the main character, Grace. She was written in a way that even though we have very little in common (for example, settings, interests, situations, etc) I was really able to fall in love with her as a character because of her determination to be strong. She absolutely refuses to allow herself to be weak and sees emotion as weakness. She is confused by Mo, who wears his heart on his sleeve and says everything he thinks. I LOVE this because I can totally relate with it! It's so realistic! I'm amazed how very three dimensional Johannes made her characters. If nothing else, I would read this book again just for Grace.

This plot is rich. I was happily surprised. Some plot twists I totally saw coming... until it turned into yet ANOTHER plot twist! and I'm talking about in a non-confusing, fast-paced, exhilarating, OH MY GOSH 'what is going on here?' kind of way!

Oh, and I can't forget about Mo! HE IS HOT. I LOVE the dark edge to his personality/story! Everyone has one of those and I'm so glad he got one! I hate perfect heroes in books... because perfect men don't exist! Wynn is nice too, but... I was definitely team putting Wynn in the friend zone and leaving him there....
I'm really tired of love triangles, and I'm happy to report that this love triangle lasts for like five seconds, and then she makes up her mind. THANK YOU, S.R. Johannes for being the one who finally writes a satisfying love triangle!

The only reason I took half a star away is that I felt like the romantic scenes were a little cheesy at times. I was a little disappointed that this book was so REAL but then when it got to romance it would build and then leave me like, uh... what? I'm hoping this improves in the next book!

And I finished it right in time for the second to come out! Definitely high up on my to read list!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

On My Shelf (2)

Next up:


I've been wanting to read this FOREVER. and now it is bought and on my kindle! HOORAY!


This is the sequel to one of my new favorite books. I have it pre-ordered and it comes out on Tuesday! (the 18th)
and you can bet your bottom dollar that I am going to drop everything and read it!




Banished to the Bookyard. :(

(if you don't know what this is, check out my page titled 'Bookyard'.)

I don't know... I just couldn't get into it. I  usually love broken characters.
Maybe I'm just not in the mood for this genre.


If I'm being totally honest,
I'm just not finding any forgiving qualities about it.



Just Finished:



Holy awesome. Review...SOON.


SO GOOD. Holy cow. I'll post a review soon.

ALSO marvelous! Review soon.



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

This awesome weekly event is hosted by Breaking the Spine.
(PS: That's where I got this adorable button!)



I have to wait until FEBRUARY?! Really, Richelle?!?!?!?!

Okay, I'm freaking in love with this series. I might even love it as much as I love Vampire Academy. (Also by Richelle Mead, if you haven't read it.)

Check it out here: Goodreads

This is the third book of the Bloodlines series. If you haven't read it yet, you seriously need to. Seriously. I would sell my legs to get an ARC of this!


Cover Reveal: Reaping Me Softly


Releasing Oct. 30, 2012



Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.

At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?

See more info on Goodreads!

I am so excited about this book! I don't participate in cover reveals, author spotlights/interviews ETC unless it is something I am genuinely excited about. And not only am I in LOVE with this GORGEOUS and bittersweet cover art, I love the idea of reaping! Finding fresh YA is always a pleasure.
Check it out if you haven't already!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday (1)


Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.


Top Ten Books That Make You Think (About The World, People, Life, etc.)





Dreamland
by Sarah Dessen

This book is simply beautiful and very dear to me.
This book is filled with tragedy. Our heroine, Caitlin, has a sister who runs away from home, a mother tries to replace her by trying to make Caitlin into everything her sister was.
Caitlin finds herself dating Rogerson, a dangerous drug dealer and gets caught up in drugs and co-dependency. And finally, after dating for a while, he starts to physically and emotionally abuse her, but she can't find the strength in herself to leave him.

This book has a bittersweet but realistic ending. It was very powerful and dear to me, as I have a past of drug addiction and abusive relationships. Caitlin is a character that I can relate to and I often found myself hurting and crying for her. Definitely worth reading, if you haven't already. Or re-reading if you have. 


The Red Queen's Daughter 
by Jacqueline Kolosov

This book drew beautiful parallels between light and darkness, and made me think on the fact that not only do we all sin, we all have the potential to be either good people or bad people. We all have good and evil inside of us. 












Uglies 
by Scott Westerfeld


This book certainly made me think about how our media and society today favors beauty and how beauty is defined by little more than fantasies. (I won't say much more than that, being a raging feminist, I could go on for hours...)











Don't Breathe a Word. 
by Holly Cupala

I love this book for a lot of the same reasons that I love Dreamland, but with one difference. The type of abuse featured in this book is emotional abuse, which is just as deadly as physical abuse, and sometimes more scarring. Emotional abuse has a stigma in our day and is not given the attention it deserves. To break someone down on the inside and destroy who they are is unforgivable and the effects last a lot longer than any bruise or scar. (I'm not trying to make physical abuse seem like any less serious. Often the two go together. I just feel like physical abuse gets all the attention.)







All These Things I've Done
by Gabrielle Zevin


I've seen this book posted and raved about on book blogs and fan sites for months now. So finally, I picked it up. (Well, I downloaded it on my kindle...)

It was AMAZING. and thought provoking. It made me think about the way you can't allow people's past, their family, or their upbringing marr your judgement. Beauty can shine out of darkness just as easily as horror can come from things that are beautiful.









To Kill a Mockingbird

First of all, I have a confession to make... When I first started typing this, I wrote To Kill a Mockingjay... only when I looked it up on goodreads to snag the cover art did I catch my mistake...

Back to the subject, I don't think it's all that necessary to explain this one. To Kill A Mockingbird is not only a classic, it's beautiful and groundbreaking. I've always loved reading about slavery and the abolition OF slavery. This book is fantastic.







The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

ANOTHER classic? I know, I'm sorry.
This book, despite being kind of depressing, really made me think about people. You can never know, with people. You can't fall into the habit of expecting the same things from people, because they will always surprise you.










The Immortal Rules
by Julie Kagawa

I loved this book. I'm getting really tired of vampires being sparkly and nice, and in this book they were as they were always meant to be. Brutal and inhuman.

What this book really made me think about was just how blurred the lines are between good and evil. 'Evil' is just so subjective. There is potential for every good person to be evil, and there is just as equally a chance for evil to become good. I LOVE IT.






Mere Christianity
by C.S. Lewis

It would take me a really long time to talk about I learned from this book. It is fantastic and though provoking and fascinating and just plain great. Go read it.















And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie.

This book is just plain genius. It didn't really make me think about people, myself, etc, but it was DEEP and complicated (in the best way) and man it made me THINK and I still didn't catch the plot twists. Like, any of them. and I'm GOOD with plot twists!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Musing Monday (3)

Musing Mondays are hosted by Should Be Reading.



This Musing Monday's question is:

Do you take notes while you read?






Yes. I LOVE highlighting and annotating in books. One of my favorite things is picking up an old one of my books and reading my notes/annotations while re-reading the book. I get something new from every book I read, every time I read it, and it's lovely to see what I got from books the other times.

I also love reading books annotated by other people. It's so interesting to see the insights other people have, as we all see stories, characters, worlds, etc so differently.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (2)








"Though I tried to avoid going there, the Pool was beautiful in its way. Mosaic tiles lined the walls in gold, white, and turquoise. No one had swam there in years, but the whole place still smelled lightly of chlorine. And because all of it was underground, it was quiet and cool. Sound bounced around in unusual, predictable patterns."

All These Things I've Done

by Gabrielle Zevin

Alright, I know that's a lot more than two sentences, but I really liked this passage!








Anyone can play along!
Just do the following:
~ Grab your current read.
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
~Be careful not to include spoilers!!
~ Share the Title & Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!


Teaser Tuesday: In which I post two sentences from a random page of the book I am currently reading.
Hosted by: Should Be Reading

Monday, September 3, 2012

Musing Monday (2)

Musing Mondays are hosted by Should Be Reading.

This Musing Monday's question is:

Have you ever considered writing a book before? What genre would you write?


I actually love to write, so I've started several books... All of them being young adult, most of them being fantasy/fiction, and most of them being tragedies. also, I don't think I could write a book that didn't have romance in it.

I think that once I get out of school I will participate in NaNoWriMo. I love writing and I would love to finish a novel. 

What about you? 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

September Releases



Mmmm mythology meets modern! Always one of my favorites!



I have yet to read the first two books, but this series has recently come to my attention!

A new Melissa Marr book? YES PLEASE?!
Celtic magic, forbidden love, and ancient feuds? Uh, yeah!
Okay, I know the cover looks weird, but this book still looks really fun! Go read about it.


This is the sequel to the Girl of Fire and Thorns:
WHICH I ABSOLUTELY LOVED.
I can't wait! If you haven't read the first one,
check it out here.
I'm so excited for this! And NOT just because
I'm a cover whore and this cover is GORGEOUS.
The plot line sounds fresh and incredibly interesting! 


Obviously, there are a TON more september releases that I haven't mentioned here... but there's a few of the ones I'm excited about!