Pages

Monday, December 17, 2012

i'm in a book....





well...my Blog is at least!  Check out this e-mail that I got...


Hello Cinder fans! Remember way back in August, when we had a blog post asking you, the bloggers, to post your review links of Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, because we said we were cooking up a special surprise for you? Well, I am finally able to share with you the surprise.

In the upcoming Cinder paperback, there is one page devoted to you,  the book bloggers who supported Cinder. I’ve attached a watermarked image of the page for you to see how your blog is featured. I’m also attaching a special badge that you are more than welcome to post on your blog, announcing that you are in the Cinder paperback.

I hope you like what we came up with!

The Cinder paperback goes on sale January 8, 2013! The paperback will include the following bonus material:
-Special bonus story, entitled Glitches
-Q&A with author Marissa Meyer
-Reader’s Guide
-Sneak peek of Scarlet

How cool it that!?!  Way cool!  Now I have to get my hot little hands on it, and so do you!  Check to see if your favorite blog (besides mine, of course) is listed too!

YAY!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

review: Dash & Lily's book of dares




Title by Author: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Series (if applicable): none
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 2010
Page Count:  260
Source: netgalley for UK release
Blurb:
 “I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”


So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own
My Interest in this book is: I have seen it around and when I had the chance to read it from netgalley.com I had to take it, especially after reading Every Day by David Leviathan.
My Review:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

I was ready to turn the page, and I was very glad that I did.  This was a delightful story of two teenagers home alone in NYC for Christmas.  Dash was wandering through one of his favorite spots in New York, as he was well read, and seemed to spend so much time in the world of literature.  When he went in to the bookstore, The Strand, to see if there was an older edition of one of his favorite books, he noticed a red moleskin stuck between the books with no writing on the spine.  Out of curiosity, he pulled it out and had no idea what an adventure he had before him.

Lily and her older brother, Langston, were left home while their parents went to Fiji for a very late honeymoon.  Langston talked Lily in to leaving the moleskin so that she could have a little adventure and see if it was a way for her to meet a guy, as well as get out of her comfort zone.

Little did either of them realize what an adventure was ahead for either of them.  To figure out the puzzle that was set before them in the notebook, and then to execute that dare, Dash and Lily sent one another around New York during the holidays to one another’s favorite places, as well as within themselves.

Even though they had not met one another, Dash and Lily had no compunctions about baring their souls to the other through the journal and the questions that they posed on the pages with seeming anonymity.  Could it be an adventure to lead to true love, or were they destined to only be friends through a red moleskin notebook?

I loved how this book was written.  David Leviathan started his chapter, and then passed it on to Rachel Cohn to respond, and send David’s Dash on the next quest for the notebook.  What a great concept, a story written in turn between two authors, and it was very well executed.  Their writing styles were perfectly matched, and the characters were so true and human.  I was definitely part of the journey of the notebook between these two characters and constantly hoping that Dash and Lily would take the next dare to see where it brought them, and if they ever were to meet.  There were also two wonderful side characters, Dash’s best friend, Boomer and Lily’s Great Aunt both stole the scene when they were on the page. 

This was a well-written, and quite fun, story.  It takes two people who are alone for the Holidays around the town that they love, and show it to one another.  These same two people reflect on themselves because of a question posed by the other.  It was a delightful story that captured two teenagers looking for something outside of themselves.

Favorite Quotes: so many of them!  Here are a few highlights…
It is possibly true what Grandpa’s buddies have repeatedly told me: Teenage boys cannot be trusted.  Their intentions are not pure.  This must be part of Mother Nature’s master plan – making these boys so irresistibly cute, in such a naughty way, that the purity of their intentions becomes irrelevant.

Because you know when a cow chews grass? And he or she chews and chews and chews? Well, green tea tastes like French-kissing that cow after it’s done chewing all that grass.

I meant that the love I felt for him was huge and real, and, while painful, it forever changed me as a person, in the same way that being your brother reflects and changes how I evolve, and vice versa.  The important people in our lives leave imprints.  They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart.  There’s no getting over that.
When I finished this book, I felt: very glad I had the chance to read this story, especially during the holidays… a perfect time to read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares.
Rating: 4 stars
Other books to read by this author or theme: Every Day by David Leviathan – which I highly recommend.
Tag: YA, holidays, dares, heart-felt

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

hodge podge mallows...


It's been a while since I have done one of these... and had fun answering the questions.  Join in the fun at From This Side of the Pond!


1.  So, when did you last take a walk in the woods? A stroll along the beach? A drive going nowhere in particular in the car? 

I so want to stroll on the beach!  However, since we don’t have woods, we take hikes in our desert scrub, and that was just last weekend. It’s always fun trying to find out where that road leads to that you pass by a million times.  Put on the blinker and TURN!

2.  Are you sending Christmas cards this year?  About how many do you send?  Photo card or something more traditional?  How do you display the cards you receive?

I will probably send out a few to family and a couple to friends.  I have never really been big on sending out cards, probably why we don’t receive very many! (I think I might sneak a pic of two in to family members.) As to how to display them? Don’t really do that unless it’s funny… or super cool like the one we got from The White House this year! WAY COOL! That one is on our fridge!

3. What's a word you've heard too much of in the past week?

Love… isn’t that nice! But it’s definitely NOT a WAY TOO MUCH thing!  I am only around family and always hearing ‘I Love You” (and saying it too!)

4. December 13th is National Cocoa Day-are you a fan?  Plain or flavored?  Marshmallows or no marshmallows?

Oh, I wish I could drink hot cocoa.  I was lamenting that fact the other day.  I am allergic to most kinds of chocolate and a little afraid to try any for fear of the three day migraine that ensues afterwards!  BUT! If I were to drink hot cocoa, I would like a hint of caramel and I would so put in marshmallows!  However, I just picked up a bag of Peppermint flavored marshmallows… so I would have plain cocoa with the Peppermint marshmallows and a drizzle of Peppermint Schnapps!  Now we’re talkin!

5. What is something you do to help alleviate the hectic pace of the Christmas season?

I don’t! We don’t really like the concept of forced gift-giving… now if there was only a way to convey that to other family, where obligation kicks in and you feel you have to get gifts!  Also, surrounding oneself with family that is near and dear, eating an absurd amount of sweets that will cause my belly to ache and drinking spiked drinks to make the twinkle lights just a wee-bit fuzzy!  Can you see where my holidaze are heading?!?

6. Besides jewelry, what's a favorite sparkly-glittery item in your home or closet?

Some may consider it jewelry, but it’s an important accessory, and one I only where on special occasions!  My Tiara!  I have had it for several years, and it is usually brought out on Mother’s Day and my birthday… and any day I need to remind the general public that I am Royalty and should be treated as such (and not some nut-job that needs to be institutionalized!)

7. Share a favorite line or two from any Christmas carol.

I would say something from the song ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ – but with two girls in the military right now, I am going to go with the song I heard on the alarm this morning. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” as we are getting those two girls, and our other sweet girl who lives nearby, to all be home for Christmas.  None of us were together for Thanksgiving and we have some makin’ up to do!

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

If you like reading… please think about joining my Reading Challenge that I created for 2013!  I wanted to make something that will challenge what you normally read, and have fun at the same time!  Hope you join us!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

review: Every Day



Title by Author: Every Day by David Leviathan
Series (if applicable): I hope so…
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 2012
Page Count:  336
Source: library ebook
Blurb: Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

My Interest in this book is: I had seen it around on the blogosphere, and thought the cover was cool, and liked the premise of the story

My Review:
WOW! It has been a few weeks after finishing this book and all I can say is WOW! Every Day is a book that follows ‘A’ who wakes up in a different body and a different life every day! A is someone who is comfortable as a boy or girl, has no hang-ups on same sex or heterosexual relationships, but just relationships.  But the story is way more than that.  It is a story that will touch on drug addiction, deep depression, and loss of a family member, love, and obesity.  At times I felt like I was reading a Star Trek, Next Generation story; but it was much deeper than that. A had always believed that he should not vary a person’s routine because it was not his place to take over the person’s life, because what difference would one day make, after all?


Every person is a possibility. The hopeless romantics feel it most acutely, but even for others, the only way to keep going is to see every person as a possibility.

Monday, December 10, 2012

top ten new authors



Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I read in 2012

 The lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish want to know what our top new authors are.  This list was so easy to make! While I do read a lot, I sometimes always go to authors I have read before.  Luckily this past year, with learning about netgalley.com and keeping my eye to certain websites, I have learned about a lot of new and different authors.  Below is a list of the authors that left an impression..a good one!  I cannot wait to discover more of their writing, or in many cases, I am impatiently awaiting the next book that they write!

1. Alyssa Goodnight I had the pleasure of reading her book, Austentatious, which ended up being my favorite read of 2012.  She's funny, witty, and wrote a great yarn about a geeky girl who doesn't believe in miracles until she finds a magical journal that channeled Jane Austen. I am impatiently awaiting Austensibly Ordinary.
2. David Leviathan I grabbed a copy of Every Day and really enjoyed this story (review coming soon!). I can't wait to read more of his writing (currently reading Dash & Lily's Books of Dares).
3. Beth Revis I stumbled upon Across the Universe and really enjoyed this book, I quickly had to get the next in the series, and cannot wait until the last book of the series comes out!
4. Marissa Myers Cinder!... need I say more?  I am also looking forward to seeing what Marissa Myers has in store for us with Scarlet.
5. Jill Smolinski I was doing a lot of driving this past summer and grabbed a story called The Next Thing on My List.  It was well written and I really enjoyed the concept of this story.  I will be sure to find other books written by her and see if I like those too.
6. Kiersten White The Paranormalcy series was a lot of fun!  I loved how quirky, and true to being her teenage self Evie was! This was a great series, especially for someone like me that really isn't into the whole paranormal scene... these were perfect!
7. Beth Harbison Another one of those books on tape to get me through a lot of driving.  I enjoyed how real her characters were in Hope in a Jar.
8. Ernest Cline My entire family was riveted by Ready Player One.  It was a total geek fest for us, and quite the blast from the past with all of the 80's trivia. This is one book I want on my shelf (we did the book in the car thing!).
9. Jessica Grey It is so refreshing to come across an author who writes a smart story geared towards young adults.  It seems that too many people dumb down the language, but not Jessica Grey! I am looking forward to more of her Fairytale series, and cannot WAIT until she finally releases 'Attempting Elizabeth' a full story from the short story that she had submitted to the Jane Austen Made Me Do It contest a few years ago!
10. Julie Cross It was nice to have received a galley of Tempest.  I quite enjoyed the story, and hope to read more from this writer some day soon!

Looking forward to seeing the new authors you have discovered this past year...maybe it will be a new favorite for the upcoming year.

Also, if you noticed the button on the top left sidebar, I am going to host my very own Book Challenge. I hope you join me in expanding the types of books we read! 
 Please sign up and have fun!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...