“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Booking Through Thursday: 2012 books

It's Thursday! Yay! and I'm tossing together a sloppy post :P

Question:

A deceptively easy question for this week (easy to ask but possibly hard to answer): What are/were your favorite book(s) of the year? (Bonus points if you know how many books you read.)

Let's start off with the easy. So far I've read 36 books this year. :/ I'm not too proud of that. There should have been more.... BUT...the year is not over!!! (NOTE: my goal was 50)

Ok. The Hard.

I can categorize this simply.

1. Best Writing

2. Best Fandom

3. Best Inspiration

4. Most Addictive

5. Best Overall



1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare / Divergent by Veronica Roth

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth

4. Born at Midnight y C. C. Hunter

5. HA! As if I could choose one! And you thought I would!


How was everyone else's book stats this 2012? What are you 2013 goals?




Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Book Haul

hey guys! Sorry to have skipped out on you but I had several family get togethers and couldn't find the time to get a post together. This was the haul I managed to receive:

1. Variant by Robinson Wells

2. Shiver, Linger, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvator (trilogy)

3. Reached by Ally Condie

4. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Plus ton of gift cards to my local bookstore where I can pick a few more books out.

What did you guys get? Leave a comment with your book-y haul!

-Kait

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Teaser Tuesday: Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter

Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls, #3)Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter
Summary from: goodreads.com


Step into Shadow Falls, a camp for teens with supernatural powers. Here friendship thrives, love takes you by surprise, and our hearts possess the greatest magic of all.



Kylie Galen wants the truth so badly she can taste it. The truth about who her real family is, the truth about which boy she’s meant to be with—and the truth about what her emerging powers mean. But she’s about to discover that some secrets can change your life forever…and not always for the better.



Just when she and Lucas are finally getting close, she learns that his pack has forbidden them from being together. Was it a mistake to pick him over Derek? And it’s not just romance troubling Kylie. An amnesia-stricken ghost is haunting her, delivering the frightful warning, someone lives and someone dies. As Kylie races to unravel the mystery and protect those she loves, she finally unlocks the truth about her supernatural identity, which is far different—and more astonishing—than she ever imagined.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She looked at Holiday "What would anyone gain by pretending to be my grandparents?"
"Access to you." Holiday answered

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Review: Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Well here it is. Here is my Mark of Athena review.

Finally.

Grca_badge_winnerThe Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, #3)Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Summary from: goodreads.com


Annabeth is terrified. Just when she's about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon masthead, Leo's fantastical creation doesn't appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.

And that's only one of her worries. In her pocket Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving demand: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?

Annabeth's biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. What if he's now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader, but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side.

Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. Climb aboard the Argo II, if you dare....

.............................................................................................................

You might notice the fact that this is a Goodreads Choice winner for 2012. And for good reason my friends, good reason.

Let's just cut to the chase:

This book manages to steal a stunning 5 stars from me!


Yay!


Yes this book totally lives up to the standards (if not jump way way way way way beyond!) the expectations of Rick Riordan. And it is quite frankly (heh.. Frankly. Get it? No? Well I guess you might not...) a —okay this is bugging me because I have the PERFECT word to say about this but it is on the TIP OF MY TONGUE!!.... Nope. I got nothing..— *skips word* for both the Demigods to be reunited with their friends.

Rick Riordan delivers a perfectly balanced collection of humor and action. You get to live through the narration from Leo Valdez, Annabeth Chase, and Percy Jackson.



What I didn't like: I don't recall anything being bad. It was all amazing. Maybe the fact that there was just too much going on for Percy and Annabeth to just ENJOY THEIR TIME TOGETHER. And again the ever annoying Gea attempts to end our beloved characters lives, but hey! That's supposed to happen. So good news. There is nothing bad here. (just much emotional trauma on our weak reader hearts) BUT THE END MY DEAR FRIENDS. THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Annabeth is one strong chick!)








 
Words can't express. Why not moving pictures? Because these were my movements/facial expressions.
 

What I did like: Well that would be everything! I love the way Rick Riordan brought old references from the original Percy Jackson series into it because everyone knows Percy Jackson is where its at. We can't ever leave it behind! I would say every bit I liked here...but that would be spoiler-y. Too spoiler-y.... So I will say one more thing: All that I could every have imagined was fulfilled in this book. Everyone was together again...and the quest went on! (but what quest doesn't have complications my fellow Demigods? Answer me that.)

Overall this book was just another dose of adventure with my favorite characters. There were multiple fangirl moments in here. 100% Percy Jackson fan amazing. I can't wait for House of Hades.


Nanowrimo

Hi, it is Mariana ( I am very sorry that I am not using conjunctions but.... in Nanowrimo I stopped use of conjunctions to raise my word count (is that cheating?( Is it grammatically correct to use a parentheses inside of parentheses?))) So anyways I am back!!! I know Nanowrimo has been over for 14 days but I have been very busy lately! I will try to be more watchful on the blog!!
Mari (I am too lazy to find my siggy right now!)

Booking Through Thursday: Moving On

Oops! Just notice this didn't post! (Blogger has been doing this to me lately....)

It's THURSDAY!

Booking Through Thursday!

Question:


So … you’ve just finished reading a book. For the sake of the discussion, we’ll say it was everything a book should be—engaging, entertaining, interesting, thought-provoking. The kind you want to gush over. The question is—do you immediately move on to your next book? Or do you take time to contemplate this writerly masterpiece and all its associated thoughts/emotions/ideas for a while first?

If it is a series and I can get my hands on the next book: all contemplating goes out the door. Get me the next book I say! Why wait?

If it is the latest release or the last book in the series or a stand alone I will wait a few days (sometimes in tears or cliff hanger agony) before I enter the next world. Sometimes I really don't want to leave this one behind so I will be torn for a couple days...waiting for the feeling to subside.

-Kait

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Teaser Tuesday: Born at Midnght

Today's teaser is from Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Handle it? I just saw a boy turn himself into a unicorn. can it get any worse?
 pg 52

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have a good one!

~Kait

Monday, December 10, 2012

Reviews: My thoughts on some...

Good day lovely readers,

I am writing a spur of the moment post on "reviews" right now...because of the late I've come across some not too nice ones that I feel I personally need to address how it effects me...and most likely others as well as the author.

In attempt not to call out on the reviewer/book I will change a few details here.

At some point someone told ___insert author here___ they could write. That person should apologize to me, in person, and to all other poor souls who were suckered into buying this mess of a book.

Now I find that extremely inappropriate to have written for several reasons. Yes you can ABSOLUTELY state your negative opinion on the book and how you did not care for it. But being this harsh does many things to many people.

1. It doesn't say very nice things about you...if you're going to write a review you want to be as delicate with the harsh as possible...because it's an opinion and people have different ones. so maybe there was someone who truly loved this book you just bashed. Not cool.

2. The author has feelings too. And there is a chance that they did not read this review you published... but if they did...would you be able to say those things to their face? You can't hide behind the Internet.

3. This is very insulting to me as an author to-be...and I hurt for the author of this book. To say that someones writing doesn't live up to your standards...ok...that's alright, but to go and say that the very person who encouraged this authors dreams should apologize to you for making you suffer through their writing? I'm not ok with that. As an aspiring author that truly pains me... most likely this person does not know the trials of writing a book...and the controversy over the topic too.

Overall I'd just like to say: be careful what you say in your reviews. Because a lot of the time...you alter peoples decision to read or not to read a book...and you want to be as unbiased as possible so people can make their own decisions.


Sunday, December 9, 2012

The Hunger Games Discussion Saturday: Was it necessary?



For those of you who don't know, The Hunger Games Discussion Saturdays is a weekly meme (hosted by us....it was our first meme EVER) and we basically just discuss The Hunger Games...we will continue to do so until we EXHAUST the topic...that may take a very long time. We have at LEAST until 2015 (Mockingjay part 2 movie release)


The question this week is SUPER SPOILER-Y if you have not read Mockingjay...STAY CLEAR. This is a spoiler zone...all of it is... top to bottom. Sorry, but I feel this is a REALLY necessary topic of discussion at the moment.

Here is the question:

*Highlight between the brackets to view the SPOILER-Y question*

{ Was Finnick and Prim's death really necessary? }

................................................................................................................................
Kait

**Highlight between the brackets to view the SPOILER-Y discussion**

{ Yes. It shows you how serious this book is...it's not a joke. and when everyone around you starts dying its not so funny anymore. Katniss described how everyone must have felt and how all their family members were dead because of the games. Suzanne didn't just want to "tell" you, she wanted to show you. She made it so you could experience it too, leaving it for the last book so you knew Katniss SOO well and then killed them. So you felt it too...you weren't just watching others who you didn't know through the story being hurt, it effected you too, it effects everyone in The Hunger Games. It's a very serious thing and was very necessary. It's war guys. It takes everything. (Katiss was pretty dang lucky to at least finish it off with Peeta...at least he barely survived...she would have had nothing.) }

Since we are a user friendly blog and want all of our readers to be able to read the comments please add " **SPOILER ALERT** " to your post if it applies. Thanks for your consideration!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Booking Through Thursday: Keeping Track

It's Booking Through Thursday! Yay!


Do you keep a list of the books you’ve read? How? In a journal? Through one of the online services? If so, WHY? To keep good records for future reference? To make sure you don’t accidentally reread? If not, why not? Too eager to move on to the next book? Too lazy? Never thought to bother?

I do keep a list! in fact I use this AMAZING program I am sure many of you guys are familiar with called Goodreads !

Why? Well I find that Goodreads is a helpful program for so many reasons:

1. I can keep a log of how many pages I read a day and write little comments about what I think of the book at that point (which helps for reviews and just looking back)

2. I can keep a list of books I've read ~ I love this because I want to make sure I don't forget and it's nice to know how many books I've read since 2010 (when I joined Goodreads)

3. I can keep a list of books I want to read. ~ as the Goodreads 'motto' goes: "meet your next favorite book" well I can attest that I have  found some wonderful books on Goodreads and read their synopsis and viewed their star rating and reviews and decided if I would like to read it or not. It's quite helpful in choosing new to-read books and keeping track of them

4. *see details of number 3*

5. I can chat with people about different books

6. I can participate in giveaways, groups, and polls.

7. I can visit author pages and find the other books that the author has written if I really like their work.

8. I can take trivia quizzes, look up quotes, and give/receive recommendations.

overall it's a fabulous program and it is worth my time and helps me organize my reading world in a very ordered way.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Rant

A pet peeve of mine is when I read a dystopian book and I fall in love with the world and the dystopian society that are in....but by the end of the first book they "run away" to the "wild" or something like that where the entire book is changed and the character had hardened somehow.... New characters who think that the protagonist is a......well not very intelligent.......that is too involved with the city ways or something like that. Most likely the male protagonist/love interest got separated from the female and she is mopey and "determined" to save him...and everyone else in this new environment aka "book 2" doesn't understand the dire need to find so and so. Blah blah blah. It just kind of ruins the series.....that's why the first dystopian books are always the best. (except for THG...they are all equally epic) and I am also excluding Uglies from this as well.

Sorry for the rant.

Waiting on Wednesday

(I just noticed that for some reason this did not post last week. So enjoy!) Here are a couple of books I am super excited to read!! Look at the gorgeous covers!


     

Waiting on Wednesday: Holiday Twists

As far as I know...there isn't any books I'm just waiting on at the moment (for release) that I haven't already covered.

I know for Christmas I asked my friends and family for books books books! Only books! (if you celebrate Christmas) and there are quite a few that I am extremely excited to read.

 I have yet to read the first one. (it's next! it's next!) but I want to complete the series and have them all at my reading disposal. (I don't even know if this is the second book..but oh well.)

 I just LOVED the first book and I am excited to be BLOWN away by this one. Bring it on baby!

and while browsing through Google pictures of Unwholly I dare stumble upon:

 Unstrung!  Oh my goodness! I'm not sure how legit this is.  I will look it up on my favorite book source: Goodreads! (*cough cough* infomercial *cough* ;) )

Ok so my quick Goodreads search told me this is book 1.5 (ooh! I love novellas!) And it is available as an eBook!.....since......July.
aww dang.

ANYWAY.

I am excited for so many more that I just can't list them all! But I promise that I will post about all of the ones I end up purchasing and what not.

~

Just for a heads up, You've got a IMM coming your way soon. I received my Violet Midnight book in the mail and I'm just waiting on one more package, then I will post in a large accumulative thing instead of strands of odds and ends.

Have a good one, yeah?


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...