Nov 30, 2019

Challenges Wrap-up:November

CHALLENGE 1: 2019 New Release Challenge

Soul of Stars by Ashley Poston (7/23/19)
The Dollhouse Murders (6/4/19)--Anniversary Edition
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (11/19/19) 




CHALLENGE 2: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston (2/27/18)



CHALLENGE 3: 2019 Discussion Challenge




CHALLENGE 4: 2019 Series Enders Reading Challenge

Soul of Stars by Ashley Poston (Heart of Iron)
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air)
 
 
 
 
 



 

Nov 29, 2019

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!
 
 
This week's question is: Did you go shopping on Thanksgiving Night, Black Friday, or on Cyber Monday? If so, did you buy any books? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)
 
 
 
MY ANSWER: Yes. Yes I did. Sadly, I feel like I have to go out on Thanksgiving in order to get the deals that are the "in-store" only. Generally I'm out for the little things, never any of the BIG items. Mostly DVDs. I wait all year long to buy the movies I want for $10 and under! It helps because I can break those Bluray/DVD Combos up and give my niece the DVD version and there's a nice little present for her.
 
I feel like Black Friday deals are my best bet since I'm 99% after DVDs. Cyber Monday I browse around to see what's what with certain shops and Small Business Saturday I tend to look around too especially if any of the small business shops online participate in that too!
 
 
 
 
 

Nov 28, 2019

Thanksgiving Book Tag

Happy Thanksgiving again! So I was doing my morning blog hopping and saw this fun little tag over at Cornerfolds and I thought, I ought to do this! Tracy found this tag over at Addicted to Romance and I borrowed the image from Addicted to Romance as well, as Tracy's image included a contest! So better check out her post too!


HISTORY: Choose a book set in America

Gotta love a New Orleans setting! Despite what other people said about The Beautiful, I enjoyed it! I cannot wait for its sequel next year!



THANKFUL: What book are you thankful for?

I mean, it would be hard to put the 2000+ books I've read in one post, so top two that come to mind are Demon in My View--the book that started my lifelong love of vampires and all other things that go bump in the night! And then there's Remembrance, a years long sequel to one of my all time favorite YA series, The Mediator! In this one the teenage girl is all grown up, so it was kind of fun reading about her as an adult!



THANKSGIVING DINNER: What book features a meal that makes you say "yum"?

So yeah, I can't remember what books had what yummy foods in it! I mean, food rarely gets more than a mention in my books! So let's go the other route with this one! Reyes is definitely one of those guys that make you go YUM!


PUMPKIN PIE: Choose a book that you think is very sweet 

I still need to read the final book of the trilogy but this is definitely one of those magical series that is both paranormal and adorably sweet! And of course the title, The Sweetest Kind of Fate, makes it even more perfect! Lol!



FOOD COMA: Choose a book that's been on your TBR list forever that you really need to read

 Well Dead Girls Are Easy is the first book on my list from Goodreads that's still marked "to read." This was among the first books that built my TBR pile and was one of the last books I bought from Borders. :(


AFTER DINNER DRINKS: What book is your guilty pleasure?

This one's hard, as I always feel like "guilty pleasure" means there's some iota of guilt being felt in enjoying something. I have ZERO GUILT when it comes to enjoying books! So I just kind of randomly chose a book that was an obsession of mine! Perhaps, I feel "guilty" for obsessing over 13 to Life so much...then again maybe not! Lol! 


DRUNK UNCLE: Choose an unpopular book that you like

There are plenty of those unfortunately. Two that immediately came to mind were Twisted and Night Magic! Both were apart of completely amazing and unique series and of course...the world hated them and didn't buy them and the publishers said NO MORE! Even though they both left off with the diciest of cliffhangers EVER!!! I am still not over Twisted's ending. Or Night Magic. I will be on my deathbed bemoaning their loss.


BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING: What is the last book you pre-ordered?

I legit just ordered my keeper copy of Wicked Hour! It snuck up on me! Prior to that it looks like it was All the Stars and Teeth, which I've an ARC in my TBR pile to read too! 











 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(image borrowed from KissClipart)


HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!


What ever you do today, I hope you have a GREAT day! I'm truly thankful to every single one of you who visits my blog! So thank you friends!








Random Thursday

Time for more fun and unusual factoids from Weird But True by Leslie Gilbert Elman! I wish there was some sort of table of contents for this one! I do like how the facts are so far pretty organized and in their groupings. But more of themed sections with breaks would've been nice.



(image borrowed from Smithsonian Ocean)
Parasites attach themselves to the Greenland shark's eyes, damaging the corneas and making it blind. It's not as bad as it sounds as the shark tends to live in pitch black waters. The shark will use its other senses to detect prey, and he's not a picky eater either.


I mean, is any shark a picky eater?


(image borrowed from Microbe Wiki)
Picrophilus torridus is a microbe that lives in extremely hot springs in Japan. Its name means "acid loving" and "hot" for the Picrophilus torridus respectively. They live in hot conditions with a pH of near zero. These microbes could strip the skin from your bones if given the chance.


Freaky!


(image borrowed from Universe Today)
Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory created the highest temperature ever recorded in the universe; 7.2 trillion degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature that's 250,000 times hotter than the core of the sun.


Damn, and I thought 100 degrees was bad! Lol.



(image borrowed from Wikipedia)
When something is cold, molecules within it will move slower whereas when it is heated, the molecules move faster. But getting molecules to stop entirely is something that is harder to do. This can happen if you bring them to absolute zero on the Kelvin temperature scale. But physicists haven't been to to create an absolute zero yet, as it can only exist under controlled conditions.


(image borrowed from Yahoo Lifestyle Australia)
There's an accepted concept of absolute zero among scientists with regard to temperature, however, there is no universally accepted concept of absolute hotness.


True. The Avengers all have their level of hotness! LOL!







Nov 27, 2019

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine



She will become one of the world's greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Leigh Bardugo, this graphic novel adaptation brings to life Diana's first adventure beyond the hidden shores of Themyscira.

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law--risking exile--to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer--a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies--mortal and divine--determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.


Super excited for this one! I love SEEING these comic book stories put into comic book format! It's so fun! 


PUBLISHER: DC Ink
GENRE: Comic Book
RELEASE DATE: January 7, 2020




 

Nov 26, 2019

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker


Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.




"Not much I can do about that. Unless I back off and stop making suggestions, stop doing 'impossible' things with the Q-net. Except...it's so not my style. I refuse to let Jarren win and if that's going to make the rest of the team uneasy, that's on them." p 102













TITLE: Chasing the Shadows
AUTHOR: Maria V. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Self
GENRE: YA Sci-Fi

RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2019




Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.


This week's topic is: Thankful Freebie: Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For (Bookish Edition)!


*in no particular order



10. AUTHORS--they write the books!
9. PUBLISHERS--from big to small, they publish the books!
8. E-ARCS--the way I get to read 99% of the books I want to read early!


7. BLOGGER FRIENDS--friends like Amber, Nikki, and Tracy are the reasons why I continue blogging! It's so fun having blogger friends even if we all live all over the place!
6. BOOKISH ARTISTS--there's a whole slew of these! Some of my faves are Pages of the Night and Dust and Pages! Because of them I get to have ART of my favorite books!
5. BOOKSLEEVES--the invention of the book gods! Lol! I don't know how I went so long without these things in my life!


4. BOOKMARKS--I know some people are against them, but I honestly love them! Those dreadful times when I HAVE to put my book down for "life" things, I'm grateful to have one of these puppies!
3. MY HEALTH--because yeah, if I was sick or something I probably wouldn't have the strength or energy to read!
2. MY FAMILY--because in the long run, I've my mom to thank for my reading habits! She read to me as a kid at bedtime and it soon spawned what I am now! LOL!


1. BOOKS--because books make the world go round and keep me happy and sane! This here is like TBR piles 9-13! Lol.






Nov 25, 2019

ARC Review--Wicked Hour by Chloe Neill

In the second pulse-pounding novel in the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, vampire Elisa Sullivan gets drawn into the shifting sands of Pack politics.

Vampires were made, not born--until Elisa Sullivan came along. As the only vampire child in existence, she grew up with a heavy legacy, and tried to flee her past. Then circumstances drew her back to Chicago, and she stayed to keep it safe. With shifter Connor Keene, the only son of Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, at her side, she faced down a supernatural evil that threatened to destroy Chicago forever.

After the dust from the attack has settled, Elisa is surprised when Connor invites her to a usually private Pack event in the north woods of Minnesota, and by the warm welcome she receives from some of Connor's family, even though she's a vampire. But the peace doesn't last. The shifters tell tales of a monster in the woods, and when the celebration is marred by death, Elisa and Connor find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control that forces Elisa to face her true self--fangs and all.
 



I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Chloe Neill returns to Chicago once again with the latest in the Heirs of Chicagoland series, Wicked Hour. This continues Elisa and Connor’s story in what’s sure to be an all-around entertaining series! This series is very much the child of the Chicagoland Vampires series as it has that same kind of feel to the story, yet it’s entirely its own. There’s still the same lovable characters, chuckle worthy humor, heart-racing action, and of course pulse pounding romance!

The story begins with Connor inviting Elisa to join him at a Pack initiation ceremony and Elisa is more than happy to spend time with Connor and his (extended) family. Though they don’t necessarily receive the warmest of welcomes from the clan in Minnesota. The leader, Cash is the epitome of old school. The initiation ceremony is sort of like a baptism for werewolves and the party gets interrupted when a dead body is found and leads to all sorts of troubles for Connor and Elisa.

There is something very strange about the Minnesota clan and their relationship with the local sheriff. The sheriff doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry to solve the murder mystery that’s going on and there’s reasons for that that are explained as the story moves on. Connor and Elisa also learn that it’s not the first body to be found in the woods in recent time either. Not that long ago, a young woman, one of their own, was found murdered but nothing ever came of the investigation.

Connor and Elisa are on the case, thought the wolves are not too happy to be seeing Connor with a vampire, and naturally, among them is Miranda, the she-wolf who’s determined to have Connor as hers. And Elisa isn’t going to stand for that, though despite being a pesky nuisance, Miranda only made a few appearances. I suspect she’ll be making her grand plot to steal Connor from her once and for all in a future book, there’s definitely going to be some kind of reckoning of that to occur in the future!

The mystery to this one was pretty interesting. The outcome was kind of a shocker, but at the same time, once the clues were revealed, you kind of see it coming. Sometimes I wonder if these clues are laid out to throw us off from the obvious, but other times, it really is that simple. Though the whodunit is revealed in a way that just seems a little plain, it still made for an incredible story as motives are never really revealed until later on!

The pacing to this one was really just right. It wasn’t what you would call a fast-paced novel but it wasn’t at all slow either. It falls somewhere in between which is pretty much “just right!” It was a story I couldn’t get enough of really and I enjoy that Elisa and Connor spend more time together this time around! Though a few obstacles are thrown their way that might make a relationship more trouble than it’s worth, but the characters will surprise you.

I was also kind of delighted by some of the secondary characters’ exploits. Let’s just say that Lulu might have met her match in one of Connor’s friends! I positively loved the banter these two had from the few scenes they had together. I really hope to see more develop from that front in the next book as well!

All in all, Wicked Hour was yet another entertaining read from the one and only Chloe Neill! If you love vampires—and seriously, how can you not?—then this is a series you’re going to want to try out! You don’t have to have read the previous series, Chicagoland Vampires to follow along, but you will need to start at the beginning of this series with Wild Hunger. This series is a perfect example of why I adore Urban Fantasy so much! If you want to give the genre a try, read one of Chloe Neill’s books!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars



Wicked Hour releases December 3, 2019






It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.


Last Week I Read:

Soul of Stars by Ashley Poston (3.5 stars)--I think I actually finished this one late Sunday, but I was too lazy to fix my Monday post, so I just left it! Lol.
The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright (4 stars)
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (5 stars)


Currently Reading:

Chasing the Shadows by Maria V. Snyder


What I Plan to Read Next:

Chosen by Kiersten White (ARC)


Other Posts of Interest: