Follow Friday

This is a weekly blog meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts and any one else you want to follow on the list

2. Follow our Featured Bloggers

3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.

4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments

5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can

6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers

7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!

8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

This week's question is: Bookshelf Tour. Give us a tour of your bookshelf.

MY ANSWER:

Okay so here on the left is one shelf and to the very var right, next to the DVD stand is one small TBR pile! This shelf holds authors last name that begins with B-H!

The second photo showcases the rest of the bookshelves in my room. There's one that is identical to the first that has authors H-K. The narrow bookcase has authors K-P. Then the tall bookcase that's my pride and joy because it's made of really nice wood and has six shelves has authors P-W!

And as you can somewhat see, my shelves are decorated with picture frames, a Pascal that came with the Tangled DVD!,  some teeny tiny sculptures from my overseas trip to Greece and Italy, that's on the first shelf in the second picture. There are other little items but are harder to see. Jessie sits on the big shelf that you can see right next to a signed poster of Dearly, Departed from Lia Habel!

And oh yeah, The Big Bang Theory was on TV at the time of these pics! You can also see more of my TBR mountain in that second pic too!

Now we movie to the closet shelves!! Yes, I have a bookcase shoved into my closet! This one (left pic) has authors A-C.

Then the photo on the right has many, many books that I loved but aren't on my shelves due to space constraints. These are a variety of series that are completed, most of them old. A few ARCs that I kept because they were among my firsts or are signed. Just a variety of mish mash reads basically! And oh yeah, in the corner of the pic you'll see my stuffed Gingy! Got that at Universal Studios nearly 10 years ago on my last trip there!

Review--Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

Althea Kontis writes a beautiful tale, much like the fairy tales I grew up with, with Enchanted. Enchanted is its own fairy tale and yet you cans see similar themes in it from other fairy tales, like The Frog Prince, The Princess and the Pea, Bluebeard, Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and even bits of Peter Pan!

As a lover of fairy tales, I knew this would be a read I'd enjoy and I did. Sunday is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. What that ends up meaning for her is that she has a special set of powers, all her sisters seem to have a gift of some sort from their fairy godmother. Sunday's is the gift of telling stories and having them come true, but like with all magic, it doesn't always work out the way you want it too. So she's taken to only writing stories that have already happened, for writing about the past doesn't seem to count where her magic is concerned.

Then one day she meets a talking frog, he claims he used to be human once. But he enjoys hearing Sunday's stories. A fast friendship is formed. Like with the fairy tale, the frog asks for a kiss in hopes to break his spell, but alas Sunday's kiss doesn't change him back to human. And like with all fairy tales, by the end of the second day, they are falling in love. The girl with the frog and the frog with the girl. For in this story we get to see both Sunday and Rumbold--the prince's point of view. Rumbold gets his humanity back rather quickly too, and the moment he's able, he's ready to find his beloved Sunday.

But here's the catch, Sunday and her family, hate the prince. For a long time ago, he was the cause of her brother Jack dying. Winning Sunday back is going to be a lot harder than he thought and realizes that life as a frog was easier. But life isn't meant to be easy, even in fairy tales.

Rumbold has his own story going on as well, and I admit to getting a bit lost every once in awhile, trying to grasp what was going on and what had happened. Rumbold doesn't remember much from his past and it's the past that's important to his current problems. He's being haunted. There are whispering voices that only he can hear that disturb him and shadowy figure appears at night, causing him little sleep as he keeps by the fireplace and keeping the fire alive to keep the shadows at bay.

That's only the beginning of Rumbold and Sunday's problems. The king has his own dark secrets going on. There's so much going on with each of the characters in this story, and it's not a bad thing. Sometimes it gets a mite overwhelming, but I didn't feel lost when reading, just occasionally with Rumbold's past memories and that whatnot that was going on with him.

The ending was spectacular! Lots of action and adventure going on and lots of magic involved too! Enchanted is the perfect read for all fans of fairy tales! I enjoyed recognizing tidbits of this and that fairy tale throughout the novel.

The romance was perfect as well, for while there may be some insta-love between Sunday and her frog, there wasn't insta-love between Sunday and Rumbold--the prince. Rumbold had to work at winning her love because of the hate that she and her family feel towards him. So it was a very enjoyable read indeed, for while I don't like insta-love all that much, it can be done well, but still a part of me doesn't like it. The only time I find it acceptable is in my fairy tales, because that's just the way of things there!

Enchanted was a stunningly told fairy tale all on its own! I look forward to reading more from Alethea in this series as her next release in the series is Hero and this one will be Saturday's tale. Then in 2014 we get Beloved and that's Friday's tale! This is going to be one magical series and I can't wait to read it through!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

Random Thursday

Have you ever noticed on TV shows, doors are NEVER locked? People will just open the door to apartments because they're unlocked! Even when living in New York City, FRIENDS just open the door and walk right on in!

So this pic isn't the best example since the door's is technically locked...somewhat. For the first time ever it seems!

But yeah, has anyone else ever noticed that? Doors never seemed to be locked at all! Even to houses, like on Roseanne!

Review--Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

Hot Damn! Jennifer L. Armentrout seriously never ceases to amaze me with her awesome books! Origin is definitely among them and probably rating at the top since it's the most current one! But OMG how I love this series!

So we were all left screaming profanities at the end of Opal and luckily, Origin picks up right where we left off. Kat is in the hands of Daedalus being subjected to torture of various kinds. Daemon is right all f---ing p'oed too! He will get Kat back at any cost come hell or high water. If Daedalus had any brains, they'd hand Kat back with a "so-sorry" attached. But then, where would our story be?

Our story actually has Daemon handing himself over to Daedalus so he can be there with Katy. Prior to, he made a stop at Luc's place and ran into our favorite Arum! Was happy to see this encounter again through Daemon's eyes! Total fun! Sadly, it seems Hunter was still in the midst of his own problems, so there was no teaming up yet. I say yet out of pure hopefulness, not out of anything concrete and known.

Luc tells Daemon that when he turns himself in, to find this thing called LH-11. The chemical/potion/whatever you want to call it that Daedalus is monkeying around with to basically make the world a better place--said in an overly sarcastic tone. Luc also has an inside man who can help them with their escape, and I so peg this person.

That about covers the first half of the book, then comes the escape and a whole helluva lot of action! Kat and Daemon team up with Dawson, Dee, Beth, Luc, Paris, Ash, Andrew and Matthew. Left and right, stuff keeps happening. Danger is at every turn, enemies lie among them, closer than they group thinks. There's a totally epic showdown at the end and not everyone survives--and this totally took me by surprise!

The final-final ending is in cliffhanger territory. I wouldn't say it was of Opal standards, but it was pretty HOLY-CRAP-WHAT-IS-GOING-TO-HAPPEN-NEXT?!-CAN-I-HAVE-THE-NEXT-BOOK-SOON? kind of standards. Note that was asking for the next book, not demanding it like I was after Opal! ;)

Luckily there are still some nice downtime moments in between all the crazy crap happening in Daemon and Kat's lives. I truly, truly love Daemon! If there was ever a YA hero I loved more, I really can't remember his name! Daemon has the best sense of humor ever and since we get to be inside of his mind and Kat's this time around for the story-telling, I was pretty much in heaven! You seem to get a better understanding of Daemon when being inside of his head. It's not all crude either as his winning personality lends you to believe. He really is freaking awesome!

I can't believe how fast this series has gone by for me. Took me too long to read Obsidian, but once I did, I was freaking hooked! Although the one thing I was saddened by in this installment was that Kat didn't have her blog. She didn't have time for it with being kidnapped and running for her life. She even mentions missing it and her books. Although, Jen doesn't disappoint by throwing us two little shoutouts to other YA reads! If only I could pinpoint what one of them was...there are so many in the category mentioned...

If you haven't read the Lux books yet, I HIGHLY recommend them! Daemon starts out as a total douche, but you love him in the end! Especially by the second read! The Lux books are also the perfect read for us bloggers because how often do we get to see a heroine who has her own book blog and loves to read paranormal books? Kat is sooo my BFF in book friends! And of course Daemon is my number 1 YA book boyfriend!

So yes, this series is freaking incredible beyond epic proportions! Words simply cannot do the series justice in describing its awesomeness--much like Daemon himself!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

 

Waiting on Wednesday

I hate waiting...

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

Nalini Singh, the New York Times bestselling “alpha author of paranormal romance” (Booklist) returns to an immortal world of violent passion and lethal power…on the brink of a deadly archangelic war.

Angels are falling from the sky in New York, struck down by a vicious, unknown force.

Vampires are dying impossibly of disease.

Guild hunter Elena Deveraux and the Archangel Raphael must discover the source of the wave of death before it engulfs their city and their people, leaving New York a ruin and Raphael’s Tower under siege by enemy archangels.

Yet even as they fight desperately to save the city, an even darker force is stirring, its chill eyes trained on New York…and on Raphael. Rivers of crimson and nightmares given flesh, the world will never again be the same…

Yes! So excited to see Elena and Raphael again!!

TITLE: Archangel's Legion
AUTHOR: Nalini Singh
PUBLISHER: Jove
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: October 29, 2013

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoonworthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant Series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself.

So excited for this one as well! Bummed about the no-ARC rule since I've been reading this series as ARCs, but oh well!

TITLE: Sentinel
AUTHOR: Jennifer L. Armentrout
PUBLISHER: Spencer Hill Press
GENRE: Paranormal YA
RELEASE DATE: November 2, 2013

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

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.

Okay, so because of the holiday weekend, I have yet to start Origin. Sob! I know! But I'll give you the first two lines of the book, so that way I don't spoiler myself! 

"I was on fire again.Worse than when I got sick from the mutation or when onyx was sprayed in my face." p 1

TITLE: Origin
AUTHOR: Jennifer L. Armentrout

PUBLISHER: Entangled Publishing

GENRE: Paranormal YA

RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Books That You Wish Were Taught In Schools 

*in no particular order

Oh this one's tough! Not sure how many of my books need to be taught in schools since I don't read contemps and am choosing the second topic choice!

A few of these actually were taught in school or in my classes and I just want to pick them again to reiterate the need for them to be taught!

1. THE PRINCESS BRIDE

by William Goldman

Love the book! Love the movie! It needs to be taught!

2. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

by Alexandre Dumas

What is perhaps my only fave classic! So yeah, teach it up!

3. THE COMPLETE GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES

by The Brothers Grimm

The original, dark fairy tales definitely should be taught! So many themes and topics to examine there!

4. THE HISTORIAN

by Elizabeth Kostava

Quite the interesting read! One that would be good for classes, as there is a lot of historical content!

5. NOCTURNE

by Syrie James

Okay, we're pushing things here! But I just thought this was a beautifully told vampire story and I think we could dig up some themes or whatever English classes need for teaching purposes!

6. THE COMPLETE HARRY POTTER SERIES

by J.K. Rowling

Does Harry Potter need explaining? It's such an iconic series now I think teaching it should definitely happen!

7. BENIGHTED

by Kit Whitfield

I read this one so long ago, but I thought it was definitely an interesting storyline! A very early dystopic almost as only 1% of the world population is human!

8. THE FORBIDDEN GAME TRILOGY

by L.J. Smith

I think a LOT of L.J.'s early books would be an awesome class! The beginning of Paranormal YA before there even was a Paranormal YA! What a class!

9. THE BIRTH OF VENUS

By Sarah Dunant

Another book I read back in the days when Paranormal reads were scarce! This one was quite interesting though. It was before I took my own Europe trip so I enjoyed the setting very much. Probably has some good historical content too being a historical fiction piece.

10. THE FEVER SERIES

by Karen Marie Moning

Because it's kickass, of course!

A New Blog Fest--In Your Pants!

Hey all! So Summer at My Inner Fairy saw this little blogfest idea and "borrowed" it! ;)

It sounded like fun so I thought I would sign up, and of course I now have no current read going as I finished it right before the weekend! So I'll have to go with the title of my upcoming read!

So the rules, very simple ones, are that you select the book title you are reading and add "in your pants" to it.

Simple right?

Now, due to my next read, my phrase gets a tad inappropriate in some ways!

ORIGIN IN YOUR PANTS!

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 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:

The Damsel and the Daggerman by Delilah S. Dawson (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Cold Blooded by Amanda Carlson (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Hourglass by Myra McEntire (4.5 stars)

Chimera by Kelly Meding (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (3 stars)

Review That Was Posted:

Soul Kissed by Erin Kellison (4.5 stars)

What I Plan to Start Reading VERY Soon:

 Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

What I Will Try to Read this Week:

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Other Posts of Interest:

AAD Winner!

Cover Copy Reveal--World After

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Waiting on Wednesday

Random Thursday

Follow Friday

Cover Art Reveals--Some Girls Bite & White Hot Kiss

Top 5 Sundays

Stacking the Shelves

And the Winner is...

And the Winner is...

Time to announce the winner of my 1400 followers giveaway!!

Let's get to it! And the winner of a $25(US) shopping spree in books is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Congrats Amanda W.!! An email has been sent to you and you'll have 48 hours to respond or else a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks again guys! 1400 Followers is just amazing! Probably going to crazy every time I add another 100 from here on out!

I plan to do a few more giveaways in the coming months, so stick around!

Stacking the Shelves

This weekly meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!


OMG! I had the best STS ever!!

Look at the top! Look at the top!! Origin came 4 days early!!!! Eek!! Plus two other of my books I ordered from Amazon went on sale after I preordered them all so I got refunded some cash

When I saw the brown box sitting on the porch yesterday afternoon, I told myself not to get too excited. I approached it slowly. Looked down, saw my name, saw Amazon, and practically shrieked with joy and started ripping at the box right there on the porch and dug to the bottom to find Daemon waiting for me! Yes, I had me a happy moment yesterday!

So last week I bought:

Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hearts in Darkness by Keri Arthur--a keeper copy with the new cover!

The Liberator by Victoria Scott

Hourglass by Myra McEntire--already read, reviewed, and loved, book 2 is on its way!

Blood Bond by Jeanne C. Stein

Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder--a keeper copy with the new MM paperback cover! See review from original release here.

Elegy by Tara Hudson--a keeper copy since I am trying to go to a signing next week. See review from original release here.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter--a keeper copy since I have the ARC*. See review from original release here.

Terminated by Rachel Caine

So from all those books I have added only 4 to my actual TBR pile!

*And check out the reason why I bought Alice in Zombieland in its new paperback format, look at the very bottom of the list!

I was quoted!! I was initially quoted before Alice in Zombieland's release, but the hardcover didn't have this page of praises, so when I saw the paperback I decided to see if maybe it had them and it DID! This was the first time I saw my name in print! At least when I initially thought it would be in print at the time of the hardcover release. So basically this is my first quote! :D


And that was what I got this week! A very happy week, if I do say so myself! What did you get?