Book Blogger Hop (7)

This is Hosted by Crazy-for-books.com.I love her latest post about blogging insecurity.  This is something I often have to deal with since there is not enough time in the day and I only have tweleve followers, but I have to remember that I do this blog for myself and no one else.

This week's question:  "What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked? Which have you disliked?"

My Answer: Narnia!  I know this is my answer for everything so I'll give another one. Oh I know!  Alice in Wonderland.  I didn't like the book, but Tim Burton did a really great job on the movie.

I didn't like Percy Jackson; that movie was awful, and Twilight was just has bad if not worse than the book. 

I hope Hunger Games will be awesome.  

Cover Reveal!

The CLOCKWORK PRINCE has a cover! 

I think that it's just a beautiful as all of the others.  With the rune markings on the hand, and the old style clothes.  This is going to be one to stare at for a long time.  The London background is just so gorgeous and mysterious it makes me wonder just what this young man (who is obviously Jem) is doing with his torch- thing at this time of night.  Wow!  This comes out December 6, 2011.  I, personally, can't wait. 

Blessed Review

Blessed by Cynthia  Leitich Smith

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Pages: 456

Genre: Dark Paranormal Romance

From: Truth be Told Giveaway

Synopsis: Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life -- or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who "blessed" her; and keep her dead parents’ restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her wait staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature -- and a flaming sword -- and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it’s too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie’s soul?                                                                                                                  From Goodreads.com

        I had waiting weeks for this book then when I finally got it I sat down and read for four hours straight. One day three I finished it already.  Because, YES, it was that good.  Blessed had all the elements I loved from Eternal and Tantalize combined.

        It's really amazing to see how much Cythia has improved as a writer.  As always she delievered this dark vampire book with tons of Dracula alliusions, but eveything about her books focus more so on the elements than the moments.  Cynthia enjoys writing about certian topics like Dracula, Italian food, religous beliefs.  Other authors focus on the moments a romantic kiss, climatic battle scene.  Blessed is so much more balanced making every moment enjoyable.

         It remember me of the Mortal Instruments even though Cassandra is a moment writer, but both authors like to devote several pages to the lore and detial.  There's also angels, vampires, and werewolves (oh my!) in both though they are very different.

         Have you heard my theory of vampires?  Well my theory is that there are two kinds of vampires 1) those with a sould who feel  and 2) the bloodsucking monsters.  Cynthia's vampires are after death they are hanging on to their soul but slowly loose it.  I like this theory because it incourperates both of my types of  vampires all in one.  (Makes much more sense than Twilight vampires).

         So I'll be keeping an eye out for more by this author.  She's one of my new favorites.

Characters- 10

Plot-10

Suspence- 10

Theme- 10

Pace- 10

Mood- 10

Cover- 10

Overall- 10- Many blessings to you too Cynthia



Teaser Tuesday (2)

This is hosted by Should Be Reading.  Okay, so I started reading this one book today.  It's called Before I Die.  Maybe you've heard of it?  Anyway.  It's pretty good so far, and here's the Teaser.

"Even Sally can't help smilin as Mum tells the story of how her parents thought Dad was too working-class and banned her from seeing him.  She talks of private schools and coming-out parties, of how she regularly stole her sister's pony and rode across town to the council estate to visit Dad at night."

(p. 198)

I'm not sure about this book yet, but yeah I like it.

Book Blogger Hop (6)

Hosted by Crazy_for_books.com.  This week's question:
 "If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?"


My answer: This one is hard.  My immediate answer is Narnia, but... if it was just one day, and it could be anywhere... it would still be Narnia.  Yeah.  Can't beat it, although Hogwarts is pretty awesome too.  But, Narnia, Hands down.  Of course the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe so that I could meet my heroes the Pevensies!

Giveaway Update!

One of my favorite blogs Amateraru Reads is hosting a giveaway for the awesome book Divergent!  This is one of the many events for her Dystopia Domination thing...  Anyway.  I love Dystopia so I'm going to post a link to the giveaway and have the button up so that you can go back to her blog and check out some more posts. 

Here...   Link for Giveaway.
http://amaterasureads.blogspot.com/2011/05/dystopian-domination-day-8-divergent-by.html#idc-container

Button.

Thanks everyone!

Website Week, May 16-22

Website Week is where you make a post about a website you've discovered, and think is really cool.  It's for all of those websites that you just love to tell people about.  Leave a comment with your Website Week post.

      This week's website (of mine) is Caring Bridge.  This is a website where if someone has cancer or has a premature baby can post updates about the person then everyone can subscribe to it.  The posts help stop a huge flow of "How is so-and-so doing?"  or stopping nasty rumors that aren't true.  It's kind of like a blogging community for people with health problems.  Except there's a "Donate" button where people can give money to the person that is in trouble. My friend who had cancer used this website, and I thought it was wonderful so this is my second Website Week post!

The Link: http://www.caringbridge.org/

Incarceron Review

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Publisher: Firebird

Pages: 442

Genre: Dystopia

From: Bookstore

Synopsis:  Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born ... From Goodreads.com

Characters: As each character is introduced I am thrown into there world, their problems, and the mystery surrounding it all. It's very obvious that there are some major secrets attached to the story. I automatically love Claudia with her rebel attitude against her father who is a very important political figure. Finn worries me. He seems blank,and he has this nice guy attitude that is countered by everyone telling him to do wrong. His friend is a much better character as he knows what he wants and will do anything to get it. The author however knew this, she played the emotions of the reader to want Finn not to follow his brother Keiro. That was just the first part. Once the adventure picked up the characters began to grow and develop, and as they shaped the story I found myself cheering them on and yelling, “Don't go in there!” -9

Format: They really went beyond the normal manuscript for this book. It's divided into five parts, and each chapter has a caption at the top, And the point of view switches between Claudia in the outside world to Finn in the prison. It really moved the story along, and added texture to the book. The experience was slightly lessened it's impossible to notice while reading, but I found myself striving to get to the next part instead of enjoying the story. If I were the publisher I would simply make it less obvious where the parts were because there is an entire page covered in a cool ink design to separate one from the next; a title page would have been for effective. -8

Suspense: The separation did add to the suspense because I was rushing to get through and then I would be left with this cliffhanger at the end of a section, and instead of stop there I had to rush forward to see what happened next. The switch in POV did that as well the author would leave off just at the part where it was getting good! Excellent work. -9

P.S. Watch out for allusions

The sequel: Sapphique

Overall- 8.5

Usually I include something on the plot and theme, but I don't have any more comments. Except that Incarceron was a exciting read, and there were many enjoyable qualities to it.

Prayers and Teaser Tuesday (1)

             Okay so before I start talking about books.  I have something very important to say, so please keep reading.  A girl who I've known since kindergarten died today from leukemia, her name was Kailey Wilmarth.  She was one of the kindest, greatest people I know.  Everyone liked her because there was nothing to dislike.  Now that she is gone all of my friends who knew her are very sad.  But we can't let her memory be for nothing.  There were many fundraisers held for her that boasted "Kailey's Krew" on  T-shirts and bracelets.  I participated in a few, one of which was a Las Vegas Night and Auction.  Everyone put such a great effort into it, and all over town people prayed.  Then a month ago Kailey started taking a downward spiral.  She needed a bone marrow transplant, and her brother was the donor.  A week ago they gave her the cells, and yesterday they started to take effect.  This tiny miracle which was so impossible gave Kailey a few more days until this morning when she was taken to heaven.  WE CANNOT LET HER STORY GO UNTOLD. 
             If you know someone who has died from cancer.  Please share their story in a comment or post on your blog with link. All of the fundraisers we did for Kailey can be done for all of the other boys and girls that have leukemia or any other type of cancer.  We gave Kailey a year.  What can we give someone else? 


Now for the book part.  I looked up a few cancer/loss related books.  Some of them I'll be reading to bring me comfort in this hard time.  One of the books I'm going to do a teaser about after the list.

A Time for Dancing by Davida Hurwin- This is about a girl whose best friend is diagnosed with leukemia.  They band together and help each other accept what's going on, and that she may not live. 

1. I've not read this book, but the reviews said that this really describes what cancer is like.  I'll post the review soon. 

Lurlene McDaniel-  She is an author who has written tons of books about cancer and terminal illnesses.  I haven't read anything by her, but I think since she has written so many it's worth a look at.

Before I Die by Jenny Downham- This is about a girl who is struggling with leukemia and has only a few weeks to live.  She has a list of things she wants to do before she dies.  One of the things she wants to do is have sex so warning to all you little children out there.  It's a very sad book so don't be afraid to cry. 

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick-  This is about a thirteen year old boy who is diagnosed with leukemia.  He's an average kid then one day he gets sick.  Once the doctors diagnose him, he finds out it's leukemia and he can't believe it. 
I've read stuff by this author before, and he's hilarious but can still get to the point of serious topics so I'm excited to read this one and laugh while I'm grieving. 




My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult-  Of course the obvious one, but I think this one is better suited for older readers because this is about a girl who was basically born to give organs to her sister who has a disease.  She finds out and gets a lawyer to avoid this.  I'm not interested in this book because I rather read about loss than some brat who doesn't want to give organs to her sister just because her parents made a mistake. 

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson-  I wasn't even  planning on getting this book when I went to the library today to look for comfort.  This book is about a girl whose sister has recently died, and she's dealing with that loss.  Then while she's grieving she somehow finds herself in a relationship with two different guys. 
         Though this book isn't about leukemia or cancer.  I wanted to get this because the girl seemed a lot like me, shy and booky.  So I picked it up because I thought it would help me deal with my grief. 



If you have any more books please leave a comment or any words of advice for me I would love to hear from you. 

Now for Teaser Tuesday!   This is hosted by Should be Reading.  I'm going to do two teasers. 
1)The Sky is Everywhere, and 2) A Time for Dancing.

"What do you do when the worst thing that can happen actually happens?  When you get that phone call?" p. 54

"In Pre-Op, I waited patiently while the nurse tried to find a vein to give me the anesthetic.  She finally settled on my hand, put in the needle, almost...and then had to try again on my other hand."  (pg. 105)









Thank you for reading through this long post, and for all your support.  Please help me let Kailey's memory live on, and give back to other people who have leukemia or who have lost someone to leukemia.  -Kailey's Krew Forever.

Website Weekend

I'm trying out this new idea.  I'm going to post a description of a website I've found that I think is really cool. 

 

         This week's is StumbleUpon.  In this website you give a description of websites you like to visit.  What are they about?  Most of us would say blogs or books, right?  Will you just check in the box and then StumbleUpon will randomly chose a website about this subject, and you can browse through.  If you decide you like it, click "I Like It" and the site will be saved to your favorites so you can go back and look at it later.  In this way the site gets an idea of what you like to visit.  So the more you Stumble, the more "Like it"s you can find.  Then you can create a Website Weekend of the site you've found. 

Check it out!

Cover Reveal!

          Julie Kagawa's new novella to the Iron Fey series has revealed it's cover!  I think it looks awesome, and I think that it's great she's writing this because we all kind of need a break from Ash/Meghan centric.  This book will be mainly Puck AND it's going to available for free download at her website (for a limited time) soon.  I can't wait.

 A Midsummer's Nightmare? Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Summer Court prankster, King Oberon's right hand, bane of many a faery queen's existence—and secret friend to Prince Ash of the Winter Court. Until one girl's death came between them, and another girl stole both their hearts.

Now Ash has granted one favor too many and someone's come to collect, forcing the prince to a place he cannot go without Puck's help—into the heart of the Summer Court. And Puck faces the ultimate choice—betray Ash and possibly win the girl they both love, or help his former friend turned bitter enemy pull off a deception that no true faery prankster could possibly resist.

I love Puck flying over the forest in raven form, and how everything is green and summer-y. It really shows off who Puck is. Then when you open the book you realize how much of a funny guy he is and you're like, "Oh, I'm not sure I was expecting that." Love it.

A link to her website: http://www.juliekagawa.com/index.html