Jane Jameson Series Review (1-3) by Molly Harper

March 31st 2009, Pocket Star
355 pages, Paperback
Received from Publisher
First in Jane Jameson series
Adult Fiction

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.
Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She's forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn't enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What's a nice undead girl to do?

August 25th 2009, Pocket Star
376 pages, Paperback
Received from Publisher
Second in Jane Jameson series
Adult Fiction

Following Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, the second in a hilarious, smart, sexy romantic series about an out-of-work librarian who is turned into a vampire.

With her best friend Zeb’s Titanic-themed wedding looming ahead, new vampire Jane Jameson struggles to develop her budding relationship with her enigmatic sire, Gabriel. It seems unfair that she’s expected to master undead dating while dealing with a groom heading for a nuptial nervous breakdown, his hostile werewolf in-laws, and the ugliest bridesmaid dress in the history of marriage. Meanwhile, the passing of Jane’s future step-grandpa puts Grandma Ruthie back on the market. Her new fiancÉ, Wilbur, has his own history of suspiciously dead spouses, and he may or may not have died ten years ago. Half-Moon Hollow’s own Black Widow has finally met her match. Should Jane warn her grandmother of Wilbur’s marital habits or let things run their course? Will Jane always be an undead bridesmaid, never the undead bride? Combining Mary Janice Davidson’s sass and the charm of Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels, this is an incredibly satisfying read for fans of paranormal romantic comedy.

December 29th 2009, Pocket Star
324 pages, Paperback
Received from Publisher
Third in Jane Jameson series
Adult Fiction

Nothing sucks the romance out of world travel like a boyfriend who may or may not have broken up with you in a hotel room in Brussels. Jane Jameson’s sexy sire, Gabriel, has always been unpredictable. But the seductive, anonymous notes that await him at each stop of their international vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow — alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.
Now the children’s-librarian-turned-vampire is reviving with plenty of Faux Type O, some TLC from her colorful friends and family, and her plans for a Brave New Jane. Step One: Get her newly-renovated occult bookstore off the ground. Step Two: Support her best friend, Zeb, and his werewolf bride as they prepare for the impending birth of their baby . . . or litter. Step Three: Figure out who’s been sending her threatening letters, and how her hostile pen pal is tied to Gabriel. Because for this nice girl, surviving a broken heart is becoming a matter of life and undeath...

Cover Review:
I love all the covers! They fit the book so amazing well. But my favorite cover has to be Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever. I love giant book.

Opinion:

Entire Series- I adore Molly Harper’s humor. She is simply hilarious and always has a great line coming from Jane. I love all of the characters and they are so true to small town America. I love how every chapter starts with a quote from a fictional book that applies to overall theme of the chapter. The main drawback with the first two books is the lack of a cohesive plot, but as the series goes on this is fixed and culminates in an EPIC third book. This series is like taking a backseat in an ordinary life, oh yeah she’s a vampire that is consistently hilarious! This is chick-lit with paranormal twist!

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (4 stars)- Hilarious! Absolutely hilarious from the very first page! Most of the beginning is just watching her adjust to her new life as newly unemployed vampire. The plot was slow but the hilarity made it seem to fly by!

Jane is constantly saying off the cuff hilarious things. She’s completely snarky and real.

Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men (3 stars)- The humor is still in full force, but the overemphasis on Zeb and Jolene’s wedding made me incredibly annoyed. I am not huge on weddings in the first place so that may be the issue, but I simply did not need to know every drama filled moment of a wedding that wasn’t the main characters.

Jane put up with Gabriel’s evasiveness WAY longer than I would have and he didn’t have a good reason for keeping the truth from Jane in the first place and this put her in serious danger again and again. When he finally told her what was going on they as a team were able to handle it.

Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever (5 stars) – Finally the great characterization is combined with an actual truly cohesive plot! Every single complaint I had with this series vanished in this book.

Overall Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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TGIF: Reading Slumps

TGIF is  a Friday meme hosted by Ginger at Greads. She always has the best questions.

Today’s Question:

Reading Blues: We all get them from time to time. What helps you overcome those reading slumps when nothing seems to grab your attention?

Answer:

I quit blogging for awhile. Most of the time when I’m in a reading slump it’s not because of reading it’s because of the “musts”. I must read this, I must review that, I must. When it becomes all musts and no wants I get a bit discouraged and just don’t feel like reading. When I take a break I often read off of my usual genre which also helps.

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Blogger Helper: 5 Free Web Apps that Help You Manage Your Blog

Sorry, I'm not having reviews this week. Finals are coming up so studying right now takes precedence over reading.



Feedly: This extension/web app is a much better interface for Google Reader. It allows for two click subscriptions, much more refined categories, and a less cluttered, less stressful interaction with your many feeds. I currently have over 500 feeds I’m subscribed to with many different categories and this makes me not absolutely hate dealing with my feeds.

Wufoo: If you are a long time reader you’ve seen this on my blog before. I use this for every single one of my forms. I honestly CANNOT stand using Google Docs for forms, they are amazing in other fields but forms is not their forte. They allow beautiful seamless integration directly into your blog posts and are easily modifiable.

SimplyLinked: Again there are alternatives, but the beauty and simplicity of SimplyLinked is unmatched. I haven’t seen other bloggers use this, but I adore it.

Evernote Web: I primarily use the desktop app for Evernote. It is my place where I plan, organize, and otherwise get ready for any blog events.

StatCounter or Pmetrics: I currently use StatCounter, but I’m thinking about switching to Pmetrics. You need a analytics service that goes deeper than Google Analytics so you can know exactly what search results, pages, links are driving traffic to your blog.

ETA: I'm having issues with Pmetrics, but it has pretty in depth stats. I'm gonna stick with StatCounter for the time being.

Rie | @missiontoread

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Allow Me to Introduce…Michelle

I would love to get to know more bloggers, big and small, and so I thought I’d open Little Known Blogs to everyone! So here is the new feature. If you’d like to be featured please fill out the form!

This week’s feature:

Michelle @ Oh! For the Love of Books!

Where is your favorite reading spot and why?

My reading spot is perfect for both winter and summer. Why? Well, the drapes are hiding the heaters - hence the reason why the dog beds are there and why one of them is featured in the pic. It's warm! I live in snow country. In the summer, the windows are wide open - there are 9 long windows - and the breeze keeps me cool - and the dogs still lay there! I like that I can curl up in the chair too.

Why did you start your blog?


My friend did and I thought it was a good idea - but I had no purpose - eventually I got sucked into the book blogging world and once I saw how much you can accomplish through this network, I was hooked. 

What is your favorite part of blogging?


I get to know what is up and coming in my fave genres. And then there is the bonus of finding a book you typically wouldn't read but end up loving. Like I hate the sci-fi genre - well - correction - used to and now I am a sucker for it and it is because of reading people's reviews. 

What book is your current obsession? 

It's in the picture! Divergent! But I do have a few honorable mentions - Obsidian and Unwind. 
What do you when you aren't blogging or reading? I love to write. I work as a high school English teacher.

Yeah - I don't go to far from books ever. 

Thanks for having me!

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Top 6 Characters of All Time (TV)

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Broke and Bookish where you list that week’s featured top ten list.

I’m being super lazy this week. I simply don’t have the brain space what with studying for finals to do this post justice, but I thought it would be fun to talk about those shows I’m obsessed with and if you’ve read my reviews you know I’m very character based so if I like a show it’s because I love a character.

 
6. Cathy from The Big C

She’s been told she has a very finite time left to live and she deals with it in such real ways. I love how much she loves others.

5. Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time

I know this is an odd choice for favorite character as he is one of the bad guys, but he is the most realistic villian I have ever seen. Regina is not. And I hate her SO EFFING MUCH!!!

4. Megan from Mad Men

I was highly resistant to the idea of Don Draper getting remarried. I thought he should be with someone that isn’t as attractive but is clearly in love with him, but Megan surprises me. She’s such a strong character. She doesn’t just ignore him being an philander, controlling, or any of his other faults that affect her.

3. Zoe from Hart of Dixie

Zoe is such a refreshing character. I was sure I was gonna hate this show, but one of the times I was too lazy too change channels while I was working on the computer I caught hooked by her. She’s just so happy and this show just makes me happy. The only flaw with her is sometimes she gets involved where she isn’t needed and can she just get with Wade already?

2. Olivia from Scandal

OMG! I mean seriously a politically (mainly non-partisan) driven show by Shonda Rhimes! I mean seriously this show is FREAKING epic! Love it!

1. Arya Stark from Game of Thrones

I could pretty much name every single character on Game of Thrones as the person I hate the most or the person I love the most in all of tv, but Arya has a special place in my heart. She is so brave, smart, and doesn’t really cowl to others unlike her sister.

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Lizzie Bennett- A Pride and Prejudice Remake by Hank Green

Umm…okay so I found this incredible awesomeness today. Hank Green has started a project of making Pride and Prejudice modern day into vlogs on Youtube! This is sorta a love letter to his wife (as in she’s obsessed and so he wanted to do this project) which I find incredibly sweet! He has found some incredibly good actresses and while it’s kinda difficult to explain the social intricacies of that time in modern times this series is probably my favorite remake of Pride and Prejudice! It’s incredibly early in the series! You should go check it out!

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Follow Friday

Question:

Fight! Fight! If you could have two fictional characters battle it out (preferably from books), who would they be and who do you think would win?

Answer:

My choice is Merit from the Chicagoland series by Chloe Neill and Mercy from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. This fight would be epic! Mercy would likely change into coyote form and get a few good bites in, but in the end I think the sword wielding Merit would win. I love Mercy, but Merit is the more trained fighter.

Who do you think would win this fight? 

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TGIF- Book Blogger Influences

TGIF is  a Friday meme hosted by Ginger at Greads. She always has the best questions.

Today’s Question:

Book Blogger Influences: Has there been a particular book blogger who's influenced what you read? Share with us a review/book blog that convinced you to pick up a certain book.

Answer:

My biggest influence in choices of YA contemp is Ashley from Basically Amazing Books. I actually have a goodreads label devoted to her. So yeah, I’d say she is TOTALLY my go to girl on anything contemp! Love her!

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris: Review in Rant Form

April 24th 2012, Balzer + Bray
445 pages, ARC
Received from Publisher
Young Adult Fiction

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

Cover Review:

Why did this cover have to be so deceiving? I mean seriously awesome cover. It has a ton to do with the plot and it’s SO beautiful!

Opinion:

This is basically a rant and as such I am not watching for spoilers, so you have been warned.

Through the entirety of this book I ran through a gambit of feelings ranging from annoyance to pretty much outright hatred of this book. I negotiated with myself, “Even if it is review book there is no reason you have to read on…”, but guilt won out and I read on until about page 300. I wish I would have stopped earlier on.

Why it annoyed me? Here is the short list: Her mother, her snap judgment to everyone being less intelligent than she is, dating a guy you don’t like and have no interest in only for a social leg up, interfering in FBI cases where she clearly had no place and no competence to be. I get taking care of an entire family while being a kid yourself. I understand feeling smarter than those around you, but this just hit me in the wrong way.

Oh, and the fact that this just seems to be a merging of two popular teen shows, Veronica Mars and Roswell, to point where major plot points were stolen directly from them. The boy that has always watched you from afar and while you are being healed you see all the love he felt for you and waking up to find your clothing ripped after being drugged at a party only to find out later that you were not in fact raped as you always assumed. And the “powers” in this book. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t resurrect you from the dead. Just sayin’

It had some redeeming qualities. A girl dealing with incredibly real issues, but the implausibility made them moot. When you are raising a family you do not have time to be saving the world, taking jobs even though your family doesn’t need the money, or dating random dudes so you can be more popular. When she isn’t home Jared (her little brother) isn’t with her and there is no way a girl in her position would leave a sibling in harm’s way. Not to mention the fact that if her mother is routinely starting fires while she’s at home she is doing the same while she is alone. Bipolar can cause rages that endanger everyone around you and the highs can be so bad you harm yourself to the point of being seriously injured or even dying without even feeling an ounce of pain. I simply cannot believe a respected FBI agent would be allowed to have that amount of danger not only to his children, but also to case files that he often brings home with him without safe guarding in a way a child cannot break into.

Also do not throw this many issues into one book. None of them get the attention they deserve and huge things can be passed over without the reader feeling any emotion whatsoever. In places where I should be devastated I was like good, which I guarantee you is not the emotion that the author was going for.

In the end, although I read 3/4 of this book I simply could not subjugate myself to another page and had to switch books. Other people have really enjoyed this book, but sadly I was not one of them.

People with differing views:

Shortie Says

Literary Exploration

Rating:

Rie | @missiontoread

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Book Covers and Feminism

You’ve heard it a hundred times, probably more like a gazillion times, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” And yet if you ask MOST book bloggers covers are one of the reasons they chose to read to a book. And yes book bloggers are a bit obsessed with book bloggers, but do we want a cover model on the front that has a girl that is an unrealistic portrait of a woman?

I would say an unequivocal “NO!” But this article by Huffington Post says that we do. Now, I love Huffington Post. I mean it’s a liberal publishing house that makes me intensely happy on a daily basis. Yes, I watch MSNBC probably about 3 hours a day in the background as I work on research, papers, or even now as I type this I’m watching my favorite MSNBC show, The Rachel Maddow show. Huffington Post is a common expert on liberal politics. So yes, they get a huge hug from me. Love them. That being said how in the world did this woman that seemed to have an agenda being a self-pubbed author with this horrible cover get to represent us book bloggers in the world of book covers?

If you know me you know that design is important to me. I would not accept this as a “professional” cover. I would not accept a review request with this cover. If you do not care enough about your book to give it a cover that good in composition than I’m not going to believe you took the time within. In the self-publishing world authors have complete control over what their covers look like. I understand that it costs to get a cover done professionally. I get money is tight! I do, but this type of cover is unacceptable. By the way this cover is not horrible because of the female being not the idea beauty in fact I think she’s quite beautiful (if not a bit skinny). It’s HORRIBLE composition. It’s neon, it’s display font, it’s oddly placed butterflies. It’s not the female that is the issue. Oh, and this is revised acceptable cover. I wonder what it looked like beforehand.

One of the sad things about book covers currently is stock art, from Deviantart and the like, have become a norm even for the big six to base their covers off of. With this combined with once a cover is popular it’s copied repeatedly by the art departments we get covers that have females in dresses on a large percentage of covers.

I mean a year ago how common was the red dress?



These are just a few of these red covers. And the sad thing? Very rarely was a dress ever worn in the books that have flowing dresses on the cover. And book bloggers do complain about this. We do.

We complain about the covers that have no substance and are simply eye candy and are trying to sell this glamorous girl instead of the contents. But there is another way to go here. There is a way to go that are designed with beautiful composition, there are covers that have incredible beautiful relevant covers, there are covers that don’t have the super beautiful woman on the cover but pretty women that are normal, natural, not unattainably beautiful. And these covers if they are done correctly are advocated, loved, encouraged, by us book bloggers.



Yes, horrible covers abound, but it has NOTHING to do with women that are basically Barbie's on the covers. It has to do with A) copycatting, B) knowing nothing about composition, C) trying to get the mass teen market to read it.

Book bloggers expect more from books, book covers, and authors, because we read around 100 books per year and get book review requests from many more.

Just my opinion on the matter. What’s yours?

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Top 10 Tuesday: Advice to New Bloggers

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Broke and Bookish where you list that week’s featured top ten list.

1. Show Your Personality- You are what makes your blog. It’s your personality that sets your blog apart from the multitude of other blogs.

2. Never Compromise Your Ethics- Sometimes there will be times when you feel compelled to compromise your ethics just a touch. To give a better review than you actually agree with, to allow advertising that you don’t like, to get into drama that will demoralize you. Remember who you are.

3. Learn HTML- HTML sounds scary right? It’s not. It’s very straightforward. You can just learn the basics and many blogs have info that will help you out. Parajunkee has Book Blogging 101, I have Blogger Helper, and I’m sure there are a ton more.

4. Don’t get bogged down in “Must Read”- This I feel is the No. 1 reason for the high blogger turn over. You get started blogging in a very small subset of a genre and then every single offer you receive is for this genre and then you have all of these review books and it just seems like every single book is the exact same.

5. Get on twitter- If you are not talking on twitter you are missing out! Be social on twitter and you will make a ton of friends! Some people to start chatting up: @isabooksoulmate from Book Soulmates, @jenni_elyse from Jenni Elyse, @ForLoveAndBooks from For Love and Books, @Darth_Chic from Em Reviews Books, @emsreadingroom from Emily’s Reading Room, and so many more including me @missiontoread.

6. Take Breaks- I have started only blogging 5 days a week. Weekends were impossible to keep up with and there really was no reason to do it. If you need a longer break take it. When I began blogging I was blogging every single day regardless if life was going to shit. Now I am just fine taking a week off. Your readers aren’t going to leave you when you take a few days off.

7.Freaking FOR LOVE OF ALL GOOD IN THE WORLD get rid of Captcha- Get rid of captcha. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason for it and you will miss comments by having it. Getting rid of captcha tutorial and remember if you want to use blogger comments captcha is default remove them in settings.

8. Pick and chose your content- Yes, memes bring in traffic. Yes, they can be easier than thinking up a topic on your own. And YES, they can mean that you have incredibly good content. Just chose wisely and don’t overfill your blogs with them.

9. Design IS important- When I began blogging I knew nothing about design. Nothing. And I couldn’t justify the cost of a design so I learned about design. Design keeps people on your page. If I can’t read it because you’ve selected a horrible font, have neon colors everywhere, or have white font on a black background I’m outta there.

10. This is supposed to be fun! If it’s not change something about what you are doing!

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Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter

April 10th 2012, St. Martin's Press
400 pages, Paperback
Received from Publisher
Third in Shadow Falls series
Young Adult Fiction

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.

Cover Review:
To tell the truth, I’m not sure I get any of the covers for this series. I get that it’s supposed to be portraying the time of day that the title does, but they have nothing to do with the story. I do love it though. Very serene.

Opinion:

What is up with third’s being the best in series? Ascend? Dark Frost? And not Taken at Dusk? I mean seriously thirds have been EPIC!!! I do mean EPIC!!! It seems that the first book is setting the stage, seconds are often filler and then thirds are where these series are really hitting their strides!

Kylie has grown as a character tremendously since the first book. She was constantly in other peoples issues, whining about everything, and clueless about so much. Now she really gets to the bottom of an issue before she makes a judgment about the situation. She’s still a peacekeeper, but in a way that isn’t as obtrusive. Her powers are growing as well and it’s so interesting to watch as she learns to use them.

Other characters seem to be growing as well. From Della and Miranda not fighting at every turn to developments between Holiday and Burnett. Lucas and Derek are as steamy as ever!

The ghostly presence is such an intriguing case in this one. An unknown spirit that seems to carry messages and be incredibly protective of Kylie. At times I was a bit scared of the ghost, but mainly I just wanted to get to the bottom of her story. The other ghosts in this book seem to be really getting that she can’t deal with all of them at once and she’s getting better at handling them in general.

Kylie learns so much in this book and I cannot wait to see her use that knowledge in order to protect her friends and herself in the upcoming book!

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Belated Bloggiesta

This weekend I’ve been having a late Bloggiesta, because I was busy while it was going on. I figured there was no reason I couldn’t do it a couple of weeks late.


My to do list:


Refresh Blog Design
Install Drop Down Navigation
Update Review Archive
Post reviews to Goodreads
Organize Review Archive in 2 new ways
Create New Review Request Policies
Create I Introduce to You
Work on Social Issues Month
Write a Blogger Helper
Schedule TGIF’s, Top Ten Tuesdays, I Dare You to Reads, and WoW’s
Get new social icons
Update Feeds

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TGIF: Songs into Books

TGIF is  a Friday meme hosted by Ginger at Greads. She always has the best questions.

Today’s Question:

Musical Stories: If you could read a book about any song, which song would you love to see written down in story form?

Answer:

Shameful truth: I’m not really into music. I’ll listen to it if it’s quiet and I need something to fill the silence, but I get overstimulated by noise and any music that is too much puts me in an immediate bad mood.

Having said that Adele is right up my alley with soothing music with real heartfelt messages.

Set Fire to The Rain – Adele

Set fire to the rain would make an incredible paranormal book with a woman falling into a fiery underworld and a man catching her and kissing her, but turns out to be Hades and he breaks her heart.


Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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Call for Guest Posts by Book Bloggers

Hi, guys! Firstly, I always need people for Great Designs and a new feature open to everyone in place of Little Known Blogs (I haven’t come up with a name yet) if you’d like to participate in either of these just fill out the form and I’ll get in contact with you!

Also I’m having a Social Issues event soon and if you would like to be part of it and do a guest post on a social issue please sign up it should be book related or if you’d like to do a PSA type post that would be awesome as well. I don’t particularly want it to get too personal, but personal details that you feel comfortable divulging that help to illustrate your point works too. Also if you simply want to a review a book for the event that would also be awesome! Also if there is a book I should read for the event please comment and tell me what it is.

Week 1: Domestic Abuse

Week 2: Cutting and Eating Disorders

Week 3: Bullying

Week 4: Substance Abuse 

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#Rockthedrop in Keller,TX

When my Harper Teen contacted me and asked if I’d like to take part in #rockthedrop I simply couldn’t say no! If you aren’t on twitter and don’t know what #rockthedrop is it’s where you take YA books and place them for others to take and read in order to celebrate Teen Lit Day! The books I dropped were from Harper Teen, but you can take any book you have on your shelf and participate as well!

I did #rockthedrop in N. Fort Worth and Keller today. Here are some pics and I’ll update it when I get home tonight to show off a couple more!



My box of books from HarperTeen contained these books! In each book I placed a note in each one stating “Please give this book a good home! –@missiontoread #rockthedrop” I would have qualms about picking up a book as I would think that was stealing so I wanted to make sure whoever picked it up knew it was for them and I also have hopes that someone might tweet me that they enjoyed the books!



My first drop (Destruction by Patrick Carman) was at the community center’s basketball court beside the goal post! I was so happy to see that my box of books contained a book that would appeal to boys!



My second drop (Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday) was nearby on a park bench!

My third drop (Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris) I placed on a table near the community pool! Down here it’s already swimming time!

I have two more books to drop tonight! I'll update as soon as I get home from grocery shopping!

Updated:

I didn't a good shot of this one but it's Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin, placed in Cotton Patch in Watauga! I placed one outside by a tree as well, but my phone wouldn't switch from video to pic so I didn't get a shot, but I was SO incredibly happy when I walked back out to find it was gone!

So that was my #rockthedrop! Did you drop any books? Did you find any books?

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Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

May 29th 2012, Kensington
336 pages, E-galley
Netgalley
Third in Mythos Academy series
Young Adult Fiction

I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life.

Cover Review:

The cover is interesting. It has Gwen with her necklace and the place from the opening scene so it definitely does have something to do with the storyline, but the fonts don’t seem to fit the cover. I guess I’m just being picky.

Opinion:

In one word: EPIC!!! This book is the best of the series with none of the issues that have plagued the first two. The boring needless first half is non-existant in this one! From the very first page the action is fierce! I didn’t want want this book to end which got me to read the chapter teaser from the next book at the end and OH MY GOSH!!! I simply cannot wait to read the next!

Gwen is incredibly brave even though she doubts herself endlessly. I like how relatable she is. She isn’t brave without incredibly human fear. At times she seems oblivious to clues around her and I wanted to yell at her, “Look over there!” It may simply because the foreshadowing is done in a way that those that aren’t as analytical as they read can guess along.

Logan sadly isn’t as present as I would’ve liked. I need my Logan fix! He’s such a hottie! He was as always fighting right beside Gwen every single time she was in danger, but there simply wasn’t enough romance for me. But I’m a romance addict!

The other side characters while busy with their own lives and drama add so much to the storyline. Gwen no longer is the loner she was in the first book with best friend Daphne and her boyfriend always being present. But my favorite side character would HAVE to be Nott! I loved her OH SO MUCH!!!!

I enjoyed the rest of the series, but this one tops them all and I can already see that the next one is gonna be just as good! Can’t wait!

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

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