Follow my Blog Friday.

This is my first Follow Friday which is hosted by Parajunkee. I've been meaning to participate for a while but I just forget. So here we go.

This weeks question:

What are your new years book blogging resolutions?

-I am hoping to be a little more involved in the blogging world, comment more, participate in more meme's and challenges, just make more friends! I really love this community and I want to more a part of it.

Happy Reading Everyone, and Happy New Year.

The Best of 2010

So I found this little end of 2010 survey over at The Perpetual Page-Turner and I thought it would be fun to do. So that's what I am doing. So here we go....

1.) Best Book of 2010? Ugh, I don't know I read so many books in 2010. But... For YA I would have to say Dreamland by Sarah Dessen and The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

2) Worst Book of 2010? I don't like questions like this at all. But a book that I really did not enjoy this year was Something Wicked by Lesley Cowan.

3) Most Disappointing Book of 2010? Fallen by Lauren Kate. I really wanted to like this book. I think I even tried. But I couldn't and didn't.

4) Most Surprising (in a good way) Book of 2010? Hmm, what made me go wow that was really good- Secrets By Freya North. I didn't expect to like that book so much.

5) Book You Recommended the Most to People in 2010? Ha, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson-I really liked that book.

6) Best Series you Discovered in 2010? The Summer I Turned Pretty Series By Jenny Han. It's a good series and I can't wait for the third book to come out in April

7) Favourite New Authors You Discovered in 2010? Sarah Dessen, I first read her in the summer and I don't know why I waited so long.

8) The Most Hilarious Read of 2010? For me it was Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. I thought this book was so funny. I laughed and laughed throughout the whole thing. It's making my giggle thinking about it now.

9) Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book of 2010? Hmmmm, Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult. With every one of her books I find that I enter a zone of 'don't contact me until I am done this book'. Her books are great but they stress me out because I need to know what's going to happen. So this year Salem Falls did that for me. It wasn't the most wonderful book I have ever read by her, but it was thrilling and I couldn't put it down.

10) Book You Most Anticipated in 2010? Lover Mine by JR Ward. I love the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series, it's my love. But John Matthew's story in Lover Mine was something I eagerly awaited in 2010.

11) Favourite Cover in a Book You Read in 2010? Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. It's an awesome cover.

12) Most Memorable Character in 2010? Amy from Love You Hate You Miss You By Elizabeth Scott. She went through something horrible and was resistant to any type of help in the beginning, but she finally started to come around. There was something about her that has stayed with me.

13) Most Beautifully Written Book in 2010? The Outcast by Sadie Jones. It's such a wonderful story, and it's really well written.

14) Book That Had The Greatest Impact on You in 2010? Hmmm, Dreamland by Sarah Dessen. It dealt with the pretty serious issue of teen dating abuse, and that had me thinking about how much of this actually happens and how we may not know about it.

15) Book You Can't Believe You Waited UNTIL 2010 to Read? There are none. Haha. But maybe next year.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Teaser Tuesday #3

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...

• Grab your current read
  
• Open to a random page
  
• Share a couple of “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I Shall Not Hate By Izzeldin Abuelaish

"But there were-and still are-so many unique challenges in the way of our finding the path to peaceful coexistence. For instance, a critically ill woman from Gaza was brought in for treatment; she would have died had she stayed in Gaza."

P.77

I Just Can't Wait.

I was just browsing through Goodreads (I still am not sure how it works) When I came across the cover for We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han. I started this blog after reading the first two in this series: The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You, you can see my very first post about these two book here. I loved them both but I have to say that The Summer I Turned Pretty was my favourite. But anywho... We'll Always Have Summer is due out April 26th 2010 and I am so excited. I myself am team Conrad and I want to know who Belly ends up with... So excited :)

Ok, I'm done.

Happy Reading Everyone!

My Thoughts: Precious and Fragile Things By Megan Hart.

Gilly Soloman has been reduced to a mothering machine, taking care of everyone and everything except herself. But the machine has broken down. Burnt out by the endless days of crying children and menial tasks, and exhausted from always putting herself last, Gilly doesn't immediately consider the consequences when she's carjacked. With a knife to her throat, her first thought is that she'll finally get some rest. Someone can save her for a change.
But salvation isn't so forthcoming. Stranded in a remote, snowbound cabin with this stranger, hours turn to days, days into weeks. As time forges a fragile bond between them, she learns her captor is not the lunatic she first believed, but a human being whose wasted life has been shaped by secrets and tragedy. Yet even as their connection begins to foster trust, Gilly knows she must never forget he's still a man teetering on the edge. One who just might take her with him.

I sometimes find myself visiting Megan Hart's Blog, Read In Bed, for updates on what she's working on and to find out what she thought about a recent episode of 'Supernatural'. So a couple of weeks ago I stopped by and she was giving away copies of her upcoming Mira publication-Precious and Fragile Things- all you had to do was send her an e-mail. I was a lucky winner and got my signed copy in the mail not to long ago.

I have read a lot of what Hart has written in the past five years or so and I have really enjoyed it. Most of it had been erotic fiction or romance. Her books are hot, but they aren't tacky, they are beautifully written and the character development is phenomenal.

Precious and Fragile Things is the first book by Hart to be published that is not erotic and not romance. Megan herself has said "It’s sort of thrillerishy with a side of women’s fiction in a literary fiction crust and a bit of mainstream contemporary fiction on top".

I was a little nervous about reading this at the beginning , because, well when you love something or you love something that someone does, you don't want them to change it. It goes with the whole 'if it ain't broke why fix it' kind of philosophy. A little unreasonable I'll admit. So the idea of a book that wasn't romance but mainstream fiction was just wrong to me. None the less I knew that I would read the book and that I wanted to read it.

The books as a whole is just shy of 400 pages and every page is pretty intense. Everything that I loved about Hart's writing was in this book (which makes sense) and the characters were brilliant.

The protagonist, Gilly is a woman who has made a decision to be a mother and although she loves her children dearly she is struggling with the demands and responsibility of being a stay at home mom. So when she gets car jacked and ends up stranded with her kidnapper Todd, she struggles with many different feelings one being guilt. She had the opportunity to run and she chose not to. Gilly wanted to rest. She just never expected to be stranded for so long. Todd, I loved from the very moment he realized there were kids in the car. He was an anxious and fidgety character who was so completely broken, and you knew that from the very beginning, you just didn't know why until later. The exchanges between the two are honest and true to how things might be if something like this were to actually happen. Their conversations are not all full of rainbows and lollipops, they are sometimes harsh and hard to read.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a very heartbreaking story of how, if a situation had been a little bit different, if different decisions had been made. Life could have worked out differently. I think Megan did an amazing j0b with Precious and Fragile Things and I would encourage you all to go out and buy it in January when it come out.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Many Books In A Year.

A friend of mine recently asked me how many books I read on average in a week. At the time I said about two maybe three. But in reality I had no idea I was just making a guess. Two or three a week was a lot especially for me who is taking four classes and working part-time. However the conversation I has with my friend had me thinking about how many books I actually read in a week, a month or even a year.

So for the year of 2011 I am going to keep track of all the books I read. I want to know exactly how many books I have read, I want to know if it's only 50, or 100 or more than that.

So I have started my own personal challenge. To keep track I will be posting at the end of every month with the titles of the books that I completed in that month and their corresponding number.

If you are curious about your own numbers, and want to count along with me, please do. All I ask is that you do the monthly posts, and link them in the comments of my monthly posts.

So it's time to start counting.

I am kind of excited about this. I've always wondered about how much I actually read.

So...

Happy Reading Everyone, and Happy Counting.

From Book to Movie (3)

I rather enjoy doing these 'book to movie' posts, as there are some really great books that made it into some great movies (well some great and some not so great) that I want to share and talk about.

I went out and saw the newest installment in The Chronicles of Narnia movies: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,I liked it, but it wasn't very true to the story.

C.S. Lewis created an amazing thing in The Chronicles of Narnia. Amazing. I have no words to explain the beauty found in the pages of his books. The movies are fun and full of action, but still, they are Hollywood's adaptation of truly amazing works.

This movie has already received a lot of media hype and I am sure everyone has seen the trailer. However, I wanted to remind people of what came before this movie. The true creative genius, and the beautiful story behind it.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Book Blogger Hop (2)

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

This weeks question is...

"What do you consider the most important in a story: the plot or the characters?"

The characters hands down. If a story line is a little weak but the characters are fun and engaging the book can usually be saved. However, no matter how great the plot is, if the characters are under developed the whole story is going to fall flat. Well for me at least.

And that's my hop.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Mindi Scott: Freefall Contest.

Mindi Scott is hosting an awesome giveaway in her site; it's open internationally so fellow Canadians rejoice!

You can win an awesome scarf (made just for you!), and a copy for Freefall for you and your buddy!

Details can be found here. So go check it out!

Teaser Tuesdays #2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!






Precious and Fragile Things By Megan Hart


" 'I'm Sorry,' Todd said.
He sounded as if he meant it, but Gilly wasn't going to take his apology."


P. 244

My Thoughts: Fallen by Lauren Kate

So it took me about a week to read Lauren Kate's Fallen, which for me is a long time. Especially long considering I had nothing pressing to do (like papers to write or exams to study for). I was really excited about this book, but I'm not sure that I am as excited now that I have finished reading it.

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce-and goes out of his way to make that very clear-she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

The blurb on the back of the book really piqued my attention and had me buying the book, well that and the cover; it's a gorgeous cover. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, the prologue was really well done in capturing the reader's attention. However after that I thought the story was really slow moving. I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen. There was a lot of leading up to... and that's it.

I really liked Luce and her friends. I thought Arianne was great and Penn was adorable. I'm still on the fence about how I feel about Daniel. I feel like he could have been written a little better. For me is was hard to love him the way I can most male leads.

For me there were a few plot holes which maybe will be addressed in the next book. Overall I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it. I will probably read Torment but not right away.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Dusty Volumes-2011 Reading Challenge

I have been painfully embarrassed with my results on the 'Books I Have and Have Not Read' post which you can find here. I feel like there are so many books that I should have read already that are great classics and I have no excuses as to why I have not read them. I have had every intention of reading a number of the books but for some reason I have not. I needed a little incentive; which I have now found with The Dusty Volumes Challenge hosted by Midnyte Reader.

There are rules and all that fun stuff and they are outlined well on her blog.

The Dusty Volumes that I am hoping to read this year are:

• 1984-George Orwell
• Jane Eyre-Charlotte Brontë
• Wuthering Heights-Emily Brontë
• Alice in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll
• Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
• Dracula-Bram Stoker

That's my list for now. I think that six books is a pretty good start. I am sure that as the year goes on I'll want to read more. But for now this is good. I think this challenge is pretty cool and I would encourage those who want to try out classics to go check it out. So for now...

Happy Reading Everyone!

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books. I haven't really done meme's before now, but they seem to be a whole lot of fun, so I'm trying it. You should to.

This weeks question:

"What is the thing you like most about reading book blogs? Is it the reviews, author guest posts, articles, giveaways, or something else entirely?"

I love reading about what other people are reading, so for me I think that reviews are the best. I like to know what other people thought about a book (especially if it's one I loved). Another reason is to see what other people are reading my TBR has grown immensely since I've started following other blogs. It's great. I just love it all, and that's that.

Happy Reading Everyone!

From Book to Movie (2)

I Am Number Four By Pittacus Lore. This movie looks stinking awesome! I can say that I am pretty excited for it's release. But again, this is a book I have not read-I plan to before the movie comes out. Because I want to know what happens at the end and the only way I'll know any time soon is if I read the book. This trailer and the last that I posted both star Alex Pettyfer which is a total coincidence I swear. But he looks way hotter in this movie then Beastly (and not for obvious reasons).

I'm sure a million of you have already seen this trailer but it's pretty exciting so watch it again. I really can't wait for this movie.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/ and it asks us to...

• Grab your current read
  


• Open to a random page
  


• Share a couple of “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  


• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  


• Share the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Fallen By Lauren Kate

"Her first trip off campus and she ended up in a hospital five minutes from her parents' house. The last time she'd been here was to get three stitches on her elbow when she'd fallen off her bike."

P. 223

Haulin' (3)

So I have a teeny tiny haul. Only three books. But I wanted to share because I am so so excited about them all.

Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - is a haunting presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human -- until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears and the temperature drops, Sam must fight to stay human or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

This is one I have seen mentioned a lot but never really read what it was about. Many of the books that are on my wish list are hardbacks and at this time I cannot justify buying hardbacks. So I went for the trusty soft cover, and Shiver fit the bill and it looked really good. So I'll probably read this one before the year is out.

Beautiful Creatures By Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
There were no surprises in Gatlin County . We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere. At least, that's what I thought. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

This is another one I have seen mentioned a few times in various blogs, but I've never really looked into what it was about, so when I was in the bookstore today I picked it up and was fairly intrigued. So yeah, I bought it and I will read it soon.

Precious and Fragile Things By Megan Hart
Gilly Soloman has been reduced to a mothering machine, taking care of everyone and everything except herself. But the machine has broken down. Burnt out by the endless days of crying children and menial tasks, and exhausted from always putting herself last, Gilly doesn't immediately consider the consequences when she's carjacked. With a knife to her throat, her first thought is that she'll finally get some rest. Someone can save her for a change.
But salvation isn't so forthcoming. Stranded in a remote, snowbound cabin with this stranger, hours turn to days, days into weeks. As time forges a fragile bond between them, she learns her captor is not the lunatic she first believed, but a human being whose wasted life has been shaped by secrets and tragedy. Yet even as their connection begins to foster trust, Gilly knows she must never forget he's still a man teetering on the edge. One who just might take her with him

This is an advanced readers copy that I got from Megan which I was very grateful for. I've read many (if not all) of her books and this one is a little different then what she normally writes but that's ok. She writes beautifully and I am looking forward to reading this.

So this is my little haul. I still have a few books from my last two hauls left to read, so look out for those reviews. School is out now (well except for a few exams) so I have more time to read all that I have recently purchased. But that is it.

Happy Reading Everyone.

My Thoughts: Two Way Street By Lauren Barnholdt

I have never laughed as much in a book and I did in Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. It was one of the funniest books I have ever read.

There are two sides to every breakup.
This is Jordan and Courtney, totally in love. Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple. But they clicked; it worked. They're even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation.
Then Jordan dumps Courtney -- for a girl he met on the Internet.
It's too late to change plans, so the road trip is on. Courtney's heartbroken, but figures she can tough it out for a few days. La la la -- this is Courtney pretending not to care.
But in a strange twist, Jordan cares. A lot.
Turns out, he's got a secret or two that he's not telling Courtney. And it has everything to do with why they broke up, why they can't get back together, and how, in spite of it all, this couple is destined for each other

When I first read the synopsis for this book it was something I wanted to read right away. Who wouldn't? It looked to be hilarious. I was imagining the spats that would take place, and was giggling even before I read the book.

Barnholdt knows what goes on in the minds of teenage girls and their friends (and how totally unreasonable they can be). There is a scene in the book where Courtney talks about sending Jordan an e-mail and how it took her (and her friend) two hours to compose, this had me roaring because it's so true, when us girls are trying to be cool and aloof when writing something to a boy it takes us forever to find the right words; usually the boys don't even notice the difference. The story was full of ridiculous antics that had me laughing out loud.

The characters were so much fun as well. Jordan and Courtney were great but their best friends BJ and Jocelyn were two of the funniest characters I have ever read about. They are a dysfunctional couple that should not have been together. I looked forward to every interaction with one of these characters. They were a real comic relief. I almost wish they had a book of their own. They were that entertaining.

However, as much as I loved this book I find that I have a little bit of a problem with it being geared for a 13-17 year old crowd (this is what it says on Chapters website). This book is full of sexual content that I think would not be suitable for someone younger then 16. There is also a fair bit of swearing that would make it more inappropriate for younger readers.

But in all, I really enjoyed reading this book I thought it was clever and funny and the characters worked for me. It was a good read, and I looking forward to reading more from Barnholdt, and I will be rereading this one for sure.

Happy Reading Everyone.

Kim Harrington: CLARITY ARC GIVEAWAY

Kim Harrington: CLARITY ARC GIVEAWAY: "So it's December 1st and Clarity comes out in THREE MONTHS! What? You can't wait until March 1st? You want a signed ARC (advanced review cop..."

Super cool give away. I'd check it out if I were you!