Thursday, January 27, 2011

Favorite Cover of the Week

One of my favorite things to do when I'm visiting other blogs is to see some of the covers that they absolutely love.  So, I finally decided that I would start posting my favorite book covers on my blog.  They may not be new books, they may not be old ones.  They are simply ones who time and time again have struck me as having amazing covers. 
So, for my first post I decided to go with The Ruby Key (which I've posted pictures of on my blog before, but its probably my favorite, so I had to start with it).





I'm not always a fan of drawn characters on the front of books.  It's completely hit or miss for me, depending on how well the artist can draw a person's face, if its even a bit off sometimes it kills the whole cover for me.  When I first saw this cover though, I was completely drawn to it, and even now, when I see it, I can't help but stop and think how pretty it is.  And, as an added bonus it really fits well with the book. 

As I said, I hope to continue doing these posts every Thursday, with a different book cover.  

Monday, January 24, 2011

Dreaming of Books Giveaway Winner!!!

We have another WINNER!!! Time for a another CELEBRATION!!!!
  Lets Congratulate our winner: Khyla who has chosen to receive a copy of Haven!!!  They were lucky number 275 on my scale of 2-280 (1 being column headers)!!!  I've sent an email and they have until 1/27 to get back to me.

If you didn't win, be on the look out for more giveaways. I will be participating in the Follower Love Giveaway Hop taking place from 2/8-2/13. 


(image above is of Kero-chan from Card Captor Sakura, the work of the wonderful and amazing group known as CLAMP.. this exact image can be credited to Natsumi Yuu who's blog is My Life...it is my dream)

For those who have won giveaways on my blog and have not yet received your books, everything will get sent out this week!

Please hold with me, for the lack of blogging, I'm working on a schedule to make sure that I get posts up a few times a week, but its taking some time. :)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Movie Review: The Green Hornet


Synopsis: 
Britt Reid spent his whole adult life partying, and things were set to continue that way even after his father's death, until he met his father's mechanic, Kato.  The two bond over their complaints about Britt's father and decide, while drunk, to vandalize the man's grave.  While doing so, they see a couple being attacked by a group of thugs and save them, which leads the pair to the idea of becoming heroes, while everyone thinks they are villains.  So, the pair set out to make a name for themselves using the newspaper Britt inherited from his father to help, drawing the attention of the cities big bad guy.  Battling this villain will help Britt come to terms with what he really wants to do, and what it means to be a hero. 

Review:

Characters:
Britt: One of those annoying guys, who party too much, think that every girl wants him and doesn't know when to stop.  This is not like the Britt from the old TV show, but it works.  He's annoying and you want him to grow up, and he does.

Kato: I LOVED Kato in this movie.  He was cute and had all the best lines, and boy could he fight.  He is what truly made me love this movie.

Plot:
I thought this movie unfolded nicely.  It was vastly different from the TV series, but it made sense and it worked well.  If you are a fan of super heroes and super hero movies this one won't disappoint.  Its enjoyable for both fans of the original, like my boyfriend, and newbies, like me.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop

I will announce the winner on Sunday the 23.  Sorry for the delay!!!
Its Time for another Awesome Giveaway Hop.  I'm so glad that you stopped by!!!

 For this giveaway I decided to giveaway one of the books that I am looking forward to buying in February.  This will be ordered from the Book Depository if you are international.  If you are in the US, I reserve the right to order the book from a store of my choice. 

So what Book have I decided to giveaway?  How about one of these:




 
 
To enter all you have to do is fill out this FORM!

Since this is a quick hop, I'll make it easy.  Just be a follower and tell me what book you want if you win.  Good luck, and don't forget to check out all the other blogs!
 

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Daughters by Joanna Philbin


This is my official start to blogging this year, with an attempt to update and post reviews more often.  I debated picking just the right book to be my first review of the year, but then decided to go with one that I wrote and meant to post last year, The Daughters by Joanna Philbin.

 My copy of the book is an ARC.  The cover of the actual book was changed so that the girls more closely resembled the characters in the book.

Plot:
The Daughters took that title because they are all daughters of famous people forced to share their parents’ spotlight, whether they feel comfortable there or not.  In this book, the 1st in the series, the story focuses on Lizzie, the daughter of the world’s most famous supermodel.  Lizzie hates being forced to share the spotlight with her beautiful mother because she feels she’ll always be seen as lacking.  After one little comment said on camera out of anger and frustration puts her in her own spotlight though, she sees a beauty in herself she never had before, and vulnerability in her mother she never knew.  Of course, there were plenty of stumbles along the way.

Review:

Characters:
Lizzie: It was nice to see Lizzie stop being so harsh about her own appearance and come to respect her mother more.  Generally she was a likeable character that you wanted to see do well.  That’s not to say that there weren’t issues, and I had two in particular.  First, there was a point in the story where she looks a woman in the eyes and realizes that this was not someone she could lie to, then five pages later she lies to the woman.  I guess it could have been a “can’t lie to your eyes, but I can to your back” type of thing, but it seemed more like a “can’t lie to this person” thing.  In the second incident, she and the guy she likes have a misunderstanding because she ditches him when Carina needs her, but I honestly did not buy that she wouldn’t have given even a sentence more of explanation that would have prevented the following drama.  Of course, his actions afterward were also kind of hard to believe. 

Carina: The athletic, rebellious girl.
Hudson: The fashion loving, musician who may be too nice.
You really only get an outline of their personality and interest in this book, but it didn’t’ feel like you got to know them; it was more of an introduction to what would happen in their own books. 

Plot:
This is a fun, easy read.  It’s like reading a teen movie, the kind you watch, laugh at, and enjoy when you are looking for mindless, feel-good entertainment.  It may have been a bit predictable, but it worked.
I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t more like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants where you really got to know each character in each book.  With a title like “The Daughters” I was really expecting it to be more about all of the daughters. 
My last thought on this book is that it may not have longevity for the marketplace. It’s really a snapshot of the times.  There is a lot of name dropping of places, people and objects, which may no longer be relevant in a few years. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Some winners Announced

As Promised, we have some winners to announce!!!





First up, the winner of my Midwinter's Eve Giveaway was $149 Janelle A* who chose to receive Trapped.  She's already been contacted and confirmed.


Next up, its time to announce the winners of my Manga Means Merry (Christmas) giveaway.

First the winner of my 3 volume prize pack is: #64 vickyvak from Greece!
The Second Place winner, of 1 volume of manga of their choice is: #42 iloveuasian!
Both winners have been contacted and have 48 hours to respond.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and I hope to get your books out to you shortly!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting a review, getting back in the swing of things.

 (image above is of Kero-chan from Card Captor Sakura, the work of the wonderful and amazing group
known as CLAMP.. this exact image can be credited to Natsumi Yuu who's blog is My Life...it is my dream)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

2010 in Review

Now that the holidays are finally over I can get back to focusing on my blog. I decided that I would start by looking back at what I've read in 2010, before I pull my list off the sidebar and start a new list for 2011.

First, 2010 was the year that I finally decided to read two series that looking back I can't believe I didn't read sooner.

I loved reading about Percy and all of his adventures.  The characters were like-able and their adventures were entertaining.  I originally bought the book only because I could get it for like $1 at the Bargain Bookstore during one of their half off sales.  It then sat on the shelf for months because I had no real desire to read it.  In the end, it was the realization that a movie was coming out that made me decide to actually read the book, and I ate them up, reading the whole series in a week, and then searching the web to see if more was coming.  I was thrilled when I saw he had two new series coming out, and bought both of them immediately.  Now I'm eagerly awaiting more.








My friend had been suggesting that I read this series for awhile, and so I bought the first book, but for whatever reason, I kept avoiding actually reading the book.  Then, the last book in the series was coming out, and I was making an order from Amazon anyway and needed something to hit the free shipping, and thought I might as well get it, since I'd read the books eventually anyway.  Which of course, led me to actually read the books, and I loved the depth of the story, and again read the whole series in a week.  Now I'm eagerly looking forward to his next series.



Some of the books that I loved most in 2010 included:


I randomly requested this book from Paperback Swap, I honestly don't even know why, I don't even know that I actually looked at what it was about, only that it was something that I saw a link to and went "Why Not?"  When it arrived, the cover was a real turn off (I did not receive this cover, but a very pink one of a girl's bedroom, that quite frankly made the book seem like it would be a bit too young for me).  It sat in my car for a couple of days, and I picked it up a few times because I was waiting for my boyfriend, and the opening line intrigued me for some reason.  It just talked about a girls father having a baby with his second wife.  It wasn't revolutionary, and yet it made me keep going.  I loved the story.  I found it sadly believable how humans reacted to the end of the world.  The hording food, the chaos, the lack of survival skills.  It was disturbing and I couldn't put it down.  I hadn't even finished the first book before I bought the last two.  I loved the whole series, and passed it on right away.




I picked up The Forest of Hands and Teeth for a couple of weeks before I bought it in 2009, it had been out less than two months when I finally broke down and had to buy it.  I was unsure about a book about Zombies, but the cover kept drawing me in, and after I read it I was so glad that I had.  When The Dead-tossed Waves was released I didn't wait a day to get it, and I was thrilled that I hadn't.  I enjoyed the story, and as an added bonus I got to have both books autographed a couple of weeks later.


This was another book that drew me in because of the cover, and I found the story was oh so much better.  I read it while I was at an anime convention, and it speaks to how much I enjoyed this book that I couldn't stop talking about it while my friends and I were sitting around eating meals or relaxing for the evening.  I found a lot about this book unique and intriguing and I can't wait to see where its headed in the next book











I loved a lot of the books that I read in 2010 (quite frankly I loved most of the books that I read in 2010, but that would make the post a bit too long, so I shortened it).  Here's a complete list of what I read in 2010:
• "The Invisible Order: Rise of the Darklings" - Paul Crilley    • "Mirrorscape" - Mike Wilks
• "Shadow of Malabron" - Thomas Wharton                         • "Waking the Witch" - Kelley Armstrong
• "Guardians of Ga'hoole: The Rescue" - Kathryn Lasky        • "Guardians of Ga'hoole: The Journey"
• "Guardians of Ga'hoole: The Capture" - Kathryn Lasky       • "Birthmarked" - Caragh O'Brien

• "Uglies: Pretties" - Scott Westerfeld                                    • "Uglies: Uglies" - Scott Westerfeld
• "This World We Live in" - Susan Beth Pfeffer                     • "The Dead and the Gone"
• "Life as We Knew it" - Susan Beth Pfeffer                          • "The People of Sparks" - Jeanne Dupreau

• "Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass"              • "The City of Ember" - Jeanne Dupreau
• "The Kane Chronicles: Red Pyramid" - Rick Riordan          • "Fablehaven" - Brandon Mull
• "Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star" - Brandon Mull        • "Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague"
• "Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary"                   • "Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison"
 • "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"       • "Percy Jackson & The Sea of Monsters"
• "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Curse of the Titan"   • "Percy Jackson & The Battle of the Labyrinth"
 • "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian"       • "Tales of the OtherWorld" - Kelley Armstrong
 • "The Reckoning" - Kelley Armstrong                                 • "Silver Borne" Patricia Briggs
• "Voices of Dragons" - Carrie Vaughn                                 • "The Dead Tossed Waves" - Carrie Ryan
• "Beastly" - Alex Flinn                                                         • "The Lost Hero" - Rick Riordan
•"The Daughters" - Joanna Philbin                                         •"Matched" - Ally Condie 




Notes:  Tomorrow I will draw the winner for my manga giveaway, and announce the winner for that and the midwinter giveaway hop (the winner for that was picked when the giveaway ended and has been contacted, but I will announce who it was when I announce the other winner).  My next giveaway will be part of the "Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop"
Hopefully I will be updating my blog 2-3 times a week now, if not more.