Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading

This is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Join the fun and post what you got in your mailbox last week!

I got a few books this week







The Ghost Writer - John Harwood from PBS















Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick from B&N First Look
















Dragon House by John Shors from the author
















It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.


Books I finished last week:
Lament - Maggie Stiefvater


Currently Reading:
Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
Dairy Queen - Audiobook

Books to Finish this Week:
Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

How about you? Why not join in with what you've read, are reading or planning to finish this week or share with me in a comment.

New Reading Challenge

Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting this challenge.

So I've decided to attempt this reading challenge. I have quite a few books in my stack already so only going to do the the one book challenge and the short story challenge.


















For this challenge I haven't quite decided which book I am going to read. It's either going to be Beastly by Alex Flinn or Frostbite by Richelle Mead. EDIT~ I will be changing this to Prophecy of the Sisters by Michell Zink

COMPLETED 9/21/2009










For this one I will be reading short stories from Great Irish Tales of Horror by Peter Haining. I've had this book for years and haven't really read much out of it, so this is a good time to do so.

EDIT- I'm also adding Hellbound Hearts to this list. I am currently reading it for a blog tour coming up on October 5th and it's perfect for this challenge.

COMPLETED 10/2/2009

Weekend Roundup

So this picture to the left is what I walked out of my room and saw while I was getting ready to head out to work on Friday. Apparently my cat was hungry and she knew just how to let me know. She pulled a book off the shelf by her bowl and then drug the bowl and blocked the hallway door lol. Guess she knows me pretty well by now.

On to this weekends event. We had a busy, busy weekend. Friday we headed up to the Clark County Amphitheater to see the Nickelback, Papa Roach, Hinder, and Saving Abel concert. The rain gods were even nice to us and it only sprinkled a couple of times. The show was bad ass and it was my first ever outside big concert and I really enjoyed myself. There was a group of 8 of us and outside of a drunk or two, we had a great time. We even ran into a couple of people we hadn't seen in many years.

Saturday we finally got to go back to our campsite after a month of other activities taking up our weekends. Our friends were up there so we all had dinner together and had some drinks. An all around good time was had by all.

Sunday I actually slept until 10 am and major thing for me. I haven't slept that late in months and never while were camping. We had a nice big breakfast of all kinds of not good for you but oh so yummy food. We headed down to our friends camp and ended up in a massive water fight. Was a freaking blast! The afternoon was spent along the river just soaking up the sun and relaxing.

Now I'm at home catching up on all the new blog posts and plan on spending a nice quiet evening watching TV and possibly reading a bit.

Hope everyone had a fun weekend and good vibes for the week ahead!

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the lightest, most “fluff” kind of book you’ve read recently?


This is an easy one for me. I just recently finished Plum Spooky and Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. These are light and fun reads for me. I'm not sure I care much for the term "fluff" but I do get what the question is asking. When I need a pick me up or just a fun paced read, these are the books I turn too. They easy, fun, full of laughter and all around make me feel good. Lets face it folks some days this is exactly what the doctor calls for.

Lament - A Review

Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

Information and Synopsis are from the Barnes & Noble website

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .

My Thoughts:

After reading Shiver I just knew I had to run out and by this book. There is something about the way that Maggie writes that calls out to me and I end up lost in her lyrical words. It's amazing really. It's been a long time since a writer has affected me this way. Let me tell you Lament did not disappoint. I loved it!

Lament is a wonderful, mysterious tale of Faerie's and not of the cute fun loving kind.

Deirdre is a very talented harpist and she meets the elusive and mysterious Luke at a competition and then all the strange, unexplainable stuff starts happening. She finds out she can move things and read minds and thoughts, and she discovers the unseen world of the Fae. A world that has affected her family for generations.

We are led through twists and turns of the games faeries play. We learn of the Queen and her need to see Deirdre dead and of her control over the Fae and of Luke. We learn of so much more but that would be giving away too much of this awesome story.

I love how Maggie weaves the tale with a fine sheet of mist so you sense the story unraveling before your eyes with every page you turn. I found myself getting lost in the pages and my day slipping away into the evening as I read.

I can't wait to read Ballad when it comes out in October.

Waiting On Wednesday & A To Z Wednesday

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This weeks can't wait to read selection is:


Here is my pick this week:



Tempted House Of Night Series #6 - P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast

Synopsis

So…you’d think after banishing an immortal being and a fallen High Priestess, saving Stark’s life, biting Heath, getting a headache from Erik, and almost dying, Zoey Redbird would catch a break. Sadly, a break is not in the House of Night school forecast for the High Priestess in training and her gang. Juggling three guys is anything but a stress reliever, especially when one of them is a sexy Warrior who is so into protecting Zoey that he can sense her emotions. Speaking of stress, the dark force lurking in the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot is spreading, and Zoey is beginning to believe Stevie Rae could be responsible for a lot more than a group of misfit red fledglings. Aphrodite’s visions warn Zoey to stay away from Kalona and his dark allure, but they also show that it is Zoey who has the power to stop the evil immortal. Soon it becomes obvious that Zoey has no choice: if she doesn’t go to Kalona he will exact a fiery vengeance on those closest to her. Will Zoey have the courage to chance losing her life, her heart, and her soul? Find out in the next spectacular installment in the House of Night Series, Tempted.

Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment.
(We all love comments, don't we?)
Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

THIS WEEKS LETTER IS: C

My "C" Book is: Coraline - Neil Gaiman

The day after they moved in,

Coraline went exploring....

In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it's different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

I Just Love Awards

Kate over at The Neverending Shelf passed this awesome award my way this afternoon and let me tell you it immediately put me in a good moods. Funny how that works =) If you've never been there, go check out her blog it's full of good stuff!

Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers.

I haven't passed this one out before so I will be passing this one out to a few blogs myself.

• NotNessie at Today's Adventure
• Miss Eliza at Strange & Random Happenstance
• Sheila at One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books
• Senfaye at A Maze Of Books
  

Teaser Tuesday

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 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!

Here's my teaser this week:

His smile was infectious and for the first time in my life, being on stage felt right. I smiled hugely at him and began to play.

Lament - Maggie Stiefvater pg 23

An Award!

Vicki over at Reading At The Beach gave me this lovely award the other day. I wanted to say a heartfelt thanks to her. I've already handed this out to other folks so I'll just end this with thank you!! You all should head over and check out her lovely blog!

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading

This is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Join the fun and post what you got in your mailbox last week!

It was a light week for me only got 2 books and one of them was for my daughter.






The Time Traveler's Wife - Audry Niffenegger
















Skeleton Creek - Patrick Carman
















It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.


Books I finished last week:
Hunted - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Finger Lickin' Fifteen - Janet Evanovich
If I Stay - Gayle Forman - Audiobook



Currently Reading:
Lament - Maggie Stiefvater
Dairy Queen - Audiobook

Books to Finish this Week:
Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

How about you? Why not join in with what you've read, are reading or planning to finish this week or share with me in a comment.

Weekend Roundup

This has been a pretty uneventful weekend. I did nothing on Saturday but listen to David Arkenstone playing softly in the background while I read a book. We did go over to a friends Saturday evening for a few hours to sit around a fire and just enjoy each others company. It was a nice evening.

I went on my Sunday walk with the same friends this morning and it was the first one that my honey got to go on. His work schedule changes this week and he'll be able to walk on Sundays with us. I really like that.

I then dropped off a couple of books at the library that sadly did not get read. I just didn't get to them in time. I'll check them both out at another time when my TBR pile isn't so big.

Afterwards we went to our local used shop and traded in some books and I bought the Time Travelers Wife. I got a great deal on it and it was even new. PBS has a wish list of over a 1000 people and my library's holds is upwards of 50 so I knew I'd have to buy if I had any hopes of reading it before the DVD comes out.

Next weekend will be a very busy weekend for us. We're going to see Nickelback up in Washington on Friday and then we're finally getting to go camping at our own campsite. It's been almost a month since we got to camp up there and we all miss it. So my roundup post will be posted later in the day next Sunday.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and here's to a good week ahead!

Stephanie Plum Reading Challenge

Finished up this challenge tonight. I only had two of the series to read so it went quickly.

Plum Spooky and Finger Lickin' Fifteen.

If I Stay - Review

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (April 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143144456
• ISBN-13: 978-0143144458
• Approx Run Time: 5 Hours
• Narrator: Kirsten Potter

Synopsis:
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heart achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

My Review:

This book grabbed me from the get go. Being an Oregonian myself, I caught on and understood all the little Oregon details the author put into this book. I really liked that aspect. It made me feel at home while listening to it.

I instantly liked Mia and her family and could almost feel her confusion and pain during and after the accident that left her outside herself looking in.

Gayle did a wonderful job with all of Mia's back stories she seems to lose herself in while all the doctors, nurses, surgery, hospital stuff is going on all around her. It really brought Mia to life for me hearing about her parents, grandparents, family, her childhood, Kim, Adam, & Julliard.

I have to say at a few points this book nearly brought me to tears and I don't cry easily at all. I could feel Mia's desperation while trying to decide whether or not to stay. So heart breaking.

As with all the audio books I listen too, the narrator really makes or breaks the book for me. Kirsten Potter was amazing and really brought this book to life for me.

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

(Tell me you didn’t see this one coming?)

This one is easy for me and is apparent if you look around my blog the last few weeks.

Shiver is by far the best book I've read in recent months hands down. Maggie has a way of making her characters and world so real you can almost feel the cold winter coming and see your breath when you breathe. It makes you want to grab a blanket and a hot drink and curl up in a comfy spot and escape into Sam and Grace's story. It doesn't get much better than that for me.

A to Z Wednesday

Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can add it also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment.
(We all love comments, don't we?)
Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

THIS WEEKS LETTER IS: B
My "B" book is:

Blue is for Nightmares - Laurie Faria Stolarz

Synopsis

"I Know Your Secret . . ."

It started with weird e-mails and freaky phone calls. Now someone's leaving Drea white lilies-the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacy's dreams. Everybody thinks it's just a twisted game . . . until another girl at school is brutally murdered.

There are no witnesses. Worst of all, no one has a perfect alibi. With everyone as a potential suspect, Stacy turns to the one secret weapon she can trust-the folk magic taught to her by her grandmother. Will Stacy's magic be strong enough to expose the true killer, or will the killer make her darkest nightmares come true?

I haven't read this one yet. Alas the poor book is stuck somewhere in my TBR pile.

Teaser Tuesday

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 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!

Here's my teaser this week:

Okay. Enough was enough. Neferet had scared the bejeezus out of me. And now this...this...bird boy was going to try and bully me, too? Oh. Hell. No.

Hunted pg 270

I know a tad over 2 sentences but needed to in order to get the full affect.

~EDIT~ Silly me I forgot the author. It's by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Mailbox Monday and What Are You Reading

This is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Join the fun and post what you got in your mailbox last week!

Only 3 new for me this week:








Dead Girls Are Easy - Terri Garey from PBS


















My Name Is Will - Jess Winfield from a contest win.
















Secret Society - Tom Dolby from the publisher



















It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.


Books I finished last week:
Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich Audiobook

Currently Reading:
Hunted - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
If I Stay - Gayle Forman - Audibook

Books to Finish this Week:
Hunted - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

How about you? Why not join in with what you've read, are reading or planning to finish this week or share with me in a comment.

The Blue Star Winners!

And the winners are....

1. Jenny N
2. Madeline - Already won new winner is Jessica
   
3. Pam - Already won new winner is Wanda.
   
4. AllyKatt
5. Kaye

Congratulations to all of you!!

Emails have been sent. Winners have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will draw other names.

Weekend Roundup

So this weekend was my family's annual camping trip. We went to my Aunt and Uncle's cabin in process that sits right along the North Umpqua River in Southern Oregon.

It was very nice to see everyone again. I usually see them at Christmas and on our camping trip every year, but because of some wicked snow and ice this past Christmas, we didn't get to see them. So it was very nice to finally get to see everyone.

We spent the day hanging around the unlit fire pit and just visited.

We spent some time wandering along the river bank yesterday and today and I got the whole family building Inukshuk's all along the riverbank. I read about them in the book The Chosen One and have been fascinated by them ever since. So I built the two in my picture and my husband built 3 and our kids each built two. So we left the river with a whole family of them guarding it.

We got home and I got the stew my honey was begging for all prepared and cooking to simmer all afternoon and now I'm settling in for an evening of rest, relaxation and hopefully some more reading.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and good vibes for your week to come!

Huge End Of Summer Contest - Link

Over at Lost in a Book, there is a huge End of Summer + Birthday giveaway going on. Lots of books in the contest pile and more will be added if she reaches some following milestones.

You should head on over and check it out and if you enter tell them I sent you. Follow the link here.

Giveaway for The Blue Star Update

I have been called out of town Saturday so the contest will be extended one more day to Sunday August 16, 2009 6pm pst.

So sorry for the delay. Will post winners Sunday evening after I draw them.

Still plenty of time left to enter here.

Lemonade Award

I was lucky enough to win this award again. This time Kristin over at Feed Your Imagination passed it along to me. Since I've already passed this on not to long ago, I'm just going to say a hearty thank you to Kristin!

BTW Kristin's blog is fantastic and you should go check it out.

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the worst book you’ve read recently?
(I figure it’s easier than asking your all-time worst, because, well, it’s recent!)

Wow now that's a hard question to answer. I can't say there have been any books that have been that bad. I typically know I'm going to enjoy a book when I choose to read it. Granted there have been one or two that have have let me down or not been what I had expected. But none that fit in the worst category.

Fantastic contest you should enter.

Princess Bookie is having an awesome contest going on over at her site. Winner gets a very nice pile of books!! Go check it out!! Seriously go check it out!

A to Z Wednesday

Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment.
(We all love comments, don't we?)
Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

THIS WEEKS LETTER IS: A

My "A" Book is:


A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba bray

Synopsis taken from the Barnes and Noble website:

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

I haven't read this yet but it's in my TBR pile. Hopefully will get a chance to read it soon.

Waiting On Wednesday

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This weeks can't wait to read selection is:


Here is my pick this week:

Old Magic by Marianne Curley
Release Date: December 22, 2009
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
400 pages


Synopsis taken from publishers site:

Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing,
but Kate Warren doesn't know why.

The moment the new guy walks into the room, Kate senses something strange and intense about him. Something supernatural. Her instincts are proven correct a few minutes later when, bullied by his classmates, Jarrod unknowingly conjures up a freak thunderstorm inside their classroom.

Jarrod doesn't believe in the paranormal. When Kate tries to convince him that he has extraordinary powers that need to be harnessed, he only puts up with her "hocus pocus" notions because he finds her captivating. However, the dangerous, uncontrolled strengthening of his gift finally convinces Jarrod that he must take Kate's theories seriously. Together, they embark on a remarkable journey -- one which will unravel the mystery that has haunted Jarrod's family for generations and pit the teens against immense forces in a battle to undo the past and reshape the future.

I stumbled across this while browsing the publishing site and think it looks pretty good. Will be checking it out this winter.

Teaser Tuesday

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 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!

Here's my teaser this week:

"Zoey and I have already met, but it was unofficial. Seems last time I saw her she was trying to kill us."

Hunted, pg. 28

Shiver - A Review

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Information taken from the Barnes and Noble website:

• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Pub. Date: August 2009
• ISBN-13: 9780545123266
• Age Range: Young Adult
• 400pp

Synopsis

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling 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, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

My Thoughts:

Okay I don't know how to say this any better than this, I freaking LOVED this book!!! It is by far the best book I have read in months. I was hooked from page one and had the urge to devour it in one setting. I controlled that urge though. I wanted to savor every moment of the book and not rush through it.

Grace and Sam's story is amazing and Maggie did a fantastic job telling it. Not only were the main characters great, she created a world of 3 dimensional characters for me. I can imagine every character clearly in my mind. The other characters are not just fluff either, they all have well written stories and personalities. It's just awesome!

Maggie's writing is incredibly poetic and lyrical. There is such an amazing flow to her storytelling. She makes you want to keep reading long after all the pages have been turned. I can't wait to read Linger and can't believe I have another year to wait until I can read more about Grace and the wolves.

If you are thinking about buying this book, Do! You will not regret it.

Thank you Maggie for telling such a beautiful story!!