Thursday 31 January 2013

Booking Through Thursday


Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week. 

Do you lend your books? Are any out on loan right now? Do you have any that have been loaned to you? Do you put a time limit on these? Do you think people should make an effort to read the loaned book quickly?

Nope. I don't loan my books.  Simply because they're my prized possessions.  And I'm one of those books nuts that like their books in as much pristine condition as they can keep them.  Creased spines drive me crazy.  So I don't loan them because- How can I know the person will treat it like I would?  What if they spilt something on it?? Etc, etc.
I have borrowed a book from a friend before, but I told her I didn't think it was fair because I would not loan back, but she was insistent that I read this book (Sophie Kinsella's, Can You Keep A Secret), so I did.  
I definitely think people should be considerate and try to return something they've borrowed as quickly as possible.  It's just a courtesy thing.  A time limit is probably a little over the top.  

Tuesday 29 January 2013

On My Kindle #15

Instead of cluttering up my Book Haul/IMM's with books for my Kindle, I've decided to do a separate post,  hosted by Totally Bookalicious.


Sunday 27 January 2013

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (18 Sep 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0983157278
  • ISBN-13: 978-0983157274
  • Dying sucks--and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows. 
    Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't? 
    But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.
  • Cover:  As you guys probably know by now, green is my favourite colour, so I freaking love this one!  It's much more vibrant in person, and has a lot of relevance.  My only issue is the girl on the cover has dead straight hair, in the book the author goes to great lengths to establish that Ember has curly hair.
I loved this book!  The best way I can think of to describe it, is that it's like Twilight meets  The X-Men.
I devoured this book, reading it in just 24 hours.  It's so fast paced and packed full of suspense, romance and mystery.  I just couldn't put it down.
This is my first Jennifer L. Armentrout book, but it won't be my last.  I have the first three books in her Lux series sitting on my shelf and have heard nothing but rave things about them, but I decided to read this first as it's a stand-alone novel.
There are a few editing errors but I could totally look past them as I was just so engrossed in the story- was the car crash that killer Ember and her an accident or something more sinister?  Do the strangers want to help Ember and her sister or do they want them for something else?
Is Hayden as perfect as he seems?
I loved the romance between Hayden and Ember.  The instant attraction, but their actual relationship built throughout the book.
There's also a lot of humour that made me smile while reading.
I definitely recommend this book.  It's rare to actually find a YA stand alone these days, and this is one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
4.5/5 stars.


Thursday 24 January 2013

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week. 

Do you ever try to pair music with the book you’re reading? Play the movie soundtrack while reading the original book? Find mood music that fits with your story?

No I don't.  When I'm reading I don't like to listen to music.  I like silence when I read, a bit of background noise is ok but I never have music on or the t.v.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Ever since Harry Potter had come home for the summer, the Dursleys had been so mean and hideous that all Harry wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature who says that if Harry returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girl's bathroom. But then the real trouble begins - something is attacking Hogwarts students, turning them into stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past reveals dark secrets? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects ... Harry Potter himself!


Cover:  I love this adult cover for The Chamber of Secrets.  I think it's a perfect representation of how the snakes in the chamber are described.

I've finally gotten around to reading the second book for the first time!

I read The Philosopher's Stone for the first time back in September last year and really enjoyed it.
I tried to read the series when I was younger but really couldn't get into it, but I'm glad I gave it another go.
I loved this one even more than the first one.  I read through it in a couple of days.
The characters, the humour and the overall plot just really drew me in, and I'm so grateful to my best friend, that gave me the adult covers hardcover boxset for Christmas, which means I can carry on with the series soon.

Best Books of 2012


Thursday 17 January 2013

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week. 

It’s the depth of winter here where I live right now … what books do you like to read when it’s snowy and white? What books do you read to evoke a real feeling of winter (good or bad)?

I don't normally read books based on relative weather, season or events.  I don't really know why.
Plus at the time I'm typing this, we don't even have snow.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

BLOGTOUR: Fall in Love With: The Sullivans Bella Andre Jan 7-20 GIVEAWAY & Excerpt

fall in love



I'm so pleased that I'm able to take part in this blog tour!

I thought the books sounded amazing before I read them, but I didn't expect to completely LOVE them!

I've now read all seven books that are out- one after the other.  I often read one of them in just a day in one or two sittings.  

Just as I thought I'd found a favourite Sullivan...BAM!  I'd love the next one just as much.

I really loved the characters names...they just seemed to have great variation and just sound right together, balanced- they just fit.

-Chase & Chloe
-Marcus & Nicola
-Gabe & Megan
-Sophie & Jake
-Zach & Heather
-Ryan & Vicki
-Smith & Valentina 

As I loved this series so much, I couldn't pick a favourite to do a review on.  So I decided I'd try something a little different, and sum up The Sullivan series- why I loved it so much and why you should check it out, with a little acrostic review!


Enjoy the following excerpt for THE LOOK OF LOVE...

Chase almost missed the flickering light off on the right side of the two-lane country road. In the past thirty minutes, he hadn’t passed a single car, because on a night like this, most sane Californians—who didn’t know the first thing about driving safely in inclement weather—stayed home.
Knowing better than to slam on the brakes—he wouldn’t be able to help whomever was stranded on the side of the road if he ended up stuck in the muddy ditch right next to them—
Chase slowed down enough to see that there was definitely a vehicle stuck in the ditch.
He turned his brights on to see better in the pouring rain and realized there was a person walking along the edge of the road about a hundred yards up ahead. Obviously hearing his car approach, she turned to face him and he could see her long wet hair whipping around her
shoulders in his headlights.
Wondering why she wasn’t just sitting in her car, dry and warm, calling Triple A and waiting for them to come save her, he pulled over to the edge of his lane and got out to try and
help her. She was shivering as she watched him approach.
“Are you hurt?”
She covered her cheek with one hand, but shook her head. “No."
He had to move closer to hear her over the sound of the water hitting the pavement in what were rapidly becoming hailstones. Even though he’d turned his headlights off, as his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, he was able to get a better look at her face.
Something inside of Chase’s chest clenched tight.
Despite the long, dark hair plastered to her head and chest, regardless of the fact that looking like a drowned rat wasn’t too far off the descriptive mark, her beauty stunned him.
In an instant, his photographer’s eye cataloged her features. Her mouth was a little too big, her eyes a little too wide-set on her face. She wasn’t even close to model thin, but given the way her T-shirt and jeans stuck to her skin, he could see that she wore her lush curves well. In the dark he couldn’t judge the exact color of her hair, but it looked like silk, perfectly smooth and straight where it lay over her breasts.
It wasn’t until Chase heard her say, “My car is definitely hurt, though,” that he realized he had completely lost the thread of what he’d come out here to do.
Knowing he’d been drinking her in like he was dying of thirst, he worked to recover his balance. He could already see he’d been right about her car. It didn’t take a mechanic like his brother, Zach, who owned an auto shop—more like forty, but Chase had stopped counting years ago—to see that her shitty hatchback was borderline totaled. Even if the front bumper wasn’t half smashed to pieces by the white farm fence she’d slid into, her bald tires weren’t going to get any traction on the mud. Not tonight, anyway.
If her car had been in a less precarious situation, he probably would have sent her to hang out in her car while he took care of getting it unstuck. But one of her back tires was hanging precariously over the edge of the ditch.
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Get in my car. We can wait there for a tow truck.” He was vaguely aware of his words coming out like an order, but the hail was starting to sting, damn it. Both of them needed to get out of the rain before they froze.
But the woman didn’t move. Instead, she gave him a look that said he was a complete and utter nut-job.
“I’m not getting into your car.”
Realizing just how frightening it must be for a lone woman to end up stuck and alone in the middle of a dark road, Chase took a step back from her. He had to speak loudly enough for her to hear him over the hail.
“I’m not going to attack you. I swear I won’t do anything to hurt you.”
She all but flinched at the word attack and Chase’s radar started buzzing. He’d never been a magnet for troubled women, wasn’t the kind of guy who thrived on fixing wounded birds. But living with two sisters for so many years meant he could always tell when something was up.
And something was definitely up with this woman, beyond the fact that her car was halfstuck in a muddy ditch.
Wanting to make her feel safe, he held his hands up. “I swear on my father’s grave, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s okay to get into my car.” When she didn’t immediately say no again, he pressed his advantage with, “I just want to help you.” And he did. More than it made sense to want to help a stranger. “Please,” he said. “Let me help you.”
She stared at him for a long moment, hail hammering between them, around them, onto them. Chase found himself holding his breath, waiting for her decision. It shouldn’t matter to him what she decided.
But, for some strange reason, it did.

...Excerpt from THE LOOK OF LOVE by Bella Andre ©2012.


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