The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.3

Haven't done one of these in awhile, again, school really cuts back on time. Most of these are going to be adult novels, and I believe I'll have one with some more teen later this week.
First is Stories for Nightime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory. This book's title first caught my attention. When I picked it up to read the back, I saw that it sounded interesting. The author has created modern day fables. It's an interesting universe with televisions that talk, animals that live in apartments, and other absurd situations. It is one of the Discover Great New Writers picks at Barnes & Noble (the bookstore I work for) this fall.














Next is The Second Assistant by Clare Naylor. This has actually been on my TBR list for quite awhile. I think I first saw it as a bargain book at the store, and picked it up, but put it back down. It seems to fall into my chick lit category. The main character is Lizzie, and she has left Washington to work for a law firm in Hollywood. She wants to move up the ladder in Hollywood, and won't let anyone keep her from doing that.














Third is another chick lit book, The Waitress by Melissa Nathan. This looks pretty humorous. Main character is Katie, she has all kinds of ideas of what she wants her career to be. But for now, she is as the title says, a waitress. She's kind of waiting for Mr. Perfect to just show up out of the blue, although her dating track record doesn't suggest that any such think should happen. She ruins a chance with the perfect guy on the very first date. But soon he'll come back into her life along with other guys from the past.












Fourth is a book about one of my favorite tv shows: Supernatural. It is called The Mythology of Supernatural by Nathan Robert Brown. This book will explore the religious aspects, like the angels and demons, as well as the folk tales that many of the creatures and stories are based on.


















Fifth is Sweetly by Jacson Pearce. This is an updated retelling of Hansel and Gretel basically. It sound really great. The main characters are brother and sister Gretchen and Ansel. Gretchen's twin sister was kidnapped by a witch when they were younger, and their stepmother kicks them out when they are teenagers. They find their way to a small southern town where they are invited in by the owner of a sweet shop. It leaves you wondering if this Sophia is the witch, or is there someone else using her to get the children? I love the cover, can you see the witch's face on it?










Sixth is The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott. This is a book for people who are scared of clowns and enjoy reading books about clowns that really are evil. The cover is creepy enough. The main character is Jamie, who has just been told by a trio of psychotic clowns that he has 2 days to pass an audition to join the circus, whether he wants to or not. This circus is supposedly between heaven and hell and is where many of the world's most horrible things have happened. When Jamie becomes a clown, he becomes JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead.










The final book I'm going to talk about is more of an activity book. It is called Zombigami by Duy Nguyen, and basically it is an origami book where you make zombies! Very cool. I can see a lot of my students having fun with this book!

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I got to read this as an e-galley from Netgalley.com, provided by Egmont USA.


Our main character is Alex. She has a tumor in her brain, that is probably not able to be cured, even after some new type of treatment, that is these little things called pebbles that are inserted into her brain and that are supposed to fight the cancer. So she has gone out on her own to climb a mountain, and spread her parents' ashes where they asked. She knows how to hike and camp, her parents used to do this with her. She now lives with her grandmother, who is worred about her going off by herself, but understands. Once out on the mountain, she runs into an older man and his sullen granddaughter, Ellie. Shortly after this, there is an electromagnetic pulse that kills Ellie's grandfather, while causing both Ellie and Alex to pass out. When Alex wakes back up, she notices things seem different. Her normal constant background headache is gone, and her sense of smell seems heightened. As she and Ellie walk towards the Ranger's cabin shown on the map they have, they encounter several obstacles. First is running into some teens Alex had seen in the parking lot. Only now, they're eating the dead bodies of the other campers at a campsite. Alex and Ellie must run away, and the next danger they find is a pack of wild dogs, also out to kill and eat them it seems. While trying to escape the dogs, a guy in his 20's attacks them, zombie like. They are saved by a guy named Tom who shoots this guy. Tom, Ellie, and Alex get to the Rangers' station and stay there for a while as the weather turns to winter. Soon Tom realizes that older cars and trucks might still work, and they find an old truck that they fix up to try to escape and find more people and provisions. As they travel they get attacked by people who steal their truck, and kidnap Ellie. It seems all kids have changed into the zombies, and only people older than 60 seem to have lived. But since Ellie is a child who has not changed, there are settlements that will take them in. They shoot Tom in the scuffle, and now Alex must try to save him and find Ellie. Tom is injured so bad he must stay behind, and then Alex must go on to this town, called Rule, to try to find Ellie. She gets to Rule, and finds a new type of civilization. And Alex must decide whether to stay in the somewhat safety of this town, or continue searching for Ellie, and now Tom has dissappeared as well.


I like the cause of the disaster in this book. I'm one of those people who has to know why people have become zombies, or everyone has died off, etc. And this book is the way I like it. I see the trend of electromagnetic pulses causing destruction in books. And I think it's a good thing to trend. We still have all the diseases causing the "end of the world", and that is still a concern, but the EMP is a new thing that is a real possibility as well. I like how in this book the EMP not only causes all the electronic equipment to quit, it also affects people and animals. Which, from a science teacher's point of view, is such a great thing to get kids thinking and asking questions. I've heard this called a dystopian book, but to me it's not, it's more of an apocalyptic story. Since we get to go along with all that happens from before until after the EMP. The storyline seems realistic to me. We have losses of characters, and they get injured and don't just miraculously have the main characters surviving it all unscathed. I'll definitely be putting this as a staff recommendation at the bookstore where I work, as well as suggesting it to the students at the school where I teach. Great book, and I can't wait for the sequel to find out what happens next.



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My 2nd Blog Award!

I know a lot of people don't do blog awards, but so far I've received 2, and for now I'm okay with it. This one was given to me by Robyn Book Reviews.

And now I am going to pass it on to 3-5 blogs with under 200 followers. I am going to share this award with:

It's Like a Whirlwind Inside of My Head.

Lauren Elizabeth Morrill.

A Book Addict's Haven.

A Corner of My Bookshelf.

Caught in the Pages.

Congratulations to these 5 awesome blogs, and here's hoping this award will help get them some new followers.

Here is how you should share this award with others:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your 3 to 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and Paste the Award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all, have bloggity-blog fun!

Book Blogger Hop #12 and Follow Friday #9

Seems like I'm only able to fit this in about every other week now that school is getting started again. So let's just get started! Book Blogger Hop first:

The Book Blogger Hope is put on by Crazy For Books. It's a place for book bloggers and readers to come together over the weekend and chat about books. This week's question is:

What's the longest book you've ever read? (Other than the bible or any other religious text.)

Well, there are several that I would have to say, not sure which is the longest, either one of Stephen King's books, or one of the longest Harry Potter books, or maybe Breaking Dawn. Those were all pretty long. Another really long one was Swan Song by Robert McCammon. Also Gone With the Wind and its sequel Scarlett were both really long. As well as maybe North and South. I'm thinking probably the longest is Stephen King's The Stand, I think I found it has 464,218 words.

Next is Feature and Follow Friday.

This is sponsord by two sites: Parajunkee.com and Alisoncanread.com. This is a blog hop that expands your blog by a joint effort between bloggers. This week's question is:

If you could write yourself a part in a book, what book would it be, and what role would you play?

Hmm, I feel like I've answered this one before somewhere else, and I'm not exactly sure again what to say. Maybe I would write myself into the Twilight series before Breaking Dawn, and be Jacob's girl that he imprints on before Renesmee comes along. While I love Edward, I kind of feel he is supposed to be with Bella. But I think I would love a guy like Jacob. So that's my quick answer to the question.

What are your answers to those questions? I looked up the top 10 longest novels, and one of them, Les Miserables is sitting in my pile of books to be read, but have you read any of them?

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I waited a little extra long to read this because first I had to wait for this author to come to town when I would actually get the copy I had to buy in order to get into the event. But it was well worth the wait. If it wasn't for the new puppy I got about a week ago, I'd have been done a lot quicker. But puppies tend to need attention. Anyway, this was a very good conclusion to the series. While it definitely left off with some questions of what would happen next, it was done in a way that you don't have to know. Yes, I'd love to know what all Cole was able to figure out, and how the wolves do, but I'm okay with where it ended. One thing that I had a bit of trouble with, and you'll find I say this quite often, was the jumping back and forth between characters. Sometimes that frustrates me, I want to continue with a character when it jumps to a new one. Sometimes I get confused on which character is being used at the moment, but not with this book. I knew exactly who it was. You could tell from each point of view because the characters really had their own personalities that were so different, you just knew from the first line who it was. At least I did. I gave it only 4 stars because of my issues with the multiple point of view, but that is really the only thing about it I didn't like. Like I said, all the stories were tied up good enough to end. There were some sad losses of characters, but that is really needed in a good book. Loved it!

In this book we are seeing Grace as a wolf, and the trouble trying to keep her human. Isabel's dad is trying to kill the wolves for what they did to her brother, and he is finding support. Cole is trying to find a cure for Grace, as well as just finding out how the whole thing works. And Sam just wants Grace back, but he must learn to live with things from his past, as well as seeing his father figure pulled down from the pedestal he's always held him up on. And just to remember how cool it was to meet Maggie Stiefvater, here's my blurry picture from that day!



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The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.2 Part 3

Okay, the last part of this volume of the books I see when I work at the store. Just in time too, as I work again tonight! And as it is a Tuesday and there will be new books out, I'm sure I'll find even more! These books are mostly adult fiction or maybe some nonfiction that I've seen and am interested in. So here goes.
First is called The First Days: As the World Dies by Rhiannon Frater. This is another zombie book, I can't believe how much I'm getting into these types of books. From what I read, these are already an internet sensation, I guess it will be a trilogy. The two main characters are Jenni and Katie, who become a zombie fighting team shortly after they get up the first morning in this book. They must rescue Jenni's stepson from a camp. They finally find refuge in a tiny Texas town, where both women find attraction to the leader. Should be an interesting read. The cover draws you in, and it is a pretty big book, so lots of detail I'm guessing.




Second is Heaven's Shadow by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt. This is a space sci-fi book. It's about a giant object heading towards our sun. Two spaceships are sent from Earth to try to reach it and explore it. Both want to reach it first, but when they do, they find it is from an intelligent race trying to communicate with Earth, and they need our help. I'm often hesitant about space sci-fi, due to the fact that I'm not a big Star Wars fan, it's okay, and I do like the first two series of Star Trek, but not all of them. I like it to be related to the Earth still, and this sounds as if it will be.





Third is Dark Rising by Greig Beck. I guess from what I find online, this is a second in a series, but as I read about the first, I don't know that I'm as interested in that storyline. It is also a sci-fi book. In this a large amount of gamma radiation is detected under Iran and everyone is worried it is a weapon. It turns out there is a lab beneath this area, but nothing in it, because there is now a black hole there. There's a creature in a dark cave, soldiers bodies are being drained of fluids, Iran is preparing for the return of a prophet, Israel is threatening nuclear war. Some good things and bad things in this.





Fourth is To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd. I am, as I have said before, intrigued with the whole Anne Boleyn story, ever since the movie The Other Boleyn Sister came out and then I read the book, and then I watched the Tudors and was hooked. This is a novel, but historical fiction, so I enjoy reading that. It is actually the story of Meg Wyatt who is supposedly Anne's best friend since childhood. She of course follows Anne to the court and is one of her maids. Meg also in this story comes close to worrying about her life and her true love at Anne's downfall. The facts are that their families did grow up near by, and that Meg's brother did have a romance with Anne, and when Anne was executed, Meg and her sister did tend her, and Anne gave her jeweled prayer book to Meg.


Fifth is a book called My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me by Hilary Winston. Now, I feel like I've already wrote about this, but if I did, I didn't mark it in my notebook that I try to keep track of these books in. The author of this is actually a TV writer, and this is an autobiographical look at her dating life and other adventures. She finds out that her ex has written a novel based on their relationship where she is the "fat-assed girlfriend". This sounds like a really funny book, it is humor, not a novel, but a fun biography type book.






And finally is i am DACHSHUND by Mavis Duke Hinton. I think this is a print on demand book, not sure if it is a kid's book though. But it is a story about the dachshund. Which I love dachshunds as you can tell from the top of my blog page. Which reminds me, I need to add a picture of my new dachshund puppy somehow. This is the dachshund's story, his name is Shadow I think, and his point of view of the world around him. Sounds cute to me, but that's because I love all things dachshund.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.2 Part 2

This is the 2nd part to my regular posts about the books I see when working at the bookstore that I want to read. As I said in part 1, this is actually a couple weeks' worth of books, so this part will be the 6 teen books on my lists.
First is Between by Jessica Warman. This is a ghost story, but with a realistic fiction slant of anorexia. The main character is Elizabeth, who is a popular girl. She wakes up after a party to find her body drowned in a swimming pool. She meets another ghost, a boy named Alex, who died in a hit and run accident. Together they try to figure out what happened to her, and they learn that no one in her group, including herself, can be called completely innocent in this death and situation.












Second is Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay. It turns out we have the whole story wrong. Juliet didn't kill herself, she was murdered by Romeo. He made her a sacrifice so that he could be immortal. But Juliet was granted immortality as well. She's spent the last 700 years fighting for true love against those that Romeo would destroy. Until, of course, she finds someone she wants to love, but can't, and now Romeo is working to destroy her love.














Third is Tankborn by Karen Sandler. Now I'm excited to say I was able to get this as an e-galley on Netgalley, so I will get to read it soon! It is a sci fi book, about genetics, which I am intrigued by. Kayla and Mishalla are best friends, they also are GENS, Genetically engineered non humans. They were gestated in a tank, then raised in slums, and at the age of 15 sent to work as slaves. They are the lowest of all beings. Kayla goes to work for a trueborn, or highest of all begins. Mishalla goes and works for children who are disappearing in the night. When they happen to meet up again, they decide they must figure out where these children are disappearing to because Mishalla has a feeling something horrible is happening to them.






Fourth is The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab. The Near Witch is an old story told to frighten children. Or at least that is what Lexi believes until a boy that no one knows shows up one night outside her home. Another saying the village has is that there are no strangers. The night after he shows up, children start disappearing. Sounds like a good mystery, and is described as part fairy tale, part love story. Another that I'm anxious to read!














Fifth is The Rites and Wrongs of Janice Wills by Joanna Pearson. The main character is Janice Wills, and she is really into anthropology. She figures you can learn a lot just by knowing basic anthropologic theories. Like how dancing can be a good mating ritual, if you're good at it. Janice is a smart girl, and so isn't used to hot guys talking to her, until it happens, and then she must become a part of the group of people that she's been making her observations about.














And finally, the last teen book for this post is The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. The main character is Lucy, and one day a woman shows up at her doorstep who is identical to her mother. Turns out her mother has an identical twin that she was separated from at birth, and both grew up in totally different environments. Lucy's mother decides to give her sister the life she didn't have growing up. But soon Lucy has trouble telling the two apart, and is unsure what exactly this twin is after.
Tomorrow, or later tonight maybe, I'll blog the 6 adult books on my list.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.2 Part 1

So I'm waaaaaay behind on doing one of these. I have 16 books to talk about. So I'm going to do it in 3-5 parts. I've sorted the books out based on age first. Then within the teen books and adult books I have 6 or more in each category. So those two may get two of their own posts each. But for today I'm going to start with the children's level books.

First is a book that the title and premise just cracked me up! Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading by Tommy Greenwald. Charlie Joe Jackson is like many of my students, a VERY reluctant reader. He has gotten so far in life, all the way to middle school, not ever having to read a whole book, thanks to his best friend Timmy McGibney. But now, Timmy is tired of covering for Charlie Joe, and now Charlie Joe must figure out a way to pass class, and hopefully keep his record going of NOT reading a book.






Second is a book called The Wikkeling by Steven Arnston. The cover is what drew me in, it's kind of creepy, as the name might set you off. This seems to be a somewhat futuristic, maybe even dystopian type of book. The main character is named Henrietta. Everything in her world is computers and technology, all childredn are watched by cameras at all times of the day, to make sure they are SAFE. Henrietta goes to a very competitive school, and doesn't have a lot of friends until she meets Gary and Rose. All of them have these headaches with no cause they know of. Then Henrietta finds a wild cat in the attic above her bedroom, which leads to seeing another creature, with the long fingers you see on the cover, that calls itself a wikkeling. Of course the three must solve a mystery and try to beat this scary creature.

Third and final children's level book is called The Witches' Guide to Cooking With Children by Keith McGowan. First again, you have to love the title of this book! It's totally like a fairy tale told from the other side. Our main characters are Sol and Connie who have moved to a new town. The first person to really welcome them is an older lady and her dog, who carries a bone around in his mouth. Sol is a bright boy, and so knows that the bone is a human bone. And now they must determine what secrets are in this small town.

Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen

Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I got to read this early as an e-galley through NetGalley from Harlequin. I'm so mad though because I forgot there was a 2.5 in the series called Haunting the Night and so I didn't read it before. And it's so stupid because it was a free e-book! Oh well, I downloaded it and will go back and read it. I still really enjoy this series, and this book was no less enjoyable.
We join back in with Charlotte and her mom is still in a coma. Charlotte is trying to do what she can in secret to communicate with the spirit world to try to help her mom. After defeating the Watcher, she is sure it has to be something spiritual causing her mom to be in a coma. It turns out the Watcher is not gone though, and there are other people out there, called Protectors, that can help against Watchers.
I love reading about paranormal investigators as I really enjoy shows such as Paranormal State, and I like going on ghost hunts. So it is neat to read about a family that does this. I enjoyed the flashback in this book as well to learning about some past ghost hunts the family had been on. Expect a review of part 2.5 after a couple more books on my list.



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Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield

Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I got this book as an ARC from the bookstore I work along with the sequel, which I haven't read yet. But I will soon, because I really did enjoy this book. This is another zombie story. But I like that we have started in after all of it has started and it is the "after time". I like that because the story still goes back and explains why we have zombies, so you're not just left wondering how it all came about. As a science person that is important to me. Our main character is Cass, who has just woken up and is not sure exactly why she is where she is, or why she is alive. The surprise in why she is alive is that she has the tell-tale marks of having been attacked by the zombies on her back, and the strips of flesh missing on her arms tells that she was a zombie. Yet now she's not. The only thing on her mind now is finding out where her daughter Ruthie is. Her daughter who she last saw the night she was taken by the zombies.
The zombies in this story are a little different, they just want to eat the skin. And they do drink blood, or at least when they see blood it hypnotizes them. These aren't the slow, shuffling zombies really, but they are pretty stupid. At least that's what everyone thinks, although they are beginning to do things that makes people wonder. Cass meets a man named Smoke at the first settlement of people she finds. Smoke agrees to take her back to the library where she was taken to try to find her daughter.
She finds out her daughter was taken by a group of women, kind of a cult. And she must find out how to get in to see if her daughter is okay and to rescue her. So that's where the book kind of leaves off for the sequel. And it's a big cliffhanger, so I'll be ready to pick up part two pretty soon.
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Waiting on Wednesday - Dark Eden by Patrick Carman

Waiting on Wednesday is sponsored by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of always doing my Wednesday and Friday memes. And I'm going to try to do a future post of this so even though I'm writing it on Tuesday when I have time, it won't be published till Wednesday.

Even though I have so many sequels I'm waiting on, this week's WOW book is by an author that I don't think I've ever read. I got in our database at the bookstore where I work last night and was searching Patrick Carman's books because our Community Relations Manager told me he is coming to the store in September I think to autograph. So I figured I ought to read something of his to see if I wanted to get his autograph and add him as one of my 12 authors for my Meet 12 Authors quest this year. I still didn't decide what book to read before he comes yet, mainly because it was so busy last night I didn't have a lot of time to look through all the books. However, this book popped up as being published later this year, November I believe, and it sounded really good. Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com:

Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Sounds like a good read to me. I'll let you know later which of his books I decide to read before he comes to our store. Have you read any of Patrick Carman's books? If so, what did you think of them? I'd love to hear some other opinions.

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this book our main character is Silla, her life just hasn't been normal since her parents died. And when I say died, the police say that her father killed her mother, then killed himself. So Silla has had to deal with that, as well as the fact that she is the one who came home and found them, got their blood all over herself, and in her hair, and she sat there, until her brother came home and called the police. She now lives with her older brother Reese and her step-grandmother. Of course as happens in many teen books, a new boy has moved to town, and he lives in the house across the cemetary from Silla. Silla receives a book in the mail from someone named the Deacon. It is her father's spellbook. And now Silla thinks that maybe her father didn't kill her mother, that maybe something else happened. Silla goes to the cemetary and tries out some magic, and it works. But the new boy, Nick, sees her. Nick has magic in his past as well. His mother is in an institution for what has driven her mad. Nick has come to live in his grandfather's house which was left to him when his grandfather passed away. His father and stepmother, who he calls Lillith, live with him. His step-mother, (Lillith is not her real name) is an author and really thinks living in the small town by a cemetary will help her write. When bad things start happening, and Silla reads about what might have happened to her parents, Nick suspects Lillith. But just who it is, well, that will be a bit of a surprise. And then, Nick and Silla must defeat this person if they want to live.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. I liked the story. I enjoy when authors insert diary entries, or else even just flashbacks to the past. And I think when they leave it so you don't know for sure exactly who this person from the past might be in the present time story it adds a bit of mystery that I like to try to figure out as I read. Now, I understand that the title is blood magic, and that means that blood is needed for the magic, but it was a little too much cutting for me at times. And I won't give it away, but when Silla attempts a new idea to get a lot of blood for one spell, well, I really couldn't stand that part. I'd rather hear about a person cutting themself in that case. I am interested to see that it is listed as a part of a series on Goodreads. And as I said, I did like the story, so I'll be looking out for the 2nd book in the series so that I can read on and see where it goes to next. Which is good, because although we find out who the person writing the flashback diary entries is, we never learn exactly who the Deacon is. I have to also say that there were some very emotional, and unexpected events in this book. Another thing I really like is that the author set it in Missouri, my home state, and where my one teen novel I sort of started is set. This is one of the authors that I met when I went to see Maggie Stiefvater, and counts towards my Meeting 12 Authors Quest. And I like that it isn't all that if you are a good guy you scrape by without being a casualty of some sort. That seems more realistic to me, and is more what I think teens read realistically. As a teen I was reading Stephen King so you know I was reading about a lot of casualties. Funny that now that I'm an adult I've gone back to reading what I was kind of ahead of at that age. But these YA books are really good these days!



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Book Blogger Hop #11 and Follow Friday #8

Wow, the past week has been really busy, haven't had time to blog. I hate that! And, kind of busy today and tomorrow. Today my sister leaves to move to New York. Sad, I'll miss her, but kind of exciting because it's something she's always wanted to do, and I can't wait to go visit her! Then tomorrrow, well, I'm thinking of getting a new puppy. I still have my dachshund that you can see an image of on the top of my blog, but she's getting older, and everyone seems to think a puppy will kind of give her a little bit of life back. I'm just worried about her being jealous or sad. But I think I'm going to try it. But I decided to go ahead and jump into my normal Friday hops to get back in and meet some new people. I'm guessing a new puppy will also take away from blogging time, as well as school starting again in a couple weeks, but I'm dedicated to this blog, so I'll do my best to not let it. Let's get on with Book Blogger Hop.

Book Blogger Hop is a place for readers and bloggers to connect over the weekend and chat about books. It is sponsored by Crazy for Books. This week's question is:
What is the one ARC you would love to get your hands on right now?
This is hard because there are so many. But I think there are 3 main ones, Fever, the sequel to Wither by Lauren DeStefano; Crossed, the sequel to Matched by Ally Condie; and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. The first two are books that I read as ARCs in the first place. And so when you do that, (and LOVE them), you have to wait even longer for the sequels to come out because you read them early in the first place. And those two books were so awesome, I just can't wait to read on! The third, well, I love Maureen Johnson, and I've been hearing about this book for so long that I just can't wait to read it either!

And now for Follow Friday.

This is hosted by two blogs, Parajunkee.com and Alisoncanread.com. This week's question is:

Talk about the book that most changed or influenced your life (was it a book that turned you from an average to avid reader, did it help you deal with a particularly difficult sitation, does it bring you comfort every time you read it?).

I choose to talk about Twilight. I had been reading YA books for awhile, few and far between, mostly to read my state's award nominees so I could help promote them to my students. This was suggested to me by my librarian at the time. And when I picked it up, I was sucked in, couldn't put it down. Had to get New Moon the very next day because I'd swept through it so quick. And at the time, New Moon was only available in hardcover, so I gave my copy of the paperback to someone else and bought Twilight in hardcover as well. And that was it. I was sucked back into the world of teen books, in my 30's. I also love these books because I feel that they also really connected me and my sister who I mentioned at the beginning of this blog that is moving to New York. We'd become friends since she'd graduated college and come back home, but even though for her, it took seeing the first movie to really get her reading and sucked in, this series really connected us. We both can read them over and over, and our love of them lead us to both get tattoos based on the books, my first tattoo. And now, it may be the first excuse to get me to save money and go visit her in New York, as I'm planning to go visit her the week Breaking Dawn part 1 comes out, since we have been to all the midnight premieres together, but I'll have to go there, because she probably can't come home that week before Thanksgiving, and then come home again for Thanksgiving.

Those are my answers. Can't wait to hop over to other people's blogs and check our their answers as well.

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been so long since I read Nightshade, since I was lucky enough to get it read as an ARC. So it did take me a bit to get back into the story and remember where we had left off, but once I did, I loved the story. Calla wakes up in the presence of the Searchers, who she has lived her life fighting against. Shay is with them, as the scion he is revered by them. They explain to Calla how the Keepers have lied to her and all the Guardians about history and how they were created. She learns what the Searchers really want, and she learns they need her and her pack to help them. And in return, they promise to help her get her pack the freedom they so want. But Shay expects Calla to be completely over Ren since she chose to save Shay instead of killing him. But all Calla can think of is how Ren endangered himself to let her help Shay. They soon learn who among them in Vail had actually been with the Searchers all along. And soon Calla learns of what has happened to her pack in her absence when her brother shows up having had the most shocking punishment of all. Calla's family has been punished very harshly. Calla goes back to rescue who she can of her pack, as well as those who are still part of her pack, or loyal to her now instead of their other pack.

I can understand what some reviews are saying that they don't like about this. But I personally really enjoyed it. I think it was good to have all the background information and to learn so much about the history. Now, I started in really quick, and didn't quite get the probably correct descriptions of some of the characters, and so ones that I was thinking were older are maybe not the way I was thinking, since they seemed to be kind of involved with a younger character, Adne. I'm not sure how I feel about Shay in this one. He's kind of putting a lot of pressure on Calla. I'm really disappointed in Ren as well, but I can totally understand why she is having all the 2nd thoughts about whether to give in to her feelings about Shay, or not give up on Ren. She feels as if she's betrayed Ren, especially after she goes back and finds out what has actually happened to her pack. The story is really sad, but really gripping. I had trouble putting it down. So great book. I felt the same though as with the last few books of the Harry Potter series, or the Twilight series. I had to rush through them to know what happened, but now I have to wait forever to read the next book! That to me is the sign of a great story!



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