Halloween in July Scary Book Read-a-Thon and Giveaway

I realized that I had a bunch of scary books I got last year after Halloween, probably from winning Halloween giveaways, or because they came out around that time and I never got them read. So I decided at the beginning of the summer I was going to do a little personal read-a-thon at the end of July to rectify that situation.  I'm planning to read three books, although I'm not sure one of them really counts as a scary book, but the cover looks scary.  So I have a back up for it in case I decide it isn't scary, although the one I plan to replace it with also may not be a scary book.  Here are my 3 planned books:

1.  The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
2.  Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto
3.  The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett
OR
4.  These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

I'm actually leaning more towards #4 than #3, but we'll see.

If you want to join in this week, leave me a comment below.  Even if you just want to join in with one book, that is cool.  In fact, one you're following me, you can use your comment below as one of the entries on the Rafflecopter giveaway.  If you decide to join in, I'd love it if you'd do a post on your own blog, and feel free to use the button I made above featuring my sweet dog named Dora, hiding her face from the scary stuff!

And because it is putting me in a fun mood to try this, I'm going to host a giveaway! I feel like I haven't had one in a while, so it should be good to have one.  I'm going to give away any scary book of your choice up to $15 as long as The Book Depository will deliver to you.  Just enter in the Rafflecopter below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish.  This should be a fun week.  I'm going to post a picture of the book and what I think the character would look like or did look like in a movie/tv show if available.

1.  Clary from The Mortal Instruments Series

My hair is more the color of the movie star, minus the very heavy eyebrows. But I'd want more the book cover color of hair, I love that red!

2.  Katniss  from The Hunger Games


Especially that awesome girl on fire dress!!

3.  America from The Selection series, in either the blue dress on the cover of the first book, or her wedding dress on the 3rd book cover.


Maybe not practical for a Halloween costume, but so beautiful!

4.  Alyssa from Splintered

#39 by sueycide featuring a straw hat

I've included an outfit posted by the author on her Pinterest page for the character.

5.  Katerina from the Katerina series by Robin Bridges

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I love the fancy dress on the 2nd book, but the outfit on the first book, while kind of vague looking in the picture, does have a hat which helps show that she is from Russia.

6.  Bella from Twilight

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I loved the dress that she wore to her birthday party in the New Moon movie.  And they sold it at Hot Topic that year!  So I did actually wear that one year, although not for Halloween, for a wedding I think.  :-)

7.  Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice

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First, because who doesn't want their own Mr. Darcy?  Although he is kind of an ass.  But the dresses would be fun to wear!  For a costume that is.

8.  Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind

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 So hard to pick just one, as they were all so beautiful!  But I'll go with this one.

9.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer by tizzy-potts featuring a black cotton top

Technically the movie and tv series came before any books, but that's okay, there are a ton of books for the show now.  And I'd go with her red leather pants and black top.  Well, if I wouldn't look like someone had stuffed two sausages into some pants. 

10.  Sookie Stackhouse from Dead Until Dark or True Blood TV series

I completely forgot that I had this t-shirt from when I visited the HBO store in NYC my very first time I visited my sister there.  Hmm.  Now I just have to find the apron, and figure out what kind of shorts to wear.  And what to do about blond hair?  A wig?  Make a quick appointment with my hair dresser? 

If the Sookie outfit doesn't work, I'll go back to my Star Trek uniform for my costume this Friday night.  So, what about you, what characters would you, or are you maybe going to dress up like for Halloween this year, or maybe you have in the past?

The Elite (The Selection #2) by Kiera Cass

I finally got to read the first book in this series, The Selection, back in May, around the time I got to meet the author.  And as I expected, I fell in love with it.  I'd heard some bad things about the sequel, and while one of them I can see why people said it, I don't care what anyone else said, because I loved this one too!  This was actually the 3rd book I've read for my 2nd Annual September is for Sequels Challenge.
America was still left at the end of the first book, part of the final contestants, or The Elite.  There are less girls to compete against now, but while she seems to have Prince Maxon's interest, and even love, there are things about being a princess that she is not sure she wants or is the right person for.  Having her ex-boyfriend Aspen as a guard at the castle is not helpful in her trying to decide if she truly loves Maxon and could one day be the princess, and even the queen.  And I know one of the complaints with this sequel was that she kept going back and forth between Aspen and Maxon, and while I agree that got annoying, in some cases, I could totally see it.  I know that in college, since I hadn't dated much before then, I often was not sure about letting an old guy/friend go even when I was dating someone new.  And there are some things that happen that I totally can understand why America gets upset with Maxon.  Things that happen with the other girls that she feels are her friends.  Even just the bit about her lower caste and how she doesn't quite know how things work, or why they should still continue to work that way.  The rebels continue to attack, and during and after these attacks we even learn more about them and what they may possibly want.  Maxon shares a private library with America, and he allows her to take one book, to help plan for the Halloween party they are having.  The great thing about this party is that it will be the event when the girls will get to bring their families to the palace, and Maxon will get to meet them. The great thing that happens is that America's father seems to like Maxon, and then he tells her that he is proud of her whatever she decides.  Then something unthinkable happens the day after, and America does something that now jeopardizes her standing as one of the finalists.  Something that makes her look unworthy to be a princess in the King's eyes.  It also seems that Maxon may be getting to know some of the other girls better as well.  And America isn't sure if he no longer wants her, or what is going on.  These are the things that upset her and make her do more things that cause her to get to the point where she may be the next to leave.
Again this really did remind me of The Bachelor, in the fact that Maxon seemed to be favoring certain girls, and not others.  I don't know how many times I've watched that show, thinking one girl was the one he favors, then at the end to be surprised in which one he picked.  We do learn more about the rebels, not much, but a little.  We also learn a lot about how the caste system came about, through the diary of the founder.  And we learn that really, it wasn't a great start, and from what America reads, she's not sure any of this was done to help the country as they were all taught.  From what she reads, it seems done by a selfish man who wanted the power and riches for himself and his family.
I still rooted for America, even in the parts when I thought she was going too far and being too untrusting.  The way it ended makes me so eager to read on.  I can't believe I now have to wait so long for the next book!  But I will be eagerly awaiting it!

Book Blogger Hop #12 and Follow Friday #11

The Book Blogger Hop is sponsored by Jen at Crazy For Books. Just read at her site that this will be the last one of these for a while. So sad! But I understand, it does take a lot of time I'm sure to do all of this, as I know I've not been able to keep up with doing this every week. But this is basically a place to connect with other book bloggers and readers.

This week's question is: What is your favorite Halloween costume? Even if you don't celebrate, what kinds of costumes do you like?

Well, I actually dressed up last Saturday night for a friend's party. On Monday night I'll be at home, with a big bowl of candy, hoping to have some trick or treaters. Last year I didn't have very many, which was disappointing, as that is one part of Halloween I've enjoyed as an adult. My favorite costume is one that I can't fit into anymore, but still have. Even when I lost weight last year, I believe certain parts of my body have either not lost weight, or have settled to a different postion that made me unable to zip the dress all the way up. Probably almost 10 years ago, my mom sewed me the famous pink Marilyn Monroe dress, the same one Madonna wears in her Material Girl video. That is my favorite costume. I wish I could wear it at least one more time. But because it is homemade, and so fitted, there was no way for my mom to "let it out" in the bust area, so I was unable to wear it.

Follow Friday is sponsored by Parajunkee and Allison Can Read.

This week's question is: If you could have dinner with your favorite book character, who would you eat with and what would you serve?

Hmm, that is kind of a hard question. Because I think I'd like to have dinner with Edward from Twilight, and of course, he wouldn't really be eating anything so I wouldn't have to serve anything. Or, I would like to have dinner with Jacob, and we'd go to a nice steak house for dinner. I know, that is probably a cliche answer, but it is what it is. My best answer.

So, do you have a favorite Halloween costume? And who would you choose to have dinner with?