Can You Believe It's Been 10 Years?! Help Me Celebrate My Blogoversary with a Giveaway!

You guys, it has been ten years since I began Lisa Loves Literature!  I can't believe it! 

 

Time sure seems to fly lately.  In fact, I'm actually about a week late in getting this post up.  Blame it on my crazy summer and this crazy month of August.  I actually was attending the awesome Book Bonanza Convention when my blogoversary date happened.  You can check out how much fun I had HERE.  If you've been a follower, you know that I also moved this past June, and have been slowly settling into my new house since then.  Then school started back, this year on August 1st for the teachers, so time I would probably normally have spent getting my blogoversary stuff ready was spent getting ready for school and such.

 

That's the way I've felt since school started.  Just totally overwhelmed.  

However, I still love blogging.  While I've gotten so much better with keeping my schedule in my planner, I am getting to where I've got to really stop taking on so many tours and even not asking to review so many things.  It's not that I'm not in the mood to read, it's just that I'll never run out of things to read, including a whole bookcase full of unread books that I really do want to read!  I'm so behind and so overbooked, that I actually did NOT sign up to review a book by Meghan Quinn, who is one of my automatic sign up to review ALL her books author.  I'm so sad that I can't fit it in due to all the other reviews I've already got on my calendar.  But I will definitely fit her in, later, on my own, after I buy the book, or maybe an audiobook of it.  

 

I do feel like I've really made some progress with being more regular about things on my blog though.  I've been doing the Wednesday posts almost all year long, although I've changed it a bit to a post I call "Lisa's Looking Forward To" and I am highlighting all the books in my planner that are coming up the next week and I may not have gotten around to.  I've also been working on clearing out books that I have read but won't get to again, or with my move, even some books I had on my TBR book case that I am just finally realizing I'll probably never get to them.  So I'm going to either add them to my giveaways, take them to my school library, or see what I can get for them at Half Price Books.

 

Last February I decided to go seasonal at the above mentioned bookstore where I work part time and it was glorious!  But I figured I'd go back and work a bunch this summer to make money for all the things I had going on, to buy new stuff for my new house, etc.  I worked a ton of hours this summer and made a lot of money.  All of which has been spent on things like going to Book Bonanza and new furniture for the house.  So I'm still doing two days a week even with school back in, because I'm not done with things I want for my new house.  I really wanted to be done before another Christmas season, but I don't see that happening just yet.

Now, last year I shared all the cool people I got to meet and I've already linked you above to my Book Bonanza post so you can see them, but I did get to meet a few cool people at ComicCon this year:

I got to meet the Weasley twins!  Well, get my picture taken with them anyway.

I also got to meet one Supernatural actor, the guy who plays Lucifer.  He wasn't that friendly actually.  Not rude, but not very outgoing or talkative.

My sister went to her first Comic-Con being a big Smallville fan, she wanted to meet those actors, and then decided to go ahead and meet Dean Cain as well, and he was so nice, and even had her get me in for a picture with him and her as well!

This summer I also go to meet the awesome writing duo of Christina Lauren:

New Kids on the Block came again, and we had awesome seats this time. I could swear that one time Donnie actually smiled right at ME!

They also put in a Wahlburgers close to my house, within the "Greater Kansas City Metro" area, which actually means almost a 30-45 minute drive for me based on traffic, over in Kansas as opposed to Missouri. But I loved it, still love it, just wish it was closer so I could go more often.  We went to their grand opening, my friend Shannon, my cousin Margaret and I, same people I went to the concert with.  And I got to meet Paul Wahlberg!  We were even interviewed by the local news, and while people said they saw me on the news, they never replayed it or posted it online, so I didn't get to see it sadly.

Earlier in the year I got to meet a survivor of the holocaust when she came to talk at a school nearby.  It was incredibly inspiring to listen to her talk.

I also got to be the moderator for a panel with some awesome YA authors at the bookstore where I work last year. That was the coolest thing ever!

I actually sold my townhouse last October, and rented from the new owner until this past June when I was able to get a house loan and found a house I wanted to move into.  This picture is from when I sold my house.

And here is a picture of my new house:

Honestly, I'm looking forward to getting a little area set up for my dogs to run and play in the back yard so I can sit out back and read while they play, or write while they play, or even sit outside and blog while they play.  Of course the summer was too hot to really do that anyway, so this fall will be perfect!

Okay, you all want a giveaway, right?  Well, being a bit poorer with my new house and all the things I want to add or do to it, my prizes will be pretty simple.  If you can receive a Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card, I will be giving away one of those for $10.  If you are international and cannot use one of those, then I will let you pick one of my 5 star reviewed books listed below that I can get for you from the Book Depository, as long as they ship to your country.  Hint:  There will be an option in the Rafflecopter to comment on the reviews below for an entry, one a day!

• Slayer by Kiersten White
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers
• The Me I Meant to Be by Sophie Jordan
• Pretty in Punxsutawney by Laurie Boyle Crompton
• Play by Kylie Scott. (not a new read, but always a 5 star one!)
• Eyes on Me by Rachel Harris
• All Broke Down by Cora Carmack
• Romanov by Nadine Brandes
• Intercepted by Alexa Martin
• Ask Me Anything by Molly E. Lee
• That Second Chance by Meghan Quinn
• No Place Like Here by Christina June
• The Haunted by Danielle Vega
• The Game Changer by Jaqueline Snowe
• Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
• The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
• Resist by K. Bromberg
• Beautiful  by Christina Lauren
• That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
• Strong by Kylie Scott
• Four Letter Word by J. Daniels
• Echoes of Scotland Street by Samantha Young
• End Goal by Amy Daws
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Fight or Flight by Samantha Young
• The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Pucked Off by Helena Hunting
• Control by K. Bromberg
• The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen
• OtherEarth by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
• Losing the Field by Abbi Glines

Just fill out the Rafflecopter below! Thanks for helping me celebrate my 10 year blogoversary!  This giveaway will go until September 13th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Can't Wait Wednesday #40: Bookish Boyfriends by Tiffany Schmidt

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.   My pick this week is perfect since today is Valentine's Day, especially since the only boyfriend I have this year is a bookish one.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In this contemporary YA, a teenager’s favorite literary heroes woo her in real life

The first of two books in an intended paperback original series about a girl whose classic literary crushes manifest in real life. Merrilee Campbell, 16, thinks boys are better in books, chivalry is dead, and there’d be nothing more romantic than having just one guy woo her like the heroes in classic stories. She’s about to get the chance to test these daydreams when she, her best friend, Eliza, and her younger sister, Rory, transfer into Reginald R. Hero High, where all their fantasies come true—often with surprising consequences.












So, sound good to you?  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?  And hopefully you have much better romantic plans for tonight than I do.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh yeah, enjoy my current bookish boyfriend, Jamie Fraser.

 
via GIPHY

Discussion Post: I Just Can't Seem to Get Enough - Books - Or When Should I Quit Entering Giveaways for Books?

As I mentioned in my discussion post earlier this week, about how you write your reviews, I am behind on my discussion posts.  So I got this second one done during my Mini-Blog Ahead that I participated in at the end of June.  I'm actually on my way to Orlando for my family vacation, probably while you're reading this.  So, I will definitely reply to all comments, but maybe not until I get back home on Tuesday. 

A reminder that the 2017 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.

The title of this discussion posts comes from a Depeche Mode song, Just Can't Get Enough.  If you're not familiar with it, enjoy the video:

I'm guessing that a lot of you are pretty much similar to me, self-proclaimed book addicts.  I have a TBR list on Goodreads that has almost 3,000 titles on it.  I have another TBR shelf on goodreads that is made up of the books I physically own or have free e-book copies of that is almost 1000 titles long.  Yet, whenever I hear about new books coming out by my favorite authors, or even debut authors that sound just like books I already love, I seem to HAVE to have them.  I have a physical book shelf at home, a five shelf tall bookshelf, packed full of books.  I now have three shelves on a smaller bookshelf in my bedroom packed full of books as well.  I will never get through all of these books.  And yet, I want more.  I can't seem to get enough!

 

While I've discovered in the past year the awesome $1 finds at the Dollar Tree stores, that keep me stopping into them every couple of weeks, all of the ones around where I live, I have realized it is a bit of an addiction just that.  I tell myself that since so many of the books I get are ones that I donate to the high school library where I work, it is okay.

 

I used to enter every single giveaway I could.  But then I started winning.  I quit doing that on Goodreads unless I knew I was going to read it. But I still like to enter giveaways on blogs.  Often it will be for a book that I want to read, but also know my students will want to read, and even though I know I might not be able to get to it right away, I go ahead and enter, and then I can put it in my school library for my students to enjoy, and when I get time, it will be there ready for me.  And whenever I win, this is me below!

 

But I wonder sometimes if maybe a blogger as well-established as I am, one who holds their own giveaways, should stop entering other blogs' giveaways?

What do you think?  Do you still enter giveaways for books?  Do you think there is a time when people should stop entering and just accept what they have, or just buy instead of hoping to win a book?

Discussion Post: Say What You Want to Say and Let the Words Fall Out - or Is There One Right Way to Write a Book Review?

So, let's see.  My goal was to do 4 discussion posts for the year. That's one every 3 months.  So far in 2017, I've done a big old fat zero discussion posts.  Oh sure, I keep thinking of ideas to do, but then I run out of the time to actually sit and write them out.  Or I have so many other things I want to write, like my novel, or other blog posts to do, or books to read to actually review for my book review blog.  Anyway, I participated in the Mini-Blog Ahead in June, and so I decided to get some of my discussion posts done during that.  Also, I'm posting it this week because I'm getting ready to go to Orlando later this week, and I don't want to worry about my blog while I'm on a family trip.  Also, it's always fun to try to go out and find fun GIFs to add.  So enjoy those as well!

A reminder that the 2017 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.




Today my post is a kind of personal one really, and the title refers to the Sara Bareilles song Brave, the video that I've shared above.  Earlier this year I lost a friend.  In the email she sent me telling me why, she said that she didn't want me to write any more "book report" reviews on her books.  I was a little hurt at this.  In the past I've always done a recap of the story as my review, partly because it is how I would do a book talk for my students at the library where I work, in order to get them interested in a book.  It's also something I do occasionally to get customers interested in books at the bookstore where I work part time when they ask for recommendations.  At first I decided to kind of just ignore her little dig, as I have had many people comment that they liked how I wrote my reviews.  


via GIPHY

But then, just recently, I got sent a form to join another blog tour group, and one of the things on their application was about not writing a summary of the book.  Then this past week, I even saw an author say something about how a review was not a summary of the story.  Now because of how far behind I've been on reviews, I've just been sharing the synopsis of the book from Goodreads, and then what used to be the last paragraph of each of my reviews, where I tell what I did or did not like about the book.  

 

So I guess the question I am asking you, my fellow bloggers, is what you think about the format of someone's reviews.  I mean, I know that everyone has certain types of reviews that they prefer to read, as well as they have a certain way that they choose to write their own reviews.  But do you feel like it is anyone else's job to tell a blogger/reviewer how to review a book?  I feel like it should be up to everyone to review how they want. And as long as it is their own work, they haven't stolen any other reviews' words and passed them off as their own, and maybe no spoilers, why shouldn't they do it their own way?  What do you think?  Do you have a certain way you like to review?  What types of reviews do you prefer to read?  Am I being overly sensitive about this subject?

 

Let's Get 2016 Over With a Giveaway - Part 3

Here's week 3, please join in!!!!  

Okay, 2016 has been an interesting year.  We've lost so many big names this year, Gene Wilder, David Bowie, and Prince just to name a few.  I'm so glad that I got the chance to see Prince in concert once in my lifetime.  There has been such craziness with politics, I won't go into specifics, as that is part of the problem, but it's been so crazy that family members have been split because of this.

I've had some good things happen, I got to go to the NOLA Storycon and meet some of my favorite authors, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Samantha Young, and Jay Crownover were my very very favorites.  I won NaNoWriMo for the 2nd time by writing my full 50,000 words.  I've had a few publishers start sending me things without me having to reach out to them first.  So I feel like my blog might finally be getting where I want it to be.  I've been reading a ton of books this year.  I bumped my goal on Goodreads up over 50 books for the year compared to last year.  I got a new tattoo. I got picked to be a volunteer at Apollycon 2017!  So hopefully next year I can add that to a good thing, especially since I cannot wait to meet Anna Todd, the books that I am in love with and got a tattoo for.  Not to mention Kylie Scott is going to be there, and I am so in love with her books!

One thing that I totally need to work on is all the books I have that I don't know when I'm going to get to.  I've been taking a lot of them to my school library.  I figure that way they'll get the chance for other people, my students, to read them, and when I have time or am in the mood for one of them, I'll still know where they are to check out and read.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of books I have that are ARCs or else my library already has, or maybe they're not in good enough condition that I can put them in my library.  And this is where I'm setting up a giveaway.  Below are the books that I'm looking to get rid of through a giveaway, or there a few newer ARCs I might be willing to trade for other ARCs if you want them.


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So, if you see any ARCs you'd like to trade for, you can always let me know in the comments.  Otherwise, what I plan to do is pick two winners every week for the rest of December, and I am going to fill a box with 4 or 5 books from the pictures above.  Newer, older, ARCs, finished, etc.  They will most likely be surprise boxes. But we'll see how I feel when I draw the winners, I may let them come pick what four books they want!  Or at least pick one or two to go with two that I pick.

And in each box, I will include some swag and book samplers I have.  Here are pictures of the swag I have.  I would be willing to trade any of it for ARCs I'm looking for as well!

 You can see some temporary tattoos in the picture on the left.  Along with some post cards, and an Epic Reads book of new titles. 

I have one last item.  A year ago my sister asked me if I wanted to buy a coloring book that a friend of hers had created.  It's very neat, but it's not really my style of coloring book, but it is so darn cool!  If you're interested, you can pick this as one of your two choices!  Here is a picture of the coloring book:

So, I'm starting to think about new goals and challenges for my blog next year, as well as reflecting on how 2016 went.  One thing I haven't had time for is as many posts with GIFs as I enjoy.  So enjoy this one, and then go enter the contest in the Rafflecopter below it!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let's Get 2016 Over With Giveaway - Part 2

Here's week 2, please join in!!!!  

Okay, 2016 has been an interesting year.  We've lost so many big names this year, Gene Wilder, David Bowie, and Prince just to name a few.  I'm so glad that I got the chance to see Prince in concert once in my lifetime.  There has been such craziness with politics, I won't go into specifics, as that is part of the problem, but it's been so crazy that family members have been split because of this.

I've had some good things happen, I got to go to the NOLA Storycon and meet some of my favorite authors, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Samantha Young, and Jay Crownover were my very very favorites.  I won NaNoWriMo for the 2nd time by writing my full 50,000 words.  I've had a few publishers start sending me things without me having to reach out to them first.  So I feel like my blog might finally be getting where I want it to be.  I've been reading a ton of books this year.  I bumped my goal on Goodreads up over 50 books for the year compared to last year.  I got a new tattoo. I got picked to be a volunteer at Apollycon 2017!  So hopefully next year I can add that to a good thing, especially since I cannot wait to meet Anna Todd, the books that I am in love with and got a tattoo for.  Not to mention Kylie Scott is going to be there, and I am so in love with her books!

One thing that I totally need to work on is all the books I have that I don't know when I'm going to get to.  I've been taking a lot of them to my school library.  I figure that way they'll get the chance for other people, my students, to read them, and when I have time or am in the mood for one of them, I'll still know where they are to check out and read.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of books I have that are ARCs or else my library already has, or maybe they're not in good enough condition that I can put them in my library.  And this is where I'm setting up a giveaway.  Below are the books that I'm looking to get rid of through a giveaway, or there a few newer ARCs I might be willing to trade for other ARCs if you want them.

So, if you see any ARCs you'd like to trade for, you can always let me know in the comments.  Otherwise, what I plan to do is pick two winners every week for the rest of December, and I am going to fill a box with 4 or 5 books from the pictures above.  Newer, older, ARCs, finished, etc.  They will most likely be surprise boxes. But we'll see how I feel when I draw the winners, I may let them come pick what four books they want!  Or at least pick one or two to go with two that I pick.

And in each box, I will include some swag and book samplers I have.  Here are pictures of the swag I have.  I would be willing to trade any of it for ARCs I'm looking for as well!

 You can see some temporary tattoos in the picture on the left.  Along with some post cards, an Epic Reads book of new titles, and a little blank book for Wayfarer. 

I have one last item.  A year ago my sister asked me if I wanted to buy a coloring book that a friend of hers had created.  It's very neat, but it's not really my style of coloring book, but it is so darn neat!  However, it cost me $20, again, not an amount I would normally spend on a coloring book.  But, if you're interested, I'll sell it to your for $10, or else, one lucky winner the last week of December will get it in their box of books!  Here is a picture of the coloring book:

So, I'm starting to think about new goals and challenges for my blog next year, as well as reflecting on how 2016 went.  One thing I haven't had time for is as many posts with GIFs as I enjoy.  So enjoy this one, and then go enter the contest in the Rafflecopter below it!

 
via GIPHY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let's Get 2016 Over With Giveaway!

Okay, 2016 has been an interesting year.  We've lost so many big names this year, Gene Wilder, David Bowie, and Prince just to name a few.  I'm so glad that I got the chance to see Prince in concert once in my lifetime.  There has been such craziness with politics, I won't go into specifics, as that is part of the problem, but it's been so crazy that family members have been split because of this.

I've had some good things happen, I got to go to the NOLA Storycon and meet some of my favorite authors, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Samantha Young, and Jay Crownover were my very very favorites.  I won NaNoWriMo for the 2nd time by writing my full 50,000 words.  I've had a few publishers start sending me things without me having to reach out to them first.  So I feel like my blog might finally be getting where I want it to be.  I've been reading a ton of books this year.  I bumped my goal on Goodreads up over 50 books for the year compared to last year.  I got a new tattoo. I got picked to be a volunteer at Apollycon 2017!  So hopefully next year I can add that to a good thing, especially since I cannot wait to meet Anna Todd, the books that I am in love with and got a tattoo for.  Not to mention Kylie Scott is going to be there, and I am so in love with her books!

One thing that I totally need to work on is all the books I have that I don't know when I'm going to get to.  I've been taking a lot of them to my school library.  I figure that way they'll get the chance for other people, my students, to read them, and when I have time or am in the mood for one of them, I'll still know where they are to check out and read.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of books I have that are ARCs or else my library already has, or maybe they're not in good enough condition that I can put them in my library.  And this is where I'm setting up a giveaway.  Below are the books that I'm looking to get rid of through a giveaway, or there a few newer ARCs I might be willing to trade for other ARCs if you want them.

So, if you see any ARCs you'd like to trade for, you can always let me know in the comments.  Otherwise, what I plan to do is pick two winners every week for the rest of December, and I am going to fill a box with 4 or 5 books from the pictures above.  Newer, older, ARCs, finished, etc.  They will most likely be surprise boxes. But we'll see how I feel when I draw the winners, I may let them come pick what four books they want!  Or at least pick one or two to go with two that I pick.

And in each box, I will include some swag and book samplers I have.  Here are pictures of the swag I have.  I would be willing to trade any of it for ARCs I'm looking for as well!

 You can see some temporary tattoos in the picture on the left.  Along with some post cards, an Epic Reads book of new titles, and a little blank book for Wayfarer. 

I have one last item.  A year ago my sister asked me if I wanted to buy a coloring book that a friend of hers had created.  It's very neat, but it's not really my style of coloring book, but it is so darn neat!  However, it cost me $20, again, not an amount I would normally spend on a coloring book.  But, if you're interested, I'll sell it to your for $10, or else, one lucky winner the last week of December will get it in their box of books!  Here is a picture of the coloring book:

So, I'm starting to think about new goals and challenges for my blog next year, as well as reflecting on how 2016 went.  One thing I haven't had time for is as many posts with GIFs as I enjoy.  So enjoy this one, and then go enter the contest in the Rafflecopter below it!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Discussion Post: I'm Yes Then I'm No, I'm In Then I'm Out - Or the Beloved Books That I Just Couldn't Seem to Love

As always I didn't get around to my discussion post till the end of the month.  Partly because of how busy it has been with school getting started back up. And partly because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to discuss.  Even now, my title isn't as good as I want it to be, but it was the best I could come up with at the moment, so hopefully it somewhat makes sense.  My discussion today is going to be about the books that either everyone seems to love and I tried, but just can't get into or don't quite get the fuss.   Of course I am going to throw in some GIFs because it is just so much fun to find them!

A reminder that the 2016 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.  If you want to check out any of my earlier posts you can go to these links:

• Fiction is Fiction - Or Why I Believe Teens are Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For,   

• It's In the Stars - Or Why I Don't Give Ratings on My Blog,   

• This Review Should Come With a Warning - Or Is It Okay to Review New Adult, Adult, and Young Adult on the Same Blog,   

• Copy, Paste, Repeat - Or How Many Places Do You Post Your Reviews.

• To DNF or Not to DNF, That is the Question - Or How Do You Decide if You Should Give Up on a Book?

So, my title refers to the Katy Perry song, Hot n Cold, but of course my favorite use of the song is in the Twilight parody by the Hillywood Show, which was also my first introduction to the YouTube sensation.  But what I'm going for with this post is all the books that everyone else is so "hot" for, and they just left me "cold" or at least "lukewarm". 

 

The first one is a series, and I want to duck here, because I'm afraid a lot of you are going to be throwing things at me through the internets.  I am on the 2nd book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and I am just not feeling it.  

The first book, Cinder, was more interesting to me than this 2nd one, Scarlet, has been so far.  Even then, when I finished Cinder, I was still left a little bit unsure of what all the fuss was about.  It was okay, but nothing that I was now obsessed over.  But, I was able to get a copy of Scarlet for $4 at a Scholastic Warehouse book sale, and then I won the next three books in the series through a couple different giveaways.  I had heard from many people that book 2 was better than book 1, so I assumed by winning all those books that was a sign I was going to go on and be swept away once I started Scarlet.  Umm, no, it's not happening.  I started the book on August 6th, and since then I've read 4 other physical books, and that's not counting the ebooks I've read.  I usually keep a physical book up on my nightstand so that I will read that right before bed instead of staring at a screen, because I feel like it is probably better for my sleep.  But Scarlet has just not kept me reading.  I can't decide whether to push on through, or give up and then maybe just sell/trade all my copies of the books in the series as a big set.  

 

Next is the Heroes of Olympus series and The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan.  Now see, I loved the Percy Jackson series. 

But I had so much trouble keeping the characters straight in The Red Pyramid as each chapter went back and forth between them.  Which sucked, because I love Egyptian mythology and was so excited for that series.  

And then, when I struggled through The Lost Hero, all I could think was how many more words were used than were needed.  I looked at the size of the book, and thought about how if they'd left all those extra things out, it would have been probably the same length as the books in the Percy Jackson series, and still just as good as those.  Because of that I have not made myself read on, dreading the amount of time and extra stuff to skip over as I try to get to the main story.  

 

The last books I'm going to talk about that didn't blow me away are the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. 

 I actually love the Mortal Instruments series.  And I love Magnus Bane!  But I tried picking up and reading the first one in the series, Clockwork Angel, and just couldn't get into it.  I think it was actually one of my very first ever Books for Trade deals too!  So I have the copy sitting at home.  I don't know that I want to give up though.  I feel like maybe now sometime I might go back and try it again.  Just don't know when.   

So, are any of these books one that you loved?  Do you have any books like this that you don't like but everyone else does?  I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please chime in below!