Cover Characteristic - January 24, 2014

Well, I decided I was in the mood to try a new Friday meme this week, and I found Cover Characteristics at Sugar and Snark, and thought it sounded like fun!  Here are the guidelines for how it works if you want to join in:

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

This week's characteristic is:     Trees
 Here are my top 5 favorite covers with trees:
5.

  Just a little blast from the past.  I love how the tree branches form a heart themselves.

4.

In this one, I just love how spooky the trees look in the background.

3.

Now this is one that I haven't read yet.  But something about the cover has really just drawn me in, and makes me want to read it.

2.  

  

On this one, I just love the flowers really, and the trees make a really nice background.

And my Number 1 Favorite Cover with Trees is:

 

 

Actually all of the books in this series have really good covers with trees, but there is something about the color of this one, and everything about it that really draws me in.

So what do you think of my choices?  Do you have 5 covers with trees that you really like?  You can make your own post and then link it up with Sugar and Snark in the link above.

 

That's What He Said Thursday - December 5th, 2013

Well, since I'm not ready for a review quite yet, in the middle of Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier, I searched today for a Thursday meme.  I wasn't really in the mood for what Booking It Through Thursday was doing this week.  And when I Googled Thursday book blog memes, I saw this one, sponsored by Chapter Break, and thought it sounded like fun.  Especially since I'm reading a book with a great guy in it!  Or one that I'm really enjoying loving, and then hating, and then loving again.  So this quote is actually several that I've strung together from the same conversation, I've just left out Gwyneth's part.

"Gwyneth, I've fallen in love with you.  I do realize we've known each other for less than a week, and at first I thought you were rather ... childish, and I probably behaved badly to you.  But you're terribly complicated, I never know what you'll do next, and in some ways you really are terrifyingly ... er ... naive.  Sometimes I just want to shake you.  But then you're amusing, and clever, and amazingly sweet.  And the worst of it is, you only have to be in the same room and I need to touch you and kiss you ..."

- Gideon to Gwyneth

(Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier)

And that sentence leaves off because of course at that point they have to kiss each other!  This is such a wonderful scene.  After all the whiplash Gideon has been giving Gwyneth, it's nice for her to get an answer about how he really feels.  Although, of course, as this is only the 2nd book, there will have to be a wrench thrown into what seems to be finally going the way it should.  You can read more about this book in my REVIEW.

Kind of a fun meme, huh?  Join in if you want to!

A to Z Bookish Survey

I was needing something to post, and saw this idea on Eveline's Books, originally from The Perpetual Pageturner.  If you think it is fun, join in!  Hope you enjoy learning more about me from my answers.

• Author you've read the most books by:  According to Goodreads it is Carolyn Keene, the author of the Nancy Drew books.  Makes sense since I've pretty much read all of them.  Although, I'm thinking about my bookshelves, and I feel like my shelf of VC Andrews books is pretty full, so Goodreads didn't list her books at the top though.
• Best sequel ever:  That's hard.  I think I'm going to go with Because it is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin.  I loved the books and the 2nd one was awesome too!
• Currently Reading:  Unremembered by Jessica Brody. It's one of the books I got in the Fierce Reads giveaway box.  Not sure if I'm going to be able to do the big party like I wanted and talked about when I first got this.  At least not at my high school.  Guess being a college prep means maybe the kids don't read for fun as much according to my co-librarian and some of the teachers at the school.  So I may do a big giveaway with it in October on my blog for my birthday.
• Drink of choice while reading:  Depends where I am and what time of the year it is.  At home in the summer it is usually Crystal Light or Dr. Pepper.  At home in the winter it is usually hot tea or hot chocolate.  And when I'm eating, it would be water.
• E-reader or physical book?  I've answered this before.  I love my actual, physical books.  I only bought an e-reader to use it for the e-galleys I could get from Netgalley and Edelweiss.  But as my bookshelves keep getting fuller, I am beginning to see more value in e-books.  But still not enough to spend over $5 on them.  
• Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school:  Well, as I really only had like 1, maybe 2 dates in high school, there really isn't anyone I could pick!  But who is the nerdiest, best friend guy, that you could never really like?  Can't think of anyone like that in any books I've read.
• Glad you gave this book a chance:  I'm going to pick a pretty recent one, The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.  I'm never quite sure about vampire books, I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and the Anne Rice books to name a few.  But I'm always leery of new vampire series.  But I'm so glad I picked this one up.  I loved it, and was introduced to an awesome author, as shortly after I began reading an earlier series of hers, the Iron Fey series, and while I'm not always drawn to books about fairies, I really got sucked right into that one as well!
• Hidden gem book:  One that I loved, and I know others have loved, but I don't seem to hear as much about it as I think there should be, is Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz.
• Important moment in your reading life:  This one is hard.  I can think of several.  There was the MASL conference two years ago when I got to meet Heather Brewer and Jay Asher.  And then there was my very first trip to NYC 2 years ago when I got to meet Cara Lynn Shultz.  And finally, probably summer a year ago when I got to go to BEA.
• Just finished:  The Dark Between by Sonia Gensler.  See my review HERE.
• Kinds of books you won't read:  Well, first off, I'm not a fan of Manga or graphic novels.  Don't know why, just never have been.  I like to just read words and make the pictures in my head I think.
• Longest book you've read:  I think the longest I've read is The Stand by Stephen King at 1,153 pages.
• Major book hangover because of:  Probably would have to say either Breaking Dawn or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  The ends to two of my favorite worlds.  I didn't want to leave them.
• Number of bookcases you own:  Let's see, I have 5 tall white bookcases with 5 shelves each.  Then I have a shorter 3 shelf bookcase, and short and skinny 3 shelf bookcase, and finally a really tall, really skinny 6 shelf bookcase.
• One book you have read multiple times:  This is something I used to do a lot, before I had all the TBR piles I have now.  My Stephen King books, V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series and Heaven series.  I re-read all the Harry Potter books before I would go see the movies.  As well as the Twilight books.  And then I've read The Lightning Thief, and The Hunger Games several times as I used to teach them in my class.
• Preferred place to read:  Really I can read anywhere.  But I prefer to read on my couch, in my spot on the couch, in my living room.
• Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:  This is hard.  I don't always remember exact quotes from books.  So, hmm.  Let's see, let me think.  Okay, I'm going to pick two from Twilight, they're not inspirational, just ones that made me smile, and I remember the books fondly when I hear them.  "Stupid, shiny Volvo owner."  "Sure, sure."
• Reading regret:  Hmm, this one is hard.  Not sure I have a lot of regrets.  I'm going to say none.  Although I wish maybe I'd been a kid when Harry Potter came out, I'm just as glad to have read it at the age I did.  Maybe a regret could be that I wished I'd thought about being a librarian when I first got to college instead of being a science teacher.
• Series you started and need to finish (all books are out in the series):  Probably the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I only have two more.
• Three of your all time favorite books:  Remember it is hard for a book lover to pick just one, or three, but here are the 3 that come to my mind first:  Twilight (of course), It by Stephen King, Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.
• Unapologetic fangirl for:  I'll say it over and over, the Twilight series.  I actually have a tattoo of the original cover of the first book on my shoulder.
• Very excited for this release more than all the others:  At the moment it is Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater.   After that it will be Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
• Worst bookish habit:  Hmm, something I used to always do, and now only occasionally do with my paperbacks is fold the cover over to mark the page.  If you look at any of my books from the days before I had so many books, you will see that I probably folded every page in the book at one time since I read them over and over.
• X marks the spot:  Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:  The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson.
• Your latest book purchase:  I think it was The Douche Journals from the TV show The New Girl.
• ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):  Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan.  Loved it!  Just like the first book in the series.

So, feel free to comment what you think about any of my letters.  And then go post it on your own blog!

Top 10 Tuesdays: Rewind!! Top 10 Characters that I'd Name My Children After

Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish. This week's "Rewind" is to pick a topic you missed or want to revisit.  As I've probably only done this a couple times, there were TONS of choices for me!  And while I hate doing more memes in a week than actual reviews, it was a very busy weekend, and so I'm a bit behind on my reading.  Guessing my Goodreads goal for the year says I'm now at least 2 books behind.  :-(

But, I also hate not posting a couple times a week, so to keep it going, I'm participating in this, and the topic I missed, that I've chosen to cover is:

The top ten characters (and literary figures) that I'd name my children after

I decided this would be fun, because there is one name I've always wanted to name a girl if I ever had kids.  Well, a name I've really liked for the past 15 or so years that is, so without further ado, here is my list!

1. Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, part of the reason is because it is so unusual, there aren't any people named Buffy anymore, or at least it is not a common name.  And, the other reason, Buffy was just cool.  My favorite tv show ever probably, besides The Big Bang Theory and The X-Files. (I count it as a literary character/figure because I have all the books, and there are comic books!)
2. From the same series, BTVS, for a boy, I now love the name Xander.  And it has to be spelled with an "X" not a "Z" because it is short for Alexander.  Not that I'd do anything but the Xander part.  I'd never heard it done before, always Alex, until that show.  But now of course, I know someone I worked with at B&N with a kid with that name, and I currently have a student that goes by Xander.  
3. And because I'm one of those lame Twi-hards, I do love Bella.  
4. Along the Twilight line, I like Cullen.  I know it is a last name, but I think it would make a neat name for a boy.  I've actually had a student with that name, but it was spelled with an "a" at the end instead of an "e".
5. From the book and tv series North and South, I have also loved the name Ashton.  For a girl.  I wanted to name a girl Ashton Leigh, then she could be "Ashleigh" for short.  Of course then Ashton Kutcher came along, and I'd be afraid people would think that's where my name came from.
6. From Gone With the Wind, I also love Katie Scarlett.  I loved Scarlett O'Hara, and so would love to use that name.
7. I know for awhile I really liked the name Elizabeth, and kind of wanted to pretend that was my name, because of all the  nicknames you could get from it.  I think I got the name from Elizabeth Wakefield in the Sweet Valley High Series.
8. Okay, starting to have to think to come up with some.  I do kind of like Clary from City of Bones.  It's unusual enough that it would be neat to have.
9. I think I'm skipping boy names, so I'll go back to Gone With the Wind and choose Rhett.  I've never known anyone with that name, and how cool would it be?
10. I can't think of any more!  So I'll leave it at 9.  

So, what about you?  Do you have 10 character names you would use for your children?

2011 Debut Author Challenge 11: Those That Wake by Jesse Karp

This is another egalley I got from Netgalley.com. It took me awhile to get into it. Which is kind of weird, because I had picked it as one of the books I would read for the Debut Author Challenge that I'm participating in. And really, let me say, I do really, really, really love the premise for this story, and I love the reason why all of it is happening as you get into the story and find out the whole reason for what's going on.

The basic plot is that a terror attack even worse than 9/11 has happened and the people of New York have just had their spirits crushed. Everyone walks around with their heads down, paying attention only to their cells. Which in this future, their cell seems like an iPad type thing, more than just a cell phone or laptop in its portability. Two of our 4 main characters are Mal and Laura. Mal gets a strange message from his estranged brother and goes to try to find him and help him. On the same day, Laura calls her parents who have been on a trip, only to find out they no longer remember her. Another of the main characters is a teacher in an inner city school who discovers a strange door in the basement of the school. And the other character is a secret agent of some sort who has come to observe and figure out why all of these things are happening. The four of them get captured and put in a strange place together, where they begin to figure out what is going on. They must escape this place and go fight what is causing the problem.

I like that this story is talking about memes, something I'd never heard of until I started blogging, but now know that they've been around for a long time. I love how it talks about people walking around wrapped up in their "cells" as I see more and more people, including myself, spending so much time constantly looking at the cell phones.

However, it was kind of hard to get into the story as I said before. Some of the story was kind of hard to keep up with, kind of confusing on who or what or where we were. So, great story idea, and interesting enough to read, just not my favorite.