A Book Blogger is Born: What made you decide to start your very own book blog?

Basically, I really needed an outlet. Up until about two years ago I had no clue that people blogged about books. I had done plenty of personal blogging in high school, but it fizzled quickly when I started college. The last year of college though I was back with my parents and I was only attending part time, so I had plenty of time to read. My commute was about an hour to school so I started listening to audiobooks a lot. I was doing a ton of reading and I wanted to talk about it, share my thoughts about the books I read. Then, I read The Gargoyle and The Time Traveler’s Wife and I just HAD to have an outlet of some sort. I felt like I had to talk about how awesome those books are. I had stumbled upon the blog of one of my Goodreads friends. Then, I saw his links to other book blogs. That’s what did it! I thought it was awesome and I wanted to do it too! So, here I am. I’ll reach my second year mark in August and it’s been awesome.

This week on the blog…
Review: Dance of the Gods
Bout of Books 4.0
It’s Monday! What are you reading?
Manga Mondays: Black Butler, Volume 9
Review: Taking a Shot
Review: It’s Not Summer Without You
Review Dark Eyes

I really want to participate in Follow Friday and the Book Blogger Hop, but that’s really difficult right now since I don’t have internet at my house. I have to use what little internet I can get throughout the day. Just know that in a couple of weeks time I’ll be participating in all three and visiting and commenting on blogs again!

Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.

Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and shes just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She’ll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko—her darkeyed father—finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally’s mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wallys had her own killer training, and she’s hungry for justice.

I jumped at the chance to review this when I read that it was like a YA Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I see where the comparison comes from, but it’s also very different from the Milennium books. To be honest, I was little on this fence about this one whikle I was reading and I think it’s because it was marketed as something that it’s not. The cover, the marketing, and the book blurb make it sound like a YA novel, but I have to disagree. Just because a character is a teenager doesn’t mean the book should be marketed to teens, and I’m not sure I think this one should be. That said, this a very good book.

Wally is such a great character. She’s tough and determined. Her determination even gets in the way and causes problems, but I still respect her never-give-up attitude. Though there are quite a few characters in this book, she really stood out. She was the best developed character, while many of the others felt like surface characters.

While Wally was a big part of why I enjoyed this book, it’s really all about the mystery and action. With every discovery comes a new question. There are some major surprises in this one, and it isn’t until the very end that all the questions are answered. It’s a true mystery novel with some crime and thriller elements. This is where my argument of genre category comes in. I will grant that there are YA mysteries, but the difference between those and this one is that they deal with the issues of being a teen. This book is more about Wally solving the mystery of her mother. It barely deals with any teen issues. She could have been twenty-eight and the book would have been just as good.

January LaVoy did a pretty good job with the narration. Not much about her narration stood out as remarkable to me, but it didn’t distract me either. I do think she did a great job with the emotional parts. And her voices were great, perfect for this kind of story.

In short, Dark Eyes is a thrilling page-turner full of big revelations and plot twists. It’s not all about the action though. Wally is a strong female lead that you’ll root for until the end. I recommend this one to lovers of mysteries and thrillers.

Content: Explicit profanity, violence, and sexual references.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: It’s Not Summer Without You
Author: Jenny Han
Narrator: Jessica Almasy
Series: Summer #2
Publisher: Recorded Books
Release Date: 4/27/2010
Length: 6 hours, 38 minutes
Format: Unabridged Audio CDs
Genres: Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Challenges: 2012 Audiobook Challenge, 2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge
Source: Library
Purchase: Audio CD | Digital Audiobook
Rating: ★★★★☆

Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started–at Cousins Beach.

I couldn’t wait two days to pick up this book after the way the last one ended. I just had to know what happened. These books have taken me on an emotional rollar coaster. It’s not over yet, I’m back on that ride again in the final book. There aren’t many books that have made me feel this much.

Belly is 100% real. Okay, she’s not, but she could be. She acts like an immature teenager sometimes and it’s perfect because she is one. She’s such a well-rounded character and I love her. She’s one of my favorite teen girls I’ve ever read about. Jeremiah and Conrad are no different. They’re complex and really well developed. Conrad is a little mysterious and introspective. Jeremiah is fun and smiles, but he’s serious when he needs to be. I love them all and I’m so torn about how I want this story to work out. I think they all do a little growing, but Belly is doing some major coming of age in these books and it makes them so hard to read, but so rewarding.

This one was much harder for me than the first. Suzanna is dead and watching the kids deal with that is so difficult. They all have understandable reactions, even if they aren’t the right ones. It’s focus is mainly on how everyone is dealing with Suzanna’s death, and no one’s doing too hot. What I really love is that Suzanna is still very present in this book. Even though she’s gone, they all keep her alive in their hearts and it’s beautiful.

Jessica Almasy has really become Belly for me. She’s always in the moment and she really performs every word. She does great subtle voices for dialogue with the boys, and she really digs into the emotion of the story. I’m glad I chose to listen to these on audio. It’s been a great experience, and I still have one to go!

In short, It’s Not Summer without You is an emotional and beautiful story about three teens dealing with the death of the most prominant adult in their lives. The characters are well rounded and so real. It ends with another perfect teaser that will make you want to pick up the next book immediately.

Content: Mild profanity

Read reviews of other books in this series

This book was read as part of the Rewind & Review feature

Title: Taking a Shot
Author: Jaci Burton
Series: Play by Play #3
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Release Date: 3/6/2012
Length: 309 pages
Format: Paperback
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Challenges: 2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge
Source: Library
Purchase: Paperback | Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★☆☆

If you want to score, you have to get in the game…

The last thing Jenna Riley needs is more sports in her life. While her brothers are off being athletic superstars, she’s stuck running the family’s sports bar, whether she likes it or not. Then in walks pro hockey stud Tyler Anderson. As much as Jenna would like to go to the boards with him, she’s vowed to never fall for a jock-even one as hot as Ty.

Ty, intrigued by the beautiful bar owner, becomes a regular. He senses that Jenna wants to do something more with her life. And as he gains her trust, the passion between them grows, as does Ty’s insistence that Jenna should start living for herself. With his encouragement, Jenna starts to believe it, too…

But first, Jenna has to figure out what she wants, what she needs, who she loves, and if she has the passion and pride to take a shot at having it all-including Ty…

I loved the first two books in this series so I had to pick up this next one. I was so excited when the cover was revealed and I was excited to finally get around to reading it. Maybe it was the big expectations I had, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I wanted to.

I think one of my problems was that Jenna wasn’t what I wanted her to be. She has this tough exterior that I loved in the previous books, but on the inside she’s so afraid of everything. She’s scared of love and she’s scared of her dreams. I think, in theory, I like the whole vulnerable girl putting up a tough front thing, but on the page it didn’t work as well for me. I was just frustrated with her. I loved Tyler. He’s appeared in the previous books, as well, but he showed a whole new side of himself in this one. He has good reasons for his fear of love, but he still doesn’t let them stand in the way of how he feels about Jenna.

Again, I think Jenna’s dreams of being a musician and all of that sound good, but didn’t interest me as much as they should have. She was so stubborn about it that after a while I was sick of reading about it. I’m really glad Jaci Burton didn’t dwell on the fact that Ty was a hockey player. I worried when Jenna first declared she wouldn’t date an athlete that the whole book would revolve around that one tiny thing. I’m so glad that wasn’t the case.

There are two things that I loved about this book. First, the sex scenes were pretty much awesome. Since this is erotic romance, sex makes up a good chunk of the book, and goodness does Burton know how to write about that. I also really loved the ending. It was so sweet it had me smiling. After all the arguing and pushing that Jenna and Ty had gone through, it was so nice to have a really sweet moment where they put it all out in the open.

“…it isn’t easy, because he’s the only one who will ever have the capacity to hurt you. And oh, goddamn, when it hurts, it hurts so bad. But he’s also the only one you’re going to love with your whole heart.”

“Good God, woman, you’ve got it bad.”

“I know, right? I told you I was ugly in love.”

Gotta love Elizabeth!

In short, Taking a Shot is a very sexy and sometimes sweet romance, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the previous books. I recommend it to fans of the first two books. If you’re a newbie to the series, I suggest reading those first.

Content: Explicit sexual content and profanity

Read reviews of previous books in this series

Earl Ciel Phantomhive’s quietude is interrupted as Queen Victoria’s very own butlers commandeer Phantomhive Manor for a lavish banquet sanctioned by Her Majesty. Preparations for such an event are quick work in the hands of Sebastian, the house’s most able butler, but corralling the eminent guests may prove to be rather more of a challenge. For this dinner party is anything but festive, and as a stormy night batters the outside of the grand residence, a far more violent storm begins to unfurl within. And no one is safe from the havoc it will wreak—not even one seemingly impervious manservant…

This is, without a doubt, the best volume I’ve read of this series thus far. it’s sort of like Clue in that it’s a mystery murder. I was completely riveted the whole time and the ending left me needing more.

Some new characters are introduced for the dinner party, but Lau reappears, quick-witted as ever. The servants and Sebastian are there too, so there are plenty of familiar faces. I really loved the introduction to the writer that Ciel invites to the party. He warms to Ciel quickly because he has a brother his age and he understands how difficult it would be to be the head of a family at the age of thirteen.

This volume takes on a different sort of flow because the professor tells a little bit of the story from his perspective. Though there’s always a little mystery in this manga, that element is taken to the next level in this volume. I was floored by some of the events in this volume. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about what the next volume holds, but I’m hoping that Sebastian has something up his sleeve.

I am reminded why I love this manga series so much. The art is beautiful even when it’s gory. And there’s always a good structure to the story. This one rarely goes off on pointless fluff chapters. There’s always a purpose behind every story, and with every story things are taken to the next level. I can’t wait for the next volume. I have to know what’s going on!

In short, this is the best volume of this manga series I’ve read so far. It’s full of mystery and murder. It ends abruptly with no questions answered, ensuring that you’ll pick up the next volume.

Content: Mild profanity, sexual innuendo, violence, gore

Read reviews of more volumes in this series

Manga Mondays is hosted by Alison Can Read.

Dance of the Gods by Ann Mayburn

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne

Baby, I’m Yours by Stephanie Bond

Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton

It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

I reviewed…

Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne

Dance of the Gods by Ann Mayburn

This week I’m reading…

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Can the lost be reclaimed? What price is too high to pay for love? Who can be trusted when sin and salvation collide?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

 

We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

It’s been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college– only, their relationship hasn’t exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It’s time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever.

Somebody to Love by Kristin Higgins

After her father loses the family fortune in an insider-trading scheme, single mom Parker Welles is faced with some hard decisions. First order of business: go to Gideon’s Cove, Maine, to sell the only thing she now owns—a decrepit house in need of some serious flipping. When her father’s wingman, James Cahill, asks to go with her, she’s not thrilled — …even if he is fairly gorgeous and knows his way around a toolbox.
Having to fend for herself financially for the first time in her life, Parker signs on as a florist’s assistant and starts to find out who she really is. Maybe James isn’t the glib lawyer she always thought he was. And maybe the house isn’t the only thing that needs a little TLC….

I also have a couple of graphic novels I’d like to get through this week.

Here is my Bout of Books post for this round with all my goals. I’ll do updates on this post and twitter, and I’ll write another post for the end of the read-a-thon.

My Goals
I’m not making some insane goal for myself this time. My goals are book related. I hope to finish the list below.

Books To Read
Somebody to Love by Kristen Higgins
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
Lola by J. Torres and Elbert Orr
Hana-Kimi, Volume 8 by Hisaya Nakajo

Updates
5/14
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books: I finished up Dark Eyes by William Richter, I began Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies The Graphic Novel.

5/15
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books: I began We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han and City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare.

5/16
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books: Still working through the same ones. I’m hoping to finish Somebody to Love tomorrow.

5/17
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books: I finished Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins and it was awesome. I must read all of her books soon!

5/18
Number of books I’ve read today:
Total number of books I’ve read:
Books:

5/19
Number of books I’ve read today:
Total number of books I’ve read:
Books:

5/20
Number of books I’ve read today:
Total number of books I’ve read:
Books:

Clock Rewinders on a Book Binge is the weekly recap feature created by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Tara @ 25 Hour Books, where they shamelessly plug each other, share the fantastic posts, giveaways, or whatever else they’ve found and loved by other awesome bloggers (or authors!) during the week, and talk about the books they plan on reading in the coming week.

My life
After a very fun weekend of choir touring/tons of dancing/a hot mess, I had to return to the real world of work. The good thing is, we had book club this week! I love getting together with work friends and talking books. This month we’re going to do two light reads to change the pace from the heavy books we read the past two months.

I also got to hang out with my high school BFF, Jess. She just got a new house so I had to go see it. We talked books A LOT. She just read The Hunger Games with one of her classes. She also made my week when I asked her if any of the kids were enjoying the books I donated. I had given her copies of Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, and the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. She said her ninth grade girls had all read them and loved them. I was so excited about that and I had this moment where I felt like my decision to apply to library school was the right one. I just love sharing books with other people. I love being able to recommend something to someone or give them a book that I thought was great. When they come back to tell me how much they loved it, I just feel warm inside. I could probably write an entire blog post about this, but it was just a great moment for me because I’ve never felt more certain about my decisions for the future.

Friday I went to see The Avengers with the boyfriend. It was amazing and much funnier than I expected. Then, Saturday I went to an arts and crafts festival with my mother. We love to do stuff like that together and it was a lot of fun.

Owl Tell You About It Recap

• It’s Monday! What are you reading?
• Rewind & Review: May 2012
• Review: Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan
• Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
• Book Club Read: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• Review: Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne
• Review: Dance of the Gods by Ann Mayburn

Blog Posts and Reviews I Loved

• Elena at Novel Sounds reviewed The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
• I’m loving Rachel’s Fifty Shades of Grey Read Along at Parajunkee’s View
• Jamie posted some awesome Jane Austen Retail Therapy at The Perpetual Page-Turner
• I couldn’t agree more with Vicky’s rant on how blogging shouldn’t be popularity contest at Books, Biscuits, and Tea.
• Alison posted a very interesting post about death in YA literature at Alison Can Read.
• I think I might have to add some of the short stories Tanya posted at Girlxoxo.

Book Blogging Events

• You still have until the end of the day to enter giveaways and do challenges for the Spring Blog Carnival.
• Don’t miss out of the Bout of Books readathon! It starts tomorrow.

Search Terms

the summer I turned pretty movie

If that’s happening, I want to know about it.

what happens in fifty shades freed?

I should have just done that instead of suffering through 500 pages.

fifty shades of grey passage sex

Why mess with the whole book when you can find the sex scenes for free?

Let me just say that about 80% of my search terms this month had to do with the Fifty Shades trilogy. Either A LOT of people are interested in those books or I have a decent search ranking for them.

Yay! Books!
I picked these up from the library

• Black Butler Volume 9 by Yana Toboso
• It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
• We’ll always Have Summer by Jenny Han
• One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
• Lola by J. Torres and Elbert Orr
• City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

I got these from NetGalley

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: The Graphic Novel by Time Conrad
• House of Night: The Graphic Novel
• Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins
• Lord Atwood’s Lovers by Eva Clancy

I bought this one

• The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (awesome B&N leather bound version)

Penguin Audio sent me these

• Strindberg’s Star by Jan Wallentin
• Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Title: Dance of the Gods
Author: Ann Mayburn
Series: Chosen by the Gods #1.5
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Release Date: 7/20/2011
Length: 75 pages
Format: PDF
Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Romance, Paranormal Romance
Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge
Source: Purchased
Purchase: Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Locked in a demonic curse, Carmella Ramirez has lost the will to love. Once she was the star of the Ramirez Samba School and lived a charmed life. Now, thanks to bitchery and voodoo, she’s the School’s seamstress and living in the ghetto. At night, a succubus overtakes Carmella’s body and uses her to lure men to their death. As the corpses pile up, those controlling Carmella plan to sacrifice her to their demonic God and blame her for all the men the succubus killed.

Her only hope is Sean Kalmus- a world famous musician and warrior of the Celtic God of Music, Maponus. Sean is in Brazil to DJ for the Ramirez School at this year’s Carnival. Maponus orders Sean to find and rescue Carmella, who is Sean’s Comhcheol- the perfect harmony to his soul’s melody.

With Sean’s help, Carmella will have to call on her strength, his magic and their love to break herself free before she becomes Brazil’s most notorious serial killer.

I read Blessed, the first book in this series, sometime last year and I really enjoyed it. I decided quickly that I wanted to read this novella so I bought it from the publisher. It’s been sitting on my Kobo for a while now. When I saw that she had released a second full length book in the series I decided it was about time I read this. To be honest, there were things I liked and things I didn’t like, but what I did like outshined the rest enough to merit a good rating from me.

The one thing I dislike about novellas is that it can be difficult to into the characters. While I loved Carmella and felt an instant connection to her character, I didn’t feel the same way about Sean. He was hot and sweet, but that’s all I really got from him. I blame that completely on the length of the story. I think if it had been a little longer or a full length novel, there would have been room for his development. If you’re not too concerned with character development and just want to read a quick and sexy urban fantasy, this is your book.

The plot was classic good vs. evil stuff, but it was definitely interesting. The thing I love about Ann Mayburn’s series is that she does some nice world building. I’m intrigued by this world where some are chosen as children of different gods. It’s very cool. That’s what keeps me reading. I’m interested to see which god will choose the character and what kind of abilities they will develop. The ending left a few things open that should have been wrapped up, and there were some grammatical issues. It wasn’t enough to put me off though, and those are pretty much the only complaints I have.

In short, Dance of the Gods is a fun, quick read for lovers of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I enjoyed Carmella, as a character, and her scenes with Sean. It’s the world building that really keeps me reading though.

Content: Explicit sexual content, violence, profanity

Read reviews of other books in this series

Title: Hand Me Down
Author: Melanie Thorne
Series: N/A
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: 4/12/2012
Length: 308 pages
Format: e-ARC
Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Hardcover | Kindle | NOOK | ePub
Rating: ★★★★☆

Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Reid has spent her life protecting her sister, Jaime, from their parents’ cruel mistakes. Their father, who’d rather work the system than a job, pours every dollar into his many vices, denying his daughters the shoes and clothing they need. Their mother, once a loving parent, is going through a post-post-adolescent rebellious streak and finds love with a dangerous ex-con. When she chooses starting a new family over raising her first-born girls, Elizabeth and Jaime are separated and forced to rely on the begrudging kindness of increasingly distant relatives.

A string of broken promises that begins with Liz’s mother swearing, “I would never hurt you, Liz. You’re family,” propels her between guest beds in two states searching for a safe home. All the while, Liz is burdened by her stake in a bleak pact with a deceitful adult: to tell the truth about the darkest of her circumstances will cost her the ability to shelter Jaime. As Liz spirals into the abyss of fear and shame that haunts her sleepless nights, can she break free from her bonds in time to fight for her life?

I found this one browsing around NetGalley one day and I thought it sounded like it could be great. While I really enjoyed it, I have to warn you that it’s very emotional and sad for about 95% of the book. I had to take a short break at one point because it was sort of depressing me.

Liz is one tough girl. She tries so hard to be strong for her sister. She’s a protector and that made me love her. I was so sorry that she never got a real childhood though. She spent all her time sheltering her sister from the abuse going on in their house. Even though I’ve never been in any sort of situation similar to Liz’s, I had no trouble sympathizing with her. I was so angry with her mother throughout the whole book. How could someone be so blind? It’s just sad because I know that there really are people like that in the world, and those people have children that they don’t take responsibility for. Tammy was like the sun in this book. She had her flaws, but she saw through Terrance’s crap and she really cared about the safety of Liz and Jaime.

I was immediately drawn in to this story. It begins with Terrance’s release from prison and the back story is filtered in slowly throughout the book. The present circumstances are told alongside the story of how things got this way in the first place. I think this is the ideal way to tell a story like this. It begins with exciting material and stays interesting the whole time. I will say that I got a little bogged down by the melancholy subject, but that’s just part of it. It didn’t take away from the book at all.

Hand Me Down is such a perfect title. It really captures what Liz’s life has become. She and her sister a thrust out of their home and bounce through other homes like old clothes in a yard sale or something. It’s sad, but it’s such a real thing. It happens to so many kids and I think Melanie Thorne does a wonderful job of telling their story.

I was really worried about how all of this would end. For a while, I thought there was no way for them to find a happy ending. I was very satisfied though. Things worked out, but not too perfectly. There were still problems, but a lot of hope. If the characters weren’t happy, they were content to look toward the future.

When I learned about binary planets in seventh grade, I thought of me and Jaime, connected by proximity and gravity, relying on each other for stability so we don’t shoot off into space.

This is a perfect example of Liz’s love for her sister and the connection she feels with her. I love that quote!

In short, Hand Me Down is a serious story about a sister trying to protect her sister when she’s only a child herself. Liz is well developed and easy to sympathise with, and she’s surrounded by a couple of great supporting characters. The plot is gripping, but also very sad. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about serious social issues.

Content: Profanity, sexual references, violence

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.