Book Blogger Hop #7/Follow my Book Blog #4

Well that's just typical, last week I had my post up well before the host sites' and this week I've missed the boat by a few hours! Thank god I'm up early for once.

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly Book Party hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books where we get to meet new bloggers and find awesome new blogs! It's on from Friday-Sunday so Get Hopping!

Follow my Book Blog Friday is another weekly book hop hosted by Rachel @ Parajunkee's View. There's some simple rules for the hop and here they are:

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://nymfaux.blogspot.com/
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!  
8. If your new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Also every week Jennifer asks a question on the Hop - This Week's question is How Many books do you have on your TBR Shelf?

Well according to my trusty LibraryThing account I have 120+ books To Be Read out of the 600 or so that I own and although I did at one point have them all on one set of shelves, I re-arranged everything since and now they're just scattered around all of my shelves and there's a stack of classics at the foot of my bed. One of these days I really do plan on whittling that stack down, honest!

So Howdy y'all coming from the Hop! Feel free to comment and follow as you like and check out my most recent review of By Midnight by Mia James. There's also a review of The Maze Runner on the way for my Two Weeks of Dystopia!

Happy Hopping!
LadyV

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I'm in the mood for dancin' and er Dystopia!

As everyone is *well* aware by now August is the month that all Hunger Games fans have been waiting for with ever-increasing excitement since the third book in the Trilogy - MOCKINGJAY is being released on August 24th (US) and 25th (UK). Gods know *I'm* dying to read it the second it arrives and woe betide any evil gits who spoiler it on the 24th.

But besides the awesomeness of The Hunger Games trilogy, there's also many fab Dystopia series out at the moment, Michael Grant's GONE series, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Trilogy, James Dashner's Maze Runner trilogy (Second book coming out this October). Although I've not actually read The Knife of Never Letting Go or The Maze Runner yet, they look totally amazing and are sitting on my shelf waiting for me to pick them up.

Which is what I'm planning to do this month. Since it was two weeks yesterday until the release of Mockingjay I'm now going to spend the next 13 days reading *just* Dystopia novels  including rereading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire and reviewing them here on the blog. As well as reading the books I have, I'll try and borrow from the library several "classic" dystopian novels such as 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 and freak myself out with how their versions of the future match up to the present, or not as the case may be.

Also over at Presenting Lenore there's a month of Dystopia funkiness going on including reviews, giveaways and interviews with authors of dystopian novels. There's a contest going on for a 6 book prize pack where you enter with your reviews of dystopian books read this month which I'm hoping to enter once I get cracking tonight with The Maze Runner. The prizes look awesome and the more reviews you do, the more chances you have to win!

So Here's to an amazing two weeks of Dystopian lit!
Bring on the Apocalypse!
LadyV

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Book Review - By Midnight

Afternoon all, I thought I'd surprise everyone by actually doing what I said I would and reviewing By Midnight!

Title: By Midnight

Author: Mia James

Date: 2/8/2010 AM

Source: Bought

Description: April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart . . . and trying to fit in is when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. (Taken from Goodreads)

My Review: I'll admit that when I first heard about this I thought it sounded pretty bloody cool, a UK-based vampire story was something that we were rather lacking within the genre and I hoped that it would prove itself to be a worthy attempt. But alas overall it was a fairly lacklustre result, while some of the characters were interesting and the general concept involving the mystery of the Highgate Vampire from the late 1800's was nicely worked in. The action was pretty fast-paced when it kicked off in the last third of the book but things were a tad slow getting there.

One thing that occurred to me only after I'd finished reading was the fact that I had no clue as to what any of the characters looked like - apart from mentions that Bianca and her brother Benjamin were blond I don't remember seeing *any* specific descriptions of people, oh wait there may have been something about April having black hair... dang I really can't remember.  



I think my favourite character was probably Caro for being slightly nutty and unique. Her paranoid, conspiracy theorist attitude made for fun scenes and she was a pretty good friend to April even when she was being all moody and isolating herself (for very good reasons I'll grant you). I'd be interested to see what role Caro plays in the sequel as she's a pretty cool gal.


Overall I'll say that By Midnight was an alright read and could improve as the series continues after this shaky start. The concept is interesting and if the vampy action was upped a bit it would be less of an angsty read. I noticed April spend a prodigious amount of time worrying about her lack of a boyfriend, experience, prettiness etc. which got a little irksome after a while and I wouldn't mind seeing less of it in the next one. 


So while aspects of the book are fun I wouldn't really recommend rushing out to buy it, maybe wait a while until the paperback comes out and see what the reviews are like for sequel when it appears in case things don't get better.


My Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5


Ok so I planned on posting this on Friday but Wednesday is not *too* bad right? Sorry for not doing a Teaser Tuesday yesterday I was out for most of the day and just felt a bit blah. I'm gonna try and do some more reviews soon cos I've read some pretty good books.


LadyV

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It's Monday What are you Reading (10)

Since there's no way I'll be in possession of sufficient brain cells to do this post tomorrow morning it's getting done at 11pm Sunday night. Although I'm so tired that there may not be any difference lol.

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @One Person's Journey through a world of Books.

Books I read last week

By Midnight by Mia James (Review Pending - it's at least half-finished)

Emma by Jane Austen (I probably will do a review for this... soon)

Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti (Review is a possibility)

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols (Maybe, who knows?)

Book I reviewed last Week

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater - I finally finished the review! And it's Here

Books I'm Currently Reading

The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan - A rather interesting Historical Fantasy which I may have finished by the time this posts.

The Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon - historical fiction which I started on Thursday, it's kinda bleak at the moment but I'm hoping to get back to it soon.

Books I'm Planning to read This Week

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt - This looks so amazing and since my sister is going away next sunday I only have this week to borrow her copy and read it or I'll be forced to wait three weeks *le gasp*

I don't really know what else I'll read this week as I may get it into my head to re-read some random stuff like an idiot cos it really doesn't help reduce my 120+ TBR pile *sigh*

So that's my week in reading, What are you reading?

LadyV

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In My Mailbox #16 The one before I'm Home Alone

Howdy folks! What a fine week it's been in the book department for both me and my darling sister. I've got a cracking bunch of stuff to show y'all in the vlog today (whenever it bloody uploads onto Youtube).

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by a post from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.

Ze Vlog


Books Mentioned in the Vlog
Untamed by P.C. & Kristin Cast
Hunted by P.C. & Kristin Cast
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Lords of the White Castle by Elizabeth Chadwick
The Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick
Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter et l'Ordre du Phenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-mele by J.K. Rowling

My Sister's Books
Lost It by Kristen Tracy
Sticky Fingers by Niki Burnham
Two-way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
When it Happens by Susane Colasanti
Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

There you go! What a fabulous haul non? I'm gonna have a load of fun reading some of those soonish, mainly the YA books cos my sister is going to Florida with the parentals next week and she'll be taking her new acquisitions with her so I have only a short while to devour them.

So what have y'all got in *your* mailboxes this week?
LadyV

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Book Blogger Hop #6/Follow my book blog Friday #3

Good morning all! Tis time for us to get our springy shoes on!!

The Book Blogger hop is weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books where bloggers get together to discover awesome new blogs they've not seen before.

Follow my Book Blog Friday is another weekly event hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee's View. Here are her simple rules for the event.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers -
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post! 

This Week's question for the Hop - "Do you listen to music when you read? If so what are your favourite reading tunes?"

Short answer, no. Unless the music I'm listening to has no words it's very likely to distract me while I'm reading because I'm one of those people who can't help but sing along to normal music. I usually just have silence when I'm reading cos it's peaceful and calming. If I was to have music playing it'd probably be a movie soundtrack cos I'm addicted to those and I have a few with no words.

So I hope everyone is having a great Friday and I look forward to hopping round some awesome blogs later today. Please comment and follow as you choose :)

Laters

LadyV

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Book Review - Linger

I should have done this last week but I didn't so I'm getting it done now while I have some time.

Title: Linger
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Date: 26/7/2010 PM
Source: Bought
Description: Their eyes, human eyes in wolf skulls, remind me of water: the clear blue of water reflecting the spring sky, the brown of a brook churning with rainfall, the green of the lake in summer as the algae begins to bloom, the gray of a snow-choked river. It used to be only Sam's yellow eyes that watched me from between the rain-soaked birches, but no, I feel the weight of the entire pack's gaze. The weight of things known, things unsaid. (Taken from Goodreads)
My Review: It's needless to say that I was *really* super-duper excited to read this after how amazing Shiver was. I devoured the whole book in a few hours but when I finished it I have to say that I preferred Shiver. Now before you right me off as a lunatic (which you'd be quite within your rights to do btw) I'll first explain that it's not that I didn't like Linger, on the contrary I really enjoyed it but there was one rather major thing which annoyed the heck outta me and is the reason why I couldn't give the book 5 stars. 


But first I'll talk about what I liked. Of course Maggie's writing is simply gorgeous like before, she's got a way with description that really puts you right there in Mercy Falls and inside the character's heads. Like I did last time I have to mention how freaking wonderful Sam is, seeing his happiness at being able to spend the winter with Grace as a human is so sweet to read about, his joy at being able to play in the snow without fear of turning back into a wolf makes me smile so much. I also liked how he really stepped up as a leader with Beck being stuck as a wolf and dealt with Cole and Victor and their crazy wolfy problems.


Now I have to rant a little about my one major tiff with this book - Grace's Parents. Seriously what the *hell* was up with them?! In Shiver they were the airy-fairy, insanely hands-off non-parents who didn't care one way or the other that Grace might be doing stuff they don't know about, but in the few months between Shiver and Linger they seem to have morphed into psycho-dictatorial parent-bots. What the feck? What is it about Sam that makes them go from being all nice to him to thinking he's Satan-spawned or something? Just because he's a few months older than Grace doesn't mean he's out only to steal her virtue and then leave her. For crying out loud the guy has been in love with her since he was freaking 12!! I find the whole pissiness about Sam and Grace sleeping together a bit daft because obviously over in Britain the age of consent is 16 not 18 so it would be perfectly alright for them to get all hot 'n' heavy over here so long as they were being sensible with protection and whatnot. And what boggles my mind is how Grace's parents seem determined to ignore the fact that their daughter is the epitome of practicality and would never be quite so stupid as to enter into a physical relationship without taking precautions and knowing that it was what she wanted. 


The fact that her parent's have basically relied on her all these years makes me think that they were feeling threatened by Sam because he represents the future and that Grace will eventually move out and they decided to react like five-year olds who've had their old favourite teddy taken off them. Banning Grace from seeing Sam was such a ridiculous thing to do since their relationship was not having an adverse effect on her school work and it's not like he was keeping her from her friends since she still hung out with Rachel and Isabel, and Olivia is a bloody wolf for all of the book (another slight bugbear, why no mention of Olivia after the scene with her brother?). Their behaviour was totally unreasonable for the seriousness of the situation and was guaranteed to backfire by making Grace act out against them. 


Ok I've complained about that for long enough now. Overall I really enjoyed Linger and I'm super excited to read Forever cos I really want to know what's gonna happen to Grace and Sam. I hope there's more of the other wolves in the last book since we've only ever seen them through Sam's memories, also I want something nasty to happen to Isabel's father because, let's be honest he *really* deserves it :P


My Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5


So there you go, it's taken me two or three sittings spaced quite far apart to finish it but it's finally done! Now I've just got 12 millions more reviews to do before I'm caught up. Joking I'm *never* gonna be able to catch up on everything I've read but I'm gonna try and review several of my recent reads e.g. By Midnight, Emma and Something Like Fate (I read that last night after my sister finished it)


So I'm gonna haul myself off to bed and try and finish Endless Summer before my sister has a coronary (she's become such a demanding little book monster!).
LadyV

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