September Round-Off

Holy crispy mallards! Where has this year gone? We're now three-quarters of the way through the year and I'll be lucky if I can remember even ten percent of what I did during that time :S My birthday is now only 6 days away *hint hint* and my lectures start on Monday (at 1pm so it's not all bad). But on the bright side I finally have internet in this here flat and I've had a really good reading month, well I think so anyway.

So yea let's kick off this monthly round-up with ye olde liste of bookes :P (Don't ask what's going on in this post - I honestly don't know)

September
144. Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (6/9/2010 AM)
145. The Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon (6/9/2010 PM)
146. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris (7/9/2010 AM)
147. Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett (8/9/2010 AM)
148. Everlost by Neal Shusterman (11/9/2010 AM)
149. First Test by Tamora Pierce (13/9/2010 AM)
150. Page by Tamora Pierce (13/9/2010 PM)
151. Squire by Tamora Pierce (14/9/2010 AM)
152. Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder (18/9/2010 AM)
153. Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles (19/9/2010 AM)
154. Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder (19/9/2010 PM)
155. Red-Headed Stepchile by Jaye Wells (20/9/2010 PM)
156. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary-Ann Shaffer (22/9/2010 AM)
157. Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (25/9/2010 AM)
158. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (26/9/2010 PM)
159. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce (26/9/2010 PM)
160. Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce (27/9/2010 PM)
161. The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells (28/9/2010 PM)
162. Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (29/9/2010 PM)
163. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (30/9/2010 AM)


Unfortunately for my TBR pile, out of those 20 books read, a shocking 9 of them were re-reads *eep* next month I *will* do better mainly because I only have two more books that are going to be re-reads and I'll be getting to them this weekend hopefully.


Favourite Book of the Month

Well any 5 Star books from this month are re-reads so I won't count them. I think my favourite book of this month is Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler - I literally only read it this morning but it had the strongest effect on me out of anything I read earlier in the month. Once I've got my Favs reviewed I will definitely be doing a review of this because I honestly found myself wanting to break down crying multiple times whilst reading it and any book that leaves me in tears is worth taking the time to review it properly. 


Books Reviewed this Month
Erm yea, about that... it turns that I only managed to do two reviews this month. I apologise and I can flat-out guarantee that the first two weeks of October will have more reviews that you'll know what to do with. (I exaggerate there will be 8 written by me - and possibly some extra goodies)
Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett
The Glass Trilogy by Maria V. Snyder


Other Posts of Import
Not many I'm afraid, I believe I underblogged myself this month but after August's 27 post-a-palouza I reckon I can get away with it :P
Fav Female Characters Part 1 - Seriously I will get round to finishing the other two posts for this mini-series, sometime before the end of the year. I have at least a quarter of part 2 done and I may try and get it done to be part of Favs Fortnight considering that some of characters mentioned in that post are in the books I'm reviewing for this event.
Birthday Bonanza - Y'all still have a week left to enter this contest and so far I've got a cracking 66 entries (which for my second contest is pretty good methinks) so do enter if you haven't already!
BTT - Disaster - the only Booking through Thursday post I've done this month but I took advantage of the question to wax lyrical about my uber-pretty copies of my Tamora Pierce books.


Things to look forward to in October
Well for starters, if you haven't realised yet from my near-spamming levels of repetition, during the first two weeks of October I having a Favs Fortnight event whereby I'm reviewing some of my all-time favourite books and just for shiggles I may witter on for a while about some of my all-time favourite films if I get time. Tune in tomorrow for the master post in which I'll talk about some of the factors that can make a book a favourite in my eyes and the list of the books I'm re-reading and reviewing just for you. You'll also be getting the first review of the eight in the afternoon - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is it's name and being wonderful is its game (the book that is- it's not for me to say that the review is wonderful).


I am also hoping to do NaNoWriMo in November so during October in the lead-up to that terrifying day when I'll have to lock that evil part of my brain, which constantly tells me to edit my writing before it's even out of my head, away somewhere dark, dank and preferably inescapable; I will do a few posts describing my pre-Nano work on my potential novel idea in the hopes that I won't go to pieces from a lack of plot or character realism come November 1st. Wow a few more sentences like that and I'll have NaNo in the bag! :P
Other than that expect the usual Sunday and Monday memes, and occasionally I may throw out there a Teaser Tuesday or Booking Through Thursday post just to keep you on your toes.


Well dang that was a lot of words and I commend you if you trawled through all of them *congratulatory pat on the back*. Now I had better get myself moving and actually write that Favs Master Post which I promised above.
I hope everyone had a Smashing September and Bring on October!
LadyV

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Oh hai, Guess who has internet finally?!

Yes that is right, I am *back* with a vengence! Although my broadband was supposedly activated around 1pm it took until half 4ish for the little globe icon to appear on my taskbar and then of course I ran downstairs to inform my flatmate in most gleeful tones that WE HAD INTERNET!!! *squees*. We'd been staring at the router and it's pretty little lights for ages just waiting for the stubborn red light (indicating that we were not connected to the internet) to finally turn green. It kept taunting us by flashing green, staying solid green for a second or two and then going back to red. Eventually we thought bugger it and left it alone to just wait for it to take pity on us and give us sweet, sweet internet :P

But anyways, how are we all? It feels as though I've been trapped in the hinterlands for a month even though I've only been sans internet for two weeks - my Youtube subscriptions are a mess, I have over 100 videos to watch and god knows when I'm going to have time to do that when I have my Favs Fortnight posts to write (I'll be cracking on with the master post for tomorrow straight after posting this).

I know I said I would post a review of Rules of Attraction on Wednesday but alas on Tuesday night I suddenly found that I couldn't dredge together enough thoughts on the book (past the fact that I did enjoy it a good deal) to make it worth doing a review. Instead I'll just direct you to my dear friend Jess and her marvellous Review - eerily she read it the same weekend I did and cos I was incommunicado she had a lengthy discussion of the book with *my* sister who was the one who'd lent me her copy with the most fervent of orders to get it bloody read! It really does boggle the mind.

Right well this was supposed to be a wee update post but it's rambled on quite a bit. I'm gonna try and get my September Round-Off post done tonight and the first two posts for my Favs event all ready to roll out tomorrow for your perusal.
But my God is it good to be back! *dances*
LadyV

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Book Review - The Glass Trilogy

Good morn to you all! I was thinking of doing a Teaser Tuesday post for today but since I've got a fair bit going on at the moment with getting my timetable sorted out for next week I'll just stick with the series review I've got for ya.

Series Name: The Glass Trilogy/ Opal Cowan trilogy
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Source: Bought
Description: As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known (Description of Storm Glass taken from GoodReads)


Review:

One thing that I consistently love about Maria's books is that her characters are always wonderfully vibrant and interesting - even the villains. Quite often the line between who's a good guy and who's bad is rather blurry so someone who may seem like a total evil jerk at the start of the book can end up being quite likeable by the end.
In the Opal Cowan books it's great how we get to see characters from the Yelena books since you really become attached to guys like Ari, Janco, Leif and Valek (although he won't appear until Spy Glass). In Sea Glass it's mainly Janco we have the pleasure of seeing but no matter as I think he's lovely and with his uber lock-picking skillz he's a valuable asset to Opal who, for some reason, is extremely prone to getting captured, kidnapped, or tortured. 

I'll admit to not being as fond of Opal as I am of Yelena - although her glass magic is really cool and fascinating, as a person she's just not that mature and often makes rash decisions that get her in serious trouble. She can be insolent and petulant if people either don't trust her or if they belittle her since she looks a fair bit younger than her twenty years (I know how she feels :P).
That being said, despite her flaws Opal is still a good person and has her loveable moments. I love her sarcastic sense of humour and her wish to make a difference despite her limited magic. I think her ability to fight with sais is totally bad-ass and I would *so* love to be able to do it. She's loyal to her friends and family and has a kind heart so she often wants to help out those in need. Her sense of morals and principles mean that even though she's got the power to drain a magician without them doing a thing to attack her, she wouldn't ever use that power unless in self-defense because her moral compass knows it's totally wrong.


Unlike in the Study books, Opal actually has several romantic interests to confuse herself with - the Stormdancer Kade, the glass magician Ulrick who gets soul-switched with the Daviian Warper Devlin who once tortured Opal. Without giving away any spoilers I'll just say that who she ends up with is definitely very interesting and I am quite happy about it :P

Out of the three books I think that the last book, Spy Glass is my favourite, not least because we finally get to see more of Valek (ok that might be a factor hehe) but because Opal has progressed over the series into a stronger and more mature individual. She's no longer the "doormat" that Devlin proclaimed her to be in the first book, she's learnt to stand up for herself and not let people use her and her magic whenever they like. It's more pleasant to read about a character whom you don't wish you could shake a bit of sense into every so often.


With regards to the actual stories themselves I did like how Maria expanded on the Warpers who appear in Magic Study and Fire Study and developed further the darker branches of magic in Sitia and provided an interesting variety of bad guys whose motives are not always apparent when we first meet them.
It's kind of a shame that we've reached the end of this second trilogy set in the Ixia/Sitia universe, I'm really hoping that Maria has plans to write more books set there after she's done with her new dystopia series (I've got the first book Inside Out to read while I'm at Uni).
Overall I'll give this series a solid 4 out of 5 stars for being thorougly enjoyable and chock-full of fantastic characters. I heartily recommend it to fans of fantasy books and anyone who's read the Study trilogy.
On a related note - how freaking *gorgeous* are the UK covers I've sprinkled throughout the review?! I know the US covers are interesting enough but seriously I think we hands-down win the cover battle! Opinions anyone?


Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (for the series as a whole)


Originally I was just gonna do this review for the second book, Sea Glass but then I read the third one and thought bugger it I may as well sum up my thoughts of the whole trilogy even though it's been over a year since I read Storm Glass. 


Anyways I'm planning on doing my review of Rules of Attraction to post on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's big internet switch-on *huzzah* You have no idea how odd it's been not being able to go online whenever I want so I'm gonna have a massive session on Thursday afternoon (I'm terrified of how Youtube subscriptions videos I'm gonna have to watch).
Happy Tuesday folks
LadyV

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It's Monday What are you Reading (15)

Sheesh it's been too long since I did one of these posts. I've read quite a lot over the last two weeks altough I've got no reviews finished... yet - I've got several started and I'm hoping to get a few up this week while it's still September *crosses fingers*
But from Friday for two weeks it'll be my Favourites Fortnight- I'm gonna be reviewing 8 books/series which I particularly love although I'll confess right now that three of the books I'm gonna review are by the same author (and if you know me reasonably well then the author will be easy to guess). On Friday I'll do a post showing the master list of reviews (the links will be updated as the posts go up over the next two weeks) and also a brief ramble on what qualities make a book a favourite for me. I hope people will check out the posts and comment about some of *their* all-time favs.

But anyway to business,

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 Read in the past two Weeks

First Test by Tamora Pierce (Series Review coming soon!)

Page by Tamora Pierce (Ditto)

Squire by Tamora Pierce (Pattern forming yet?)

Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder (Re-read)

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles (Review hopefully coming soon)

Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder (Series review coming Soon)

Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary-Ann Shaffer (Re-read Review coming soon)

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (Oh just check back next week for the review!)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Review coming soon)

Books Currently Reading

Nada but as I'm writing this on Sunday evening it's quite likely that I'll read something before bed so it'll be shown next week.

Books I'm Planning on Reading This Week

Well as I want to get the books for my "Favs Fortnight" before the event actually starts this week will be full of re-reads which is rather great :D

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce

Atonement by Ian McEwan

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffennegger

I reckon that's enough for me to be going on with for the moment. I should be able to return to a normalish blogging schedule from Friday although since my lectures start on the 4th of October I may have to rely on automated posting until I've got settled into a routine. Thanks a ton for bearing with me so far you guys rock :)

Have a great week

LadyV

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In My Mailbox #21 The Double edition

Howdy hey dear followers, it's been a terribly long time (or at least it feels that way because I've been sans internet for over a week) since I posted properly so I'm bringing this week's IMM to you with two week's worth of books. Let's get cracking!

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and inspired be Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Since I can't lug all my acquisitions with me to where I can get internet and I forgot to get a picture of them while I was at home I'll just have to make do with showing cover images gleaned from my LibraryThing catalogue.

Books Acquired during Week ending 19th September

Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder (bought from Amazon)

Shadowland by Rhiannon Lassiter (ER book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers)

Books Acquired Week Ending 26th September
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (bought from Waterstones)

Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman (bought from Waterstones)

Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells (bought from the Works)

The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells (bought from The Works)

Also bought from the Works but not shown
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
The Game by Laurie R. King
The Locked Room by Laurie R. King
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

So you see I had a rather good week in acquisitions although I'll now have to to refrain from buying anything else until I've either got a job, my student loan or my birthday :P somehow I just don't see myself managing until any of those.
So that's been the last fortnight in books for me, What's in *your* Mailbox this week?
LadyV

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Hey I'm still here!

Helloo there! Never fear I am still here although I'm not getting internet until next Thursday so any posts I do will be prepared beforehand in Word or whatever and then when I can get online I'll copy & paste them onto Blogger :)
I'm now all settled into my new flat, after the vaguely rocky start of there being no flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, no oven and a very dirty microwave everything is now hunky-dory and my kitchen is gaw-juss even if the cooker is slightly weird to use (or maybe I'm just bad at operating it). I have the funkiest room in the house cos I'm on the top floor and some of the roof beams are exposed on the sloped bit of my ceiling - yea I have smacked my head a few times already but hopefully I'll get better at dodging a concussion :P
It is so great being back at uni, well I may not be saying that once lectures start but I love being back by the sea. This year our flat isn't actually on the seafront *sad face* but I've got a decent view of the river and the hill in the distance out of my skylight.
On other matters, I've had a pretty awesome week of reading so far but since it's too late to do an It's Monday post I'll do a double edition next week, ditto for IMM. I've made a start on the books I've brough with me for the sole purpose of re-reading them for my "Favourites Fortnight" so I'll be scheduling the reviews for those to go up during the first two weeks of October when I may not be able to read as much while I'm getting into a work routine. I apologise in advance if those reviews consist of excessive amounts of gushing :P
But anyways I hope y'all are doing alright, good luck to any folk who've started Uni/College this year and I hope you have a fantastic time just keep the booze-ups to a sensible number ;) (Says the girl who's writing this with a glass of Pimm's beside her).
Oh and a *massive* thank-you to you fab followers- I noticed the other day when I logged onto my blog for the first time since the 18th that I'd reached 207 followers!! *flabbergasted* It means so much to me that over 200 people are interested in my insane ramblings so cookies all round! Y'all keep being awesome and I'll be back soon. ALSO DON'T FORGET MY BIRTHDAY BONANZA CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING!!
LadyV

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Apologies for the hiatus! And News for the Future

Ok folks I just thought I'd re-appear real quick to explain why I've suddenly gone all quiet and whatnot.
Tomorrow I've moving into my new flat for my second year of University and like an utter idiot I left my packing far too late and today I'm gonna be working like a madwoman getting all my clothes and books sorted out (first I better decide what books I'm actually taking :S).
So that's why I've not been posting this week, partly because I'm lazy and I've also been doing other chores (ironing and watching ridiculous amounts of Stargate in order to finish my summer marathon).

Another thing, I'm probably not gonna get broadband set up at the flat until the end of September so posts are gonna be kinda sporadic on here until then. I am going to try and get some stuff typed up and then transfer it to Blogger when I go somewhere with free wi-fi so that the whole blog doesn't drop off the face of the earth.

So sorry again for the vanishing act and I hope y'all can be patient with me and I promise that once I have internet back that a reasonably normal schedule of posting will resume - for the first two weeks of October I'm gonna be doing a series of reviews of some Favourite books of mine - conveniently titled "Favourites Fortnight" so if other people want to get all nostalgic and re-read some of the *their* favs please feel free to link to reviews in the comments when I get the first post up.

Oh and once October begins, I will be starting down the scary, stress-filled road to NaNoWriMo and I'll try and do quick daily or alternate days posts updating on the planning stages. When we get to November then everything will go mad and normal blogging will be suspended while I try and juggle uni work and the intense writing mahem of NaNo. I will do update posts and try and figure out how the heck to get a word-counter widget on here so you can keep up with how I'm doing (hoping I don't flake out after the first week- I really want to do this). My reading in November will probably be very minimal so I may do the odd review *if* I read anything.

Don't Forget! My Birthday Bonanza Contest is still going until the 7th of October so you still have three weeks to enter! Fill out the form Here to enter!

I hope to be posting again soon (I have a couple of posts in draft atm so I'll try to finish them) but for now I better get packing!
LadyV

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It's Monday What are you Reading (14)

Since last week's non-post due to lack of books read I at least have stuff to report this week. So on we go with the show!

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

I'd Tell You I love You - Ally Carter

Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter

The Alchemist's Daughter - Katherine McMahon (Finally Finished!)

Dead in the Family - Charlaine Harris 

Scarlett Dedd - Cathy Brett (Review Here)

Everlost - Neal Shusterman (Review coming soon)

Books I'm Currently Reading 

Nothing actually, I know I said that I was reading Pharaoh last time but that's kinda been put aside until I can be bothered to continue with it.

Books I plan to Read this Week

Rules of Attraction - Simone Elkeles. My sister bought this while she was in Florida since after she read Perfect Chemistry (like 4 or 5 times) she was in love with Alex Fuentes and now she's just as in love with Carlos so I have this week to read her copy before I go back to uni cos there's no way in hell that she'll let me take it with me to the back of beyond that is Wales :P

First Test - Tamora Pierce. I've got *mad* cravings to re-read my fav Tammy books so I may crack this week and devour several in a couple of days. But I won't posting the reviews until the start of October because I've got a "Favourites Fortnight" planned when I'll re-read and review some of my absolute fav books.

Other than those two I'm not quite sure what will be on the menu since I'll be spending lots of this week packing up all my crap to back to uni :S eek this could be hard.

So what are y'all reading this Monday?

LadyV

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In My Mailbox #21 - the last one before Uni

Hello all it's Sunday again and I'll be damned if it's my last Sunday at home before I move back to Wales and into my new flat for my second year of university! Egads where did the summer go? I've lost 13 weeks to laziness and general student-esque apathy - now I've got 2 weeks until classes start up again so I'm gonna have to do *so* much work during that time to make up for my own stupidity.

But anyway that's not what we're here for - In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

A pretty slow week, I got one book on Tuesday and on Saturday afternoon (after I recorded my vlog) I spotted that there was a free book in with this week's Bliss magazine so I bought it purely for that reason :P



Books Mentioned in Vlog
Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett - Won from Lyndsey @Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

The other book I acquired this week from Bliss Magazine was Shadows (A Dark Touch Novel) by Amy Meredith
The cover is so gorgeous although I hope the story turns out to be at least fairly decent (not that it would matter much it only cost me £2.50)

My Review of Scarlett Dedd can be found Here
The post for my Birthday Contest can be found Here

So that's my week in books
What did you get in *your* mailbox this week?
LadyV

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Book Blogger Hop #9

Howdy-hey chaps it's been a terrible long time since I participated in a Hop but I reckon that since this week is gonna be my last chance before I go back to Uni (next friday I'll be packing like a fiend) I may as well give it a go.

As y'all know The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly bookish event hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for Books where loads of bloggers get together to meet new people and blogs they've not seen before. The whole idea is to hop around the links on the list and comment and follow on those that interest you!

Every week Jennifer asks a question that the Hoppers answer on their post- this week's question is more of a challenge. Post a link to a favourite post or book review that you've written in the past 3 months.

I think this is a cracking idea and I shall send you lovely folk to have a look at my review of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness which I read last month and absolutely *Adored*!! 

So hello to any new folk hopping over here today! If you look just above this post you'll see I have a contest running at moment for the run-up to my 20th Birthday when one winner shall get to pick their prize! (books obvs)

Please feel free to comment, follow and generally explore :)

Have a great Friday and Hop!

LadyV

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Booking Through Thursday - Disaster

Since it's been several weeks since I've done a BTT post I thought I may as well do it today.

"You've just dropped your favourite out-of-print book in the bathtub, ruining it completely. What do you do now? Booking Through Thursday

Well I reckon that I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this will *never* happen to me for several reasons.
1. I don't really like baths. I'm just more of a shower person since I get terribly bored sitting in a bath for any amount of time (unless I have company :P)
2. I wouldn't read in the bath anyway. I'd be too worried that my own clumsiness would make my book go swimming. Maybe if I purposely bought cheap tatty copies to read in the bath then I would but at the moment, not a chance.
3. My out-of-print books (and I have a *lot* which I really love) would be guarded like the Crown Jewels from any kind of damage since if I do need to replace one of them, the potential cost and difficulty of tracking down another, decent quality copy would be ridiculous.

I have basically everything Tamora Pierce has written to date (barring perhaps a couple of short stories in certain anthologies) and well over half of these books are the UK Scholastic editions which went out-of-print a couple of years ago *boo, hiss*. So now I've gotta conserve these books like they're priceless since there's little to no chance I'll ever come across more copies that don't cost an arm and a leg. It's gonna be hard since Tamora Pierce is my favourite author and I love re-reading her books multiple times. I actually re-read the Protector of the Small Quartet maybe 3 times in a row, back-to-back - I'm *that* addicted to her books.

Now I'll show you what my copies look like cos they really are the funkiest covers ever so you can understand why I don't want to try and replace them ever.

Four top Left - The Immortals Quartet

Four bottom Left - The Protector of the Small Quartet (my fav)

Four top Right - The Circle of Magic Quartet

Four bottom Right - The Circle Opens Quartet

Ain't they all so purdy?

This is my Omnibus of the Song of the Lioness Quartet. This series was the first that Tamora wrote and the starting point of the Tortall universe which also includes the Immortals, Protector of the Small and Daughter of the Lioness books and the new Beka Cooper trilogy - the third book Mastiff is coming out late next year (which IMO is far too far away :P)

On a final *hypothetical* note - What would I do if I did drop my favourite out-of-print book in the bath? Erm probably scream bloody murder and then sob my heart out for several weeks ;-)

Have a Great Thursday Folks

LadyV

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BIRTHDAY BONANZA!! (Contest)

Yes that is a Harry Potter birthday cake - I wants it :P (Photo from The Cake Kitchen)

Cake, everybody loves CAKE!
Oh Hai folks. For those who didn't already know it'll by my 20th Birthday *le gasp* on the 7th of October and that means that it's now only 4 weeks away!! I'm slightly freaked out that I'm nearly that old since I still feel only 17 mentally (scrub that I have the mental age and attention span of a five yr old :P).
But I have a *marvellous* plan to make things a lot more fun - by having a contest!!

Here's the Deal
1. The Contest will run from the 9th of September until the 7th of October which is precisely four weeks.
2. It will be a single-entry contest (i.e. no extra entries for twitter, blog, youtube etc. promotions) - all you need to enter is your email address. (But if you want to promote the contest please do, I'll give you cookies :D )
3. You do NOT have to be a Follower to enter (although it would be really nice if you did)
4. The Contest is INTERNATIONAL so come one, come all!
5. ONE winner will be able to ask for any book(s) they want up to the value of £20 to be shipped to them from The Book Depository (since they ship almost anywhere for free)
6. The Winner will be picked via a random number generator on the 8th of October and announced on the blog and also they will be emailed.
7. Then they will have 48 hours to reply with their mailing address and confirm which book(s) they would like me to purchase so I can get the order made.
8. If the winner fails to reply within the alloted time then another shall be selected at random.


I think that's everything.
So fill in the Google Form below and you're away!


**CONTEST NOW CLOSED**


Happy (almost) Birthday to Me!!

LadyV

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Book Review - Scarlett Dedd

This is probably a first for me because I'm getting a book review done less than 24 hours after I finished the book! *faints* I know I'm shocked.

But there you go, I like to be contrary sometimes just to keep y'all on your toes :P

Anyhow, onto business

Title: Scarlett Dedd
Author: Cathy Brett
Date: 8/9/2010 AM
Source: Won from Lyndsey @ Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
Description: You're dead Scarlett...Previously a poor taste jibe from school frenemies, now a statement of fact. Scarlett is absolutely mortified (in more ways than one) to discover that she's accidentally killed herself while trying to get out of a school trip. Even worse, she's taken her entire family with her. Life as a ghost is pretty dull - if only some of her friends were dead too... (Taken from Goodreads)


Review: Well since this book was so unusually funky I just had to review it in a vlog so I could show you how cool it was to read.





My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars




A Big thanks again to Lyndsey for hosting the contest :)


Well dang this is probably the fastest review I've ever done lol. Hopefully I'll be on a roll tonight and get several done plus the next post in my Favourite Characters mini-series as I've decided I'm doing NO MORE IRONING today! I spent hours ironing yesterday (although I do actually enjoy it :P) so today I'm having the night off for blog stuff.


A bientot
LadyV

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My Fav Female Characters

Ok I know that the Top Ten Tuesday meme did Favourite Heroines last week but I was going to do this anyways (I may start doing the Top Ten meme at some point), I'm gonna wax lyrical today about some of my fav gals from the books I've read. I don't really know if I'll put them into any kind of ranking since I like them for various different reasons and I don't reckon it'd be fair to rate one higher than another.

Katniss Everdeen
Of course, there's no way that I can have a list of fav characters *without* including the ever ass-kicking Katniss. She's the type of heroine that people would kill to either have as a friend or to actually be in real life. She's got mad skillz with a bow and has survival know-how in buckets. She'd protect her friends and family at any cost, even if you got herself killed in the process. Yea she's not entirely sure of her own emotions but that makes her even more awesome cos we know she's still human and not perfect. I love her most in the Hunger Games since she gets a tad "damaged" in the next two books and get increasingly unstable in her mental state but her essential Katniss-ness is retained.

Hermione Granger
Ah Miss Granger, she's probably the first fictional character that I was deathly envious of since I so badly wanted to be a witch after I read the Philosopher's Stone for the first time. She was the smart, sensible goody-two-shoes who I could really relate to back then (I'm not half so sensible or rule-abiding nowadays). For all she could be a right fuss-pot sometimes she really did kick some ass, or slap some gits i.e. Malfoy, as the series progressed she evolved so much from the bushy-haired prissy little 11 yr old in the first book although she did always keep a little of the snotty attitude for when she got mad at either Harry or more often than not Ron. Bizarrely though I kinda hate Emma Watson in the films - she's just *too* prissy for my liking and frankly I wanted to be Hermione gosh darn it! *stomps foot*

Rose Hathaway
If I ever were to get into a fight where vamps might be involved I'd want Rose on my side cos she seriously knows how to kick the shit outta bad guys and that's always a useful skill to have methinks. She's sassy and totally confident in herself and will take serious offence if someone judges her unfairly - just *try* calling her a blood whore and live. Like Katniss she's fiercely protective although Rose knows her heart much better and will follow it when she feels it is the right course of action. She's also pretty darn sexy and not afraid to flaunt it when the situation demands it. All in all I reckon Rose is sort of the Megan Fox of the fictional world, both guys *and* girls would fancy her :P

Faythe Sanders
Well I don't know how many of y'all read Rachel Vincent's Werecats series but those who do will know how awesome the main character Faythe is in these books. She the feisty daughter of a Werecat Alpha who lives with the heavy burden of being one of a very small number of female werecats who are expected to marry and produce children in the hopes that another tabby will be born to continue the line. Although she can be rather impetuous and sometimes makes rash and irresponsible decisions I do admire her for the spirited attitude and desire to live her own life instead of the restricted existence that the other women of her kind must live because of their importance to the Werecat race. Also she's pretty kick-ass when it comes to working as an enforcer for her Father, oh and she has one of *the* most rugged and bad-ass werecats vying for her affection - Marc Ramos *swoon* (he'll be appearing in my fav male character posts). Faythe definitely has a few issues with authority and responsibility but her heart is in the right place and she does want to do right by her Pride and her Father so it's really going to be a shame when this series ends after the release of Alpha at the start of October cos I think Faythe is such a cool character.

Now since I have 12 characters that I want to mention methinks I'll keep to 4 per post and make it a three-part deal so keep your eyes peeled for the second lot coming soon. Do feel free to tell me in the comments who some of *your* favourite heroines are.

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It's Monday but not quite

So you may have already noticed that this *isn't* my usual What are you Reading? post that I do on Mondays and I'll explain why I'm not doing it today.

Until last night I had read NOTHING in the past week. I kid you not. Until I finished the 2nd Gallagher Girl book in the wee hours of this morning I had not finished a book since the 30th of August and for me that is downright outrageous.

Due to being in London I also didn't get any more reviews done after I posted my review of the amazing book Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma on Tuesday.

I'm *Still* reading The Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon, I am enjoying it although for some inexplicable reason it's taken me nearly a month to get close to finish the damn thing. I'm hoping to finally get through it by the end of this week and then see how long it takes me to churn out a review.

So there you see that there is not enough stuff to make it worth doing a normal IMWAYR post so y'all will have to make do with this concise version. Next week should be better as I have several library books that I need to read and return.

Yay for Mondays, boo for reading slumps
LadyV

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In My Mailbox #20 The late but oh-so awesome One

Well good evening folks! I know this is hideously late for an IMM post but I only got home from London this afternoon and I had to go a-visiting to my Auntie's and both grandparents so I was only able to film the vlog for this a little while ago.

London was fabulous and I shall be doing a post on that soon once I get copies of the photos my darling bf took of the trip (he's the camera dude, I simply try to look normal for pics :P). I got 8 while I was away, 4 being of an educational nature ergo they counteract the 4 fiction books I bought as well.
My parents and sister are finally back from Florida looking annoyingly tanned but bearing such wonders as the 9 books they bought for me and various perfumed items *mmm smells good*

In My mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

This Vlog is rather long due to the crazy amount of books I have this week- enjoy!



Books Mentioned in Vlog
From London
Julius by Daphne du Maurier
The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (signed!!)
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Plus 4 other non-fiction books


From Florida
Devious by Cecily von Ziegesar
My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent
My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty
Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Still Sucks to be Me by Kimberley Pauley
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

From Sister
Sticky Fingers by Nikki Burnham
Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick

*phew*!! That is a lot of books! I have no clue as to when I'll find the time to read all these because heck know I already have bucket loads of other books I need to read, but maybe if I don't buy *any* books in September except one or two that I absolutely MUST have e.g. Spy Glass! perhaps I can whittle down my ridiculous TBR pile to something slightly less horrifying.

I'm glad to be back home now although London was fantastic and I loved having a holiday with my boyfriend doing to the nerdy stuff we both enjoy it's good to be able to sleep in your own bed y'know?
I've missed blogging even if it was only for a few days so I'll do my best to get back into a rhythm of things fairly quickly, I've got some fav character posts in the works that I want to get up before Wednesday and I'll try and do a London post before the end of the week as well. Somewhere amongst this lot I want to get some reviews done because it's been far too long since I did one and that's just unacceptable.

So stay tuned for all that!
I'm off now to put this massive haul somewhere although it may take a bit of rearranging since many of these books need to go on my smaller set of shelves *eep*
What's in your Mailbox this week?
LadyV

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August Round-up

Well my lovelies I must say that I don't know where this month has gone and I'm pretty sure that somebody has been speeding the clocks up because my summer is nearly over! I'll be going back to my flat at university in a little over 2 weeks and I'll be damned if I'm not turning 20 in 5 weeks!! I've got some awesome things in mind to make my birthday week rather special and I'll just hint now that a contest is going to be a probable event ;-)

In terms of posts this month has been one of my best months since until last week when I was avoiding blogs and Twitter to keep the Mockingjay Spoilers at bay, I had managed to post almost once a day. (Yay rhymes!) In terms of reading it was worse than July although not entirely terrible. My list for this past month is as follows:

August
127. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (1/8/2010 AM)
128. Prey by Rachel Vincent (1/8/2010 PM)
129. By Midnight by Mia James (2/8/2010 AM)
130. Emma by Jane Austen (4/8/2010 PM)
131. Something like Fate by Susane Colasanti (4/8/2010 PM)
132. Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols (7/8/2010 PM)
133. The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan (9/8/2010 AM)
134. Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt (10/8/2010 AM)
135. The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith (12/8/2010 AM)
136. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (13/8/2010 AM)
137. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (14/8/2010 AM)
138. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (17/8/2010 PM)
139. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (18/8/2010 PM)
140. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (23/8/2010 AM)
141. Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow (26/8/2010 AM)
142. Mockingjay by Suzanna Collins (27/8/2010 AM)
143. I'd Tell you I love you, but then I'd have to Kill you by Ally Carter (29/8/2010 AM)



This Month I have got quite a few reviews done although I still think that I could increase the number that I write if I plan things properly i.e. make a template for the review when I start reading the book and try to write it as soon after completion as I can, that way I may actually be able to review three-quarters of what I read.


Reviews
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
By Midnight by Mia James
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma


Miscellaneous
In other news I had a splendid time last week book shopping with my best friend and fellow blogger Jess of Jess Hearts Books, we drove up to Derbyshire to visit our good friend and fellow blogger Ellie of Musings of a Bookshop Girl. We came back with far more books than we may have intended but since some of them were from swapping amongst ourselves from piles of books weeded out of our collections, I reckon it's alright. 
Day 1 of the Road Trip is Here
Day 2 of the Road Trip is Here
I was rather daft and didn't actually take any proper photos while I was with Jess and Ellie so I apologise and next time we meet up I promise to document the trip more thoroughly :P

The Month to Come
Well this may be a busier month than I'm expecting since although my University classes don't actually start until early October I'm going to move into my flat two weeks early in the hopes of getting some work done to refresh my memory of the last year and maybe, possibly, god-I-Hope-so get myself to a point where the workload of this year won't completely overwhelm me. Here's to good intentions *raises glass*
I don't quite know where my reading will go this month but I want to read more of my own books since I have 150+ on my TBR pile so I need to buy less and read more :P *snort* Is it possible that I can limit my book purchases for the month of September to 10? for purely must-have books i.e. Spy Glass and some others that I can't remember.
In terms of what's happening on the blog this month, who the bloody hell knows? I have plans for some posts supposed to go up later this week but depending on how long they take me to type up I may only manage one before I go off the grid while I'm in London. I'll do a post (or several perhaps) about my trip with the darling bf and show off some photos of our adventures round some awesome museums and with any luck massive bookstores :P

So goodbye August, I'm sure you were supposed to be summery but Gods knows you failed miserably. I've got faith that September will be better both in respect to weather and books - with the haul I'm going to have waiting for me when I get home on Sunday I've got *plenty* of awesome books to tide me over to the start of Uni.

See Y'all Soon Folks
LadyV

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