Saturday, January 22, 2011

Buying Book Ban

This was brought up by Lady Violet and I feel the need to jump in on this one, as the cost of e-books and regular physical books can easily add up to $100. before you know it.  While I have authors I still love I have so many in my tbr pile it's ridiculous.  So I am going to try not to spend any money in February in the hopes that I can read books I have like oh The Hunger Games still, I know I'm bad but new books always pop up.  So we shall see what February brings.

Why am I taking this break you ask?
Simple enough I've got 4 kids, hellish winter weather and can't see having ups showing up in 27 1/2 inches of snow  and  ice and other icky weather to break their neck to send me the next greatest read.  So any recommendations will be considered in the spring when I hope the weather vacates.  

Anyone interested here's my question...What would cause you to take a book buying ban or book buying break?  Does the money influence it or is it something else?  Feel free to comment below.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Bouncing Around The Blogs #8

Bounce Around The Blogs

Bouncing Around The Blogs is something I am creating for another Blog Hop. While most of them are really huge I'm hoping to make this one hop to just as much so feel free to check it out and sign in with the mister linky.
The rules are simple and fun for all:

1. Sign up with linky.
2. Check out other blogs.
3. Friending others is not a requirement it is to your discretion of course, which ever blogs you happen across take them time to comment that you stopped through.
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Kindle Books #1

While it is snowing like no tomorrow outside I am spending my time adding to my kindle collection. So I thought I'd share with everyone the books I got:

Need by: Carrie Jones
Kindle Format
Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.

She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.

In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you'd have to fear.

Her Last Letter by: Nancy C. Johnson
Kindle Format

In the Colorado mountain town of Glenwood Springs, not far from Aspen, artist/photographer Gwyn Sanders discovers a cryptic letter her sister Kelly left behind. The victim of a deadly hit and run, Kelly reveals she was sexually involved with her sister's boyfriend and is scared for her life. Both Gwyn and her remaining sister Linda have since married their boyfriends, so either could be guilty of murder. The sisters received a large inheritance before meeting these men, and know little of either man's background. Worse, both Gwyn and Linda love their husbands deeply, but steps must be taken to find the truth. And the truth is complicated. Is it one of the two men, or another previous lover? Or none of them? Danger abounds and everyone is a suspect as Gwyn tries with the help of a gifted private detective to track a killer

My Sister's Keeper by: Bill Benners
Kindle Format

Somebody is snatching the little girls of Wilmington, North Carolina, videotaping their rape, then tossing them in the Cape Fear River to drown. But when Richard Baimbridge's sister Martha is brutally attacked and left in a wheelchair while investigating these rapes for a newspaper, Richard rushes back to his coastal hometown to assist with her recovery only to be drawn by her into the dark underside of this quiet coastal community where he comes face to face with his tormented past and a dark family secret. My Sister's Keeper is a riveting suspense thriller that not only explores the special bond between a brother and a sister, but holds you in spellbinding suspense as it carries Richard through romance, action, and overwhelming terror. Come along if you dare.


When Justice Steps Out by: Cooper Sterling
Kindle Format

A Vigilante steps in when justice steps out…
There’s a serial killer loose in Cranberry County – trouble is, no one seems to care.
As the number of murdered pedophiles grows, single mother Detective Molly O’Brien is secretly pleased - but her partner Jake, follows the letter of the law, and is ruthless in his pursuit to find the vigilante. Enter FBI agent Luke Foreman who carries his own secrets, a bumbling detective who is compromising crime scenes, a hyperactive Chippendale Dancer who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and worries he’s a suspect, and a gun found by Molly in her best friends closet that matches the one used in the crimes.
**This book does not contain explicit violence and if it were turned into a movie, it would probably garner a PG rating.
Not as serious as a Grisham novel – nor as humorous as Janet Evanovich – it is somewhere in between.
Proceeds of this book will be donated to organizations that help children who have been the victims of violent crimes.

Thirteen Diamonds by: Alan Cook
Kindle Format

Lillian Morgan is bored with life in a retirement community, but she gets more excitement than she hoped for when a fellow resident drops dead at the bridge table--while holding a perfect hand of thirteen diamonds. Intrigued by the astronomical odds against this happening, she uses her mathematical background plus assistance from her beautiful granddaughter and friends to prove that a murder was committed--but not everybody wants her to find the murderer.

Catch a Falling Knife by: Alan Cook 
Kindle Format

When her granddaughter’s boyfriend, Mark, is accused of sexual harassment soon after starting a teaching job at a small college, Lillian Morgan tries to help him and finds that the "harassment policy from hell "could end his career. Then a student is murdered and Mark becomes the chief suspect. While attempting to clear Mark, Lillian forms an unlikely alliance with the owner of a strip club and finds that life on campus isn’t what it used to be.

Deadly Gamble by: Connie Shelton
Kindle Format

Charlie doesn't want to be an investigator. She's simply the accountant for her brother's private investigation firm. When it turns out that Charlie's best friend Stacy has been seeing a man besides her boyfriend, and that man is found murdered, things really heat up. Stacy is accused of the murder, and Charlie feels she must try to find the real killer.

Coffee Clutch by: Marshall Thorton
Kindle Format


In the first Jan Birch mystery, a sixties homemaker maintains a tight circle of friends in her Upstate New York suburban neighborhood. When the divorcée down the street is murdered, the women attribute her death to a hobo they’d seen months before. Quickly, though, Jan begins to suspect that the hobo had left the neighborhood long before and the murderer may be one of her dear friends.




Identity Crisis by: Debbi Mack 
Kindle Format


A simple domestic abuse case turns deadly when the alleged abuser is killed and Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae’s client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into a complex case of murder and identity theft that has her running from the Mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with an offbeat private investigator to discover the truth about Melanie and her ex-boyfriend.

With her career and life on the line, Sam’s search takes her from the blue-collar Baltimore suburbs to the mansions of Gibson Island. Along the way, she learns that false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives.



The Obituary Murders by: E.N.J. Crockett
Kindle Format


Former police officer, turned actor, is blamed for murder of famous teaching coach, and goes on the run to solve case.


Final Passage by: Timothy Frost
Kindle Format


When Martin Lancaster was eighteen, his father was mysteriously lost at sea during a yacht race. Years later Martin discovers long-lost logbooks in his mother's attic and vows to find out the truth. But he meets implacable resistance from family, business colleagues and officials, who seem prepared to stop at nothing to prevent him discovering what really happened all those years ago.


The Abigail Affair by: Timothy Frost
Kindle Format


Toby Robinson is 22 and broke. He lands a job as junior steward on a Russian oligarch's yacht in the Caribbean and feels his luck is about to change. It is, but not in the way Toby hoped. On his first night aboard he is framed for a brutal murder. Armed only with a winning smile and a flair for mixing cocktails, can Toby clear his name, stay alive " and foil a sinister international conspiracy?


Live Free or Die by: Jessie Crockett
Kindle Format


Life in tiny Winslow Falls, New Hampshire, is pretty darned good-until an arsonist decides to ruin everyone's Christmas. The way volunteer fire chief and local postmistress Gwen Fifield sees it, her life in rural New Hampshire is as good as it can be. Sure, she's gained twenty pounds, and her property taxes have skyrocketed, but her basement didn't flood this year, and the general store started delivering pizza. All things considered, Gwen's got no complaints ... that is, until she finds a body sizzled like a sausage in the smoldering remains of the Winslow Falls museum. When an artifact is traced to an immigrant family, most local residents are quick to blame the outsiders. But clues from the past convince Gwen that the town she's always trusted is harboring a home-grown murderer.


What made these great finds is none of these books alone cost 5.00 they were all under.  Which I thought was great in itself.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

City of Ashes by: Cassandra Clare Review

As readers of series starter City of Bones already know, teenager Clary Fray is a Shadowhunter, a demon slayer who has the gift of spotting Downworlder werewolves, vampires, and faeries. She is also an adolescent in an abnormally dysfunctional family: Her mom is in a magically induced coma and her father is probably insane and undoubtedly evil. All of which places Clary in situations that would challenge even the most talented average American girl.

My Review: 
I love the Mortal Instruments and my enjoyment gets better with each book.  In the sequel to City of Bones we learn more about Valentine and his plan for domination.  We also learn more about all of the characters and the good and bad and which side people lay on.  I thoroughly enjoy this series and am never disappointed with them.  Cassandra Clare's writing just seems to get better each time I read something of hers.  Definitely a book I couldn't put down I read it while I was in the hospital.  I actually called my boyfriend to have him bring it to me to continue reading while I was laid up.  A 5 cup book as I couldn't put it down.  Can't wait to read City of Glass.
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The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Review

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

My Review: 

I enjoyed this book with Percy being a guy in a major role as opposed to girls being in the major butt kicking roles.  I think the author hit on a  series not being done with Greek Mythology being used like this.  I enjoyed reading about the rivalry between Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.  I am eager to see how this series progresses.  I rate this book a 5 cup book and can't wait to read more.
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Monday, January 10, 2011

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard Book Review

Everyone has something to hide—especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna.
Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful.
But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.
How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and all the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling.

My Review: 

This book was great.  I really enjoyed the torment caused by A to the girls and it shows how deadly secrets can be.  I can most attach myself to Aria.  I'm far from the overachiever that Spencer Hastings is or the it girl that Hanna is.  I thought this book was great, as they got to find out what happened to Alison a year ago.  While it didn't tell you who did it, it did sink it's claws into you begging you for more.  Atleast that is what it did for me.  I was so hooked once I started it I couldn't stop.  And now I'm dying to figure out who killed Alison and who A really is.  My inital hooking off this began while I was in the hospital with nothing to do but watch tv and saw some of the marathon on ABC Family last Monday when I got home I picked up my copy of PLL and began reading, and didn't stop until it was over.  I rate this book a 5 cup book.  I found myself craving more of Rosewood and the girls.  On to Flawless.


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Sunday, January 9, 2011

New World Order Type Books

Now I know authors are branching out and doing the New World Order type books. Matched is a good example so isn't The Hunger Games. My question is, is that the era we are walking into where these books are what sells?  I still look for a good story line, whether it be action, romance or otherwise.  But I am wondering if the reason they do so well is the whole Society tells you what to do, so it seems simpler, or is it something more?  I generally vere away from books that are political as I hate when the two cross paths I think it takes away from a book if it's too political.  So what are your thoughts on this?  

Trying to branch out and not do just reviews but opinions on things as well.

It's Monday what are you reading? #12

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

Finished Reading:
Awakened by: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Pretty Little Liars by: Sara Shepard
City of Ashes by: Cassandra Clare

Currently Reading:
Rotten to the Core by: Sheila Connolly
Flawless by: Sara Shepard
Matched by: Ally Condie
Stealing Lumby by: Gail Fraser

Up Next:
City of Glass by: Cassandra Clare
The Secret Hour by: Luanne Rice
The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins (this one keeps winding up on a tbr pile)
Witch and Wizard: The Gift by: James Patterson
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Awakened by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast Review

Awakened picks up where Burned ended.  Zoey has returned from the otherworld as has Stark, her Warrior/Guardian, along with them is Kalona, who finds his world turned upside down by Neferet.  Neferet has decided to make Kalona her slave so to speak.  Zoey and Stark are very much changed by the Otherwold experience.  And Stevie Rae is dealing with the Raven Mocker she saved.  While evil things are still a foot lines are drawn at the Tulsa House of Night.  How much can the house suffer.

My Review: 
This book was great in many ways and in some ways I feel Neferet's evil is being drawn out.  I have a feeling the Casts won't get rid of Neferet until the last book.  Which does have me still eager for the next story.  I'm hoping for some resolve and a break for the fledglings.  How much can they indure?  Zoey has already shown she needs a break.  I think what happened in the Otherworld was a precursor to how much the 'nerd herd' has suffered.  And for some reason I want to shout at the adult Vampyre's for not listening to the children.  They seem to have a big clue as to what is happening.  For once I was happy to see Zoey wasn't attached to so many men, just one.  It's nice for her to some what settle into a relationship instead of mass juggling.  I rate this a four cup book as I'm sick of Neferet and the fact she isn't getting dealt with and banished. 


If you read this book what did you think?
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Saturday, January 8, 2011

Friday, January 7, 2011

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare Book Review



Clockwork Angel Description off Goodreads:
Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life
at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

What a great book, I enjoyed this book. For me it took a bit to take off first you find yourself dealing with the Dark Sisters wondering if Tessa will be able to break free of them and their reign on her. Then you find yourself meeting the different characters at the London Institute. The hardest part I had was remembering that this isn't the Mortal Instruments. While I noticed a few age period eras. One was while Nate is recovering and Jessamine Lovelace is sitting with him. She talks to Nate after hearing that talking to people in comas which is good for them. I don't think this was discovered for many years to come. But otherwise it was a great book and story and personally I'm torn between which leading man I would see Tessa with they both have great personality's. Definitely a 4 cup book. My problems with it lay with the speed in which the story progesses rather slowly. Seemed to take forever for the story to pick up and once it did you find yourself at the end. Go Figure :)
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