Oct 25, 2012

What's Next? #16

What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.

Every Thursday, select 3-5 books (not too many, not too little!) that you want to read but can't decide which one to read first.
Post the cover, and if you want, the synopsis or even a random line from the book, for each of your selections.
At the end of your post, ask readers to vote on which one you should read next!

Even if you don't end up reading your readers' top choice, you'll know what the majority is excited for.
For more info, visit the introduction post HERE!

To participate, go HERE!


My picks this week are:



Like Moonlight at Low Tide by Nicole Quigley


 
For Missy Keiser, returning to Anna Maria Island, Florida, means two things: her mother made another poor decision with men, and Missy will have to reenter a world where she’s known as “Messy,” a social pariah who dared to have a crush on Sam King, the most popular boy in school.

But much has changed in the three years she’s been away. Missy’s next-door neighbor is no longer an elderly woman but Josh, an intriguing boy who seems genuinely interested in her. At school, she’s surprised to find few people remember who she once was. And any remaining taunts of Messy are silenced when Sam King gives her his nod of approval.

Just as things seem to be perfect, Josh’s sudden distance, her mother’s latest relationship implosion, and her brother’s strange behavior threaten to ruin it all. Missy is forced to decide between the boy she’s always wanted, a boy who is intent on trying to save her, and the brother she’s known all her life. And her decision could have consequences she can never undo.
 


The Blue Door (Threshold #1) by Christa Kinde


The summer promises to be hot and boring for Priscilla “Prissie” Pomeroy, the fourteen-year-old heroine in book one of Christa Kinde’s angelic Threshold series, The Blue Door.
Prissie’s friend is miles away and has been acting strange, her five brothers are rowdier than ever, and the highlight of her day is getting the mail from her long-time friend, Milo, who has recently started stirring some rather strange emotions within her.
But everything changes one day when she makes her way to the mailbox and comes across a young boy sitting in a tree, watching her. What he reveals turns Prissie’s world around in this new supernatural series involving angels, demons, spiritual warfare, and a strange door.
Prissie discovers she can see angels, beginning with Koki, a young Observer directed by God to watch over her. Milo the mailman is another angel who’s protecting her, which quickly changes how she feels about him. Why does she need protection? And how is she suddenly able to see angels everywhere?
She soon learns she can also see Thresholds, like the Blue Door, which lead to places she never imagined.
How can she see what others can’t? Is her sight a blessing, or something else? As Prissie wrestles with her newfound abilities, she longs for the days when life was less complicated. Will the angels be able to help her navigate her new circumstances?
Kinde offers young readers a sense of hope by delicately penning a mystical yet grounded read that will open their hearts. YA lovers will especially love the twists, turns, and suspense of an ominous battle brewing.
A gripping debut, The Blue Door will capture readers’ imaginations from page one.


Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan


Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
 
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown - in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

So, what do you think, which one of these novels I should read next?

Have you read any of these & did you enjoy it?

Leave me a comment & help me decide!

Oct 24, 2012

"Waiting On" Wednesday #93: Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
 
 
 
 
Princess of the Silver Woods
(Princess, #3) 
by
Jessica Day George

Publication date:
December 11th, 2012


When Petunia, the youngest of King Gregor's twelve dancing daughters, is invited to visit an elderly friend in the neighboring country of Westfalin, she welcomes the change of scenery. But in order to reach Westfalin, Petunia must pass through a forest where strange two-legged wolves are rumored to exist. Wolves intent on redistributing the wealth of the noble citizens who have entered their territory. But the bandit-wolves prove more rakishly handsome than truly dangerous, and it's not until Petunia reaches her destination that she realizes the kindly grandmother she has been summoned to visit is really an enemy bent on restoring an age-old curse. 

The stories of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood get a twist as Petunia and her many sisters take on bandits, grannies, and the new King Under Stone to end their family curse once and for all.

Oct 23, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books to Get into the Halloween Spirit!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists.
Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

So, My Top Ten Books/Series to Get into the Halloween Spirit (in no particular order) are:



So, why these books? 
First of all, all of these are some of my fav books/series. 
The Prince of Mist - because I definitely wouldn't want to meet him, the same goes for the Crooked Man in The Book of Lost Things, and because most of the fairy tale retellings in this book are actually quite horror-like. 
Scarlett Dedd & The Gates are actually funny books, but they happen for Halloween & are fun Haloween reads, one with the devil & demons, the other one with ghosts. 
The Light, The Monstrumologist, The Graveyard Book & The Tales of Terror series - perfect for Halloween (I'm actually re-reading The Graveyard Book right now, then I'm planning to re-read The Light). 
The Restorer because it was so creepy (still haven't read the sequels) & City of Ghosts, actually the whole Downside Ghosts series, because yeah, it's full of ghosts ;)

Teaser Tuesdays #61!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"One grave in every graveyard belongs to the ghouls. Wander any graveyard long enough and you will find it - waterstained and bulging, with cracked or broken stone, scraggly grass or rank weeds about it, and a feeling, when you reach it, of abandonment."

Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon: Wrap Up Post!


The Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon was hosted by Debz @ Debz Bookshelf.
 
Although I started reading a day late, I still managed to read 5 fairy tale retellings.
 
I read the following books:
 
 
Is it possible to choose a most fav read? No, because I loved all of these, and I highly recommend them all!
 
I also participated in 4 of the mini challenges.
 
And I also decided to read some of the original fairy tales that I encountered, and I did, so it was great to remind myself of them, it's been so long :) I read at least 20 of them, from which only a few I've never even heard about, the rest were re-reads, and yeah, they were all at least mentioned or part of the retellings I read :)
 
So, that's about it!
 
One big THANK YOU to Debz for hosting this read-a-thon!

Oct 18, 2012

What's Next? #15

What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.

Every Thursday, select 3-5 books (not too many, not too little!) that you want to read but can't decide which one to read first.
Post the cover, and if you want, the synopsis or even a random line from the book, for each of your selections.
At the end of your post, ask readers to vote on which one you should read next!

Even if you don't end up reading your readers' top choice, you'll know what the majority is excited for.
For more info, visit the introduction post HERE!

To participate, go HERE!


My picks this week are:


A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce



This winner of the William C. Morris Award for best YA debut novel is a ghost story, spun with a romance, woven with a mystery, and shot through with fairy tale.

The gold thread promises Charlotte Miller a chance to save her family's beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, jobs for her townsfolk, security against her grasping uncle -- maybe even true love.
To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past -- secrets ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte's mill, her family, her love -- what do those matter to a stranger who can spin straw into gold?
 

This is an award-winning and wholly original retelling of Rumplestiltskin.

 

Reckless (Reckless #1) by Cornelia Funke


Through a mirror...is a dangerous world.

For years, Jacob Reckless has enjoyed its secrets and treasures.

Not any more.

His younger brother has followed him.

Now dark magic will turn the boy to beast, break the heart of the girl he loves, and cause chaos to rule forever...

Unless Jacob can find a way to save them.

You thought you knew fairy tales? Think again.


The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

 
High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own - populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things. 
 
Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

So, from yesterday, there's a Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon going on (you can still sign up if you want to) and of course I need to read fairy tale retellings, and although I already chose the book I'll start with, which one of these should I read first after I finish that one?

Just leave me a comment & help me decide!

Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon: Start & Updates Post!


The Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon is hosted by Debz @ Debz Bookshelf.

The goal of this read-a-thon is of course to read fairy tales & fairy tale retellings.

The read-a-thon started yesterday & lasts until Monday October 22nd.

To sign up, visit the sign up post HERE or the latest posts HERE.

So, yeah, I'm a little late joining the party. I just haven't been up to reading or blogging this month, no idea why, and thought I'll try to read at least one book, since I've already signed up, but going through my books choosing what to read, I actually got in a reading mood, so yeah, I think this is what I've need it :)


My Reading List:



So, I know I won't read all of these, but I need to have options ;) I'll actually start with A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz, and my goal is to read at least 3 books. I decided not to count pages, I'll just update this post below with what I've read.

HAPPY READING EVERYONE!!!


My Read-a-Thon Stats:


Books read: 3

Original Fairy Tales read: 11+

Mini Challenges participated in: 3 

Update #1:


I read A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz - I loved it, it was so much fun, and it made me wish I had In A Glass Grimmly, too, so I could've devoured it right away :) Now I need to decide what to read tomorrow :)

I also read a few of the original Grimm fairy tales: Faithful Johannes, Hansel and Gretel, The Seven Ravens, Little Brother and Little Sister, The Robber Bridegroom and The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs. I wasn't planning to read any of these, but after I read A Tale Dark & Grimm, I decided to remind myself to the main fairy tales used in it, although there were elements from a few others as well, and thankfully they can be read online for free ;) 

So, I decided to continue reading some of the originals as well, as I meet them in the books I read for the read-a-thon, so I decided to count them, too, after all, they're short & easy reads, and it's great to be reminded of them, and I also read a few new ones, too ;) After all, I haven't read all of them! 

I also participated in the two mini challenges.

Update #2:


I read Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George, and of course I loved it :)

Now I'm reading:


 I know, once more I strayed from my reading list lol, I'm just not good at sticking to my reading plans!

I also read 4 more Grimm fairy tales: two quite similar, but slightly different versions of Cinderella (one was called Ashputtel), The Twelve Dancing Princesses & Little Red-Cap (which is of course Little Red Riding Hood).

 I also did today's (Saturday) mini challenge: I took the Fairy Tale Personality Character Quiz and...


Update #3:


I finished yesterday Ella Enchanted (I absolutely loved it so much), and now I'm reading:


I know, I was actually thinking about putting Ice & Ella Enchanted on my list, but didn't because I was planning to read from the books above, but changed my mind once again :) As I said, I'm not good at keeping to my reading plans, I'm such a moody reader :D And I love Ice  so far - after all it's a retelling of one of my most fav fairy tales!

I did read a few more original fairy tales, one of them was Beauty & the Beast, but I decided to stop counting them any more, especially after reading a really silly version of Cinderella (I know - 3 versions of Cinderella, what I was thinking, although the other 2 were great & original), but I am planning to read again both East of the Sun, West of the Moon, as well as the version I love even more White-Bear-King-Valemon.