Thursday, May 30, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday: Let's Party

Parajunkee Alison Can Read


FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back


Q: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

I can't choose, everyone loves books so much that it seems like a better idea to have a big FF Bash!! Margaritas are on me. 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Review: The Host



Never though I'd laugh at a kissing scene, but I guess there's always a first. 

Meyer did it again for me. She captivated my attention by twisting the concept of what an "alien" is supposed to be --  three fingered, controlling us with their minds and probing us at every opportune occasion -- Wanderer is nothing of the sort. She doesn't want to control her host or hurt her in any way, even if it means putting them both at great risk.  

The Host is definitely more character base than the cover lets on, as for the most part, the characters are secluded in a cave. The perfect setting for romance and confrontation. 

Love is stronger than fear. So dive in, don't be afraid of the length.










The Host DVD Release is 
scheduled for  July 9th 2013


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Traveling in a BookCase




TOP FAVORITE BOOKS THAT TOOK ME AWAY


New Moon: Thanks to Edward's suicide attempt, we got to visit Italy. Not long enough to enjoy a pizza, but hey, a trip is a trip.
Twenty Boy Summer: The girls spent a summer in Zanzibar, enjoying the beach and meeting up boys. 







Blood Promise: Setting off to Russia to kill the man you love doesn't sound much like a vacation. Still...a trip is a trip.







Die For Me: Hello Paris. City of lights, of love.. Hmm, my kind of city. 








Meant to Be: We get to visit museums, sleep in small hotel rooms and enjoy fish and chips. Yummy. 







Heart and Salsa: Haven't read many books from this S.A.S.S (Students across the seas) series, but I do love the way they all take place in different countries. 

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Review: American Born Chinese


Coming from a mixed background, I often felt closer to one over the other and resented when people said: "but you are both." Why couldn't I chose who I wanted to be? 

In American Born Chinese, we meet Jin Wang, a chinese boy who doesn't want to be considered anything else but American. Kids are cruel to him and his Asian friends, and I don't blame him for not feeling safe in his skin. But the best thing about growing up is learning how to love yourself for who you are. Will Jin Wang learn this lesson before it's too late?

The story was very well paced, overlapping the three unrelated characters without drowning us with too much information.  The dialogue felt real, even in the case of Chin-Kee, whom Gene Luen Yang portrayed as the ultimate Chinese stereotype. Chin-Kee didn't make us laugh of mockery but rather feel for him every time his cousin Danny shuddered at his presence. 

So in case you are feeling like you need to erase your cultural background remember that: "It's easy to become anything you wish ... so long as you are willing to forfeit your soul."





Also by Luen Yang





Caught my arrow # 16

Caught my Arrow is a meme similar to In my mailbox and  Stalking the Shelves featuring books that were purchased, borrowed or received that week.


I'm up for some tragic reads this week. Lots of tissues.

I borrowed Shine from the library



Plus received a copie of The S-Word and Promise Me Something from Netgalley


What are you reading this week?

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday: Happy Birthday

Parajunkee Alison Can Read


FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back


Q: The FF is 150 weeks old! And we want to hear from you! What would you change about the hop? What do you like about it? Or just suggest a question to be used for next week! 

Think, think, think...

At the risk of sounding decaffeinated, I wouldn't change anything. The questions are never redundant, and the bloggers who participate do follow back. I've never seen such a great meme community.

Here's to 150 weeks and many more to come.

Suggest a question: What love triangle drove you crazy, turning the pages at the speed of light?


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Review: Crash


Final Destination meets Romeo and Juliet in Lisa Mcmann's Crash, but fails to rival either story. 

The book opens with Jules having a vision of her crush, Sawyer Angotti, getting killed in a restaurant explosion. Then, she has it again. And again. And again....

The first half dragged with her unable to tell Sawyer or even admitting to herself that what she was seeing, was real. Partly because of the mental illness history in her family, and partly because she likes him. No girl wants to look foolish in front of mister right. I get that.

But half into the book, we were still being fed the same dialogue.  And to make matters worse, Mcmann's uses incomprehensible swear words, limiting the love story to a PG10 rating. 


Hopefully, the sequel will provide us with a bigger climax.  





Also by Lisa McMann

Dead to You

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Coverlicious





TOP TEN FAVORITE COVERS OF BOOKS I'VE READ


Eye candy, creative, seductive and sometimes completely abstract. Here are my favorites covers:







Monday, May 20, 2013

Caught my arrow # 15


Caught my Arrow is a meme similar to In my mailbox and  Stalking the Shelves featuring books that were purchased, borrowed or received that week.


Three day weekend!! The weather has been kind of lousy today, and so I found some time to lounge and pick up one of these selections.


I borrowed Scarlet and My Beautiful Failure from the library


And purchased a copy of Illegal


What are you reading this week?

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Review: Point of Retreat


When things get hot and heavy between Will and Lake they call out a point of retreat. Is it effective? Yes. Even though they both promised Lake's mom before she died of cancer not to have sex for a year (a long, whole year), I believe, were she still alive, she'd be as surprised as me that they followed through.

The truth is true love reigns between Will and Lake. They are open with each other, sharing their ups and downs everyday. But when Will's ex-girlfriend makes a reappearance to claim him back, things between them start to go sour. 

Having Will narrate the book is a lovely surprise. His voice is more mature than Lake's. Not to mention more romantic. It was important to be in his head to see how his ex girlfriend's presence affects him. Colleen Hoover might not have included as much poetry as she did in Slammed, but it's filled with enough tears and romance to make any reader hug whoever is nearby. Just make sure to call out a point of retreat if things get too hot. 





Don't miss Slammed, the first book in the series


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Funny and Refreshing: Meet A.J. York





I'm delighted to be receiving author A. J. York today to promote her new dust free novel, Delilah Dusticle.






Delilah Dusticle has special powers; she can completely eradicate dust. With her quiver pouch of special dusters, Delilah can run up walls and reach places others just can’t. As a maid in the Fenchurch-Whittington house, Delilah’s unusual skills soon get her promoted to Chief Dust Eradicator and Remover. Until one day a broken heart leads to her powers taking an expected turn. 

**Free this weekend only on Amazon. Download your copy by clicking on the link below**


                   Find it on Amazon                                               Find it on Goodreads 


Hi A.J, thank you for being with us. Please do tell, what inspired you to write this book?


Well, the inspiration came after a series of events. We moved to Gothenburg, Sweden two years ago as my partner had been offered a job at an international school. Up until then we had been living in the UK. My mother is Swedish and I was born in Gothenburg, so I was delighted to have the chance to live there. I did some work at an English speaking theatre and some teaching, but I soon realised that I wanted to run my own creative venture, rather than work on someone else’s. I had just finished a Masters in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths University of London and had previously worked as a project manager, so I was confident I had the skills. I just didn’t have a project to work on.

During this time we had been renting a flat in the centre of Gothenburg. The building was built in the early 1900s and was stuffed full of lovely old features. The flat also had a room off the kitchen where originally the maid would have slept. We were due to move out and we were doing a final clean in a room that had floor to ceiling bookcases filled with books. I am rubbish at dusting and more dust fell on me than on the duster. To top it all I then managed to break the hoover. I sat against the bookcase a bit sweaty and fed up with the duster in my hand. I then started to wonder about the maid who used to work there all those years ago. I thought about what she would have been like and that she must have had some special skills for eradicating dust. Over the coming days Delilah’s character and story began to develop in my mind and I felt compelled to write it down. It didn’t occur to me straight away that I had got my wish and that I had just started my own creative endeavour.


Did you listen to specific songs while writing?


I am one of those people who needs quiet to concentrate, so I guess I was listening to the sound of silence. It does stick out in my mind that I was listening to BBC radio via the internet around that time and they often played “Somebody that I used to know” by Goyte.



Any advice for aspiring writers?


I still feel like an aspiring writer myself, learning something new every day and working hard to improve my writing. One thing I did as a part of my initial research was to look at one or two star reviews of other books to gage what not to do. The most common criticisms were underdeveloped characters, rehashed stories, poor grammar and punctuation. This may seem obvious, but there are a lot of books with low reviews, so it must be a trap indie authors easily fall into. I looked long and hard at my strengths and weaknesses. I have a strong drama background that helps when it comes to developing stories and coming up with ideas, but my grammar can be my weakness.  I was very lucky that a good friend and highly skilled journalist Anna Davidson edited the book for me. The artwork is also really important and my partner Gavin Childs, who is also an artist, designed the cover. 
I can only draw stick men and smiley faces :0)


What are you working on now -- or would you rather surprise us?


I am working on the sequel, which is full of surprises.It is called Delilah Dusticle’s Transylvanian Adventure and is full of funny twists and turns. It is a book for young people, but I believe adults will delight in it too. 



Make sure you stop by A.J. York's Blog to meet her writing mascot Grumpy Stone . You can also find A.J. on:

Facebook

Twitter


Thank you for being with us A.J, and good luck on all your future projects.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday: Summer is Magic

Parajunkee Alison Can Read



FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY

Once you answer be sure to leave me your link so I can follow you back



Q: School is out! What is your favorite summer reading book? 

My definition of summer is: laughter and margaritas. Add a hot tub/pool to that and you get heaven, just like this little wonder called Ten Things we did and probably shouldn't have by Sarah Mlynowski.

It's light, it's funny and talks about parties, rooming with your best friend, and dealing with a love triangle. Important things to learn during the summertime.






Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children


The peculiar thing about this book is that it's presented as a horror, when it's actually a fantasy. Putting that deception aside, we discover a well meaning character, Jacob, who after witnessing his grand-father's murder, must accept that maybe, just maybe Gramps stories about bizarre children were true. 

The middle is slow paced as he mourns his grand-father and then sets off to meet all the children -- Emma in particular -- and enter their eerie world. Jacob is an intrepid boy, who proves to be just as brave as his grand-father. Also just as bizarre. Does he belong with the children?

National Geographic
Peregrine, National Geographic

With the open ending, the question whether we'll have a second book kept eating at me. But alas, Ransom Riggs has confirmed on Twitter that there will be a sequel. If I happen to see a peregrine flying around, I'll be sure to ask when. 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Don't Cry But We do





TOP TEN BOOKS DEALING WITH TOUGH SUBJECTS


These types of books are heavy, which is strange because most of them have very few pages, and yet manage to bring us to tears. Here is my top ten:


Suicide





Illness

     


Sexual Abuse

     


Family Issues

              


Bullying

    




Sunday, May 12, 2013

Caught my arrow # 14


Caught my Arrow is a meme similar to In my mailbox and  Stalking the Shelves featuring books that were purchased, borrowed or received that week.


I'm happy to announce that I am finally reading The Host. About time too. I thought I should do this before the DVD came out.

 

I also borrowed Boundless and Meant To Be from the library. 


What are you reading this week?