Blog Move.

I've created a new blog on Wordpress, and I'd like you all to follow me there. It's still all about reviews and books and bookish things.

http://raindropsandpages.wordpress.com

See you there!

Book Blogging Challenge Day Seven.

My blogging quirks.... I really have to fight the urge to put smiley faces in everything, or avoid the abuse of the exclamation point. It's seriously my favorite punctuation mark. I mean is that really a thing? I like to follow a format when I blog, especially while doing reviews. I tend to get a little lost when I have to sit down and just write about something, for example; a post like this one. I don't really think I have a lot of quirks. I try to keep the genres of books split up a little bit so there's not a solid wall of science fiction, or erotica--but as a reader I go on genre binges and read all of the books that I possibly can when I get in the mood for a certain subject. I like to link all the reviews together if I'm reviewing a series so in theory people can follow along with each book. I like to ramble when I talk about books so I try to edit myself down so I'm not going on for pages and pages about a certain book, but sometimes that's really hard to do.

So what are some of your quirks as readers?

Book Review: Strong Blood by Dale Ibitz.

Synopsis:
The war between nature's gods continues to rage on Eyidora and Haley, descendant of the Air Eyid, struggles with her own battles.

She's mired in a battle with Ian, the Fire Eyid descendant, over the lost Eyid stones. She needs the stones to stop the war, and he needs the stones to destroy Eyidora. She knows where the Land Eyid stone is hidden, and she races to Tamoor to find it before Ian does.

Haley still doesn't trust Tuggin, the stone-faced Eyidoran assigned to protect her. As a Menta witch, he's adept at lying, mind-control, and killing. Even though Haley is starting to believe that Tuggin may be serving more than one master, she continues to battle her feelings for him, never sure which duty he feels most inclined to serve.

But Haley's biggest battle of all comes when she meets Luke and Telsa, twins with undeniable strength. Haley invites them to join her on her mission to find the Land Eyid stone. Has she put her trust in someone who may be just as dark and dangerous as Ian, the descendant of Fire himself?

The Nerd's Ramble: In the second instillation of the Last Moon Rising Series, we find Hadley, Elana, and Tuggin still tangled up together in a twisted "should they be or shouldn't they be trusted" plot string. I like that no one really seems to be who they say they are in this series. Here we're also introduced to a second set of twins, Luke and Telsa who also apparently have secondary motives.

There's a lot more story in this book. We get history about the war and some of the things that are driving the story along. We get more character definition and learn more about a couple character's motivations. I really love the interaction between Tuggin and Hadley and the relationship that is building between them. Hadley gets more development, not only on a personal level, but grows with abilities. She and Ian are well matched as antagonist/protagonists go, and I'm really liking where this story is heading.

The major encounter between Hadley and Ian is very interesting. A few secrets are revealed, a couple of characters come clean about their actions, and betrayal rocks the rag-tag group of teens. Personally I feel that this book is a bit stronger than the first book, but I still want more. I'm one of those people who like longer books and in a way I almost feel that Book one and two could have been combined. I'm looking forward to book three.

Review of Book #1-- Fire In The Blood

Rating: ★★★★☆
Total Length: 260 pages
Available Format: All formats
Publication Date: October 1, 2012 (Createspace)
Author's Page: Dale Ibitz on Goodreads
Disclosure: I won Fire in the Blood through a contest. The author generously sent me Strong Blood. I am not compensated, nor am I influenced in any way for this review.

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day Six.

Day six: Describe How You Shop for Books.


I'll admit it. I'm a cover person. When I'm in Barnes & Noble I tend to wander the aisles and pick up books that draw me in with the cover art. I tend to wander down the main aisle, and check out all the books on the 'buy two get one free' tables, or the 'New Arrivals' tables before making my way over to the science fiction and fantasy area of the store. I will spend hours here if left unchecked. I look at covers, then read the back blurb, and often end up with a pile of books before too long. I'll go look over at YA section on occasion, before making my way over to the manga section and ending up in the sale racks before checking out.

When shopping on Amazon or B&N online, I do it a little differently. I'll click on the "You bought this, others bought this" option and tend to go on a clicking spree and end up with tons of tabs open before reading the blurbs, and double checking on goodreads, and reading some of the reviews. I tend to buy romance and more YA books in the eformat than traditional publishing. I tend to be a little more outgoing with the epublishing and read things that I normally wouldn't go for.

Tell me about your book buying habits, and suggest a new book to me. :)

Book review: Fire In the Blood by Dale Ibitz.

Synopsis: 
Global warming is playing havoc on Earth, and when 17 year-old Haley tumbles to a parallel world, she discovers that Earth’s issues stem from a war between the Eyids, the gods of nature. Because her necklace is a stone that holds the power of the Air Eyid, Haley is called upon to stop the war

But Haley has a problem. Actually, two problems. One named Tuggin, and one named Ian.

Both lie to her. Both have secrets. And neither are who they say they are. With her stone of power, Haley’s forced to make a choice that will decide the fate of all the worlds. But who should she trust, who should she fight, and who is the one with fire in his blood bent on betraying them all?

The Nerd Rambles: Alternate world/universe books are something that I eat up like candy. This book was no exception to that. Fire in the Blood is a the first book in a promising young adult series. The main character Haley is a modern, typical seventeen year old girl, who wants nothing more than a "Hall-God" boyfriend, and to get through the day without some sort of muck up.

Instead, she's thrust into a parallel world called Eyidora by her adoptive mother when she's hunted by the same entity that killed her birth parents. There she's introduced to Tuggin, a tight lipped, abrasive, gorgeous eighteen year old who seems to want nothing to do with her--except to keep her on a tight leash. The problems don't stop there, in fact they intensify when she learns that she's a crucial piece to ending a war that would not only destroy Eyidora, but Earth as well. To further complicate things, THE Hall-God Ian enters the picture, joining her in this parallel world. He knows more than he should, and nothing is what it seems.

I really enjoyed this book. There are a couple hitches to it though. I think there should have been just a little more exposition in the beginning as things start quickly and the reader is expected to keep up, even as this new world, new languages and history are thrown at us in a rapid fire fashion. I like that Hadley grows through the story, and learns quickly rather than depending on Tuggin and a few other characters. It's also extremely fast paced and the story moves so quickly that I read through the book and wanted more to this piece.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Total Length: 236 pages.
Available Format: All available formats.
Publication Date: July 11, 2011 (through Createspace)
Author Link: Dale Ibitz on Goodreads
Disclosure: I won this book through a contest on Facebook. I am not compensated or influenced in any way. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day Five.

Day five produces an interesting problem for me. Recommend a Tear Jerker. The problem is that people cry over so many things, and some books that make me cry wouldn't make others cry. So I'm going to talk about the last book that made me cry. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is the most recent book that I can think of. It tells the story of Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife. The story was a beautiful one, blending fiction and reality--introducing the reader to different sides of people who lived and breathed, loved and died. It's a wonderfully complex and lush story with a great narrative and pacing. I teared up a few times especially toward the end of the book, and the last chapter I did cry.

Here's my review if you's like to check it out.

15 Day Blogging Challenge: Day Four

Okay, I apparently can't even keep up a challenge for fifteen days. Let's not talk about how long it's been. :) July was super busy for me, and August isn't looking much better, but I am determined to make this work.

So day four of the book blogger challenge is What is the last book you flung across the room?

Admittedly, I have a lot of bad habits with books. I break spines, I dog ear, I read more than three books at a time, but rarely do I fling a book. But I have flung a couple for various reasons.


The book that stands out most in my mind is one that I read a couple of years ago. Does the Noise in My Head Bother You by Steven Tyler earned the honor of being flung across the room in frustration and disgust.  I wanted so badly to love this book. Aerosmith is a band I grew up listening to, and one that I love so much, even to this day. I pre-ordered this book when I saw the signs in my local bookstore, and went and picked it up and cracked into it excitedly. I was let down horribly. I couldn't get into it, and felt that it was something that needed more work. Steven Tyler penned the book himself, and it shows due to the rambling, time line jumping and just lack of editing. Even through text it felt like he was pandering and putting on a show rather than writing his memoirs. I fought my way through it and in the end, I would have preferred to have not read it.

What's the last book that you've flung? Or the last one that let you down?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 3-- Blogging besties.

Day three of this challenge requires us to talk about our Blogging BFFs. Admittedly, I'm new to blogging and networking and all of that goodness, so I'm going to link to a couple blogs that I really love, and you all should check out.


Link to the original challenge post can be found here: Good Books Good Wine Blog.

The first blog that I love is actually run by a friend that I started talking to on another blogging site (livejournal anyone?) and she would post entries about the books she's read each month and occasionally reviews. Earlier this year she started a blog, and I followed her. I really like her reviews, she's honest and fair and doesn't sugar coat things. She reads a little bit of everything. Denise at Dandelionnwine

The second blog is run by Ms. A.R. Von. If you've followed this blog, you might recognize the name. She's the mind behind the Wunder series (which on a side note is awesome, go read it and enjoy). Her blog is a massive blend of generous giveaways, blog hops and reviews. A.R. sticks mainly with romance/erotica/paranormal genre. There are many things going on at this blog at one time. A.R. does weekly shorts, and has a contributing author posting fiction on the blog as well. It's highly entertaining, and there's plenty of things to read and look at. A.R. Von at Dreamz of Dragons

I'll probably double up posts today, since I didn't have a lot of information for this one. Share some of your favorite blogs with me! I'd love to check them out.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge:: Day 2

I'm already slacking off on this oops. I had some dental work done yesterday and just wasn't really feeling like doing anything other than curling up and sleeping. My next appointment isn't for a few weeks, so I'm going to get back into this, and hopefully get some of my own writing done.

You can see the original post here: Challenge List: Good Books Good Wine blog

Day two of the 15 Day Book Blogger challenge is: What is your Bedtime Reading Ritual.

I honestly don't have one. I don't tend to read before bed unless I've been caught up in a book all day and into the evening. I tend to do this when I'm sprinting through series.

My bedtime routine tends to go a lot like this.

Step One: Stay up way too late scrolling endlessly through tumblr reblogging all of the fan art of characters and relationships that I love.

Step Two: Check twitter and facebook one last time. Hop over to my email and check that one last time.

Step Three: Check Tumblr one last time.

Step Four: Tell the dog to go to bed, wait for him to get up on the couch, double check that everything's locked up and the lights are off.

Step Five: Head upstairs, brush my teeth, take my make-up off, wash my face. Then I plug in my phone, set my alarm and crawl into bed.

Step Six: Check Tumblr One.Last.Time.

I might have a slight tumblr addiction, but it feeds my magpie tendencies (oooh look, something shiny!). I'd really like to get into the swing of reading before bed as it would probably help me unwind a bit more, and help corral my dreams.

What do you like to read to unwind and relax? Let me know. :)

15 Day Book Blogging Challenge:: Day 1

I'm a sucker for memes, or quizzes, or those 'picture a day' lists that are floating around instagram, or other aspects of the internet. However, they're normally month long tasks and I end up getting distracted or falling behind or just losing interest. I was looking through my facebook news feed, and saw that a blog I follow had come up with a 15 day book Blogging Challenge, and I figured I could probably follow that one. Plus it gives me a chance to catch up with my reading--it's been a really rough week for me.

You can see the original post here: Good Books and Wine blog.


So, let's get started with Day 1-- Make 15 Book Related Confessions:

1.I'm a person who constantly dog-ears pages. I have plenty of bookmarks, and I use random scraps of paper, but I also dog ear. I can't help it. The habit started in college when I would dog-ear multiple pages in a chapter so I could come back to them to write notes.

2. Speaking of writing notes, I have a couple books that I've written in. The margins are full of notes, observations, sometimes yelling/lecturing at the characters, highlighting passages and quotes. Seriously, I could show you my copy of Catcher in the Rye, but I really don't want to embarrass myself.

3. I rarely give up on books. The only series that I actually stopped reading was the Sooki Stackhouse novels. I couldn't connect with them, and I tried quite a few times to get into them. Even if I really dislike the book, or series I'll do my best to stick it out, even if I lose interest in it. I lost interest in the Parasol Proctorate series about three books in, but I finished, because not knowing what happens would just drive me crazy.

4. I dislike ambiguous endings for the most part. There are a few exceptions to this, as there are to any rule, but I really like things to have a clear and defined ending. It doesn't have to be pretty and everything tied up with a bow, but I really like a distinct end.

5. I'm a series collector. If I read the first book in a series and I really like it, I buy all of the books in that series. The Nightside series is an example of this. I have all the books, and I compulsively bought them to put on my shelf.

6. When I find an author I like, I read ALL of their work. I'm halfway through Stephan King's library, and even though some of his books terrify me, I need to finish them. It's another weird compulsion type thing. Simon R. Green is another author, and more recently Airicka Phoenix is someone that I hoard their work.

7. I'm a recovering genre snob. For the longest time I refused to read YA or romance, anything that wasn't science fiction or fantasy. I'm really glad that I got out of that. There are still a few things I'm hesitant about, but I'm beginning to really enjoy trying out different genres and discovering new authors.

8. I have extreme TBR pile guilt. I've got two bookshelves and a growing stack of 'to be read' books, and we're not even counting the hoard of ebooks on the kindle.

9 I'm new to the ebook scene, and I still prefer traditional publishing, but I do get a thrill every time I get to download a free book.

10. I rarely like the movie adaptation of books. Comic books I love the film adaptations, books on the other hand....I can only think of one adaptation that I loved, that being the Harry Potter series. I really can't think of any others, though I'll probably eat those words later this summer. I get really protective of the books, and the characters and the images I build of the characters and settings in my head.

11. In school I didn't read two of the required reading books. The Great Gatsby, and Their Eyes Were Watching God.  I read the cliff notes instead, and have no regrets.

12. I've read very few of the 'classic' books. I'm fixing that now, well...I have a ton of classics in my TBR pile.

13. When I was a kid, after reading the Little House on the Prairie books I wanted to be a homesteader. I made my parents plant vegetables and at one point tried to get them to grow wheat.

14. I make soundtracks to go with books that I really love. I've got countless playlists for characters and books, and a couple series.

15. 97% of the time I fall for the antagonist or the anti-hero. I like bad boys.