Musing Mondays (Mar.7)

Musing Mondays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Todays question is: What book(s) are you most excited about right now? (it can either be something you’re currently reading, or something you just bought, or a book/books that are soon to be published).

The book I am currently very excited about is the sequel to Beth Fantaskey's book Jessica's Guide to Dating the Dark Side. It was a really funny and interesting book, and so I was glad to hear Beth was going to be revisiting her awesome characters Jessica and Lucius in Jessica Rules the Dark Side~! The book will be released in the Winter of 2011-12, but you can read an excerpt on Beth Fantaskey's website. :D

Top Ten Tuesday: Books you just had to buy...but are still sitting on my bookshelf.

Top Ten tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish~! This weeks topic is one I can really relate to. In fact I think any true bibliophile can relate to it. You know those books you have to have...and then never read, or at least it takes you years to get to them. Well here's a chance to write down your top ten.

1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley: A little girl slueth with a penchant for poison. I should have had this book finished 3 hours after having it in my hands. I've wanted to read this book for ages but every time I try to, something gets in the way and I can't seem to finish it. It's very shaming.

2. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan: Love this guy, he is one of my favorite authors ever, and I bought this for my birthday last year. Alas I tried reading it a couple months ago, and never picked it up since. :(

3. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery: I bought this one way before The Red Pyramid and was so excited to read it even way before that. Yet I haven't even picked it up in ages. It's on my to read list this year though. I will read it..!

4. Invisible I by Melissa Kantor/Stella Lennon: This is an exciting YA mystery series I heard about two years ago from one of the first blogs I joined. I instantly dragged my mother to Target just so I could pick up a copy. Tried to read it. Really. Put it back just for a second. Didn't pick it up again.

5. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev: I bought this because everyone raved about it, saying it was brilliant. So I thought "I love brilliant books. I should buy it, and read it." Like I would get through it over the weekend. Haha. Haha.

6. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: In my defense the pictures were so detailed and awesome I got the whole story from them, and figured I didn't even have to read the book. :P

7. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke: I loved Inkheart and figured this one would be no different. It's really old...really really old buy.

8. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephenie Barron: Pre-published Jane Austen turned super sleuth. Seriously? What's wrong with me?

9. Worldshaker by Richard Harland: Yet another steampunk book I just had to have...

10. No Place For Magic by E.D. Baker: This is the fourth in the series, and I read the other 3 fairly quickly. They were fun, well written, and small books. So why is this one collecting dust?

Well that's it for me in the book buying book reading fail department. What about you? What books did you think you'd die without having, but stay on your shelves months after getting them?

Musing Monday (Feb. 28)

Musing Mondays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. This weeks question is: Which do you prefer: Adult -or- Young Adult books? Or, both? Why?

I would have to say that I enjoy both, but only certain genre's. I love adult mysteries, because one: there are more adult mysteries then YA and two: they're usually very focused on the plot aspect, which I love. So if there are two characters you want to get together in an adult mystery you better have some patient because it won't happen for a while. :P Not that I haven't found clever YA mysteries, I have they're just not as abundant. In YA, I love reading fantasy/paranormal (there's an overflow) and regular day in a life comedy novels.

Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday(Feb. 25)

It's time for another Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy-for-books~! Head on over to check out all the other wonderful book blogs on the internet. :D This weeks BBH question is: "Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?"

Hahaha~! No way I love my blog name, I think it sounds cozy, and I hope you think so too. :D What about you? Do you wish you could change your blog name? Are you going to if you do? Leave you answer in the comment section and tell me all about it. :D

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View and is another way to meet lot's of new book bloggers~! They also have a featured blogger so go on over and check it out~! This week's Question is:

Share your current fav television show! Tell us a bit about it...

My Favorite TV show for about over a year now has been Doctor Who, a british sci-fi series about a seemingly normal looking alien who travels all of time and space in his frequently faulty spaceship called the TARDIS which looks like a 1960 police telephone box. He usually travels with a human, and takes them on all sorts of fantastic and dangerous adventures where they meet famous people from history, or bizarre aliens either good, or bad. The Doctor (as the main character is called) also has a special ability unique to his race (Timelords) that allows him to cheat death. Every time he's dying his body can transform itself into a completely new and undamaged body allowing him to live again. The show started in 1963 and is still going on. The Doctor has changed his body 11 times so far, and has gone through a lot more companions. Currently the Doctor (Matt Smith) is traveling with his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams. (Arthur Darvill...but I couldn't find a group shot with him. -_-;)So what's your favorite TV show? Tell me all about it, or put the link to you answer in the comment section. :D

WWW Wednesday (Feb.23)

WWW Wednesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan and Right Side Talking by Bonnie Rozanski.

• What did you recently finish reading? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (review coming soon) and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins.

• What do you think you’ll read next? I went psycho in the library and got out all sorts of books so I have a lot to choose from. First on my list though is Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (steampunk~!!) and Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. I haven't read a classic this year. Shame on me. :P

Confessions of a Shopaholic: A Book Review

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Reading Level: Ages 18 and up

Summary: Meet Rebecca Bloomwood.

She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money.
She spends her leisure time … shopping.

Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something – just a little something…

Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card?

Confessions of a Shopaholic… the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.

My Review: This frothy chick-lit novel is easy and fun to read. It's also amazingly British, so if you are a fan of British comedy it's an added bonus to your overall enjoyment. Sophie Kinsella set's up several hilarious situations, one after another, for our heroine Becca Bloomwood to work through. Becca's struggle with her desire to shop while a vast cloud of debt hangs over her head, carries much of the plot. Kinsella adds a tiny sub-plot near the end where Becca finds a financial article that she cares enough to write about, but it's added so late into the book you don't really care about it. All that I cared about at least was if Becca would finally be able to overcome her addiction to shopping. Seeing as there are 6 more books in the series you can imagine I was somewhat disappointed.

On the upside Becca Bloomwood was a fantastic narrator, her thought process was hilarious! I loved all of the wildly imaginative scenario's she thought up in her head, and how things never turned out like she expected. As a person who is frequently prone to similar mistakes, It was fun to find I wasn't the only one. :P I enjoyed Becca's friend, she was a nicely written character, in so much as she seemed like a good friend to have although she did unintentionally feed into our heroines addiction. All of the side characters had their own special flair, even though they were not that fleshed out, and fit well into the story. There was only one character I really did not like, and it was unfortunately Becca's love interest Luke Brandon. I found him to be amazingly boring, rude, and overall just not that fantastic. He was a bit of a jerk to Becca, I enjoyed that she called him out on his behavior earlier in the novel, but their romance in the end seemed far to rushed for my liking. I was hoping they wouldn't get together, even though I knew they would.

Content: Harsh language, and sexual references and situations.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Recommend: For Chick lit fans.

Hush, Hush: A book Review

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy

Reading Level: ages 13 and up

Summary: Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those who have fallen -- and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

My Review: I don't know why this book is called Hush, hush. It's not particularly quite or relaxing like the title implies. The cover and font are awesome though. Ahhh I gotta say, I loved this book. It is my guilty pleasure. I had so much fun reading it it's not even funny. :P

Okay seriously it isn't the most amazing book ever. The romance, oh gawd the romance was so unbelievable. I didn't for one second truly believe Patch loved Nora. As for Nora she was only mildly infatuated with the boy. She didn't love him though. Becca will definitely have to work on writing a well developed romance in the future. This one started out slow and then BAM~! Insta-love. Also Nora was pretty sure for most of the book that Patch was out to kill her so um, I'm not sure how that endeared him to her. One of the many problems of Teen romances today. Girls are just willing to throw themselves at any psychopath they cross.

Other than that I actually quite liked Patch and Nora. They we're both fun characters. I liked Nora for the pseudo detective skills she showed, but truthfully she was a bit indecisive which was at times annoying. I loved it when she wanted to solve the mysteries surrounding her life, and I found it relatable how every time something odd happened she was pretty sure she was going nuts instead of instantly thinking "oh gosh that boy must be a fallen angel out to kill me" although she did google it. Seriously what's with google and finding out peoples secrets. I mean if I thought someone I knew was a paranormal being I wouldn't google it and then accept it as fact. Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true. Now on to Patch. Number one, that name is weird. You get used to it, but it's still weird for a romantic lead. His last name (Cipriano) is awesome though. I've heard Patch described as a brooding bad boy. I feel this is a terribly wrong description of him. He doesn't brood. He's annoying. He's the get all up in your face bad boy type. I actually enjoyed that switch. His banter with Nora is quite funny, I found myself grinning at certain parts. I liked Patch. He was funny, psychopathic, and annoying, and never pretended to be anything else. In real life I would hate him. But not in a book. Vee Sky, Nora's friend was a fun sidekick I enjoyed reading about her, and I thought she went well with Nora. It's nice to see heroines with friends they care about. There we're actually a few bad guys in this novel, I won't disclose who they all are here because River Song would never forgive me but I enjoyed them all and found them sufficiently evil. :P

Now for the part I particularly enjoyed. I thought Becca did a great job with the mystery and suspense bits. I really enjoyed watching the mystery unfold throughout the book. Of course you know Patch is a fallen angel. The covers a dead giveaway. What you don't know is who is trying to kill Nora, and why. Unlike Twilight the plot didn't arrive in the last few chapters. It was there from the beginning and was what drew me in immediately and kept me reading.

Which brings me to the Angel lore. It wasn't fully developed in this book. There we're bit's and pieces here and there but I'd didn't completely grasp it, even at the end. I'm guessing more will be discussed in book 2 and 3. I'll have to wait a while to read Crescendo though. The waiting list at the library is over half a year. *sigh*