Bout of Books 2.0 Read-a-thon

I will be participating in the Bout of Books 2.0 Read-a-thon hosted by On A Book Bender. I will update this post as the week progresses! If you would like to participate, go here.

Time Devoted to Reading:

I am committed to reading at least 1 hour per day. Hopefully as the week progresses, I can read more, particularly on the weekend.

My Goals:

• I would like to read 3 books this week. My ultimate goal would 5 books.
• I will post at least 1 review this week.
• I will continue to participate in the weekly memes I normally participate in.

Books to Read:

• finish Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe
• Happy Birthday to Me Again by Brian Rowe (to review)
• Tempest by Julie Cross
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Updates:

I will be posting my updates here in this post. I am going to "sticky" this post to keep it at the top of the page for those wishing to follow my updates. I will also be tweeting about it!

10/24

Number of books/pages I've read today: finished Cinder! Yay!

Total number of books I've read: 1

Books:  Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Today in #insixwords:  Finished Cinder by Marissa Meyer!

10/25

Number of books/pages I've read today: 7% of Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe

Total number of books I've read: 1

Books:  Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe

Today in #insixwords:  No reading--sick all day--headache.

10/26

Number of books/pages I've read today:  almost 40% done with Happy Birthday to Me

Total number of books I've read: 1

Books:  same as above  

Today in #insixwords:  Making good progress on second book!

10/27

Number of books/pages I've read today:  finished Happy Birthday to Me, started Happy Birthday to Me, Again

Total number of books I've read:  2

Books:  Cinder and Happy Birthday to Me

Today in #insixwords: Need motivation to finish this book!

10/28

Number of books/pages I've read today:  Completed 24% of Happy Birthday to Me, Again

Total number of books I've read:  2

Books:  Cinder, Happy Birthday to Me and Happy Birthday to Me, Again

Today in #insixwords:-------

10/29

Number of books/pages I've read today:  20% of HBDTMA 

Total number of books I've read: 2

Books:  See above

Today in #insixwords:

10/30

Number of books/pages I've read today: Unfortunately, none

Total number of books I've read:  2

Books:  See above

Today in #insixwords:

Have a great week! And read, a lot!


Update 10/31/2011:  Well, I totally lost steam as the week progressed. I think it was the book. Sadly, I just couldn't get into it. Not enough to want to keep picking it up and reading it, all the time. It was my third and final book and every time I picked it up, it felt like work. That is not why I read! I read because I love it, not because I have to. Oh well, I am still glad I participated! 

In My Mailbox (11)

In My Mailbox (IMM) was started over at the The Story Siren by Kristie and has evolved to over 300 participating blogs.  It is a way for bloggers to network and socialize and to show everyone the various books that they have received.  It is also a great way to showcase books you receive that you may not have a chance to review. Postings may vary by blog, some bloggers post weekly, bi-weekly and so forth.

This week I received approval for eight books through NetGalley. I was given automatic approval status for a couple of publishers and I am very excited! A lot of these books do not come out until 2012, and per publisher request, I will not be posting the reviews until approximately one month prior to the release of the book. I can't wait to read them! Hopefully you can be patient waiting for my reviews!

  

The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks
Red Heart Tattoo by Lurlene McDaniels
On a Dark Wing by Jordan Dane
The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick

Hushed by Kelley York

The Katrina Trilogy Vol. 1, The Gathering Storm

Now, please leave a link in the comment section to your In My Mailbox post and I will stop by and check it out!

Forbidden Mind by Kimberly Kinrade

Title:  Forbidden Mind 

Author:  Kimberly Kinrade

Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal Thriller

Publisher:  Evolved Publishing

Format/Pages:  Kindle

Sam is sure that college, as well as a normal life, is within her reach. After years of being “rented” out to the rich—and greedy—for her paranormal abilities, Sam can almost taste freedom. She can finally leave Rent-a-Kid on her eighteenth birthday. But when her mind-reading ability allows her to connect with Drake, who has been kidnapped and held against his will by the people at Rent-a-Kid, Sam begins to realize that her life is one big lie. And her dreams—college, freedom, and normalcy—are not going to happen. Now Sam must join forces with Drake, whose paranormal abilities are even more powerful than hers, to save their lives.

I adopted this book for Adopt-an-Indie month.  I simply perused the book lists until I found one that looked interesting and I adopted it. I am extremely glad that I did. This book was great! It had interesting characters and an original and well-thought out plot.  While this is a paranormal book, you will not find any vampires, werewolves, angels or zombies in this story. Instead, it is chock full of kids with amazing abilities, the kind you usually only see in an X-Men movie.  The children of Rent-a-Kid live a seemingly idealistic life: a terrific school, a beautiful campus with all the amenities and the chance to go anywhere they want for college. Occasionally, the kids are “rented” out to the rich and powerful to help them become richer and more powerful. They don’t know their parents, believing they were abandoned by them because of their special powers.  All they have to look forward to is the day they turn eighteen; the day they gain their freedom and leave Rent-a-Kid forever. That is where we find Sam, weeks away from her birthday. She is ready to leave, until she catches a glimpse of a boy, strapped down and begging for help. That one glance changes everything for Sam. Suddenly, she begins to learn the truth about the people who have raised her and things begin to…..change. Now Sam must escape the nightmare she suddenly finds herself in. And the only person she can trust is someone she has never even met—technically.

I absolutely loved the originality of this story.  Kinrade was able to create characters that you care about and want to cheer for. I found myself completely engaged in this book and anxious to find out what was going to happen next. The twists and turns in the story are perfectly timed, which adds to the suspense. The characters are believable; they actually act like real teenagers and speak like real teenagers. Kinrade’s writing is well-thought out and convincing. All in all, this is a very good story with an interesting plot and great characters. This a great read and I highly recommend it!  The next two books in the series, Forbidden Fire and Forbidden Life will be available in November and December, as well. Yay! You can get them on Smashwords.

My grade for Forbidden Mind by Kimberly Kinrade:

 

Follow Friday (10)

Follow Friday is hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee’sView and Alison at AlisonCan Read. It is another way for bloggers to make new friends and find new blogs to follow. Go to either blog, follow ALL the instructions and then add your link to the list. It's just that easy!

This week's question:

"If you could have dinner with your favorite book character, who would you eat with and what would you serve?"

I thought about posting my usual answer, cough*Edward*cough, but I'll give him a break this week (and besides, he doesn't eat). Instead, I will choose to have dinner with one of my other favorite characters, Clary from the Mortal Instruments books (and I will pray vehemently that Jace decides to make an appearance). I would most likely make something like a chef salad, light and easy. That way we can spend more time talking and hanging out. What I would really work hard on would be dessert, because I make a mean chocolate cake with homemade frosting. Yum! 

Leave a link with your FF post and I will definitely check it out!     

Teaser Tuesday (October 25th)

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!

My teaser is from Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe:

"But I'm not really eighty. Just a few weeks ago, I was your typical high school senior, worried about basketball practice and prom dates, worried about when I could kiss my girlfriend next and when that acceptance letter to Yale would be arriving in the mail."

Now, leave a link in the comments to your Teaser Tuesday so I can stop by and check it out!

In My Mailbox (10)

I did not get any books this week, though I did put in about 6-7 requests at NetGalley. I have a huge TBR list, so no books is probably a good thing! I hope everyone else had a great book week! Have fun reading everyone! 

Ratings System

I have decided it is time to institute a ratings system. I have been reviewing so many books, and I have so many on my list to review, that I really think it is time. I am going to utilize letter grades (since I am a soon-to-be teacher). I will also use "plus" and "minus" in the ratings, especially if I am wavering.

So, here is my ratings system:

It was awesome/unbelievable/fantastic/amazing (pick your adjective)! Basically, I loved it. Buy it, put it on your shelf and read it again and again!

I liked it! I'll probably buy it if I find it on sale. It was a good book. I might read it again.

It was ok. I won't buy it and I won't read it again. It was good enough to read once.

I didn't like it. I read the whole book, but it felt like work and I got no enjoyment from it. I will be deleting/donating my copy of the book.

 I hated it. Or I didn't finish it. I will never allow the book to darken my doorstep again.

Ok, there it is. I will start using this on my next book review. I will also put a tab on the blog with the rating system available for all to peruse.  Hopefully, this won't make me seem like a big meanie, but it was time to add it.