Bout of Books 11 Update

Day two has come to a close and while I haven't had the time to review the books, I did want to update you all on my reading progress.

I have read 3 of the 6 books, totalling 988 pages so far.

I also started book 4, the Series of Unfortunate Events bk 1, but I wasn't really getting into it. I have not decided if I will give up on that one or not.   I'm going to give it another chance during my lunch period tomorrow/today.

Looking forward to more reading!

Bout of Books Goals

Today starts the Bout of Books Read-a-thon.  I am a bit tardy on getting  up my goals, but here they are!

Don't know what all the fuss is about?  From the Bout of Books' team, this is the official blurb explaining what this read-a-thon is all about:
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.


Goal One:

Read.  I sometimes get a bit obsessive about my other hobbies- currently I am drowning in fabric.  This is the perfect excuse to put away my projects and read.  

Goal Two:

Read early.  I have a terrible habit of NOT reading because I am worried about reading too much (as if that actually was a thing…). When I was reading a book a day I would start the book immediately when I got home from work so I finished it around 9 or 10pm.  This way I could go to bed at a reasonable hour.  If I start a book at bedtime there will not BE a bedtime…

Goal Three:

Read for fun! Not really an actual goal.  I love reading, so most reading is fun.  But I have a bunch of books here I have always wanted to read but just never set aside the time to actually DO it.  I’m excited to have the excuse now.

Goal Four:

Get one other person to join me on at least one of the days.  I have three potential people whom I have recruited for this task. 

One- my mother.  My mom has always been the Oprah’s List kinda woman.  But recently she has strayed into the YA magical realm.  She enjoyed Divergent, loves Twilight and the Host, the Hunger Games…basically all books I think are ehhhhh, but still progress!  I gave her a list of books to read.  Mostly she has only vaguely liked them, but next up is The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson.  It’s Sanderson.  How could she possibly dislike it?  I am hoping she will sit down and read with me one night.

Two and Three- Two and Three are very dear friends who adore reading as much (maybe more) as I do.   We used to have a book club where we would discuss books together.  This has fallen apart, much to my sadness, but I am hoping we can get on Hangout to discuss some of the stuff we have read this week.  I also would like to feature a book review of theirs on my blog at one point…maybe this week!

Goal Five:

Read six books.  I know I am way too busy to have kept up the book a day thing, but still I am very sad that I was not able to keep up my goal of 364 books in a year.  So to honor that, I would like to stretch for at least six books.  Hopefully seven to complete the week, but life happens, so I am going to make the minimum six.

The Books!

176 pages

I don’t know how I haven’t read these yet…I have seen the movie but not read the books. *gasp*  I actually saw the movie because Colleen Atwood is my favorite designer…but I digress.  Should have read the books by now.  Very excited to see what all the fuss is about.

272 pages

My brother hates reading.  He owns maybe 15 books.  He has read maybe 10 of those.  5 of those books happen to be from this series.  He ADORES this series which confounds me because there is a girl on the cover.  When we were little I would give him my favorite books to read and he would give them back because they were primarily female protagonist books.  Too girly.  So why this female protagonist stole his heart, I have no idea.  But I intend to find out!

352 pages

I have been meaning to read this book for a while.  I love Emily Rodda.  I used to read Deltora Quest aloud to my brothers.  Words cannot express how much I love that series.  I stumbled upon this book when I was gathering books for the 24 Hour Read-a-thon, but I didn’t end up reading it then.  Very excited to read it now though.

450 pages

Oh HEY! An adult book?!  I had no idea Linda Hilburn was coming out with a follow up to Vampire Shrink.  I read Vampire Shrink in 9^th maybe 10^th grade and adored it.  But I am really worried about this book not meeting my expectations.  I haven’t read Vampire Shrink in 8 years (give or take), I only remember a vague plot, and I am worried the second one will not live up to my memory of the first.  I could re-read the first…but I have too many books on this list as it is!

320 pages

I have not heard of this book before, but Tudor period and witches?  It’s got to be amazing.  Of course I probably will end up being really pissed off by the historical or clothing inaccuracy…but fingers crossed the author has done her homework.  Because if she has this book has the potential to be AWESOME.

364 pages

I don’t know how I missed this fad.  I do remember seeing the sequel: Seeing Red displayed in every Barnes and Noble and Changing Hands and thinking “WOW I need to read that book”, but I never bought it because it was the second and I wanted to read the first one first.  Well- here we are.  Many years later.  Finally I am going to read the first book.  It’s an Alice tale- it’s got to be amazing, right?  *fingers crossed*

So that probably was way too much information- but I think it accurately illustrates how excited I am for this read-a-thon.

Total pages count: 1,934 pages

LET THE READING BEGIN!

Murkmere

I picked this book up on a whim, when I was thinking I needed a plethora of books for the vacation I was taking.  As it turned out I ended up reading this book before I left.  I read it in just a few hours.

The cover is gorgeous.  Smooth and compelling, beautiful and haunting.  I judge books by their covers.  Get over it.

The story was interesting, very gothic with the decaying manor and sense of oppression.  The character development was awesome, and the developing relationship between the to girls in the novel was wonderful. 

It also had a very interesting take on religion.  Very obviously a critique of religion, but it was very intriguing how the protagonist was such a devout believer and then began questioning things as she grew up.

 

I was a bit disappointed with the ending as it didn’t answer all the questions about the wider world, and I didn’t really like the development of the love story either. But other than that, I loved this book!

This book deserves 4 stars, and if you are looking for a quick gothic read- take a gander.

The Well of Ascension

Brandon Sanderson.  Because Brandon effing Sanderson. 

*fan girls for a bit*

Let me just start out this post by saying I met another Sanderson fanatic while in England this past week.  There is nothing as amazing as meeting someone else who ADORES the Stormlight Archives.  Instant friends.  

Literally I think the life changing sentence was “I have to ask, are you a Kaladin fan?”

IS THAT EVEN A REAL QUESTION?  OF COURSE KALADIN, YES KALADIN.  Can we also talk about Shallan?  I have one word to say:

BOOTS.

I ended up jumping up and down and waving my arms and squealing and talking really fast….and the rest of the room thought I was insane.

But that was okay, because we glared at the rest of the room and told them to go read the books right away.  Because SANDERSON.

Anyway!  Today I am reviewing a Sanderson book…obviously.

Book two in the Mistborn series.  So. So. So. I liked book one, but it wasn’t AMAZING like I expected.  It was damn good, but not Stormlight Archives level awesome.

But this one.  Amazing.

There were still things I didn’t like, such as the love triangle…I just wanted to pull Sanderson’s hair out and demand that he not follow the triangle trope.  And I did guess one of the big reveals, but there were several that I didn't guess.

His descriptions.  Some of the descriptions in this book gave me actual chills.  I cried at one point I was so happy.

And I was sad too.  But I won’t get into that due to spoilers.  But feels, people, FEELS.

Shit went down hardcore.  The world is falling apart, and new enemies are introduced.  I need to read the next book.  Like…now.

Speaking of…excuse me.  Must go read now.

Five stars <3

Bout of Books 11

I stumbled upon an AWESOME read-a-thon today.  Because I enjoyed Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon so much, I decided I should participate in some more.  Because READING!

This read-a-thon last an entire WEEK.  A whole week with the excuse to drop everything and read.  LOVE IT.

So what is it about?
As taken from the Bout of Books site:
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

 

Sounds AWESOME, does it not?  Want to join me?!  Click on the button and get signed up, and then leave me a comment that you joined!  I'll be your personal cheerleader :)

The Girl in the Steel Corset

I was ALL ready for this book.  A hidden dark side she doesn’t understand?  Steampunk?  Sign me up.  For the first 100 pages I was loving it.  Then came in the Jekyll and Hyde tie ins and I wanted to scream.  Really? So heavy handed.

But I kept going.

And then there was the stupid love triangle in which the bad, bad criminal man becomes a big softy and does no evil.  WHAT.  I saw no criminal-ing from Dandy.  Yet repeatedly we are told what an awful person he is.  *dies inside* why is our main character in love with him?  Oh yeah, because he looks dangerous.

Seriously I cannot even describe how much I hate relationships based off looks.  You don’t have feelings for someone because they are hot.  You may be attracted to them, but falling in love?  No.

Character development was all over the place.  This made sense for Finley’s character as her two personalities were vying for domination, but for someone like Griffen, it made no sense.  He starts out as this really young lord who isn’t real sure of himself, but then immediately becomes this powerhouse of an individual.  Even his physical descriptions change.  Someone does not become broad shouldered and menacing overnight after being described as like a stick the day before.  Just because sexual tension comes into play does not mean that a person’s body should suddenly change.

The steel corset.  I actually rolled my eyes at this one.  I get it.  We are in a Steampunk novel.  I like steam punk.  Besides being bashed over the head with all her random ass leather corsets, I was pretty excited for the corset on the cover of the book.  Until I found out it was armor.

I make corsets.   Let me just say, there is no way this would be effective armor.  Even this Tudor steel corset wouldn’t be as affective as real armor:

Better than nothing, yes.  But zero protection to the heart.   Maybe I am a bit of a feminist, but I get TIRED of fancy protagonists and the eye candy of female superheroes.  Armor is not meant to be pretty.  It is supposed to keep you alive.

Also.  She is going to a BALL.  Why the hell does she need armor?!  Everyone in the book acts like it is the best idea ever!  Again…she is going to a ball.  Not war.

Three stars.  Just because I enjoyed it, though I am not sure why.