Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday's Beginnings (102)

It's Monday once again.

It seems weekends are starting to be a rough reading time for me these days, where they use to be my biggest reading time.  Saturday seemed to be going well for me, then we decided to go to the drive-in.  I got to see Cowboy's & Aliens and Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows part 2.  And I have to say I loved Harry Potter!  I want to see it again with all the information there.  And now more than any I want to read the books.  Yes, we have them here but I just seem to get caught up in other books and never make it there.  I will have to get there some day.

I did announce the winners of the giveaways for the 2 Year Celebration posts.  If you want to check it out, you can HERE.

Currently Reading:
The Adventures of Dalton Quayle by Paul Kane
I will be picking up Killbox by Ann Aguirre this week as well for the Book Chat.

To Come This Week:
Reviews:
   Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine
   The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman

Last Week:
Books I Finished:
The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman (I didn't really finish this one, but will explain in review)

Reviews Posted Last Week:
Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre
(so I worked a little backwards than planned.)

Podcast Reviews Last Week:
Sorry, I'm just so behind.  I do NEED to get back to these as I miss listening to these fun short stories.

I did write another Flash Fiction Friday last week.  It is another short for John, Sinn, and Sheen.

My WANT list...I added 10 books last week.  Wow.  I had thought I added more than this as it felt like I was really adding books constantly.  Oh well.  Thanks for the great additions all!

Books Received:
For Review:
Goodreads Synopsis:
It's difficult to be a rebel at an all-girls boarding school like Hawthorn, but Charity Hooper tries her hardest, smuggling food into the library and favoring CliffsNotes over boring volumes of literature. In fact, if Hawthorn weren't an all-girls school, she feels certain she would be having a tempestuous affair with a dangerous rogue who copied all his math homework answers from the back of the book.

When Hawthorn hosts a band of exchange students from Romania, Charity knows this is her shot at a tempestuous affair. But after she witnesses an exchange student slurping her roommate's blood one night, she realizes that the Romanians would be less interested in kissing her than in biting her head off. And the Romanians aren't the only vampires lurking on campus, either--according to an old inscription in the school gymnasium, a legion of vampires lie buried alive beneath it.

Does she dare confide in the English teacher she wishes were her BFF, Ms. Van Tessel, who mysteriously saved Charity's bitten roommate with a blood transfusion? But why did Ms. Van Tessel have blood in her mini-fridge in the first place? Can Charity even trust her?



Gifts:
I have Melissa from Mel's Random Reviews to thank for these two amazing books!  Thank you for the wonderful gifts!  Let me just say it was a WONDERFUL surprise to find these in my mailbox.  I've been wanting to get them for some time and can't wait to dive into them. :) Please, if you haven't stopped by Mel's blog, you really should.  She is a wonderful friend out here.  And the cool thing, I got the UK covers! Yes!
Goodreads Synopsis:
When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league—but she wouldn't have it any other way…



Goodreads Synopsis:
Elena Michaels is the world’s only female werewolf. And she’s tired of it. Tired of a life spent hiding and protecting, a life where her most important job is hunting down rogue werewolves. Tired of a world that not only accepts the worst in her–her temper, her violence–but requires it. Worst of all, she realizes she’s growing content with that life, with being that person.

So she left the Pack and returned to Toronto where she’s trying to live as a human. When the Pack leader calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she’ll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.



Purchased:
Yes, I know.  I keep saying no more books I'm on a buying hiatus.  But that Borders store in the mall's not closed yet.  And this book was 40% off, so I got it as I've been wanting to get into this series for some time.
Goodreads Synopsis:

The first book in Marjorie M. Liu's extraordinary Dirk & Steele Series!

Long ago they roamed the earth — dragons, tigers . . . shapeshifters — men who wore the forms of beasts. Their world was magic. Now it is gone. But some remain . . .

He looks out of place in Dela Reese’s Beijing hotel room— exotic and poignant, some mythic, tragic hero of an epic tale. With his feline yellow eyes, he’s like nothing from her world. Yet Dela has danced through the echo of his soul and knows this warrior will obey her every command.

Hari has been used and abused for millennia. But he sees, upon his release from the riddle box, that this new mistress is different. There is a hidden power in Dela’s eyes—and with her, he may regain all that was lost to him. Where once he savaged, now he must protect; where before he knew only hatred, now he must embrace love. Dela is the key.

For Dela, he will risk all.


So, another big week I'm hoping for.  And want to really spend some serious time in the pages this week.

How are you looking at the beginning of this week?  Does it look like a good reading week for you?

And I wanted to leave you with just a little music too.  I've been loving this song since it came out. It's by Pink, F**kin' Perfect.  It kind of hits a little deeper.  Hope you enjoy it too.

9 comments:

  1. Oh YAY you get to start the Kate Daniels books! They honestly get better and better.

    And I LOVED Bitten. Read that so many years ago but it was just a pitch perfect book.

    And ya for The Graveyard Gymnasium! So much fun. I love Kelly's books. After that one, you'll have to check out Cads and Cadavers. I've never laughed so hard in my life.

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  2. Oo Bitten has caught my eye! I still haven't read any of Armstrong's books -- epic fail! Must get to that. Enjoy your new reads!

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  3. I hope you get your serious one-on-one time with the books this week, Melissa. Looks like you got a full plate of reading materials.

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  4. Skyla - Oh, I'm really looking forward to reading Kate Doniels books. :) I just need to get a few review books done before I can break with them. I've been enjoying the last few books by Kelley Armstrong with Savannah as the star character, but I love the background teasers given and WANT to get into the rest of this series. :) I will definitely look into Cads and Cadavers too! :) Thank you!

    Casey (The Bookish Type) - Oh, I just recently started into Kelley Armstrongs series here with the last 2 books and have enjoyed them. I do want to get into the rest of the series from the bits I've read of the world here. :) Thank you for stopping by!

    StephanieD - Thank you so much! :) There is so much here to read I need to get through a lot of them. :) Hope you have a great week and thank you for stopping!

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  5. ooooh! I really want to go see Cowboy's & Aliens, but nobody will go with me. LOL

    Love seeing those different UK covers. Very cool.

    Happy reading.

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  6. So was Cowboy and Aliens good? I've gotten one rec from a friend. Hm...

    Oh I didn't know you haven't read Bitten yet! Love it!

    Mel is great plus we all have to agree her name does rock. :)

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  7. Missie - Hi! :) I enjoyed Cowboy's & Aliens. It was kind of what I would expect of aliens meeting cowboys. ;D Hope you get to see it, even if you have to wait until DVD. :) Thank youfor stopping by!

    Melissa (Books and Things) - You know I did enjoy Cowboy's & Aliens. It's just as the title says and what I would expect. It's definitely a shot-em-up bang bang movie. ;D And the men all seemed to enjoy it. (husband and kid) Oh yes. I really need more reading time to get to Kelley Armstrong's series here. I really like the tidbits I got of the history in the two books of Savannah I read. :) Thank you!

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  8. I think summer in general makes it harder to concentrate on reading, blogging, etc. There's just so much more you can do outside, right? And, did I read correctly? You haven't read Harry Potter?! I'm shocked! ;) They really are great books.

    You know, I can't think of any books that I actually finished reading last week! Hope you make all of your goals for this week.

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  9. Hey Jackie - Yea, you read right. I've not read the Harry Potter books yet. We have all but one here, but never got to them. Oh, I started the series a few times with the kid when he was younger, but always ran out of time with football and stuff to finish it with him. But I really need to get to them. :) It is so hard with all the things that need to be done around the house in summer to get in the reading groove. I'm hoping with school starting to get back on track here. :) Hope you have a great week.

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