What I'm Reading and New on My Shelf

Sorry I don't have any new reviews ready for you. I've been reading A Game of Thrones and A Discovery of Witches, and while they are both really good so far, they are LONG!!! Have you read either of these yet? What did you think of them??

I'm gonna have to set those aside for a little while though because HarperCollins just approved me (via the awesomeness that is Net Galley) for THESE wickedly amazing titles that I have been DYING to read. Expect a review of one of these soon! Any suggestions as to which one I should read first?

Book Blogger Hop (Feb 25th-28th, 2011)

This is my first time taking part in the Book Blogger Hop. I've read and enjoyed everyone's answers for the longest time, so I decided it was high time I joined in the fun!

The Hop is hosted by Crazy For Books, you can click the pic to get all the deets.

This week's question is:

"Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?"

Nope! I picked it totally spur of the moment, on the spot but it represents me pretty well I think. Vamps have always been my favorite supernatural, I was even named after a character on the old vampire soap opera Dark Shadows =) And the tofu...well, I've been a vegetarian for almost 5 years and it just seemed like a funny thing to pair up with vampires. Depending on what I'm reading (and eating) at the moment, I DO sometimes think of other pairings tho...

Faeries and French Fries
Werewolves and Oreos
Demons and Del Taco
(I may like the junk food every now and then =)

A Vampires at Midnyte Review: The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Image Source

My friend Pam over at Midnyte Reader came up with the awesome idea of doing a review together for our blogs. Since I'm Vampires and Tofu and she's Midnyte Reader, we decided to call our blog baby Vampires at Midnyte and we hope to make this a semi-regular feature. It was SO much fun to discuss the book with her and bounce our opinions off each other...we hope you enjoy it too!!

The Iron Queen
By: Julie Kagawa
Published by: Harlequin
Publication date: January 25, 2011
368 pages
I received a digital version of this book via NetGalley for review

Favorite quote:

MR: “I am a cat.” –Grimalkin (same favorite quote as in The Iron Daughter). “I don’t see how you mortals do it, these feelings you must endure.” –The Oracle.

V&T Agreed!! Grim is right behind Meghan as my favorite character. And I imagine my two cats saying this all the time now.

All in all:

MR: Enjoyable

V&T: I enjoyed this one too, although I have to admit I didn’t love it as much as the first two.

PLOT:

MR: The final book in the Iron King series left off where the 2nd one ended. It took a direction which I really didn't see coming. For some reason, I thought that it was going to be mostly about Ash and Megan in the human world. However, they quickly return to Faery in order to save it from the infiltration of the Iron Fey.

I thought the end was interesting and also a bit of a surprise.

However, The Iron Queen left me a little frustrated. I think some of it has to do with some of the characters and some of it was my expectations. I thought that certain plot points would have more impact and I also felt that the plotline was too similar to other stories I’ve read before.

V&T: There wasn’t as much magic for me in this one. I think it’s due in part to so much of the story taking place in The Iron Kingdom. I used to play World of Warcraft, which is a visually AMAZING game. There’s this one area in the game called Ironforge and I used to hate having to go there for quests because everything was so…well, iron and forges and steam and mechanical monsters and it held no appeal to me. I preferred the lands where the scenery was beautiful and breathtaking…it was much more fun to play there. And it was much more fun to read about the parts of The NeverNever that were beautiful and breathtaking as well.

The ending was a surprise for me too, but I did find it satisfying.

I really expected more of the story to take place in the mortal world as well. Since the world of Faery depends on the dreams and beliefs of mortal man and that’s why the Iron Fey came into existence, I thought something would be done in the mortal realm to rekindle man’s reverence for nature and not just technology. Or at the very least that something would be said about people caring about the environment more now and how that’s helping the Wyldewood survive. I just didn’t get how this could be a battle fought entirely in the land of Faery.

MR: Yeah, I guess it seemed like the Iron Kingdom almost had more in common with our world, because we are so dependent and immersed in all things iron and technological. I think you have a great point being that is how the Iron Fey came into existence in the first place. The book did stress that if Faery fell apart the human world would not be far behind. So I guess one of the ideas of this trilogy is that technology in the human world will not cease, so the NeverNever in Faery, which is purely magical, has to find a compromise with the Iron Kingdom and vice versa.

V&T I’m really hoping to see more of how that plays out in the mortal realm in the next book!

MR: My hope is that she’ll include some of that.

CHARACTERS:

MR: What I like best about this book is the relationship between Ash and Megan. It grows more and there are some interesting developments. Megan is more likeable and she takes her responsibility seriously, shows maturity and character. Perhaps it was because she was secure with her relationship with Ash and his feelings for her or maybe it was because she grew up. I looooved Ash in this book. He is still moody and stoic yet we see more glimpses of his character.

I liked Puck less in this book. He is very petulant and he sneered over and over and over. I feel it was a bit overkill. However, he does of course, redeem himself. Again, I loved Grimalkin. Maybe more so in this book. I also liked a few other characters that came to Megan’s aid, like Razor. He reminded me of a hyper, tiny robot. I also liked the Clockmaker and his riddles, but really, I didn’t see what the riddles did to move the plot along.

V&T: I know this is gonna put me in the minority, but Ash was my least favorite character. This time around it felt like he was defined solely by his love for Meghan and that made him a little boring for me. I would have liked to see him care about something else in life and be a little more of his own person. Meghan was my favorite character. I really liked her strength, growth, determination and how her values have stayed consistent throughout the trilogy.

Ok, I’m not gonna say anything more about Ash, I don’t want anyone lobbing any virtual tomatoes my way! I completely agree with Midnyte about Puck. I was always a team Puck girl myself but I didn’t really care for him much for the majority of this book. “Petulant” is the PERFECT way to describe him!

MR: Hmm. That is an interesting point about Ash and I can definitely see how you would get that. But on the other hand, she was his world at that point. He had made his choice of true love over duty. His family didn’t give him what Megan did. I also felt I saw some redemption in him. He loved someone once before and he made the decision that he was going to do everything he could to keep the love he found again. He revealed other past actions to Megan so she could understand the kind of person he is or rather the person he was. Yes, he stepped up to defend Faery because he was following Megan’s lead, but I do feel he contributed his own passion to the battle because he wanted to save Faery as much as she did.

V&T And here is where we agree to disagree! Ok, so I DO agree that Meghan was his world at that point but I just don’t like it when characters do that. And I think it would have to drive Meghan crazy at some point. Give her 20 years. She’ll be begging him to go get a beer with Puck…

Speaking of which, I have to add that I’m really hoping there will be a lot of Ash/Puck interaction in The Iron Knight. I love their moments together and their friendship/rivalry.

MR: Ha. That made me laugh. Yes, I do agree that a man who is so devoted to you can get…tedious? Annoying? But it just didn’t bother me that much. Perhaps because I felt his personality shone through. And yes, I think Ash and Puck are a great foil for each other! Their relationship is almost a microcosm of the Fey world and the precarious balance that exists there. Summer vs. Winter. Can’t live with each other, can’t live without each other!

WRITING:

MR: I also like the contemplative tone of this book. Megan wonders what the future holds for her, what will become of Ash if he stays in the mortal realm, if their relationship can really survive. She thinks about people and their stories and even asks herself at one point, “I wonder what my ending will be?”

This is just one of my quirky pet peeves, but I do wish the book didn’t reference popular culture movies for descriptions. Instead of telling me that things were like Lord of the Rings, The Terminator and Star Trek, just describe it…or leave it out.

I did love the descriptions. I also like how the author used more Celtic lore in this book, with references to Summer Magic and Fomorians.

V&T I loved the descriptions as well, that’s really one of my favorite aspects of Kagawa’s writing. There were many scenes that played out like a movie in my head and were downright epic.

FINAL VERDICT:

MR: Even if you didn’t read the first two, I think someone would still enjoy The Iron Queen. The ending was bittersweet but hopeful.

V&T All in all, a solid third installment in the Iron Fey series. I’m looking forward to The Iron Knight and to finding out how everything wraps up!

MR: Me too!

MR: 3.75 stars
V&T: 4 stars

Review: The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

The Demon Trapper's Daughter
By: Jana Oliver
Published By: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
368 pages

Won in a giveaway

5 stars!

From the back cover...

It's the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Fortunately, humans are protected by trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night.

Riley has always dreamed of following in her father's demon-trapper footsteps. But when tragedy strikes and a top-level demon murders her dad, Riley finds herself in for a much more dangerous future than she ever could have imagined.


I really had no idea what to expect going into this one and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. The book opens with Riley at a university law library trying to trap a Biblio-fiend, a 3 inch demon who hates books and likes to destroy them by ripping them up and peeing on them. Riley's plan of attack? She pulls out her trusty copy of Moby Dick and starts reading to the demon...boring him straight into a dead faint. And what does she use as a containment device? Something with air holes and a tight fitting lid, a highly technical modern piece of equipment....a sippy cup. Yeah, I was a fan of Riley by page four.

There are other supernatural forces at work in Riley's world besides Biblio-fiends. There are Klepto-Fiends (little demons dressed like ninjas who like to collect pretty shiny things...they're cute and I kinda want one), Geo-Fiends (big bad demons who can stir up a heck of a windstorm), angels, necromancers, and witches to name a few. But it's really the demons Riley is most concerned with. She's an apprentice trapper, working with her dad who has a reputation as being one of the baddest trappers around and she wants to be just like him. Not just because it's in her blood, but they kinda need to trap to survive. The economy sucks, her high school classes are held in closed up grocery stores and Starbuck's, and her dad is dealing with a mountain of medical bills from when Riley's mom was receiving treatment in a battle with cancer that she ultimately lost.

Riley's life gets hit with tragedy again early on in the story when her dad is murdered by a Level 5 fiend in an area known as Demon Central. It's his partner, Denver Beck, that has to deliver the news to Riley, who is devastated. Denver is southern. So Southern Riley has nicknamed him Backwoods Boy. He's a truck driving, beer drinking, damn fine country boy, 5 years her senior who she had a serious crush on when she was 15. He rejected her and she's never gotten over the embarrassment so she's defensive and abrasive around him. However, now that she's a little older, it's obvious Beck has feelings for her, but with the death of her father...his partner...he finds himself in a position where he has to be responsible for her and that takes precedence over any other feelings he might have for her.

To protect her father from necromancers who want to reanimate his body and sell him as a zombie like servant, Riley has to sit vigil at her dad's grave site every night. And as if that's not enough, she has to deal with being apprenticed to a different master trapper who's beyond being a jerk (I REALLY couldn't stand him), dealing with mean girls in her new school location, and trying to solve the mystery of a password protected computer disk her father left behind. Oh yeah....and the demons seem to have it in for her in particular because they know her by name, which isn't something that happens with other trappers.

Amidst all the chaos is sweet sweet Simon, a fellow apprentice trapper who believes wholeheartedly in the forces of good. The kind of boy who would walk the path of the clergy if he didn't want to have a wife and family one day, so he chooses to battle evil as a trapper. And with all the horrible things going on in Riley's life, he's just what she needs to bring a little happiness.

The Demon Trapper's Daughter is gritty urban fantasy for young adults and I absolutely loved it!! It reads as older YA and contains some sexual references and strong language, so I'd say this one is for older teens and above.

Big News from Melissa Marr's Blog!!

No cover shot available that I could find BUT....due to hit shelves September 20, 2011 is Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions, an anthology with stories from some BIG names in YA!

Melissa Marr posted the table of contents...check it out!

Giovanni’s Farewell by Claudia Gray
Scenic Route by Carrie Ryan
IV League by Margaret Stohl
Red Run by Kami Garcia
Things About Love by Jackson Pearce
Niederwald by Rachel Vincent
--- by Melissa Marr
Facing Facts by Kelley Armstrong
Let’s Get This Undead Show on the Road by Sarah Rees Brennan
Bridge by Jeri Smith-Ready
Skin Contact by Kimberly Derting
Leaving by Ally Condie
At the Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show by Jessica Verday
Gargouille by Mary E. Pearson
The Third Kind by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Automatic by Rachel Caine

You can read the original post HERE which reveals why Melissa didn't list the name of HER story =)

This one is going on my wishlist for sure!!

Waiting on Wednesday

The Wise Man's Fear
By: Patrick Rothfuss
Published by: DAW
Publication date: March 1, 2011

This is the second installment in the Kingkiller Chronicles. I read the first one, The Name of the Wind, back when it first came out, loved it, and have been anxiously awaiting this one!!

Official Publisher's Summary....

"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.

In The Wise Man's Fear Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

Have any of you read The Name of the Wind?? Are you looking forward to this one too???

New on My Shelf

Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Greywalker by Kat Richardson

Harper Blaine was slogging along as a small-time P.I. when a two-bit perp's savage assault left her dead. For two minutes, to be precise.
When Harper comes to in the hospital, she begins to feel a bit ...strange. She sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring.
But Harper's not crazy. Her "death" has made her a Greywalker-able to move between our world and the mysterious, cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new gift (or curse) is about to drag her into that world of vampires and ghosts, magic and witches, necromancers and sinister artifacts. Whether she likes it or not.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel

The highly anticipated sixth book of Jean Auel's Earth's Children® series, THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES, is the culmination fans have been waiting for. Continuing the story of Ayla and Jondalar, Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived more than 25,000 years ago. THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES is an exquisite achievement by one of the world's most beloved authors.

The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French

Seventy-seven-year-old Marylou Ahearn is going to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs come hell or high water. In 1953, he gave her a radioactive cocktail without her consent as part of a secret government study that had horrible consequences.

Marylou has been plotting her revenge for fifty years. When she accidentally discovers his whereabouts in Florida, her plans finally snap into action. She high tails it to hot and humid Tallahassee, moves in down the block from where a now senile Spriggs lives with his daughter’s family, and begins the tricky work of insinuating herself into their lives. But she has no idea what a nest of yellow jackets she is stum­bling into.

For Review From Publisher
Radio Shangri-La
The Revenge of the Radioactive Woman
The Land of Painted Caves
Borrowed
Greywalker
For Kindle
A Discovery of Witches

And the Winner Is....

The winner of my Follower Love Giveaway Hop is...

SnifflyKitty

from

Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books

Congrats!! I've sent you an email =)

And if you didn't win, don't worry, there's another giveaway coming up soon. The Hop pushed me past 500 followers, so to celebrate I'm giving away a pretty awesome ARC. I may have reviewed it not too long ago and I just might have loved it....

A Poem for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone, hope it is sweet for all of you! I'll be announcing the winner of the Follower Love Giveaway Hop when I get home from work, but until then I leave you with this poem by Pablo Neruda....it's one of my favorites =)

Sonnet XVII


I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep

ARC Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent
By: Veronica Roth
Published by: Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books
Publication date: May 3, 2011
496 pages
Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, Across the Universe, and generally amazing books

From Amazon...

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

It's books like this one that make me remember why I started blogging in the first place. You know how it is when you read a really incredible book and you wanna call up all your book loving friends to say, "You gotta read this!!!" Consider this my call to each of you....you've got to read this!

I honestly don't even know where to begin to do this book justice. Roth has created a dystopian world that I immediately bought into. She explains how and why things came to be the way they are and it felt real. The factions are a brilliant and original concept and I caught myself trying to determine which faction I would choose under the same circumstances and which factions my friends and family would pick. It was fascinating and compelling reading to find out about each one and its members.

Now, pair the fabulous world building with vivid characters....Tris is a complex, determined, and multi-dimensional protagonist. She goes through A LOT and learns about her strength, her values, her very character along the way. I adored her. I want to know her. Another thing I loved about her? She's not described as being traditionally pretty. As a matter of fact, she pretty much considers herself to be distinctly not pretty. So many times we have a beautiful girl as the heroine of a story, it was refreshing to see a lead female who wasn't your typical cookie cutter girl. She is someone who isn't important because of the way she looks, but rather because of the person she is and the things she does. Love, love, love! The other characters in Divergent are well fleshed out too, even when they did things that sometimes were downright heinous I was able to understand their reasons for acting the way they did.

And the story. Good grief, the story. I blew through Divergent in less than 24 hours because I simply had to know what was going to happen. There is never a dull moment and everything that happens is important, whether it be to the story moving along or the development of the characters. Just insanely well-crafted. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I am especially fond of books that explore ideas and make you think. Divergent goes there...from
group thinking, expectations from family and society, labeling, bullying, gang mentality, trying to fit in and ultimately to transcending it all and figuring out who you really are.

Trust me, you want to read this one.

Free Kindle Book!

Yay!!! I have had this one on my list of books to read, it's the first in the Love at Stake series by Kerrelyn Sparks!

From Amazon...

So what if he's a bit older and usually regards a human female as dinner, not a dinner date? Yes, Roman Draganesti is a vampire, but a vampire who lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop–sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan either...After witnessing a gruesome murder by the Russian mafia, she's next on their hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she's afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she's found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman's fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her...

It's available as a FREE pre-order for your Kindle HERE and will be delivered to your Kindle on February 22 (along with bonus material!)

Enjoy!!

ARC Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither
By: Lauren DeStefano
Published by: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: March 22, 2011
368 pages
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

From Goodreads...

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.


Well, let me just get straight to it, I liked this book. But I didn't love it. The world created was an interesting one, but there was a lot about it that didn't add up for me and that kept me from being able to buy into it completely. People's actions didn't seem to line up with their motivations and it seemed like some things could have been handled and dealt with with a simple conversation. I also kept wondering why there were no fertility centers. If girls are being orphaned at a young age because their parents die so young, I would think think there would be places like this set up where lots of disadvantaged girls would end up. Just seemed like something you would see in this kind of world. At the very minimum, once Rhine and her fellow sister wives had been kidnapped, it would have made sense if they had been given fertility tests or if someone had tried to figure out when the optimum time for conception would be...no?? An ovulation kit or something??? Especially considering Linden's father is doing experiments...he's got the scientific know-how to do that. But no, perpetuating the human race is left entirely to chance here.

Most of the book takes place at Linden's mansion, where the girls become his wives and are basically prisoners, never allowed to leave the grounds. I could really feel the sense of isolation and how Rhine felt like she was withering away with her few short years left being spent secluded from the real world. She was alive, but not really living. Days were spent in the library or on the grounds of the mansion, where many things weren't even real, but merely holograms. It was easy to understand Rhine's sense of desperation and her desire to escape even though some could argue that it maybe wasn't such a bad life there. I think this is conveyed wonderfully by the image of the bird in the cage on the cover. A cage, even a lovely one, is still a cage and nothing can compare to freedom.

In the summary for this book, it is revealed that Linden is in love with Rhine and also that she wants to find her brother. What I couldn't understand is why she didn't just tell him to help her find her brother!!! And why in the world wouldn't she tell him the things she suspected about his father and the events leading up to her becoming a sister-wife? I felt like so many things could have been solved if she had just opened her mouth. Linden was a pretty decent guy! I mean, maybe if he had been portrayed as more of a villain I could understand her silence but as it stands it only served to frustrate me and make me feel like one of the major things driving the plot was forced. And I was aware of that while I was reading, which took away from my ability to get completely lost in this one.

3 Stars

Follower Love Giveaway Hop

Happy early Valentine's Day!! To celebrate the love, I'm taking part in the Follower Love Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. A ton of blogs have joined this hop, which runs until the 13th, so you have plenty of time to make the rounds, discover some great blogs, and enter a bunch of cool contests! Up for grabs here, your choice of...

To enter, simply fill out the form below. Open to US/International (as long as Book Depository ships to where you are) entrants, age 13 and older. Winner will be announced on Valentine's Day...good luck!

Quick Favor?

Can someone who uses the Google Reader for reading blogs please let me know if my entries show up as white text?? I just started wondering about this as I was reading the blogs I subscribe to and noticed a couple that show up as very faint text and are hard to read unless I actually go to the blog site. I like my blog layout and design but not if it makes it hard for you all to read in the reader =(

New on My Shelf

Divergent
By: Veronica Roth
Published by: Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books
Publication date: May 3, 2011
496 pages

I was so excited to find this in my mailbox today, it sounds AWESOME!!

from Amazon...

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

**Personal Update**

Borrowed a charger from a friend at work and I am back online, whoo hoo!! Now that I know it's a charger problem for sure, I plan to go pick up a new one this weekend.
Oh....and thanks to a dear DEAR friend, I now have my 4 day pass for this year's San Diego Comic Con!!!!!!!!!!!! Are any of you planning on going???