Bitching, Books and Baking…er…3.

Posted on May 15, 2012 in 2012 | 5 comments

The Bitching: Let me start this post by giving credit where credit is due: All the credit for bitching goes to Nicole @ WORD for Teens. She stated in last week’s comments that she would like to be given due credit for the creation of bitching and if you haven’t already caught on, BLOGGING IS NOTHING WITHOUT PROPER CREDIT. Credit is SO in right now. I did some very brief, two second googling and didn’t come up with anyone to credit for credit. So until someone comes forward to refute it, I hereby give credit for credit to Donna @ Bites who reminded me that I have to credit Chachic @ Chachic’s Book Nook for inspiration for my bookshelf organization. Bitching this week is limited to the fact that all The Baking is making my wedding dress difficult to zip.

The Books: As mentioned above, I used the cover photo from Chachic’s Facebook page as inspiration for a mass reorganization of my bookshelves. Chachic put all of her books in order of color and I took it one step further and made sure mine where IN COLOR and BY SIZE. You have NO idea how happy my OCD is right now. Observe:

This was actually hard to do. Some books simply DO NOT fit in. Another problem in the foreseeable future is that nothing else will fit on these two shelves. My special book shelf is full and the overflow has moved to the living room shelf which is approaching unhappiness as well:

For review, I received Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas which I predict will be awesome. I downloaded the free preview of I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, which includes the first ten chapters. I will finish the preview because this books is one The YAckers are reading and I MUST PARTICIPATE IN MY OWN BOOKCLUB *note to self* but I don’t think I’ll be buying the rest of the book. It’s a dark, dark read and I am a big chicken wuss. I ran out and bought an actual copy of Gravey Mercy by Robin LaFevers. I read it as an ARC on my kindle and I want to reread it (probably everyday) so I needed it. One day I’ll get my head out of the book long enough to write some book thoughts on it but I’m just not ready yet.

The Baking: Man…I totally fucked up this week. That’s all I have to say about that.

I’ve got the magic, baby…

Posted on May 7, 2012 in 2012 | 2 comments

The following contains my book thoughts on the last three books (currently published) in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. It should go without saying that as this post is about books that FOLLOW THE FIRST TWO BOOKS, if you read it, it will spoil the previous books in the series. But you do what you will- I only want your happiness. I refer you to my book thoughts on books 1 and 2,

When last we met with Kate, she had just vanquished a couple of gods, lost a new friend, further investigated the limits of her powers and tread some very dangerous romantic ground with the Beast Lord (you shiver when I say that, don’t you?). In Magic Strikes, which is quite possibly my favorite book in the series, a gladiator style death match uncovers some pretty nasty magical beings who seek to bring about the downfall of the shape-shifters. We learn more than we ever wanted to know about Saiman and perhaps the sexiest dinner menu ever penned was written. How awesome were the fight scenes in this book! There was always the possibility that they could all die horribly and yet Kate continues to save the day- and not save it in the cheesy overly heroic superman kind of way but just her existence tips the balance of awesomeness ever in her favor.

In Magic Bleeds, a long lost and very ancient relative of Kate’s stops by for tea and a chat, completely blowing her cover. Kate has spent her entire life trying to keep the lid on the fact that her blood line can be traced back to the root of all the world’s current problems. When the shit hits the fan and the truth finally outs, Kate learns exactly who is on her team and that maybe, just maybe, when the day comes, she won’t have to face her father alone. I love the mythology and lore entwined into this series. The authors give an explanation for EVERYTHING. If there’s a loose end, I have yet to find it. Kate’s fate has been hinted at since day one and I’m loving that things are starting to find her. I bet that when it’s all said and done, Roland will have known about her and watched her from the beginning.

The last installment in the series (for now), Magic Slays was probably my least favorite. A grieving widower has invented a machine that could level the playing field between magic and tech, but at the cost of countless lives. Surrounded by magical beings and having just a wee touch of magic herself, Kate isn’t going to stand by for the annihilation of the world as she knows it. Magic may have shaken the Earth to its core but it’s engrained in everything now and one doesn’t simply do away with it. The pacing of this book threw me off. It was all set up and then BAM- done. I do so hate a rushed ending and the BIG thing that Kate was going to attempt at the end- oh so down played.

Oh, and in one of these books we have some of the hottest, greediest, most highly anticipated sex that ever did exist between a shape-shifter and ONE EXTREMELY LUCKY LADY. No polite fade to black naughty bits for this series. Team Andrews WAS NOT afraid to write it.

So many great characters. Such an extraordinary world. I can’t say enough good things about this series. Goodreads shows a Feb 2013 release date for book six and it’s going to be a long, torturous wait.

Now sing along with Walk Off the Earth:

Bitching, Books and Baking…again

Posted on May 6, 2012 in 2012 | 9 comments

The Bitching: So there are some posts floating around declaring that anyone who advertises the books they received, purchased or acquired by African swallow, must give credit back to TSS, which is apparently the source from which all book advertisement springs forth. I’m going to give you a moment to reflect on the silliness of that implication and then do with it what you will. Seriously, she was the FIRST PERSON EVER TO DO THIS? But for those of you who can’t wrap your minds around the idea that YA book bloggers did not invent the internet or the promotion of books- wait, you are aware that there is life beyond Blogspot, right? For those few of you that crave rigid boundaries in YA BOOK BLOGGING, I hereby credit, hmmm…let’s see…Johannes Gutenberg who was quite handy with old fashioned, lettered Legos with the inspiration for the “Books” part of this post. I’d like to give a big shout out to Stone Age Man for discovering fire and thereby making the following baked goods possible. And finally, let’s see…for bitching…you may nominate your favorite bitch in comments and I promise, the next time I complain about something, I’ll make sure ALL the credit goes to her.

The Books: I got up bright and early Tuesday morning (which is the name of a store, so by all means let me give credit) and drove up to Lemuria Books, where I met with the fabulous children’s manager, Emily and picked up my very own copies of Bitterblue and Divergent. I have of course, already devoured Bitterblue- the light is lovelier in Cashore’s world.

For review, I received Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Spark is the second book in the Sky Chasers series and I’ve really been looking forward to it.

The Baking: Not much this week as I was moody and disagreeable and didn’t feel like going to the grocery store, so we just ate a lot of take out. But I did get off my butt and make one thing:

Silence by Michelle Sagara

Posted on May 2, 2012 in 2012 | 6 comments

Silence

Author: Michelle Sagara
Publisher: DAW Books (Penguin)
Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 256
Series: The Queen of the Dead
Genre: YA- Paranormal Fantasy

Death has surrounded Emma for most of her relatively short existence. Having suffered the loss of a family member and her boyfriend, she is no stranger to the pain and loneliness that follows the death of a loved one. Every evening she seeks what little comfort and closeness the solitude of the cemetery can afford her. When her nightly visit is interrupted by the new boy from school and his elderly companion, Emma finds herself in the middle of a meeting she wasn’t meant to encounter. Something about the old woman isn’t quite right, as if she doesn’t really belong…as if she isn’t really there. Before Emma can even begin to imagine the danger she might have stumbled into, the old woman greets her with a frighteningly icy kiss.

From the start, this book pulled me in. You can’t resist the draw of that creepily gorgeous cover and the very first paragraph just sealed it further. I just knew I had stumbled upon something brilliant here.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT.
     The world changes, the shadows grow, there’s secrecy and privacy
in dark places. First kiss, at night, by the monkey bars and the old
swings that the children and their parents have vacated; second, longer,
kiss, by the bike stands, swirl of dust around feet in the dry summer air.
Awkward words, like secrets just waiting to be broken, the struggle to
find the right ones, the heady fear of exposure— what if, what if— the
joy when the words are returned. Love, in the parkette, while the moon
waxes and the clouds pass.
    Promises, at night. Not first promises— those are so old they can’t be
remembered— but new promises, sharp and biting; they almost hurt to
say, but it’s a good hurt. Dreams, at night, before sleep, and dreams during
sleep.
    Everything, always, happens at night.

And we went along like this for nearly a quarter of the book. The graveyard scenes were wonderfully eery and Emma’s melancholy life just screamed for something great and sinister to enter into it. It was a go up until that point but then, quite suddenly, the tone of the story changed direction entirely. Instead of beautifully descriptive paragraphs graced with a subtle overlay of magic, I found myself wading through 95% dialogue in an effort to hold on to the slippery 5% of remaining story. It was an exercise in futility as at this point there really wasn’t much story left.

Some of it was just silly. I lost count of how many times Eric threatened to kill Chase (be it jokingly, half-jokingly or seriously). I was frustrated at the lack of explanation for Emma, her gifts, WHAT WAS GOING ON, and everyone’s blind acceptance of the circumstances. Say you suddenly see dead people, and you share this with everyone and they say “Hey! We see the dead people too!”….no one is questioning this? And Emma, dear girl, not every boy that threatens to kill you turns out to be an Ash. Sometimes he’s just a guy threatening to kill you.

I have a small sad because of this.

The underlying Nancy Drew factor is still rather intriguing and if we can thin out the dialogue a bit then we really have something to work with here. Liberating lingering spooks with necromancy could be an impressive twist if future installments of the series end up leaning more toward mystery. The whole gang loading up into the car to go hunt ghosts? So very Scooby Doo and everyone loves Scooby Doo.

*Quote taken from Miz Sagara’s website. Go and visit! You can read the first few chapters now! Thank you to DAW books for sending this one my way.

Bitching, Books and Baking

Posted on Apr 29, 2012 in 2012 | 8 comments

The Bitching: I was going to pick out a new “mailbox” meme to join in on, even though I haven’t participated in one in many months. I thought about it. I really did. I buy a lot of books, borrow a stack from the library from time to time and I get a fair amount in for review. I know how much I love looking at pictures of artfully stacked, newly acquired books and it seems rather selfish to not share what new lovelies are gracing my shelves. I will strive to do better, just not in a meme. For many reasons, but one in particular, I think a little distance from such events is warranted. Somewhere in all the recent unpleasantness, blogger bashing and general hate and discontent we lost sight of what book blogging is all about. It isn’t about the community, it isn’t about the number of page views and it damn sure isn’t about whoring yourself out and kissing ass in exchange for free books.

In regards to the above mentioned “recent unpleasantness” (which is also an expression used in reference to the Civil War), I’m going to say this and then let that be that: DON’T FUCKING STEAL. It is an affront to the written word, something any reader should hold dear, and it shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone. Plus it makes you look like an asshole.

The Books: So I did indeed storm the library on Monday morning and rescued:

This is the best series I’ve had my hands on in quite a long time. It has EVERYTHING you could ever want in an urban fantasy and then some. If you happen to pick up the first book, Magic Bites, don’t repeat my mistake- GET THE ENTIRE SERIES. Look for reviews from the rest of the series in days to come.

I behaved myself rather well and only purchased one book this week. A very nice second hand copy of Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead crossed my path in a bookstore and I brought it home to love. Something in me has been wanting to read this and far be it for me to deny my inner self.

For review, I snagged an ebook of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein from Netgalley. Disney-Hyperion was awesome enough to open this up for a short time.

And from Penguin, I got this little surprise:

The Baking: Speaking of GUILT, Pinterest is the devil. Seriously. HAVE YOU SEEN THE HEAVENLY ASSORTMENT OF DESSERT RECIPES AVAILABLE ON PINTEREST!?!? It’s impossible to resist! And since I have absolutely no willpower, and regardless of the fact that I have to fit into a wedding dress in just over a month, I BAKED THE EVIL. GUILT.

M&M Cookie Pie. Recipe can be found HERE.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes. Recipe can be found HERE. They are suppose to be refrigerated for at least four hours. Screw that.

YAckers: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Posted on Apr 28, 2012 in 2012 | 2 comments

This past month my book club (minus me because I was bad) read and chatted about Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. I read this book last year and I’ve read the sequel, Demonglass and found both to be a jolly good time. My friend Melissa @ The Book Nut was the Keeper of the Book for this round and you’ll find her review along with a few tidbits from the YAckers over HERE.

It’s a small internetz after all…

Posted on Apr 27, 2012 in 2012 | 3 comments

It took me a while to really jump on the social networking bandwagon. I had Facebook, but didn’t use it. I had no idea what Tumblr was and I really thought that Pinterest sounded like something old ladies would enjoy. Turns out I -AM- an old lady and now I love me some Pinterest. Anyway, I’ve slowly but surely plopped myself in the middle of some commonly used social networking whatsits and I couldn’t be happier with some of the book blogger interactions I’ve had as a result. I’ve also been trying to add you guys when I find you, so bear with me if I have yet to stumble upon you elsewhere on the web. Please feel free to give me a gentle nudge in your direction.

Now for a little shameless self-promotion:

I love everything there is to love about Goodreads. As a book lover, it’s quite possibly the most extraordinary tool for keeping track of everything bookish. I’ve found so many books to love because of it. The app is invaluable when you are in a bookstore and need a quick reminder of what is on your wishlist.

And of course, since this is a WordPress site and is therefore not GFC friendly, please feel free to grab my FEED