[Review] Jean-Yves Ferri & Didier Conrad: Asterix and the Picts

Jean-Yves Ferri & Didier Conrad: Asterix and the Picts [graphic novel, fiction]

You can buy it here:Asterix and the Picts (#35)

Summary:
Asterix and Obelix find a foreigner frozen in an ice cube at the beach. They try to help him return home.

My thoughts:
I grew up with these graphic novels and enjoyed them from the get go. My brother and I got the first 20 or so issues because our uncles were reading them when they were younger. So when I saw the latest Asterix issue in our grocery store, I had to get it.

This is originally a French series by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo about a small village that decides to fight Julius Cesar's attempt to conquer the world. René Goscinny died quite a few years ago already, and this is now the first one which Albert Uderzo did not draw himself (he did oversee the process, however!). As a fan of this series for years, it makes me sad to know that I will no longer be waiting for a graphic novel by the two men who began this series, but for a new installment by new authors and illustrators. However, I think they might have found two worthy successors, so I have a good feeling for the future.

I was anxious when I first started reading this installment, but Ferri and Conrad did a good job filling in for Goscinny and Uderzo. The story was fun to read, as they included common themes as well as a new story line with some new characters they created. This made me feel somewhat "at home" with the way things progressed.

Hopefully, they will keep up the good work - and maybe they will even come out with a new installment in less time than it took between the last one and this one?

Rating:
4.5/5

FTC: Bought with my own money.

Everything changes...

When you have a child, everything changes. Priorities shift, your interests change to some degree, and you no longer have as much time as you used to have. And it is an absolute joy! The mister and I have been talking about how it is incredible how such a tiny thing can take up so much of your heart. This precious little boy that came into our lives as a big surprise is now 4 months old. He smiles and laughs so much and we couldn't be happier. However, it has taken its toll on my reading. I believe I only finished two books so far, but I am working on two books right now. Well, I may have read more books, if you allow me to count the picture books I read to the precious boy. With the new interests and other things I am now working on apart from books, I may implement a few non-bookish themes here. This will still be a book blog for the most part, but I want to share other things here as well. So I hope you will stay tuned for what I have coming up for you!

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 8 - Things that appeal to me on blogs

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

15 quick bullet points of things that appeal to me on blogs is the task for Day 8, so let's see...

• semi-regular posts (but not too many!)
• pics of the cover that are neither too big nor too small
• clear titles (I want to know up front if it is a review, cover reveal or whatever)
• ratings aren't necessary as long as the text tells me enough
• similar reading tastes
• reliable reviews
• a nice selection of non-review posts
• some regular posts I can look forward to
• personal posts - I like to get to know the person behind the blog
• comments
• audiobooks - admit to reading them, they count too!
• NO music, sound effects or anything similar - I absolutely despise this "trend"
• no fancy color schemes for the text, easy to read really appeals to me (I want to be able to read without my glasses if I feel like it
• No captcha!
• I can easily find what I'm looking for

What about you? What appeals to you? Is there anything you would recommend I change?

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 7 - Blogging Quirks

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

Today is Day 7 and we have a full week of the 15 Day Blogger Challenge behind us. Today is all about blogging quirks and I have to admit, I am not sure what my quirks are.

I cannot write a review right after finishing a book. The book may be fresh in my mind, but I would never be able to get it all in, in fact, I usually forget something if I write the review right away.

I try to steer clear of too many I's in my posts, especially in the reviews, because it feels odd, but there are many, many cases where I miserably fail.

I am constantly late and usually only manage to schedule a handful of posts. When you see blog posts, usually I really just finished writing them.

Do those count as blogging quirks???

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 6 - Book Shopping

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

Today's Day 6 already and I'm surprised. What happened??? Anyway, today, I am going to introduce you to my kind of book shopping! This will be a short entry because I think I'm fairly easy.

I do not buy exclusively at one place, but usually look around wherever I am when I feel like getting a new book. This can be online (TBD or the big yellow A) or in stores wherever I am. Sometimes, I already know what I'm looking for, so I will simply seek out that particular book and I'm done, other days I have no clue and just want the book shopping experience. Those are the days when I will spend quite a while looking around, maybe disappearing behind a stack of books or a row of opened windows with book summaries before I make my ultimate decision.

That's me, very random, I guess...

How do you shop for books?

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 5 - Tear Jerker

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

Today, on Day 5, I am supposed to recommend a tear jerker to you. For me, there is a combination of two books that created a really bad tear jerker. I cried and cried for a majority of the second book, but the first book is already oh so sad, I do not want to exclude it.

The books are:

Richelle Mead's Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise really made me cry a lot. You have the tragedy around Lissa and at the same time the sad, sad events revolving around Rose and Dimitry. I know even reading this a second time will not make it easier. I will certainly start crying again!

Can you recommend a tear jerker? I would love to hear about it!

[Review] The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston

Ashley Elston: The Rules for Disappearing
[YA mystery/thriller]
Disney Hyperion
ISBN: 978-1-4231-6897-3
312 pages

You can buy it here:
The Rules for Disappearing

Summary: (from Goodreads.com)
She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.

Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.

But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.

My thoughts:
My thoughts about this book may be quite choppy, but I will try my best.

I have seen various shows and movies and read books about the witness protection system. Usually it is either portrayed as a flawed system that has problems keeping the people brought in safe and you can see the problems the witnesses have with their life, but hardly ever do we get to see a book from the point of view of a minor in the system (off the top of my head, I vaguely remember one other book from long, long ago, but there the premise was entirely different). Ashley Elston instead concentrates on Meg, the minor who is in the witness protection program, and through her eyes shows the trials and tribulations Meg's entire family goes through. It is not easy for either of her family members, and we see it all. Elston does not sugarcoat anything. The many changes of lives in the family due to possibly being found out, the small mistakes that can cause a change of address (and name) for Meg's family - through flashbacks and Meg's memories, we find out what happened in her previous locations.

The one thing we are kept in the dark about is the why. Why is Meg's family in the program? What happened that made them have to disappear, to fear for their lives? Slowly, almost at the same time as Meg do we uncover bits and pieces of what happened, what got them in the situation.

The suspense and tension kept me aboard throughout the book and the more light-hearted moments kept a nice balance. I enjoyed that many of the fun moments included Ethan and that he was a loyal friend to Meg no matter what. In fact, the loyalty the teenagers in this book showed was impressive and I believe it is a step into the right direction, even though they sometimes went a bit overboard.

Nonetheless, I think the suspense could have been kept up a bit longer. My main issue was the quick resolve of the family's place in the witness protection program.

If you are looking for a good young adult novel where the parents are finally not only not absent, but also try to do the best for their children, this book should please you. They have problems of their own and try to deal with them as best as they can, but they are also there for the children in their own way. Not everyone may agree with their ideas of how to deal with certain situations, but the situation is an extreme one and with the issues that are later revealed, I can in part understand and sympathize with the parents' actions.

Rating:
4/5

FTC: I received an e-galley from the publisher through Netgalley and I bought a hardcover copy with my own money.

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 4 - Flinging it

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

On Day 4, I'm supposed to tell you about the last book I flung across the room.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a book for this one. I rarely fling books anywhere because far too often, the books I end up not liking are on my e-reader or on my e-reader app on my phone and I have to admit I like them both a lot. I will close the book, delete it and console myself with another book I hopefully like better.

Usually, when I buy a paperback or a hardcover, I am pretty certain I will enjoy it, so disappointment in those books only happens in very few occasions. If it happens, I will usually try to find a good home for it somewhere else because when I buy paper copies they come highly recommended and I figure it is me, not the book.

How do you treat disappointing books? Do you actually fling them? I have to admit, I would love to experience that feeling of flinging a book across the room. I think it might be a very liberating feeling...

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 3 - Blogging BFFs

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

Day 3 lets me show off my Blogging BFFs. Incidentally, I really have my Blogging BFFs, thanks to the last Bout of Books, where I met my Book BFFs. They are: Rie of Mission To Read , Melissa of Harley Bear Book Blog, Lindsay of The Novel Life, and Melina of The Pretty Nifty YA Reader. The girls are wonderful people, friends and I love talking to them about all things books and blogs. I hope you will check out their blogs and maybe leave a short note, if you feel like it.

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in.

On Day 2 everything revolves around bedtime reading rituals.

I usually go to bed whenever I start feeling a little (a lot, actually, most of the time!) tired. Depending on the time, I will bring my current book to bed with me and read until I fall asleep. Luckily, the mister is nice enough to clear off the bed when I fall asleep before I can move the book to my nightstand.

When I don't feel like leaving the light on, I usually take my phone and open the Kindle app on it. This works quite well because I tend to dislike light when I'm really, really tired already. My phone's screen automatically shuts off if I haven't been reading for a while, so it's easier for me. Another option, if I feel I cannot concentrate on a book, I head over to the Bloglovin' app to read a few blog posts.

[Waiting on Wednesday] Tandem by Anna Jarzab

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds, many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds, inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real—until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love—one who knows her secret, and one who believes she's someone she's not.

Release Date: October 8, 2013

[15 Day Book Blogger Challenge] Day 1 - Bookish Confessions

April from Good Books and Good Wine is doing the 15 Day Blogger Challenge for the next few days and I decided to join in. I am already a tad bit late, but the mister wanted my help with his German class, so I closed my laptop yesterday without finishing this blog post. Instead of rushing and posting two days today, I have decided to just stay a day behind.

For Day 1, the task is (ahem, was) to come up with 15 bookish confessions...

1) My bookshelves are sorted - first by read & unread books and books for university, and then by author's last name.

2) I laugh and cry in public when I'm reading - and I only feel a little bit embarrassed by that!

3) I hate the ending of a series I love, I usually have a hard time reading those last pages.

4) Occasionally, I love TSTL heroines - but I need to know up front that this is what I am in for. They can be funny!

5) I am bad with names - no matter how much I enjoy a book, I usually have to look up the name of the characters again when I write a review or when I talk about it.

6) However, I usually remember the plot of a book I read and kept - a relative tested me because he couldn't believe it. My memory is very selective, I guess?

7) I ditch books - and I don't have a real set rule for when and why.

8) Of the top of my head, I cannot come up with a single movie adaptation of a book I would truly support and admit to loving.

9) Other people touching the books on my shelves can make me freak out. I usually try to suppress the urge to jump them and make them take a step back, but it really bothers me.

10) I have many hyped YA novels on my shelves that are still waiting to be read. It's like, I know I should read them, but something's keeping me, because it may just not be what I like.

11) I hate, hate, hate cover changes! Especially within a series it really bothers me. I just bought the first (couple) book(s) with one cover style and now you change it? That is so uncool!

12) I love classics, but hardly ever the ones I need to read for school.

13) I desperately need to get my personal library down to a smaller number of books, because we don't have all that much room left. The problem: I hate parting with my books.

14) I can read books in German, English and French, but usually, I stick to English and German. I wish I skipped between languages a bit more evenly.

15) Thinking about my Mt. TBR almost causes anxiety attacks. It is way too big and it is the one part of my shelves I really should reduce, but I don't have the heart to give away those books, because I keep thinking I'm actually interested in reading them - eventually...

Bonus confession

16) My bags are all big enough to carry at least a paperback or my smartphone (with an e-reader app) so that I am always with something to read if I get stuck with some extra time. Most of my bags are in fact big enough to carry a hardcover. Do you have any bookish confessions? Let me know!

[Book Haul] #4

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea. For more information, check out their blogs!

This last week, the books have been sparse, which is good. I have so many books to read! Nonetheless, I received one book. (Link leads to Goodreads.)

Bought:



Daisy Whitney: When You Were Here

What did you add to your TBR shelves last week? Did you write a blog post? Then leave a message. If you didn't, please comment!

[Book Haul] #3

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea. For more information, check out their blogs!

This is the product of two weeks' worth of books entering my home...

Bought:

(And look who's peeking out from behind ;-) )

Amy Tintera: Reboot
Kody Keplinger: A Midsummer's Nightmare
John D'Agata & Jim Fingal: The Lifespan of a Fact
Bridget Zinn: Poison
Kristin Cashore: Graceling
Jill Shalvis: It Had To Be You
Lauren Morrill: Meant To Be

On my Kindle:
Kelly Oram: The Avery Shaw Experiment

What did you add to your TBR shelves last week? Did you write a blog post? Then leave a message. If you didn't, please comment!

[Armchair BEA] The end - for this year!

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people.

I am so happy I got to participate in this year’s Armchair BEA. It was a fun experience and I will most likely spend the next 2 weeks still in order to meet new bloggers and to see who else participated. It has been a fun experience I would not want to have missed. It got me thinking about genres, blogging and aspects of blogging I wasn’t even really aware of.

All this makes Armchair BEA an amazing event to join in on. You get a lot of positive things out of it from your own cozy armchair, desk or wherever else you blog from.

I have been thinking about this for the past few days and I could not possibly tell you what I liked more – attending BEA in NYC or participating in Armchair BEA. I just do not know and if in doubt, I would probably want to participate in both? Sounds crazy, huh?

What I missed out on for Armchair BEA this year were the Twitter chats. I never was awake for them, be it because I was already in bed or because I was still in bed. But in the end, I need my sleep, especially now that I am kind of working on sleeping up front, before kiddo is going to keep me awake at odd hours.

(Urban) Fantasy?

One of the genres I would have loved to see talked about by the Armchair BEA participants, in part to get more points of view on it, is fantasy, especially urban fantasy. This certainly has to do with my very own beloved nerd (think Leonard of The Big Bang Theory fame and you basically know the basics about my wonderful mister!).
I had Jim Butcher’s first two Harry Dresden novels on my Mt. TBR for the longest time, and when he came around, I read them right away and read the next few books as well. I am still working my way through the series, which is easy because he has them all, so I can just grab them. I have to admit though, that I haven’t read one in a while, much to his chagrin. One of my reasons is that I cannot fathom finishing the series. I have always been odd like that and I usually have the (for now) last one in a series sitting around on Mt. TBR until the next one is out or until I urgently need a fix of a favorite series. Maybe I will use maternity leave to read one or two more. After all, I will then have two extra days off!

Another series he wants me to read is the Game of Thrones books, by the way, and those are chunksters, let me tell you that much! I am glad he has them on his e-reader. I will just have to grab that off his nightstand. I’m sure he won’t mind as long as he can read on my e-reader instead.

What are some urban fantasy series you can recommend? The mister and I are always looking for some good urban fantasy. (Yes, he’s a reader, am I lucky or what?)

[Armchair BEA] "Keeping it real"?! and children's & YA literature

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people.

Keeping it real...

I have been thinking about that saying all day yesterday and all day today and I am still not sure if I actually fully grasp the meaning. Let me try it anyway...

I have been blogging for many years now and it has mostly been about books here, but that is not everything I can and want to share with you. I mention it here and there - I love playing with makeup, my cat is a source of joy and WTF-ery in my life, and the mister and my pregnancy is no secret, which you can see in my Instagram feed on a regular basis. I am still trying to figure out how to best incorporate this in my blog without moving the emphasis from book blogging. Maybe not only by mentioning it here and there in a side note. To me, when I hear about Keeping it real, I think of not faking it, being yourself and being honest in what you say and do.

If you have any advice on how to incorporate other aspects on a blog, feel free to leave your suggestions and ideas in the comments!

Children's & Young Adult Literature

I am probably not telling you anything new when I say that YA is one of the main age groups in literature I read. At least if you know this blog a bit. But what about children's literature?

I will soon have to stock up on picture books for kiddo, so I have been thinking about those books for a while now. Apart from the Doctor Seuss books, the mister will definitely have us stock up on (and actually, we already have one thanks to Lenore and her husband Daniel, we will add The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The question is, what other books we should add. I assure you, I will keep you up to date on kiddo's very first library!

As an older kid, I loved Enid Blyton's novels. They always taught the reader something without being too preachy, and I could not get enough of them. They are mostly girl-y books, so we will have to see what we can get kiddo when he is (quite a few years) older. Aside from the usual fare of books geared towards 8-12 year old girls, I would also read plenty of Agatha Christie's mysteries. I never viewed them as too brutal or bloody, and I enjoyed (and still do) the thrill of trying to figure out what exactly happened, why and of course the whodunnit!

Nowadays, I am an adult, obviously, but I still go back to reading YA most of the time. On one hand, it is an escapist behavior. I have to read plenty of classics and other rather dense literature for university. When I read YA I concentrate less on images the author might want to create, or on underlying messages. With young adult novels, I still have some issues that are being handled.

On the other hand, I can go back to a time in life when things were on one hand easier (no tax reports! no bills!), but also difficult for me as a bookaholic, an avid reader. You may or may not know that reading is not commonly perceived as "cool" when you're a teenager. The books I read are a nice mixture of nerdy people and how they experience their teenage years and books with cool kids and their issues. It's this mix in YA that makes it especially appealing to me.

Are there any books you can recommend, both in picture books and children's books? Are there YA books you think I should read?

[Random Acts of Kindness] June 2013 (with May wrap up)

I am again participating in the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) hosted by the lovely ladies from Book Soulmates! It's a fun and nice way to interact with other book lovers and a chance to maybe fulfill a wish of theirs - and have a wish of yours fulfilled. You can find the rules on their website (the basics: have a wishlist or create one, sign up and send off books - and get some in return).

Last month, I sent out:
If I Should Die by Amy Plum to Mariska of me and my books

And I received:

There is Black Wings by Christina Henry from Mariska of me and my books, which I cannot wait to read.
Also, Isabelle of Lecture toute une Aventure sent me this wonderful handmade bookmark. The colors are wonderful and the seahorse is adorable! She wanted to send it for my birthday in April, but she injured her hand (luckily, it is okay now!), so it was a tad bit delayed. She even wrote me a letter and enclosed those two cute stickers!

Thanks a lot, you two! I will certainly enjoy both the book and the bookmark. In fact, the book mark is in my current read again.

Now, for my June signup:
You can find my wishlist on Amazon, which I am always trying to keep up to date.

While I would be incredibly happy about either of the books on there, my top 5 would probably be:
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danford

If you would like to offer me one of these books, simply send me an e-mail at kathrin.p AT gmail DOT com and I will send you my mailing address.

[Reading Stack] June 2013

With a TBR "stack" like mine, it is incredibly overwhelming to pick my next read. Thus, I have recently started to make monthly short lists. That way, when I am not absolutely certain I want to read that one particular book, I am not overwhelmed standing in front of my shelves of unread books. Instead, I simply look at a small stack and go based off of that.

It is nice to spend a while in front of my bookshelves at the end of each month to look at all the goodies and to shop my stacks. Deciding which books I want to add to my stack for the upcoming month is never easy, I never know how many books I should add. But it is also fun to try to pick a variety of books I still feel like reading.

Of course, not all the books are random. I also add books I intend to read for a certain occasion or because I intend to read them for a challenge maybe - or for educational purposes (for university, because I feel I should read them at least once etc).

For June, I picked the following books for my monthly stack:

The first few books were on the stack last month already. I did not read a lot in May, unfortunately.

Tahereh Mafi: Shatter Me
Mira Grant: Feed
Abby Grahame: Wentworth Hall
Suzanne Young: The Program (I received this ARC from Lenore of Presenting Lenore after she read it. Thanks again!!)
Harvey Karp: The Happiest Baby on the Block
Cassandra Clare: City of Ashes
Rick Yancey: The 5th Wave
Ashley Elston: The Rules for Disappearing

And ebooks on my stack are:

Kiera Cass: The Elite
Kim Barnouin: Skinny Bitch in Love
Mary Louise Kelly: Anonymous Sources
S.K. Falls: Secret for a Song

Do you create monthly reading stacks? What does your TBR stack look like?

[Armchair BEA] Ethics, anyone? And some non-fiction, too

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people. I did not post an ArmchairBEA post yesterday because my giveaway was already up and running (go check it out, you can enter until Sunday!) the day before and there will be another giveaway on Sunday. Also, I did not have a clue what to write about the topic. I do not generally read literary fiction - do I even know what exactly that is??? *cringe* Today's topic is still somewhat abstract to me with non-fiction being the topic (and you know how many of those I read, don't you?), but it is interesting to dive in & I at least think I know what I'm talking about. But first up, let me give you my Top 3 Pieces of Advice on Ethics.

Ethics - a Top 3

I did not do this week's Top 10 Tuesday because I simply did not have the time, so let me at least give you my Top 3 Pieces of Advice on Ethics

1. Give credit! This one sounds easy, but it can be difficult to figure out where exactly to give credit. I would say, if in doubt, give credit. If you find a piece of advice that you like and that inspires a blog post or part of a post, say so. If you get a picture from somewhere, credit it. Think about what you do. But what if you don't remember where you found your inspiration and if you can't find the original source? Then I would at least say so. In my opinion, a simply "I read something about that but can't find it" is always better than not saying anything.

2. Be true to yourself and your readers! If there is something you do not like, say so, but without making it a personal issue. Never sell yourself, you would also sell your readers to a degree. Be yourself and stay that way. I know it sounds simple yet hard, but you can do it!

3. Be respectful with each other! We are all people, we all have feelings and you don't want to hurt others or be hurt yourself. If in doubt, one of the best pieces of advice regarding this I have heard was to write something and let it sit. If you still believe what you wrote is accurate the next day and you can smile while reading it, it is definitely most likely fine.

Non-Fiction

For the longest time, non-fiction has not been a genre I have been interested in at all. The thought of it alone was enough to make me feel bored stiff. Then, one day, I came across one Bill Bryson's collections of essays and I realized that non-fiction does not have to be dreary, boring, and factual without a sense of humor. I blame him for my occasional ventures into the land of non-fiction!

Nowadays, I can be found looking through the non-fiction section of a book store every now and then, searching for another maybe educating, definitely fun book to read. Bill Bryson is far from the only author who can achieve that.

In fact, I am no longer really put off non-fiction. Another sign for that should be the class on creative non-fiction I am taking right now. It is an interesting form of non-fiction I may have to talk about at a later point. For now, let me tell you that it is fun to read and write (because yes, the class entails us writing some CNF ourselves). Basically, CNF uses literary techniques while remaining accurate where facts are concerned.

[Armchair BEA] Blogger Development & Genre Fiction (with Giveaway!)

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people. Below, you can find a bit about how I came to be the blogger I am today and my thoughts on genre fiction along with my favorite genres and some book recommendations. And don't forget, there's a giveaway at the bottom of this blog post!

Blogger Development

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been blogging for many years now. I will not go into the whole "how it started" again. Instead, let me tell you shortly how I feel blogging has changed over the years.

Way back, book blogging especially was mostly about telling other people about books we read, whether we liked them or not, what worked and what did not work. I would post a review (at least as soon as what I was writing could somehow qualify as a review) whenever I was done with a book. There were no cover reveals, no big giveaways (and thus no hoops you had to jump through in order to have a chance at winning the giveaway). There were not that many author interviews, in part certainly because the book blogging community was not yet perceived as a marketing tool by the industry professionals.

Nowadays, it feels like in quite a few cases it is more about promoting authors, getting the word out for the sake of the author, and no longer for the sake of the reader. I have encountered blogs that would post about one and the same book over and over again. In a few cases, this has turned me off a book or even a blog. I admit I have unsubscribed to a few (very few in comparison!) blogs because I would see one and the same book or author promoted over and over again without any content that was helpful to me as a reader who was not a "fangirl" of said author.

Among the major changes for the book blogging community is certainly the access to review copies. When I started out, review copies were - to my knowledge - for magazine and newspaper journalists only (and maybe book seller and other industry professionals?). Nowadays, in part because of the rise of the e-book, book bloggers all over the world can gain access to review copies and read books in advance. This was quite a game changer, in my opinion. When way back, you would have to order a book, wait for the publication date and the actual shipping to read the book, you can now start reading as soon as the publisher offers ARCs. Thus, the book blogging community is a lot more "part of the game and the system". In my opinion, this has both good and bad effects. On one hand, book bloggers can now talk about books and promote them as soon as they are published or even a few days in advance, which makes for an even bigger audience. On the other hand, and this is something that has been bothering me early on, the variety of books discussed on blogs has decreased and it is not unusual for me to scroll through my feed reader only to see reviews for one and the same book on ten different blogs posted over the course of two to three days. It may be only me, but this causes an oversaturation and almost a disinterest in a book if I have not yet read it. Another result of this is the run for the approval for the next big book. You hear about a book and everybody wants to be approved for an ARC for this book in order to read and review it (which then leads back to the original point of many blogs talking about one and the same book).

Granted, I have done the same thing. I heard about a book and felt the need to read it right away, without waiting for the official publication date. I am not saying I am different. However, I sometimes wish the book blogging community would not only promote the latest books, but also the books that have been out there for a while. These books are still worth being read, and this is something I hope to achieve with my blogging. (There's another review coming up for a book that has been published a few years back but is still worth reading this week!)

That being said, I love the fact that the book blogging community has grown so much over the years. I believe there is not one reader out there who would not be able to find a book blogger who has a similar taste in reading and thus can recommend awesome books. I can only hope this growth will continue and we will stay big, colorful, and all-encompassing! Let's read on and promote those wonderful books!

The many events now available within the book blogging community (but not only for book bloggers) have certainly helped us all to meet new people, be it the various read-a-thons happening throughout the year, the Bloggiesta, weekly events or more. One example for this is the Bout of Books, during the last I actually met a group of wonderful people, the Book BFFs: Lindsay from A Novel Life, Melina from The Pretty Nifty (YA) Reader, Kelly from Reading the Paranormal, Octavia from Read. Sleep. Repeat., Michelle from In Libris Veritas, Rie from Mission to Read, Danielle from Consuming Worlds, Camila from Alive or Undead, Lisa from Lisa Likes Books, Jessica from Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile, Amanda from On A Book Bender, Judith from Paper Riot, Angela & Loretta from Reading Angels, Lisa from Just Another Rabid Reader, Angie from Angela's Anxious Life, Aimee from Penmanship Smitten, and Melissa from Harley Bear Book Blog. These girls are wonderful and I cannot wait to read more books with them!

Genre Fiction

Genre fiction for me is a very interesting topic. You may have noticed that I do not stick to just one or two genres. When asked what kind of books I read, I always have a hard time explaining it and giving a concise answer.

Fact is, I love a number of genres both aimed at young adults and adults. These genres are, generally speaking:

Paranormal and fantasy - The world and the character building is fascinating. I enjoy being able to see how an author decides to change the world we live in to accommodate his or her imagination. Another big aspect for me is how it changes the characters' lives and their views of the world.

Contemporary - These books let me jump into another person's life in my time, my world. There are not too many changes from what I know apart from the surroundings and the people the characters deal with. One thing that appeals to me here is the easy way to enter the story.

Romance - It is such a nice change of pace for me, to see how other people get their happily ever after despite all the obstacles they have to circumnavigate first!

Mysteries and thrillers - The thrill of deciphering clues, figuring out who the perp is and why s/he is doing what s/he is doing is amazing! I love the feeling and always have! To figure out all that while reading the book and yet being surprised by the author is a big bonus.

Dystopia - The world building alone can be amazing if it is done right, which is something I absolutely love. Add to that the author's imagination of how characters deal with the world, the obstacles, and the hardships of life in this world, and I can be completely enthralled.

With all these genres, there is one catch: It has to work out for me. I can overlook certain flaws in the writing, but there is a line that should not be crossed. This varies from genre to genre and book to book, depending on my expectations. Nonetheless, there are some books that, in my opinion, are simply outstanding. For each of the genres mentioned above, I have one book that for me falls into this category of outstanding books that I can only recommend. (If possible, I will link to my review, which will also lead you on a time travel through my review writing.)

Paranormal and fantasy: D.D. Barant: Dying Bites (1st in series)

Contemporary: Ally Carter: Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy (1st in series)

Romance: Jill Shalvis: Christmas in Lucky Harbor (first 3 in series)

Mysteries and thrillers: Laura Childs: Death by Darjeeling (1st in a series - cozy mystery!)

Dystopia: Lenore Appelhans: Level 2 (review upcoming!)

Now for the giveaway: One of you can win one book of your choice that I have mentioned in this blog post.

I'm doing this old school with only three hoops I would like for you to jump (naturally, you must be of age or have parental consent to participate!):
1) Be subscribed to my blog one way or another (and let me know how).
2) Comment on this blog post or one of the linked blog posts with something insightful.
3) Leave an e-mail address for me to contact you (for example write kathrin.p AT gmail DOT com so that your address cannot simply be copied).

(Open until Sunday 06/02/2013 11:59pm EST) Good luck!

[Armchair BEA] Introduction & Classics

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people. Below, you can find my introduction and my quick thoughts on classics.

Introduction

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

Hi, I’m Kathrin, 29, and the blogger here at Stacked’n’Painted. You can use many labels to describe me – sister, daughter, soon-to-be mommy, reader, makeup addict, student… I don’t think you would get a clear picture of me though. I am just me, quite a bit nerdy with a habit of spending too much time each morning getting ready because I play around with makeup and need a lot of time to wake up – I’m so not a morning person! I love good movies and TV shows (my labeling, not others’), naturally, books are a must in every situation. I cannot imagine leaving the house without a book one way or another (usually, even if I have my phone or my iTouch, I’m good to read).
I have been blogging since about 2001, so I started way, way back. At first, my blog was mostly my very own journal, albeit online, where I would keep track of what I read and what I liked and disliked about the books. The “reviews” (and I’m using this term very loosely here!) were short and always somewhat confusing to others. I believe I still have access to that old, old journal of mine, but I haven’t read anything in a while. Maybe I should check back and see what my writing was like back then?

Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures.

I am blogging in Germany, but the exact location changes depending on where I’m at. Right now, I’m on a computer at university, but I also blog at our apartment or at my parents’ house (the latter two will soon be the same GPS coordinates, as we will move there in about a month in order to offer kiddo a nicer surrounding and better child care once I go back to university and work. If I were not at university right now, I would take some pictures for you, so that you can see what my blogging area looks like. I may just do that tomorrow.

Name your favorite blog(s) and explain why they are your favorite(s).

Naming my favorite blogs is difficult task. I read many blogs for different reasons and about different topics. But since this is ArmchairBEA, let me name some of my favorite blogs with ook-related content:
Jill Shalvis’ blog is an author blog, but the lady is as funny on her blog as in her books. You should check it out if you like to laugh a lot, want to hear about her I Love Lucy Real-life episodes and see some eye candy!
Two blogs I have been reading for quite some time now are Team Tynga’s Reviews and The Book Cellar. Both blogs changed a bit over time, if you ask me, but I still like them a lot. They offer reviews I read and enjoy and give me an idea whether I might like a book or not (and my taste does not necessarily match theirs 100%!).
And finally, two blogs I have recently discovered are Reading Angels and Pretty Nifty (YA) Reader, and the bloggers there are wonderful people I enjoy talking to and their book recommendations are fun!

If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

For an author, I would pick Jill Shalvis because she seems to be hilarious and I love to have funny, interesting People around me. If I could have dinner with her, I would certainly grill her about future books and other mischief she has planned. And I would maybe give her some suggestions as to how to Keep track of her phone (She keeps losing it!).

What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?

I love that the book blogging community offers not only a resource for great new reading material, but that I can also find people who read similar books as I do. Most of my friends may read one genre or one subgenre just like I do, but it can be hard to find people to talk about what I just read. The book blogging community fills that void and I have met some wonderful people through this.

Are you participating in Armchair BEA or did you go to BEA in New York City? Is there any other question you would have loved to see me answer?

Classics

I’ve always had a fairly ambiguous relationship with classics. I usually hated assigned reading in school, which made life real hard back in school and even now at university. On the other hand, the classics I picked up because I wanted to read them have led me to wonderful reading experiences. I remember reading Jane Eyre way back in the late 1990s. This book still holds a special place in my reading heart! Then I was introduced to Jane Austen by a former colleague and I have quite some of her books left to read for the very first time, but I have a feeling I will enjoy most of them.
I keep wondering if it would not maybe help students if they had to read a certain number of classics off a longer list instead of assigning specific books. I’m thinking this would probably have helped me enjoy those books more when they are assigned.

What do you think about classics? Are you a voracious classics reader or do you avoid them? Do you think there could be a better way of teaching classics in school? What are your thoughts on this? And what classics would you recommend?

[Book Haul] #2

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits, and Tea. For more information, check out their blogs!

Bought:

M.L. Brennan: Generation V
Hannah Harrington: Speechless
Flynn Meaney: Boys Wanted
Holly Thompson: The Language Inside

On my Kindle:
Allison Parr: Rush Me

For review (via Netgalley & Edelweiss):

Jennifer Estep: Heart of Venom
Abigail Haas: Dangerous Girls
Mary Louise Kelly: Anonymous Sources
Amy Andrews: Girl Least Likely To Marry
S.K. Falls: Secret For A Song
Kellie Sheridan: Mortality
Elizabeth Wein: Rose Under Fire
RaShelle Workman: Touching Melody
Brighton Walsh: Plus One
Amy Christine Parker: Gated
Marni Bates: Invisible
Tonya Burrows: SEAL of Honor
Angie Fox: The Accidental Demon Slayer
Trish Cook & Brendan Halpin: A Really Awesome Mess

Now, one of the books I've mentioned here will actually be for one of you guys, so make sure to check back here later this week!

What did you add to your TBR shelves last week? Did you write a blog post? Then leave a message. If you didn't, please comment!

[Audiobook Review] James Dashner: The Maze Runner

[YA, dystopic fiction]

You can buy it here:
The Maze Runner (Book 1)

Summary (from Goodreads):
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is empty.

But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight. Every thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the Maze after dark.

The Gladers were expecting Thomas' arrival. But the next day, a girl is sent up- the first girl ever to arrive at the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home... wherever that may be. But it's looking more and more as if the Maze is unsolvable.

And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers- if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind.

My thoughts:
The Maze Runner was the first book I finished through the last Bout of Books. This book left me with somewhat mixed feelings. At times I wished it progressed faster, the timing did not always work out for me. At times, it just felt too long until something happened. I was never close to not finishing the book, but occasionally it took me a bit to get into the story. It just did not always flow as easily for me. Nonetheless I enjoyed the developments and the story, all things considered. If it were not for the pacing, I would not have much to complain about with The Maze Runner.

As it happens in series, some questions remain unanswered at the end of The Maze Runner and I hope they will all be answered by the time the series is over. The end of The Maze Runner certainly made me curious to find out more about the world the teenagers live in, what happened and what other obstacles they will have to face.

The narrator's voice was pleasant to listen to. Not once did it put me off and I could easily follow. I have sometimes made the experience that I have to be in rather quiet surroundings in order to not misunderstand parts and subsequently have to go back a bit in the story to catch up. Here, Mark Deakins, the narrator, spoke clear and without an Accent (something I do enjoy if it works with the book, like M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series, which drips with accent and Scottish colloquialisms).

Rating:
3.5/5

FTC: Purchased with 1 credit from my Audible subscription (for which I pay for myself)

[Book BFFs] Interview with Lindsay of The Novel Life

During Bout of Books 7.0, I met a group of wonderful people who happen to be fellow book lovers who spread the word. We decided to stay in contact and do some wonderful blog-y things together like the Summer Solstice Read-a-thon. This interview is one of the things we came up with.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to Lindsay of The Novel Life:

The Novel Life    @lindsaychurch    Goodreads    Facebook

1. Tell me about yourself, what kind of person are you behind the computer/phone screen?

I am a full time creative writing and acting student! I love movies, books, acting, writing, musicals, and dancing- contemporary and ballet. I get very attached to the things I love (books, movies, tv shows etc). I am also obsessed with watching bookshelf tours and room tours on youtube. I have an unhealthy love of peanut butter- especially Reese peanut butter cups!

2. How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

I've actually only been blogging for about a month. I've WANTED to for years, I always start a blog and then stop it after one post. I started this time because I found a base topic that I really love - books! It makes it easier to blog if you have a solid thing to base the blog around.

3. In your opinion, what makes a book a great read?

A strong cast. If the lead characters are compelling and seem like real people I will read about anything. I love it when book characters end up feeling like people you know. It doesn't hurt if there is lots of conflict and humor and "all the feels" either!

4. What are the first 5 books that come to mind?

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner
Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Farm by Emily McKay

5. What are your blogging tactics/strategies? How do you, personally,manage blogging and your real life?

I'm still figuring this one out. I'm having a hard time balancing school/work/blogging at the moment, but I'm starting to schedule things into my phones calendar which is really helping. I love lists so I'm finding that making them is helping a lot!

6. If you could pick any 5 fictional characters to have brunch with, whom would you pick?

I would choose
Fire from Fire by Kristin Cashore - she's lovely and can teach me how to shoot a bow and arrow afterwards.
(I'd pick Katniss but I don't think she'd talk to anyone else and it might be awkward)
Fred and George Weasley - they would liven the brunch up. (they count as one!)
Will Herondale from Infernal Devices - so that I can force him into a relationship with me.
Katsa from Graceling, though if she's unavailable I'll take Po!
And
Wanderer from The Host - preferable when she's in Melanies body so that Melanie can come too! (see how I cheat?)

7. What was the first book that left a lasting impression with you?

I want to say Harry Potter, because.. hello Harry Potter! But I think the FIRST book that I read that made me feel all the feels was actually a few years before HP came out. It was The Guests of War trilogy by Kit Pearson. I have the omnibus of it but it's "The Sky is Falling" "Looking at the Moon" and "The Lights Go On Again." I still read it every couple of years. It's a beautifully written story.

8. Who initially fueled your love for books? How?

I'm not actually sure but I think a mixture of my mother and the Scholastic book club that came once a month at school. You got to take this big catalog home and choose books from it and then magically a week later they'd come to school for you! My mom bought me books from when I was little though and really encouraged reading.

9. If you could only take 3 books on a yearlong sabbatical in another country, which ones would you pick?

Hmmm.. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Harry Potter (magically they've become one GIANT book)
and Fire by Kristin Cashore

10. What do you need for your perfect reading surroundings? (Area, foods, drinks etc)

I don't actually need anything, I'll read anywhere. But IDEALLY, a drink (tea or coke zero!) and a snack that won't get all messy on the book - so unfortunately no chocolate :(

[Waiting on Wednesday] Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.

Summary: (from goodreads.com)
A masterful, twisted tale of ambition, jealousy, betrayal, and superpowers, set in a near-future world.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will.

Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

Release Date: September 24, 2013

[Top 10 Tuesday] Cover Love

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Today's topic is: Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of Books I've Read (in no particular order)


I love the James Bond feeling of this cover with the girly colors. It gets me in a good mood right away & if fits the book perfectly, if you ask me.


For some reason, it just calms me down to look at the two lower body halves of the very different girls who switch their lives in this book.


I love America's dress! It's as simple as that, I can look at the dress for hours!


The German cover of The Iron Duke is so much more appealing to me than the other covers I've seen. (I took this one from Goodreads.) It is one of the few series I buy translated to German because the covers are just beautiful. I love the feel and the colors. The Iron Duke looks like a manga picture of the man I picture whenever I read about him.


Doesn't the girl just rock this cover? She looks a little bad-ass with quite some spunk - and you have the Greek pillars right next to her. It's simply, but I really like it!


This is another case of "that dress" swooning for me. I love the color and wish I could own or at least wear a dress like that just once. It's beautiful!


This cover stands in lieu of all the covers in this series. On first sight, they have this quaint feeling that goes perfectly with the setting, but when you look closer, you will usually find some hint to the murderous affairs that happen in the books. I love how they always manage to pull it off!


This cover just drips with dark humor (as does the book!)!!!


If you are a nerd like me, you'll probably love Star Wars and the thought of Origami Yoda itself makes you laugh. This book not only has an origami Yoda on the cover, it also shows you how to reproduce him... How cool is that?!


Can I have her hair, please? Really, whenever I look at that cover, that's what I think right away. I want her hair, and I want it bad! LOL And it has this easy-going feeling, just like the story...

What are your favorite book covers?

[Summer Solstice Read-a-thon] Sign ups

Created by: Rie of Mission To Read 

and 

Cohosted by: Melissa of Harley Bear Book Blog, Lindsay of The Novel Life, Kathrin of StackedNPainted, and Melina of The Pretty Nifty YA Reader. 

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year.  And you know what that means...

So no matter where you are on the planet we want you to celebrate the first day of summer with us in a 24 hr read-a-thon!  Just think of all those summer reads you've been waiting to start!  

1. Create a sign up post on your site saying that you're planning to join in the read-a-thon on the 21st.  You can post a goal list of books you want to read that day, but it's not mandatory.  Include the read-a-thon button and this blurb:

Summer Solstice Read-a-thon is a 24 hr event taking place on the longest day of the year...June 21, 2013.  It was created by Rie @ Mission To Read and is cohosted by Melissa of Harley Bear Book Blog, Lindsay of The Novel Life, Kathrin of StackedNPainted, and Melina of The Pretty Nifty YA Reader.  The goal of this read-a-thon is to take advantage of all the extra daylight and read as much as you can!  Mini challenges and a giveaway will be happening this day so make sure to check out any of the host's blog's the day of for more information.  Don't forget to chat with us at the twitter party 12pm CST #SSRead. 

2. Add the link to your sign up post in the linky below.

3. Check back to any of the host's blogs on the 21st for mini challenges and a chance to win a giveaway!

4. Read till the sun goes down

[Bout of Books] Wrap up

I'm sad that Bout of Books is over already. Last week flew by and I was busy with so many other things, I still don't know what happened or believe that it was actually an entire week.

Last night, I really scrambled to finish the two books I has started to get to a somewhat decent result for Bout of Books. I was about 70% done with The Selection by Kiera Cass and 50% done with a short German audio book produced by Audible.de.

Here's the result:

Goal: Read 4-5 books
-> Well, that one was a miss. I finished 2 audio books and 1 e-book, so I'm one short of my goal. I usually read about 2 books per week, so I really hoped I could double it up with the week-long readathon. Unfortunately, I was so busy with work, university, and my first Lamaze class, that I just couldn't get it done. I'm a little bit sad about that, but in the end, 3 books is a good result with all that was going on.

Goal: Participate in one Twitter chat
-> That was an all-out success! I participated in the last Twitter chat on Saturday and had a lot of fun. With the time difference, the other two would never fit in because I'm either fast asleep or busy with work/university. The weekend chats usually work out for me, though, because I can arrange my schedules accordingly.

Goal: Write reviews for the finished books.
-> Yeah, I've started, but I did not finish them yet. If I am lucky, I can finish them by Wednesday.

If you participated in Bout of Books, how did you do? Would you participate in an upcoming Bout of Books?

[Bout of Books] Update Day #7

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Are you all ready for the last day of Bout of Books? I cannot believe it is almost over and I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I had planned to. In fact, I've managed to forget the goals I had set. That's embarrassing, if you ask me...

Yesterday, I participated in the last Twitter chat and met some great people - who I am now stalking on Twitter ;-) I also started to listen to a German audio book, which so far is very entertaining, but due to the language barrier will probably only get a quickie review here, if that.

Updates for today will follow here as I go:

11:30am
I listened some more to my audio book this morning, which leaves me at about 50% of the story. I really hope to finish it today because I want to know how it ends. And last night, before I fell asleep, I also read some more of The Selection by Kiera Cass. I had thought I'd be able to finish it faster, but with the lack of reading time I had to deal with this past week, there was no chance, even though I love the story and the main character so far.

[Book Haul] #1

There are so many posts featuring book hauls I simply lost track. The options for us to show off our newly acquired books are broad: There is In My Mailbox by The Story Siren, Stacking The Shelves by Team Tynga's Reviews and Mailbox Monday, which is hosted by a different blog each month.

I've (obviously) decided on Stacking The Shelves because it is the one that is still running that I like best, in part because it also fits best genre-wise.

I don't have all the books in the same place, so here's the majority of the goodies (Please ignore the kitty butt on the right side, he likes photo bombing ;-) ):



Bought:

Jessi Kirby: Golden
Cris Beam: I Am J
Robin Benway: Also Known As
Terence Blacker: Boy2Girl
Gail Carriger: Etiquette & Espionage
Dave Cousins: 15 Days Without A Head
Ashley Elston: The Rules for Disappearing
Elizabeth Eulberg: Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality
Janet Gurtler: How I Lost You
Christina Henry: Black Wings
Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas: From What I Remember
Annabel Monaghan: A Girl Named Digit
Chelsea Pitcher: The S-Word

Not pictured:
Rick Yancey: The 5th Wave

For review: (e-ARCs through Netgalley)

Kim Firmston: Touch
Kiera Cass: The Elite
Leah Rae Miller: The Summer I Became A Nerd
Kim Barnouin: Skinny Bitch in Love
Rainbow Rowell: Fangirl
Katie McGarry: Dare You To