ARC August & Beat The Heat Readathon

Since I have some free time on my hands, I decided August was going to be a "read only from the review pile" month. I have a little bit of guilt when I look at those books. Okay, a lot of guilt. So I thought what better way to do this than join a readathon or two?

ARC August is hosted by the wonderful Octavia @ Read.Sleep.Repeat. We're supposed to read all those beautiful ARCs and the pretty books we received for review. And let me tell you, there are a lot of books in my pile. *buries head in sand*

Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli Reads and Reanna @ Phantasmatic Reads are hosting the Beat The Heat Readathon. Read as much as you can, participate in some of the mini-challenges and have fun. You can join on either Jessi or Reanna's websites.

I haven't yet decided how many books I want to read during these two events. I'll try to read as much as I can and I'll review as much as I can (for the books that are released months from now I'll hold the review until neat the release date though).

Have you joined the fun?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 14: Tell us your dealbreakers

I read about this challenge yesterday on various book blogs that I stalk read and I decided to join in. The challenge  was created by April @ Good Books, Good Wine and I think it's a very good and interesting idea. So here I am :) If you want to do this too, go to her Day 1 page to learn how :D

Want to see past topics? Click on the links below to see them:

       Day 1            Day 6            Day 11
       Day 2            Day 7            Day 12
       Day 3            Day 8            Day 13
       Day 4            Day 9
       Day 5            Day 10

Day 14: Tell us your dealbreakers

Before I list my bookish dealbreakers, let me tell you something. In school I hated most of the books we had to read for the literature class. When I say most of them, I say about 90% of them. Classics bore me to death and they never helped me find my passion for reading. There were few classic books that I read and enjoyed, but we never studied those *bummer* So when I graduated high school I promised myself I would never force myself to read a book. If I honestly don't enjoy reading it, I'll put it down and never pick it up again. This is also why you'll probably never see a review with less than 3 cups on here. I really do have a lot more books to read and potentially love than to read something that I don't even mildly like.

So my dealbreakers. Well, they're quite a few:

1. Grammar - look, I don't pretend to know a lot of grammar, I make mistakes all the time and I know it. Everyone makes small mistakes. But huge ones will pull me out of the story.
2. Name changing characters - am I reading about Michelle or Elizabeth? For that matter is it really a she or is it a he? I like to know who I'm reading about, who's head am I in. I hate being so confused by a character that keeps using different names, unless it has something to do with the story: he/she is a spy or a thief or undercover cop or something like that. If it's an error, I'll know and I'll hate it.
3. Silly phrases -"My inner goddess" anyone?? It's phrases like this that make me laugh and not in a good way. You want me to laugh because of what your character is doing, right? (PS: No, I haven't read that book. No, I will not read that book. I think everyone knows about this inner goddess thingie, though :P )
4. Typos - too many typos really ruin it for me.
5. Characters that annoy me - I'm talking about those books where the main character makes you want to break something. The type of character you can't stand and this is especially difficult to deal with when it's a main character, at least to me.
6. Dictionary, stay beside me - have I mentioned English is not my fist language? Even so, I do believe I have a pretty big vocabulary in this language, so why should I read a book that forces me to use a dictionary every five, six sentences? Is it a non-fiction cleverly disguised as fiction?
7. A story that goes nowhere - Plot, pacing, development, character building, world building. I want it all and more. I want to read about a book that leads somewhere, otherwise I'll stare at the tree outside my window hoping to see a leaf fall.
8. Repetition - You know, I might have a memory as big as a regular goldfish sometime, but I'm not exactly an idiot. I'm fine with reminding me certain things, especially in long series, but to repeat the same thing over and over and over again AND using the same words will pretty much mean I'll be very reluctant to read another book by that author. 

These are my bookish dealbreakers. Though even if I find myself reading a book that sometimes has one of these 8 points, it takes quite a lot to pull me out of the story. Though once I'm out, I can't get back in. Which sucks, because at times I realize that the book I'm reading might even be a good one.

What about you? What are your dealbreakers?

Book Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Blood of Eden #2
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 30th 2013
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: NetGalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one one rule left: Blood Calls to blood.
Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire, Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what she finds there will the change the world forever - and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago - deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries. If Allie can get to him in time...

I read this book a few months ago and I have to say I'm still amazed by it! It took me this much to write a review for it, because I wanted my review to be more than just "ooohs" and "aaahs".

I love Allie so much. She's such a badass character. I'm always amazed by how much she's grown from the struggling human to a very powerful vampire. If there's something that needs to be done, she does it. She is very loyal to her friends, even though sometimes those so-called friends don't deserve it. And she can be very scary despite her age (both as a human and as a vampire).

Something happened in this book that I didn't expect. And his name is Jackal. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to hate him for what he did to Allie and Zeke in the first book or if I should just give up and love the guy. Seriously! One minute he's on the good side, he's very loyal to everyone, he helps and rescues and does stuff that you don't expect and the next he does something so bad and wrong that I wanted to get inside the book and smack the guy. And then again he surprises everyone by showing his true intentions, so to speak. I can't figure him out, but I do hope he won't die in the next book.

We also get some big surprises along the way. We see an old character that I never thought I'd ever see again. There's Kanin in all his hotness, there's Zeke who makes me like him with every page and every scene. I can't really imagine not liking this book, honestly.

The ending of this book broke my heart. Just when I thought things were looking better something happened. I won't lie to you, I was expecting it. But the way in which everything happened was so sudden and so out of the blue, it was a bit of a shock. It was very tragic and I am starting to loose my mind waiting for the next book.

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 13: Describe one underappreciated book everyone should read

I read about this challenge yesterday on various book blogs that I stalk read and I decided to join in. The challenge  was created by April @ Good Books, Good Wine and I think it's a very good and interesting idea. So here I am :) If you want to do this too, go to her Day 1 page to learn how :D

Want to see past topics? Click on the links below to see them:

       Day 1            Day 6            Day 11
       Day 2            Day 7            Day 12
       Day 3            Day 8
       Day 4            Day 9
       Day 5            Day 10

Day 13: Describe one  underappreciated book everyone should read

I actually have no real answer for this task. I'm sure there are lots of amazing books that need to be read by more people. I have read books that I think everyone should read. Then again, it's all a matter of taste. How many times has it happened to you to read a book everyone loved and you ended up being only "meh" about it? I know I have. Or a book you loved that you told everyone about and one of those people tells you he/she didn't like it?

I don't really think there are underappreciated books. Overappreciated maybe, but again, it's all about your taste and your reading experience. Take whatever book you've read and look at both positive and negative reviews. Unless the book is excruciatingly bad, there'll be almost an equal number of positive and negative reviews (honest reviews).

So I don't have any recommendation of any book that fits this description.

What about you?

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 12: How do you fight blogger fatigue?

I read about this challenge yesterday on various book blogs that I stalk read and I decided to join in. The challenge  was created by April @ Good Books, Good Wine and I think it's a very good and interesting idea. So here I am :) If you want to do this too, go to her Day 1 page to learn how :D

Want to see past topics? Click on the links below to see them:

       Day 1            Day 6            Day 11
       Day 2            Day 7
       Day 3            Day 8
       Day 4            Day 9
       Day 5            Day 10

Day 12: How do you fight blogger fatigue?

My two most trusted ways to fight blogger fatigue are:

1. take a break
2. think of ways to redesign blog

I can honestly say I've changed my mind about my current design more times than I can count over the last few months. I don't change it though because I'd never fully love whatever I choose.

Another way is to do challenges like this one. 

I don't have many ideas, especially since this year I haven't had so much time to get blogger fatigue. Which kind of sucks, if you ask me. 

What about you? How do you fight blogger fatigue?

Cover Reveal: Dream Girl by S.J. Lomas & Giveaway

Blurb:

For Christine, dreams have never meant much. Until she meets Gabriel. Everyone thinks Christine should stay away from her new coworker at the library—thanks to his bad reputation—but when her dreams grow more vivid and she becomes entangled in a dangerous dream world with Gabriel every night, she can’t stay away. Soon it’s clear there is far more to dreams than Christine ever imagined, and now she’s on the path to making the biggest, and strangest, decision of her life. 

Look for it in November 2013 from Scribe Publishing.

"An intriguing debut, DREAM GIRL introduces a world where simply falling asleep can bring you anywhere – including into danger. Readers will never think of dreams the same way again!" - Laura Ellen, author of BLIND SPOT

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