#SassyGirlSwoonyGod Tourney: Challenge #1

Ruby = Mermaid

It's time for the first challenge in the Sassy Girl Swoony God tourney. You can watch the video or you can head out to Tellulah Darling's website and read all about it there.




Before we get to my answer to the challenge though, let me tell you more about My Ex From Hell, the first book in the The Blooming Goddess Trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Bloom wishes she’d been taught the following:

a) Bad boy’s presence (TrOuBlE) + teen girl’s brain (DraMa) = TrAuMa (Highly unstable and very volatile.)
b) The Genus Greekulum Godissimus is notable for three traits: 1) awesome abilities, 2) grudges, and 3) hook-ups, break-ups, and in-fighting that puts cable to shame.

Prior to the Halloween dance, Sophie figures her worst problems involve adolescent theatrics, bitchy teen yoga girls, and being on probation at her boarding school for mouthy behaviour. Then she meets bad boy Kai and gets the kiss that rocks her world.

Literally.

This breath stealing lip lock reawakens Sophie’s true identity: Persephone, Goddess of Spring. She’s key to saving humanity in the war between the Underworld and Olympus, target numero uno of Hades and Zeus, and totally screwed.

Plus there’s also the little issue that Sophie’s last memory as Persephone was just before someone tried to murder her.

Big picture: master her powers, get her memories back, defeat Persephone’s would be assassin, and save the world. Also, sneak into the Underworld to retrieve stolen property, battle the minions of Hades and Zeus, outwit psycho nymphs, slay a dragon, rescue a classmate, keep from getting her butt expelled from the one place designed to keep her safe …

… and stop kissing Kai, Prince of the Underworld.

My Ex From Hell is a YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology smackdown. Love meets comedy with a whole lot of sass in book one of this teen fantasy romance series. Compared to Kai and Sophie, Romeo and Juliet had it easy.

Now, in case you haven't yet read the book *narrows eyes* you should go ahead and do it. It's very, very good. And funny.

Now for the challenge.

Photo courtesy of  Wikipedia

I chose the Mahé Island from Seychelles. It looks like a great spot to go to, especially if a sexy, charming guy is with you *swoon*.

See you next week in the tourney, for the second challenge!

Top Ten Tuesday #4: Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR List!

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Each week, they will post a new Top Ten list that one of the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join, just link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Four Books On My Fall TBR List! 

This is a pretty hard post, because I'm battling bookhangover. As you know I loved Sherrilyn Kenyon's Styxx and right now, there aren't so many books that call to me. I'm pretty sure that once it passes, I'll be able to recognize the books I'm very anxious about, but so far, almost two weeks after I've read that book, I'm still not over it *blushes*

1. Reaver - Larissa Ione - It's Reaver. Seriously, I need to say more than that?
2. The Edge of Always - J.A. Redmerski - I loved The Edge Of Never and I am so looking forward to more Andrew and very good song suggestions :D But mostly Andrew
   
3. The Fiery Heart - Richelle Mead - Now, I know I didn't read The Indigo Spell, but there's a good reason for it: I know how hard it is to wait for the "next" book in this series, so I decided I'd better have two installments to read at once than just bite my nails in between the two. It's not a pretty sight!
4. Tandem - Anna Jarzab - When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of something like this happening, only the good parts in those other me versions would come into my life. Naturally, I have to read this book :D

What about you? What books are you impatiently waiting for this fall?

Sunday Book Soundtrack #11: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Sunday Book Soundtrack is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books, where I share some of my bookish soundtracks. Since I discovered my passion for reading years ago, I've discovered that more and more of the songs I loved remind me of certain books. So I thought I'd share my playlists with you. If you want to listen to the songs, I'll post a link to a Youtube videos for each and every title. No copyright infringement intended! I'll try to find the official videos for each song. There's no set number for each playlist, sometimes I might have 10, sometimes 5, sometimes if I'm one of my moods I'll have 15. If you want to read more about this feature, click the "show more" button below. 

I read with music. If there's no music, I can't read. And not just read, but almost anything, like studying of cooking or doing chores around the house. The only time I don't have music is when I sleep. And during exams, but that's a different story.

Sometimes it happens that a certain song and a book or a scene from the book I'm reading sort of... click. It's like they were made for each other. At least for me. And so I will almost always think of that particular book when hearing that song. I thought I'd share my book soundtracks with you.

Keep in mind that I have a very... weird taste in music. You'll find mostly rock music, country or the 80s-early 90s music in these lists. I might use some "contemporary" songs from now and then, but don't bet on it being something other than those particular genres. Also, not always the songs will be in English. If I have a link to a translation for the lyrics, I'll post it. If you like a song I'm using, that's fine. If not, that's fine too, just don't say I didn't warn you.

The songs aren't always on a book's playlist for their lyrics. Sometimes they're there for an instrument or for a feeling I get when hearing them. Also, I won't always mention what scene I used them for. If it's not a spoiler, I'll share the scene, if it is a spoiler, I'll let you guess.

Anyway, I hope you like my playlists :)

This week's book soundtrack is for Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead.

Cinderella - Coming Home
Nickelback - Follow you home
Lita Ford & Ozzy Osborne- Close My eyes Forever
Three Days Grace-Take Me Under
Alter Bridge - Rise Today

Reading Blogs & Eating Popcorn #4

Reading Blogs & Eating Popcorn is a weekly feature here at Ruby's Books, in which I share some of the posts written by other fellow book bloggers over the last week, posts that I loved so much I have to share. 

• The first post comes from Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Book Blog. She talks about Blogger Jealousy. I cannot explain to you how much this post resonated with me, but let's just say I understand completely what Michelle is talking about. (Emily @ Read Your Bookcase is her cohost and she has a great post on this topic as well)
• The next post is from Renae @ Respiring Thoughts and it's called On Reader/Author Interaction. It's an interesting take on a pretty touchy subject, especially given the frictions we hear about in the book blogging comunity. 
• Carol @ Carol's Notebook talks about Reading vs Listening. I can't say I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, though I do love the idea of being able to listen to a book while doing something else. Of course, I'm so clumsy I'd probably end up hurting myself if I tried it, but that's another topic :P
• Amanda @ On A Book Bender shares 3 Uncomfortable Truths About Blogging. They might be uncomfortable, but they're real, so think of the post as some much-needed tough love.

I've read so many fantastic posts this week and I'm certain I missed some of them. I'd fill up an entire page with them, but then I'll look like a stalker :P. What about you? Did you read any blog posts this week that you feel anyone should? 

Bookish News That Made Me Happy Dance

You guys know how much I love Harry Potter, right? Well, to say I was heartbroken when the series ended is to put it mildly. Yesterday, while browsing the web I saw this awesome news. That's right! J.K Rowling is doing a movie series set in the world of Harry Potter. It's based on Newt Scamander and his textbooks, mainly Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

And to make my day even more amazing, I learned that authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are going to write a Beautiful Creatures spin-off series, based on Link and Ridley. You can read the official announcement at Publishers Weekly.

I know I didn't finish reading the original series, but I loved what I've read so far and I will definitely read this new series.

So, do you have any book related news that made you do a happy dance lately?

Early Review: Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

Author: Larissa Ione
Series: MoonBound Clan Vampire #1
Publisher: Pocket Books
Release Date: September 24th 2013
My Rating: 4 cups
Source:NetGalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

The first installment in a sexy new paranormal romance series by Larissa Ione, author of the bestselling Demonica series!

A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD
Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most . . .

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE
A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch . . . or bury him forever.

I love Larissa Ione's Demonica series and it's spin-off, Lords of Deliverance, so when I found out that she's going to write a series about vampires I was so very excited. I know a lot of people are thinking "Vampires? Again?" but I'm not. I love vampires and I love vampire books and if you ask me, there aren't enough vampire books out there and I don't think I'll even get to the point where I'll say "that's it, I'm done with them". More vampires, I say.

The first thing I noticed in this book was that not all vampires are good. There are some pretty cruel, really bad vampires. So there's a great balance between the good vamps and the bad vamps. Some, I might say, are actually insane. At the same time, not all humans are shown as being good people. There's also a good mix there. Which I think is good and makes the entire story feel much more realistic.

Riker was soooo sexy. What I liked about him was that he has many layers. I thought I had him figured out, but he surprised me more than once.  He can be very gentle when he wants to, but he can also be very brutal and fierce. Did I mention he's also terribly sexy? 

Nicole was... She was damaged. That's the first thing that pops into my head when I think about her. She's had a bad experience with vampires when she was a kid and, frankly, I kept asking myself how is she not insane? It really was amazing that she wasn't half crazy. But she's very brave and I liked that about her. And she has the ability to look past what has been done to her and realize that not everything is black and white. 

There are a number of other very sexy vampires in this book and I definitely want to learn more about them. Also, I hope we'll get more details about the history of vampires and how they came to be. I found that part of the story fascinating. I'll definitely read the next book in the series, though it pains me to wait another year for it. Oh well, at least Reaver comes out soon.