A Reader's Addiction

Read: December 16-24, 2012 read in: too  a few days over the course of 9 days pages: 211 I found this little book in the library one of the last times I was in there. I really just stumbled upon it while skimming over the shelves and thought it had an interesting cover. So I pulled the book off the shelf and skimmed the jacket. Flipping through the pages I thought this really looked like something I'd like to read. The book has an unique format in the style of dictionary entries. Each page has an entry, some run over into two pages, that contain a word and an accompanying story or moment that encapsulates the author's interpretation of what that particular word meant in relation to his relationship. I liked lines and phrases here and there throughout the book and will likely pick up something else by the author one day. He has an way of looking at situations and describes them in ways that I find intriguing. One of my favorite lines I found within the entry  ...

Read: September 25- October 4, 2012 read in 9 days (FAR TOO LONG!) pages: 509 Book blurb: When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special. Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to underst...

Read: September 22-24, 2012 read in 3 days pages: 416 Bookblurb: In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling - or dangerous.  Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him...for the life of the girl Jasper loves.  One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around Mei's neck tightens. And tightens. I don't know if its because I JUST finished this book or if was a little more than that but I enjoyed this story much more than the one in The Girl in the Steel Corset . Part of it could be that I was already invested in these characters and was already rooting for them. I really liked these characters especially going into this novel. It took a good chunk of the last book for me to really w...

Read: September 9-22 read in pages: 71 Book blurb: Alex was just twelve years old when she learned monsters are real. Now, nearly ten years later, she and her team of fighters are locked in a secret war with Odin, the ancient faction of wealthy elites genetically engineering these monsters – the Chimeras. But Alex never knew why Chimeras were created… until she meets Zeke. He is Odin's true target, him and his kind. They are of legends and myths. They are the First. But are they friend or foe? There's only one thing Alex knows for sure… don't ever call them vampires. Not a bad start to a little series. This provides a good bit of action and an interesting take on vampires and their predators the Chimera. The novel follows a gang of young adults who have come together on a mission to rid the world of these evil creatures. Each individuals family has been destroyed in one way or another by these creatures and they are out to seek revenge as well as prevent any...

Read: September 13-20, 2012 read in a week pages: 340 I have been wanting to read this book for a really long time now. I read the bonus short story  Retro Demonology  and was hooked. There was a lot of action with Riley, the young apprentice, and I was so sure I would love the novel as well. I was disappointed that I did not enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. Book blurb: It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, ...

Read: September 9-11, 2012 read in 3 days pages: 292 Book blurb: Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant. I stumbled across this book buried in the young adult section in the library. The copy I read has the cover pictured above and looked a little older li...

Read: September 3-7, 2012 read in 5 days pages: 354 Book Blurb: The undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath), Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day, and leeches are considered a delicacy. And a world where technology lives side by side with magic. The year is 2012 and Pax Britannia still reigns. Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it is her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But when her sister goes missing, Xandra will set out on a path that undermines everything she believed in and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire. And she is the key-the prize in a very dangerous struggle. For starters, I knew nothing about this book. I was quite surprised to see that it was recently publish...

Read: August 27- September1, 2012 read in 6 days pages: 476   Book Blurb: In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one... except the "thing" inside her. When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no  normal  Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch. Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her and says she's special, says she's one of  them  . The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets, against the wises of his band of misfits. And Finley thinks she might finally be a part of something, finally fit in-until a criminal mastermind known as Machinist threatens to tear the group apart... I was really looking forward to reading this novel and was glad to have found it at the library when I went looking to pick it up. So I found this copy that has the  The Strange Case of Finley Jayne  included a...

So I went to the annual YMCA book fair last weekend and I always love going because I find so many books I remember from my childhood and from my teen years. I especially love finding the old teen romance books that are what had me so interested in reading when I was around 12. I remember devouring one of these IN A DAY over the summer! I've not read any of these in years but I think I will have to revisit them just because I'm curious.  Now I admit I'm bummed because to save space I did let go of all the ones I originally had and have since been unable to locate all of those same titles, but I have since found a few of them in the past couple of sales at the YMCA. I'm not sure who here in St. Louis still has them and how they wind up finding their way back into the sale each year, but I think it is awesome! The photo below was the few I found last year. I really should have known about the adult romance table last year! I think I might have found more! I...

Read: August 22-26, 2012 read in 5 days pages: 384 The second installment in the Winterhaven series takes up at the beginning of senior year for the same cast of characters we met in the first book and one new introduction: Tyler. The intervening summertime is summarized that Violet had spent the summer taking care of her Gran who had suffered a stroke. After arranging for a care taker to stay with Gran and Lupe Violet feels a bit more at ease when returning to school. She returns to school anticipating the return of Aidan as the two have been separated for the whole summer. After last years fiasco with Julius Violet is hoping for a much calmer year. And from my reading and feel of the novel things are relatively calm and there really is no action or tension that builds over the course of this novel. I didn't feel a sense of urgency or a real climax that was in need of being solved as the first book had. Violet still has her visions to deal with but...

Read: August 18-21, 2012 read in 4 days pages: 235 Book Blurb: "Do you trust me Meghan?" His voice was soft, almost pleading. I swallowed and tried hard to discern his expression in the dark. The paltry amount of light reaching this far into the small cavern glinted off his eyes, giving him the appearance of a demon trying to tempt me into something evil. "Yes," I answered, my own voice a mere whisper, "I trust you." "Good." He gave my hand a quick squeeze, and then I was pulled forward into the icy abyss that loomed before us. . . A year ago, Meghan Elam learned that she was Faelorehn, a being of the Otherworld. Immortal. Now she must juggle her life in the mortal world wiht the one she has started to build in the Otherworld. However, keeping her identity secret from her friends and family while trying to avoid a wrathful Celtic goddess is no easy task. With the help of  the intriguing Cade MacRoich, Meghan will learn th...

Read: August 17, 2012 read in 30-45 minutes pages:  This book was incredibly funny! I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this little gem. It took maybe 30-45 minutes to read over the course of my breaks at work. I didn't want to put it down every time I sat down to read it. I was asked so many times what I was reading that had me laughing out loud so hard. I had to share a few of the funnier ones with coworkers who were passing by. These test questions cover a variety of subjects and some of the answers were so close to being right while others only came similar in sound but were no where near correct. While others were so far off the answer was just ridiculous! I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for a good laugh, which honestly is at a strangers expense, but at least you don't know who the person is and you'll never have to face them! I'd recommend this to college students because it would be a great stress relief during exam time. It would ...

Read: August 9-15, 2012 read in a week pages: 327 Sookie is coming to realize that her life is not entirely as she desires it to be. Her relationship with Eric is strained and has been for the last couple of books. They love each other but Eric has so many obligations in his vampire world that he hardly has time to make the relationship function outside the confines of the bedroom. Not that I am complaining because reading this series it has become a staple for there to be a good romp in the bedroom. But lately Harris' novels are lacking in that department. So I will complain a little. This one for instance has one scene and it fails terribly. It was glossed over, we see no heat or any of the passion. All we get is Sookie commenting that she left her trouble behind for a good 15 minutes. 15 minutes?! Really? That's it?? Oh come on. I know that Viking has more than 15 minutes in him!! That was a huge let down after the previous scenes with Eric. While I know or...

Read: August 10, 2012 read in under a half hour pages: 160 The second installment of the Signspotting books. I enjoyed the second book a bit more than the first. I found more signs in the second book that made me laugh more than the first. This book, like the first, also includes more translation issues and will leave you wondering once again, where was the editor or at the very least the person who signed off on the approval of the signs prior to their being made. And also sometimes its just all about location location location!

Read: August 10, 2012 read in under a half hour pages: 208 Clever little book full of signs from street to advertisements to warnings and even businesses. These are signs that have been spotted all over the world so some of the humor comes from simply translating the words to English, or the inability to find English on a sign that states "INFORMATION" yet contains no legible words for those who understand the word "INFORMATION".  Some signs are funny and slightly humorous while others were a good laugh out loud. Some were so ridiculous you wonder where the heck the editor was prior to the sign being printed. 

Read: July 22, 2012 read in 10 minutes maybe pages: 68 Cute little picture book about owning a pet monster. I enjoyed the pictures of the monsters more than the writing. The idea of a pet monster with an operational guide was a funny topic so I thought for free on amazon I could check it out. Course at the time I read it I didn't own the kindle fire and read it on the computer, but I'm sure kindle fire owners would be able to appreciate the full color photos throughout the book more than the regular kindle readers. Which is why I'm glad I opted to read this on my computer.

Read: July 28- August 9, 2012 read in little less than 13 days pages: 558 I can't begin to write a review that is going to do this book justice. This is the third installment in the Monstrumologist series and they just get better and better as the series continues. I love the characters Will Henry and even the harsh Pellinore Warthrope and enjoy following them alone their journeys of discovery. The author has a magnificent grasp of the SHOW not TELL aspect of writing. There were so many times when I was reading this novel that I thought ugh I could have done without that description! But honestly that just added to the story telling and made things more real and believable.  While the field of aberrant biology, the study of monsters, may not exist in OUR reality, within THIS world it very much DOES! This installment follows Will Henry and the Doctor to the Isle of Blood, where they are in search of the magnificum. What is the magnificum? To be honest in the end I...

Read: August 2-7, 2012 read in 6 days pages: 272 I heard about this memoir on NPR when Anna Quindlen was interviewed a while back. I have read a couple of her novels, Blessings and Rise and Shine, and thought I'd like to read her memoir as well. I'm on a memoir kick lately. Its interesting to see other peoples point of view on life. I didn't know too much about Quindlen prior to reading this memoir other than the fact that she once wrote an OP column and had some novels out there as well. I remember reading her novels and thinking they were ok, I didn't get super excited over them, but this one I did look forward to reading. Once I started reading it read really quickly. The book is broken down into essays that touch on a vaierty of topics with a good deal of focus in each how topic has changed as she has aged. The essays provide her an outlet to reflect on her life and through those essays she shares the wisdom she has gained. Overall the book was ver...

Read: July 25-28, 2012 read in 4 days pages: 401 When I started the book I'm not quite sure what I was expecting. Girl is given the option to either live with her Gran to stay in the same school OR move to NY and attend a boarding school. Hmm which option to choose? Obviously the boarding school. Once getting to said boarding school Violet meets a mysterious boy who later plays a big role in her new life. After meeting her roommate Violet is suddenly surrounded by an amazing group of friends which is unlike her past. She has always struggled to keep everyone at a distance because she has these visions or premonitions that tend to be about the people she loves. The kicker is they always come true, and they are never wrong. On the second day of school however Violet learns she is not the freak she has always thought she was. Turns out the boarding school is a school FOR teenagers with psychic "gifts". They are told to sign an agreement that they will not use t...

Read: July 11-24, 2012 read in 14 days pages: 613 An exquisite journey with twists and turns that keep the reader intrigued and guessing just how all these pieces are going to fit together in the end. Felix J. Palma has crafted a beautiful written story set in 19th century London with genuine characters you really care about. There are three parts to this novel and each part deals with a slightly different set of characters. The opening story is of Andrew Harrington and his beloved Marie Kelly. The story is one of heartache and lost love. Andrew wants nothing more than to escape the life he has been living the last 8 years. With the help of his cousin and the crafty, creative H.G. Wells Andrew finds the solace he is seeking.  The second part is the story of Claire Haggerty and Captain Derek Shackleton. Claire is a woman who feels she does not belong in her time and longs to break out. She doesn't want to marry the "dandies" that are courting her. She...

Read: July 22-23, 2012 read in a  few hours pages: 134 This was a very quick read. I'm not entirely sure what I really expected from it. I guess maybe some interesting insight into people who are now well known accomplished people. I enjoyed a few letters more than others, but overall it is an ok read. I think aside from getting an insight into these well known people and to see what kind of advice or wisdom they would like to have known then is the fact that this is written in letter form. I always like to read letters in books and this was a really great set up. I enjoyed the letters by J.K. Rowling, Jodi Picoult, Cassandra Peterson a.k.a. Elvira, Rose McGowan, James Belushi, Moon Zapp, Jenna Elfman, Michelle Rodriguez, ugh ok I'm not listing anymore...that was a lot of name dropping for sure. Either way the letters accomplish what I hope was their goal in that there are small nuggets of genuine insight that these people wish they could impart to their young...

The year is half over and I'm working towards my goal of reading 85 books this year. I'm excited to see that so far according to Goodreads challenge tracker I am currently on track. Very good news since last year I missed my 75 books. Last year didn't end typically though so I have to take that into consideration. THIS year is looking much better. I haven't hit my lull at all. Do you ever have a lull? I am so used to having a weekend or two throughout the course of the year where I just get BLAH and can't focus on ANYTHING! Luckily that has yet to slow me down. So looking back over the, well at this writing anyways, 45 books I've read so far this year I thought I could recap some of my favorite books and ask what are some of your favorite books you've read so far this year. I have to admit not all of mine are current releases, so I may not have anything that anyone else has read this year, but it is still fun to compare. We may even inspire the other to...