Netgalley Reading Challenge of 2016

 

  This is a challenge to get your Netgalley ratio back to 80% or above.  Mine it TERRIBLE so I am focusing on challenges this year to help motivate me.  My goal is to read at least to this level:

 

I honestly want to do more but we shall see.  I need to do more to get my ratio back up.  And that does not include new titles I might want to get!!  

I will list all books here:

Blogger Shame Review Challenge of 2016

 

My shame list is quite long right now and I really plan to really start clearing through them this year!  This is for all those review copies we've been given but have not read and/or posted reviews for.  Especially when it has been several months since we got them.  To join this challenge, click the image above.  I fell terribly behind and got into trouble last spring and winter before and requested WAY too many books.  Now I am past due and need to pay up.  

I will list all books I complete right here plus I plan to do quarterly wrap-ups.  Any/all book types count here!
Goal: At LEAST 52 (one per week minimum average)

1.  Finding Emma by Steena Holmes  
2. Crimson Spell Vol 3 by Ayano Yamane  
3. Game by Barry Lyga
4. Follow the White Rabbit by Kellie Sheridan

Top Ten Tuesday- 2015 Santa Wishlist

 

 

Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree This Year

 

There are so many books I want  from my wishlist and my top is ever changing based on my mood but as of this moment here are 10 books that I would love to get.

 

  

Top Ten Tuesday- The Best Reads in 2015

 

Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

The first part shows the 10 novels I loved, then I also have my top 5 mangas and top 3 childrens/picture books as well.  

 Many are not published in 2015, this is simply based on what I've read, regardless of publication date.  Also does not include re-reads.

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone!
   I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.  Just thought I would stop by, let you know I am still here.  My hand is still recovering and with lots of work hours, it is a very slow recovery.  So typing is very slow and painful still.  I have been joting down lots of ideas for the new year, however!  I have been setting up some challenges, looking to renew a few others, getting books gathered for future giveaways, fun topic ideas (some more varied than that of just books) and lots of books are still being read.  So next month, expect some good stuff.  In the meanwhile, please bear with my sporadic posts a bit longer.

                                                                                  -Jamie

REVIEW: Clockwise by Elle Strauss

 

 Clockwise (1)

 

by Elle Strauss 

Genre(s): Young Adult, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction

Pages: 288

Published: Nov 2011

Publisher: All Night Reads and ESB Publishing

 

Official Summary:  "Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century. She accidentally takes Nate Mackenzie, cutest boy in the school, to 1860. Protocol pressures her to dub Nate her brother. Does he spark with romance or protectiveness, when a handsome, rich, unwanted suitor intervenes?

Back in the present, the social ladder is as before: Casey at the bottom rung, Nate at the top. But now her heart is broken, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and police escort her younger brother home. The only thing worse would be taking Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does."

 

 

Review:  This is a light-hearted time-travel. Part adventure, some disaster, a dash of comedy and an edge of romance. While many things are not very well explained and the summary of the book pretty much covers everything, I did still overall enjoy it.

Dual manga review. Magi Volumes 5 & 6 by Shinobu Ohtaka

 

 

Magi 

Volumes 5 & 6  

by Shinobu Ohtaka

Genre(s): Manga, graphic novels

Published by Viz Media

 

Please see my reviews of previous volumes!

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

 

Volume 5 Summary: Aladdin has found Alibaba at last, but Alibaba has changed and perhaps for the worse. In the city of Balbadd, the Fog Troop, a gang of thieves, struggles against a corrupt government. The leader of the Fog Troop, Cassim, was Alibaba's childhood friend and has pressured him into becoming the figurehead of the gang. Aladdin and Morgiana hope to rescue him with the help of King Sinbad, but powerful forces stand against them, including another Magi..

Gratitude Giveaway Hop 2015

 

A very simple hop as a thank you to all my followers!  

 1 lucky follower will win a $10 egift card  for Amazon from me.

To enter: Follow me via Bloglovin' or GFC. 

November 2015 New Release Giveaway Hop

 

Any book published in November 2015 could be yours.  Well, any book up to $15 that is. You can get a print book from The Book Depository OR 1 ebook via Amazon or B&N.

Fiction, nonfiction, Y.A, Adult, childrens, graphic novels...you name it, you can pick it!  It is not limited to the image about although there are some great and popular titles there!

Giveaway is International as long as The Book Depository can ship to you or you pick an ebook.   

 

Slowing the Pace

Hey everyone, just a heads up, I am not going to be around much in the next month and a half.  Right now I have an injured fingers and side on my hand and the doctors are saying the absolute worst thing I can do is type.  So no blogging much until healed.  Estimated time 1-3 weeks, pending how much I can rest it (longer and more painful if I don't).  By then, it will be full holiday swing.  Work will be insanely busy plus plans with family/friends. 

I will still share some posts.  I have a few giveaways planed for the rest of the year, plus a few challenges for the new year I will share later.  But reviews and other posts will be more scarce for awhile.  I don't plan to completely disappear.  But I will seem quite over the next 6 weeks.  But I am already planning for a packed New Year!

Top Ten Tuesday-Movie Adaptations I need to see

 Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Book To Movie Adaptations I'm Looking Forward To or Ten Book To Movie Adaptations I Still Need To Watch.

So for this, I am going in the middle.  Some of these are out and I haven't seen them, others still need to come out that I am eager for.

Review: Mike and the Dog-gone Labradoodle by Emlyn Chand

 

The Pet Shop Society: Mike and the Dog-gone Labradoodle (1)

by Emlyn Chand  

Genre: Children/Youth

Pages: 43

Published: Sept 2015

Publisher: Evolved Publishing 

Official Summary:  "New from the multiple award-winning author of the Bird Brain Books series, is a lower grade mystery series for kids 7-11 years old. Mike and the Dog-Gone Labradoodle by Emlyn Chand 

Evolved Publishing presents the first book in "The Pet Shop Society" series of mystery/detective stories centered around some young amateur sleuths and, of course, their parents' pet shop.
 
Mike Adams has always been a pretty average kid. He hates homework, love sports, and spends a lot of his day bugging his twin sister Maddie—because, after all, she deserves it.

But one day, everything changes. Nic Chang’s dog goes missing.
Mike, his sister and their two best friends join forces to search for the truth and, with it, the missing pet. Will Mike and Maddie find a way to put their differences aside and save the day? And just where did that dog-gone labradoodle go?

Put your thinking caps on and prepare to find the answers in the premier installment of The Pet Shop Society, a brand new mystery series for readers aged 7-11."

Review:  A very short chapter book for young readers.

Mike is a sixth grade boy who has a crush on Nic (Nicole) but as far as he knows, she doesn't realize he exists. When she barges into his family's pet shop his luck is about to change. Nic's dog is missing and she needs help finding her beloved pooch. So Mike, his sister and their respective best friends team up to solve the mystery.

A light-hearted story but some great, real life moral and reasoning skill lessons.

Stacking the Shelves 95

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, every Weekend. This is to share books I have acquired from various sources. Physical books & ebooks both are welcome. If its something being sent to me by mail, I will not mention it until I actually receive it. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I have little to no organization to the post as to what or how I got them.  It has been a VERY stressful week.   And I have to head off to work here shortly so I am just jumping straight to things.  Sorry, there are no links.  I was not planning on being called into work so this is all a bit rushed.

 

  Hope when I get off I can go enjoy seeing what everyone else got!

 

Review thoughts for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1)

 

by J.K. Rowling 

Genre(s): Fantasy, Young Adult

Pages: 310

Published June 1997

Publisher: Scholastic  and Bloomsbury 

Official Summary:   "Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who are mean to him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. (Dudley, however, has two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one for all his toys and games.) Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed forever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard! The first book in the "Harry Potter" series makes the perfect introduction to the world of Hogwarts."

 

 

 

 

Review:  This is one of my all-time favorite series! I had actually first heard of the series when a friend of mine was reading the Prisoner of Azkaban and was trying to describe a dementor to me. From there I did some looking into the book to discover it was a series. The day before I flew out to visit my grandparents my dad bought me the first book to read on the flight. By the time the flight was over I had devoured the book! I have since read it several times and have yet to tire of it, and each time I read it, I take a little more with me.

MANGA REVIEW: Voice Over Vol 4 by Maki Minami

 

 

Voice Over, Vol 4

 

by Maki Minami

 

Genre(s): Graphic Novel, Manga

Pages: 192

Published: April 2014

Publisher: Viz Media

Summary:  "Hime Kino's dream is to one day do voice acting like her hero Sakura Aoyama from the Lovely Blazer anime, and getting accepted to the prestigious Holly Academy's voice actor department is the first step in the right direction! But Hime's gruff voice has earned her the scorn of teachers and students alike. Hime will not let that stand unchallenged. She'll show everyone that she is too a voice acting princess, whether they like it or not!!

After days of grueling training at Yamad's special voice acting retreat, Hime can finally bring forth her prince voice! Now she's ready to start her next job as a recurring character in an exciting new anime. But her first day on the set doesn't go as she'd hoped. Why do her costars and the producers seem to hate her when they just met her?!"

 

 

 

Review: Hime's new role has her voicing an animated cat!  She is to be the sidekick to the anime's main character.  A larger role than she is used to and that her some of her co-workers feel she is ready for.  To prepare for the role she decides to study up on cat behavior and takes some interesting cues from the famous cat owner, Senri.

October 2015 Wrap-Up/Recap

Halloween is done, sunny days are gone, and the wind starts to get chilly.

Hello November!  The time of rustic reds and golds, the smell of pumpkin spice and the beginnings of the holiday chaos.

But before I fully step into the new month, I better recap last month.  I don't do these very often.  I keep meaning to and hope to start getting better at it.  In addition to sharing blogging posts and reading I've done, I also aim to start sharing a bit more about my real life.  Plus, starting NEXT MONTH I hope to share other fun posts I have found online.  Mostly about books and such but maybe other things that really caught my attention.  Myabe a post, maybe a picture.  Who knows what I might amass in a month! I obviously won't share everything (can you imagine the length of the post?!) but at least my favorites or the ones that really jumped out at me most.  Just for something fun and new.  Plus maybe hook you onto some other book blogs or sites I love!

To get this started, here are the books I finished in October:

 

REVIEW: Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison

 

 

Secrets of Itlantis: Of Sea and Stone (1)

 

by Kate Avery Ellison

 

Genre(s): Fantasy, Young Adult

Pages: 260

Published: Feb 2014

 

 

Official Summary:  "If only we'd known how many secrets the sea held...

All her life, clever Aemi has been a slave in the Village of the Rocks, a place where the sea and sky meet. She’s heard the stories about the fabled People of the Sea, a people who possess unimaginable technology who live below the waves in the dark, secret places of the ocean. But she never dreamed those stories were true.

When a ship emerges from the ocean and men burn her village, Aemi is captured, and enslaved below the waves in Itlantis, a world filled with ancient cities of glass and metal, floating gardens, and wondrous devices that seem to work magic. To make matters worse, her village nemesis, the stuck-up mayor’s son Nol, was captured with her, and they are made servants in the same household beneath the sea.

Desperate to be free, Aemi plots her escape, even going so far as to work with Nol. But the sea holds more secrets than she realizes, and escape might not be as simple as leaving..."

 

 

Review:  This story took me by surprise. While it sounded quite interesting and I thought I would enjoy it, I am shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I devoured this book! I sat down to read it a bit before dinner, thinking I would read about 20% of the book then switch back to the other book I am reading (and also enjoying). Next thing I know I am a third of the way through the book! And I did not want to stop! I finished the book that night. I love it when a story consumes me the way this one did.

Review Burnout and slumps

 

 

Review Burnout and slumps

 

 

For the past couple months I have been struggling to get out reviews.  Not due to lack of reading, but that I have not been interested in writing the reviews.  Actually discussing books, yes.  I still chat on goodreads.  But whenever I try to write a review, I come up blank.  Or it is short and has no details or personality.  Then I scratch it, start over and is too rambling and has spoilers.  So I delete that too, then I just stare at the screen blank once more.  Then I realize I am getting nowhere and decide to go do something else.  Or I just don't feel like it.  Almost like it has become a highly unwanted chore or hassle but not quite.  More like the blahs when I think about getting to it.

 

 

Thing is, I normally love writing reviews.  I especially love talking ans sharing about books.  SO what is wrong with me?

 

Have you ever had times like these?  How do you pull yourself out?

Top Ten Tuesday-Halloween TBR

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

 

Halloween Theme! 

  

 

 

Here are ten books I really want to read that I think will make perfect reads for Halloween.  

 

 

  

1) Dracula- Shockingly, I have yet to read this classic.  What is wrong with me?!  Too many amazing books, that is what is wrong...

 

  

2) Salem's Lot-  I really need to get reading on my Stephen King novels.  He is my husband's favorite author yet I have only read a few of his books.  Most of which I have really enjoyed.   And vampires are perfect for Halloween!

TOUR! Into Darkness by Hayley Barrett. Review, Interview and Giveaway!

 

Into Darkness

by Hayley Barrett

Release Date: August 17th 2015

Double Dragon Publishing 

Summary from Goodreads: "Fifteen-year-old Alexandra Spencer’s life was not supposed to turn out this way. She was not supposed to go on trial for a crime she did not commit. She was not supposed to be found guilty. And she was not supposed to be sent to Elder Grey Detention Centre, a place of horrors many don’t survive.

She is however, supposed to be the daughter of the wealthiest, most influential man in the post-apocalyptic New Zealand city of New Phoenix.

But apparently, she isn’t.

Shell-shocked and struggling to understand why she is no longer a member of the city’s ruling family, Alexandra is torn from her privileged life by the churlish young guard, Will Metcalfe, and forced to trek for three weeks through deadly wilderness to her place of imprisonment. Her journey with Will is a constant battle for survival, where she is never sure who is the real enemy. It is also journey into the truth about the safe and lavish world from which she has been cast. Through Will, she learns of a mutant race called Drifters living in the wilderness who are being preyed upon by New Phoenix’s guards—Drifter’s blood being a life saving cure-all elixir for the city’s inhabitants.

As Alex struggles to cope with her new life in Elder Grey, an act of friendship ends in tragedy. When someone she thought was an enemy pulls her from her despair, Alex discovers that old friends cannot be trusted, prejudice is another word for fear, and trust, not blood ties, make a family."

  

 

Add to Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon│Kobo Books│iBooks

 

Review:  As a whole I enjoyed this book but certain parts in the way the story is told nearly drove me batty! I think a lot has to do with being too short for all it contains. But the adventure is still a good one.

Stacking the Shelves 94

  

Well, after going crazy on books the past month and a half I tried to behave.  I got a lot of review books but otherwise I was good about nabbing ebooks, and library use.  Been trying to catch up more on my reading.  Now if only I can pull myself out of my reviewing slump we will be in good shape!  

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