A Blogger's Resolutions

Last month I was more than a little naughty. I hardly blogged, hardly read, and hardly shopped for novels. *EEK* I have a good excuse, but I won't go into that again. This has made me sit back and think about what I want to accomplish this year.

1) I don't want to many holes (like a post on December 5th and then another post on December 14th). I know that life happens and that there will be times when I am unable to get around to blogging...but I want to attempt to not leave too many gaps too often.

2) I want to get back to my commenting ways. When I first started blogging, I always seemed to find the time to comment on other YA blogs. I even got acknowledged with an award, but lately I find myself skipping the comments all together. It is way to easy to receive and receive feedback from others and not attempt to leave some of your own. I am happy to say that I have still found that I comment on my favorites, but that will not it cut this year.

3) I hope to continue responding to my reader's comments. I know how happy I get when a comment I made on another's blog is responded to. I feel like they have listened to what I had to say, and they acknowledge my presence on their blog. I want my readers to know that I read every comment they make and appreciate them very much. You guys are why I am here, after all!

4) I am going to make more time to just read. I am beginning college in January, and I hope to continue reading as much or more than I do now. I want to be able to review as many books as possible so you can hear about as many as possible.

5) I want to utilize Twitter more often. *Gasp* I am not addicted to the newest Internet fade Twitter. In fact, I don't really see the appeal of it...however, this is a useful tool that will let readers know of new posts, contests, interviews,etc. I think I also might add a Tweet button so that more of my readers will be able to follow my account.

That's it for me, but tell me about your resolutions.

In My Mailbox: In Person (Week 30)

Mentioned in this video:
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

I did it! I made my first blog background!

I have finally done it! I have made my own blog background, and I could not be happier. It may have taken me most of the day to get it just the way I wanted it, but it was totally worth it. I adore it!

What do you think?

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book Information:
Genre: YA Paranormal
Pages: 576
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: December 2009
Recommendation
Level: High
From: Amazon (Ebook)

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

It seems like I have been waiting to read this one forever, and it was worth the wait. Beautiful Creatures stole my attention and had me still thinking about it even when it was long over.

Lena has some amazing powers alright, and it comes complete with a haunting curse. I could understand that it was having a huge impact on her life, but I wished that sometimes it wasn't all consuming. I wanted Lena to enjoy her time left with her family and Ethan. Aw...Ethan. He captured my heart. He was so brave and loyal to Lena that it was almost like something out of a movie...or a book. There is not that many guys that would risk what he did for her, and I absolutely love him for it. Lena is one lucky girl. Macon was one of my favorite characters because he was so interesting. There was a lot of questions swirling around this man, and I think there still are.

The beginning of this novel was a little slow. I had a hard time getting into it, but once I did I could not get out of it. I can not wait for the release of the sequel. I am going to miss you, Ethan!

Gettin' My Holiday On

I finally put up my Christmas blog background! Yay! I am trying to teach myself how to make my own blog templates. It's slow but it is moving along quite nicely (not that I made the background that is presently being shown). I did, however, make my signature. It's cute, if I do say so myself. I am starting out small and working my way up. Wish me luck!

Waiting on Wednesday

By popular request on my survey, here is my first ever Waiting on Wednesday post! I know that I am dying for this particular novel.



"... [a] dark-but-fun, supernatural romance about two teenagers who discover they have a shared destiny, related to the old novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately, the more the shy heroine, Jill, starts to fall in love with the mysterious hero, Tristen, the more dangerous he becomes to her. There’s lots of mystery and twists and turns to the plot."

I snagged this wonderful summary from Sara at The Hiding Spot. Thank you, Sara!

The release date is May 3, 2010! I can't wait!

Dead(ish) by Naomi Kramer and Black Silk by Jan Gordon

Book Information:
Genre: Paranormal
Website: Feedbooks.com (Ebook)
Recemdation Level: High

Linda’s had a bad day. First her boyfriend killed her. Then she woke up, still on this boring plane of existence, and with an odd obsession about her missing body. Mike won’t tell her what he did with her body, and she can’t find the stupid thing herself. There’s only one thing she can do - torment the bastard until he coughs up the information.

Dead(ish) was relatively short. I was alright with it's lack of pages because it did not cost me a dime. I ended up finishing it in one sitting, but oh...the journey.

Linda was a little ball of fire. The tricks she played on her ex were hilarious, and sometimes she made me cringe with her antics. I became sucked up into the story, and wanted to find out what happened to her body (maybe even more than Linda did). Trent was not exactly sweet, but he seemed to really care about her case. He was so determined to get to the bottom of it that he even ignored his medical condition in order to chase leads. The gay neighbors had me rolling with laughter. They set the tone in whatever scene they were in. Mike was a jerk, and I could not wait till he got his due. Linda took pretty good care of that.

I am warning you that there is A LOT of cussing. So if the word fuck gets to you, then you need to skip this one.



Book Information:
Genre: Paranormal Romamce
Website: Feedbooks.com (Ebook)
Recomendation: Low

Victoria Hudson is 29 and lives in the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone else. She has two great loves in her life -- her cat, Mister, and reading books from her used bookstore. She doesn't see her life changing much in the future. She's stuck. Until one night when she's saved from probable danger by a mysterious stranger. Steven Colburn has moved around quite a bit during his lifetime, never really finding a place where he felt he could be comfortable. Until he buys an old homestead, and fate steps in to forever change his life and that of one of the town’s quiet entrepreneurs.

I don't want to be rude, but Black Silk really let me down. Even the fact that it was free did not help this novel at all.

I did not finish this novel, because the writing was terrible (in my opinion). It was like a list. She got up, she drank coffee, she brushed her teeth, she went to work...etc. It was extremely boring and very apparent that the author needs to grow in her writing skills. It almost read like a 7th grader decided to type up her own book.

Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf

Book Information:
Genre: Adult Romance
Pages: 288
Publisher: Silhouette
Release Date: February 2009
Recommendation
Level: Pretty Good
From: Amazon (Ebook)

Death cocktail is what the vampires call a witch's blood. It's poisonous--a drop will destroy a vampire within minutes. Nikolaus Drake is the rare vampire who has survived his first taste. Now he's on the hunt for the witch who almost brought him to his demise--Ravin Crosse. A witch who spends her nights hunting vampire tribes, Ravin has three obligations to fulfill to set her soul free. One of those obligations--crafting a love spell--twists her world upside down when Nikolaus draws the spell from her veins. Natural enemies rarely make the best bedfellows--but is it possible their intentions are really, truly the same? Can Nikolaus's tribal loyalty survive if he surrenders to desires far darker than his own?

This novel was a little too sexy and graphic for my tastes, but all in all it was pretty good. You can not get better than free either. *Smile*

Ravin was a hard core, revenge obsessed kind of chick. She slayed vampires with her poisonous blood in attempt to punish the very kind who killed her parents. I can't put my finger on it but something about her annoyed me a little. She was a repetitive thinker, and I got tired of listening to the same problems and possible solutions over and over again. It was like the moment Nikolaus stepped into her life she lost her edge. Nobody likes a sappy vampire slayer. Nikolaus, however, stayed closer to his behavior than I originally thought he would (I don't want to give anything away). Some of the sex scenes were too much, and this novel is obviously not for young children (or young adults for that matter).

This novel was better than I expected. I guess the word free made me think that it would not sell if put out on the market. It had it's nasty and corny moments, but it still held my attention pretty well. If you own a Kindle or want to download the file to your computer, go ahead. You've got nothing to lose but time.

Finish That Series Challenge!

This is a fun challenge over at Royal Reviews. Need some incentive to finish that series sitting on your bookshelf that's staring at you...mocking you over and over? Well, do not put it off any longer! Join this challenge! I am not sure which series I am going to finish for this challenge, but I can't wait to get started!

Here are the guidelines:

Anyone can join. You don't have to have a blog!

There are four different levels of completion. (Check out Royal Reviews for more information).

This challenge starts on January the 1st and ends in December, 2010. Only books you start reading on January 1st counts though. You have to start a new series from scratch!

Any genre counts.

You don't have to list your novels in advance. You can just include them in your wrap up post!

Join and have fun while you finish your series of choice. See you there!

You were a Good Samaritian--Survey Results

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to take this survey! Here is the results...

75% said that they would rate the blog design a 3 out of 4.
Waiting on Wednesday was the most wanted meme.
Most stated that they visit this blog almost daily, often, or when something catches their attention. Only two stated hardly ever. Yay!
Everyone who took this quiz was female.
Their ages ranged from 15-26.
Everyone stated that they discovered this blog on another blog.

A few of the comments were as follows:

"You have a great blog! its one of my faves! kudos."
"I think you are doing a great job so far!"
"Just want to mention that black/white backgrounds are eye straining but other than that I love your blog!"

I fixed the eye straining issue by redesigning.

Thank you and your feedback was very helpful!