Small Review: What's Your Status

Tween Tuesday

Review Comparison Submissions: You Decide!

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How To: Q&A Edition

What's Your Status?

A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:

Finished

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker
Nothing But the Truth (Little Secrets #5) by Emily Blake
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

I liked The Liar Society but, erm, not as much as everyone else seems to have. It was ok. It's also part of a series, so the story doesn't really end here. Did anyone else know that? I didn't know that. At this point I really should just assume every book published is part of a series.

The Little Secrets series is my guilty pleasure reading.

Currently Reading

Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach

(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Small News

Email responses haven't gone out this week for most comments, but I HAVE replied to your comments. Sorry about the lack of notification this week!

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Recap 4/9 to 4/15

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, April 9th through Friday, April 15th.

Reviews

All Just Glass by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
Cover review: Artist Spotlight on Fernanda Brussi

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Features

Spotlight List: Short Story Authors

Finished

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

I liked this book a lot. At first I had to really push myself to read it, but before I knew it I was hooked.

Currently Reading

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Did Not Finish

Ravenwild by Peter J. Plasse

Page 15/494

Received: Review copy from illustrator

As you can see, I didn't get very far. I love high fantasy, so I was really looking forward to reading this book. The element of time travel was an added bonus, and I started reading this shortly after getting a copy in the mail. Unfortunately, I couldn't get very far. For me, the problem was the writing. I honestly had trouble understanding a lot of sentences. In most cases I could eventually figure out what the author meant, but it took more work than I am willing to put in. I only read fifteen pages, but I was reading for about a half hour (almost four times the amount of time 15 pages would normally take me to read).

I had a lot of trouble parsing the sentences and this significantly slowed my reading. Sentences are extremely long (sometimes a single sentence makes up an entire paragraph), pronouns often left me confused as to who exactly was being referenced, and there were some punctuation problems. As a result, I was continually jolted out of the story by the writing style. If you don't have trouble with the writing and the plot sounds interesting to you, then you might still want to give Ravenwild a try. From what little I did read, the plot was interesting and seemed like it was headed in a good direction. Unfortunately I will not find out for certain as I will not be reading further.

Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Page 76/319
Received: Review copy from NetGalley and Tanglewood Press

I so wanted to like this book but it just wasn't working for me. I wasn't feeling the main character at all. I started out with high hopes, but she quickly became a character that annoyed me all the time. I don't know if the point is that you're supposed to find her annoying now because she'll grow and learn as the story progresses, but I just couldn't take another minute with her. She was too impulsive and selfish for my tastes. I've been a very restless reader after coming off the high of a trifecta of awesome last week. The bar was set high and Two Moon Princess just wasn't doing it for me.

I was also put off a little by the writing style. Does anyone know if this is a translation? It has that almost overly formal feel where the English is sort of *too* proper and so it feels stiff. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Whatever the reason, I realized I wasn't enjoying the book at all and I was only reading because I was hoping for something better. It wasn't happening, so I DNF-ed. Maybe I'll try picking it up again at some point when I'm less picky.

Page 18/288

Received: Review copy from NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion

I only read a few chapters, but I was loving this book. I just don't feel like reading on my computer right now. My eyes are bugging me, holding the computer is annoying me, and I haven't had much time to read at home. I don't like reading a tiny amount and then having to leave the book unread for days at a time, which is exactly what was happening. I will definitely be picking this book up again just as soon as I have more time to read at home and can deal with reading on my computer.

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Recap 4/2 to 4/8

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, April 2nd through Friday, April 8th.

Reviews

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Cover review: The Julian Game
(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes

Tween Tuesday

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Features

How to Increase SEO with Post Titles

Review Comparison Submissions

Still open!

Finished

Queen of the Dead (Ghost and the Goth #2) by Stacey Kade
Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2) by Kiersten White
Clarity by Kim Harrington
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Did I hit the book jackpot this week or what! Every book I read this week I LOVED!
I highly, highly recommend them. Like, beg, borrow, or steal to get your hands on a copy kind of recommend.

Currently Reading

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Recap 3/26 to 4/1

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, March 26th through Friday, April 1st.

Small News

We've had another death in the family this week, so if you have noticed a decline in my commenting recently that is why. The funeral is today and so I probably won't be commenting today or much of this weekend. Luckily Google Reader will ensure that I won't miss reading any of your posts!

Reviews

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin
Cover review: The House of Dead Maids

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes

Queen of the Dead (#2) by Stacey Kade

Features

Review Comparison Submissions
Still open!

Spotlight: Time Travel

Finished

The Royal Treatment (#2) by Lindsey Leavitt
Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown
Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Oh my gosh, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! All three were fantastic!

Currently Reading

Clarity by Kim Harrington

(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Recap 3/12 to 3/18

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, March 12th through Friday, March 18th.

Also included:
Mini review of Trapped by Michael Northrop
My personal updates

Reviews

The Julian Game by Adele Griffin
Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa
Cover review: The Faerie Ring

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes

Spotlight List: Not Your Typical Vampire Book

Features

Finished

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Currently Reading

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Did Not Finish

Trapped by Michael Northrop
Page 49 of 232
Received: Library

I tried reading Trapped but couldn't make it very far. About a chapter or two into it I began skimming. The kids only realize they are trapped by the point I stopped reading. I wanted them to jump into the disaster a lot sooner, especially in such a small book. That would have been fine though if not for the writing style, which is the reason I DNF-ed this book.

The writing style was a mix of a very strong attempt to capture MG boy manner of speech with jarringly un-MG like bits thrown in as well. I found it overall extremely grating. I appreciate it when an author tries to capture teen speech accurately, but I do also want them to clean it up a bit. Dialogue can still come across as realistic even if the "likes" and similar ticks of adolescent speech are removed for ease of reading. Even though the manner of speech was accurate to teens, I didn't think many of the things actually said were things teens would say. The "accent" is spot on, but the words aren't.

That all made for a very uncomfortable reading experience for me and I decided not to continue. I'm curious to see what a MG boy would think of the writing. I am not a MG boy and not even the target audience, so perhaps these features would bother the target audience less.

Personal Updates

Click to make larger

This has been an extremely busy and stressful week! We are preparing to move from a house to an apartment...over 1,700 miles away. It's a long process, but we're starting to consolidate our belongings and decide what to keep, what to leave behind, and what to sell.

Unfortunately one of the things I had to sell was my beautiful classic car pictured above. I adore that car and am still in shock that I sold her. Ah, at least it seems like she went to a good home.

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Recap 3/5 to 3/11

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, March 5th through Friday, March 11th.

Reviews

Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren
Most Wanted by Kate Thompson
Cover review: Vicious Little Darlings

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes

Features

Giveaway of Waterfall by Lisa Bergren (runs through March 31st)

How to Schedule Posts

Finished

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Warped by Maurissa Guibrod
Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
(Click on the links to go to Goodreads)

Currently Reading

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

(Click on the titles to go to Goodreads)

My Updates

I'm still playing catch up with my comments and emails. If you're waiting, THANK YOU! for all your patience and please know I haven't forgotten. Every single comment and kind email have given me so much joy, which has been especially helpful this week (there's even a new meme floating around about pets! It's like insta-tears. If you've participated in that, I'm sorry but I've scrolled right past it!)

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Recap 2/26 to 3/4

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, February 26th through Friday, March 4th.

I am also asking for some feedback!

Thank You!

I wanted to thank you all for your kind words and patience. I've read every comment you have left and they mean a lot to me. Thank you so much.

Reviews

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
7 Souls by Barnabus Miller and Jordan Orlando
Cover review: Pegasus

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

Memes