Do you guys prefer reading an eBook or a print copy when you go camping?
Happy Canada Day!
Hey guys! I just wanted to add a quick note saying that my book of the month review for The Lake House by Kate Morton and my monthly announcement for July will both be posted on July 3rd since I will be away on a camping trip to celebrate Canada Day! I haven't been able to go tent-camping yet this year so I'm really excited to go and relax some! I usually stray from technology as much as I can when I'm out enjoying nature so I bring a print copy but I really don't want to get it dirty, especially with the rainy weather headed our way. Water damage is the worst. I'm going to try reading an eBook this time but technology seems to always find a way to kick my butt. Wish me luck!
Do you guys prefer reading an eBook or a print copy when you go camping? Happy Canada Day! Do you know any kids who have an active imagination and who love to tell stories? The Roald Dahl Imaginormous Challenge is perfect for them! The contest is for children ages 5-12 that would like to submit an idea of a story they would love to write. It doesn’t have to be the complete story. They’re just looking for a good and creative beginning of one. With parental/guardian help and approval, kids can submit their ideas here at www.imaginormouschallenge.com.
They can win such amazing prizes! There are prizes for their classrooms, they can win a trip to a Broadway showing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or a family trip to London or New York! The only thing is, this amazing contest ends at the end of the month on May 31st! This is such an amazing opportunity so please spread the word! Encourage our next generation of writers! Contest Details!
I've yet to read their books but they all sound very interesting! Once my new Kindle comes in, I plan on ordering Whispers From the East and now I absolutely have to pre-order their upcoming release of Beauty of a Monster: Seduction! This title will be released on May 2nd of this year and I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing it for you guys. The blurb and other details of Beauty of a Monster: Seduction will be posted right below the book cover reveal. What do you guys think of this gorgeous cover?? BOOK & AUTHOR INFO: Beauty of a Monster: Seduction by Eleanor Lloyd-Jones & Katie Fox Publication date: May 2nd 2017 Synopsis: A house filled with well-kept secrets. A delicate balance of order and control. A story of a life ripped apart by grief and blame... ... and the whirlwind of color and optimism who turns his existence upside down... ... with the strength of her love. EXCERPT: Beauty of A Monster: Seduction (Beauty of A Monster Duet, #1) Text Copyright © 2017 Eleanor Lloyd-Jones & Katie Fox All Rights Reserved Swallowing the dryness from her throat, Josephine dug her fingers into her hips and bit down on her lip, the sensual movement acting like a direct switch to Will's dick. "Are you asking me or telling me?" "I'm telling you, Miss Bell." Author Bios: Eleanor Lloyd-Jones Raised in a little village in North Wales, a fierce love of books and reading was instilled in me by my parents from a very early age, and I have vivid memories of reading secretly under the blankets with a torch for hours after lights out, often getting caught! I was blown away by the Borribles Trilogy - Michael De Larrabeiti at nine years old, and it was then that I fell head over heels with the idea of imaginary worlds. A persistent and professional daydreamer, something I still pride myself on being, I spent most of my early childhood inside my own head making up stories or scenarios, climbing trees, building dens or doing anything 'arts and crafts'. Music also played a huge part of my young life. Growing up on The Beatles, U2 and Status Quo, my obsession with Top of the Pops and vinyl twelve inches grew into a love affair with music that has only expanded over time: there is rarely a moment where music is not playing in my life, and in turn, rarely a time when I am not singing, even if it is only in my head! I had always thought I would write a book some day—it has been an ambition for as long as I can remember—and I have always been told that I 'have a way with words'. Over the years, I've dabbled in the odd piece of prose, helped friends to write letters and résumés and I pride myself on her hilarious lyrical genius when composing poems for friends' birthdays! ;) Life, however, got in the way and my dream was stored on the back burner as I put myself through university and started a family. It was only when I was nearing the ‘forty’ milestone that I decided it was time I got some of the ramblings and chatterings in my head down on paper. A creative mum of one boisterous boy, I class myself as a Yorkshire gal now after moving to Leeds when I was eleven. I work full time as a teacher, but I grab every spare minute I can to write, be it on the train to work or by foregoing sleep for an extra hour or two in the evenings. My hope for the future is for people to fall in love with my characters as much as I do. Not a big ask really! Katie Fox Katie Fox was born in Florida and raised in Pennsylvania, where she still resides with her gamer husband and four-year-old son. An avid reader and hopeless romantic, she is a sucker for a good love story. When not found with her nose buried in a book, she's usually spending time with her family or in her writing cave, giving life to the voices in her head. Since a very young age, writing has been her passion. Author Links:
EleanorKatie It’s that time again for the bi-annual scavenger hunt hosted by New Adult Scavenger Hunt!
Similar to last time, there are three teams: Team Green, Team Orange and Team Purple. Each team contains a list of authors and so when visiting their blogs and websites, you should be able to find a blog post with all of the info regarding the hunt. In every one of these posts, you should be able to find a highlighted number! Once you’re able to line up all of your team’s numbers, you will be able to enter the contest and have a chance to win a book from all of the authors on your respective team. I'll link the information right here on their respective website. Check out the list of books you can win! The last time that there was a scavenger hunt like this, I entered pretty late in the game so this time, I made sure to let you guys know earlier on! The Hunt is only until October 30th, noon, eastern daylight savings and the winners won’t be announced until November 2nd. Come join the fun! Let the hunt begin! I just wanted to let everyone know that today will be the last day that you could do the scavenger hunt! I've set out little Jaxons wearing a mad hatter's hat throughout my blog and if you feel like you've counted them all, you can contact me through CONTACT with the number of Jaxons and a book suggestion for August's Book of the Month! So far, I'm loving all of the suggestions and I can't wait to see which one will be chosen! The draw will take place tomorrow when we review our book of the month for July. I can't wait to talk to you guys about The Jewel. I was very surprised with it. Also, I've finally had a chance to finish My Lady Jane! It was quite a big book but definitely worth a read so I will also be posting a review for that one soon as well. Until tomorrow! Don't forget to contact me with your book suggestion as I would love to know what you would recommend!
Mel. Looking back through all of my posts, I don't recall ever posting a TBR one. I'm going to try it out and if you guys would like to see more TBR posts, please let me know in the comments section! So far for July, I feel like I've been leaning more towards contemporary romance novels and so I started this month by already reading Just One Day by Gayle Forman. I would like to start by saying that my initial reaction to this book, with what I've read in the blurb, was that it was going to be a nice light book about them spending a day in Paris and possibly falling in love etc. I was a bit naive and I think that's what made the reading experience kind of a downer for me. Don't get me wrong, it was a really great read, it just wasn't what I was looking for at the time. I wanted a nice light romance while camping and I didn't realize that the day in Paris ended only a short ways into the book which was followed by mostly a lot of deeper self-discovery throughout the following year. I was looking forward to some insta-love type of romance that would last throughout the novel. With that being said, I did more research this time and made sure to add some romantic reads on my July TBR. With my summer resolution being that I can't buy books until September, which feels really far away right now, I had to really dig through my bookshelves to find reads that I feel are what I'm really looking for this month. I'd like to say first that I am super excited to read My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows! I love historical fiction and fantasy so the idea of this being two in one makes it so much better. I can't even wrap my head around what I'm going to be reading. Humorous, tweaked historical events, romance and shape-shifting??? This is no doubt my next read so thank you OwlCrate for sending me such an awesome book! My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows Another book that I'm really looking forward in reading is our July's book of the month: The Jewel by Amy Ewing. Set to be a deeper read involving matters such as slavery in a dystopian world, this book sounds like it'll be really interesting. As for the romance part of it, I do hear that it's more of an insta-love type of romance but a forbidden one, none-the-less. I'm curious to see how this one will go! The Jewel by Amy Ewing Now to focus more on romantic reads. I heard that the next one is full of romance and is kind of like the sisterhood of the traveling pants in a sense. City Love by Susane Colasanti revolves around the stories of three very different girls who have moved to New York together one summer before they start College. Sadie is a hopeless romantic who is hoping to meet her one true love. Darcy is looking more towards living life to the fullest and having lots fun with no real commitment. Rosanna wants to reinvent herself in New York. She wants to leave her past behind and find herself anew but what else is she going to find in the process? I'm definitely looking forward to reading this one. City Love by Sunsane Colasanti This is going to be my first time reading a Colleen Hoover novel. I've had this book for a while but I've never gotten around to it and since she will be releasing her new novel, It Ends With Us really soon in August, which also sounds really good by the way, I really wanted to read Confess first. Confess is a new-adult novel and Choice Awards winner for best romance of 2015. It's said to be about a girl named Auburn who has life all figured out and mapped out where nothing can go wrong. That is, until she meets Owen, an artist at a Dallas art studio. Will finally letting her heart take control mess everything up? Owen has secrets of his own that he's trying to keep. Will the truth be what it takes to bring them together or will it tear them apart? Oh man, this one is going to be quite the book. Confess by Colleen Hoover I have probably had some of these books for about a year now and I guess I forgot how amazing they sounded. I can't believe I waited so long to read these. I'm really glad that my summer resolution is showing me that I don't have to buy the next best thing. I already have books that could be exactly what I need and that are just waiting to be picked.
Mel. I read The Boy With Words by C.E. Wilson recently and I absolutely loved it. I loved it so much that I ended up asking her if I could buy a print copy of it to add to my collection. She was so awesome and even included a few extras in the parcel that really made my day. Needless to say, I have become a huge fan of her work and I'm looking forward to reading more by her. I was given this great opportunity to do a cover reveal for you guys on behalf of her and Xpresso Book Tours. Her next novel is going to be called This is Me and it's going to be a new adult romance / science fiction. It's going to be released on August 11th and I'm super excited to read it! It sounds awesome! Check out the awesome new cover, guys! The blurb and other details of This is Me will be posted below. What do you guys think of the cover? BOOK & AUTHOR INFO: This is Me by C.E. Wilson Publication date: August 11th 2016 Genres: New Adult, Romance, Science Fiction Synopsis: A-SIST Anthropomorphic Sentient Individualized Servile uniT Rogan is a robot. More specifically, he is an Asist – a personalized humanoid servant that provides protection, assistance, and companionship for a lonely young woman living on her own in the city. Chloe is trying to get her big break, singing at bars and clubs all over the city at night while she pays the bills as a substitute teacher during the day. Ever since she activated him many months ago, Rogan has been her beautiful, dependable, obedient, dead-eyed security blanket. One morning she is shocked when he disobeys a direct command in an attempt to please her and his dull artificial eyes flash a hint of something new. Is this the result of the adaptive Asist servility programming or is Rogan actually thinking? Can a robot think? Can a robot feel? As Chloe struggles with these thoughts she is blindsided by the singular Niven Adams, a handsome, confident man with the voice of an angel who is everything she’s ever wanted in a boyfriend. He’s the perfect guy for her, except for one problem. Niven doesn’t approve of Asists and takes an immediate dislike to Rogan. As Niven charms his way deeper and deeper into Chloe’s heart, Rogan tries to convince her that he is more than a mass-produced disposable servant. With Rogan doing everything in his power to prove that his thoughts and feelings are real and Niven trying to persuade her to abandon her robot and have a normal human relationship, Chloe is trapped between the two things that mean the most to her. Does she embrace her relationship with the blond newcomer, or face that her Asist’s feelings may be more than features of his programming? What really makes a person a person? Is it a ticking muscle inside their chest, or is it something more? Broken Love? Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23109806-this-is-me YOU CAN PRE-ORDER IT HERE: https://www.amazon.com/This-Me-C-E-Wilson-ebook/dp/B01HOW0KO2 Author bio: C.E. Wilson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, grew up in Millersville, Pennsylvania, and has been living in Pittsburgh since 2009. For the first few years living in Pittsburgh, she was an English teacher. Her first book, "Oath of Servitude," was published in 2012. In 2013, she quit teaching to be a full time author and hasn't looked back since. She loves spending time with her daughter and husband. Author links: http://cewilsonauthor.com/ https://twitter.com/cewilson1 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6526617.C_E_Wilson As promised, I will now be listing what I’ve read in my younger years back in elementary school. I wasn’t too much into reading back in those days. I became more into it from having so many friends in high school that have been big book lovers. With that being said, I do remember some cute reads that have caught my attention and could have possibly been small shoves in the bookworm direction. Archie Comics I used to bug my mom every time we would go grocery shopping for a new Archie Comic. I had such a huge collection. They still have them there at the grocery store so when I see them, I always think of how the love triangle drove me crazy. I actually just heard recently that CW is planning on bring a new TV show based on these comics called Riverdale. It’s meant to be a live-action show which sounds like it could be very interesting. It would definitely bring me back to my childhood. Goosebumps by R.L. Stine I actually got a box set of these books once when I was younger thinking it would be so cool. I got through maybe half of it mainly for school since they had a contest going on. It was back when the movie Harry Potter came out and was very popular so the school organized a reading competition by separating the school into the four houses at Hogwarts. I could be very competitive. It’s funny because, I used to love the thrill in these goosebumps books but nowadays, I have a hard time with reading or watching anything too scary. W.I.T.C.H. Books I had a friend that bought a box set of these and the colors caught my eye. Everything about it seemed so magical too so I had borrowed them off her and fell in love with it. It was designed very well for young kids too. It starts off, and ends, in comic form but it was all chapters in between. I remember wanting to read through it as much as I can so that I can get to the comic at the end. They actually ended up making a show for this as well and I would watch it every time it was on. If I remember right, it’s about these five teenagers who are chosen to be protectors of the world as they aim to stop those who try to mess with it. Each girl had an elemental power. All of their names together actually spelled the word W.I.T.C.H. Charmed Books My memories from so far back might be a bit blurry but I’m pretty sure a girl that took the same school bus as me was the one who told me I should check out a book called Charmed: Haunted by Desire. I ended up going to the library and I was on a waiting list since it was already being read. When I finally read one, I kept going back to see if they had others. These books were about three sisters who turned out to be three powerful witches. I didn’t even know at the time that they were based off of a TV show. Soon after, it became one of my favorite shows at the time. I hope you guys enjoyed these two posts as much as I did! It gave me the chance to reminisce and think back at all these treasures that I was able to read while growing up. Looking back, I can see now why contemporary romance, fantasy, paranormal fiction and Sci-Fi are always at the top of my to-read list. As for Goosebumps, I have no idea where that came from.
What did you guys read as children? Are there any books you guys regret not reading when you were young? I regret not reading Harry Potter as a kid. I started out with the movies instead and I still haven’t gotten around to reading them. I feel like I missed out on what could have been such an amazing reading experience as a child. Mel. Happy long weekend! I thought it would be fun to look back at the kind of books I was into in my teenage years. I might not have read as much as I do now with having spent half of my time in the music class but it's always been something I enjoyed doing. The following books are some that really grabbed my attention back in high school and it was around then that I had realized my love of reading. The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer I remember reading this before it had gotten so much attention. I don’t remember what inspired me to read it but I do remember people asking me why I was reading such a seemingly dark and Gothic novel. I remember reading this series as a mother/daughter thing since my mom would surprise me with the next installment. It was the first series that got me into reading YA and to this day, it’ll always have a place in my heart. Did any of you guys read the new 10th anniversary edition of the book where there's a gender swap? If so, what did you guys think? I'm not sure if I want to read it yet. The Guardians of Time Trilogy by Marianne Curley I feel like these books are the reason why I absolutely love books that involve time travel and magic. The Guardians of Time Trilogy is a story involving teenagers who are part of this secret group called The Named. The enemy group, known as The Order of Chaos, go back through time in attempt to change history for their benefit. The Named do all they can to stop them while assuring that history follows its rightful course. I had a high school friend that suggested this series to me and I absolutely loved it. The Protector of the Small Series by Tamora Pierce This series was actually suggested by the same friend. She was a huge fan of Tamora Pierce and her books. I remember her being so animated when recommending this series and so I gave it a shot. This series is about a strong female character who is following her dream of being a knight in a world where it’s mostly men pursuing this career. It’s been 10 years now since knighthood training was open for both boys and girls but she still has a hard time being accepted. I remember absolutely loving the characters and the overall story but thinking back, I don’t think I finished the last book of the series. In high school, I had this mentality where a book wouldn’t be satisfying unless there was at least a small amount of romance. When I found out that the focus would not revolve around that, I remember getting upset and closing the book. Oh, young Mel. I feel like I missed out and so it will be a must that I re-read this series one day. Hush, Hush Series by Becca Fitzpatrick My high school best friend and I had read this series together. I remember us both going to Chapters at the same time to buy a copy and we were in love with the bad boy of the story. Every time the next installment came out, we would make this event out of it and go buy it together. Hush, Hush was probably my most favorite series that I’ve read in high school. I’ve re-read this story multiple times since and I’d still be down to read it again. It’s a story about a forbidden love between a girl and a fallen angel, whom she tries to figure out and doesn’t know if she should trust. There are so many plot twists in this series and I highly recommend it to this day. I will be making a Part 2 to this post in the next few days where instead of talking about books that I’ve read in high school, I’ll be mentioning what kind of books I've read in elementary school! I’m curious to know what kind of reads you guys have loved growing up.
What books did you guys fall in love with in high school? (For those who are in high school now, what YA books have started your journey into the reading world?) Mel. I'm so excited about this guys! I had entered this contest about a month ago and I hoped so hard to win. The main prize had items such as, for example, the Outlander Coloring book, The Outlandish Companion Book and even a poster signed by Sam Heughan! I sadly didn't win the main prize but I had won one of the four secondary prize packs! I had an email 2 weeks ago congratulating me and I was absolutely thrilled! It arrived in the mail today and I just couldn't wait to see what I had won! I guess this is sort of like an Unboxing Post. In my package, I found this awesome Outlander themed tote bag (I'm definitely going to be using this to carry my books around now!), an Outlander magnet set, a stationery set of notecards and envelopes, these beautiful notebooks and a hilarious Outlander themed t-shirt! I might just binge watch some Outlander episodes today to celebrate! What do you guys think of Season 2 so far? Slainte Mhath!
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About MeWelcome to my blog, my name is Melanie. Here, you will find book reviews based on YA and new-adult fiction and other interesting posts along with all things book related. Currently ReadingBook of the Month2018 Reading Challenge
Melanie (Paperback Darling) has
read 7 books toward
her goal of
60 books.
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