Mailbox Monday #2

 It's time for Mailbox Monday!  This month it's being hosted by Martha's Bookshelf, so be sure to stop by if you'd like to participate in the month of May.

For Review:

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Technically I got this last week, but I'm kind of a dumb ass sometimes, so I forgot.  It's for a blog tour later this month.  I'm a huge fan of old movies and actors, so I'm really excited about this- plus I get to go to a party for this author in NYC when I'm there for BEA.  Does life really get any better than this for a blogger?

Lucky Fools by Coert Voorhees

Got this from Around the World ARC Tours- is it any surprise that I dig that the author's last name is the same as Jason's from the Friday the 13th series?  Really, anyone surprised?  Anyone?  Anyone? Bueller?

 Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Another Around the World ARC book.  Obviously, the title appealed to me. ;)

Bought:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
For book club.  Because we're cool like that. And because we haven't worked up the nerve to read Fifty Shades of Grey yet... And am I the only one who has trouble spelling grey? I always want to spell it with an "a" like gray.  Just curious.

So what all did you get?

Sundays In Bed With... #8

Good morning, readers!  This meme is for all of you to share what book you're spending your Sunday morning with, or since most of you are probably too busy, which book do you wish you could spend this morning reading?  Feel free to leave a comment, or post on your blog.  Better yet, take a pictured of the book in your bed!

Here's what I hope to spend some time with today:

Divergent by Veronica Roth- okay, I know I said I was going to start this last weekend, but then I got 3 review books for the ARC tour I participate in, so obviously I was got busy.  But I WILL start this today!  I WILL!
I'm actually going to be at work early this morning, as I started work Saturday at 9am and had a 24 hour shift.  So actually I'll be on a couch, but I'll most likely be reading!

Whats your Sundays In Bed With... book?  If you could stop time, curl up and read, what book would be in your bed?

Feature and Follow #95

I must be feeling particularly social this week, maybe because it's only a month until I'll be in NYC for BEA, but I'm doing Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's Feature and Follow.

Q. What is one thing you wish you could tell your favorite author?

A. I'm not really a stalker, Mr. King.

It's true, I'm not a stalker.  I am far too lazy to stalk people.  Although, I have a feeling I'd probably have to explain to several of my favorite authors that I'm not a stalker because I fear I give off that Annie Wilkes vibe (but that's preposterous because I can't stand the sound of breaking bones... or even cracking knuckles).

Sigh, I am really going to have to practice a non-crazy yet still admiring smile for BEA.  A smile that says, yes, I love your books, but no, I'm not going to kidnap you and chain you to my guest bed until you write a novel just for me.  So far, mirror results have shown little progress.  I'll keep working at it, because the only thing worse than giving a creepy smile to authors is not smiling at all and looking scary/intense.

Ugh, why can't the BEA be a masked ball?  I look good in masks.

So, if my answer hasn't scared you away and you've decided to give me a follow, just let me know and I'll return it!  

Blog Hopping Once Again!

It's time once again to hop!  When I saw this on my google reader I got all excited, it's been a long time since I participated, and the question is one I definitely want to blog about!

Are you attending the Book Blogger Convention (aka Bea Bloggers) and/or Book Expo America in New York City in June? If not, will you participate in the online event called Armchair BEA?     

I am attending BEA this year.  It'll be my very first time, and my first real trip to NYC.  I've wanted to go for the last few years, but it just seemed financially impossible.  Luckily I get to share the costs with my friend, Kim, and Canadian bloggers, Cindy and Kellie, who we'll be rooming with in New York.

I'm going up on the Sunday before BEA with Kim and Steph- we're taking Megabus.

It's double decker, so yes, I will be pretending I'm on the Knight Bus.

I'm doing the Book Blogger Convention on Monday, the breakfast with John Green, and maybe Teen Carnival. 

We're planning on hitting the Hard Rock Cafe when we get there, and at some point I will visit Central Park, The Strand, the Met, and Grey's Papayas.  And whatever else my blogger friends want to do.  There will be some subway riding, and some Maureen Johnson stalking. 

I'm still in shock that I'm finally going, but I can't wait.  Mostly I'm excited about meeting some of ya'll, although the authors and books are a strong draw.  Can't wait for June!  Which is weird, since May is my birthday month and now I can't wait to get it over with. ;) 

So who all is going, who's all been and who's doing Armchair BEA?

Arise Review

Arise (Hereafter #2)
by Tara Hudson
Expected Publication: 06.05.12
From Goodreads:

Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life...a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her.

My Thoughts:  Two things- first I really love ghost stories.  And thankfully at the moment, ghosts are popular.  Yay for ghosts!  Second- I did not realize when I signed up for the Arise arc tour that it was a second book in the Hereafter series.

Fail.

Luckily for me, despite being unfamiliar with the series, I was able to jump right in and enjoy Arise.  The only thing that confused me in the beginning was Jillian's age, she came across a lot younger until she jumped in her car and drove to school.  But that's okay, Jillian doesn't really matter.

I loved Joshua.  I loved how it was always Joshua and never Josh (it reminded me of Rachel in Friends and how she refused to shorten her boyfriend Joshua's name too). Joshua and Amelia have a really sweet love, a tad bit too co-dependent at times, but honestly, they're young, in love, and she's dead. 

And every time they make out, Amelia disappears.  Literally.  It's like the best teenage birth control method I have ever heard of.

I will totally let my kids date dead people.  Actually, maybe I should specify ghosts and not just dead people.  No one wants to raise a necrophiliac.

So, lots of stuff goes down in Arise, and I'm totally going to have to read the first book now, because of Eli.  We only briefly see him in the second book, but it sounds like he was a much bigger player and the cause of much trouble for our Amelia the friendly ghost in the first book.  Anyways, Eli is past, but the demons are back and they want Amelia to be their new Eli.  But even from this brief glimpse I realize that Eli was probably fairly bad boyish (bad ghostish?) in Hereafter.

And what does one do when confronted with the fact that demons may soon be torturing your loved ones if you don't help them?

That's right, road trip!

To New Orleans!   I love New Orleans, I love ghost stories set in New Orleans, and I love that Amelia ends up meeting new friend Gaby in a Voodoo store.  My only small complaint is that despite it being the most haunted city in America, there's only, like, five ghosts roaming around.  Not going to lie, that bugged me.

However, Amelia is all torn over Joshua and their relationship.  She's dealing with his grandma Ruth again, who totally tried to exorcise her in book one, and to top it off when they get to New Orleans Joshua's family has a Welcome to the House, Dead Girl teen seer gathering.

Seers can... see ghosts.  And other things.  Like we do.  Only it's like the Monster Squad of seers, so only two of them can see Amelia, but the rest can hear her.  Normally seers are all about banishing ghosts, but Joshua's cousins and friends appear to want to help Amelia.

Amelia is not immediately down with this.  She didn't just die yesterday, after all. She's got some good instincts, which is only cool when she actually listens to them. 

Besides all the demon fun, Amelia is also having strange dreams, which is unusual since as a ghost she doesn't really sleep.  And somebody is trying to send her a message about something.  It's still a little unclear as to what that message is, but I think it'll play in the next book.

For me this was a fun, fast read.  It was spooky, there was lots of action and some very pg romance, and even some humor- mostly in the form of Gaby.  And the place where Gaby lives = priceless.  I'm totally thinking about squatting in celeb's homes whilst they're away at rehab too.

So, by all means read Hereafter first.  I can't wait to read about Amelia and Joshua falling in love, so I will backtrack.  But if you for some reason find yourself with Arise like I did, not having read Hereafter will not negatively impact your reading experience of Arise.  Unless you're particularly dumb, but you probably wouldn't be reading at all if you were, so problem solved.

And I can't wait to read the next book!

Arise gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I love this cover, which is why I wanted to do the tour.  I love that you can see the cemetery through her.  You know immediately that this is a ghost story.  A lot of YA books have girls in pretty dressed on the cover, but they normally don't do a good job of actually advertizing the story between the pages.  But this book does.  Except the plant leaves in her hands.  Don't have a clue what those are supposed to mean, but I don't care.  It's still a great cover!

**Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Around the World ARC Tours in exchange for my honest review.

Spring Horror Readathon Wrap (and warped) Up

I made it!  And I got some books read from my TBR shelf, go me!  But I'm a little bummed it's over.  I had a lot of fun.  I wish I could have done more challenges, but there's always next time!

Here's what I read:
     

      Kate's springintohorrorreadathon book montage
   

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Kate's favorite books »
 
 

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I finished the very end of Grave Secret, and the last 140 some pages of Meet Your Match, Cupid Delaney.  I started, but did not finish, Envy and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (audio).   

Books I didn't get to at all: Divergent and 77 Shadow Street... kind of bummed about both and of course several review books showed up this week, so they'll have to wait a bit.  Again.
    
I pretty much loved everything I read this readathon, and I'm so glad I signed up!  I will definitely be doing any readathon's hosted by Castle Macabre.  I was really impressed by how it was run, and thanks to all the bloggers and authors who donated their time to challenges, prizes, posts and reading!  As much as I love the blogging community, I feel most at home with those that like the occasional darker story. ;)

     

Underworld Review

Underworld 
by Meg Cabot
Expected Publication: 05.08.12
From Goodreads:

Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera isn’t dead.

Not this time.

But she is being held against her will in the dim, twilit world between heaven and hell, where the spirits of the deceased wait before embarking upon their final journey.

Her captor, John Hayden, claims it’s for her own safety. Because not all the departed are dear. Some are so unhappy with where they ended up after leaving the Underworld, they’ve come back as Furies, intent on vengeance…on the one who sent them there and on the one whom he loves.

But while Pierce might be safe from the Furies in the Underworld, far worse dangers could be lurking for her there…and they might have more to do with its ruler than with his enemies.

And unless Pierce is careful, this time there’ll be no escape.

My Thoughts: The fist book in the series, Abandon, was just okay for me.  I was expecting to love it, since I've been a long time fan of Meg Cabot's chick lit books, and Heather Wells is probably one of my all time favorite characters.  I liked Underworld more, but I'm still not clicking with main character Pierce.  Of course I'm not a gorgeous, rich, 17 year old girl with a hot centuries old death deity in love with me, so we really don't have that much in common.

This second book worked a bit better for me than the first, as we're given a lot more answers about John and Coffin Night. I'm still not sure what to think of Pierce and John's relationship, it feels almost like an old fashioned romance love than anything a contemporary teen would be into, but John is still sexy. I also very much enjoyed meeting John's Underworld crew, they added some humor as well as history to the story. Normally Meg Cabot's books are a wonderful mix of humor and romance, but for some reason this series isn't huge on the laughs. Pierce is still all over the place about... everything, but she has enough spunk and self awareness to make up for some of the incredibly naivety and unawareness she also displays.

There is some smexy times in this book, but I thought Cabot handled it brilliantly, it wasn't crude, it wasn't too much (it was one of those "I saw stars" and then fade to black kind of scenes). Because it's hard to believe that when teen boys and girls hookup with paranormally hot peeps that some smex isn't going to go down. Trust me, if there'd been a hot death deity haunting the Underworld of Nicktown, PA back when I was a teen then my good Catholic girl status would have taken some serious hits. That said, I don't want to read YA books full of smut... that's what Fifty Shades of Gray is for! ;)

While the first book was a bit slow and laying down the groundworkish, book two was definitely faster paced. I'll read the next book in the series, but I'm still looking more forward to the next Heather Wells book! 


Underworld gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

I know, I gave 4 stars on Goodreads, but I always star up on that site since you can't do half stars!


The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

I both love it and have problems with it.  Mainly because the dress seems ill fitting- seriously why is her chest so low down?  She's 17, not 70!  I do love the pose and the hand grabbing her to pull her down, very Persephone looking,  and the colors are gorgeous. 


**Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Around the World Arc Tours in exchange for my honest opinion.

Mailbox Monday #1

 Since my one of BEA roomies and blogger friend, Cindy of Cindy's Love of Books is hosting this meme for the last time this month, I thought I'd actually participate! Plus, I gots some cool books.

For Review:

Underworld by Meg Cabot. Already finished this one and I'll be mailing it off to the next blogger on the tour this morning.  Review will be up soon!

Arise by Tara Hudson. Haven't read the first book, hope that doesn't make a difference.  Love the cover!

Timepiece: Hourglass #2 by Myra McEntire.  God bless you, Netgalley!

Gifted:

SIGNED copy of Boy's Life by Robert McCammon!  God bless you, Midnyte Reader!! She attended the 2012 World Horror Convention and picked this up just for me (and now McCammon totally knows my name!).  And then she shared a cab ride with him and Sherrilyn Kenyon.  I am awash in jealousy and awe. But mostly I'm thankful for the book! ;)

Borrowed:

 Divergent by Veronica Roth.  Kim was nice enough to lend me her copy and I have promised to read it with the utmost care and consideration. ;)

Sundays In Bed With... Envy and Divergent

Sundays In Bed With... is a meme I've started to share the book we're spending the morning in bed with, or the one we'd like to stay curled up in bed with all Sunday if only our busy lives would allow!  For fun, take a picture of the book in your bed, or simply write up a post or comment below sharing your Sundays in Bed With book.

Here's what I'm spending my Sunday morning in bed with:

I'd like to finish Envy and at least start Divergent.

And it should come as no surprise to my readers, but I so love the cover of Envy.

It's the last day of Spring Into Horror Readathon, and I'm going to try to get a lot of reading done... but there's soooo much housework to get to too... I hate being an adult.

What are you reading this morning?

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SpringHorrorRAT Update

How is your Readathon going?  And if you aren't readathoning, then how was your reading week?  I've been fairly productive this week.  Here's what I've read going into the weekend:


Meet Your Match, Cupid Delaney (finished this one Monday but had started it Saturday)
Anna Dressed in Blood- soooooo good!
Grave Secret- finished the last hour of this audio book. I'll miss Harper Connelly!
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour- finally got to it, and it was a great read!
The Night Circus- re-read for my book club that's meeting tonight. Can't wait to discuss!
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft- read last night before falling asleep. Fantastically creepy!

Tuesday and Thursday were probably my slowest reading days because I had work, and then Thursday night I did an hour long Zumba class with Kim from On The Wings of Books.

Today I'm hoping to read Underworld by Meg Cabot and maybe read a bit more of Envy, which I started on Wednesday.  I have a busy day- work in the morning, then book club at 6pm, then working overnight starting at 10pm.  Thankfully I'm already mostly done with my Sundays In Bed With... meme post, and hopefully I'll get some major reading done on Sunday- would love to at least start Divergent!

What are you're weekend reading plans?