WWW Wednesday (17)

So. It's been a long time since I've done one of these, way too long. And I really enjoy doing these, but there have been way too many books I've read since I did this. Actually, the last time I did this meme was last year, in May, so it's almost been a full year.

I'm just going to mention some of the few books I've just finished and not go further then that.

And here we go!

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. She asks that you answer three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

Currently-Reading:

Well - according to goodreads I'm currently reading 15 books at the moment, insert freak out / sigh here, so I'm just going to list the ones that I'm actively trying to get through, the rest are more or less on hold for the moment.

• Saint City Sinners (Dante Valentine #4) by Lilith Saintcrow - currently reading, like 120 pages in. The start of tis book hurt so much, I haven't picked it up again, apparently I got way more attached to the characters then I thought I did because ow.
• The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson -  first book in the Mistborn series. I'm about a third into it so far. And I'm going to continue taking it slow, though I 'd like to finish it next month.
• The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer - I started listening to this on the audiobook. I really like the idea of audiobooks, but since I don't commute to anything, or don't really have time where I couldn't physically read - they can be more of a problem then anything else, they're just so slow compared to my reading speed.
• Also I'm currently rereading two books that I loved the first time around. Ready Player One and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm halfway through  Ready Player One and I'd almost forgotten how rich and amazing this world was, and how much I loved this characters, and I feel like i"m seeing things I missed the first time (and seconds, I actually listened to this one on audio because Wil Wheaton, mostly while I was mining on Minecraft).

Recently Finished:

I've finished a lot of books since I did my WWW Wednesday last month (hopefully I can keep up with these a little better) so I'm just going to list the last handful of them or so. In order of the most recently finished.

What in God's Name by Simon Rich (5/5)

So hilarious and good, and I flew through this book in just about one sitting. It's full of shenanigans and just some great fun.

Elusive Memories (The Hunted #1) by Amanda Shofner (5/5)

You might of heard of Amanda if you recently participated in the Bout of Books read-a-thon as her and Kelly are who run it. This came out like right at the beginning of it, I can't remember the exact day, and I ended up just buying it. And was very pleasantly surprised, I ended up reading this in mostly on sitting - something about the world and characters just sucked me straight it and about two hours later - I was done. 

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1) by Kim Harrison (4/5)

This reminded me, reading the synopsis, of a show that's been over for years now called Dead Like Me, so I had to give it a shot. And was surprised - it did remind me a bit of that show, but it was so different and had a broader world. I'm excited to continue on with this series soon, I've got the second and last book in this series standing by.

To Read Next:

Well I'd really love to, you know, knock those 'currently reading' books out, the ones currently listed above that is, but also all of those other - I really don't like being over 10 on goodreads, which will probably take me until next Wednesday to even consider picking up more books, so I'm not going to bother listing more.

And I think I'm just going to leave it there, I've been considering doing a "summer reading plans" kind of thing, and it might be kind of cool to do quarterly reading updates about my progress and what I want to read during the next chunk of the year. Anyway - I hope you read something good recently and if you did - what was it? And what are you currently reading?

Book Review: Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire #3)

Title: Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire #3)
Author: Kate Locke
Genre: SciFi/Fantasy (Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal), Alternate History, Romance
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 311 pages (Hardcover)
Publication Date: November 12th, 2013

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. Everyone -- vampires, werewolves and humans -- wants the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins -- wins.

Queen Victoria wants her head, Alpha wolf Vex wants her heart, and she still doesn't know the identity of the person who wanted her blood. What she does know is that a project from one of the 'secret' aristocrat labs has gotten free and she's the only one who can stop the perfect killing machine -- a sixteen year-old girl. With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra's finding out that being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, and if she doesn't do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history.
The fantastic conclusion to the series that started with the spectacular undead steampunk debut, God Save the Queen and The Queen is Dead.

Review:
I'm trying not to put big spoilers for the past books in this review. However, if you haven't read the first or second books in this series, then please turn back now. This will be spoiler free for this book, but not those two. And I have reviews of both of them up: God Save the Queen and The Queen is Dead.

This book has that same great atmosphere, characters, fast pace as the other two in this series, but it definiely wasn't my favorite of the series (I think book two was, I really loved book two). That doesn't mean it wasn't good, obviously I really enjoyed it as I gave it five stars, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the last book in the series. And I didn't have any problems with how it ended, no spoilers, of course.

There are questions answered in this one and shit goes down in a major way. And man was it good. Once again, all the things I've said before still stand for this book so I'm trying not to just repeat myself here, but there isn't much else to say without spoiling this one.

This series is full of Steampunk fun and Victorian undertones and I really do recommend this series with love, because it's a ton of fun.

Favorite quotes:

"Oh, they'll think about it," I said with a small smile. "Just before I eat their liver."
To my surprise, he smiled. "That's my girl."

He grinned at me. "Most people trust their parents and not strangers. You have a habit of trusting strangers more then family."
I stared at him. "Have you met my family?"

Musing Mondays (2): Reading Habits (2014 has been suspiciously good)

A meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week:

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

This week, I think we're going to talk about reading habits. 2014, so far at least, has been a fantastic reading year for me. I've just gotten into it hard and have read a ridiculous amount of books so far, especially considering I'd been struggling to get to 50 or 100 in previous years (though, last year was also pretty good). 

Now I'm not really sure how I got past whatever was stopping me before, going on Tumblr less has probably helped, but I think I have an idea. I do this thing where, after I finish the "main" books I was reading, I'll have no idea what to read next and a weird thing happens. 

What happens is I'll read normally about 10-20% of a book, according to Goodreads, and then pick up something up, and I'll normally do that with about 2-5 books before I find what I want to read or what pulls me in the most. And then I have all these books I'm a bit into, that I can go back after finishing that one that caught me, and normally finish pretty easily. 

I've always read at just over an above average reading rate, but I think this is one of the best things I've ever accidentally done to keep me going onto the next book. Because that's normally my problem. I can get a book hangover or just not know what to do at all, and then I can go a week or two or a month without reading even a page, which has only happen for one period of time this year (and I was in Florida at a convention for some of it and had just finished what I'm sure will be one of the best books I will read this year).

Do any of you have odd reading habits? Maybe that you developed without meaning to? Does anyone do that thing where it's impossible to find a comfortable way to sit/lounge while reading some days?

Friday Finds (2)

I really like this idea as a meme, which is a meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. It's, basically, books you've discovered during the week, whether you've just added them to the never ending "to-read" shelf or if you've actually bought them. And these are the books I've discovered the last few weeks that I wanted to mention, since I did my first Friday Finds.

The Falconer by Elizabeth May
This sounds really good, I saw it in someones video and on Goodreads this week, and it just sounds - interesting. Edinburgh, 1844 sounds like a fantastic place, and there are apparently faeries. And that's all I know and that it came out on the 6th, I think, but I have no idea when I'll get to it.

Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations #1-2) by Michael J.Sullivan
Apparently these books are only currently printed in these two book bind up - but anyway. They sounds really interesting and cool. It's high fantasy, it sounds like it'll have kick-ass characters, I'm interested, but no idea when I'll pick up a copy or read it.

Deadly Class, Vol. 1: Reagan Youth by Rick Remender, Weasley Craig, Lee Longbridge
I've been hearing about this one as the issues come out and people seem to be really liking it, but I like these versions of comics better - a hand full or so of the volumes together. It sounds fucking awesome, so I'm on board, I'll probably love it.

What In God's Name by Simon Rich
This is an apparently hilarious book and it's about heaven and angels and them possibly ending the world, it doesn't sound like God's really paying attention. Basically it sounds amazing.

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
This is contemporary, and I very rarely read that genre, but it sounds really good. And it's got a bunch of hollywood/movie set stuff, apparently, and it's two girls, so it's different then just a run of the mill contemporary - and apparently everyone freaking loves it, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

There are a few others I've found these past few weeks, or rediscovered. I might have started using TheBookDepository again and I ended up buying a few books I'd forgotten that I'd wanted from there. (Also, resisting buying all the Penguin English Library editions, it's a hard battle, also the new bookmarks are gorgeous).

What did you find this week? Or what are you reading this week?

Final Bout of Books 10.0 Wrap-Up (Day Seven)

And this is the end - the last post of this Bout of Books. I hope your week was fun (and the next one is in August). Leave me a comment with how you did or a link to your own wrap-up post. Bout of Books is definitely my a ton of fun, especially the Twitter chats and talking to people about books, because who doesn't love talking about books.

Speaking of books - first, let's do the wrap-up/stats for day seven and then the total for the read-a-thon.

Number of Books Read Today: 4

Pages Read Today: 590

Books (just today):
Locke and Key, Vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (started and finished - 168 pages)
Locke and Key, Vol 2: Head Games by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (started and finished - 160 pages)
Locke and Key, Vol 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (started and finished - 140 pages)
Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1) by Kim Harrison (finishd - 122 pages)

Words Written (today only): 5,597

Notes:
Locke and Key - I wish I had the last three volumes in the series, I probably would of read those today, too, if I did. I really, really enjoyed them - the mythology is great and I love these characters so much.

Sunday was definitely a much better reading day then Saturday and sometimes I forget how much I love graphic novels, the art adds so much. And now - onto the read-a-thon totals and all the books I finished, and the ones I started this week but didn't finish.

Total Books Read: 12

Total Pages Read: 3,345

Books:
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe
The Walking Dead: Book Two by Robert Kirkman
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (Theodosia Throckmorton #1) by R.L. LaFevers
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Maus l by Art Spiegelman
Maus ll by Art Spiegelman
Locke and Key, Vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez
Locke and Key, Vol 2: Head Games by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez
Locke and Key, Vol 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez
Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1) by Kim Harrison

Books not finished;
Watchmen by Alan Moor, Dave Gibbons (got to page 206, approximately)
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson (got to page 204)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide #1) by Douglas Adams (got to page 50)

Notes - and final thoughts:
I'm always so sad to see these read-a-thons end - even if I'm also looking forward to watching some TV without guilt (self imposed guilt, but still). I love read-a-thons, and I'm always surpised with how much I get read during them.

This one was a bit of a struggle for me - I had migraines on most of the days and those are exhausting and normally don't go away very easily. However, naps were very helpful (as was my migraine medicine), and hopefully that cluster of migraines is over now.

To talk more about the reading, though, it was a very good week for me. Not quite the most I've read in a Bout of Books (Bout of Books 7.0 was the best, and I have no idea how I did that, I read 4k pages that week), but it was an awesome week.

I hope your week went well. And if you didn't get to read as much because of real life happening - then don't stress about it, you can't stop real life. Remember: flailing, not failing. And there's always the next read-a-thon. Or just the next time you can take a few hours to curl up with a book.

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 10.0: Day Six Wrap-Up

Today was not a good day for me, and I'm mostly okay with that because I've gotten a lot read this week, but - still. I couldn't concentrate at all today, and fell asleep for two hours, it was not good.

There was a Twitter chat, though, which was a ton of fun! And now onto my stats, and it's now officially the last day of the read-a-thon, which is very, very sad. I love read-a-thons and it's sad to see them end. And now I have a ton of books to write reviews for.

Number of books read today: 0

Total number of books read: 8

Books currently-reading:
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (startes - 206 pages)

Number of pages read today: 206 pages

Total number of pages read: 2,755

Words Written (today only): 2,646

Notes:

I didn't get much written at all today because I was feeling so, so burnt out and exhausted all day. I ended up watching the RoosterTeeth live-stream randomly and them doing stupid things for charity. And that actually helped a little.

Anyway - I started Watchmen and got about halfway through it and am really enjoying it so far, but I think my mood is much more funny and happier things at the moment. It's so good, though.

How did you day go? I hope better then mine. And what are you currently reading? 

Bout of Books 10.0: Day Five Wrap-Up

I woke up with the beginning of a migraine today - so a lot of hours were lost to trying to get it to leave, but it finally did. I ended up deciding to go for some graphic novels, they were quick and I have a lot of them that I want to get through, and I'm not up to par right now.

Number of books read today: 2

Total number of books read: 8

Books:
Maus l by Art Spiegelman (started and finished - 160)
Maus ll by Art Spiegelman (started and finished - 136)

Books currently-reading:
Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1) by Kim Harrison (started - 110 pages)

Number of pages read today: 406

Total number of pages read: 2,549

Written Today: 5,126
(thought I'd just do this, since I'd been tacking it on the last few days anyway)

Notes:

I really enjoyed both volumes of Maus, I haven't ready many things that've dealt with the Holocaust but the one book I did read stuck with me (and I want to reread it) - it was Night. Anyway, I highly recommended checking out Maus. 

I didn't end up reading anymore in the other books I'm in the middle of, which is why I didn't list them today, also I'm exhausted. I stopped reading kind of early, hopefully the weekend is kickass, it's not like I have any shortage of books that I'm excited to read or finish.

I have a feeling I won't be getting much done tomorrow. There's a few things going on and we're also going to try and get the ACs in because it's starting to get warmer.

What are you currently-reading and how is your Bout of Books going? 

Bout of Books 10.0: Day Four Wrap-Up

Today was a pretty good reading day, not as good as yesterday but I had some time to read some more of The Final Empire so that was lovely. I got a little distracted by writing in the morning/early afternoon and might have had a slight dance party to wake myself up. Now - stats?

Number of books read today: 1

Total number of books read: 6

Books:
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (finished - 258 pages)

Books currently-reading:
Quiet by Susan Cain (continued - 38 pages)
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson (continued - 100 pages)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide #1) by Douglas Adam (started - 50 pages)

Number of pages read today: 446

Total number of pages read: 2,143

Notes:

Apparently All Our Yesterdays is going to have a sequel. Why? It ended so freaking perfectly. I don't even know where the story would go from there.

Anyway - I also continued reading some other books. As you can tell my reading after finishing All Our Yesterdays was a tad scattered, as I honestly tend to be after finishing a book. I am currently just completely loving Quiet - it's got so much information jammed into so many pages, but it doesn't feel like it's hard to read, though it's a little slower, I find all non-fiction is.

And The Final Empire. Brandon Sanderson, if you haven't read him - do it now. I don't want to finish this book quickly but I also want to know what happens, but - it's like it's replenishing me of something and it's just so fantastic, I love it to absolute pieces, I'm so glad this is a series and that the first three books are so long. (It appears like there's going to be six books in all - I kind of hope there's more, which is rare for me to want more books in a series).

Also - Hitchhiker's Guide is lovely. I mean what can I really say? This is a reread for me and I read the first three books I think two years ago (I could go check, but I'm no going to) and I really enjoyed them, completely hilarious, but I never ended up reading the last two. So I want to reread the first three, and then get to the last two. This is definitely not going to happen during the read-a-thon, but soon, they're all really short.

(Edit: Added thing again, I wrote 7,482 words today, thought I'd add that in today. If you haven't noticed, I like stats of things).

I hope your reading day went well and just your day in general. What are you reading? How are you liking them? Have any books you want to push that you think I might like?

Bout of Books 10.0: Day Three Wrap-Up

Today was definitely a better day. I didn't have a headache or a migraine when I woke up, and I was able to get some reading done. And some writing done, I haven't been able to write the last two days which tends to make me just argh.

Anyway - today was a good reading and writing day. And there was also an awesome twitter chat, I love twitter chats, if you haven't checked one out there's one on Saturday, check out the Bout of Books blog for more info.

Number of books read today: 2

Total number of books read: 5

Books:
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (Theodosia Throckmorton #1) by R.L. LaFevers (finished - 292 pages)
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (started and finished - 235 pages)

Books currently-reading:
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson (didn't read any more, oops, saved it for last and then hello migraine)
Quiet by Susan Cain (also no, non-fiction is definitely slower)
All Our Yesterdays (All Our Yesterdays #1) by Cristin Terrill (start - 102 pages)

Number of pages read today: 629

Total number of pages read: 1,697

Notes:

Kind of accidentally picked up All Our Yesterdays, and I love when that happens, but I'm 100 pages in and not sure how I'm feeling about it - it's interesting and a pretty fast read, but we'll see. (There was some like high school drama-esque stuff, hopefully that doesn't come back, I just - no. I mean some people like that, and power to you, but I personally just want to shoot the characters normally).

Theodosia I had a hard time getting into, but it was a really fast read and I started to really enjoy it towards the end. Also - Egyptian mythology, especially added with ancient artifacts, I am normally down for, it's a weakness.

American Born Chinese was really good and kind of oddly adorable, really like it.

(Fun fact, if you're interested, on top of those 600+ words, I wrote 6.8k. I don't know how this happened, it's all a little blurry).

Anyway - I hope your day was good. How did it go? Did you get reading done? Remember: flailing, not failing!

Bout of Books 10.0: Day Two Wrap-Up

Day two felt physically better then day one, thank you migraine meds and my trusty heating pad, and the reading wasn't quite as productive in number, but it felt a lot more productive for some reason.

Number of books read today: 2

Total number of books read: 3

Books:
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe (started and finished - 25 pages)
The Walking Dead: Book Two by Robert Kirkman (started and finished - 304 pages)

Books currently-reading:
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson (started - 104 pages)

Number of pages read today: 433

Total number of pages read: 1,068

Notes:

The Purloined Letter was a quick read, that I mostly read in the hours of the morning that one might consider "the dead of night," because my head was throbbing and I was awake. It was - okay, I guess, interesting.

The Walking Dead: Book Two I started during Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon, but I had to go back and reread those 20 pages or so, because I didn't remember really what had happened (it was about 4/5am I think). Anyway - it was alright, I gave it three stars. The thing with characters being killed off in this series is that I just don't care - they're not built up enough for me to care.

The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson, friends, might just be my favorite author. I mean J.K. Rowling is just like Queen by now, and there are some other authors I really love, but - but Brandon Sanderson. If you haven't read any of his books - do it, do it now. I'd highly recommend The Way of Kings (I wish I could write a conceive review of that book, but it's too good), but if the length of that one scares you: The Rithmatist, Steelheart, The Emperor's Soul.

Or Misborn, I'm only 100 pages in and I already am loving it and know it'll definitely be one of my favorite books of this year. I"m constantly blown away by his books. Most of them tend to have magic systems and they're all so different and - just give him a try, you won't regret it. I'd write more, but I'm exhausted from my day of reading and I"m sure you've all heard the laments and praise to Sanderson. So just do it.

How did your day go? What are you currently-reading? And how are you feeling? Alright? Take a break, this is suppose to be fun - flailing not failing. 

Bout of Books 10.0: Day One Wrap-Up

Day one of the Bou of Books 10.0 read-a-thon! I didn't feel quite right today, didn't mention it on twitter - but I had a migraine for part of the day and a tad dehydrated (no, seriously, weather - jumping to like 80 degrees isn't cool, literally, and my body was not ready for that).

Anyway, I didn't want to mention it just because I didn't want to complain too much. On to happier topics and hopefully I feel better tomorrow!

There was a Bout of Books Twitter chat today, which was even more crazy and fast moving then usual and still so, so much fun. I love seeing what everyone's saying and what they're reading or recommend, it' a ton of fun and if you haven't been to one - there's another chat on Wednesday and Friday, and I think a live G+ hangout tomorrow.

Number of Books Completed Today: 1

Books Finished:
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness (519 pages - started and finished)

Books Currently-Reading:
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (64 pages read)
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers (52 pages)

Number of Pages Read Today: 635

Notes:
I really, really loved The Ask and the Answer, I just flew through it too, this series is fantastic. I have the third one waiting to read, but it's almost 600 pages and... it's going to make me cry isn't it? I don't know if I'm ready for emotional scarring this early in the read-a-thon, so I might put it off until the weekend.

Quiet is so fantastic and though provoking so far, I'm reading it on my Kindle (it was pretty cheap, too) and I'm really glad I am because it's so much easier to make notes on it and such.

I'm not that far into Theodosia, it's the first in a series, and I"m kind of eh about it at the moment, but like I said I'm not that far into it. Also it's about Ancient Egypt, so I'll probably end up really into it. If not - I am still determine to read the rest of the series (I may have pre-emtively bought others in it, I've mostly stopped myself from doing this, but I can't resist ancient Egypt in middle-grade, it's a weakness).

What have you been reading? Also - am I going to cry reading Monsters of Men? (I want to be prepared). I hope you had a great reading day or just a great day in general - happy reading!

Bout of Books 10.0 starts today!

And here we are at the beginning of another read-a-thon. Bout of Books 10.0 started at midnight in whatever timezone you may be in. And I've got to say, it's probably my favorite read-a-thon, just because it's longer and the twitter chats. (Though, I do have a lot of love for Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon).

I have plans to not start at midnight this time around, which is actually very weird for me, normally I try and at least read a few pages before going to bed. I am planning on getting up early to start reading with a cup of coffee. The first two days of this read-a-thon, I'm not going to worry about anything but reading, really.

And now, if you haven't been following my blog during a read-a-thon, here's how updates will work: I put up the wrap up of Monday, on Tuesday and so on (normally I just write it up before I got to be and schedule for like 12/1am, and hope there are no spelling mistakes). However, if you haven't more on time reading updates: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram.

Do you have any special plans for the first day? Also - what are you currently reading for this read-a-thon (or just in general)? And what are your plans to read more (ex: limiting things or just kind of giving them up for the week)?

Goals/TBR
Bout of Books 10.0 Starts Monday! (with some tips)

Bout of Books 10.0 starts Monday!

I've posted already about the Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon, but I wanted to just post again just as a reminder. This read-a-thon starts at the very beginning of Monday (May 12th), midnight in your own timezone, and continues until Sunday night (May 18th).

I highly suggest checking out the blog, if you haven't, and aren't sure if you want to participate. It's a low stress read-a-thon, you set your own goals, and there are challenges if you want to participate in those or Twitter chats.

I've participated in quite a few Bout of Books at this point, my first was 4.0 and then 7.0 to now. So this will be my fifth BoB, and my who knows full read-a-thon tally. I'm definitely not, really, any kind of expert (can you be an expert in read-a-thons?) but I thought I'd share a few tips if it's your first:

• Have fun. Seriously, just - let go of the stress. If you're like me and need a higher goal to push yourself towards, then just make multiple levels of goals, keep your "impossible" goal, hope, to yourself so you don't feel extra stress about it.
• Small books aren't cheating, they're your friends. Or graphic novels, to just slot them between bigger books you're reading, or just so you feel like you're making progress. I never feel like I'm making progress unless I'm finishing books. Short books, graphic novels, and manga are perfect for that.
• Participate / talk to people. Go and click on some people's posts, or just check out the #boutofbooks hashtag on twitter. It's scary, trust me I totally get that, but it's also a ton of fun. I didn't really do this for the first two years or so of me blogging, just because I have a lot of anxiety and talking to people i terrifying. However - book bloggers and such are probably the nicest people in the world (at least from all I've experienced), so just pop into a twitter chat, even for a few minute, or leave your blog link below so I can check out your blog / say hi!
• Just read. No, really, this is a thing you should remember. Talking to people is fun, but don't stay on twitter for four hours or cruise through blogs. Give yourself time limits and get back to reading.

And once again have fun - those are just what I've learned from participating in quite a few read-a-thons over the years. You don't have to listen to any of it if you don't want to, do whatever works for you.

Also there's a slight edit to my TBR, which I'm sure no one cares about, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I'm missing the first two books in the Jill Kismet series, so I might not be able to start that series (they're on the way, and I have the rest, so I will marathon them really soon). And, as of writing this, I've only got two books left in the Dante Valentine series, so I might just be finishing the final book for the read-a-thon.

Do you have any added tips or things you've learned? Leave them in the comments!

My goal post

Twitter

Book Review: The Queen is Dead (The Immortal Empire #2)

Title: The Queen is Dead (The Immortal Empire #2)
Author: Kate Locke
Genre: SciFi/Fantasy (Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal), Alternate History, Romance
Rating: 5/5
Pages Count: 352 (Hardcover)
Publication Date: February 5th, 2013

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Nothing lasts forever---and immortality isn't all its cracked up to be.

When her brother Val gets in over his head in an investigation of Half-Blood disappearances and goes missing himself, it's up to Xandra, newly crowned Goblin Queen, to get him back and bring the atrocities to light. Xandra must frequent the seediest parts of London, while also coping with what she is, the political factions vying for her favor, and the all too-close scrutiny of Queen Victoria, who wants her head. Add this to being a suspect in a murder investigation, a werewolf boyfriend with demands of his own, and a mother hell bent on destroying the monarchy, and Xandra barely knows which way is up. One thing she does know is that she's already lost one sibling, she's not about to lose another.

Review:
I talked about how much I loved this world in my review of the first book, but I just want to say it again because the world becomes even richer in this one. I didn't love this book much more then the first one, except for one character we got so much more of but I'm saving that, but maybe a little more. These books are a lot of fun to read, fast passed, and really good to boot.

They're not super heavy on the romance type of books, but - Xandra and Vex's relationship does play a huge part in these books, and in such a good way. Especially because of how supportive he is of her and, even though he's an actual alpha (he's the alpha werewolf of his pack), he doesn't try and tell her what to do. He'll ask, and maybe push her a bit if it's important to him, but he doesn't just tell her something and it's so, and she wouldn't put up with it if he tried - their relationship is just so good and, actually, adorable and it's one of my favorite elements.

Now, the only reason I'd say I loved this book more was because of one character, like I said earlier: Penny Dreadful. She's Val, who is Xandra's brother, sister, so to both of them - they're family. Penny works at this club called Freak Show and is trans and, from what I can tell, a seriously fabulous, impressive drag queen. There are some great descriptions of her outfits, that just made me ridiculously happy, because I love Victorian fashion and in this book it's that but mixed with modern and - basically what I wish my entire wardrobe was.

And now I'm going to go on a bit of a ramble, and I apologize, but this is the first book that had LGBT characters that were treated like everyday people. It was just expected to be accepted as fact from the readers. Xandra's sister, Avery, has a girlfriend (Fiance) Emily and it's not even talked about at first at all, it's just accepted. And I loved that.

There aren't a lot of books with LGBT characters at all, and I haven't read many at all, and I think because most of the descriptions I've read just sound like something sad. And I don't like sad books, I mean I do in a certain mood, but mostly I just can't read something I know is going to make me break down. Also - I've never read a book that had a trans character before. At all. So, yes, they're technically probably 'secondary' characters, but - Penny was in this book a lot, and she's such a great character. Like I said, though it's very accepted and just such a good way to have LGBT characters in books, because they should be there. And now I'm going to stop before I get more into LGBT characters or more diverse characters in general, because - that's probably multiple posts, but I did want to mention it in this review.

And, now to end my rant and review about this book, I just want to say I'd highly recommend this series, whether you care about my whole thing about LGBT characters or not this series is really good and so much fun.

Favorite quote(s):

I told him about my adventure at the chicken place instead.
"I'm beginning to think you shouldn't be allowed to leave the house," he said with a smile. "I've only been back a few days and already you've had more happen to you than most people have in a year." 

Graphic Novel Review: The Preacher: Book One

Title: The Preacher: Book One
Author: Garth Ennis
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel, Horror, Supernatural/Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 352 (Paperback)
Publication Date: June 18th, 2013 (this redone edition)
Original Pub Date: March 1st, 1996

Plot: (from Goodreads)
One of the most celebrated comics titles of the late 1990s, PREACHER is a modern American epic of life, death, love and redemption also packed with sex, booze, blood and bullets - not to mention angels, demons, God, vampires and deviants of all stripes.

At first glance, the Reverend Jesse Custer doesn't look like anyone special-just another small-town minister slowly losing his flock and his faith. But he's about to come face-to-face with proof that God does indeed exist. Merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Jesse now possesses the power of "the Word," an ability to make people do whatever he utters. He begins a violent and riotous journey across the country in search of answers from the elusive deity.

Review:
Okay, first off, there's a few things you should probably know about this book. I saw someone comment that the reasons people hated and loved these books were the same, and I actually agree with that. Basically, if you can't read about, or just don't like, violence, gore, and are offended by religious things being twisted and turned then this isn't for you.

However, if that sounds awesome to you, like it did to me, then you're going to love this book. This book is full of those things and it is honestly pretty graphic at points, there's quite a bit of blood. And there were plot twists I just plainly didn't see coming. I didn't actually really know what to expect going into this book, except basically what I've told you (I didn't, actually, even read the plot synopsis), I just knew that it sounded like a lot of fun. If a very weird, bloody ride.

And it was.

This book has some great characters. There's a preacher from Texas, a kickass women from his past, and a vampire called Cassidy. Odd reading about someone with a same name, even though it wasn't my first, and I liked him - he was awesome (also, it's said he's Irish, so we'd be related somehow, if he wasn't, you know, fictional).

This graphic novel had twists and turns that I never saw coming, like I said. And it did really kept me on my toes, and that's something I really enjoyed, being so surprised. The plot to this is much more interesting then I expected and I'm sure it just gets more crazy as the books progress, and I can't wait to continue on with this series. (I hope it gets more crazy).

And, on how it looked, it looked really good, I enjoyed the art and the colors. It was pretty straight forward and the colors felt dark, it really fit the whole plot, at least in my opinion. As you can tell, I didn't really have really any problems with this book, but I do feel like at points it was a little pointlessly offensive and that one of the twists literally came out of nowhere. And I guess we weren't learning a lot until then to begin in, but it still felt like a very sudden full one eighty to what'd been going on.

I'd recommend this, specifically, to people who like Supernatural (though it twists angels and god even more then that did, which was so interesting), or just people who find angels and lore like that interesting. Or, plainly, if you like violence and gore, there's quite a bit of that like I've said already.

Book Review: The Martian

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Humor
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 369 (Hardcover)
Publication Date: February 11th, 2014

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Review:
This book was a fantastic read. This book has some really interesting science in it, that's all rooted in fact and I found fun to try and mentally work out if it could (theoretically, at least) work. Is that too nerdy? Well - physics has become kind of my guilty pleasure. What I'm trying to say, talking about the science, is that it made it feel very real and down to Earth (well, down to Mars, anyway).

The beginning was a bit of a trek, I was still enjoying it, it was just taking me forever. And then as soon as it picked up, it didn't really slow down to take a breathe. I don't want to give too much, if anything, away, because I feel like going in only knowing the premise or general idea and just being swept up by it, was the perfect way to read this book.

I'm going to back up here, the first time I saw this book was, actually, someone complaining about it. However, they said that was too much like MacGyver in space for them. And I just stopped and my thought process was basically: MacGyver. In Space. Yes, I need that.

And I'm still convinced it's a pretty good comparison, though a tad more modern. And in space. I think what sold this book the most, when I was reading it, was the main narrators voice. He felt very real and very down to earth and he was hilarious, I loved how he phrased things or talked about them.

To wrap up this review before I ramble more, I'd highly recommend this book. It's fantastic, my only problem was it was a  very slight one (was how the beginning was a tad slow). Either way - highly recommended.

Added thing, and tell me if you like this idea/feature or not. These are some of my favorite quotes from The Martian:

"Yes, of course duct tape works in near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.""As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved with a box of pure radiation."

"If ruining the only religious icon I have leaves me open to Martian vampires, I'll have to risk it." 

“As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.” 

“Once I got home, I sulked for a while. All my brilliant plans foiled by thermodynamics. Damn you, Entropy!” 

May TBR

I have no idea what I'm going to be reading in May, there is the Bout of Books 10 read-a-thon happening from the 12th - 18th and I have no idea what I'll be reading. I have an idea of books that I'll be picking from and such, which might include some books that I put on my April TBR and just didn't end up getting to, even though April was a really good reading month.

Read-a-Thon announcement post, and my goals (and tbr) post can be found here.

I'm currently reading Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine #1) by Lilith Saintcrow and will hopefully finish it. And I'm listening to The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer in audiobook form, which will probably take me the whole month, if not into next, to finish. It's not a long audiobook, I just don't listen to audiobooks frequently, I'm really bad at it.

And then, there's the list of books I hope to read or finish, but is subject to extreme change because I am a mood reader.

• More books in the Dante Valentine series by Lilith Saintcrow, and then her other series that somehow, according to goodreads, connects or just - whatever, it's the Jill Kismet series.
• Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (I will finish this book this year, at the very least, god dammit. I might just stop putting it on TBRs)
• Abbadon's Gate (The Expanse #3) by James S.A. Corey (I need to read this, I just got it in the mail finally, and I need it in my life. I love this series so much).

There's more ideas of the books I'll be picking from on my Bout of Books goals/tbr, but mostly those. What are you planning to read this month? And have any of you read the few books I mentioned?

April Wrap-Up

I tried to film a video for this wrap-up (like I sat down and filmed it), but my computer has decided that it's not acceptable. I'm going to probably try again, but I wanted to get this and my May TBR up before it got further into the month.

It was a really good reading month for me, and I hope May is just as good. There was the Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon, of course, which is how I read a surprising amount of these books.

Book Read in April of 2014:

• Saga Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan 
• Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics by Jim Al-Khalili
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• Redshirts by John Scalzi
• Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
• The Preacher, Book One (Preacher Vol. 1) by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillion (Illustrator)
• Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (Zita the Spacegirl #2) (oops...)
• Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) by James S.A. Corey
• The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (reread)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness
• Zom-B by Darren Shan
• Cold War by Adam Christopher
• God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire #1) by Kate Locke
• The Queen is Dead (Immortal Empire #2) by Kate Locke
• The Walking Dead: Book One by Robert Kirkman
• Long Live the Queen (Immortal Empire #3) by Kate Locke

Blog posts from April:

March 2014 wrap-up

April 2014 TBR

Book Review: The Search for WondLa

WWW Wednesday (16)

Book Review: Red Shirts

2014: Book Reviews (6)

Friday Finds (1)

Book Review: Leviathan Wakes

Read-A-Thon related (Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon):

Dewey's 24 hour Read-A-Thon: Tomorrow

Read-A-Thon's On The Horizon

And... Go!
8am - 12pm
12pm - 4pm
4pm - 8pm
8pm -12am
12am - 4am
Final Wrap-Up

Book Review: God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire #1)

Title: God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire #1)
Author: Kate Locke
Genre: SciFi/Fantasy (Steampunk, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal), Alternante History, Romance
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 354 (Hardcover)
Publication Date: July 5th, 2012

Plot: (from Goodreads)
The start of a thrillingly original new urban fantasy series—set in a dark alternate world where the Victorian age never ended...

The Year is 2012—and Queen Victoria still rules with an immortal fist.

She's the undead matriarch of a Britain, where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground, and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side by side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day.

Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it's her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But things get complicated when her sister goes missing. Xandra will not only realise she's the prize in a dangerous power struggle—but she'll also uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire itself.

Review:
I read this book when it first came out in 2012 and then never ended up continuing the series. When I picked it up, randomly during the 24 hour read-a-thon, I couldn't remember anything that'd actually happened in it for some reason. And I still don't really remember that first read through of it two years ago, but anyway, onto the actual review.

I really enjoyed this book, overall. I loved the world that was created, that they lived in, it was gritty and fun and had a mixture of more modern and Victorian things. And the Victorian time periods is one of my favorites that to read about, it's interesting to see authors write ways around certain conflicts. This books is much more modern, of course, it doesn't take place in the late 1800's, but still in the Victorian time period - just in 2012. And I haven't read much alternate history, not nearly enough, but I always tend to love it - it's just interesting and this was no exception to that rule, the world building in this was so interesting.

My favorite part of this book, besides the setting, was the characters. Xandra is a kick-ass and just kind of awesome all around main character, and I loved her siblings as well. How they all had the same aristocrat father, but different mothers, and were so different at points. And I like reading about siblings, as an only child it's interesting to me, and all of the Vardan's were just fun to read about in general.

To wrap it up, I'd definitely recommend this book. It was fun and Steampunk, and I'd also highly suggest, if you can read and listen to music, to have Emilie Autumn playing in the background. I had totally forgotten that the author was a fan, until I read the Acknowledgements and Locke mentions her, but it fits the setting so well, almost perfectly.

Favorite quotes:

"Bitch," Penny said slowly, "You are my fucking hero." 

"I assume you've introduced yourselves," I commented.
"Of course," Avery retorted, expression slightly affronted. "His lordship helped me and Em carry in groceries this morning." 

Bout of Books 10: Goals and TBR

First off, if you don't know what Bout of Books is, it's a week long read-a-thon, that is a ton of fun. Check out their blog to find out more. Also - my sign up post (which was for two read-a-thons, and Dewey's already passed).

However, this read-a-thon will be taking place from May 12th - 18th and I'll hopefully be reading for a large part of every day. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to set aside the first day, maybe two, to pretty much just reading and then let up a little on it. Either way - I have high hopes for this read-a-thon, as I tend to.

I tend to just pick a bunch of books that I'll be picking from during the week, so I'm going to list the books I'm thinking of reading during this week:

• More of the Dante Valentine's series by Lilith Saintcrow
• And, on the same not, the Jill Kismet series by the same author
• The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
• Theodosia Thorkmorton series by R.L. LaFevers (I'd like to at least read the first book, and they're middle grade, so I should be able to fly through it).
• Reread City of Glass and maybe the other two (that last book comes out at the end of his month!)
• Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
• Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

Sadly, I don't really have any graphic novels that I'm waiting to get to, because I normally use those between books to give me a little break of sorts. And now, onto my goals/hopes for the week.

I tend to be very hopeful, I guess, with what I want to accomplish during read-a-thons, but I also tend to be pretty good at getting there. 

• Finish 1-2 books a day (I'd really like to say 2-3 but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. However I'll be setting my sights for that and if I only get one finished, I'm not going to be upset my any means).
• Read 300+ pages a day (I normally put 200-300 but I glanced back at my stats from 9.0 and I was over 300 all of those days, so I think this is very doable).
• Participate in the Twitter chats (if you haven't done a Bout of Books, or have and haven't checked these out, you should they're a ton of fun).
• Have fun, don't stress too much, just read, read, read.

If you're participating in this Bout of Books, then leave a comment letting me know so I can check out your blog and cheer you on. And if you're not, or you just can't - I hope you have a great week, anyway.

Musing Mondays (1): Weirdly Sized Mass Market Paperbacks

A meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

This is my first time doing this, so I'm not really sure what to muse about. However, if you have any suggestions or such, leave them in the comments! Alright - I think I'll do the rant thing, because there's something that's been bugging me for a while now.

Have any of you gone into a bookstore recently and picked up a mass paperback and then - been utterly bewildered? Because the book is suddenly weirdly tall and thin? I can't be the only one whose noticed this the last probably six months, it's been annoying the hell out of me. The books look ridiculous, I think they're harder to read, and it makes no sense to change them at this point.

If you haven't noticed, the next time you go into a bookstore, I'm sure you will notice, once I did it was all I could see.. The one that's annoyed me the most is Jim Butcher's books, both his series have been new mass paperbackified.

Also if you do this meme, please let me know so I can check out your post. And if you've noticed this weird phenomenon, tell me, and if/why it does/doesn't annoy you.

Liebster Award!

Okay, I'd never heard about this until I got a comment from Aimee telling me she'd nominated me for it. It kind of reminds me of a tag video on YouTube, tagging someone so they do certain things and because you like them or something. So first - go check out Aimee's blog, because she's awesome and lovely!

Also I have such anxiety that I find it hard leaving comments on blogs, even though that's my favorite thing to get on my own, and I'm trying to get over that and just comment. This is, apparently, going to help with that. (Also I know book bloggers are nice and awesome as hell, but anxiety is never full of sense).

This award is usually given to those who have less than 300 followers(I googled around, it seemed this started in 2010 and was originally under 3,000 followers, but I think 300 is better). You're suppose to give 11 facts about yourself and then answer 11 questions that the person that 'nominated' you asked, and then you nominate more people. I think listing the rules will be easier, but I wanted to try and explain it a bit first myself.

The Rules:

•  List 11 facts about yourself. 
• Answer the 11 questions asked by whoever nominated you. 
• Ask 11 new questions to 9 bloggers with less than 300 followers. 
• You cannot re-nominate the blog that nominated you. 
• Go to their blog and tell them that they have been nominated!

11 Facts about me:

• We'll start boring: I'm mainly Irish, French, and French Canadian and I have a lot of relatives in Ireland who I am related to in ways I couldn't explain to you. There's a Cassidy Clan, I went to a reunion in 2005, it was so cool and weird and I don't remember much of it (I was 11 at the time, I think).
• I am an only child and my birthday is on the 22nd of June, my mom's the 24th. 
• My parents separated when I was in kindergarten (5? I think?) and filed for divorce and blah, blah. I live mainly with my mom and I always have. I see my dad, but not as much as when I was younger, for various reasons.
• I love conventions of things I love. BEA, LeakyCon, VidCon - love them. LeakyCon is normally full of tears and feelings and friends (and wizard rock), and VidCon is mostly just like friends I haven't seen in a year and random YouTubers I know, and BEA is books and the community and friends I don't see a lot.
• Most random fact: I played basketball until fifth grade when I started having such bad knee problems that I was in crutches. It's a complicated name I can't spell, but it's caused me knee problems ever since.
• I've dyed my hair for some many years, I only know my hair color by my roots
• I have started active reading again, which is why I started adding 'favorite quotes' to the end of my reviews (I don't know if the first one I did this on has even gone up yet).
• I vlogged on YouTube is abut the '07--09 era, it's a little blurry, but none of those videos are still up anymore and will never see the light of day again. But I do want to get back into it.
• I don't feel guilt, at least I try not to, over the amount of books I own that I haven't read. It's my life library, books I want to read throughout my life, and I'm never going o really get my TBR down probably because books keep coming out.
• I am still very attached to TV series that ended years ago and will rewatch the episodes/seasons when I get nostalgic or to cheer me up. Examples: Stargate SG-1 (and Atlantis, but more so SG), Firefly (newish addition), Charmed, Eureka, Leverage, Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, and probably more.
• (It has taken me so long to figure out these facts, I'm writing them after I answered the questions below so I didn't repeat myself). I am weirdly obsessed with science. It kind of comes and goes, but I really love non-fiction books about physics. They normally take me ages to read, non-fiction about physics is a tad dry normally, but it's just so interesting. Also history, mostly ancient, I just kind of love it.

Aimee's Questions:
How do you feel about e-books?
I really like them. I don't read them primarily, I really love physical books and the screen messes with my eyes if I try to read on my Kindle too much. But they're perfect for traveling or for bigger books, which can be hard to hold and bring with you places. Mostly, though, I'm a physical book person. (Smell, feel, no battery or screen).

What is your favourite genre and why?
Oh man, I don't know. I guess Fantasy, it'd have to be fantasy, I mean I've been really into SciFi lately but fantasy is just something I enjoy. Any kind of fantasy, I couldn't just pick one of those probably.

Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging on like a personal blog on Blogger in 2010, which I've since abandoned. I have a personal Tumblr, and then I started blogging here in 2011, August of, with my best friend Haley (who no longer posts here, but does book videos now).

What is something weird that you do whilst reading?
Weird? Well I tend to zone out so completely, that if someone says something to me I just won't hear them, unless they call my name a few times or like wave a hand in front of my face.

Who is your favourite background/support character?
In a book? Mmh, in a very recently finished book, I'm narrowing it because too many options, I'd have to say Penny Dreadful from The Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke, loved her to bits, she was fantastic.

What is one book that you really hated but everyone else seemed to love?
Monument 14, I know the last book just came out, and 'hate' may be a strong book, but the ending of that first book pissed me off so much. Also Zom-B by Darren Shan, I'd heard good things about his other books and I had that one and it was really short and - I think hate might be a good word for that, I just so stunned throughout it and sickened, even though I know authors don't share the same views as their characters, whatever, but it didn't need to be laid on that thick, it was disgusting (the main characters dad is racist, like holy shit racist, and kids always seem to want to please their fathers).

What is your fandom of choice?
Harry Potter fandom, hands down. No matter what's going on, even if it's bad, I still love that fandom. LeakyCon is my favorite place to be, and I hope I never miss one. I've bonded with my best friends over Harry Potter (or YouTube or Teen Wolf, but I'm not as into those fandoms because of drama and, in one case, shitty writing, excuse the language).

Other than reading, what is your passion?
Writing. I don't share much of it at this point and I'm glad for that, I think soon I'll get to the point where I can share it, but I haven't reached that yet. Even so, if I go even just one day without writing, it's weird and unnatural to me. And, to just further prove how insane I take my writing, I've been taking part in NaNoWriMo every year since 2009 and have overachieved the last few years (last year I wrote 367k in 30 days, that whole month is a blur).

What (canon) OTP would you change? (Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermy, Tris/Four etc)
Well movie Harry/Ginny was cringeworthy, but I always loved them in the books. I'm not sure, though, currently in Warehouse 13, if you don't watch the show you should and they're currently airing the last season, but they seem to be trying to force two of the characters together who just do not have that kind of chemistry and it's uncomfortable. I have couples I don't want together, but I don't think any of them are actually currently together, so that's nice.

What book series really needs a TV/movie adaption?
Series? That's a hard one, there's so many, and a lot that I want that are apparently getting one (Leviathan Wakes being the main one that comes to mind). Percy Jackson would be cool (what's that? Those don't count, have you seen those movies? They're fun but they aren't the books). The Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson would be really cool, I think, as a series. And, mentioning it again, The Immortal Empire as a mini-series would be kickass.

Oh, oh and  just finished book one in the Dante Valentine series by Lilith Saintcrow - so that would be epic and her other one, Jill Kismet.

What was the last book you read, and why should we read it?
Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine #1) by Lilith Saintcrow was the last book I finished, like I mentioned. It was technically a reread but I barely remembered anything that'd actually happened. It's a lot of fun, and I really love the world building and our characters. Also there's that diverse reading thing going on in the community, which is awesome and I've added so many books to my TBR/wishlist because of it, and it isn't specifically talked about, at least in book one, but it mentions a pass lover of hers being female and another as male.

Blogs I Nominate: (not 9, I'm sorry, I just don't follow a lot of people with smaller blogs, I guess, and I didn't want to pick people completely out of the air)

• Captivated Reader
• Rachel's Book Reviews
• The Cheap Reader
• Alli Brook Reads
• Musing Fiction

My Questions for you: (Feel free to list more then one answer, if you can't just pick one)

• When did you start blogging? And why did you start?
• What's the last book you reread? And why did you reread it?
• Favorite TV/movie? (that isn't based on a book)
• Book/series that changed/influenced your life the most.
• Fandoms you're apart of and your 'favorite'.
• Hogwarts house. 
• Weird reading habits or needs to be able to read?
• Favorite book that was, at some point, 'required reading' for any reason.
• What is your OTP(couple you most like/want together)? And what is your NOTP(two characters you should never be together romantically, in your opinion)?
• Do you like ebooks? How often do you read one? Do you have an ereader?
• What author, whose alive, do you most wish to meet and why?

I can't wait to see your answers to these questions, but if you don't want to do this, then that's also completely fine, I just thought this was a fun/cute idea and a way to pass on some love and support to smaller blogs.

Book Review: Princesses Behaving Badly

Title: Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories From History Without the Fairy-Tale Ending
Author: Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 288
Publication Date: November 19th, 2013

Plot: (from Goodreads)
You think you know her story. You’ve read the Brothers Grimm, you’ve watched the Disney cartoons, you cheered as these virtuous women lived happily ever after. But the lives of real princesses couldn’t be more different. Sure, many were graceful and benevolent leaders—but just as many were ruthless in their quest for power, and all of them had skeletons rattling in their royal closets. Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was a Nazi spy. Empress Elizabeth of the Austro-Hungarian empire slept wearing a mask of raw veal. Princess Olga of Kiev murdered thousands of men, and Princess Rani Lakshmibai waged war on the battlefield, charging into combat with her toddler son strapped to her back. Princesses Behaving Badly offers minibiographies of all these princesses and dozens more. It’s a fascinating read for history buffs, feminists, and anyone seeking a different kind of bedtime story.


Review:
I bought this book kind of on a whim. It sounded interesting, like something I'd like, I kind of love history books (when I actually end up reading them, or finishing them I guess, they can be too dry sometimes). This one started with such a great little introduction to what it was all about, and even if this isn't your thing, I'm still going to suggest checking out the introduction if you can because so much yes.

Anyway - I loved this book and there were many reasons that caused that love for it. First, was the author's writing style, it was witty and I liked that she included the facts and then the gossip of the day, of now, and her own two cents. And that you knew the difference between all of those things. And the fact that she kind of told it how it was at points, where as others might not have wanted to quite hit that hard.

I'd actually only heard of less then five of these women, so it was so much fun to read about them and their misadventures. There was some serious mis-adventuring going on with these princesses, one became a swashbuckling pirate. So now before I ramble and fangirl about history more, let me finish up this review.

The writing was fun, witty, engaging but it was still factual and interesting, including what historians thought, their speculations on different things that can't be proven or disproven. And I know everyone isn't going to want to read a book about historical princesses doing things their families didn't approve of, but if that does sound like something you'd find good or amusing - then definitely check this book out, it was fantastic.