Book Haul (1)

I've done book hauls before, always IMM FORM, but not for a while. I'm not going to tell you all of the things that I between the last one and this one, just the mini shopping spree I went on yesterday (and the eBooks I got these past couple weeks). I haven't really bought any book in about a month, which is a long time for me, so when I went, there was a lot I wanted. And a lot of books that just came out and I wanted to read so bad and now I have. Yay!

Barnes and Noble:
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
Endlessly by Kiersten White
In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
Secret Letters by Leah Scheier
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly

and a couple more that were impulse buys and I'm not so sure about but then they wouldn't of been impulse buys! I'm sure that after I read them I'll put a review up here anyway. Also, I meant to do and Friday Favorites and I totally forgot that yesterday was Friday. I really need to figure out a better system somehow. Maybe I should just somehow buy a better memory, that would be cool.

Blog Posts from this week:
Book Review: The Gunslinger
Waiting on Wednesday (1) (Paper Valentine) 

Waiting on Wednesday (1)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. And it's where people share their most anticipated reads that are still to be released.

One book I'm really looking forward to is Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff, because it sounds amazing and the cover is gorgeous. I have yet to read her first two books, so that should keep me satisfied until this one comes out in January of 2013.

From Goodreads:
PAPER VALENTINE, in which a girl haunted by the troubled ghost of her best friend finds herself sucked into a darkly mesmerizing string of murders, in which a serial killer who leaves a paper-heart 'valentine' on his victims' bodies draws ever closer.

And here is the said gorgeous cover. For some reason, I just really adore it.

Do you do a Waiting on Wednesday or any other meme of he day? Let me know! I'd love it see it.

Book Review: The Gunslinger

Book: The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1)
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, SciFi, Western
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 300 (Mass Market Paper back - revised and expanded)
Favorite Character: Definitely Roland.


Plot: (from Goodreads)
In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.



Review:
I just started this series, so I have not been waiting decades for this story to be finished (I haven't even started the second one yet and, actually, I wasn't born when this came out), but I would of waited. This book is just so different then other things I have read. Between the world and the characters, the history behind it, and the plot, it's just completely seperate. I don't even know what to call this at all. As you can see from what I classified it under the 'genre' it's a very different novel.

And I think this is one of those few books where you really have to read the series in it's entirety to understand what the hell is going on. But I loved it, truly, I did. It was quite the adventure and the writing was as good as ever and the plot was good and the characters were amazing. Everything about this book was very good, very interesting, and very confusing. I don't think really anything, at least anything big, is really uncovered in this book.

I'm not going to say anything else, though, you should check this one out for yourself. Unless you don't like horror or Stephen King, then this one probably isn't for you.

(The funny thing is that this cover, the crow, reminds me of The Stand. I guess 'funny' isn't the right word, but maybe it is).

The Week of Blog-y Goodness

This is the last day of my week of posting at least 1 post a day. And it's been really fun, actually. I mean, I suspected it may be, because I do love reading and blogging (or else I wouldn't have started this), but it had been a long time since I had put myself fully into that. I had this idea quite suddenly, but I'm glad I did. Between the 4th and yesterday I've read 9 books, this is making me quite happy on the whole. And among those, some that were different then normal and some I'd been meaning to read or finish reading for a while.

 I feel like that I've not been letting myself read enough between Cons and then having to sleep (after a convention, I must sleep at least 16 hours. Then, hope I don't get whatever cold is part of it that time). And before that school was getting in the way, even though I had to do reading for school. And it was nice just to read for an extended period of time, being able to finish books in one sitting without even really moving from my spot and being able to fully soak up the book.

 This is feeling a little sappy now so I'm going to go and read more. But I hope to continue posting her frequently, probably not as frequently as this past week, but I've been thinking of other little features I could try. And I might do a post featuring my favorite book bloggers, especially ones who I feel don't get enough attention. Though, they're all bigger then me, but I don't do this for people to follow me. If I did, I would of given up pretty quickly. Now, let's stop talking about all of that nonsence and have some fun, in a way that involves books, that is.

 I hope the rest of your summer is amazing and I hope that you like this blog, because that's all I can really hope. Isn't it? Also, if you missed anything, here's a list of the posts I did this week (including what else I'll be posting today):

Online Book Clubs and some other things
Book Review: Grim
Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
July TBR
WWW Wednesday (6)
Book Review: The Throne of Fire
Book Review: The Iron Duke
Book Review: A Game of Thrones
Friday Favorites (1) (NEW!)
Book Review: Good Omens
Book Review: Heart of Steel

Book Review: Heart of Steel

Book: Heart of Steel (Iron Seas #2)
Author: Meljean Brook
Genre: SciFi  (Steampunk), Romance, Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 311 (Paperback)
Favorite Character: Yasmeen. I completely adored her in The Iron Duke, too, and I was so glad that this one was about her. (And I can't deny that Archimedes was pretty amazing, too).

Plot: (From Goodreads)

The Iron Duke introduced the gritty, alluring adventure of the Iron Seas. Now, Meljean Brook returns to the world where nanotech fuses with Victorian sensibilities—and steam.

As the mercenary captain of Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her only loyalty bound to her ship and her crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, Yasmeen will be damned if she gives him another opportunity to take control.

Treasure hunter Archimedes Fox isn't interested in Lady Corsair—he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, Archimedes is determined to seduce the stubborn woman who once tossed him to a ravenous pack of zombies, but she's no easy conquest.

When da Vinci's sketch attracts a dangerous amount of attention, Yasmeen and Archimedes journey to Horde-occupied Morocco—and straight into their enemy's hands. But as they fight to save themselves and a city on the brink of rebellion, the greatest peril Yasmeen faces is from the man who seeks to melt her icy heart.


Review:
I really enjoyed this book, especially considering that awful cover. Yasmeen and Archimedes peaked my intrest in the Iron Duke and I was so glad to learn that this one was about the two of them. I immediately wanted them to get together when she threw him off his ship. That's probably weird, but I had a feeling it would happen eventually.

This book is their story and how it evolves and changes and what changes it. Also, there's a lot of zombies, and I love me some zombies. There's not much more to say about this one without giving too much away. I feel like the plot gives a surprisingly amount a way and I'm glad I didn't read it before hand.

Anyway, try not to let that cover set you off from it. (Seriously, though. What is with that trend among these kinds of books? I don't mean to fixate on it, but it's been annoying me, not just with this book, either).

Book Review: Good Omens

Book: Good Omens: The Nice & Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Author(s): Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy, SciFi, Humor (Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Comedy)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 384 (Paperback)
Favorite Character: Oh god. Mmmh. I'm going to go with two and them being Crowley and Aziraphale. Adored them and their odd friendship.

Plot: (from Goodreads)
From two delightful imaginations comes a comic masterpiece in which the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, the hound of the devil chases sticks, and the end of the world is subject to Murphys Law.

Review:
This is an amazing book and I really could not tell what part was written by which author (some parts, however, I could guess whose idea they were. And was normally right. Example, the maggots were Neil's idea). Anyway, though, this book is fantastic, I really do not think it could of been any better. It has an amazing cast of characters and an epic plot if ever I've read one. Between the Them and the Horsemen on motocycles, it was amazing.

Some of the scenes had be laughing, other biting my nails (not quite literally on the latter), and it was just amazing. If you haven't read this one, yet, I'd recommend doing so as soon as you can. I waited to write this review until a while after I had read it and yet I still am fangirling over it whenever I think about, it just perfection in book form. Satanic nuns, the horsemen I mentioned, the Crowley/Aziraphale bromance (I really don't like that word, but it describes these two well), and the prophecies, and just everything in this book is amazing.

Before, I fangirl too much more, I'm just going to say that I'm sure that you know at least of these two authors. I haven't, yet, read any of Terry Pratchett's other work, but I hope to very soon. I've read a lot of Neil's, though, and everything I've read has been amazing.

And there's a Foreword and them on each other and those were even more hilarious and made me worry about my copy. Apparently, they have signed books that have been extremely damaged and been told that friends kept stealing their copy. My copy will be kept safe... hopefully.

Friday Favorites (1)

This is something new I want to try. I've been trying to think of something to do that was my own since BEA and I think this is my best idea and it just hit me. This is going to be a thing that I may do ever week, every other week, depending on whats going on. However, it's going to be all about my favorite things that week. Not just books but YouTubers/videos or music or whatever else I'm currently obsessing over. It'll be a bit like those "*insert month* favorite videos, but a little more frequent and blog form.

BOOK(S):
My favorite book this week was probably Kushiel's Dart. It was just so complex and I really enjoyed it and I didn't expect to.

MUSIC:
I have become addicted to Rent, a little late to the game. Well, more like addicted to one song. Can you guess which one? Here it is on the YouTubes. I listen to a lot of music, though, probably too much. Pretty much constantly, I am listening to some kind of music.

VIDEO(S):
I haven't been rewatching many videos this week as I've been reading almost non-stop but there is one music video that someone just released. Check it out here. This girl has an amazing voice and is adorable, there's no other word for it, and this video is heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.

YOUTUBER(S):
Oh so very many. Well there's Rosi, who is one of my role models. I'm sure you've probably heard of the VlogBrothers. I watch CTFxC, daily vlogs. There's so many more, but there's some. I also watch quite a few BookTubers. OH! And if you're a Pride and Prejudice fan, then you should check out the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, it's a webshow created by Hank Green of the VlogBrothers and it's P&P modernized with only 3 sisters, but it's amazing so far.

MOVIE/TV:
I have too many overall favorite TV shows to tell you. But I've been randomly watching an episode of Buffy or Charmed or Supernatural when I've got the time. Also, Rent. I do need to finish some series, though, I should do that soon. And I'm sure there are tons that I should watch. Eureka! Yes, that, Eureka is ending so very soon, it's a quirky show on SyFy and this is their last season, and I'm not emotionally prepared for it to be over. But then Warehouse 13 comes back and I've been dying to know what happens next.

FAN FICTION:
I haven't read any this week, which isn't normal. I have a couple Supernatural (Destiel) open that I've been dying to read, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. If you want to suggest any to me.... (I also ship Gabe/Sam. Shhh).

OTHER:
And I just want to say thank you for not just giving up on me when it was a little rocky with posts. Hopefully I will be back and awesome forever. I'm going to be at LeakyCon in August, but I hope to plan some posts for that time so that the blog isn't empty for a week or more.

And tell me what you think of this new idea, these posts. Too much? Fun? Any opinions, go for it, I'd love to hear it. These are kind of fun to do, though, and I love hearing my current obsessions with people.