Feature and Follow Friday (August 21st)

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by two blogs, Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.  This week, I have the honor of being the featured blogger... yay!!

Part of my job as a feature is to answer a few questions about my blogging life so, here are my responses:

When did you start blogging?

I started blogging about three years ago and it was instantly addicting.  It was an entire new world of ways to share my book thoughts with others who share the same passion. Love it!

What is your favorite part of book blogging?

My favorite part of book blogging is the ability to share my thoughts.  When I read a good book and I come across something that strikes me, I want to share that moment with others. I don't come from a family of readers so I now feel like I have a community or readers who blog just for the purpose of sharing their books and thoughts with others.

What type of books do you blog about?

I review a lot of the books I read, some ARC but mostly my own purchases. I especially love anything with a paranormal element to it.  I also enjoy many other genre as well.  You can see from my blog archive that I have a mix of YA, Urban Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Historical fiction, etc... Right now, I'm reading The Girl on the Train and it is fabulous!  I often participate in other memes such as Teaser Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday.

What are your favorite books?

Favorite books, hmmm.... that's tough so I will just list a few that I love (well, maybe more than a few).  Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, and Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Oh! and all of the Percy Jackson books, Hunger Games, Mortal Instruments... too many to choose from!

What has been one of the best things that has happened to you because of book blogging?

One of the best things to happen in my blogging world aside from just joining this great community of readers is becoming part of the She Reads Blog Network at SheReads.org.  I love being part of this group and sharing the reviews for our club reads with other bloggers.

And now... this week's question

If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would you pick?

Well, I think I would choose a Savannah Cat.  

This is a mix between a wild Serval and a domestic cat.  It's big and acts more like a dog and has beautiful markings.  You can read about them here if you like. 

Feel free to add your link below and leave a comment. 

I always follow back! :)

Review: Josie Jameson and the Stone Witch

A while back, I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of what was then titled Four Rubbings (now Josie Jameson and the Fourth Tombstone), a story about a young girl and her three friends who visit a graveyard and rub four different graves. Each grave takes one of the teens on a journey, especially Josie, who learns about an accused witch from the past and her own family connection to magic through her mom, who died when she was young.

This second book, Josie Jameson and the Stone Witch, continues the story of Josie and her friends as they help Josie figure out what is happening to her. Is something trying to possess her? Is someone following her? Why is she having dreams that seem so real?  The story is fun and incredibly engaging. I knew almost from the start that I would be finishing it in one sitting. The reader gets a nice mix of teenage drama, a little bit of history, and a supernatural edge.  A lot of what Josie learns through the dreams take place in the 1800's and are from another point of view which adds a nice historical feel. You can definitely tell as you get further into the plot (and to the cliffhanger at the end) that things will be escalating in the third book and I can't wait to see what happens. No spoilers here so you'll have to grab the books yourself but I would recommend them for any middle or high school student as well as any adults who enjoy the YA genre.

I also want to say thank you to Jennifer Hotes, the author, for giving me and several others the honor of sharing our opinions about the final cover decisions for both books. It was great fun to help with this!

                                                                                                                                     

Feature and Follow Friday (August 14th)

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!  

The goal of the Feature and Follow is to gain more followers and to make some new blogging friends. I love followers of all kinds and always follow back. Thanks!

This weeks question: 

If you could have an endless supply of food, what would it be?

Well, that is a tough one.  I thought about choosing pizza because, well, there are few people who don't love pizza.  I think I would get sick of it after a while though. Too greasy.  I think instead, I am going to go with cheese and crackers (I know that is technically two foods but they go together so I am counting it as one).  I can eat this all the time and there are tons of different cheeses and cracker creations out there so I would never be bored.

Happy F&F Friday!

Review: Dead Mountain

I first saw this book in my Bloglovin' feed and it immediately peaked my interest.  I've always loved reading about true events that have an element of mystery to them.  I had never heard of this tragedy so I researched it online a bit further and then decided to purchase the book. A very interesting read to say the least.

So, as I said, I never heard of The Dyatlov Pass Incident before.  Partially, I'm sure, because it occurred way before I was born and partially because it happened in another country.  Nine hikers went on a journey into the Ural Mountains and never returned. After searching for weeks, their bodies were found but under very strange circumstances.  The hikers were found away from the tent, not dressed properly, and with various bodily injuries.  This book follows the trail of the hikers until the last day of their lives and also follows the author, a man who re-examines the case in present day and retraces their route looking for answers.  The chapters flip flop from past to present, putting the reader in both the past and present.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating to hear about all of the evidence and the possible theories about what really happened to the hikers.  The author does a really nice job of telling their story up until that last night.  I also really liked the way he takes his most probable theory and writes a last chapter about how that final night may have truly played out.  While the book doesn't have the action/suspense of a fiction novel, I still found it to be quite the page turner and commend the author for the lengths he went to trying to find the truth.

The cover photo above will take you to the synopsis on Amazon. I would completely recommend this to anyone who likes unsolved mysteries or cold case files.

                                                                                                                                         

Audible Reviews: The Silenced and The Forgotten

Have you ever gotten stuck in a book series and each time a new installment comes out, you have to grab it right away? Even though you know that every book in the series follows the same pattern? You know there will be a happy ending, boy gets girl or vice versa, and the mystery is solved, but you still keep reading?  The Krewe of Hunters books are that series for me. Now, it might seem from what I wrote above that these books may not be good but that is not the case at all. I actually love them!  

For those who have never read a book in this series, there are a few things to know. First, all of the books follow a specialized unit of the FBI called the Krewe of Hunters, who investigate cases that have an element of the strange or paranormal.  Each member of the Krewe has an ability that lends to the solving of these cases and new members are being added to the group all the time.  So, even though new characters are the focus in each new installment, the original characters are almost always play a role in the stories as well. Second, if you haven't figured it out already, every book in the series has a paranormal element to it. While they do follow a basic crime-solving mystery format, most of the books have a mild horror element to them and almost always involve the ghosts of the dead helping to lead the way.  Some of them also have a historical element to them as well, which is an added bonus for me. Finally, the two main characters always become involved with one another about midway through the story so there is definitely some romance as well.  Usually, the books are in sets of three but almost any of them can be read as a stand alone. 

These are fairly quick, fun reads and perfect if you need a book for the beach or a weekend getaway.  I love to read them in between deeper books because I know I can count on Heather Graham to give me a spooky story that won't disappoint.  The next Krewe of Hunters book comes out in September and I will await it as patiently as possible.

I listened to both of these books on Audible.com.  I've just started listening to books but I still enjoy reading the actual books more. When I read, I imagine the voices of the characters and it adds to my enjoyment of the story.  When I listen to one person do all of the voices, including those of the opposite gender, it just isn't quite the same so I'm not totally sold on audio books yet.

Click on either of the books to see the synopsis for each on Amazon.  Click here to see all of Heather Graham's books, including the Krewe of Hunters books and their order on her website.  Enjoy!

                                                                                                                                    

Review: Made for You

I first discovered Melissa Marr when someone recommended Graveminder. It was such a good book that I immediately looked into what other books she had written.  Made for You had really good reviews so I put it on my TBR.  It took me a while to get to it but it was certainly worth the wait.

Even though this book is classified as a YA novel, it has a much more mature feel to it.  While most chapters are from Eva's point of view as she recovers from a hit and run and realizes that she may be the target of a killer, a few chapters are told by her best friend Grace. The rest are told by "Judge" and these chapters tend to be quite disturbing.  I definitely felt some anxiety during some of the more violent parts of the story but I also couldn't take my eyes off the pages. Sometimes, I don't like books that are told by multiple characters but this was done really well and I think it was necessary to write the story this way for it to work. As the reader, I knew that the killer had to be someone Eva knew and I found myself making mental notes of all the possible clues in the earlier chapters.  I love a mystery where I can't predict the killer/ending from the start.  It makes the story so much more engaging. The identity of the killer in this book is revealed a few chapters before the conclusion and from that point on, the suspense level will not allow you to put the book down until the last sentence.

Great book, great ending.  If you want to read more about it, click here to go to the Amazon page.  Melissa Marr's web page can be found at www.melissamarrbooks.com.

                                                                                                                                     

Vacation Reads Review

Just returned the other day from a fabulous, nine day vacation in Virginia.  If anyone is looking to do the Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, Water County USA trip, I highly recommend staying at the Kingsmill Resort. Beautiful! Such a fun and relaxing trip.

Anyway, in addition to all of our adventures, we had some downtime too so I was able to lay around and read a bit at the pool and on the balcony.  I finished two books, The Midnight Queen and Frigid.  Rather than write two lengthy reviews, I am just going to mini-review both books in one post.  

This is Sylvia Izzo Hunter's debut fantasy novel.  While it isn't a fast-paced story, I still enjoyed it.  It takes place in Britain but in an alternate history where there is magic, romance, and a treasonous plot to kill a very important person. Sophie is the main character, a young woman who wants to study magic in a time when women were not considered scholars.  Her growth in the story was well developed by the author. I liked how she began as someone who didn't know herself or her potential and slowly grew into a stronger, more confident person/magic user.  Gray, who is our other main character, was a student from Merlin College who comes to stay at Sophie's home when falsely accused of a crime and the two connect immediately. Gray sees magic in Sophie and helps her to learn how to use it.  Once they find out that her stepfather is part of a conspiracy, they gather their allies and do their best to stop it. There are a few action scenes that propel the story forward but it did take me a few chapters to really invest myself in the book. Once I did however, I was hooked and I look forward to reading the sequel.

The second book was a quick read that I knew I would be able to finish in one night. I am very picky with my romance novels because it isn't my favorite genre.  I need a story to focus more on plot with romance as a back story to really enjoy it.  I loved Jennifer Armentrout's Lux series however, so I thought I would give this a try.  Frigid is one of those perfect beach reads. It does have a plot, but not a particularly deep one.  It was also a bit predictable and at times as I find many romances are. However... it was a fun read too and did have a bit of humor and drama to elevate the story.  I liked the characters and the romance developed at a decent pace. If you like new adult romance, you will enjoy it. Click on the photo to see the synopsis on Amazon.  

I'm adding both of these books to my 2015 Where are You Reading Challenge Map and this brings me to 15 books so far this year (out of my goal of 60).  I'm so behind.  :(
I blame my new job and my son's Xbox One.  I will reach my goal!

Have a great reading week!