Note: This time of year is always very busy for me. Last year, I hadn't really started blogging yet, so I was able to keep myself above the craziness. This year, I am. My blog is slightly inactive due to the holiday craze. Hopefully will return to the regular posting after the new year. :)

-Bri

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

New Blog!

No, I'm not leaving this one. I couldn't. This is my baby. I love it.

But, since this one is more about reviews and such, I started a writing blog. I'd love for you to check it out, if you're interested. You can find it here.

I'll talk about all sorts of things relating to writing and my experiences and my WIP. I might even do some quotes, if people want that. I, of course, won't put the entire thing up there, but that's for obvious reasons.

I hope that you guys like it!


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Pottermore!

I'm not entirely sure what this means. It could mean a few things, all of which were theories. I have a feeling that this does confirm that this is a game.

What do you guys think?

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Review - Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty


Goodreads
Amazon
Page Count: 323 pages
Overall Rating: 5 stars

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.
Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

 
    When I heard what this book was about, I was a bit squeamish. Laugh at me if you will, but it was a book about pregnancy and sex, and well, I didn't know how far the book would go. I can handle the idea, but I don't want any descriptions. I'm just not comfortable with that.
     However, after seeing positive review upon positive review, I opened my mind to it a little bit. I thought about it for a while, honestly. I wasn't sure about what I was getting myself into. I didn't want any bit of the awkwardness that I knew would come if the contents weren't what I hoped for. I placed my order on Amazon and waited. I read the first bit of it, carefully.
    I'm pleased to say that, after about three chapters, I devoured the rest of it.
    It was interesting and disturbing at times. It wasn't disturbing because of anything that was dirty, really. It's just, in this world, there are nine year-olds strapping on fake bellies and gushing about how fertilicious they look. It's disturbing because those things are considered normal in this world. For the same reason, it was interesting.
    I'm not going to grin and bear it and say that this novel was squeaky clean, because, obviously, it wasn't. There was a lot of language in it, mainly (fairly harmless) semi-dirty phrases. They are, of course, referring to sex, but in this novel, a lot of that is used as compliments and joking taunts from friends. There was one scene that did make me feel a bit uncomfortable, but it really wasn't that bad. I'm sure a lot of people could handle it with no discomfort. I'm just a five year-old. 
    I really enjoyed the alternating POVs. I think if the story would've just been told from Melody's point of view, or Harmony's, it wouldn't have been as strong. I am one to believe that we end up taking the side of the character who narrates the story. If you had taken sides with either twin, it would've made them out to be the bad guy and that's not what the story is about at all.
    All of the characters were lovely, even the ones who were the bad guys. They all seemed to have deep roots and history and reasons. Gosh, I adore it when characters have reasons for what they do, especially if they are doing something wrong or bad. I really hate it when villains are evil just because. That's not the case here. All of the characters have some sort of history, whether it be that they have a mysterious religious past, they were raised to be a surrogate, or they were married at a young age.
    Something else that I enjoyed seeing, though it may sound dark and strange, is that the main characters had guilt. I know a lot of books today are fine with having their characters react accordingly, but it was somehow refreshing in this novel. I sincerely believed what they were feeling and thinking. I could see myself thinking and feeling those things, if I were in that scenario.
    Something that did annoy me, not enough to lower the rating, obviously, was that occasionally there were words that had been changed for some reason. I assume it either to exaggerate how the word is being said, or how the written word changes as time passes. For example, I noticed that instead of "really" there was "rilly." This didn't happen often, and it wasn't a total replacement. I believe it happened about five times.

   I really do hope that you give this book a try. I did and I was quite happy with the results. It's an awesome book. I recommend it one-hundred percent.



Songs I listened to while reading:












Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day Two - Spring into Summer Read-a-thon Updates!





Update 1#:
  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 369
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 0
  • Total time read: 5 hours, 54 minutes.
  • Currently Reading: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
  • How I'm currently feeling: I'm really excited to get reading. It's raining outside, too. Perfect weather to read to. Also, I've  music playing and it's mixing along with the patter of the raindrops quite beautifully. :) Random, but oh well.
Challenge: Put two characters from different series together (romantically or otherwise) and describe why they would be good together.

So, this was pretty hard. My choice is going to be Percy from The Percy Jackson Series and Alex from Half-Blood. Not romantically. They think sort of similarly and are both hilarious. There's also the deal of being related to Greek gods, even if one is closer than the other.
I'm fairly sure that didn't make any sense, but I guess that's okay. I am tired. :P





Update 2#:
  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 399
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 30
  • Total time read: 6 hours, 55 minutes.
  • Currently Reading: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
  • How I'm currently feeling: I'm a bit tired and Nightshade is being a bit boring at the moment. Neither of these things are helping my page count. AT ALL. Must read faster. And I need caffeine
Mini-challenge:  Name one book you think should be taught in school, grade of your choice.

I think that 13 Reasons Why should be read in school, starting at either eight or ninth grade. It was a really life-changing, beautiful novel.





Update 3#:
  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 425
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 26
  • Total time read: 7 hours, 15 minutes.
  • Currently Reading: White Cat by Holly Black
  • How I'm currently feeling: Nightshade was killing me. I had to put it down for now, because I cannot afford to waste much more time if I plan on making my goal! Switched a couple of times, reading a few pages of each thing, but settled with White Cat. Interesting and I like the writing style. This is a good sign. Now I just need real food, because all of that sugar I just ate is making me feel icky. :|
Mini Challenge: If you had bookshelves FULL of all of your favorite books, how would you organize them?

I'm pretty OCD with my bookshelf. It gets reorganized at least once a month. By that I mean, everything gets put back in the proper place. It doesn't change, unless I have to start a new shelf (Which is both happy and sad. More books, but less space!). I have hardcovers and paperbacks separated, on completely different shelves. ARCs and signed copies have their own little section, as well. All of the books are alphabetized by title (I never count "the." Sometimes I don't count "a/an." It depends on my mood.) and then by series. Swag is in a shoebox, appropriately labeled with "Swag!" and a random heart. The swagbox seperates overflow books from ARCs and signed copies.

Yes, I am OCD.



Update 4#:
  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 430
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 5
  • Total time read: 7 hours, 25 minutes.
  • Currently Reading: White Cat by Holly Black
  • How I'm currently feeling: Gah. Failed horribly at this one. Got about five pages back into the book when my dad says that dinner is done. Crap. Next time. Next time. Next time?
Challenge: Create an anagram of your name/pseudonym.

...Well, this was better than the one I got for my first and middle name. (Lice rebellion.)

Update 4#:
  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 437
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 7
  • Total time read: 7 hours, 30 minutes.
  • Currently Reading: White Cat by Holly Black
  • How I'm currently feeling: Gah. Failed horribly. I read just a little bit and then fell asleep. And, of course, no one bothered to wake me up. :(

  1. What is your favorite book you read during the read-a-thon? Bumped
  2. Did you participate in any mini-challenges? Which ones? Almost all of them. I missed the very first one, due to me being away from a computer. And I missed the last couple because I fell asleep.
  3. Which mini-challenge was your favorite? The word puzzle one, even though no one got mine. Haha.
  4. What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Still the oportunity to just get over it and read! I didn't get to read that much (I'm blaming that on lack of sleep.), but it did inspire me to make a goal for myself. I thought, if I could read around 400 pages in a day, then maybe I could aim for reading one book everyday. Now, I doubt that would happen everyday, but it's worth a shot, right?
  5. Are you satisfied with how much reading you got done? Did you do more than you expected? Less? I'm a bit sad about not finishing more than one book. However, I am a little proud because I finished Bumped and I think that may have pulled me out of my recent reading slump.
  6. What did you think of the updates? Too close together? Didn't like the time limit? They were a little close together. I could still manage, though.
  7. If you could change one thing about the read-a-thon, what would it be? Well, it's not anything about the readathon, but more about what I did during the readathon. I wish I hadn't gone to sleep or tried to run on three hours of sleep and a lot of sugar.
  8. Would you participate in another read-a-thon hosted by Squeaky Books? Why or why not? Oh, totally! It was very organized and easy to do. I just ended up not getting much sleep the night before.
  9. Any last comments on the read-a-thon? It was a lot fun. Thanks for hosting it, Enna.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Spring into Summer Readathon Updates!

**I had a Mister Linky fail and have apparently been linking to this post and not the new one. Sorry. Anyways, if you're here and you actually meant to be at Day Two updates, then just go here!

So, I totally missed the first challenge, but here's the update for that time period:

Update 1#:


  • Total Books Read: 0
  • Total Pages Read: 103
  • Total time read: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Update 2#:


  • Total Books Read: 0
  • Total Pages Read: Still 103.
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 0
  • Total time read: 1 hour, 10 minutes.
  • How I'm currently feeling: Glad to be able to start reading again!
Seems like I talk about books a lot. I like that. :)


Update 3#:

  • Total Books Read: 0
  • Total Pages Read: 150
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 47
  • Total time read: 2 hours, 10 minutes.
  • How I'm currently feeling: I'm having fun! I guess I'm reading a bit slow, but oh well! I'm still doing pretty good, in my opinion.
And here is the strange little story I wrote, using the words Laser, lime, goat, and shaman.
*I do realize that this is over 100 words. By quite a bit. Sorry. I was really into Bumped and I was trying to hurry and write this so I could get back to reading it. Oh well. :|


The shaman stood atop the hill, which was not a hill, but actually a large pile of metallic ruins. His robe was not made of any normal sort of fabric, but more of a gray chain link mesh. There he waited, pointing his gun at the rubble, ready for the beast to come forward.
After a moment, the shaman was almost ready to give up, believing that the monster had been crushed by the debris. He lowered his gun, placing a hand over his brow to block the light from the sunlamp, and sighed. He knew that he should wait, that the brute could appear as soon as he left his post. He should stay here and guard his people.
The shaman bent to sit down, though the broken pieces of metal dug into his palms and made it hard for him to be comfortable. But he didn't mind it that much. The sharpness kept him aware. He looked down, to move his hand away from a particularly jagged piece, when he heard it. An awful sound, a screech, erupted from the rubble.
The shaman reached for his gun, ready to shoot. He looked up, aiming, and stopped in shock. The beast was horrible and frightening. It had the hooves of a goat, the eyes of a snake, and the teeth of a shark. It screeched again and the shaman could smell it's breath, which strangely reeked of rotten limes.
The shaman shook his head, shaking away the fear. He remembered his people, his friends and family, that would be hurt if he didn't succeed. Aiming quickly, he fired. The red laser beam shot from his gun and flew to the beast's chest, where his heart would be if the monster had one. It clawed at it's neck, trying to fight away the mysterious pain. Finally, the beast let out one last shrill cry and fell, tumbling to bottom of the rubble.
Sighing a breath of relief, the shaman dropped his gun. He could return to his people. He had won.

Update 4#:

  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 239
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 1
  • Pages Read since last update: 89 
  • Total time read: 4 hours, 30 minutes.
  • How I'm currently feeling: Just finished my first book. Looking forward to reading some more!
Here's my puzzle! See if you can guess what book it's for!








Update 5#:

  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 268
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 29
  • Total time read: 4 hours, 45 minutes.
  • How I'm currently feeling: Took a break to chat with some friends and eat dinner. Didn't really read that much. Back to reading completely now.

Here's my book sentence!

Anna & The French Kiss ruined Nightshade!





End of the day update:



Update 6#:

  • Total Books Read: 1
  • Total Pages Read: 369
  • Books Read Since Last Update: 0
  • Pages Read since last update: 101
  • Total time read: 5 hours, 54 minutes.
  • How I'm currently feeling: Still taking a break. Called someone and ended up talking for an hour. Better luck tomorrow? Ended up reading some more since the post said that we could update within 12 hours of when it went up. Getting into Nightshade now. I'm about 100 pages in. But I'm really tired and it's 3 o'clock in the morning right now, so I'm going to head off for the night. I might read some more, but it'll be updated later, because I'm turning the computer off right now.






  • What is the favorite thing you have read today? Bumped.








  • Which mini-challenge was your favorite? The Wordle. Or the puzzles.








  • What has been your favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Having inspiration to work on my huge TBR pile.








  • What has been your LEAST favorite thing about the read-a-thon? Probably the fact that I missed the beginning of it.








  • Are you on track to meet your goals? I'm a bit behind, but it's okay.








  • Will you be participating tomorrow? Do you have any new goals? Yes. Maybe to finish one more than I expected to. That's more of a hope, though, not a goal.







  • What are you currently reading? Nightshade.






  • Thursday, June 16, 2011

    Spring into Summer Read-a-thon



    This post is to announce to the world that I'm participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!

    This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It's two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It's a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.

    But that's not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that Brielle sent you, you'll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! CLICK HERE to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.

    Here's my goal:

    I plan to participate on: Both days, if at all possible.
    I plan to read: At least 100 pages, if not more.
    I hope to read: Bumped, Watched, and Nightshade. I might read other things, but that's what I'm aiming for!

    Well, have you signed up yet? DO IT NOW!

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

    Hope you sign up! Don't forget to mention that I sent you. You want those extra entries, right?



    Bookshelf Tour

    Alright, I'll admit it. I've been putting this off for a while. I put up the poll in, what, February? Oh well. I guess this is better late than never, right? Anyways, here you go.
    I would like to mention that this video is pretty shaky and such. There's your warning. And there is the issue of, while my camera wasn't exactly awesome quality to start with, it was slightly better than this. Thanks, youtube. *Headdesk*








    So...yeah. I told you guys I had a weird voice. And a southern accent. Which probably doesn't help the case of the weird voice. Oh well. I hope you guys liked that. Or something.
    GAH. I am dying from an awkward attack. I'm not entirely sure how much I love the idea of people knowing how weird my voice is.
    ...I'm going to go now. Bye, guys.


    Wednesday, June 15, 2011

    No more books?















    *UPDATE*

    After rereading this post, I realized that it may have come off as me telling you why you shouldn't get an eReader. That is not the case.
    In the past, I have heard people say that they will not buy an eReader, because eBooks are going to wipe out physical books completely. This is my take on that. I do not believe that physical books will ever be completely wiped out.
    I apologize if this came off as me bashing the eReader. I'm not trying to do that. In fact, I've been looking into buying one.


    Now, before some of you freak out and go, "ARE YOU NOT READING ANYMORE?" and all of that, let me just say this:

    This is a rant. I am ranting about eReaders taking over and why I think that is total BS.

    I am going to continue to read no matter what. Books are not going to cease to exist. That's total crap.

        Now, with eReaders like the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo being released, many people have adopted the mindset that books will no longer be available in physical form. While I do think that eBooks are useful and handy, I think that they're a bit unnecessary. I certainly don't think that eBook are going to take over any time soon.
       Look at it like this: While eReaders offer you the ability to be able to take several books with you, they do have their setbacks. Schools (At least, my school.) doesn't allow technology from home unless you turn them into the teacher. Now, while I haven't actually asked my teacher if they were allowed, I still don't think I'd bring an eReader to school. My school isn't the worst school, but it's certainly got it's problems. People have stolen books from lockers, among other personal items. It happens. Now, let's say I bring my shiny eReader to school, which most likely cost over 100 dollars (not counting however much I've spent on loading it with books.). What's going to be more tempting to steal: One book or an eReader loaded with several books, that will also allow you to get books for less?
        This doesn't just speak for schools, either. I wouldn't want to wave my eReader around in public.
        Let's say that books did all go to electronic format. Physical books are no longer made. You do realize that not everyone is going to be able to afford an eReader, correct? So what, these people just don't buy books anymore? Alright, then you lose profit. These people can't buy books, so you don't sell them books.
        What about schools? Are schools going to have to buy eReaders for their classes just so they can read their textbooks? What if the school can't afford that? Do the kids just not get textbooks or novels?
         Authors, how do you think that would affect you? It could go either way, you know. You could get lucky and then it would be easier for you to get published, because then it would all be on technology. Maybe it would be worse. Maybe then people wouldn't be able to access your book, because they don't own an eReader.

        I personally don't think books will ever completely go to technology. It could be disastrous if they did. If the system crashed, then all books could be lost. If we lost the power to charge eReaders, then books would just have to go back to paper wouldn't they?
        The only way I could understand books not being made any longer is if we had a shortage of trees. Even then, there's still recycled paper. Not to mention, if we have a shortage of trees, we're kind of going to have a shortage of air. As much as I love books, I think I'd be more worried about the air portion of the problem. No air, no life.

        I've got other things to say here, but I don't want it to come off like I'm bashing on eReaders, so I'll shut up. Tell me, guys, what's your opinion on this?


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