Waiting on Wednesday #56 and W.W.W. Wednesday #46

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Contaminated by EM Garner

July 23rd 2013

          
After the Contamination—an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink SlimPro that turned ordinary citizens into violent, uncontrollable creatures—the government rounded up the “Connies” to protect the remaining population. Now, two years later, the rehabilitated are being allowed home, complete with shock collars that will either control, or kill, them.

Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old sister since her parents were taken in the round up. When she finds her mother in one of the “Kennels,” Velvet resolves to do whatever it takes to put her family back together. But the danger isn’t over. It’s beginning all over again…

Gritty and grabbing, Velvet is a harrowing, emotionally charged novel for fans of Carrie Ryan and The Walking Dead.

Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
July 2nd 2013

Sixteen-year-old Samantha D’Angelo has death on the brain. Her summer internship at the local newspaper has her writing obituaries instead of soaking up the sun at the beach. Between Shelby, Sam’s boy-crazy best friend; her boss Harry, a true-blue newspaper man; and AJ, her fellow “intern scum” (aka the cute drummer for a band called Love Gas), Sam has her hands full. But once she figures out what—or who—is the best part of her summer, will she mess it all up?

As Sam learns her way around both the news room and the real world, she starts to make some momentous realizations about politics, ethics, her family, romance, and most important—herself.

W...W...W.. Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.... I wold love to hear What you are currently reading, what did you just finish and what are you reading next...

What Are Currently Reading: 

What Did You Recently Finish Reading?

What Do You Think You Will Read Next? 

Giveaway Hop: Spring Fling

Giveaway is a Audio CDs of Vortex by Julie Cross 

Vortex by Julie Cross

          

Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

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Teaser Tuesday #54 and Top Ten Tuesday #44

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Bloggers choose two

sentences out of our current read to peak others' curiosity.

Teaser: 
Ethan started laughing, nearly choking on his soda. " I imagined you up here reading The Guide to modern Physics. I would've never guessed you were reading a romance novel!"

The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard

  

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

Top Ten is an original feature/weekly meme created here at

The Broke and the Bookish that features a great bookish top ten every week.

Top Ten words in a summary or topics alluded to that automatically make us pick up a book!

1.  Road Trip

2. Snarky

3. Psychological Thriller

4.  Time Travel

5. Space Odyssey 

5.  Contemporary

6.  Humorous

7. Fast Paced

8.  Mystery 

9.  Retelling 

10. Zombies

Whats is on your list?

Read-a-Thon: Bout of Books

 Bout of Books Read-a-Thon

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team 

I will be joining the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon for the second time. I love read-a-thons. I read everyday so why not stretch my limits just a bit and try to win some prizes and get to know fellow bloggers better, maybe even see some new books out there. 

I am hoping to get through quite a bit of books both audio and reading. 

My goals:

Reading time: 6-7  Hours Audio and 3-4 Hours Reading daily. 

Come join the fun, sign ups are open!

Blog Tour: Why My Love Life Sucks by Shevi Arnold

Book Tour Hosted by Xpresso Book Tours: Schedule

Title: Why My Love Life Sucks 

Author: Shevi Arnold 
Publishing Date: February 1st 2013

Pages: 340
Genre: Humorous YA Contemporary Fantasy

Series: The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, #1
Source: Kindle Version Provided by Xpresso Book Tours

  

Barnes and Noble

Gilbert Garfinkle is the ultimate tech geek. He has a compulsive need to take apart, figure out, and fix things; and he dreams of one day fixing the world. But a funny thing happens on the way to the future. Gilbert encounters the one thing he'll never be able to figure out: a gorgeous, teenage vampire girl named Amber, who wants to turn Gilbert into her platonic BFF--literally forever! This leaves the ultimate geek pondering life's ultimate question: "Why me?"

The title and the cover totally sold me on this book. I don't think I even fully read the synopsis until after I signed up for the book tour. This is definitely a book I would see in the bookstore and immediately pick it up. It isn't just pretty on the outside, it was very fun read on the inside too. I loved reading about Gilbert's life and can't wait to read more. The book is for sure humorous and has a very cute story.

Gilbert is a science geek, he loves Dungeons and Dragons, he is very smart,  he has never kissed a girl, and he only has a few really good friends. One night when a very pretty girl flirts with him she takes him home and kisses him... then bites him. Now he finds he is a vampire. Something he absolutely does not want to be and he has a vampire stalker, Amber. Amber chose him for a reason. She wants a BFF. She is lonely and now her one and only chance doesn't want anything to do with her.  Gilber only ever wanted to invent great things to fix the world not hang out with a crazy vampire girl. Gilbert heart softens once he has a heart to heart talk with his Dungeon and Dragons Game Master Dave, and realizes he has needs to fix things, especially Amber.

This was so much fun from beginning to end. I loved the characters and the story. It was cute, charming, funny, and a bit heart warming at times. The story is crazy and the very humorous, and it was paced really well. The story started off right away with Gilbert telling his story of the events that led up to his life changing moment and then the story continues into the whole crazy episode of his vampire life, or at least the part where he has to learn to adapt to his vampire life.

The characters were the focal point of the entire story, without them it would have just been another vampire story, well another vampire story with a lot of funny stuff going on. Gilbert really was my kind of character, a true geek. He is definitely someone I would love to hang with. He fixed anything remotely machine oriented, he played Dungeons and Dragons, and he was totally smart and sarcastic. Love him. He was a bit slow at times when it came to other people. He was pretty much socially inept. He did have a few good friends that I met along the way but for the most part, he spent most of his time with a lablet... a robot kind of friend.  He had a horrible home life. His father was not in the picture, but Gilbert loved him and wanted to be like him. His father left him and his mother loads of money, but Gilbert had a very self centered,  emotionally dumb, witch of a mother. She took all the money and left Gilbert with basically nothing. Not so hard to leave that one behind for his vampire life! He did have a few good things going for him and he was pretty much happy with this life until he was turned. Now he just wants to carry on with his life as normal, but he can't because he has a vampire stalker.

Amber is another easy character to love. She has her problems, but she is lonely, she just wants a friend. She did turn Gilbert without his consent but that is done with and now she wants to be around him all the time. Gilbert feels different about it though. He wants her to leave him alone. So Amber does what she always does and makes a chain of bad decisions. I really like Amber, she may have been a little dumb, slow on the reality of things, and a bit crazy, but she was easy to like. I would have been her friend. Her biggest issue was her self esteem. As where Gilbert was happy with himself and fine with the way life worked out for him. Amber was very hard on herself and didn't seem to like herself or her life. First time ever I met a vampire with self image issues.

The story was about friendship and acceptance and I liked it. I will continue the series and I am so excited that it is a series. The book entertained me greatly and I had a bunch of fun with it

Great ball of fun with vampires wrapped up very nicely with a great cover and catching title. It is worth checking out, trust me.

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Shevi Arnold writes funny. She can't help it. She's been writing funny since she was a kid, cracking up her class and her teachers with her humorous essays.

In high school she studied sitcoms when she was supposed to be doing her homework, and in college she took a couple of courses in comedy and clowning, as part of her degrees in English Literate and Theater Studies. She just had to find out what made something funny.

Eventually she cracked the code, and that led to jobs as a political cartoonist, a comic-strip magazine editor, and an arts-and-entertainment writer specializing in children's entertainment and, of course, comedy.


Author links:
Website/Goodreads/Facebook/Twitter

Genre Definition and Recommendation #15

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

This week I am starting a new Genre- Fantasy and will be going through the sub genres:


Comic Fantasy
Dark Fantasy 
Contemporary Fantasy

Epic/High Fantasy
Sword and Sorcery

Historical Fantasy

Myths/Traditional Stories/ Retellings
Urban Fantasy
Magic Realism

Fantasy - Definition found on Wikipedia

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genre of science fiction by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific themes, though there is a great deal of overlap between the two, both of which are subgenres of speculative fiction.

Sword and Sorcery Fantasy  Definition found on Wikipedia   

Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy,[1] is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.[2]

My Recommendations: 

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clark 

  

        
Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

 

        

His eyes, Katsa had never seen such eyes. One was silver, and the other, gold. They glowed in his sun-darkened face, uneven, and strange. She was surprised that they hadn't shone in the darkness of their first meeting. They didn't seem human....

Then he raised his eyebrows a hair, and his mouth shifted into the hint of a smirk. He nodded at her, just barely, and it released her from her spell.

Cocky, she thought. Cocky and arrogant, this one, and that was all there was to make of him. Whatever game he was playing, if he expected her to join him he would be disappointed.

In a world where people born with an extreme skill—called a Grace—are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of the skill even shedespises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him.

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.