Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Goodreads Link to Dangerous Creatures (Where I nabbed this cover photo from!)

Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is a new series within the Beautiful Creatures universe. Right away we start off in Gatlin county again, but quickly move away to New York City. The big unknown. Link (Westley Lincoln) thinks that he's leaving his girlfriend and friends behind to go and try to make something of himself as a musician, but he doesn't know that Ridley Duchannes has some tricks up her sleeve that he is going to have to pay for. It all starts when she surprises him by joining him on the trip and already knows of a band in need of a drummer. A Caster band. A band that needs a drummer because Ridley beat the other one in a gamble, but then lost and needs to pay up. Providing a drummer isn't the only thing she owes though, so will she be able to come out on top? It makes it even harder when Link asks her to never use her Siren magic on him... what is Ridley when she isn't a Siren? Is there more to her than her abilities? Pick up this book and you'll find out! ;)

(I'm partially mysterious because I haven't gotten very far yet, but also because I hate to give out many details in a review! I love the voices of the characters and how strong they are in the Beautiful Creatures series, and although I've had to push myself through a few parts in this one, I believe that is on my end and no fault of the authors. I've gotten out of the habit of reading for fun! It's tragic!)


Books I'm hoping to read soon:

• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight 
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters (#3) has come out, so I need to read #2 in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy - Days of Blood and Starlight
•  Splintered 
• The rest of the Morganville Vampire series starting where I left off several years ago with this one 
• A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2)... better known as the Game of Thrones series
• Clockwork Angel

I'll try to make sure I do posts about these!!! (Well, not Morganville because I try to just write about the first one or two books in a series and that is #10... plus I've already reviewed them. I did meet Rachel Caine again last week though at OSFESt in Omaha, Nebraska! She read new material from a book coming out in 2015 and was there both promoting her Morganville web series and her Prince of Shadows book!)


Follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Bruno Wants a Nose Horn

Alright guys, it's time to talk books. 

Publishing books in particular. Publishing one book in particular.

When I went to OsFest (Omaha Science Fiction Education Society's annual sci-fi convention), I met Nikita Rose Woltersen aka Nikita Dragonrose. This lady is amazing. She sculpts, she illustrates, and she's also obsessed with dragons. I bought some hair sticks from her with a dragon curled around the top of one and while she was showing me how to easily put my hair up with them within a few seconds (something I'd previously thought beyond my hair's capabilities) she showed me her new book. She's been working on a book called Bruno Wants a Nose Horn and it's an adorable book about a dragon names Bruno who was born without a nose horn and goes about searching to find one, getting into trouble along the way. She illustrated the book herself and has also made sculptures of the various dragons within the story. She hopes to expand the story after this first book gets published and to write more children's books starring the other characters in her series. For that to happen though, she's got to get this one published!

So if you have time out of your busy schedules (trust me, I hear ya!), check out her site at Dragonrose Designs to see her work. If you really want to support her, her Facebook site has the most recent updates for her book. 

She did a Kickstarter project earlier this summer to try to raise money for a hardcover publication, but it didn't reach full funding so she didn't get to keep any of the money. Publishing a book is actually a lot more expensive than you'd think, unless you can self-publish. Self-publishing works great, unless you want an audience other than those who know you already. Nikita Dragonrose travels to several conventions and such within the mid-west (as judged by the two that I've ran into her at and the schedule posted on her website) promoting her book and selling her dragon-related creations/wares. (Trust me, they are GORGEROUS!) This is a large step in getting a fan-base, but I really would like to see her get a larger following. So if you're out there and appreciate children's literature or at least books with dragons that learn valuable morals about loving themselves the way they are, I'd suggest looking up one of this lady's sites!

(She doesn't know I'm doing this, but I really wanted to see if I could try to get her a little more of an audience, and if we're really really lucky, maybe a donation? I don't want to push that too heavily on you though)

Don't Worry, It Gets Worse: One Twentysomething's (Mostly Failed) Attempts at Adulthood

This book started out as hilarious and ended up as touching. As a newly graduated college student, I found this book by Alida Nugent as a great find. I originally picked it out because I had just started my first job out of college and was feeling like I wasn't the right fit. Alida made me laugh with her as she was wallowing on her parents couch and not knowing where she was going to end up. I loved that she still kept acting like a college student who was coming home for vacation every time she visited her parents throughout the couple of years in the book. It was comforting knowing that some things change really slowly. That made me feel much better and as I kept reading, I was adapting to my new job.  I may be done reading it now, but as the last few chapters of the book aimed more towards being encouraging for the future rather than comedy, I remain hopeful. I'd recommend this book to any new graduate feeling a little unsure about their world at the present and who appreciates a good night of binge drinking.


Photo Google'd and taken from : http://powerhousearena.com/arena/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/9780452298187_Dont-Worry-It-Gets-Worse1.jpg

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

I finally caved and read this book. Being an English major in college, there were many jokes thrown around in the department about the quality of reading that this book must contain and I so I avoided it. I feared that I would be judged. Then, when I went to my grandma's house for Christmas last year, the whole family was talking about it. Family members who never read were talking proudly about how they'd read the whole series within three days or so. I started to wonder if it could really have such a stigma about it if it was doing the impossible, getting non-readers interested in reading. I signed up to be on the waiting list through the WILBOR program at my local library to get an ebook version of the entire series. After waiting for 50+ people to have read the book, I finally got it a couple of days ago.

I understand the appeal now. I appreciate all of the literary references throughout the book, although the music references are beyond me. I clearly see how this series started out as fan-fiction, but that is the purpose of fan-fiction - to bring new life to other stories. This series is so fast-paced and alluring that I could scarcely set it down. I stayed up till two in the morning one night while reading it and woke up again early in the morning to read more of it. I enjoy the wit and the banter (I've always been a fan of literary men who are more cocky than romantic - it makes me squeal with joy to see them out-bantered by a strong female),  the passion, and the general story line because being a college English graduate, I see many parallels in the story line to my own life.
While you would think of it as being a book about BDSM because that is what I've heard many refer to it as, I disagree. Sure, he ties her arms out of the way a few times because he doesn't like being touched and he refers to her as a Sub and himself as a Dom, but that is basically the extent of it. The focus of the novel is a relationship between a sexually and romantically inexperienced college graduate and a multi-million dollar businessman who had a terrible childhood and therefore has issues expressing intimacy in a non-sexual way. I started book two this morning, so I'll find out what that one is about soon enough. :) Happy reading!

Surrender by Rhiannon Paille

Quick Summary, the main character is a girl who feels out of place in the world but when she goes to a festival where she meets a boy at a waterfall who also feels out of place and they immediately fall in love. They go their separate ways and both continue their individual training exercises with their mentors. Kaliel's training is mostly about memorizing flowers and plant names but she'd rather be in the water, talking to the merfolk (which no one else is able to do). She can also talk to trees and animals. His character has more elemental powers, but he has no control over them. Theoretically, if he lets go of the tight hold that he has on him, then they will come naturally to him. Every time he does this though, disaster strikes. They are both sent for more specialized training after going to the Great Oak and learning the parables that will dictate what their purposes in life are to be. Conveniently, they are sent to the same place, figure out who they really are, and must choose to stay together or separate and save the world. 

Well, I got about 3/4 of the way through this book before it expired and I am hooked. I really would love to find out what happens to the hero and heroine. While their relationship is a little over-exaggerated in my point of view, I love this new world that Paille has created. I want to know more about it and I want to know more of the history that it alludes to. If there was a history book available to describe this world, I would snatch it up! The Lands Of Men seem so alluring, I want to know what goes on there and how it is different from the island of Avristar that the characters are living on. The Brotherhood also seems intriguing and I feel like they will come back into the story later, or there will be a reflection back to their being important in the history of the last (1st?) epic battle for land.  Overall, while the love story did annoy me a bit, but that's just because I'm not the sentimental type, I give this book at least 3.5/5 stars. Worth a read, but until I'm able to buy it or borrow it and finish it, I won't be able to tell if it's worth buying or not. 

Free Kindle Download

While I'm on here, Bernard Mendillo would like to offer to get a FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD of his book FOOTBALL, A MEMOIR”
http://tinyurl.com/KindleFootball-Mendillo

Here's a review of it (although not by myself as I'm in busy college student m

ode the moment!):
FOOTBALL, A MEMOIR is funny, nostalgic, heartwarming and uplifting. It’s about my youth playing touch football in the street—with curbstones and sewer caps for boundaries and my brother telling me to “go deep.” It’s about becoming a Giants fan for life in 1958, after watching the Greatest Game Ever Played on black-and-white TV in my parents’ living room. Today, I revel in the angst of remaining a Giants fan while living in the heart of Patriots land. And then, of course, there is the redemption that was the miracle of Superbowl XLII


So go check it out ya'll! (I'm a Giants fan among a few other teams, so as a fan, I just had to agree to post this.)

Storytime! I have a short story to share with ya'll!

Okay gang, I know I haven't posted an actual review in a while... Maybe I'll post for the couple of books that I've just finished reading for class. I'll work on something for them! In the meantime, remember that last post about the story that I was writing for a class and needed help on? Well here's the finished product!!!

Click to delve into the story via my LiveJournal account.


I hope you all like it, please leave a comment if you read it on here or on LiveJournal. I don't care if they're good or bad comments, but constructive criticism is always nice. Please keep in mind that this writing style is not very high on the Lexile range, it's just meant to be a humorous and slightly fictionalized account of what my April Fool's Day was like this year. I had to change some of it to make the story better or less dramatic, and others to protect names of people involved.

Nevertheless, I hope it provides enjoyment.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum isn't the normal sort of book that I review on here, but I've been hard pressed to find time for books that I didn't have to read for a class lately. This book is a crime novel set in Germany - it's very interesting because within the first chapter, the main character has shot a journalist (who apparently deserved it) and has confessed to her boss and then to the police. We also get the gist that she is wanted for a crime that she seems to be innocent for. Then there is another body, but when asked about his death, an alibi is provided from her, despite her words "Why not him too?". The words puzzle the inspector because her response is a question, not an admission of guilt. While the story is written in a very journalistic way, the story is very interesting, especially for a book that was required for a class. If you don't go out and read the book (Contact me, you can borrow my copy!), then at least watch the movie with English subtitles.
(The villain of the movie looks like the older, darker, and longer haired version of my friend Gabe W! I think it's the pretty eyes...)

The Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs

This isn't for this book, but the third book in the series instead. (They're all amazing!) *Spoiler Alert!*

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It was simply AMAZING. I wondered for a while how Ben knew all of that about her but then I remembered why he had come to America. And I still don't think that completely justifies it, nor does his own abuse as a child. Still, I love the way Briggs explains things through her readers; She gives everyone time to catch up, but doesn't let the fast thinkers get bored while doing it. And the last line! Oh man, I wanted her to elaborate a little on that. :)



View all my reviews

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

Hello all! It's been way too long! I think I should start this up again though, although weekly may be a bit much, but be sure to check back once a month for sure!

Succubus Blues is a very interesting book by Richelle Mead. I absolutely loved it and it is one of my new "favorite books of all time".
It's about a succubus who is tired of being a succubus, she wants to live as a human and so she only steals the life force from sleazy guys rather than the real good guys. She works at a bookstore and she's super excited that her favorite author is coming to do a book signing. Her best friends are two vampires and a demon, (if you don't count her cat). When someone starts killing other immortals, she is suspected of being the murderer! She goes out investigating and meanwhile tries to juggle a love-life. The problem is, the guys who like her at the moment are really good guys and she doesn't want to hurt them by doing anything that would steal their lives from them. That means no kissing for Georgia Kincaid!
This book is soo well written, I really loved it. Some twists may have been hinted at ahead of time, but nothing that you'd be able to actually guess before it happens. This book is fresh and exciting! It's the first in the series of Georgia Kincaid books, so get started reading it now!!

Sorta Like A Rock Star

Okay so this book is special because it's not a series, but I haven't had a chance to read any fun normal books yet while I've been in college and so this is the only one that I've read in a while.

I actually cried when I read this book. It was unreal, I never cry during books. The book can be really sad and I'll just keep trudging through it.

That does not mean that this is a sad book at all though, on the contrary, this book is soo happy and uplifting that it made me feel special just reading it because it's about a girl in high school who is living in a school bus because her mom and her cannot afford a house or apartment unless her mom is dating a new boyfriend who will let them stay there. Amber Appleton is the sweetest girl and she goes out of her way to make others feel at home. She started a club for the "misfits" in her school called the Franks Freak Force Federation and she has a puppy that she rescued from the streets called Billy Big Boy or B-Thrice.

Amber is a girl who goes through a lot of horrible things and through her faith manages to stay happy still and while the climax of this book is an uber downer, you will not be disappointed with this book if you like happy care-free teenagers dealing with life problems in high school type books lol :P... or if you're just looking for something new in-between your vampire reads haha