Must Read Monday (#6)

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Thanks for stopping by! We'd love for you to join the fun.

The goal of the Must Read Monday is to find share your love of great books with others in the hopes that they'll add a new title to their To Be Read list.

Your job is to create intrigue for other hoppers. What makes your book so swoon-worthy? What do you absolutely have to mention so they'll read it?

On your post, you'll make an acrostic puzzle (think of it as an overview/book blurb type of thing).

For specific ways to build your puzzle, click here, but pretty much any style of acrostic is welcome.

When you leave comments on other posts, be sure to mention whether you're adding that book to your TBR pile, and what part convinced you to do so.

It's all about powers of persuasion, people:) You might have to think a little, but channel that inner-creative goddess (or god).

So...several sweet and wonderful people voted for me to be the winner from last week. I'm not going to do that, but I'm touched that you liked my acrostic about The Book Thief!

What wonderful posts there were last week:)

Winners of Must Read Monday week #5:

The Happy Booker (The Mists of Avalon)

and

Aimee @ Getting Your Read On (Between Shades of Gray)

It was The Happy Booker's first time to participate, and her words swept me away! Ironically, one of her lines was "Truth often hides in shades of gray" which is the close to the title of the book Aimee chose! There is an urgency and suspense about each line of her acrostic. Plus, I love the word entwined. I didn't know Lancelot offers his love to her. I've definitely been convinced to pick up this book!

Aimee chose a WWII book that sounds absolutely heartbreaking. My favorite lines: "What is a life Worth? Her brother was worth a pocket watch." I can tell this one is so powerfully moving that you will need to bust out the Kleenex box. Also, her one line descriptions-- "demoralized, tortured, starved"-- really tell a story in themselves.

REMEMBER: You must follow these ladies to participate this week!

This week's category: Fantasy (or some book with fantastical elements)

Here's mine:

                             Everyone over aGe 15 disappears suddenly
                       technology ceases tO exist in the Fallout Alley Youth Zone

  a dangerous struggle for power eNsues

                                              whEn kids start developing powers, all bets are off

*Next week's category: A book that made you laugh out loud

What's an amazing fantasy that we must get our hands on?

Guidelines:

• Must become a follower to participate.
• Follow the two winners from last week to participate.
• Grab my button to place in your post.
• Make sure you have a backlink in your post to each weekly post I put up, not just to my website.
• Where it says your name please include name @ blog name Ex: Jenna @ Fans of Fiction
• Your exact post URL is the one that goes in the linky box, not your website.
• This meme is for BOOK BLOGGERS ONLY.
• Don't just hop around; leave comments! We all love reading what others have to say.
• Enjoy!

In My Mailbox (#8)

Kristi at The Story Siren hosts this great meme where bloggers can share their new book acquistions for the week:)

Bought after winning an Amazon giftcard from Amanda at One Minute Books:

Loving the potential of this book. Because Delaney's mom has died, she flies cross country to meet her real dad, a man and life coach she's never met. He reveals that he's a Fairy Godmother (I double checked- they don't use "Fairy Godfather!), and the gene is hereditary. Soon, Delaney is acting as someone else's f.g. complete with her own chopstick wand. Think I'll read this as part of the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

What's in your mailbox this week?

Favorites in the TV Fall Lineup

Primetime TV is addictive, especially when new shows come out that are as hilarious as these.

Series: The New Girl

Starring: Zooey Deschanel

Raves:

• Main character, Jess, sings songs about herself and what she's doing
• Three guy roomates agree to a fourth female roommate who found their add on Craigslist
• Jess is guy-clueless
• Roommate Schmidt is obsessed with Cece and thinks he has came, but she's a model
• Nick and Jess would make the perfect couple 
• Justin Long's eccentric character starts dating Jess (and I think it's brining out Nick's jealous side)
• Theme song "It's Jess!" ends in the boys holding up a picture frame around her face 

Rants:

• There was a really cool African American dude on the first episode who was never heard from again.

Series: Whitney

Starring: Whitney Cummings

Raves:

• Whitney and Alex are the cutest TV couple ever (this could have something to do with them play fighting all the time/being sarcastic like me and my husband)
• Great jokes
• Nothing extraordinary happens, but viewers can relate to the mixups/fights between couples
• Favorite episode: When Whitney tries to enjoy Alex's interests by playing racquetball and loses majorly, then whoops Alex at basketball, her "hidden talent." He's a super sore loser (it's funny to watch him pout). Seriously, I know a ton of boys that hate losing!

Rants:

• None at all!

Series: 2 Broke Girls

Starring: Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs

Raves:

• Max (Dennings) is hilarious: talented and sarcastic with a soft spot for animals. She says every comeback I wish I'd thought of
• Caroline (Behrs) balances her out as a rich-turned poor college grad who's good at business
• Johnny is a hot graffiti artist who has a thing for Max and their chemistry is palpable
• Max keeps a pet horse on the little porch of her apartment and takes a giant shovel to clean up its poop when they go for walks
• The owner of the diner where the girls work always has on DJ sized headphones and the chef is always making sex jokes (no, I wouldn't want that in a real workplace, but it's funny to watch)
• At the end of each episode, the running total that the girls have saved for their cupcake business appears (and either goes up or down)

Rants:

• Again, no complaints!

What have you been watching in between books? 

Review: Between The Land And The Sea

"Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. Just a few weeks after moving to the beach town, sixteen year-old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can manage to survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to unlock the mystery of her past and learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her... and maybe even find true love along the way."

- Goodreads

Stats:

• Format: ebook

• Publisher: Self-Published

• Release Date: March 19, 2011

• File Size: 460 KB

Favorite Quotes:

“The dense fog blurred everything at a distance, and I had the sensation I was walking along in a bubble created by my own little field of vision.”

I’m sorry to report that this is the only quote I highlighted during my reading- I got so into the story that I forgot to make notes!

Review:

Between The Land And The Sea is the first book in the Marina's Tales series by Derrolyn Anderson.  In this book, Marina has spent her life traveling the world with her father who does research in agronomy.  Marina is sent to live with her aunt Abby and her cousin Cruz so that she can spend some time in a regular high school and meet people her own age.  Marina immediately feels at home and is glad that she came to this small town.

Although Marina cannot swim, she is drawn to the ocean and can't seem to stay away.  She begins to have strange encounters with different sea animals and meets a mermaid named Lorelei.  Marina's mother had died during childbirth and Lorelei tells her a secret about her that explains a lot of the strange happenings.

Admittedly, I love love-stories.  I'm a total sap when it comes to them and Ethan, Marina's love interest, couldn't have been more perfect.  He is sweet, thoughtful, and really goes out of his way to help Marina and take care of her.  Their relationship is adorable from the very beginning and I was rooting for them throughout the entire book.

I thought that the descriptions in the book were really good; I was definitely able to picture the scenes and the people.  There were a few typos in the book, but nothing that distracted me too much. 

While the book is centered around Marina's sea-life woes, I felt it to be more of a love story (or a flirtatious, high-school relationship story).  I really enjoyed reading this book and was interested in finding out what was going to happen.  Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down and finished in one day.  I am really excited to read the next two books in the trilogy and am glad that I didn't start the series before they were all published! 

2012 TBR PILE Reading Challenge- Sign Ups

Here's an opportunity for you to dust off those books just sitting on your shelves-- the one's you've been meaning to get to for months. This challenge will help you get to that long list of To Be Read books. Even better, there will be opportunities to WIN PRIZES, share reviews, and participate in mini-challenges all year long. The brainchild of Evie at Bookish, this challenge has 10 fabulous cohosts (we're thrilled to be one of them!).

Challenge Guidelines:

1. This challenge will run from Jan. 1, 2012 - Dec. 31, 2012.
2. As we would like to see quality reviews linked up to our monthly wrap-ups, only bloggers can enter. Sorry about that!
3. Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2011 and earlier! NO ARCs and 2012 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2012 TBR PILE Reading Challenge.
6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec. 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
8. At the end of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will have it's unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS.
9. If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;)
10. December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway - 12 books, 12 winners, INTERNATIONAL.
11. You don't have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in giveaways!

Levels:

1-10 - A Firm Handshake

11-20 - A Friendly Hug

21-30 - A Sweet Kiss       (I hope to make it to here for now!)

31-40 - Love At First Sight

41-50 - Married With Children

Hosts: Evie from Bookish - http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com @SeoEvie
Nicole from All I Ever Read - http://www.nicoleabouttown.com/ @Nicoleabouttown
Bonnie from Hands and Home - http://www.handsandhome.ca/ @HandsHomeBlog
Donna from Book Passion For Life - http://bookpassionforlife.blogspot.com/ @BookPforLife
Caitlin from WatchYA Reading - http://whatchyareading.net @caitlingss
Rie from Mission To Read - http://missiontoread.com/ @missiontoread
Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea -http://booksbiscuitsandtea.blogspot.com/ @alouetteuette
Christa from Hooked On Books - http://christashookedonbooks.blogspot.com @ChristasBooks
Jenna from Fans Of Fiction - http://fansoffiction.blogspot.com/ @fansoffiction
Angel from Mermaids Vision - http://mermaidvision.wordpress.com @mermaidvisions

Wrap-up POST Schedule:
January - Donna (Theme: Let It Snow + Book Cover Challenge)
February - Nicole (Theme: Un-requited Love/Love Gone Wrong + Advice Column Challenge)
March - Rie (Theme: Green or Pinched + Green Cover Challenge)
April - Bonnie (Theme: Easter + Mini Challenge)
May - Christa (Theme: MayDay - Disaster Books! + Cover Disaster Challenge)
June - Jenna (Theme: Camping + Sentence Challenge)
July - Rie (Theme: International Day + Cover Comparison Challenge)
August - Angel (Theme: Summer Memories + Send Your Fav Character On Vacation Challenge)
September - Nicole (Theme: Life Changing Books + Mini Challenge)
October - Caitlin (Theme: Thanksgiving Theme + Share-A-Book Challenge)
November - Vicky (Theme: Spooky Halloween + Book Puzzle Challenge)
December - Evie (Theme: Xmas Bliss + Book Bachelor Challenge)

Here's what I'm planning on reading during the challenge:

*How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

*Across the Universe by Beth Revis

*Hold Still by Nina LaCour

*Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

*Bunheads by Sophie Flack

*The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

*The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

*Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

*The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

*Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn

*Harry Potter (Books 3-7...I know, shameful!)

*Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

*Confessions of a Call Center Gal by Lisa Lim

And many, many more.

What are you planning to read? Don't forget to include your ideas in your sign up post!

Must Read Monday (#5)

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Welcome. It gives me warm fuzzies just to know you've stopped by. Read on to participate in Must Read Monday:)

The goal of the Must Read Monday is to find share your love of great books with others in the hopes that they'll add a new title to their To Be Read list.

Your job is to create intrigue for other hoppers. What makes your book so swoon-worthy? What do you absolutely have to mention so they'll read it?

On your post, you'll make an acrostic puzzle (think of it as an overview/book blurb type of thing).

For specific ways to build your puzzle, click here, but pretty much any style of acrostic is welcome.

When you leave comments on other posts, be sure to mention whether you're adding that book to your TBR pile, and what part convinced you to do so.

It's all about powers of persuasion, people:) You might have to think a little, but channel that inner-creative goddess (or god).

I will feature two bloggers who had the most creative posts the following week, and those will be required follows if you wish to participate again.

You guys are getting so freakin' good at this! Really; I need to make a book of all these acrostics. Again it was such a hard decision!

Winners of Must Read Monday week #4:

Jinky @ Jinky is Reading (A Monster Calls)

and

Sheree @ Beckoned By Books (Burned)

Both of these ladies used a letter of the title to start each line (which can sometimes be the hardest way to build your acrostic).

Jinky often has humor in her acrostics, and this one is no exception. I'm pretty sure we're all in agreement that her line, "Er, it was the book that she could not finish (cancer claimed her)." When all else fails, put an interjection. Loved it! I also appreciate an ending with a question that creates intrigue.

Sheree started by describing the protagonist's struggles, which creates immediate conflict. My favorite line: "Determine her destiny, and eventually, her demise." Powerful ending. I feel like I know all about the book without having a specific spoiler.

REMEMBER: You must follow these ladies to participate this week!

This week's category: A book so powerful that it changed you in some way.

Here's mine:

True, I rarely remember names, but

Here's a story about the second world war

Enemy slander aimed at one particular religion

Blood was shed so freely

One day equaled thousands of collected souls

Out of the events, I remember the colors;

Kids, adults, and teens are all the same to Death

Then came little Liesel,

Her orphaned state one to pity

In all the madness, she discovered books

Even her foster papa encouraged her dangerous habit

For when you're hiding a Jew from Hitler, what harm can a book do?

Never has a book made me cry so hard or during so many parts. I am fascinated by WWII stories, yet this was so powerful and different than anything I've read. It'd be a good read for those who deny the existence of the Holocaust. Markus Zusak writes with the most beautiful imagery imaginable, creates loving characters, and explores the war from the perspective of Death. Amazing.

                      

What book has changed you in some way?

*Next week's category: Fantasy (or some book with fantastical elements)

Guidelines:

• Must become a follower to participate.
• Follow the two winners from last week to participate.
• Grab my button to place in your post.
• Make sure you have a backlink in your post to each weekly post I put up, not just to my website.
• Where it says your name please include name @ blog name Ex: Jenna @ Fans of Fiction
• Your exact post URL is the one that goes in the linky box, not your website.
• This meme is for BOOK BLOGGERS ONLY.
• Don't just hop around; leave comments! We all love reading what others have to say.
• Enjoy!

Feature & Follow Friday (#9)

Parjunkee's View and Alison Can Read host this Friday blog hop so book bloggers can get to know a little bit about each other through weekly questions.

Question: In light of 11.11.11 and Veteran's Day tell us about your favorite solider and how he or she is saving the world. Fictional or real life.

I have to say, last week's question was pretty fun, but I love my soldiers! I've been a military brat my entire life, lived on base, gone to DODDs schools overseas.

My favorite soldier is my dad. He retired after 22 years in the Air Force. He fought in Desert Storm. We were so blessed he never had any long or hard deployments. He is my  hero because he provided for my family and instilled a love of country in us. He is still helping our troops by working with a contracting company. It's his job to inspect Navy base housing to make sure it's safe for soldiers and their families before they move in. 

My other two favorite soldiers are my parents-in-law. My father-in-law is a retired Navy officer. My mother-in-law is currently a two star admiral in the Navy. She just returned home from a one year deployment to Bahrain. I'm so proud of what they do every day to serve our country. I haven't met any better leaders.

My little brother also just joined the Navy. He goes to basic in May.

Happy Veteran's Day. Thank you to all those who've served our country and defended our freedom.