October Wrap Up

First of all I would like to mention that I have completed my 2014 reading challenge on goodreads! I have read 100 books!

2014 Reading Challenge

Raquel has completed her goal of reading 100 books in 2014!

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102 of 100 (100%)

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Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
This is the second book in the Trone of Glass series. I really enjoyed this one it definitely had more action that I thought was lacking in the first book. I really enjoyed the things that were revealed near the end of this book.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I read this book originally because of the movie that was coming out. So I had to read this book before I saw the movie. It was surprisingly good. The movie also followed the book pretty well. Such a great mystery novel.

Where she Went by Gayle Forman
This is the second book in the If I Stay Duology. This second book was a great final wrap up to the first one. Adam was a bit annoying at parts but I liked how they still connected after not seeing each other for three years. It seems like even in the darkest of times there is always still hope to rely on.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
This is the first book in the Lux series. I really enjoyed this book surprisingly. I always saw this book on the shelves to buy but never picked it up. I don't read many alien books but a group on goodreads was reading this and since it was free I thought I would give it a try. I really liked Katy is a very relatable character because she loves books and has a book blog as well as makes video's. Which is what I also enjoy to do so she was a really easy character to relate to.

Bound by Night by Larissa Ione
This is the first book in the Moonbound Clan vampire series. This was a great mix of vampires and Native American folklore. This will probably be another author where anything she write I will most likely read. I am very excited to continue on with the series and figure more out about the leader of the clan.




The Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo
This is a short story and prequel to the entire Grisha trilogy and was all about the Darkling before he became what he did. It also showed that he was more humane at one time and did have values and how they could have become so twisted over time. Because of his mothers fears that she put on to him he had to become something else entirely. Something stronger.

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
This is the third and final boook of the Grisha trilogy. It was an interesting read but I am not sure if I was happy with this for an ending. I was sad to see that this book did not need the bird that was portrayed on the cover. The ending was a surprise with how everything ended up. I understand that the characters were young in this series but Mal seemed really immature through out he wasn't even able to listen to reason most times. I did enjoy the series through out though and hope to finish up the other short stories.

Redeemed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
This is the final book of the House of Night series. This was way to long and could have been shortened significantly. It did wrap up thing mostly and I loved the concept of the entire series but it was just lacking something though I did connect to some of the characters my favorite by far would have to be Aphrodite. Just because she seemed like she didn't care about anything but deep deep down she was a pretty decent person once you got behind all the defensive walls.

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
This is the second book in the The 5th Wave trilogy I think is what it is going to be. This had second book syndrome. It definitely was a let down from the first book. It was basically all filler till the end. In this one you learn many of the characters back story more than what they are doing at present, because at present they did a lot of waiting around. Also I was upset not much was said in Cassie's perspective. It was mostly the new characters and Evan. Though I did like what Ringer finds out about the aliens. Very interesting. Still intrigued and want to continue but I hope the third book blows me away.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
This is the first book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I have had this book sitting on my shelf for a little while along with the second book. One of my groups that I am in read this for the month of September but I had to many other books I had to read that month I believe it was and didn't get to it. Finally did and am glad I did. It takes place in Prague a place I now wish to visit since my great great grandma is from there. The only part that was a bit slow for me was the ending but I understood why it had to be that way.

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
This is the second book in the Lux series. Still was pretty fast pace and interesting but Damian got on my nerves a little with all of his not saying Blake's name correctly. Other than that it stayed interesting. I am excited to keep continuing the series. I didn't like Damian to much until the ending in the first book in this one I am starting to like him a lot more. The other thing that some times irk's me is when 80% of the book could have been avoided if they just talked to someone or with each other. We need a book to teach communication apparently no one knows how to do that.



Those were all the books I read for the month of October. I would put up what I plan to read for the month of November but I will be busy and don't plan to read much of anything. I am currently reading Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas and I do want to finish that. Another one that is short and should be able to finish in a few hours is Speak Laurie Halse Anderson. It will be great if I can finish those two books. If I have any more time to read I will continue on with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

As you may or may not know I am participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. I hope I can win this second year. I did end up winning last year so I am nervous and hope to do better then I did last year or at least the same which was just a little over 50,000 words. I hand write everything out so if my word count update is a little behind it is because of that. I usually type up what I have done Wednesday - Sunday on my days of on Monday and Tuesday. Sometimes I may find time to type during the work week or I might just write more. So far my story is coming together well. I am a pantser writer. What that means is I don't do outlines. I just write and go until the end hopefully. I was a bit worried with this story since first of all I have never written anything in the genre of Science Fiction and secondly I didn't really have an idea where this story is going. I know the beginning parts but from there is anyone's guess. We will have to see how it goes. I will update on how I am doing through out.

If you would like to friend me or see how I am doing on Nano my profile is here: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/rocki21


How did you fair reading wise for the month of October? How was everyone's Halloween?

TBR Tag

This tag was created by Rachel from A Perfection Called Books and Dana from Danasquare. This tag is all about my To Be Read pile. I wasn't tagged by anyone but I saw this over on my friend Kitty's blog from My Little Corner for Books and thought this looked like a lot of fun. So lets do this.

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?
Mostly on goodreads. I kind of have two TBR piles one is under my unread-shelf these are books I actually own and still have yet to read and then there is my to read books that I hope to some day buy and also read. But for the most part I also have my TBR books stacked on two shelves on my book case so I know where they all are.

Is your TBR mostly print books or e-books?
Mostly print books. I want to have my own personal library some day (yes just like in Beauty and the Beast). But I do have a lot of e-books as well they are all mostly free ones or ARC's, but I don't like to read a lot from them. I try to make myself read at least one a month. I'm getting better with it recently.

How do you determine which book from you TBR to read next?
I mostly just pick up whatever I am in the mood for. Some times its a particular book but more times then not its a couple of books and then I just have to ask Allen to pick one for me or play eenie meenie miney moe and pick one that way. Some times though especially if my groups pick a book for the month that I already have and need to read then I will read it with my goodreads group.

A book that has been on your TBR list the longest?

I'm guessing this means from TBR list that I own. It would have to be The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien or any of the Lord of the Rings books. I got this series from my mom a long time ago and just have never really wanted to pick them up. I do want to read them some day but I think why I am so put off by these books is because I didn't really enjoy the movies when I watched them. When I was younger I didn't really care for Fantasy as a genre but I think that if I give it a read now I would like it since I now like to read that genre.







A book that you recently added to your TBR list?

Again I am going to assume this is like a recently purchased book that I have not read yet. I recently got Clariel by Garth Nix because it is a continuation or more like a prequel from the Sabriel trilogy I read when I was young. Now its been 12 or more years since I read that trilogy so I am going to have to go back and reread it before I can get to this book. I know it's a prequel but I want to read the main part first just in case there are some character I am not remembering that are going to be in this prequel. I am excited to get to this soon.






A book in your TBR strictly because of the beautiful cover?

This was strictly a cover buy. I still don't really know what it's about other than it is about vampires and magic and fantasy. So I was on board but it looks so awesome and all the other books in this series are just as beautiful!











A book on your TBR that you never plan on reading?

This book I refuse to read. I just have that feeling that if I pick this book up and try to give it a chance that I will end up throwing it against the wall and try to start a fire with it. This book is probably up there with False Memory by Dean Koontz it says on goodreads that I have read it and given it a one star but the truth of the matter is that the farthest I have gotten in that book is about 100 pages. I have picked up that book 3 or 4 times and each time I put it down. I want to read it some day but it won't be anytime soon. I don't know why but for some reason I refuse to give up on this book. False Memory is my nemesis!!!!!




An unpublished book on your TBR that you are excited for?
There are three books that I am so excited for but it seems like they are never going to be coming out. The first being Strange Fate by L.J. Smith its the 10th and final book in the the Night world series I believe. Its been like 16 years since the last ones have been out and I don't think this book will ever make it. I definitely would have to reread everything since it has been so long. The second one is Grave Visions by Kalayna Price this is book four in the Alex Craft series and it has been I think like three years since another book has been out it is killing me I love this series so much. Since she wasn't coming out with another Alex Craft book I went to her other series Haven to tied me over. But I ran into the same problem so book three would be Third Blood by Kalayna Price. I need these books now! *Breathes deeply* I'm okay now. *shifty eyes* hehee.

A book on your TBR that basically everyone's read but you?

*Hides from a mob of mad people* Yes it is true! I have never read a Harry Potter book. I have them all but I still refuse to read them. My friends got them for me when I wouldn't stop pestering them with questions when we would watch the movies and told me to read them if I wanted answers. I still refuse to read them. I swear to get to them some day but I don't know why... I guess I just want to be a rebel when it comes to this series.








A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you?
Probably The Infernal Devices trilogy or The Harry Potter series. I did read the first book of The infernal Devices series it was just slow. I do plan to read the other two since I already own them but I am in no rush to.
A book on your TBR that you are dying to read?

I have been waiting all month to get to this book it is actually the next book I am going to read after I get done reading the current one. I bought it right away and couldn't wait to start it but I had to read and finish the second book before getting to this one and then some other books got in the way of reading this one. But I can't wait and I hope it is worth all of my waiting!







How many books on your TBR shelf?
I have about 390 ... probably about 400 books on my unread shelf that I own. I haven't added some to my goodreads page yet. But for actual TBR books that I hope to read some day and buy as well is at 914 books
Who do you tag?
Everyone and anyone who would like to. Please let me know down below in a comment so I can check out your tag if you do plan on doing this.

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Preparing for NaNoWriMo

It is that time again. Yep you guessed it the time I go into hiding and write like crazy and by the end of the month, have a novel done or at least 50,000 words. I was stuck between two story ideas for the longest time. Both of them have titles, these titles are of course not for sure and might change by the end of the story but for now it works. So of course what did I do when I couldn't decide between which story to write. I made mock up book covers. Just something fun so I can have a picture to look at for my book. Someday I do want to get a program and be able to make my own covers but for now I will just fiddle with what I'm doing. So here they both are.

I really wanted to write Kay's story in Demonics since she has patiently been waiting for me to write her story the longest, but she is very stingy and I don't know much of the story. I know the beginning and a few key scenes along the way but that is about it. I am hoping my muse will guide me through the story as I progress. Since this is the one I plan on writing for November. The reason I was debating on choosing For Hire is because I have that story for the most part flushed out up until the very ending. I have had this story in my head for over a year now. Demonics has been waiting for about 3 years. So I must try to write Kay's story. Even if it will be bumpy. I feel like she is going to be a difficult character.

So since I have chosen to write on Demonics I will let you know a little about the story. Well the main character is K-479 but she goes by Kay. I have a picture of what she kind of looks like but I can not find it right now I will probably post in another tab of my character and kind of the profiles I have on them. She has black wings... I haven't decided if they are going to be feathered or more like bat wings yet ... I am leaning more towards feathered. She has black hair and green eyes her skin is black and also haven't decided if she is going to have a tail. For the most part she looks like a demon she's got fangs and claws, but the claws aren't hers they are a weapon she uses.

Kay lives in the Collective's city and works for Hell literally. She is an agent and has to track down illegal portal jumpers through different worlds. Some times she works with the Heaven offices if the illegal makes its way to a more human world but other than that she works on her own.

That is all I am going to touch on for right now until I start writing then I will let you know how it is coming along and maybe give you a little preview.

Is anyone else planning on writing something for NaNoWriMo? If so let me know below.

If you would like to learn  more on what NaNoWriMo is just go to nanowrimo.org

Review: Elixir by Ted Galdi

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Available: August 5, 2014

Pages: 245

Source: The author sent me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Meet 14-year-old Sean Malone. He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy. However, Sean wishes he could just be normal.

But his life is anything but normal. The US government manipulates him, using him as a codebreaker in pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way.

For reasons related to his personal security, Sean finds himself in Rome, building a new life under a new name, abandoning academics, and hiding his genius from everyone. When he’s 18 he falls in love. The thrills begin again when he learns that his girlfriend is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure, a battle pitting him against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past.

 Elixir is a story about identity, secrets, and above all, love.

Review:

I would first like to start out saying that this author does have a book giveaway going on for this book on Goodreads. You can enter here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/111428-elixir. He will be giving away 20 signed books to the winners.

At first I had a hard time with this book because of some grammatical issues but beyond that I had a problem with Sean and how he conversed with others. Sean would continuously use 'dude', 'yo', 'sup', and many other forms of slang, while talking to people this really bothered me for some reason. First it got very tiring reading the same words over and over when he talked with another, secondly I understand the author was trying to portray a teenage kid that wanted to be like all the rest, but to talk in slang all the time? The first half of the book is a bit slow, but the author does real well showing Sean's past instead of telling the reader about it.

During the second half of the book when Sean is 18 it gets better. First the dialogue is different he actually seems to act his age. It got a bit more interesting to read this half. Though Sean and his girlfriends relationship felt flat to me. The only other problem that I had with this book was the believable aspects in the novel. For instance it says he read a 43 page document in a minute and a half. This was also a document that wouldn't be easy to read since it dealt with medicine and dealing with the Ebola virus. It just doesn't sound believable. Just because you are the smartest person in the world doesn't mean you speed read as fast as lets say Flash the super hero would. I know this is a work of fiction but I would like some of it to be some what believable.

I did like the second half of the book it did take me on a thrill and was full of action. Very exciting the second half definitely did save the first part of the book. That is why it was hard for me to rate this novel. For the beginning of the book I wanted to rate it a 1 or 2 stars but the second part really saved it and I wanted to rate it a 3. On good reads I gave it a two. Since I could only give solid star ratings on here though I would give it a 2.75 or a 2.5 stars. I definitely think Ted Galdi will come out with great stories and hope to see more of his work in the future.

If you would like to know more about the story and the author please go here: http://www.elixirthebook.com/

September Wrap up

Wow September went by so fast. I didn't really end up reading that much compared to what I have been reading I suppose. Lets just get into the books I did finish and I will recap on each a little.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

I was worried that reading this book would aggravate me since I have had to deal with some darker things in my past, and it did in some spots but for the most part this book wasn't to bad. I ended up giving it 4 stars. Even though what Ty does is wrong his heart seems to be in the right place and it makes you think how if this played out a little different like him not taking her and just getting to know her like a normal person how different it could have been.

Son of No One by Sherrilyn Kenyon

This is book 14 in the Dark Hunter series or book 6 in the Hell chasers and if you read them all together it is book like 30 something. So many books such a good story! I was a little disappointed with this book only because I was expecting the main character to be a dragon shifter. Though they do meet one I was still saddened, but not enough to not love the story. The next two are also going to be dealing with the dragon shifters. Which has been a long time coming. This next one the main character is going to be a dragon I am so excited and can't wait.

Legend by Marie Lu

This is book 1 in the Legend Trilogy. This took me a while to get into. There is so much hype around this series that I was expecting to fall in love with this book. I just don't know what everyone else saw in this book. I wish it would have had more world building in it told more about the dystopian world they live in. Also I had a bit of a problem when they said they were playing around with plagues to keep control of population and people I just wanted to yell at them. Any virus whether you have a cure or not made up for it can easily change into something else. I guess I just don't understand why that had to be in there. Again I state it doesn't say much in this first book about the world and what is going and why they do some of the things they do. I hope the other two books are better.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

This is the 1st book in the series. I finally got to read this since one of the groups I am in for goodreads decided to read this. It was such a great book. At first I was confused when it would switch point of view with out really explaining it's a new person speaking. But other than that I loved everything about this book and can't wait to read the second book in October. I can't wait for the movie to come out for this book as well. I hope they do it well

The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison

This is the 13th book in the Hollows series. This book made me sad, happy, and angry all at the same time. This is the final book in the series and what a great ending it was. Unfortunately I wish that this was not the last one but I am glad that it ended so well. I will miss all the main characters and this will be one of those series I will read over and over again. I hope her next series will be just as great or even better. I already love the main characters name which is Peri.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is the 1st book in a four book series. I wanted to read this one before the movie came out. I did finish it and then went to go see the movie. From about the middle to the end the movie and book both differ a lot. But both each have their highlights. I enjoyed both. The book was a bit boring in the beginning I liked it more towards the end and the one page epilogue definitely makes me want to read the second book. The movie was done well and maybe where people did not like the book they might prefer the film. I know after watching the film my boyfriend wants to start reading the books.

Elixir by Ted Galdi

I was given a copy of this book for a honest review. I will be writing a longer review on this in a few days. I will say the beginning though I didn't much care for but towards the ending it got a lot better.




I will have a October TBR up soon as well as my review.

September TBR

September is going to be a busy reading month for me. So many good books coming out. Now I know this is a bit late of a post for September but I just wanted to start doing this for my blog as well. So for this month I have already read and finished some of the books on my TBR.

Here is what I am currently reading for the month. Outlander probably wont be finished by the end of this month.

And here is what I hope to accomplish and finish by the end of this month.

That is all the books I plan to read hopefully I might be able to fit some more in there but the way it is going I just hope to get through what I have listed here.

Let me know what books you are reading. Or if you have read any of the ones on my list and how you liked them.