Top 10 Influential Books Tag

I think I like doing my video's this way and keep up with it. I did not like using the computers either because one it was hard to capture my voice or two you couldn't see my books in the background. I have learned how to use my camera to make these video's with the help of my significant other. And will keep up with them more often now. The next video I plan to make is my Book Haul for March and what I read that month.

Grandma's are Special

As some of you may know I work in a hotel overnight. Last night was an emotional roller coaster of  feelings and a night that made me very happy I could be a part of. At 3 A.M. I noticed an elderly lady come off of the elevators so I went out to the front desk to see what I could help her with. She was very confused and wasn't sure which room she was in. But she wanted to get back into her room. I asked her for her name to see if i could find which room she was in but could not find it in the system. I went up with her to the floor she thought she was on and tried to jog her memory that way, to find her room. After a bit of time she remembered her granddaughter's last name and her granddaughter had  rooms under her name so I called up and told her that her grandma was down here at the front desk and she came down to get her and help her back up to her room. 

The reason this hit so close to home was that the elderly lady reminded me a lot of my own grandma that I have recently lost. And I miss her terribly. I am glad I got the chance to help this woman and her family. When I cam into work tonight they left me a box and card... I know my name isn't spelled right but that is not the thing that matters. Here I'll show you what was all included. 

I thought I would share this since I have been thinking of my grandma a lot recently and thinking more about writing that book that I would like to dedicate to her and maybe even to all grandma's. There is no other person like a grandma. You know what I mean. 

All right enough of these roller coaster feelings and time to get back to reading my book. I must finish it before April 1st. I am more then half way down with Ruins so I should be done with it in no time. And I have to go to my friend Bianca's baby shower tomorrow. I am going to be so busy next month what with writing my second book (which I will keep you guys posted on) and trying to read through at least two books that come out that month. And thinking of warmer places to move to. (If you guys have any ideas for where we should move to, let me know in the comments down below)

The Archived/Night Broken

The Archived by Victoria Schwab:

I got in the mail this last week The Unbound book mark signed and a sticker signed by Victoria Schwab. If you remember I said I was reading The Archived book with a Goodreads read a long group. Well if we read with that group and bought the book recently and sent a receipt we would get these in the mail. I wasn't expecting these so soon. I was also just expecting the book plate, I was so happy and excited when I saw the book mark included. I thought they weren't going to be sent out till after the 22nd, which is when Jessethereader did the live show on youtube, and was happily surprised when they arrived so early. Victoria Schwab is awesome! I can't wait to read the second book.I will do a little synopsis and review below and hope other readers will come to love this book as well.

 Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 352
Synopsis: Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn't just dangerous-it's a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da's death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hardwon redemption.

Review:

 I will say I really liked the flashbacks that she had with her grandfather and how she became a part of this world. This book was a little tough to get through because of the feelings the main character goes through with the recent death of her brother and also with the death of her grandfather that happened a few years before. I have recently had my grandma die. And it seems like Mac deals with a lot of the feelings towards death and dealing with it like I have. I also really liked the character Roland he seems like a big brother character. Which is nice since she had no one to really guide her through being a keeper other then Da for a couple of years before he dies. 

Wesley was a awesome and sweet surprise as well. For someone who dresses in goth attire sure is really sweet. It really brings home the saying don't judge a book by its cover. Which I think more people need to understand. I love it that Mac's friend calls him guyliner. It made me laugh every time I heard him being called that. I am really interested in the next book and how she is going to balance her keeper responsibilities with school. In this book she didn't seem to get any sleep and I am wondering if that is going to keep true in the next book or if she will get a bit more time to herself.

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs: 

 I also read this book right after The Archived and would like to talk a little bit about this one. This is book #8 of the Mercy Thompson Novels. First off I would just like to say Mercy is a much stronger person than I. I would have had some serious issues with Adam's ex-wife doing some of the things she did. I am also happy when the spear came back to her even after she gave it to the rightful owner. It's like she can never get rid of the spear no matter what she does. That can sometimes be a good things since that spear has saved her life a few times. This book left open lots of questions at the ends so I am really looking forward to the next one even though I have to wait like a whole year! It did answer a lot of things as well. You do see Coyote really does care what happens to his children even though he helps them get into trouble every once in a while. 

And now I am off to read Ruins by Dan Wells the final book to the Partials sequence series. I hope its a good ending!

Book Discussion / Writing Update

So I finally finished The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison and it is all I can think about it seems right now! This is an amazing series and I can't wait for the final book to come out some time next year. Even though I know I will cry since it is the last book in the series, but I am excited to see what she will write after this series.

For the next book that I will be reading. I am reading along with a bunch of other people over on goodreads.com. The book is called Archived and it is by Victoria Schwab.

I found out that a bunch of booktubers on youtube were reading a couple of books for the month of March. I had to choose one since I am getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo I only had time for one. I had to choose between Panic by Lauren Oliver or The Archived by Victoria Schwab. I still do plan to read Panic some time just not any time soon.

Writing Update:

I have definitely been getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo starting on April 1st. I am about halfway through revisions in the first book, the one I completed in November of last year. I will keep you guys updated on how my writing process is going and maybe show you some sneak peaks at what I am writing. I hope to have my first book gone through the third revisions by the end of the month then hopefully after I get it back from a beta reader I will have it mostly finished. And maybe even ready for self publishing.

Let me know in the comments if you plan on doing Camp NaNoWriMo? if so what do you plan on writing?

I feel like I have lots to do in the next coming months I have three books that I wanted to read this month and I have two more books that come out on April 1st that I want to read. Along with rereading another writers work. I also hope to either type 50,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo or finish the second book. So I will be really busy for the month of April and probably wont get any reading that I want to done. Hopefully I can catch up in my reading in May. So much to do and not enough time in the day to get everything done!

Kim Harrison Event Photo's

And here are the photo's I promised earlier.

I loved this event and can't wait to go to another one!

The Copper Witch (Book One in the Broken Line Series) by Jessica Dall

 Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: 5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC
Release Date: March 13th, 2014
Pages: 374
Source: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Adela Tilden has always been more ambitious than her station in life might allow. A minor nobleman’s daughter on a failing barony, Adela’s prospects seem dire outside of marrying well-off. When Adela catches the eye of the crown prince, Edward, however, well-off doesn’t seem to be a problem. Thrown into a world of politics and intrigue, Adela might have found all the excitement she ever wanted—if she can manage to leave her past behind.



Review: 
I love reading all kinds of books and I was really glad when asked to review this book. I have been wanting to read another Historical romance for quite a while now. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 on goodreads. Adela is a young girl around the age of seventeen by the end of the story. By the end of the book I had to keep reminding myself of how young she still was. She went through so much in this book that it made her seem older then her physical age. 

 At the beginning of the book Adela's constant chatter made it hard to get through at times, but I would just have to remind myself that this is a young girl with hardly anyone to talk to. She lives in a  remote village that is filled mostly with sheep. Her incense chatter does quiet down a bit as she gets to the bigger city's, so it did get easier to read.   Adela is very ambitious and wants to go far in life and won't let anything or anyone stand in her way. She is very intelligent in most cases but at some points she is also very naive. Which I think she realizes a bit at the end of the book  when she is stuck between dealing with a recent death and that of court life. 

I think a lot of the side characters helped form the story rather then the main character Adela. If it weren't for the side characters I would have lost interest fast. I really enjoyed Lettice who is Adela's friend and caretaker. She was the voice of reason which Adela needed a lot through out this story though she hardly ever listened. When Adela first meets with Antony a painter, I thought there could be something there, something that would push her to marry for love instead of a title. But as the story continued I thought Antony deserved better, though of course the characters never listen to me when I am reading, for the most part. When Adela meets Edward, I really cheered this couple on. I mean they both cared for another and they were both ambitious and understood one another. I really liked their relationship with one another. 

The plot its self was very good and well thought out. I thought there would be more tension in the plot at the beginning when Adela finds herself gaining the attentions of an unwanted man. But she is soon whisked away into another problem.That was another part where she seemed super naive, she never thought a married man would ever touch her with out her permission.  I so wanted to shake her at that point and tell her how much danger she was putting herself in. I know in that kind of setting these things probably happened and girls at that age don't think of things like that especially back in those days. 

I will say I am highly intrigued to find out what happens in the next book. And see what sort of trouble Adela will find in the new world. If that is indeed where the next book is headed. Never know. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

If you would like more information on Jessica Dall and her other stories as well as this one you can find her blog at : http://jessicadall.com/about/the-copper-witch/

Kim Harrison Event

February 26th - March 1st we went to Bloomington Minnesota. Allen and I were originally going there for Mall of America just a kind of little get away. Then I found out Kim Harrison was going to be near Mall of America doing a book signing of her new book The Undead Pool. She also did a Q&A and did sign previous books as well. This is her twelfth book out and she only has one more due out some time next year in 2015. At the event she did mention that the thirteenth book was all done just going through the process of becoming published. I was so excited to be there I got there at 3 pm and the event didn't even start till 7 pm. She also gave us a scare by saying that morning she wasn't sure if she would be able to make it since her flight was canceled. But everything went great because she got there in plenty of time. I met two new friends there, who were there quite early as well so we chatted the whole time about the series. We ended up exchanging info and come to find out one of the girls also likes to write on Nanowrimo so I found a reading / writing buddy! yay! The other girl is thinking about trying it one day... I hope to read something of her's soon.

I had so much fun meeting with my two new friends and Kim. I will have pictures up soon in another post.

We also had a blast at Mall of America finally got to go to see the aquarium part of it. The sharks and fish were exciting to see and learn about. I  love zoo's and aquariums! We also did lots of shopping of course! I was really sick on the last day so we didn't get to do any put put golfing but we can always do that next time. I also found out Dean  Koontz has a movie out for Odd Thomas!!! I freaked out since we could have ordered it through the tv where we were staying... but no now I have to wait till it comes out on dvd and see if it is any good. Like I said I will have pictures up at a later time this week or weekend and I will also go into detail what I am planning to write for CampNaNoWriMo which will be starting April 1st.