Thursday, June 26, 2014

Bookish Mad Libs #3 - Peter Pan


I participate in a website called "Swap-Bot". Basically, you can sign up to swap things with other people - letters, stickers, handmade items, anything you can think of, you can swap. There are also groups on swap-bot that you can join with themes. These groups have officers in them who host swaps based on the theme of the group. 

One of the groups I am in, is called Carpe Librum and is all about books and bookish things. A swapper by the name of smadronia (one of the founder of Carpe Librum) came up with the idea to host a swap for a book themed mad-libs. I love the idea and I wanted to create a book-related mad libs meme. So if you want to play along, feel free to pick out your words and then make a post on your blog, or in the comments if you prefer, with what you came up with.

This week's theme is Cinderella.
Here is the list of words.

1. A Place
2. Verb
3. Noun
4. Verb
5. Person in Room (Female)
6. Verb ending in "ING"
7. Part of Body
8. Noun
9. Verb
10. Adverb
11. Noun
12. Noun
13. Silly Word
14. Noun
15. Adjective
16. Adverb
17. Part of Body
18. Verb

Here is the Mad-lib. Replace each number with your word for that number:

Peter Pan by J M Barrie
PEter Pan flew into (the) _____1_____ to find his shadow. When he found it, Peter tried to _____2_____ it back on with a bar of _____3_____! When that didn't work, he began to _____4_____, waking up _____5_____.
"Boy," she said, "Why are you _____6_____?"
Peter stood up and bowed at the _____7_____. "Hello, I'm Peter Pan. I can't get my _____8_____to stick on," he said.
"You can't _____9_____ it on with soap," Wendy said _____10_____. "You need to sew it on with needle and _____11_____. Here, let me."
Quick as a/an _____12_____, she sewed the shadow back on.
Peter let out a loud "_____13_____!" and danced around the room, happy as a/an _____14_____. "Oh, I am _____15_____!" he crowed.
"Peter, may I give you a kiss?" Wendy asked him, smiling _____16_____.
Peter held out his _____17_____, waiting for her to hand it to him.
"Surely you know what a/an _____18_____ is?" she said.
"I shall know once you give it to me," Peter replied.

Here's what I came up with:
Peter Pan by J M Barrie
PEter Pan flew into (the) HOME to find his shadow. When he found it, Peter tried to RUN it back on with a bar of SHOE! When that didn't work, he began to PRANCE, waking up ZOEY.
"Boy," she said, "Why are you GALLOPING?"
Peter stood up and bowed at the PINKY. "Hello, I'm Peter Pan. I can't get my FORESTto stick on," he said.
"You can't SWIM it on with soap," Wendy said SURPRISINGLY. "You need to sew it on with needle and LAMPSHADE. Here, let me."
Quick as a/an PIANO, she sewed the shadow back on.
Peter let out a loud "POOF!" and danced around the room, happy as a/an TELEPHONE. "Oh, I am GLITTERY!" he crowed.
"Peter, may I give you a kiss?" Wendy asked him, smiling TENDERLY.
Peter held out his WRIST, waiting for her to hand it to him.
"Surely you know what a/an TUMBLE is?" she said.
"I shall know once you give it to me," Peter replied.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Taking Review

The Taking (The Taking, #1)

TITLE: The Taking
AUTHOR: Kimberly Derting
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 4/29/2014
PAGES: 368
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a dumpster at the Gas 'n' Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of deja vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed...yet she hasn't aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra's old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, she turns to Tyler, her boyfriend's annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover there are others life her who have been taken...and returned.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I went into this book not knowing anything about it. I didn't read the summary because I wanted to be surprised, but I had heard that it might have something to do with aliens, so I was intrigued. This book was really good and had me reading whenever I had free time to see what was going on and what was going to happen. The story moves along very nicely and closer to the end we start to find out more about what it actually going on. 

The ending left everything completely open for the sequel and I cannot wait to see what comes next. I'm left with some questions and I am ready to find out where Kimberly takes the story.

CHARACTERS: Kyra and Tyler are great together. They feel so natural and I really like that. I'm excited to learn more about the characters as the series continues, specifically Kyra's dad and I'd also like to get to know Kyra's little brother more. 

COVER: The cover is awesome. It ties in with the book perfectly. I love the fireflies that make up the title.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Great Review

Great

TITLE: Great
AUTHOR: Sara Benincasa
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 4/8/2014
PAGES: 272
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: Naomi Rye usually dreads spending the summer with her socialite mother in East Hampton. She sticks out like a sore thumb with her Chicago accent and her Doc Martens. But loner Naomi finds herself captivated by her mysterious next door neighbor, Jacinta. Only, Jacinta has her own reasons for drawing close to Naomi, and they include the beautiful and untouchable senator's daughter, Delilah Fairweather.

As the summer days slip by, Naomi discovers that Jacinta's carefully constructed world is hiding something huge, a secret that could undo everything. And Naomi must decide how far she is willing to be pulled into this web of lies and deception before she is unable to escape.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I heard that this was a retelling of The Great Gatsby. It's been a really long time since I read The Great Gatsby (back in high school), but I saw the newest movie somewhat recently, so that's what I was remembering when I was coming the stories. I definitely see the parallels between the two, but the author put her own spin on it. 

Overall, this was a good book, but not spectacular. The first half of the book was pretty slow moving and I was wondering if the story was every going to go anywhere. But it does pick up during the second half as things finally start to happen.

CHARACTERS: I had a really hard time actually caring about any of the characters in this book. I'm not sure why, I just felt like they all made really dumb decisions and didn't really act in the best interest of anyone, including themselves. The character that I liked the most was Jacinta. She seemed like she was sweet and was genuinely interested in other people and how they were doing.

COVER: I'm drawn to the cover. I don't normally like covers with faces on them, but for some reason this one caught my attention. Maybe it's because the girl looks like Taylor Swift. I also really love the title font.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

A-Z Survey

This next post is going to be for a Survey Swap I am participating in on Swap-Bot. The swap was put together by the user ImzadiRose. She found the survey from Perpetual Page Turner. Here's the questions and my answers:

A: Author You've Read The Most Books From: According to Goodreads, my most read author is Ann M. Martin, which makes sense as I've read a ton of the Baby Sitter's Club books when I was younger. (My Number 2 is Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of the Boxcar Children).

B: Best Sequel Ever: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. (Sequel to The Hunger Games)

C: Currently Reading: Soul Screamers Vol. 1 by Rachel Vincent (Bind up of My Soul to Lose, My Soul to Take, My Soul to Save). The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Alcatraz Escape Files by The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

D: Drink Of Choice While Reading: I don't really have one, but if I have to choose I guess I'd say hot chocolate or chocolate milk.

E: E-Reader or Physical Book?: I have a Nook, but I very rarely read it. I like the feel of a physical book and I also love how pretty my books look on a bookshelf. I'm saving for an ipad (it will probably take a really long time) so that I can have both the Nook and Kindle apps to read both.

F: Fictional Character You Would Have Actually Dated In Highschool: I didn't date in high school.

G: Glad You Gave This Book a Chance: The Giver by Lois Lowry. It's been out forever and I never read it, so I'm glad I finally decided to give it a try because I loved it.

H: Hidden Gem Book: Stained by Cheryl Rainfield. I don't think it's a very well known book, but I loved it and gave it 5 stars!

I: Important Moment in Your Reading Life: More like moments. When my mom would read to me on the couch. She got me interested in books and from then on I couldn't stop reading.

J: Just Finished: The Taking by Kimberly Derting.

K: Kinds of Books You Won't Read: Fiction books about trees. I'm not a huge fan of strictly science fiction books.

L: Longest Book You Read: Under the Dome by Stephen King at 1,074 pages.

M: Major Book Hangover Because Of: Killer Instinct by S.E. Green. That book twisted and chewed up my mind. I loved it.

N: Number of Bookcases You Own: Currently only one, that has 5 shelves. I get to use the top 3 shelves and my boyfriend gets the bottom 2. The rest of my books are in boxes (tons and tons of boxes). We are moving soon and after our move, we will be making another move into our first house, so I am planning on having a small library set up somewhere for all of my books!

O: One Book You Have Read Multiple Times: I don't reread my books that much. I usually reread them if there is a movie coming out and I want to refresh myself on the story line before I see the movie. My last reread was about a year ago of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee because I hadn't read it since high school and won a copy in a giveaway.

P: Preferred Place to Read: I usually read in bed before I go to sleep, but during the day I love reading on the couch with all my cozy blankets and sometimes a cat. :)

Q: Quote That You Like From a Book You've Read: "Real life is only ever just real life. Messy. What it means depends on how you look at it. The only thing you've got to do is find a way to live there." ~Patrick Ness, More Than This

R: Reading Regret: I always regret when I decide to give a book a chance and end up forcing myself to read the whole thing even if I'm not enjoying it. There's too many good books out there that I could have read instead!

S: Series You Started and Need to Finish: The Champion series by Marie Lu. I read the first one and enjoyed it. I have the box set. I just have to finish my backlog of review books so I can get back into the series again.

T: Three of Your All-Time Favorite Books: A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. Swan Song by Robert McCammon.

U: Unapologetic Fangirl For: Harry Potter. I started the series in 6th grade when it first came out and one of my teachers read it to my class. From then I was hooked and bought each book on its release day. I still currently listen to podcasts about the series and I'm hoping to have a Harry Potter marathon soon where I read each book and then follow it up with its movie.

V: Very Excited For This Release More Than All Others: I'm going to say Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (#3 in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series). It's already out, but I absolutely loved the first book in the series. I haven't read the second one yet, but I need to get my hands on a copy of the second and third so I can marathon all 3.

W: Worst Bookish Habit: Stocking up on all of the Kindle freebies that I get e-mailed to me and then never reading them.

X: X Marks the Spot. Start At The Top Left Of Your Shelf And Pick the 27th Book: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Y: Your Latest Book Purchase: A Barnes and Noble Leather bound Classic edition of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and a bind up of the the first five novels of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Z: ZZZ-Snatcher Book: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn. This book was so good that I had to stay up late to find out what was going to happen.



Friday, June 20, 2014

Tease Review

Tease

TITLE: Tease
AUTHOR: Amanda Maciel
PUBLISHER: Balzer Bray
PUBLICATION DATE: 4/29/2014
PAGES: 336
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: Emma Putnam is dead, and it's all Sara Wharton's fault.

At least, that's what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that lead to Emma's shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who's ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media.

In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment--and ultimately consider her role in an undeniable tragedy. And she'll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Going into this book, I had no idea what it was about, other than there were bullies involved somehow. I feel bad for saying this, but I was just unimpressed with this book. There are so many stories about kids being bullied, but we don't really see the side of the bully very often. I feel like this book could have done so much more. It could have gone deeper into the lives of bullies and what has happened to them to make them feel the need to bully others. I honestly feel like nothing was accomplished during this book. There was no character growth and no resolution in my eyes.

CHARACTERS: The main character in this book made me so angry. The whole time, she didn't think she was doing anything wrong and she blamed the girl they were bullying for everything. Emma (the girl being bullied) did some things she shouldn't have, but Sara (the main character) and her friend Brielle just took things way too far. I really didn't like Brielle's character. She was so manipulative.

COVER: I fell in love with this cover. It's so shiny and beautiful. It definitely grabbed my attention and made me want to read the book. 

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

May Reading Update


In May, all of the books that I read counted towards my 2014 "Real" Book Challenge. I read 9 books bringing my total count for the challenge to 38 books and my total count for books read this year to 39.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1)The Gospel of WinterThe Here and NowKiller  InstinctSince You've Been GoneLegend (Legend, #1)Tuck EverlastingRain (Paper Gods, #2)Tease