Friday Book Blog Hop #1

This hop is hosted by Jen from Crazy for Books, Thanks Jen!

This weeks question:

How long does it take you to read a book?

Me - Well, it depends. Some books I can read within a few hours. Others, a day, a few days, or longer. Majority of books I read over a couple of days, mainly due to other commitments, with only a few hours at night to read. If a book completely absords me, I'll complete it quicker, those that don't drag out longer. SOme books I'll even put aside for a while because it takes too long to get through it, and I'd prefer to put it aside rather than have it as a DNF. Sometimes a break is all it needs.

Needles to say, it also depends on my mood when I select what to read. :)

So, what about you?

WWW Wednesdays (1)

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

I finished Divergent and had to know what was going to happen to Tris so I started this straight after. Its good, but not as good as Divergent was. I'll be finished today with it though, I only have 10% to go. 

What did you recently finish reading?

Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I really enjoyed this book and my review is posted here on my blog (and on Goodreads). 

What do you think you’ll read next?

This is hard to answer because every time I think I'm going to read something I end up reading something else. I did pick up 2 books from the library today so I might read them, but I have a couple (hundred) that I can pick here as well. Mostly like I'll read one of these:

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Exile by Rebecca Lim

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Fated by Alyson Noel

City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare

In other words, I will probably read anything that will take my fancy when the time comes! :D

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here. Thanks! 

Teaser Tuesdays (1)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

"I asked you not to do this. You made your decision. These are the repercussions." 

P. 226 ,"Insurgent" by Veronica Roth 

July 2012 Releases

July 2012 Releases

Ok so some of these came out last week and I'm sorry I didn't have this up at the beginning of last week. I was busy switching over from my previous blog to this one, because this one is so much better and accepts java script. :) 


Anyway, on to this months new releases. Please click the book for a description :) 

Comment on what releases you are looking forward to this month or for August!






NB: Most of these books, well actually all of them except Emily Giffin's 'Where we belong', are Young Adult books. 'Where we belong' is women fiction/chick lit. I must apologise as I'd like to have put some details with all the books however I have been fighting with the computer for the past 3 hours to get this far. Everyone else in this house has gone to bed already, but there was no way I could leave it as a draft. It wasn't going to beat me! If anyone has some idea on how to do it without the drama I have experience, your knowledge will be greatly appreciated. 

Divergent (Divergent #1)

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011

Genre: Young Adult - Post Apocalyptic, Action/Adventure

★★★★

Read from June 29 to July 04, 2012

I really enjoyed this book and I've been thinking about this review for a couple of days but I'm none the wiser about what to say.

In a dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions. Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (bravery), Amity (peacefulness), and Erudite (intelligence).
Once a year all 16 year olds need to select which faction they wish to live in for the rest of their lives. Once selected they go through an initiation with there new faction. If unsuccessful they live amongst the factionless.
Our protagonist Beatrice is from Abnegation but doesn't feel she belongs there because she isn't selfless enough. She has a difficult choice but chooses to go to Dauntless (and have a name change to Tris) who have a highly competitive initiation - which Beatrice does well in ;)
The characters are well defined with Tris being a strong, interesting lead.
After the initiation the story takes an interesting twist.
Divergent is well written, and filled with action.
My challenge with writing this review is that although I really liked it, and wanted to read it, I also had no problem putting it down and not picking it back up again until I had time, which you can see by how long it took me to read it. Normally if I really like a book I have trouble putting it down. That being said I have started Insurgent straight after and I know it is because I want to know what happened to Tris.
Either way, I'd recommend this to any dystopian fan to read.

Storm (Elementals #1)

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

★★★★★

Read from June 24 to 27, 2012

Firstly I'd like to say that its a rare book that completely absorbs me to the point of losing track of time and having an inability to put it down.

This was one of those books.
I have read many books that I loved and was absorbed in, but when reading into the night I was always able to put them down and go to sleep when the hour was getting too late.
I could not put this down. When I started reading last night I still had over 55% to read. I finished reading it at 1:30am.

This is a well written, interesting and brilliant story. The characters are unique with realistic personalities and behaviours, similar to real teenagers.

Becca has guts. She's not a push over despite her dark secret which does make her reserved in her relationships with Chris and Hunter.

I enjoyed all the characters, who had their own personality quirks, and you could feel the connections between them throughout the book.

There were fights and/or storms in pretty much all chapters - the brothers fought with everyone. I don't think it was over done though as it didn't feel forced. The story just flowed.

While it was a little predictable the story was excellent - a wonderful idea and fantastically created.

Looking forward to the next in the series. :)

Book Giveaways & Other Great Things

I have retweeted a couple of these things but for those that missed it here it is again.

Courtney Summers is giving away a signed finished copy of This Is Not A Test. Go here to enter: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Courtney-Summers/145262370138

Marissa Meyer has a Blog Highlights: The Cinder Blog Tour: http://www.marissameyer.com/blogtype/blog-highlights-the-cinder-blog-tour/

Spinebreakers have a chance to win a tin of personalised heart biscuits from Biscuiteers and a copy of The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead. http://www.spinebreakers.co.uk/competitions/win-a-tin-of-personalised-heart-biscuits-from-biscuiteers-and-a-copy-of-the-golden-lily/

Paranormal Fantasy Books Facebook page is going to give away to one lucky fan a copy of 'Hounded' by Kevin Hearne. Go here to enter: https://www.facebook.com/ParanormalFantasyBooks/posts/225233437598159

Good luck!