BBAW 2011: Readers

This week is book blogger appreciation week!  If you want to check out more visit here.  Today we're talking about readers and how they have influenced our blogging, reviewing, and personal reading habits.  There's a series of questions that are really awesome, so I thought I'd share my opinions as well.

Has book blogging changed the way you read?

YES!  I used to read all of the time, but once I got into college my reading for fun really tapered off in favor of reading text books, studying for tests, and drinking (hey I was in college what did you expect lol).  However once I graduated and moved away from all of my friends to live on my own I fell back in love with reading. 

I didn't get really into reading though until I discovered the book vlogging community on youtube.  It all started with me watching book videos about Battle Royale and The Hunger Games.  I had been a fan of the Battle Royale movie for years, so I decided I wanted to read the books and make my own judgements.  Then I started finding different channels that introduced me to new books and it took off from there.  I had been using goodreads for a few months already, but it wasn't until I started being more active on youtube that I figured out the awesomeness of that site.

Now because I blog and vlog about books I find myself reading a much greater variety of books and with a lot more frequency.  I feel like I need to catch up because I took five years off and now there are so many amazing books I need to read.

Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging?

Oh my gosh yes!  I think that being active in the online book community has really introduced me to new books.  Goodreads is my number one source for new reading material, but I also rely heavily on youtube reviews and hauls.  Pretty much every book I've reviewed on here I wouldn't have heard of if it weren't for youtube.  Before I got involved in this community I didn't really read YA beyond Harry Potter and I know I wouldn't have started if I hadn't met some awesome people.

How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits?

Holy hell.  My book buying habits are getting out of hand.  The wonderful world of book blogging introduced me to an amazing store called Half Price Books.  Oh man.  I spend WAAAYYY to much time in there.  Since I've started blogging I've probably bought 500 books.  I haven't read them all, but I plan on reading them, so that has to count for something right?  I would love to get an e-reader so I can sell some physical books and get a little more space in my apartment.

Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging?  

I totally have!  I've met some amazing people because I started blogging.  I hope to continue to grow my blog and youtube channel and eventually go to BEA and other conventions.  I have started to go to book signings, but very few are in Ohio.  I drove to Indiana to a John Green signing though, and that was sweet.  I have made some awesome friends and I hope to continue to make more in the future. 

I wanted to take a moment and thank all of the authors, bloggers, and readers that make this community so special.  I have felt so welcomed since I started blogging a few months ago, and I really love everyone I have met.  Bloggers have made a difference, both in the publishing world and in my life.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Published December 2, 2010 by Dutton
4 Stars

Goodreads Review

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

Review:  Anna and the French Kiss is just a cute story.  It's a story about a girl who is thrown into a completely new setting where she is exposed to new experiences, meets new people, and even falls in love.

I really enjoyed this story.  The flirtatious interaction between Anna and Etienne was just adorable and so much fun to read.  The romance is certainly the strong point in this book, and it's done very well.  The character interactions and development were very well done as well.  I thought all of the characters were relate able and believable.  No one was completely bad and no one was perfect either, which I really appreciated.  Finally I LOVED the setting.  I've never been to the Paris part of France (I have been to the Riviera area like Toulon and Nice) and Anna and the French Kiss really made me want to travel there.  Everything was described so well I thought I was actually there.  I just wanted to stroll down the street visiting various monuments while eating a delicious baguette. 

My only real criticism has nothing to really do with the book or the writing, but just my general frustration with the characters themselves.  I think that if they had all just sat down and talked a lot of the drama could have been avoided.  I kept thinking, oh my gosh, why didn't you just TELL her/him/them!?  Also, I know a lot of people are head over heels for St. Claire, but I was not attracted to him.  His description was not my type and the picture of him in my head wasn't attractive, so I didn't have that attraction to him like most people.  I think that if I knew Etienne in real life I wouldn't have been attracted to him or been friends with him.

On the other hand, I LOVED Anna.  I loved her love for old movies, we could have totally bonded over that.  I am a movie freak too and it would be so much fun to have a movie marathon with Anna.  She goes through a lot of drama and a lot of really crappy things happen to her, but I loved reading about her growing as a person and learning from her mistakes.  She is not a perfect person, and I can really relate to her. 

Overall, Anna and the French Kiss is an adorable book set in the romantic streets of Paris.  It's a perfect light romance that is sure to charm and become a favorite.

Waiting on Wednesday 9/14/2011

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at breaking the spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Faerie Ring
by Kiki Hamilton
Publication Date: 9/27/2011 (my birthday!!!)

Debut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger. 

The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.
Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.
Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…

Dead Rules by Randy Russell + Giveaway! (CLOSED)

Published June 21, 2011 by HarperTeen - ARC
2 Stars
DAC 2011

Goodreads Review
Till death
Jana Webster and Michael Haynes were in love. They were destined to be together forever.
Do
But Jana's destiny was fatally flawed. And now she's in Dead School, where Mars Dreamcote lurks in the back of the classroom, with his beguiling blue eyes, mysterious smile, and irresistibly warm touch.
Us
Michael and Jana were incomplete without each other. There was no room for Mars in Jana's life—or death—story. Jana was sure Michael would rush to her side soon.
Part
But things aren't going according to Jana's plan. So Jana decides to do whatever it takes to make her dreams come true—no matter what rules she has to break.

Review:  Dead rules is an interesting take on life after death for teenagers, but instead of focusing on the interesting setting and rules of being dead, Dead Rules gets stuck on a love triangle that borders (ok lands squarely) on obsession. 

I have mixed feelings about this book.  I really liked the setting and the interesting spin on the afterlife.  It has Christian undertones but nothing specific so it can be appreciated by people of different faiths.  I liked the set up for the school and the mystery surrounding it, but we never really learned the truth behind the mystery, nor do we ever really learn the rules of the different classes of students.  We learn what makes a person in one class verses another, but none of the real rules associated with them.  The whole mystery of the book is not explained enough for my liking. 

The best part of the book was Mars and Waytt.  They were the only characters that experienced any growth and with which I felt any connection even though they were the stereotypical paranormal romance "sexy bad boy" and "misunderstood bff".  I loved their history that was revealed and how they learned from each other.  I think the fact that Mars was physically perfect while Wyatt was seriously disfigured added an interesting dynamic to their relationship.  True bromance. 

The biggest problem for me were all of the other characters, and the female characters in particular.  While some characters have interesting development, most are one dimensional fillers.  The side girl characters only had one aspect to their personality which mostly depended on the state of their bodies after their death.  The main character was just scary, and not in a good way.  This part might get a tiny bit spoilery, but not too much.  Jana is in love with her boyfriend who is still alive and on earth.  And by love, I mean obsessed.  Jana is crazy and seems very selfish.  She says that Michael "completes her" and "makes her a better version of herself."  WHAT!?  That is not love, that is obsession, and it is not healthy as a human or a ghost.  She has such an obsessive "love" for Michael that she wants to kill him so they can be together.  Again I say that is NOT love.  I'm sorry, but if I was dead KILLING MY BOYFRIEND would NOT be the solution to my problems.  If Jana had learned that she wanted Michael to live a long and happy life and THAT was true love, then I would have been ok with it, but THAT NEVER HAPPENS.  She just jumps to the next guy.  Seriously, messed up. 

Overall Dead Rules is a paranormal romance that had a lot of potential to be a very exciting mystery but fell short because it was stuck on the love triangle aspect of the story.  Completely ineffective satire.

The giveaway is now closed, congratulations to MrRobirabbit!

Teaser Tuesday 9/13/11

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 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author so others can add the book to their TBR list

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

A better choice than Janine Hathaway?  Not likely.  Before Dimitri, my mother had been the gold standard by which I measured all badassedness. 

Top Ten Tuesday 9/13/2011: Top Ten Books I Read because of Another Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish.  We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new top ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers.  Everyone is welcome to join.  All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating.  If you don't have a blog, just post your answers in the comments.

TOP TEN BOOKS I READ BECAUSE OF ANOTHER BLOGGER

Sidenote:  I have a youtube channel and thats where I get most of my book recommendations from.  I'll post links to the channels but if you know if these users also have a blog, please let me know and I'll post links to that as well.  Also some of these books I haven't read yet but I'm really excited to so I've included them as well.

1. Paper Towns by John Green, recommended by Leanne at LeannJaseyRae:  This was one of the first book reviews I watched on youtube and was my first YA read.  This was what first got me started in book blogging and vlogging.
2. Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, recommended by pretty much everyone:  I really love this series and I would have totally passed it up based on the crappy cover art and really lame title, but because EVERYONE was freaking out over how good this series was I decided to give it a go.  I really love it and I'm really glad I gave it a try.
3. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh, recommended (again) by Leanne at LeanneJaseyRae:  She was the first person I watched on youtube and what she said about Nevermore really intrigued me.  I really loved this book and I can't wait to read the second book Enshadowed!
4. Possess by Gretchen McNeil, recommended by everyone at YARebels:  Gretchen is actually one of the contributors to the YARebels channel and I really enjoyed her vlogs.  I actually got an ARC of the book but I liked it so much I actually purchased a hardcover copy.
5. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, recommended by Farrah at I Eat Words (youtube): I haven't actually read this yet but I have it pre-ordered because of her glowing review.  I'm really excited to read this and can't wait for it to come out.
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusuak, recommended by lots of people on goodreads:  I kept seeing The Book Thief all over goodreads when I first joined so I decided to read it and I'm so glad I did.  This is one of my favorite WWII books and is very touching and unbiased.
7. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, recommended by Goddess Leonie at Goddess Guidebook:  This is an adult historical religious fiction about Jacob and his twelve sons but told from the point of view of his four wives and only daughter.  It's an amazing read for anyone interested in women's spirituality.
8. Miss Peregrine's Home for Pecular Children by Ransom Riggs, recommended by Danny Marks at dannymarksya, John Green at vlogbrothers and Ransom Riggs at ransriggs:  I love the presentation of this book with the photos and beautiful colored pages.  I love Danny Marks and I will pretty much read anything he recommends.  Also I discovered Ransom Riggs's youtube channel and he is amazing.  I LOVE his videos, they are so beautiful and really well done.  Some of them inspired me on my own creative projects and others moved me to tears.
9. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, recommended by Martha at ILoveReading65:  Yeah so in addition to pretty much everyone loving this series, Martha in particular seems to freak out over this book so I thought I'd better read it lol.
10. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, recommended by bookishxbelle formerly known as beautyisntskindeep:  I haven't read these yet but I really enjoy her videos and this is her favorite series so I'm excited to read it!

Off the shelf #5

  Hello everyone and welcome to Off the Shelf!  This is my way of sharing any new books I receive or buy as well as let you all know what my reading plans are for the week and what I hope to get off my TBR shelf.

Finished Reading:

Dead Rules by Randy Russell

Currently Reading:

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Up Next:

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa