Abducted by Dash and Lily and the Blog Hop!

Wow, today is going to be a really busy day for me and my blog! We have my #3 post in my week long marathon of posting which will be on Dash and Lily, then we have the Friday blog hop hosted by Crazy For Books, but also today is the start of my first giveaway!

To celebrate my one year anniversary I'm hosting a giveaway that begins today and runs through April 12th! All you have to do is enter the form on the link below and you will be entered to win a $15 gift certificate for Amazon! In order to enter you just have to follow either my blog, or my friend Kate's blog MIDNIGHTBOOKGIRL, or both. And if you add yourself as a new follower be sure to leave a comment so that I can return the favor and follow you as well.

In order to be abducted by my giveaway just click on the abduction below...









and for my answer to the blog hop and my review on Dash and Lily just keep reading!






The question for this week was;



"Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"



My answer: I usually have several going at once. Anywhere from 2 to 4. But there is always one of the books that tends to be more of a priority. Also, they aren't all the same media.

Like right now, I have 4 books I'm reading but 2 are audio books.

I have one that I listen to in my car (A Horse And His Boy by C.S. Lewis), then a book I read that I keep at work (The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy), then I have a book I read at home (Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins), and then another audio book that I listen to as I'm getting ready for bed (The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis).



Now for my review of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn...





I LOVED this book! I mean there were moments where I might have wavered slightly but all in all I LOVED it!!! It was one of my audio books but I promise you that in December I'm going to buy the actual book and reread it just in time for Christmas!

I know some of you might have some reservations about this one so here is my disclaimer: are you the type of person who when you watch one of those Hallmark Channel type movies on tv you find yourself thinking at times how full of holes the plot is and how terrible the acting is and how horrifyingly bad the dialogue is AND YET, at the end you find yourself filled with that warm fuzzy feeling in spite of it all?

If your answer is no, okay fine, truth be told you may not like this one.

If your answer is yes, What are you waiting for? Go read it now!

First of all, speaking as someone who LOVES books, I loved how much Dash and Lily LOVED books. The story spends a lot of time in The Strand bookstore in NYC so the authors had plenty of opportunities to make various references to books that I love, like the Godfather!

Also they made tons of references to Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger which is a book I have wanted to read for FOREVER! And Rachel and David included references to another book they wrote together; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. For example there is a scene where Lily is looking at the writing on the bathroom stall in some club and she reads the words that Norah had written. I thought that was pretty cool.

It is kind of funny though that these characters love books, and make lots of references to all kinds of books, and yet there was one failed reference to Hermonie Potter! At first it really annoyed me but then by the end of the book I had kind of forgotten about it so I guess it wasn't such a big deal.

I loved Dash, although he could be pretty pretentious at times. I also really loved his friend Boomer! At first I thought Dash's friendship with Boomer was odd but after a while Boomer really grew on me and by the end of the book he was one of my favorite characters.

Lily was a little too goody-two-shoes for my taste. At first she didn't really bother me and I thought it was funny to have her love Christmas so much in contrast towards Dash's perspective. But after awhile it really started to bother me that she was soooooooo naive. I mean she was supposed to be 16? and her family treated her like she was 10 and she acted like she was 5! And speaking of her family...OH MY GOD her brother was obnoxious!!!! When he got sick and was whining for Lily to come read to him, I rolled my eyes so hard I had a headache the rest of the night!

But all I want to say in conclusion is that, I think those of us out there in the book blogging community get so used to dissecting books that sometimes we forget to look at the book as a whole. Yes, if you take Dash and Lily apart you will find plenty of flaws, but there is an essence about this book that was intoxicating. A tone or vibe that had me smiling the whole time I was reading it (expect in the scenes with Lily's brother and then I was rolling my eyes to hard to smile). Yes, the dialogue was lacking in some spots and the characters weren't always relateable, but I wont deny the warm fuzzy feelings that pour out of this book!


Thanks for reading my post, be sure to enter for the giveaway! Have a great weekend and I will see you all tomorrow!

Abducted by The Duff

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE St. Patrick's Day!!! I think it is because I really only have one friend who loves St. Patrick's Day (and all things Irish) as much, if not more then I do. And she moved away a few years ago, so every St. Patrick's Day always feels like my very own holiday. Of course I know lots of people that enjoy St. Patrick's Day and like to go out and celebrate or whatever. But they don't go nuts like I go NUTS! Last year I put so many decorations up at my office that they would set off the motion detectors at night and I would have to drive all the way back into the city (45 min. drive) just to turn the alarm off!

Two words: Worth It!

This year since I'm at my new office I didn't put up ALL my decorations but I put up plenty! And today I have on lots of green. I love St. Patrick's Day because it celebrates short little Irish red heads! And guess what, I'm pretty short, and I've got a little Irish in me, and my hair....well, I think I've dyed it so much over the years that it has finally surrendered to a nice dark strawberry blond, so What Up!







Any way, I should really move on to my Post #2 in my week long marathon of posting!

Today I'm going to review The Duff because I left my notes for Dash and Lily at home, so I'll do that book tomorrow.



The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger.

This was yet, another book I listened to on audio from the library (yeah that is right I finally got that all important library card!) As far as the audio version goes, the girl who did the narration did a perfect job for being the voice of "the Duff" Bianca, and she wasn't bad at doing the voice for the main male character of Wesley, but for the other characters it was awful! Bianca has two best friends in the novel, Jessica and Kacey. And Jessica sounded like she was 12 and Kacey sounded like she was 40! Plus she would deliver some of the lines completely dead pan, with no emotion at all. Which was really only a problem for the lines like;

"What. is. up. bianca." jessica. said. excitedly.

Also, Bianca has a crush on this boy Toby Tucker, and the reader made him sound way to much like a boy off a 1950's television show, "Gee Golly, Sir". The more I thought about it, I realized that if I had been reading this on my own, I would have seen Toby as James Marsden in The Notebook.

Now as far as the actual novel goes...

There was A LOT of sexual content, and if I ever took a minute to think about how this was a YA novel and being read by really young girls, I might have been a little disturbed by that fact. But for the most part, I didn't really notice it and wasn't bothered by it. There was also quiet a few curse words, but it didn't bother me at all. The cursing in Nick and Norah bothered me because it was in moments where it wasn't needed and it would be a long stream of curse words. I mean it would just be pages of "fudge fudge fudge fudge shite" and it felt like it was for shock value, although I don't think it was intended that way. But in The Duff, the cursing felt natural and added because that is how people would talk, at least if I was in that situation I know that is how I would talk.

In The Duff, Bianca is a senior in high school who is going through, well, A LOT. Problems at home, with her parents getting a divorce, an absent mother, an ex-boyfriend who is back in town with his fiance, and a classmate "playboy" named Wesley, who has just informed her that when it comes to her and the group of her friends, she is The Duff. She is the one in the group that is uglier compared to her friends and the one guys will talk to in hopes of scoring points with the hotties of the group. And how does Bianca deal with all this stress? By distracting herself with sex, and sex with Wesley none the less. But, by distracting herself with sex, Bianca is actually just running away from her problems instead of dealing with them. And in the process begins to alienate herself from Jessica and Kacey and quickly becomes someone she does not recognize.

I really liked the dynamic between Kacey, Jessica, and Bianca. I really liked the friction and tension between Wesley and Bianca. I also really liked the little bit about female empowerment at the end. Trust me, this isn't giving anything away, but Bianca spends the whole book being haunted by Wesley calling her The Duff, and in the end the girls decide to lay claim to the word themselves and find power by stripping the word of it's power.

I would say my only complaint of this book was that Bianca would justify her actions and yet continue to judge and be disgusted by Wesley's actions. But as I said in my last post, that is reality. We often condemn people for their flaws while justifying our own.

Okay, that is all for now, I'm going to go make some coffee and have a bagel! I will see you tomorrow with my blog hop and review for Dash and Lily!

Stay safe and have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Abducted by Mansfield Park

Day #1 in my week long challenge of posting on my blog everyday, and I am ready!



We are going to start with a book I just finished last week, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

I was really excited to finish this novel because it is one of those books that has literally been sitting in my TBR pile for longer then I can remember so I am so glad to be done with it and get to move it to my official bookshelves.

I keep all my novels I haven't read on a different shelf from the ones I have. The books I have read tend to be a bit snobbish, they like to brag about how I gave them my undivided attention and some of them get such big heads that they forget about the time they spent on the TBR shelf. They tease and poke fun at the books I haven't read yet and make them doubt their ability to be an entertaining novel so it is best to keep them separated.

If I'm being completely honest, the only way I was able to get through Mansfield Park was to listen to the audio book, but I did follow along in my book so I was able to make notes and underline lines I did like.

Recently I had a conversation with my friend Tracy about the difference between reality and fiction. And how people can act a certain way in real life but when you have to read it in a novel it is infuriating. And I think that was the problem with Mansfield Park, it was way to realistic. Sure, at times, you want to slap Fanny for her devotion to Edmund, but in reality that is how girls act. Speaking from experience I can't tell you how many times I've fallen completely head over heels for a guy who never notices me. For that guy who you just no is completely perfect for you and if he would only take a second to consider you he would realize it too.

I am thinking of a specific boy in my past, whom I was completely infatuated with. Even in his imperfections I knew that we were perfect for each other. I knew that he only saw me as a friend, but I was certain that if he would just take another look and consider me, he would see it. But, like Fanny, I always loved him from afar. When we hung out together I never made any moves or flirted with him, I just waited patiently. And I know that my friends wanted to slap me out of it as much as I wanted to slap Fanny out of it.

Of course, because it was fiction, Fanny's story ends with a "happily ever after" and mine...well...moving on...

I love the movie Jane Austen's Book Club, and while reading Mansfield Park I couldn't help but think that I agreed with Grigg, what was so wrong with Henry Crawford anyway?

I loved Henry Crawford, but I think a lot of that was because I saw him as Barney on How I Met Your Mother. There is a scene on the first episode of the fourth season where Barney, the womanizer, is trying to admit that he has feelings for Robyn. And he goes on this spill about how he wants to hear about her day and tell her about his, smell her hair and hold her hand, blah blah blah, and the way that Neil Patrick Harris delivers those lines is hysterical.

And what made the connection for me was that in Mansfield Park there is a scene where Henry says about Fanny, "I only want her to look kindly on me, to give me smiles as well as blushes, to keep a chair for me by herself wherever we are, and be all animation when I take it and talk to her; to think as I think, be interested in all my possessions and pleasures, try to keep me longer at Mansfield, and feel when I go away that she shall be never happy again."

However, as much as I would have loved to see Fanny end up with Henry (had he not turned out to be what he turned out to be) I have also been in the position where your friends are forcing someone on you that you have no feelings for what so ever. So all of those scenes where Mary, Edmund, and Edmund's father, are really trying to force Henry on Fanny just made me feel awful for her.

All in all, I thought that Mansfield Park was a little on the boring side although it did start to come around towards the end. Maybe if Jane Austen had cut out the five chapters in the beginning that they spent picking a play to preform it could have gone faster. I mean seriously, FIVE chapters! Was that really necessary Jane?

I have only read 3 of Austen's novels and so far she is batting 1-2. I wasn't much of a fan of Sense and Sensibility either, but Pride and Prejudice I loved.

Okay, well, that is my first review for the week and I will see you tomorrow with either my review on Dash and Lily or The Duff. Have a great day!

Teaser Tuesday 3.15.2011

Well, it is pretty sad when you become so lazy that the only time you blog is when it is time to do another Teaser.

In order to make up for this I'm going to challenge myself to write and post a new review every day for the next week!

Wow, even just typing that I got chills! I hope I don't let you down. I don't have enough balls to pinky promise on it or anything. But you can consider it challenge accepted!

But since it is Tuesday and I do love doing my Teaser Tuesday I'm going to go ahead and post one.

Today I received two books I ordered off Amazon. One of which was a hard back edition of The Silver Chair which is the sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia and my favorite book ever since I was kid.

I also received A Question of Attraction by David Nicholls. I'm very excited to read this one since I LOVED One Day! (to read my review on One Day, co-authored with Midnight Book Girl click HERE)

So since, I just got it in the mail I figured I would use A Question of Attraction for my Teaser.





Now this is from page 240 which is a little further into the book then I usually go for a Teaser, but we are going to just roll with it today.


I turn, and walk quickly away without looking back, and I'm sure, I'm convinced, that I should feel good, and defiant, and strong about having finally stood up to him for once, but for some reason I don't. I just feel hot and hollow and stupid and sad, and I have no idea where to go.


And for a little more, here is the description on the back of the book:

The year is 1985. Brian Jackson, a working-class kid on full scholarship, has started his first term at university. He has a dark secret - a long-held, burning ambition to appear on the wildly popular British TV quiz show University Challenge - and now, finally, it seems the dream is about to become a reality. He's made the school team, and they've completed the qualifying rounds and are limbering up for their first televised match. (And, what's more, he's fallen head over heels for one of his teammates, the beautiful, brainy, and intimidatingly posh Alice Harbinson.) Life seems perfect and triumph inevitable -- but as his worl opens up, Brian learns that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday and I will see you tomorrow!

Abducted by Tuesday Teaser 3.8.2011

Oh man, I am the worst!

Okay here is what has been going on with me...

About two weeks ago I was offered a transfer at my job to a different location. It isn't technically a promotion but the new store makes more money then my original store (aka I would make more money at the new store) and the new store is the biggest store my company has in my area, so it comes with way more responsibility so it is a good thing that they wanted me for it! Not only is it more responsibility and more money, but it is also 10 minutes from my house as compared to the 45 minutes it took me to get to my other store, and with gas prices what they are...of course I took the transfer.

Last week was my last week at my old store, which meant i was really busy getting everything cleaned up for the new manager to come in. It is a really odd situation because usually when you are leaving a job you don't care how far you were in certain projects because once you're gone, you're gone! It's not like they can track you down and yell at you for not completing something. But since I was just transferring, if something wasn't completed it would look really bad.

Anyway, I spent last week cleaning up my old store and then I had a 3 day weekend before starting at my new store today! And you can tell already what a stellar job I'm doing since I've been here for an hour this morning and I'm sitting here working on my blog!

So, why did I start out this blog post by stating that I am the worst!?! Because even with my long weekend, I haven't touched a single book in a WEEK!!! NOT ONE!!! Seriously, if it wasn't for the fact that I've been listening to The Duff and Mansfield Park on audio my entire week would have been waisted!

I always seem to be less productive when I have all my days off together like that. I think it is because I keep thinking that I have so much time to read that I just keep putting things off.

But now, I work for the next four days straight so hopefully I will get some reading done. I have book club this weekend so I HAVE to finish that book. And I have a line of people waiting to borrow Anna and the French Kiss from me so I really need to finish that book as well. Plus, I checked out a Maeve Binchy novel from the library, due back March 23rd, so I have to finish that book too.

And since I left all my other books at home and only happened to have the Maeve Binchy novel still in my car, that is the one I'm going to use for my teaser today...




So here is a teaser from Maeve Binchy's "The Return Journey"

Instead of only doing a few lines, I'm going to use a paragraph from page 96. Now I haven't even started this book yet, it was merely a coincidence I flipped right to a page with a paragraph I can totally relate too...

"According to Maggie, Lena was not in love. She was suffering from an obsession, an infatuation. It wasn't healthy for someone who was twenty-six to develop this kind of crush on a man who didn't return it and wasn't even aware of it. And however unwise it might have been to have allowed a temporary fascination to take over, it was positively dangerous to let it continue the way Lena had. She stopped being twenty-six and became twenty-seven, and twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Soon she would be thirty years of age, and what had she to show for it?"

Thanks for joining me this Tuesday, I hope you are feeling teased right now! Have a great day, and I better get back to work!

Abducted by a Blog Hop 3.4.2011

Today is Friday and it is time to start Hopping!!!



Today's question was:

"Who's your all-time favorite book villain?"

For me that is a really tough question. I don't read a lot of books with true "villains" in them.


My gut instinct answer was the main bad guy in the book Relentless by Dean Koontz. Shearman something? any way that guy was crazy! The scene when the couple is sleeping and he cuts the power and then waits in a chair in their room for them to wake up. Then when they do and they are all disorientated from the dark he uses a taser gun on them!!! So scary!!!

I think I liked him because he really was scary and creepy, yet in a fun roller coaster kind of way!

President Snow from the Hunger Games is a really good villain too, but I didn't enjoy him at all, so it is hard for me to make him my "favorite". I think having a favorite villain implies that one some level you love to hate them. I didn't really feel that way with President Snow but I did with Shearman.

Happy Hopping to all those participating and to everyone else; have a great weekend!

Abducted by Teaser Tuesday

Well, here we are, another Tuesday!

Today is also March 1st! Which means that Maeve Binchy's new novel Minding Frankie comes out today! I pre-ordered it from Amazon back in December so I should be receiving it in the mail tomorrow! I plan on spending the week finishing Anna and the French Kiss followed by Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness) which is my book for book club, then on Saturday morning I'm going to take Minding Frankie to brunch at La Baguette! I'm very excited about this :o) I love making brunch dates with my books!

However, because I haven't received Minding Frankie yet and I don't have Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness) with me at work, I'm going to be forced to use Anna and the French Kiss as my book for my Teaser Tuesday.

Don't forget that Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading (I can't make that a link because my work computer has it blocked for some reason :( sorry MizB)

So here is my Teaser for Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

now I'm only on page 61 but I'm going to use a teaser from page 192



The room is silent. After a moment, I roll back over. I slowly, slowly stretch out my leg until my foot brushes his ankle. His intake of breath is sharp. And then I smile, because I know he can't see my expression through the darkness.



Oooh steamy!!!

Well, I better get back to work now so I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!