Comic Review- Walking Dead Issue #2

A while back I read the first issue of the comic book Walking Dead and really enjoyed it. So I sought out the second issue and enjoyed it just as much. In this second issue Rick runs out of gas and comes upon a horse. Like a cowboy he rides it into Atlanta only to find that Atlanta has become over-run with with the dead. They begin to attack him and his horse eventually overtaking and killing his horse. He meets up with another man who helps him escape Atlanta and joins up with a camp of other survivors. The best part is in the end (spoiler time) he meets back up with his wife and son who he has been searching for. It is a wonderful moment. I've seen the tv show so I know where things are headed but I still am really enjoying the comics. They are well drawn and what takes an hour on TV they convey in a few short pages. I again give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Get Literati E-Reader for less than $40

I work at Bed Bath and Beyond and have been eying up the Sharper Image Literati. Well it has just gone on sale for $40! If you use a 20% off coupon you can get it for $32 plus tax....but wait there is more. Buy it today and there is a mail-in rebate for $20 back. The key here is that you need to buy it today 1/31 because the rebate ends today. Make sure you ask for a rebate form and rebate receipt. So that would mean you can get yourself an e-reader for just $12!

Follow Us Monday

Welcome to Follow Us Monday Morning - theMonday blog hop and Google friend follow Hosted by Being Frugal and Making it Work and Frugality Is Free. This is the place where we casually meet and greet, have a little conversation and expand our blogging networks.

Question of the Week

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Question of the Week: Are you planning on going on vacation in 2011? Are you saving up already?

My Answer: I don't have any plans this year...I'm what you would call poor. I would like to save up some money so we could spend a day or two down the shore (I'm from Jersey so yes it would be the Jersey shore). But honestly at the moment I don't foresee it. I would like in the next 5 years to be able to go out to Vegas again. Hubby and I got married there (real wedding, not an Elvis one) and it would be nice to have a mini 2nd honeymoon there.  But till we make a couple thousand more a year no vacations for us.

Fairy Tale Friday- Loving Laili

So for this weeks fairytale I decided to continue my world tour and traveled to India for this fairy tale. Loving Laili is a very strange tale. Khuda (whom I gather is a god of some sort) sent an angel to Laili and she is told she is to marry the Prince Majnun. She becomes obsessed and constantly says,  "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun.". Eventually Majnun comes to her land but he leaves before she can marry him. For 12 years she continues to obsess and lament for her beloved Majnun. She eventually comes upon an angel who tells her to go to a river and jump into the belly of a large fish who will swim her to her Majnun. She spends another 12 years inside of the Rohu fish and has lost all of her teeth and becomes very ugly. All it takes is the touch of her beloved Majnun and in a fire she dissolves back in to her beautiful young self and Majnun becomes young again too. They marry and spend many happy years together when Khuda decides to test Majnun. He wants to see if the Prince will still love Laili if she is dead. There are a number such tests that happen before they finally are allowed to be together and happy.  It is a very long tale but for the most part enjoyable. What I enjoyed the most was that Laili besides her obsession is very smart and wise whereas Majnun just comes off as a whiny oaf. It is amazing how much stronger and grounded Laili is. But that most likely has to do with all of the trials she goes through. She really has some horrible things happen to her while Majnun does not experience nearly close to what she does. I give this strange tale 2 and half out of 5 stars. Would have been higher but Majnun really ticked me off LOL

If you would like to join in on the Fairy Tales fun hop on over to CarolsNotebook and leave a comment on what Fairy Tale you read this week. Next week I'm going to hop to America and do a folk tale. I'm thinking Johnny Appleseed. What do you think?

Challenges Fullfilled
Fairy Tale

Review- Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling

I have read this book more than any other book. I've read it so many times that I have lost count and my first copy of the book fell apart. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned how I first came to read the Harry Potter books and that I was extremely reluctant (pigheaded really) about reading them. Now I read them all in row every couple of years. They mean a lot to me. They speak a lot to that little girl still inside of me. The one who always wanted to fit in but never did. The little girl who just wished she could fly away and start somewhere else fresh because she just knew that there was somewhere where she would fit in. But of course there was no Hogwarts for me.

This time around I thought it would be fun to read it along with the audio version. I remember as a little girl when I was first starting to read placing orders through Scholastic Books for those books that came with cassette tapes. The only one I really remember was Simple Simon. I wore out the tape. It really was interesting and different to read Harry Potter while listening to the wonderful Stephen Fry (who really just might be God himself) voicing the story. It really did change the pacing of my reading and conjured up different images than I normally would imagine as I would read it.But of course as always it was delightful read and I imagined myself as the 4'th friend to Harry, Hermione, and Ron joining in with them on their adventure and grumbling and despising Snape all over again. I rate the book 5 out 5 stars.

Challenges Fullfilled
KickAss Heroine (Hermione kicks ass!)
TwentyEleven - Back in the Day
Hogwarts Reading 
Harry Potter 2011 Challenge

Interview with Author Shaun Jeffrey

Shaun Jeffrey was brought up in a house in a cemetery, so it was only natural for his prose to stray towards the dark side when he started writing. He has had three novels published, 'The Kult', 'Deadfall' and 'Evilution, and one collection of short stories, 'Voyeurs of Death'. Among his other writing credits are short stories published in Cemetery Dance, Surreal Magazine, Dark Discoveries and Shadowed Realms. The Kult was optioned for film by Gharial Productions. To read my review of his novella Dead Man's Eye please go here. To visit his website or sign up for his newsletter visit here

I know that you grew up in a house in a cemetery (how Addams Family). Did you ever have a weird or scary experience as you played around in the graveyard?

Actually, despite the morbid images that living in a cemetery conjures up, it’s very peaceful. There’s no noise from the neighbours, and it’s popular too, because everyone’s dying to get in. OK, I know, bad jokes. But seriously it is a peaceful environment, and I never had any weird or scary experiences, although my granddad (the caretaker whom we lived with there) did leave me down the bottom of a grave he’d been digging as a joke. Is it any wonder I turned out like I did?

Your book The Kult is being made in to a movie. How were you approached about it and just how awesome does it feel for that to happen?

The publisher sold the movie rights. I just had to green light the deal. As you can imagine, I was over the moon and celebrated with a beer or five.

I know when you traveled to the US for a book signing and to see some of the film being shot that you visited Denny's a lot. What was your favorite item to order? Also, did you visit any other eateries that you really enjoyed?

Yes, I was lucky enough to fly out to the US to see some of the filming. It was an awesome experience. Denny’s was great. It’s more difficult for me, because I’m vegetarian, so I stuck to the vege burger on the menu, but to be honest, it was nicer than the burgers I can get over here, which fast food wise are mainly from McDonalds (I was surprised to see that although McD do vege burgers here in the UK, they don’t do them in the US). I also couldn’t believe how many fast food joints there were in the US. Every other premises seemed to sell food so I was spoiled for choice.  

Was America what you pictured it to be?

I had a great time while I was there. The people where I stayed in San Diego were really friendly and upbeat, which makes a change from the downtrodden attitude here in the UK. I guess that’s not representative of the whole of the US, but it was an eye opener. My visit also took me to LA and Las Vegas, which were pretty much as I imagined them to be from seeing them on films etc, but without the car chases and sadly no Terminators appeared while in LA.

Lastly, a little birdie told me that if someone signs up for your newsletter they can get a copy of Dead Man's Eye from Smashwords. Any truth to that and if so how long do people have to sign up to get a copy?

Yes, I’ll never be rich. Lol. If people sign up to the newsletter on my website, they receive a code to download Dead Man’s Eye for free from Smashwords. The offer will remain indefinitely, or until I decide otherwise, but it will be there for a long while yet I imagine. But for anyone who wants to purchase it and put food on my table, I priced it low at $1.99 at Smashwords and on Amazon for the Kindle.

Review- Dead Man's Eye by Shaun Jeffrey

Shaun Jeffrey author of The Kult contacted me about reviewing his novella on smashwords called Dead Man's Eye. I quickly agreed and was happy because he also agreed to do an interview. I was throughly excited and nervous at the same time. I was excited because I've been waiting for someone to ask me to review their work and nervous because what if I didn't like it. I was afraid after so enthusiastically saying yes that I would have to tell them what they wrote was a pile of dog...well you know what. But as I  began to read my fears were soothed.

Dead Man's Eye is about Joanna Raines a former photographer who has begun to lose her eyesight. She has a corneal transplant in one of her eyes to help her see again. And boy does she ever begin to see again. She sees dark evil shadows that threaten to take over the entire world.

As many of you know I'm a book cover whore. I love book covers and sadly yes I do place a bit of judgement on covers of books. Call it my love of art. I love this book cover. Simple but perfect for the subject manor of the book. The characters in this book are all 100% believable. The relationship between Joanna and her new boyfriend Stephen is realistic. They have a wonderful teasing flirtatious banter that you expect of new couples. There are plenty of graphic images in this book but nothing over the top and nothing that I would consider to go out of the way just to be gross. I really enjoyed this novella. It grabs you right away and the opening train scene had me actually open mouthed. My only complaint is that it felt a tiny bit rushed. I think part of that was because of its size. It could have been fleshed out a bit more without losing anything. But all in all I really liked it. Wonderful touches of humor mixed in with well described graphic horror. I give this 4 and half out of 5 stars. Look for my interview with him following this post

Challenges Fullfilled
TwentyEleven-Slim Pickings
Hogwarts
Whats in a Name 4- Life stage

A Question for My Fellow Book Bloggers

So yesterday I stumbled upon an ebook that I will be reviewing in the next week or so. I went to the author's blog and read a lot of the things she had to say. One thing that kind of shocked me and stood out was that she mentioned how she approached a number of bloggers asking them to review her book and she was rejected. She was rejected simply because she is independently published and these bloggers would only review books published by major publishing companies.Sure we all read mainstream books but isn't it when you find that author or book no one has heard of that you become gleeful to introduce it to people? One of my all time favorite authors is not well known even in his genre of mystery. His name is Parnell Hall and he writes the hilarious Puzzle Lady books. Every single (and I truly mean every single) person that I have recommended the Puzzle Lady books to has not only read one but have gone on to seek out all of the other Puzzle Lady books. But when you mention Parnell's name most people don't recognize it outside of people who are really into mystery novels.Though his books are published by Bantam a major publisher. Anyway I'm getting a bit off track....I guess my question is do you only accept books that are published by major publishing companies or do you ever accept self-published authors. Why or why not?

Oh and just to show how hilarous Parnell Hall is check out this video.

Short Story Review- Howdy, Winnie, & the Bombshell by Nate Dean

I stumbled upon this short FREE (yes free) story written by Nate Dean on Smashwords. What attracted me to the story beyond the wonderful price tag is the cover art. Also it has an interesting background story to it. Nate submitted it to NPR for a writing contest they were doing. Unfortunately, it was rejected. This is very short read so it goes really quickly. It is filled with lots of humor and had me giggling at a number of place. Very clever! The ending was a bit confusing and took a second reading for me to get it. But I didn't mind considering that the first reading took less than 5 minutes. I give this 4 out of 5. I would love to see more works by him and he has a novel on smashwords for $3.99 called A Fairy Tale.  If it has even half of the humor that is pack in his short story then it will be a good read. Check out the cool cover art for his book!

Follow Us Monday Morning Blog Hop- Jan 24

http://www.frugalityisfree.com along with http://cheekymommaof2.blogspot.com/ are cohosts of the Follow Us Monday Morning Blog Hop. Check out their pages for details on how to join up.

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Question of the Week 

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What is the last thing you won? Do you enter giveaways, and if so what kind?

My answer:

The last thing I won was a few books/ebooks during the Dreaming of Books Blog Hop. I'm super excited and have added them to my TBR pile (which is ever growing). I love giveaways! I've been trying to cut back on the amount of them I enter because I could spend all day doing that (not conducive to reading books). I love to enter ones with giftcards, books, products, books, crafts, and did I mention books?

Why I Love to Read- An Honest and Painful Look at my Past.

Reading books has always been a love of mine from a very early age. I remember bi-monthly trips to the library where I would grab any and all books I could get my grubby little paws on. I remember in the 4th grade getting in trouble constantly because I would be reading Nancy Drew books instead of doing my math or reading social studies along with the class. Hahaha my teacher always had such mixed feelings because she was happy and proud that I so loved to read but she had to chastise me since I wasn't working on what I was supposed to. When I was in 5th and 6th grade I had graduated to not just young adult novels but adult novels themselves. I had read all of the V.C. Andrews books before I entered the 6th grade. I would devour books whole. I would forgo sleep just to read. Back then I must have read 1-2 books a day! Trips to the bookstore had me carrying out backbreaking bags bursting with books and my poor mother (who never could say no to my book addiction) with a much lighter wallet trailing behind. OH and forget about when it came time for Scholastic book orders. "I'll take one of each please!". Book fairs were things of marvel with table after table piled high with books. Books simply put were my best friend


Now that I am older with kids and a part time job I don't have the time to read that I once had. I have to sneak in reading when I can. One of the reasons that I started this blog was because last year I had the horror of realizing that I had read maybe at most 3 books that year. This from the kid who would devour 7-14 books a week. I felt horrified and ashamed. Where had I gone wrong? Why had I abandoned something I loved and hold so dear?

The painful truth.....I know what is different from now and then. I could use time as an excuse but the truth is that as a kid I was constantly trying to escape reality. I couldn't face my life because it was painful for me. Starting in about the 3rd grade I had become a chubby kid and was an easy target for bullies. I was bullied by everyone. Even my fellow geeks would make fun of and bully me. I tried fighting back but that made it worse. Nothing I did could change it. I tried wearing the same clothes as the cool kids but they just made fun of me for trying to fit in. I tried pretending that I couldn't hear what they were saying but they would just taunt louder and longer. There was a time when literally my only friend was my dog Sandy. Books were my escape from all that hurt me. The bullies could shout whatever names they wanted at me so long as I had a book in my hand. Books transported me to other worlds far away from this painful one where I was the most unliked kid. At the tender age of 10 (yes 10) was when I first contemplated suicide. For many years after that I would suffer from severe depression, bouts of suicidal thoughts and self mutilation. Even after middle school where I finally found a group of life-long friends I still had to battle the demons of depression. I hid my arms which were covered in deep cuts I had made the night before. I pretended I was normal and happy meanwhile on the inside I was screaming and crying and desperate for help.

Something in the past 5 years has changed for me. Perhaps it has been becoming a mother or marrying the man who, I guess if you believe in it, is my soul mate. I no longer think of suicide as an option. I haven't cut or hurt myself in so long that I can't even remember the last time. Oh sure I still suffer from bouts of depression but I battle my way through it. But during this time I've lost my books. Those best friends of mine who helped me through the worst years of my life. I think it is because I no longer need the distant worlds to survive. Now I can truly read just for the pleasure of reading. Not read to escape the pain of what is happening. Now don't get me wrong there is still a lot of pain in my life but I've learned not to try to escape it because eventually it consumes a person.

Another Trailer for Angels of the Night

TW3AKINZ on youtube has made another trailer for the new book Angels of the Night:Discovery As I mentioned before in the previous post I'm super excited to read this book when it comes out August 1 of this year. I've read a few excerpts of the book that Paula has published and it looks like a really good book. Normally I find out about books that are coming out from other blogs but this is the first one that I've managed to stumble on all on my own. She is currently writing the second book in the trilogy. Anyway here is the trailer TW3AKINZ made

Trailer for Angels of the Night.

I've been keeping an eye on Paula Kennedy's Blog ever since I stumbled on excerpts from her debut book Angels of the Night: Discovery. Her book will be out August of 2011. I can't wait! It has been described as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Twilight. Here is blurb about the book taken directly from the official site http://www.theangelsofthenight.com/

"Allison Webber is tired of looking over her shoulder. Stalked by shadows her entire life, she embraces the invitation to join a secret society hiding the existence of vampires. Things heat up quickly in this all male cult when she catches the eyes of two sexy vampire twins, Thane and Darcy Wallace. Amid steamy encounters with the identical twins competing for her attention, Allison learns her mission is to aid a select group of vampires, the Angels of the Night, as they hunt and destroy the females of their species. Completely taken with the brothers and her new role, she fails to see that one of the twins has been using her. Allison must delve deep within herself for the courage to save the brother she loves and destroy the one who betrayed her."

Some Gorgeous Etsy Finds

So a while back I had started to do a daily Etsy finds feature...and well that fizzled pretty quickly. But I still really love Etsy and love to help support the wonderful shops on there. So I'm going to get back to doing Etsy Finds just wont be a daily feature...more like when I have the time and feel like it. Today's etsy finds are all book related items that I find to be...well gorgeous.

Some bookmarks from autumnsidhe's shop

Bookend from JoshuaByOak's shop

Ereader Cover from dobeeubags' shop

Journal Bandolier cleverhands' shop

Fairy Tale Friday-Ruslan and Ludmila

This week I decided to try out a Russian Fairy Tale. I found Ruslan and Ludmila which was originally an epic poem by Alexander Pushkin. It is a very interesting tale in which Ludmila is to wed Ruslan. On their wedding night she disappears in a puff of smoke and their marriage is anulled. Ruslan along with a few other young men set out to find her for whoever should find her with then have her hand in marriage. They fight each other and encounter other obstacles they must fight through to find her. This story includes witches/wizards, a giants head, and of course fighting. It turns out that Ludmila was kidnapped by a wizard named Chernomor. He has a magic hat that allows her to disappear and hide from him. But after a while he tricks her into thinking he is Ruslan and when she finds out it is not Ruslan she fall unconcious.In the end Ruslan rescues her and they marry again.It is a rather interesting tale and a while it has some familiar elements to most fairy tales this one really is not your typical tale. I think that might have to do with the fact that it was an epic poem. It is a long one but rather enjoyable. I give it 3 and half out of 5 stars.

Challeges fullfilled: Fairy Tale Challenge

Follow Friday-Jan 21

Who do you cheer for?
I cheer for Rutgers, Eagles and Cubs.

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://www.loganeturner.com/
Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers

HAPPY FOLLOW FRIDAY!

Thursday 1/20 Blog Hop

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.  I will follow back everyone just please leave me a comment :)
                                    

New Look Thanks to So Stylilized!

Back in December I won a giveaway during one of the blog hops. That giveaway was for a blog makeover from http://sostylilized.blogspot.com. This was such a wonderful experience for me! Jessica was my designer. She was super helpful and nice. She didn't mind my being such a newbie to these things. I think she did a wonderful job don't you? I wanted a more professional look than I had before and I got it! Thank you so much to SoStylilized! If you would like them to do a blog makeover for you just head on over to their website. They do all of their designs for free but they do ask that you tip your designer. Check out their FAQ for more details. Thanks again to Jessica!
          

Sir Thrift A lot is hosting a $40 CSN Giveaway

One of my all time favorite bloggers Sir Thrift A Lot  is giving away a $40 CSN gift certificate. How awesome is that? Sign up for his emails because believe me they are fun and you will find yourself wondering what his next little find is. So make sure after you sign up for the giveaway to browse his blog. Believe me you'll be glad you did!

Fairy Tale Fridays- Kisa The Cat

This is Alice in Wonderland But it still works for Kisa

This week for Fairy Tale Fridays I chose to read an Icelandic Fairy Tale called Kisa the Cat. As I mentioned last Friday I love different and unusual fairy tales. This one I had never heard of before. I picked a country (Iceland) and then did a google search of fairy tales from it. This fairy tale has a lot of the hallmarks of your typical fairy tale childless couple wishes for a child, princesses, talking animals, giants, gruesome violence and of course the happy ever after. Without giving away too much of the tale (in case you want to read it yourself), it begins with a queen talking to her cat about how she is jealous that the cat has a kitten but she herself does not a have a child. The cat promises her she will see if anything can be done. The queen has a little girl and every night the kitten sleeps with the baby. Till one day the kitten disappears. Years later when the child is playing she comes across the cat who reminds her of the times they would sleep together in her cot. Eventually one day the child wanders away and....well if I were to mention anything else it would be a spoiler. Reading this you could definately see the similarity among many different well known fairy tales. I've always found it interesting how there are common threads you see through out many different tales across many different countries. I give this tale 4 out of 5 stars.

Challenges Fullfilled:
Fairy Tale

Review- Never Tempt Danger

Just a quick warning that this review may contain some spoilers. I had a hard time getting through this book. It is not that it was poorly written. It just really wasn't my cup of tea. The book is a techno-romantic thriller. I wish there had been a bit more emphasis on the the thriller part and less on the romantic. The basic plot of the book is good. It is about a woman named Gilly who has psychic abilities. She works with robots and is able to psychically connect with and control them. The book opens with her at a restaurant with her boyfriend who is in the middle of proposing to her. He is shot and she is on the run for her life. Along the way her ex-lover shows up and helps to protect her while she finishes her work on her robot. I did love the cover of the book with the look of circuitry and the sexiness of the womans back (better than heaving bosoms). Here is where we come to what I did not like. Number one the ex-lover's name....Lucas Danger. Ugh talk about a stereotypical romance name. It leads to the obvious tie-in with the title. But come on do you know any one with the last name Danger?  Number 2 Danger is a very needy man who just came off as petulant and whiny to me. He constantly harps on the fact that she didn't reveal her psychic abilities to him when they were first dating and refuses to understand why she might keep that a secret. Number 3 every other page was about how sexy the one character found the other. I started to find myself rolling my eyes over the flexing muscles or when one would stare at the other persons "sexy lips". There was more action between the sheets than there was actual action. I'm not a prude by any means but I found myself flipping past the sex scenes. This book simply put was not for me. It was well written but I like a little romance with my thriller not a little thriller with my romance. If that made any sense. I can see where some women would love this especially those big on erotic love scenes. I did like that she was a strong willed woman who was not afraid to fight. For me this was just a 2 star book.

Challenges Fullfilled
KickAss Herione
Hogwarts Reading Challenge
TwentyEleven Challenge-With a Twist

Review-Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them

So as part of both Potterthon and Hogwarts Reading Challenge I decided to give these books a go. I thought it was rather cute that they came up with putting out books that Harry and the gang read while they were in school. The books were also for a good cause as profits from it go to Comic Relief. These books were a struggle for me. For the most part they were nothing but a big snooze. The best part of either of them was in Fantastic Beasts where there were notes in the margins supposedly made by Ron and Harry. They were cute and really the highlight of the book. Beyond that I found myself struggling to get through the books. The books were very small and light on content. They were a wonderful concept but not wonderfully executed. As hard as it is for me to do this to anything by J.K Rowling but I have to give 1 star to Quidditch through the ages and 1 and half stars to Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them.. I'm happy at least my money went to a good cause otherwise I would completely regret my purchase. Even if you are a die hard Harry Potter fan I would advise avoiding these reads and perhaps a different Harry Potter related book.

Going Nuts!

So for the longest time I've been going nuts trying to remember a book I read when I was a pre-teen. I could only remember certain parts of it and have been going crazy searching on the internet for it. I remember that it had to do with a couple of brothers and sisters meeting Morgan Lefey and them helping her and ending up in different reality and there was a dragon or some sort of serpent that would wrap itself around the wrist of one of the girls. And they would travel through a mirror to get to the other world.  There was also a sequel to it. Well after nearly a year of searching I found it today! I'm so exstatic. It is called Night of the Solstice and surprise surprise it was written by L.J Smith! The same L.J. Smith who wrote the Vampire Diaries. When I was an older teen L.J Smith was one of my favorite authors (so glad she is popular again) and now it turns out she wrote one of my favorite books as a pre-teen. I'm now going to have to look for a copy of both Night of the Solstice and the follow up book Heart of Valor. Even more exciting is I went to her website and she is considering writing a third book after she finishes up the Vampire Diaries and Strange Fate. BTW if you haven't read the Vampire Diaries yet please do they are so much better than Twilight. OH and check out her other series Forbidden Game. I swear when I was a teen I read the books in Forbidden Game like 10 times.

Hogwarts Reading Challenge 2011

I know I swore I was not going to join any more challenges but this one was so awesome I could not pass it up. The simple details of it are you are sorted into one of the 4 Hogwarts houses and then from there you read books for the different courses that are taught at Hogwarts. Wanna join me in trying to win house cup? Hogwarts Reading Challenge 2011

Reading one of the 7 Harry Potter books earns you 25 house points. 
#6 Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone- 1/27.2011
#13 Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets- 2/28/2011
#24 Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban 6/17/2011
#25 Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire 6/17/2011
# 28 Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix 6/17/2011 (all three books read but review pending)
#29 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince  6/17/2011
#30 Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows  6/17/2011
=175 points


 15 points for any other Harry Potter related book 
    #2 Quidditch Through the Ages- 1.12/2011
  #3 Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them-1/12/2011
= 30 points

Prefect Challenge-10 points each book 25 for completing
#7 Night of the Solstice-2/8/2011
#8 Across the Universe- 2/13/2011
#9 Perfectly Matched- 2/13/2011
=55 points

Book In the Day Mini Challenge- 10 points each book 25 for completing 15 for each additional book
#11 The Vampire Diaries- The Awakening- 2/22/2011
#12 Old Mans Bag-2/28/2011
#13 Flowers in the Attic-2/28/2011
#14 Beyond the Highland Mist- 3/7/2011
= 70 points


Hide and Seek Mini Challenge- 10 points each book 25 for completing 15 for each additional book 
#17 Moon Called- Patricia Briggs 3/23/2011
#18 Nancy Drew The Secret of the Old Clock- Carolyn Keene 4/13/2011
#19 The Body Finder- Kimberly Derting 4/13/2011
= 55 points
Fight or Flight Mini Challenge
#20 Blood Bound- Patricia Briggs 5/31/2011
#21 Life as We Knew It- Susan Beth Pfeffer 6/8/2011
#22 Maiden Flight- Bianca D'Arc 6/13/2011
#23 Wonderous Strange- Lesley Livingston 6/13/2011
#26 Iron Kissed- Patricia Briggs 6/17/2011
#27 Lure- Stephanie Jenkins 6/20/2011
#31 Bone Crossed- Patricia Briggs 6/30/2011
#32 Ice- Sarah Beth Durst 6/30/2011
=130 points
The Classes




Transfiguration - read any book that has trans or figure in its title, is about shape shifting, has a shape shifter in it, or is about anything having to do with changing one thing into another
Defence Against the Dark Arts - read any book that has defence(defense), dark and/or art(s) in its title, read any book that is about self defense, war, history of war/marital arts, murder mysteries

Charms - read any book that has charm in its title, any book that deals with gives something or someone a new aspect (for example the nerdy guy become a handsome doctor)

Potions - read any book that has potion in its title, cookbooks count but you must cook at least one recipe out of the book

Astronomy - read any book that has astronomy in its title, books about planets, stars, etc, sci-fi

History of Magic - read any book that has history or magic in its title, books about magic, witches, etc
#1 Whisper of a Witch by Suza Kates-1/9/2011 -Main character is a Witch

Herbology - read any book that has herb in its title, again cookbooks count and again you must cook at least one recipe out of the book
#33 Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl 6/30/2011

Arithmancy - read any book that has arithmancy in its title, any book with a number in its title, any book that deal with numbers or math

Ancient Runes - read any book that has ancient or runes in its title, books about historical places like the pyramids, Stonehenge, great wall of china, or any book about symbols


Divination- read any book that has divine in its title, any book about psychics or psychic abilities, tarot reading etc
#4 Never Tempt Danger-Denise Robbins-1/13/2011 -main character has psychic abilities

Care of Magical Creatures - read any book that has magical or creatures in its title, about supernatural beings

Muggle Studies - nearly any book works here, what better why to understand Muggle than to read what they read

#5 Dead Man's Eye- Shaun Jeffrey 1/26/2011
#10 Walk of the Spirits- Richie Tankersley Cusik 2/17/2011
#15 The Candidates- Inara Scott 3/11/2011
#16 Matched- Ally Conde 3/22/2011
= 7 points




Total Points To Date- 522 points

1001 Books to Read Before You Die

Ok I swear this is the last reading challenge I join. I'm joining http://caitieflum.wordpress.com in quest to make a dent in the list of 1001 books to read before you die. You can find the list of books all over the web. I'm going to have to sit down at some point and figure out how many of them I've already read. here are the levels of participation I'm hoping to reach Bachelor's this year.

Levels:

High Schoo Diplomal: 5 books from the list
Bachelor’s Degree: 6-10 books from the list
Master’s Degree: 11-15 books from the list:
PHd: 16+

Monday Blog Hop

I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you are stopping by from blog hop please leave a comment. I will always follow back :)

Invaders From Home #1 Comic Book Review

Years ago, long before I ever met my husband he worked at a comic book store. Well, needless to say we have a number of comic books lying around the house. As you may recall in my effort to stem out  in other areas of literature I've decided to try out some comics and graphic novels. Before anyone argues yes comics are literature. They are also a great form of pop art/pop culture! Back in 1990 Piranha Press Publication put out a 6 book comic series called Invaders From Home by John Blair Moore. I read #1 yesterday. It was absolutely hilarious!

The comic is about Bobby Boomer who is nearly 40 years old when his wife lets him know that she is pregnant. This sets causes him to have a hysterical state of mind. He even has a nightmare that aliens impregnated his wife by sticking a banana in her ear. It is beyond funny and a great read for anyone who has children or anyone who is an outside observer to people with children. The drawings are just so wonderful. I especially love all of the expressions that Bobby has.  You know Moore has a wonderful sense of humor just from reading his biography at the beginning of the comic where he states he was raised in Tibet "by a family of itinerant Yak herders".

I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I recommend it for anyone who is a parent, has a sense of humor, or has spent a lot of time with children. I give it my first 5 out of 5 rating!

Last Day To Win Literati @ http://kindredspiritmommy.com

kindredspiritmommy.com is hosting a Literati giveaway that ends tonight at midnight. I want an ereader so badly I'm ready to cry. I currently cannot afford to buy myself one so I've been desperate to win one. www.literatireader.com to check out the details on the literati. You have access to 150 free books from Kobo, a night reading mode, and built in wi-fi. All in all I really would love to own one. I work at Bed Bath and Beyond and know that you can get one for $60! It is on sale right now for $100 with a $20 mail in rebate making it $80. But if you bring in a 20% off coupon you can get it for just $60 after mail in rebate! How awesome is that? How sad is it that I can't afford that? LOL anyway if you  want your chance to win one head on over to http://kindredspiritmommy.com/literati-wireless-ereader Good luck!

Review- Whisper of a Witch

I rather enjoyed this book which is the first in the Savannah Coven Series. I had won this book in a giveaway and when I received the book I wasn't much impressed with the cover. It looks like a bad cut and paste on someones computer. But setting that aside it was actually a fairly enjoyable read. Right away you are introduced to the 9 women who form the coven. They all feel a calling to meet in one place. They are a nice variety and mix and each one is unique enough to keep track of who is who. Each woman has a unique special ability such as talking to animals, seeing the dead, super fast speed etc. When they finally all meet together they learn that each of them will be  individually tested by an evil witch/sorceress and must succeed in passing their trial in order to basically save the world.

This first book focused on Shauni. There was a love story between her and a man named Michael. This was a rather refreshing love story because I didn't have to sit through page after page of flexing muscles or details of how sexy someones lips are etc. Their love story is a bit rushed but feel genuine and again while they have sexual chemistry I don't have to hear about  on every other page. There is a lot of great humor in the book that I enjoyed.

I did feel at times there was too much a push of sisterhood and it was a bit hokey. They were too sisterly way to fast for a group of women who just met. Also I didn't care very much for the resolution to Shauni's trial. But all in all I really enjoyed the book and look forward to and do plan on reading the next book. I would give the book 3 and half out of 5 stars.


Challenges this book fulfills
Kickass Heroine
Hogwarts Reading Challenge 2011

Shaun of The Dead Graphic Novel- Review

So after reading the first issue of walking dead it dawned on me that a few years ago I had bought my husband the graphic novel Shaun of the Dead based on the movie. First let me say that Shaun of the Dead is my all time favorite zombie movie and in my top 5 favorite comedy movies. It really can't be beat! So I pulled off the dusty shelf the book and sat down to read it. It remains faithful to the movie with the same lines and jokes. It is wonderfully drawn though the drawings don't exactly match the actors but that does not detract from it. Though I thought that Liz's body was drawn a bit too manly. I especially enjoyed the last few pages which showed an image gallery. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. It is beautiful to look at but pales compared to the movie it comes from. If you are a fan of the movie and collector I could see you wanting it but beyond that no real reason to pick it up.

From the movie