Fraterfest Read-A-Thon

That's right. I'm participating in my first read-a-thon. And I'm stoked about it being a monster fest! Kimba The Caffeinated Book Reviewer is doing a month long event, Things That Go Bump In The Night. And part of this event is the Fraterfest Read-A-Thon.

Begins 12:01 am (CST) on October 5th and ends at midnight October 8th. I am hoping to provide some motivation to attack your TBR pile. You can read whatever you want as long as one book is either a Rhiannon Frater novel or a bump in the night book (vampire, zombie, shapeshifter, ghost etc). For my peeps who fear losing sleep a mystery will do...

Challenge schedule:

Friday Oct.5th- 8am(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Name That Vampire hosted by Kody @ The Fabled Crossroads

Friday Oct. 5th- 4pm(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Tune this Title hosted by April@ My Shelf Confessions

Saturday Oct 6th- 8am(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Fraterfest Bash hosted by Christy@ Love of Books

Saturday Oct 6th- 4pm(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Cover Sleuth hosted by Barbara@ Basia's Bookshelf

Sunday Oct 7th- 8am(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Guess the Rest hosted by Carolyn@ C.M. Brown  

Sunday Oct 7th- 4pm(EST) to Monday 12pm(EST): Books to Movie Madness hosted by Fran @ Books and Beyond

Monday Oct 8th- 8am(EST) to Tuesday 12pm (EST): The Texas Crossword Massacre hosted by Kristen @ My ParaHangover

Monday Oct 8th- 4pm(EST) to Tuesday 12pm(EST): Fraterfest Raffle hosted by Kimba@ the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Twitter Party:

On Sunday October 7th from 6pm(EST) to 8pm(EST) We will host a twitter party hashtag #Fraterfest. You do not have to follow me on twitter but you can do so here: @kimbacaffeinate. Come talk about the books you've read, what really scares you and what paranormal creature is your favorite. Use TweetChat to make following along easier. Just enter Fraterfest and sign in. Participants will have the chance to win some swag and prizes.

Frater Raffle!!

• To be eligible to win you must:
• Link up to Fraterfest event
• Post your Goals/Updates/Results. This can be on your blog, Goodreads, Google+, Facebook account, Tumblr etc. You can make one post that you update or separate ones.
• The more challenges you participate in the more entries you will receive
• Complete Fraterfest Participant rafflecopter before Tuesday at midnight(EST)

My Goals:



Invincible (Chronicles of Nick, # 2) - Sherrilyn Kenyon

Seers (The Seers Trilogy, # 1) - Heather Frost

Covet (The Clann, # 2) - Melissa Darnell

 

 Friday:  Only got to read 35 pages in Invincible. And 4 %  of Seers. I did try to comment on everyone's goal post though. I also participated in Name That Vampire hosted by Kody @ The Fabled Crossroads .

Saturday: Participated in Fraterfest Bash hosted by Christy@ Love of Books here are my picks...This is what I'm wearing and who my date is:

 (That would be Will, not Jem, in case anyone was wondering.)


 Also participated in Tune this Title hosted by April@ My Shelf Confessions where I listed Monsters by Matchbook Romance as the song that goes with my current reading of Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Seers by Heather Frost.

I'm on page 93 of Invincible and at 39% of Seers.
Sunday: I participated in Books to Movie Madness hosted by Fran @ Books and Beyond. I made it to page 133 in Invincible & 57% in Seers. And finally I participated in Cover Sleuth hosted by Barbara@ Basia's Bookshelf.
Monday: I participated in The Texas Crossword Massacre hosted by Kristen @ My ParaHangover . As of now I'm at 66% of Seers...hoping to knock some more of it out before midnight though.
Tuesday: I realize that Fraterfest was officially over yesterday, but I did want to update that I finished Seers by Heather Frost today. So I ALMOST made my goal!

Switched - Review

Switched (Trylle Trilogy, # 1)

By: Amanda Hocking

Published: July 12th 2010 by CreateSpace

304 pages

Source: Borrowed from my friend, Paula's kindle

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description--When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

Switched was a nice change of pace from the My Blood Approves series. Apparently, I’m in an Amanda Hocking phase. Truthfully, I’m just trying to take advantage of my friend, Paula’s kindle before I have to give it back. So I apologize if you guys are tired of this phase. Hopefully I’ll be finished with all of her self-published stuff soon.

Our main character, Wendy, has been through a lot in her short seventeen years. Her father committed suicide. Her mother tried to kill her when she was six. She’s never really fit in anywhere. She’s been expelled from numerous schools and moved around a lot. Now living with her aunt, Maggie, and brother, Matt, Wendy decides she’s really going to try this time. But then she meets Finn.

Finn tells Wendy that she’s a troll after witnessing her use persuasion--an ability where Wendy forces her will upon someone else--on someone. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never read any modern fiction about trolls. This unique and original idea left a lot of room to play with world building and mythology. I’m not saying that the world of the Trylle and Forening wasn’t fascinating, I just think maybe more could have been done with it. We’re talking trolls for goodness sakes, anything goes here.

The relationship with Wendy and Finn was entertaining, but I wasn’t always convinced of the true connection between the two of them. Finn is distant, cool, calm, and collected for the most part. He rarely shows his emotions and something about his personality just didn’t allow me to always buy the relationship at all times. Wendy is one of those characters that’s willing to put herself in harm’s way in order to keep Finn from getting hurt, but I wish YA protagonists could take a class on this. Offering yourself up to prevent others from being hurt doesn’t usually help in these stories. It’s predictable and frustrating. Let the people who are willing to fight for you do just that. You putting yourself in dangerous situations doesn’t prevent anything, it just causes them to have to work twice as hard to have to save you sorry-self-sacrificing-tail. It should probably be said that self-sacrifice is typically considered to be a noble trait, but in every YA book I’ve read where we have a self-sacrificing character, it only causes more harm than good. But now that I’m talking to the characters as if they’re real people, I think I’ll move on to happier subjects.

Have no fear, I’ve made this book sound much worse than it actually is. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I wanted to keep reading even when I had to put it down. This week has been extremely eventful in the way of disrupting my reading time. However, I always found time to press on because I was enjoying this read very much. In some ways, I think Switched was better than the My Blood Approves series, yet I’m finding myself only able to give it 3 Stars. Still an enjoyable read, and I can’t wait to see what happens throughout the remainder of the series.

Have you read Switched? What did you think? Let me know!

Got to add the other cover because it's much better.

Waiting on Hidden

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

So...honestly I'm out of books I'm anxiously awaiting--at least ones where enough information and a book cover is available to spotlight here. And the reason for that is because most of the ones I've featured recently are books that are recently coming out in different series that I'm currently reading. I'm not always up on the latest information about what's soon to be released. Maybe I'll get better about that soon. So...this is me scraping the very bottom of the barrel. And that's because I'm honestly not even sure I'll read this one much....so I'm definitely not anxiously awaiting it. I'm just semi-waiting for it. Without further ado...

Hidden (House of Night, # 10)

By: PC Cast & Kristin Cast

Expected publication: October 16th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin

320 pages

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description--Neferet’s true nature has been revealed to the Vampyre High Council, so Zoey and the gang might finally get some help in defending themselves and their beloved school against a gathering evil that grows stronger every day. And they’ll need it, because Neferet’s not going down without a fight. Chaos reigns at the House of Night.

So yeah...that's what I'm kind of waiting on...maybe. What are you waiting on? Let me know!

Top 10 "Older" Books I Don't Want People to Forget About

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten "Older" Books I Don't Want People to Forget About.

Feeling too lazy to post pictures on this one. Sorry.

1) Harry Potter by JK Rowling - DUH!!!!!

2) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - Classic! Possibly my favorite love story of all time.

3) The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien - Another classic with some awesome (and religious) symbolism.

4) Bondaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend - Read it! Push through...it'll change your life.

5) Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian - Changed my prayer life.

6) Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead - One of my favorite series and hope it never gets forgotten.

7) Anything by Lurlene McDaniel - These books created my love of relationships in books.

8) Anything by Lois Duncan - These were the ones that sparked my interests in the paranormal in books.

9) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - Because I feel like too many people have turned their backs on this series despite the fact that when they first read it they might have loved it. Twilight will always hold a special place in my heart.

10) I haven't read near as many classics as I want, and I feel like if I had then I'd be listing them here...Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Emma, etc...Maybe I should just put Persuasion on here because I do love that one by Jane Austen.

What are your top 10 books you don't want people to forget about? Let me know!

Wisdom - Review

Wisdom (My Blood Approves, # 4)

By: Amanda Hocking

Published: Lulu (first published August 23rd 2010)

370 pages

Source: Borrowed my friend Paula's Kindle

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads--Wisdom - the fourth book in the My Blood Approves series... For her eighteenth birthday, Alice Bonham takes a vacation to Australia only to have her trip cut short by an unexpected murder. While Alice tries to understand what happened, she regrets some of the choices she's made, especially the more permanent ones.

I don’t know about you guys, but I always find it extremely disheartening when I lose something I’ve worked on. That being said, I KNOW I typed my reviews for Flutter and Wisdom (books 3 and 4 of the My Blood Approves series), but I can’t seem to find them ANYWHERE! And having read at least 5 books since reading these, neither book is as fresh on my mind as I’d like. So this review of Wisdom will probably be very short and to the point. *Spoiler alerts for My Blood Approves (book 1), Fate (book 2), and Flutter (book 3).

Mae’s done gone and changed that grandchild of hers into a dern vampire. (Can anyone see any resemblance to Twilight’s story here? But we’ve already established that in my review of My Blood Approves.) And of course, she’s unruly. She can’t control her urges, and even worse when she’s hungry she’s in physical pain. Ezra couldn’t support Mae’s decision and so Mae, Peter, and 5 year-old-vamp-child (I can’t remember her name at the moment), move to Australia. And for Alice’s 18th birthday, she, Milo, and Bobby decide to go for a visit.

While away, Alice finds out that her best friend Jane has been murdered. And she sets out to discover who did it. Of course, she doesn’t tell Jack because she doesn’t want him to worry about her…or argue with her about how she’s doing something dangerous. Speaking of Jack, I’ve increasingly become annoyed with their relationship with each book. Initially in book 1, I was torn about who to root for, but I’ve now decided that I think Peter should take the prize all the way. I realize that the characters love who they love despite many reasons to the contrary, just like real people, but sometimes in books, I just don’t understand WHY they love who they love. Usually I’m on board with whoever they pick….and I’m not going to spoil who she ends up with, just saying I’m definitely pro Peter.

Secrets are revealed. Mysteries are solved. Relationships are ended, some are begun, some are solidified, and some are reborn. Characters die. And characters change. I’d be more specific than that, but as I said earlier, I’m having a hard time remembering and separating events because it’s been a couple of weeks since I actually finished these books. Overall I really enjoyed the series, but there was definitely an underlying current of frustration with this series. Mostly I find that I wouldn’t have made the decisions and choices that the characters made, and that always brings with it a level of annoyance. But it was a solid read. I’m definitely interested to see what happens with Swear, book 5 that is yet to be released, since Amanda Hocking has had quite a bit more experience since writing Wisdom. I’ve said it a dozen or so times, but I definitely think Amanda Hocking’s work is better than a good many other authors that I’ve read. So check it out.

Wisdom gets 3 stars. Have you read Wisdom and the My Blood Approve series? Let me know!