Update: 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (February)

Two months down, ten to go! And this time my post is actually sort of on time!

For those who are very confused right now, this is the 2013 TBR Reading Challenge, hosted by Fiktshun, Bookish, Justin's Book Blog, Escaping... One Book at a Time, Words at Home, and Doodle's Book Blog. My wrap-up post for January is here.

I highly suggest that you check out Fiktshun's post for February to get all of the official information and link up your reviews.

And also to find out about the mini-challenge for this month. The idea is to create a button with one of your favorite quotes from a book you're read so far for the challenge. Pretty cool, huh? Here's mine!

This is from Blood Shadows by Lindsay J. Pryor. If you're interested, my review for that is here. I really liked this book. It was hilarious at exactly the right moments, and the characters were a lot of fun to get to know. I definitely recommend it!

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And for the actual recap part, here are the books I read in February for the challenge.

I know, only two! I'm awful! There were just too many books that I read this month that were published this year. At least these two were pretty good.


So, have any of you guys signed up for the challenge too? What have you read so far?

With All My Soul Mini-Reading Challenge

Remember way back when, when Fiktshun hosted the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge for the release of Before I Wake? Good times, good times.... At least for me anyway. That was the beginning of it all.

Ah, memories.

I'd always loved Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series, and was an avid reader of her blog. Well about a year ago (has it really been that long?!) I was looking around over there, and I read something about this goddess-like, vision of perfection, all hallowed by her name woman called Rachel. She was hosting a reading challenge for the entire series via her blog, Fiktshun.

So, I was like eh, what the heck. (Actually it was more like an extremely hyperventilation-filled few weeks before I finally decided that I might like to try writing reviews.) Of course, I'd already read the books, but I'd never done anything other than talk about them with my friends. And shoved them in their faces until they realized how wonderful they were.

What can I say? I'm passionate when it comes to books!

A few re-reads and near aneurisms later, I had written a handful of reviews to find out that I actually enjoyed myself. Not to mention discovered Fiktshun, which I still really look up to. But in that time, I started thinking about writing some more reviews. So, I struck up a nonchalant conversation with Gabby and subtly hinted shoved her towards the idea of creating a blog with me. And what do you know, she agreed.

And as a piercing cry was heard in the night, Marked By Books was born.

I ended up re-posting those reviews I had written for the challenge as the first ones over here. I had used a different name then (don't ask me why I chose that one; there's a reason, I'm just not going to tell you), but the reviews were still the same. They were just over here instead of being on the blog Rachel had created for the challenge.

And that's about the end of the story. But wait, it continues! Because Rachel has created a mini-challenge for the release of With All My Soul, which is the last book in the series! I can't believe it's going to be over after this one! I think I'm going to cry! At least thanks to Rachel at Fiktshun, it can go out with a bang!

You can read the rules and sign up for the challenge at her post here.

Good luck!



Oh, and on a completely off topic subject, I'm sorta extending the deadlines for The Voice and The Boys of Summer giveaways because we still haven't had any entries! I definitely have to have the one for The Voice finalized by the 20th, so you have until that night to sign up. And until the night of the 22nd for The Boys of Summer. But after that, I really can't extend them anymore. You guys should all sign up, they're both really good!

Look on the "Current Giveaways" page at the top for the links!

Update: 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (January) & 2 GIVEAWAYS!!!

The time has come! The first month of the challenge is over! I know that it's no longer January, but better late than never, right? Right? RIGHT?! Please say yes.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, this is the 2013 TBR Reading Challenge, hosted by Fiktshun, Bookish, Justin's Book Blog, Escaping... One Book at a Time, Words at Home, and Doodle's Book Blog. My little introduction post is here.

Okay, so now that that's out of the way, let's get on with it. The first wrap-up post was done by Evie over at Bookish and can be found here.

The mini challenge she's holding is to create a poem out of the spines of books. All of the information for that is also included in her post.

And now, drum roll please.... Here's my entry!

Yeah, not as awesome as I'd hoped, but it was the best that I could come up with! Though there are a few too many classics in there for my tastes.

And, just as a recap, here are the books I read in January for the challenge. Just click on the cover for the review.

And here are the ones Gabby read:

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Okay, so that's all there is for that. The other thing I wanted to remind you guys about is the two giveaways we are hosting here that end tomorrow.

Remember, these are just for our blog, so your chances of winning are ridiculously high. Especially because no one has entered yet! So get a move on and go win a book!

Introducting the 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

With 2012 coming to a close, I'm looking back on everything I've read this year.... and then I cry a little on the inside. I'm not saying that I haven't enjoyed the books that I've read! Absolutely not, they've all been absolutely wonderful. The only problem is that there hasn't been nearly enough of them. 2012 has not been a pretty year for me book-wise, and I deeply regret that. Sometimes life gets in the way though, and there's nothing I can do about that.

And that's why this challenge is so amazing. It's giving me the incentive I need to read those books that didn't make it last year. The ones I've been absolutely dying to read, but haven't had the time to get to. And trust me, there's a lot of those. Anybody who's taken a look at The LIST lately will notice that quite a few of the books on there aren't exactly new releases. Yeah....

I found out about this reading challenge through the absolutely beautifully wonderful Fiktshun, so here's the explanation she gave:

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Welcome to 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge!!! 
 

6 BLOGGERS, 12 MINI-CHALLENGES, 24 BOOKS TO WIN!!!

We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they’re gifted to us. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we’ll finally decide to pick them up.

Join us on a quest to dust off your TBR Pile and read all the books you’ve been telling yourself you’ll read next time you’ll get a chance. This is your chance! And we’ve got PRIZES!!!

Challenge Guidelines…

***This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013***
+ Anyone can enter! You don’t have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you’ve read! (On your blog, Amazon, Goodreads or Shelfari!)
+ Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that’s been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2012 or earlier! NO  2013 ARCs or 2013 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!
+ You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood suits you.
+ When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge.
+ You can move up levels, but no moving down.
+ Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2013, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.
+ On the 20th of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will be a unique theme, and include a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from that month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of your choice from The Book Depository. It’s open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e., the entire year).
+ If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking.
+ December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you’ll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway for a box of books.
You don’t have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in the giveaways!

Levels…

1-10 – A Firm Handshake
11-20 – A Friendly Hug
21-30 – A Sweet Kiss
31-40 – Love At First Sight
41-50 – Married With Children

Wrap-up Post Schedule…

Jan. 20th: Evie @Bookish (www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com)
Feb. 20th: Rachel @Fiktshun (www.fiktshun.com)
Mar. 20th: Justin @Justin’s Book Blog (www.justinsbookblog.com)
Apr. 20th: Tiffany @Escaping…One Book At A Time (escapingonebookatatime.blogspot.com)
May 20th: Bonnie @Words At Home (www.wordsathome.ca)
Jun. 20th: Justin @Justin’s Book Blog (www.justinsbookblog.com)
Jul. 20th: Emily @Doodle’s Book Blog (doodlesbookblog.blogspot.com)
Aug. 20th: Tiffany @Escaping…One Book At A Time (escapingonebookatatime.blogspot.com)
Sept. 20th: Rachel @Fiktshun (www.fiktshun.com)
Oct. 20th: Emily @Doodle’s Book Blog (doodlesbookblog.blogspot.com)
Nov. 20th: Bonnie @Words At Home (www.wordsathome.ca)
Dec. 20th: This one will be posted on all the blogs. There will also be a huge BOX OF BOOKS giveaway and this time you can link up ALL YOUR TBR Pile REVIEWS you wrote for the entire month!

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Do you see this, people? A BOX of books! Even if you don't need that gentle nudge (or in my case, something along the lines of a shove off of a cliff) in order to get those books read, you should be interested in this. You don't even need to have a blog as long as you can post your reviews somewhere!

You can sign up on any of the six hosts' blogs, or you can enter here.

I'm going to be a loser and just start off with A Firm Handshake, but hopefully (please, please, please, PLEASE) I'll be able to read much more than that. Here are a few of the books I hope to get to next year.

So, are you guys going to join?

Sweet Evil Read-Along: Halloween

Wednesdays: the hump day. If you make it past that, then the rest of the week is a breeze. And let's not forget that it is the day that spell check hates the most. (Honestly, that "d" does not belong there). But this year, it's something more. In this fated year of 2012, the most magical time of the year falls on this most pivotal and underrated day, Wednesday.

(A little known fact about Halloween is that it actually is National Magic Day. It was first created a year after Harry Houdini died.... on Halloween. Coincidence? Or not?)

I've always loved Halloween even though I'm definitely past the point where trick-or-treating is still considered cool. I never really understood that. Halloween is supposed to be a day when you can give yourself the courage to be anyone you've ever wanted to be, without feeling like you're being judged for it. Why would anyone want to give that up to meet other people's standards?

And c'mon people, free candy! What kind of deranged masochist denies themselves that? If the "cool" people don't eat candy, then I want absolutely nothing to do with them. They're obviously mentally unstable!

And finally, to end this post with one of my favorite quotes from the entire book:

"'I've got a joke for you,' Kaidan told him. Jay nodded his head, ready. 'What's the difference between a drummer and a savings bond?'

'I don't know. What?' Jay beamed bright yellow.

'A savings bond eventually matures and makes money.' "

Sweet Evil Read-Along: Truth or Dare

 

So I hope I'm not the only one who's more than a little confused as to how exactly one plays Truth or Dare via blog. I never really was an expert on this game myself. But because daring myself to do something seems slightly unsportsmanlike, I think I'll go with the truths.

1. I've only ever given up on one book, and that was Harry Potter: Please don't hate me, but it's true. Trust me, I tried, but nothing ever really clicked. I got half-way through with the first novel, but then I just gave up. For some reason, I couldn't get into the story. They still seem awesome, so of course I wish I could enjoy them, but I guess there was something about her writing style that I just couldn't get past. I may be willing to give them a second chance in the future, but until then, there are too many other books that I want to read for me to give time to one that failed me the first time.
2. I still adore the Percy Jackson, The Kane Chronicles, and The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan: I have to admit, when I saw my seven year old cousin with these books a few weeks ago, I was on the verge of admitting the loss of my sanity. That is, right after I congratulated him on having better taste in books than both of his older siblings combined. History of the Boston Red Sox? Really? But I still think these are great books, regardless of the age of their intended audience. There's mythology, action, adventure, and enough comedy to bring a grown man to his knees. What's not to like about that?
3. I am extremely stubborn when asked to read books that have become popular: Anyone who's ever met me knows how extremely stubborn I can be. And it gets just that much worse whenever books are involved. I am always extremely reluctant to read books that have gotten a lot of hype lately among more than just the die-hard novel ninjas (yes, I did just say that). Does it mean that I don't trust my fellow humans' judgement? Absolutely. I've come to notice that when a whole lot of people become obsessed with a book, it's usually because it follows some sort of cookie cutter standard. And then more people join the readership only to tell their friends that they have as well. I don't think reading should be about popularity; I think that true book lovers read because of what the novels mean to them, not what everyone else says they should.
4. I have never become very attached to the main character of any book: For some odd reason, I never really identify with the main characters in books. There always seems to be some supporting character that's just that much more interesting than they are. Like in Sweet Evil, my favorite characters were Patty and Belial/Jonathan LaGray, Anna's dad. I thought the best part of the book was when Patty went up and slapped him, and I was begging the entire time after I met Belial that it wouldn't turn out that he was lying about his past. It was never Kaidan that could've broken my heart by betraying Anna, but her father.
5. My books are my children, and if you hurt them, you die: I am extremely protective of my books. If you have been allowed anywhere near them, then you are among the chosen few, but by harming them in any way, you've given yourself a death sentence. When I let them leave my sight, I worry the entire time until they have been returned safely to me. I'm sure I've annoyed quite a few people by how viciously I watch them read my books, and the extensive list of rules that must be adhered to. For example, if the book is paperback, I freak out when people open the pages all of the way. If I'm there while you're reading it, you must hold the back of the book so that the binding isn't damaged. And don't you ever, EVER dog-ear the pages. That is a no questions asked, one way ticket to the end of the rest of your life.

And on that happy note.... in the spirit of Truth or Dare, I suppose there is one more thing I should share with you all: I read the sparkly vampire books on a dare. One of my not so readerly friends was gushing over how amazing the books were, but (going back to #3) I just wasn't having it. I thought it was all a lie and the cult had finally reached over to snare one of my own. But then she made me a deal. If I read the Twilight Saga, she would read the Inheritance Cycle - Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr (Inheritance wasn't out yet).

I agreed to the dare, but not much to my surprise, she never got around to reading my books. I have to admit, I read all four of those enormous books in three days. I thought that the storyline was interesting, I adored almost all of the characters, and I absolutely fell in love with Stephanie Meyer's writing style. My only complaint was that everything seemed very depressing. There was never really a happy moment that wasn't marred by some sort of tragedy, and everyone always had something to complain about. Aside from that, I didn't think they were too terribly awful. So I suppose I owe at least one series to the magic of dares.

Was any of this true for somebody else?

Sweet Evil Read-Along: Citrus Recipe

I love oranges. They're the perfect combination of sweet and tart, and come in their own convenient carrying cases. I personally find them to be much more appealing than pears. Yes, yes, big laughs for everyone who read the book; it's true on both counts.

I also really like drink recipes. I'm a huge fan of any kind of cooking that doesn't really require much skill, effort, or time. Usually if recipes don't have any chocolate in them, it's just not worth it, but for this one I make an exception.

Sherbert Punch

6 cups ginger-ale or some sort of lemon-lime soda

1 cup orange juice

1 cup pineapple juice

12 scoops orange (or another flavor) sherbert (you can put as much or as little of the sherbert in as you want, depending on how sweet or tart you want it to be)

Chill each of the drinks before you put them in the punch bowl. Pour in the first 3 ingredient together and mix them. Add in the sherbert. Chill it if you need to, but DON'T ADD ICE because then it will just get watered down. And that's it!

Easy as pie! Or punch. Whatever floats your boat. Or your sherbert. Okay, I'm going to stop with the bad jokes now.

But there's one more thing I want to show you guys. There's this one cooking blog called Chocolate Covered Katie, and she is so amazing. All of her recipes are delicious, and they're actually healthy! This is actually just a fun thing, though, and it's so cute. And orange themed!

She's really good. Aren't they beautiful?

Sweet Evil Read-Along: Road Trips

So I just started Sweet Evil today. And finished it.... today. Do you think I have a problem? Wait a minute, don't answer that.

This book is REALLY good. I fell in love right off the bat with just about all of the characters (hi Patti!), and almost beheaded somebody when I got to the end. Why must sequels take so long?!

I will be posting a review of this at some point in time, but I'd better get back to road trips before I create too big of a book rant for me to pull myself out of.

I personally love road trips. They're the one time when my family is either sleeping (hopefully not the driver, but I wouldn't really be surprised) or in a junk food induced coma and are actually quiet enough for me to read. And I mean the kind of reading that lets you tear through books one after another without care for things like bathroom breaks or breathing. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

But everyone has had their fair share of road trips gone horribly wrong, and I am no exception. So every Christmas, my family drives ten hours to Cleveland, Ohio (which just so happens to be the Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World, thank you very much). For those of you who are unaware, Cleveland is located in the Snow Belt, that area right around the Great Lakes up north. Which means we get a hundred or so inches of snow every year. And it's not nice and fluffy winter wonderland snow all of the time. Oh no, it's more like a sacrifice-your-first-born-to-the-snow-plows-and-rock-salt-or-fear-the-wrath-of-Jack-Frost kind of snow.

Well, at around nine o'clock, we ran into one of those blizzards. The entire interstate was backed up for miles. You couldn't see a single thing, and all of the roads were covered in black ice. It was pretty obvious that we weren't going anywhere. We were stuck in that exact spot for nine hours! And not only does most of my family snore, but I had the pleasure of being the pillow for my dog while sleeping on the floor of the car.

But it's not like I was going to be getting much sleep anyway. Unless we wanted to be trapped there for the rest of our lives, we had to start the car up every half hour so the engine wouldn't freeze over, and then roll the tires back and forth so that they wouldn't be encased in ice by the time we were able to leave. And people say Ohio is boring.



But what is this I see? Slithering through the uninhabited corners of the blogosphere.... It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a GABBY!

Welcome to our very first Double Trouble post, where you have the misfortune of dealing with both of us at the same time. I wish you all the very best of luck. Hopefully we won't scare you so much that you never come back.

Have you ever seen the movie "College Road Trip" with Raven Simone? It about a girl who goes on a road trip (obviously) with her father to the college of her dreams: Georgetown. They have obstacles that try and hinder them from reaching their objective. In the long run, the daughter and father get closer and share a bond which nothing can break. Quite original, huh? Sadly, real life road trips aren't as interesting as Hollywood makes them out to be, but that doesn't make them boring either.

Me? I have had my share of road trips. Every summer, my family and I used to Go somewhere that involved driving.  One year we went to New York, another year we went to Orlando, Florida and yet another year we went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The 8 to 14 hour drives were never the most comfortable things ever, but they were always worth it. 

For one,  the trips gave us time together as a family that we otherwise probably wouldn't have had. We were in a four-by-four car stuck with one another, so it was inevitable that we'd talk.  We laughed and joked and had our family time. Granted, we shared dinner every night as a family, but there is just something "binding" about being stuck in a car with three other people for hours on end. 

So my point is that road trips are and can be beneficial. Sure they might be claustrophobic... agonizingly cramped.... and even tiring (it might seem a bit odd to be tired after sitting for 8 hours or more, but trust me, IT IS!!) but all in all, it's worth it. You get to bond with people and you gain a sense of accomplishment in the end. 

The Sweet Evil Read-Along

  

Today is a monumental day! Marked By Books has unofficially become an official blog on the interwebs!

 

Hooray! We are participating in the Sweet Evil Read Along, hosted by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads. It's going to be held throughout the month of October if you're interested in participating. You can enter here.

I haven't read Sweet Evil yet, but I've heard so many good things about it. I'm really glad that I finally have a good excuse to move it up to the top of The LIST.

Embrace the Forbidden
 
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
 
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
 
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
 
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Each week of next month will have a theme dealing with the chapters that will be discussed during those days.

Theme: Road Trip

Theme: Citrus vs. Pear

Theme: Truth or Dare

Theme: Halloween

 

Anybody interested in joining the party? Leave a comment and tell us if you guys are going to try it out!