Sunday Post 007 | IMWAYR

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

 Corny Joke Monday 

I'm going to warn you now: There's a woeful shortage of funny Passover jokes.

Why do we have a Haggadah at Passover?

So we can Seder right words!

 Last Week on the Blog 

Chocolat -Book vs Movie Video
Writing Pains, Camp NaNo, and the WIP That Will End! #AmWriting

Potions in the Pizza by Mikey Brooks Review

(And the week before that...)
Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull Mini Review
Rapid Fire Book Tag Tag Post
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull Mini Review

 This Week on the Blog 

The Supes by Matthew Pritt ARC Review
Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull Mini Review
The Blacklist Marathon You Need Before S4 Returns List

 What I'm Reading: 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and

share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.

The Lake House by Kate Morton
This is my book club read of the month and I am really, really enjoying it. It's just the kind of mystery I've been wanting to read. Full of dubious, well-written characters with their own secrets and a complicated story.

Lone Ranger/Green Hornet
An ARC graphic novel, whose title basically sums things up. ^_^

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (audio)
Not my normal read, but booksaremyfavouriteandbest mentioned it on her Six Degrees of Separation post last week and how it features the deeply religious and superstitious beliefs of the rural Irish in 1850, which has ties to my current WIP, so I'm giving it a try. (I've also been tasked to relate the ending to my boss, who didn't get a chance to finish it. XD)

 What I Read: 

Potions in the Pizza by Mikey Brooks
The Supes by Matthew Pritt

 What's Next:  

Geekerella by Ashley Poston ARC
And, hopefully, Heartstone by Elle Katherine White

 Internet Shenanigans 

Can I just say how AWESOMESAUCE my YouTube subscribers are?! I haven't been able to post videos regularly for almost a year, and the last one I posted was a good six months ago. Yet when I posted my Chocolat (Book vs Movie) I quickly got comments of jubilation from those most loyal people? Yep, they rock. ^_^

 In Real Life 

I have been -and will continue- to play around with my new lighting equipment to get back into a regular video posting schedule. I'm so excited to get back into this!
Also, writing! Plotting! Character building! I discovered a ton of great character-related writing tips yesterday, so I want to do a post soon with a bunch of those links. Keep writing, fellow writers!

 New Additions 

Thanks to Dad and the local thrift store:

He found it for a dollar -a dollar!- and passed it on to me, because he's awesome like that, and he already has a copy, and we both adore it. I can't even, guys; this is one of the best books I've ever read! (Check out my review of it here.) And I was just thinking it was time for a reread...

Pre-order from Barnes & Noble:

Thanks to Goodreads giveaways:

Now just to get the time to read them...

 Random 

  What's new with you?

The Sunday Post 001

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

 Last Week on the Blog 

Thursday Quotables feat. The Blacklist: The Beekeeper (No. 159) Meme

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? | January Wrap Up Meme

Worth Watching | Powerless TV

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson Review

The Blacklist: The Beekeeper (No. 159) by Steven Piziks Review

 This Week on the Blog 

Comics Mini Review Wrap Up Review/Wrap Up

The Blacklist: The Gambler (No. 148) Comic Review

Thursday Quotables feat. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff Meme

 Internet Shenanigans 

ALL THE BONUS POINTS TO STUDIO C!

One of my favorite shows, a sketch comedy from BYUtv called STUDIO C, appeared on Conan Tuesday night and they were great.

I'm so happy Studio C is getting so much recognition because they deserve it. I hope there are bigger and better such moments coming your way. Congrats, you guys!

 In Real Life 

The best happening this week had to be playing laser tag. My friends and I love laser tag yet somehow forget this and only ever play once a year. Man, I love laser tag.

Excitement! Daring! Fun Exercise!

And yeah. Okay. It's fun to play secret agent but who doesn't enjoy that every once and a while?

Second place goes to a work-related success. For those who don't know, I work as a clerk at a public library. This year, a co-worker and I are instigating a library-wide Adopt-A-Shelf program. It went live this week and we already have people signing up. Success!

 New Additions 

Thanks to my local thrift store:

• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson Hardcover, sans jacket cover, but the illustrations more than make up for that!
• Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George I've read the first book of this series and just needed this excuse to get to the rest.

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com:

• The Blacklist: The Arsonist (No. 123) Graphic Novel
• Twelfth Doctor with Guitar POP! I adore 12 and his sonic sunglasses and his electric guitar. I couldn't resist!

 Random 

I've started haunting The Blacklist Wiki. I haven't done this with a show since Avatar: The Last Airbender -and I was obsessed with Avatar, guys. You have no idea how much. (Unless you've read this. Then you have an idea.)

While there's no chance of my writing fanfiction for The Blacklist, there's a good chance [more] show discussion/talk is coming to these here parts.

You've been warned.

  What's new with you? 

Shelf Control #4 | The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

Shelf Control

hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Shelf Control is all about the books we want to read — and already own! Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, sitting right there on our shelves and e-readers.

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

Synopsis (via Goodreads):
San Francisco, 1905: Rosalind, a medieval scholar, is hired by Jason, a powerful sorcerer. Jason's enemy offers to restore Rosalind's family fortune if she will betray Jason. And then the earthquake strikes. . . .

How I got it:
I picked this up at a thrift store. For $1. I loooooove thrift stores, you guys.

When I got it:
A couple weeks ago, maybe August 2016. Definitely not the unread book I've owned the longest, but one I'm eager to read.

Why I want to read it:
I've been very intrigued by the idea of Lackey's Elemental Masters series, so I really hoped this was one of them -after the fact I found out this is basically ground zero for the series, the beginning if not technically 'book one'- but mostly I got it because it's a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. As I mentioned in yesterday's Top Ten Tuesday, I'm trying to read ALL OF THE RE-TELLINGS before the live-action version hits theaters in March. (Wish me luck!) Plus, I've never read anything by Lackey before and, for a girl whose first love is fantasy, that seems like something it needs to be remedied, poste haste.

What series is on your To Read list that you seem to keep putting off?

Exploring My Bookshelves #4 -A Book I Wasn't Sure About + Unboxing

Exploring My Bookshelves #3

A Book I Wasn't Sure About

created by Victoria @ Addlepate and Book Nerds

co-hosted by Shannon @ For the Love of Words

The meme: Every Friday, participants share a photo of their

bookshelves and post on a specific topic or question about them.

Granted, there are a lot of books that I wasn't sure about. (Honorable mention here to Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz; a book about a guy who can see ghosts, because that makes perfect sense for a girl who gets the heebie jeebies from the tamest of ghost stories. But I love it!)

However the book that takes the cake is this one.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (check out my review!)

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who are mean to him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. (Dudley, however, has two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one for all his toys and games.) Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed forever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard! The first book in the "Harry Potter" series makes the perfect introduction to the world of Hogwarts. -via Goodreads

For years I've avoided reading it and assumed it overhyped. In the end, I only deigned to read it because a.) as a book blogger and booktuber, I figured I ought to at least give a try to the series so many other book bloggers and booktubers gush about and to which so many other books are compared and b.) as a writer, I wanted to see for myself this book that so drastically and fantastically changed the landscape in MG and YA publishing and heralded in a new Golden Age for these areas.

In the end, I fell in love with them. In fact, that book I'm holding is my very own, brand new copy, because I just bought the boxed set, baby!

Witness the Glorious Unboxing!!!
 

So yeah, that makes this another Harry Potter Month post. ;)

August Wrap Up + Book Haul

First up, just a reminder about my Book Giveaway going on right now! I have three e-copies of Cheree Alsop's Werewolf Academy: Chosen to give out to some lucky winners. This giveaway closes Monday, Sep 9, so get your entries in. This is open internationally, so now you have no excuses. ;)

Now sit back and enjoy my August Wrap Up video! All the links are listed down below.

What I Read:

Secret Avengers vol 1 & 2 by Ales Kot
3 stars | Goodreads review

Thor: God of Thunder vol 1-3 by  Aaron
4 stars

Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine

4 stars

Library Wars vol 12 & 13

5 stars

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

5 stars

Sidekicked by John David Anderson

4 stars | Video | Blog

Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs

4 stars | Video | Blog

Marrow by Preston Norton

4 stars | Blog

The Blog Posts

Worth Watching: Battle Creek

Giveaway + Writing Update



Amanda & the Star Wars Summer
Episode I | Episode II | Video

 
Book Haul: 
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
Legion & Legion: Skin Deep
Infinity Blade: Redemption & Awakening
The Emperor's Soul
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
Firstborn
Perfect State 
all by Brandon Sanderson
 Dungeoneers by John David Anderson 
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Trixter & Tales of Arilland by Alethea Kontis

The Book Haul

It's that time again. Time to show off my new books!

But first, a message for our Corny Joke Monday:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Doctor.

Doctor who?

Exactly.

 

 Onward, ho!

If you missed my post last week, I now have NEW BOOKSHELVES! Because I was also painting the wall where the bookshelves were to be placed, and reorganizing my room, and pretty slow at both, I've had a stack of (semi) newly purchased books piling up in the corner stretching back maybe as far as May. So we've got some catching up to do.

The Books:

Stargate Atlantis: Blood Ties by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen
The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Public Enemy Number Two & Three of Diamonds by Anthony Horowitz

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

The Horizontal Man by Michael Dahl (x2)

Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer

Hidden Mickey by David W. Smith and Nancy Temple Rodriguez

 Candle Man by Glenn Dakin

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Wrap Up, Book Haul, TBR, and Maybe the Kitchen Sink

In which I talk the books I read, the books I got, and the books I will read. Books, books, books, books, BOOKS!

 

ALL OF THE LINKS:

Vlogs:

Mini March Book Haul
Firefight review here and here

 Jackaby Review here and here.

 Mini March Book Haul 

Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Book vs. Movie)

From the blog:

My Thoughts on Frozen
Guest Post from J.E. Thompson
Ten Books From Childhood

EDIT: Something went belly-side up with the scheduler, so here's yesterday's post today. Sorry for the wait.

Mini March Book Haul + Giveaway Winners

They say you can't buy happiness, but you can buy books. Which is basically the same thing.

The Books:

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by LINDA URBAN

Found

Sent

Sabatoged

Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Also, here are the giveaway winners! Woohoo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, everyone! *throws confetti*

December Book Haul

Ahhhhhh, that new book smell. Nothing quite like it, is there?




Keep an eye out this week for that Enchanted giveaway!

Corny Joke Monday

How do you measure a snake?
In inches. They don't have any feet.

October Book Haul

MMMMmmmm, I just love the smell of book hauls in the morning!

~~Reviews~~
Always Neverland by Zoe Barton
Gates of Atlantis: Battle for Acropolis by Mikey Brooks

~~Modo: Ember's End~~
http://www.modocomic.com/index.html

That's it for now. I'm going to get back to editing my novel. ;)

The One with the Dinosaurs

When my grandparents bought their house a few years back, the fact that there was no medicine cabinet in the second bathroom was a bone of contention. Completely unacceptable. A reason they almost did not purchase the house. So they had one specially installed.

Which they never wound up using.

My mom wanted to surreptitiously fill this medicine cabinet with ping-pong balls and hope they'd open it eventually.

Great minds think alike, apparently, because my aunt beat her to it. She filled the cabinet, not with ping-pong balls, but plastic dinosaur toys of primary colors. I lost count of the weeks we waited for my grandparents to make the discovery. Eventually we got sick of waiting and began dropping heavy hints, until we finally told them to look in the cabinet.

Since then, the dinosaurs have been slowly encroaching on the rest of the bathroom. First it was one on the counter. Another hiding in the closet. Two perched on an unused towel rack. My aunt used them as her playthings, arranging them and rearranging them every week, until they exploded all over the shower. It's become what's known as a Thing.

But this week, my grandmother finally had her say.

 



Beware, all dinosaurs who enter here.









Proof that my family is in fact crazy awesome.

Maybe this helps to explain my, er, unique habit of adding sound effects to daily life. Exhibit A, my June TBR and Book Haul: