Teaser Tuesday #20 Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To participate you grab your current read, open to a random page and share (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INLUDE SPOILERS (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away. You don't want to ruin the book for others). Share the title and author.

"I am not talking about a Broadway show with your parents and your little sister. I am talking about Manhattan at night with you. Do you understand the difference?"
"Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I am joking?"

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber



This is a fun book about a kid who has to take their Lithuanian exchange student to prom- and finds more than he bargained for when she turns out to be a lethal assassin! It's fast moving and full of craziness- just the kind of light read I need for a little break. And once they get to Manhattan- watch out!

Sunday Post #42/ It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

This week was much better for reading, I finished two books and started another. Now that's what I'm talking about- finally. I was slow going on a couple of reads, I guess mainly because nothing was really wowing me - and life was busy too. It kinda feels like the logjam is broken and I can move on now.  I've got some good reads coming up too- well I hope they're good, they look good to me anyway.   

I should have several reviews up this week, just putting the finishing touches on my Jurassic Park thoughts. Looking ahead I have several YA reads I want to get to and a historical or two- where's the fantasy? Seems like I'm not feeling the fantasy love as much these days- or just not coming across the right stuff. Just not a lot that grabbing me right now. We'll see if that changes... 


CURRENTLY READING: 





COMING SOON: 

Teaser Tuesday #19

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To participate you grab your current read, open to a random page and share (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INLUDE SPOILERS (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away. You don't want to ruin the book for others). Share the title and author.

After locking the door behind him, he put the gun into the backseat of the Jeep. As he left the garage, he heard the distant rumble of thunder. 

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

 
I haven't done this meme in a while, so it's nice to be back. I'm a big fan of the Jurassic Park movies (well, the first two anyway) but I've never read the books. Well, I'm correcting that now with the first one. I have to say I never really thought about reading the books much, but lately it just seemed like a good idea to see what the original story is like- and a shout out to Jessica at Tales Between the Pages for giving me the idea with her Page to Screen feature.

Sunday Post #41/ It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

This week has been kinda crazy and there hasn't been a lot of reading time. I only really had one day where I got any reading done. There have been some health issues with the parents and that took a lot of time and driving back and forth between cities- I need to get some audio books I guess! So- no reviews last week. I also didn't get around to many blogs but hopefully this coming week will be a little better that way. 

I should be wrapping up Seven Wild Sisters soon though and getting a review up- then it's on to the rest of my stack. I keep adding new ones, including some I've been seeing on other blogs- but don't we all? I've been changing up my current reads just a bit too, just for variety's sake. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. 

Happy Easter!!! 

COMING SOON: 

 


NEW THIS WEEK: 



AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE:

George RR Martin has posted a sample from the upcoming World of Ice and Fire on his website. The sample concerns Aegon the Conqueror and an interesting read. Who knows when The Winds of Winter is coming- but this one is due in October. 

Could there be a Flash Gordon remake in the wings? 

Some updates at Rapid City Recess, a fun blog about northern Michigan. There's other stuff there too, but some of the photography is quite nice. 

Sunday Post #40/ It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
 This week has been spring break for us, and we didn't go anywhere- just stayed home and took day trips. That was nice though, we had a lot of fun and were home every night. Man, did the week go by fast! We went to the zoo one day, and took a trip to the lakeshore to see the ice on Lake Michigan. I hope to get some pictures of that up soon. There are a lot of beach towns on this side of the state and we went to Grand Haven to spend the day, got pizza at one of my fave restaurants over there and then found a great little coffee house- which we didn't really want to leave. All in all a pretty good week. In other news, I was nominated for the Liebster AND the Sunshine award last week- thanks to Jessica at Tales between the Pages and Ericka at Highway-Y.A. I appreciate that and nominated a few blogs of my own- please check out my post here. And please go visit Jessica and Ericka- both are great blogs and a lot of fun. 

In reading news, I totally went off plan and grabbed a new book to read. My current reads just were not grabbing me. So I picked up Panic by Lauren Oliver and liked it a lot. Review here.

Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic is a game played by graduating seniors in the little town of Carp, New York. It takes place over the entire summer and consists of competition against other students as well as individual challenges. Everyone is sworn to secrecy about the game, and bad things happen to anyone who breaks the code. Heather Nill grew up in a trailer park and doesn't have much going for her- when her boyfriend dumps her and takes up with another girl, Heather figures she has nothing to lose and impulsively jumps (literally) into the game. She is joined by her best friend Nat and Dodge, a loser who has his own reasons for playing- and playing hard.

The story is told from the viewpoint of both Heather and Dodge, and the story intersects between them and their friends as they navigate the minefield of Panic. I could relate to both Heather and Dodge, they have a hard life and not much to look forward to- so why not play? Of course the stakes get high and they will both have to make some tough calls that will affect them and everyone around them as well. Heather's friend Bishop at times reminded me of Levi from Fangirl for some reason- he's just one of those nice guys. Although in this book there are a lot of secrets and not everyone is as they appear.

Lauren Oliver touches on a lot of things in this story- the decaying small town feel of Carp, the hopelessness of those with few options, and the teens think like real teens- it's at times hilarious to hear their thoughts about their loser parents and the other dysfunctional people in this town. Nat has OCD issues and that was a nice touch, to show the challenges that can present to a young person.

Panic is set in the here and now and is not a science fiction tale at all. It's just a story of some kids who are desperate and take some chances, for all kinds of reasons. This book grabbed me right from the get-go and kept me turning the pages- while I occasionally thought the character motivations to be a bit farfetched, it was mostly pretty plausible.  Although I do think in real life the cops would have shut this down way before it gets to the point it does.

I highly recommend Panic for anyone who wants a fast paced, thrilling and often sobering look at a game that gets way out of control. I blew through this and thought it was great, if a bit unrealistic at the end.

Liebster / Sunshine award

I was nominated for the Liebster award this week by Jessica at Tales Between The Pages, and also for the Sunshine award by Erica at Highway-Y.A. I was nominated for the Liebster once before but didn't really do anything with it- it seemed kinda chain letterish and I saw some bloggers doing awards and some not. So I just kinda let it go...It does seem like a way to recognize other bloggers and maybe help them get some traffic, so I'm going to pass the awards on this time. Near as I can tell, the rules are pretty much the same for both, so I nominated a few blogs for each.

Thank you Jessica and Ericka! It's always nice to make new blogger friends and to have this happen twice in one week is kinda cool. I appreciate your nominating me!

So here we go.

The rules are:

1. Link back to the person who nominated you
2. Answer the 10 questions given to you by the nominee before you
3. List 11 facts about yourself
4. Pick 10 bloggers to nominate for the award with less than 200 followers
5. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.

11 facts about me: 

1. I'm a fantasy fan but read surprisingly little fantasy these days. At least not high fantasy.
2. My favorite food is pizza.
3. I love conventions
4. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is one of my favorite places.
5. My first job was working at a vette shop- started out washing cars then I got to drive Corvettes back from the auto auction. Imagine a 17 yr old kid driving Vettes on the highway. Best job ever?
6. I think Night Fever by The BeeGees is a jam.
7. If it's Billy Idol, I'm crankin it. Just sayin.
8. I love Knights of the Dinner Table. If you read it, you know why.
9. Panera Bread makes me happy.
10. I majored in psych and went to law school for a year, and my career has nothing to do with either of those.
11. I'm a big fan of Michael Whelan's artwork, and am lucky enough to own this piece.

My answers to Jessica's questions: 

1). What's one morning ritual you hate to give up? Coffee and toast

2) If you could go back in time, where/ when would you go? Why'd you choose that place/ time? The birth of Christ. I love Christmas, imagine being there for the real thing. If I could pick another, I'd want to see the age of dinosaurs. As long as I could get out quick!

3) Which book world would you most like to live in? Least like to live in? That's easy- Middle Earth all the way. To see The Tower Hills, the Blue Mountains, Rivendell... and grab a beer at the Green Dragon. Least like? Probably Westeros- way too dangerous! Although being a Tyrell of Highgarden might not be too bad...

4) What are the three best books you've read this year? Vitro by Jessica Khoury is probably my favorite so far this year. Dipping back into last year, I would say Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole and Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke have to be on that list.

5) Which writer inspires you most? Edgar Rice Burroughs was a big inspiration to me growing up. The John Carter books had a big impact on me. For a young reader there was just so much there...

6) What do you do for a living and would you give it all up to become a professional blogger? I'm a benefits administrator at a healthcare company, and love my job- but yeah if I could make a living blogging, you betcha!

7) What's one thing you wish bloggers would do more? Kill the CAPTCHA :)

8) What's your lifelong dream? To be a writer

9) If you could live as one main character from a book, who would it be and why? I'm not sure about this one, actually. Maybe Frodo- I wouldn't want the burden he had, but to sail across the sea with the elves to Valinor would be alright.

10) If you could learn how to do anything, what would it be? Better blog design! :)

My nominations:



1. Second Run Reviews
2. Finley Jayne's Going to the Library



1. Natalie Hearts Books
2. Raining Books and Words

If any of my nominees don't want to do this, I completely understand- I just think they're nice up and coming blogs and wanted to share the love.

Questions for nominees:

1. What is your favorite food?
2. Do you reread favorite books or are you a one and done reader?
3. Do you prefer real books or ebooks?
4. If you could vacation anywhere and $ was no object, where would you go?
5. What is your favorite type of music? Country, rock, jazz, whatever...
6. If you could pick a book or series to be made into a movie, what would it be?
7. What is your favorite movie?
8. Concert you would most like to see?
9. Do you have a favorite restaurant?
10. Share a moment in a book that shocked you- good or bad.

Happy reading!