[Blog tour] Review: My Vampire Summer by Elle Casey

My Vampire Summer by Elle Casey 
Published: March 23rd, 2012
Pages: 195
Source: for review (blog tour)
Challenge: none
Series: First in a series of four novellas
Buy the book: Amazon
Rating: ★★★★☆


Reserved bookworm Iona Candella and her best friend, wildchild Cheri Blake, are spending the summer before college in a small medieval town in France. Iona plans to spend the time reading 100 books on her Kindle and Cheri plans to spend it interfering in Iona's book reading/hibernation plan and finding gorgeous French boyfriends to help them pass the time instead. Both of them get more than they bargained for or even imagined. Ancient curses, haunted castle ruins, crypts protected by supernatural serpents.

After reading The Changelings, I was very excited when I saw that there was a new series by Elle Casey - this being a series of four novellas. Set in France, this novella takes us along with Iona's and Cheri's holiday. Where they thought about French boys and reading too many books, they find themselves in the middle of a supernatural playground, and Iona finds herself in a very bright spotlight.

The story is fast paced, nicely built up and I really liked the characters. Iona was even more obsessed with books than I am, and I loved reading about a bookworm character, even though I didn't like all the references to different authors. I would have preferred it if that was left out, but that's the only thing I feel I didn't like. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this novella, and with me being a bit bored with vampire books, that is saying something.

I'll be looking forward to the rest of the novellas, especially since this one set up pretty nicely for the second in this series. If you're looking for a quick, good paranormal YA, this might be the one for you!

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Previous stop: Buried in Books

Review: The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter

The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter 
Published: May 25th, 2010 (Harlequin)
Pages: 438
Source: bought
Challenge: none
Series: Lords of the Underworld, #5
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★☆

Note: this is not the first book in a series, and can therefore contain (minor) spoilers for the previous book(s) in the series. Reading of this review is at your own risk.

For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel-demon-assassin has been sent to kill him. Or has she? Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn't bear to harm him. But trusting - and falling for - Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this mortal with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron's darkest passion?

Now, with an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn't..

Out of all the Lords, Aeron was one of the few that never really interested me as the books progressed. However, after reading his story, I have to say that he is one of my favorite Lords.

As usual, we follow one particular Lord and see his story. In this one, Aeron gets tempted by a fallen angel which leads to a couple very interesting scenes. I really liked finding out more about him, as well as see a little bit of the others living in the fortress. Everything is starting to come together in the books and I really like that!

Besides the story of Aeron and Olivia, the book focuses on the development of the war between the Lords and the Hunters. Everything is getting more and more intense and I really liked the involvement of some more Greek myths/figures in this book. And I have to admit, I'm really curious to see how the story will continue after this one..

In my opinion, the Lords of the Underworld series keeps getting better and better. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sequel to order..

In Case You Missed It (5)

It's Sunday again! In In Case You Missed It I basically round up my week in terms of books, reviews and other bookish things. This will mainly focus on my own things, but I'll be likely to include links to fellow bloggers if I find something awesome :)



You might have guessed it, but it's still May and we're still in the middle of Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! Here on Loving Books, the fourth Blogger Q&A went up: The question 'How do you decide what to read' was answered by five lovely bloggers and ourselves! Besides that, over on Bella's blog, the fourth wrap up went live on Friday, including a UK giveaway!

But there also was plenty of other awesome stuff! Three reviews went live this week! I am part of the blog tour for From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade, and my review for that went up on Monday. Besides that, my review for Adorkable by Sarra Manning went up. It was published on the 24th and it you haven't picked it up yet, you're missing out!! Last but not least, my review for Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow was published. I really enjoyed that book, I can't wait to read the rest of the series!


And for the first time in AGES I actually did a book haul! YAY! I've decided to do those only sporadically since I'm trying to slow down my book buying, but here it is - New Arrivals - book haul (77)!



That's it for this week! I've been really busy so that's why I haven't really read any blogs lately (I know I suck). Will do my best to hop some blogs this weekend!


I hope you all have a lovely week - happy reading! :)

New Arrivals - Book Haul (77)

So.. It's been a while since I did a book haul. I didn't like making a video on a set date every week, so I decided to step away from it. Also, I don't have new books to show as often as I used to, because I try to limit my book buying, so that's why I haven't done one of these posts/videos in a while. Anyhoo, I filmed this one about two weeks ago, and thought I'd share!

For review

Skylark by Meagan Spooner (NG)

Timepiece by Myra McEntire (NG)

From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade

My Vampire Summer by Elle Casey

Free from Amazon

The White Lilac by Christina J. Adams

You Had Me At Halo by Amanda Ashby

Super Zero by Rhonda Stapleton

Moon Spell by Samantha Young

Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater

Cyberdrome by Joseph Rhea and David Rhea

Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer

Won

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Bought

Storm Born by Richelle Mead (kindle)

Smaragdgroen by Kerstin Gier

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Whew! That's quite the list.. I didn't actually realise I had this many books to show until I typed it up. Yikes. But I have to say, I'm VERY excited for the books I got in the past couple of weeks! I've already read From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade and The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan and I really enjoyed both of them :)


And yeah.. That's it for this week! If you've read any of these, please do let me know in the comments below what you think :) Happy reading!

Review: Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
Published: May 14th, 2009 (Penguin)
Pages: 293
Source: for review
Challenge: none
Series: Strange Angels #1
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★☆


Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called "the touch." (Comes in handy when you're traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead - but still walking - and Dru knows she's next. Even worse, she's got two guys hungry for her affections, and they're not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever - or whoever - is hunting her?

I had seen this one around a lot, and the blurb sounded interesting.. So when I got it for review recently, I was very excited. And I still am, because Strange Angels proves to be the beginning of a fact paced, awesome series.

While Dru was a bit annoying in the beginning, she definitely grew on me while the story continued. I get it, her dad gets turned into a zombie, so that's enough to make a girl a bit whiny. But she grew as a character, and I really liked the characterisation of Dru. She wasn't unbreakable, but she did her best to be strong and tried to make the best of the situation that was at hand.

The thing I loved most, besides the excitement and how fast paced this book was, was Graves. He isn't your average goodlooking guy who sweeps a heroine off her feet, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. I loved his humor and most of all I loved the chemistry between Dru and Graves. They make a great duo, and I can't wait to read more about them. Actually, I found the chemistry between Dru, Graves, and Christophe to be pretty awesome as well. I loved how they had distinct personalities and I knew who was saying what without reading who said it (does that make sense?). The characters are just very well developed and fleshed out and I loved that they felt so real in between all the supernatural violence going on around them.

Strange Angels was fast paced and took me from one exciting situation to the next. It definitely made me excited to pick up Betrayals, which I will do as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.

B&DERM Q&A 4: Deciding What Books to Read

It's time for the fourth Q&A with our lovely bloggers! Every week, 5 fellow bloggers and Bella and I answer a reading and/or reviewing related question. Check out Q&A 1, Q&A 2 and Q&A 3 by clicking on their linkies! This week:

How do you decide what to read? With so much choice, it can be difficult to not want to read everything! 

Amber from Books of Amber
Review books come first, and I usually pick either whatever takes my fancy or what is coming out the soonest. If it's from my own TBR, then I just stare at my bookshelf for a while and see if anything jumps out at me. I like what Daph does, though, with the whole "Pick a random" on Twitter! :D


Ashley from What's Your Story?
This one is a hard one. I always allow myself a ‘free read’, meaning a non-review book that I have no obligation to read. Those are the most difficult to choose, because there’s so much selection! Sometimes I just close my eyes and pick something randomly. Other times I’m in the mood for a particular kind of book. It all depends.


Bella from Cheezyfeet Books
I have monthly TBR piles! I make a short list of everything I'd like to read in whichever month, and then try and stick within that. I don't have an ordered list though - I tried that and it just doesn't work at all! However, I quite often stray from these piles and slot in one or two of my own books to read, because they are seriously neglected, sadly :(


Carina from Fictional Distraction
I’m still trying to find the answer to that question. I want to read EVERYTHING. But in the end, my time (or lack thereof) helps me decide what to read and what to put on my wishful-thinking-tbr-list.


Sara from Just Another Story
I read what I want to read. If sometimes sounds good I'll read it. Sometimes I have a hard time finding the time to read everything I want. Some books will sit on my TBR for years. I have to be in the mood for a certain book, before I can read it.


Stacey from Pretty Books
I tend to follow my pub schedule. The majority of books I'll read in a month will be review copies, and then I'll sometimes choose one that I've bought (because book bloggers tend to not get to read books they've actually purchased!), and then a classic because I've set myself a goal of reading 12 classics in 2012.


Daph from Loving Books (c'est moi!)
I usually randomly pick what books I read. Ha! I've gotten a bit more structured and now keep track of which review books come out, so I try to read those along with whatever I want. For me personally, it's important that I don't only read books the books I *need* to read, because I'm a bit scared that would temper my love for reading. I still want to read every single book, but I just pick out what catches my attention at that moment.

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That's it for this week's Q&A! Make sure to check out Bella's blog for the fifth and final Q&A post next week! Also, we'd love to hear your answers to this week's question, so leave them in the comments below! :)

Review: Adorkable by Sarra Manning

Adorkable by Sarra Manning
Published: May 24th, 2012 (ATOM)
Pages: 336
Source: for review
Challenge: none
Series: no
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★★


Jeane Smith is seventeen and has turned her self-styled dorkiness into an art form, a lifestyle choice and a profitable website and consultancy business. She writes a style column for a Japanese teen magazine and came number seven in The Guardian's 30 People Under 30 Who Are Changing The World. And yet, in spite of the accolades, hundreds of Internet friendships and a cool boyfriend, she feels inexplicably lonely, a situation made infinitely worse when Michael Lee, the most mass-market, popular and predictably all-rounded boy at school tells Jeane of his suspicion that Jeane's boyfriend is secretly seeing his girlfriend. Michael and Jeane have NOTHING in common - she is cool and individual; he is the golden boy in an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt. So why can't she stop talking to him?

I absolutely LOVED (yes, in capitals!) this book. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it had everything to make it an amazing contemporary, and it is - an awesome book.

Jeane is adorkable - a bit of a weirdo in her school of hipsters, as she walks around in mustard yellow tights and an assortment of weirdly combined patterns in her clothes, with her own Adorkable blog which has over a million followers. When the school's biggest hipster, Michael Lee, tells her about his suspicions that his girlfriend and her boyfriend are hitting on eachother, she dismisses it. But when he turns out to be right, everything happens really quickly. She hates everything about Michael Lee; his mohawk, his converses and his stupid Abercombie & Fitch shirt. But somehow, it's impossible to stay away.

I la-la-loved this book. Michael made for an amazing character who was able to lure Jeane out of her shell. Jeane, who appears to be a tough cookie, turns out not to be so touch and I loved seeing how she tried to deal with it, even though it was quite sad to witness. I loved how their relationship developed. They are total opposites, completely different and yet they are so perfect together.

Jeane was quite obnoxious in a couple of scenes, but it only made me love her more. She wasn't perfect. Not everything worked out the way she wanted. She had a hard time dealing with the fact that her entire family lives outside the country, even though she tried to hide it. When she finally gives in to her sadness, it's heartbreaking.

I cannot rave enough about this book. I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this one up, but whatever it was, it turned out to be better. It was absolutely fantastic, funny and touching and I can't wait to grab me a finished copy and experience Jeane's and Michael's story all over again.

ALL the stars for ADORKABLE! - And I have nothing to declare but my dorkiness. Amen.

Review: From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade

From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade
Published: April 2012 (Crush Publishing)
Pages: 125
Source: for review (blogtour)
Challenge: none
Series: none
Buy the book: Amazon
Rating: ★★★★☆

When good-girl Maddie switches places with her famous bad-girl twin Jackie, she has some pretty high stilettos to fill.

Despite the danger of tabloid drama if their identity swap is discovered, Maddie has to save her sister's butt. When Jackie’s ex-boyfriend shows up with a rekindled spark for “Jackie,” his deep gray eyes and sweet kisses make Maddie's heart thumpety thump. But dating the guy who dumped her sister is a no-no. Too bad Dallas isn’t used to girls saying no. What will happen when he discovers Maddie’s deception?

Let's get down to business: I really enjoyed this cute contemporary novella! It had all the elements to draw me in and keep me there, without it feeling rushed because of the length of the book.

While I thought the storyline might feel rushed, it worked out perfectly. The ending was a little too perfect for my liking, but hey, I'm one of those people who like to see their characters really suffer, so that's my problem. I really liked Dallas in the story - he was a great character, cheeky and gorgeous and the chemistry between Dallas and Maddie was lovely.

If you're looking for a short, fun and easy read with romance, From Fame to Shame is the way to go!

This post is part of 

In Case You Missed It (4)

It's Sunday again! In In Case You Missed It I basically round up my week in terms of books, reviews and other bookish things. This will mainly focus on my own things, but I'll be likely to include links to fellow bloggers if I find something awesome :)

It's the third week of May, which means Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month is still very much going on. This week, I wrapped up my readathon from last weekend, and yesterday I kicked off the mini readathon for this weekend! It's only 24 hours, but you can make it longer if you want, of course. I finished my first book Saturday afternoon, hopefully I'll be able to finish my second book on Sunday morning!

And in case you missed it (ha!), the third wrap up - including an international giveaway! - went up on Friday, so if you're participating in B&DERM, you might want to check that out..

But it wasn't all B&DERM on the blog. I've also spent some time drooling over Black City by Elizabeth Richards in On My Wishlist, which doesn't come out until WAY later this year (boo!) and two reviews went live this week: Ecstacy Unveiled by Larissa Ione (adult!) and Madhattan Mystery by John J. Bonk (middlegrade). I really enjoyed both of them and am very much looking forward to reading moar!


That's it for this week! I haven't been reading any blogs this week (I know), so no links from outside the blog.. Though you are very much welcome to share interesting posts in the comments below!


I hope you all have a lovely week - happy reading! :)

[B&DERM] Mini readathon!

Today we start the second readathon! It's a mini one, only 24 hours, but you can always make it longer if you prefer. Read as much as you can from now until tomorrow the same time! (I'd say noon, but then for some people it's not even noon yet, so.. yeah. Different time zones suck xD)

I'm going to try and finish Once by Anna Carey - I haven't had time to finish it because work was very busy - but I also want to at least make a start with The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross.


What are you planning to read? Remember: next week is the reviewathon so don't worry about not having the time to review all the books right away!


Not sure what's up with this B&DERM stuff? Check out the kick-off post!

[B&DERM] Third Wrap Up and Giveaway

It's Friday, which means it's time to wrap up the third week of Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! Now, I don't know about you, but personally I feel like May is flying by way too fast - just to try and make me fail this reading month. I won't surrender though!


Daph's wrap up
During the last week, mainly thanks to the readathon last weekend, I managed to read three books: Soulmates: Het Verhaal van Sky by Joss Stirling (which you may know as Finding Sky), From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade and Once by Anna Carey. I'm very proud!


Wrapping up the third week already!
We're over halfway through the month now, so tell us: how many books did you manage to read? Did you manage to finish one/a few? Or is May not working out the way you want it to? Leave your experiences in the comments below! We can support eachother and cheer you on!


Linking your reviews
Like we said in the kickoff post, you can win awesome prizes by linking up your reviews! It's an extra incentive to motivate you to participate and link up your reviews. If you don't write your reviews until later, you can also link to your Goodreads or Shelfari review with your thoughts in a few sentences. You can also link up your wrap up posts if you wrote one!


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Where's that giveaway you mentioned?
Right here! This week, the giveaway is open to all participants in B&DERM! To be entered, the only thing we ask is that you've signed up at the kickoff post, since this is a B&DERM giveaway after all. We'd also appreciate it if you were actively participating in B&DERM :) No following or spreading the word required (although both are very much appreciated of course!), the only thing you need to do besides signing up in the kickoff post is filling in the form below :)

Oh, you want to know what you can win? Here ya go: One lucky winner can pick one book of choice from the selection pictured (all paperbacks)!

If you can't see the form, click this link to be taken directly to the form.

That's it for now! In case you missed it, check out our previous B&DERM posts! Links are below :)

Kickoff post Bella & Kickoff post Daph

Q&A 1 & Q&A 2 & Q&A 3 

Wrap up 1 & Wrap up 2

Readathon

Review: Madhattan Mystery by John J. Bonk

Madhattan Mystery by John J. Bonk
Published: May 22nd, 2012 (Walker & Company)
Pages: 304
Source: for review
Challenge: none
Series: none
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★☆


All set to spend their summer in New York City with their aunt while their father is honeymooning with his new wife, Lexi and her younger brother Kevin’s snoozy summer plans turn into high-stakes adventure when Lexi overhears a plot to steal Cleopatra’s famous jewels from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Joining forces with budding investigative journalist Kim Ling Levine, they ditch day camp to track down the thieves and rake in the reward money. Can Lexi, Kevin, and Kim find out who’s behind the jewel heist without getting into too much trouble themselves?

In an adventerous story, Lexi and her brother Kevin find themselves in the middle of investigating a jewel theft instead of spending their time in day camp. With a very annoying, yet very smart journalist-to-be, they set off to follow up on the clues they found. Fueled with intrigue and humor, Bonk has written a story that sucked me in and will appeal to even the most reluctant reader.

I really liked this book! It was a really cute story, and a great middlegrade adventure without adding all sorts of paranormal elements. Lexi was a nice character to follow around and I especially liked Kevin's smartass-ery. Kim was obnoxious, yet very refreshing while following Lexi's thoughts.

The story was a bit predictable, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. I was thoroughly entertained while I flipped the pages to see what would happen next. I've never been to New York, but I would love to be able to check out the Whispering Corner one day!

I really liked reading this one and will be checking out more of Bonk's work in the future, which will hopefully be just as good as this book!

On My Wishlist (40)

In On My Wishlist I spotlight books that I'm really looking forward to. I know there's a meme Waiting on Wednesday and there even are others, but I'm going to rebel and do it how I want it (hehe). I'll feature the synopsis as posted on Goodreads and put a linkie to the Goodreads page of the book. This week: Black City by Elizabeth Richards.

Black City by Elizabeth Richards
Expected publication date: November 13th, 2012

Synopsis
In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection, that causes Ash’s long dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong. When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.


Goodreads page

Dystopian slash post-apocalyptic with a paranormal twist.. Yes please! The cover intrigued me and the synopsis made me want to read this book. It's just.. I wonder how this is going to tie in together? It sounds awesome, but on top of that the premise has me wondering what it's going to look like. I *love* not knowing what I get into - even though I know a little bit with this one. I cannot wait to get my grabby little hands on this book!

ERM Readathon - roundup

Soooo I got a little distracted and totally forgot to post my wrap up yesterday! Whoops! Anyhoo, I managed to read 2.5 books, which may sound a bit meager, but since I just got out of my funk I think it's brilliant!

In total, I read almost 740 pages, spread over three books:
- Soulmates: Het Verhaal van Sky by Joss Stirling (Finding Sky)
- From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade
- Once by Anna Carey

I'm currently over halfway through Once, which reads just as easily as Eve so hopefully I'll be able to finish that one soon!


How did you do during the first ERM Readathon? Did you manage to get some books read? :)

Review: Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione

Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione 
Published: February 1st, 2010 (Forever)
Pages: 400
Age group: adult
Source: bought
Challenge: none
Series: Demonica, #4
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★☆☆ ½

Note: this is not the first book in a series, and can therefore contain (minor) spoilers for the previous book(s) in the series. Reading of this review is at your own risk.

Lore is a Seminus half-breed demon who has been forced to act as his dark master's assassin. Now to earn his freedom and save his sister's life, he must complete one last kill. Powerful and ruthless, he'll stop at nothing to carry out this deadly mission.

Idess is an earthbound angel with a wild side, sworn to protect the human Lore is targeting. She's determined to thwart her wickedly handsome adversary by any means necessary-even if that means risking her vow of eternal chastity. But what begins as a simple seduction soon turns into a passion that leaves both angel and demon craving complete surrender. Torn between duty and desire, Lore and Idess must join forces as they battle their attraction for each other. Because an enemy from the past is rising again-one hellbent on vengeance and unthinkable destruction.

I put reading this book off for a really long time because I didn't want to get near the actual end of the series. The Demonica series is one of my absolute favorite series and thankfully, Ecstasy Unveiled didn't disappoint.

While I have to be honest and say that Lore is my least favorite main demon from the series so far, I really enjoyed reading his story and the way Ione set up the story for the last book. The writing is great, flowy and easy to read and I thoroughly enjoy every single story she writes, and this is no exception. The plot continues from what happened in the first three books, but it's not dragging on, nor is this book used to be able to squeeze a fifth book into the series. Yay! (although, admittedly, I wouldn't have mind another book in the series. Or two.)

The entire series reads like a charm and I absolutely love how the characters are portrayed. They are completely fleshed out and even though most of them are not human, they appear human in their behaviour. I absolutely love this series and I cannot wait to read Sin Undone!

The Knife of Never Letting Go Giveaway Winner!

So.. I'm late with this, I know. But I can finally announce the winner of the giveaway for a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness! Without further ado, the winner is...

Willinda

Congratulations! You can expect an e-mail somewhere tomorrow (or you can email me instead, using the email you filled in on the form) so you can claim your prize :) 

Didn't win this time? Not to worry, there's loads of awesome coming up in the next couple of months so just keep an eye out on the blog! As always, thanks everyone for participating :)

In Case You Missed It (3)

In In Case You Missed It I basically round up my week in terms of books, reviews and other bookish things. This will mainly focus on my own things, but I'll be likely to include links to fellow bloggers if I find something awesome :)

After kicking off Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month last week, B&DERM is still going strong in its second week! This week, I had the honor of five amazing bloggers visiting to talk about finding time to read and review in our second Q&A post. They have some great tips on finding time! Besides that, we kicked off our first readathon on Friday which will last until midnight tonight. I'm hoping to get some more reading done because my readathon progress is kind of pathetic - even though I'm very excited to have finished at least one book!

But it's not all about B&DERM, the blog has been going strong as usual with an On My Wishlist post on The Raft by S.A. Bodeen, for which I really hope I'll get approved on NetGalley.. And besides that, two reviews went up this week: Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter (The Goddess Test #2) and Hollow Pike by James Dawson. To see what I thought, simply click on the linkies!


I also wanted to share another great post by Zoë Marriott with you. This time she talks about the Blogger vs Authors debacle which seems to be going on strong still - even though we've had a lot of drama already. I think Zoë makes some really good points, plus she always knows how to get her thoughts across while also making me laugh.


That's what was up on the blog this week! I'm writing this on Saturday night, so I might miss an update for the ERM Readathon or something.. I'm sure you'll forgive me for that ;) Anyway, I hope you'll all have a lovely week!

ERM Readathon - First update!

I was planning on doing an update sooner, but it got stuck in my scheduled posts.. Anyhoo, here's my first update for the ERM Readathon! I've just finished my first book about an hour ago, so yay! I finished Soulmates: Het Verhaal van Sky by Joss Stirling (Finding Sky is the original title) and I really enjoyed it.

Now it's time to pick up the next book, but it'll have to wait for dinner and The Voice UK. It's the only show I watch, so I'm allowed to make time for it, I think! It'll be done at 20.45 so I'll get my reading on again then.


A little overview for me so far:

Currently reading: From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade
Books finished: 1
- Soulmates: Het Verhaal van Sky (Finding Sky) by Joss Stirling
Pages read: 376
Running total of pages read: 376
Amount of time spent reading: 4 hours
Running total of time spent reading: 4 hours
Snacks: Lunch (chicken/bacon pasta with honey mustard dressing) and a piece of chocolate


How's your readathon coming along? How much did you manage to read? :)

B&DERM First Read-a-thon!

While it's time to wrap up this first full week of Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month (check out Bella's blog for this week's wrap up post!), it's also time to kick off the first ERM Read-a-thon! From today until midnight on Sunday, we try to read as much as we can to catch up with our TBR piles. I know I need to! 

There will be several posts during the weekend to motivate you as well as some post that may help challenge you to read more. If you're participating and talking about it on Twitter, use the hashtag #ERMreadathon! That way we can all chat about it and cheer each other on (when we're taking a little break from reading like crazy, of course).

I was planning to do a TBR post last week, but somehow I didn't.. Maybe I'll post it in the next couple of days even though it's WAY late. Anyhoo, these are the books I plan to read this weekend (fingers crossed I'll manage to read even one book):

- Soulmates. Het Verhaal van Sky by Joss Stirling (Finding Sky)

- From Fame to Shame by Veronica Blade

- The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross

- Once by Anna Carey

Four books is a lot for me to read in a weekend, however I'm already reading Soulmates so hopefully I can read those other three after I finish this one! 

Are you planning to participate in our first readathon? If so, what are you planning to read? :)

Review: Hollow Pike by James Dawson

Hollow Pike by James Dawson
Published: February 2nd, 2012 (Orion)
Pages: 416
Source: for review
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012
Series: none
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆


Something wicked this way comes... She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her. Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you? Not until you're alone in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps... Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps.

Before I start off by offering my thoughts on this book, I have to say that I'm having a really hard time writing this review. This book held so much promise, with an intriguing synopsis and it being a debut for 2012, but for me it didn't work at all.

I've been trying to read some more books about witches for a while now, so I was really excited when I got this one in for review. The synopsis tells me that Hollow Pike is a small little town were witchcraft never sleeps. However, while I was reading it, I felt like all the witchcraft was in some sort of coma and didn't come out of it until I was getting towards the end of the book.

This may sound a bit harsh, but for a book about witchcraft, there was a remarkably low amount of this book dedicated to that subject. Sure, there was talk about how Hollow Pike was a place full of witches centuries ago, and how the copse was supposedly haunted, but other than that, there wasn't much. Instead, a lot of pages were spent talking about Lis' nightmares and how the birds seem to be watching her. It was mentioned so often that I got annoyed before I reached the 30 page mark: after mentioning it twice, I know it's somehow important for the plot. I get it. There's no need to mention it a dozen times. So I would have liked for the story to pick up, but it didn't. The story was slow and dragged on without anything happening.

The characters fell flat and were stereotypical in a way I hadn't experienced before. There was a snobby girl who thought she was queen of the school, two lesbian girls who were bullied and called witches, their sidekick was a boy who was a geeky guy who liked comics and the main character was constantly giving me the impression how she was not pretty, special, or whatever. The love interest was the most popular guy in school. They didn't have any depth and the characters who were important for the plot were completely invisible until the plot started to unravel near the end.

Honestly, there wasn't much I liked about the book. I liked the theme, and I liked the setting, but that was about it for me. Because of the reasons I gave before, it just didn't work for me. I was frustrated and annoyed and I just didn't enjoy reading this book. I wouldn't recommend picking it up.

B&DERM Q&A #2: Finding Time for Reading and Reviewing

Welcome to part two of the Blogger Q&A's we're hosting in theme of Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! Bella from Cheezyfeet Books and I are co-hosting this month's theme to read a dent into our TBR's. Every week we have five amazing bloggers over on one of our blogs to answer some reading and/or reviewing related question. For the first Q&A post, head over to Bella's blog!


This week's question:

Do you find it difficult to find the time to read and review? Any tips for anyone who's struggling to find time?

Amber from Books of Amber
Only when I'm in a funk! I don't have much else to do at the moment, as I'm without a job, so I read and review quite a bit. Although, if I'm in a funk I find it extremely difficult! Erm, tips... I'd say to make time to read for at least an hour every day. Clear your timetable for that one hour, and try to do the same every day. I doubt that was helpful :')


Ashley from What's Your Story?
At first I did, because I just had so much going on in my life! With school and acting competitions, I literally had no time. I’ve barely read anything this year, I’m so far behind on my goal! But, now things have calmed down, and I’ve been reading more. I guess the best advice I could give to anyone struggling is ALWAYS CARRY A BOOK OF SOME KIND WITH YOU. If you have an e-reader, even better. You honestly never know when you’re going to have time to read, so keep a book on you. If you’re a student, it’s the best because there is so much time in class when you’re not doing anything, of you’ve finished your work early, and you can whip out a book and get a few chapters read. I’ve started carrying either my Nook or Kindle with me everywhere, and trust me, it’s helped.


Bella from Cheezyfeet Books
Sometimes. On school days I struggle to get any proper reading done - I usually waste my time on Twitter, then I watch TV and then I go to bed and only get in 20 minutes or so before I go to sleep, but I guess that's better than nothing, right? I find it a lot easier at the weekends when I don't have so much to do and I can sit for an hour or two and just read. If you're looking for tips, I'd suggest always have a book on you! You never know when you might have ten minutes or so - and surprisingly this can add up to a lot of otherwise wasted reading time! Also, if you're struggling to find time, remember that you can sacrifice an hour of TV (or in my case, Twitter) a day to make time to read! There's always time - you just have to make sure that you're not doing something else during it ;P




Image from Pusheen

Carina from Fictional Distraction
Since I’m taking my current read with me everywhere I go, I always tend to find some time to read every day. It’s the perfect pastime when you’re waiting for something or someone. And if I have a really busy day, I always try to read a bit during the evening to calm down.

My reviews are mostly written on the weekend or my days off from university. I try to write down a few notes while reading a book, so I can remember my most important thoughts about the books once I’m actually writing the review – this helps a lot!


Stacey from Pretty Books
I read every day but I do not have the luxury of reading for hours and hours straight any more. I mainly read on public transport and before going to sleep, but as I have a full-time job now it can hard to stay awake at night! I suggest:
1. Always bring a book with you when you leave the house - you never know when you might find time to read!
2. Read on public transport and before going to sleep - you'll be surprised how much you can read during this time.
3. Set yourself a goal if you're finding it hard to motivate yourself e.g. participate in the 50 Book Challenge.

As for reviewing, that can be tricky. It takes me about 45 mins - 1 hour to review each book and so it's extremely time-consuming. I tend to think in advance and say "I'll review that on Saturday morning" and stick to it so it gets done. I generally review books soon after reading them so I never have 10 reviews that need to be written (but then again, I do read slower than some of my fellow bloggers!).

Oh and I draft my posts (with book covers, bibliographic information etc) at the beginning of every month so all I have to do is write the review and then press post!




Image from Pusheen

Sara from Just Another Story
I am a full time university student. There is no time for reading, never mind reviewing. In saying that, reading is a passion of mine. I love it. I will always find time for reading. Reviewing is a little more difficult. It takes me over an hour to write a good review. That is more time then I have. It helps if you take notes of the book while you are reading. Take note of what worked for you, and what didn't. Write down lines that you enjoyed. Taking notes makes the review writing process a lot easier and take a lot less time.


Daph from Loving Books (aka me!)
I'd definitely recommend taking a book with you wherever you go and reading before bed. That's how I started out reading again: reading before I went to sleep. I started out with not even 15 minutes before I went to sleep, now I try to read at least 30 to 45 minutes each day. With all our busy lives it can be difficult to find the time to read, but it's all about making time. Reading is a hobby, just like sports and going shopping. I'll happily make room for an hour of reading on a very busy day, even if that means I'll have less time to do other things.

As for reviews: writing down your thoughts in a little notebook can definitely help if you can't write your review right away. I usually post a couple of sentences in my Goodreads review when I mark the book as 'read', which also helps me write my 'real' review. I don't have the patience to write really long reviews, so I don't. I'd rather spend that time reading! :)


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That's it for this week's Q&A! Make sure to check out Bella's blog for the third Q&A post next week :) Also, I'd love to hear your answers to this week's question, so leave them in the comments below! :)

Review: Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter 
Published: March 27th, 2012 (HarlequinTeen)
Pages: 304
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Challenge: Sophomore Reading Challenge
Series: The Goddess Test, #2
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Note: this is not the first book in a series, and can therefore contain (minor) spoilers for the previous book(s) in the series. Reading of this review is at your own risk.

Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life in the Underworld with Henry, she’ll have to fight for it.

Becoming immortal wasn’t supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she’s as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he’s becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate’s coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.

As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.

Henry’s first wife, Persephone.

Oh dear, where do I start? I read The Goddess Test only shortly before reading this book, and I really saw potential in this book, even though I wasn't blown away by the first installment - I really enjoyed reading that one despite some cringy moments. With this book, not so much.

The first thing about this book that I noticed while I was reading it, was that we are even more inside Kate's head than we were in book 1. She's constantly wondering if she should leave, if Henry will ever love her, if anyone will ever pick her over Persephone, and more of those whiny thoughts. She was constantly telling about how miserable she was, yet with one small interaction of little talk she would be completely positive all of a sudden, which was completely unbelievable and incredibly annoying. Kate was constantly thinking about how to win Henry and things related to it, and because of her almost depressed state, I felt like I just met Bella 2.0.

Something that came along with being inside Kate's head so much, was the lack of story going on outside of her ponderings. Sure, there were some scenes that involved some development of the plot (total amount: 4) but those moments were so scarce that I found myself wanting to skip pages where we were inside Kate's head again. And I never skip stuff or skim through books, but this one really made me want to do just that.

Another thing I didn't like at all: the behaviour of the 'gods'. They didn't act god-like at all, seemed to have no powers or backbone and acted like a couple of toddlers who had just lost their toys. Zeus is the king of the gods, yet he doesn't even raise his voice to shut everyone up when they were in the middle of yet another fight. They were incredibly insecure, which is weird because they've been alive for eons and should be having some extra barrels of arrogance and confidence somewhere. It just wasn't working for me, and on a slightly similar note, I felt like Kate's 'ability' was simply put into the story to show what was happening in different places at the same time. It didn't feel like it added to the story, Kate's character, or anything else for that matter.

The cliffhanger at the end of the book needs 35% of the book (± 100 pages) to build up and even then it's disappointing, because it's so obvious that it will happen. I hate to write this review, but I just did not like it. At all. The only thing I liked about this book was that the writing somehow kept me going, making it a very quick read. This held so much promise, but it just didn't live up to to expectations and the potential it had. I wouldn't recommend this book.

On My Wishlist (39)

In On My Wishlist I spotlight books that I'm really looking forward to. I know there's a meme Waiting on Wednesday and there even are others, but I'm going to rebel and do it how I want it (hehe). I'll feature the synopsis as posted on Goodreads and put a linkie to the Goodreads page of the book. This week: The Raft by S.A. Bodeen.

The Raft by S.A. Bodeen
Expected publication date: August 21st, 2012

Synopsis
Robie is an experienced traveler. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.

And then.. she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.


Goodreads page

You guys. This book sounds so. friggin'. good! I haven't read that many survival stories and this one sounds right up my alley. It sounds like it's going to be a big struggle, alone out in the ocean somewhere near an island. Survival.. It's going to be hard when you only have a bag of Skittles. August is so far away.. What am I going to do with myself while I wait for this one?

In Case You Missed It (2)

In In Case You Missed It I basically round up my week in terms of books, reviews and other bookish things. This will mainly focus on my own things, but I'll be likely to include links to fellow bloggers if I find something awesome :)

This first week of May mainly consisted of wrapping up April and kicking off May, which is why only one review went up, but it was a good one! I reviewed Slated by Teri Terry, which is a great dystopian debut for 2012. It's the first in a series and I'm already impatiently waiting for the second book.. Why does Fracture need to come out in May 2013? Aaahh the agony!

And since it's May now, I'm very excited to be co-hosting Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! During the entire month we focus on reading review books, but anyone can join! As long as you have books to read, you can participate! My goal is to lower my TBR some more again, because even though I managed to read quite a few review books so far this year (21), the pile is still too big.. Anyhoo, this month kicked off with a kickoff post on the 1st of May, where you can find all the deets. On Friday, the first wrap up went live - including a giveaway to B&DERM participants! 


On a slightly relevant note, yesterday I posted some tips on how to beat that reading slump - I've been suffering from one during most of April, so I thought I'd share what works for me :)


While I was browsing the worldwide interwebz, I came across Zoë Marriott's 'All About Writing'-page (yay, she finally put it up!), which I would definitely check out if you're into writing! I love her writing posts, she has some great advice.. I would definitely check out her posts on plotting because they really helped me out with my writing. Meanwhile another one of my favorite writing-advice-writing-authors, Jodi Meadows, did a post on writing a perfect first draft. Besides that, I have to admit I haven't checked any book blogs because of the Insurgent review overload. I haven't even gotten my copy in, so I'm trying to avoid book blogs for now since everyone seems to be reviewing Insurgent!


That's what was up on the blog this week! Now I'll probably need to go back to sitting besides the mailbox for my preorder to come in (I'm writing this on Saturday). Fingers crossed? :)

Beat That Reading Slump! Some Tips on How To Do It

Everyone gets in a bit of a reading slump sometimes. You read a little less, a little slower, you might not even read at all. And while that's perfectly fine, I'm always mighty annoyed when I get in one of those funks. If you've been following me on Twitter, you probably already know that April wasn't really a good reading month for me. I just couldn't get into anything, and it took me four books to finally be able to read more than 100 pages and actually finish a book. Yay, I finished one!

I wouldn't say I'm an expert on the subject, but I have some things that sometimes work for me to get out of the reading slump. Hopefully it will help some of you, too :)

1. Don't force yourself into reading something. Even if you have a hundred physical copies threatening to flatten you when the pile topples over, don't try and push yourself into reading/finishing a book you're not into. You'll only make yourself miserable, and you'll probably end up not enjoying it. This leads to..

2. Read something that catches your interest. Feel like reading Harry Potter for the bazillionth time? Go for it! Anything that will help you get back into reading is the way to go.

3. On a similar note, you might want to read some short books. When you pick out the right ones, they read quickly and you'll feel a bit more accomplished when you finish them.

4. For me, it often helps to randomly pick something off my shelf. I can spend hours thinking of what I want to read when I'm in one of my slumps, because nothing really catches my eye - if it did, I probably wouldn't have been in that dreaded reading funk. In the past couple of weeks, I let Amber pick my books - she gave me some numbers, colors or a letter and I'd pick the first book that fitted the description. I ended up reading books I wouldn't have picked myself (at least, not at that moment), and I ended up really enjoying them! 

5. Is there a particular genre that gets you back in the mood for reading? Pick up one or two or ten of those and read them. Adult paranormal romance is the way to go for me - it's my guilty pleasure and I've read a couple during the past couple of weeks just to get the hang of things again. If you're (mostly) a YA blogger, like me, you might be tempted to pick YA books even if you're in your funk. A change in the intended age group might be a good idea to spice things up!

6. Tried a book, but couldn't get past 50 pages? Put it away to try again later. You might really enjoy it later if you put it away now. Try another book. Can't get past page 40 for that one? Put it away. Just repeat that until you get to something that you're enjoying.

7. If you still don't feel like reading, don't. Take a weekend or a week off, watch all episodes of your favorite series, go outside, change things up a bit. Being in a reading slump is not the end of the world, but it can be annoying. Perhaps a break is exactly what you need :)

8. Maybe I'm the only one, but it works for me NOT TO LOOK at the Goodreads reading challenge progress bar. If it says anything else than "great work, you're ahead!" I get a bit frustrated, and frustration doesn't help me read. 

The most important thing is to go easy on yourself: trying to force yourself into something doesn't really help you get any further and it might even make you dislike reading. That's the last thing you want to happen!

These tips are things that seem to work for me. If you have any tips yourself, please share them in the comments! 

[B&DERM] First Wrap Up and Giveaway

May is only four days old, but it's already time for the first wrap up slash check-in for Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! Though it was only a short period, we hope you managed to get some reading done anyway!


Daph's wrap up
Personally, I haven't finished a book yet, although I did start a review book (Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green by Helen Phillips - which is a super cute middlegrade!) which I hope to be finishing this weekend.


Wrapping up the first week!
It's not been a full week yet, but we're pretending it was. So, how many books did you manage to read? Did you finish any already? Or are you taking it slow during the beginning of May? Leave your experiences in the comments below! We can support eachother and cheer you on!


Linking your reviews
Like we said in the kickoff post, you can win awesome prizes by linking up your reviews! It's an extra incentive to motivate you to participate and link up your reviews. If you don't write your reviews until later, you can also link to your Goodreads or Shelfari review with your thoughts in a few sentences. You can also link up your wrap up posts if you wrote one!




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Where's that giveaway you mentioned?
Right here! This week, the giveaway is open to all participants in B&DERM! To be entered, the only thing we ask is that you've signed up at the kickoff post, since this is a B&DERM giveaway after all. No following or spreading the word required (although both are very much appreciated of course!), the only thing you need to do besides signing up in the kickoff post is filling in the form below :)

Oh, you want to know what you can win? Here ya go: One lucky winner can pick one book of choice from the selection pictured (all paperbacks)!

If you can't see the form, click this link to be taken directly to the form.

Of course you don't have to link up your reviews or filling in the form for the giveaway, but if you want to have a chance of winning one of the amazing books mentioned above.. You might want to fill in the form. Just sayin'..


That's it for now! Don't forget to check out the first blogger Q&A question up on Bella's blog: How do you tackle your TBR pile? Five bloggers and Bella and I talk about how we try to conquer that pile!

Review: Slated by Teri Terry

Slated by Teri Terry
Published: May 3rd, 2012 (Orchard)
Pages: 440
Source: for review
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012
Series: Slated #1
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★☆


Kyla's memory has been erased, her personality wiped blank, her memories lost forever.

She's been Slated.

The government claims she was a terrorist, and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla's mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth?

With a premise as fascinating as this one, it's easy to be let down - but Slated delivered!

At the beginning of the book we meet Kayla, a girl who has no memory of her past life, because she was slated. The government claims she was a terrorist, which gave them reason to 'reset' her. She has to build up an entire new life, with a new family, new friends, new school. And if that wasn't stressful enough, she has to make sure she stays calm, or she will be knocked out as a safety precaution to make sure she doesn't fall back in her old habits.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The plot is made out of several story lines, and not one of them is predictable. I really liked how all the plotlines made for an interesting story and at the end I had so many questions that I wanted answered! Who is on whose side, why was she slated, what's going to happen now? I guess I'll have to wait for book two to find out..

The writing is easy to read, which is a bliss with such a carefully woven together plot. I really liked Kyla. She was easy to relate to and I could totally understand her confusion, her hesitation and her insecurities because we are just as new to her situation as she is. The only tiny little thing I felt could have been better for me, was Kyla's relationship with Ben. I just didn't feel the connection between the two, although I could see his appeal. I'm hoping that will be explored a little bit more in the next book, but other than that, I really liked this book.

Slated is a great debut, packed with intrigue, mystery, and a fantastic plot and I would definitely recommend adding it to your list for the debut author challenge. I'll be picking up book two as soon as I can get my hands on it!

April wrap up

I can't believe I'm here writing the April wrap up already! Time is passing by so quickly, it's ridiculous! Last month wasn't really a good reading month for me, because I was in a pretty bad reading funk which annoyed me a lot. It seems to be going okay now so fingers crossed it stays like this! I managed to read 8 books, which is still pretty decent :) I also read two short stories and since Goodreads counts those, too, my average page amount is lower than it should have been haha.

Stats for April: 8 books - 2 short stories - 3,665 pages - average 367 pages per book

The total stats as of now: 44 books, equals 16,073 pages and an average of 365 pages per book. This means that I'm a little behind to read 50,000 pages this year.. With my current reading pace, I'll be able to read 48,219 pages in 2012 - so I'd better step it up a bit so I can make it! Here's this month's wrap up video :)

April
Madhattan Mystery by John J. Bonk
Secret book by undisclosed author
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward
Sin Undone by Larissa Ione
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
Because It Is Bitter by Cassandra Clare
The Swan Kingdom by Zoë Marriott
Free Four - Tobias Tells The Story by Veronica Roth


Started but not yet finished
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer


Only two review books read this month, but I'll be making up for that in May! I'm just very relieved that I managed to read at all, because I've spent half of my nights not reading ANYTHING, which was very weird for me..

No five star ratings this month, but it looks like all of them got somewhat the same rating.. Haha. I don't think that ever happened before.. I really enjoyed The Swan Kingdom and The Maze of Bones this month. Well, if I'm honest, I enjoyed them all - otherwise I wouldn't have finished them! Ha!


Which books have you read this month? Which of those was your favorite? :)

Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month - Kickoff!

It's May 1st, which means it's officially time for Bella & Daph's Epic Review Month! I'm very excited to be co-hosting this event with the lovely Bella from Cheezyfeet Books. This post tells you all you need to know about B&DERM!

What is B&DERM?
Bella & Daph's Epic Reading Month focuses on lowering your TBR piles. Bella and I will mostly be reading review books because they have priority, but everyone can join. As long as you have books to read, you can participate!


Weekly wrap ups
Every week on Friday, and at the end of the month, there will be a wrap up where you can link up your reviews. If you write your reviews later on, you can also link to your Goodreads or Shelfari review where you type up your thoughts in a nutshell. You don't have to link up every week, but if you do, you're entered to win awesome prizes! Winning prizes by reading? Yes please! Check out the wrap up post to see what you can win by linking up your reviews.


Read- and reviewathon
We're also hosting two readathons and a reviewathon! There's one big readathon and a small one, for people who leave things to the last minute (*waves*), and after that we'll host a reviewathon, to catch up with all those reviews you need to write after reading all those books. The dates:

May 11th - May 13th

weekend readathon

May 19th

mini readathon

May 26th & 27th

reviewathon

We'll help you remember in the upcoming days, but just so you can plan and hopefully participate, we've put them here so you can keep them in mind :)


Other posts
During the weeks, we'll have 5 awesome bloggers to talk about tackling TBR piles, how to make time for reading and more. They are all lovely ladies who love books and reading as much as we do. We're very excited to have them over! Those posts will be up on Tuesday or Wednesday every week.


What else?
We hope you'll have as much fun participating in B&DERM as we have in organising it! We'll be posting on Twitter using the hashtag #BandDERM during the entire month of May, so you can find all the tweets by following that hashtag. Easypeasy! Don't forget to link your blog, Tumblr or Goodreads account in the linkie thing below :) and grab a button while you're at it! It's not necessary by any means, but it spreads the word and shows you're participating!

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Grab a button!

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