Halloween Memories

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. When I was little, my dad was the one who took me trick-or-treating while my mum stayed home and handed out candy. We lived in the country, and our street was the perfect place for trick-or-treating. After dinner, my dad and I would head out and hit all the houses we could. I don’t have a lot of clear memories, but I remember being happy.

I don’t remember what my first costume was. I have a picture of myself in front of the fridge wearing a cat costume - I look to be 4 or 5, but I’m not sure if that was my first Halloween. I remember being all the typical things – a clown, a witch, a ghost. Costumes back in the late 80s/early 90s weren’t as cool or elaborate as they are today. I do remember that when I was in Kindergarten, we all got dressed up and paraded through the entire school – into classrooms, through the portable, through the gym. I have a vague recollection of kids doing that for a few years before we weren’t allowed to dress up at school anymore.

Halloweens all sort of blur together until my last one with my dad, when I was 9. He was going through chemotherapy treatments, had lost all his hair by then, and wasn’t feeling great, but he wasn’t willing to disappoint me by not taking me out. So we headed out, got to the end of the driveway, and it started to snow. Ahh, Canada, how I love thee. We turned back around, got our mittens, my dad covered his bald head, and we headed back out. I don’t remember anything else about that night, and I don’t even know if I appreciated it at the time – the fact that my dad was so sick, but still took me out. I had no idea it would be my last Halloween with him, and I wish I could remember every second of it.

The next year, my brother’s then-girlfriend took me out. In case you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned my brother until now, it’s because he’s ten years older than I am, so by the time I was old enough to trick-or-treat, he was too old, and was always doing stuff with friends. Or maybe at Halloween parties at school? I honestly don’t remember. Anyway, Jamie’s gf and I hit more houses than I’d ever done, and even went down two of the side streets, which was pretty exciting for me. 

That girlfriend was gone by the next year, so my best friend and I went trick-or-treating. I was a zombie cheerleader, and Suleena was a punk or a hobo, something like that lol. It was so much fun – my first time trick-or-treating with a friend. I was a month and a half shy of being 12, and felt so grown up. That year was my last year at home in the country. My mum and I moved into the city the next summer.

So, that next year was my last year trick-or-treating. My other best friend had just moved into this new subdivision that was still being built, and so we decided to have a Halloween party there and go trick-or-treating in the new neighbourhood. There were 4 of us if I remember correctly, and we all got dressed at Jenn’s place before heading out. Now, this area was one of those areas where you know people are well-to-do. And I soon learned that that reflects the type of candy you get. I remember getting full-sized chocolate bars and cans of pop. Best candy haul ever. We went back to Jenn’s and did the regular 12/13-year-old stuff – played some games, watched movies, ate junk, played truth or dare. It was great.

I can’t remember if I did anything my first year of college, but the second year, a friend from high school and I went out to a club with one of my college friends, Rhonda (I talked a bit about this in last week’s Tune in Tuesday post). Rhonda is the type of girl you want to party with, so we had a ton of fun. 

Rhonda and me

The next year, that same friend from high school invited Suleena and me to her house for a Halloween party (my first real Halloween party!). This friend was sharing the house with 5 or so of her college friends, so with all their friends and boyfriends, there were a ton of us. We partied at my friend’s place for awhile, then headed out to a club, all dressed in our costumes (I was a devil and Suleena was an angel). It was a lot of fun, and was one of the last times I saw that high school friend because it was all downhill from there (which is why I haven’t named her). And that’s a whole other story for another time! I’m sure it’ll get worked into a book at some point lol. 

Suleena and me

Since then, I’ve only been trick-or-treating with my oldest nephew a few times. He loves to dress up, but the trick-or-treating thing is just beyond him. I remember the first year I went with him, he was 4 I think – we hit about 2 houses and he was ready to go home. I would have happily traded places with him for the chance to go trick-or-treating again! 

Mum, Noah, and me

Now I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Halloween. I look forward to it all month, autumn is my favorite season, I love pumpkin carving with the kids…but then I don’t get to do anything or go anywhere. My big excitement for tonight is eating junk, and maybe watching From Hell (mmm, Johnny Depp, that should cheer me up). Hopefully some year, I’ll get to celebrate my favorite holiday again!

Book Review: Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

Series: Claire de Lune #1

Published: May 18th, 2010

Publisher: Simon Pulse

336 pages (hardcover)

Genre: YA paranormal romance

Acquired this book: From the library

Challenge: 2011 Spooktacular Paranormal Reading Challenge

Warning: may include spoilers

{GoodReads || Amazon}

Synopsis: Torn between two destinies?

Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success, and gorgeous Matthew keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she's the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: she's a werewolf.
As Claire is initiated into the pack of female werewolves, she must deal not only with her changing identity, but also with a rogue werewolf who is putting everyone she knows in danger. Claire's new life threatens her blossoming romance with Matthew, whose father is leading the werewolf hunt. Now burdened with a dark secret and pushing the boundaries of forbidden love, Claire is struggling to feel comfortable in either skin. With her lupine loyalty at odds with her human heart, she will make a choice that will change her forever?

Well…I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the concept and thought it was original – people know about werewolves, although their identities aren’t known except inside the packs. Only women are werewolves, and it’s passed down through the generations. Nice change from the whole 'Alpha male' thing. It was an interesting mix of paranormal, suspense, and romance.

That being said, Claire wasn’t my favorite character ever. Actually, to be honest, I didn’t really love any of the characters. I didn’t hate Claire by any means, but she spends a lot of time going over the same things – she’s not human anymore, she’s a werewolf, it’s so hard to keep it from people, she pushes away her best friend (who really annoyed me by the way – she was a stereotypical boy-crazy, self-absorbed teenager) because her friend's problems are insignificant in comparison and because Claire can’t talk to her about her own problems. I also found it a bit odd that Claire accepted things so easily – it was like 'happy birthday Claire, and hey, guess what, you’re a werewolf, surprise!' I would have freaked the hell out personally, even after seeing proof with my own eyes. But that’s just me. It also kind of bothered me that when Claire says ‘oh my god’ her mother corrects her and says ‘goddess’, and even though that happens several times, she never explains why, but Claire just accepts it without question. Sorry, but if I'd been taught to believe something my entire life, and then was told 'no, believe this' I'd question it. Plus, I think it could have added more to the story.

Claire’s mother was an extremely unlikable character. She definitely gets the worst mother of the year award. She’s so self-absorbed that she barely seems to care about Claire at all, and Claire basically can’t do anything right. But, I kind of enjoy characters who are genuinely unlikable because it’s a sign that the author did something right – when a character evokes genuine emotion from a reader, whether it’s love or hate, it shows a well-written and well-formed character. Does that make sense?

Anyway, all that being said, the romance junkie in me enjoyed the budding relationship between Claire and Matthew. It was all very innocent and sweet. To me, that’s how first love feels – you’re awkward and unsure, but have these sweet little moments. And Matthew was a great guy, just what Claire needs. It always felt like there was a little something missing between them, and Matthew was kind of freakishly perfect, but it worked.

Overall, I think that if this book had been about 100 pages shorter and had cut out a lot of the filler, it would have been more enjoyable. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I’m sure there are many, many people who will enjoy it though, so it’s worth a read, especially if you enjoy books about werewolves and teenage angst. I’m not 100% if I’ll read the next book, Nocturne, but I’ll admit to being just curious enough that I might eventually read it.

In My Mailbox Week 13

In My Mailbox is weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.  The idea is to share books you've acquired during the week, whether you've won them, bought them, picked them up at the library, received them for review, whatever.  It's a great way to bring attention to books and authors and share the love!

 

So, I had to make this video 3 times. The first one was about 15 minutes long (crazy, I know), but my computer wouldn't upload it. That's happened to me before but I figured it was a fluke. But no...apparently my computer doesn't like when I make long videos. Maybe it wants to save you guys from having to watch them lol. Anyway, the second video was too long too, so in the third and final one, I had to cut quite a bit out and keep it brief. I missed getting to tell you guys a few things, but c'est la vie. I did, however, add in some fun pumpkin carving stuff with my nephews at the end - I hope you guys enjoy! :-)

Books mentioned:

Review books:

The Spirit of Nora by Lyle Scott Lee

Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts

Ebook: Hushed by Kelley York

Library:

Sweet Venom by Tara Lynn Childs

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Bought:

(Yes, bought. If you've visited my blog before or seen my videos, you'll know that I haven't been able to buy books for a really long time because I'm a poor struggling writer, and I scrape by from paycheque to paycheque, so books haven't been in my budget for many years. Things are slowly getting better, and I've been able to buy a book here and then when I find good sales.)

I Was Bono's Doppelganger by Neil McCormick

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B Jones

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Won:

Spirit Guide series ebooks by EJ Stevens:

She Smells the Dead

Spirit Storm

Legend of Witchtrot Road

Very big thank you to:

**Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte, and EJ Stevens for the Spirit Guide series

**Stephanie from Book Reader Addicts - I won a $10 Amazon GC from her and was able to buy the Neil McCormick book, which I've been wanting forever!

**Leyane from Forge/MacMillan

**Stacey from Entangled Publishing 

Also, I mentioned author Laura Kaye in the video. She's an online pal of mine, and I won a gift certificate for The Wild Rose Press from her big 6 month anniversary bash for Hearts in Darkness. Thank you Laura! When I use the GC, I'll include my purchase in an IMM. BTW...Laura's brand new book, North of Need, comes out this Tuesday, November 1st! ;-)

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Book Review: Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Series: Chicagoland Vampires #1

Published: April 7th, 2009

Publisher: NAL Trade

341 pages (paperback)

Genre: Paranormal romance/urban fantasy

Acquired this book: From the library

Challenge: 2011 Spooktacular Paranormal Reading Challenge

Warning: may include spoilers

{GoodReads || Amazon}

Synopsis: Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was Merit's. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker-and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she's traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan "Lord o' the Manor" Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries' worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude- and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan's attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone's still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war-and there will be blood.

My thoughts on Some Girls Bite:

After reading mostly YA books for the last several months, this book was a nice change. As much as I love YA (and I really do, it’s an addiction), sometimes it’s nice to read about people my own age (literally – Merit was 27, about to turn 28, and so am I).

I’m always happy to find a book where there’s a twist on vampires. The vampire House concept was really neat, and I liked how there was a bit of traditional vampire lore (like aversion to sunlight) mixed in with some new ideas.

The characters in this book are fantastic. I love Merit, Mallory, Catcher, Jeff, Ethan, Morgan, Merit's grandfather - all of them. Merit is full of strength and sass, fearless but with a vulnerable side, and she’s just an overall terrific character. I liked her from the beginning, and just continued to like her more and more as the story went on. We get to watch her grow, change, struggle, and discover her abilities, and because of those things, despite the fact that she's a vampire, she's very relatable.

I loved the friendship between Merit and Mallory. They’re loyal to each other and their personalities compliment each other nicely. They’re definitely two girls I’d like to have as friends! I also loved watching Mallory and Catcher develop a relationship – it was almost instant, despite the fact that Mallory went into it kind of begrudgingly, especially when she learns of her powers.

Ethan and Morgan are both sexy, smooth vampires. Because they’re from rival houses, and Merit is clearly attracted to both of them, I think they’re going to present an interesting (and tense) love triangle as the series continues. I know that just from this first book, I couldn't pick between them!

Overall, Some Girls Bite is a fantastic book. It jumps right in, and has something for everyone – action, romance, suspense, sexual tension, humour, friendship. I can’t wait to read the next book, Friday Night Bites!

Follow Friday Fun (18) & TGIF @ GReads (14)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Farsighted Blog Tour

Memes:

In My Mailbox Week 12

Waiting on Wednesday (9) & WWW Wednesdays (19)

Other:

Keeping it Real Reading Challenge

Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Chapter 1 Excerpt

Follow Friday Fun Week 18: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!

This week's question: If you could have dinner with your favorite book character, who would it be and what would you serve?

The first character that came to mind was Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. I can totally picture having her over for a fancy high tea. She'd love to dress up in her best clothes and hat, and pretend to be a society lady. And she'd probably bring me flowers. If I had a parlour, that's where we'd sit, and we'd be very ladylike and civilized and pretend to be very serious (if you've read the Anne books or seen the movies, you'll understand why I say 'pretend' to be serious). It would be a lot of fun. And I might just serve cordial. ;-) 

TGIF at GReads Week 14: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Spooktacular Reads: Which books do you consider festive Halloween reads? Which stories have chilled you to the bone?


I love reading anything paranormal during October, which is why I came up with the Paranormal Reading Challenge. For people who are into ghosts and mysteries, I'd definitely recommend Heather Graham's Adam Harrison Investigations series. They were my introduction to mystery books a few years ago, and some of them are pretty scary (for me anyway, but I'm a total wuss when it comes to scary things lol). Because I don't really read horror, I can't talk too much about that...the only Stephen King book I've read is Carrie, and I didn't see what was so scary (or great) about it, even though some people have said it's really scary. I'd love to read The Shining, but I need to gear myself up for it, I think haha.

Happy Friday, and happy almost Halloween! I hope you've all had a great week. Be sure to leave a comment below, and if you participate in either of these memes, leave a link to your post.

Waiting on Wednesday (9) & WWW Wednesday (19)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting. This week I'm waiting on...

The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

Expected publication: December 27th, 2011

{GoodReads || Amazon}

Synopsis: Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of writing her bestselling book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. After all, Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she finds herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.
But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: He’s not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the incubus, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this demon lover from her heart.

This sounds so freaking good! Sexy and mysterious and just wow. I'll admit, one thing I miss when reading YA is steamy sex scenes lol...don't judge! A girl's gotta live vicariously sometimes haha. This book seems like it'll weave a bit of everything together. Can't wait! I might have to pre-order it as a Christmas present: to me, from me. ;-)

 

What are you waiting on this week?

*****

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.  All you have to do is answer these 3 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?
Simple right?  I love to read and love to know what other people are reading!

What are you currently reading? Right now, I'm reading a hard copy book and an ebook. The hard copy is Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson. I'm not loving it, but I'm going to stick with it. The ebook is Flame of Surrender by Rhiannon Paille. I just started it today, I'm on page 61, and it's quite interesting. 

What did you recently finish reading? Over the weekend, I participated in the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon and finished reading Farsighted by Emlyn Chand, and Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill (review to come later today or tomorrow).

What do you think you'll read next? Next up is 13 on Halloween by Laura A. H. Elliot (review book), and one of the gazillion ebooks I've received for review. I need to make a list of the order they arrived/when the reviews are due, and see what's supposed to be next.

What have you been reading?

 

Tune in Tuesday Week 6 - Soundtrack Edition: Rocky Horror Picture Show

Tune in Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Ginger at GReads that showcases music.  Music for me is right up there with reading and writing, so even though this particular meme isn't about reading and writing, I thought it would be a fun one to participate in. If you're interested in participating, be sure to check out Ginger's blog so you can spread your love of music!

Well, this is the last week of Soundtrack Edition (I think), and since it's the week before Halloween, I picked a movie that I think is fitting. Unlike many people, I didn't see Rocky Horror Picture Show until I was about 19 or 20. I was in college and it was one of my college best friend's (I'll just call her M) favorite movies. One night, a few of us (including my other college bff - R) were doing this big group project and we were so stressed we were all about to lose it, so M put on Rocky Horror, fast-forwarded it to Time Warp, and we all danced around like lunatics. It was awesome, and one of my favorite memories ever. You might not believe this, but in real life, I'm painfully shy, and I don't normally dance like a maniac except in the privacy of my own bedroom lol. 

R and me that Halloween...yes, my hair used to be blond

Anyway, that same year at Halloween, R and I went to a Halloween party at a club and we were on the dance floor when Time Warp came on...so we danced...like lunatics...with everyone watching us and laughing (with, not at us), and then they all joined in. So that song, as random as it is, has a very special place in my heart, as does the movie, because I hardly ever speak to M and R anymore. It's one of those bittersweet memories - it makes me happy and sad at the same time to think about it, because we had so much fun together, and we were so close, but they moved away and left me behind in more ways than one. You expect that from high school, but not so much college, you know? Anyway, I'm getting WAY off track, sorry! 

Who wants to do the Time Warp with me??

It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
Put your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let's do the time warp again
Let's do the time warp again

I love this song, too. I've loved Tim Curry since I was a little girl when I first saw him as Rooster in Annie.  This is...um...just a lil different than Annie though lol 

*****

Weekly U2 Lyric:

"October, and the trees are stripped bare of all they wear

What do I care?

October, and kingdoms rise, and kingdoms fall

But you go on and on"

~October by U2 from the album October~

 

Book Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Farsighted Blog Tour

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand

Series: Farsighted #1

Published: October 24, 2011

Publisher: Blue Crown Press

217 pages (ebook)

Genre: YA paranormal romance

Acquired this book: From the author, as part of the Farsighted Blog Tour

Challenge: 2011 Spooktacular Paranormal Reading Challenge

Warning: may include spoilers

{GoodReads || Amazon}

Find Emlyn online: Official website || Twitter || Novel Publicity || Facebook || GoodReads

 

Synopsis: Alex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival—an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

My thoughts about Farsighted:

Farsighted is a refreshingly unique story. It’s not often that we see YA tales told from the perspective of a male. Nor do we frequently see stories representing people with disabilities, or people of varied ethnic backgrounds. Farsighted had all those things, and more.

It was interesting to read a book from a teenage boy’s perspective, and to have that teenage boy not be the stereotypical combination of popular, horndog, and/or jock. Alex is blind, and is fairly well-adjusted; he’s always been blind, so he doesn’t know anything different. One of the nice things about a YA book from the male perspective is that it was a pleasant break from the catty mean girl drama you get in a lot of books with a high school setting. Alex is bullied by one boy in particular, but it’s realistic - not over the top like some novels - and it doesn’t consume the entire story.

Simmi was my favorite character. She was patient, kind, and understanding, even when Alex didn’t necessarily deserve it. She was completely her own person, and didn’t need anyone else to tell her who she should be. She was exactly what Alex needed, when he needed it, and I enjoyed watching their friendship blossom...and wondering if something more was going to happen between them. I also loved learning more about Indian culture through Simmi’s character.

As for the actual storytelling, I felt like I could see everything Alex is ‘seeing’ as he describes things with all his senses. We get to see Alex and his friends growing as people, learning sometimes-frightening things about themselves and the people around them, and learning to deal with those things. There’s a fantastic blending of real-life problems with paranormal problems, woven together to make a story that's both believable and relatable. This book has a bit of everything – paranormal, romance, mystery, some action, and suspense. I can’t wait to read the next one!

Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

*****

 Extras:

I’ve mentioned Emlyn Chand quite a bit over the last few weeks on the blog. If you’d like to see other posts where she’s mentioned, check the tags at the bottom of this post and click on her name.

THE CASH PRIZES:  Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour! All you have to do is leave a comment below regarding this post, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too if you'd be kind enough to vote for Ramblings of a Daydreamer in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help!

THE GIVEAWAYS: Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release on November 24th by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.

*About the random elephant picture - when I read that Simmi had an elephant collection, it made me smile. My Grama died in August, and I got most of her elephant collection - dozens and dozens of them! It just felt like a sign - a book about psychics, the elephants - it was like my Grama communicating with me in a way. :-)

In My Mailbox Week 12

In My Mailbox is weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.  The idea is to share books you've acquired during the week, whether you've won them, bought them, picked them up at the library, received them for review, whatever.  It's a great way to bring attention to books and authors and share the love!

I didn't participate in the usual Friday posts this week because I had too much else going on, so I'm posting my weekly recap here!

Reviews:

Being Human by Patricia Lynne

Hearts at Stake (aka My Love Lies Bleeding) by Alyxandra Harvey 

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Memes:

In My Mailbox Week 11

Cover Crazy Week 5 

Top 10 Tuesday: Cover and title lovin' 

Waiting on Wednesday (8) & WWW Wednesday (18)

Other:

Author Interview - Patricia Lynne

The Keeping it Real Reading Challenge 

Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon

*****

At the end, I said I thought I was forgetting something, and I remembered what it was lol...a few things actually. I tried to do the video as quickly as possible because last week I had so many issues, and I couldn't upload the first video I made because it was too long, so I tried to keep this one shorter. Anyway, I wanted to mention that this weekend, I'm participating in my first ever read-a-thon - the Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon. I'm having a great time, especially chatting with people on Twitter. The 2 books I've been reading are Farsighted by Emlyn Chand and Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill. The other thing I wanted to mention was what to expect this week on the blog: I'm participating in Emlyn Chand's blog tour for Farsighted, so my review will be up Monday, and I'll have an excerpt of the book on Tuesday. As for the rest of the week...I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing other than my regular memes, and a review for Some Girls Bite.

Books mentioned in the video:

Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love Anthology

13 on Halloween by Laura A. H. Elliot

Scotland by Starlight by Nancy Volkers

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Special thank you to Kathy from I Write, I Read, I Review for sending me Lola and the Boy Next Door!

I also meant to mention in the video that Kathy lives about half an hour from me. She's the closest blogger I've found so far, which is pretty cool! :-)
Also, I was featured in Kathy's Saturday Spotlight yesterday! Check out my interview with Kathy here: Saturday Spotlight #3: Ramblings of a Daydreamer

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon!

My very first read-a-thon!! I'm really excited. I've been busting my butt to get all my work done this week so that I can read all weekend, participate in the challenges, and visit other participants.

The technical stuff: Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon is being hosted by My Shelf Confessions and Kindle Fever from today (October 21st) to the the 23rd. You can make blog posts with your updates, join the Twitter fun with the hashtag #WWReadathon, enter the daily challenges (more info on the hosts' blogs), and just have a lot of fun reading and hanging out with fellow book lovers! Also, if anyone who's participating in my Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge sees this, and you haven't signed up, this would be a great way to read more paranormal books, because don't forgot, the more you read and the more reviews you post, the more entries you have in the giveaway!

The books I'm hoping to read this weekend:
*Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill - right now, I'm on page 100, so I want to finish it this weekend
*Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - right now, I'm on page 68, and I want to finish it, too
*I'm the slowest reader in the world, but if by some miracle, I manage to finish those 2 books, I think I'll read Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

Let me know if you're participating so I can visit you and follow your progress! :-) If you want to find me on Twitter, where I'll try to post regular updates, I'm @SweetMarie83 ;-)

UPDATES

1pm-ish Friday: I sat on the floor with my laptop reading Farsighted, while my mum used my computer to do some proofreading of my novel (yes, she's one of my proofreaders, and an amazing one at that). Got 21 pages read, now breaking for lunch! My bum is kinda numb, but doing good other than that! lol
11pm-ish Friday: Got 83 pages of Farsighted read, and 36 pages of Some Girls Bite read. Had a ton of fun on Twitter - extra special thanks to one of the hosts of the read-a-thon, April (@shelfconfession), and Vicky from Books, Biscuits and Tea (@alouetteuette) for the laughs and fun today! Tomorrow, I plan to finish Farsighted, and hope to finish Some Girls Bite. I'm heading to the library in the morning and to run a couple of errands, but the rest of the day will be dedicated to reading! Good night!

Saturday wrap-up: 
*Finished Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - review will be up Monday as part of her blog tour. 
*Read 85 pages of Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
*Participated in A Book and a Latte's 'Let's Talk Horror' challenge
*Had tons of fun on Twitter again! :-D

5:30 pm Sunday: I've read 152 pages of Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill. Just 48 pages left to go! I've done some rearranging of furniture and brought the rocking chair from the living into my bedroom (which I've been meaning to do for months), so I now have a comfy spot to read in my room, rather than killing my back sitting on the floor or my bed. Yay!
*Participated in My Shelf Confession's Zombie Apocalypse Challenge

The Book Monsters Read in Pictures Challenge:

The challenge is to post pictures that describe what the book you're reading is about. 

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill:

This book is about vampires (and other supernatural creatures)

It's set in Chicago

Vampires are divided into Houses, and can choose to live in the house of their House (great explanation, I know lol)

WRAP-UP
I had so much fun!! I can't wait until the next read-a-thon. I ended up finishing Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill - squeaked it in just before midnight last night lol. I would have had time to finish it and start another one if it hadn't been for my Sunday night TV shows. 
I wasn't able to participate in all the challenges, but I had fun with the ones I did. It was also a blast meeting new people on Twitter, and getting to talk books - my favorite subject! :-D Thanks again to April and Bex for hosting this - you girls rock! <3