Review Copy Cleanup Challenge: Love Will Find a Way

Review Copy Cleanup is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea, and Celine from Nyx Book Reviews.

 

I can't believe it's the end of March already! This was a terrific challenge, because I ended up getting 4.5 of my 6 books read! You can see my original post here and see the books I chose to read and how I made out.

 

The final challenge in the Review Copy Cleanup is to share our all-time favourite books...the ones we'd take with us if we were stranded on a desert island. And unlike most challenges that make you pick just a few, we can choose however many we want! My mind immediately started racing, because I can never pick a favourite book, but here are some of the ones I came up with:

 

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

  The entire Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

The 7 books of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

U2: At the End of the World by Bill Flanagan

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

 

I could go on and on, but these are the first ones that popped into my head. These are favourites that I've either reread several times already, or plan to reread, and that I wouldn't want to be on a desert island without!

 

Thank you to Vicky and Celine for hosting such a great, fun challenge!

How about you? What are your favourite books? What books would you load into a trunk and take with you if you could?

Follow Friday Fun (19) & TGIF @ GReads (15)

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

Reviews:

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

13 on Halloween by Laura A.H. Elliot

Memes:

In My Mailbox Week 13

Waiting on Wednesday (10) & WWW Wednesday (20)

Other:

Halloween memories

Wrap-up for the 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge

Author site launch + very first Blue Sky Days teaser! 

Also, I did my first interview this week! Sharon from Obsession With Books interviewed me about Blue Sky Days. I hope you guys will check it out! :-)

Follow Friday Fun Week 19: 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!

Today's Question is something new, an activity. We want to see what you look like! Take a pic with you and your current read! Too shy? Boo! Just post a fun pic you want to share.

Yes, I am hiding, because it's almost 1am and I have no make-up on and I'm in my jammies lol

I'm reading What Happened to Goodbye, by one of my favorite authors, Sarah Dessen. I'm hoping to finish and have the review up tomorrow.

I can't wait to see all your pics! Seriously...I love looking at pictures.

TGIF at GReads Week 15: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Gateway Books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre? 

The Hunger Games trilogy definitely opened me up to dystopian. Previously, the only dystopian I had read was The Host by Stephenie Meyer. As much as I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn't have continued to read those types of books based on that one. Growing up, I was terrified of the concept of the end of the world, so I didn't think I'd ever be able to enjoy books that were post-apocalyptic, but I loved The Hunger Games, and there are so many great-sounding dystopian books out now that I can't wait to read more. They were also what started my love affair with young adult books...before this year, I thought I was too old to read YA (with the exception to Harry Potter, of course), but then I read THG, and saw tons of other bloggers who were my age or older reading and loving YA, so I jumped on the bandwagon and haven't looked back!

Also, Heather Graham's books opened me up to the mystery genre. A few years ago, I pretty much just read romance with a few paranormal and fantasy books thrown in once in awhile, but when I discovered Heather Graham, that's when my tastes really started to evolve and I started to branch out. Her earlier books are fantastic, and have a bit of everything - action, suspense, romance, steamy sex scenes (one thing I miss in YA lol) - and I think there was only one book that I guessed the murderer before they were revealed. Her books the last few years haven't been as good as they once were, but I still give them a shot, hoping she'll return to her former awesomeness.

 

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a fantastic week. The Alzheimer's Society had a 3-day book sale this week and I went all 3 days, so I'm going to have a ton of loot to show you this Sunday in my IMM vlog! Be sure to leave a comment and I'll visit you in return. :-)

Follow Friday Fun (11), TGIF @ GReads (7) & Book Blogger Hop (10)

This past week at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Book Reviews:
Falling in Love With English Boys by Melissa Jensen
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
That Day in September by Artie Van Why

Memes:
In My Mailbox Week 5

Top 10 Tuesday: Books on the top of my TBR pile for autumn

Author guest post:
Guest post by Artie Van Why: Writing as a tool to heal

Other:

200 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!!

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Follow Friday Fun Week 11 - 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 change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?
This is going to be a spoiler fest so try to write the title of the book as a dominant feature - and warn people about spoilers.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***

I have a feeling this one is going to pop up a lot today. As much as I loved The Hunger Games trilogy, and as much as I enjoyed Mockingjay, the ending was sort of anticlimactic in a way. Yes, there were twists and turns, devastating loss, and triumphs, but I think there could have been more. Even though I was Team Peeta all the way, I wanted there to be more with Gale. The way things ended between him and Katniss seemed like a cop-out. We waited and wondered who Katniss would finally choose, but she didn't choose, the choice was made for her. After being this kick-ass heroine all the way through, it felt like Katniss just gave in too easily and accepted things when she could have fought like she'd done all along.

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TGIF at GReads Week 7: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Making a Difference: Which book(s) would you put in the hands of today's teenagers in hopes of making a difference in their lives?

 
*Harry Potter: I know that Harry Potter is my answer for just about everything, but I have to do it lol. Those books teach such wonderful lessons about the power of friendship, love, loyalty, and good versus evil. Even though they're fantasy, there's so much in the books that's real and that applies to real life.
*A recent read: Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer. One main lesson was that you can run away from your life, but your past will follow you wherever you go, and you need to confront it and make peace with it.
*I think basically any book that shows characters who are strong and able to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles is good for teens - family problems, addiction, abuse, bullying, issues surrounding sex, etc. And also books that have strong messages of friendship, family and love. Those were the types of books that made a difference to me as a teen.

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Book Blogger Hop Week 10 - This is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy For Books.  Be sure to stop by her blog to check it out.  This week's post is here.

This week's question: What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season – A particular book release? Halloween? The leaves changing color? Cooler temperatures? A vacation?

This autumn, there are a ton of books I'm looking forward to reading, but what I'm most excited about is finally finishing my own novel, Blue Sky Days. My editor and I are working hard on this round of revisions - there are a lot of changes being made, and I feel like the book is getting better every single day. So this fall is going to consist mainly of getting the final revisions done, working out the remaining kinks in the cover (I'm hoping to do a cover reveal in the next week or two, so stay tuned for that), creating a trailer, and getting the book out to reviewers. I'm still looking for people who are interested in reviewing it, so if you'd like more info, check out the page at the top of my blog called My Novel.

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Happy Friday, guys! Be sure to check out the giveaway I have going on right now. I'm so grateful to all of you who take time to leave a comment, and I'll be sure to visit you back as soon as I can. Have a great weekend!

A to Z Challenge Day 25: Young adult novels

I've just recently started reading young adult books again after taking some time away from them.  I went on a romance, mystery, and paranormal kick for a year or two, but lately I've been reading a lot of YA books.  It's amazing to me the number of book bloggers out there, especially the ones who specialize in books directed to a youthful audience.

There's just something about young adults.  They appeal to people of all ages - I know a lot of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and older who read YA books on a regular basis.  I think that as a writer, knowing that you have a such a wide audience and it's not just 13-19 year-olds reading your books is encouraging.  The novel I'm currently working on, when I originally wrote it 7 years ago, it was an adult romance.  Now going back and re-working it, I realize it would make much more sense as a young adult book - the characters were in their early twenties, so I've made them a few years younger and changed a few facts about them, and I'm happy with the way things are turning out.  My only concern is that it's not a paranormal romance, which seems to be all certain people will read these days.  That's when I hope that adults will read it, as well as teens.

My first favorite YA author was Sarah Dessen.  I read her book Someone Like You when I was about 17 and it instantly became my favorite book.  I felt like she had written it just for me.  There were so many similarities between me and the main character, Halley, it was uncanny.  Her relationship with her best friend was my relationship with my best friend.  Her relationship with her boyfriend was my relationship with my boyfriend.  It's a rare and wonderful feeling when you read a book and connect to it on so many levels.  I've only read a couple of Sarah's others books, but have her on my list to read more of her books soon.

Other favorite young adult authors - JK Rowling (the Harry Potter series), Stephenie Meyer (the Twilight Saga) and Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games trilogy).  Since I've only started reading YA books again, I'm sure that list will grow in the coming weeks and months. 

Do you enjoy reading young adult books?  Who are some of your favorite YA authors?  I'm always looking for great books to add to my list, so feel free to name some of your favorite titles for me to check out!

Have a great Friday, everyone!  I'm writing this Thursday afternoon to auto-post Friday morning since I'm one of those crazy people who's going to be up at 5am to watch the royal wedding.  Enjoy your day, and for those of you who are living in areas where there are crazy storms (I'm amazed the power hasn't gone out here, the wind is insane), stay safe!