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. :-)

Top 10 Tuesday: Cover and title lovin'

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created because of their love of lists and books, and since I love those things too, I thought it'd be a fun meme to participate in!

Top Ten Books Whose Titles Or Covers Made Me Grab it From the Library

I have a strange method of picking books: I go into the library, wander around, pick books at random if I like the cover or title, and don’t read the synopsis. I almost never know what a book is about before I read it, because I don’t read the synopsis 95% of the time. I don't necessarily judge books by their covers - I've read some great books with terrible covers and some terrible books with great covers - it's just how I operate. This strange and screwy method has only steered me wrong once or twice in the last few years (with one example below), so this question is actually perfect for me, and fairly easy to answer. The clickable ones lead to my reviews; the rest are ones I read before I started blogging.

1. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. For this one, it was the cover and title that hooked me. A couple years ago, I went into the library, and had planned to only get the books on my list since I’m totally OCD at the library and always get more books than I can possibly read. I made the mistake of pausing at the new releases, and my eye was automatically drawn to The Sugar Queen. I put it back, got the books on my list, but couldn’t stop thinking about The Sugar Queen, so I grabbed it on my way out…and it ended up being one of my favorite books ever. It’s actually on my re-read list for this winter.

2. The Year of Living Famously by Laura Caldwell. This was another book I happened upon at the library, and another favorite.

3. Nocturne by Syrie James. I love the cover of this one, and since I like vampire books, I gave it a try. This was one of my very few misses. It was alright, but not great.

4. The Irish Princess by Karen Harper. I’m obsessed with all things Irish, so the title caught my attention, as did the pretty girl's flaming red hair and the castle on the cover lol

5. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Plain and simple: love the title, love the cover, one of my favorite books of 2011.

6. Moonglass by Jessi Kirbi. I was intrigued by the title, and the cover is so pretty. Another favorite of 2011. 

7. Falling in Love With English Boys by Melissa Jensen. Just as I love all things Irish, I also love all things English, so between the cute title and even cuter cover, I had to read this one.
 

8. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen. As a rule, I read everything that Sarah Addison Allen writes because she’s brilliant. That rule wasn’t in effect at the time I picked this book up (loved the title and cover), but it was afterwards!

9. A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern. Cecelia’s books are the same as Sarah’s – she writes them, I read them. This was one of the first books of hers I read, and it was because the title intrigued me.

10. Ghost Walk by Heather Graham. The title of this one, along with the eerie cover, caught my attention; it was the first Heather Graham book I read, and after reading it, I quickly read almost all the other books she’d written.

So, what are your top 10 books that you bought (or, if you're like me, got from the library) based on their covers or titles?

Top 10 Tuesday: Book trends you'd like to see more of/less of

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created because of their love of lists and books, and since I love those things too, I thought I'd join in every once in awhile, when I have time.

Top Ten Trends You'd Like To See More of/Less of

This is a rarity for me - I actually have 10 items on the list!  Usually I get stuck 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through (this was originally a top 8 list until a couple of minutes before posting), but I managed to think of 2 more!  Here we go...

1.  Faeries.  These books are definitely becoming more popular, but I want more!  When I first started trying to find books about faeries, I had trouble coming up with more than a few titles.  I've had an idea for a faerie novel for a couple of years and I wanted to read other books in the genre to see what was out there so I'd be sure to have an original story.  There are some really terrific books out there (my favorites so far have come from Lesley Livingston and Julie Kagawa), but I'd like to see even more, and with different spins on faerie lore.

2.  More young adult books (and other books, too) with strong, independent female characters.  Girls who don't depend on guys for their happiness or to get them out of bad situations.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a romance junkie and I don't mind the damsel in distress characters (unless they're whiny and needy), but I'd love to see more characters like The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen, who kicks ass all on her own and even though she has love interests, they're not the centre of her universe.
 

3.  I'd be interested in more books about witches and magic.  Not the wiggle-your-nose, point your finger imaginary witchcraft, but real witchcraft with roots in fact - stuff that's believable for anyone who actually knows anything about real witchcraft.
 

4.  That being said, I'd also love to see something like Harry Potter - the fantasy aspect of magic, where anything can happen and anything does happen.  Something I can completely lose myself in, a brand new fantasy world that's so real it makes real life pale in comparison.  I can't imagine anything ever comparing to Harry Potter, but it would be intersting to see more people try.  An adult version of Harry Potter would be pretty cool.
 

5.  Books with really clever, laugh-out-loud humour.  I love to laugh, so any book that can make me laugh is high up on my list.  With the exception of Janet Evanovich and MaryJanice Davidson, I can't think of an author who writes laugh-out-loud funny books.  I love quirky, eccentric characters, amusing side-kicks, clever, quick dialogue between characters or inner dialogue of the main character, things like that, and I haven't read many books lately that fit that bill.

6.  More books with unique supernatural characters.  It doesn't always have to be vampires, werewolves and zombies.  An example that I read recently was Immortal by Gillian Shields - not a vampire or other supernatural creature in sight but the book held my interest and had me wanting more.  There are plenty of creatures that go bump in the night - or day - so I'd love to see authors branching out a bit and breaking the mold.
 

Things I'd like to see less of:
 

7.  Less series.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE series and probably 1/2 - 3/4 of the books I read are part of a series, but it can be hard to keep up, and since right now I can only get my books from the library, I miss out on some great books because my library has holes in their collection of the series (like books 1, 3 and 5, but where are 2 and 4 and why on earth wouldn't you buy a complete set if you're going to buy them?!).  I love return characters, I love waiting for the next book and wondering what's going to happen, but I also love really good stand-alone books where you know that's that.
 

8.  Less books that copy Twilight.  I love vampire books, always have and probably always will, but so many new ones just seem to copy the premise of Twilight.  I'm beginning to only admit this once in awhile since people either love or hate Twilight and most of the people I come across lately hate it, but I loved it (but make no mistake, I loved the BOOKS, not the movies).  That being said, I don't need to read a dozen other books that are thinly veiled wannabes of Twilight and/or copy the idea for the cover art in some way.  It's getting old.  And since I do love vampire books, I'd love to see a new spin on vampire myth - I'm always really excited when I read something and think 'wow, nobody's ever gone in that direction before'.  It's rare lately, hence my excitement when it does actually happen.
 

9.  Stories from both the male and female perspective.  Two of my favorite authors, Nora Roberts and Heather Graham write this way, showing both main characters' perspective, but not in the first person.  As for young adult books, I've read two that did this, and they were both written in the first person: Across the Universe by Beth Revis and Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt.  I love knowing what characters are thinking and how they react in different ways to the same situation - I find it lets me delve deeper not only into who they are, but the story itself as well.

10.  Less whiny, woe-is-me characters in young adult books.  'Boo-hoo I've been sent to this stupid school and have no friends and my life sucks'.  'I'm not as pretty as all the other girls, so no one will ever love me'.  UGH!  What are we trying to teach young girls with characters like this?  That you're nobody unless you're pretty, smart, popular, have a boyfriend and an entourage of clones and wannabes?  That complaining and sulking will get you anywhere in life?  Life is all about hard lessons and it's how you deal with them that matters - and since a lot of books are about these hard situations, I'd like to see more characters who are self-assured, confident and do what needs to be done.  If there's a bit of self-pity, that's understandable at times - it's not that long ago that I was a teen, I know what it's like to have raging hormones and emotions and sometimes you do just want to give up, but the next time I come across a whiny, annoying character, I'm putting the book down, no matter how good the story might be. *steps off soapbox*

What about you?  What are some of the trends you'd like to see more or less of?  Leave a comment and a link if you have one, and I'll be sure to visit you in return!

Book Review: Night of the Vampires by Heather Graham

Published: November 23rd, 2010
Publisher: HQN Books
346 pages (paperback)
Genre: Historic romance/paranormal
Acquired this book: at the library
Warning: may include spoilers

Synopsis, taken from dust jacket of book: As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil.  His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the president's horrific premonition from becoming reality.  Nothing - and no one - will stop him from fulfilling his duty.  Especially the mysterious young woman who claims to be his comrade's sister.  Enemy or ally, he can't yet determine.  But one thing he knows for certain is that he must keep her close.  Very close.
Megan Fox's quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the centre of vampire riots in West Virginia.  To find the answers she needs - and clear herself of suspicion - she must join forces with Cole.  They work undercover to bring justice, but they can't disguise the potent attraction and need that draw them together.  Yet trust doesn't come easily for Cole...and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her?
I've mentioned several times before that Heather Graham used to be one of my favorite authors.  When I discovered her books 2 or 3 years ago, I devoured them - read almost all of them, and loved them.  In the last year or so, her books have not been as good as they used to be.  I don't know what happened - usually authors get better with time, not the other way around, but because I loved her earlier books so much, I keep giving her new books a try. 

Night of the Vampires wasn't quite as good as her earliest books - and not as good as Blood Red or Kiss of Darkness, two of her other vampire novels - but it gives me hope that she might make a comeback yet.

In this book, Heather put an interesting spin on the Civil War - many of the deaths being from vampires as well as the actual fighting - and an interesting spin on vampires themselves - vampirism being an infection.  But the characters were similar to characters from her other novels - the leading male, in this case Cole, was unsure whether to trust the leading lady, in this case Megan, but developed feelings for her despite his best efforts, and Megan developed feelings for Cole despite the way he treated her.  Like many of Heather's female characters in other novels, Megan is rash, doesn't want to be told what to do, thinks she knows best and does things behind Cole's back, consequences be damned. 

When the characters weren't talking about the war, it was hard for me to remember that the book was a historic romance - the characters didn't talk or act like I would have expected them to in a book set in the 1800s.  Anyone who's ever read any historical fiction will likely know that there's a certain quality to the language - the characters talk in an old-fashioned manner, they do and don't do or say certain things, they act in a certain way, but there wasn't much of that in this book.  It made me think that she chose Civil War America as a setting because she had the idea for vampires taking advantage of the hard times, death and destruction, but decided not to develop it any further.

That being said...if you've never read a Heather Graham book before, I wouldn't suggest starting with this one.  Start with her older ones, there are plenty to choose from (some of my personal favorites are Ghost Walk, Dead on the Dance Floor, Haunted, The Dead Room, Blood Red and Kiss of Darkness).  Otherwise, I would recommend this book if you enjoy a historical setting, or anything with a vampire twist.

*I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying this book or any other book I review, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, I'll be eternally grateful!*

Library Loot June 11th - June 18th

 

Library Loot is a weekly theme hosted by  Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. 

Since I'm currently scraping by as a freelance writer, I unfortunately can't afford to buy books right now *insert sad face here* which I hate, but luckily I have an awesome library in my city, so until I can have my own personal library filled with wall-to-wall books, the public library's the next best thing.

  

I wouldn't have gotten any books this week except a few came in that I'd been on the reserve list for.  Other than that, I'm still working away at last week's books.  I've been really busy this week, and it doesn't help that I'm such a slow reader!

Here are this week's selections:

From Notting Hill With Love...Actually by Ali McNamara

I can't remember how I discovered this book but the title caught my attention because Notting Hill and Love...Actually are two of my favorite movies.  Plus I love the cover!

The Violets of March by Sarah Jio

I saw this book reviewed a lot over the last couple of months and was curious - even more so when I followed Sarah on Twitter and she followed me back. :-)  Again, love the cover - can't wait to read this one!

Phanton Evil by Heather Graham

I've mentioned several times before that Heather Graham used to be one of my favorite authors.  I love all of her older books but the last couple of years, they just haven't been as good as they used to be.  I keep trying - I actually just finished Night of the Vampires by her, which I'll be reviewing soon - and keep hoping that she'll go back to being the author whose books I used to devour. 

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton

My cousin Bertha told me about this book a few weeks ago, so I requested it.  She started it and wasn't sure if she was going to like it - not sure if she continued or finished it, but I'll give it a shot.

 

 *The linked titles of the books lead to each book on Amazon.  I belong to Amazon Affiliates - anything that you buy from my blog through Amazon gets me a small commission, and as a struggling freelance writer, I can use every cent I can get!  If you're considering buying any of the books I mention on this blog, if you go to Amazon through the links on my blog to buy, it would really help me, and I'll be eternally grateful!*

What are you reading this week?  What have you read lately that you really enjoyed?  Do you have any suggestions for my library loot picks next week?  I read just about any genre, and I'm always looking for suggestions!

WWW Wednesdays: Week 5

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?

I started reading Night of the Vampires by Heather Graham a couple days ago.  She used to be one of my favorite authors - I love all of her books up until a few years ago, then I don't know what happened, her books just weren't as good.  I keep trying though - I'm only about 70 pages in and not sure what I think so far. 

What did you recently finish reading?

Just before starting Night of the Vampires, I finished reading Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange.  I loved this book!  THIS is what faerie stories are supposed to be like.  I've been super busy so I haven't had time to write a review yet, but I will very soon!  Be sure to check back if you're interested! 

What do you think you'll read next?

My next read will be from one of the last two weeks' Library Loots, but I'm leaning toward Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen.  

So, what are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

WWW Wednesdays: Week 4

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?

I just started reading Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston.  I started it before bed last night, so I'm only a chapter in.  I just realized last night that Ms Livingston is not only Canadian, but lives about 2 hours from where I live.  Very cool.  There are definitely not enough Canadian authors out there!

What did you recently finish reading?

Last night, I finished reading Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot.  I'll be starting my review on it later today.  It was really funny and cute.  Before that, I read Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen - click the link if you're interested in reading my review.  That book was excellent - my first 5-star review in a long time.

What do you think you'll read next?

After Wondrous Strange, I think I'll read Night of the Vampires by Heather Graham.  It's been awhile since I read a Heather Graham book - her earlier books are amazing but in the last year or two, they haven't been very good.  I keep trying though!



So, what are you reading this week?  Have you read any of the books on my list?  Have any suggestions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Library Loot: May 28th - June 4th

 

Library Loot is a weekly theme hosted by  Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. 

 

Since I'm currently scraping by as a freelance writer, I unfortunately can't afford to buy books right now *insert sad face here* which I hate, but luckily I have an awesome library in my city, so until I can have my own personal library filled with wall-to-wall books, the public library's the next best thing.

  
I'm finally getting caught up on books.  This week, I finished Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen and Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt (reviews to come soon, be sure to check back if you're interested), and just have 2 books left that I got a couple of weeks ago: Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (which I started last night), and Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston.

I went to the library twice this week - Wednesday and yesterday.  I only got 2 new books because I always get more than I can read, and I've had a huge backlog of books the last few weeks that I'm just now getting caught up on.  I'm hoping that next weekend when I go to the library, I'll have a couple more books read so that I can do what I like best - choose a boatload of new books haha.  I also have a couple of books in transit that should be here mid-week. 

My two choices this week were: 

Night of the Vampires by Heather Graham
I discovered Heather Graham's books probably about 2-3 years ago.  I'd never really been one for mysteries, but it was her books that actually started my love of them.  I devoured almost everything she had written, loving each one of them, but then in the last year or so, her writing has sort of gone downhill.  I don't know what happened, but her books have just not been what they used to be.  I've heard a few other people say the same thing, so I know it's not just my imagination.  I continue to read them though, ever hopeful that she'll return to her former awesomeness.  

Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen
I saw this book reviewed a number of times on blogs a few months ago, and kept seeing Sarah Pekkanen's name popping up on Twitter and Facebook, so I was curious.  When I found out the library had it, I bumped it up on my list.

 

I also got 4 movies this week: Made of Honor, My Boss's Daughter, Public Enemies, and Then She Found Me.  I figured with all my TV shows being over for the season, I'll have more time to watch movies...and more time to read and write, which is always a good thing! 

What are you reading this week?  What have you read lately that you really enjoyed?  Do you have any suggestions for my library loot picks next week?  I read just about any genre, and I'm always looking for suggestions!