Saturday, October 31, 2015

Review: Reciprocal by Heather Crouch

Reciprocal (Infinity #1)Title: Reciprocal
Author: Heather Crouch
Publisher: Dream Big Publishing
Release Date: July 7, 2015

Love knows no limits or boundaries. Can we choose who we love? In this new world that the government has created, we aren't free to choose. I have fallen in love with a person from another realm. They are called the Peregrinus and we know virtually nothing about them. There are rebels amongst our people who want destroy us. They want to eliminate the Peregrinus. They feel threatened that they are trying to take over our country like the long ago terrorists. This war brewing isn't unfamiliar to my country and I wonder at what cost it will stop. For me, I long to chose who I can love but it may cost me my life. Is love worth the fight?

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (32) Shadow Queen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

This week, I'm excited about...

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish,

This week's top ten theme is Top Ten books to read for Halloween (I'm not very creative at 11pm.. sorry lol)

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Sunday Discussion: On Writing Reviews

Every Sunday I find a new bookish topic to discuss. Have an idea for a discussion post?  Just leave a comment below or email me at christinathebookreader@gmail.com

This week is specific to blogging.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)Title: Queen of Shadows
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: September 1, 2015

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Friday, October 23, 2015

#BBCP Orange Team Interview with Jessi

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For the Orange Team's #BBCP, we decided to interview each other.  So, here's my interview with 
Jessi



Thursday, October 22, 2015

Book Blogger Tag

Thanks to Nori from ReadWriteLove28 for tagging me in this.  I love doing tags!

It's question time!!!

1. How many times do you check your email a day?
This is kind of embarrassing. I have no idea. I have two personal accounts plus my work account (which is always up on my work computer).  I check my personal accounts sporadically throughout the day.  Like every 30 minutes or so xD

2. How many times are you on Goodreads?
It depends.  I go on if I'm in the middle of a discussion or something.  Or if I'm updating my reading progress.  But I don't spend a lot of time on it.

3. How long does it take you to edit your posts?
Depends on the post and how much time I have before it goes live.  Memes take a few minutes max.  Reviews and discussions take a lot longer (especially discussions).  For me, when I finish a book, I write the review immediately.  That review itself doesn't take long to write but it's not very good.  So if I can, I let it stew in my queue for a few days so I can go back and edit over and over before I'm happy with it.

4. What kind of laptop do you use?
Just assume I use a laptop. Sure.. Which I am currently using lol. It's a Toshiba Satellite (rather old) and it's not my main computer.  My main is a desktop gaming computer. Which is currently not hooked up because my desk is disassembled.

5. How often do you check Twitter?
Let's see.. The twitter app gives me notifications on my phone all day. And when I'm home, I have it open in a separate tab (one of ten minimum tabs I use)

6. Why do you use the blogging website you do?
For me, I can't afford to pay for my blogging platform. So this was the best option.

7. Are you good at keeping up with reviews, tags, etc?
Generally, yes. There has been the occasional time that no. And I'm honestly really far behind on my reviews at the moment, but it's not due to blogging behind. It's reading behind.

8. How many times a week do you post?
I have my schedule posted here, which is subject to change week to week.  But in general, I always try to have a review, discussion, and two memes.  So four.  There are times that I don't have the time or inclination to do the week's Top Ten Tuesday post.  But generally it's four.


I tag... SamSarahZoeyBrittany.
As always, if you weren't tagged and want to do it, go ahead!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (31) Morning Star

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

This week, I'm excited about...

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Top Ten theme is Top Ten things I would ask the bookish Genie.. Oh this...

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Sunday Discussion: A Thousand Nights vs. The Wrath and the Dawn

Every Sunday I find a new bookish topic to discuss. Have an idea for a discussion post?  Just leave a comment below or email me at christinathebookreader@gmail.com

This seems to be the year for Arabian Nights retellings.  A Whole New World,  The Wrath and the Dawn, and A Thousand Nights (not to mention The Forbidden Wish coming out next year).

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Review: Over the Dragonwall by Dennis Montoya and H.C. Strom

Over the DragonwallTitle: Over the Dragonwall
Author: Dennis Montoya & H.C. Strom
Release Date: October 7, 2014

A thousand years ago the gods brokered a peace treaty with the dragons to save mankind. As a monument, the magical Dragonwall was built stretching from the Dwarven city of Farreach to the port city of Seareach. Over generations, the great dragon’s stories have turned to myths and the treaty forgotten. The wall’s magic is failing and the call for a hero goes unanswered.
Oberon a young monk and his friends leave the city of Delvingdeep to answer the riddle of the existence of dragons. No one expected a short cut though a swamp would ever lead them on a heroic adventure over the Dragonwall.


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (30) Assassin's Heart

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

This week I'm excited about...

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sunday Discussion: Getting Bored


Every Sunday I try to find a new bookish topic to discuss.  Have an idea for a discussion post?  Just leave a comment below or email me at christinathebookreader@gmail.com.

This week I want to talk about getting bored with what you're reading.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Review: Spinning Starlight

Spinning StarlightTitle: Spinning Starlight
Author: R.C. Lewis
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?

Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen'sThe Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (29) The Girl from Everywhere

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

This week, I'm excited about...

Monday, October 5, 2015

Review: The Rig by Joe Ducie

The RigTitle: The Rig
Author: Joe Ducie
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Fifteen-year-old Will Drake has made a career of breaking out from high-security prisons. His talents have landed him at The Rig, a specialist juvenile holding facility in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. No one can escape from The Rig. No one except for Drake...

After making some escape plans and meeting the first real friends of his life, Drake quickly realises that all is not as it seems on The Rig. The Warden is obsessed with the mysterious Crystal-X - a blue, glowing substance that appears to give superpowers to the teens exposed to it. Drake, Tristan and Irene are banking on a bid for freedom - but can they survive long enough to make it?

Sunday, October 4, 2015

#SST Interview with Lindsay Smith + GIVEAWAY!

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DreamstriderTitle: Dreamstrider
Author: Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Goodreads: Add Here!

A high-concept, fantastical espionage novel set in a world where dreams are the ultimate form of political intelligence.

Livia is a dreamstrider. She can inhabit a subject's body while they are sleeping and, for a short time, move around in their skin. She uses her talent to work as a spy for the Barstadt Empire. But her partner, Brandt, has lately become distant, and when Marez comes to join their team from a neighborhing kingdom, he offers Livia the option of a life she had never dared to imagine. Livia knows of no other dreamstriders who have survived the pull of Nightmare. So only she understands the stakes when a plot against the Empire emerges that threatens to consume both the dreaming world and the waking one with misery and rage.

A richly conceived world full of political intrigue and fantastical dream sequences, at its heart Dreamstrider is about a girl who is struggling to live up to the potential before her.


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So let's get the interview started!



- Tell me a bit about yourself.

I live in Washington, DC with my husband and our rotten Sheltie, and I’m pretty much always either writing or reading! I’m a foreign affairs junkie, and I’m fluent in Russian. I love traveling, eating, and downtime.

- Describe Dreamstrider in three words or less.

Nightmares. Kissing. Spies!

- Oooh that sounds intriguing! Where did the idea for Dreamstrider come from?

I came up with Dreamstrider while thinking about the dual nature of dreams--the kind we experience when we sleep, and the kind we experience when we’re awake. I wanted to design a world where they were one and the same, and so the concept of the Dreamer, a religious figure who tries to inspire waking dreams through sleeping ones, grew naturally out of that. I also wanted to subtly dismantle the Chosen One trope, but to say anything more about that would be spoilerrific ;)

- What was the most difficult aspect of Dreamstrider for you to capture?

Livia was a challenging character. I gave her an incredible gift in her ability to dreamstride, so in order to balance that out, I wanted to give her other difficulties with things that came easily to other characters. She struggles with feelings of inadequacy, especially after putting her teammates in grave danger. She comes from a hard life, and therefore feels ill at ease around people of means. And she doesn’t feel deserving of her gift. I love flawed characters like this, though, who don’t always meet our expectations off the bat, and have to work hard to prove themselves--especially to themselves.

- What was your favorite book growing up?

Slaughterhouse V was the first book that really made me want to be a writer, strange as that is! I loved how many different genres Vonnegut toyed with--war dramas and science fiction and domestic disputes. But I was also a huge fan of Nancy Drew and the Babysitters’ Club.

- Was becoming a writer always your life goal? Or did you have other ideas in mind?

I’ve always wanted to write, but I knew it couldn’t be my sole profession. I’ve bounced around a lot of pursuits--musician, linguist, researcher, even computer scientist. Writing, though, has always been a constant in my life.

- To keep in theme with Dreamstrider... If you could choose to take over the body of one of the characters, which one would you choose?

Ooh, great question! I think Vera would be a lot of fun. She’s so impulsive and unafraid. I’d love to see what sort of trouble I could get up to as her!

- As readers, we all know that book worlds can be pretty terrible.  But that's one of the things that make them so excellent to read about.  If you could live in any of the worlds you created (from any of your books), would you?

I don’t know! They all start out in pretty horrible shape, but I like to think the story leaves them in a better place. The Barstadt Empire would certainly be an intriguing world to jump into and try to shape.

- What piece of advice do you wish someone had given you while growing up?

To never let perfection be the enemy of the good. It wasn’t until I learned to shut off my inner editor that I was really able to get anywhere with my writing. I had to actually FINISH a book before I could worry about making it better!

- And finally, where can your readers find you online?

Website: http://lindsaysmith.net

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LindsaySmithDC

Tumblr: http://lindsaysmithdc.tumblr.com
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About Lindsay:
Author of YA historical thrillers SEKRET and SKANDAL and the forthcoming YA fantasy DREAMSTRIDER (all from Macmillan Children's). Russophile, foreign affairs junkie, nerd.

Blog Ahead Challenge


Blog Ahead 2015
Blog Ahead 2015

The Blog Ahead Challenge is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Anna @ herding cats and burning soup to help us silly, procrastination-prone bloggers get ahead during October!

Purpose: Increase the number of scheduled blog posts you have ready to publish by 31 posts during the month of October. (You can set your own goal) All post will be scheduled from November 1st or later.
Who Can Join: Any blogger or author can join. Brand new, been around for years.Blogger, WordPress or other platform. Any heat level, genre or theme, etc. If you blog…you’re welcome to join!
Types of Posts that Count: Any finished posts count! Meme, review, guest post, interview, discussion. Top Ten Posts, Favorites posts, Shopping Guide Posts, Cooking posts, pet posts, photo posts, etc. Posts do NOT have to be book related.
Required: The post must be complete and scheduled from November 1, 2015 onward. (So not just blurb, buy links, etc for a review post. The review needs to be complete for the post to count.)

So there is pretty much no way I see myself doing 31 posts. But that will still be my goal, because why not?

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

A Thousand NightsTitle: A Thousand Nights
Author: E.K. Johnston
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.

Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

September Wrap-Up

Well, well, well...

September has been an interesting month.  I finally started my new position at work (only a few months coming, right?), got a couple of critique partners for my WIPs, my ceiling collapsed... Yeah, it's been an interesting month to say the least.

I've been really slow reading this month.  I want to blame this on work.  I have changed schedules and my shift three times now.  So when I get home from work, I'm rather more exhausted than usual and just kind of collapse into bed rather than read.  And that would be why the blog has been suffering.  I'm hoping now that things are getting more stable, I'll be able to pick things back up again.