My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.

So, this week read and reviewed only one ARC - Rebel (Renegades #2) by Skye Jordan. It was a light, sexy read, just like book 1 in the Renegades series (my review). 

I want to thank my friends Lexi and Deniz for organizing this challenge. I had fun participating in it and it did help me with dealing with some of my ARCs. I managed to read quite a few of them over past the month and a half, but I also accumulated some great new ones. 

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.  

As promised, this week I posted my reviews of 2 ARCs - Before We Fall (Beautifully Broken #3) (my review) by Courtney Cole and Masquerade (Games #3) (my review) by Nyrae Dawn. 

The first was a rather disappointing read for me but I quite liked the second one. The review of The Destiny of Luke and Violet got left for next week.

I finished just one ARC this week, The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley, and it was amazing! I don't read fantasy that often but I really, really enjoyed this one. I will be posting my review of it next week. 

I just stared another ARC - Rebel (Renegades #2) by Skye Jordan. I enjoyed the first book in the series, Reckless, and this one is quite fun so far as well. These are light and super hot romance reads.

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.

I am very happy to report that my ARC Challenge went really well this past week. I keep reading a lot of ARCs, though I am a bit slower when it comes to writing the reviews. 

This can be named Samantha Young's week on the blog since I published my reviews of three of her books. I already included my review of Castle Hill in the last week's post, but at the time I had it posted only on Goodreads. I wasn't planning on posting it here, since so far I was hesitant to publish my 1 and 2 star reviews on the blog. Now, I have decided to post all reviews (I'll still keep my comments on DNFs to GR only) on the blog.

 I have finished two more ARCs this week and I hope to be ready with their reviews next week.

Now,  I am thinking about taking a break from Romance and NA and trying some fantasy instead this week.

I just received an ARC of The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #1) by Brian Staveley which I requested after reading an extatic review of by one of my GR friends. It would be nice to change my usual reads for a bit, or maybe not...

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.

This was a busy week for me in terms of reading and reviewing. I read two novellas, two full-length novels and I DNFed another novel. I have written reviews for half of them. 

I abandoned at 40% Jagged by Kristen Ashley and wrote a very brief review on Goodreads explaining why this book didn't work for me, despite the fact that Colorado Mountains is my favourite series of Ms Ashley.

Castle Hill by Samantha Young was a disappointment for me, so I gave it 2 stars and shared a short review on Goodreads only. 

I wrote a full review of Love a Little Sideways by Shannon Stacey which is the seventh book in her series about the Kowaslkis families. It is a nice second-chance love but it is not my favourite of this series. 

I still need to write my reviews of the other three books:

Until Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young was a great read which I really enjoyed. It includes the events from Castle Hill and in my opinion their presentation here is much better. 

Under Fountain Bridge by Samantha Young is another novella in this series and it tells the story of Ellie and Adam. It is emotional and intense and I totally loved the way their love was presented in retrospect though Ellie's diary entries.

The final book for me this week was Before We Fall by Courtney Cole. Sadly, it was another disappointment for me. I liked the first book in the Beautifully Broken series, If You Stay, and I expected more of this one.

Hopefully, I will be able to finish my reviews of all three this week. 

This time I am not making any plans what I will be reading next week. I am thinking of taking a break from ARCs since I have other book to read as well - Bold Tricks by Karina Halle is the first that comes to mind, then Making Faces By Amy Harmon, and 8 more books of the Black Dagger Brotherhood :)

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.

This week I managed to review just one ARC - The Chocolate Heart by Laura Florand. I started the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and got sucked into the paranormal world of vampire lovers so my ARCs got left behind. Furthermore, my baby girl was sick for a couple of days and I didn't really have enough time to read and write reviews. 

The Chocolate Heart (Amour et Chocolat 5) 

by Laura Florand

Hopefully, things will get back on track next week, but I can promise that I will read and review more than one ARC this time. And I am not making any plans as to which one I will pick from my pile, it will be just a random last-minute choice. 

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least one, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I decided to join them.

Author: J. M. Darhower
Date of publication: 25 Nov 2013
Genre: Romance / YA / the Mafia

Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads


My rating: 3.5 stars

My friend Lexie over at Fastidious reader started an ARC Challenge 2013 together with Deniz from Closet Geeks and Slow Mo. The challenge is pretty simple - read and review at least 1, if possible two ARCs a week and it goes on till the end of this year. Since I am literally swamped with ARCs some of which I requested rather foolishly, I have to admit, I decided to join them. 

I have posted two ARC reviews this week:

Crash into You by Katie McGarry which I read a couple of weeks ago and I totally love it and - my review 

The Devil's Reprise by Karina Halle which was also rather good - my review

Next week I will be reviewing Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan and Sempre by J. M. Darhower. I have already finished the books, now I just need to write the reviews. I hope to start reading Castle Hill: A Joss and Braden Novella by Samantha Young and Jagged (Colorado Mountain 5) by Kristen Ashley. 

This is the final day of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge hosted by Good Books and Good Wine. It was my first challenge and I have to say taking part in it was great fun.

Today we share our book blogging mentors. 

I don't really have blogging mentors, just book blogs which I really like and follow. I try to incorporate some of the things I admire in them in my blog with varying success.

My favourite book blogs are not really personal blogs, they are maintained by more than one person but I like the style of their reviews and their overall look/form.

Smexy Books has a special place in my heart. The girls over there mentioned/recommended my review of Neanderthal Seeks Human (I had just started blogging) and I have been their fan ever since. I like their reviews and features. They focus mainly on romance and erotica and I regularly pick new titles based on their recommendations.

Fiction Vixen is a similar multi-author book blog which I read regularly. It is a great place to read reviews and find new books. Recently they teamed up with the girls from Smexy Books and I am looking forward to that collaborations.



The third similar blog that like and follow to is Dear Author. It is offers a wealth of info on romance books and I really like the style of the reviews published there. They post daily deals which are much appreciated. I also enjoy their feature First page where authors submit anonymously the first page of their work for comments. I don't participate in the discussion as I don't feel confident enough to give advice but I follow all the comments.

This is the top 3 of my favourite book blogs. I follow a number of personal blogs and they all have different features that I really like. There are too many to mention, but I would like to thank them all for being my inspiration to start my own blog. I am especially indebted to my Goodreads friends - Katy and Mitch at A Girl, a Boy and a Blog, Lex at Fastidious Reader, Ornella at Unraveling Words, Zemira at YA Fanatic, Tatiana at The Readventurer, Emily at The Book Geek and Jennifer at Feminist Fairy Tale Reviews, reading their reviews and later their personal blogs led to creation of this blog.

14. Tell us your deal breakers!

I interpret this in two ways - general themes/characteristics of book that will stop me from picking up the particular book, and on the other hand - things in a book I am already reading which will make me put it in the DNF pile.

So, here we go with the deal breakers stopping me to pick a book. I generally read all genres, but still there are certain things which I avoid. Stories about vampires and werewolves are not my cup of tea, even though I sometimes I read paranormal romances. Out of contemporary fiction I shy away from erotica and BDSM in particular, stories of CEOs and billionaires meeting innocent (virgin) and naive girl also put me off.

Now, about books that I have already started - I dislike love triangles and cheating, especially when the author condones it is a big no-no for me. I am not a fan of stories with secret (hidden) baby and I really hate it when the characters love each other but keep dating other people because they don't think the other person loves them or they see themselves unworthy of this love. I don't enjoy such stories, but more often than not, I finish the book, just to see the ending.

The real deal breakers that make a book DNF for me have to be flat and unrealistic characters that get on my nerves and unjustified plot developments that come out of the blue. If the story is engaging enough I may skim through to the end, but generally I give up if I can't connect with the characters. Time is too precious to waste it on bad books when there are some many good/wonderful/amazing ones waiting for me to read them.

There was an interesting iconographic recently on Goodreads on the Psychology of Abandonment (why reader do not finish some books). Are some of your deal breaker mentioned there?

The challenge set by Good Books & Good Wine continues with task 13:

This is a tough one, I have read some books that I feel are underappreciated, yet I don't think everyone should read them. I would rather recommend different books to different people depending on their tastes.

One book which I think is definitely not appreciated enough is Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser. It is YA novel that every adult/parent should read. It is not a light read, it is very raw and painful, but it is very well written with strong, complex characters and it sends a powerful message against abuse/bullying or any form of violence. 

On a lighter note, I would like to make another recommendation. This is one is for the lovers of contemporary romance with a quirky sense of humour - Neanderthal Seeks Human: A Smart Romance by Penny Reid (my review). I am not sure it can be classified as underrated but it is a debut novel for Ms Reid and a very successful one, so I am spreading the word: if you are in the mood for a fun romance, I strongly suggest to try this one.

I am joining Day 11 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge set by Good Books Good Wine and today's topic is: Show off 5 of your best blog posts!

I have been blogging about books for almost 6 months now and I don't have that many post as compared to some more established and long standing blogger, but I do have my favourites. 

1. My review of Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid - It was one of the first reviews that I published on the blog and since then I have improved the posting format of my reviews but still I love this one for a number of reasons. I really enjoyed the book and was happy to review it. It turned out my review was the first one in the blogosphere, so I am proud of that. What's more, Penny Reid commented on it, she was the first author to do this, so it made me extremely happy.

2. My review of The Davina Code by Janet Elizabeth Henderson - I love this post for very much the same reasons as the first one. I came across this book by chance (it was recommended in GR group I follow, then I requested a copy to review from another GR group) and really enjoyed it. It was a discovery of a new favourite author :)

3. Teaser Tuesday 01 - I like the Teaser Tuesday meme and I participate regularly in it. It is great fun and a way to make friends with other bloggers and to discover new books. I have changed the posting format over time but my favourite post is the very fist one I did. It was dedicated to a quote about Barrons from Faefever by Karen Marie Moning. This was my introduction into the genre of urban fantasy and the Fever series quickly became a favourite of mine. 

5. Teaser Tuesday 14 - This is one of my latest teasers. It is from Left Drowing by Jessica Park. I loved the book (my review) and I like the new format of the teaser posts I started using. I published both covers US and UK because I love the UK one and the US is the one published on GR.

5. Monthly Blog Recap for June - This is a feature which I started recently. I have done only two monthly blog recaps (April and June, I missed May) but I think they are shaping rather nicely. Most bloggers do weekly wrap-ups but I don't post that much and decided to do it on a monthly basis. I am still working on the posting format but I am happy with the way the June recap looks. I am thinking of including Best reads and Greatest disappointment of the month in the recaps but still haven't not decided how to do it. 

Here I go again, taking part in Day 10 of the 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge set by Good Books Good Wine. Due to lack of enough time I participate only on some of the days of this challenge (Day 5, Day 8). Today's question is: How do you choose what to read next? 

As most of my fellow book bloggers I have a huge TBR list that keeps getting bigger and bigger so I am never short of future reads. I also regularly stalk AMZ and other retailers for sales and free books to add to my collection. With so many books to read I decide which will be next mostly depending on my mood - sometimes I want to read YA, other times I prefer NA/Adult books, sometimes I like to stay in the here and now of contemporary novels, other times I prefer to lose myself in the world of fantasy and science fiction. 

Having this in mind, new books in much loved series generally take precedence. I put other books on hold when a long and eagerly awaited sequel is released. That said, lately I am getting tired of authors' splitting one story in multiple books, so I either wait for the whole series to be released, or I am sad to say, I just give up on certain series/authors. 

If you feel like commenting, just do it and I will get back to you :)

I love this challenge (it is hosted by Good Books Good Wine) but I cannot join in on all days, so after my participation on Day 5 with a tear jerker recommendation, here I am again on Day 8 with a short list of the things I like in blogs: 

I managed to come up with only 10 bullets but I believe they pretty much cover everything I love in blogs. Feel free to comment on any point from my least and I will make sure to reply and check your blog.

So, I saw this challenge on The Feminist Fairy Tale Reviews and decided to join in. It is a 15 day book blogger challenge started by Good Books Good Wine where bloggers have post about a specific topic/question for the day. Today is day 5 and the task is to recommend a tear jerker, so here we go:

The book that made me cry my eyes out all through reading it and I mean not just shedding a tear or two a couple of times, but really crying big fat ugly tears the whole time I was reading it is Where She Went by Gayle Forman. It is the sequel to If I Stay and even though the first dealt with some tragic events - death, waking up after being in coma, for the second book telling the story of the aftermath of these events, was much more emotional. In Where She Went Ms Forman created a haunting tale of loss, fate and second chances. She achieved something rarely done well in novels, a female writer creating a strong, authentic male voice. I have three words to say about Adam - I Love Adam!

If you are a looking for a contemporary story of love and redemption, and if you are ready to have your heart shred to pieces on the road to a happily ever after, I strongly recommend that you read the story of Mia and Adam in If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. Btw, If I Stay is currently in the process of being made into a movie which I am really excited about. 

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.