In My Mailbox (009)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and it explores the contents of my mailbox or shopping bag on a weekly basis. Here's what I acquired over the past two weeks:

Here's everything:

• Heavenly by: Jennifer Laurens*
• Penitence by: Jennifer Laurens*
• Party by: Tom Leveen
• The Summer of Skinny Dipping by: Amanda Howells
• Bleeding Violet Bookmark* and a key chain from Dia Reeves
• Heavenly/Penitence bookmark and a card featuring Absolution from Jennifer Laurens

How I got them:

• I won Heavenly and Penitence from Jennifer Laurens.
• I won Party by: Tom Leveen from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie.
• I got The Summer of Skinny Dipping by: Amanda Howells from the library.
• I won the Bleeding Violet bookmark and the key chain from Dia Reeves.
• The Heavenly/Penitence bookmark and card came with the books I received from Jennifer Laurens.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

I tried to get a better picture of the key chain, but it's always blurry. :(

It has a small vile, a skeleton key, and a cupid charm. I highly doubt I'll actually put it on a key ring, I don't want it to break or anything.

What did you get this week?

*means they are signed by the author.

Feature & Follow Friday - 001

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee, featuring one blogger a week. It serves as a way for us to discover and follow new bloggers, and possibly gain some followers of our own!

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - www.fangswandsandfairydust.com
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!

Review: "A Blue So Dark" by: Holly Schindler

A Blue So Dark by: Holly Schindler
Released: May 1st, 2010
Publisher: Flux
Age: Young-Adult
Pages: 288
Overall:
Recommend Level: Med-High
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author (The Story Siren)
Summary: "Terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future, sixteen-year-old Aura struggles with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.
As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.
Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process."

The Versatile Blogger Award!

A couple days ago I received yet another award....make that two awards that I'm excited about!
First, I'll thank the people who gave me the awards: Amanda from Another Book Junkie and Morgan from The Paperback Princess! Thank you so much girls!!
I've had a great week in the booking world!

So here's what I'm supposed to do:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. (check)
2. Share 7 things about yourself. (check)
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award


7 things about myself:

1. My birthday is on Groundhog's Day.
2. I love to cook.
3. I am obsessed with how things work.
4. I think the most interesting part of most CSI & other crime shows are the autopsy parts.
5. I hate hate hate hate spiders and bugs, period. Just, UGH. DIE.
6. I have a habit of not getting too attached to people.
7. I'm currently writing 3 books and I'm saving a book I have in mind to write during NaNoWriMo.

15 Bloggers I'm passing this to:
(it doesn't say that each blogger has to be a book blogger, so I'll probably have a few who blog for other reasons.)

1. Jennifer Laurens (the author)
2. Forever Young: A YA Lit Blog
3. Pure Imagination
4. La Femme Reader
5. Confessions of a TwiCrack Addict
6. Tales of A Teenage Book Lover (He's amazing)
7. Luxury Reading
8. iHeart Monster
9. The Story Siren (duh, had to include her)
10. Parajunkee's View
11. The Lady Critic's Library
12. The Book Wars
13. Wastepaper Prose
14. The Library Lurker
15. Book Faery

So those are my choices, be sure to follow them and let them know I sent you!

Congratulations to your award & thanks again to Another Book Junkie and The Paperback Princess!

Taking back books.

This past weekend I got a few books from the library that I was rather excited about, but I've been rather busy this week. More than I'd wan to be. The only time to sit down is the time I've allotted for any shows I like that are on, so about an hour or two I can sit down....but I've yet to find to read. So I just gave my mom the books I got that I posted in my last In My Mailbox post to return to the library. I have two books ready; A Blue So Dark by: Holly Schindler and The Summer of Skinny Dipping by: Amanda Howells. I'll post them along with the book I just received in the mail in an In My Mailbox post tomorrow or sometime this coming week.

I hope that tomorrow and Sunday I'll have more time to read. I also hope to arrange a better schedule so that I can teach my younger brother (summer school), send him outside to play and clean.....hoping here's a few hours until bed to read. You would think with summer I'd have more time to read...wrong!!

Anyways, so there will not be any reviews for Insatiable by: Meg Cabot, Numbers by: Rachel Ward, or How to Say Goodbye in Robot by: Natalie Standiford. But I'm hoping there will be reviews for other books soon!

Happy Readings (if you have time.)!

Well, here's a Bodacious Award.

Well, let me say that I am happy & surprised to have an award! I know that there are maybe three people who are loyal readers who I love, but to get an award? Shut the front door! (Or as my brother says, STFD. Yes, the letters.)
I'm quite honored and feel like I have something huge to uphold! So, I'll try super hard to make this blog better to gain more readers and keep the ones I have!
I won this award from one amazing blogger, Amanda from Another Book Junkie. Because of the rules, I can't give it back to her. So I'm going just say thank you!

And those rules are:
If you are given this award you must first accept it by leaving a comment on the post you were nominated on. Then copy and paste the post and add it to your own blog. Make a list of the last 5 books you read and pass the award on to 5 other bloggers (no backsies!). Please also identify the blog from which you got the award and don’t forget to tell your picks that they have a blog award!

The last five books I read were:

1. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by: Morgan Matson (review)
2. Two-way Street by: Lauren Barnholdt (review)
3. Bleeding Violet by: Dia Reeves (review)
4. Something Like Fate by: Susane Colasanti (review)
5. The Boy Next Door by: Meg Cabot (review)

The five bloggers I pass this award to are:

1. Marie from Marie Loves Books.
2. Kate from I Just Want to Sit Here And Read.
3. Tori from The Book Faery.
4. Anna from Book Nerds.
5. Melina from Reading Vacation.

So follow all these people & tell them I sent you! :)

Review: "Amy & Roger's Epic Detour" by: Morgan Matson

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by: Morgan Matson
Released: May 4th, 2010
Publisher: Simon
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Overall:
Recommend Level: High
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author(The Story Siren)
Summary: "Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn't seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she's coming to terms with her father's death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself."

Review: After just finishing Two-way Street by: Lauren Barnholdt I wasn't really looking forward to reading a book about a road trip so soon. But it was ready at the library, so I decided I'd pick it up.
Simply...loved it! I can't believe this is a debut book! Like Two-way Street I felt like I truly related to Amy. She's currently under a lot of stress and depression since her father's death, that just might be her fault. Her brother's in rehab and her mom has moved to Connecticut to start a job. So Amy has been living in her house in California all alone waiting for it to be sold. And now her mother needs the car...that's in California with Amy. Amy refuses to drive. So in comes Roger who's been staying with his mother in California but needs to get to Philadelphia to his dad's.
As they embark on this journey and realize the route Amy's mother has laid out for them isn't all that fun...they decide to take a detour.
I'm pretty sure that Morgan Matson took this same road trip, because the way she describes everything Amy and Roger sees is so vivid and real.
I am a huge fan of road trips and I felt like I was on this one with them. But if I really were, that'd be quite awkward. 3 people in one bed? Weird. *wink*
Roger is hung up on his ex girlfriend, Hadley and Amy just wants to be able to feel again.
Through this book with pictures, playlists, receipts, menus, and more you get to see them find themselves and each other. I laughed, teared up a couple times and felt frustrated with real emotions.
I cannot wait for Morgan Matson's next book!! I am a big fan!


Plot:
Characters:
Ending:
Writing:
Cover:

(New rating at the bottom. Like?)

(Check out the full list of 2010 Debut Authors I have lined up to read as well as the reviews of the ones I've already read. Just click here!)

In My Mailbox (008)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and it explores the contents of my mailbox or shopping bag on a weekly basis. Here's what I acquired over the past two weeks:

These books are all from the library. One book I've had on hold for quite sometime and the other two were "spur-of-the-moment" picks! They are on my "TBR" list, but didn't have them too high. Since a lot of the 2010 Debut Author books are taking forever to be ready at the library I decided to get them anyways. Here they are:

Numbers by: Rachel Ward
Insatiable by: Meg Cabot
How to Say Goodbye in Robot by: Natalie Standiford


----------------------------------
I have been looking forward to Insatiable for quite sometime! I didn't think it'd be ready today, but I'm glad it is. I've only read one book by Meg Cabot, but I can't wait to read more. I seem to mainly be interested in her Adult books, but I may maneuver over to her YA books. I've heard good things about them! P.S. How amazing is that cover?

I've read that people think How to Say Goodbye in Robot is a sad but sweet book. I've been reading a lot of "love stories....but I guess this is a different kind of love story.
I think I'll be reading this one next.

Numbers hasn't gotten the highest reviews, but the books sounds really good. And I don't completely trust what other people rate anyways. This girl can look in your eyes and see the day you will die. But I'm not so sure I'd like to have that "talent" or know anyone with it. I don't know, this may be the next one I read!
And I love how creepy that cover is!


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I also checked out the movie "The Children's Hour". I've seen some of it, but every time it's on I never catch it at the beginning. I love older movies!! :)



So, that's all I've acquired this week. What have you gotten? Unfortunately I didn't get any new 2010 Debut Author books, but I'm happy with what I did get.
And have you read any of these books?!

Review: "Two-way Street" by: Lauren Barnholdt

Two-way Street by: Lauren Barnholdt
Released: June 26th, 2007
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 288
Overall:
Recommend Level: Med-High
Summary: "There are two sides to every breakup. This is Jordan and Courtney, totally in love. Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple. But they clicked; it worked. They're even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation. Then Jordan dumps Courtney -- for a girl he met on the Internet. It's too late to change plans, so the road trip is on. Courtney's heartbroken, but figures she can tough it out for a few days. La la la -- this is Courtney pretending not to care. But in a strange twist, Jordan cares. A lot. Turns out, he's got a secret or two that he's not telling Courtney. And it has everything to do with why they broke up, why they can't get back together, and how, in spite of it all, this couple is destined for each other."

Review: "Bleeding Violet" by: Dia Reeves

Bleeding Violet by: Dia Reeves
Released: January 5th, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 454 pages
Overall:
Recommend Level: Med-High
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author(The Story Siren)
Summary: "Love can be a dangerous thing....
Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.
But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe."