It is with the greatest honor and regret that I find myself writing this post today. I have thought long and hard about this decision before deciding to act upon it. This is news to pretty much everyone except me but I have decided to give up book blogging for the moment.
I really sat down and reflected on why I started this blog and what I was wanting to get from it.
When I first started this blog it was because I was finding myself lost in book blog world and I wanted a way to be a part of the book community and surround myself with wonderful books and a place to talk about them. It wasn't for the free books or the "fame" it was for sheer self enjoyment. To be honest, I was also having a difficult time filling all my free time that I had found myself with and I missed blogging.
So the place I find myself in now is quite different then the place I was a little over a year ago. I work in the library now. Contrary to popular thought, this is actually detrimental to my book blogging because I work and talk books everyday and I love it, that means that blogging doesn't fulfill that for me anymore, it isn't something I turn to now. I am also overwhelmed with amazing new books of all genres and sometimes it exhausts my brain.
I also have a healthy balance of activity in my life now that includes work, friends, and getting to know a little bit more about myself. I am also trying very hard for a promotion at work on top of getting into new activities that fuel my geek life.
This has been a stellar year albeit it has been full of ups and downs. I don't intend to give up books (Such a thought is blasphemous!) and in fact I don't even intend to give up reviewing but I don't have the time to dedicate the other research for other posts and interesting information. I doubt this is a permanent step for me, I really love blogging but for now lay it to rest.
I would really love to keep in touch with every one of you; I am turning Goodreads into my source of reviews and connections. If you'd like, I would love to have you on my friends list there, so look me up! I'm also going to be a blog reader, even if I am the silent type.
Don't stop believing in the pixies :)
Love and hugs,
Leila
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Summer Spontaneity
What happens when you spontaneously go pick up your baby sister to come visit you for a week halfway across the state? Your blog doesn't get any love. But at least you had fun?! RIGHT!?! Haha, I just wanted to touch base and say that I appreciate your readership and I appreciate you for sticking by me when I know the regularity of posts isn't quite as steady or consistent as I would really like for it to be, but I am certainly trying to catch up!
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer (and Winter for my friends in Australia in their snow boots)!
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer (and Winter for my friends in Australia in their snow boots)!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Waiting on Wednesday: Iron Prophecy by Julie Kagawa
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine that gives bloggers the chance to express their longing for books before they're released!
Iron's Prophecy by Julie Kagawa
Mark it To-Read: Goodreads
Pre-order: Amazon
Release: September 2012
Meghan Chase is finally getting used to being the Iron Queen, ruler of the Iron Fey. Her life may be strange, but with former Winter prince Ash by her side at last, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
But when they travel to the Summer and Winter courts’ gathering for Elysium, the oracle from Meghan’s past returns with a dire prophecy: “What you carry will either unite the courts, or it will destroy them.” Now Meghan faces a devastating choice that may determine the future of all fey—and her and Ash’s unborn child…
More on What's Inside:
More Reviews on The Iron Fey
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Mini-Review: Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa
Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages (eBook): 49
Series: The Iron Fey (Book 1.5)
Read Next: The Iron Daughter (Book 2)
Source: Bought
ISBN-13: 9781426858321
Genre: Fantasy (Faeries)
Author: Website | Twitter | BlogSeries Reviews: Book 1 (4.5★) Book 2 (5★)Book 3 (5★) Book 3.5 Book 4 (4.5★)
Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl...until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck--Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon--who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.
Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter--a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat...
An eBook exclusive novella from Julie Kagawa.
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Reading this novella after The Iron Knight, I see that it highlights the complexity of Prince Ash. It really conflicts with his love of Meghan and his loyalty to the court. Picking up exactly where The Iron King left off, we join Meghan on her journey to keep her deal with the Prince and return to The Unseelie Court. We are accompanied by our favorite feline but are hunted by a force older and wiser than faery it seems. The chase is just enough action that perfectly paces the book but it was rather abrupt and cut off, even for a novella. A great meanwhile read but not as charming as its counterpart, Summer's Crossing.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Reader's Advisory: The Hunger Games
If you liked...
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
You might like...
The Giver by Lois Lowry
A classic dystopian tale for young readers. I first read this book in the 6th grade and the story of Jonas was deep, provocative, and managed to stay with me for years. In this book, the world is perfect. Everything is predestined to maintain the control and no one can remember life before the change; no one except, The Giver. The Giver holds the memories of true life and now Jonas must fight to receive the truth and break away. Jonas is unsuspecting of the trials life dumps on him and with the strength we all find in Katniss, he steps up to the challenge.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
People of all ages enjoy The Hunger Games. For older fans of The Hunger Games, I recommend this dystopic story of Offred. A popular tale from Margaret Atwood, this story shares the life of Offred in a world of religious dominance and harsh realities that have plausible repercussions. Do you fight for freedom when you remember your life before? Do you bend or do you break?
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Waiting on Wednesday: The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine that gives bloggers the chance to express their longing for books before they're released!
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
Mark it To-Read: Goodreads
Pre-Order: Amazon
Release: August 28, 2012
Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.
But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.
Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive.
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This book sounds fantastic. The plot synopsis is unlike any other book I have read and after I read Lauren DeStefano's Goodreads review of this book, it was sealed that I have to read it. Goodreads is also having a FirstReads giveaway for a few copies. Check it out on the Goodreads link when you mark it To-Read!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Review: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Age Group: Adult
Pages (Paperback): 164
Source: Library
ISBN-13: 9780307950215
Genre: Horror/Historical
Arthur Kipps is an up-and-coming London solicitor who is sent to Crythin Gifford—a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway—to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. Mrs. Drablow’s house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind its sheltered windows. The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images—a rocking chair in a deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and, most terrifying of all, a ghostly woman dressed all in black. Psychologically terrifying and deliciously eerie, The Woman in Black is a remarkable thriller of the first rate.
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Overview:
Don't go into this book expecting it to be the movie. Don't go into this book hoping for resolution. This book is extremely dense to read without any real events occurring. This book did not give enough of an experience for the effort that I put into sifting through the thickness of descriptors and historical atmosphere. A quick albeit disappointing selection.
Review:
There are times when we cannot remove the expectations that we have of something going into it and this book was an unfortunate victim of that scenario. I watched the movie for this book before even knowing it was a book and I kept the expectations of the relatively entertaining book when I went into this historical book. In a book to movie adaptation, we tend to think that the book is always better. In this instance, the movie should not only be given its own identity but I did find it better than the book.
Perhaps it is against my reading style but this book was written in a historical style that hinted at classic. This was the type of writing that focused on building atmosphere but instead makes the reading dense and heavy. This may or may not have effected the way that I experienced the haunting that this story focuses around.
The pacing that was used to setup the haunting was well done but there was an existing problem with the amount of actual events or action that kept the story propelled. I was also disappointed in the lack of resolution that came with the ending of the story. I wasn't looking for anything heroic or magnificent but the ghost story took some leaps in the end that were just ill placed.
Overall, this story was disappointing and not a fulfilling haunted story. It accomplished a historic and chilling tone but that was all that was successful about this selection.
Rating out of 5:
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