Hopping madness...

You know how I said spring had sprung in the wonderful land of Oz… Well apparently it sprang up high and landed splat on its face coz it’s now so cold that I am frozen into submission and am now forced to listen to the ranting of the caterpillar for the next week. The evil bunny won’t even fetch me a hot cup of tea!

Unfortunately this week has not only been cold but it has also been a bit full on and time consuming in the real world. So I have missed my usual Tuesday and Wednesday posts and have yet to put up this week’s book review. I assure you all I will catch up in this next week though :)

Now for the hop, first up is Parajunkee's Follow my book blog Friday which is also hosted by Alison at Alison Can Read!

The feature blogger for this week is Holjo @ Pedantic Phooka

Q. Have you ever wanted a villain to win at the end of a story?  If so, which one??

Yes yes yes! The first one that comes to mind is in the Vampire academy series. I absolutely wanted Dimitri Belikov to turn Rose into a vampire and have them both slaughter the other strigoi he was working under and take over the world. Unfortunately I knew it had to be a different ending lol

Secondly the Crazy for books weekly hop...

The question this week is...

“Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn’t read that genre anymore?”

I suppose I would start reading more horror books again. Then again I have really mellowed in my old age (okay so I'm only 29) so I could even turn to romance. It's hard to say really. I read all the time. Be it books, newspaper, internet forums, blogs, magazines... I am always reading something. I can't see myself not reading anymore just because my genre of choice isn't available.

Happy hopping!

Hippity Hop...

Spring has sprung in the great land of oz! I was taking a wander when I spotted a white rabbit, with a mischievous look in his eye. As usual, curiosity got the better or me and I followed the little bugger through the garden.
Well what do you know, it was a trap! He lead me straight to his over sized rabbit hole (which still didn't fit my bum mind you.)
I don't speak rabbit, but I think he is holding me captive until I take a good look around the mysterious bunny hole and find some new blogs to follow. Hopefully by Monday he will set me loose in the real world once again.

For those of you who are new (or even the old stalkers) I have done a couple of reviews this week;
Oz, by Eden Elgabri and Heather Peters and
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
So do check them out while your here.

Now for the hop, first up is Parajunkee's Follow my book blog Friday

which is also hosted by Alison at Alison Can Read!

The feature blogger this week is Lisa at Lisa Love Literature so go and check out her blog!
Question of the week is...

Q. If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?

Parajunkee has put up the hardest question ever, and since I have to run out of the house for an hour I am going to think it over while I'm out and come back to you! Really it's very very hard!

After returning home, I still have no clue where to start answering this question! Might have to hop around and see what everyone else is coming up with. I am at a total loss with this one.

 Secondly the Crazy for books weekly hop...

The question this week is...

“What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season – A particular book release? Halloween? The leaves changing color? Cooler temperatures? A vacation? (If your next season is other than fall/autumn, tell us about it and what you are most looking forward to in your part of the world!)”

Well it is the start of spring here so I am loving the promise of sunshine and warmth! I am soooo over the cold winter months. I want nothing more than to be able to read books on the beach again.
As for book releases, I'm not sure. I'm still trying to get through my huge tbr list so I am trying not to look at what is coming out just yet :)

Happy hopping!

Oz

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 207 KB
• Publisher: Red Sage Publishing (November 1, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004C44PCE

Lionel and Crow and Tim, oh my!

Can Dorothea Gale escape the clutches of foreclosure by making a deal to have sex with three handsome men?

Dorothea Gale is a victim of a bad economy. After losing her job, Thea asks Tim Woodman, the man of her dreams and the contractor who built her home, to help her sell it. He leads her to the powerful William Ozarak, a voyeur, who offers her a deal – sexual submission for one month in exchange for two years worth of mortgage payments. Can she barter her body to prove ‘there’s no place like home’? Or will she lose her soul in the process?

Tim Woodman, who is in the middle of a divorce, isn’t looking for entanglements. Yet he can’t help be drawn to the sexy Thea. If he helps her will he lose his heart? Or did he even have one to begin with?

I seem to be reviewing books that you could either love or hate this week. I guess I could make a theme with that, but lets face it I'm just too lazy for that.

I was given this one as a review copy and unfortunately when I went on unexpected hiatus so did my reading and review of this book. So this is way way late of the time frame I wanted to have this one read in.

In this modern world of "Oz" there is no yellow brick road to follow, the flying monkey's are actually a type of cocktail, and the scare crow, tin man and lion are in fact all really hot guys who want to get into Dorothy's pants (not that she wears any most of the time.)

The wizard of Oz is actually a bit of a tyrant contractor who, in his off time, likes to have a small hoard of sex slaves around to keep him entertained. The good thing about this is you don't have Dorothy (or Thea, as she has been named in this version) having to pleasure Oz against her will or anything. Let's face it, that would just be gross and totally unappealing to all readers.

I wont lie, this book really is just like one long erotic novel scene. There isn't a lot of space between the opening of the book and it getting down to business. And business keeps going all through out the novel. I, personally, do not see that as a bad thing. 

I was first attracted to this one because of the idea of it being linked to the Wizard of Oz, then I was won over by it being of an adult nature.

I'm not saying that the whole book is smut, it's not, okay maybe it kind of is. I actually think the development of the characters and the story links to the old classic are just very subtly placed. Due to the nature of much of the book those aspects can be over looked quite easily. Trust me though, they are there. Most of the development comes through in Thea, and when you reflect on who Tim is modeled after you can see when reading that his character also grows.

All in all, I found it to be a good read. I would not recommend it to my mother and I admit to quickly closing stanza if anyone looked like they were going to peer at what I was reading. But I will happily keep it on my iphone for times when I want something naughty to read.

This book is only available digitally as far as I can find. And if you are not sure you want to read it you can at least go and get the sample copy here from the kindle books section of amazon. Give it a try, you might find it to be one of your new guilty pleasures.

3.5 mushrooms

The Historian

By Elizabeth Kostova

• Publisher: Sphere
• Published: 06 February 2006
• Format: Paperback 720 pages
• See: Full bibliographic data
• Categories: Contemporary Fiction
• ISBN 13: 9780751537284 ISBN 10: 0751537284

Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. In those few quiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover is her birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the Dracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, and evading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable.

This book was recommended to me by a friend when I was waiting for another book to come in at the book store quite some time ago. 

On any normal day I would have passed this book staright by without even a glance, but my friend did a great sales pitch (Okay, so it was more like "You have to read this!" with me relenting immediately and buying the book.)

As usual I could re-tell the whole story for you, but that does not make for a review in my opinion. The description above, taken from bookdepository.com, basically explains the whole plot without spoiling the fun.

I'm not going to lie, I found this to be a very heavy read. It is wordy. Normally I can devour a book in a couple of days but this one has taken me months to get through. I usually got around 10-20 pages worth read at a time before it was a bit much for me to keep reading. It really isn't a light and fluffy skim read. I very nearly abandoned it several times.

That said, I really did enjoy this book. While I found it hard to read but that was part of what I liked. It was, in my opinion, well written and well worth getting through.

I have read some other reviews on this book and I have seen a lot of good reviews but I have seen an equal amount of bad ones too. I understand where the bad ones are coming from (well the ones that are not just poking at minor details because they feel the need to poke.) But at the end of the day I felt like this was an intelligent, well written book that deserved my time in reading it. I enjoyed reading about the details of the places the book took me to. I enjoyed slowly (and I mean reeeeally slowly) unraveling the mysteries behind the legend and behind the main characters past. I enjoyed the incredible amount of work, research and effort it must have taken to complete this book.

If you are a die hard pop fiction reader as I am, you may not enjoy this book so much. I believe I liked it because I have done a lot of independent study on Vlad the impaler and the old vampire legends of different cultures (many many years ago when I had the patience for such things.) 

If you are bored to death by historical readings, school text books etc, then this book will probably sit somewhere collecting dust in your house (at 700+ pages it would make a hefty door stop.)

I give this one a solid 4 mushrooms. I personally loved it. BUT (and it's a huuuge but...) I don't think I would recommend it freely to every reader I know simply because of how difficult I found it to read.

Wednesday Wisdom

"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity; when many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."

- Robert Pirsig (1948-)

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly book meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read (or any random book your 2 year old hands you)
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I picked mine this week because my toddler handed the book to me randomly. It's not a novel but I have found it a good flick though with some really good quotes. My mum bought this for me many many moons ago with "All the advice I forgot to tell you... Oops. Love Mum" written in the cover. 

 There are no page numbers so I am just taking one random quote from the "For my daughter" Section and one from the "For my son" section.

“Don't talk to children in coochie-woochie baby voices (it shits me)"

"Don't wax your chest (Or legs or arms. Unless you're and olympic swimmer or ballet dancer, then I'll understand. Somehow.)"

Jumping on the blog hop train...

So it's Friday once again (gee seems like only a week ago) and it's time for me to get back into the blog hops. It's been a while since I spent so much time on the blog scene and so far I am finding some cool new stuff going on as well as very quickly realising that I really really should get my eye sight checked. So Enjoy the hop this week, and if you don't see my again by Tuesday it's because I have officially gone blind from too much computer time :)

First up is Parajunkee's Follow my book blog Friday

The feature blogs this week are Jenni Elyse and Caught in the Pages. As always it's nice to find a couple of book blogs I haven't come across before, so if you haven't already go and have a look.

And how is this for silly head moment... I forgot to add the question for this week!!!

Q. In books like the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series the paranormal creature in question "comes out of the closet" and makes itself known to the world. Which mythical creature do you wish would come out of the closet, for real?

I think I would also have to go with the vampires... Really who would turn up the chance to live forever? :)

Finally back with the Crazy for books weekly hop! Better late than never.

The question this week is totally non-book related which is kinda nice for a change.

Do you have any pets?

I have 2 dogs (1 pure Staffy, 1 Staffy X Border Collie which we adopted only 2 days ago), 2 cats (one is just being baby sat till next month) and a mexican walking fish.
That's it for our petting zoo, unless you count the two kids and one on the way :)

Happy hopping!

Wednesday Wisdom

I have totally stolen this concept from my mum over at Avatar Briefs, but I couldn't go past this quote without sharing. Just seems so apt for my situation at the moment.

"I don't care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it."

-- William S. Burroughs

Teaser Tuesday

Getting back into it means jumping on the meme train, so I will start with this one!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B. of Should be Reading. Any one can join in.

* Grab a book (it says the one you are reading but I am going with randoms from my bookshelf)

* Open to a random page.

* Find two (2) teaser sentences from anywhere on that page and post them below.

* Do not post any spoilers.

* and be sure to link back to the host.

My teaser this week comes from the book Princess Spider by Princess Spider:

 

"The sexual element of BDSM is, for me, not to do with pain, but more to do with power and control."

"I like the idea of great sexual experiences where you make out for hours, lots of kissing, touching, but you don't actually climax, because an orgasm is the end of it."

As you can tell it's a very matter of fact book in the way it is written. It's about a dominatrix, hence why the author is obviously under and alias. Annnnnd I totally lost the page those quotes were from, oh well there is always next week.

Please bare with me...

It's been a very long while since I have updated so I do need to make a few little changes here and there. If my blog goes a bit wonky in the process please bare with me and know it will be fixed asap.

Thanks guys!

Review: Iron Crowned

Iron Crowned

By Richelle Mead

• Publisher: Kensington Publishing
• Published: 22 February 2011
• Format: Paperback 352 pages
• ISBN 13: 9781420111798 ISBN 10: 1420111795

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land’s queen, she’s fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear…

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown’s ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation--one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril…


I'm not entirely sure where to start with this review. Be it because I haven't done one in such a long time, or it could also have something to do with the fact that I didn't enjoy this one as much as I anticipated I would.

I am a HUUUUGE fan of the Dark Swan books, but this one failed to keep me as entertained as the first two in the series. Don't get me wrong there are some good twists and turns here and there but it just felt like it fell short of the mark I subconsciously set for it.


With everything that was going on in the main part of the story it seemed the relationships between characters missed a bit of the depth I thought they had in previous books. In Thorn Queen you could feel the attraction between Dorian and Eugenie jump off the pages. Very quickly into Iron Crowned it seemed that relationship was muted. It was very two dimensional and made it a little hard for me to continue on.

Once I did get past that, I found quite a bit of the story was easily predicted. Plot twists that I knew should be shocking and clever just seemed a little lame and due to clues earlier on the book really did come across as predictable. I had a few "Ahhh, they finally spit it out" moments.


I hate reviews that spoil the plot for those who haven't read the book yet, so I will leave it at that for now because things change pretty early in the story and frankly it's been so long since I wrote a review I don't want you guys to get bored of my inane dribble just yet :)

All in all I actually still give this one a 4/5. But that is purely because of my love of the books and because I am really hoping things pick up a bit in the next one.

Been a while...

Many apologies for my long unexplained absence.
I figured I should come back and say I am alive and well, and though the last few months have been hell, I am back to write another day.

I have a huge pile of reading to get done, and many reviews to write so I best get to it.

I just wanted to thank everyone for sticking around even though I haven't been here.

Exciting things to come...

And the winner is....

The winner for the New Year's reading resolution giveaway is...

Ashley from Ashley's bookshelf

I will contact you asap, and hope you enjoy the books!

New Year Giveaway!

As all of my old followers would know, I love a good giveaway so this one will be no different.

I have chosen to give away a series of books that I kept looking at in the book store last year but still have yet to read. The series is a little different to what I normally read but I have friends who have never steered me wrong telling me that this series really is sensational.

I have seen the movies that have been released and they are pretty awesome, so I imagine the series is even better.

The series I have chosen is the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko.

Book one

Book two

Book three

Book four

I have added the good reads links below each cover so that you can check out the descriptions and reviews. 

The only things you need to do to enter are:

*Be a follower (old or new, I am not doing points for this one)

*Comment on this post!

That's it folks!

Enjoy hopping around this giveaway, there is heaps of cool stuff out there.

Edited to add... This giveaway IS international! Books will be ordered via book depository for you if you are the winner.