Monthly Archives:: November 2016

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

5 Reasons to Read the Vampire Academy Series + Giveaway

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5-reasons-to-read-vampire-academy

 

The Vampire Academy series is one of my all-time favorites and today the fancy 10th anniversary edition also comes out. To celebrate 10 years of this wonderful book being out in the world, I am going to share my 5 reasons for reasons for reading this series!

1. OTP: Rose and Dimka

I am sorry, I should probably start with why Rose is extremely badass and stuff but Rose and Dimka are my favorite part about this series. AND NO I DONT HAVE TEARS IN MY EYES AS I AM TALKING ABOUT THEM. SOMEONE IS JUST CHOPPING ONIONS NEAR ME. They are one of my top 3 otps for a reason. They are incredibly supportive of one another and so good at communicating. They have their problems too but they work well together and are honestly meant to be. I cannot imagine a world where these two wouldn’t be together. I know some might hard-core feel the ick factor of an instructor/student relationship (which is completely valid!!!) but I’ve always felt that that was tastefully handled throughout the series. They are equals in each others eyes.

2. The main character: Rose

Rose is wonderful. She is witty, sarcastic (we have the same sense of humor really), willing to do anything for her friends, in power of her body, and just a general badass. She isn’t just a badass because she kicks butt, she is badass because she is smart as well. She may be a little impulsive but who is perfect? I love her voice, and she is part of the reason why I binge read this series in under a week (EVEN THOUGH THE later books get LOOOONG.)

3. Great secondary characters: I love me some awesomesauce ladies.

One of my other favorite things about this book is the array of kick ass ladies who are not kickass in the same ways. They aren’t just caricatures of Rose. They differ from her and sometimes act like her foils. They learn from each other and all grow as characters. FUCK YEAH GIRL POWER.

4. Vampires + Boarding School

Okay so I don’t like vampires. I really don’t. But Vampire Academy is one of my favorite series ever so Mead did something verreh verreh right. For one, she made different classes of vampires, some that we were familiar with and others we weren’t. Not all vampires are immortal which also helped me appreciate the vampires more (I don’t like immortality because I am weird.) It was an original take on vampires IMO and made reading the series all the more fun.

5. The series is action packed and addicting

This series is SO MUCH FUN TO READ. It goes by fast, TOO FAST (because I honestly did not want the series to be over when I read the last page.) There is action, swoons and a whole lot of fun. Also fun secrets get revealed.

About the Book

vampire-academy

Vampire Academy
Richelle Mead

GOODREADSPURCHASE

ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES…

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires—the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger…and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever…

Giveaway time!

Our lovely friends at Penguin Teen are giving away five (5) paperback copies of Vampire Academy 10th Anniversary Edition by Richelle Mead!

 

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 9:00 AM Eastern Time on November 29, 2016 and 11:59 PM Eastern Time on December 5, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about December 12, 2016. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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Gift Ideas for Bookworms

Posted by on 11/28/2016 • 7 Comments

Looking for some gift ideas for the bookworm(s) in your life? Fear not, I’ve got your back!

1. Library from Beauty and the Beast

You’ll be sure to please the bookworm in your life with a gift like this!

2. A time-turner

Bookworms are desperate for more reading time and whats better than gifting them a time turner so they can have all the time they need?

3. A $1,000,000 gift card for any bookstore

Don’t look at me like that. Bookworms tend to hoard and we would appreciate a nearly unlimited budget for when we go book-shopping.

4. Their fav author so they can fangirl and cry

It may require you to break some laws (since you might have to kidnap their fav author), but the smile on their…

Middle Grade Mysteries: The Lost Property Office + Into the Lion’s Den

Posted by on 11/27/2016 • 0 Comments

 

 The Lost Property Office James R. Hannibal

GOODREADS | PURCHASE

Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace.

But Jack’s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries—and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack’s inheritance.

Now the only way Jack will ever see his father again is if he finds what the nefarious Clockmaker is after: the Ember, which holds a secret that has been kept…

Fresh Batch (Nov 27th – Dec 3rd)

Fresh Batch (Nov 27th – Dec 3rd)

Posted by on 11/26/2016 • 0 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Girls in the Moon Janet McNally Publication date: November 29th 2016 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Purchase

An exquisitely told, authentic YA debut about family secrets, the shadow of fame, and finding your own way.

Everyone in Phoebe Ferris’s life tells a different version of the truth. Her mother, Meg, ex–rock star and professional question evader, shares only the end of the story—the post-fame calm that Phoebe’s always known. Her sister, Luna, indie-rock darling of Brooklyn, preaches a stormy truth of her own making, selectively ignoring the facts she doesn’t like. And her father, Kieran, the cofounder of Meg’s beloved band, hasn’t said anything at…

ARC Review: Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tromly

Posted by on 11/25/2016 • 0 Comments

I’ve been waiting to read Trouble Makes a Comeback for a while now and it completely exceeded my expectations. It was also a comfort read I picked up post-election because I needed something that would make me feel good even for a short period of time. Trouble Makes a Comeback did just that.

Digby is back (after disappearing for 6 months and not keeping in touch) and so is trouble. Honestly, I was so worried we’d be waiting for a part of this book for Digby to be back. I couldn’t handle that wait but HE WAS BACK starting first chapter and I have so much love for him. He is a precious cinnamon roll too good, too pure for this world. One of the complains I had in Trouble is…

Post-Election: What can you-as a reader-do to help?

Posted by on 11/23/2016 • 2 Comments

There have been several incredibly helpful posts floating around twitter, encouraging you to get involved politically and call your representatives. I don’t have enough knowledge to give you that sort of advice but I do have experience working at a library and being a blogger so I wanted to put together a mini-list of how you can be helpful on a smaller scale as a reader (but please also do things on a larger scale because those are the things that will really help make a difference.)

1. Check out diverse books (by diverse authors) from your library.

You have no idea how important this is. If books don’t get circ’d (checked out), they have to be ‘weeded’ (aka, taken out of the collection) and now more than ever, diverse books…

Fresh Batch (November 20th – 26th)

Fresh Batch (November 20th – 26th)

Posted by on 11/19/2016 • 1 Comment

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Of Fire and Stars Audrey Coulthurst Publication date: November 22nd 2016by Balzer + Bray

Goodreads Purchase

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden.

Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s…

Diverse #QuietYA Recommendations

Posted by on 11/18/2016 • 2 Comments

You may or may not have read my post from earlier this week talking about how I was doing after the election. The answer is that I am not okay but so many other people aren’t either. I’ve been struggling to do books lately but I recently finished my first book post-election and felt so much love for it. Post-election, one of the biggest things we can focus on in this bookish community is supporting #ownvoices and buying more diverse books. Today, I put together a list of some great #quietYA diverse reads. I’ve read a majority of these books and can vouch for their amazingness so without further ado, here are some books to add to your TBRs. Buy them, check them out from a library, give them some…