LIEBSTER AWARD

We got nominated by three very lovely ladies for the Liebster Award, which recognizes new up and coming blogs in the community.  

Rules

1.) Link & Thank the blogger who nominated you
2.) Answer the 11 questions your nominator gives you
3.) Tag 11 other bloggers who have 200 or less followers
4.) Ask the 11 bloggers you nominated 11 questions and let them know you nominated them!

Thanks to Anne from Anne Books, Brittany from Space Between the Spines, and Gloria from Gloria the Violinist, who run some of our favorite blogs.  Be sure to check them out.

Answers to Anne's Questions

1. Did you ever haven't finished a book? Why?

A: Yes, I absolutely have.  I am a strong believer in not forcing myself to read books that I don't want to.  That's just asking for a reading slump in my opinion!

G: Yeah, because it wasn't very interesting, and I had spilt water on it, so the ink on the last pages was smeared and I couldn't even read it.

2. If you must burn one book you own, which would it be and why?

A: I'm going to have to go with Dreamland by Sarah Dessen, because I hated that book, and I hated the messages that it sent, so frankly, I would have no qualms about burning it.

G: I guess I would burn Andrea Cremer's The Inventor's Secret, because the book was horrid, and the characters were really dry, so I think that they would burn well (pun intended).

3. What is your favorite series/trilogy of all time and why?

A: The Infernal Devices all the way on this one.  Best.  Series.  Ever.

G: I'm going to go for The Mortal Instruments on this one, because it's everything that I love in a book wrapped up into one series.

4. If you could kill one author and wouldn't go in jail for it, who would you kill and why?

A: Can I just kill like, a horrible person?

G: I don't even know, what is this question

5. In which language do you mostly read?

A&G: English

6. Have you got a list with books you wanna buy? If so, how many books do you have on it?

A&G: The list is never-ending.

7. Do you take note (while or after reading) or do you just write down your thoughts while writing a review?

A: Sometimes I'll mark passages that I like, but for the most part I just gather all my thoughts after reading it.

G: Not at all.

8. Which year (school or college) are you in?

A&G: We're keeping our age on the DL.

9. What was the most horrible book you had to read at school?

A: House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.  Worst.  Book.  Ever.

G: Watson's Go To Burmingham.  It was about a car ride.  Seriously.

10. If you could just bring three books to your new apartement, which three would you bring and why?

A: Probably the whole TID series, but I don't know.  This is hard.

G: City of Heavenly Fire, Fangirl, and Champion

11. How many books do you have in total?

A: 432

G: 91 

Now for Gloria's questions:

1. If there was one book that you could turn into a movie, which one would it be ?

A&G: Legend.  No question about it.

2. If you could meet one character from a book, who would it be ?

A: Will.  Herondale.  Are you really surprised?

G: Alec Lightwood.  I want to talk to him about Malec.

3. If you had to go live on an abandoned island, and you could take one author with you that would write books for you, who would you take ?

A: I'm going with Stephanie Perkins, because she is the sweetest, most bubbly person I have ever met.  Plus, I could read a Stephanie Perkins book every day.

G: Cassandra Clare, because I love her writing, and since she writes all these violent books, she probably knows a few survival skills.  

4. If you could become one book character, who would it be ?

A: Tessa Gray, because...Will.  

G: June Iparis, because I can kick butt and come home to Day every night

5. What is your favourite fictional world ?

A&G: We're both gonna go with the Shadowhunter world on this one.  It's so beautifully created, and wonderful that it's great.  Plus Will and Jace.

6. Where do you like reading the most ?

A: My bed

G: My beanbag.

7. What language(s) do you read in ?

A&G: English.  That's all we're fluent in.

8. How many hours a week do you spend reading ?

A:7-35 on average.

G:It depends on what my schedule is like.  

9. Do your parents ever tell you that you read to much ?

A: Yes, and I don't go outside enough.

G:Yes, I don't see the problem.

10. ebook, paperback or hardback ?

A&G: Hardback.

 
11. What do you prefer to read on other blogs ? Reviews, challenges, tags,... ?

A&G: Reviews.

Last but not least Brittany!

1.) If you could date one character from a book, who would it be and why?

A: Will Herondale, because he is perfection and we are already married.

G: Day, because he is amazing, brave, pure, strong, ect.

2.) You're stranded on a desert island and you are only given three books for entertainment. What are they?

A: Probably the whole TID series, but I don't know.  This is hard.

G: City of Heavenly Fire, Fangirl, and Champion

3.) What is your favorite movie adaptation of a book?

A: TFIOS. THE FEELS!

G: Divergent, I cried so much because of Allegiant.

4.) What was your favorite children's book?

A: Secrets of my Hollywood Life Series.

G: Anything written by Dr. Seuss. I still love them now. 

5.) What is one genre that you don't usually read but have enjoyed in the past?

A&G:Historical fiction.

6.) What is your favorite classic book?

A: Animal Farm or Jane Erye. They are both amazing.

G: Outsiders.

7.) If you could have one book that releases within the next year early, which would it be?

A: The Retribution of Mara Dyer. It keeps being pushed.

G: I don't know. Talon by Julie Kagawa.  

8.) What was one book series that left you disappointed?

A: Requiem.

G: Inventor's Secret. 

9.) What's you're favorite "lesser known" author?

A: Cassie Mae

G: I have not read any lesser known authors because I read slow and Amber keeps recommending books by well known authors. 
 
10.) What's a book that you love, but no one else really knows about?

A: Third Degree by Julie Cross

G: I don't think I have any

11.) I'm going to do something a little different: instead of one more question, I'll ask those tagged to choose at least three of the blogs I've tagged earlier and follow and leave ONE comment on each. (My blog can be included, but you're not required to choose it.) Spread the blogging love! <3 span="">



Here are our questions.

1. If you were any antagonist in any of your favorite books, who you you be? 
2. If you were stranded on a desert island what character would you want to be with? 
3. What percentage of your bookshelf is hardcover, paperback, and ebook?
4. If you had to eat a character who would you eat?
5. If you had to dress up any male character like Alice in Wonderland, who would it be? (The Disney version)
6. How many book boyfriends do you have? Be honest we don't judge.   
7. If you could have any book character as your slave who would it be?
8. If you could have any significant item from any book what would it be?
9. What is your favorite book related pick up line?
10.Which author do you think is best at world building? J.R Tolkin and J.K. Rowling are not allowed. 
11. What is that one book quote you quote all the time?  

Thanks for reading and thanks to Gloria, Brittany, and Anne for nominating us!  Sorry it took so long to get around to doing it.

Amber and Grace

Apologies

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know how sorry I am for being so absent from the blog this past month or so.  At the end of last year, I was accepted into a highly competitive program, where I must complete extremely rigorous work.  School has just started and I'm finding that I have less time to blog than I ever have before.  I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning, and go to school, and then come home to all of my activities, plus hours of homework.  I barely have time to get in ten pages of reading a day, let alone type out posts and read other blogs.  I'm doing the best that I can, and I hope that you can continue to support me, even though I may not be as much of a presence as I have been in the past.

Thank you,

Amber

Stacking the Shelves Sunday

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves, a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, in which you show which books you have gotten this week in either physical or electronic format.  And if you didn't get any books, then you can either not post or post gloating about how you have about ten times as much control as me.

Purchased Physical:

Control By Lydia Kang

The Diviners By Libba Bray

That's all!

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

Friday 56

Welcome to Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.  You grab the book nearest to you, open it to page 56, and post a quote from that page that catches your eye.  The important thing is to not go for your favorite book, or the most intellectual, go for the closest.

One for me. One for you, One for the two of us.
-Smoke
By Ellen Hopkins

Hope you keep reading 
Grace

That's What he said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

“I miss you."
"That's stupid," she said. "I saw you this morning."
"It's not the time," Levi said, and she could hear that he was smiling." It's the distance.” 

-

-From Levi to Cath

Fangirl

By Rainbow Rowell

Hope you keep reading 

Grace

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door
By Stephanie Perkins
338 pages
Published on September 29th, 2011
By Dutton Books (My Copy is Speak though)
4 Stars

Warning- After reading this over for the third time I realized that there are spoilers. Proceed with caution. 

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion...she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit--more sparkly, more fun, more wild--the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket--a gifted inventor--steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Opening Thoughts

I did not like this book as much as Anna and the French Kiss.  I also read this book during a reading slump. I think that made me not like it as much as I could have. I didn't put it on my good reads so it didn't track how long it took for me to read it. In an estimation it took me about a month to finish it. I want to re-read it later when I'm not on a reading slump and see if I like it better. It did take me out of my slump though. I read 100 pages or so strait from when I got up to noon. (Which means only about an hour and thirty minutes.) I plan to read it again next summer. I was a nice romance for the summer. 

Characters

Another reason I think I didn't like it that much is that I didn't have that much in common with Lola. I am an artist and I sew but I do't think we would have gotten along very well. I did find her motto interesting though. “I don't believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be same person every day.” It made me think and I admire that she could walk around like that all day. I could never do that. The main part that irritated me though was how attached and dependent she was on Max. Kill me if I ever do that. He was a lying manipulative jerk. I have a feeling he was cheating on her too. A piece of advice, never care what your boyfriend thinks of you. If he doesn't like the way you dress, the way you talk, or your friends he is not for you. Never change for anyone but yourself. NEVER! So yes that threw me off a cliff with Lola. 

Cricket, OK. Who names their child Cricket? It is like Ponyboy and Sodapop. Calliope is weird too but Cricket. Name aside, I like him. He had the classic boy next door, nice guy atmosphere but a engineering twist. I liked how she would always describe him as tall and he wore short pants to show off his socks. That is a good description. I can see that. The rubber bands are a good touch too. I could always picture him picture perfect.  Cricket was sweetest guy ever. It was like 20 tons of milk chocolate sweet. He was so sweet it was almost revolting. Cricket Bell showed the world that the nice guys shouldn't always be last.

Max can go die in a hole. Enough said. 

In the beginning I had a problem with Calliope. When she was jealous of Lola because Cricket liked her my dirty and perverted brain, thanks to my awesome friends, was shouting incest. Then I realized that she was being protective and I  could relate. I love her line, "Break his heart. I break your face." She was a pretty skater but, she knew she had the strength to kick some butt!  It was sweet that she looked after her brother I felt that she did have a little bit of a girly and stuck up aura though. Her name to me though sounds like a dish you would order at my dad's friend's french restaurant. "I would like the Calliope please."  I think I liked her a little more than Lola. 

I found Lola's dads supper funny. They cracked me up half the time with Gay jokes(Not the insulting kind.)and the best awkward parent situations, always walking in on the wrong moment. Lindsey was an awesome BFF. I liked her detective dream and red converse. Norah was a little different then how she was described in the beginning. I though of her as a drunk, smelly, rude, cranky lady but, she turned out to give very good advice to Lola and helped her along her path. 


Plot

Yes, this did remind of the classic boy next door thing. I think that another reason I did not like it as much is that is was very cliche. I was your classic boy next door story and I knew from the beginning what the ending would be. I found it too predictable. I knew they were going to get together in Anna and the French Kiss but I did not know exactly. In this book I knew she was going to the winter formal, I knew she was going to get together with Cricket, I knew she would be heart broken about Max. I predicted everything that was going to happen, but there were some twist that I liked. One thing I never saw coming was that Calliope's costume was going to get ripped. I thought that was clever. The baby was a good touch too. I also didn't see that she would completely drop color because of Max. I know she really thought a lot of him but I did not see that coming. I cracked me up when her parents found Cricket in her bed. That was unpredictable. Another thing I liked was, it was a happy ending but, it was some what more realistic than other happy endings. Speaking of happy endings I stared jumping up and down when I saw Anna and St. Clair. It was just amazing. The bead and the left handed notebook too. It was just to much. 

Well it is not my favorite Stephanie Perkins book but, it was a good one. I can't wait to read Isla and the Happily Ever After. These books make me feel like happy endings are possible. I hope I fine mine and everyone else can find theirs. 

Hope you keep reading
Grace

Teaser Tuesday

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, a weekly feature hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, in which you open the book you're currently reading to a random page and share 2 sentences without spoilers, along with the author and title of the book. 

Today the teaser if from Four

"No Tris," I say. "You look..." I try a Dauntless expression. "Tough as nails." She smiles a little. So do I.

-Four

By Veronica Roth 

Pg 208

Hope you keep reading

Grace