Always Me

The day has finally arrived!  Happy Halloween everyone!  I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday filled with your favorite treats and even a few tricks.   By the way, if you are interested you still have until midnight tonight to enter my  Halloween giveaway (US only)  featuring  The Dead House  by Dawn Kurtagich.

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my current read which is by one of my favorite authors, The Rest of Us Just Live Here  by Patrick Ness.   This book was just released on October 6th and I can't describe how excited I am for it.  The concept alone is awesome and I would read it just for that, but add in the author's skill and that aweso

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ I received a free ecopy from the author in exchange for an honest review. In this alternate version of America, the government controls art and creativity. Primarily, in the form of music which could potentially cause anarchy and discord if not nipped in the bud destroyed. Those caught making music, distributing music, or enjoying music are severely punished. Merrin Pierce is an undercover Patrol officer who apprehends the fugitives who threaten the values and safety of society with music. On one case, however, she begins to question the validity everything she's ever known. World-building in dystopian novels can sometimes be hit or miss, but this was one element of the story that I particularly enjoyed. I've always gotten a kick out of alternate history that has close ties to our real life past and present, so seeing how Merrin's world developed was of particular interest. That being said Morris's novel is very original and creative - I've never

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   Instead of putting a bullet in his nemesis Alice, John Lago puts a ring on her finger and marries her. Then, the newly weds execute a hostile takeover of HR, Inc. and they are quite successful until conflicting managements styles cause a horrible breakup. But when Alice takes on a new HR target, John has to play a part he never thought he would have to go back to: the intern. What begins as a deadly showdown becomes the two of them fighting side-by-side to save HR, Inc. - and their marriage. Hostile Takeover by Shane Kuhn is an exciting sequel to The Intern's Handbook . It has a fantastic sense of dark humor and it's action-packed. I nearly couldn't turn the pages quickly enough to see what was just around the corner for John and Alice. This one picks up almost immediately from where the first left off and it doesn't waste any time getting up to a breakneck pace. The twists and the turns are so much fun to follow and I like seeing how John and Alice

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish .  This week's topic is a Halloween themed freebie, so I'm opting to do my list on horror movies I want to see that I have never seen before. Here we go, in alphabetically order: An American Werewolf in London  (1981) The Babadook (2014) The Final Girls (2015) Goodnight Mommy (2014) The Innocents (1961) It Follows (2015) The Loved Ones (2009) The Orphanage  (2007) Scouts Guide to the Apocalypse (2015) Victor Frankenstein (To be released November 25, 2015) So what do you think of my list this week? Have you seen any of these movies, or are they on your to-watch list? What are some of your favorite movies to get you in the Halloween spirit?

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to my second Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules:  Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! This week I'm spotlighting two songs that I had never heard before until this past Thursday, but they both caught my attention right off. "Train" by Brick + Mortar (2015) - This one's just really catchy and the percussion mak

  Halloween is right around the corner and to celebrate I've decided to celebrate in the best way - by giving away some books to help get you in the spirit of the holiday! By the way, Finn is really getting in the spirit - he's napping (trying to, at least) by his two favorite pillows!  Seriously, I did not manipulate this picture in any way.  He really only sits on the couch if these pillows are out - yesterday, he was actually resting his head on the one with the pumpkin! To get back to the giveaway (US only), I'm giving away The Dead House  by Dawn Kurtagich (great for fans of "found footage" psychological horror), Anna Dressed in Blood  by Kendare Blake (perfect for fans of Supernatural ) , The Hunt  by Andrew Fukuda ( The Hunger Games plus vampires, anyone?) ,  and The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (starring eerie fairies and changelings).  Two lucky winners will receive two titles of their choice.  Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   Mycroft Holmes is ready to begin his governmental career after completing his education at Cambridge. Mycroft's comfortable life is turned upside down when his best friend Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent from Trinidad (also the place where Mycroft's finacee, Georgiana, grew up), receives troubling reports from home about the strange disappearances of children. There are reports of mysterious footprints on the beach and the children found drained of blood. It seems as if spirits are luring children to their deaths. After hearing this news, Georgiana, immediately departs for Trinidad, and in a panic Mycroft and Douglas follow. With each step these two men take, they are drawn further and further into a dark, treacherous web of secrets. If you haven't already noticed, Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite characters, so when I saw this novel featuring a young Mycroft advertised on the news it instantly caught my eye. When I realized it was by Kareem

❋  ❋  ❋ In 2013, Alora is blacking out and waking up elsewhere with no idea of how she got there. She does know one thing: someone is following her. In 2146, Bridger is one of a few who can time travel into the past. While on a routine school time trip, he sees one person he never expected to see again, his dead father. Things get stranger when he realizes his father was never assigned to that time. Bridger is stunned to find out that his normally by-the-book father was attempting to change the past by stopping a murder - the murder of a girl in the year 2013, a girl named Alora. Time travel is usually one of my favorite kinds of sci-fi. I found myself really drawn to the concept of this novel, but I wasn't overly impressed by the execution of The Edge of Forever . Stylistically, I liked the dual perspectives featuring both Bridger and Alora. I particularly enjoyed getting to know each character on their own terms and then seeing them through the other's eyes. I liked t

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my next read, The Girl in the Spider's Web  (The Millennium Trilogy #4) by David Lagercrantz as he continues Stieg Larsson's original Lisbeth Salander series.  I'm not so sure about this given the background of this book and Larsson's wishes versus his estate, but I am interested to see where t

Happy Tuesday everyone!  This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish , is Wishes I'd Ask The Book Genie To Grant Me.  I'm going to narrow this category down a bit to upcoming sequels that I wish that the book genie would release right now. Here we go, in order of release date: Ten Thousand Skies Above You ( Firebird #2) by Claudia Gray  - November 3rd, 2015 Winter  ( The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer  - November 10th, 2015 A Gathering of Shadows ( A Darker Shade of Magic #2) by Victoria Schwab  - February 23rd, 2016 Lady Midnight ( The Dark Artifices  #1) by Cassandra Clare - March 8th, 2016 (More of a sidequel, really.) Half Lost  ( Half Bad Trilogy #3) by Sally Green - March 29th, 2016 The Raven King  ( The Raven Cycle  #4) by Maggie Stiefvater - March 29, 2016 A Torch Against the Night  ( An Ember in the Ashes  #2) by Sabaa Tahir - April 26th, 2016

Music has always been a passion.  Of course, it's never meant quite as much to me as books and reading, but it's a topic I've always been interested in.  I've also been wanting to dedicate a weekly post to music for awhile.  So why not now? I think it would be cool to create a link up for bloggers to share their interests in music, since there don't seem to be many weekly memes out there in the book blogging community about music. Rules: Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! Th

In just over the course of a week, I went to the movie theater twice.  This is pretty unusual for me, but what can I say except that there are some pretty great movies being released right now.  I saw The Martian  on the evening of Thursday, October 8th and Crimson Peak  in the early afternoon on Saturday, October 17th.  Both films, while completely different (although both star Jessica Chastain), were excellent. ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ If you didn't already know, I absolutely adored the novel by Andy Weir .  Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, you're really missing out.  Even if you don't generally like sci-fi, I still highly recommend you take a look at it based on the strength of the leading character alone.  Usually, I prefer the book to the movie adaptation, but that's not always the case (see The Scorch Trials ).  In this particular case, though, I think I loved the movie as much as the book.  It follows the book pretty closely and visually the movie is st

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Alexander, heir to Macedonia, is right on the edge of discovering his destiny of conquering the known world. He is intrigued by the newcomer at court, Katerina. Katerina follows her first real love, Jacob, to watch him compete in the Blood Tournament, but she has her own mission to kill the Queen. Hephaestion, Alexander's best friend, is also a competitor in the Blood Tournament and fully expected to win. If he wins, he and Alexander will use the winnings to complete a long thought of quest that will help Alexander when it comes time for him to take up his father's mantle. If you enjoy your epic fantasy based in real-life history, Legacy of Kings is the novel for you. This story is very rich in historical detail. It's not often I read novels set around 340BC, but Eleanor Herman does a decent job making cast interesting and relatable. I knew a bit about Alexander the Great going in and I'm glad to see his family take the stage here in some form or

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Ryan Dean West is now back for his senior year at Pine Mountain, but instead of focusing on his future all he can think of is his past. The rugby coach expects him to play the position of his lost teammate Joey as fly-half (aka stand-off) and act as team captain, his drawings don't help any more either and he is fully expecting N.A.T.E. (the Next Accidental Terrible Experience) to blindside him at any moment, and to top everything off his new roommate is a twelve-year-old freshman named Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with terrible claustrophobia and a crush on Ryan Dean's girlfriend, Annie Altman. When Ryan Dean finally meets Nico, Joey's little brother, it seems like Nico is trying to avoid him, making him more paranoid than ever. How will Ryan Dean make it through his final year at Pine Mountain with his sanity intact? Winger by Andrew Smith is one of my favorite books, and was easily one of my favorite reads of 2013, so needless to say I was beyond

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting a book I've just started, The Hunt ( The Hunt #1) by Andrew Fukuda.   The last couple of books that I have read were getting me into the upcoming Halloween spirit, so I thought I would keep that trend up.  This book is billed as The Hunger Games with vampires and I've heard some decent things about i

Happy Tuesday!  This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish , is Author Duos I'd Love To See Write A Book Together.  This is sure to be an interesting one.  I'm pairing authors together that are currently living, except for my bonus choice.  My list is in alphabetical order by last name of the first author of the pairing, and I'm including a photo of a book from each that has inspired the team up.  Here we go! Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne  - How awesome with this team up be?! Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins  - You could expect lots of unreliable narrators and mind-bending twists! Stephen King and John Ajvide Lindqvist  - I'm already having nightmares about their potential work together... Marissa Meyer and Anne Ursu  - I can imagine a great fairy tale retelling that puts a whole new spin on a familiar story. Rainbow Rowell and Adi Alsaid  - Sounds like a winning Conte