In My Mailbox #20 & Sunday Confessions #15

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted every week by The Story Siren. To find out how to participate and the "official" details, check out the IMM page.

Anyone can participate in IMM and you are not limited to sharing books that arrive via your mailbox. You can also share books that you've bought or books that you've gotten at the library.

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Bought at the store (for blogoversary giveaway!):

--Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
--Divergent by Veronica Roth
--Clarity by Kim Harrington

Bought at the store (for leisure):

--Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
--Firelight by Sophie Jordan
--Beastly by Alex Flinn
--City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

I've not read any of these yet except for City of Fallen Angels because a friend let me borrow it. I've already started Beastly; great so far!

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This meme was started by Marcie @ To Read or Not To Read. She started it as a way to share a little about herself, but to learn about the rest of us as well. She says, "Sometimes its about books and book related topics and sometimes it's not. This is all in good fun and I would love it if you would participate."

This week's question is

"How do you feel about parents who monitor their children's reading?"

I am okay with it honestly. I know that they don't want us reading anything inappropriate. I understand that perfectly because my mom checks the synopsis of every book I read before she lets me buy it. At the same time, she's had her moments when she's said no to a book that I know for a fact there's nothing wrong with. If there are hundreds of people saying there's nothing wrong with a book, and most of them are somewhere within 10 years of my age, why can't she believe them? She has her moments. On parents as a whole, nothing wrong with it at all; just don't go overboard.

How do you feel about parents monitoring their kids' reading?

Leave a link to your IMM &/or SC and I will be sure to come by! :)

The Week Ahead... (May 23-29)

Every Sunday, I will let you all know what to look forward to in the upcoming week: reviews, guest posts, memes, whatever I think/know I will be putting up for your viewing. The things I post will not always be followed out, but I'll try. Vice versa, I might end up posting something that isn't mentioned in this post.

For the week of May 23rd - 29th...

Monday:
~ Music Monday

Tuesday:
~ Teaser Tuesday
~ Review of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Wednesday:
~ Waiting on Wednesday

Thursday:
~ Thursday Interpretation & Library Unveiled
~ Review of The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Friday:
~ Book Blogger Hop & Fun Friday

Saturday:
~ What's your status?
~ Review of City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare*

Sunday:
~ In My Mailbox & Sunday Confessions

Have a great week everybody!!! :D

* Might be moved to Sunday, depending on how my week is going and whether the review is written or not :).

What's your status? (21/5/2011)

<a href="http://walkingbutterflyfeet.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">img src="http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k506/madsteampunkery/books_stacked-1-1.jpg" border="Steampunkery & Book Reviews" /></a><br /> <br />

This post was inspired by, well, my previous Reading Status posts. I wanted to make it something that everyone could particpate in. Every Saturday (and sometimes Sunday), I will post what I've finished in the past week, what I'm currently reading and where I am in the book/s, what I plan to read next, and possibly what I want to buy/get. I will be trying to do this every week, so be sure to check back every weekend! Be sure to leave your links to your WYS posts in the comments.

This next portion of the post is an idea that I saw on the wonderful blog Small Review. She posts what reviews and memes she has posted and participated in that last week. Remember, however, that it is not mandatory for you to do this part of the post.

Things You Don't Wanna Miss:
~What's Your Status: CONTEST! (Please read this post if you are participating in WYS; thanks!)

Reviews this week:
~Glass Houses, by Rachel Caine
~The Night My Life Changed Forever, by Sara Lisowski

Memes this week:
~In My Mailbox & Sunday Confessions
~Music Monday
~Teaser Tuesday
~Waiting on Wednesday
~Book Blogger Hop

Now, for my status! (Please keep in mind that you do not have to use this exact format. Whatever works for you is what works for me.)

Finished This Week:
1. City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, #4) by Cassandra Clare. Finished on 11/5/2011. I borrowed this from one of my bestest friends. It was really awesome. I wasn't disappointed with Clare's latest addition to the MI series.

2. Between (Between, #1) by Cyndi Tefft. Finished on 17/5/2011. This one was a review request by Cyndi. I LOVED it! The review wont be up until early June, but it's definitely worth the wait :).

Currently Reading:
1. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. On page 105. Since there's a week-long read-a-thon that starts in exactly two hours for me, I will be getting done with this one in the next week :).

2. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. On page 8. I haven't really gotten into this one yet, but that read-a-thon will def help!

3. The Lens and the Looker by Lory S. Kaufman. On page 12. This one's an ARC for an upcoming book tour. Trying to get it out of the way :).

4. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. Have read 3%. This is really only the first page, but Kindle Editions are like that :). Have heard several good things about this book!

5. Hate List by Jennifer Brown. On page 53. Hopefully I can finish this one this week as well!

Next On My TBR (To Be Read) Pile:
1. The Bronze and the Brimstone by Lory S. Kaufman (ARC)

What I Would Like To Buy Next:
~books for my blogoversary celebration (ahh!!)

Don't forget to post the link to your WYS post in the comments!

Book Blogger Hop #13

As always, the Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jen over @ Crazy-for-Books.

This week's question is from Ivan @ Ivan Bookworm:

"If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?"

My answer: My first instinct would definitely be the Harry Potter series. Ever since I finished the series, I have wanted to live in the wizarding world. To get the chance to be famous like Harry, or super-witty like Hermione, or honestly even pure-blood like Ron. It just seems like the kids adventures are so much fun, even though they are usually really dangerous. Besides, visiting any different world would stop the constant boredom, right? :)

What fictional world would you want to visit?


Happy weekend, everyone!!

Waiting on Wednesday #4: Bloodlines

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over @ Breaking the Spine; we are to give a book that we are anxiously anticipating the release of. I probably won't be participating every week, but I will try to post every so often.

This week's spotlight novel:

Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1)
By Richelle Mead
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2011

From GoodReads.com:

When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.

What book are you looking forward to?

What's Your Status: A Contest!

**The last day to sign-up is June 4th, 2011!**

For the past few weeks, I have unsuccessfully tried to start this. Now that I'm back for good; I think we can get it going!

I am going to hold a contest of sorts, and each WYS participant from this week and next will be given a chance to host What's Your Status? on their blog. This will be called showcasing; every Saturday after "registration," each participant will have an assigned Saturday on which they will host WYS.

After everyone has had a week to host, I will hold a poll for viewers to vote on their favorite WYS posting format. (This is NOT the blog's format. It's the way that person posts What's Your Status?.) The winner of this poll will be hosting WYS for a few weeks. I might even have some swag that I can send them!

Viewers: You're the most important role in the whole thing! The contest participants need you to vote for them! Please, don't vote because of the name, or the colour of the blog's background. We would like for you to vote fairly :).

Every showcasing week, there will be a link to the featured blogger's WYS post. You should probably go ahead, click, and check it out. You may need to write down the ones you like the most! Notice: the poll will be one vote per person, not multi-answer.

Participants: Feel free to get as creative as you want. Dont worry yourself about it too much, though. We want you to be functioning afterwards!

If you are a WYS participant, and you would like to be part of this contest, you can leave your email address in the comments with your link Saturday; if you don't feel comfortable with that, please feel free to email me at massiekurhatesu [at] gmail [dot] com.

Participants, please remember that you may vote as well! You may vote for yourself, or another participant.

I hope to see several people participating!
~Zakiya LWings

Teaser Tuesday #25

This meme is hosted weekly by MizB @ Should Be Reading. Anyone can participate, even if you don't have a blog (you can post back in MizB's comments).

*Grab your current read.

*Open to a random page.

*Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page. You can share more if you want!

*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!!! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give away too much information. You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

*Share the title and autor as well, so that Teaser participants may add to their TBR list/s if they enjoy your teasers!

*Leave a link in the comment section of MizB's blog so that others can check out your teasers! You may leave your teasers here with the book title and author if you do not have a blog. (MizB's Blog)

This week's teasers come from page 326 of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (GoodReads, Amazon):

Lena was sandwiched between Link and me in the front seat of the Beater, writing on her hand. I could just make out the words shattered like everything else. She wrote all the time, the way some people chewed gum or twirled their hair; I don't even think she realized it. I wondered if she would ever let me read on eof her poems, if any of them were about me.

This book is really awesome so far! Will be trying to get back into it soon :). Stay tuned in to the blog today. Some info about What's Your Status will be posted!

Happy Reading!

Music Monday #13

Music Monday is a "meme"* that I will try to post every week or biweekly. In these posts, I will provide you with what song, artist, CD, etc. I am currently into the most.

* Meme is quoted because I will not be providing a Linky for you to add you links to, nor will I be advertising these posts. However, if you would like to participate and leave a link or your music info in a comment, I have no problem with that.

[As you all may have noticed, I never had a movie up in the last few posts. For this reason, I have deleted the movie portion from these posts; however, you may still have movies in your posts or leave movie info in the comments.]

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Music

1) Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. The first time I heard this song, I instantly fell in love with it! Now its my homepage for YouTube :). If you haven't heard it before, take the time to watch the vid below!

Song Rating: 5 Wings
Music Video:



Happy Listening!

The Week Ahead... (May 16-22)

Every Sunday, I will let you all know what to look forward to in the upcoming week: reviews, guest posts, memes, whatever I think/know I will be putting up for your viewing. The things I post will not always be followed out, but I'll try. Vice versa, I might end up posting something that isn't mentioned in this post.

For the week of May 16th - 22nd...

Monday:
~ Music Monday

Tuesday:
~ Teaser Tuesday
~ Review of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Wednesday:
~ Waiting on Wednesday

Thursday:
~ Thursday Interpretation & Library Unveiled
~ Review of The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Friday:
~ Book Blogger Hop & Friday Follow
~ Fun Friday

Saturday:
~ What's your status?
~ Review of City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare*

Sunday:
~ In My Mailbox & Sunday Confessions

Have a great week everybody!!! :D

* Might be moved to Sunday, depending on how my week is going and whether the review is written or not :).

The Night My Life Changed Forever by Sara Lisowski

The Night My Life Changed Forever

By Sara Lisowski

Publisher: via Smashwords, 2010

113 pages, Kindle Edition

Date Finished: 23/4/2011

Genres: Mature Teen, Romance, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction, Serious Issues

Mary is a 16 year old girl, that goes to a party to hopefully get with the boy she thought she loved. After some events at the party, she realises that he isn't the boy for her. A new boy walks into the party and changes Mary's life forever, is this the real thing? Is this what Mary has been striving to have?
~from goodreads.com~

~First Line: "A life of danger, boys, trying to gain respect, 'fun' and never-ending turmoil . . ."
~Last Line: "This has been the most romantic moment of my life, dancing and experiencing this with my love, my heart, my life, my Zackary."

Review: This novel was a great short story to read in between book tours and Buddy Reads. The love scenes could have been minimized, or even taken out completely, but the general plot line was awesome.

The two main characters, Zack and Mary, never knew each other until one night at a party they both happened to be attending. Over the next few days they fall deeper and deeper in love with each other. It was definitely true love, and their parents, especially Mary's, were happy to see their children happy.

Zack cared for Mary, like, a LOT. There was no mistaking his love for her. He would do anything to keep her safe, anything to make her happy. Mary cared equally for Zack -- well, maybe a little less that Zack's extreme. She was so much happier after she met Zack. Her previous events in life had been haunting her for years.

Zack and Mary sort of remind me of Clary and Jace from the Mortal Instruments series, as far as loving each other goes, anyway. It was all they could do just to stop thinking about each other for even five minutes.

There's actually only one love scene in this book, and it was a little graphic, but not an extreme caution. This novel was pretty good. I hate that it was so short, though, because the plot was one that would've been great in a 200 - 350 page book :).