Month: February 2016

Feb 29
Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor – Review and Giveaway

Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor – Review and Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 19 ★★★★½

This is not my normal type of read, but I have to tell you that I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to read it. I have to confess that it was the Peter Pan reference that first got my attention. The book has some very loose ties to the Peter Pan story, but I hadn’t reread the blurb before reading the book and hadn’t noticed any but the incredibly obvious ones – this is not a retelling (though now that I’m thinking back on it, the ties are certainly there, and I’m thinking of more and more of them – this is one of the first times I wish I’d read the blurb right before reading the book so I would have caught more of them). But that was fine with me because the book easily stood on its own – it didn’t need a fairy tale to fall back… Read more »

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Feb 28
February Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up

February Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up

Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up 11

It’s time for the February Wrap-Up Round-Up! The January giveaway is ending tomorrow, so I can’t announce the winner yet (go hurry and enter if you haven’t yet!) but I’ll let you know soon! This is the link-up for our February wrap-up posts. If you don’t already know about the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up, read the information below: Every month, at the end of the month, I’ll put up a monthly wrap-up link-up post where everyone can link up their month end posts. There are no specific requirements for what needs to be in your post, as long as you have a book blog and your  wrap-up summarizes your month in some way.   Then, one week later, I’ll create a giveaway that encourages people to visit YOUR month end link-ups, giving entries for commenting and/or sharing.   Anyone can participate in the giveaway – you won’t have to actually link up in… Read more »

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Feb 28
Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore – 2/28/16

Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore – 2/28/16

Sunday Post 9

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on my blog and share news about what’s coming up in the week ahead. Last week on FYFA (and in my life): Not too much to say about this week. Things have been … going. Though I DID get some fantabulous artwork for my birthday from Tabitha. I’ll try to post pictures later this week or in next week’s Sunday Post! Here’s what you may have missed last week: After the Woods by Kim Savage – Traveling ARC Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a copy of the book! Bite-Sized Reviews – Their Fractured Light, The Distance Between Us, The Summer I Became a Nerd Underground by Janelle Stalder – Review Books that Intimidate Us – Let’s Discuss! Air… Read more »

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Feb 27
Air Awakens by Elise Kova – Review

Air Awakens by Elise Kova – Review

Uncategorized 5 ★★★★

This is one of those fantasies that has a ton going for it – an interesting magical system, flawed characters who don’t always do the right thing (or even always know what the right thing is), secondary characters who you sometimes love and sometimes make you crazy, realistic inner turmoil … the list goes on. I’m not going to go into detail about the plot (you’re all perfectly capable of  reading the blurb). Instead, I’ll jump right into my review. What Fed My Addiction: Flawed characters. This is one of those books where the main characters make mistakes – sometimes big ones – but you can still relate to them because you understand where they’re coming from. For instance, right from the start, you can see that Vhalla is trying to deny who she is based on prejudices that were formed out of ignorance. And I have to admit that it took her… Read more »

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Feb 26
Books that Intimidate Us – Let’s Discuss!

Books that Intimidate Us – Let’s Discuss!

Let's Discuss 83

There are so many books out there that we really want to read, but we haven’t gotten to for one reason or another. And then there are those books that we’d like to get to, but they just sort of … intimidate us. You know what I’m talking about. Those scary books. The kind that we’re drawn to but that also strike dread into our hearts at the very thought of them. In my experience, there are several different types of books that do this to us. I thought that in order to help us face our fears, it might be best to categorize them. You know, study the beast in order to slay it. So, here are some of the types of books that I fear (I’m talking real, actual fear here, people – it may sound crazy, but books do this to us!): 1. THE CLASSICS When I was younger, I LOVED… Read more »

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Feb 25
Underground by Janelle Stalder – Review

Underground by Janelle Stalder – Review

Reviews 5 ★★★★

This next installment of the New World Series delivers everything I love – action and suspense, an intense and sexy romance, and plenty of moral quandaries. This book focuses on Trent and Phoenix, who we saw butting heads and fighting attraction in previous books. Well, they can’t fight it anymore! What Fed My Addiction: Fight club. The concept of Phoenix and Trent being captured in this place where they have to fight to the death was both exciting and horrifying. Both of them are natural fighters – not just physically, but emotionally as well – but the idea of having to kill people for sport is obviously pretty revolting to them (especially Phoenix). Hate to love. Okay, hate’s a pretty strong word – Phoenix and Trent both have strong personalities and they butt heads an awful lot, but they don’t exactly hate each other. Still, it was easy to see why they wanted… Read more »

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Feb 24
Bite-Sized Reviews – Their Fractured Light, The Distance Between Us, The Summer I Became a Nerd

Bite-Sized Reviews – Their Fractured Light, The Distance Between Us, The Summer I Became a Nerd

Reviews 30 ★★★★½

I wanted to write quick reviews of these books since they’ve been out for quite some time, but they deserve some more attention! Hopefully these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! The last two books counted toward my Shelf Love Challenge! Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner Series: Starbound #3 Also in this series: These Broken Stars, This Shattered World Published by Disney-Hyperion on 12/1/15 Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult Pages: 425 Source: Purchased My content rating: YA (Characters have sex, but it’s not shown; Some violence) My rating: A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life… Read more »

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Feb 21
After the Woods by Kim Savage – Traveling ARC Review, Favorite Quotes and Giveaway!

After the Woods by Kim Savage – Traveling ARC Review, Favorite Quotes and Giveaway!

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 32 ★★★★★

This was the most fun I’ve ever had with a blog tour! The traveling ARC idea is phenomenal, especially with a book with a central mystery like this one. Take a look at the map above to see where this ARC went for the tour! (The big book shows the path that it took after it left me.) It was so much fun to read the comments that had been left by the bloggers before me! Plus, usually with a book like this, I don’t have any way of discussing all of my predictions about how everything’s going to unfold. But, for the traveling ARC, it was great fun to document those predictions and let someone else know how close I was! So, at the end of the book, I wrote bullet points showing what I thought was going to happen (and then I hid them and told the next blogger not… Read more »

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Feb 21
Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore 2/21/16

Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore 2/21/16

Sunday Post 15

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on my blog and share news about what’s coming up in the week ahead. Last week on FYFA (and in my life): I purposely made this week a little lighter here on the blog so I’d have more time to visit other blogs and comment back. It’s been nice to have a bit of time to see what I’ve been missing! Other than that, nothing too new to report. I finished up that proofreading job I was telling you all about last week and will be starting a few new editing jobs very soon (hopefully not all at once!). Here’s what you may have missed last week: Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers – Review Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the… Read more »

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Feb 19
Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job? Let’s Discuss!

Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job? Let’s Discuss!

Let's Discuss 51

On Sunday, Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight suggested that I write a post about how I got into editing and proofreading, and I thought it was a fantastic idea! I get that question a lot, actually, so I don’t know why I never thought to write a post about it before. The fact is that book blogging can lead into several forms of income (I’ll talk about some ideas of ways to earn money in the community later), but I’ve found that it does take some special circumstances to make it work, and it might not be ideal for everyone. Still, if you’re passionate about books and you have a little flexibility, it’s definitely worth the effort to look into. So, how did I get into editing? The answer is complicated in some ways and really simple in others. First of all, I feel like I should point out that… Read more »

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