A Shell Full of Books: The Missing Months

 

 

This is my version of IMM.

 

This edition is for all the months I've been gone because college is CRAZY!

 

Here are the books:

 

 

 

 There are only a few books that I actually bought. Most of them are the ones that aren't YA novels. There are a few more books that I have bought, but they aren't YA, so I didn't take a pic of them.

There are some I traded for, but not much.

 

Thank you so much to all the bloggers that I won these books from.

I will try to list them all. Sorry if you were one of them and I forgot about you.

 

Kassiah Faul, Swoony Boys Podcast

Jen R., YA Romantics

Adriana, Reading Fictional

Jen H., A Book and a Latte

Jennifer, The Bawdy Book Blog
Jen B., The Starry-Eyed Revue
Annabell, TeamNerd Reviews
Sophia, LovingLit

Jenn, Books and Swoons

Heather, Buried in Books

Kelly Oram, Kelly Oram Writes

Christy, Christy's Book Addiction

Gretchen McNeil, Seanchai

Soumi, Pages From My Thoughts

Reeka, Bound by Words

Mindy, Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

Laura, Colorimetry

Amber, Me, My Shelf, and I

Laura, What's Hot?

Wendy, Minding Spot

Bailey, Novel Nerd
Scott, See Scoot Read
 Cassie, Citrus Reads
Jill, The O.W.L
Lisa, Read.Breathe.Relax
Megan, The Book Babe's Reads
Jean, Jean Book Nerd
Inga, Me and Reading
Dorine, The Write Path
Ashley, Ashley Loves Books
Montana, The Book Belles
Samantha, Books With Bite
Audra, The Society.Net
Nicci, Paper Dreams

Wow, a lot of bloggers, and I encourage you to visit and follow all of them.


Until Next Time!

 

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Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Series: No
Finished or ARC: Finished
Source: Bought from Amazon

Goodreads
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

 
 
Review:

I have many reviews to still post from this past summer. Some include books that I absolutely love. And I know I have been absent, but college will do that to you. But back to the book, I skipped the others because this is one that comes first above all.

A lot of words could describe this book, but all of them have been said. So I will say this:

This book does not degrade cancer. If anything, it shows what can happen to ones that do have it, especially ones that are teens. Teens with cancer don't get to go to college; they don't get to fall in love and grow old with their loved one; they don't get to watch their children and then their grandchildren grow up to be adults. No, they just die an unjust death.

Like Hazel's dad and Augustus said, cancer just wants to feel alive and be known to the universe. Well, it is known, and it is alive, while it takes a life in the process. I have only known one person personally that has died of cancer. It was my aunt. I wasn't close to her, but she had that personality that you couldn't really hate her. Her death made my family extremely sad, but we got through it.

I guess I'm trying to say that that despite our views on cancer, it's something that we won't be able to stop from taking our emotions on a rollercoaster. This book did that to me. It was funny, dramatic, and all the emotions that come with YA. I still can't believe I cried.

And because I cried, this book is extremely great. But of course, some may argue, but who cares. This book should be read by everyone. The characters were so in depth that I felt that this wasn't fiction. Hazel and Augustus and Isaac were all real. The love story, despite being doomed, was the best one I've read to date. It was......it was real.

I have to say, I was thrilled to hear that they were making a movie. And after reading the book, I swear, if they screw up the movie, I will hate the actors and the plot and the producers and the studio FOREVER!! Like Divergent, if they screw up that, I will hate them. I'm still up with their casting of Four. I felt he should 1) be younger, and 2) actually look like the one in the book.

Anyway, the ending kind of threw me for a loop, but it was true. We don't get to choose if we get hurt in this world and in this life. But we get to choose who hurts us. In this case, though Hazel was hurt when Augustus died, he was hurt when he had to leave her against his will. (I'm crying again, by the way).

Read it. It will be worth it. Okay?

Rating for everything:

The Big Kahuna

 

 

Keep On Reading

 

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Mini Reviews #5: Blissfully Out of the Ocean Breeze Rain with a Prince

 

Title: Ocean Breeze Series

Author: Sherryl Woods

Series: Yes

Source: Bought

Finished or ARC: Finished

Stars: 5 Starfish

 

 My summary:

Go on an adventure with three incredible sisters who find that home is the best to be and that romance may come out of nowhere and give you a reason to stay.

 

Review:

Sherryl Woods is an adult fiction writer that I would recommend if anyone asked. It's not how she writes that gets me, it's the story. I love the stories she comes up with, and the Ocean Breeze books are a great example. Great love stories with a flare of drama. The characters are very different from each other so their stories each have a certain personality to them. The only thing about this series that makes me sad that its only a trilogy. And the last book didn't have a big epilogue to it - like a 5 years later thing. No, just a one year thing. It sucked. But don't let that stop you from picking up this great series.

 

 

Title: Once Upon a Prince (Royal Wedding #1)

Author: Rachel Hauck

Series: Yes

Source: EBook, bought

Finished or ARC: Finished

Stars: 5 Starfish

 

Review: I've never read anything by this author, but apparently she has several best sellers out. And I can see why. Once Upon a Prince was a great read, except for one little detail.

 

The story starts off strong and really gets your emotions going. the thing is that what happens is our heroine gets her heart broken immediately - like, in the first five pages. But then her knight (or prince) in shinning armor comes in and saves the day. Sure, the plot is kinda cheesy, but that cheesiness makes it great. And sure the characters are a little cliché, but the stubborn women and prince who can't get what he wants but wants to save the day anyways makes the cheesiness complete. We all need a cheesy novel once in a while.

 

The flaw: they fall in love in two weeks. It's not insta-love/love-at-first-sight, but damn close. I wish their romance went on a little longer. But it's a great read anyway.

 

 

Title: Out of the Rain

Author: Debbie Macomber

Series: No

Source: Bought

Finished or ARC: Finished

Stars: 5 Starfish

 

Review:  I love Debbie Macomber. Her books are like crack to me. LOVE THEM!!! Sure, many of you wouldn't like some of her stories because of the insta-love crap and some of the too cheesy plots, but like I said earlier, everyone needs to read a cheesy love story now and then. This book is romantic and cheesy enough to make anyone smile. I loved it. End of story.

 

 

Title: Bliss Books by Entangled Publishing

Author: Various

Series: Yes

Source: EBook, bought

Finished or ARC: Finished

Stars: 5 Starfish

 

Review: Entangled Publishing has been known to publish great books like our favorite series about a seriously hot alien. Their Bliss series is a great addition to their books. They are the type of books that are a quick read with awesome characters, comedy, love, and drama. It's a book series to read when you are bored. They a great. End of story.

 

 

 

That's all.

Until Next Time

 

(P.S. Sorry for my silence. I've been busy all summer with college stuff.)

 

 

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This is a test! Reviews to come (I finally got the day off Monday!!)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin :D

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Review: Harry Potter series-Books 5-7 by J.K. Rowling

 

(Ignore books 1-4. Already read and reviewed)

 

My book summary:

Boy wizard, Harry Potter, battles with understanding the wizarding world and getting ready to fight the Dark Lord once again. At his side are his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. But between trying not to die and learning everything he can, Harry works at trying to protect his friends and loved ones. 

 

Source: Bought

 

Review: It's been a while since I've read these three, but I remember enough. And sorry it's short, but I've pretty much said what I needed to say in this review. Anyway, these last three books--you can really see the difference between the first books and these.

 

1) There is more detail, which is good.

2) More development of the plot and setting.

3) More character development

 

In the first books, there was just the characters and some of their emotions. In addition, I thought there was little detail. I guess it's hard to write a series backwards. But in these last three, we get to read more about each character and why they are the way they are. And we get more detail on why something is happening.

 

The last book, The Deadly Hallows, was my favorite, only because it was when Voldemourt got his butt kicked. This series overall is amazing.

 

Series rating overall:

The Big Kahuna

 

 

Keep On Reading

 

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Review: Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2) by Anna Banks

Title: Of Triton (Of Poseidon #2)
Author: Anna Banks
Series: Yes
Source: Traded for
Finished or ARC: ARC
Goodreads:
In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Review: I loved it. It had the same spunkiness that Of Poseidon had. Action, a little romance, drama, and nice plot twists that didn't get your head in a funk. One thing I really liked to point out is that the plot seemed a little dystopian/dictatorship-ish. I'm trying to say that the people were revolting were saying the government sucked and needed to come down, but at the same time, the people's leader just wanted to be king. See what I'm getting at? It was odd, given that Of Triton isn't really a dystopian, just a paranormal book, but it gave the book an awesome plot to go with. Though I might have to say that I find it confusing when the Syrenas' pulses are involved. That got odd, but of course, it was a major part of the plot.

Of course, though, there were some things I thought weren't really needed in this book. Not saying that they weren't good, just that they were used as filler. Sometimes they just get in the way. One thing I guess I thought was filler was when Mark or Marcus or whatever his name was was introduced again and the idea about prom was brought up. I thought the idea of it was okay, Emma having to choose between normal or Syrena, but wasn't that decision made in the last book?

But overall, the book was very good. I like the twist on the mermaid myth Banks created. i had my suspicions about it, some of it correct, but was blown away end the end.

Characters: I loved them all except Targon, the villain. Of course, he's the villain and he's destined for Hate. Anyway, most of the characters were the same except for Nailia, Emma's mom. Of course, knowing from the last book, you'd get way. Surprisingly, she's had a little dark side, but you could say it's in a good way....? I don't know, just read the book.

Romance: Given how much romance was in the last book, I expected a lot in this one, given that Emma and Galen made up. But nope, not much. Sure, there were little romantic scenes between Emma and Galen, but not so many as Of Poseidon. And they weren't cheesy, lovey-dovey scenes either. I kinda wish there was more though.

Ending: It was happy. It was good. But here's the thing, I looked on Goodreads, and saw that there's going to be a third book, Of Neptune. Now, this book ended pretty well to where another book isn't really needed. I truly don't see how there could be another book unless it's going to be about Emma finding out how to grow a tail or something. Who knows? But another book with Emma and Galen wouldn't be a bad thing. :D

Future: Of Neptune (Of Poseidon #3) in 2014

Rating:

The Big Kahuna

 

Cover & Ending:

 Favorite part of the cover is the scene over all. Plus the lettering.

 

 

 

Keep On Reading!

 

 

  

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Floating Books Along #3: The I'm-Sorry-but-I-Gratuated Giveaway

 

For thoses who don't know what this little meme means, it's a way for me to get my extra books off my shelf and into your hands while also trying to sell what other books I have left over for college. Win win situation. :D

 

So, for this giveaway, it's my way of making it up to you guys for three months worth of loneliness and no posts or giveaways. It sucked yet at the same time it was worth it since I'm now done with high school. YAY!!!

 

So, for this giveaway, there will be two winners.

I'm wish I could have more, but I have college to think about.

Anyway, the two winners will have their pick of any book from The Sandcastle Bookstore.

ANY BOOK THEY WANT!!!!!

 

But here's the deal:

 

A lot of the books in the Bookstore have either been traded or sold already, so it's not updated. Unfortunately, I'm on vacation and can't update it anytime soon, but I do know that besides what's in the Bookstore, I have:

 

Just One Day (ARC) by Gayle Forman

Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley

Lie by Caroline Bock.

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa

Wake (Watersong #1) (ARC) by Amanda Hocking x 2

 

When I get home, I will update this.

 

Here are the rules and need-to-know's:

 

1. Open to US only

2. I'm not responible for the book if it gets damaged or lost.

3. 13 years or older please.

4. I will check each entry. It sucks to be a cheater.

5. The winners will be choosen at random from rafflecopter.
6. Winners will have 48 hours to respond, or I will have to pick a new winners.

7. The giveaway runs from June 9 to June 30.
7. Just use the rafflecopter to enter :D

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

That's all!

Until next time!

 

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What?! I'm not dead!! Here I am.

(http://www.dadwagon.com/2011/03/21/im-not-dead-yet/)

Cheesy title, but true. I'm not dead. No, I've been busy/procrastinating/trying-to-find-time-to-read/enjoying life. A lot I know, and who knows if you'll actually read this, but here's what's been going down in my life:

February:
Scholarship after scholarship after scholarship. Completely boring but I needed to do it. Why? Who wants to pay full tuition for college? It's expensive. Anyway, most you know by know it took most of my time. It sucked, but it was true. And because I'm a horrible procrastinator, I took more time than needed to finish them. And not to mention all the homework I got from my teachers, especially my English teacher. I love her, but book after book after book and I had no time for myself. UGH!!! And not to mention that my school musical crew was just starting practice, and for once I got a role that had more than two lines. Sure, I probably could of had more one-liners before, but I didn't want the stress. But this year was senior year, so I went all out. But it was frustrating. And I will not tell you all the details of finding a dress for prom. Sure, I found the one, but making sure it was the right fit was a hassle.

March:

Well, I turned in all of the crap I had for scholarships. It was such a big relief for me not to have all that crap on my shoulders. But then the musical was coming up. I knew my lines, but I was nervous. But it all went over great. I did a great job and everyone else did, despite the drama between a lot of the crew members. But of course, this was my priority for the month, so--no reading. I know, I'm bad. And then I had Spring Break. Spring Break my family and I went down to Branson, MO. Loved it! Did I do a lot of reading? Hell yeah I did! Of what? I finished the Harry Potter series. LOVED THEM!!! But I'm sorry to say that I did start Beautiful Creatures #1, but 1) it was somewhat hard to get into because of all the repetition of certain things and the reviews I've read about it. Reviews that compared it to Twilight, which I really don't have a bond with like I used to when I first read it. And 2) I got The Clockwork Princess and I started to read that. :D

April:

I had one month to go. One month before sweet freedom of high school was in my grasp. But what sucked was that 1) I'm not the best speech giver, and 2) I was valedictorian and had to give the speech. The speech was so hard to write. It wasn't until the very end did I have it fully finished and memorized. God it was hard. My principal had to approve it and make sure it was a good speech and nagged me every day to see if was done. I was so relieved when it was. But it was my top priority, so not much reading. But I will say that I still bought and received books (which I will show you later) and I got half way through The Clockwork Princess (which I just finished prior to writing this post). It was a crazy month.

May:

1) I was getting senioritis and was procastinating on every thing. 2) I has kind of freaking out over my AP tests (which I probably didn't do well on). 3) I was freaking out over my speech. I was so relieved when I gave it to everyone when I graduated. It felt amazing that I got through high school. Of course, then I had parties to go to and my own to help out with. Not to mention I went back to work and I still had to get up to drive my sister to school. It sucked.

June, July, and August:

What's up for the summer? Well, since I hopefully will have a bit more free time, I plan on reading a lot (otherwise my mother will kill me with all the books I have yet to read sitting in my room) and reviewing and holding a few giveaways. I have three posts I have yet to put up that I've never gotten around and have missed the due dates for them. I'm sorry about that. I need to finish thank you notes to people. I have a few people to email about books that I have received from them and to email a few saying I can't review their book due to my busy life and the books I already have to read. I also need to clean out my computer. I have a billion book covers that I wanted to show you guys, but I decided not to and I need to find them on Goodreads to clean them out my of computer. Not to mention all the college stuff I will need to do.

Life is CRAZY!!!

 

What's up next for Reading in Paradise?

 

1) I hope to do a major post of all the books I've gotten over these last four months and thank the people whom I gotten them from.

 

2) I have reviews for the last three Harry Potter books, Of Triton (Of Poesidon #2), The Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3), Ocean Breeze novels #1-2 (by Sherryl Woods), Once Upon a Prince (Royal Weddings #1), and a few Entangled Publishing Bliss books to write and post.

 

3) Because of my lack of blogging, I hope to redo my Sandcastle Store and host a major giveaway for some of the books on there. Note, I'm going to college soon, so it won't be extremely over the top. I need to save money for college and hopefully a new laptop. And those two things are expensive.

 

So there you have it. I hope I can be a better blogger this summer. I hope to kick back and read and have fun with my friends. I have no clue what college will be like and if I'll be able to post a lot during it, but I know I hope to keep reading.

 

 

Thank you all!

Until Next Time!

 



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Giveaway Alert!

Bringing giveaways to the world. 

(And finally posting something.)

#1

See those books? Well, thanks to The Midnight Garden, one winner can choose between the books above one book to take home with them. And these are all up coming releases. :D

To enter, click below:

Winner's Choice Giveaway

#2

The awesome blogger from The Book Flame is holding one of the greatest giveaways ever!

Yeah, that's right! Two lucky winners can win the newly released Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare!

To enter to win this exciting book, click below:

Clockwork Princess Giveaway

That's all!

Until Next Time!

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Where have I been for last two months

Well, if you guys read my last post, you would have read that I have been crazy busy with senior stuff and scholarships. Well, I have been. And more.

1) Scholarships. They are tough to write and horrible to fill out. Start early, or you'll be stressing out to the max on them. I've been so busy making sure all of them are perfect that I really didn't have time for my blog.

2) Senior stuff. As in, school. Senior year isn't that bad homework wise except for English. I have constant English homework. Many to read and read and read. And not the books I love to read, no. Books like Frankenstein, Beloved, and The Bluest Eye. And then the papers that go along with them. Arg! The only good thing about reading all these books is that I don't get tests over them. But what sucks is that I have yet to review two books I have and to finish any of the books I've started.

3) The Musical. This month and last has been centered around the musical as well as scholarships. I got a lead role this year, and I have yet to memorize my lines in full. It's been stressful.

4) Drama. February wasn't the month of love for several of my friends. Three of them broke up with their significant other, and the drama from the break ups affected every one of my friends. One of them in particular affected me, since I'm going with one of the breakupee's ex to prom, but the ex is my best friend.......yeah.

5) Stress. Because of all this stress from all of the problems listed, I haven't been getting much sleep, and I haven't got to read at all. It's horrible. With all this stress, I'm been wanting to shot myself just to make it all stop. I didn't really do it. Don't plan to. Just have that feeling of "WHEN WILL IT BE OVER!!!"

But guess what?! I have only one scholarship left, and it will be easy to write; thus, more time to write posts! :D Yeah me.

So, I hope to start blogging more in April (not this month, I have Spring Break and the musical this week.) So, plan for some awesome posts!

And like the new look? Tynga from Tynga's Reviews created it for me after I won her giveaway. :D

Thank you!

 



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Quick Update

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been here at all this month. Senior year sucks right now with all the scholarships and homework that I haven't really had time to read, post, or write a review for the fifth Harry Potter book. Sorry!

Anyway, I promise that by the end of April or May, I will be back blogging better than I am now. But for now, I just hope to get in more ASFOB and Giveaway updates. Sorry guys. :)

Senior year sucks.

TayteH


P.S. Make sure to enter my Hundred Oaks giveaway!

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Giveaway Alert! Valentine's Day Edition

 

Giving the world more giveaways.

 

Here's this week's:

 

 #1

 

 

There's a new blog designer on the market, and it's Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

To celebrate her new found career, she's giving away a basic design by her that's worth $75.

Her basic design includes:

 

Header

Background

Button with Grab Code

Navigation Bar

Custom blockquote, fonts style and color

Signature

 

To enter, click on over here:

Tynga's Design Giveaway

 

#2

 

 

Annabelle from Sparkles and Lightning is having a Valentine's Day giveaway too.

For her giveaway, she's giving away:

 

 

 

And each are going to someone. I really want Chantress.

To enter, click below or the button to the right:

Valentine's Day Giveaway

 

#3

 

 

Our friend from Bookshelvers Anonymous is turning 1!

To celebrate, she's giving away the winner their choice of $25 worth of books from TBD.

To enter, click below:

One Year Blogoversary Giveaway

 

#4

 

 

Then there's my giveaway.

I'm giving away your choice of any book from the Hundred Oaks series by Miranda Kenneally. I'm surprised that not many people have entered, but there's still time!

Enter enter enter people!

 

 

That's all.

Until Next Time!

 

 

 

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