Hurricane Sandy

The hurricane came Monday night and rocked my house with powerful winds. My family and I sat in the basement with the radio on after the power went out. A huge tree in my backyard fell, but away from the house thankfully. Other than that we're ok...cold without heat, but safe. Unfortunately I don't think we'll have power until Monday so I don't know when I'll be posting again bc I wasn't smart and I didn't schedule posts before lol. I was in denial. Anyways, I hope everyone is safe and okay. For the rest of the world Happy Halloween! I'll be celebrating by eating all the candy in my house haha

31 Days of Halloween Recap

31 Days of Halloween
I finally finished up my Halloween Readathon!  It wasn't too scary, but some books definitely creeped me out.  Also, I don't suggest seeing Sinister as it made me have to sleep with the TV on for two nights!


Have you read any scary books this holiday season.

Stacking the Shelves/Sunday Post #17

Stacking the Shelves



STSmall_thumb[2]
 The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  Both are a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and talk about what is coming up for the week on our blog. Link up each week.  I will be doing Weekly Recap, What books I got that week, and a sneak peek of what to expect for the next week on my blog.

FROM THE LIBRARY, B&N, & AUTHOR

    
The Casual Vacancy 
I love J. K. Rowling so obviously I need to read this one.  I was number 93 on the list at the library so either they bought a lot of copies or people read it so fast and returned it quickly too.  I hope it's good!


Vampire Academy Series
I've gone through this series within like two weeks.  It's just so good!  I'm in love with Dimitri and hoping things go how I want in books 5 and 6 lol.

WEEKLY RECAP

   

          I sucked again this week.  Sorry guys!  I was sick onTuesday.  I need to go to the dr., but I'm scared they're going to do an endoscope or whatever it's called where they stick a camera down your throat to see how your stomach is.  So for now I'll just deal with being sick once every few weeks.  I know it's bad, but whatever.  I need to start posting regularly again!  

 The hurricane is supposed to hit here today or tomorrow so you bet I'm stocked up on the essentials...books and Taylor Swift's new cd.  Obviously I've got my priorities right.  I'm hoping to get a lot of reviews done because I probably won't be going anywhere for awhile.  That is if the power stays on!  Wish me luck.

 NEXT WEEK

Reviews to come:
*Sweet Evil
*The Body Finder
*The Summoning
*Vampire Academy series (Mini Reviews)

Posts:
*Amish vs. Abnegation
*31 Days of Halloween Final Update
*Top Ten/Teaser Tuesday
*WOW

What goodies did you get this week? 
 Leave a link and I'll stop by.

{Review} Ten by: Gretchen McNeil

31 Days of Halloween


Title: Ten
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Number of Pgs. 294
Publication date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: YA
How I got the copy: Library


From Goodreads:

SHHHH!
Don't spread the word!
Three-day weekend. House party.
White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?


I've been using a new way of reviewing that I saw over at Making the Grade.  It breaks the book down and makes it easier to rate.  The way it works is each category gets a score out of ten points.  Then you add them all up + 50 (50% automatically for each book) and that's your score out of 100.

Plot 7/10: Usually in mysteries I figure out who the killer is before it's revealed.  This one I was completely surprised although I probably shouldn't have been.  I loved the realistic-ness of it (besides the part about teens being on an island alone).  It was thoroughly creepy for a YA book.  It reminds me of Lord of the Flies and that poem Ten Little Indians.  

Characters 6/10: The main character was so protective of her best friend that she put her own needs aside which really bothered me after awhile.  It's one thing to be loyal and another to be a complete pushover.  Eventually she grows a backbone, but it takes like the whole book for that to happen.  Her friend was annoying and needy.  TJ kept me guessing.  I didn't know what to think of his character.  The other kids were kind of stereotypical.  I kind of wished they had more depth.

Setting 8/10: It was very creepy in this mansion on a deserted island.  The descriptions gave me chills.  However, I just can't see this happening in the real world.  I mean are there even islands out there with two mansions on them and nothing else?  Other than that it was a great setting that made the whole atmosphere of the book work.

Pacing 8/10: Once the murders started the pacing was so fast and the ending was crazy fast.  So much happened in the last few chapters!

Style 7/10: I want to read this author's other book now.  She keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Her book was creepy, but not "leave the light on" scary.  I think I finished it in a day.

Final Thoughts: If you're looking for a book to read before halloween this is definitely a good one to try.  See if you can figure out the mystery first!
Total: 86/100 
 


  
   

Top Ten Tuesday #15

Top Ten Tuesday


http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/ 

Brokeandbookish provides a topic each week and bloggers list their top ten within that category.


Top Ten Books To Get You in The Halloween Spirit:
This'll be easy considering my 31 Days of Halloween Readathon lol

1. Ten: I'll be writing my review for this one soon.  It was my first murder mystery and while it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be it was definitely creepy.  A great way to start out the Halloween season. 

2. The Summoning: This wasn't my favorite book, but it was definitely interesting and really creepy.  I didn't like reading about the ghosts and zombies!

3.  The Body Finder:  This one made me paranoid, but the mystery part was pretty good.  I didn't figure out who the murder was until the end.

4. Alice in Zombieland: LOVED this!  It's not a retelling, but it's even better I think.  Even if you don't like zombies there's a hot romance!

5. Vampire Academy.  I'm in love with this series so far.  I'm on book #3 and can't wait to keep reading.  I wouldn't say this series is scary, but it's got vamps so it's halloweenish (it's a stretch, but I just want to make sure everyone knows about this series lol).

6. Sookie Stackhouse Series: I love this series and since it has every supernatural creature out there I think that makes it a great Halloween series.  If you haven't started this one what are you waiting for?

7. 666 Park Avenue: I started watching this show on abc so I figured I'd read the book.  Well, that was a bust because the two couldn't be more different.  But I really liked this book and want to continue the series.  It's not often you find an adult chick-lit book with magic in it.

8. Cursed: Jennifer Armentrout can write about a leaf and I'd read it.  I really liked this book and hope everyone gives it a try.  Nothing is hotter than Daemon, but the characters in this book are pretty great.
9. Something Strange and Deadly: This was my first zombie book.  I loved that it was in a different time period.  killing zombies with a parcel is so much cooler!

10. The Immortal Rules: I loved this book too.  Kind of has zombies, but it also has vampires.  I can't wait for the second book.

Stacking the Shelves/ Sunday Post

Stacking the Shelves



STSmall_thumb[2]
 The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  Both are a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and talk about what is coming up for the week on our blog. Link up each week.  I will be doing Weekly Recap, What books I got that week, and a sneak peek of what to expect for the next week on my blog.

FROM THE LIBRARY, B&N, & AUTHOR

      

Past Weeks:
      
      
Perks of Being A Wallflower
I saw the movie yesterday and loved it.  If you haven't seen it yet you should really go while it's out in theaters.  I can't wait to read the book.


Velveteen

This one has been on my to read list forever and now that it's finally out I'm not as excited to read it.  I think because the girl on the cover looks like Kristen Stewart.  Anyone else think so?

Winter White
I liked the first book so I'm hoping the second one is even better.  I don't want to reread the first one, but I kind of forget what happened at the end.


Vampire Academy Series
I. Am. Obsessed.  Such a good series.  I can't believe I didn't pick it up sooner.  The covers kind of turned me off because they look kind of stupid, but the stories are fantastic.  I'm in the middle of Shadow Kiss right now.

**I've already finished The Summoning and Body Finder

WEEKLY RECAP

            
I don't know what's going on with my health lately.  I've been not feeling well on and off so last week I only got one post in.  I'm really hoping it'll all just go away and I'll be 100% back to normal and can post regularly.  I've gotten a lot of good books though so at least I've been reading a lot.

 NEXT WEEK

Reviews to come:
*Ten
*The Body Finder
*The Summoning
*Vampire Academy

 Posts:
*Amish vs. Abnegation
*31 Days of Halloween update
*Top Ten/Teaser Tuesday
*WOW

What goodies did you get this week? 
 Leave a link and I'll stop by.

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