Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines

Hosted By The Broke and The Bookish

As fate would have it, when TTT did a Rewind aka Pick a Past Topic, earlier this month.. I did just that and The topic I picked was Favorite Heroines. I picked 5 which you can see HERE

But Since I WANT to participate in TTT and I only did 5 last time. I will expand finish the list off, with naming 5 more.

6. Isabelle Lightwood From The Mortal Instruments Series 

Hunts and Kills Demons, in a dress with a whip.

7. Liz Salander From The Millennium Trilogy

Badass Hacker and Queen of Revenge

8. Hermoine Granger From Harry Potter Series

Smart and Powerfully Magical

9. Sophie Mercer From The Hex Hall Series

Queen of DEMONS!

10. Katniss Everdeen From The Hunger Games Series

Okay, I couldn't really think of anyone else and I have only read the first book. BUT, She is pretty bad ass with a Bow and Arrow.

Edgewood

Summary:

"From bestselling author Karen McQuestion—a brand new, spellbinding novel.
The night Russ Becker witnesses a strange astronomical event, his world changes forever. Before long Russ discovers he's developed incredible superpowers, and he’s not the only one. Three other young people—beautiful Mallory, arrogant Jameson, and mysterious Nadia—have had the same experience and all of them now have powers of their own. Mallory can control peoples’ minds, Jameson moves objects with his thoughts, and Nadia has empathic abilities.
At first the four relish their newfound gifts, but things become serious when they learn they are being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes. When Russ’s family is threatened, he’s forced into action. What transpires will change all of them in ways they never imagined."

Plot: In general the concept of the plot isn't really something we haven't heard before, but as I kept reading McQuestion would add newer small elements to the story, that really changed where the plot was going.. although you might not have noticed right away. By the time you get to the ending of book 1, you realize where you that this cliche was going, isn't where it was going at all.

Characters: Russ is the main character and I loved him. Because he is that sweet, cute boy. (if this was a 90's teen adventure movie, you would totally have a crush on him, even if he wasn't the hottest) Overall, genuinely good guy. I really enjoyed his nephew Frank and his sister grew on me. There are a bunch of quirky fun characters who appear in the book and add a lot to the story.

Final Thoughts: Edgewood was way, way, way better than I anticipated. I enjoyed the Comic Book Hero type of story. What I loved most though was how well Karen could write a teenage boy, very believable and I am definitely intrigued to see where book 2 (Wanderlust) goes.

In My Mailbox (45)

Hosted By The Story Siren

Well, I was going to do a video... but I decided that I really needed to pack (since I am leaving for SJ at 5am) and I wanted to watch a movie with my Husband.. So this shall do. 

For Review

The Lost Jewels By J.R.Sechler

The Secret Life of Copernicus Stringfellow By Lorin Barber

The Aviators Wife By Melanie Benjamin (NetGalley/E-Galley)

Bought

The Perks of Being A Wallflower By Stephen Chobsky

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) By Mindy Kaling

What Remains By Carole Radziwill

She Went All The Way By Meg Cabot

The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova

One Fifth Avenue By Candace Bushnell

Today.. I Am 23!

Yup! Today I am 23 years old.. Maybe, now I will look old enough to buy lotto tickets and alcohol! The weird thing about being turning 23 is that usually, I always feel a year younger then I am. Ex. when I turned 21, I still told people I was 20. However, for the better part of 22... I have already felt 23 and have been telling people that, that is how old I am for a couple months now. It just slips out!

I don't know what my actual Birthday will include, but I know I will be working for most of it and watching Game 2 of the World Series. But Don't Fret. I did celebrate my Birthday Last Saturday. My Parents and In-laws came down and we went out for Wine Tasting and Dinner.  Here are Some Photos..

Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Get You Into The Halloween Spirit

Hosted By The Broke and The Bookish

1. Asylum By Patrick McGrath

2. Dearly, Departed and Dearly, Beloved By Lia Habel

3. The Blue Bloods Series

     4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone By Laini Taylor

5. The Hangman's Daughter By Oliver Potzsch

6. The Vampire Academy Series

7. Beautiful Lies By Jessica Warmen

 8. Velveteen By Daniel Marks

 9. Hex Hall Series By Rachel Hawkins

10. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy By Libba Bray

11. Red Riding Hood

Spell Bound (Book #3)

Summary:

"Hailed as “impossible to put down,” the Hex Hall series has both critics and teens cheering. With a winning combination of romance, action, magic and humor, this third volume will leave readers enchanted.
Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.
Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?"

After DemonGlass ended I could not WAIT for Spell Bound. The ending was just such an AWESOME cliffhanger, so I couldn't even imagine where Spell Bound was going to begin and honestly, I think it started  off flat and maintained it throughout the book. It was too sweet and felt like it could have been a Disney movie (with demons) Everything was too simple and easy, no real excitement. Which was overall disappointing.

Mystic City

Summary:

"Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself."

While Lawrence creates an interesting new New York, with beautiful imagery. The story itself is highly predictable and reminds me of the movie Titanic, as well as Romeo and Juliet (which is mentioned in the book). It was decent read and I see a lot of potential, but overall it wasn't as mindblowing as I had hoped it would be.

Meeting Rachel Hartman

Wow! I have been meaning to write this for awhile! On September 28th My Mom and I made the LONG grueling drive to Santa Monica... 30 minutes with No Traffic. We arrive early and gave ourselves a lot of time to buy the book, scoop out the crowd and eat dinner.

To my surprise, as it was with Melissa De La Cruz there wasn't a big turn out. It was literally me, My Mom, A PreTeen Girl, He Parents and the B&N Employee (his name is Shane BTW) The Picture below actually depicts this well.

As we sat in the event room waiting about 15 minutes prior to the event starting Rachel Hartman came in and she actually ended up sitting with us and talking to us. Normally. It was AWESOME. However, as you may know Authors are my Celebrities, I get star struck and have nothing productive to really say to them, besides be in awe and complementing their writing. It is sad really. On top of that, I was not feeling well, making my brain even less functioning. 

Eventually a few more people came in, a few people were her friends and I think the others who were young men, just saw an event happening and decided to sit in on it (Side Note: I have noticed Santa Monica B&N attracts a very fine specimen of male readers, ladies..) Rachel told us of how she got started on Seraphina and how her journey of being an author began. I enjoyed listening to that, especially to learn that the version of the book now, if really nothing like it was when she first wrote it.  

 Then Came the Q&A portion which wasn't crazy long, but still fun. I did find out that Seraphina will have a sequel, but that this is probably the end of her story. I was glad to find that out since, when the story came to a close the ending was so open-ended I wasn't sure if there was a sequel or not. I also decided that from now on I am going to write my questions for the author out before hand.

 After The Q&A Rachel did a reading and then it was time to have the books signed. I really did enjoy the signing and it is funny cause half of me wishes there was a bigger turn out, but half of me enjoys the more "intimate" interactions with the authors.

My Review of Seraphina

Wanted: Looking For Some Co-Bloggers

Hello!

I am looking into starting my own Group Book Blog. I know I must be crazy, running one book blog is already hard enough without having to run another. However, I do think it will be fun. I already have a few people interested. Which Is Great and I am still working on a Name and a lot more. However, if you are interested please e-mail me at thelostbookreports@yahoo.com and tell me How Often You Read,  Why You Like Reading and What Genres Do You Normally Read?

Velveteen

Summary:

"The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.
Bonesaw.
Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. 
It’ll be brutal... and awesome.
But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.
Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her."

Plot: The storyline was flat there was no proper build up for all the areas that were suppose to be twists and turns in the plot. They just read as a lot of crazy information all at once.

Characters: So So So one dimensional. I can only tell you two things about velvet see was murdered and she is bitchy that is it, i don't know much about her to be invested and it is like that will the rest of the characters don't even get me started on the mess of an insta-love attempt with nick and velvet.

Final Thoughts: The plot needed to be mapped out better. When we read the summary of this book we are under the impression that Velveteen is stuck in purgatory and seeking revenge for her murder by hunting the man who killed her. Yet that is such a small part of the plot! We are mainly in purgatory learning the worlds rules and problems. I would have preferred that the problems were switched. I would have liked more time with one saw and revenge and a little time learning about the roles in purgatory it would have been a nice Segway into book two. However, after this book being so anti-climatic I would not even bother reading book 2. The only thing I could say is maybe people who like more darker and morbid books, may enjoy this.

Top Ten Tuesday: Rewind

Hosted By The Broke and The Bookish

My Rewind Topic of Choice Is.... Favorite Heroines

1. Nora Dearly From Dearly, Deparated and Dearly, Beloved

This chick isn't afraid of Zombies... Nough Said.

2. Rose Hathaway From The Vampire Academy Series

Has a temper and isn't afraid to kick some ass to defend her friends and kill some Strigoi (evil vampires)

3. Katarina Bishop From Heist Society and Uncommon Criminals

Okay, She is technically a criminal but she can plot crazy Ocean Eleven-esque heists and she is pretty Bad ass in my opinion. 

4. Cammie Morgan and The Rest of The Gallagher Girls From The Gallegher Girls Series

These girls go to a school where they are trained to be spies and well kill if they have too AND they took on a secret spy ring.

5. Finley Jayne From The Girl in the Steel Corset and The Girl in the Clockwork Collar

Half Lady In Training - Half Dark Side. 

Second Helpings (Book 2)

Summary:

"“Knowing that I’ve just done something that will take decades off my parents’ lives with worry, you’ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year. . . . The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don’t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn’t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she’s already gotten the dirt from you know who.”
Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household. "

In book two of The Jessica Darling Series, I enjoyed watching a more mature slighty less neurotic Jessica decide where she is going to college, ignoring Marcus Flutie, Having a Boyfriend and overall trying to get through her Senior Year of high school. McCafferty does a good job at showing a very rounded aspect of how high school life can be  for every social circle. And as usual, I can laugh along with Jessica, I cringe with her in those embarrassing, can't we all pretend this didn't happen moments and my heart melts for her in all those stomach flutter moments.

What I enjoyed most on Second Helpings is there was an amount of comfort with these characters, you really felt like you already knew them and that you weren't intruding on their lives. Also, everything was less dramatic in book 2 and a little more realistic. Second Helpings was a good sophomore book and I really cannot wait to see where Jessica goes in the rest of the series, but not just her the rest of the characters too.

In My Mailbox (44)

Hosted By The Story Siren
For Review The Very Last Bite By  Cynthia Langston Edgewood By Karen McQuestion
Bought Juliet By Anne Fortier Vampire Academy Box Set 1-4 By Richelle Mead Spirit Bound By Richelle Mead Last Sacrifice By Richelle Mead

Perfect Princess : A Princess Diaries Book

Perfect Princess is a cute little side book where Mia, Grandmere, Paulo and Sebastiano talk about all the different Princesses in the world and in fiction. The book is a nice little addition to the series and it definitely a cute, quick fun read. Although, not a nessicary read for the series, since it does nothing to really help it, it is still worth a read if you have time.