Book Blog Hop and Follow Friday (Apr 1)

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee!

"Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

Erm... I haven't really ever done April Fool's day... I think I might have got someone to open a door which had a small cup of water that hit them when they opened it one. That's about it for an actual April Fool's day prank.

In college one of my friends went home early for winter vacation, and his roomie let me strip my friend's side of the room bare of stuff and put it in his closet. Course then I got back late from winter vacation, and my friend proceeded to retaliate by turning everything in my room literally upside down. He even taped electrical cords to the ceiling.

Be sure to Enter the Giveaway to win 1 of TWO Kindles

Third Sentence Thursday (#18)

Third Sentence Thursday
Grab the Code



Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme that has third sentences on its mind! I know; I'm a terrible person for not posting this until now.

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"He felt his bones balancing on each other and the muscles that held them in place, the nerves that sent messages to them with pinpoint accuracy, the brain that generated the messages, the mind that thought them up, the soul that determined what the mind would come up with, what defined him as Warren and nobody else." -Advice from Pigeons by Patricia S. Bowne

This person is certainly having a fun introspective moment. It feels like a smart-ish person going through what could be the last moments of their life because that's the only time anyone thinks about their body in this way or well unless they are discovering some great power within him/herself that changes everything they knew or something like that.

Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy #1) by N.K. Jemisin


The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

At this point, I'm sure you guys want a review of a book that I really enjoyed. So here you go!

Summary
Yeine's mother was the heiress to the world, but she abdicated and moved to the small nation of Darr before Yeine was even born. Now, Yeine's mother is dead, and Yeine has been recalled to the seat of power, the city of Sky, by her grandfather, who promptly declares her as the new heiress. This pronouncement could prove deadly to Yeine who is an infant in the mire of political intrigue which is the lifeblood of the city of Sky.

Commentary
This book was unexpectedly good. I wanted to buy it after I read the first couple of pages in the bookstore, but then again, I'm a sucker for this kind of political intrigue. In that front, it definitely did not disappoint. There were enough layers to the court that I was thoroughly satisfied.

I think this book could have become a most-loved kind of book if only the author had not condensed the time-frame of the story into 3 weeks. It makes the pacing of the story too frantic as events which alter the course of the world happen in an eyeblink. Relationships and bonds which should have taken years to build up happen in mere days, which took away from the depth demanded by a novel of this scope.

Despite the quick timescale though, I came to care for the characters and found myself entrenched in the plots swirling around Yeine and the Gods (yep, there are some gods hanging around). This story should appeal to people who enjoyed the political intrigue and decadent feel of Kushiel's Dart although it's nowhere near as sensuous.

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms at Amazon

In My Mailbox (Mar 27)



In My Mailbox (and its similarly named titles) is hosted by The Story Siren

So, I did one of these way back at in the middle of February >.> and haven't done one since because well I'm not entirely sure. Anyway! I'm doing one now that will probably cover a few weeks or something like that although I'm only going to cover books I got for review. I have gotten a few RAK's from some very very nice people, but I will be putting those in a separate post. OK, here we go~~




Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
I wasn't expecting to get this since Tor never sent a reply to my request, but I'm VERY happy that a copy showed up ^.^





The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas
This one is historical fiction set in Ferrara (erm... that's somewhere in Europe, my geography is AWESOME >.>) Edit: Pam says Spain!





The Survivors by Amanda Havard
Witch trials and then some modern day witchery! This is from a small press, and I'm excited that I got a copy.





Enclave by Ann Aguirre
I borrowed this ARC from Debbie of Debbie's World of Books ^.^ Thank you very much Deb!





Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick
Just showed up at my door one day.





Con and Conjure by Lisa Shearin
Just showed up at my door one day.





The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
Just showed up at my door one day.

Memento Nora RELEASE!!


Memento Nora comes out TOMORROW! I really enjoyed this book so you should definitely consider getting it ^.^

Don't believe me? You should take a gander at my review of Memento Nora.

Check out prices for Memento Nora at Amazon

Book Selling Math for Book Bloggers


Of course there has been a hullaboo over whether book bloggers sell books. Today there was a post up at The Story Siren's which featured an anonymous author (Author X) answering questions about the correlation between book bloggers and book selling. So, I decided to do some math because hard numbers are better than anecodotal events where people remember one particular situation.

I'm going to have to make a whole bunch of educated assumptions for this exercise. If you think something is flagrantly wrong, please feel free to correct me.


Photo taken from ieslaroda-bilingue.wikispaces.com

Let's say 50 bloggers are sent copies of a book to review 25 get an ARC and 25 get a finished copy, and of the 50, 6 don't read the book and 10% of those who do read it don't like it. I'm going to assume that the publisher picked pretty well the people who would like the book and that the book is a good book since if a book is poorly written or is badly timed (say a vampire book right now when everyone is basically over vampires) then no amount of marketing is going to save it.

So based on these numbers lets do some costs:
$2 per finished copy in printing costs = $2 x 25 finished copy bloggers = $50
$3 per ARC copy in printing costs = $3 x 25 ARC bloggers = $75
Each book costs $2 to ship = $2 x 50 bloggers = $100
$40 for a person to take care of shipping stuff for half a day at $10/hour
Total Costs: $265

Ok, now for some more assumptions based on what Author X said in the Story Siren interview.
- 5 people will buy the book based on a blogger recommendation.
- I'm going to add to this that a number of people will become interested in the book say 30 (I'm going to refer to these as interests). A typical review may get say 150 unique views through all channels and a positive say generates interest in say 20% of the people who read it.
- Say the reviews that are bad generate a negative amount of interests say 15 per negative
- The blogs that don't review the book are likely to at least post that they received the book so they generate maybe 3 interest apiece

I'm going to assume that about 3/5 of the people that buy based on a single blogger recommendation get the hardcover ($15) and the other 2/5 get the mass market paperback ($8) since the promotion is likely happening around the time of the book's initial release. I'm going to say that more will buy at release or close to release rather than wait another year for the mass market.
Math:
40 * 5 = 200 books
120 of them are hardcover = 120 * $15 = $1800
80 of them are mass market = $640
Total Revenue: $2440


A note about interest, basically a lot of people look through a number of reviews, cover announcements, etc. before they actually buy a book. I'm using the term "interests" as a way to quantify this process.
Let's pretend that if a person gains 5 interests they buy the book at the same ratio of hardcover to mass market paperback. I'm going to say that 50% of the interests generated will go nowhere.
Math:
15*40 blogs who liked = 600
15 * 4 blogs who disliked = 60
3 * 6 blogs who merely mentioned the book = 18
Total: 1122 interests
922 * 50% = 561 interests
That translates to roughly 112 books sold in addition
67 hardcovers * $15 = $1005
45 hardcovers * $8 = $360
Total Revenue: $1365

I'm going to add one more layer of complexity from the people that read and like the book after buying it from seeing reviews and such. Basically I'm going to quantify a single step of word of mouth again by using interests.
Ok, so 312 books were sold. Let's say 70% of those people like the book so 218 people. Further, let's say each of them then generates on average 3 interests.
654 * 50% = 327 interests which amount to something.
That's another 65 books sold.
Say these are mostly mass market paperbacks 40 vs 25 Hardcovers
40 * $8 = $200
25 * $15 = $375
Total Revenue: $575

So that's 377 books sold for a revenue of $4380

Which means, for every $1 of marketing money spend there is $16.53 of revenue

I'm not sure whether this is a good amount or not as I have no idea of the industry standards on this.


Picture taken from Big Bold Business

But let's look at a signing:
Say it costs $350 in airfare to go to a signing (I know I'm low-balling this number) and hotel is $100 plus you have to feed the author $40 for the day. I don't think most bookstores charge to hold the event so no cost there.
Total Costs: $490

Say 70 people show up (this actually seems a bit high but I'm trying to give lots of leeway). I'm going to assume that all these people would have bought a book although only 15 (Edit: say 25) as a direct cause of the event and that all the ones bought are hardcovers. And perhaps another 10 buy a mass market paperback of an old book.
25 * $15 (Hardcovers) = $375 (edited for the 25 instead of 15)
10 * $8 = $80
Total Revenue: $455

ROI for a book signing: $1 of marketing dollar earns $0.93(edited for the 25 hardcovers instead of 15)

Obviously the marketing dollars don't match up quite as much, but there are ripple effects for an author that doesn't take the time to meet fans. Also, it's part of good relations with bookstores, so I will admit I'm not capturing all the future revenue from such an event. The speculation for those kinds of things though are far out of the realm of my experience so anything I would come with beyond the immediate effects of a signing would be pure BS.

Edit: The bottom line is that $1 per marketing spent on book blogs results in $16.53 in revenue for a publisher (based on my assumptions)

Review: Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth #1)


Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Summary
Richard Cypher gets pulled into a plot to save the world from Darken Rahl when a beautiful woman crosses his path. He becomes a Seeker the likes of which the world has not seen in many years. His journey will bring him into strange lands and amongst people very different from his own as he hurries against the time when Rahl's plague will take over the world.

Commentary
It took 200 pages for the story to get somewhere interesting, and unfortunately it didn't stay interesting for long. This book is very symbolic of what turns so many people away from epic fantasy. It is glaringly cliche in its plot and characters of pure innocent good vs consummate evil without any really redeeming main characters.

Granted, I really did like the Mud People who greet each other by slapping each other. I thought that bit of random culture was amusing and actually made for a good bit of story even if I didn't much like the rest of the book with its characters that are all holding DIRE secrets from each other that would have made everything easier if they had just TOLD each other.

I had hoped this would be good as it came highly recommended,and I can see that lovers of Lord of the Rings would enjoy the long rambling descriptions. I, though, can't stand books like that so I confess to skimming a lot of the latter half of the book to just find out what happened at the end.

Star Rating: 1.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Wizard's First Rule at Amazon

Northern California Book Blogger Social


Really cute puppy wants you to come

There's going to be one!!! We've sent out some Evites, but if you're going to be in the Northern California region on April 23rd and haven't gotten an Evite, leave me your email in the comments or send me an email so I can get an Evite out to you!

(Open to Book Bloggers, Book Lovers, Authors, Publishers, Publicists... other bookish people)

Review: The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion #2) by Dan Simmons


The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

There are no spoilers in this summary, but this is a review of the second book in a quartet so you may want to check out my review of Hyperion (the first book).

Summary
The time when the Time Tombs are to open grows ever closer. The Hegemony, Ousters, and the Technocore have weaved a web of political intrigue so entrenched in what is happening on Hyperion that none can predict the outcome as the pilgrims on Hyperion face their final confrontation with the Shrike.

Commentary
One bit of wonderful story weaving that I would like to point out. At the beginning of most books which are not the first in a series, there is usually a recap of what events happened in the previous books. This is a great way to refresh readers' memories, but it is often a tedious summary. Simmons works in the recount of events very cleverly in a report of the pilgrims' stories to CEO Gladstone. Bravo!

The rest of this second book, though, was less masterful, and often seemed to descend into a chaos that was very different from the orderly delineation of events which I very much enjoyed in the first book. I could follow the events, but the sensation of being jolted back and forth between the various plot lines was a lot more jarring than I would have liked.

There are a lot of elements which I enjoyed the political infighting and plotting, the visualization of the Technosphere, and of course the weird things that happen with the Shrike. My problem with this book stems from the fact that its predecessor, Hyperion, was simply a far superior story. If you've read the first one, you are probably dying to know what happens in the second one so you should read The Fall of Hyperion. I'm not altogether sure that I want to read the third and fourth though.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Fall of Hyperion at Amazon

Book Blog Hop and Follow Friday (Mar 25)

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee!

If you could physically put yourself into a book or series…which one would it be and why?

Some opulent series maybe? I dunno too spacey to think.

Be sure to Enter the Giveaway for TWO Kindles


GIVE US FIVE BOOK RELATED SILLY FACTS ABOUT YOU.

1. I can't bear to have cracks in the spines of my books so I only crack open the books I read as far as I need to read them.
2. I used to read a lot of trashy romance and hid them in the third row of my books.
3. I like to arrange my books by book height rather than something people can logically follow... I promise myself that someday when I have more space, I will organize properly.
4. Depending on whether I started a series when it first came out or later on I have to buy the same binding because I like having the same look for all the books in a series. I will go out of my way to collect the same cover art type in a series too.
5. 1 More to come!

A Kindle Giveaway!


Wilder’s Mate Kindle Contest

Want to win a brand new Wi-Fi Kindle 3? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and you can have your chance! For more chances to win, visit the main contest page. Every participating blog you visit gives you another chance to win!

This post is part of Moira Rogers’ Wild Web Adventure Promo. For full rules and disclaimers, or to hold your own kindle contest, visit the contest post. Winners will be chosen during the first week of April.
CHECK OUT THE OTHER BLOGS




Also, while it's not required, following would be greatly appreciated ^.^

EDIT: There are now 2 that's right TWO Kindles being given away!

Third Sentence Thursday (#17)

Third Sentence Thursday
Grab the Code



Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme that has third sentences on its mind!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"And I, Barbara of Austria, neither young nor beautiful, would be the duke's second duchess before the pale December sun set." -The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas

This sentence certainly conveys the meaning of the title all around. It kind of makes you feel bad for Barbara though being that she is neither young nor beautiful. Of course, since she is of the Hapsburg line of severely inbred royals, I guess it all makes sense.

Review: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1)


Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Summary
Amy is frozen for transport to a new colony 300 years away with her parents. While in transit, she is woken up 50 years too early far away from everyone and everything she has known. She gets to know Elder, the next leader of the ship. She also realizes that her awakening is no accident; someone tried to kill her, and that someone is killing other people who were frozen.

Commentary
This book is very much sci-fi light, and while I expected that, I am still frustrated with the lack of accuracy for the major plot point of the story (I'm not going to go into detail here because it would spoil the story, but you can click the link below to get the rant).

Click for spoiler
Engineers would have supplied backup cores for a journey 300 years long, and it's stupid to assume that they only had one set of cores. Also, because they are in space, there is no friction so the ship doesn't even need the cores to keep travelling in the same direction. They are only needed for course correction. Finally, having a ship fluctuate rapidly between speeds of .4 light speed and .9 light speed is ludicrous again because of the LAWS OF PHYSICS and because everyone in the ship would have been pulverized to nothing with that great of a fluctuation in speed because of the force of acceleration and deceleration.


We find out almost nothing about Amy because her story begins when she enters the cooling process. Basically, the only people from her past that she cared about were her parents and this one boy she was dating because that's all she ever thinks about. Granted, she's woken up in a strange environment, but I really didn't care what happened to Amy because there was nothing to get to know.

The romance between Elder and Amy (because of course there has to be a romance) was tepid, and besides the fact that Amy was exotic, there really wasn't much else fueling Elder's desires. All in all, despite the hype, this story isn't worth your time to read.

Star Rating: 2.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Across the Universe at Amazon

Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon


Entwined by Heather Dixon

Copy Courtesy of Greenwillow Books
Release: March 29, 2011

Summary
Azalea is a princess. She has many younger sisters (11 in fact) and all of them (including Azalea) love to dance, but the King (her father) has decreed that there will be no dancing during the year of mourning after their mother passes away. The girls find a secret place to dance, a place of magic and also a place of great danger.

Commentary
This is a cute little book. It's premise seems to be about the sisters dancing, but it is actually a moral story about the importance of family. Besides the morality part of the story though, the rest of it was a pretty light read.

The sisters (the whole lot of them) get into a lot of trouble because of their curiosity in a way that is not unlike unruly puppies. It's actually quite adorable the way they tumble into mishaps and accidents, and it made me giggle. The Keeper (who is the guardian of the secret place they go to dance) is eerie, and I think his character's transformation in attitude towards the girls was very well written.

Generally speaking though, there isn't a whole lot of depth to the characters or the story which makes for a fun read but don't expect much emotional impact. This book reads much like a light fairy tale.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Entwined at Amazon

Teaser Tuesday (Mar 22)


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"She had to immerse herself in the silver forest, in the dancing, if only for one more night. And though she wouldn't dare admit it to anyone, she wanted to see Mr. Keeper again." -Entwined by Heather Dixon

I will be posting a review of Entwined later today ^.^

Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own teaser post or just the teaser if you don't have a blog.

Review: The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder


The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder

Copy Courtesy of Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Released: April 4, 2011

Summary
Nobody ever really notices April at school so when Britney Taylor, the unofficial queen of the school, takes April under her wing, April is thrilled. Before she knows it, April is subject to every whim of Britney's and inducted into obeying the Lipstick Laws.

Commentary
Yet another high school unknown picked up by the popular girl, and it turns out to be a nightmare for the unknown. The concept is less than brilliant, and I would even call it cliche. The execution of the story is also just about what you would expect.

April is weak-willed in the face of sudden popularity and shows no spine for most of the first half of the book. Then, she follows a very predictable turn of events which I won't elaborate here since it would "spoil" the book although I think any reasonably intelligent reader can figure out the outcome. Britney is your typical popular queen bitch, and the back story on how she got there is hardly special

If perhaps this was the first book you had EVER read with this concept, then it would be a decent book. Otherwise, really it's just a not new take on a story about how popularity isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

Star Rating: 1.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Lipstick Laws at Amazon

I Will Likely Never be a Regular Customer of BN.Com


So, I used to really like Barnes & Noble and spent many an afternoon there eating cookies and reading. I even got a membership there for a few years. As I got older, however, I found that the convenience of online shopping meant I went to bookstores less. It also didn't help that I no longer lived anywhere close to a big box store during my college years (or rather I didn't have the transportation to get me to one).

At any rate, most of my online business goes to Amazon because it has a huge selection of things which I can get with free 2-day shipping (yes, I have Prime) for not that much money. Also, their site is easy to navigate, and has a lot of nice functionality like the wishlist feature.

Recently, I bought the Groupon for Barnes & Noble and wanted to use it on BN.com because the nearest Barnes & Noble to me is still really far away. I found that the prices were competitive with Amazon (the prices didn't use to be competitive) which was a pleasant surprise. Because I no longer have membership though, I have to pay for shipping which, ok is not a problem because I could get membership.

Quite frankly though, I won't renew my membership because I can't stand the BN.com site. I established an account on BN.com sometime ago and wanted to update my password, but apparently this meant that I ALSO had to change my email or it wouldn't let me actually change my password. Seriously, I only want to change my password, don't make me change my email.

Second problem, during checkout I clicked on one of the help links, and it popped up a little message overlay which I couldn't get rid of to go back to editing my order, granted this may have to do with my browser (Chrome which has enough market share to warrant making things work properly), but if I have to start my checkout ALL OVER AGAIN, I'm much less likely to actually checkout.

Third problem, Amazon has this nice feature where I don't have to re-enter my giftcard (the Groupon was set up to be used like a gift card) information every time I check out. BN.com doesn't have this, so when I got booted out of the checkout screen because this damned help box wouldn't close, I had to re-enter all that information again. Yes, this is a small annoyance, but small annoyances make me not want to use the site. Not using the site means I'm not going to buy from the site unless I HAVE TO.

Basically, I'm trying to say that online shopping is about convenience. If an online store makes it inconvenient to check out or do anything with my account, it's less likely that customers will stick around to put up with it when there are store which don't have those hassles.

Review: Tyger Tyger (Goblin Wars #1)


Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

Summary
Teagan's life gets turned completely upside down when Finn, her cousin who is really cute, arrives and brings with him creatures out of a Celtic nightmare. A shadow kills her mom, and this event pulls Teagan into a confrontation with the dreaded goblins from Irish lore.

Commentary
The Celtic mythology was interesting although it quickly became overwhelming. I couldn't keep up with all the names and various myths being thrown around and so parts of the story became incomprehensible to me although the overall story was still understandable.

My second point of contention with this book was how quickly Teagan seems to get over her mom. Her mom passes away, and then there is a scene two weeks into the future where her best friend, Abby, asks her if she's still sad. Teagan says yes, and that's basically the last time Teagan shows any grief. This struck me as very unrealistic since Teagan and her mom seemed relatively close, and I was unable to really focus on the story after that because it felt unnatural.

I know a lot of other people enjoyed this story, but I really couldn't get into it.

Star Rating: 2.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Tyger Tyger at Amazon

Most Anticipated Upcoming Book


Yup, that's it. I know the cover isn't gorgeous, but I love Jacqueline Carey and especially her Kushiel line of books. I've read the first books in this latest series and while I was mostly disappointed with the one preceding this book, I am still looking very much forward to the last one!

Naamah's Blessing is coming out June 29th! It is already available for pre-order on Amazon and other places ^.^

Short Summary from Goodreads: Moirin must face up to the mistakes of her past and undertake an impossible quest.

(Not a very informative summary heh) This is the third book in the Naamah series.

Really Cool Book Art


So, this guy, Brian Dettmer makes really really awesome art pieces by carving out parts of books (he doesn't add anything). I think it looks absolutely fantastic so I had to share it with ya'll.

Check out his other work

Third Sentence Thursday (#16)

Third Sentence Thursday
Grab the Code



Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme for beating back the forces of OTHER sentences!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"They're a penny." - The Royal Treatment by Lindsey Leavitt

Is anything a penny these days? Maybe one piece of really nasty candy or if you're buying things in bulk each piece might be a penny, but apparently there is something that is a penny here. I'm tempted to think that something is happening in a different time or something although the previous novel didn't take place in a different time hmm... ok too much thinking. I just hope this one is as fun as the first one ^.^

Review: Dark Mirror (Dark Passages #1) by M.J. Putney


Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney

Copy Courtesy of St. Martin's Griffin
Already Published

Summary
In London Society, magic is scorned and shunned in the ranks of the nobility but welcomed among the commoners. Lady Victoria Mansfield wakes up one morning to find that she is floating. Unfortunately for her, this means she will be exiled to Lackland Abbey, a school to 'reform; those tainted by the touch of magic. Lackland Abbey though, is a strange place with its own secrets which for Victoria, could make all the difference in the world.

Commentary
I really enjoy stories about London Society. The parties, the intrigue, and the strange rules for some reason always tickle my fancy so when I picked up this book I was very happy to find many of those things in place with a twist of their being magic.

I have to admit, the characters are a bit underdeveloped and I can't quite connect with them although they were fun to read about so that made up for it. The mirror aspect of the story was also fun although having the main character be basically the only one who can use it reliably was a bit deus ex machina (I could overlook it though).

This story wavers a bit between being a serious read and something much more lighthearted which may have been the reason I didn't love it. I still think it was a fun read though, and I did enjoy my time with it so I wouldn't scratch it off my TBR if I was you.

Star Rating: 3.8/5.0 (yes the rating is not on my normal scale, but as it is numeric, you can probably get a good sense of what the rating means ^.^)

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Dark Mirror at Amazon

Hey Mobile

I just got a new phone so I'm testing the blogger app to see how posting and such work. Random picture for you. I probably should continue reviewing now for the final I have in 40min. Heh. Have a good day all~~

Sniffly Kitty


Teaser Tuesday (Mar 15)


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"You were flying... Don't ever do that again." -Dark Mirror by M. J. Putney

Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own teaser post or just the teaser if you don't have a blog.

Winners are In!


So we finally got all the winners confirmed for Loving the Reviews!

Amber Frost by Suzi Davis
Winner: Lucia of iLiveiLaughiLoveBooks

Banana Kiss by Bonnie Rozanski
Winner: Alanna Shaw- flashlight reader

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter
Winner: Ava @ Book Infinity

Boyfriend of the Month Club by Maria Geraci
Winner: Gina of Hott Books

The DUFF audiobook by Kody Keplinger
Winner: Charlie of Bitsy Bling Books

Eldala by Michelle Gregory
Winner: Aik Chien of The Bookaholics

From the Dead by John Herrick
Winner: Wakela's World

Harvest Moon and Wicca Dog by Krista D. Ball
Winner: Crystal @ My Reading Room

Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens
Winner: Ephrielle of Hope Love and Happy Endings

Human Blend by Lori Pescatore
Winner: Chrissy's World Of Books

Lemniscate by Jennifer Murgia
Winner: Lisbeth of TBG Reviews

The Light of Asteria: Kailmeyra's Last Hope by Elizabeth Isaacs
Winner: Mia @ Girl about Books

Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
Winner: Kai of Fiction State of Mind

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
Winner: Valerie of Stuck in Books

Love Love Love by Deborah Reber
Winner: Chelsey @ Starry Sky Books

Mieradome by Kate Hegarty
Winner: Kat H of Reading with Passion

Minder by Kate Kaynak
Winner: Books for Company

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
Winner: Cialina of Muggle Born Net

Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler
Winner: Naj of Unputdownable Books

Sliding on the Edge by C Lee McKenzie
Winner: Mari of The Book Nymph

Star in the Middle by Carol Millward
Barb D. of Sugar Beats Books

Solid by Shelley Workinger
Winners: Samita (Book Purring)
Kiwi of Online Random

The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson
Winners: Lazy Girl of Lazy Girl Reads
Bookworm Lisa of Lisa is a Bookworm

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
Winner: Brittany @ Nice Girls Read Books

Entice, White Crow, and Out for Blood Prize Pack:
Winner: Miss Liz Beck of Things Liz Loves

Congratulations to all the winners ^.^ I hope you all are enjoying your shiny new books!

Review: XVI by Julia Karr


XVI by Julia Karr

Summary
Nina is 15, and she has been told all her life that all girls turn into sex addicts once they turn 16. The law basically considers them fair game for any man, but Nina really doesn't want this to happen so she dreads the XVI tattoo she will get which will mark her as a 16-year-old.

Commentary
I definitely picked up this book because the premise was intriguing. The book itself, in some ways reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale with its myriad of rules although its not as bleak as The Handmaid's Tale, which I find to be a good thing although others may disagree.

Things happen pretty quickly in the story, so don't blink because you might miss something that is happening. The rapid pacing though, somewhat detracts from the philosophical journey that is going through Nina's head as she finds other people who share her viewpoint about sex.

While the premise was intriguing, I'm not entirely sure that the scope of the story was wide enough to hit the reader with the full impact of the society. I do worry about the safety of the characters (Nina and her sister in particular) but I feel like I'm viewing their world from a place of safety rather than almost being Nina. With the bumper crop of dystopian pieces out there, it is likely that you will find one which will hold your interest for longer.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for XVI at Amazon


Book Party Post ^.^
CymLowell

Review: My Fair Godmother (My Fair Godmother #1) by Janette Rallison


My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Summary
Savannah is in need of a fairy godmother because her boyfriend left her for her sister, but she gets assigned a fair godmother, Chrissy, instead. Chrissy is only a fair godmother because she's not very good at being a godmother. This, it turns out, means Savannah gets dumped into the Middle Ages.

Commentary
I read this as one of my recharges between other massive books, so I didn't really expect it to do much besides be fluffy and brainless. It turned out to be really funny. Despite the fact that this has some aspects of a fairy tale retelling, it definitely took off in a completely different tangent than other such books.

The charm of this book is really how irreverent it is with the fairy tales and how it makes fun of some of the shallowness of being a teen without coming off as preachy. There is some romance worked in which I actually enjoyed, but this is definitely not one of those teen books which are hot and heavy.

I am really looking forward to the next book, which is coming out in April. This was a lot of fun, and YOU, yes I'm talking to you there, should read it ^.^

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for My Fair Godmother at Amazon

A Very Different Sort of Review: The Book of Tomorrow


The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

Copy Courtesy of Netgalley and Harper Collins
Already Published

This is going to be a very different sort of review than you're used to seeing here on Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books so bear with me.

Summary
Tamara is a rather spoiled little girl since her dad provides her with everything. When her dad kills himself, Tamara and her mother learn that the family is bankrupt, and have to move in with her aunt. Once there Tamara finds a very interesting diary, and what she finds within its pages will change everything.

Commentary
I can't give this book a rating because while the story itself may be overly dramatic it really made me think. I don't talk much about myself on this blog beyond what I like and don't like in books, but today I'm going to tell you a story.

Some years ago when I was still living at home, I didn't get along with my dad very well. There were many reasons for this, and it has taken a measure of distance (physical distance) and some changes in views on life for both him and I for us to get to a much better point today.

Anyway, at that time, my dad took out a life insurance policy and made special note of the fact that suicide would not result in a payout until the policy had been in effect over a certain amount of years. The way my dad said this then made me believe that he was contemplating suicide. Of course, it wasn't that comment alone, my dad had been very frustrated with his job, our relationship, and some things with my mom. These facts together made me very afraid.

Throughout the intervening, I carried the burden of this knowledge with me, and despite majoring in psychology where we learn about talking as a great mechanism for aborting people's attempts on their life, I had never thought to actually talk to my dad about this because there are many things my dad and I just don't talk about. After I read the Book of Tomorrow, I began panicking about what losing my dad would be like, and finally realized with the help of my boyfriend that I should talk to my dad about it directly.

So, last week, I finally talked to him, and it turns out that while he was extremely frustrated, he had decided that suicide would never be an option for him. After hearing this, I've been greatly relieved. It's been really great to finally put down this burden which I've been carrying for years.

I am very grateful that this book finally propelled me to talk to my dad. I am also very grateful that my dad is alive, and will continue to be alive (*knock on wood*).
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