Stacking the Shelves (24)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Touched by Corrine Jackson

Altered by Jennifer Rush bookmarks

The Altered bookmarks came from Jennifer Rush, and the books I bought.


What did you get?

—Tea for Three Team

Temporary Hiatus

Amanda and Erin (me) will be traveling for the next two weeks, so the blog is going on hiatus until we get back. And January 3rd is our six month blogoversary, so when we get back expect a GIVEAWAY! Also, while we're gone we should be able to get a few reviews done, so you can look forward to that, too.


—Tea for Three Team

WWW Wednesday (20)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Erin

Because Pitch Dark's re-read-a-thon for Shatter Me lasts all week I have to pace myself, so I'm also reading Opal. They are both quite awesome.

What did you recently finish reading?

Erin

I liked Rules of Attraction more than The Vincent Boys, but they were both excellent.

What do you think you'll read next?

Erin

I honestly have know idea what I'm going to read next, because I still have to decide what I'm bringing on vacation, but Bitter Blood and Reached are two options.

What are your answers?

—Tea for Three Team

Teaser Tuesday (5)

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

To 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!

Erin

My teaser comes from. . .

     "You can't touch me," I whisper. I'm lying, is what I don't tell him. He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him. Please touch me, is what I want to tell him.
     But things happen when people touch me. Strange things. Bad things.
     Dead things.

I'm re-reading Shatter Me because of Pitch Dark's Shatter Me re-read-a-thon, and I'm falling in love with it all over again. I'm trying to pace myself because the read-a-thon last all week, so this is a quote from the very beginning (pg. 11).

—Tea for Three Team

Stacking the Shelves (23)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

(Hold on to your hats, this week's a doozy.)

Succubus on Top (signed) by Richelle Mead

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Golden by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines (x2)

Secret Vampire by L. J. Smith (book club edition)

Taken by Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Nevermore by James Patterson

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

"Dark Swan: Storm Born, #3" (signed by Richelle) by Richelle Mead, Grant Alter, and Dave Hamann

Vampire Academy temp tattoos

Vampire Academy pins (2)

Origin by Jessica Khoury swag (bookmark, magnet, business card)

Notepad

4 pens

Metal bookmark

Ghirardelli truffle squares (6)

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines Date Night kit (TVB makeup bag, lip gloss, mints)

Not Pictured:

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead signed page proof

Vampire Academy molnija mark keychain

Alright, here we go—I hope I remember everyone! Succubus On Top, "Dark Swan: Storm Born, #3", The Indigo Spell page proof, and Vampire Academy merch (tattoos, pins, keychain) came from Richelle Mead and The Arcane Vault. Origin swag came from Jessica Khoury. The Vincent Boys Date Night kit and one copy of the book came from Simon & Schuster via Stuck in YA Books in the November to Remember blog tour, the second copy I ordered (because I didn't realize it was included in the blog tour prize). Taken by Storm, Nevermore, pens, notebook, metal bookmark, and Ghirardelli squares came from my Secret Santa. Everything else I bought—well, I bought about half, and my mom bought the rest as an early Christmas present.

What did you get?

—Tea for Three Team

WWW Wednesday (19)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Erin

 

I JUST (as in a few minutes before throwing this post together) finished Perfect Chemistry, and haven't decided what I'm going to read next, but it's between these two.

What did you recently finish reading?

Erin

I liked it A LOT—still sorting out my feels, so that's all I can say.

What do you think you'll read next?

Erin

I'm getting it tomorrow or Friday, and I'm so excited to start!

What are your answers?

—Tea for Three Team

Top Ten Tuesday (15)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

Amanda's Picks:

(in order read, not discovered)

1. Patrick Rothfuss author of The Kingkiller Chronicle

Pat quickly became one of my all-time favorite authors after reading The Name of the Wind. I'm sure those of you that have been around T3 for a while are tired of listening to me wax poetic about his writing, but it is quite beautiful.

2. John Green author of Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, among others.

I'd heard of John Green before but I didn't read any of his works until this year, boy was I missing out! He has such a great sense of humor! I also just found out that he was in our little hometown this past weekend working on some recording stuff for TFiOS! Excitement! (Just finished TFiOS, so be on the look out for a review soon!)

3. Veronica Roth author of Divergent, Insurgent, and the yet-unnamed-third-book of the Divergent series

4. Cassandra Clare author of The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and The Dark Artifices series

5. Anna Banks author of Of Poseidon (Of Triton coming in 2013!)

6. Leigh Bardugo author of Shadow & Bone (Siege & Storm coming in 2013!)

7. Jenna Burtenshaw author of Wintercraft series

8. Ally Carter author of Heist Society and Gallagher Girls series

9. Ernest Cline author of Ready Player One

A lot of my admiration and love for Ernie stems from how ridiculously jealous I am of him. He's pretty much living my dream career, a published author, produced scriptwriter (he wrote Fanboys! I love this movie!) and he's only like, the biggest, coolest geek ever (he drives a DeLorean with a flux capacitor in it, for pete's sake!) His second novel, Armada, isn't even out yet and it was just picked up by Universal for production! /jealous

10. Susan Dennard author of Something Strange and Deadly (A Darkness Strange and Lovely coming in 2013!!)

-Tea for Three Team

Stacking the Shelves (22)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker
Velveteen (ARC) by Daniel Marks
Soul Bound by Mari Mancusi
Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin Van Draanen
Sweet Shadows (signed) by Tera Lynn Childs
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Velveteen came from Kimberly L. via the YA Book Exchange, Soul Bound came from Suzanne Lazear, and Sweet Shadows came from Enna Isilee @ Squeaky Books. Pushing the Limits I bought, and everything else came from the library.

Also, I finished Pushing the Limits already, and it was so amazing! Everyone needs to read this book!


What did you get this week?

—Tea for Three Team

WWW Wednesday (18)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Erin

I've only read a little bit of this, but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep reading, though I don't know what else I want to read.

What did you recently finish reading?

Erin

    

I absolutely loved them both!

What do you think you'll read next?

Erin
?

I have no idea. I just got a couple books from the library, but I don't know if I'm in the mood to read them just yet.

What are your answers? We'd love to hear!

—Tea for Three Team

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

To 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!

Erin

My teaser comes from. . .

"I noticed you the first week." His voice was soft. "Not just because of how pretty you are, though of course, that played into it." I smiled, watching our feet as we matched steps. "It was the way you lean onto your elbows when you're listening in class, when something catches your interest. And when you laugh, it's never to get attention, it's just—laughter. The way you obsessively tuck your hair behind your ear on the left side, but let the right side fall down like a screen. And when you're bored, you tap your foot soundlessly and move your fingers on the desktop like your playing an instrument. I wanted to sketch you."

I usually like to pick funny teasers, but Easy isn't that kind of book, so I went with swoony instead. I also cheated a bit with this teaser, (I finished Easy yesterday afternoon and included way more than 2 lines) but I didn't choose my current read until an hour before this post went up.

—Tea for Three Team

Stacking the Shelves (21)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

Skinned by Robin Wasserman
Crashed by Robin Wasserman
Wired by Robin Wasserman
Ironside by Holly Black

Black City and Phoenix bookmarks (signed)

The bookmarks came from Elizabeth Richards, and the rest I bought at one of my local indies, Schuler Books. I also got a ton of other books from Schuler, but they are to be Christmas/birthday presents (actually all but one are for Amanda, so. . . )


What did you get this week?

—Tea for Three Team

WWW Wednesday (17)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Erin

After I finished Fire I decided I should get to reading Bitterblue. I mean, I've had it since April, and I read and loved Graceling and Fire shortly after getting it—I don't know why it took me so long.

What did you recently finish reading?

Erin

For some reason I had an itch to read a Graceling Realm book, so I re-read Fire because it's my favorite. It was just as amazing as the first time around.

What do you think you'll read next?

Erin

I WILL start this next! I will! (I probably won't start it.)

What are your WWW answers?

—Tea for Three Team

Top Ten Tuesday (14)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Most Anticipated Books For 2013.

This one was so hard! There are SO MANY great books coming out in 2013, I wanted to make my list 30 books long!

Erin's Picks (as well as some of Amanda's, marked *):
1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
I'm so excited for this book I can hardly stand it!! It's THE LAST ONE!

Release Date: March 19

2. Gates of Paradise by Melissa de la Cruz
Another LAST ONE I can't wait for. Everything will happen! We'll find out if the gang can defeat Lucifer, if Sky and Jack will get to be together, if Charles is okay, if Allegra will be forgiven, and, based on sneak peeks Mel has tumbled, if Stephen is alive. Plus so much more! ALL OF THE THINGS WILL BE REVEALED!!

Release Date: January 15

3. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo *
Shadow and Bone was one of my favorite books this year, and after that ending both me and Amanda are pining for Siege and Storm.

Release Date: June 4

4. Rise by Andrea Cremer
Rift was another favorite of the year, so I'm ecstatic that Rise is going to be released just 5 short months later.

Release Date: January 8

5. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
I absolutely LOVED Shatter Me, and, again, after that ending I cannot WAIT to read Unravel Me.

Release Date: February 5

6. Of Triton by Anna Banks *
Of Poseidon had the type of ending that authors shouldn't be allowed to write. I mean, an information bomb was dropped in the LAST LINE (the last WORD to be exact)! And we have to wait a YEAR before we can find out what happens next?! Cruel, cruel author, indeed.

Release Date: May 28

7. A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard *
Amanda and I both LOVED Something Strange and Deadly (you can read Amanda's review here), so we're both anxiously awaiting A Darkness Strange and Lovely. Plus, it takes place in Paris, which I'm excited to see steampunk-ified.

Release Date: July 23

8. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
I LOVED Holly's short story of the same name, so I can't wait for a whole novel set in Coldtown.

Release Date: September 1

9. Invisibility by Andrea Cremer & David Levithan
It's ANDREA CREMER *and* DAVID LEVITHAN! Need I say more?

Release Date: May 7

10. Blood Prophecy by Alyxandra Harvey
Yet another last-of-the-series book I'm super excited for. I often compare the Drake Chronicles to The Mortal Instruments in the way that during the first three books you're like, "WHY?! Why are doing this to me?!", and then you read the last three (or two, as the third isn't out yet) and you're like (please excuse my language), "WHAT THE F*CK?!!! How did I ever think what happened earlier was the worse it could get?! [Author] you're RIPPING OUT MY HEART!!" So. . .to say the least, I'm anxious to see how the Drake Chronicles ends.

Release Date: January 8


What are your most anticipated books for 2013?

—Tea for Three Team

Stacking the Shelves (20)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

Undeadly by Michele Vail
Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass
Witches of East End (ARC) by Melissa de la Cruz

I received Witches of East End from Erin B. via ARCycling, and everything else I bought.


What did you guys get?

—Tea for Three Team

WWW Wednesday (16)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Erin

I'm now re-reading it after reading the novellas, and I'm picking out all this stuff I didn't catch/know about the first time around. It's quite fun.

Amanda

What did you recently finish reading?

Erin

"What the what the what?!" was my reaction to the end. Even though I had read Throne of Glass previous to starting the novellas I forgot about Sam, and was, at least, a little bit shocked at the events in "Empire".

Amanda

Nooooooooothing (I've been so busy lately, but the epic-ly long fanfic that I've been working on is ALMOST DONE!!!)

What do you think you'll read next?

Erin

  

I need to catch up on my ARCycling reviews, so I'll start one of these next.

Amanda

What are your answers?

—Tea for Three Team

Trailer Reveal: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

We're so excited to be apart of the trailer reveal for. . .

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout!

First, here's a little bit about the book.

Opal (The 3rd book in the Lux series)
Available in both print and digital editions on December 18, 2012
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Now here's what you're waiting for.

About the author:

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in
Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories…which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult
paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook |  Official Website






We're even more excited about Opal now that we've seen the trailer! What do you guys think?

—Tea for Three Team

Top Ten Tuesday (13)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books/Authors I'm Thankful For.


Erin's Picks:
1-2. Cassandra Clare, author of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices
I'm thankful for Cassandra Clare, because she is so awesome and she wrote two of the few series' that my friends and I fangirl over together. This is a two-point answer because I'm also thankful for City of Bones by Cassie Clare. It was the book that made me realize how bad Twilight was, and it's one of the only books that my bestie has INSISTED, to the point of being annoying, that I read. It (as well as City of Glass) is the book I re-read when I'm down (which you can totally tell if you look at my paperback).

3. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
(Speaking of Twilight. . . :D) While I don't like the books now, I had to include them. The Twilight saga was the series that opened up the world of YA books to me, and I've so many GREAT books that I probably would have missed had I not read Twilight. It was also the first series that really made my best friend my best friend, because we were the only people in our group of friends that had read the books, and, therefore, could only fangirl with each other.

4. Susan Dennard, author of Something Strange and Deadly
Susan, in a way, inspired us to create Sir Wellington, so for that I'm thankful. She's also really nice, wrote an awesome book, and was the first author to sign Welly (on the day of his making, no less!).

5. Richelle Mead, author of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines
Richelle writes such amazing books, and I'm thankful that she's allowed to write them. She is the author of the only book that made me tear up, and almost spill over. I have never cried because of a book, and at the end of Frostbite I came so close, because I really connected with Rose and felt what she felt—that rarely happens to me.


Amanda's Picks:
1. Tamora Pierce, author of the Tortall series of books including: The Song of the Lioness, Protector of the Small, and Immortals and also the Emelan series of books including: The Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, and The Circle Reforged
I can't really say enough about about Mrs. Pierce, her books too up the entirety of my 8th grade reading time, and this was when I really got into reading. I remember staying up until 3am reading In the Hand of the Goddess because I needed to know what would happen!! Even now I still like to read them (though my copies are literally falling apart at the bindings), the worlds and characters are so well-imagined and lovable.

2. Laurell K. Hamilton, author of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter and Merry Gentry series.
Mrs. Hamilton is nearly solely responsible for getting me out of the YA section and into adult books. In high school my friends and I had a "book club" of sorts and we passed every single one of the Anita Blake books around. Some of my favorite quotable lines comes from these books and I still use them to this day. Man, it's been a really long time since I started reading these...

3. Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files and Codex Alera.
First off, if you know anything about me, you had to have seen this one coming. Mr. Butcher not only a) Made me want to be a kick-ass awesome writer (a goal that I am now working towards and realizing) but b) Showed me that High Fantasy (which I've always had trouble getting into) isn't all dry boring military movements or trudging through dreary, desolate landscapes while lamenting at how difficult this journey is AND I actually found that I can enjoy the finer points of strategizing against an enemy force while still getting my fill of amazingly developed characters.

4. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
This book, let me tell you. I picked this up on a whim while book shopping one day without a clue as to what I had just gotten myself into. I cried, I laughed, I cried a lot more, and I watched the budding growth of love spread across the pages; it was beautiful and delightfully unexpected. Even this description doesn't properly encompass how much I love this book. (look it even made me wax poetic!)

5. John Green, author of Paper Towns, The Fault in our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and more.
John Green always makes me think. Even when I'm throughly enjoying his books I'm still thinking about some deeper (or higher) message behind them. They make me want to go out and do good while living life to the fullest. Not only that but he's amazingly witty with a sarcastic sense of humor that I can relate to well. It just makes me love his books all the more!


What books/authors are YOU thankful for?

—Tea for Three Team

Stacking the Shelves (19)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Erin's Books:

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
Easy by Tammara Webber
Bitter Blood by Rachel Caine
Reached by Ally Condie

Easy I ordered, and everything else I bought at Barnes & Noble. I'm so excited about Reached and Bitter Blood, as soon as I finished Throne of Glass I'll probably get started on one of those.


What did you get?

—Tea for Three Team

Review: Something Strange and Deadly

Title: Something Stange and Deadly
Series: Something Strange and Deadly #1
Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: YA Paranormal/Horror
Pages: 371
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 ½ cubes of sugar (That's right, you cut that sugar cube in half before you put it in my cup!)
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository

Summary:
The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.
(Taken from Goodreads)

Review:
So, this book. It was wonderful! I wasn't entirely sure what to expect out of it. I knew I would like it; it has zombies, creative inventions, and a rag-tag band of misfits (love them misfits), so what's not to like? The zombies were an inspired addition, not your average, gory, aimless, over-done zombies. They actually served a purpose to the plot instead of just being an element added to make things more suspenseful and interesting. The fact that time in the ground and decomposition is actually taken into consideration when describing the zombies interested me. Most of the time you get the gross, messy zombies, with eyeballs hanging out of their heads and innards all over the place. Let's face in, when a body in the ground for a while (we're talking years and decades) there isn't much left of muscle and skin. Most of these zombies were bone and sinew.

There were also plenty of plot twists and surprises that kept me reading (wasn't expecting that ending but I heartily enjoyed it, and nope no spoilers here!) I enjoyed every single one of the characters. Eleanor was a little hard to get into at first, but as the story developed, she also developed into the awesome, kick-butt character that I was hoping for! The Spirit-Hunters were easily my favorite though, they're all such interesting characters in and of themselves with such varying backgrounds. Needless to say I await the release of A Darkness Strange and Lovely with baited breath!