In My Mailbox (20) & Weekly Recap 11/10/12

I decided to give this Weekly Recap thing a shot. I think it’s a genius idea, but if you guys think it’s lame, be sure to let me know in the comments! Here’s what you might have missed this past week:

Weekly Recap

SUNDAY
November TBR List

TUESDAY 
 Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers
YA Kindle Deals Under $5: 11/6/12

THURSDAY
Audiobook Review: Delirium

FRIDAY
Inkling Inquiries: Why Do You Blog?
 
{FAVORITES} Blog Posts:
- Two Bloggers Find Love in a Sears Commercial – GalleyCat
- One Stop Publicity Resource – Making The Grade Reviews

In My Mailbox

FOR REVIEW	PURCHASED

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. For a list of past and future topics, check it out here.

Feature and Follow Friday (11)

Q: What is a deal breaker for you in a book? For example, do you abhor love triangles? Or can’t deal with bad editing?

This is a hard one for me since so many things can put me off from a book.  Here are some of the my top picks:

- Underdeveloped/one-dimensional characters: This is especially bad if it is the main character…
- Bad editing: Not that I claim to have perfect grammar or punctuation (I definitely don’t)… Unfortunately this is why I’ve begun to avoid many self-published books.

Usually there are redeeming qualities that help me get through a book with one of the above, so these aren’t necessarily deal breakers, but more frustrations.

How about you guys!? What are your book deal breakers?

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc. All links will take you to the goodreads page!

For Review

The Blessed (The Blessed, #1) by Tonya Hurley Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian Of Blood and Bone (The Minaldi Legacy, #1) by Courtney Cole

Purchased 

Spark (Elemental, #2) by Brigid Kemmerer

What did you guys get in your mailbox this week!?

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc. All links will take you to the goodreads page!

For Review

The Lost Prince (Call of the Forgotten, #1) by Julie Kagawa

Purchased 

UnWholly (Unwind, #2) by Neal Shusterman The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) by Lev Grossman Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Iron’s Prophecy (The Iron Fey, #4.5) by Julie Kagawa

I’ve been trying to be somewhat conservative with my book buying habits as of late… Of course that didn’t stop me from hitting up Barnes and Noble while I was away this past week. Oops. What did you guys get in your mailbox this week!?

In My Mailbox (17) & Signing Recap

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc.

This week I was lucky enough to make it to a local signing at Ukazoo Books in Towson, MD! It was actually the first book signing I have ever attended! I was able to meet Michelle Madow, author of Remembrance, and Taryn Browning, author of Dark Seeker. They were super friendly, awesome people and made it a great experience :) I couldn't be more psyched to check out their books! See below for some pictures from the signing! But first, here’s my In My Mailbox for the week:

SIGNING At ukazoo books (3/31/12)

Michelle Madow, myself, and Taryn Browning!

Feature & Follow (10)

Q: Do you read one book at a time or do you switch back and forth between two or more?

I think I'm one of the few who can only handle one review book at a time. I usually have a physical review book, an audiobook (sometimes), and a romance novel going all at once. But most of my time is dedicated to getting the review book read. That's why the romance novels take me the longest to read!

What about you guys!?

Feature & Follow (9)

Q: Have you ever looked at book’s cover and thought, This is going to horrible? But, was instead pleasantly surprised? Show us the cover and tell us about the book.

This has happened to me on numerous occasions! The first book that comes to mind is Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. I actually put off reading this book because of the cover (and the fact I usually hate time travel in books). Judging by the cover, I thought the book would be stuffy and lack excitement. Turned out to be one of my favorites once I actually got around to reading it (My review here). I think I'm one of the few people who is happy they redid the cover design!

What do you guys think of this cover? Love it, hate it? Am I crazy?

Another one that I can recall is Joust by Mercedes Lackey. Easily one of my favorites (My review here), but the guy on the front looks like he's wearing a freakin' vase on his head... I mean... really? Look my helmet doubles as a water glass! Super intimidating. The dragon is bad-ass, but the guy is just a major turnoff.

Any of you have a similar experiences with a book covers?

In My Mailbox (16)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc. These past few weeks I received a couple of great Indie ebooks for Indie Author Month hosted by Lovely Lit! Check it out if you haven't already!

Kindle ebookS

Significance by Shelly Crane* Exiled by Rashelle Workman* Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Physical Books

Thief’s Covenant by Ari Marmell* Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls, #1) by Victoria Foyt* The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer

* Received for review from Netgalley, Author, or Publisher

I’d like to give a special thanks to Karissa at Karissa’s Reading Review for both The Gathering Storm and Cinder! She hosted an awesome contest for a bunch of YA/Middle Grade books and I was the lucky winner :)

Feature and Follow Friday (8)

Q: Define what characteristics your favorite books share. Do they all have a kick ass heroine or is the hot love interest the Alpha Male?

First I suspect I should list some of my favorite books: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

If you've read any of the above, you'll already know that the female characters are just plain KICK-ASS! In a few of the books, like the Iron King series and Mistborn, it takes us awhile to see just how strong the the female characters are. Some, like Katsa from Graceling, are independent from the get go! Regardless, I love a strong, independent heroine who can take care of herself!

This is not to say I don't like the occasional protective male! In my opinion, I think every girl has a desire to be taken care of once and awhile. There is definitely a fine line here: I can't stand OVER-protective males (can  you say Edward?). I must admit, it's always fun watching a strong female character put the overprotective male in his place! Girls can make decisions for themselves, thank you!

What do you guys think? Do you share my love for the protective male, or am I just crazy!?

In My Mailbox (15)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc. Enjoy and start participating if you are not already! Great ebook haul this week!

Kindle ebookS

The Maze Runner by James Dashner Obsidian (Lux, #1) Jennifer L. Armentrout Hallowed (Unearthly, #2) by Sarah Mlynowski*

Incarnate (Newsoul, #1) by Jodi Meadows* The Book of Lost Fragrances M.J. Rose* Covet (The Fallen Angels, #1) by J.R. Ward*

Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur

* Received for review from Netgalley, Author, or Publisher

Follow Friday (7)

Q: Go count the number of unread books sitting on your shelf. How many?

There are 51 unread books on my physical bookshelf and 50 unread books on my digital bookshelf.

That makes a total of 101 unread books!

This just emphasizes one of my goals for the year: GET THE TBR PILE DOWN!!

Follow Friday (6)

Q: The New Year is here — and everyone wants to know your New Years Blogging Resolution! What are you going to try to revise, revamp and redo for 2012 on your blog?

Reformat: I would like to go back to my old reviews and reformat them to match my new ones.

Comment: I’d also like to find some more time to check out other people’s blogs! I don’t comment or participate as much as I should.

Write Better Reviews: I’m not a professional reviewer by a longshot, but I do take pride in expressing myself in my reviews. I’ve noticed I use many of the same terms and sayings. I’d really like to develop a more diversified vocabulary.

Network: I’d like to make more friends!! I’m planning on going to BEA this year, and I don’t wanna be all by my lonesome. It’s hard for me to come out of my shell and be personable, so I plan on making extra efforts this year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! and Good luck with your resolutions!

In My Mailbox (14)

Merry Christmas Everyone! It’s been awhile since my last IMM… I’ve been trying to catch up on my huge review pile, so hauls have been few and far between.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. This is where you will find the most recent books I have received for review, purchased, etc. Enjoy and start participating if you are not already!

Print Books

Prophecy of the Sisters (Prophecy of the Sisters, #1) by Michelle Zink Guardian of the Gate (Prophecy of the Sisters, #2) by Michelle Zink

 

Kindle ebookS

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs Ten Things We Did (and probably shouldn’t have) by Sarah Mlynowski