Tag Archives: bethylou reads

GoT Update

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I’m still working on my Top 10 list for books I have read but in the mean time, a little update. I have finished A Feast For Crows!  Finally!  As I stated before, it started off slow.  So many new characters.  So many characters that were only briefly mentioned before came back, that then I had to spend time trying to remember who they were.  And the Iron Born.  At first I wasn’t sure why I should care what was going on in the Iron Isles but figured, Mr. Martin wouldn’t write it if it didn’t matter but damn, some of those early chapters were painful.

After, I got through all of that, the book picked up and boy did it pick up.  Cersei got off the local train to crazy town and got on the Express.  As the reader, we have the benefit of knowing what is going on the realm that Cersei doesn’t but then again, if she wasn’t so paranoid and short sighted, she might have been able to tell good advice from bad.  And what happened with Brienne? What did she say?  Did it save her?  and Jamie, so proud of you.  Littlefinger, still creepy. Arya? What?  Is she blind blind?

So many questions.  Can’t wait to dive into A Dance of Dragons.  What’s going on with Tyrion?  How is Commander Snow faring?  Are Dany’s Dragons behaving themselves?  Ok, Mr, Martin.  Bring it.

We have the Best Friends Ever!

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We have great friends.  They know us so well.  So when my friend Melissa went to a signing of Maggie Stiefvater at Prairie Lights in Iowa City, She got me and Kate signed copies too.  The signing was in July but since it and Melissa are in Iowa and Kate and I are in the state of New York. It took a while to get here.  I didn’t care that I had to wait for it.  I had already bought my own copy and had read it.  Just knowing that Melissa thought to get copies for us was all I needed to know.  Thank you again, Melissa.

I may have mentioned my love for Maggie before but just in case, I LOVE HER! She’s is one of my favorite authors. I love the way she writes.  It’s almost melodic.  I don’t think anyone tells stories the way she does.  I don’t think you can even compare what she writes to anyone else either.  Her stories are unique and at times hard to explain.  I truly believe that if she wasn’t a YA novelist, she would be considered a top literary novelist.  She truly doesn’t get the credit she deserves.

For those not familiar with Sinner.  Sinner is a stand alone companion novel to the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.  Shiver, Linger and Forever follows Grace, Sam, Cole and Isabel transform in out and of wolf form. A completely different take on werewolves, that has nothing to do with the moon.  At the end of Forever, it left the budding and very complicated relationship of Cole and Isabel a little up in the air with Isabel moving to California. They are both easily fan favorite characters, so the moment Maggie announced this book, you could hear the fandom scream.  After Forever came out, Maggie said she would never write another book about Mercy Falls again.  That the story is complete and it is at least for Grace and Sam but I think, like many, I felt that Cole and Isabel’s story was unfinished.  I’m pleased that they finally got they ending.  It wasn’t a fairy tale ending but was perfect for them.

So go out and read her books!  All of them!  I promise you, you won’t regret them!

Waiting is the Hardest Part

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Featured imageThe other day at work, I was bored so I was checking to see if they were any updates to some of the books I can’t wait to read.  One is the Lair of Dreams, book two in the Diviner’s series by Libba Bray.  There was indeed an update.  The publication date has been pushed back! Again!  This book was originally supposed to be released this past September but was pushed back to this upcoming April and now July!  JULY! July!!!  That’s like 8 months from now! The first book, The Diviner’s came out in September of 2012 and I got an Advanced Reader’s Copy of it a couple months before, so I’ve already been waiting for more then 2 years by the time it does finally comes out.

Over the years, I’ve learned a few things about the publishing industry and about how it works. I have friends who work in various publishing houses in the city and follow several different authors on twitter and tumblr, so I’ve pieced the process together. It turns out a lot there is a lot of work that goes into making a book a book.  From the first draft, the many rounds of revisions and edits to person who does the lay out and then the graphic design team to come up with the cover.  All doing this on deadline, so it’s already to go to printing at the right time to be printed and shipped out and the marketing team have time to promote and spread the word. Here’s a what Cassandra Clare had to say on the process of publishing Clockwork Princess. Continue reading →

Just Finished Reading. The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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Featured imageFinally!  I was turned on to this series by a former employee at Simon and Schusters (She now works at HarperCollins) and I was hooked.  The first book, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was haunting and a little weird.  Is Mara’s crazy or can she actually make things happen with her mind or is it even something more?  The Evolution of Mara Dyer and the Retribution of Mara Dyer, the other two books in the trilogy, pretty much explores this questions and takes you places you didn’t think it would go. So now that the trilogy is over (and you don’t have to wait two years between books 2 and 3) you should go out and read it.

The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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So here I go making my first attempt at a review. Be kind everyone. Also, this does contain some spoilers.

So the Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout contains five books, Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origins and Opposition. Six books if you count the prequel novella, Shadows and seven if you can’t Obsession. The series follows Katy, a regular girl, who loves to read and gardening and Daemon, the really hot boy next door with a very bad attitude.  The story begins with Katy moving to small town, Petersburg, West Virginia, from Gainesville, Florida.  Her father died of couple of years earlier from cancer and her mother has decided that she and Katy needed a change of scenery to move on with their lives. A bit cruel to do it to Katy right before her senior year but whatever. Katy, self describes herself as boring.  She much rather stay at home and read and then blog about what she just read and then hang out online stalking her blog comments then go outside and hang out.  I can totally understand the wanting to read all the time instinct.  Anyway, Katy is so boring that her mother has no problem working all the time and leaving Katy home alone all the time to work. because you know nothing bad is going to happen, right.  At the encouragement of Katy’s mother, she goes next door to introduce herself to her neighbors and try to make friends before school starts.  Enter Daemon Black, who in perfect meet the hot guy fashion, opens the door, shirtless and showing off his perfect male model body, that no normal 17 year-old boy should have. Katy is rendered speechless by Daemon and Daemon jumps on it to immediately but rude and condescending.Let’s just say, their first meeting didn’t go well. However, it sets up their relationship of verbal sparring through out the series.

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A Sisters’ Revenge

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***This post contains minor spoilers from book series, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and the Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.***

I hate spoilers.  I want to know but I really don’t want to know.  I like to discover the surprises, twists and turns of a book, movie or TV show as I’m reading or watching.  So because of my dislike of spoilers, I don’t want to spoil things for anyone else either.  My good intentions, have got me in trouble. Case in point, with my sister and fellow bloggess, Kate.  Last year, I turned her on to Laini Taylor’s amazing series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

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The Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus

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Ok, so here it is. The final book in the Percy Jackson saga. The Blood of Olympus comes out this Tuesday.  If you are like me, you are not ready to see Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Frank, Hazel and Nico (Jason and Piper have sort of grown on me I’ll admit) go  but everything must end.

What do you think will happen?  Who will survive and who will not?  Will the demigods save the world and Camp Half Blood? And will we get any insight into Rick Riordan’s new series, Magnus Chase?  Could Magnus be related to Annabeth Chase?

I’m excited but sort of dreading the end. Who’s with me?