Read My Review 29 Sept - 5 October

Read My Review is a chance for book bloggers to share new and old reviews, related to a theme. It is hosted here at A Trillian Books.




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What to do:

- Find one of your reviews that fits this weeks theme (it can be a new or old review, good or bad).

- Leave your link with Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post. "Blog Name (Book Title)"

- Visit some of the other reviews and leave a 'quality' comment (a couple of sentences).

- Grab the button and let people know about Read My Review.

Okay, so I'd imagine all book bloggers are aware that it's Banned Book Week -if not, where have you been? lol -so banned and challenged books is going to be the Read My Review theme for this week :

Banned Books

You can find a list of some banned/challenged books here. If you really don't have a review of a banned book but want to join in then a book that's potentially controversial will be okay as well.

The theme stays for a week so you can leave your link any time and don't forget to pop back and check out some more fab reviews.

Teaser Tuesday (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 and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm teasing with two banned/challenged books this week:

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Reasons for being banned/challenged: language and morality issues. 

There was an uneasy silence. Several of the boys blushed. They had not yet learned to draw the significant but often very fine distinction between smut and pure science.

Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler

Reason for being banned/challenged: Because the title suggests promiscuity? There's a bit of sex and some alcohol? Idk, really, I don't.

I should have known better than to invoke the universe when it's so clearly in the mood to dole out lessons. Tonight turns out to be a horriblw television night in the Bay area, for Red and Jayne are waiting for us in the kitchen, drinking tea, playing cards, and eager to hear about out wild pirate-girl adventures at sea.

It's Monday (23) and Weekly Round Up

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey. Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week. Please comment or leave a link to let me know what you're reading this week!

Completed last week

  

Annexed - Sharon Dogar
Naked - Megan Hart
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling

Currently Reading

 

City of Glass - Cassandra Clare
Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly

Up soon
As it's banned book week, I'm going to try and read at least one banned book which is likely to be:

Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler

Reviews

 

Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer

Books Received

In My Mailbox

Posts of Interest

Teaser Tuesday
Read My Review: Supernatural
Booking through Thursday

In My Mailbox (25)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren.

For Review (hover over the 'G' for a summary)

Out For Blood - Alyxandra Harvey
Priceless - Nicole Richie
Inheritance - Tara Palmer- Tomkinson

Library

I have sooo many books to get through, I'm trying to restrict myself even on library books. So I'm only getting ones that I've ordered and I'm only ordering ones that are part of a series I'm already reading - or in a few cases where I've received for review a later book in a series and I've ordered the earlier ones.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks
Shopaholic Abroad - Sophie Kinsella

Review: Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer

Artemis has committed his entire fortune to a project he believes will save the planet and its inhabitants, both human and fairy. Can it be true? Has goodness taken hold of the world’s greatest teenage criminal mastermind?

Captain Holly Short is unconvinced, and discovers that Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies -- not humans -- and most likely triggered by Artemis’s dabbling with fairy magic. Symptoms include obsessive-compulsive behavior, paranoia, multiple personality disorder and, in extreme cases, embarrassing professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy.

Unfortunately, Atlantis Complex has struck at the worst possible time. A deadly foe from Holly’s past is intent on destroying the actual city of Atlantis. Can Artemis escape the confines of his mind -- and the grips of a giant squid -- in time to save the underwater metropolis and its fairy inhabitants?

Artemis is showing symptoms of Atlantis Complex when he meets up with his fairy acquaintances in a remote location to present them with his latest project. Captain Holly Short notices his obsession with the number five, right down to the fact  he will only speak in multiples of five words. Before she can do anything about it though everything goes wrong and Artemis ends up getting zapped by a Neutrino. As a result he ends up locked inside his own mind with his alter-ego, Orion, becoming the dominant personality. Just at a time when they need Artemis' cunning and genius, they're stuck with the 'nice' version of him who's entire plan of getting out of the mess is to build a bivouac or search for magic stones that can grant wishes.

Colfer's writing is as witty and sharp as ever and full of action and detail. All the usual characters are back and as we love them. I did however feel that the plot was lacking something somehow, usually there's more surprises in store and the end was also a little ... meh. I also found it a little slow going in places, particularly once Orion had made his appearance. Okay, he was entertaining and all butto me it was odd that for a good proportion of the book there was essentially no Artemis, and well, it is an Artemis Fowl book after all. He might be snarky, arrogant and cocky but that's why we love him.

I enjoyed reading Atlantis Complex but compared to the other books in the series it wasn't the best, in my opinion. 

Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Rebecca Bloomwood just hit rock bottom. But she's never looked better...

Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it—not any of it.

Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from Visa and the Endwich Bank—letters with large red sums she can't bear to read—and they're getting ever harder to ignore.

She tries cutting back; she even tries making more money. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something...

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever.

Technically I was re-reading this book, although as I first read it when it first came out I didn't really remember much of it so it was like reading it fresh. I'd also recently watched the movie (which was what inspired me to read this again) but they're so different that it didn't really make a difference - although it helped that I was now imagining Hugh Dancy as Luke, the potential love interest. :D

Confessions of a Shopaholic is a cute, fun read. The plot isn't all that challenging - it was pretty easy to figure out what was going to happen - but it made a nice easy read ... because sometimes your brain just needs some fluff.

First of all Becky is a great character who reminded me so much of myself in far too many ways! Lol. She spends most of her time at work having no idea what she's doing and considering her job is as a financial journalist, she also has a shocking spending habit. At one point Becky decides to keep a record of everything she buys - the first thing she does? She buys a new notebook and pen to write everything down. That's sooo what I'd do!

The main thing I loved about this book was the humour. There were lots of laugh out loud moments as Becky digs herself deeper and deeper into trouble. At the same time though I really started to understand and in some ways feel sorry for her.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Shopaholic series and more Sophie Kinsella books in general.

Well, it's Friday again ...

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer @ Crazy for Books. It's a chance for book bloggers to connect and share the book love. Check out Crazy for Books (click on the button) for more details and to find the links of some awesome blogs.

This week's question is:
When you write reviews, do you write them as you are reading or wait until you have read the entire book?

I sometimes make a few notes as I read if there's something particular I think of that I want to mention in my review. I always write the review after I've finished the book though. I should probably write them sooner after finishing than I usually do though.

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee. Just click on the banner below to see the rules and to join in.

This week's question is:
What is your high fashion book? --- translation --- best book cover ever.

Urgh, I don't know there's so many awesome covers out there. I love the UK Harry Potter covers because there's so much detail in them relating to the plot and also the Adult covers are awesome. 

Read My Review is a chance for book bloggers to share new and old reviews, related to a theme. It is hosted here at A Trillian Books. Make sure you leave your Supernatural themed review links to this weeks post and also visit some of the awesome reviews already there.

It's also Mega Swagbucks day! If you don't use Swagbucks you should give it a try. Just use it to search as you would your usual search engine and you periodically earn swagbucks which can be redeemed for prizes. Currently I average about 2 £5 Amazon gift cards a month just by using swagbucks for some of my internet searching (I don't even use it all the time). Click below to join.

Booking Through Thursday - Current

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This weeks question is:

What are you reading right now? What made you choose it? Are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it? (And, by all means, discuss everything, if you’re reading more than one thing!)

*Takes a deep breath* Ready? I've got four books on the go right now so this may take a while. Oh and if you hover for a few seconds over the little "G" blob thing next to the title you'll get s synopsis from getglue.com

Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly

I'm reading this pretty much because it was sent to me by the publisher. I'd not heard of it before but I did like the sound of it before I started it. Am I enjoying it? Hell yeah. It's frickin' awesome actually. I'd definitely recommend it to any one who likes YA drama, a bit romance with some history thrown in for good measure.

City of Glass - Cassandra Clare

I'm reading this because Jace is full of awesome and I love the world Cassandra Clare has developed. It's the third of the series so it was pretty much guarantee that I'd like it.as I really enjoyed the first two. I already have and will continue to recommend this series.

Naked - Megan Hart

I'm reading this one because I like a bit of smut lol, I've read some of Megan Hart's books before and they've been good so far mainly because they actually have some plot and charactr development which isn't always the case for this kind of book. I am enjoying it but it's a little slow going as it's in ebook format and I can't always read on my laptop.(Still wishing for that ereader)

Annexed - Sharon Dogar

This was from Netgalley and I really liked the sound of it, having read Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl a few times. Again it's taking a bit of time because it's in ebook format. I also still have mixed feelings about whether I like it or not. Something's not quite engaging me but I don't know what.I'm going to keep plodding on with it though as I'm not really that far into it.