Lili Lost in a Book

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Monthly Round Up: February 2012

In February I challenged myself to read at least 1 more book than I did last February (which was 9), including...

A. At least 5 mythology books

B. A Book with LOVE in the title

C. A Book about a Werewolf

D. A Book with Red on the cover

E. A Contemporary Romance Book

F. Between 5-10 review books

G. And at least 1 "Just for fun" book

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☐ Read at least 1 more book than I did last February (which was 9)...I read 8, one less book than last year! Boo! lol

Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2) Jon S. Lewis

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

Bad Blood (Blood Coven #4) by Mari Mancusi

Night School (Blood Coven #5) by Mari Mancusi

Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton

Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows

Jasmine (Energy #1) by Sabrina Sumsion

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

☐Read at least 5 mythology books: I read only 2...bleh:

Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

☐Read a book with LOVE in the title: none :(

☐Read a book about a Werewolf: none :(

☑Read a book with Red on the cover: Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton

☐Read a Contemporary Romance Book: none :(

☑Read between 5-10 review books:

Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2) Jon S. Lewis
Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand
Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton
Incarnate (Newsoul #1) by Jodi Meadows
Jasmine (Energy #1) by Sabrina Sumsion

☑And read at least 1 "Just for fun" book: I read 3!

Bad Blood (Blood Coven #4) by Mari Mancusi
Night School (Blood Coven #5) by Mari Mancusi
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillip

*My favorite book that I read this month would definitely have to be Incarante! It was just amazing; the world the author created was just beautiful! And the cover is pretty amazing too ;)

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Books reviewed this month:

Malice by Griffin Hayes

My Lunatic Life (Lunatic Life #1) by Sharon Sala

Croak (Croak #1) by Gina Damico

Invasion (C.H.A.O.S. #1) by Jon S. Lewis

Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2) by Jon S. Lewis

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

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In March, I'm challenging myself to read at least 8 books total, including...

A. 3-5 mythology books

B. 5-10 review books

C. at least 1 "Just for fun" book

D. And at least 4 of the following categories:

A book with the letter M in the title
A book with the letter O in the title
A book with the letter T in the title
A book with the letter H in the title
A book with the letter E in the title
A book with the letter R in the title
A book with Red on the cover
A book with Yellow on the cover
A book with Pink on the cover
A book with Green on the cover
A book from a favorite series
A book from a favorite author

So I was obviously a fail this past month, lol, but I'm hoping I'll do better in March!

*crosses fingers*

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Oppression Virtual Launch Party + Prizes!

Hello all my cyberspace friends, and welcome to the Oppression Virtual Launch Party! Glad you could come by and party with us! *virtual dance* Kidding, I don't dance :P But you can if you'd like!

Oppression is out today (Feb. 28, 2012), and for those of you not familiar with Jessica Therrien's debut novel, here is the synopsis:

Oppression (Children of the Gods #1)--Jessica Therrien

Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.

That sounds pretty cool, right? Since I'm a mythology junkie and all (especially if it's Greek), this book totally caught my attention! Greek mythology is just the best!

By what we read in the blurb above, we know that Elyse's destiny is deeply intertwined with the fate of the future, right? That means that her fate/destiny is already laid out before her. Some people believe that the future is set in stone, while others think that your future can change by the simple choices you make in your everyday life. I am not exactly sure which of these is or isn't true. However, I find that the ancient Greeks had a very cool and interesting interpretation of fate.

What I love about ancient Greece, is that they had a god or goddess for (literally) everything! They had gods of water, sky, earth, love, justice, healing, music, archery, marriage, childbirth, day, night, sleep, dreams...I could just go on and on and on, but I wont. However, one of the more important deities in Greek mythology were the three Fates (also known as the Moirai), goddesses of fate and destiny.

These goddesses determined when life began, ended, and they decided what happened in between. They wove the good and the evil into the (metaphorical) thread of life for everyone and decided how long they lived. They were so powerful that not even the gods could escape them.

Clotho spun the thread of life on her spindle and was the decider of major decisions, such as when a person was to be born.
Lachesis measured the thread of life and determined the persons destiny. She decided how much time of life was to be allowed to each person and she also chose the persons destiny after the thread was measured out. She appeared with her sisters within 3 days of a child's birth to decide their fate.
Atropos was the one who cut the thread of life. She had the ability to choose the time and the manner of a person's death. And it makes sense that her name means "inflexible" or "inevitable," since death is afterall, inevitable.

That being said, I cannot wait to read this book and see what the Fates have weaved into Elyse's destiny!

I bought the E-book yesterday for only .99 cents, and you can too! Just visit any of the following links...and make it soon because the book wont always be .99 cents!

For Amazon Kindle:

Barnes and Noble Nook (US)

Now lets talk about the prizes! The author is giving away three prizes: an Oppression poster, an Oppression notebook, and a signed copy of Oppression. Want the chance to win? All you have to do is..

Tweet about the release of Oppression using the hashtag #Book1Oppression
Facebook (tag @Jessica Therrien, Author) about the release of Oppression
and/or Visit any of the participating Virtual Launch Party Host blogs (mine included!) and comment on their post about Oppression.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my post! Make sure you check out the other hosts posts as well.

So, what are your thoughts about fate and destiny??

Friday, February 24, 2012

Review: Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand

Title: Hallowed

Series: Unearthly #2

Previous book in this series: Unearthly

Author: Cynthia Hand

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: January 17, 2012

Published by: HarperCollins

Source: the publishers via NetGalley (thanks to both!)

Add it to your Goodreads shelf

Buy it: Amazon| Book Depository

Synopsis:

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

My rating: ★★★★★
This book was just...wow! I don’t even know if I can put my thoughts into a coherent review, but I’ll try!

Review: Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2) by Jon S. Lewis

Title: Alienation

Series: C.H.A.O.S. #2

Previous book in this series: Invasion

Author: Jon S. Lewis

Genre: YA, sci-fi

Publication date: January 03, 2012

Published by: Thomas Nelson

Source: the publishers via NetGalley (thanks to both!)

Add it to your Goodreads shelf

Buy it: Amazon| Book Depository

Synopsis:

Earth's last line of defense against the coming alien invasion is a 16-year-old surfer. But before Colt McAlister can save the world, he has to survive the day.

All Colt wants to do is return to his old life-where aliens don't exist, where mankind hasn't been targeted for destruction, and where his parents are still alive. Unfortunately life doesn't work that way.

The United States government believes Colt holds the key to our survival, so they're sending him to the C.H.A.O.S. Military Academy along with his best friends Oz and Danielle. There they'll be trained to defend Earth against a swarm of alien shapeshifters known as the Thule. But someone is trying to eliminate Colt before he can lead that charge. Shocked to learn about key events in his past and unsure who he can trust, Colt is alienated and on the run.

In a world of high-tech gear, shape-shifting aliens, simulated reality, and hoverboards, Colt must step into his true destiny before our world falls in chaos.

My rating: ★★★★★
It’s finally time for Colt, Oz, and Danielle to go to the CHAOS Academy! What is CHAOS, you might be asking. “CHAOS—Central Headquarters Against the Occult and Supernatural. They were a bit like the CIA or FBI, but instead of going after drug cartels or spying on the Russians, they protected the world from nightmares like bioengineered monsters, alien life forms, and sparkling vampires.” Ha! I loved that last one, me being an ex-Twilight Freak and all ;) Anyway, so students in this school are trained to do all this secret spy stuff to save the world and what not. Pretty cool, eh? Well not everything is cool here, especially since someone is trying to kill Colt…even at school! All these “accidents” nearly got Colt killed, and the people Colt thought he could trust, don’t seem so trustworthy now.