The 8^th book in the House of Night series, Awakened is the second-to-last book before the finale (at least, that’s what I thought—correct me if I’m wrong)!

Can I get a woo-hoo?

While I loved this series in the beginning, it has started to drag and all the pop culture references are getting to me. I don’t recall there being so many in the beginning books, but now it’s just getting ridiculous. To me, adding so much petty dialogue revolving around these references is ridiculous. It adds nothing to the plot and makes the writing seem lazy—like the Casts had a word limit to reach and thought they’d throw in a few silly conversations that add nothing to the plot.

Aside from what I’ve said about previous installments to this series, Awakened actually had a few good things going on.

First, I love—LOVE—the Stevie Rae and Rephaim romance that’s going on. Zoey and Stark are old news (though Stark is way better than Heath, in my opinion—why the heck did they decide to bring Heath back??), Stevie Rae and Rephaim are the new ‘IT’ couple for the series. I love that Rephaim was finally turned into a real boy, though I did love the mysteriousness of him being a half-man/half-bird. Sexy.

Second, I love Aphrodite. She’s a great character and is probably the most well-written character in the series. There should be more of her in the next book, in my opinion.

And now the bad things:

First, I can’t believe that Kalona can get into Stark’s body—how weird is that? Just because of this happening, I’m betting that—by the end of the series—Zoey is going to be back with Heath and Stark will be dead. There’s no way if Kalona’s in charge of Stark’s body that Stark won’t end up dying in the end.

Second, where was Zoey this whole book? She chose to stay on the Island of Skye and completely ignored the responsibilities she should have been bold enough to take. And after mourning Heath, she immediately gets infatuated with trying to get it on with Stark.

Lastly, out of all the characters to die in a book, why choose Jack? If it’s anything like Heath’s death, he’ll just be brought back anyway, but seriously. There are some other really annoying characters that could have been killed off instead.

The first House of Night book, Marked, was released 4 years ago. Maybe I’ve just grown up a lot in the past 4 years, but I’m wondering why I was so intrigued with this series in the first place. The writing can be sloppy in places—and sometimes just plain silly—and the characters seem to act younger than their age. In 4 years, I’ve read so many better books and yet, after 4 years of reading these books, I feel like I should tough it out to the bitter end.

Come on P.C. and Kristin—pick up your socks and write something great, something unexpected and amazing for the finale! Your readers deserve it.

Buy or Borrow: Where do your books that you read come from? The bookstore? The library? Do you prefer to own a book, or have it on loan?

I read a ton of books. I own a ton of books. I have a really hard time going into any store, be it a grocery store or a book store, and not coming out with a book. In fact, just yesterday I was getting a book for a girlfriend’s birthday and I couldn’t leave without just one book for myself. It’s sad.

That being said, I also use the library a lot. I just got about 9 books from my waiting list. How I’m going to read them all, I have no idea!

Whether or not I own a book depends on the book. There have been a few books that I’ve taken out from the library that I read and loved, then I feel sad because I don’t own it. When I finish an amazing book, I always lend it to my mom or my best friend. I love to share books with people! But when it’s a library book, I can’t just give it to someone else. And I don’t think I could justify it to my husband, my buying a book I’ve already read!

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Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read in an effort for book bloggers to make new book blogging friends.

Q: Which book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?

I wouldn’t say there’s a specific genre I avoid. Yeah, if we’re talking music, there are definite genres I avoid — rap, hip-hop, country. But we’re not talking music, we’re talking books. When it comes to reading books, it’s not about the genre, it’s whether or not the book itself appeals to me. I’ll read anything if the book looks good!

Of course, there are genres that I really haven’t read — not because I don’t like them, but because I haven’t been properly introduced to them. Genres like science fiction, or fantasy … sure, I’ve read some books, but I just don’t know what’s out there that I would enjoy. When it comes to YA books, or contemporary fiction, I find it’s a lot easier to find a book to read, one that I wouldn’t shy away from.

I think being a part of a book club definitely helps me read more outside of my comfort zone. So far, I’ve had 5 or 6 book club meetings and it’s been great to read books that I was initially shrugging off only to find out that they’re awesome.

Like music, or food, or even a certain colour — don’t knock it until you try it. And as they say with food, you can’t judge something on the first bite. The same thing goes with books, you can’t read one fantasy book and say you don’t like the genre based on that one book. Soon enough, you’ll find an awesome book in that genre that’ll blow your socks off and then you’ll want to read everything in that genre!

MY REVIEW
Is anyone else afraid of dreaming? Specifically, of having bad dreams? I know I’ve woken up in a panic before: a cold sweat, heart pounding, not really knowing what exactly happened in my dream. But I still manage to get to sleep every night.

Scaredy Squirrel, on the other hand, does not sleep. He’s so scared of having a bad dream that he has a plan for the night to keep himself awake. Since he’s so afraid of his dreams scaring him, when he sees his horoscope telling him that at midnight all his dreams will come true, Scaredy flips out and has to come up with a plan to keep the monsters from his dreams away!

As usual, nothing goes according to plan, but in the end Scaredy Squirrel realizes the benefits of a good sleep–and learns that nothing will get him in the night.

I love how the lessons in each of Melanie Watt’s Scaredy Squirrel series are simple, but unique in their teaching. Reading the stories is fun and they keep you thinking until well after you’ve finished the stories. Just think: if a neurotic little squirrel can learn to face his fears, surely we can all do the same.

Of course, the best part in all of these books is the illustrations. They just keep getting better and better as the series goes on. Melanie Watt is a true talent and we’re sure lucky to have her up here in Canada.

Let me clarify.

I’m 30-years-old and have done many exciting things in my life: I’ve traveled, I’ve met wonderful people, I’ve read amazing things, and I’ve had fantastic experiences. My problem is that I have the memory of a tic tac and can’t recall certain events most of the time. Holidays, things that happened in my childhood, heck–even what happened last week–I get fuzzy on them all! I’m pretty healthy, I haven’t had any traumatizing experiences, and yet I forget.

Sure, it drives people crazy, when I can’t recall certain things from my past, especially holidays or places I’ve been. I remember certain things, but I can’t remember my life in complete detail.

I could never write my own memoirs.

While I was at my book club yesterday, we were picking out books to read in our future meetings. Some people had read certain books and  loved them, so they shared what they remembered. I had a few books I commented on, but I had such a hard time really remembering the synopsis, or trying to explain what I loved about said books. And one of these was a book I read this month.

Does this happen to anyone else?

I wonder sometimes if I am reading too much, if I need to stop and breathe in between books to really let them resonate in me. Then I think that I do sit and think about books afterwards. That’s what this blog is about — so I can remember what I’m reading. But could I do something more? When asked on the spot about a book, I’d like to be able to talk about it, share my feelings and thoughts about the book, the author, or other similar works, but I can’t just whip out my phone, look up my website and find the information I need.

How do I deal with improving my memory? Does anyone have any tricks for recalling information without having to resort to the internet, or notes jotted in a notebook? People read so many books in their lives; some have read so much more than I have (my list is quite piddly compared to some) and I’m in awe of the people who can recall — at the drop of a hat — the names, titles, subject matter, and their thoughts about a certain book or author. I strive to be like these people. I long to be like these people. And I’m sure some people aren’t taking detailed notes about what their reading, or taking extra measures so that they don’t pick up an already-read book in the future, not remembering that they had already read it.

There are so many books I loved reading, and after I’m done I have tears in my eyes, a smile on my face and I want to share the book with everyone. I would think that would be enough for me to remember that book, but it’s just not.

Do you have any tips or tricks? Is there anything I can do to recall the things I read? How do you remember everything — or most of what — you’ve read?

MY REVIEW
Reading Hannah Harrington’s novel, Saving June, was different for me. I never had a sister, or even a sibling, who really tortured me as I was growing up. My brothers are both a lot older than I am and we pretty much stayed out of each other’s way and by the time I was entering high school, they had moved out of the house. I also never particularly had a rebellious streak in my teens, feeling the need to go on a road trip or “find myself” — does that make me lucky? Or does that make me sheltered? Who knows.

Saving June is very much a novel about finding oneself, though the beginning of Harper Scott’s journey — our young narrator — doesn’t begin under the best of circumstances. Sure, it’s just before graduation and there are reasons to celebrate, but the big reason for Harper’s journey is the fact that her sister, June, committed suicide. Harper’s feelings of frustration and not understanding why June would do such a thing leads her to recruit her two friends, Laney and Tyler, to go on a road trip to California — somewhere where June had always wanted to go — to scatter June’s ashes.

Reading Saving June reminded me of a combination of two movies — One Week and Into The Wild. I loved the idea of a journey, of the three teenagers doing things they wouldn’t normally do and stepping outside of their comfort zone, documenting a life that they had only dreamed of living. While I’m usually pretty hesitant about pop-culture references in novels, I really enjoyed the inclusion of so much music in this one. Maybe I’m biased because I’m a musician myself, but I felt it added so much to the story.

While the journey of Harper, Laney, and Tyler had its ups and downs, it’s a journey of discovery and they all grow a bit over the course of the road trip. They all lost June and they all learn how to deal with that loss. Harrington hits home by insinuating that sometimes, when dealing with loss, we can’t sit in our homes, as though we are protecting ourselves in a shell — we have to get out and experience things, live our lives, even if just for the benefit of the one who passed.

I did have one problem with the novel, though. One was that I felt that three underage teens disappearing for a few weeks wouldn’t be taken so lightly by their parents, especially with Harper only being sixteen — there also seemed to be a lot of underage drinking going on, drugs, sex, and whatnot. Would this be suitable for a teen to be reading? Or am I being too protective?

That being said, though, Saving June was a light, but meaningful read. I’m interested to see what else Hannah Harrington writes in the future. I was quite pleased to read something in YA literature that wasn’t part of a sequel, which was a welcome surprise. I wouldn’t say this is the best YA book out there, but it was more than I thought it would be. I’d recommend it.

MY REVIEW
I’m going to say this first: I love a good ghost story. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like YA books nowadays deal with anything but ghosts, so I was happy to find such a book even existed. Aside from the fact that it’s a ghost story, Anna Dressed In Blood immediately drew me in because of the cover — how crazy and cool is that cover art? It’s mysterious and creepy and fantastically designed. I probably would’ve bought the book for the cover alone if the story hadn’t also drawn me in.

Anna Dressed in Blood is the story of Cas, am 17-year-old ghost-hunter who kills the dead. Not all the dead, but only the dead who are a threat to humans. When he moves to Thunder Bay, Ontario he has one mission: to find Anna — a ghost that had been causing major problems — and kill her. Naturally, there are twists and turns, but this is a pretty good story and will keep you turning the pages.

Now, while I was first turning the pages, getting into the crazy intro that Blake tossed my way, the first thing that completely threw me with this novel was the fact that it was told by a guy’s perspective. When I realized this, oh, about 10 pages in, I realized that I read a lot of woman-based fiction; a lot of stories told from a female perspective, or about females. I am obviously quite sheltered in my literature and really should get out of my shell.

But I digress.

That being said, while I loved Cas and his snarkiness, I really enjoyed Anna’s character. She was haunting, but sweet, and I found myself constantly pulling for her. I also loved Cas’s mother and how she helped him with his “kills” — from what I’ve been reading in YA literature, the parents aren’t normally one of the forerunners of the novel; sure you see them now and again, but they never play a big part.

The other characters are awesome as well, though I thought there was one thing missing with them: that emotion that comes with seeing a ghost, or seeing anything truly gruesome. Is it just me? Am I the only one who would be thrown into a sleepless night after seeing a ghost? I felt like these kids were just shaking it off like it was something that was bound to happen sooner or later and it’s really no big deal.

One of the other things that took some getting used to was the print of the book: rather than having the story printed in regular, run of the mill black ink, it was printed in a dark red, as if to emphasize the “blood” part of the title.

And the romance! Who would’ve thought that a YA novel written from a male perspective would have such great romance. I’m not talking about anything hot and heavy, but rather, more of an innocent kind of romance. Nothing heavy-handed or overly done, but something that made me smile and blush in parts. I adored the romance in this book!

And how could I forget Tybalt, the Siamese cat? I am not really a cat person (just ask the two I have at my house — they’re my husband’s cats and pretty much ignore me when he’s not around), but I absolutely fell in love with Tybalt. I felt he added some good humour to the book.

The only thing I was really questioning throughout the book — besides the teenagers’ reaction to the world of the unknown — were the ghosts and how tangible they actually were. I felt that it wasn’t really talked about, yet the ghosts seemed to come across as regular human beings, heard by everyone, able to be touched and touch things. From what I remember, from ghost stories I heard growing up, a ghost was only seen by certain people and couldn’t be touched. I wonder why the ghosts in this book were so different.

In the end, I really enjoyed this novel, even if it didn’t completely live up to the high horse I had put it on. Don’t get me wrong, I adored Cas, and loved Anna to death, but I felt like something was missing. Maybe it was because I didn’t get completely scared while reading it — though, it does take a lot to scare me in a book. Even if that was the case, I still really look forward to the second instalment of this series — I’m sure it will be wonderful.

MY REVIEW
While I am a fan of Twilight, I don’t consider myself to be a “Twi-hard” fan. I loved the books and attribute them to getting me back into reading again; I’ve seen all the movies and own most of them (and actually think they’re not too bad–despite some horrible acting in parts); and I even have one of the movie companion books AND the Bree Tanner book (though I haven’t actually read either of them). I’m not someone who screams when they see Edward or Jacob for the first time on the big screen, and I am also not someone who feels the need to buy every single Twilight-related item that may hit the shelves.

So, when I noticed that there was now graphic novels for Stephenie Meyer’s debut book, Twilight, I immediately checked with my local library to see if I could save a few pennies and check out the books, rather than buying them. In my opinion, graphic novels are quite short, easy to digest, and not usually something I’d feel the urge to go back and read again (unless we’re talking The Sandman graphic novels, but I feel they have a bit more depth than these adaptations.).

From what I can tell, Volume 2 is the last of the adaptations of Twilight for the graphic novel. There seems to be a huge trend of graphic novels nowadays–it seems that people are more likely to read books with pictures than books that hold more depth and clarity in their writings. I certainly don’t feel that Twilight is best suited for the graphic novel. While Young Kim’s illustrations can be breathtaking, I felt like I was missing something while reading this instalment.

While I enjoyed Volume 1 of the graphic novels, I immediately had a distaste for Volume 2 when I opened it up and the story continues without any rehashing as to what went on in the last book. Of course, I knew what was going on, but it felt like a very abrupt beginning to me. I also felt like the entire book was rushed. I can’t remember the exact logistics of the movie, but it felt like within only one day of Bella and Edward expressing their feelings to one another, they’re suddenly in love, inseparable, and Bella’s life is in danger. Event after event kept coming at me and I really found myself wanting more depth, more description, longing for the novel that I remember loving to read.

While the entire story seemed to be moving really quickly, I did enjoy both the story and the artwork about the history of Edward and his family, the Cullens, and how they come to be where they are–that is, how they became vampires. I loved the sepia tones and the darkness of Kim’s drawings for this part. I felt they were deep and magical. I was still quite annoyed with the constant tear that seems to appear on Bella’s face, but I guess that’s how she must have come across to Kim.

The illustrations are wonderful, though–especially towards the end of the book where Edward takes Bella to prom (I’m assuming if you’re reading the graphic novel, you’ve read the actual novel and/or have seen the movie–I’m assuming I’m not spoiling anything). The colours of Bella’s dress with the background and Edward next to her are beautiful. I wish more of that was splashed throughout the entire book.

I would recommend the graphic novels to the “Twi-hard” fans only, unless you like to use your public library. These are quick reads–I had each of them read within a half hour–but you’ll find yourself wanting to read the actual novel afterwards.

MY REVIEW
I loved Twilight when I first read it. I felt that Stephenie Meyer truly crafted something special. While I’ve read so many books since reading Twilight, and adored some of them even more, Stephenie Meyer’s series about the love between a human girl and a vampire boy still holds a special place for me.

When I was wandering the shelves of my public library, I came across the graphic novel section and decided to have a look. I feel quite new to this type of book, since I’ve only read one before. My nephew had read a few of them (I know he’s particularly fond of the Bones series), so I thought it would be no big deal to pick them up.

The Twilight graphic novel immediately came to my attention as I was perusing the section, so I picked it up and signed it out. After reading it–it’s quite a quick read, even with absorbing the pictures–I can still say that I prefer the actual novel to the graphic novel. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read the novel twice, I’ve seen the movie countless times, and have read the rest of the books in the series, but something felt off with this one. I think part of it was in the storytelling. I know that Stephenie Meyer had a hand in the creation of this book, but there was the odd thing said that just felt out of place.

The illustrations were, for the most part, quite beautiful. I loved the mixture between drawing, photograph, and painting. The only thing I ever had in my mind when I started to read graphic novels was that they would be similar to reading an Archie comic or something of the sort–I’ve now come to the conclusion that it’s nothing like that. There were times when I loved the darkness of an illustration, such as the part when Jacob is telling Bella about the past, or times where I loved the depth in a characters’ eyes. At other times, I was a little annoyed with how much it seemed that Belle was either crying or perspiring. Surely that couldn’t have been just me noticing that?

But other than the small graphic glitch (for me, at least), or the small warble in the story, it was nice to have something else to read that stayed true to the book. I remember reading Nightlight: A Parody and was so put off by it that I abandoned all things Twilight. For once I feel happy to have picked up something that has come from the books Stephenie Meyer crafted. While the read was quick and the words were sparse, it was still easy to get an idea of the character of Edward and Bella. We don’t see much of Edward’s family, and Charlie and Jacob are really only present to lend explanations for things, but still, it works for a volume of this size. I also loved the odd splash of colour that Kim would put in her work–it was a nice change of pace from the black and white.

This graphic novel doesn’t take us too far, only up to the meadow scene, so I look forward to reading more of these graphic novels that Young Kim puts out in the future. They seem promising to win over old and new fans of the series.

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It’s where all participants post what new books they received in the mail, from the library, or contests they won, etc. Click the link for more info and to join in on the fun!

BOUGHT FROM THE LIBRARY $0.25 BOOK SALE

Leaper: The Misadventures of a Not-Necessarily-Super Hero, by Geoffrey Wood
Where Two Seas Meet (Cheney and Shiloh: The Inheritance Book #1), by Lynn and Gilbert Morris
The Moon by Night (Cheney and Shiloh: The Inheritance Book #2), by Lynn and Gilbert Morris
There Is A Season (Cheney and Shiloh: The Inheritance Book #3), by Lynn and Gilbert Morris
Flabbergasted, by Ray Blackston
At the Scent of Water, by Linda Nichols
Chocolate Beach, by Julie Carobini
Truffles by the Sea, by Julie Carobini
The Betrayal (Abram’s Daughters #2), by Beverly Lewis
The Sacrifice (Abram’s Daughters #3), by Beverly Lewis
The Prodigal (Abram’s Daughters #4), by Beverly Lewis
Summer of the Midnight Sun (Alaskan Quest #1), by Tracie Peterson
Under the Northern Lights (Alaskan Quest #2), by Tracie Peterson

BOUGHT FROM INDIGO & CHAPTERS

Android Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters
This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, by Kenneth Oppel
Shine, by Lauren Myracle
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin

FROM THE LIBRARY

The Night Circus, by Emily Morgenstern
Chocolate (the movie! based on Joanne Harris’s book)

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I didn’t intend for this week to be so crazy with the book buying, but when I went to the library to pick up The Night Circus, which finally came in, I couldn’t help noticing the huge stack of books in their ongoing book sale. I’m missing a few of the books from the series (the library only had books 2-5 of the Abram’s Daughters series, and I’m missing one of the Alaskan Quest books), but for $3.25, I thought I did pretty good!

You’re probably noticing that there’s a lot of Amish/Christian Fiction in my library haul … I have to admit that after reading some Amish and Christian titles from Booksneeze, I’ve gotten hooked. I absolutely love that the romance in these books is so innocent and I really like reading about the simple life.

As for my Indigo haul, I had a $50 gift certificate to use from my brother-in-law. I was going to read The Count of Monte Cristo the other week and then realized that I had the ABRIDGED version of it. I figured at close to 600 pages it had to be the real one! But, it wasn’t, and I was intrigued, so I had to buy the UNABRIDGED version. And a few others, while I was at it …

What’s in your mailbox?