Booking Through Thursday #4, Update Thursday #9, Library Quick Reviews #1

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Deb @ BTT. This week's question asks the following:

Do you read book reviews? Whose do you trust? Do they affect your reading habits? Your buying habits?

My answer: I will scan down my whole list of blog updates every day. If something strikes me, like a book I've read or want to read or just bought or sounds interesting, I'll click on it and read it. I have no particulars on favorite bloggers, because everyone's got some great opinions about books. Even if someone were to post a "this book was dumb" kind of review and I wanted to read it, I'd still read it. I like to form my own opinion. If someone posts a "this book was amazing and it changed my life you have to read it" kind of review, it just makes me want to read it more!


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Update Thursday!

This week, I have a LOT of things to share. I've been bottling them all up and saving them for this moment...

1. I've been slacking off in the book review/book reading department... again... but for good reason! (Again!) I've been writing... and actually writing well. My story is beginning to come to life. I had this inspiration on Sunday for the one scene, so I wrote out a brief overview of it on the notepad in my phone (wasn't at home at the time), got home, wrote it out. Then every night since then, still writing. Monday I wrote out the beginning of the story. Tuesday I revised the intro more. Wednesday I completed a dialogue I came up with during the day. I am just so excited! I've never written so much in such a short time. I think this year will definitely be the year for NaNoWriMo for me!

2. Still anxiously awaiting on my Nook. I was hoping to get it today. I have a feeling it may be later in the afternoon or tomorrow according to the tracking number. I cannot cannot cannot wait! I have a list of books to download. I'm sticking with the cheaper ones at the moment, since the Nook wasn't cheap, lol.

3. Finished Hold Still by Nina LaCour last night. Talk about an AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING book! Here's the link to the Goodreads synopsis. If you read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and appreciated the message, Hold Still will do the same, and more, since it goes through the grieving process over the course of a year. The connections of the different people that are affected, directly and indirectly, by a tragedy like that are astounding. You never really think about it until you read this.

4. There was a question on Reading Lark that I wanted to answer, but didn't want to post yet another post last night... the question: Is there a book you feel you should have read by now, but you've just never picked up? My answer: Persuasion by Jane Austen. With as much of a fan that I am of the movie (the Masterpiece Theater version, amazing, I consider it my favorite movie of all time), I have never read the book. Or any of Jane Austen's books. I feel this is pathetic. I must remedy this. And soon.

5. I just found out about a new reading challenge... and I want to participate! It's the 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge hosted by Book Chick City. I'll be posting something later about my official signing up. In the meantime, check it out yourself. You may want to do it too!

6. I will be participating in the What's Your Status? contest. Here's a link to the contest info. Basically I will host on one day, others will host on other days, then there will be a poll to vote on the best posting format. If I win (which would be awesome), I get to host WYS for a few weeks! So, just to let you all know, I'll be hosting it on the 25th of this month on a Saturday. Don't miss it! ^_^


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Library Quick Reviews

Now for quick reviews of the library books from my last library trip! If I have a full review up, I'll link to it.



Where She Went by Gayle Forman
* A very, very well written sequel that I could not put down. Nor could I keep the tears from welling up. Sometimes sequels just make the story end poorly. This one did not. It made the story complete. I’ll write out a whole review at some point, once I’ve written one up for If I Stay.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
* Already posted review here.

Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
* Already posted review here.

A Tale Of Two Pretties by Lisi Harrison
* A great end to a much enjoyed series. A little cheesy in some ways but the integrity of the characters and original story line kept it from straying off to a unnatural ending. I still need to read the prequel and the summer series.

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
* I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that bad, it kept me interested enough, but it wasn’t something I could really get into. I’m not sure why. I’m glad I finally got to read it. I may or may not books that follow this.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
* I started out a little irritated with the characters, but then I began to love it. It was right after the section that I took my teaser from a few weeks back. I grew to love the back and forth and the overwhelming sexual tension. That’s what makes or breaks a book. Cannot wait to read Crescendo!

Shiver by Maggie Steifvater
* Very intriguing and captivating, it definitely kept me interested. There was a line from the same chapter I took my teaser from that got me, where she touched the wolf’s fur for the first time. That got me. You could sense the love story was real throughout, not just a dull excuse to build a love story from. Gotta read Linger soon!

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
* It was intense and interesting, having a good main story and side stories, and love triangles. Somehow I wasn’t that impressed. I’m unsure if I’ll read the next book. More likely to read the next one in this series than The Dark Diving series.


Happy reading and have a great Thursday! ^_^

~Jessica