Friday, September 2, 2011

Follow Friday & In My Mailbox


  1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
  2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers - Jenni Elyse & Caught in the Pages
  3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. LINKY TOOLS IS BACK! I paid for the subscription - finally so now you can add the links to your own post!!! To add the code to your own post click on GET THE CODE here under the list of names.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
  5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
  6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
  7. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!


Q. If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?


Hmm, tough question! I am sure there are a lot books that I would want to change the ending of, but I think its usually not so much how the characters ended but because of a rushed ending. I really dislike when it seems as though the author either was pushed to finish the series or book because of deadlines and just threw their ideas down or when it seems as though they just lost interest in the story lines and characters and finished it just to get it done and move on to something they find more interesting.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by The Story Siren that I have decided to participate in.

How IMM works:
Make your own IMM post! You can post about books you've bought, gotten from the library, received for review... books don't have to arrive via your mailbox.
I post every week, but you don’t have to. You can do one week out of the month or every other week it’s up to you.
You don't have to call your post In My Mailbox... (some people don't even have mailboxes!)
I post my IMM on Sunday, but choose a day of the week that works for you.
Once you have your IMM posted, come back to The Story Siren on Sunday and add your link to the list.
Try to post a comment on other bloggers IMM posts. I don’t expect you to post a comment on every single one, but pick a few!

All book bloggers are welcome, while I’d like to keep the theme to YA literature it’s NOT a requirement.

There is no right or wrong way to do In My Mailbox, you can vlog, you can take fun picture, you can use the books cover art, it’s up to you!

Most importantly HAVE FUN!
 
So knowing that I would probably loose power because of Hurricane Irene, I stocked up on books for my Nook . . .
 
"Who can tame the wildest man in Titanville?
Zeke Titan has a reputation for breaking hearts, but the townspeople of Titanville can't deny all the good he's done for them. So they turn the other cheek as he seduces one schoolteacher after another. Until Alethea Harbaugh comes to town.
The new teacher brings with her a passion for women's rights that invigorates the ladies of Titanville, and instills fear in the men. Zeke is intent on seducing her, if only to send her running, ruined, from the town so that things can return to normal. But Zeke just might have met his match...in more ways than one!"

"Julia Livia Rufa is horrified when barbarians invade Rome and steal everything in sight. But she doesn't expect to be among the taken! As Wulfric's woman, she's ordered to keep house for the uncivilized marauders. Soon, though, Julia realizes that she's more free as a slave than she ever was as a sheltered Roman virgin. It would be all too easy to succumb to Wulfric's quiet strength, and Julia wants him more than she's ever wanted anything. But Wulfric could one day be king, and Julia is a Roman slave. What future can there be for two people from such different worlds?"
 
"Beautiful and defiant, Kristen Haardrad meets the hot, longing gaze of Royce, Thane of Wyndhurst, with icy fury - vowing never to be enslaved by the powerful Saxon lord who holds her captive.
She is his enemy and his prize - a wild and lusty hellion to be tamed by her dashing conqueror's kiss. But though maddened with desire for the golden-haired Viking temptress, noble Royce, in conscience, cannot force his exquisite prisoner to submit. For only Kristen's willing surrender can quench the blistering fires that sear his tormented soul - and heal a heart consumed by passion with a soothing balm of rapturous, unconditional love."




And yet, Angelina had not always been so hardened. There had been a time when she boasted a fun, flirtatious nature even more delightful than her sister Becca’s—a time when her imagination soared with adventurous, romantic dreams. But that all ended years before at the hand of one man. Her heart turned to stone…safely becoming void of any emotion save impatience and indifference.

Until the day her dreams returned, the day the very maker of her broken heart rode back into her life. As the dust settled from the cattle drive which brought him back, would Angelina’s heart be softened? Would she learn to hope again? Would her long-lost dreams become a blessed reality?


"Lady Elizabeth D'Auvers returns to her beloved home, Woodell Castle, after a self-imposed exile to save herself and her stepchildren from the plague sweeping Britain. Afraid that she will find death and ruin, she is relieved to discover that her castlefolk and lands have thrived in her absence due to the presence of Lord Thomas of Roxburgh. Lord Thomas's great physical size is equaled only by the size of his heart, and his kindness and care for her people earn him the Lady's gratitude. But Elizabeth soon feels much more for Thomas than gratefulness, for desire and passion draw her to the dark, mysterious knight. Thomas, too, is powerfully attracted to the beautiful Lady, but the secrets he keeps may destroy their chance at happiness and bring about his own death"


"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Traumatized by a blaze that killed her parents, young Johanna remembers nothing of her privileged past and remains ignorant of the dangers that surround her. She grows up among the servants, where she develops a sense of purpose that helps her survive the betrayal that unmasks her true identity. Once she is forced to take her proper place in Regency society as the highly sought heiress to the Ambersley fortune, she must defy the relatives who would make her a pawn in their struggle for power.

When Derek Vaughan inherits the dukedom. his dubious parentage makes it a sacrilege to accept. But touched by the ravaged estate and its destitute staff, he braves a society that once shunned him while he rebuilds Ambersley and guards it from his stepmother's bankrupting clutches. He intends to grant the title to his half-brother when the boy comes of age, but Derek's plans go awry from the moment the gardener's apprentice-once his trusted young friend-is revealed to be not only an heiress of beauty and spirit, but the one woman who may finally capture his heart."



"Dreaming of the past.Hannah Falcon loves her job cataloging medieval artifacts and setting up the displays at the Natural History Museum in New York. What she doesn’t love is her father’s steadfast refusal to let her go on any of his archeological digs, or her friends insisting she date more. When a man dressed as a medieval knight shows up in the museum, Hannah mistakes him for her friend’s latest attempt at a blind date.Sent into the future:Sir Gavin of Rogueforth is a battle-hardened twelfth century knight, having seen and caused his share of death in the crusades. He expects nothing more from life than to live and die by his sword. After Gavin rescues a woman and her daughter from a band of highway thieves, she sends him through time to protect another Hannah, claim her as his own and fulfill his destiny. He doesn’t expect a woman who refuses to be protected.Timeless passion:Can a man in chain maille convince a twenty-first century woman to follow her heart? Can a modern day woman show a medieval knight there’s more to life than being a protector? When two people from two different times explore Manhattan during the holiday season will time be an obstacle or will they find the magic to span centuries under the mistletoe?"


And now after reading the first four as well as a couple others I already had downloaded, I think I officially need to stop reading romances for a while its starting to make me cynical and cranky since not every love story ends with a happy ending with the person you want, a marriage, a house and babies!


Thursday, September 1, 2011

I have Missed all my Awesome Online Friends

I know I know it was only four days but that is a long time to go without power or internet! It was an interesting few days since I was having to heat water on the grill to wash up and do the dishes and reading by flashlight, as well as having to guard the fence from Niko getting out! We finally got power back late yesterday so I have a lot of catching up to do, your posts and reviews to read as well as a few posts and reviews of my own to make. I wont be able to review all the books I read over the past couple of days because that's all I had to do for four days! I thank you for your kind thoughts and please send those thoughts on to everyone who is still going through the clean up.


Niko was very helpful with my reading! Valerie however chose to sleep the power outage away!


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Poetry Pause: How Do I Love Thee? By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I am working in the poetry section of my own 2011 Reading Challenge. I had planned on posting the poems for you to join me in reflecting on them; however, I am not entirely certain on the copyright laws regarding some of the poets we will read. So to be on the safe side I decided to try to link you to the poem I will be reading.

Another option, if you are looking to purchase a book of poetry, I suggest Half Hours with the Best Poets (Barnes & Noble or Amazon)





This is a fantastic collection of poems, nearly all of my top poems are in this one book!




So the next poem is
 
The title link with take you to the poem
 
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
 
A classic and beautiful love poem. It is often so hard to find a way to describe how much we love someone. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was able to express the magnitude with which she loves in life and beyond. A love that powerful has no limits and it is only a hope that we all get to experience that love.
" I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!"
Simply stated and with all the ring of truth, so beautiful.
 

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sorry All!

It will be a few days before I can respond to comments from FF or any others or post any reviews or weekly memes.  We made it through the storm ok, lost the back fence and a telephone pole and another tree ripped power lines down so we haven't had power since yesterday.  Hopefully they will get us up and running in the next couple of days. I hope everyone else is doing well and haven't taken too much damage.