Halloween Read-A-Thon Mini Challenge & Giveaway Closed

In honor of the Halloween Read-A-Thon I am holding a mini-challenge and giveaway. To enter, it's really simple: all you have to do is complete the form (link below) and answer one question. What is your favorite paranormal creature (werewolf, vampire, faery, etc.) and why? By filling out the form and answering that one question you will be entered for a chance to win a brand new copy of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer...and if you're lucky, I may throw in some candy as well.

Here are the rules:

- This contest is open to those with US and CANADA mailing addresses.

- You must be 13 or older to enter.

- You MUST be taking part in the read-a-thon to enter (I will check the list on Lesley's blog to make sure)

- This contest will run from October 15th to October 17th at 11:59 PM EST.

- While comments are appreciated, you need to fill out the form in order to enter.

This giveaway is now closed thank you to all who entered.

Halloween Read-A-Thon

For the next three days I will be taking part in YA Books Reviewed's Halloween Read-A-Thon. I've actually never taken part in a read-a-thon so I'm really excited to be participating. Basically for the next 3 days I will be reading as much as I can and those books will all have some sort of Halloween feel to them. Mostly that just means I'll be reading the paranormal books that have been sitting on my shelf waiting for this weekend. I have plenty of werewolves, faeries, casters, witches and even a few aliens waiting for me to find out all about them. I don't know how many books I'll manage to read but I know that I'll have fun regardless.

Here's my tentative reading list:

- Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

- The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

- Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

- I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I may or may not get through all of those but I'll at least have gotten through part of my TBR pile.

On top of just participating in the read-a-thon, I will also be holding a mini-challenge and giveaway that will last the duration of the read-a-thon so look out for my post about that as well.

So if you're looking for me this weekend, I will most likely be sitting somewhere with my nose in a book!

YA Love Triangle Week

Amber of Down The Rabbit Hole will soon be hosting a YA Love Triangle Week (date TBA). During that week, different book bloggers will be fighting for different sides. Some of the books featured will be Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments and so on.

When I saw this was going on I of course decided I needed to participate. Though some of the boys I would have liked to fight for had already been chosen I still found someone I love and would love to defend.

So during the YA Love Triangle Week I will be fighting for:

Damon from The Vampire Diaries! I absolutely love him, what with my tendency to always fall for the bad guy. I will let you know more about when you shall be able to read my defence of Damon as soon as a date is set for this event.

In the meantime, Amber is still looking for a few bloggers to fight for some boys, you can see which ones here.

Waiting On Wednesday (11)

It's Wednesday again and that means it's time for another Waiting On Wednesday post. For those of you that don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers devote a post to an upcoming book release they are particularly looking forward to reading.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel

This is the sequel for Infinite Days which I absolutely loved (you can check out my review here). It was a wonderful book and the first of a series, if I am not mistaken. Not much has been said about Stolen Nights but judging from the excerpt that was at the end of my copy of Infinite Days it picks up right where the first book left off. From the excerpt is also already looked very good. So basically I'm really excited for Stolen Nights and its publication date can't come soon enough!

Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel will be published June 22, 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Title: The DUFF

Author: Kody Keplinger

Publisher: Poppy

Release Date: September 10, 2010

Source: Gifted

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical, loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie, Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “Duffy,” she throws her Coke in her face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Where do I even begin with The DUFF by Kody Keplinger? I had heard a lot about it before beginning to read it, which made me want to read it. My other motivation for reading the book is that it is also part of the Contemps Challenge. Kody Keplinger writes an interesting story that everyone will be able to relate to at one point in their lives. Who hasn’t felt like they were the “ugly one” when they were with their friends? I’ve been there and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

Bianca has never felt like she was the prettiest among her friends but it never bothered her. She liked the way her life was but suddenly things start to fall apart. To make things even better Wesley Rush, the school’s resident man-whore, is paying more attention to her than she cares for and keeps on calling her “Duffy”. Then things suddenly get out of control and Bianca finds herself in this weird relationship with Wesley. She doesn’t know what to do anymore and soon finds out that the one person who understands her better than anyone else is also the one person she has convinced herself she hates.

I don’t think I would normally like a character like Bianca but for someone reason I liked her right from the beginning. As much as I like sarcastic and cynical people, and am one myself sometimes, they tend to get a bit on my nerves especially when I’m reading about them. But with Bianca something was different, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve felt like she does before. More than once, I felt like I was only there to make my friends look better and that’s the part of Bianca I could totally relate to. I feel like that part of Bianca is the one reason people should read this book. I’m almost sure everyone has felt that way at least once in their life and for that reason alone everyone should read this book just so they can relate. There was also a lot more to Bianca than she herself let on and sometimes it almost felt like she was lying to herself about some parts of her life...especially where Wesley was concerned.

Oh Wesley, why did you have to be such a jerk at first? I knew almost right away that there was more to Wesley than just his player exterior and his man-whore habits. Other than his rude and mean comments about Bianca at first, I liked Wesley from the start. There was something about him that kept me rooting for him throughout the book. I just knew that he actually would turn out to care for Bianca and that he was a really good guy behind the player front he put up for everyone to see. I was also nice to see that Bianca wasn’t the only one with issues and that just maybe he also needed a “distraction”. So basically I loved Wesley even though he could be a real jerk most of the time.

I’m repeating myself but this is a story I’m sure many girls out there can really relate to. Unless someone is completely conceited, they will always think that they aren’t the best, most attractive or most intelligent of their group of friends even if sometimes the truth is that they are. I’ve felt like the DUFF on more than one occasion despite my friends’ insistence that it wasn’t true. Kody Keplinger really hit the spot with the story she wrote. It’s a really great book that deserves to be read by so many people.

Overall, I absolutely loved The DUFF and honestly believe everyone should go and read it. It’s a great story about finding yourself and realizing that everyone has issues and that no one’s perfect. So seriously, go and get a copy of this book and read it, I mean it.