In My Mailbox (4) (first video)

In my Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

This is my first video that I've done for In My Mailbox. I talk very awkwardly and fast and there is a lot of background buzzing interference, I'll try and change that, haha.

Books:

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

Plague by Michael Grant

Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Matched  by Ally Condie

Follow Friday/ Book Blogger Hop (6)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkie!

This week's question is:

What is the book you really don't want to admit loving?

To be honest, there are no books that I would not admit to reading. If I'd read Twilight and liked it and someone in real life asked if I had, I might be a bit embarrassed to admit it. 

I do love my zombie books though, which some people find quite strange. Even some of the cheesiest action orientated ones I love. 

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books!

This week's question is:

Since today is April Fools Day, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR had played on you?

Ugh, I feel so boring with my answers this week. I can't think of one big epic prank that has been played on me or that I played on someone specific to April Fools Day. I do have a couple small pranks that I have been remembering recently to mention though.

When I was at school (maybe in Year 8 - 12 years old) we were all sitting in English class with a substitute teacher no one really liked. One of the students had a mosquito whistle on their phone (for anyone who doesn't know - it's a high pitched whistle that only people under the age of about 25 can hear. People use them outside their houses to repel youths). The student kept playing it on his phone when the teacher was talking, or at funny moments. Of course the whole class could hear and would burst out laughing at the same moments, but the teachers had no idea what it was and in the end kept asking us what was so funny.

Anyway, that wasn't really a prank or on April Fools Day or anything, but I just remembered that story recently and thought it would be quite appropriate to share.  

Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Published: 2010
Pages: 375
My Rating: 4/5


Mackie Doyle is a replacement - a fairy child left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago, to replace the baby when it was stolen away by the fey. So though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie's real home is the fey world of tunnels and black, murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. Now, because his fey blood gives him fatal allergies to iron, blood and consecrated ground, Mackie is slowly dying in the human world. Mackie would give anything just to be normal, to live quietly amongst humans, practice his bass guitar and spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably back home to the fey underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem, where he must face down the dark creatures, rescue the child, and find his rightful place - in our world, or theirs.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. And how quickly I got into it. I was taking a bit of a chance when buying it as it's not my favorite genre. But just thought I'd give it a go. I'm quite glad that I did. 


First off, I loved our lead character, Mackie. I have no idea what I liked about him so much, but I just found him very likable. As for the rest of the characters, I have to say, Yovanoff did a brilliant job writing them. They were all unique and individual with their own personalities. They were all real. 


I found the whole fantasy world very interesting. There was nothing specific, like vampires or werewolves, but there was a whole manner of different creatures with the theme of death. I did find that some of the details of how the world worked in relation to ours a little glossed over, causing me to get a bit confused at times. And I did find it strange how easily all the characters settled with the idea of the world. 


But overall, I found the writing very fast paced and enjoyable, with many likable characters and interesting scenes. I don't think it's one of the best Urban Fantasy books, but I liked it more for the writing and the characters than the fantasy aspect to it.

Teaser Tuesday (2)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should be Reading! If you'd like to join in, follow these simple rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

'I lay on the ground for way too long, with my face agaisnt the wet grass and the rain soaking into my clothes. I knew if I stayed, Tate would come back with Roswell, and they'd want to take me home or worse, to the emergency room.'

It's Monday What are you Reading? (5)

Monday's What are you Reading? is a weekly event hosted by Book Journey.

Read Last Week:

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Reading Now:

The Replacement  by Brenna Yovanoff 

Up Next: 

City of Ashes  by Cassandra Clare

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Book Review: Candor by Pam Bachorz

Title: Candor
Author: Pam Bachorz 
Published: 2009
Pages: 286
My Rating: 2.5

In the model community of Candor, Florida, every teen wants to be like Oscar Banks. The son of the town's founder, Oscar earns straight As, is student-body president, and is in demand for every club and cause. But Oscar has a secret. He knows that parents bring their teens to Candor to make them respectful, compliant–perfect–through subliminal Messages that carefully correct and control their behavior. And Oscar' s built a business sabotaging his father's scheme with Messages of his own, getting his clients out before they're turned. After all, who would ever suspect the perfect Oscar Banks? Then he meets Nia, the girl he can't stand to see changed. Saving Nia means losing her forever. Keeping her in Candor, Oscar risks exposure . . . and more.

Candor was a very quick read. After spending a week reading Graceling, it was nice to read this short and sweet book in two days. It was also nice to read a Young Adult book knowing that it isn't part of a series.

I found the writing of this book very simple. It was good at getting the story going, but it gave us little insight into the head of our main character, other than the obvious. There was also little description into the how the subliminal messaging works, other than the fact that it is delivered through the music. I didn't feel like the concept had been explored very well and fell flat, seeming a little unoriginal.

I loved the character Nia, she was the only real interesting aspect of the story. The main character, Oscar, was a little dull and obvious, and his back story seemed undeveloped.

Overall, I was quite underwhelmed by this book. I expected more depth to the concept, and definitely more excitement. What's odd is that even though it is (as far as I can tell) a stand alone book, it felt incomplete. I half expected to turn over the back cover and find a page advertising the next book. Saying this, I know I've given it a relatively low rating, there wasn't actually anything really bad about it or anything I hated about it, it was just underwhelming, as I said, and the ending was just as underwhelming as the rest of the book, there wasn't really anything spectacular about it.

Follow Friday/ Book Blogger Hop (5)

Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkie!

This week's question is:

Give us five silly book related facts about you.

(These are pretty long and uninteresting, but I couldn't really think of anything)

1. I am a compulsive shelf rearranger. I love seeing all my books proudly sitting on my shelf. So I'm always there rearranging them in different ways. Alphabetical, by author, by title, by genre, by size, when read etc etc But in the end, I always end up just shelving them by what looks best :)
2. As I am still toying with the idea of becoming an illustrator, so I more often then not, have little watercolour illustrations from some of my favorite books scattered around my room. 
3. I'm known as the 'reader' in my class at college. We have a pretty open course, and our course is pretty much the time allocated that we are meant to sit in out room and work, and we rarely have a lecturer (I know. Great course right?) Of course I am a good little student and do my work, but sometimes I just need a break, and that's when I read. Probably a little more than I should. 
4. I get a lot of my books on Amazon and my family always groans every time a new book shaped package comes through the book. That's not going to stop me getting that excited buzz every time I see them arrive! 
5. I don't like owning bags that can't fit a book in. 

And now for Book Blogger Hop, a weekly meme hosted by Crazy for Books!

This week's question is:

If you could physically put yourself in a book series....which would it be and why?

(YEEE I LOVE THIS QUESTION)

This is going to be tough. The first that comes to mind is obviously Harry Potter. Who doesn't want to go to Hogwarts?! Also, the world of HP is a lot less corrupt and a lot more happy and livable than a lot of other series I can think of. 

In a weird way, I'd love to see how I fared in the Gone series. It's definitely not ideal, and I'd have to be the same age as all the characters, but everything about Gone is so believable, that I just think it'd be so awesome to actually be involved and see how I'd react to all the different stuff that happens.

Leave me a comment and link to your Follow Friday/ Book Blogger Hop, I'd love to see your answers! :D