Best of 2011

* a fun gnome picture I found on the Microsoft Clip Art site

Bibliognome's Best of 2011

Best Ending that Made me go WTF just happened

My Review

Best Addition of a Baby to an Ongoing Series/Kick-Ass Heroine

My Review

Best Ending to a Series that was Well Worth the Wait

My Review

Best Use of Super Heroes This Year

My Review

Best Cover that made me want to read the book

My Review

Best First Chapter that Hooks you and doesn't let go

My Review

Best Male Protagonist I Read This Year

My Review

Fabulous Finale

Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

* Book will be released January 3, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

5 out of 5 gnomes

Wow.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this pretty much sums up my feelings when I finished the book.)  My opinion has slowly become more coherent the more I've though about it though.  This book actually left me speechless at the end, this ending will definitely have people talking.

The quest to stop the Keepers in this book really feels epic in scope and all of the emotions raging around help skyrocket the tension.  I love that there is more blending of the Guardians and the Searchers.  I really liked the secondary characters more in this book then I did in Wolfsbane.  Adne, Connor, and Ethan really grew on me as the danger increases for everyone.

Calla has to be even more of a leader because she has so many people to watch out for.  Her heart is still being pulled in multiple directions and she's still plenty worried about Ansel for obvious reasons.  She deals with this as well as can be expected and still helps in the quest to complete a weapon that is their only hope.

The love triangle is dealt with very well in the beginning of the book with Calla making some important decisions.  Things tended to even out more in this book and I even found my Shay loving heart seeing that she really does have valid reasons for choosing either Shay or Ren.  The conclusion of the triangle is shall we say intense and I do have to wonder if Calla is truly happy in the end.

The world building, the crazy twists/turns, and the characters all equal a truly unique take on wolf mythology and these books all together make for a superb trilogy that I would recommend to anyone.

Let me just reiterate again how awesome yet heartbreaking the ending is, it's the kind of ending where you may find yourself sobbing in a corner.  I found myself hating it one second and then I felt like it couldn't have ended any other way.  It even seems now that I look back that there are clues that it could end like this.  This is one ending that truly has to be read to be believed.

Sentence Sneak Peek - Bloodrose

Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

The first sentence from each chapter of Bloodrose, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book will be released January 3, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

"I COULD HEAR each heavy beat of my heart."

"BACK IN WOLF FORM, I quickly led Ren away from the graveyard of homes."

"SINCE THAT'S SETTLED, can we talk about winning this war?"

"BRYN HAD BEEN RIGHT about Ansel's quarters."

"HAVING SEEN PARTS OF IT from the inside, as well as approaching it from the outside, I'd known the Academy was huge."

"THERE'S A REASON they call it the morning after."

"SO THIS IS TORDIS," Shay murmured as if we'd entered a holy place."

"THE CACOPHONY OF sound that flooded my ears when I stepped through the portal made me bristle."

"PLANS FOR RETRIEVING Eydis—the water hilt—were already in motion."

"MY STOMACH WAS RUMBLING, but I was still on edge from my chance encounter with Ren in the baths."

"LOGAN'S QUARTERS bore a much closer resemblance to an actual cell than Ansel's room had."

"CAN WE TRUST HIM?""GABRIEL, IT TURNED OUT, had been the man working in the boat."

"THE CEILING WAS MOVING, every inch of it."

"WE TRUDGED THROUGH the jungle, sodden and dripping."

"I WOKE WITH A START, gasping for breath."

"MY FATHER DROPPED TO THE GROUND, a gray-brown wolf blocking Emile's path to me."

"WE HAVE TO GO BACK!""CONNOR LED THE WAY as we scrambled over rough rock that cut into my paws."

"WAVES LAPPED THE SHORELINE a few yards from where we lounged on the rocks."

"WE LEFT THE ROOM."

"THE SOUNDS OF BATTLE filled my ears and I wished I could shut them out."

"STOP SQUIRMING!"

"CONNOR STOOD BEFORE THE DOOR, reaching in his pocket for lock-picking tools."
"MY FATHER SNARLED, dropping his muzzle low as he stalked sideways, watching Emile."

"LEAVE HER."

"I WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM for this treachery, Logan Bane," Bosque rasped."

"THE LIBRARY WAS IN SHAMBLES."

"AS NEWS OF THE BATTLE'S END spread, Searchers began gathering around us."

"HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?"

"I'D ALWAYS WELCOMED WAR, but when the last battle ends, what life is left for a warrior?"

Epilogue - "Look not at the greatness of the evil past,

                    but the greatness of the good to follow.
                                                           - Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

SABINE SHIVERED, wishing she'd borrowed that sweater Ethan had offered her."

Lily & Scout’s Favorite Things CHARMFALL Blog Tour! Day 3

Hi, everyone! We’re Lily and Scout, the heroines of CHARMFALL, the third book in Chloe Neill’s The Dark Elite series. We have lots of opinions–especially about magic–but also about what is and is not cool. We’ve included a few of our favorite things below. Be sure to also check out CHARMFALL, which hits shelves on January 3, 2012. Thanks!

No. 3 – Coffee

It’s Lily. So, I’m nearly sixteen. Too young for coffee? According to my mom, yes. According to my dad, not if I buy one for him, too. Besides, I’m preparing for a really long winter in Chicago. Don’t I need something warm and toasty? (Besides fuzzy socks, of course.)

1 – Starbucks. 2 – Not a Paper Cup. 3 – Spicy Hot Chocolate. 4- Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans.


Make sure to check out Fangs, Wands & Fairy Dust for Day 4's Favorite Thing.

Giveaway Ends January 6, 2012

Top 12 Books for 2012

These are the top 12 books I'm looking forward to in 2012:

I can't believe so many great books come out in 2012, now to pre-order as many of them as I can :)

Twas a Very Merry Christmas Indeed

Had a great Christmas today, got some great presents from my mom, dad, and sister.  Had a great breakfast and then went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (it was pretty good) and the theater was crazy crowded but it was still fun.

Was very excited to get this charm bracelet that's based on the book Across the Universe.  It was made by this awesome store on Etsy.com http://www.etsy.com/listing/79082389/across-the-universe-inspired-charm

Here's another close up of the bracelet (I really love it)

A money counting jar, a necklace set, a really cute book necklace, a gnome (which is always cool), a miniature Sing-a-ma-jig,  and some gift cards (which are always nice.)

Some cool turtle pillows from Tiny Reverse Vampire :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to Everybody

Hope everyone is having a holly jolly Christmas and or a very happy holiday.

Thanks to everyone that's read or checked out Bibliognome this year.  Here's hoping for a super New Year full of great books, good friends/family, and lots of fun.

Story Time - An Extraordinary Girl (Can you spare a line?)

Story Time - An Extraordinary Girl

The story will begin on the first of each month and end on the last day of the month.
I like this story so much that I think I'll keep it going and see where it goes from here:

Rules
1.) Only write 1 to 2 sentences
2.) Keep it clean
3.) Have fun and spread the word so the story grows


Here's the story that has formed so far:

Awesome people who have authored the story by adding lines so far: Sullivan McPig, Julie@My5monkeys, Susan Jane Bigelow, barmybex


Title: An Extraordinary Girl

Once upon a time in a time not that long ago there was a disturbance.

The cause of the disturbance was something that was well...truly disturbing.  In fact it was so disturbing that at first it was quite unclear what this disturbance was, because anyone who saw it was too disturbed to talk about it.

There came a noisy unruly girl who demanded that all must obey her.  She was the girl of the mayor and weird things did happen around her.  Pigeons tap danced when she blinked her eyes and cockroaches would mimic her words when she spoke.  Lights would go off and babies would cry when she passed.

This girl stood in the center of town, pigeons dancing, roaches waiting, lights flickering and babies crying all around.  She struck her umbrella on the cobblestones.  A hush fell over the town as purple sparks shot out of the tip of the umbrella and even the pigeons stopped their dancing and seemed to hold their breath.

As the astounded masses watched a massive hole slowly appeared in the middle of the street.  As the dust settled it was revealed...a giant staircase leading down to complete darkness and then a faint music started to radiate from its depths.

There was such a ruckus in the town and trying to make sure that all the citizens were fine. The music coming out of the hole had a mesmerizing sound that attracted all the citizens.  It was almost like children's music.

The girl grinned mischievously and whistled along with the music while she slowly descended down the hole.

The further down she went the louder the music echoed. A strange shift filled the air and a cold wind howled past causing her hair to flutter round her face, but it didn't distract her.

Lethal Life

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

4 gnomes out of 5 gnomes

Sherry is a great character who keeps going even in the face of tragedy.  She was forced to grow up pretty fast and sometimes feels like more of an adult then her parents.  She has lived in the confines of a bunker with her parents, grandparents, and siblings for about 3 years.  That is crazy to imagine, I can imagine most families going insane long before three years are up.

This is one book where the UK cover is definitely a lot better then the US one.  The US version looks kind of horror movie cliché while the UK one in my opinion anyway just seems to be more fitting for the story.

I love the set up of the story with each chapter having a little scene of what life was like before the rabies.  These scenes from before are pretty happy and then some kind of menacing elements start to slip in.  It makes you wonder how everything came down to people living this desperately and how fast exactly everything went downhill. 

At first you don't know what the threat is and why this family is hiding in a shelter.  Everything seems almost normal like and then the food in the shelter runs out.  This means that someone has to go into the outside world again to search for food.  They have been so sheltered though that they know nothing of some major events that have happened. 

Sherry and her father go outside and discover that the world for has been undeniably changed.  It's like a wasteland and then of course there are the weepers to worry about.  The weepers are described kind of like a mixture between zombies and werewolves.  The description of the Weepers had me picturing the freaks from The Hunger Games book.  In other words these Weepers are not something to be trifled with.

Her and her father are attacked and then Sherry is saved by Joshua.  In the process though her father is taken.  Sherry can't let down her family and knows that she has to find out what happened to her father.  As you can imagine this is a problem too because she also has to make sure her family is protected.

You can tell that Joshua is going to be the love interest right away, but he and Sherry do have some great chemistry together.  He's the damaged loner type and she's the girl trying to prove herself in this new world and keep her family alive.  You slowly learn more about him and all that he has witnessed in this crazy new world.  He seems a little too hell-bent on revenge sometimes but you'll find that he does have a compelling reason for being the way that he is.

The group of survivors that take her is a rather eclectic bunch but they are also some pretty great supporting characters.  I hope that we find out more of there back stories in the next book, especially Tyler who has seen so much chaos and hardly even talks. 

Just like any good book about zombie-like creatures, there are a plethora of problems and some scary situations.  The twist at the end of this book is really well done.  There are clues throughout about what the twist is but this surprise brings all the pieces together and gives Sherry and Joshua a new mission.

Sentence Sneak Peek - The Other Life

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

The first sentence from each chapter of The Other Life, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book will be released May 1, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

The UK cover is on the left and the US cover is on the right.  I think the UK cover goes along a lot better with the story.

"3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I'd seen daylight."

"My eyes were closed as I listened to the sounds around me."

"Los Angeles' suburbs were deserted."

"I sat up but the movement made the dizziness worse."

"A short, thin man with shoulder-length hair stood in the doorway, smiling at me."

"Thoughts of finding Dad's mangled body had kept me awake most of the night, but when I did sleep, nightmares of hunched shadows and weeping monsters had haunted me."

"Our search for Dad could finally begin."

"I leaned my head against the seat and took a few deep breaths."

"My neck was stiff and even the tiniest movement hurt like hell."

"Misty brown eyes locked on mine, pus-like liquid welling from its tear ducts and smudging its papery skin."

"The door of the house was thrown open before the Lincoln had even come to a halt."

"Marie sat at the table and watched the stove, her eyes half-closed."

"Joshua took a step closer and clasped my hand, interlinking our fingers."

"I buried my face in the soft pillow, trying to return to sleep."

"The chirping of birds and the occasional chirring of a cricket was the only sound around us."

"The next day, Karen and Larry waited for Joshua and me in the kitchen."

Broke and Bookish Secret Santa! - Awesomeness

I joined The Broke and Bookish Secret Santa this year.  I had a lot of fun shopping and today I received my presents. :)

My Secret Santa, Michelle at Hooked to Books got me some awesome presents. 

A copy of Shatter Me :). Muppets The Green Album (I love the Muppets), and some cool swag.

Decidely Damaged

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

* Book will be released February 7, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

4 out of 5 gnomes
I wanted to root for this character more but you can tell that something is really off with him.  Ethan is one heck of a damaged character, I'm pretty sure he himself doesn't know how damaged.  This is the kind of story that just gets to you and will have you thinking about it a long time after the last page.

The short chapters of the story are great because they really help build the tension.  This is a superb look at how devastated a family can be by loss and how it's not exactly simple to rekindle what you've lost.

Living in Omaha, NE and reading in the story about that law where anybody could drop off their kid for any reason and remembering all the different stories from that time really drew me into the plot and made everything seem more plausible.  That was a really messed up situation but it did put more of a spotlight on the plethora of problems with the system that is in place.  The character of Ethan shows how much being abandoned like that can truly harm a person.

I thought I knew where the story was going to go but then it veered off in some surprising directions.  There's so much that Ethan can't remember but he wants so much to be able to, especially after he meets his family.  He tries so hard and seems to have flashes of memory but they just seem to be blocked.

Suspicions and problems abound and as cliche as it may sound, it's not easy to go home again.  He is really skittish around most people and after one horribly embarrassing incident at school, things just seem to spiral out of control.

The ending, wow, I was hoping for a happier ending.  I really hated the ending at first but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it fit.  I usually don't like endings that feel open-ended but your imagination here I think only improves the message of the story.  The last line really resonates and will leave you reeling and wondering what exactly is going to happen next.

Sentence Sneak Peek - Dead to You

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

The first sentence from each chapter of Dead to You, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book will be released February 7, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

"There are three of them."

"I take a deep breath, hold it, and force myself to step out from under the awning into the yellow light."

"Dad comes in for a group hug, and we are suddenly stepping on each other's feet, not sure where to put our heads in the crowded space."

"Instead, I ask him."

"Dad ushers me in first."

"During the night the phone rings."

"I roll over on the couch and watch the morning activities from my dimly lit corner of the living room."

"After my shower, I slip past Mama on the phone and head to the basement wearing a pair of my dad's sweatpants, safety-pinned to keep them up, and a flan-nel button-down shirt."

"...These are the questions I dread, but I thought I could answer them."

"Alexandra: Ethan?"

"Things are happening backward."

"What starts out as a quiet visit by Grandpa and Grandma De Wilde turns into an extended family reunion."

"Friday night doesn't end until Sunday."

"And then they're kissing."

"Gracie's stirring mushy chocolate ice cream in a bowl when I walk in the kitchen."

"I lie awake in bed for a half hour, thinking, before I climb out and go to the kitchen for a drink."

"At breakfast Dad looks at me with a half smile that says Mama told him everything."

"The days crawls along and I get through them, doing most of my homework and flirting a little, not too much."

"When I come to, it's chaos."

"They examine me at the hospital."

"They wake me up all night, every hour or two, I think."

"From my basement location, I can just barely hear Mama and Dad talking somewhere above my head."

"In bed at night, Blake and I don't talk, we just listen to Mama and Dad arguing in their room next door."

"A loud whisper wakes me up."

"Dinner is more awkward than ever."

"From the street, I glance up at the big picture window, and there's Gracie, nose pressed against it, her little hands cupped around her eyes, peering out at me."

"Hi."

"The wind has stopped and the snowplows are out, throwing the snow impossibly high along the sides of the roads."

"I spend the day wandering, and by afternoon, I'm cold and starving."

"I'm hiding in the basement when Dad gets home, but he doesn't come after me."

"Thursday comes, and after school, we all pile into the car to drop of Gracie at Grandpa and Grandma's while the rest of us go to see Dr. Frost."

"My eyes spring open and my stomach muscles seize up."

"At breakfast, I can't even look at Blake."

"Fuck off."

"I pound him."

"And it's not good."

"With the blood washed off, Blake's face doesn't look nearly as bad."

"It's dark and way after ten when I hear finger-nails tapping on glass."

"Sunday morning Mama drags us all to church, and I'm surprised it's held right at my high school—no church building."

"It's all good, Cami texts."

"Blake walks up to the table and our conversation stops."

"I sit in the dark in my old familiar spot beneath the vent, curled up with a blanket, my teeth chattering."

"I wake up, drool sliding down my chin, and all my muscles ache."

"It's so hard to look at Blake out here at the bus stop."

"At least nothing else bad happens, unless you count silence."

"It's a windy spring day."