Review: The Days of Blood and Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) Author: Laini Taylor Genre: YA Fantasy Publisher:  Hachette Audio Release Date: November 6, 2012 Audiobook: 15 hours and 21 minutes Narrator: Khristine Hvam Source: Free from the e-library

Sunday Delight: Not So Good Read-A-Thon

Good morning and Happy Sunday everyone!

OK!  So yesterday was the BIG Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon and of course I joined signed up.  This year the read-a-thon looked to be BIG and better than ever with the launch of the new website and a few new and improved sections.  I was so excited about it and I had my three books lined up.  One audiobook to listen to while I had to do things like drive, cook, clean and just for moving about the house; along with two unfinished books cluttering my nightstand.  Well, scheduled events, a headache and a sleepless night before all mixed together to create the perfect storm of not reading much.  I think the book I wanted to really finish was not interesting enough to keep me awake either.  Well, anyway as read-a-thons go this one was a NO GO for me!  Here is my not so interesting End of the Read-a-thon Meme answers.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon: Mid Event

Hosted by Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon

Hi everyone!  This is read-a-thon day and I have not been reading as much as I wanted to.  In fact I am finally home and I am going to read from hour 12 to 24 to play catch up.  So let's start with the Mid Event Meme.

Quicky Review #16: Bluish and The Transfer

Welcome back to another Quicky Review.  

A lot of the time I like to read or listen to short stories, prequels and free audiobooks that are short and sweet.  But why do a full review on a story that is say...80 pages long.  So I do Quicky Reviews for the shorties and children books as well.  Basically, the short stories get short reviews.

Here is just a few sentences on three audiobooks (about 2 hours or less) I got free from Audible.com or the library.

There are other Quicky Reviews for you to check out too and don't worry there will be more to come. I like short stories because most of them are FREE and I can get in and out of one in no time.

Previous Quicky Review
Quicky Review #14: Army of One
Quicky Review #15: The Lowcounty Spirit 

I Want to Know...About You Two

Last month, I posted an "All About You" post where I asked you (reader, yes you) 10 questions.
I totally enjoyed getting to know more about you all.  Thanks for participating.  So let's do it again.
Are you ready?

 I promise it will be painless and a bit of fun. 

Now that's more like it.  LOL!  Here we go.

Review: Dark Sons

Dark Son Author: Nikki Grimes Genre: Children's Novel in Verse Publisher:  Zondervan Release Date: August 10, 2010 Audiobook: 1 hour and 38 minutes Narrator:  Dion Graham Source: Free from E-library

BEA14: Making Plans

Yep!  It's that time of the year again to get myself to NEWW YORK CITY!!!

I have been busy with work, book club and life that I almost forgot to buy my plan ticket.  No really! I almost forgot.  The downside of forgetting is I am paying a bit (50%) more than when I should have bought it.  Oh well!  Live and learn.  

So far I have been slowwly getting myself ready and yes getting ready for BEA is a process.

Review: The Returned

The Returned Author: Jason Mott Genre: Fiction Publisher: Brilliance Audio Release Date:  August 27, 2013 Paperback:  352 pages Audiobook:  9 hours and 48 minutes Narrator: Tom Stechschulte Source: Free from Author/ Publisher at BEA13

Sunday Delight: Easter Sunday

Happy Easter Sunday! 

I am currently typing this post on Saturday afternoon because I will be at my parents house with a houseful of family members after church.  Easter for our family is like Thanksgiving and there is always tons of food and no matter what there is always more than enough.  

Here and Now

Time: 3:56pm
Drinking: Water

Eating: Nothing
Listening To: The Brand New Heavies radio on Pandora.com (I am a creature of some habits. LOL)
Watching: Nothing.

Poem: i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me  

by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

Thoughtful Thursday: The Best Bookish Change

Hosted by Reading Is Fun Again

Pam over at Reading Is Fun Again started this meme to get a book blogger thoughts on a few bookish things. You know how much I love sharing my thoughts/opinions on stuff, so I thought it would be perfect to add my two cents in too! Stop by her blog and join in on the Thoughtful meme.

I created Thoughtful Thursday, because bookish thoughts kept popping up in my mind while reading, and I wanted to explore these questions and get your opinions too! -From Reading Is Fun Again

Thoughtful Thursday Question

What is one of the best changes in the literary/book world that you have noticed, since you have begun reading? What makes this change so great for you?

Remembering Gabriel Garcia Marquez

On my home today, I hear the news.  Author of Love in the Time of Cholera (among other books) Gabriel Garcia Marquez has passed away.  According to Wikipedia, he passed away yesterday from pneumonia in Mexico City, Mexico.  He was 87 years old and is (according to the President of Colombia) the "Greatest Colombian to ever live".  

The literary world has lost another great voice.  

Thank you for bringing Magical Realism to us and giving diversity a beautiful background.

(Read more about Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

3rd Friday Five

Welcome to the third Friday Five here at My Little Pocketbooks.

Friday Five is the result of a Bloggiesta progress report, where I said cleaning up my Feedly of 300 blogs inspired an idea for a new feature on my blog.  Well, here it is.  The Friday Five! (and the name is still a work in progress).

Every Friday, I will feature 5 blogs here who I currently follow.  I will tell you a bit about each of them and hopefully you will check them out and add them to your list of blogs you follow as well. 

  When I was going through cleaning house on my Feedly, most of these blogs are good and I never notice them from all the others.  Just because I follow to many, I think it was from all the giveaways I use to enter. 

So take the weekend and check out these five bloggers and their blogs.  Leave them comments.  Enter their giveaways.

This feature will be alphabetically from my Feedly, some are considered BIG blogs and some of them are start ups but they are all blogging on a regular (sometimes).

By the way, here is a link to the 1st Friday Five.

and here is the 2nd Friday Five

*DISCLAIMER*

All information about each blog is up to date at the time I am writing this post to my knowledge.  These are not interviews just basic info about each blog.

Poem: If

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

Waiting on Wednesday: Dreams of Gods and Monsters

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I am eagerly anticipating.

Yes, I am back again with another WoW post. I am such a pack follower. LOL! Anyways, it's only because I found yet another book I am looking forward to reading.  Since I started the Spring Sequel reading challenge I have been plowing through a few series.  I have just finished book two and book three just came out this week.  Perfect timing!  I am just on a huge library wait list.  So my pick is a literal "WAITING".  I know everyone has done this one but I thought it would be cool to post about a book I am on a waiting list for.

This week's "can't wait to read" selection is...

Free Listens for April 2014

It's that time for the freebies!

After noticing most bloggers post a list of free or really close to free e-books, every week, month or just once in awhile I decided to post a few free audiobooks.  I love free books. I mean who doesn't.

Yes, there is a such thing as a free audiobooks, and they are not just boring old classics either.  I seem to run across a few new ones here and there.  Some of them are short and sweet while others are prequels to popular series. 

When I run across a couple of free audiobooks, I will post them for you to check out as well.

If you are new to audiobooks this is a great way to try one or two without spending any money.  All of these title are FREE at the time of posting.  Things could have changed.  

OH ... just one this month.

From Amazon.com and/or Audible.com

 

Review: The Unseen Guest

The Unseen Guest (Book #3) Author: Maryrose Wood Genre: Children Fiction Publisher:  HarperAudio Release Date: March 27, 2012 Audiobook: 6 hours and 50 minutes Narrator: Katherine Kellgren Source: Free from e-library

Sunday Delight: A Bit Late

Happy Sunday!  I hope you all have had a restful weekend.  Today I am heading out the LA Times Festival of Books.  So thrilled! I love this event and look forward to it each and every year.  So without further adieu here is my Sunday.

Now Sunday Delight Time

Here and Now

Time: 8:44pm
Drinking: Hot Green Tea with a whole Lemon and Honey (I have been drinking this for weeks now. I'm hooked)

Eating: Nothing
Listening To: Nothing
Watching: Nothing.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon April 2014: Goals

Hosted by Dewey's 24 Hour Read A Thon

It's finally time to read all day long.  I am so thrilled this event is getting bigger and better!  It's the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon ya'll!  This year I am doing to lock myself in my place, turn off the phone and read...read...read. Like a mad woman.  This time around I will not be hosting a mini-challenge but I volunteered to be a prize angel so I can focus on reading only.  I know, you know all about this event so I will not bore you with all the details.

 (Click the button up top to go to the site for more info.)

2nd Friday Five

Welcome to the second Friday Five here at My Little Pocketbooks.

Friday Five is the result of a Bloggiesta progress report, where I said cleaning up my Feedly of 300 blogs inspired an idea for a new feature on my blog.  Well, here it is.  The Friday Five! (and the name is still a work in progress).

Every Friday, I will feature 5 blogs here who I currently follow.  I will tell you a bit about each of them and hopefully you will check them out and add them to your list of blogs you follow as well. 

  Like I said last week, I realized when I was going through cleaning house on my Feedly, most of these blogs are good and I never notice them from all the others.  Just because I follow to many. 

So take the weekend and check out these five bloggers and their blogs.  Leave them comments.  Enter their giveaways.

This feature will be alphabetically from my Feedly, some are considered BIG blogs and some of them are start ups but they are all blogging on a regular (sometimes).

By the way, here is a link to the 1st Friday Five

*DISCLAIMER*

All information about each blog is up to date at the time I am writing this post to my knowledge.  These are not interviews just basic info about each blog.

Book Blogger Hop: Good/Bad Books and Reapers

 

Hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer
HAAPPYYY FRIDAY!!!

Welcome everyone to another post of Book Blogger Hop (hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer). Each week there will be a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

To you, what qualifies a book as good or bad? Are some books objectively better than others, or is it purely a matter of opinion?(submitted by Zeb)

Thoughtful Thursday: The Done Pile

Hosted by Reading Is Fun Again

Pam over at Reading Is Fun Again started this meme to get a book blogger thoughts on a few bookish things. You know how much I love sharing my thoughts/opinions on stuff, so I thought it would be perfect to add my two cents in too! Stop by her blog and join in on the Thoughtful meme.

I created Thoughtful Thursday, because bookish thoughts kept popping up in my mind while reading, and I wanted to explore these questions and get your opinions too! -From Reading Is Fun Again

Thoughtful Thursday Question

What do you do with the books that you have read? Do you keep them? Donate them? Gift them? Return them to the library? Throw them away? Make them into arts & crafts projects? Has this changed during the years? Have you noticed a change in your perspective regarding read books?

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books pt. 4

 

Inspired by POC Reading Challenge

All of the participates of the Diversity on the Self 2014 Reading Challenge (aka D.O.T.S.) knocked out February and did as always an amazing job of reading, reviewing, and linking up books by People of Color.  

You can see the books and linky here

January Review Link Up
February Review Link Up

March Review Link Up  

April Review Link Up

Every month I will be posting 12 more books in various genres and release dates that are...what I like to call "Diversity Approved Books"to promote books to you and the D.O.T.S. participants.  All of these books are by a person of color OR have a main character of color.  

Sometimes these books don't get the love they should and hearing about them is so very rare.

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books Pt. 1

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 2

Diversity on the Shelf: Approved Books: pt. 3 

By the way, it's not to late to sign up.  Click the reading challenge button and link up your sign up post.  Non bloggers are welcomed too.

April Reading Queue

I am back with my Reading Queue for the month of April. Reading Queue is hosted by Book Tasty and Books: A True Story.  Click the covers to read more about the books I list below.

What is the reading queue all about?

Reading Queue is a monthly meme where you share what books you plan to read for the month. You can hop to other blogs and see what others are reading and maybe find someone reading the same thing as you! Or you can ask for people to vote on what you should read next if you can’t decide.

Book Club Pick for April

The Moments, the Minutes, the Hours by Jill Scott

Writing poems and keeping journal since 1991, Jill Scott now shares her personal poetry collection in The Moments, the Minutes, the Hours. Praised for her earthy, honestly erotic, soulful and very real lyrics, Jill Scott explores all the flavors of life, love, and self.
Of her music, Jill offers: "It's music. It's experiences. It's vulnerability. It's honesty. It's being a woman---an African American woman. Being a daughter, a sister, a grandchild and a Godmother. It's life. It's deeper than what I know. It's bigger than what I can see. I guess it's a dive into the human spirit." And the same will come forth in this never- before-seen collection of her poetry. 

This month Mocha Girls Read book club will be reading a book of poetry and they picked a book I have read and reviewed already.  Yeah! Now I can try and finish last month's book.

Poem for Spring

Spring!

Spring! How beautiful is the
Spring! How wonderful is the
Spring! How majestic is the
Spring! How fantastic is the
Spring! How tantalizing is the
Spring! How glorious is the
Spring! How melodious is the
Spring! How joyful is the
Spring! How breathtaking is the
Spring! How uplifting the
Spring! How happy is the
Spring! How magnificent is the
Spring! How colorful is the
Spring! How tasteful is the
Spring! How memorable was the
Spring! How flavorful is the
Spring! How aromic is the
Spring! How sweet is
Spring! How beautiful is the
Spring!
 

Alex Fischer

Review: The Dream Thieves

What I Am Listening To...

The Returned

Sunday Delight: More Sleep

 

This past week has been a lot over the top.  I have been working two full time gigs and the 200 miles a day is killing me.  Thanks God I don't have to do it as much next week.  But dang I feel like I need to sleep for 5 solid days to get back to my normal self.  I use to do this in my 20's and I never felt this over worked.  Well that was 20 years ago and I am not that spring chicken running on pure youth anymore.  Lord I need several days of sleep.  YAAWWWNNN!!!!

(I just did it as I was typing it.  LOL)

Forgive me if this post sounds a bit strange.

Here and Now

Time: 10:12 pm (Saturday)
Drinking: Nothing.  To late to drink anything for me

Eating: I had Seafood Coconut Soup and rice for dinner
Listening To: Nothing. 
Watching: Didn't see a movie last weekend like I planned.  Nothing here.

1st Friday Five

Remember on one of my Bloggiesta progress reports I said cleaning up my Feedly of 300 blogs inspired an idea for a new feature on my blog.  Well, here it is.  The Friday Five! (name is a work in progress).

So here is the basic plan for this weekly feature I will be doing here at My Little Pocketbooks.

Every Friday, I will feature 5 blogs here who I currently follow.  I will tell you a bit about each of them and hopefully you will check them out and add them to your list of blogs you follow as well. 

So what you think?  I realized when I was going through cleaning house on my Feedly, most of these blogs are good and I never notice them from all the others.  Just because I follow to many?  Maybe.  Not enough time to pay attention to my blog and 300 others?  More than likely.  

Take the weekend and check out these five blogger and their blogs.  Leave them comments.  Enter their giveaways.

I will be going alphabetically on my Feedly, some are considered BIG blogs and some of them are start ups but they are all blogging on a regular (sometimes).

*DISCLAIMER*

All information about each blog is up to date at the time I am writing this post to my knowledge.  These are not interviews just basic info about each blog.

Thoughtful Thursday: Me and The Protagonist

Hosted by Reading Is Fun Again

Pam over at Reading Is Fun Again started this meme to get a book blogger thoughts on a few bookish things. You know how much I love sharing my thoughts/opinions on stuff, so I thought it would be perfect to add my two cents in too! Stop by her blog and join in on the Thoughtful meme.

I created Thoughtful Thursday, because bookish thoughts kept popping up in my mind while reading, and I wanted to explore these questions and get your opinions too! -From Reading Is Fun Again

Thoughtful Thursday Question

Assuming that the protagonist is well written, do you need to like the protagonist to enjoy the book? Does the protagonist need to share similar values to you or be an extension of you in some way? Can the protagonist be completely different from you and you still enjoy the book?

March 2014 Wrap Up

Another month has gone by and I have no idea how it has whipped passed me so fast. This month has been crazy busy with a new part time gig and trying to work two jobs is not easy.  I am not the spring chick I was back in the day.  I have been trying to find time to read but I am not managing it at the moment. Thank God for audiobooks because they are a book blog saver.  I am happy just to have time to post anything at all on my blog.

This month's wrap up will be kinda long so bare with me.

Now on to my March wrap up...
March Blog Stats: I posted 39 blog post
Books bought so far this year: 2 books

Reading Challenges Complete: 2

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga Reviews where we all can link up our post about the new and shiny books in our lives. I also add my new pocketbooks too!

Diversity on the Shelf 2014: April Review Link-Up

Inspired by POC Reading Challenge

Welcome to Diversity on the Shelf 2014 Reading Challenge April review link up.

Every month I will post a linky for you to add your reviews.  Please have a direct link to the book you are reviewing to the linky.  No links to blog home pages please.  If you don't have a blog, please link to your Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, LibraryThing or other account where you are reviewing the books for this challenge.

Books that qualify for this challenge are by people of color or with a main character of color.  All shades and races of color are welcomed and encouraged here.  

If you still need more clarification on what a person of color is Click Here.

If you haven't signed up for the challenge yet, don't fret you still have time.  Just sign up here! 

If you need a few suggestions on what to read for this challenge check out the list of links to blogs, book list and more. Links here or the side bar menu.

 ~ Last Month Stats ~

43 Books Reviewed 
(The March linky will be open for 5 more days. Only add March reviews)