Status: April 2011

My Monthly Status

• Books Read: 7

Books I've read this March are as follows: 

1. Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of Dawn Treader by C.S.Lewis
2. Iron Witch (Iron Witch #1) by Karen Mahoney (Review will be posted on Melissa's blog at I swim for oceans) 
3. The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake #4) by Laurell K. Hamilton
4. Firespell (Dark Elite #1) by Chloe Neill
5. Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut
6. Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie
7. Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) by Kiersten White

Other Reviews:

• Review List 

Favorite Book of the Month: 

 
















Challenge Update: 

• YA Reading Challenge - 21 / 40 (52%)
• 350 Paged Book Challenge - 15 / 15 (100%)
• 100+ Reading Challenge - 32/ 100 (32%)
• Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge - 32 / 60 (53%)
• 2011 Debut Author Challenge - 3 / 12 (25%)
• Wordsworth Classics Reading Challenge - 1 / 12 (8.33%) 
• YA Series Challenge - 10/ 12 (83%)
• NEW! 2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge - 0 / 5 (0%)

Highlights: 

1. NEW LAYOUT! I finally created a proper Layout for my blog with a matching button.
2. NEW BLOG! My design blog is up and running on blogger. Visit it to get free design work done.
3. I was interviewed for my work @ Assortments.
4. NEW FEATURE! Its called Re-Cover Me Friday which runs once every other week. Check out what I've Recovered so far, includes Awakened by The Casts and Vampire Academy. HERE
5. I've completed the 350 page challenge. I'll still keep going until the end of the year though.

Book News:

• April Cover Reveals
  

Looking for giveaways? 

• Giveaway Page
• Giveaway Posts I made

Comments:

T-T Dang. I was too distracted by certain situations in my life that I haven't been reading at all. Sigh. So depressing. May will be different! I know it will. Oh I was approached by an author to do their books Cover Design. So I'm very excited about it. I'll be reviewing some of his books and Re-Covering them too. :D So What out for that!

R.A.K. Love #2

BIIIIG Thanks to the ladies below! You have no idea how much this means to me! Thank you!

• Haven by Kristi Cook from Lisa @ Baffled Books
• Paranormalcy by Kiersten White from Amber @ Awesomesauce Book Club
• Glass Houses by Rachel Caine from Vickie @ ComaCalm
• Radiance by Alyson Noel from Vickie @ ComaCalm

I did not expect to be approached by one person let alone THREE. I'm so grateful and appreciative right now! Please visit their blogs they are all awesome ladies. 

April 2011 Cover Reveals!

A little feature I'll be posting up at the end of every month. :D

Goodreads

Goodreads

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 Goodreads

 Goodreads: "Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré -- a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world...and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign."

Goodreads: Everything burns in Pandemonium

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped—and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.

Goodreads

Goodreads

 Goodreads: Love can never die.Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, steampunk meets romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

 Goodreads

Goodreads : Life can’t get much better for Sam Lock. Popular, good-looking, and with a future as a professional football player… every guy at Stanton High School wishes he were Sam. That is, until his championship football game, when Sam accidentally links with an ancient source of energy known as the Veil and reveals his potential to become a powerful sorcerer.

Sam’s dreams are crushed as he is whisked off to Atlas Crown, a community of sorcerers who utilize the Veil as a part of everyday life. Once there, he trains beside a mute boy who speaks through music, an eternal sage who is the eyes and ears of the Veil, and a beautiful girl who's pretty sure Sam's an idiot.

Goodreads

 Goodreads

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Goodreads

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 Goodreads

Comments: Blood Rights and Twisted are my fav covers. Least Fav is the Wood Queen, just doesn't look right. O.O What do you guys think?

Bookshelf Showcase #4

BookShelf Show Case is a once a month meme hosted by AwesomeSauce Book Club You can show off your personal book shelf or another book shelf you find really fun or that you love.

Comments: 
Since the break started I've began moving some really old books into a closet in a different room. -.- Its all I could do to make space because my parents changed their mind about buying me a new shelf since I have no place to put it. -.- I actually wanted a wall shelf but they don't trust it seeing the amount of books I have. Hahaha. Sigh. Oh well. :D Better than nothing.

2nd Interview!

I got asked to be interviewed for my design blog! I was so excited that I answered every question and sent it back within 30mins. Check it out! 

http://blogonlinerandom.blogspot.com/2011/04/coolest-new-designer-in-cyber-space.html

Teaser Tuesday #14

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, wherein we share teasers (not spoilers) from the books we're currently reading.

"Erica was right about the quack shack being the logical first stop" - page 11

Comments: I know, I'm not even far off with this one yet. Personal problems have been keeping me distracted.


Whats on your Teaser Tuesday?

It's Monday, What are you reading? #18

This is a weekly meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books. It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

 

What I've read last week:

 

 What I'll be reading:

• Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires #1) by Rachel Caine
• Afterlife (Evernight #4) by Claudia Gray
• Stray by Rachel Vincent

 

What are you reading this week?

Quick Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Title: Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1)
Author: Kiersten White
Started: 23/4/11
Finished: 24/4/11
Goodreads | Review List

Goodreads Synopsis:

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.
But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.  

Review: 

That was a fun read! I get what everyone says about it now. It was good no wait it was great! I would have said amazing if I hadn't been so down while reading it. I can't believe how unique this book is. Yeah there were the vamps and the werewolves but there were so many new creatures I've never heard of. I don't know if White made it up or they're real. Either way this is a great book. And I'll just type up a quick review instead of my usual 3 paragraph reviews. I'm not in a bright mood. But this book lightened it up a bit more. It was unputdownable and for that I give it 5 stars!

Special Thanks to Amber @ AwesomeSauce Book Club for this awesome book! 

In My Mailbox #12

A weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we post all books we have received where in the mail, bought or got from the library.

Bought: 

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Goodreads)
• Afterlife by Claudia Gray (Goodreads)

R.A.K.

• Paranormalcy by Keirsten White (Goodreads)

Thank you so much Amber (Awesomesauce Book Club) !!!

• Haven by Kristi Cook (Goodreads)

Thank you Lisa (Baffled Books) !

• Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (Goodreads)
• Radiance by Alyson Noel (Goodreads)

Thank you so much Vickie (ComaCalm) !

Swag:

• Bookmarks from ComaCalm
• Bookmarks from Awesomesauce Book Club

Thanks for watching! What did you guys get for 

On My Wishlist #17

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click HERE.

Comments: Seriously, why? WHY? doesn't my local book store have the other books but not this one? Helllo! What happen to BUY THE BOOKS IN SEQUENCE! -.- So annoying! Anyways, this week I have Bloody Bones (Anita Blake #5) by Laurell K. Hamilton and I'm dying to know what happens. A lot of people say this has too much erotic and I'm like. O.O Its been like 4 books already and I didn't read anything of that like. But then again there are more than 15 books out already that I have to get through. We'll see. :D Haha. 

Whats on your wishlist this week? Let me know below.

Re-Cover Me Friday #2

Re-Cover Me Friday, is a new feature only featured on my blog. It is a feature where I basically take a book cover and redesign it completely in my own way. This is something I can do that incorporates both my hobby and my job (I'm a designer :D if you don't know already). I'm very excited about this! I hope everyone will find this enjoyable.


This was a request from my cousin. She said to me. "Naj, redo awakened by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I really hate the cover" and I was like "Okay!"

My second RCMF, Awakened (House of Night #8) by P.C. and Kristin Cast,

Original,

Now, let me explain to you who is on the cover and all that mumbo jumbo. Okay, so if you didn't recognize her already that's Neferet on the cover. Since the beginning of the book was all about Neferet and basically most of the book was. Well, to be it felt like the 8th book was all about Neferet. That's why I chose her to be on it. The colors are all saturated and meant to look foggy and grayish. The House of Night is somewhat a dark novel so the cover should be too. Now, in the back of the book you can see birds flying away. Lets pretend those are Raven Mockers. haha. I would have explained it better if I didn't use most of my brain all day. -.-

Hope you guys like the re-cover. If you want a book cover you'd like me to re-cover comment below with your suggestion.

Happy Weekend everyone! 




Disclaimer: I mean no disrespect to the actual designers of the books that are mentioned. I also do not own any of the images that are used on the re-covered designs unless otherwise stated.