Review- Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard

I really enjoyed this book.  I'm not much of a high fantasy reader and it did take me a little bit to get into, but the book was really fantastic once I settled into the world and the characters.  There is so much to this story, love, magic, fantasy, power; it is bursting with story.  I think my favorite part about this book was the relationships that the author built and especially in the beginning with the sisters.  Although they have powers and can do things that mortals cannot, there was something really relate-able to real life and how sisters / best friends act together.  I enjoyed the writing style very much and will definitely be picking up more books by Dennard in the very near future. 

I gave this 4 stars only because I found it really difficult to deal with the strange names of the people and places.  That took away from the story for me, but really that is just a reading preference of mine, which is why I don't read alot of fantasy books.  It does not take anything away from the story.  Overall I would definitely recommend this book and I am looking forward to reading more.

Review : The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds
By : Alexandra Bracken
Publisher : Disney Hyperion
Published : December 18, 2012

Rating : 3.5 Stars

I liked this book but I didn't love it like I wanted to. I thought the idea behind this was good and it was very interesting and similar to Divergent. I really was able to engage with each of the characters, I felt like they were well developed and there were none that I disliked or cringed when their part of the story came up. I enjoyed the writing and thought that the flow was good and easy to get through. As I said I think the idea behind children with special abilities and ones that are deadly was very interesting kept me wanting more.

The part that I was not so crazy about was the length. At times I felt like the story got very slow and I had to keep pushing to get through it. I feel that the book easily could have been 100 pages less and that could have kept the story moving at a faster pace and kept me more engaged. And that is just a matter of personal preference. I don't like stories that are overly detailed, I like the action to keep moving. So, yes I would recommend this book. It is entertaining and will make you feel a different range of emotions throughout up until the very last page

Review of Tempest by Jenna-Lynne Duncan

4 Stars!

I want to try to make this as spoiler free as possible. This is a short story told from the perspective of Hayden in the story Hurricane by Jenna-Lynne Duncan. I have been anxiously waiting for the second book in the series to come out and when Jenna-Lynne asked if I wanted to review this I was all over it! As you can tell, I was simply in love with Hurricane and this novella was no different. This was the same story but from the male's perspective which I am sure we can all agree on, will always be different from the females perspective. I am not going to go into details because if you have not read Hurricane (and why haven't you??) yet, then detailed info on this story would give away the book. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed reading Hayden's view on things that were happening to him and the feelings he had about people and situations. It was the perfect little package to tide me over until the second book in the series comes out.
If you enjoyed Hurricane you will enjoy this. Although the situations are the same you are seeing it a totally different way as compared to our female protagonist in the first book.

Tempest (ebook novella)
Author : Jenna-Lynne Duncan (self published)
Published : Noveber 21, 2012

Review : Girl of Nightmares

Girl of Nightmares
Author : Kendare Blake
Published : August 7, 2012
Publisher : Macmillan- Tor Teen

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I think my expectations were too high, seeing as how in love I was with Anna Dressed in Blood. To start off, what I liked most about this book was how scary the scary scenes were! When they were working through the suicide forest YIPE! I was in the comfort of my bedroom and I was seriously getting scared by this. The parts with Cas seeing Anna were also really freaking me out. Blake does a terrific job with her horror descriptions. The story was fast paced and action packed, another big thumbs up for that. However, there was one big let down for me in this book. Anna was hardly in it :( Her moments in the book were so fleeting, when I got to the end I thought for sure there would be another book in the series. Going back and thinking about it, these books are told from Cas' perspective and not Anna's so I need to realize that the focus is going to be on him. Although I really liked every single character in this book and the last, I have to say that I love Anna. I wanted more of her and her violent scariness. This book just didn't have something that the last book had and although I did enjoy reading it I was a little let down.

It's been awhile

It has definitely been awhile since I have posted here.   I decided to take a small break and just focus on my youtube vlog and also have been putting my reviews up on goodreads.  Although I enjoy doing the blog it is not my main priority, I am much more involved with the Youtube community and booktubers, so I spend most of time either communicating there or on Twitter.  I have not decided yet just how much more involved I want to be with the blog, but I am going to do my best to update it as often as I can.  However, you can always find us at youtube by typing in either Pebbles730 or ReadingwithPugs. 

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss
Author : Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Published : 12-2-10
Pages : 384
Rating : 4 Stars

I enjoyed this book but did not love it.  I did not fall in love with either Eitenne or Anna, although I did like their story.  One thing that I did love about this book was the descriptions of Paris and the places they were visiting.  I almost felt like I was there with them.  I also appreciated the fact that Anna was a big movie buff and one of the first she ever went to see in Paris was It Happened One Night which is one of my favorite classic movies. 
I think the problem I ran into with this book was that there was so much hype around it that my expectations were way too high.  Which in truth is my fault, you should never expect anything going into a book and should just draw our own conclusions.

50 Shades of Grey Review

Fifty Shades of Grey
Author : E L James
Publisher : (Originally self published fan fiction)  Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pages : 357
Rating : 4 stars

This book was really good for me, apart from all the sex. So a warning to people that are squeamish about descriptive sex acts in books, you will not like this book. I have to admit at times I felt naughty for reading this LOL I almost felt like I was reading porn without pictures. Hmmm is that even possible? Well anyway the sex thing really didn't deter me from the book although I could have done without it. I really loved the story line and both Ana and Christian. I liked how the first book ended and I was surprised by how the author chose to end it. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

Oh and this would be my choice for Christian Grey in the movie

The Midwife's Confession : Diane Chamberlain

The Midwife's Confession
Author : Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Mira
Published : 4-26-11
Pages : 432

Review : 5 Stars
I adored this book. This book had a little bit of everything, love, hate, betrayal, secrets, kids, etc. It was great, it had so many plot twists and turns, you really were not sure what was going to happen or how it was going to work out till the end.

I simply love Diane Chamberlains's books. This is the second one that I have read and her books suck me in and make me want to not put her books down.

More Titanic!

I just saw this on Twitter today and since next month will be Titanic reading month for me, I thought anyone else that might be doing it would be interested in this.

here is the Twitter : @TheTitanic

facebook : http://www.facebook.com/TitanicTVSeries

April themed reading

So if you watched my book haul yesterday you will know that I chose to read Titanic themed books for the month of April.  Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.  Which means...that it has been 100 years this year!  I have decided to read 2 books and possible a third to commemorate this event.

The first two are :

And if I am still craving Titanic stories this will be my third choice :

I will probably watch the movie on the day of the sinking so that I can say "I'm the king of the world!"  No not really. :)  If you are going to be doing any themed reading, let me know.  And, if you are going to be joining me on Titanic reading month, I'd love to know what you are reading and what your thoughts on the books were.

I picked a winner!

Seriously did you think of boogers and someone picking their nose when you first read that? I did when I thought of it :)  Well in case you missed the vlog, here is where I announce the winner.

Quick Update

Hey everyone,

I wanted to post here in case you are not following me on Twitter, which is where I have been updating what is going on.  I have had major problems uploading videos with the new camera to Youtube.  I filmed a whole bunch on Friday and I cannot get them to upload.  So, that is why I have not done the giveaway winner yet.  I want to film the winner being picked. 
It is very frustrating to say the least.  I'm going to try to work on it tonight and then hopefully be able to get it up.  If I can't get it working by tomorrow then I will just announce the winner here on the blog as I don't want you to wait too long for the winner.

Thanks for your understanding!

Divergent Contest- Who's the winner?

Hi guys,

I have not chosen the winner yet for the Divergent contest.  I was trying to film a video tonight to let you know when and how I was going to do it but the batteries on my camera kept dying so I will be doing that tomorrow.

However the winner will be chosen this week and I will have the video vlog and blog post up this week with the winner.

Happy Reading!

Contest CLOSED

The contest is now closed.  I tried several times to film a video yesterday but my lap top camera has decided to not work anymore.  <sigh> So I am working on getting one of my other cameras to work. 

In the meantime, I wanted to let all the contest entrants know that I will be announcing the winner within the next couple of days here on my blog and also right after that I will put up a video, as long as I can get my camera to work.

You will have 24 hours to contact me after I have chosen a winner so that I can send your book off to you.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and I'm looking forward to our next contest!

Contest Update

The contest is going really well!  I have really enjoyed reading all of your responses on your favorite Disney characters and why you chose them.  If you watch my channel then you probably know I am a Disney A holic so this is alot of fun for me. 

You have a few more days to enter the contest, as it will close on Friday at 5pm EST.  Remember that if you have left a comment on my youtube channel then you ALSO must leave one here with the same information. 
I will be announcing the winner within a week after the close of the contest.

I'm also working on getting my new channel up and running.  It's going to feature segments about my life, Belle and my other pugs, my married life, my Fibromyalgia and also the products and clothes that I buy.  So I'm hoping that you all will like it and join me over there when I get it up and running.  

So that's it for today.  Thank you to everyone that has already entered the contest and I look forward to doing more of these in the future with you!

Happy Reading!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday fellow book lovers!  I'm so happy that it's Friday and I plan to get some quality reading time in this weekend.  I just started Divergent and I am loving it so far.  Wow, I can't believe I waited so long to start reading this.  I am in love with the writing, the pace, the characters and the story line!  I'm so glad this is the book I chose for my first giveaway. 

Speaking of the giveaway, it's going really well!  Just remember that you have to post both on my Vlog at : www.youtube.com/Pebbles730 and also here on the Divergent Contest post, in order to be entered.

Since Divergent is a huge book, that will probably fill up my weekend of reading.  So what are you all reading this weekend?

I also will be going out sometime shopping with my mom for some beauty shopping and also getting my nails done.  I'm thinking Sunday will be my lazy day but who knows.  So let me know what you are planning for the weekend and what your quality reading time will be spent on.

World Book Day!

Today is World Book Day!  What are you reading to celebrate?  I've started reading Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I'm about 25 pages in and already I am loving it.  I can tell this is going to be my kind of book, and I'm really glad about that since I'm giving away a copy and wouldn't want to give away a stinker!  So let me know what you are planning to read to celebrate world book day.

If you would like some more information on what World Book Day is all about, you can check them out here :
World Book Day 2012

Happy Reading!

Divergent Contest Now Open!

Hi folks,

Please watch my Vlog on how to enter the Divergent Giveaway below and then leave your comment on yesterday's post about the contest.

Good luck!

Divergent Contest Opening tomorrow!

Tomorrow I will be putting up the contest rules for the Hardcover copy of Divergent that I will be giving away.   This contest is going to be for US only.  So if you are interested in entering the contest for this book, I'll give you a head start and let you know that one of the rules is that you must subscribe to my blog here.  So feel free to subscribe now and the rest of the information on the contest will be in my Vlog tomorrow on my Youtube page!

Looking forward to getting started on my first giveaway, hope to see you there!

Happy Reading!

Review : Slide

Author : Jill Hathaway
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published : March 27, 2012
Pages : 256
My rating : 4 Stars

This book was very entertaining. I loved the concept of our main character being able to slide into the bodies of others and experience what they are seeing and who they are talking to etc. I though it to be a very unique idea. On top of that, this turned out to be a murder mystery and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. Imagine being able to see someone being murdered but not knowing who's body you were in and you are the one doing it!

This was a fast paced, keeps you guessing "who done it" till the very end kind of book. It definitely held my attention, I read this in one day because I just had to know who did it! I enjoyed Jilly Hathaway's writing style and the characters that she created and I will look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Here is my Vlog review if you care to check it out!