February summary

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I believe now all the pre-ordered books from December should be in. I have already pre-ordered two or three books for later this year, though. Despite buying so many books these past two months, I also got quite some reading accomplished, so it was not a complete loss. For next month, though, I have to finish all the 9 (!!!) unread books I bought in January before I start anything else. According to my 2010 resolutions they should have been read already!

new additions
19) Joy Preble: Dreaming Anastasia
20) Lesley Livingston: Wondrous Strange
21) Patrick Ness: The Knife of Never Letting Go
22) Gayle Forman: If I Stay
23) Lindsey Leavitt: Princess for Hire
24) Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl: Beautiful Creatures
25) Emmett James: Admit One - My Life in Film
26) Suzanne Young: The Naughty List
27) Carrie Ryan: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
28) Michele Wahlder: Alphatudes - The Alphabet of Gratitude
29) Lisa McMann: Wake
30) Art Spiegelman: Maus 1 & 2
31) Jane Austen: Sense & Sensibility
32) Laura Mechling: Dream Girl
33) Tera Lynn Childs: Oh. My. Gods.
34) Becca Fitzpatrick: hush, hush
35) Chloe Neill: Firespell

read
10) Anna Jarzab: All Unquiet Things
11) Kristina Springer: The Espressologist
12) Elizabeth Scott: Living Dead Girl
13) Courtney Summers: Cracked Up To Be
14) P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast: Betrayed
15) Christa Holder-Ocker: auf Wiedersehen
16) Gayle Forman: If I Stay
17) Art Spiegelman: Maus 1
18) Art Spiegelman: Maus 2
19) Ally Carter: I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You
20) Maggie Stiefvater: Shiver

Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

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Author	Maggie Stiefvater
Title	Shiver
Publisher	Scholastic
Date of Publication	August 1, 2009
Page Count	434
ISBN	978-1-407115-00-9
Series	Shiver

Ever since she was saved from a wolf attack by a yellow-eyed wolf, Grace has been interested in these animals. After a local boy is killed by wolves, everyone is out to kill the pack of wolves, but Grace tries to help them. And when she meets a boy with chilling yellow eyes the summer after, all she wants is try to figure out what it is about the boy that seems so familiar...

A small note up front: This is a review in progress, hurried up to make it qualify for Nicole's THIB 20 Minute Book Club Challenge. I will edit the review in a week or so, so if it sounds a bit rough and "iffy", come back later.

I absolutely love the cover, even though mine is slightly different from the above shown. I have the British version and it is black with a white tree and leaves and one leave (as well as the author's name and the dot on the "i") is in a bright red. It is so beautiful, I find myself looking at it each time I pick up the book. What really amazed me was the wonderful idea of starting each chapter not only with the name of the narrator, but also with the temperature. That way I could keep track of the time throughout the year.

The writing blew me away. I had so much fun and didn't even realize time was flying by. When I was at work, I couldn't wait to get back home again and when I was at the dinner table with my family (I spent the weekend with my family), I rushed back to my book as soon as the table was cleared.

In My Mailbox Monday (Feb 28)

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In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books I found in my mailbox and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie. To join in, please visit Kristi's blog!

Mailbox Mondays is a weekly event hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page. To join, please visit her blog!

Last week I got:



I got Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility from a fellow German blogger. Now I have all of Austen's works, I believe :-)



I got Lauren Mechling's Dream Girl from the same German blogger. Thanks a lot, Melli!

And then I bought:



Becca Fitzpatrick's hush, hush



Tera Lynn Childs' Oh. My. Gods.



Chloe Neill's Firespell

Book Review: Betrayed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

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Author	P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Title	Betrayed
Publisher	St. Martin's Griffin
Date of Publication	October 2, 2007
Page Count	310
ISBN	978-0-312-36028-3
Series	House of Night

After the excitement in Marked, Zoey sure would have deserved some time to rest and enjoy her life at the House of Night along with her friends, but it is not just that easy for her. Instead, she has to deal with being the new leader of the Dark Daughters and has to come up with new rules and rituals for them, just when death strikes first among the people she knew in her life before she was marked and then even at the House of Night.

With the second installment of the House of Night series, the authors bring back a charming cast of characters with flaws and once again it was hard to take breaks reading it (I am actually already reading the 3rd book).

What made me worry a bit were all the references to actors and their attractiveness. With Nicole Kidman in the first I'm not that worried as she is a good actress, but Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Jackman, who were mentioned in this book, this is a different story. It is true, they both still look really good (especially Hugh Jackman ;-) ), but it could be a problem for future readers. It is not as timeless as I would have wished it to be.

I was amused and annoyed at the same time with Zoey's feelings and thoughts about three boys / men at the same time. She knew it was wrong, yet she acted on all her feelings. Her thoughts about this were:
I wanted Heath.
I needed Erik.
I was intrigued by Loren. (p. 174)
It bothered me especially because it almost seemed as if two - er, three-timing was okay. I think this is a bad example.

The storyline and all the other events made me almost forget this, though, because there were so many other things that happened and new discoveries about certain red-ish people who have been running around in the first book already. And the new people introduced all in all seemed genuine and reliable. In fact, one of the new characters has become a favorite of mine. I'll only give away the initials for now, though: D.M. I hope he's as honest as he seems to be.

Book Review: All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

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Author	Anna Jarzab
Title	All Unquiet Things
Publisher	Delacorte Press
Date of Publication	January 12, 2010
Page Count	337
ISBN	978-0-385-73835-4

Neily was shocked when his ex-girlfriend Carly was found murdered, but when Carly's cousin Audrey wants him to help her find the real murderer. The imperative being "real", as Audrey doesn't believe her father killed her best friend, even though he was convicted. Neily reluctantly joins Audrey in her investigation at Brighton, the school they all attended together, in part because even after a year he still feels guilty for not answering his phone when Carly called the night she was murdered.

Anna Jarzab did a wonderful job with this shocking and heart-breaking mystery, exploring love, loss, family and friendship in just 337 pages. With her wonderful, deep writing and a plot that turned in circles (in a very good way) she created something fresh without the happily-ever-after, the-world-is-perfect ending so many other authors would have used. The story is told in alternating points of view, changing back and forth between Neily and Audrey.

Carly is by no means a sympathetic character at the time of her murder, but her backstory gives a hint of what made her the person she was in the end. Audrey was always a rougher version of the "old Carly", I felt. She had been though a lot in the years before she came to Empire Valley. What made them bond, yet feel different at the same time was that both girls lost their mothers, but while Carly's mom died of cancer, Audrey's mom left her and her Dad to live a different life. Neily is the son of a wealthy IT guy and a nurse who got a divorce. With Carly, his world seemed okay, but once she dumped him for a rich bully and publicly humiliated him, his world took yet another turn for the worse. And this is only a very short rundown of the characters Jarzab created.

I absoltely loved the book and was glad I decided to buy it with all the books already on Mt. TBR. It has been a while since I read such a well-written book by a debut author and I will be holding my breath for the next book written by Anna Jarzab.

Oh yes, and a sentence I wrote down? "How many people are we going to lose before the universe decides we've had enough?" Carly asked me.

Busy weeks followed by a busy weekend

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After three busy weeks with end-of-term exams, my take-home exam and far too much noise and strangers running around at my work place, I've decided to ignore the term paper due in about 8 weeks for the weekend and instead work on a few reviews for all the books that are piling up on my desk. You know, I don't shelf my finished books until I reviewed them, so they're piling high on my desk and it looks a bit cluttered right now.

I think I'll start with Dia Reeves' Bleeding Violet, Anna Jarzab's All Unquiet Things and P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast's Betrayed. Watch out for them in the near future. Other books I can't wait to review are Courtney Summers' Cracked Up To Be, Gayle Forman's If I Stay and Art Spiegelman's Maus 1 & 2.

Of course, I also want to read a bit more. I am in the middle of Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver and I like the short chapters and the story. Easy to read and it's not much of a problem to put it down every now and then to play with my cat.

blame game time (February 26)

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It is time for another blame game! I realized I skipped the last week or so, but with my cat and everything, I was too distraught to remember... The blame game was first done by Chris from Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.

Jina Bacarr's The Blonde Samurai was reviewed by Monica from The Bibliophilic Book Blog and it sounds like something I enjoy. I have a thing for Japan (among a few other countries).

Olen Steinhauer's The Tourist was mentioned by Marcia from The Printed Page.

Elizabeth Eulberg's The Lonely Hearts Club, because Kristi from The Story Siren seemed to enjoy it a lot and I grew up with The Beatles.

Robin Brande's Fat Cat was reviewed by Nikki from Ramblings of a Bibliophile and it sounds really interesting.

Shannon Delaney's 13 to Life was mentioned in a WoW post by Kim from The Book Butterfly and it sounds right up my alley (werwolves?).

Elizabeth Scott's The Unwritten Rule has been mentioned by Laura from Tattooed Books and as I have only recently read one of Elizabeth Scott's books and really enjoyed it, I can't wait!

Joelle Anthony's Restoring Harmony, Lesley Hauge's Nomansland, Rae Mariz' The Unidentified and Allyson Condie's Matched were mentioned by Lenore from Presenting Lenore. And for 2011 Lenore talked about Lauren Oliver's Delirium and Lisa McMann's The Unwanteds.

Jenna Black's Glimmerglass and Eileen Cook's Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood were mentioned by Steph Su from Steph Su Reads.

Wally Lamb's Couldn't Keep It To Myself was highly recommended by Stephanie of Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic.

Book Review: Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

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Author	P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Title	Marked
Publisher	St. Martin's Griffin
Date of Publication	May 1, 2007
Page Count	306
ISBN	978-0-312-36026-9
Series	House of Night

Zoey Redbird really is in for it in this first installment in the House of Night series by mother-daughter-team P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. One encounter changes her life completely and makes the popular 16-year-old a Vampyre fledgling including a saphire-blue crescent on her forehead. After her friends turn their backs on her and her parents react everything but well to Zoey's change, she gets to the House of Night, the boarding school for vampyres, on her own. It is there that she will be trained to be a real vampyre - if she survives the change, that is! But before she reaches her new school, Nyx, the goddess of vampyres, reveals to her that she is the chosen one.

What an adventure! As soon as I started Marked it was over already. I just couldn't put the book down. It takes immense control for me to not grab the next and then the one after that (I have the first four books at home). While the story begins at an unhurried pace, it soon speeds up and you've reached the end before you even realize it.

The best part for me was that the change was not started with the bite of a vampyre, but a slow change after Zoey being marked. And this change does not end in being a vampyre happily-ever-after for every marked fledgling. P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast managed to create an exciting vampyre series that is quite a bit different from the other vampyre books out there I read so far.

In the world Zoey lives, most of the Hollywood actors are vampyres and it is not unusual, because they are stunning and one of the electives at their schools is acting. One scene that made me especially smile was:
"Okay, grab your schedule and let's go. Hey," [Stevie Rae] said as we hurried out of the room and skipped down the stairs, "maybe you'll be the next Nicole Kidman!"
Well, I guess being the next Nicole Kidman wouldn't be bad (not that I plan on marrying and then divorcing a manic short guy). (p. 104)

Podcast Review: Books on the Nightstand - recommendations

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In last week's first podcast review of Books on the Nightstand, I mentioned that I have a special notebook to keep track of the books I got recommended by Ann and Michael. Basically, it's a small, black Moleskine notebook with 76 pages and as I have two such notebooks the one for the recommendations has a sticker of Jenny's Cupcakes, a cupcake bakery here in Frankfurt on it (if you're in Frankfurt, check it out, I can give you directions). It's basically a white sticker with a pink cupcake and "Jenny's Cupcakes" written on it. For each podcast I start a new page, writing down the number and title of the podcast and then I write down the books I want to check out. After each book I leave a lign empty for my own mini-comment on how I liked it.

Now on to the recommendations - at least a few of them.

It all started in the very first podcast Ann and Michael did. There they mentioned The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, a book I had already read, but deemed note-worthy. It is such a great book!

In the second podcast they first mentioned a book by Valerie Martin, Trespass (as well as in podcast #14), and in one of the last podcasts (#60), Mary Reilly by the same author was mentioned. I believe it was Ann who recommended both books, but I really have to see who recommended which book in my notebook! (Maybe I'll do that this weekend, when I try to relax from the take-home exam I have to hand in tomorrow, before I tackle the paper I have to write.)

In the 20th podcast, it was all about sci-fi for the non-sci-fi-reader. With that one, they really got me, as I found Firmin by Sam Savage in a local book shop soon after the show. Let me just say I fell hard for that book and have since given the book as a present to two friends of mine and am now offering it in my giveaway. I guess that shows how much I love this book.

Then, I believe I really should mention The Road by Cormac McCarthy (podcast #30, #42 and #50). Around the time Ann and Michael recommended it, it was also on my reading schedule for a class. Unfortunately, it was the book that was dropped from the schedule as we were a bit too slow, but with a few other students and our lecturer, we set up a special class to discuss it for those interested. It is such a thought-provoking book, and I'm really glad Dr. V agreed to do the extra class!

Right in the next podcast, #31 (and #50 and #58, as it happens), they spoke about Beowulf at the Beach by Jack Murnighan. In this book, Murnighan talks about all those classics out there, the ones you should really know! And gives a short summary, tells you which parts of the book you can skip and adds other useful information! Can you believe it? I absolutely have to get this book.

Now, to give you even more of an impression of the variety of recommendations, here's a short list of books I noted from the podcasts #60 through #62:

• David Grann: The Lost City of Z
  
• Eric Larson: The Devil in the White City
  
• Valerie Martin: Mary Reilly
  
• Thomas Mullen: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers
  
• Jaron Lanier You Are Not A Gadget
  
• Chip Heath & Dan Heath: Made to Stick
  
• Chip Heath & Dan Heath: Switch
  
• Georges Perec: A Void
  
• Georges Perec: Life - A User's Manual
  
• Rebecca Skloot: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Of course, even Ann and Michael's recommendations aren't always fool-proof. I have found one book they recommended that I didn't enjoy so far - Nancy Horan's Loving Frank. But if you take into account the many, many books I wrote down and the number of books I already read, this is really not that note-worthy.

Oh yes, and the books I have on Mt. TBR from their recommendations? They are:

• Stieg Larsson: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (actually on Mom's shelves, but so what)
  
• Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
  
• Yu Hua: Brothers
  
• Alan Bradley: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
  
• Ninni Holmqvist: The Unit
  
• Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Played With Fire (also on Mom's shelves)
  
• Lev Grossman: The Magician
  
• Carrie Ryan: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
  
• Arthut Conan Doyle: The Complee Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The Book List (Feb 23): Books that should be made into Movies

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The Book List Meme is a weekly event hosted by Rebecca @ Lost In Books.

This week's theme is all about books that should be made into movies.

My three picks are:

1) Robert Fate: Baby Shark


2) Dia Reeves: Bleeding Violet


3) Kristina Springer: The Espressologist

The 50 follower contest is growing!

You guys are awesome! I now have 75 followers, so I'll add two more books and therefore one more winner. So now we'll have 3 winners who get two books each (on a first come, first serve basis once we have the winners).


The books I'm offering as of now are:

• Courtney Summers: Cracked Up To Be
  
• Poppy Z. Brite: Lost Souls
  
• Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak
  
• Sam Savage: Firmin
  
• Gareth P. Jones: The Thornthwaite Inheritance
  
• Rachel Ward: Numbers

Maybe I will add even more books and winners later on, so check back!

The giveaway is open internationally and will end March 17, 2010!

To enter the contest fill out this form!

In My Mailbox Monday (Feb 21)

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Someone just please stop my hands from ordering books! I just ordered 5 books (I think, my memory's a little blurry). But that's subject for later IMM posts, when the books actually arrive.

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books I found in my mailbox and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie. To join in, please visit Kristi's blog!

Mailbox Mondays is a weekly event hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page. To join, please visit her blog!



I got Wake in a weak moment (yeah, I have a lot of those lately), and I'm really curious about it!



And then I finally got Maus 2, if in a combined copy with Maus 1, even though I've owned Maus 1 for quite a while now. Also, I've already read / re-read this one, so it doesn't really count, does it?

blame game time (February 19)

It is time for another blame game! I realized I skipped the last week or so, but with my cat and everything, I was too distraught to remember... The blame game was first done by Chris from Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.

Sydney Salter's Swoon at Your Own Risk was reviewed by Sheila from One Person's Journey through a world of Books.

Richard Preston's The Hot Zone was highly recommended by Alyce from At Home With Books.

Jennifer Echols' Going Too Far was reviewed by Wings from Storywings.

Anything by T. Coraghessan Boyle based on the blog posts by Teddy Rose from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time.

Catherine Fisher's Incarceron because Lenore from Presenting Lenore seems to have enjoyed it a lot and it seems we have a similar taste.

Janette Rallison's Just One WIsh was reviewed by Nelly from All About {n} and it sounds like a fun, quick read.

Podcast Review: Books on the Nightstand

As a few of you already know I'm in the lucky position to be able to listen to podcasts or audio books while I'm at work. This has lead me to discover a number of wonderful podcasts I would love to share with you. For this, I created the podcast review here at the Dreamworld, which I will do monthly. I will not necessarily review them as I would a book, but for the time being, I have no better word for it.
If you know a podcast I absolutely have to listen to, please let me know either by e-mail or in a comment. I'm always looking for more literary podcasts to enjoy and dwell in!



So let me start with Books on the Nightstand. This is the first literary podcast I ever subscribed to and it is simply awesome! Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness are sales reps for Randomhouse, so they get to read lots of great books before they’re out and we hear about them. It must be really hard for them to not let it slip and talk about all those wonderful books. In fact, all they might tell is that they are reading a great book they can’t wait to talk about, but that's as much as you get until the pub date is here.
Despite them working for Randomhouse, though, the podcast is strictly personal, so you get their opinion and their opinion only. They give the podcast a very personal note and when I listen to Books on the Nightstand it is as if I was sitting there with them having them recommend books to me.

As it is such a pleasure to hear them talk, I usually wait a bit to gather two to four podcasts so I can indulge at a later moment instead of having to stick to “only” about half an hour of book-ish talk. Ann and Michael have recommended a ton of books since their first podcast and I actually have a special notebook where I write down all recommendations sorted by the edition I heard them mention the book. (For a very small excerpt of books I wrote down, see below!)

At the beginning, they taped a podcast about twice a month, but a poll showed that we listeners would very much appreciate a weekly show – and that is what Ann and Michael are doing now, and sucessful at that! Now at # 65 (as you read this the 65th podcast should be available for download), they have gathered a huge number of friends and you can even find Books on the Nightstand on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.

Their podcast is usually made up of three sections. First, they talk about the theme of the show with book recommendations along the way. Then they recommend a few books that will be out the week after the podcast, before they go on the the last part of the show with one book each they can’t wait for us to read.

But that is not all. For the holidays, they went great lengths to create gift guides - in 2009 even a regular one and one for kids to download and / or print. And at the end of each gift guide, there's a checklist to print off and mark the books you intend to buy for your loved ones.

Now here are a few select books Ann & Michael recommended over the past two years:

• Jeff Lindsey: Darkly Dreaming Dextre
  
• Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
  
• Stieg Larson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  
• Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
  
• Cormac McCarthy: The Road
  
• Sam Savage: Firmin
  
• Ninni Holmqvist: The Unit

You can see they read and enjoy a broad variety of books, and I only selected a few random ones. If you haven't listened to Books on the Nightstand yet, you certainly should try it!

50 Followers Contest!

Can you believe it? My Dreamworld has reached 50 followers and that, I believe, is a wonderful reason to hold a contest. I love you all a lot and I'm so happy you're following me.

I will be giving away a total of 4 books to two of my followers.

The books I'm offering as of now are:

• Courtney Summers: Cracked Up To Be
  
• Poppy Z. Brite: Lost Souls
  
• Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak
  
• Sam Savage: Firmin

Maybe I will add some more books and winners later on, so check back!

The giveaway is open internationally and will end March 17, 2010!

To enter the contest fill out this form!

In My Mailbox (Feb 14)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books I found in my mailbox and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie. To join in, please visit Kristi's blog!



The Naughty List by Suzanne Young is the last title I pre-ordered in December. I can't wait to read it :-)



The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan also finally arrived!



And then, a review copy of Michele Wahlder's Alphatudes: The Alphabet of Gratitude arrived. Thanks to Rebecca from The Cadence Group!

blame game time (February 13)

It is time for another blame game! I realized I skipped the last week or so, but with my cat and everything, I was too distraught to remember... The blame game was first done by Chris from Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.

NOTE: This is part 2 of 3 for this edition. I hope I can make a real dent in my Google Reader. There are too many unread blog posts right now!

Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Front and Center was reviewed by Alison from So Many Books So Little Time, but I'll have to read Dairy Queen first, as it is the beginning of this trilogy.

J.T. Ellison's The Cold Room was recommended by Marcia from The Printed Page and how could I possibly resist such a wonderful mystery / thriller?

Loretta Ellsworth' In a Heartbeat was mentioned by Kim from The Book Butterfly - a few times. actually!

Tera Lynn Childs' Oh.My.Gods was mentioned by Nina from J'adorehappyendings. The description sounds so good, I'm really curious to read it. Nina also mentioned Jessica Verday's The Hollow.

Robin Palmer's Little Miss Red and Ally Carter's Heist Society were mentioned by Kristi from The Story Siren. The same goes for Allison van Diepen's Raven, Abby McDonald's Sophomore Switch and Sarah Mlynowski's Parties & Potions. And the last of these actually means I add three more books, as Parties & Potions is the fourth in a series! Kristi also added Chloe Neill's Firespell to my wishlist.

Jennifer Brown's Hate List was reviewed by Shanda from Book Thoughts.

P.C. Cast's Goddess of the Sea was reviewed and praised by Monica from The Bibliophilic Book Blog. As I am having a really, really good time with P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast's House of Night series, I can't not have this one on my wish list now, can I?

Stacey Parker Aab's Government Girl was reviewed by Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit when it caught my attention.

Phew! Now I'm at under 400 unread blog posts. Since tomorrow is carneval, I can only hope you will all play nice and not post too much. Lunch is at 11 am and as soon as it is over we'll start the dressing up, partying and having adult fun (read drinking - if moderate, as I have to work on Monday *wink*).

blame game time (February 12)

It is time for another blame game! I realized I skipped the last week or so, but with my cat and everything, I was too distraught to remember... The blame game was first done by the one and only Chris from Stuff As Dreams Are Made On.

NOTE: This is part 1 of approximately 3 that I will try to post over the weekend. Wish me luck I can get my Google Reader down a bit despite carneval!

Julie Anne Peters' By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead was reviewed by Karin from Karin's Book Nook and I'm curious about it.

Sarah Beth Durst's Ice was recommended by Alyssa over at Teens Read and Write and I can't thank her enough for making the book show up on my radar. Let's hope they'll put the book up for their giveaway (and that I - for once - have a chance to snatch it :-P ).

Sarah Jane Stratford's The Midnight Guardian was reviewed by Becky from The Bookette. This historical fantasy with vampires sounds intriguing, so I'll have to read it.

Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall was highly recommended by Katrina from Bloody Bad.

Wayne Simmons' Flu was mentioned by Sharon from Sharon Loves Books and Cats (so do I!) and ever since I read this one good zombie book last year I have been looking for other zombie books. She also mentioned Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead, edited by Christopher Golden, Jonathan Maberry's Rot & Ruin and Mira Grant's Feed.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Diving into the Wreck earns Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings his first point. The cover of the book alone made me stop dead (the woman reminded me of both Katherine Janeway and Seven of Nine), but his review did it for me. I have to read it!

Kitty Keswick's Freaksville was reviewed my Pat from Peave Love & Pat and as you might have realized from my In My Mailbox posts lately, I have a thing for paranormal YA books :-)

In My Mailbox (Feb 7)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books I found in my mailbox and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie. To join in, please visit Kristi's blog!



I read a few really intriguing reviews about this book. Some of the reviewers enjoyed the book while others did not like it that much, but I have a feeling I will have fun reading Dreaming Anastasia: A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams!

Then, I was book shopping with a friend in a longer-than-usual lunch break at university (a class was cancelled). Of course, we tried our best to stick to having coffee, but after almost two hours we decided we should just check out the book shop next door. I came away with the following three books (plus the book my friend bought which she'll borrow me to read as soon as she's finished it):



Yes, I gave in and bought Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go! All the reviews made me curious...



How could I not want Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston? It's been on my wish list for a while...



... as has Gayle Forman's If I Stay. (Now my look for the best price list is down to 31 books!



Usually I'm not so much into pink, so I tend to stay away from pink covers, but Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt sounded too good to stay away. I'm pretty certain already it will be a fun read for the break I'm going to have starting a week from now!



Yes, I gave in with this one as well. I wasn't sure at first, but then I read more and more about it and also got to read a bit about their book tour, so Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures had to help feed my mailbox!



I got Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James from the wonderful Lisa from Online Publicist for review - and signed at that, with a personal note... A big, heartfelt thanks to Emmett James for that :D I'm really curious about it!

comments

Unfortunately, I've had a number of anonymous spam comments in the past week, so comments are being moderated again. Sorry about that, but you'll just have to wait for me to approve them.

Also, I know I haven't responded to a number of comments. Sorry about that! I'll try to do this over the next few days, but give me at least a week to get through everything that is left. I have a grammar test today, a presentation on Friday and a linguistics exam next Wednesday, so I'm very, very busy!

In My Mailbox (Feb 1)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books I found in my mailbox and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea @ Pop Culture Junkie. To join in, please visit Kristi's blog!



I got The Espressologist when my brother asked me whether I needed anything from Amazon. Thinking he had something he wanted but wouldn't get over the 20 Euros for free shipping, I said sure. Duh! He got a new electric razor, so he wouldn't have needed me to order anything.
Anyway, now I have The Espressologist and I can't wait to read it.



This is one of the books I pre-ordered in December, when I first watched a few of the Class 2k10 videos featuring authors debuting in 2010. It is the first book in the Iron Fey series.

News on the Blogging front

I have a few news for you all on the blogging front here. I hope you like most of them!

As of now Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic is an Amazon.com affiliate, so whenever you use the links to books provided on this site, you will help me. That way, I hope to be able to give you even more reviews of new or at least new-ish releases.
As you might remember, I'm a student earning my own money (with some much appreciated help from my parents and grandparents - thanks, Mom & Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, you rock!), so I have only limited money to spend on books (all my current books bought are off of Christmas money, and all that is/was left is all used up with pre-orders up until March).

Then, I registered for BEA, so if you're there, let me know and maybe we can meet up? I'd love that! I just have to book a flight and find a place to stay (no, that doesn't clash with the "being a student" part above - I saved up for over two years to finally get out of Frankfurt and Germany for a change. I haven't had a vacation in years! (Actually, I think my last time away was in summer 2003, when I was in London for 2 days.)

And then, please stay tuned for two new features here at the Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic. I've been thinking about both for a while and I think I now know how I want to handle them. You'll get the first one this weekend!