S is for Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Book Review)

Final catch up on this series :) 

Title: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven #4)

Author: Brandon Mull

Genre: Fantasy/YA

Rating: 4 out of 5

Why Did I Read? Continuing with the series! 

Summary: (from Goodreads) Two hidden artifacts have been found. Three more remain unrecovered. More preserves face destruction as the Society of the Evening Star relentlessly pursues new talismans. Reading in Patton’s Journal of Secrets, Kendra learns the location of the key to a vault housing one of the artifacts. In order to retrieve it, the Knights of the Dawn must enter a death trap — a dragon sanctuary called Wyrmroost. The mission cannot proceed without stealing a sacred object zealously guarded by the centaurs. Anybody seen Seth?

The race is on to acquire all five of the artifact keys to the great demon prison. Will the Knights of the Dawn conquer Wyrmroost? Who can stop the Sphinx? Can Vanessa be trusted to help? What artifact will be found next?

What Did I Love: He sucked me in again with Kendra and her stuff!!! And then he took it away again.  I yelled at it---but in a good way :) Excited to read the 5th one. 

What Did I Hate: I think I'm still bitter about the way things turned out :)

R is for Rise of the Evening Star (Book Review)

Continuing to catch up on the Fablehaven series book reviews. 

Title: Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven #2)

Author: Brandon Mull

Genre: Fantasy/YA

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

Why Did I Read? I really enjoyed the first book--especially the audio, so I really wanted to get the second one. 

Summary: (I finished this book back in December so I am stealing this summary so that it is just book 2 from Goodreads). At the end of the school year, Kendra and her brother, Seth, find themselves racing back to Fablehaven, a refuge for mythical and magical creatures. Grandpa Sorenson, the caretaker, invites three specialists--a potion master, a magical relics collector, and a mystical creature trapper--to help protect the property from the Society of the Evening Star, an ancient organization determined to infiltrate the preserve and steal a hidden artifact of great power. Time is running out. The Evening Star is storming the gates. If the artifact falls into the wrong hands, it could mean the downfall of other preserves and possibly the end of the world. Will Kendra learn to use her fairy gifts in time? Will Seth stay out of trouble? Can they overcome paralyzing fear?

What Did I Love: I loved the introduction of the new characters.  They really helped the story to evolve and get better. 

What Did I Hate: Umm...honestly can't think of anything.  I really enjoyed the book. I think the reason I gave it a 4 out of 5 was the fact that it is hard to get a 5 :)

G is for Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven #3) Book Review

So as I mentioned yesterday, I have been just reading the Fablehaven series and I haven't written any reviews about it yet!  So even though this is the third book, it fits with today's letter :)  I will get all four on here before the end of A to Z! I finished this back in January, at least I keep my Goodreads account somewhat updated :)

Title: Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven #3)

Author: Brandon Mull

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 4 out of 5

Why Did I Read? Continuing along the series...by here he had me hooked!

Summary: (again stolen from Goodreads) Strange things are afoot at Fablehaven. Someone or something has released a plague that transforms beings of light into creatures of darkness. Seth discovers the problem in its infancy, but as the infectious disease spreads, it becomes clear that the preserve cannot hold out for long. 
In dire need of help, the Sorensons question where to turn. The Sphinx has always given sound advice–but is he a traitor? Inside the Quiet Box, Vanessa might have information that could lead to a cure–but can she be trust? Meanwhile, Kendra and members of the Knights of the Dawn must journey to a distant preserve and retrieve another hidden artifact. Will the Society of the Evening Star recover it first? Will the plague eclipse all light at Fablehaven?

What Did I Love: I liked how this one allowed Seth's character to grow a bit more.  Yes I still have the moments of really why is he doing that, and I can't really trust him.  But I liked how he is getting his own powers and starting to really contribute.

What Did I Hate: I didn't really hate anything about this one. I rated it in the moment, and to be honest I can't really remember why it was a 4 over a 5 or a 4.5.  But I do remember thinking that this story didn't grab my interest as much--it was becoming a bit predictable.  Fablehaven is always about ready to be destroyed.

F is for Fablehaven: Book Review

In the effort to catch-up, I need to review this series of books.  I have listened on audio to the first four in this series, and have checked the 5th one out of the library waiting for me to read it.  I finished this in December of last year, and since I have been reading the other books each one in order I am going to steal this summary from Goodreads.

Title: Fablehaven

Author: Brandon Mull

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 5 out of 5

Why Did I Read? I have always wanted to read this, and I like to have an audio book in my car when I drive.  This was the audio book that grabbed me. 

From Wikipedia

Summary: For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic in a cynical world. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite ... Kendra and her brother Seth have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws give relative order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, an arcane evil is unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives. To save her family, Fablehaven, and perhaps the world, Kendra must find the courage to do what she fears most.

What Did I Love: I absolutely LOVED E.B. Stevens.  He reads the audio books and does a ton of voices.  I found myself laughing out loud at the text--which probably resulted from the way he read it.  Brandon Mull writes very well.  The story was very well done, and I immediately wanted the 2nd book.  It was a simple fantasy world, which I appreciated.  But it wasn't too simple that I didn't feel like I wasn't in the world-which was a perfect balance. 

I also love that this is a perfect book for students--I bet reluctant readers are more likely to pick up this book.

What Did I Hate: Nothing! It got the rare 5 out of 5!!!

Bout of Books Wrap up

Today is the day in which I look back at my goals and start last Monday and see how far I come!!

Yesterday I finished Plague Legacy: Acquistions!! (Gain of 16%) Made it to page 194 in Allegiant (a gain of 92 pages)! Also made a gain of three pages in Book of Mormon.

So my goals and progress was:

1. Read everyday...not just listen to my audiobooks in the car or around the house...but actually read!

• I am pretty sure that I did that one....if I didn't I only missed a couple of days. I did my best to at least read a little bit. Looking back at my updates...it looks like I missed one day kind of--I only read Book of Mormon that day and probably not much because I like listening too

2. Participate in the Twitter chats for the first time

• I only was able to do Monday's chat...but that's progress!!! I slept through Saturday...and ate dinner through Wednesday's with the husband.

3. I really want to finish reading a book-which I haven't done on a Bout of Books

• I FINISHED A BOOK! You have no idea how excited I am that I finished a book :) And I read it in almost a week--I was only on 9% on Monday.

4. I will specifically focus on reading: Fablehaven 3 (audio), Allegiant (print), Plague Legacy: Acquisitions (Kindle), and Book of Mormon (audio and Kindle)

• I managed to read all of these throughout the week, and sometime all of them in one day :)

So how much did I accomplish?

Fablehaven: almost three complete discs (I was two tracks off...finished them this morning)

Allegiant: page 52-194 (Gain of 142)

Book of Mormon page 179-226 (Gain of 47)

Plague Legacy 9%-100% (Gain of 91%)

Overall a very very successful Bout of Books week!! My best EVER!

Join us next time in May!!
Go here for more info: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/

Bout of Books Day 6 Update

Yesterday I got some more of my reading done...but not a ton.  I'm very impressed with my progress today though and I'm feeling a lot better about my goals!

Book of Mormon--page 202-210
Fablehaven 3--Track 9 disc 3 to Track 13 disc 3
Plague Legacy-- 27% to 38%

Need to get to bed so this is just a quick post!

Bout of Books Day 5 Update

So it is Day 5..and it is finally Friday so I am hoping to get some more reading done since I don't have to go to work tomorrow :). 

Yesterday I was able to get some reading done:

Fablehaven 3--Track 4 to Track 9 on disc 3

Book of Mormon--pages 194 to 202

Allegiant--pages 70 to 102

Making some progress...but still worried about actually finishing a book in the next three days.  

Saw this challenge today from Mandi Kay who I met on Twitter briefly on Monday. The challenge was to take the last word of each line of the last page you read in a book.  I am working on The Plague Legacy right now so I went to the previous page and pulled the words.  I was really worried because I had a lot of little helping verbs...not a whole lot of nouns--and especially almost no subjects.  So I cheated slightly and gave myself one little subject and changed the tense of a word so that it could kind of become a verb...though don't ask me to define it because I think I created a new definition for braiding.

Cam had a knife, and

had cost five

answers-- to who was braid[ing]

knees against Salvation.

Depot had in [his] head and hated it.

Bout of Books Day 4

So...I wanted to do a quick update before I head back to reading and then bed.

I'm so glad it goes through the weekend :)

Yesterday I read:
Fablehaven--This one was the one I got through the most on because I drove far yesterday--finished disc 1 and all of disc 2...got to track 4 on disc 3
Book of Mormon--pgs 190-194

I was pretty proud of the Fablehaven progress :) Getting a little worried that I won't finish an actual book....but here's hoping! **crossing fingers**

There are two really fun challenges today so I thought I would hop on really quick!

The first is from Pen in Her Hand

Basically I choose words from my book to make into a poem 

Patrols farther ahead 

to keep some safe cushions 

There are rest points says I

Really random....I couldn't really make them a poem so I at least put them in a really random bizarre sentenceish thing. The book I used was Allegiant.

Then the second challenge from Writing My Own Fairy Tale so to team up two books to read together. I have been thinking how much Divergent reminds me of The Hunger Games...so those are the two that I would team up together!

Bout of Books Day 3 Update

So I wasn't able to read that much yesterday--but I feel pretty good about today--can't wait to tell you about it tomorrow.

Book of Mormon--pages 185-190 (5 pages)
Fablehaven 3--track 5 to 11 (6 tracks)
Allegiant--page 52-70 (18 pages)
Plague Legacy--22% to 27% (5%)

In other news....I had a doctor's appointment today.  For those that have been following for awhile you know that I have been in pain since April.  For those of you that haven't--bottom line no one can figure out why I suddenly have had abdominal pain with no real pattern or anything.  I decided to give up on traditional medicine and see a homeopathic guy....who is commonly called around here the "coo-coo doctor"--though he is unaware of this. In November when I saw him--we weren't sure then either, but had some theories: a parasite in my bowel and something wrong with kidneys/urinary tract. So I started taking these pills and drops and things.  They helped for a little while, but not recently.  So I went and saw him today.  Some things are better and other things are flaring up more so, which explains why I am still in pain. So I am going to keep going some of the things I have been, drop others, and then add some more. We will see how it goes!

Bout of Books Day 2

Hey--I want to get more time to read tonight--so I'm not going to make this a super long post.  Just wanted to give my update tonight--because I'm pretty proud that I've gotten as far as I have. I'm glad I actually read!

This is what I read on Day 1:
Book of Mormon read pages 179-186 total of 7 pgs.
Plague Legacy read 13-22% so total 9%
Fablehaven 3 listened to tracks 1 through 4

Bout of Books 9.0 Goals

I am so excited to be involved in the Bout of Books adventure again.  This is my third adventure--and I feel a lot more prepared for this one that I have for a long time.  I also had the great opportunity to join in with the Twitter chat today--I love how it worked out with lunch today.  I was really invigorating to feel that camaraderie through the computer screen!!

I need to make known what my goals are for this Bout of Books adventure:

1. Read everyday...not just listen to my audiobooks in the car or around the house...but actually read!

2. Participate in the Twitter chats for the first time

3. I really want to finish reading a book-which I haven't done on a Bout of Books

4. I will specifically focus on reading: Fablehaven 3 (audio), Allegiant (print), Plague Legacy: Acquisitions (Kindle), and Book of Mormon (audio and Kindle)

I will also be hopping in on the challenges each day--these are usually great fun.  And with the last read-a-thon I did with giveaway challenges I won two free books!! I felt pretty darn lucky and special :)

So the first challenge that I'm going to get to is the Mad Libs Challenge.  This was pretty fun last time. So here is the list:

character name – Tris from Divergent series by Veronica Roth
adjective1 – Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
adjective2 – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
item – The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (wow...I haven't read this in awhile!)
occupation – The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
act of violence – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
adjective3 – Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (which is high up in the TBR pile)
noun1 –Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
noun2 – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

This girl Tris ends up in the middle of a safe conspiracy. Turns out her ancestors were pirates, and she might be the key to finding the little brief. It’s a mythic artifact that disappeared centuries ago, and now a shadowy group of travelers are looking for it. No one knows what uncovering it might do, but these guys are willing to kill for it.

I won’t say anything else. But believe me, if you like thirteen stories with pride and prejudice, you have to read this one.

Ooh this didn't turn out too bad...a little funny and fitting at the same time!

The next challenge is a shopping list based on a $100 shopping spree--this is what I would buy!

This was actually kind of fun!!  Though I quickly figured out why I don't buy new books quickly :)

Thanks http://cheapthrillsbookblog.wordpress.com and http://www.bookishcomforts.com for the fun!

Last Minute Read-a-thon Wrap Up

It was great for me to be able to continue my momentum with reading from the #readingcram read-a-thon! Though I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped that I would...I still feel like I got somewhere!

This is what I accomplished:
Insurgent--finished!!! (read about 100 pages)
Fablehaven 2--audio book...I am now on disc 7 of 10...so I'm more than halfway.  I think I was on disc 5 when we started the read-a-thon...so I got decently far!
Plague Legacy: Acquisitions:  I got to 13% last night after having started on this read-a-thon.

I also set the goal to catch up on reviews...while I haven't posted them I have the cued up and ready to go.

Thank you to Vonnie and Maria for a great read-a-thon!

Love it and Hate Covers Challenge

Today's last minute read-a-thon challenge is about a love it and hate it cover.  When The Casual Vacancy first came out this was the cover that I saw....

It just didn't make any sense to me! I bought the book with this cover...and while it hasn't really shown to me why this cover makes sense.  I sure love his cover better.

I would even be good with this cover:

So yeah.....not sure what they were thinking with the original cover.

Day 2 Progress (Yesterday)

Not a whole lot...twenty minutes or so with Fablehaven

5 pages or so with Book of Mormon

Day 3 Progress (Today)

I have gotten about 10% through Plague Legacy

3 pages or so with Book of Mormon

Thirty minutes or so with Fablehaven

Last Minute Read-a-thon

I found out about another great read-a-thon for the end of the year. This is hosted by Vonnie's Reading Corner and A Night's Dream of Books.  I had great momentum from the last read-a-thon--I thought it would be a great way to end the year. So today's post is all about what I plan to read/goals during this time.

Goals:

1. I want to finish Insurgent....and write review
2. Write the reviews from the last read-a-thon so I can get them up here (I never take this long!)

Other Books to Read:

1. (listen to) Fablehaven 2
2. Book of Mormon
3. The Plague Legacy: Acquistions

If I get Lucky:

1. Coiled Snake
2. Allegiant
3. 10 Reasons Why

We will see how this one goes!! I'm excited to keep moving forward

#ReadingCram Wrap-Up

This has been a great week and a half! Even though I had hoped to get a lot of reading done and not get distracted by a lot of things around me--but considering I haven't finished two books in this amount of time in a long time, it is an achievement for me.  I am almost done with Insurgent and I still want to try to finish it this year...though my ambition to finish so much of the Book of Mormon was a bit high--though halfway through by the end of the year. I am hoping that this #ReadingCram will help me keeping going through the end of the year.

So what did I accomplish this #ReadingCram....

I finished

As an audiobook! Not sure how many pages that ended up being

Started on page 239 and then finished on 322

Currently still reading:

Started on page 72 now on page 136

Started on page 112  and currently on 268

Audiobook as well...started during reading cram and I am on disc 4

I haven't ever really done page counts...but I like how that looks.  I read 300 pages...which is like a whole book from start to finish.  Not bad considering my full-time job, tired brain, and other obligations.

One thing that I will definitely miss with this challenge is not having to come up with blog posts each day--the challenges did that for me;.  Thank you to Dana and Jenny for their efforts with that--it was great to be able to do some fun things with my posts each day!

As I look at the last week and half or so of my #365 project--I have LOTS of ideas of what to do for 2014 and a few for the rest of the year--just need to put pen to paper so I don't forget them all!