I is for Insurgent (Book Review)

So I did a review for Allegiant on the first day---and saved Insurgent for today with I.  I am so glad that I am getting caught up.

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Dystopian/YA

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Why Did I Read? I really really enjoyed Divergent--and this was what came next :)

Summary: I finished this book in December-so again I'm using a Goodreads summary. Which might contain spoilers One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

What Did I Love: You really get to know Tris and Tobias a lot more-I like how the characters are developed more

  

What Did I Hate: I felt like Divergent was a lot better--this one just seemed to move a bit slow. The character development was great, but the plot development was lower.  It also didn't seem to be really moving much forward--just getting it so Divergent and Alleigant weren't too long.

A is for Allegiant: Book Review

So in my theme of catching up, there will be quite a few book reviews on this A to Z Challenge.  I have been trying to keep up with my reading, but I haven't kept up with blogging about them.  And a lot of these book reviews are books that I finished end of 2013 too, so yeah--when I stopped blogging, I also stopped writing about the books.  Sad day...but I am trying to fix that with this challenge (though I will admit...today it is tricky to get motivated to write).

So I actually finally finished Allegiant this past weekend after reading it for months--I started reading it when everything at work changed and it is really hard to find time to read a book.

Title: Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Dystopian/YA Fiction

Rating: 4 out of 5

Why Did I Read? Well I read Divergent (see review here) and I read Insurgent (review to come on Day "I"). I really wanted to know how it ends. And I had heard interesting things about the ending. 

Summary: (Note if you haven't read the other two books, this might contain spoilers of those...they have become one long story to me.) We follow Tris and Tobias outside the fence to figure out what is out there and what they are suppose to do.  They are surprised when they learn the truth about their own existence.  Tris feels like she has walked into another world just like hers--will she change it or just let the status quo remain? 

What Did I Love: I loved how everything was explained in this book--that's why I have got all three of them in my head now.  She takes all of the loose ends from the first two books and really ties it all in a bow.  I actually really did like the big ending.  I won't say it here to avoid spoiling it for others--but I accidentally came across the ending to the story right before I finished the book.  And I actually wasn't too surprised, I kind of saw it coming.  I loved the theme of the book that really came out through the end and she had some great quotes and writing at the end. 

What Did I Hate: I really didn't like the perspective changes with the chapter changes.  I get why she did that now that I've read the whole book, I don't think she could have done it any other way.  But it was very disorienting and it took me awhile to get use to it.  Towards the end I would still see the character name at the chapter heading...read a few pages and then go back to the chapter heading to make sure I had the first person right.  I wonder if a third person would have made it better....I doubt it but that would have helped the confusion.

What did you think of Alleigant? I haven't seen the new movie yet, what did you think of that?

Thank you Wikipedia 

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 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 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

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