May 31, 2016

Monthly Re-Cap: May 2016

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 


Wow this year is FLYING by... or maybe I am just going crazy... it could be that 😜
May was a whirlwind of a month - busy at work, a vacation week FULL of books and cleaning my house - like REALLY cleaning (oh spring!), and there was Mini Blog Ahead, Armchair BEA, and the Clean Sweep Challenge too [insert heavy breathing].
I hope that everyone had a wonderful reading month - 

what did you read or listen to in May?

Link me up in the comments section! 

 

     ~~Books Read in May~~     

                    
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time   Harley Quinn (2013-) #26   Harley Quinn & Her Gang of Harleys (2016-) #1   Harley Quinn & the Suicide Squad April Fool's Special (2016) #1   Ballet Cat The Totally Secret Secret   Royal Wedding (The Princess Diaries, #11)  The Twilight Children  The One-of-a-Kind Cat Book
    Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans



How did I do on my May TBR?
I read 4 / 5 books BUT I am about 20% done with book 5 so there is that :)

How did I do on my Mini Blog Ahead?
I prepped 15 posts! (and already posted some)

How did I do on the Clean Sweep Challenge?
I read 4 review copies this month which is awesome - slowly making my way through them and putting a great dent in my Netgalley list 
  
~~Links to Some Reviews~~

    ~~ Reviews from Coming in June~ 
    • Drowned City by Don Brown (GN)

      May 30, 2016

      Building the Book Pile #188

      Welcome to Building the Book Pile!  A Weekly meme inspired by Stacking the Shelves

      Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 



      Happy Memorial Day everyone - I hope you are taking a quick moment to remember those we have lost in order to have our freedom. And enjoy any BBQs you are attending.

      This past week was busy at work - lots to do at the end of the term, tomorrow is the last day with presentations so next week should be slower but still wrapping up grading etc. with the professors.

      At home we are working on our living room - we painted the walls and we will be painiting the trim soon. But we bought some curtains at Kohl's this weekend - all on clearance so they were a steal (oh adult life how you make me laugh - I am excited about curtains)

      As far as reading goes, I hit a bit of a slump so I picked up some graphic novels from the library to help... still have to finish a book today if I am getting through my TBR ... we will see if I can do it!

       I  hope that all of YOU had a wonderful week!
       
        Giveaways on Cover2CoverBlog!

          http://cover2coverblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/armchair-bea-2016-giveaway-day.htmlI Wanna Be a Great Big Dinosaur

      Coming up on the Blog... 


      May 2016 Re-Cap
      June TBR Pile 
      Recent Reads: Drowned City by Don Brown (GN) 
      Recent Reads: The Blue Door by Christa Kinde (YA)
       
            

        Books Received this Week

      A Fierce and Subtle Poison
      A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry from Librarything Early Reviewers Program and Recorded Books

      From the Library, I checked out -
      Nimona Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans  The Marriage of Opposites
      Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
      Drowned City by Don Brown
      The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman - for book club  


      Have you missed anything lately?

      Week of May 22th-28th

                                          May 26, 2016

                                          Cover Reveal: Heroes of Arcania by Liz Long

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                                          SuperNova (HoA #1), Fortune’s Favor (HoA #2), Unbreakable (HoA #3)
                                          Heroes of Arcania Trilogy
                                          COVER REVEAL
                                          May 26th, 2016

                                          HOA_FINAL-ebooksm

                                          The streets of Arcania are overrun with crime, deteriorating as a madman named Fortune makes himself at home. He shows no mercy, striking down anyone in his path – including Nova Benson’s little sister. Devastated, Nova vows to seek justice for her family, but aside from her freak strength and impenetrable skin, how is she supposed to stop a monster like Fortune?  

                                          Cole Warner wants to help people. Entrusted to keep his family’s secret, he’s also frustrated at having to hide his gift. He knows he could do more to help in the fight against Fortune. If he could convince his sister Penelope to join him, they might even have a chance at beating him. When Cole meets Nova, he realizes his whole world is about to change. And he’s going to welcome it with open arms.

                                          Falling for each other wasn’t part of the plan.

                                          Then again, neither was becoming a superhero.


                                          Fortunes Favor_FINAL-ebooksm

                                          Nova will learn it takes more than sheer strength to be a superhero. Her world implodes when Fortune strikes back for all the trouble she’s caused. His dangerous games put everyone around her at risk, especially when he decides to turn Arcania against its precious Heroes. Nova wants to protect Arcania, but how does she save a city that doesn’t want her help?

                                          Cole has no idea how to deal with his sister Penelope, especially now that she’s learned the truth about their family secret. Thanks to Fortune, she’s headed down a dark path, one with no return. Torn between helping Nova and protecting his sister, Cole will be forced to make a choice. Tensions rise as Cole and Nova discover war will come to Arcania if they don’t get Fortune off the streets…or preferably six feet under.

                                          Nova and Cole might have each other, but will they lose everything else in their mission to save Arcania?


                                          Unbreakable_FINAL-ebooks,

                                          Nova started the fight against Fortune for simple revenge, but now it’s turned into something much bigger. Arcania’s criminals are at each other’s throats, putting the city right in the middle of a warzone. She’ll have to work with a few unlikely allies to end Fortune’s games once and for all. Nova thought she understood what it meant to be a superhero, but will she have to lose herself to truly defeat Fortune?

                                          Fortune has given Cole a choice, one with unbearable consequences. When Cole takes matters into his own hands to save his sister Penelope, he realizes too late he’s another pawn in Fortune’s games. Fortune will use Cole’s gift against his enemies…including Nova. Cole will have to become the hero he always wanted to be if he’s going to protect the love of his life.

                                          Nova and Cole could finally save Arcania from Fortune’s deadly games, but are they willing to sacrifice each other?


                                          ~*~ABOUT LIZ~*~
                                          12471331_1021016457957374_3649225354684299378_o

                                          Liz Long is a proud graduate of Longwood University. Her inspiration comes from action and thriller genres and she spends entirely too much time watching superhero movies. Her day job includes writing for a magazine publisher in Roanoke, VA.

                                          The Donovan Circus series has best been described as "X-Men meets the circus." Adult horror story Witch Hearts tells the tale of a serial killer hunting witches for their powers. New Adult PNR A Reaper Made is about a teen Reaper who gets caught between falling in love or saving her sister's soul. All titles are available for paperback or ebook on Amazon.


                                          To learn more about Liz (including more information on her books, plus writing, marketing, and social media tips), visit her website: http://lizclong.com.

                                          May 25, 2016

                                          Waiting on Wednesday: But What If We're Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman

                                           But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
                                          But What If We're Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman
                                          Publisher: Blue Rider Press
                                          Publication Date:  June 7, 2016




                                          https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17608898-the-killing-jar?from_search=true&search_version=service

                                          Goodreads Synopsis:  

                                          We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there’s nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure—until, of course, they don’t.

                                          But What If We’re Wrong?
                                          visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or—weirder still—widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we “overrate” democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we’ve reached the end of knowledge?

                                          Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We’re Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers—George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others—interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It’s a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It’s about how we live now, once “now” has become “then.”

                                          Why I Am Waiting:
                                          When I was in college a read some of KLosterman's earlier works and I really like how he writes and I love the views on culture he presents. This is an adult book but sometimes I need to read a few :)