Recent Reads: Harley Quinn #19 and #20 by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti

Harley Quinn: The Ship of Fools
Series: Harley Quinn #19
Publisher: DC Comics
Publication Date:  October 2015

 

Format: Comic 
Source: Bought/Own

Rating:
 
 


 

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Harley's finding out just how hard it is to be the boss! She's finally ready to put her love life first, if only the Gang of Harleys would let her have a moment's rest! 

Review: 

This series got a bit strange a few issues ago and while I enjoyed it better than the Power Girl issues, these have not been my favorites. In this installment, Harley is concluding the issue/ job involving the seaman who has eaten alien seaweed - yup Popeye-esq huh? I have to admit, at the beginning of this story line I was laughing about the Popeye additions but now it is just weird.  This issue was good and the conclusion and lead in to the next set in the series was done well. I especially liked that some of the Harley squad has to leave due to their mother, I think that was the only real LOL moment I had with this one. The mom kicks butt and is a great addition.

Harley Quinn:Harleywood
Series: Harley Quinn #20
Publisher: DC Comics
Publication Date:  November 2015

 

Format: Comic 
Source: Bought/Own

Rating:
 
 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Like Los Angeles didn't have enough problems with DC Comics moving in, now Harley Quinn is determined to take over Tinseltown! She's an overnight entertainment sensation, but will the industry survive Harley's fifteen minutes of fame?

Review: 

This most recent issue in the Harley Quinn series start Harley on a new journey to LA to recover a young girl how is being held captive. When she gets there Harley is excited and handles herself well - meeting costumed people even gaining a partner in crime for her short visit. The issue was funny again, Harley through and through. I really enjoyed this issue and am excited about the next ones - they are getting exciting.

 

Recent Reads: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin - DNF

Disclaimer:I received this book from Netgalley and Little, Brown books in exchange from an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
Publisher:  Little, Brown
Publication Date:  November 4, 2014

 

Format: ebook

Rating: DNF


Goodreads Synopsis: 
730. That's how many days I've been trapped.
18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....

In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.

Review: 
I think when I started reading this book I was burnt out reading dystopia and so I never really got too invested in the characters or the plot of the book. I read up to about 20% and the  stopped reading. 

The synopsis of the book made it sound interesting and emotional, set in a horrible world- a walled city for criminals. What I found was a lot of mystery in the first part of the book and a lot of character point of view switches which made it harder to follow.

Since you never really spent too much time with each character I didn't really feel  for any of them and their tones are all very similar so it never lended the opportunity to know them well - I kept having to retrace my reading to see who I was reading.

The plot ended up feeling like it could have been a much shorter book and so even stopping at 20% I felt like I was reading the same things over and over and it really felt more like a lawless city than a dystopian one...
 



 

Building the Book Pile #158

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

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 


This week was pretty laid back, work was pretty stressful but home time was very nice - I got a lot of knitting done for my husband, I finished a scarf for him and some arm warmer thingys. I finished a few books and reviewed some things and am still going strong on the Blog Ahead Challenge. All in all October is going pretty well I think.

What's Happening?! 

How was your week ? Let me know in the comments.

  Giveaways on Cover2CoverBlog!

  

Coming up on the Blog... 

Recent Reads: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin - DNF (YA)  

Recent Reads: Harley Quinn #19 & #20 (Comics)
Recent Reads: Never Said by Carol Lynch Williams (YA)
Interview and Giveaway with Sarah Donovan author of Dive (YA)

Recent Reads: Princess in Love (Princess Diaries #3) by Meg Cabot (YA) 

      

Books Received this Week

 

None 

Have you missed anything lately? 

• Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!
• Recent Reads: The Hit by Melvin Burgess - DNF (YA)- 1 star
• Recent Reads: Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular (MG)- 3 stars 
• Blog Ahead 2015: Half Way There  Check In

Comment and leave me a link to your Round-up/ STS/ Weekly...anything, post and I will happily stop by and say hello!

 Happy Reading!

Blog Ahead 2015: Half Way There Check In

For the month of October I have been participating in Blog Ahead, a challenge hosted by herding cats and burning soup and Caffeinated Book Reviewer. The details are below if you are interested in learning more.

This is my current progress as of October 17th...

I have currently scheduled 23 posts to run in November and December, including:

• Ho Ho Ho Read-a-thon Goals Post
• 9 weeks of Waiting on Wednesday Posts 
• 4 Discussion posts: 
• 'Series I Need to Finish' Post
• 'Books you will shun me for not reading' Post
• 'Book Recommendations' post 
• 'E- Reader' post 

• 3 Movie Mondays posts
• 3 Blogger Pet Profiles posts:
• Rolo
• Cooper
• Shreki & Timmy 

• 2 Holiday Posts:
• Thanksgiving Post 
• Happy Holidays Post 

• 1 Review:
• Drones Review 

I have also prepared and scheduled about 5 other posts for the month of October.

Have been tracking my Blog Ahead progress as I go on the sidebar with my pumpkin and bats tracker.

Here are the details, borrowed from the lovely Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer...

Purpose: Increase the number of scheduled blog posts you have ready to publish by 31 posts during the month of October. (You can set your own goal) All post will be scheduled from November 1st or later.

Who Can Join: Any blogger or author can join. Brand new, been around for years.Blogger, WordPress or other platform. Any heat level, genre or theme, etc. If you blog…you’re welcome to join.

Types of Posts that Count: Any finished posts count! Meme, review, guest post, interview, discussion. Top Ten Posts, Favorites posts, Shopping Guide Posts, Cooking posts, pet posts, photo posts, etc. Posts do NOT have to be book related.

Required: The post must be complete and scheduled from November 1, 2015 onward. (So not just blurb, buy links, etc for a review post. The review needs to be complete for the post to count.)

SIGN UP HERE

Recent Reads: Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith

Disclaimer: I received this book from Quirk Books and the Librarything Early Reviewers Program in exchange for and honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith
Series:Nick and Tesla #5
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date:  May 5, 2015

 

Format: Hardback

Rating:


 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

What do a pair of kid inventors with a knack for science and electronics do when Hollywood comes to town? Why save the day, of course!

In Nick and Tesla’s Special Effects Spectacular, 11-year-old siblings Nick and Tesla Holt find themselves on the set of a big-budget superhero movie. But someone’s sabotaging the onscreen debut of their favorite comic book hero, so the brother and sister sleuths must crack the case with the help of a fresh assortment of homemade special-effects gadgets. This cinematic saga features instructions for all-new movie magic projects that kids can build themselves, such as camera gear, stunt dummies, make-up magic, and more. Science and electronics have never been so much fun!

“How do you connect students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) with fiction reading? Look for science adventures. Get started with the Nick and Tesla series. Each book contains an engaging adventure revolving around a ‘build-it-yourself’ science project.”—Teacher Librarian

“Real project blueprints are included along with this tale of 11-year-old siblings who create outrageous contraptions and top-secret gadgets.”—Los Angeles Times

 Review: 
Nick and Tesla is the 5th book in a series but I did not realize that and honestly it did not matter all that much as far as the plot went. Nick and Tesla are twins whose parents have been missing and they are staying with their uncle and whilst doing so have run into many mysteries and helped to solve them. 

In this book Nick and Tesla are helping their friends mom on a movie set and someone has been trying to sabotage it. They are trying to figure out who it is and why. 

The book was very fun, it includes projects for parents and kids to do together, these ones were special effects related, so there was a grabby arm, a prop dummy, and zombie paint.  All of which include a step by step and a list of materials you will need to complete the projects. They go along with the story too so they are just popped in randomly.

The mystery bit of the book was entertaining and I think young readers will enjoy it and even the series, even though I have not read the whole series. There is an underlying theme about trying to figure out where their parents are but as a reader you didn't need to have read the other books to get the plot.

Overall, I thought this was a fun and easy read and thing young readers will love the mystery and the projects.



 

Recent Reads: The Hit by Melvin Burgess - DNF

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley and Chicken House in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
 
The Hit by Melvin Burgess
Publisher: Chicken House
Publication Date:  February 25,2014

 

Format: ebook

Rating: DNF


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Live the ultimate high. Pay the ultimate price. The shocking return to YA by the author of SMACK.

A new drug is on the street. Everyone's buzzing about it. Take the hit. Live the most intense week of your life. Then die. It's the ultimate high at the ultimate price. Adam thinks it over. He's poor, and doesn't see that changing. Lizzie, his girlfriend, can't make up her mind about sleeping with him, so he can't get laid. His brother Jess is missing. And Manchester is in chaos, controlled by drug dealers and besieged by a group of homegrown terrorists who call themselves the Zealots. Wouldn't one amazing week be better than this endless, penniless misery? After Adam downs one of the Death pills, he's about to find out.

 Review: 
I requested this book via Netgalley a long time ago, over a year ago in fact, and it has taken me this long to finally write about it. I picked this book up almost immediately and couldn't really get into it. Then last month I stumbled upon it on my Kindle and tried to pick it back up. I struggles again and got through about 44% of the book. I just couldn't continue it was taking too long for me to read and I really wasn't enjoying it.

The book is about a kid who hates his life and it just keeps getting crappier - one night he decides to take a drug that will give him the craziest week of his life and then he will die. This sounds like such an interesting premise - what would you do in that week? I wanted to know what Adam decided to do... but what I got was this horny, depressed kid, trying to solve his problems with drugs, sex, violence and then suicide.Even the backstory about the drug itself just fell flat for me.


The writing is done well enough and other readers might enjoy the book but it just wasn't for me; Adam, the main character, doesn't really think about the world after him and his to-do list for his crazy week was off putting and honestly (I felt) nasty.

If you are a fan of drugs, sex and violence in books than this may be up your alley, but not mine.



 

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop 2015!

WHAT'S UP FOR GRABS?? 

SPOOOOOOOKY!!!! It's almost Halloween, so Halloween themed books are here! I will be giving away the following:

To Winner #1 - A Halloween Scare at My House  (Youth)

To Winner #2 -Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular  (Middle Grade)

~The Nitty Gritty~

Giveaway is open to US ONLY! (Sorry Int. Readers)

Must be 18 or older or have a parent's permission to enter

Enter using the Rafflecopter below.

Winner will be emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Giveaway Ends: October 31, 2015

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Building The Book Pile #157

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

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 


If you are a weekly reader you know that I LOVE October and Halloween and that last week I brought home inflatable Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie from my parents house to decorate my yard - Jack is up and running :) (Yay), sadly Oogie's motor is broken :( and I have to find a way to replace or fix it...BUT I am still excited to have them both!

 Through the week I am up to 19 of 31 posts scheduled for Blog Ahead, getting read for the holiday season and how busy we will probably be.

And this weekend we are fixing up our half-bath: paint, trim, a custom cabinet for under the small sink we have - made by the hubby, new hardware, new lighting - SO excited for this the bathroom was SUPER dated and now it will be purple and more Us. 

Sad before bathroom                      Happy after bathroom

  

What's Happening?! 

How was your week ? Let me know in the comments.

  Giveaways on Cover2CoverBlog!

Coming up on the Blog... 

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!
Recent Reads: The Hit by Melvin Burgess - DNF (YA)
Recent Reads: Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular (MG)

      

Books Received this Week

EBooks

     

Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann from Netgalley and Random House for Review (planning to read for a read-a-thon)

The Christmas Joy Ride by Meloday Carson from Netgalley and Revell for Review (planning to read for a read-a-thon)

Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin from Netgalley and Bookoture for Review (planning to read for a read-a-thon) 

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary from Netgalley and Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for Review

Have you missed anything lately?  

• Blog Tour: Reviews of Last-but-not-Least Lola and the wild Chicken (Lola #2) and Last-but-not-Least Lola and the Cupcake Queens (Lola #3) by Christine Pakkala (MG) - 4 stars/ 5 stars
• Early Reader Review: Pop Sonnets by Erik Didriksen (Adult)- 5 stars
• Spotlight w/ Giveaway!: Review - A Halloween Scare at My House by Eric James (Youth)- 5 stars 
• Early Reader Review: The Legend of the Christmas Cookie by Dandi Daley Mackall (Youth)- 3 stars
• Early Reader Review: The Mutt's Winter Diaries by Patrick McDonnell (GN) - 4 stars

Comment and leave me a link to your Round-up/ STS/ Weekly...anything, post and I will happily stop by and say hello!

 Happy Reading!

Early Reader Review: The Mutts Winter Diaries by Patrick McDonnell

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Mutts Winter Diaries
Series: Mutts
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date:  October 13, 2015

 

Format: ebook
Rating:


 


 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Yesh! Mooch, Earl, and all their endearing Mutts friends are back in this second Mutts collection for kids!

Mutts highlights the adventures of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat, best buddies who regularly come in contact with Shtinky Puddin, Sourpuss, Guard Dog, and Crabby--as well as an assortment of whimsically rendered humans. This cast is capable of endless antics, interspersed with thoughtful views on both the animal and human condition. And whether they're raiding garbage cans or basking in full-frontal belly rubs, Mooch and Earl always have a comment to clinch the scene. 

Review: 
I love reading Mutts in the newspaper whenever I am able and this collection was perfect as the air starts to cool and fall and winter are fast approaching. The collection chronicles Mooch and Earl in their winter activities, or lack-there-of and I found it to be laugh out loud funny and even shared some of the panels with my husband while reading.

The animals in the panels are adorably drawn and Mooch and Earl are up to all their normal exploits of napping and being walked but there is snow and other animals and much love and holiday cheer.

My favorite panels were the ones about hibernation and the characters trying to do it but failing miserably, there is even a run-in with a bear and Mooch yelling at a Christmas tree. There is even an "More to Explore" section about the Winter outside and the animals and their habits. I found this whole package wonderful.




 

Early Reader Review: The Legend of the Christmas Cookie by Dandi Daley Mackall

Disclaimer: I received this book from Zonderkidz and BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Legend of the Christmas Cookie by Dandi Daley Mackall

Publisher: Zonderkidz
Publication Date:  October 6, 2015

 

Format: Hardback
Rating:




 

Goodreads Synopsis: 

The Legend of the Christmas Cookie tells the story of a young boy named Jack who learns from his generous mother the story behind the Christmas cookie. The family who began the tradition of baking the special cookies gave them to the needy and shared the story of the very first Christmas. This sweet holiday book offers inspiration for readers to become cheerful givers themselves and encourages them to share the true tale of Jesus birth. A delicious recipe is included on the jacket flap so readers can make their own Christmas sugar cookies." 

Review: 
I was curious about this book when I saw it available for review. I come from a large family where Christmas traditions are important and baking cookies is one of them, however I came to find that I did not know this tale.
 
The Legend of the Christmas Cookie is a religious children's book about a boy named Jack and his mother making Christmas Cookies and her explaining why doing so was important in older times. I did not know going into the book that it was going to be religious, although I found this book very informational and it also comes with some cookie recipes. The book begins by Jack thinking about his father being away and the book continues to touch on that point then leads into the cookies and the spreading of the story. I think that I would have enjoyed this book more had it either gone further with the information about the father OR not included it. I think that Jack wanting to pass on a cookie and message did not need to be based on the fact that his father was gone.