Blogoversary +1000 Followers Day #5

Today is the final day of my celebration.  I am offering two packages.  The first is a choice of one of the books to be shipped from the Book Depository.  You must live in a country that they ship to for entry.
The three choices are books that I reviewed, and loved. There will be one winner chosen for this package.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Any Witch Way by Annastaysia Savage
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The titles are linked to Goodreads for a book description.

The second package is for US entrants only.  It is a package of these books.

Matched by Ally Condie
The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
Summer Island by Michael Cormier
The Boathouse by Caroline Upcher

The only mandatory entry is to follow me on GFC.

There are optional entries, there are more ways to follow me than GFC.  They are all in the right sidebar.

You may copy and paste this in twitter for 2 entries. Copy your URL and paste in the box

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The final day of @Bookworm_Lisa blogoversary + 1000 followers giveaway.  Box of books and a book depository prizes.  http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com

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Or you may choose to post it on facebook.  You can go to the bottom of the post.  You will see a small facebook icon. You can click on it and create the link.  You will need to copy the URL and paste in the box.

This contest will run for one week.  The final day to enter is October 21st.

Thanks for celebrating with me!!

Fill out the form to enter.

Electronic Wasteland

Just thought I would share with you my kindle.  It went everywhere with me for a little over two years.

I know, I am being silly.  We all have our little quirks, here is one of mine.

Besides, it is kind of interesting to see a Second Generation Kindle disassembled.  I let my teenage son have fun with it.  He is kind of a techy geek.  He confirmed that it is beyond hope.  So, it's off to Electronic Wasteland.  Anyone know of a safe or environmentally friendly way to dispose of it?

Frustrations when your reading device won't cooperate.

This picture is too cute and illustrates what I feel like inside.

I had the best day yesterday.  So far this week, I have received ten books in the mail.  I was on cloud nine.  I walked down the halls of my kids school, smiling, and an adorable little girl told me I was pretty.  It really doesn't get much better than that!

So, last night I was trying to download a couple of books from Netgalley on my second generation kindle.  I received a message telling me my kindle was full and to delete books to make room.  NO PROBLEM, right?
Ha, I wish.   The books refused to delete, so I did a hard reset.  The stupid thing will not reload.  It will not charge.

Today I called Amazon and my kindle is officially dead.  The computer won't recognize it.  I have lost several books to review from Netgalley that have since been archived.  I was dumb enough to have it sent directly to my kindle, rather than the @free.kindle.com.  Yes, I paid for the wireless transfer.  Here is a note to the wise, don't do that.  If your kindle dies, the documents die with it.  Take the time to hook the kindle up with a USB cable and download them from your computer.  It's worth it.

Anyway, a new Kindle is on order.  It should be here tomorrow.  I have gone to Netgalley and transferred as many of the books still available to the @free.kindle.com address.  I haven't lost everything, just some so it could be worse.

So I am just giving you some advice.  I love, love, love a kindle.  They make my life so much easier, just be sure that you have a back up of everything, particularly documents that are sent as a personal document.

Now, to go to Netgalley and inform the publishers.   Sigh...... Things will only get  better from here, I hope.

Blogoversary +1000 followers Day #4 (outlet shopping)

Day #4 is my love of living near Cedar Fort's outlet store!  I have three packages today.  There will be three winners.  I went shopping and found some books that look interesting.  Two of the packages are US entry only and one is International.

Package #1 (US Addresses only)

The book titles are linked to Goodreads:
My Fairy Grand Mother by Aubrey Mace
By Love or By Sea by Rachel Rager

Package #2 (US addresses only)

The Canticle Kingdom by Michael Young
City of Angles by Sheralyn Pratt

Giveaway #3 (International)

I hate it when my phone and blogger do not communicate well.  I am not as computer savvy as I would like to be.

Countdown to Love by Julie N Ford ( I read  a copy of this book and gave it 5 stars.)

You must be a GFC follower to enter!
You may tweet or post to facebook for extra entries.
You may follow me other ways than GFC for extra entries.  All are in the right sidebar.

Here is a tweet post you can copy and enter.

Day four of @Bookworm_Lisa blogoversary +1000 followers giveaway.  Three prize packages, INTL giveaway.  http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com

At the bottom of the post is an icon with the facebook logo.  You can click on it and be taken to a link to post on facebook.

Contest runs for one week.  The last day to enter is October 20th.

To enter fill out the form!

REVIEW ~ Dark Territory

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Dark Territory by J. Gabriel Gates

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: HCI, The Life Issues Publisher
Genre: YA Fantasy


Description from Goodreads: Star-Crossed Love, Martial Arts, and Supernatural Evil meet at the Abandoned Tracks in the Deceptively Quaint town of Middleburg...When Ignacio Torrez moved from the rough streets of Los Angeles to a small town dead smack in the middle of nowhere, he never expected to find himself in the midst of a gang war. But, he soon learns, these are no ordinary gangs. The wealthy, preppie Toppers on one side of the tracks and the working-class Flatliners on the other adhere to a strict code of honor and use their deadly martial arts skills, taught to them by the wise Master Chin, to battle one another for pride, territory, and survival. When Raphael, leader of the Flatliners, falls for Aimee, a Topper girl, the rival gangs prepare for a bloody, all-out war. The only hope for peace between them lies within the dark territory of the abandoned train tunnels where the tracks cross. Under the direction of the mysterious and frightening Magician, the awesome power within the crossing sends the rivals on a terrifying mystical quest to fight the malevolent force that threatens the existence of Middleburg.


My thoughts: When I first looked at the description and started to read the book I thought that it would be similar to "West Side Story". You have two gangs. One is the wealthy kids who live on the hill and the other is the poor kids who live on the wrong side of the tracks. There is a romance that builds between a girl from the hill and a boy from the poor section. They live in a small town that has lost its luster since the railroad was rerouted.

I was wrong. Yes, there are those elements present, but this story has quite a bit more to offer. When I would think that the story was winding down and coming to a conclusion, J. Gabriel Gates would take off in a whole new direction and breathe life into the story.

There is a whole paranormal element that at times leaving you scratching you head and thinking, where did that come from? He adds pieces layer upon layer to build up to the story. At the end there are still things that you don't know and that  leads to interest in a future story. There is a promise of more action and battles in the war between good and evil.  It's also a story of friendship and loyalty.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  It is clean as far as the romance goes. Depictions of war, violence, and gang activity are my only content warnings.

REVIEW ~ Always A Witch

Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Netgalley
Genre: YA Fantasy

Description from Goodreads:  The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights. 

Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene has been haunted by her grandmother's prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever. When she discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice.

Beka's Thoughts:   Always a witch is the sequel to Once a Witch.  In this book, the main character Tasmin Greene travels back into time to save her own family of witches from a even more dangerous family called the Knights. In the end, Tasmin has to make a devastating choice that will determine the course of the future.


Always a Witch is very well written and there is obvious character developed between the first book and the second.  Contains mild profanity and some violent scenes.  Recommended for seventh grade and up.   

Blogoversary + 1000 Followers Giveaway Day #3 (Blogging essentials)

Today is day #3.  I am offering things that I NEED to help me blog.  Ok, they are some of my bookish favorite accessories.

In this picture:

Pocket 2 Year Calendar July 2011 - June 2013 (cute puppy on the cover)

Cross Stitched bookmark from Bangla Hope "reading makes bedtime bearable"

Dalmation notebook (It's very cute)

Magnetic bookmarks (texting faces on them)

Book Light

Highlighters

Mechanical pencils

The only requirement for today is that you follow me on GFC.

The contest will run for one week.  This contest will close on October 19th.

This is International, I will ship to anyone who can accept a package from the USA.

Fill out the form below.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
Just do the following:

          ~Grab your current read.

          ~Open to a random page.

          ~Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. (Sometimes I cheat a bit on this one and do a few more sentences.)
          ~Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give to much away.               You don't want to ruin the book for others.)

          ~Share the title and author, so the other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teaser.  :0)

I became so involved in my day, I almost forgot it was Teaser Tuesday.  My teaser this week comes from "Dark Territory" by J. Gabriel Gates.  I'm reading a review copy on my Sony eReader.  But I have roughly 100 pages left in the book.

It was exactly what he'd been worried about the minute he started hopping fences - some big, snarling Doberman or pit bull with anger management issues.  And this didn't sound like just one dog. It sounded like lots of dogs.