BOOKS AND BLOGGING PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is defined as a theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity or thought. Well, my theory is if I can add at least 10 new books to my Wishlist and move at least 5 older Wishlist selections to my TBR list every month, then life is a ice cream sundae. And if I can find those 10 books from at least 5 new blogs each month then that's the cherry on top.

NEW VISITORS AND OLD- WELCOME!

NEW VISITORS AND OLD- WELCOME!
Well, I've made it almost 5 years now, so for better or worse, I continue on. I tend to blog in spurts as the urge to be creative erupts. As I don't have an artistic bone in my body, you will see very few changes in the layouts. Hey, I'm a reader not an artist like so many of the awesome bloggers I follow. I know you don't always have the time but if you stopped and looked, take a half a minute and say your piece. Recommend a book that you have enjoyed or hated for that matter. Thank you to all who visit.
Oh, and I moved my Google Friend Connect info and share this buttons to the top, as without our friends, who are we?


Saturday, July 31, 2010

Cherry Yum Yum

While entering a contest this last week, I was asked about my favorite dessert. I decided I would share this wonderfully easy cool summertime treat .


Cherry Yum Yum

1 pkg instant white chocolate Jello pudding
1 pkg instant cheesecake Jello pudding
1 medium container Cool Whip
2 to 3 cans cherry pie filling
Graham cracker crumbs

Put graham cracker crumbs in bottom of container. I use a 9 X 13 glass casserole dish. Mix both boxes of pudding according to directions on box. I do this in one big bowl. (Be sure you double the milk as there are two boxes.) Mix half the container of Cool Whip in the pudding. Place a layer of cherry pie filling on graham cracker crumbs, then a layer of
pudding mixture. Repeat layering ending with left over Cool Whip on top. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. I often will substitute blueberry pie filling for 1 can of cherry and will put cherry on one end and blueberry on the other. This also makes a great red, white and blue dessert for the 4th.  
Oh, and if you don't like fruit, I will also use the basic recipe and use broken up Oreo cookies (leave out the Graham cracker crumbs too) in place of the pie fillings. The kids and hubby love it. Really a quick and easy dessert, one I fix often in the summer.

Friday, July 30, 2010

BOOK BLOGGER HOP July 30



Hosted by Jennifer from CRAZY FOR BOOKS http://www.crazy-for-books.com

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?
Surprisingly enough, though I've read several new author's (to me) this year I really only have one that I can rave about--Nancy A Collins and her "Vamp" series. The others were so so and until I read their next book will I know if they become a favorite one or not. 

Okay guy's it's FRIDAY! And you know what that means. Go get on over to Jennifer's and add your name to McLinky and get read to met and great new and old friends.

OPTIONAL TWIST:
On your blog hop post, tell us about some of the other great blogs you've found while Hopping around!
Tell us how you decide who to Hop to and check out. Last week, I used the entry #s and anyone's whose entry number ended in a 2, I may have visited. This week, I think I'll  visit every other site that their entry site # ends in a 8, staring with 8.

I'm  #42 Lisas Loves Books of Course (7 months)Electric! Come visit me at the hop!

 If you sign MckLinky, please share the love and POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG!  How else will anyone else find out about it and come join the party?

Brought to you by the # 8- 
Blogs I visited this week
http://www.rexrobotreviews.com/
http://tediousandbrief.blogspot.com/
http://midnightbloomreads.blogspot.com/
http://theprairielibrary.blogspot.com/
http://www.truthbetoldblog.com/
http://scarrletreader.blogspot.com/
http://www.mangamaniaccafe.com/
http://addictofromance.blogspot.com/
http://suko95.blogspot.com/
http://melopher.blogspot.com/
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/
http://fingersandprose.blogspot.com/
http://www.ordinaryreader.blogspot.com/
http://moydrook.blogspot.com/
http://thismisslovestoread.blogspot.com/
http://bookendcrossing.blogspot.com
http://glitterbomb-reading.blogspot.com/
http://mjliteraryodyssey.blogspot.com/
http://beyondstrangenewwords.blogspot.com/
http://bookvisions.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Frostfire, Kyndred book 3 by Lynn Viehl


Although Lynn Viehl's newest Darkyn/Kyndred book won't be out until Jan 2011, I just had to post her new cover. For any of you who have missed this great series, if you like a new and wonderfully, twisty,  imaginative take on the same old, same old vampire theme, check this wonderful paranormal romance series out.  I seldom read the new book in a series as soon as it comes out as I hate the yearly wait on the next book (I prefer to read my series books in batches of 3-8 at a time) but this series is one of my exceptions. I rated all the books in this series as 4* to 5* and have seriously been contemplating rereading them before January. Again, this is something I just don't do. But only because there are sooo many great books sitting on my TBR shelf right now calling to me. 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Immortal By Gillian Shields


Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness.
Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebellious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl—a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.
Gillian Shields's electrifying tale will dazzle readers with suspense, mysticism, and romance.

Want a chance to read this FREE? Click HERE and Harper/Teen will allow you free access to this wonderful new 
gothic novel.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen
Author: Lauren Kate
Genre: YA
Rating: * *
Publisher Date: Dec. 8, 2009
Hardback: 464 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0385738935
FTC Disclosure: Mine


Some Angels are Destined to Fall

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . even if it kills her.

I started this book with high hopes, but really struggled to finish it. There was so much teen angst and so little storyline. By the end of the book I hated Daniel almost as bad as I despised Luce. There were a few unexpected twists that made me wonder why I didn't enjoy it more but for the most part I felt as though I was dragged kicking and screaming to finish this book. I seriously doubt I'll give the second book in this series a chance because I really just don't care about the characters. The only redeeming feature of this book was the cover, which I loved.
Fallen
1. Fallen (2009)
2. Torment (Sept 28,2010)

Monday, July 26, 2010

BOOK BLOGGER HOP July 22



TELL US ABOUT THE BOOK YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING!
Have just finished the first three books in Joss Ware's post -apocalyptic series! After that will finish Philippa Gregory's "White Queen"







Hosted by Jennifer from CRAZY FOR BOOKS http://www.crazy-for-books.com

Okay guy's it's FRIDAY! And you know what that means. Go get on over to Jennifer's and add your name to McLinky and get read to met and great new and old friends.


OPTIONAL TWIST:
On your blog hop post, tell us about some of the other great blogs you've found while Hopping around!
Tell us how you decide who to Hop to and check out. Last week, I used the entry #s and anyone who was divisible by 10, I visited. This week, I think I'll  visit every other site that their entry site # ends in a 2, staring with 22.

 If you sign MckLinky, please share the love and POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG!  How else will anyone else find out about it and come join the party?

Brought to you by the # 2- 
Blogs I visited this week
http://somewhatliterate.blogspot.com/
http://crysteena73.blogspot.com/
http://aisleb.tumblr.com/
http://www.giraffedays.com/?p=4366
http://onebooktime.blogspot.com/
http://sarahreadstoomuch.wordpress.com/
http://www.frommynightstand.blogspot.com/
http://autumnxleaves.blogspot.com/
http://atapestryofwords.blogspot.com/
http://kimscarecrow.blogspot.com/
http://www.primoreads.com/
http://readitseeitblogit.blogspot.com/
http://booksnobwannabe.blogspot.com/
http://secondchildhoodreviews.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

100 FOLLOWERS CONTEST!

Since I have been away for the last week due to a death in our family I will extend my Blogaversity/Birthday, 100 Followers Contest till July 31. To check out the books I'm giving away click HERE and fill out form for contest. To all of you who send condolences on the passing of the patriarch of our family, thanks so much. 

FREE READ FROM HARPER/TEEN


Browse Inside this book

Harper/Teen has a great free read on their site. Check this out!

Grade 7-10–Sensible Evie Johnson arrives alone to face her new life at the Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies. Raised by her beloved grandmother, Evie never wanted to attend boarding school, especially one for spoiled rich girls. But Frankie has fallen gravely ill and Evie's father is away in military service, so off to Wyldcliffe she goes. It is as horrible as Evie suspected it would be. The girls mistreat her, the headmistress is a nightmare, and she keeps seeing a girl who looks just like her. Evie's only joy comes from her budding romance with elusive Sebastian, who tells her that he lives near the school. Why will he only meet her at night? What does he know about the mysteries surrounding the school? And who is that shadowy girl? Billed as the first in a paranormal romance series, this lightweight story is filled with romance, mystery, and suspense. The moors provide plenty of atmosphere and Wyldcliffe Abbey and its teachers are downright spooky.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Gone For a Few Days

Just wanted to drop a quick note. It may be a few days before I get back to any visitors. We lost the eldest member of our family, my 92 year old father-in-law suddenly this weekend to a heart attack. I'll be busy with family stuff for a couple of days but will follow up with you later in the week.

Books I've Bought, Swapped or Won for the Week of 7-11


  

Friday, July 9, 2010

BOOK BLOGGER HOP July 9












Hosted by Jennifer from CRAZY FOR BOOKS http://www.crazy-for-books.com

Okay guy's it's FRIDAY! And you know what that means. Go get on over to Jennifer's and add your name to McLinky and get read to met and great new and old friends.

This week's question:  Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!
As there are way too many to list, I'll just mention the ones who got me started reading paranormals. Christine Feehan, Lori Handeland and Maggie Shayne were a few of the first that I read. Their stories while scary enough to make you sleep with the lights on, made the vampire genre more alive. By all theses authors having series that I could really invest some time in, it was easy to become addicted. The Carpathian world was so deep and rich in history. You were able to follow the vamps as they searched for their other half and rejoice when they discovered each other and cry when their love failed to produce an offspring. Handeland's and Shayne's world were just as believable and real.



OPTIONAL TWIST:
On your blog hop post, tell us about some of the other great blogs you've found while Hopping around!
Tell us how you decide who to Hop to and check out. Last week, I used the entry #s ending in #7. This week, I think I'll  visit every other site that their entry site # ends in a 2, staring with 22.

 If you sign MckLinky, please share the love and POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG!  How else will anyone else find out about it and come join the party?





 I'd also like to invite each of you to participate
 in my first ever Giveaway. 
ENDS 7/19
Check it out Here

These are the blogs I visited this week!
http://tarawriter.blogspot.com/
http://blackfingernailedreviews.blogspot.com/
http://bettyboochronicles.blogspot.com/
http://shera-bookwhispers.blogspot.com/
http://mustlovelabradors.blogspot.com/
http://lucybirdbooks.wordpress.com/
http://alwayswithabook.blogspot.com/
http://www.anovelreview.com/
http://okbolover.wordpress.com/
http://nobooklongenough.blogspot.com/
http://literarymusings-blog.blogspot.com/
http://katiepea.blogspot.com/
http://leeswammes.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Gates-New ABC Show

"Sprawling homes, picturesque landscapes, friendly neighbors and, of course, bloodsucking vampires. These are just a few of the things that lie beyond The Gates."

I watched the first two episodes of ABC's new show "The Gates" today and while I throughly enjoyed it, the reviews are not very hopeful so it will probably be a waste of time to get caught up in it. With vampires, werewolves, succubus, and witches so far, this show could be a paranormal's smörgåsbord of stories. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to enjoy more than a few episodes, maybe even a whole season before ABC pulls the plug. I for one still miss Moonlight, which is now being shown after The Vampire Diaries.  If you misses the first two episodes of The Gates,  you can catch them on Hulu.

Monday, July 5, 2010

A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel By Elie Wiesel

Title: A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel 

Author:  Elie Wiesel

Genre: Fiction
Rating: * * * *
Publishers Date: 4/12/2010
Reviewed By: M. Richards
Paperback: 288  pages
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN:  0805212124
FTC Disclosure: Bought by me


A European expatriate living in New York, Doriel suffers from a profound sense of desperation and loss. His mother, a member of the Resistance, survived World War II only to die soon after in France in an accident, together with his father. Doriel was a hidden child during the war, and his knowledge of the Holocaust is largely limited to what he finds in movies, newsreels, and books. Doriel’s parents and their secrets haunt him, leaving him filled with longing but unable to experience the most basic joys in life. He plunges into an intense study of Judaism, but instead of finding solace, he comes to believe that he is possessed by a dybbuk.

Surrounded by ghosts, spurred on by demons, Doriel finally turns to Dr. Thérèse Goldschmidt, a psychoanalyst who finds herself particularly intrigued by her patient. The two enter into an uneasy relationship based on exchange: of dreams, histories, and secrets. And despite Doriel’s initial resistance, Dr. Goldschmidt helps bring him to a crossroads—and to a shocking denouement. 





Elie Wiesel’s A Mad Desire to Dance is a different animal compared to his autobiography Night.  This book is not for the faint of heart that may look for an easy fix.  Wiesel’s work of fiction is a beautiful and sad look into the life of a madman who spends almost his entire life fighting the demons in his and his families past.  As a hidden Jewish child, his mother fights for the Resistance in France.  His work exhorts the journey of life and not just the finale.  If you can battle the dybbuk (Jewish demon) of Doreil, Wiesel’s heroine, you will see that it is never too late to claim your life as your own, no matter the wear the journey has caused.
I was honored to have my daughter do this review. She had just finished book today and was excited enough about it to ask me to run down some more of his work so I asked her to give me her two cents worth on the book.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Reminder---FIRST CONTEST--100 Followers & Birthday Giveaway- ENDS 7/19

In case you missed signing up for my first ever contest please do so. This is a combination  6 month Blogoversary, BIG Birthday, and a sincere thank you to those who have endured the last
6 months with me. If you got a laugh or two,  stopped to ponder something profound I said (huh yeah right), or just said WTH as you laughed or cried with my attempts to master the secrets of HTML, I'd like to thank you all with a Giveaway. Check out the books I'm offering to at least three lucky winners Here. 

BOOK BLOGGER HOP July 2

Hosted by Jennifer from CRAZY FOR BOOKS http://www.crazy-for-books.com
Okay guy's it's FRIDAY! And you know what that means. Go get on over to Jennifer's and add your name to McLinky and get read to met and great new and old friends.

OPTIONAL TWIST:
On your blog hop post, tell us about some of the other great blogs you've found while Hopping around!
Tell us how you decide who to Hop to and check out. Last week, I used the entry #s and anyone whose entry number ended in a 2, I visited. This week, I think I'll  visit every other site that their entry site # ends in a 7, staring with 37.
New twist - Question of the week! 
This week we are supposed to tell our name and why we started blogging.

I'm Lisa and I started blogging more for myself than anything else.  It was simply a way to keep a copy of my reviews in one place. And of course it snowballed and has tried to take over my life. Some days I find I spend more time reading blogs than reading books so MUST CUT BACK SOMEHOW.

 If you sign MckLinky, please share the love and POST ABOUT THE HOP ON YOUR BLOG!  How else will anyone else find out about it and come join the party?
I'm # 38!
I'd also like to invite each of you to participate
 in my first ever Giveaway.
There will be 3 winners!
Check it out Here
(\___/)
 (='.'=)  
(")_(")

Brought to you by the # 7 this week- 
Blogs I visited this week
http://wormyhole.blogspot.com/
http://supernaturalsnark.blogspot.com/
http://urbangirlreader.blogspot.com/
http://and-the-plot-thickens.blogspot.com/
http://bibliophiliac-bibliophiliac.blogspot.com/
http://always-books.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-hop-with-twist.html
http://fayeflamereviews.blogspot.com/
http://bippityboppitybook.blogspot.com/
http://addictofromance.blogspot.com/
http://www.theintrovertedreader.com/2010/07/book-blogger-hop.html
http://bettyboochronicles.blogspot.com/
http://booksake.blogspot.com/

http://sharonsgardenofbookreviews.blogspot.com/
http://www.princessbookie.com/
http://notjustlaura.wordpress.com/
http://readdbooks.blogspot.com/
  http://booksbeforebreakfast.blogspot.com/
           http://bookretreat.blogspot.com/
http://reading.thenerdswife.com/
 http://jewelknits.blogspot.com
http://booksnobwannabe.blogspot.com/
   http://naomisbookreviews.blogspot.com/
 http://emmamichaels.blogspot.com/     

The Crazy School by Cornelia Read

                THUMPER AWARD



Title: The Crazy School
Author: Cornelia Read
Genre: Thriller
Rating: unfinished
Review Date: 6/17/2010
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; (February 12, 2010)
ISBN: 044619820X 
FTC Disclosure: Won in a contest

At the start of Edgar-finalist Read's gutsy second Madeline Dare novel (after 2006's A Field of Darkness), Dare, a 26-year-old former debutante, takes a job in the fall of 1989 as a history teacher at Santangelo Academy, an unorthodox therapeutic boarding school in western Massachusetts dominated by its authoritarian cape-wearing headmaster, David Santangelo. When a student, Mooney LeChance, reveals that his girlfriend, Fay Perry, is pregnant, Dare keeps Mooney's secret while the couple is confined to the Farm, a punishment dorm in the woods. The book's first half focuses on character—the woefully misguided souls who teach at Santangelo, the students in all their dysfunctional glory—but the action picks up when Mooney and Fay die from drinking poisoned punch after a birthday party at the Farm, and Dare is arrested for her role in preparing the fatal beverage. While some characters, like the social-climbing parents who drop in between vacations, verge on stereotype, Read graphically depicts the depressing underside of a supposedly elite private school.





Okay, I really wanted to like this book. It had all the earmarks of a book that I’d thoroughly enjoy.  Teenagers, private school, dark secrets—what’s not to like.  Generally, if I’ve not connected with a book in 100 pages, I’ll quit. Well, I held out to page 136 and still no connection.  So I’ll have to leave this one unfinished, which I hate doing.  I think all the psycho babble (and hey I knew there would be some) look at the title already, “The CRAZY School” just left me crazy.





Series
Madeline Dare
1. A Field of Darkness (2006)
2. The Crazy School (2008)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong


My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.


All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.


Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House . . . before its skeletons come back to haunt me.




Harper/Teen also has the first 9 chapters of Armstrong's first book in the series here.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong




My name is Chloe Saunders. I'm fifteen, and I would love to be normal.
But normal is one thing I'm not.
For one thing, I'm having these feelings for a certain antisocial werewolf and his sweet-tempered brother—who just happens to be a sorcerer—but, between you and me, I'm leaning toward the werewolf.
Not normal.
My friends and I are also on the run from an evil corporation that wants to get rid of us—permanently.
Definitely not normal.
And finally, I'm a genetically altered necro-mancer who can raise the dead, rotting corpses and all, without even trying.
As far away from normal as it gets.


Check out the first 10 chapters here free, thanks to Harper/Teen.com