SVR Wants To Know

First of all, I hope everyone down in the USA is having a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!! I’m guessing you’re all in a turkey/stuffed yourself coma or out braving the insanity that is Black Friday, lol. The Black Friday sales are even spreading up here to Canada today and I’m still debating about making my way out to see what’s to be had for great sales.

I went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 yesterday with my best friend and it was AWESOME! I was impressed with the way that they handled the story-line and with the special effects. I even had tears in my eyes  a few times during the wedding, lol. I can’t believe that they’re making us wait till next November for the last movie when they’re already done filming it. That’s just cruel. They should release it in the summer! Pffft… So who all has seen the movie? Care to discuss it in the comments? What did you think? Favorite parts? Cheesy Parts?

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I’ll give fair warning and say SPOILER ALERT in the comments of this post!

I have a question for you all. I’m finding as I get older or have read that many more books in my life, that I am losing interest in books that aren’t written in first person. I just can not seem to get into a book written in third person point of view anymore!? All the “she said” and then “he said” and then “she did…” and “he responded…” Gah! It’s tedious for me now and I have a harder time relating to or caring about the characters when it’s written in third person POV. Does anyone else feel the same way or am I just an eccentric, picky reader? SVR wants to know!

Cool New Blog & Site

I’ve just been made aware of a really great blog and site for book lovers that I thought I’d share with you all. It’s called Gone Reading and they sell some really nice products for us book-a-holics while donating… well, they tell it better than I can, so I’ll quote from their site!

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“Our Cause

Gone Reading Int’l founder Brad Wirz and his wife Eileen (bottom left) meet READ Global’s team in Kathmandu, Nepal.

 

Dear Fellow Book Lovers:

If you’re like me, you just can’t imagine living in a world without reading. Unfortunately, for almost a billion people today, that’s exactly where they find themselves. There are countless villages, towns and vast regions of this planet where the power of reading has yet to shine its light.

Gone Reading International, LLC was founded to bring the magic effect of reading to places where it doesn’t exist.  We believe that when people have open access to great reading materials, life always changes for the better.  By turning non-readers into book lovers, entire villages, communities and their citizens achieve unprecedented levels of self-sufficiency.

That’s why Gone Reading International uses all year-end profits to fund new reading libraries and other literacy projects in the developing world.  By purchasing our gifts for readers and book lovers, you’re changing the world while treating yourself and the bibliophiles in your life to a great gift.

We’re working with great non-profits such as READ Global and Ethiopia Reads, amazing organizations with proven models, long track records, and dedicated teams on the ground.  Such groups partner with local villages and communities in the most underdeveloped parts of the world to effect real change.  Our goal is to provide significant financial assistance to such organizations, allowing them to achieve greater scale and impact.

We invite you to join the GoneReading family by making a purchase of our gifts for readers, and equally important, sharing our story with the book lovers, bibliophiles and readers in your life!

To follow our story I encourage you to subscribe to The Gone Reading Blog.

Happy Reading!

Bradley S. Wirz
Founder & CEO
Gone Reading International, LLC”

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SVR – Updates & News

First, we have a winner from the Kait Nolan – Red giveaway. The www.random.org pulled #22, so a big Congrats to mdchristie!! 🙂 Please email me at sidhevicious(at)gmail(dot)com to find out the details to receive your e-book & digital download of the CD. A huge “Thanks” again to Kait Nolan for supplying the giveaway prizes and for spending some time with us here at SVR.

I’m throwing it out there into the interwebs again – I’m still looking for another reviewer, so if you have an eReader and want to get some reviewing experience because you love to share your awesome reads and thoughts about them with others, then please contact me for more information! If you know someone who’s been thinking about it, then give them a nudge and send them my way! *Grins*

Our reviewer Tori is currently recuperating from being a bit down and out right now, so let’s all send her get well soon wishes and lots of virtual balloons & hugs!

I’m keeping this short and sweet because I have another great Guest Blog & Giveaway to post today.

Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 – Trailer

So I’m pretty sure everyone here knows that Tori & I are fans of both the Twilight series of books and the movies. 😀 Tori sent me the link yesterday for the new movie trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 1 and, WOW! I can’t wait to see it!

SVR – News & Updates

As some of you  may know, I celebrated a “milestone” birthday this last weekend. Yup, I turned 40. I pulled out the trusty old “melon cat” picture because it about sums up my feelings on the matter, lol. My emotions have been a fairly even mix of up and down about it, though I can honestly say  that as far as birthdays go, this one was pretty darn ok. I got some major love over on FaceBook, which was really awesome. I was taken out to dinner to one of my favorite places to eat. I was given enough gift cards to get me some majorly “wanted” books and to go and buy Thor on dvd when it hits stores on Tuesday!

I also got a message from my bestie in Australia that she wants to fly me out there next year, all expenses paid!!! OMG! So between being really excited and then not so excited or more like terrified about a 20-something hour-long flight to get there, lol, I’m kinda in shock. I am a smoker, (yes, I know it’s a disgusting habit), so that many hours on a plane tends to get me biting my nails in stress. I may have to self medicate for that flight, lol. Hello muscle relaxers! Trying to sleep for the majority of it is about the only way I would survive it, but then my pal would have a zooed out “Judi” to contend with when I get there, ha ha ha. I can just picture it now! 😀 Oh, the stories I will be able to tell. Or not. (Insert evil grin here)

So, the birthday-o-rama this weekend explains the case of the missing blogger here on SVR. Now I have to buckle down and get back to posting all my reviews, news, guest blogs and giveaways.

I’ve come across a couple of really great books that support causes that mean something to me, so I wanted to share some info about them here.

First up, we have a whole bunch of talented Young Adult authors telling their stories about bullying in the newly released Dear Bully. I really think that this book is very relevent in this day and age of bullying being taken to a whole other level with cyber bullying. It breaks my heart when I see kids bullying other children and when I see parents of a child who was bullied so badly that they either attempted suicide or they did it. So terribly tragic and hopefully someday, more avoidable. I believe that talking about this rising epidemic is one way to help battle it.

Also, a portion of the book’s proceeds will go to STOMP Out Bullying, a national anti-bullying and cyber bullying program for kids and teens and a partner of The Jed Foundation and MTV’s Love Is Louder campaign.

For more information about Dear Bully, visit the book’s official Facebook page and website, www.dearbully.com, where you’ll find videos of celebs like Ben Folds, Justin Timberlake, and the cast of Glee speaking out about bullying and cyber bullying.

“ENTANGLED is on sale now IN ALL e-FORMATS at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and All Romance Ebooks. This is the 11-author paranormal anthology featuring NYT bestselling authors. 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. If you have an e-reader and $2.99 to spare, please support the cause and buy a book. And please pass this on to family and friends! Thank you!!” (I’m passing this message on via Nancy K. Haddock on FaceBook).

Product Description:

“Ghosts, vampires, demons, and more!  Entangled includes ten suspense-filled paranormal short stories from authors
Cynthia Eden, Jennifer Estep, Edie Ramer, Lori Brighton, Michelle Diener, Misty Evans, Nancy Haddock, Liz Kreger, Dale Mayer, and Michelle Miles, plus a Seven Deadly Sins novella by Allison Brennan.

Stacia Kane contributed the  foreword. Formatting and cover art were also donated to the project by Lori Devoti and Laura Morrigan.

All proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.”

Sound Off Saturday

Happy Labor Day long weekend! I know that most of you are all probably off doing something fun and exciting for the last long weekend of summer. I know that I wish I was. So, for those of us stuck at home or work, this post is for you! 🙂

This last week I was stuck at home with an extremely painful abscessed tooth, so I got a lot of reading in. I devoured Adrian Phoenix’s – Black Heart Loa, which is the second book in her Hoodoo Series. Look for my review this upcoming week. I also read Kait Nolan’s – Red, an awesome young adult paranormal that I’ll be featuring next week on the blog. And I polished the week off with Jeaniene Frost’s – One Grave At A Time, the sixth book in her Night Huntress Series. Yes, I visited a Bayou in Louisiana, the Appalachian Mountains and went on another thrilling adventure with Cat & Bones! I am a professional armchair traveller/thrill – seeker, lol.

It’s finally September. The month that all the kids go back to school, (thank God!), and the month that all the awesome fall season TV shows start up again. Am I a little bit too excited about this? Yes, yes I am, ha ha. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Hello! My name is Judi and I am a TV addict”. 😀 I can’t wait for The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Sanctuary, Fringe, Hawaii 5.0, Castle, Bones, both NCIS’s and a slew of others to come back. I’m excited about a few new ones, The Secret Circle, The Ringer, Grimm, The Sing Off, and Terra Nova. I’m still mourning the loss of Smallville and Stargate Universe. I told ya I was hooked on lots of shows, lol.

Talk to me people, what awesome books did you read this week? Did you go and see a wicked movie? Eat an amazing dinner? See friends or family that you haven’t seen in a long time? Go somewhere or do something interesting? Work on writing a novel? Throw a computer at the wall or out a window? Get stuck driving behind a complete moron who has no business behind the wheel of a vehicle like I seem to have happen to me several times weekly? Have an annoying or condescending person wreck your day?  How was your week? What did you think of that movie you saw or book you read? Are you excited about any books, TV shows or movies that are coming up soon? Are you going on a trip somewhere exotic?  Do you need to vent about something really frustrating? Go for it, I want to know.

Teaser Tuesday

I was trying to think of a regular weekly post I could do on the blog and thought that “Teaser Tuesday” would be a good way to go. This way I can include movie trailers, books & book trailers for upcoming books that I’m dying to read and whatever else I come across on the internet. 🙂 So welcome to my first Teaser Tuesday! Feel free to let me know in the comments about anything cool that you’ve come across and are excited about.

I recently read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which I loved and I am really looking forward to seeing the movie now! I just discovered this teaser trailer so here you all go.

And just in case you’ve been under a rock and haven’t read the Hunger Games trilogy yet, go buy the books!

  The Hunger Games

  Catching Fire

  Mockingjay

SVR – New Reviewer

Woo Hoo! I’m adding another new reviewer to the blog and thought I’d do a quick interview with her so that you all could get to know Midnightloon a bit. So without further adieu, here’s our interview.

1) Hi Midnightloon, welcome to my virtual lair! We’ll start off with why you’re interested in joining the blog-o-sphere to write reviews?

Well for many years, blogs have helped me find many great books that I wouldn’t have found
otherwise. I decided that I want to share my thoughts with others who love reading to help them. The price of books are always increasing and knowing others thoughts can affect the purchase and help a reader find an enjoyable book.

2) So you’re a bookaholic just like me, this is great! What are your favorite genres to read?

Yes, a bookaholic is what I am. I was tripping over so many books I moved most to the garage so I could use that space to buy more :P. My favorite genres are paranormal romance, urban fantasy, a little young adult and some manga (when I want to look at pictures.)

3) Do you have one favorite author, or a whole bunch of them like me? Can you tell us a few?

Ooh, tough one. I like a bunch and waiting 6 months to a year for their books is sometimes hard. Let me see a few of my favorites are, Nalini Singh, Michelle Rowen, C.T. Adams, Rachel Caine, Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews and Carrie Vaughn.

4) I started blogging & reviewing the books I love to read because I don’t really have anyone here in the city I live in to discuss them with, is it the same for you?

There are two different people who I sometimes talk to. Both work for the Indigo in town and when I go in and start talking to either of them, time flies. I feel like I’m taking them away from other costumers and their jobs, even though one of them is the manager.

5) Tell us a bit about yourself. Likes? Dislikes? Hobbies?

In September, I’ll be going for my accounting technology course. For the last year I’ve been recovering from having kidney surgery, so I’m kinda going stir-crazy. My hobbies are mostly reading, the computer (facebook junky) and travelling when I’m well. My likes include watching hockey (Go Bruins!!), walking, new books XD and cooking. My dislikes are having to watch what I eat, while someone else eats what I want. When books are reprinted and they come out with a new cover 😡 (How am I supposed to remember if I already read it?) And last but not least, when people judge others with invisible illnesses to standards they cannot meet. 😀 Are those random enough answers?

6) If you could be any one supernatural creature, what would you be? If you could have any one power, what would it be?

If I could be a supernatural creature, I’d want to be a powerful witch. If I could have any one power, I’d want the power to absorb other people powers to use them, like that guy on Heroes.

7) If you were stranded on an island, what five books would you must have there with you to keep you from going insane?

The first book I’d want would be one on how to survive on said island (travel guide maybe). The rest would be Pride and Prejudice, and Nalini Singh “Guild Hunter” series.

8.) If you met someone who was just getting into reading our genres of choice, which one book from each genre would you recommend? Urban Fantasy? Paranormal Romance? Young Adult? Fantasy? Historical Romance? (Or if one book is too hard to pick, you can go with an author from each genre)

Urban Fantasy: Rachel Caine (Weather Warden Series), Paranormal Romance: Nalini Singh, Young Adult: L.J. Smith, Fantasy: Anne Bishop, Historical Romance: Jane Feather.

9) What’s your favorite movie that was done as a book adaptation? IE: Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson
& The Lightning Thief, Lord Of The Rings, The Pirates Of The Caribbean, etc

I never read the book but I really enjoyed The Pirates Of The Caribbean movies. Then again maybe I just liked them because of the eye candy in them (Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom) 😛

10) If you could sit down and have a coffee with any author of your choice, living or dead, who would you choose?

I would pick L.J Smith. I’ve been wondering what happened to the last book in “Nightworld” series, “Strange Fate” it’s been promised since 1998 and it’s still not even started from what I hear.

 

Well, there you have it boys and girls. Our new reviewer, Midnightloon! =) Please give her a warm welcome and if you have any questions for her feel free to ask away in the comments.

 

Sidhe’s News & Updates

I just wanted to let everyone know what I’ve been up to besides getting back to reviewing. I’ve updated the BIOS/Policy page, updated my Wish List in the sidebar, and I’ve gone through my links and culled any that were no longer good links. If any of you find any more “dead” links in my sidebar, or if you have any cool links to share with me, please let me know and I’ll consider adding them. I’ve attempted to “clean up” the side bars a bit too.

I’m still plugging away at updating the “My Books” list/pages. Bear with me on that one as there’s a LOT of updating to do on those, lol. We should also have the New Releases for August & September up shortly. Tori & I are working on that as I type.

As you all know, Tori’s joined me on the blog as a reviewer recently and I’m loving having her here! I hope you all are as excited as I am about having some new reviewers. I have another new reviewer in the works who will also be a great addition to the blog. 🙂

On to other news – I’ve been mulling over a few things and I thought I’d put them out there to see what you all think.

Zombies! Do you love ’em, hate ’em or run like hell if you see one coming? 😉 LOL  I’ve been seeing more zombie books out there and I gotta say that I’m not really all that attracted to buying/reading them myself. I know that there are a few really good ones out there, but for the most part, I find them pretty disgusting and have a really hard time liking any main characters who are zombies. If they are secondary characters or the villain/antagonist, then they can enhance a story, but as the main character? For the most part… no thanks. What do you think?

Steampunk! Are you all loving it or not liking it? I can’t say that I’ve read a whole lot of books in the genre, but I didn’t really like the few that I have read. Not because the writing was bad or anything like that. They were well written, but just didn’t appeal to me. It kinda makes me sad, because so many great authors are putting out books in this genre and I am not wanting to read them. Sound off people, I want to know what you think!

 

    

SVR – New Reviewer

 Woo Hoo! I’m adding my first new reviewer to the blog and thought I’d do a quick interview with her so that you all could get to know Tori a bit. (She says that she doesn’t have a pic of herself to share with us, so this little vampy goth girl will be her avatar on SVR from now on.) 🙂 (I’ll keep trying to talk her into sending me one even though I know she’s kinda shy). So without further adieu, here’s our interview.

1) Hi Tori, welcome to my virtual lair! We’ll start off with why you’re interested in joining the blog-o-sphere to write reviews?  I’ve always been interested in sharing my love of books with other people and by writing reviews I will be able to do that.

2) So you’re a bookaholic just like me, this is great! What are your favorite genres to read?  I am definitely a bookaholic like you Sidhe.  I love spending hours just reading books. and I love being taken to other places and being introduced to different characters.  I also own so many books right now. My favorite genres include: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult and Fantasy.

3) Do you have one favorite author, or a whole bunch of them like me? Can you tell us a few? It’s really hard to pick just one favorite author because there are so many wonderful authors out there.  I have more than one favorite and I am always interested in reading new author’s books. I love Stephenie Meyer, Penny Jordan, Maggie Stiefvater, Ted Dekker, Becca Fitzpatrick and Lauren Kate.

4) I started blogging & reviewing the books I love to read because I don’t really have anyone here in the city I live in to discuss them with, is it the same for you? Yes it is pretty much the same for me to. I really don’t have anyone around here who understands my love for books and reading.

5) Tell us a bit about yourself. Likes? Dislikes? Hobbies? I have been a legal secretary for 16 years.  I’ve been married for 11 years and have a 6-year-old son.  I am quiet and shy.  I don’t like to be around a lot of people.  I love reading, going to the movies and bowling.  I also enjoy going on cruises.  They are a lot of fun.  I also enjoy going to Myrtle Beach. I also love listening to music and going to concerts.

6) If you could be any one supernatural creature, what would you be? If you could have any one power, what would it be?  I love vampires so I would want to be one of them.  I wish I could have the power to heal people.

7) If you were stranded on an island, what five books would you need to have there with you to keep you from going insane?  I would have to say the whole Twilight series.  I am a big Twilight fan.

8) If you met someone who was just getting into reading our genres of choice, which one book from each genre would you recommend? Urban Fantasy? Paranormal Romance? Young Adult? Fantasy?

Urban Fantasy – The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen, Paranormal Romance – The Restorer by Amanda Stevens, Young Adult – Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, Fantasy – The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

9) What’s your favorite movie that was done as a book adaptation? IE: Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, Lord Of The Rings, etc  My favorite movies are the Twilight saga. I think they did a good job with the movies.  There are differences, but the movies never are the same as the books.

10) If you could sit down and have a coffee with any author of your choice, living or dead, who would you choose?  I would choose Stephenie Meyer.

Well, there you have it boys and girls. Our new reviewer, Tori Vicious! (Yes, I am making this “made of awesome” lady an honorary member of the “Vicious” clan). 😀 Please give her a warm welcome and if you have any questions for her feel free to ask away in the comments.