Valentine's Day MisAdventures

 

Obviously, today is Valentine's Day. Many may argue that it is a rather stupid and vain holiday, and some may think it is the most romantic. However way you look at it, you cannot deny that most people, love or hate the holiday, enjoy stuffing their faces with chocolate given to them by their loved ones.

Single people tend to feel left out of this holiday. I can see why, I really can. However, I feel like Valentine's Day is more than just about being with your significant lover; to me, it is a day to spend with anyone you love, whether it be friends, family, etc. If I am quite honest, I always had a problem with the idea that Valentine's Day is the one day of year you should share your love; in my opinion, you should always let the people you love know that you care, not necessarily by buying them chocolate and flowers everyday, but by doing little things. I think it's silly that people go all crazy with love just because a greeting card company tells them too. I feel as though everyday should be Valentine's Day when you are with someone you love, but that's just me.
 

So everyone, how is your Valentine's Day going?

Mine was pretty great, but not for the reason you think.

I spent the early afternoon hiking through a cypress swamp as a field trip for my Environmental Biology course. And naturally, living in Florida, it poured the whole last half hour we were there. If you have ever lived, or even visited Florida, then you are probably aware of how bi-polar the weather is here. Sunny one minute, raining cats and dogs the next.

Not only did we all get soaked, but on the way back, my group sort of got lost...we ended up driving thirty minutes in the opposite direction of our university. In our defense, the rain was still coming down hard and people down here don't know what to do when it rains. Florida drivers are pretty bad as it is, but throw in some rain and chaos breaks out; they act like they've never seen rain before. It ended up taking us about an hour to get back to campus when the swamp was only twenty minutes away.

Now all this may sound terrible, but honestly, it was actually pretty fun. Of course, I am sure it is not anyone's ideal way to spend their Valentine's Day, but we ended up enjoying ourselves and having a good laugh. It also gave us the opportunity to play the license plate game; this time of the year, we get all sorts of people visiting from other states, especially the snowbirds from up north.

(Some of the plates we saw; realized I missed a few after I posted this; oops!)

 

So that is my Valentine's Day story. My plans for the rest of the night? Eating chocolate, watching the hockey game King of the Nerds with my friends (I have no idea why we find this show so fascinating; I hate reality shows but just can't stop watching this one) xD

Waiting On Wednesday (#9)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This meme highlights some of the books whose releases bloggers are most anticipating this year.

The book whose release I am most excited for this week is...


Die For Her (Revenants #2.5)
By: Amy Plum

Expected publication: April 2nd 2013

Set in the romantic and death-defying world of the international bestselling Die for Me trilogy, this digital original novella follows Jules, a brooding, immortal French artist who has fallen in love with his best friend’s girlfriend.

Jules Marchenoir is a revenant-an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save human lives. He’s spent the better part of the last century flirting his way through Paris, but when he met Kate Mercier, the heroine from Amy Plum’s Die for Me trilogy, he knew his afterlife had changed forever and he had found the love of his life. Until Kate fell for his best friend, Vincent. Now Jules is faced with an impossible decision: choosing between his loyal friend and a love truly worth dying for.

I became a huge fan of Amy Plum immediately after reading her book Die For Me, which is the first book in her Revenant series. I fell in love with the book from line one. You may have already known this because I had previsously showcased another one of her books in another WOW.

This is a novella that takes place between the second book Until I Die, which I am now currently reading, and her third book which has not yet been released.

Giveaway @ Gabby Reads

Hey everyone!

Recently, I came across a wonderful book blog that just so happened to be hosting a giveaway. I thought I would help spread the word about the giveaway over here on my blog.

The giveaway is taking place over at Gabby Reads.

Here are the rules!

You must be a resident of the U.S. (Sorry international it cost way too much money to have a box a books shipped, but in order to make it up to ya'll if I reach 300 followers I will have an international giveaway of a book of the winners choice)

You must be at least 13 or have a parent's permission.

You must follow my blog in order to enter since this is a follower giveaway!

One entry per household

This giveaway will be from now till let's say about March 23rd. Which, gives you plenty of time to get some entrees. :)

If you are interested in the giveaway, or would like to know more about it, head on over to Gabby Reads.

Good luck!

Waiting on Wednesday (#8)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This meme highlights some of the books whose releases bloggers are most anticipating this year.

The book whose release I am most excited for this week is...


Mind Games (Mind Games #1)
By: Kiersten White

Expected publication: February 19th 2013

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

So I am going to start off this week's WOW by apologizing for posting it late. Classes this week have been crazy and I have had so much going on; normally, I create these posts in advance and put it on a posting schedule to avoid things like this, but I was too busy to do even that. But, here it is! Two days late is better than never!

Mind Games, why do I want to read this book so very badly? Simple: Kiersten White is the author and she is absolutely brilliant! Her Paranormalcy series is one of my all-time favorite series of all time. So naturally, when I read the last book in the series and found out she was coming out with something new, I just had to know more about it. Upon stumbling across the synopsis, I just knew I had to read this book when it came out, which is in 11 days! :D

If you have not read Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series and you are looking for a good, fast-paced, enjoyable, funny story with a sweet romance, check it out!

Vampire Academy Movie

There have been rumors about a film adaptation of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy Series for years now. As of about two days ago, the rumors were finally confirmed and the wheels have been set in motion. The movie is to be called Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. I have seen a lot of complaints about the title, but I personally do not think it's all that bad. If you look into the logic behind it, it makes sense. Plus, if you read the books, then the whole "blood sisters" thing makes a lot of sense, don't you think? Though I am tired of Hollywood turning all my favorite books into movies, because quite frankly, I don't trust them, I cannot lie and say I am not excited for this movie. The cast actually seems alright; they got a real Russian actor to play Dimitri, which was a great move on their part, in my opinion.

(This is a fan made video of the REAL cast of the movie)

 



(Zoey Deuth - Rose Hathaway)

(Lucy Fry - Lissa)

(Danila Kozlovski - Dimitri)

If you want to know more about the upcoming movie, the movie's fan page has been blowing up Facebook with links to all sorts of articles. http://www.facebook.com/#!/OfficialVampireAcademyMovie?fref=ts

Waiting On Wednesday (#7)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This meme highlights some of the books whose releases bloggers are most anticipating this year.

The book whose release I am most excited for this week is...


If I Should Die (Revenants #3)
By: Amy Plum

Expected publication: May 7th 2013

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying—to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others—so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

Why am I so excited to read this book? Well, in case you missed my review for the first book, Die For Me, then click on the title to read it. Once you read it, you'll understand.

I absolutely fell in love with the first book, and immediately upon finishing it, I put the second one on hold at my local library. This series is just so amazingly flawless, in my opinion that is. Plus, Amy Plum's books have some of the most gorgeous covers I have ever laid my eyes on.

Die for Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

Die for Me (Revenants #1)

by Amy Plum

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

“I had feared that love would make me vulnerable. Instead I felt empowered.”
― Amy Plum, Die for Me
 

When I opened to the first page of this book, never did I expect it instantly become one of my favorite books of all time. If there is such thing as love at first sight with books, then that's what this was. The cover alone was enough to make me want to love it, but the story that lied inside far surpassed the book's outer beauty.

Of course, there is that sort of insta-love that is oh-so popular in YA these days that makes some of us cringe inside, but the romance between Katie and Vincent was just so sweet and gentle that I couldn't not love them. And then there was also the cliched beginning where you find out the protagonist's parents have died and that's why she moves in with her grandparents. It seems that someone is always dead at the start of YA fiction because the death of a loved one always sparks the beginning of all the crazy, unreal events that, essentially, brings the story to life. Not that I'm really complaining; if no one ever died in these books, it seems like nothing would ever happen and we wouldn't have a story to read.

Reading Die For Me was like a breathe of fresh air. Revenants? What the heck it that?! It was refreshing to not have to deal with the cliched paranormal/fantasy elements in most other YA novels. Die For Me definitely had its own unique plotline that had me hooked from page one. I could not put this book down for anything; I ended up neglecting my rather immense homework load in order to finish it. Luckilly, there's the weekend to do my homework!

I have to admit, the romance was my favorite part. I cannot really explain why; I am jsut a huge sucker for it. The action, however, was just great. Though, honestly, the fight with Lucien kind of grossed me out. I do not want to go into much detail about it in case those of you reading this review have not read the book, but some of the imagery I was getting in my head as I read that part was just, "Blehhh!"

So I have to be honest with you guys: this book did make me cry...but just a bit. I cannot remember what part it was, but somewhere in this book, I teared up. I slapped myself silly for it too; curse myself for getting so emotionally involved with books! >:(

The characters were all so amazing! There is not one that I can honestly admit to not liking, even poor Charles who seems to hate Katie. Vincent is the best fictional boyfriend ever! I never wanted to be one of those girls who gets all crazy about fictional males, but yeah, if he were to just magically pop out of the book and into my life, I wouldn't complain. Katie was a great protagonist. Her life was completely turned upside down when her parents died and then she finds out the guy she likes isn't quite human, so it is pretty understandable how she is slightly unstable. But as the book goes on, she grows as a character and becomes more confident about herself and starts to accept the reality she lives in. Jules! I love him! He is just so adorable and seems like so much fun to be around. The rest of the gang is great too.

Overall, this book was just out of this world. Yep, it was awesome. Hopefully, if you read it too, you agree, if not...well then, that's a bit awkward :)

I would recommend this book to everyone I know who enjoys a good paranormal romance. Already have the second book on hold at my library, which I cannot wait to read!