A reading break

I need to take a break from reading this week, so I might be behind in my reading and reviews on this blog. The reason for this is that my eyes gives me serious problem with headaches and stuff like that. Yes I need glasses and they will be done in a week or so but since I feel that I can't live with a constant headache all the time anymore I won't read untill I have my glasses. I hope this will not affect an upcoming blog tours I am part of. Hopefully it will not and I will be able to keep up even with my little break.

September wrap-up

I am so bored right now so I thought I would do a post I have never done before.... a wrap up for September. Maybe someone is interested to know what I have read during this first month of fall?

Ok so, how to do this?
Don´t you just love goodreads? How would could I have done this if goodreads did not exist? I would never be able to keep track of all my reads! no way!

Read this year: 52 
(not a huge amount I suppose, but hey I do other things as well, like work, study and being a mom, to name a few)

Read during September: 9 

Of those 9, 

read in english: 9

read in swedish: 0

The books I read was:

Altered by Kimberly Montague

Divided by Kimberly Montague

Manipulated by Kimberly Montague

Love by the book by Dara England

The Flawless by Mia Hoddell

Of noble birth by Brenda Novak

The golden lily by Richelle Mead

Promise me by Julian Dee

Seeing stars by Vanessa Grant

My reading wrap up for 2011 and new goals for 2012

It is a new year and time for a very new reading challenge. Last year 2011 my goal was at first to read 50 books, but I had done that in September so I changed it to 60 books instead and since I had read that many in October I changed it again to 70 books and I finally ended at 81 books in 2011. 

It was our first year of blogging and it has been so much fun! I had really no hope what so ever with this blog really. I just needed something to do with all the thoughts I had about the books I read and I needed something to do while I was on maternity leave.  And then my sister joined me and that was so much better and so much easier to maintain the blog. But the absolutely best that have happened since we started this blog is all the review requests we have received. Not in a million years could I have guessed that would happen! It has been an amazing year and I feel so blessed for the opportunity to read so many great books. There are so many really talented authors out there. You should be so proud over the work you have done and thank you all for letting us be part of these amazing worlds you all have created with your gift for words. 

I hope that 2012 will be as amazing as 2011 has been in the reading front!

I´m not sure how many I think I can manage this year since I start to work again tomorrow and wont be home as much as I have the past year when I was home with my son. So I think I will set the bar at 60 books, because I am kind of a slow reader after all.

BLOG TOUR; Insight series by Jamie Magee (About the Author)

I am very exciting to be part of this blog tour because I really love this series. Actually when I said yes to be part of it I had never heard of Jamie Magee but now I am so happy to have read two of her books in the insight series they are awesome. I probably should have done this post first instead of two of the reviews but anyway better late than never right?!

I thought I would introduce this amazing author and give you all a little information about her and get a face to the name so to say. She is doing this tour to promote her new book IMAGE, the third book in the insight series.

I will post the review of IMAGE on November 17th and have a guest post on November 30, so be sure to check that out!
And also I would like to give some credit to the awesome Bree at theawesomemagicattic.blogspot.com who did this amazing tour banner! 


About the Author:

Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest of the world, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she'd never been, introduce her to people she's never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her, led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her.

How do we rate books and what is important when we do?

How do we really rate books? What is important when you read a book? what does a book need, to get to that epic status?

I´ve been thinking a lot about that lately. It isn´t just how well the book is written,  or how good the story line is. For me there is so much more to it than that.

When I read and then rate a book I look at a lot of things. The first thing you meet is the cover. The cover is actually really important to me, it is what draws me in. Then I see the title and if I like what I see this far, I turn the book to read the blurb. These three things is what makes me buy or loan a book. But there is a lot more to reading than that of course. 

The size of the book is another thing. That might sound weird but think about it. Doesn´t it matter to you? I´ve recently bought read the intertwined series by Gena Showalter in hard cover. They are a lot smaller then most books I have and I loved that, it felt refreshing to me. My sister looked at them and said "They look weird". My point is that the size does matter. And then we have the format of the book. What do you prefer? Me? I prefer hard cover and for a while I felt like I didn´t even wanted to buy books if they were not in hard cover but then I realized that there would be a lot of books I could never buy if I had that  attitude. I do read all formats though but really nothing beats the real deal. 

The way the author has chosen to write book is also important. Is it written in first or third person? How many chapters? How big or small is the text? How does the book make you feel? Are the characters likable? Do the characters grow as individuals? In what way is time present? How much is happening in the book and is it too much or too little? Is the book slow or fast?

When you start to think about it there is a lot of things that in the end decide how you will rate a book. What do you think is the most important thing for a book to be really great? I think the most important thing for me is how the book makes me feel.

Giveaway Winner!!

The winner of the giveaway of three books in Marina´s tales by Derrolyn Anderson is Michelle over @ book briefs. Congratulations! An e-mail will be sent to you and then you have two days (48 hours) to claim your price! Happy reading! And thanks to Derrolyn Anderson for this awesome giveaway!

Giveaway WINNER!

Congratulations to Lyssa Anne who is the winner of the giveaway of Beautifully broken in Paperback by Sherry Soule! You will be contacted and have three days from today to reply or the book will go to another winner!

We also want to thank Sherry Soule for letting us have this giveaway!

Giveaway update!

We just want to remind you all, that there is only two days left on the giveaway for Beautifully broken in paperback by Sherry Soule! Tomorrow is the last day!

To enter the giveaway go HERE

Cover Alert: The fate of the muse by Derrolyn Anderson!

We just received the cover for the third book in the series Marina´s tales and  it is really beautiful! Be sure to look for a review on that one from one of us. This is a really good series and you should really check it out!

The Fate of the Muse By Derrolyn Anderson

Intertwined Series Alert!

I don´t know about you guys but I absolutely love Gena Showalter´s series Intertwined. The third book is on it´s way and I just can´t wait! And Now to the great news! There will be a final fourth book in the series and it will be released in June 2013! There are no other information about the book on her webpage so I guess We have to wait for that! I know it is a long wait but a wait worth waiting for! There will also be a spin-off of this series in Riley´s brother´s point of view! How exiting all this is! 

The three books available right now is:

Intertwined #1

Unraveled #2

Twisted #3

Giveaway @ ramblings of a daydreamer

Ramblings of a daydreamer have a great INTERNATIONAL giveaway where you can choose one of the following books!

You can enter the giveaway HERE

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston {GoodReads  ~ My review}

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa {GoodReads  ~ My review}

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr {GoodReads}

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins {GoodReads}

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen {GoodReads  ~ My review}

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson {GoodReads}

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen {GoodReads ~ I read this book before I became a book blogger, so no review, but it's one of my favorite books ever}

Vision in White by Nora Roberts {GoodReads ~ read this one before book blogging days too, but I loooove Nora Roberts!}

The Violets of March by Sarah Jio {GoodReads  ~ My review}

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead {GoodReads}

Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires) by Rachel Caine  {GoodReads}

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare {GoodReads}

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White {GoodReads}

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready {GoodReads}

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer {GoodReads}

Giveaway winner of The space between by Alexandra Sokoloff

We have a winner of the giveaway of 'The space Between' By Alexandra Sokoloff

And it is Jenna @ fans of fiction

Congratulations and happy reading!

100 most popular YA books

So I found this list on a blog I follow (in swedish). It is suppose to be the 100 most popular YA books. I though that was fun (even if the list is not accurate, which I don´t know) and I think I am going to try to read them all. As long as they sounds good. Anyway I am going to highlight the books I´ve read in pink. Ain´t so many on this list that I´ve read yet but now I have a lot of wonderful reading to look forward too. So how many of these books have you read?


Why not copy this list and show us, and then ad your link at the end of this post  so we can check it out!

1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Callagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals  (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
18. Christopher Paolini  - Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Papper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket -  Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak  - The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone  (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld  - Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld  - Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

100 follower giveaway WINNERS!!

The week is up and we will now announce the winners of the giveaway. Yes you read correctly

We decided to give away both packages! So we will announce

TWO WINNERS!

The winner of book 1&2 of vampire diaries is:

As the crowe flies (and reads)

*****************************************

The winner of book 4 to 6 of morganville series is:

Alaiel Kreuz

You have 48 hours to respond or we will choose another winner

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU!

100 followers giveaway!

It is so fun to say that we will have our very first giveaway! We have now reached 100 followers and we want to celebrate that with all of you. We have to packages to choose from. All books are in paper back.

Package 1:

Vampire diaries by L.J Smith

volume 1 The awakening

volume 2 The struggle

Package 2:

Book 4-6 of the morganville vampires by Rachel Caine

Feast of fools

Lord of misrule

Carpe corpus

And so to the rules:

You have to be a follower of this blog.

Just leave a comment and tell us which package you want and leave name/blogname and an e-mail were we can reach you. If you do not feel comfortable leaving your mail address just leave some info on how we can contact you.

We will announce the winner on this blog.

It is international!

And you have until Monday 22 of August to enter the contest!

GOOD LUCK!

and also we will choose the winner randomly!

Liebster Blog Award! Our very first award!

Thank you to Pixie @ The bookaholic for nominating us for the Liebster Blog Award. The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers.

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

I have met some awesome bloggers and know this choice will be difficult but...
OUR NOMINATIONS ARE:

1. Holly @ Full Moon Bites
2. Juliet @ The Attic
3. Barbara @ Black, white and Read all over
4. Guen @ Ezine of a random girl
5. Bekah @ Page 317

Thank you so much!

We are going on a much needed vacation!

Me and my sisters are going away tomorrow to visit our relatives in Denmark and we will be gone for a week. I am not sure if we will be able to blog but I will absolutely do that if there is a internet connection at our relatives house. So if we are not posting anything this week you know why! 

WE ARE ON VACATION!!!!!! YAY! 

Have a nice week in case we won´t see you!

Winner of a giveaway

I am so happy! I am a winner in a giveaway at alphareaders blog!

I never win anything so this was a really happy surprise and sort of an early birthday present since my birthday is in two weeks! This is just so awesome,  I just can´t believe it! There really are no words to describe how happy I am about this! I was sort of jumping around my living room like a complete idiot or like a five year old, which I am not. Sort of silly I know but that I just how I am!

I won a signed copy of winter´s shadow by M.J. Hearle

Blake Duchamp...

He's all that Winter Adams can think of. Ever since their fateful meeting at Pilgrim's Lament. Ever since he looked at her with those emerald eyes. Ever since he saved her life.

But Blake isn't all that he seems. There is a strangeness about him, something dark and otherworldly. Something dangerous. In his attic is a secret he would kill to defend, but Winter seems to have a special ability to make him forget his duty. And he is her only protection against the gathering darkness.

The only problem is, to protect Winter, Blake must risk exposing her to an even greater danger. Himself.

Wicked lovley in hard cover

All books I buy have to be in hard cover. Well books are art to me and really hard cover books just looks so much better in the bookshelf. I want to start reading the series of wicked lovley, problem is that the first book is not available in hard cover. So I was looking at amazon and I saw that you can buy used copies there. My question is, can you trust that the books you buy there are in good shape? Have any of you bloggers out there any excperience with buying used copies on amazon??

I will be most grateful for any awnsers you can give me.