Showcase Sunday #16

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea where you sow what books you've purchased, borrowed, checked out from the library, received from giveaway, etc.

Melissa purchased the following books in the past two weeks:

Eleven on Top (Stephanie Plum #11) by Janet Evanovich
Choices (Guardian Trilogy #2) by Liz Schulte
Zombie Country (Zombie Apocalypse #2) by Samantha Hoffman
Closed Hearts (Mindjack Trilogy #2) by Susan Kaye Quinn
Keeper of the Night (The Keepers: L.A. #1) by Heather Graham
Tempting the Best Man, Tempting the Player, Unchained, Frigid, Wait for You, and Trust in Me by J. Lynn (aka Jennifer L. Armentrout)

Waiting on Wednesday #16

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we are highly anticipating.

Now that I'm in full blown Jennifer L. Armentrout/J. Lynn mode, I've read another 6 books of hers, these are now the books that I'm waiting on.  This is a new series and the prequel novella is to be released on December 1st, 2013.  You can pre-order your copy now at either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  Guess what?  I already have.  Shocking, I know.

Bitter Sweet Love (The Dark Elements, #0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

In a sizzling prequel novella to her new series THE DARK ELEMENTS, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout draws readers into the extraordinary, irresistible world of Wardens and demons.

Dez wasn't just Jasmine's crush. A gargoyle Warden like Jas, he helped her come to terms with her destiny—fending off demons and maintaining balance between good and evil. He was her everything...right until the moment he disappeared without a trace. It didn't help that Jas's father had just announced that she and Dez would one day be mated. Hard not to take that personally.
And now he's back, three years older, ten times hotter, ready to pick up exactly where they left off. But Jas isn't taking that risk again. Dez has seven days to meet all her conditions and earn back her trust. Seven days filled with terrifying danger and sweet temptation. Seven days to win her heart—or shatter it all over again... ~Goodreads

Top Ten Books We'd Recommend to X Person

Top Ten Books We'd Recommend to X Person is this week's Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted by The Broke & the Bookish.

Recommend to people who like distopias...
1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Divergent by Veronica Roth

Recommend to people who want to read about a strong female protagonist...
1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore 

2. The Selection by Kiera Cass

Recommend to people who are looking for their next fantasy boyfriend in a steamy novel...
1. Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout
2. Chosen by Heather Fleener

Recommend to people who want to be transported into a magical world and completely forget about the real world...
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

2. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Recommend to people who like thought provoking books...
1. Before I Fall by Oliver Lauren

2. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

What are we missing? What would you recommend to us?

Waiting for Wednesday #15

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we are highly anticipating.

The Impossible Knife of Memory
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Release Date: January 7th 2014

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down. - Goodreads

Why am I Waiting?

I read Speak and Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson. She has a way of taking real issues that are rarely talked about and sometimes even taboo to discuss and making them into beautiful books. I haven't read any books that have characters dealing with PTSD from the Iraq War. I can't wait to see Anderson take on this topic.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Top Ten Book Covers We Would Like to Redesign

This is this week's Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted by The Broke & the Bookish.

 I don't know any of you knew this about me, but when I was 16 I decided I wanted to work in the movie studios in the special effects departments.  Any movie with some really kick a*# special effects goes straight to my heart.  This is another reason I prefer a good action movie to a romantic comedy any day.  I decided to go to my local community college and low and behold, not one single computer graphics class.  What can you expect, this was 15 years ago.  So I settled on the typical, not sure what I want to do major, Liberal Arts.  Then, life happens.  You get married, have kids, sometimes things don't happen like you planned.

About 3 1/2 years ago, I discovered photography.  I received a really great camera for my birthday, and it's now one of my hobbies.  I mostly take pictures of my kids, I really love the action shots from all of their sports.  Every once in a while I will do a friends son/daughter's senior picture, or a wedding.  Nothing major and nothing that I would do professionally.  I'm not a professional, just having some fun.  I recently received my green screen background and software.  Now I feel like I get to do something that I've always wanted to do, only with still pictures.  Anyways, I appreciate a really good book design since I admire those who went into the graphic design profession. If I was a professional, these would be the books covers that Rachel and I would like to redesign.

~Zombie Island (Zombie Apocalypse #1) Hoffman, Samantha

~All-American Girl (All-American Girl, #1) by Meg Cabot

~The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobosky

~The Hunt (The Hunt, #1) by Andrew Fukuda

~Jade Green by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
~All of the Incarnations of Immortality series by Pierce Anthony need a good update
~All of the MYTH Adventure series by Robert Asprin also need to be modernized.
~As much as I enjoy the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich the book covers could be spiced up a little

Which books would you like to see with a new cover?

Sunday Showcase #15

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea where you sow what books you've purchased, borrowed, checked out from the library, received from giveaway, etc.

This week has been pretty slow for both reading and picking up new books. Late fall should be a prime time to catch up on my reading, but instead I have been watching a lot of television. I am hooked on the TV show, Scandal.

I know the next couple of months are going to be kind of crazy with the holidays and everything else that is going on but I am going to try my best to continue to read, review and blog when I have free time. Melissa, awesome as always, has finally got out of the reading funk that Allegiant put her in, thanks to Obsession by Jennifer Armentrout. So I might need to listen to Melissa's recommendations and read the Lux Series by Armentrout to get me out of my reading dry spell, but I need to finish House of Hades by Rick Riordan first.

This week, Melissa purchased Cursed to add to her Jennifer L. Armentrout collection and I pick up Unknown by Melissa Pearl free on Amazon.

What did you pick up this week?

Friday's Late Featured Freebie: Unknown by Melissa Pearl

Unknown (The Elements Trilogy #1)

by Melissa Pearl
Free on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Darkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped believing in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown. - Goodreads